Chapter 21: After the third selection

 

     “Five people passed the third selection this morning, including Liz. At first, there were about thirty people but it has decreased considerably.” Lloyd said with his arms folded, leaning against the wall near the ninth gate of the eastern part of the second temple.

     “Yes, because the condition to pass the third selection was having grown the fruit.”

     Liz felt lonely remembering Natalie as she pierced the ground with a large shovel. She dug hard along the surrounding walls.

     This morning, in the third selection, eleven candidates decreased to five. Liz, Manon, and other three candidates who have not yet had a holy creature born.

     “So Liz, what’s buried down there?”

     “I’m not sure about its specific details, but it seems to be important.

     “Well, no way it’d be eggplants again.”

     Liz frowned, remembering what Lloyd said. That time, it was fermented eggplants which were the saint’s favorite.

     “—Did you find it?”

     “Not yet,”

     “Found—”

     “Not yet,”

     ‘It was the same situation when she found the old ring Keefa kept as a child.’

     Liz dug up the ground desperately. It was exactly the same situation as before, when she was the only one with the shovel, it was irritating when Lloyd kept on asking her curiously, “Have you found it?”

     ‘It’s been quite a while since then.’

     “Did you find it?”

     “Not yet!”

     Then, something hard hit the tip of the shovel. Liz jumped and scratched out the soil.

     “Lloyd! There’s…eh?” Liz was dumbfounded. The size and shape of the jar that she held was exactly the same as they had dug up before.

     “The saint must love eggplants too much..No way, it’s buried in the temple…?” Lloyd was stunned and confused.

 

     In front of him, Liz held the jar tightly. A rush of confusion crept over her.

     ‘Is that wrong? —no, no’

     She placed the pot on the ground opening the multilayered seal, its wrapped with sheets of paper and a string wrapped around it. What she saw in her intuition was not an eggplant. Like that time before, it was Keefa’s ring that she had seen.

     Lloyd was looking at Liz opening the seal, excited.

     “Open! Huh…? What’s this?”

     They were puzzled when the lid was opened. The contents of the jar were practically empty, there’s just nothing but a small black object in the bottom, about the size of the tip of a small finger.

     Lloyd picked it up, “Isn’t this a sacred seed?”

     The black seed is oval in shape, it’s similar to the one given to Liz and the candidates.

     “Why is it in such a place?”

     It was one seed per person and they were given exactly the number of candidates that were present. All of the candidates in the first selection had their own sacred sprouts.

     Was the first candidate who failed the first one did not place the seed in her pot? The lid of the jar was sealed tightly as if it can’t easily be opened.

     ‘Huh?’

     A faint memory went through her mind. When the seeds were distributed there were some who went to get broken pots, consulted with other candidates, stayed in their room, and many more. In the midst of all this, there was no one who was around this perimeter.

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     Liz shook her head and caught a glimpse of a figure. They had long black hair, and about Liz’s height. Well, everyone except Liz has dark hair.

     ‘What was she wearing?’

     They were dressed in dark clothing, it was not as luxurious as Grace’s, it was quite plain like Liz’s.

     “Liz” Lloyd called out to her, taking her back from her thoughts. He took the seed from her grasp.

     “I’ll bring this to the chief priest.I’m not sure if this really is your intuition, but this feels quite suspicious.” Lloyd said seriously, holding the seed.

     Liz felt uneasy, before she was able to get back to her room, she was called to the festival hall. Inside was Manon and the other candidates, also the chief priest. 

     With a soft smile he said, “Third selection is over, and the final selection of the next Saint will commence. Does everyone remember the key?”

 

     Liz unexpectedly looked up, “Is it the key which the priests used as a test at the very beginning of each house to see if they have the qualities of a saint?”

     “The power of the current saint is embedded to it and it can only be seen by those who possess holy power.”

     “That’s right.”

     It was a small silver key with a yellow string tied onto it that Lloyd had given to her in her hometown. At that time, Emilia, the daughter of the Kafen family, had a hard time looking for it.

     It had all begun then. Of course Liz brought the key with her, it’s kept in the drawer of her desk in her room. 

     “The final selection is to find a “door” corresponding to each key. No, it’s probably wrong to call it “door”. Since it isn’t the shape of a door and there’s no guarantee that there’s a keyhole.”

     A riddle. Though, Liz couldn’t understand what he meant. She looked at the candidates again, but there was distinct confusion in their faces.　

     “Therefore,” door ” may be the door of a room somewhere, or it may be the sliding door of a closet.It may be the cover of a book,  the floor, a handle of a cup, or a fish swimming in a pond.”

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     The oldest candidate’s face distorted, “How would we be able to find that? It’s impossible.”

     “Here are hints, each one of them came from the sacred fruit—Liz’s Holy Dragon and Manon’s Black Leopard. If you listen carefully and calm your heart, you’ll surely be able to tell each door. Also, there seems to be a rumor who the next holy saint is.It is not true. Whether they have the Holy Dragon or the Holy Beast or not, the only thing necessary to the final selection is whether one can find the ‘doors’.”

     As soon as they left the festival hall, the three other candidates began to talk loudly.

     “Well, what shall we do? I was confused about how to raise the sacred tree until now, but this time I don’t understand the meaning of it. Besides, I’ve only begun to bear fruit, and its content hasn’t been born yet.”

     “So is mine. We must pray for the contents to come out soon.”

     “Mine had cracked this morning. It’ll be born soon.”

 

     “Liz.” It was a familiar voice, the voice of someone who she didn’t want to be called out of in front of others.

     Liz turned around, a bit speechless.

     “Your Highness, Prince Keefa!” A surprised candidate voiced out. However, he continued to approach Liz easily without hesitation. The candidates have curious and confused expressions as if they weren’t seen by him, they looked back over and over again at Liz and dejectedly left. The last one who left was Manon, who unlike the other candidates, had a stern expression plastered on her face. Still in courtesy for the prince, she bowed and left.

     Liz faced Keefa. He didn’t have his usual gentle expression, but something akin to determination.

     ‘There’s something. What happened?’

     “I’ve asked about Duke Igner and he was looking into the Howard family as you said. Details are still being investigated. There’s a problem, the duke has been looking into you, from your hometown, relationships with family and friends. I thought it was because you were a rival of his daughter, but even after her being guilty of her crime, he still continues to do so. I don’t know what his plan is but it’s clear that he’s trying to do something to you. It may be dangerous.”

     Liz looked at his burning eyes. With a strange force, she took a step back unconsciously.

     “Up until now, I’ve considered your position. I thought that it was wrong to openly approach you, I tried avoiding it as much as I could, but I won’t stand by it anymore. I’ll stay close to you. If you’re close with the prince, the duke will have a hard time getting involved.” Keefa said with a straight face, no hesitation present.

     ‘That was so.’

     She felt overwhelmed and remembered that she knew practically nothing about Keefa, there are things that she still doesn’t understand. 

     ‘He’s always calm and gentle, yet he becomes quite aggressive once he’s determined.’

 

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