Chapter 184 - Damn Reincarnation

Euresia

Kristina did not answer immediately. She restrained her lips, which threatened to part of their own accord, and maintained her expression. Even she had no idea what face she would make if she let her composure slip. She did not want to know, nor did she want anyone else to see it.

"... Ah. Now that you mention it, you have acquired another accessory."

She replied as though she had paid it no attention and had only just noticed. Concealing her thoughts and expressions was familiar work for Kristina. Only now did she look properly at Eugene's finger, offering a bright smile.

"The ring finger of your left hand. Have you become engaged to someone? Among nobles, you are hardly too young, and it is not uncommon. Still, if the Eugene Lionheart had become engaged, surely there would have been rumors..."

Her tone was gentle. The train lurched into motion, and Mer immediately pressed both hands against the window and planted her face against the glass. Amid the gentle rocking, Kristina continued.

"Ah, is that it? Is the engagement itself a secret? I suppose engagements among nobles are often quite political. I have heard they are readily broken, depending on the circumstances and positions of the two families. But whatever the circumstances, neither party welcomes the stigma of a broken engagement."

Her smiling eyes curved into crescents, concealing her gaze. Yet Eugene could feel the blue eyes between her thick lashes staring intently at his finger.

"Hence the secrecy. Such concern for appearances must mean the other party is a high-ranking noble. And anyone becoming engaged to you, with your reputation rising so rapidly... would surely belong to a family whose name rivals or surpasses Lionheart's, would they not? Have you become engaged to royalty?"

Eugene merely grinned without answering. Kristina did not like that smile. He was openly teasing her. She simply could not understand what was so special about that ring that he had to use it to torment her.

No. He was not someone she could hope to understand. Her time in the Great Forest of Samar had taught her painfully well that Eugene Lionheart could not be understood through reason. He was so violent, shameless, irritating, and childish that it was hard to believe he was a descendant of the illustrious Lionheart family and the Hero chosen by the God of Light.

"The timing does strike me as remarkably convenient. After we parted, you defeated the Green Tower Master, Generic Osman, in Aroth. And recently, in Kiel, you survived the Rakshasa Princess and accomplished the remarkable feat of winning four consecutive matches in the competition against the White Dragon Knights. All those achievements have elevated your fame. It is only natural that royalty from various nations would wish to marry you."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. ... The ring does seem too humble to commemorate an engagement to royalty, but an extravagant ring would attract too much attention to suit a secret engagement."

Kristina was convinced that Eugene's intended was royalty. Who could it be? Did Kiel have a princess? The first person who came to mind was Shimuin's princess knight. She was said to be exceptionally beautiful, and she happened to be the same age as Eugene.

"... If you hold a wedding, I shall attend in person and bestow my blessing. But please do not forget this, Eugene. Though I wish to respect your freedom to marry, you are the Hero foretold by the God of Light's revelation. Please put that mission fir—"

"It's not an engagement ring, though."

"... Pardon?"

"Did I ever say it was an engagement ring? Tsk..."

Still grinning, Eugene held up his ringed finger.

"It's just a magic ring."

"... Then why... are you wearing it on your left ring finger, of all places?"

"It's not like I wanted it there. It put itself on that finger, with some business about needing to wear it there for the contract."

"... Why are you only telling me this now?"

"Would you rather I hadn't told you?"

Kristina's eyebrows quivered. She clenched her skirt, then startled and composed her expression. Swallowing her rising indignation, she brought her hands together before her chest in prayer.

"... I mean, why did you tell me afterward rather than at the beginning?"

"Well... isn't it up to me whether I tell you sooner or later?"

"Because you told me so late, I went on and on under a complete misapprehension."

"That's why I waited. It was funny."

"You... You are a truly mean-spirited man, Eugene. What is so entertaining about mocking someone to their face? A Hero ought to possess a character worthy of being revered as a saint. However great your abilities, even if you one day slay the Demon Kings and benefit the world, your character is so vile that no one should ever take after you!"

"Calling me vile over a little teasing is pretty harsh..."

"You really are trash, Eugene, so take it on the chin."

Mer spoke from where she was plastered against the window. Kristina nodded in agreement. In the end, rather than protest, Eugene smacked his lips and turned toward the window.

He had to agree that trains offered a different appeal from warp gates. The scenery swept by far faster than it would from inside a carriage. The mechanical clattering never missed a beat. Eugene particularly liked the large windows.

Before long, the train had left the city and was crossing peaceful fields. In the distance, he could see the white city they had departed. There was little worth looking at, really, but Mer remained entranced, unable to tear her eyes from the view.

After the refreshment cart had passed three or four times, Kristina spoke.

"... Are you not going to ask why?"

Beside Eugene, Mer had already polished off two boxed meals and was opening snacks from the armful piled on her lap.

"Why what?"

Kristina closed her Bible, worn from countless readings. Eugene recognized it. He had seen it every day in Samar. In particular, she would open it and read each morning upon waking, and again every night.

"I did not explain the circumstances in detail in my letter. That was partly because something like the confirmation of a saint is not a matter to commit to a letter. Still, I believe that letter, and my present behavior, must be greatly displeasing to you."

"Hmm."

Eugene tilted his head and looked at her.

"... You said this confirmation takes place at the Holy See anyway, right? Then why are we going all the way to Trechia? It would be easier just to stay in Euresia."

"Because I have various preparations to make."

He thought the question was rather overdue, but the moment he asked why, an answer came.

"In the Trechian diocese, there is a Spring of Light said to have been left by God in the distant past. Starting tomorrow, I shall immerse myself in it for three days, taking neither food nor water."

The Spring of Light... Eugene searched his memories. He had heard of it before. They had all been a little drunk, talking about the mysterious sights of their homelands.

["What's so mysterious about that? The elves' domain where I lived has the World Tree. Hey, Hamel! Do you know what the World Tree is?"]

["Isn't it just a really fucking big tree? There was a pretty big apple tree behind my house when I was a kid, too."]

["Are you seriously comparing an apple tree to the World Tree? This is why people call you ignorant...! ... I... I suppose I have no choice. Later, you know, once everything's over and we leave this damned place, I'll take you to the elves' domain. Broaden your horizons a little."]

["No... I don't particularly want to go... That bastard Siknard will be there, and won't the place be full of elves with faces like his and equally shitty personalities?"]

["... What exactly is wrong with Siknard? Besides... besides, you son of a bitch, I'm offering to take you for your own sake, and instead of quietly thanking me... Ah! I get it. You're worried that standing beside elves will make your face look like a dented trash-can lid, aren't you?"]

["Should I kill you?"]

["Don't worry. The only people whose looks can stand up to elves are Vermouth over there, Anise... Hmm... Ahem... and me."]

["There is a hot river near the Bayar tribe in the snowfields."]

["Hey, Moron. I get that you want to contribute, but don't make shit up, you f***. Your tribe lives at the northernmost edge of the world. How the hell do you have a hot river where snow piles up like mountains and blizzards blow every day?"]

["Leave him alone, Hamel. Moron's even more of a country bumpkin than you. He has nothing to say when we talk about things like this. It's snowfields here, snowfields there, snow as far as the eye can see. Maybe he wants to invent something."]

["... As a warrior of Bayar and the Son of the Snowfields, I do not lie. There truly is a hot river near our tribe."]

["I'm asking why there's a hot river in the snowfields. What, does fire flow like a river? Does that make any sense, you bastard?"]

["It is not fire, but smoke like fire flows with the river. If you do not believe me, ask Vermouth. He often bathed in that hot river with me."]

["... It was a place where water heated by the earth gushed up. The hot water collects and flows into a river. Moron dragged me in several times. It was quite pleasant. Simply soaking in it relieved a great deal of fatigue."]

["Not just fatigue. The hot river's medicinal waters treat illnesses and wounds. Merely soaking in it cures sickness and heals injuries. It is particularly good for the skin, so the women liked it."]

["Anise, did you hear that? You heard him. You're coming, right? Hmm? I'm going, so you have to come too."]

["We can all go once the war is over. By then, I will be Bayar's chieftain. If I tell the tribe to clear the river for my friends, they will gladly give it to us. All five of us can bathe together in that great river..."]

["You lunatic. What do you mean, bathe together? Anise and I will bathe alone. You men can stick together. Hamel, peek and I'll kill you."]

Such inconsequential conversations. They had been talking about what they would do once the fighting ended and they left Helmuth. Anise seldom contributed to such discussions, but perhaps she had been in particularly high spirits that day. She paused in her drinking and spoke.

["... Mysterious places... Yuras has a few of those, too."]

["What?"]

["Everyone, everyone, quiet. Moron, you idiot! Keep your mouth shut. Anise is trying to speak! Senya! Fill her glass!"]

["..."]

["Sorry, Anise. I'll shut my own mouth first. Go on."]

["... What comes to mind now... is the Spring of Light."]

["The Spring of Light? What's that?"]

["A spring that shines, just as its name suggests. At first glance, you would almost think it held light rather than water. The water... Hmm. It may not be as hot as the river Moron described, but it is quite warm."]

["Really? How strange. We can all visit there later, too, right? Does soaking in it improve your skin like that river in Moron's homeland?"]

["If you enter it normally, perhaps it does."]

Anise had said no more.

'... We didn't go together, but I did see the World Tree.'

He had never seen Moron's hot river for himself, but it was now famous as a tourist attraction in Ruhar.

Eugene smiled bitterly at the memory. Had he not died in the Demon King of Incarceration's castle, would they have traveled to all those places together, as they had discussed? Back then, he had grumbled about going on yet another trip when they had already spent well over a decade traveling together.

"... Do you really need to go without food and water? It's not like bathing on an empty stomach makes you any cleaner."

"It is not simply a matter of washing. For a saint... no, a candidate for sainthood, immersion in the Spring of Light is itself a sacred ritual. I have entered that spring several times already, since childhood."

"Normally?"

The question slipped out.

WHOOSH!

Pitch-black darkness suddenly fell over the carriage. Mer, still gazing spellbound out the window, startled and pulled her hands away from the glass. The train had entered a tunnel.

Magic in the ceiling responded to the darkness, casting a soft glow. It was not ordinary lighting. Fine lines of light intertwined across the ceiling, forming a sacred image.

Perhaps because of the train's name, the image depicted Anise praying with her eyes closed. It was among the most common compositions used in paintings of her, but drawn in lines of light against the dark sky created by the tunnel, she looked like a constellation.

Kristina hoped the darkness would conceal her expression. No, in truth, her expression had barely changed. But she had felt it waver, however slightly. And now? The corners of her mouth felt stiff.

She closed her eyes once, then opened them, calming her startled heart.

Did he know something? That was impossible. Kristina was the only candidate for sainthood in this generation. Thus, she alone received the baptism for which candidates periodically visited the Spring of Light.

There was no other source from which it could have leaked. Kristina knew better than anyone how secret and meticulously controlled that baptism was.

"... I do not quite understand your question. Is there some unusual way of immersing oneself in a spring?"

"It's called the Spring of Light, for starters. And you're a candidate for sainthood. If you've been soaking in it as a ritual, I'm asking whether there's anything special that makes it a ritual."

So that was what he meant. Kristina's agitation quickly subsided. The train rattled onward with its steady clatter. In a sudden rush, it emerged from the tunnel, and the darkness lifted.

"... I wear white garments for it."

"White garments?"

"Yes. Unlike priestly vestments, they are plain white from top to bottom. I enter the spring wearing them. For three days, I may neither change my clothes nor leave the spring."

"What if you get hungry or thirsty?"

"Enduring that is part of the ritual."

"What if you need the bathroom?"

Mer whipped her head around from the window.

"You don't just let it out a little at a time, do you?"

Eugene grimaced and stared at Mer. This time, Kristina made no attempt to conceal her expression either. She narrowed her eyes and glared. Mer hunched her shoulders and offered a smile of feigned innocence.

"Sorry."

"... In any case, I must return to Trechia for that ritual."

"Fine. You have a good reason you can't avoid. Then... why did you tell me to come today? You could have told me to come in three days, when you enter the Holy See."

Kristina steadied her breathing to keep her voice from trembling.

"... Cardinal Rogeris wishes to meet you."

"Why?"

"I do not know the precise reason. But surely it is not unusual for a cardinal of the faith to wish to meet the Hero?"

"Maybe it's about you."

"... Perhaps."

"Any ideas?"

"Honestly, none. The letters I sent to Rohanna will have been monitored, and their contents examined."

"The encryption magic on the letters was never broken."

It was a spell with the highest level of security, known even within the Red Tower to only a handful of people besides Eugene, Lovellian, and Hera. It ensured that decrypting and concealing the contents again would always leave a trace.

Eugene had not taught Kristina the decryption formula. Anyone else trying to unravel the magic on the letters would therefore have to begin with the portion of the formula exposed on the surface.

That was the trap. If someone decrypted a letter and then encrypted it again using the formula they had discerned in the process, Eugene would inevitably notice. Yet the encryption magic on Kristina's letters had never changed, not even once.

"... Still, I cannot be certain the cardinal has not discovered that those letters were sent to you through Rohanna."

Kristina murmured, shaking her head.

"Didn't you say she was a friend you trusted?"

"She is indeed the only friend I have kept in contact with since leaving the convent. But the cardinal may have been watching her as well."

"Your adoptive father is pretty obsessive."

"... As you can see, I have been special since childhood."

Her resemblance to Anise alone would have drawn attention, and she had become a candidate for sainthood besides. Or perhaps the cardinal had adopted her with that future already in mind. The fact that Kristina was this generation's only candidate, combined with her extraordinary resemblance to Anise, gave Eugene much to think about.

'I don't know exactly how it works. But Kristina said she learned I was the Hero through a revelation, too.'

The Pope or a cardinal bearing stigmata could have received a revelation about the birth of a saint. In another country, perhaps not, but in this Holy Empire it was plausible enough.

"... Are you displeased?"

"About what?"

"That I did not tell you beforehand."

"If I were really upset, I wouldn't have boarded this train in the first place. I'm not an idiot. I had a rough idea the moment you suddenly suggested going to the Trechian diocese."

"... But..."

"Why? Should I jump off now? Or get off at the next station? Would that make you feel better?"

Kristina had no answer to his smiling question.

"... I do not know."

She herself did not know what the right answer was. She thought of Cardinal Rogeris, whom she had known since childhood.

"... If you decide to get off at the next station, I will not stop you. Everything I have done has been discourteous. It amounts to forcing you to accompany me."

"The more I watch you, the more exhausting you seem."

"... Pardon?"

"You kept your mouth shut until now because you needed that excuse, didn't you? If I'd boarded after hearing everything, you'd have no excuse left."

Forgetting to answer, Kristina stared blankly at him.

"And if I'd heard the reason from the beginning and refused to go, that would be that. What could anyone do if I didn't want to? But the cardinal would think I was a rotten little bastard. Someone went to the trouble of asking to see me, a cardinal no less, and some wet-behind-the-ears brat turned him down flat."

"... That is..."

"That's why I say you're exhausting. Your excuse isn't for you. It's for me. You made a mistake, you were rude, so I left halfway there... That protects my position and puts all the blame on you."

Sometimes, Kristina could not believe the young man sitting before her was three years younger than she was.

"Do you really need to prepare such elaborate excuses for me? Is something going to happen if I meet your adoptive father? Is Cardinal Rogeris plotting to beat me up and steal the Holy Sword?"

"... That... That is not it. Surely that could never happen. This is simply about my... personal feelings..."

"What feelings?"

Visibly flustered, Kristina lost control of her expression. Her trembling hands gripped her knees.

"... I am afraid."

"Of what?"

"... That Cardinal Rogeris... might tell you... unnecessary things about me..."

What was that supposed to mean?

Eugene could not even ask. He merely blinked, so unexpected was her answer.

"... Well... you don't mean stories about wetting the bed as a kid... or anything like that, do you?"

"Of course not. What I dread and fear is not that... It is the possibility that Cardinal Rogeris might try to impose upon and distort the bond I wish to form with you."

"The bond you want with me is the bond between Hero and saint, right?"

"What else could it be?"

"Then wouldn't that be the same bond Cardinal Rogeris wants?"

"... I am the saint. I am the one who will form a bond with the Hero, with you. Our first meeting came through God's revelation, and that was how I became the saint."

Kristina could not fully understand her own words. Fear and revulsion buried in her subconscious tangled her emotions. She did not want Cardinal Rogeris to meet Eugene. She did not want their bond damaged.

... Was that all? Was she not simply afraid of being disappointed? She had heard stories of the Hero since childhood. In the faith of Light, the Hero was the Incarnation of Light. Wherever the Hero was, there was only brightness.

The Trechian diocese. After being adopted and leaving the convent, she had lived there for ten years, until becoming Auxiliary Bishop of Alcarte. As befitted a diocese governed by a cardinal, it was peaceful and quiet.

But not for Kristina. Through revelation, she had felt God's presence. She had seen Eugene draw the Holy Sword before her eyes. In that way, she had come to truly feel the Hero's existence, too.

That Hero.

In the Trechian diocese.

While I am submerged in the Spring of Light.

"... I..."

In response to Eugene's suspicions, she had monitored the cardinal's activities and looked carefully around the Holy See whenever she visited.

All of it had given Kristina a twisted sense of fulfillment. A small rebellion. Even if it achieved little, the act itself had satisfied her.

It was the same now. As she prepared an excuse for Eugene, Kristina hoped he would get off at the next station. If he truly did, Cardinal Rogeris would be disappointed in her, and she would derive a little satisfaction from that.

Yes, that was all. Kristina ignored the emotions spreading through her subconscious.

"... I apologize. The pressure of what lies ahead seems to have briefly clouded my judgment. Please pay it no mind."

Mer kept stealing glances at Kristina's reflection in the window. It was that obvious something was wrong. Eugene watched her through narrowed eyes, but she said no more. As though declaring she wanted no further conversation, she reopened her Bible and began to read.

"... A bond, huh."

Eugene snorted and propped his chin on his hand.

"Personally, I prefer a bond between two people over one between a saint and a Hero."

"..."

"It's much deeper and stronger."

Vermouth was the Hero, but to Hamel, he was simply that insufferable Vermouth.

Senya was an archmage, but to Hamel, she was simply that violent, foulmouthed Senya.

Moron was Bayar's great warrior, but to Hamel, he was simply that idiot Moron.

Anise was a saint, but to Hamel, she was simply that drunken, sly, snakelike Anise.

To all of them, Hamel must have been the same. An idiot, a son of a bitch, a moron, and any number of other choice descriptions, but ultimately...

Just Hamel.

That was the bond the five of them had shared three hundred years ago.

Eugene—Hamel—was certain of it.

* * *

The train did not reach the Trechian diocese until nightfall.

Though it was night, the sky was only faintly dark, and the ground blazed with light. He had noticed it through the window even while approaching from a distance... This city had far too much light. Most of its buildings were white, making the streetlamps lining every road seem even brighter.

"Quite the excessive welcoming party."

Eugene snorted as he looked outside.

Kristina could not smile. She stared out the window with a rigid expression. Black military caps, red robes, black uniforms. In Yuras, only Maleficarum's inquisitors dressed that way.

They were not the only ones who had come to meet them. Holy knights wore matching pure-white uniforms, the opposite of Maleficarum's attire.

A red cross spanned the center of each uniform's chest. These were the Blood Cross Knights, under the Holy See's direct command. Elite members of Yuras's two most powerful military organizations had come to greet them right at the station.

At last, the train came to a complete stop and the doors opened. An inquisitor and a knight, already assigned to the task, boarded.

"Let me tell you in advance."

Footsteps approached. Eugene turned toward the aisle and crossed his legs.

"Make that grinding noise, and I'll beat the shit out of you."

A military cap. A neat black bob beneath it. A metal mask.

Hemoria narrowed her red eyes and glared at Eugene.