#096

“Whoa?”

Arne’s eyes widened. He had never seen this object work directly, so it was understandable.

Kiyen flicked open the lid with his index finger. The round object, made of gold, was not as bright as last time, but it was clearly shining. However, the stars and metal needles were not moving.

“Didn’t you say it only moved on the full moon night?”

“Yes. The next day, when I accompanied Kiyen-nim, it was not moving.”

The stars were pointing west, frozen in the same clump. Kiyen looked at the object intently, then stood up. Arne and Cullen followed him as he abruptly stood.

“There’s only one reason it would react.”

Kiyen, walking with long strides, stopped in front of the room where Cullen had stayed. As he opened the door and entered, the object’s light grew stronger. Kiyen approached the place where Cullen’s other clothes were kept, and the light intensified accordingly.

“Did you put it here?”

“Yes.”

Arne, who had returned after closing the door, asked belatedly.

“Put what?”

“There is a jewel left by Kwanu when he died. They say it is Akesis’s Stone.”

Despite the chaos, Cullen bent down and found the jewel hidden deep within his belongings. However, he did not hold it directly. The curse of Rodiak had reacted immediately when he received it, so Cullen asked Arne to hold the jewel.

“Arne, you must hold it.”

Arne asked back in a frightened voice.

“Uh, it looks incredibly expensive?”

“There are side effects if you touch it due to Akesis’s power.”

When Cullen spoke without backing down, Kiyen tried first. As he reached for the jewel, the stone pushed Kiyen’s hand away, just as it had when he touched the dagger before.

“It is indeed Akesis’s power. The concentration is incomparable to what was in the dagger.”

Arne had no choice but to hold the jewel. Holding the jewel without issue, he began to examine it carefully.

“It’s intricately carved. Could it be a jewel Akesis-nim collected?”

“I don’t think gods collect jewels.”

Arne quickly agreed at Cullen’s remark.

“That’s probably true. They don’t need money……”

Arne said enviously and continued to examine the jewel. When Kiyen brought the object near the jewel, the light of the stars erupted. It was clearly reacting to Akesis’s Stone.

“So, does this object react to Akesis’s power?”

Hearing Arne’s question, Cullen became confused. On the night of the full moon, the stars had guided him west, towards Kwanu. Since Kwanu was said to be a child of Akesis, it was possible.

“It’s not certain. To summarize, the condition for its operation is the full moon, and it clearly reacted to Akesis’s power. If it reacts to all of Akesis’s power, it will react to that woman’s greatsword as well. We’ll know for sure after confirming that.”

“Now that you mention it, we have Ulli’s greatsword.”

Cullen nodded. The fact that Kiyen could do anything struck him anew.

“Arne, you must keep the jewel safe.”

“M-me? I have no power at all… I can carry potato sacks well, but if someone attacked, I’d lose it in a few seconds.”

“We’ll travel together.”

“But I can’t leave Lasano-nim and move…”

Seeing Arne steadfastly asserting his opinion, Kiyen made a decision.

“Let’s tell the temple to let us stay here as well.”

“That seems like the best course of action.”

It seemed safer to stay at the temple, except when necessary, until Lasano woke up, and it would also protect them from any potential attacks by Zarkas.

“Ah, now that I think about it, shouldn’t this object have a name too? It’s always… calling it an object is strange.”

Arne said, pointing at Kiyen’s palm. Cullen agreed.

“You’re good at naming things, aren’t you?”

Kiyen said, looking at Cullen. He was pleased that Kiyen remembered he had named something and seemed to like it. As it was a request Kiyen had made after a long time, Cullen pondered.

“……I’ve heard that sailors use an object to find their direction. Since its use is similar, how about calling it a compass?”

“Ah, that’s good!”

Arne liked it, but Kiyen squinted one eye. He stared intently at Cullen, then turned abruptly and walked back towards the dining hall, adding.

“My name was a stroke of luck.”

……It seemed Kiyen wasn’t entirely pleased. However, since it could also be interpreted as Kiyen’s name being well-chosen, Cullen decided to take comfort in that.

Time flowed quickly as they helped restore the territory. The territory, having regained its stolen spring, was somehow sprouting seeds for reconstruction. It would take a long time, but Cullen thought it would be fine. Moet had been appointed as the successor to Duke Ruffellon.

Many things had happened in the past ten days. The Duke had held a modest funeral for the Young Duke and, along with Cullen, had investigated information about Zarkas.

Starting with questioning the nobles invited to the party, he cooperated as much as possible to provide Cullen with as many clues as he could. The grief of losing a child drove him to move without rest.

The testimonies of the noble heirs were all consistent. The Zarkas side had contacted them first, luring them in by casually offering Cadmium at another social party they happened to attend. Duke Refellon obtained their descriptions and commissioned an information broker.

After that, there was Moet’s enthronement ceremony. Moet’s betrothed, who had been taking refuge at the Grov House, also returned to attend the ceremony.

Currently, Moet was extremely busy with rebuilding the territory and receiving heir training.

“Cullen, please eat!”

Anan waved and called him. Ulli and Arne were already by Anan’s side. Kiyen was nowhere to be seen. He was probably somewhere looking for fruit.

They had been helping to care for the Shapia Tree, one of the duchy’s main crops, for the past three days. Since it was also a source of income for the Elves, Cullen willingly agreed to help them. They had received help, and besides Cullen’s party and Moet, there was no one else interested in rebuilding the Elves’ homeland.

“Is the Dragon killing the fruit again?”

Ulli asked Cullen when she couldn’t see Kiyen. She slumped onto the floor and tore off a large piece of bread prepared by Anan, stuffing it into her mouth.

“Ah, no. Prince Kiyen is actually a great help to plants as they grow. Everyone likes having Prince Kiyen around.”

Anan said that Kiyen’s presence alone had a very positive effect on the plants. Ulli, looking uninterested, quickly finished her bread and reached for the bread prepared for Kiyen.

“Then I’ll eat this?”

Anan glanced at Cullen. Cullen wordlessly handed the bread to Ulli.

“Prince Kiyen doesn’t eat much, so it’s fine.”

“Is that so?”

Anan chuckled and sat beside them. Although she was smiling, she had a noticeably lonely look since Moet’s wife had returned. She gazed in the direction of the Duke’s mansion before turning her head.

“So, when are you leaving, Cullen? It will be very lonely once everyone leaves. Not many humans treat us normally.”

She said with a small laugh, pulling her knees to her chest. Ulli was very weak towards women, so she stopped trying to eat her bread and broke off half for Anan.

“Don’t look so sad.”

“Ahaha, thank you.”

As Anan carefully accepted the bread, Arne offered butter made from goat’s milk. The Elves, like Kiyen, only consumed plant-based foods and milk.

“Won’t they leave when Lasano wakes up?”

Arne said, looking towards the temple. Cullen, watching the two looking in different directions, whispered to Ulli.

“Aren’t you looking towards where the Dragon is?”

“He seems to be enjoying himself, so that’s enough.”

“I’m not enjoying myself. I can’t stay at the temple for long because of Pantal, so I’m alone at the Duke’s mansion.”

While helping with the duchy’s affairs, they conducted two experiments on Akesis’s power.

First, Pantal could not be summoned in the temple. Ulli’s blood didn’t work, and even she, the contractor, complained of fatigue the longer she stayed in the temple. The fact that she felt perfectly fine once she left the temple seemed to be an effect of Akesis’s power.

The second was an experiment with the compass. Following Kiyen’s hypothesis, they brought Ulli’s greatsword and the compass close together. However, the compass did not glow brightly as it had when it touched Akesis’s stone.

With no other way to experiment beyond the faint hum it emitted when near the gem, the party was waiting for the next full moon.

Beyond that, there were only unanswered questions. The exact purpose of the stone, how Zarkas awakened Akesis’s relics, and who exactly carved the murals that looked like myths.

“I have a good feeling about today.”

Arne said with a smile, looking towards the temple. He looked up at the sky where white clouds drifted by.

“Lasano’s wounds have all healed, and he just needs to wake up now. They’ll like it if we tell them how worried we were.”

“I wasn’t worried. We don’t know each other well.”

Ulli said, but Arne just smiled. As they exchanged small talk, Kiyen emerged from between the trees. Green leaves were noticeable in his hair. Seeing that, Cullen smiled softly.

“Prince Kiyen.”

Putting down what he was eating, Cullen stood up and approached him. Kiyen stopped in his tracks, staring intently at Cullen as he approached.

Cullen ran up and stopped in front of him, smiling brightly as he reached out his hand.

“You’ve brought leaves with you.”

One more thing had happened in the past ten days. Or rather, nothing specific had happened.

“Is that so.”

Kiyen nodded at Cullen’s words. Cullen, overwhelmed, gazed at the golden hair that flowed down, brighter than the sunlight, and carefully removed a leaf. The change was very subtle. Kiyen was accepting him again, just like before. Even a little more than back then.

“What trivial thing are you talking about that has everyone laughing?”

“We were talking about how Lasano might wake up.”

As he placed the leaf he had removed onto his palm, Kiyen looked down. Kiyen, who had been staring intently, picked up the leaf instead and placed it on Cullen’s hair. Then, he brushed past Cullen and started walking.

“You may be a priest with no abilities, but you might have foresight.”

“Huh?”

Startled, unable to remove the leaf, he hurried to Kiyen’s side. Kiyen pointed outside the orchard. Looking at the place where nothing could be seen, he said.

“A messenger is coming.”

Kiyen’s words became reality a few minutes later. A priest on horseback slowly approached, then appeared at the edge of the orchard. Judging by his bright expression, it didn’t seem like bad news. Arne jumped to his feet, and Kiyen, looking at the party, opened his mouth expressionlessly.

“It seems the High Priest has awakened.”