HRB 77

The weather turned sharply colder. This year, winter was particularly long. Usually, such a cold and harsh climate would bring complaints, but this winter, people’s faces were full of smiles.

How could they not be, with the Demon King’s army, which had tormented them for ten years, gone?

Of course, remnants remained, but there was no need to remind those who had just grasped peace of that fact.

“Ugh, cold.”

As always, Augustine woke up before dawn and diligently greeted the morning, shivering. He thought he had dressed warmly, but today the weather felt ominous.

He decided to warm up lightly in the morning and then perhaps visit Eddie’s Inn, which he had been frequenting lately.

These days, Augustine was one of the best regular customers at Eddie’s Inn.

Once he went, he stayed as long as time allowed, and he had already conquered most of the menu.

And Augustine thought that the people at the inn liked him.

Eddie, the Owner, always gave him extra service whenever Augustine came, and Sebastian, a staff member who strangely smelled of garlic, jumped up and down the first day he saw Augustine, almost breaking through the ceiling, and got Augustine’s autograph on his back.

And Ketron.

“…….”

Hmm, Augustine stroked his chin.

That guy was somehow strange. For some reason, he had caught his eye from the first time he saw him, and he felt strangely familiar.

Even though the day they met at the inn was definitely their first encounter.

It was a bit funny to remember people by their looks, but honestly, if he had seen such a strikingly handsome man even once, it would be hard to forget his face.

His solidly trained body was also impressive for a martial artist, so it would have been even easier for Augustine, who was a natural-born warrior, to remember.

…But why was it definitely a face he was seeing for the first time?

He was familiar yet unfamiliar, and unfamiliar yet so familiar. Even the energy of his body felt like something he had seen somewhere before.

But it really was a face he didn’t have in his head. Nothing even vaguely came to mind, a blank slate.

However, he felt hesitant to bluntly ask, “Do I know you? Have we met before?”

The image of that face, which had burst into tears on the first day, came to mind, and he felt an inexplicable sense of guilt. Of course, he didn’t know why.

He didn’t know.

No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t find the answer. Augustine had no choice but to bury this unknown dissonance in a corner of his mind.

The day might come when he would dig it up again, but it didn’t seem like now was the time.

Feeling strangely complicated, he sighed, and an familiar figure coming out of the prayer room caught his eye.

Laila. Saint Laila.

Rumors were spreading that she had been visiting the prayer room frequently to seek God, and even though she was the Hero’s fiancée who had returned in triumph, she seemed more troubled than before.

She seemed to have sought God early in the morning again today, but her face didn’t look very refreshed as she left the prayer room, as if she hadn’t gotten the answer she wanted.

“Saintess.”

And that was a sight that the nosy Augustine could never ignore.

Laila, who had been looking at the ground, startled and raised her head at the voice calling her, and then reflexively smiled when she recognized Augustine.

“Hello, Augustine. May God’s blessings be upon you.”

Augustine also replied, “May God’s blessings be upon you.”

Normally, that would be the extent of their polite exchange.

But Augustine exercised his unique nosiness.

“You don’t look well. Is something wrong?”

“What could be wrong? As long as God watches over me, I will have no trials.”

Laila gave a textbook answer as if she were saying a set phrase, as if she had heard similar things many times recently.

The naturalness of her reply, as if she had heard similar things a lot recently, made Augustine even more uneasy, and he groaned.

But you look like you’re having a trial right now.

Augustine thought so inwardly, but he didn’t make the mistake of saying it honestly. They weren’t that close.

Being able to get along with everyone was Augustine’s strength, but even so, the other person was a Saintess. He couldn’t act too casually towards a Saintess, who was a precious figure even in the temple.

Then he should just let it go, but he couldn’t help but notice her gloomy appearance.

Perhaps because of his unique nosiness, Laila’s gloomy face was like a speck of dust in his eye, and he couldn’t easily glance at her and leave.

This nosy personality had gotten him involved in all sorts of incidents. Someone had even nagged him like this…

‘Stop meddling in other people’s business. You’re just making me suffer too.’

…But who said that?

Lately, whenever a vaguely empty memory came to mind, Augustine frowned at the familiar headache that came with it.

“Where are you going, Augustine?”

Laila spoke to him as Augustine pressed his forehead with his hand.

It was a blatant change of subject, but there was no reason not to respond, so Augustine shrugged and was about to reply. He was going to exercise.

But Augustine stopped himself just as he was about to open his mouth.

…Wait a minute.

Augustine’s schedule today was simple. Like the past few days, he would finish his morning exercise and then visit Eddie’s Inn.

He would have a fun conversation with Ketron, who he felt like he was getting closer to, and eat delicious food. It was very simple.

It was a routine that had been making him particularly happy lately.

Besides, wouldn’t delicious food usually alleviate some of the gloom? At least it did for Augustine.

“Saintess, do you have any special plans today?”

Augustine asked impulsively. Laila tilted her head, as if wondering why he was asking.

“There’s a prayer meeting at noon, but other than that, I don’t have any special plans.”

“Ah.”

Augustine made a decision in response to that answer.

He would take this opportunity to get closer to the Saintess.

“Saintess, I’ve been frequenting a place in the capital that’s famous for its unique food lately.”

Augustine looked at Laila, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression as if wondering why he was telling her that, and deliberately made a light suggestion so that she wouldn’t feel burdened.

“Would you like to go with me?”

God had always given her clear answers.

There were no wrong answers there. The people to be saved, the direction in which to use her divine power, even the good neighbors to keep by her side. God had always answered her questions with sincerity.

But at some point, her God stopped giving her clear answers on only one issue.

「The day you regain what you have lost.」

「He, too, will return.」

「But he will not return to your embrace.」

Among those many questions, the closest thing to a correct answer that God had given her was something like this.

Who is the he who is returning? What have I lost? Why won’t he return to my embrace?

God did not answer.

He simply gave her answers like this.

「Child.」

「You will be happy.」

As if telling her to just believe that.

“We’ve arrived, Saintess.”

Laila startled and came to her senses at Augustine’s words.

She had been lost in thought and hadn’t realized that the carriage had already stopped at its destination.

“Oh, I was spacing out. I’m sorry, Augustine.”

Augustine smiled brightly as she apologized for not paying attention to her companion even though they had gone out together. It was a smile that made people feel comfortable.

At the news that Augustine would be accompanying her, the holy knights who were originally supposed to accompany her were not dispatched separately, so Augustine helped her get out of the carriage, and Laila was finally able to look around the place that Augustine had praised so much.

[Eddie’s Inn]

It was a place with a name that was both uninspired and very straightforward.

It was a pub and inn that had recently become quite famous in the capital, and Laila had vaguely heard of the name.

She didn’t know exactly what they sold, though.

“What’s famous here?”

“They sell this and that, but they all sell strange foods that I’ve never heard of.”

Some of them are extremely spicy…

Augustine’s face turned pale for a moment as if he had remembered something, but he soon recovered and gestured with a bright smile.

“Let’s go in.”

At his gesture, Laila opened the door of the inn and went inside.

She didn’t expect much because the image of a typical pub wasn’t very clean, but Eddie’s Inn was very clean both on the outside and inside.

The inside of the inn seemed quiet and not very crowded because it was morning.

At the entrance of the inn, there was a bar-shaped counter, and a man with particularly bright silver hair was seen lovingly stroking the hair of a black-haired man sitting across from him.

The moment Laila saw the black back of the man, whose broad back was all she could see, she froze.

“Welcome.”

The excessively flamboyant face of the silver-haired man, who reflexively raised his head and greeted them at the sound of the door opening, didn’t register in Laila’s eyes at all.

For some reason, she was very concerned about the black-haired man, whose back was all she could see.

“Yo, Eddie!”

Augustine, who had been following Laila, greeted him in a cheerful voice and entered the inn, and the black-haired man, who had been indifferent to whether or not customers came, finally turned around.

Ah.

And the moment her eyes met his, Laila realized what it meant for her heart to drop to the floor.

「The day you regain what you have lost.」

「He, too, will return.」

For some reason, the prophecy that God had given her echoed in her ears.

「But he will not return to your embrace.」

Even the prophecy that had felt so cold and resolute.