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Chapter 78

Seeing How the One Who Saw Us Off Feels. And Asking About the Situation in Madeira

 

Upon entering the reception room, the first thing I noticed was how spacious it is.

 

「First of all, Frederica-san, I wanted to thank you for coming so quickly. Umm… I’m truly delighted that you’ve brought along such reassuring allies from Adria, but regarding Seiris’s… corruption, for the lack of a better word, may I ask what has come of that?」

 

Frederica, who teaches children across the country as one of the administrative members of the church, entrusted the orphanage to a priest of Seiris and returned to my hometown, Adria village.

But not long after she left… the priest of Seiris ran away along with the orphanage’s funds.

 

「I needed help right away too, but I was so surprised when I heard about the situation in Seiris. So, I steeled myself to hang in there and do my best even if I was sleep-deprived for a while.」

 

「Fufu, that’s so like you…」

 

One of the orphans, Eve, was truly a gifted girl.

She just never had the opportunity to show what she’s capable of.

When Sybilla provided that opportunity, Eve the 【Assassin】 honed her skills and ultimately became the final key to defeating the Demon Lord.

 

I relayed these situations.

…Of course, I omitted the various shady incidents like her pickpocket attempt.

 

「An orphan from Seiris orphanage was recruited by a powerful adventurer party!? T-That’s amazing…」

 

「Yes. By the time I arrived, Eve-chan had dressed up properly and become an incredibly powerful level 21 【Assassin】that someone like me couldn’t defeat. And the one who made all of that possible was this lovely Sybilla-chan here!」

 

When the conversation turned to her, Sybilla puffed her chest proudly with her hands on her hips and boasted with a big, smug look on her face.

 

「That’s right, it was all thanks to me! You can go ahead and praise me!」

 

「That sounds so amazing! I have nothing but respect for you, Sybilla-san! You’re just like a Goddess herself!」

 

「Oh, easygoing aren’t you~? I like that! But well, I AM a Goddess after all~!」

 

Sybilla lightheartedly demanded praise, and Ashley went all out in giving her just that.

The way she just brazenly tells people to praise her instead of acting reserved at times like this is so typical of her.

 

「And there you have it, there’s nothing left for me to do there. Eve has become indispensable to the adventurers of Seiris. You could say she has grown independent now and no longer needs my guidance.」

 

After saying that, Frederica smiled with a sad look on her face.

 

…It must’ve felt like the girl she thought of as a younger sister or daughter has slipped away from her.

But even so, Frederica is still blessing the girl on her new path.

 

How many others has she raised and seen off like this up until now, I wonder?

 

Ah, right… the four of us childhood friends were among them as well. Even though Frederica was traveling to various places for some time, I think she was in Adria for a relatively long period. When she saw us off back then, she was probably making the same expression she’s making now. Perhaps even more lonelier.

 

Even so, Frederica still saw us off with a smile on her face and waved her hand on the day of our departure.

……She’s truly a strong woman.

 

「Seiris branch becoming independent, huh? Well, it is the ultimate goal of the church for the children to earn their own money after all, so that’s wonderful.」

 

「Yes… you’re right. It’s a wonderful thing indeed. By the way, I was only planning to go alone here today, but Sybilla-san made a decision to come with me on the spot, and I ended up coming together with the three of them.」

 

「Sybilla-san, you’re so amazing it’s hard to believe you’re an orphan. Are you sure you’re not actually someone important, or a scholar from somewhere?」

 

「Well, I think of myself as a Goddess, but as you can see, I’m just a beautiful, run-of-the-mill young mage who doesn’t know her parents.」

 

「She genuinely calls herself a beauty, and it doesn’t even come off as obnoxious, because she really is that beautiful, honestly…」

 

She casually said she thought of herself as a Goddess, despite knowing better than anyone that she’s the real deal.

How cheeky… but coming from Sybilla, it’s not that strange she would say something like that without second thought.

 

「Well, that’s our situation. I took a quick look around the town, but it wasn’t this gloomy before, was it? I wonder what happened.」

 

Frederica cut to the chase and asked about the situation in the town.

When she heard that question, Ashley sighed and slumped over the desk.

 

「Please listen to this, Frederica-san~…it’s been so tough for me lately, you know…」

 

「Alright, alright. I’ll listen to all your complaints tonight, okay? Right now, everyone’s here, so let’s be serious.」

 

「……Okay, understood.」

 

Ashley must have been enduring a lot of stress because her voice faltered for a moment before she sat back up and began to talk about the situation in the town.

 

「Firstly, as you can see around the town, there’s hardly anyone roaming about. Of course, this isn’t because people have disappeared. They’re simply avoiding going outside.」

 

I felt it too.

There seem to be people inside the buildings in the town.

It didn’t feel like it was only full of elderly people, and in fact, I could hear children’s voices coming from inside some houses.

But there was almost no one going about outside.

 

「One reason might be that there’s a bit of an epidemic going around. It’s just a common cold, so the symptoms are mild, but since it’ll be bad if it spreads, everyone is avoiding going out.」

 

If it’s a disease like a cold, then it’s no wonder no one feels like going outside.

I know I shouldn’t use the magic of the legendary Saint so carelessly, but… it should be fine for me to heal everyone, right?

I’ll ask Sybilla what she thinks of this later.

 

Besides, if the symptoms are mild, then it shouldn’t take long for it to subside… is what I thought, when Ashley continued.

 

「There’s another reason. As of late, monsters keep appearing near the town instead of spawning inside the dungeon.」

 

The answer was surprising, but also convincing.

After all, we were…

 

「Earlier, when we were riding on the carriage on our way here, we were indeed attacked by some monsters.」

 

「Eh!? Frederica-san was… all right, that’s why you’re sitting in front of me right now, right? Umm, was everyone really attacked on your way here?」

 

「That’s right~ If Sybilla hadn’t offered to escort me, I might’ve been killed by that humanoid pig-like monster by now, you know…」

 

Upon hearing the term “humanoid pig”, Ashley’s face immediately grimaced.

 

「Urk… thank goodness you all made it out safely….」

 

「…What’s wrong? Is that monster really that dangerous?」

 

Ashley timidly glanced at Frederica, then averted her eyes with a troubled look as she answered.

 

「I heard that monster likes to tear off women’s clothes… and maybe it’s just my imagination, but I heard they have this strangely perverted face while doing so… And since Frederica-san was there, I thought, you know… wouldn’t she be in danger in more ways than one?… But in the end, help arrived, so nothing strange was done to them…」

 

A lecherous monster who likes to tear off women’s clothes, huh… That’s definitely unpleasant…

Especially with this party, Frederica definitely won’t be the only one being targeted, is’t she?

Yep, I’ll go all out to defeat them myself next time.

 

Emmy looked embarrassed and disgusted, while Sybilla tilted her head with a blank expression.

…Did something catch her attention?

 

「That’s why you see more men doing the shopping instead. We’d like to do the same, but I’m the only staff here, so that’s not possible. At least I will feel safer going out in pairs, even with other women, and I won’t feel as uneasy going out as long as it’s still inside the town. There are also people in white clothing out and about, and they seemed kind of suspicious, which adds another reason why it’s hard to go out.」

 

White clothing… that’s definitely the people of 『Crimson Salvation Church』.

This lined up with the information we heard beforehand and saw with our own eyes.

 

After hearing about Madeira’s current situation, I was able to understand a lot of things.

The town is being plagued by various 『unexplained anxiety』.

The Saint’s magic can cure various illnesses, but something that affects you mentally isn’t one of them.

 

At this point, it seems that Sybilla already has enough information to contemplate, as she now has her finger over her mouth with a serious expression on her face while staring intently at the table.

I can’t come up with any solutions myself, but… I’m sure I can count on my reliable partner to come up with something.

 

Sipping tea that had grown completely cold on the table, I gazed out the window at the cloudy sky.

As I gazed out at the streets of Madeira, which were dim even though it was daytime, I wondered if there was any way to clear the gloomy atmosphere shrouding this town.

 

Ashley led us to a vacant room where we’d be staying.

While it looked like Frederica was still working out the details with Ashley.

Given this was church-related business, unlike dungeon exploration, it doesn’t feel right making a move on my own. It seems Emmy was thinking the same, as I didn’t hear her voice her opinion at all.

In times like this, we should leave it to her.

 

「So, Sybilla, what’s our next move?」

 

「Hmm, I still want some more information, but at least I’ve decided what to do for today and tomorrow.」

 

Hearing that the plan had already been decided, I exchanged glances with Emmy and nodded.

I decided to go along with Sybilla’s suggestion, who held up her finger.

 

「Let’s head to the Adventurers Guild in Madeira. There’s almost certainly an orc extermination quest there. First, we’ll gather the latest intel while hunting them down relentlessly.」