My vision is blurry. Alueno blinked his eyelashes to disguise the heat building up in his eyelids.

　This is exactly the kind of vision you get when you open your eyes underwater. The world trembles and shimmers haphazardly in the moisture. The scene is so unsteady that it seems as if the world is not of this world at all.

　When he was a child, he couldn't help but wonder about it, and he remembered peeking into the water many times. He felt as if the water was a gateway to another world.

　It was the same now. My vision wavered, and the view from the carriage window felt like another world.

　Alueno's large, golden eyes grew as hot as his eyelids. A dull ache crawled from the core of his head, intermittently seeping through his entire brain.

　Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. Lugis, the childhood friend who had grown up with Alueno, lived with him, and promised to see him again. And now he was within arm's reach of me as I ran out of the carriage.

　Yet, Alueno's legs are stuck as if they were iron bars, and his throat is convulsing, unable to even speak.

　In accordance with the revelation of Artius, the God of the Great Sacred Church, he arrived at the mercenary city of Belle Fain.

　When he first heard that the great sinner Lugis might have set foot there, Alueno's heart jumped up in his body in two ways.

　One was the overflowing joy that he might be able to see his childhood friend Lugis again in this city. And the other is that if the childhood friend is really under the command of the heraldry, what should I do?

　If Lugis is an enemy of the Great Sacred Church, how should I, a candidate for the Great Sacred Church's saint, act? Should I be an enemy or should I be a childhood friend? I don't know why I should even ask her if she is under the command of the heraldry.

　I don't know. Really, there's so much I don't know.

　It is possible that all of the fears you have had in your heart are unfounded, and if you go to the Garleist Kingdom, you may find Lugis still showing up at the orphanage.

　Therefore, Alueno decided to go and see the person who resembled the Great Sinner. If that person was the Lugis he knew, no matter what his position was, Alueno intended to tell Mordo, the Lord of Belle Fain, that he had been mistaken, that he had been mistaken.

　--It's all a misunderstanding, a mistake. He is not a great sinner.

　Well, if Lugis was a great sinner, it would be an act of betrayal against the Great Saints without a doubt. As a candidate for sainthood, as a member of the Great Saints, it would be unacceptable.

　However... If your childhood friend belongs to the heraldry, there is no doubt that it is for some reason.

　At the very least, the person Alueno knew as Lugis was not the kind of person who would commit a great sin on his own. There was no sign of such a thing anywhere in his mind.

　Besides, he had said that he would become a great adventurer and come for him.

　Therefore, Alueno thought, if the so-called Great Sinner and his childhood friend were the same person, it must be due to someone's malice.

　And if that is the case, I must reach out and save Lugis. In the past, but now I'm not just a little girl. As a candidate for the High Priestess, I can at least help him. If I'm successful, I might even be able to save his life.

　That's what I was thinking in the carriage on the way. Alueno's thoughts were abandoned by the scene in front of him, and he only felt his eyes shaking and his cheeks distorting.

　In the sparsely populated main street of Belle Fain, there was his childhood friend.

　I missed him. The mere sight of her made me feel a sense of relief. I was so nostalgic that my heart felt as if it would burst. When my eyes first caught sight of her, I was relieved, and the breath I had been holding in my chest overflowed.

　The face of Lugis, which I hadn't seen in a long time, had become somewhat more fearless. If you're looking for the best way to get the most out of your business, you're going to have to look at the best way to get the most out of your business.

　If only Lugis hadn't embraced a woman whose name and appearance he didn't know.

　Her eyelids were hot. Alueno's lungs and throat constricted as if something was tightening them, making it difficult to breathe.

　Who was that? Why is Lugis hugging her? And why is she in Belle Fain?

　I don't know. I don't know anything. I don't want to know anything.

　My footing is shaky. There was a shudder that crept up from his heels.

　Thoughts were melting away in Alueno's head. His emotions flickered, and his brain forcibly processed the facts in front of him without his reason taking shape.

　In the midst of this forcible processing, a suspicion slowly sprouted from the muck that had accumulated in my chest. I don't want to think about it. I don't even want to think about it.

　--Maybe my childhood friend really, really is Lugis, the great sinner of the heraldry.

　I can't be sure. I'm not sure. He might just happen to be here in Belle Fain. There are many possibilities. Perhaps if they had just met in this city, Alueno would have dismissed the whole thing as a coincidence.

　--and so it is. The reason, the reason for being in the heraldry, is that woman, isn't it?

　But the sight of him hugging a strange woman turned speculation into doubt. It's as if the devil has dug his fingers into the muck of your thoughts and is stirring them. Golden eyes twinkled, small.

　I know. Lugis and I are neither lovers nor engaged to be married. We may have mimicked each other when we were children, but let's face it, Rougis and I are nothing more than childhood friends. So he is free to have any kind of relationship with any woman he wants.

　Alueno's jaw ached. It was only then that he realized that he was unknowingly clenching his teeth.



　In his mouth, the taste of the confectionary that he had thought of many times during his training in the cathedral spread. It was a parting gift from Lugis, a gift that was a little more expensive than the usual ones, a gift typical of his stubbornness.

　It was a symbol of salvation for Alueno.

　Everyday life in the cathedral was like a sharp blade to the nerves, as loneliness and pain attacked him unceasingly. How many times did he want to break his knees and give up everything? How many times did the memory of Lugis help him in those days?

　If it hadn't been for that memory and promise, I wouldn't have become a candidate for sainthood. Somewhere along the line, I must have been unable to endure the harshness of life, and I must have run away, abandoning everything. And I would have never become anything.

　That's right. Because of what happened that day, because of my promise to Lugis, I was able to endure until today. But now, it's about to leave my hands. Alueno knew that something was about to change in his heart.

　--Watch me next time you see me, Alueno. Maybe you'll be a knight.

　--Well, that's a relief. I'll be waiting for you, Lugis.

　Alueno's mind went back to that last day over and over again. Myself, Mr. Nines, and Rougis. The three of us exchanged jokes, but still promised to meet again, that day.

　My hands were on the window frame of the carriage. He could no longer stand and fell to his knees on the spot. Emotions stomped all over his chest, blacking out the good days.

　No, I've made up my mind, I've made a vow... I swore to be a strong man, to keep my promise, to survive the hard days in the cathedral.

　Alueno kept his head down and stared at the wet floor of the carriage. It didn't seem to stop, and it was gaining momentum.

　--How could you have led me to this land, O God? If there was no knowing, there would be no suffering.

　Alueno was no longer sure whether it was a prayer to God or a complaint. However, the memories came back in his mouth.

　Oh, that confectionery was so good...