I followed Estia and found the official entrance to the stables there, not the training grounds of the War Maiden Holy Knights, which I didn't even know about.
　''Well you went in here, didn't you? Why did Esther have to come to the stables?
　I tilted my head and gently opened the door at the entrance of the stables.

　Since it was nighttime, the stables were dimly lit with only the minimal amount of magic lights on, but the visibility was adequate.
　As I proceeded with my eyes, I saw Estia there, and she seemed to be peering into the stables one by one.
　'Is no one there, including the administrator, Mr. Yambus? Is it just a horse you're looking for? Or are you looking for the Forêt Noir?
　A series of questions came to my mind, but Esther, who had finished peeking into the stable, turned back to us, looking disappointed.

　I hurriedly ducked into an empty stable.
　I checked all the stables once before following Estia, who had left the stables without seeming to notice me, and all the horses were asleep.
　'Did Estia put them to sleep?'
　What was the point of putting him to sleep?
　As I was thinking that far, I saw that Mr. Yambus and his two keepers were asleep at the rest stop.

　'Did Esther put you to sleep?'
　I put on a recovery and decided to wake the three of them up.

　'Huh? Isn't that Master Luciel?
　'Good evening, Mr Yambus. Have you been taking a nap while on duty?
　"...Was I asleep?
　'Yes. You don't remember?
　'Oh my God! Hey, boys, wake up.
　Mr. Yambus woke up the two keepers and went to take a look at the stables.

　''Did Estia put them to sleep or did the Dark Spirit make them do it... even though the Pope told me to bring them here, was it right to bring them, or do we just have to find out what Estia wanted?
　I didn't feel like heading to the Labyrinth of Trials, so I decided to go back to my room after calling out to Mr. Yambas.

When I returned to my room, I was honestly surprised.
''What? Esther, why are you here? For that matter, how do you know this is my room?
　Estia was waiting for me in front of my room.
　When Estia was approached by me, she began to speak as if a little troubled.
''Luciel-sama, I have a favor to ask. Could you please allow me to see that horse again?
"...speaking of that horse, that's Forenoire, isn't it?
'Yes, sir. This is the black horse that Master Luciel rides.
　When he finished, Esther bowed her head.

'I'll be honest with you. I'm wary of Estia.
What?
　He looks up and looks really surprised.
　If this is an act, it means I can't see through the lies all the time.
　

'Even in the Dwarven Kingdom, Estia, there were those who lost their memories of you. And this time, you walked to the stables without hesitation, and there's a conflict of how to treat you about the fact that you walked to the stables without hesitation, or the instructions of the dark spirits, or that you used the power of the dark spirits to put Yambus-san and the other horses to sleep.
　Regardless of the dark spirits helping Esther in her plight, if it is being used in a bad way, a decision must be made.
　The harm to the Pope and other church officials must be removed. The only person who can do that is me, who won't go out of state, and I'm the one who is responsible for bringing Estia here.
　However, Estia showed an unexpected reaction.

''.........Haha~ Luciel and that guy. I'll give you a blessing as well, let me see my sister.
"...What are you talking about? Isn't that Esther?
'You know it's coming, don't you? I borrowed Esther's body to come to you because I wanted to see my sister.
　Unlike earlier, the pressure began to fall on me, not half as much as before.

'A dark spirit? Why would you imitate possessing Esther's body? And I believe it was the real Esther who was talking earlier.
Okay. How do you know so much? It was Esther who was awake earlier.
　Perhaps it was because of the possession of Estia's body, but the voice began to sound double.

''........What is your purpose? What are you talking about, sister? More importantly, what are you trying to get Esther to do.
You ask a lot of questions. Esther is just tired of listening. I led her to the stables and put the shy little girl's shy clan to sleep. I didn't mean any harm.
'It may be trivial on the scale of you spirits, but what you're making Estia do is an act of sabotage to the human race that is performing its duties. Don't you realize that you're pushing Estia to the edge?
All right. I want to see my sister and apologize to her. I'd like to see her like this.
　The dark spirits possessing Estia bowed their heads.
I didn't feel the usual pride that the spirits had, and I felt a bit out of place, but if I integrated what the dark spirits were saying from earlier, there was only one being called a sister.

''So Forenoire is going to be you.......the Dark Spirit's sister?''
Yeah. So do me a favor.
　I invoked Sanctuary Circle, Dispel and Recover without a chant.
'Very thoughtful of you to find out if it's evil.
　The dark spirit that must have possessed Estia laughed inappropriately.

''Well it's not working at all.''
"I'm often misunderstood as a dark spirit, but I'm not an evil being.
Well I guess so.
Please, I need to see my sister.
'This will be futile, but as a spirit, can you swear that you will do no harm to Forenoire?
'I wouldn't do that to my sister I swear.
　For a moment, but trusting the dark spirit who showed a human-like gesture, I took out the hermit's key and opened it, albeit in the corridor, without a care in the world.

'Speak from here. Unless Forenoire wants to leave on her own....
　Before I could tell him everything, Forenoir came out of the hermit's stables and blew Esther's body away.

'Forenoir, calm down. Estia's body is not the same as the dark spirit, is it?
　He remained a little aroused when I quieted him while I stroked his neck, but Forenoire didn't flail about.

'Ugh.'
　If my consciousness returned to Estia now, it was going to be the same thing, so when I heeled, the dark spirit also seemed to have moved to stop Estia from replacing her, and I could see that she was quite exhausted.

　In the next moment, Estia's body manifested with a black light, and Forenoire responded with a white light, and they stopped moving as they stared at each other.

　All I could do was watch.
　I couldn't hear their voices, but I could see that they were talking to each other alone.

"Thank you, my Lord. And I entrust Esther's body to you. I'll show up again when I get my strength back.

　As I said this, Esther fell on me like a thread snapped and I supported her as she fell on me, and Forenoire went into the hermit's stables as well.

'It doesn't make sense to me anymore, but what am I supposed to do?'
　I didn't want to arouse unwanted suspicion, so I remembered that it was Mr. Granhardt's job to take a hearing, so I had no choice but to go to his room and carry Esther to the guest room.


'I could have foreseen that this was going to happen, but ... it's terrible.
　As if to show off the power of the dark spirits, they had to proceed while waking up the twenty or so church members who had fallen asleep in the corridor by the time they reached Granhardt-san's room.
''With this, it's easy to imagine that Granhard-san is also being made to sleep....... It can't be helped, let's take her to Rosa-san's place.''

　When I visited the dining room, I finished cleaning up the dining room and found Rosa and her friends as they were leaving and decided to ask for Esther.

'Excuse me. There's a lot of problems with me taking care of her, so please show me to the guest room.
''Then we'll keep her here. Luciel-sama and the others have a mock battle tomorrow, and you can leave her to us.
　Rosa-san laughed and walked away, carrying Estia in her princess hug.
　I watched Rosa's manly back as I walked away from her.

'Next time I'll invite you to the clothing store again and give you some clothes.'
　Muttering that, I decided to return to my room, this time to my room.
　My mind was filled with thoughts of Forenoir, but I spooned out that I didn't know what to think about it and slept peacefully with the power of the angel's pillow.