Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 222: Childhood Friend - Connection
222. Childhood Friend - Connection
My old friend.
I traveled across the continent searching for you. Even when I returned to our hometown as a priest, you were not there.
In the national cemetery of the Conrad Kingdom, a middle-aged priestess laid flowers down.
Rev.
His name and achievements were inscribed on the tombstone. It recorded that he had sacrificed his life for Lean de Yeriel, King of the Conrad Kingdom, and Lena sighed.
I never thought we would meet like this.
I firmly believed you were living well somewhere, trusting our bond, and that God would guide me to you. But here you are, buried in this place. Your name is engraved in a corner of the war-torn kingdom.
This too must be God’s guidance.
Telling me to stop wandering and to settle down and take care of this ravaged kingdom... You were buried here to send me this message.
Lena lifted a bronze goblet.
As she poured a pointless blessing on the grave of the friend she could never meet again, she awoke from her sleep.
Disoriented.
She quickly sat up and wiped the sweat away, realizing it had all been a dream. The narrow house of her hometown. Her parents were asleep nearby.
Snoring echoed through the one-room house, the tired snores of parents worn out from work.
Lena looked at them affectionately for a moment, then quietly got up and dressed. Careful not to wake her parents, she stepped outside in the pre-dawn darkness.
“Phew!”
Lena inhaled the dark morning air. Scratching her head, still dazed by the vivid dream, she turned her steps.
She had woken up too early. If she pulled weeds in the garden, her mother would have breakfast ready when she returned.
Lena walked out of the village along the dark path. Her family was so poor that even their tiny garden was outside.
For Lena, who wanted to become a priest, this was a disappointing environment. The capital church was a distant dream, and the harsh world confined the teenage girl to the village. No matter how much she studied with Brother Leslie’s help, her chances of becoming a priest were as slim as their small garden.
A girl in this situation might have shed tears in the dark garden. But Lena...
“Ugh!”
She pulled out the weeds with determination. Sniffing in the brightening east, she thought,
‘Don’t make excuses. No whining.’
This is a study I started because I liked it.
Whether she could become a priest or not, there was no regret in doing something she enjoyed.
Lena uprooted all the weeds and turned back with the brightening east. She felt an intense desire to study more than ever.
So today...
*
When he woke up late, his father had already gone hunting. Rev lazily got up and said,
“Mom~ I’m hungry.”
“Oh my, sleeping in? Wait a moment. It’s good timing. I was about to go out, so let’s eat together.”
Rev ate with his mother.
As always, he complained that the food was bitter. His mother responded, “It has herbs in it, it’s good for you!” It was a familiar routine, the daily life he remembered from the past.
Their conversation was trivial.
The garden had bugs, and she wished her son would help catch them instead of running around with Lena, or they needed to borrow some Belplua flour (a substitute for wheat flour).
“What are you going to do today? If you have no special plans, you could...”
“I’m going to the mountains. We didn’t pick many berries yesterday, so I’m going again with Lena.”
“Huh? Lena went to the bakery. She went to pick herbs this morning.”
“Huh? Why? The weather... it’s clear.”
His mother shrugged.
Lena, who liked to work outside, wouldn’t go to the bakery unless it was a cloudy day. Puzzled, Rev finished his meal and followed his mother to the bakery. It was the only bakery in the village of Demos, run by Hans’s mother.
“Sister, you’re here?”
“Yes, sister. Have you baked the bread yet?”
“I’m here too.”
“Come in. You’re here to see Lena?”
Hans’s mother warmly welcomed Rev and his mother. Lena was kneading dough in the kitchen.
“Lena, I’m here. Why did you come here instead of picking berries?”
“Oh, I’m tired. I’m just working here today and then heading to the churChapter It would be too late if I went to the mountains.”
“Why? Today is a weekday.”
“Just... to study.”
Lena, giving short answers, turned her attention back to the dough. She sprinkled finely chopped herbs into the well-kneaded dough and kneaded it vigorously. Only after the dough turned green and she sprinkled it with flour did she rest her sore arms.
“Take this to the oven.”
“...Nothing’s wrong, is it?”
“There’s nothing wrong! Why is it such a surprise that I’m going to church on a weekday? I know I’ve been lazy lately~”
Rev looked at Lena, who seemed to have made up her mind, with a complicated expression. But there was nothing he could do, so he quietly listened to her chatter.
While Lena was kneading the dough, Rev took care of various small tasks. His mother and Hans’s mother were busy experimenting with new recipes.
Eventually, it was lunchtime, and Lena received bread as her wages.
“You don’t have to give me this much...”
“It’s fine. It’s a new recipe, so try it and let us know how it tastes. You worked hard.”
“Thank you. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Rev followed Lena outside.
Excited by her generous pay, Lena chattered about going to the church, while Rev quietly turned his head at a faint “tch” sound.
Hans was standing in the corner of the bakery. He turned away before Rev could catch his eye, leaving Rev staring at his back with a heavy heart.
We misunderstood. Hans was actually...
“Rev!”
“Huh? What?”
Lena's voice snapped Rev out of his thoughts. She handed over the armful of bread she was carrying and said,
“If you have nothing else to do, take this to my house. I'm going to read some books.”
She meant that she was going to study and that he should find something else to occupy his time.
Rev pouted, sticking his lip out dramatically, and quickly took the bread to Lena’s house. Then he headed to the church.
Lena was sitting near a sacred relic in the church, reading a book. Brother Leslie was teaching her, and Rev stood awkwardly, watching Lena study. After a while, Brother Leslie expressed his admiration.
“Excellent. You can stop reading ‘Theological Inquiry of the 6th Saint, Willard Boffman.’ I thought it would take you a couple more months to get through it... Well done. Wait a moment.”
Brother Leslie went to his room and brought back a thick book.
“Epistemology of Tigoroft.” Realizing that Lena’s Level had surpassed the basics, he brought out a book he had studied at the capital church.
“What you’ve been studying so far is just an introduction. They are fundamental but not deep. From here on, you’ll learn not just to believe in God but how the creatures should perceive Him. There are various approaches, and surpassing this will allow you to taste the essence of theology, ‘The Yoke of the Creatures’ and ‘The Responsibility of the Creatures.’ Let’s start with the preface.”
“The human mind has a special mission in certain types of cognition. Because reason originates from God, it cannot be denied, and it transcends self-awareness, being plagued by unanswerable questions...”1)
Lena read the preface in a clear voice. Brother Leslie interrupted her now and then to explain a sentence or a paragraph, but Rev couldn’t grasp any of it.
Feeling out of place, Rev eventually wandered outside. He wanted to be with Lena, but he didn’t want to disrupt her studies.
Lena must have had a dream. Judging by her newfound determination...
Sighing, Rev returned home and grabbed a leather bag.
He picked wild berries and brought them to Lena’s house, then stopped by the bakery daily. Lena worked there until lunch and then went to the churChapter Rev decided to be content with spending time with her at the bakery this round.
I need to send Lena to the capital churChapter I have tasks to complete.
- “Do you want me to become a priest, or not?”
At least he wouldn’t have to face this uneasy question anymore. He planned to leave after seeing Lena off to the capital church.
‘Oh, right. I need to use the mirror... Hmm. Better not do it now.’
Rev calculated the dates. There was no rush, and doing it too soon might cause unforeseen problems.
A few days later, at night, while sleeping soundly, Rev was startled awake by a voice calling him.
“Hey!”
The window opened without permission. Lena, silhouetted against the moon, looked down at him with a pale face.
*
“Tell me that story again.”
Lena had rudely awakened her friend from his sleep, demanding answers.
She had had a horrifying dream.
With a grand church in the background, Rev was emaciated and frail. When he raised his hand to greet the friend who had come to the capital church, something dreadful entered her mind and whispered.
- Do not be afraid.
It was something like a snake. The sticky scales seemed to wrap around her brain, rendering her immobile.
The tongue that licked her as if savoring her was chilling. Worse, she felt herself merging with that entity. Hatred for the gods and an uncontrollable madness engulfed her.
She woke up at that moment.
As a filthy priestess of the main god plunged a burning royal scepter into her chest like a blazing sun, she screamed and woke up.
“What’s wrong?”
Her parents asked in alarm, and she replied, “I had a nightmare.” She went outside under the pretext of getting a drink of water, and remembered Rev’s strange story from a few days ago. He had said he became an apostle of the evil god Barbatos. That Barbatos had transferred to her.
It was an unbelievable story.
Though he had spoken in a serious tone, it was so outlandish that she preferred to think he was joking.
However...
“What... what is it?”
“Hurry up and come out.”
Lena urged Rev, who was still groggy from sleep. She anxiously tapped on the window until he finally came out, his clothes put on backward.
“The story you told me the other day. Is it true?”
“...I told you it was true.”
“Was it just a dream or something?”
[ Achievement: Twenty Photos – Lena occasionally recalls past events faintly in dreams. ]
Rev remained silent.
His expression was bitter, his face showing the weight of years. He pulled out a blue necklace and answered,
“No. If it were a dream... this wouldn’t exist. I couldn’t show it to you last time, but wait a moment.”
Rev went to get the mirror.
It was a plain mirror without decoration. They leaned against the wall and sat down.
Soon, Lena was shocked. The mirror reflecting them began to glow like the moon, and an unfamiliar young man appeared in it. He had blond hair and golden eyes.
[ Achievement: Bound Items, 2/3 ]
[ Sword – Indestructible. ]
[ Mirror – Beggar Siblings. ]
[ Necklace – A pretty necklace. ]
“Lean, it’s me.”
Was he around their age? He had a very amiable appearance, though his hair was tousled as if he had just woken up. He looked around the mirror in confusion before speaking.
“How did Lerialia... Ah, you learned our names. But what happened? What is this? How can we use it?”
His voice was clear. Lena thought she was still dreaming.
1) Footnote: Adapted from the preface of
Critique of Pure Reason
(Immanuel Kant, 1781).
Chapter 222: Childhood Friend - Connection
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