Chapter 38
After being satisfied by having Chiharu sit on his lap, Aeris returned to the mansion . Chiharu and Maki were so small and cute . He would meet them again tomorrow . But in any case, there were people he needed to talk to in order to vent his frustration .
“Edwy! Grudo!”
“What? Aeris, you disappeared before we were finished . You too, Edwy . Think of your elders a little . It is hard work dealing with important people . ”
Grudo said quietly .
“Grudo, we are nearly the same age . And that’s not what I want to talk about!”
“Aeris, I know . But that can wait . ”
Edwy stopped Aeris with a hushed voice .
“Well then, good night . Thank you for that wonderful dinner . ”
Grudo said . Kaider and Nyran had already left, and so Grudo and Aeris had been left to do all the social niceties themselves .
“These young people! Especially that Kaider!”
Grudo grumbled as Aeris led him to the room he had been given . Once they were inside,
“Grudo, you knew about it?”
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“About what?”
“Maki and Chiharu . ”
Grudo suddenly looked uncomfortable and became silent . So he did know! Aeris was about to unleash his fury when,
“I’m sorry! I couldn’t tell you, but I actually lost sight of Maki and Chiharu from the beginning…”
Grudo said sadly .
“What do you mean?”
“I knew that they would slip out of the castle, and so I sent guards to watch them . But they never saw them leave . They ended up contacting me and saying that the Saintesses didn’t escape . It seems that the birdfolk knew about it, but I decided not to tell you, as you would just be worried . ”
“Grudo, you…”
“Edwy, don’t look at me like that . The thing is, I never was all that worried about Maki and Chiharu . Why should I be? Seeing as how cheerful they looked . And they headed to the dwarf country . We like to take care of people . ”
Then who was that man they had met in Noir? Maki and Chiharu regretted being so anxious about him when they heard about this later .
“So you didn’t know either, Edwy?”
“I found out yesterday . I figured it out when I saw them flying with Sauro and Saikania . ”
“What do you mean?”
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Grudo asked with a puzzled expression .
“Maki and Chiharu . They’ve been working as helpers for the cook . They’ve been traveling with us ever since we left the capital . ”
“My goodness…”
Grudo’s mouth dropped open .
“He-hehe-hehehehe . That is brilliant! That is wonderful! How lively they are! This generation’s Saintesses! Hahaha!”
He held his stomach as he burst into laughter .
“That Sauro . And you too Grudo . Why can’t you think about things more seriously? What were you going to do if something happened to them? Damn it . ”
“I agree with Aeris . I was so worried that I didn’t know what I would do . How could you have been so calm?”
“Though, it did seem like they had been perfectly fine . ”
Edwy and Aeris both sighed .
“So, we have to decide what to do now . ”
“They want to continue to travel to Gromble as the cook’s helpers . ”
“Oh, well that is very amusing . ”
“Grudo, stop it . Still, it is true that the whole operation will turn into chaos if they are suddenly revealed . ”
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“I have not heard of anyone trying to target the Saintesses yet . We should let them do as they please . ”
After deciding this, they all sat down . They had been talking so frantically that they had remained standing up until now .
“Still…”
Grudo scratched his chin as he continued .
“Aeris and I have both lived for three hundred years, and yet I have never seen the miasma grow thinner this quickly . ”
“I don’t remember how many Saintesses I have seen come and go, but none of them were as lovely as Maki and Chiharu . But then again, the threat of the miasma has never been so strong as now . ”
“That’s just your own personal taste . All the past Saintesses were gentle and quiet but wonderful people . ”
“That’s easy for you to say, because all the past Sainesses liked you, Grudo . But they never took to elves and beastkin . I was never able to find out if they were wonderful people or not . ”
Aeris answered . Both of them had lived for a shockingly long time . Saintesses were usually summoned at the age of twenty . Even if they lived long, it would only be an additional sixty years more or less . Edwy listened with interest and wondered how many generations they had witnessed .
“Arthur told me . That time when Chiharu had a terrible shock about the creation of the magic gems, he became curious and had people look into it . Saintesses create those stones . Everyone knows it, and no one questions it . ”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that in spite of there being two Saintesses, the stones were being created at too fast a pace . ”
“I see . ”
Aeris took out the stones that Chiharu had given him .
“This much since the last time . Even though they are in a place where the miasma is thicker, they are creating one stone a day at this rate . ”
“That’s impossible . ”
Grudo muttered .
“The last Saintess only made one a year . And the Saintess before her made one every few years . ”
“So then…”
“It is possible that Maki and Chiharu have created enough stones for a lifetime . That’s what this means . ”
“Preposterous . We don’t even understand what kind of strain it puts on them! The lifespan of a Saintess is the same as other humans . But that is only when they made stones slowly in the human territories!”
Aeris began to feel a little anxious .
“While I am worried about Maki and Chiharu, isn’t this only because the miasma is thicker now?”
“Indeed . The dungeons are brimming with monsters as well . That has never happened before . And there are supposed to be more human Adventurers that go there now since the railway has opened… There are more people fighting, and yet it is not enough . ”
“Grudo . Maybe there are more magic stones coming from the dungeon as well?”
“Perhaps . Yes . I will have to find out . ”
Two Saintesses . If there was a meaning behind it, and it wasn’t by a whim of God…
The three of them hoped that this meaning would at least be kind to Maki and Chiharu .