After finishing her conversation with Noel’s father, Elsez walked back to the village square with Noel by her side.
The boy, who had quickly grown attached to her, now spoke to her first without hesitation.
“Then, are you a hero like Henry?”
“No, not yet. But I will be soon.”
Noel’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“How do you become a hero? I want to be one too!”
“Hmm… You just have to eat well, sleep well, and play lots so you grow up healthy. It’s a little hard right now, but you’ll get there.”
“But I want to be a hero soon…”
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
Noel hesitated, then kicked at a stray pebble with a sullen expression.
“…Because I don’t want to run away anymore.”
“Run away?”
“I was with my dad when he lost his arm to the monster. He told me to run first.”
“Oh…”
“I hated running away, even though I knew he was going to get hurt. If I were strong like Henry, I wouldn’t have had to run. I could’ve saved him instead…”
From a father’s perspective, it had been the only choice—a natural, instinctive decision to protect his child.
But for Noel, that moment must have been filled with overwhelming helplessness and guilt.
Elsez wanted to ease his burden. She didn’t want him to grow up feeling rushed to become an adult.
“Noel, when we play card games, we always keep our trump card until the end, right?”
Noel blinked, confused by the sudden change in topic, but nodded obediently.
“You are your father’s trump card.”
“…His trump card?”
“Yep. The strongest card—the one that has the power to win the game. So, instead of running away back then, think of it as stepping back because it wasn’t your turn yet.”
Children shouldn’t have to face danger.
It was the responsibility of adults to protect them and make sure such a world never became their reality.
“That’s why all you need to do is grow up slowly and stay healthy.”
Noel stared at her in a daze before breaking into a bright smile and nodding.
Just as Elsez playfully raised her fist for a bump—
‘…A stare?’
A sudden feeling of being watched made her freeze.
She swiftly scanned her surroundings, but there were only the usual villagers passing by.
‘Was it just my imagination?’
Still feeling vaguely uneasy, she tilted her head—but at that moment, Noel’s small fist gently bumped against hers.
“Let’s be hero friends!”
Elsez let go of her strange feeling and chuckled.
“Noel!”
Just then, the village children playing nearby spotted Noel and Elsez and ran over to them.
As she turned toward them, a shadowy figure that had been silently observing Elsez and Reti vanished into thin air.
****
The next morning, Elsez was having breakfast while updating Astaire on her investigation.
Since she had passed out immediately after washing up the night before, they hadn’t had a proper chance to talk.
“So today, I plan to visit the villagers who were attacked when the dimensional rifts opened. What about you?”
Astaire pushed a glass of milk toward Elsez before answering.
“It’s a small village, and there aren’t that many people involved, so I should be able to wrap up my inquiries quickly. Today, I’ll be with you-”
Just as he was about to finish his sentence—
BANG!
The inn door swung open, and a middle-aged man, seemingly a villager, rushed in.
Out of breath, he asked the innkeeper something before turning his head to follow their gaze.
His eyes landed directly on Astaire, who was sitting at the table.
Sensing the urgency in the air, Elsez and Astaire exchanged glances.
The man quickly approached them.
“Are you the priest?”
“Yes, I am. And you are…?”
The man grabbed Astaire’s arm with a desperate expression.
“Please, help us! There’s been an accident!”
“An accident?”
“The ceiling collapsed during construction… The workers on top fell…”
He was speaking in a frantic rush, barely able to catch his breath.
“Please, I beg you! If we don’t hurry, they might all die!”
In this small rural village, healing potions were scarce due to low demand. Some families kept one or two in case of emergencies, but most couldn’t afford to stock them.
Hearing the situation, Astaire’s expression hardened as he immediately stood up.
Elsez also rose to join them, but Astaire gently held her hand and said,
“Finish your meal and continue your investigation. I’ll take care of this.”
Realistically, Elsez wouldn’t be much help with injured people.
Understanding his reasoning, she nodded.
“Alright. I’ll dig deeper into my end of things. Go on ahead.”
With Elsez seeing him off, Astaire quickly left the inn with the man.
As soon as they were gone, the other guests at the inn began murmuring about the accident.
“Well, with the strongest healer in the world on site, at least there won’t be any fatalities.”
After finishing her breakfast, Elsez headed out to find the villagers involved in the rift attacks.
At that moment, hurried footsteps approached her.
“E-Excuse me!”
A young man—someone she vaguely recognized—called out to her.
She looked at him with curiosity, and he hesitantly stammered,
“Y-you’re investigating the d-dimensional rifts, right…?”
“Yes, I am. Why?”
“I-I just saw a suspicious magic circle in the western forest!”
Elsez’s relaxed expression instantly sharpened.
“The western forest? You mean past the bridge?”
“Y-yes! If y-you don’t know the way, I-I can take you!”
“I know the way, so you don’t need to. It’s dangerous, so I’ll go alone.”
If the magic circle in the western forest was related to the dimensional rifts, then that area was either already overrun with monsters or would be soon.
Bringing a civilian along would only make things more difficult.
Elsez turned toward the western forest, leaving the man behind.
He watched her go with an unreadable expression before turning away.
Then—
“But wait a second.”
The man flinched and spun around. Elsez was looking straight at him, her gaze sharp.
“Where did you hear about a suspicious magic circle?”
“W-what?”
“I don’t think I ever mentioned it to you.”
The only people she had talked to about magic circles were Henry and Noel’s father.
Yet this man somehow knew about it.
Ordinary people wouldn’t even associate magic circles with dimensional rifts.
The man stiffened at her accusation, then stuttered, as if it were his natural way of speaking,
“O-oh, I overheard y-your conversation with H-Henry yesterday at the st-stable. It was j-just a coincidence!”
At that moment, Elsez finally recognized him.
He was the stablehand from yesterday—the one who had been with Henry.
“Eavesdropping, huh…? Not exactly pleasant, but…”
Her suspicions eased.
“Alright. I’ll check out the forest myself. You should warn the others to stay away from that area.”
The man nodded.
Without another word, Elsez crossed the bridge and headed toward the western forest.
Meanwhile…
A group of children playing near the village happened to see Elsez.
“Oh? It’s the lady from yesterday! The one with the talking bunny!”
“Oh yeah, that’s her!”
But after recognizing her, they quickly lost interest and returned to their games.
Only Noel kept watching.
Because he remembered what Henry had told them just a few days ago.
“Stay away from the western forest for now.”
Noel’s eyes wavered anxiously as he watched Elsez disappear into the trees.
****
After checking on the last injured worker at the collapsed construction site, Astaire finally spoke.
“I’ve healed the wounds, but please take it easy for a while. A serious accident like this doesn’t just affect the body—it can also take a toll on the mind.”
“Oh, thank you, Priest! Truly, thank you!”
“It’s a miracle you were in our village just when such a disaster struck. This must be divine luck—divine luck, I tell you!”
The villagers repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Astaire.
Thanks to his swift arrival, they had managed to handle the situation without a single fatality.
“You rushed over here first thing in the morning, but we don’t have much to offer you in return.”
“Shall we send some food to your inn as thanks?”
Astaire smiled gently and waved off their offers.
“There’s no need. I only did what was in accordance with the will of the divine—I did not act for any kind of reward. But I appreciate the thought.”
“Oh my, Priest, you’re not just good-looking, but your heart is as pure as an angel’s too!”
Some of the village women beamed at him with admiration, laughing heartily.
Then—
Boom!
The ground trembled faintly.
A cold wind swept through the air, carrying with it an ominous, spine-chilling presence.
Astaire’s eyes widened as he immediately recognized the sensation.
“That just now…?”
It was the same aura he had felt during the imperial palace incident in the Artes Empire.
The unmistakable presence of the Demon God.
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