Don't Be Holy! - Chapter 6
He couldn’t have touched them, right?
Suddenly, her head spun, and her eyes squeezed shut. A sense of unease wrapped around her body, making her turn sharply. The man followed her, seemingly oblivious, and glanced at the platform. He, not understanding her urgency, casually offered an odd compliment.
“The stones are quite beautiful.”
So, did he touch them or not? Eir advanced on him with a fierce look, grabbing him by the collar.
“You!”
Their faces were close, Eir’s expression twisted in anger, and the man’s face, as smooth and expressionless as ever, was right in front of her.
Words flooded Eir’s mind, ready to burst out.
‘Do you think it’s fine to live like this, rummaging through the house just because you lost your memory? Can you still call yourself the greatest knight of the Divine Empire?’ She wanted to say, but just then, a chill ran down her spine.
The Divine Empire and Albarm had been at war for three years now. And this man, he was the one leading the Divine Empire’s frontlines, chasing witches.
At this crucial moment, the man had opened the door to a room cursed by the grandmother’s ‘spell’. It was a suspicious-looking room, and yet, this man, seeing it, babbled on about how beautiful the stones were. Wasn’t this more than just a loss of memory? Wasn’t this proof that he had become a fool?
“So…… you didn’t touch those beautiful stones, right?”
Her voice trembled with a mixture of weak anger and distant thoughts, filling her chest.
Just as the man was about to speak, someone knocked on the door.
“Eir! Are you home?”
It was Alf, the one who had helped move the man from the forest to here last night. He probably just went on his way last night, but now he had come early, likely because he was concerned.
“The door’s open!”
Eir shouted, loosening her grip on the man’s collar and stepping back to avoid any misunderstandings.
Alf grumbled as he entered.
“I told the village chief we should go together, but he said he was busy and sent me alone. So, how’s the man? Did you get some sleep?”
With his usual mundane worry, Alf stepped inside, but suddenly, he froze, his expression shifting to one of wariness as he noticed the long shadow in the hallway. He hurried inside.
“What’s going on? Could it be…… he’s already up?”
But when he looked up and met Rubel’s eyes, Alf’s words stopped abruptly, and his head dropped as if he had fainted.
“…….”
He touched the stones.
The chilling silence swept across the room.
Eir knew exactly why Alf was acting that way, and her face turned pale. Cold sweat ran down her back, and her body swayed slightly. Meanwhile, Rubel, completely unaware, simply looked at Eir.
“What……?”
What’s going on?
He must have been about to ask that, but just then, Alf raised his head again.
“Oh, how’s your body?”
Then, in a complete shift of attitude, he approached Rubel with a friendly air and threw an arm around his shoulders. Rubel frowned in confusion, looking at Eir, as if wondering if she knew this man.
Of course, she didn’t.
Eir swallowed that thought inwardly.
But now, he was someone she knew.
Because the man had touched the stone.
Her face flushed with the feeling of defeat.
It was the power of the old woman’s spell in this village. It made strangers feel like old friends. The strange part was that it made them accept things on their own, without question.
Alf, under the influence of the magic, had already begun to form his own conclusions about the man’s identity and was starting to believe them.
“So you’re the old woman’s grandson!”
“…….”
“You don’t look anything like her! If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were a complete stranger!”
He then laughed as if it were a funny joke.
Eir clutched her head. Her mind was spinning, and she felt dizzy. Rubel, quietly listening to the sound, seemed to think it over for a moment and then, as if trying to make sense of it, turned to Eir with a ridiculous suggestion.
“Oh, so are we siblings then?”
At hearing his silly remark, Eir collapsed, fainting right then and there.
