“Who… is what now?”
“Hm? I’m talking about Brukisel. He’s kind-hearted and gentle, isn’t he?”
“…”
Jes gulped down his saliva. He had no interest in what the past Emperor was like. He was just deeply worried that the High Priest, who had a terrible misunderstanding about the Emperor, might approach him ignorantly and get hurt for no reason.
“High Priest.”
Discussing anything about the Emperor carried great risk. However, Jes gathered his courage and decided to tell the High Priest the truth.
“The Emperor… is a man famous for his cruel temperament. The violent suppression he showed in the process of devouring the entire continent will be condemned even hundreds of years from now.”
He was a madman who enjoyed war. As if he couldn’t bear not to stain his sword with blood even for a single day, he started dozens of large and small wars as soon as he became Emperor. The cries of refugees who lost their homeland because of him still rang clear in Jes’s ears.
“That’s not all. He’s a man who, to achieve his goals, would cut down even his kin without hesitation.”
“Lord Jes…”
Yan tried to stop Jes, as if asking whether it was alright to talk about such things. However, the eyes visible between the bushy white beard looked fierce, so he closed his mouth again.
“Brukisel… killed all his siblings and parents and ascended to the throne himself. Even if he saved the High Priest’s life in the past, that…”
“Was simply a whim?”
“…Yes. That is what I believe.”
“I see.”
Rou was silent for a moment, then spoke with a gentle smile.
“Jes. I know you say such things out of concern for me. But I want to judge based on what I’ve directly seen and experienced myself.”
“…”
Rou gently grasped both of Jes’s hands. Then he sat him down beside himself and slowly stroked his white hair. Jes was flustered at first, but silently entrusted his head to that affectionate touch. Yan circled around them and then shouted as if he couldn’t stand it.
“H-High Priest! M-me! Me too! Please stroke me too!”
“Alright.”
And so Rou came to stroke the heads of both humans. The two humans were extremely happy at the touch overflowing with affection. The two humans took positions on Rou’s left and right respectively, bending at the waist to help him stroke them comfortably.
Stroking heads full of hair wasn’t such a bad feeling, so Rou could newly understand the Goddess’s heart when she stroked him.
“Regardless of what his reputation is like, the fact that he saved my life is true. Shouldn’t I repay that debt?”
Jes, who had been receiving strokes for quite a while, let out a deep breath. It was the right thing to say. When the High Priest said he would repay the favor, he wasn’t in a position to object to it. It was just that, as someone from the south, the Emperor was like the very axis of evil to him, so it seemed he couldn’t stand that the High Priest was favorable toward him.
“I want to meet Brukisel. I hope my ability will be useful to him.”
“If he hears about your prophetic ability… His Majesty might seek out the High Priest first.”
Jes said that, but there was no conviction in his voice. Honestly, given Brukisel’s personality, if he heard that story, rather than recruiting the High Priest, he would make plans to eliminate him.
“Isn’t His Majesty’s birthday coming soon? As far as I know, it’s customary to conduct a sacred feast ceremony at the birthday banquet… though the custom has never been observed.”
Yan spoke while watching Jes’s expression, then closed his mouth again.
“Ahem… W-well, we did receive invitations every year. Though we struggled to obtain them because he demanded absurdly expensive gifts every year.”
“Then this year too… it will be the same. It’s alright! The temple’s storehouse is overflowing right now with offerings donated by believers!”
“…The problem is that His Majesty is aware of that too.”
Jes added bitterly. Since visitors had already increased to the temple he regarded as a thorn in his side, it was clear how much the Emperor must be plotting to torment the High Priest. Jes thought he should dispose of the expensive items among the offerings in advance to prepare.
While Jes left his seat saying he needed to stop by the storehouse, Rou said in a quite disappointed voice.
“It’s fine whatever unreasonable conditions Brukisel puts forward. On the occasion of his birthday, I wish I could give him my blessing.”
“High Priest.”
Yan, who had lived for high-ranking people since birth, had simple thoughts. He was ready to do anything without sparing his body if only he could wash away the worry from the High Priest’s face.
“High Priest, you want to see His Majesty, don’t you? You want to meet him at the sacred feast and have a conversation.”
“That’s right. But unless Brukisel comes to see me… it seems I can’t meet him just because I want to see him.”
“His Majesty isn’t always in his office! So meetings can happen anywhere!”
Rou looked at the sparkling brown eyes. Rou realized a little later what Yan was trying to say.
“Yan! You’re truly wise!”
Yan’s ears turned red at the praise. He gathered an armful of the lush orchids that had been beside Rou and presented them to him. Rou slowly stroked the flower clusters and then touched a flower whose petals were small but whose fragrance was particularly strong. His vision blurred for a moment and he saw a figure approaching from far away. Though his form wasn’t clear, Rou realized at once that it was Brukisel.
A night dark as a cave with all its fires extinguished, the crescent moon thin as a fingernail. Brukisel seemed to be at a training ground, as silver flashes glinted beneath the moonlight. Yan couldn’t dare approach him closely and merely watched his figure while hiding behind a tree. Perhaps fearful, both his shoulders trembled.
Then at one moment, Yan screamed and ran toward the training ground.
“The training ground! He seems to be at the training ground. The date is when the moon is…”
To guess where Brukisel was by looking at Yan’s future—it was an ingenious method. If he used this method from now on, he would be able to meet Brukisel as much as he wanted. Rou smiled brightly and spoke of the night when the moon was smallest. Or rather, tried to speak.
“High Priest?”
The surroundings darkened. Black dots gathered before his eyes and his vision instantly went dark. Along with that, his consciousness gradually began to blur. It was exactly the same sensation as when his consciousness had faded in the bath. Through his blurring vision, Yan with a tearful face came into view.
Rou felt sorry for him. It was clear as day how much these cute humans would worry about him again. Rou gently grasped the back of Yan’s hand. And spoke to him as quickly as possible.
“Don’t… worry.”
Rou collapsed forward at the same time. Yan embraced Rou and wailed at the top of his lungs, and Jes, startled by that crying echoing through the corridor, came running faster than a colt.
“What on earth has happened!”
“H-High Priest… *hic*… P-Priest.”
Yan couldn’t speak properly while sniffling. Jes discovered Rou collapsed in Yan’s arms. Peaceful Rou looked as if he had simply fallen asleep. Jes suddenly became afraid that the Goddess had taken the High Priest back again.
“Why… It hasn’t even been a full day since you regained consciousness.”
“I-it’s my fault.”
Yan sobbed. Because of that, his pronunciation was all muffled, and because he kept wiping his constantly flowing runny nose, the meaning didn’t always get through clearly, but they could understand what he wanted to say.
“So, you were trying to find out when and where His Majesty would be, and immediately after that, this happened.”
“The High Priest… I didn’t even realize he was tired… I’m not even qualified to serve by his side!”
Perhaps because he had seen the High Priest collapse before his eyes, Yan found the guilt unbearable. Jes spoke to such a Yan in a stern voice.
“Yan. Pull yourself together!”
“*hic*, *sniff*.”
“With the High Priest having collapsed, who will protect the temple if not us? Now that we know the High Priest has a weak body, we must prepare our hearts. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“First let’s attend to the High Priest. You go and prepare to heat the room all night.”
Even while sobbing, Yan ran to follow Jes’s orders. Jes embraced Rou and laid him down comfortably. To collapse like this immediately after reading the Emperor’s future—there were some parts he could guess at.
‘Everything will become clear only after the High Priest awakens.’
For now, the priority was to help the High Priest regain consciousness first. He helped maintain body temperature with leather pouches filled with hot water so that it wouldn’t drop, and Yan lit a huge fire until the fireplace was blackened with soot.
Jes and Yan sat facing the direction where the Room of Declaration was located once every half hour and offered earnest prayers to the Goddess.
Perhaps that earnestness moved the Goddess’s heart, as Rou opened his eyes in less than a day. Rou tightly embraced the two sobbing humans, feeling apologetic.
“I’m sorry. So that you two won’t have to worry more, I need to train my body well.”
Yan was moved by Rou’s apology, but Jes thought that this series of events wasn’t simply because of the High Priest’s stamina alone.
“High Priest. When you fainted in the bath last time too, did you see a future related to His Majesty?”
“I did have a dream about Brukisel… Could it be related to that?”
Jes glanced at Yan. It was a look hesitating whether it was content that could be spoken in his presence. When Rou nodded as if it was alright, Jes gulped down his dry saliva once. Then he opened his mouth as if resolved.
“What I’m about to say… must never leave this room.”
