Chapter 211 – Alexander (5)

Time flies so fast I can’t catch it. Faster than it was willing to accept the changes to come, the world was pushing the Harvest Festival right under its nose in Ithaca. Despite having a fairly long preparation period, people were busy preparing for the event with tense and anxious faces.

The Harvest Festival was an event in which local priests in Bondi blessed the crops from each region in the eastern region of the year and prayed for a bountiful harvest next year. However, as the scale of the eastern part of the country grew, this event became an event directly hosted by a saint or a saintess, and people in this region believed that evil things would disappear and a good harvest would come when the saint sprinkled holy water.

When a bad harvest came, they thought they lacked faith, and when a good harvest came, they thought that God had answered their prayers. The current concrete tradition was created by knitting comfortable thoughts like knitting. And now, Rumia and other Easterners wanted to shed blood on this tradition.

“It will come as a shock. Because this is unprecedented.”

A man on the balcony said, biting on a cigar. He was a man with a chunky build and an extravagant personality who loved jeweled rings. But on the other hand, he was also a human who tried to help poor children by establishing an orphanage, and to restore this corrupt city to its original state. His greedy lips and piercing eyes sometimes startled even Rumia.

Rumia glanced at the man and said.

“Are you afraid?”

The man nodded his head. The man who always showed no emotion with a blunt face said this.

“Yes. I’m afraid. Isn’t your opponent that saint? The saga, which I hadn’t paid attention to in the past, came to my eyes automatically after such a big operation. The story of blowing up five demons in one shot in the Pandemonium or escaping to a safe place while carrying a Hero Wolf on his back is very famous.”

“But it has to be done.”

“I know. That makes me even more afraid.”

Rumia nodded. It was true that she was afraid of her too. As each day passed, the weight of this assassination operation continued to weigh on her heart. The man looked at her Rumia and said.

“Rumia priestess.”

“Yes. Why?”

“Will we not change? In a world without warriors, do you think we can walk a different path from Saint Alexander?”

Rumia looked down at her floor. Evan, whom she believes in and follows, can she really not be corrupted like Alexander and Wolf? Isn’t the demon closer to entertainment than anyone else? Who can guarantee that the moment he takes power, the same thing as Wolf will not happen in the end.

“It will not change.”

But Rumia laughed and she said so. There was no logical reason. She just trusted Evan. Because Evan showed her self the light, and she brought him to the edge of her vendetta, as she promised her and her. After trusting him, she found the strength to take revenge on those who pushed her away.

Since Evan believed in her and came all this way, it was natural for her to wait, believing that Evan would do well. Looking at the eyes filled with the energy of faith, the man smiled.

“To say this to a religious person, I must have made a mistake. Yes. Priest Rumia is right. We won’t change We should try not to change.”

The man said that and walked away. Rumia caught her breath as she watched the venue get ready again. No matter how firm my faith was, the thought of killing Alexander was a burden.

******

Alexander arrived the day before the harvest festival. When the heavy body, fearing that the carriage would collapse, came out as if fat was melting, people had to involuntarily breathe in and avoid their eyes. Rumia, too, could not help but frown at Alexander’s hideous body, which was growing larger day by day. As soon as he got off, he picked up the mace like a motion sickness medicine, and grabbed the scriptures from his man belt by tightening his waist.

The sutras, as large and thick as a person’s head, felt like a children’s book in his hand. As promised, the attendant had brought only the bare minimum. Pretty maids washing him and prostitutes guaranteeing him a good night’s sleep tonight.

And a cook and two drivers to serve the meal.

The two paladins were only knights in name, not actual knights, but candidates. Rumia was puzzled by their clumsy movements, but she was relieved only when she saw the apprentice marks on their clothes. Alexander, complacently, seemed to have attached his acquaintances to such an important occasion. They were laughing, licking their lips, or playing pranks among themselves, like tourists in Ithaca.

Standing next to Lumia, the Knight Commander of Ithaca stared at the trainees with a very uncomfortable face.

Alexander said, wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

“This is so… Nice to meet you. Priest Rumia, you went through a lot of trouble preparing for the harvest festival this time.”

He held out his hand, and Rumia bowed her head and took his hand.

“Yes. Nice to meet you. You have worked hard to come this far.”

As Rumia said that, she repeated in her mind the evil that this filthy priest had done to the church. In fact, by the time he came to power, Rumia wasn’t without an opportunity to rise to the upper levels of the church. It was because when she was a priest, Alexander’s side had offered her sex as a gift.

Around that time, she answered with a single knife, saying that as her clergyman, she couldn’t do such a thing, and from then on, her clerical life went downhill slowly like a flower withering. Alexander seemed to have forgotten that he had made her such an offer, so Rumia acted as if nothing had happened.

The two of them started exchanging good wishes without making eye contact with each other. Alexander didn’t like the way the deposed priest strangled him right in front of his nose, and Rumia was trying not to be suspicious of the man now in front of her.

“Priestess Rumia, you have really reached the solid road now. If things go on like this, she might soon become a saint.”

“Saint Alexander is alive and well, but I am afraid that I will make a mistake by becoming an insufficient person. Please don’t say such burdensome words. Aren’t there many goddesses who are much better than me?”

“Heh heh heh! That’s right! There are many beautiful goddesses in the capital who are as good at work as Priest Lumia. Still, it would be great if the priest would work with me.”

“Aren’t we living as religious people believing in the same God in the same church? We are on the same boat just by praying.”

Alexander laughed and patted his stomach.

“Heh heh heh! Yes. It’s like riding the ‘one boat’! Heh heh heh heh!”

“…”

Rumia couldn’t control her expression the moment she heard the joke. After revealing her disgusted expression for a moment, she barely blinked and regained her own pace. Alexander looked away from her without smiling, and she coughed in embarrassment for a moment.

“Uh, uhm… !”

Rumia erased Alexander’s joke from her memory, and then she got to the point.

“Did you look at the march line? Since there was no word from the capital, we randomly designated it, but do you have any changes or requests?”

“Ah, the changes… Yes. There is.”

At those words, the atmosphere of the people froze. Rumia had to try hard to hide her bewilderment. She said that she entrusted everything to Ithaca in the capital, but she suddenly changes the marching line at this timing? Rumia said.

“That… Can you tell me what the changes are now?”

Knights and nobles, everyone was watching Alexander and Rumia while swallowing saliva. Alexander said, stroking his wrinkled chin.

“I saw it on my way here, and the marching line was too long. Look at the weather. Isn’t it too hot? If you’re going this long in this weather, you’re sure to collapse. It hurts my heart to think of the citizens of Ithaca basking in the scorching sun to see me in this weather.”

It was said that he did not want to march long distances because he was hot. There was also an intention to reduce the distance of the march in consideration of public opinion in Ithaca, which would have the worst response rate. The fact that the parade event was reduced was not a big problem. The place designated as the assassination area was very close to the starting point.

People here and there sighed in relief.

“So, I would like to pass the slum side and end the march on the main street side.”

Rumia barely held back the twitching of her mouth, and she put on a slightly embarrassed expression. Alexander said when she made that expression, she smiled even more pervert.

“Ah yes. All right. Then we will adjust the route like that. Are there any more needed changes?”

Said Alexander, humming his song.

“Doesn’t exist. Then suffer. I need to get some rest from now on in preparation for tomorrow. Come here. Baby.”

Alexander stretched out his hand, and a pretty bobbed-haired girl approached him while acting cute. Alexander squeezed her woman’s hips and let her laugh.

“Heh heh! Heh heh heh! Chef! Hurry up and get ready to cook! Ah, Priest Rumia. Because I have an event tomorrow. I’m going to use some ingredients here today. Heh heh heh!”

“…Yes. All right.”

Rumia said so and sent Alexander away. After she shook her head and sent Alexander off, small curses were heard from here and there.

“You sick bastard.”

“Eat meat and it gets stuck in your throat, so look for it.”