Chapter 207 – 17. Holy Kingdom of Simon – Land of Goddess Cult (2)

“Claudy suffers from a weak facial recognition disorder. He won’t even remember Pedro’s face after nearly 20 years.”

“!!”

This unexpected fact made Vilma and Serenia more embarrassed than when they saw each other’s faces just before.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand. I’ve never heard of that.”

“It’s literally. Even so, it’s a really weak level. Because there is a limit to memory anyway, there are many times when ordinary people don’t recognize other people after a few years. But Cloudy is that much.”

“Hmm…”

Serenia let out her drool, lost in her thoughts, and Vilma tilted her head in disbelief.

If that was true, that would be pretty good news. No matter how much it was 20 years ago, he is still a warrior who fought together for several years, and he is also an opponent who was assassinated. Still, not being able to remember a face that looked alike was definitely a handicap.

Still, I felt like my intuition would be resolved if I asked questions.

“Still, the warrior’s face remains as a statue or painting.”

“It’s useless. You must see Cloudy’s head in person to recall your memories of her.”

“It’s really sick to hear that…”

Instead of Vilma, who was convinced, Serenia asked a question this time.

“But doesn’t that solve the problem?”

“I do. Others might point out that I look like Pedro. But that’s not what I’m aiming for.”

“Then…?”

“The real target is Cloudy’s second weakness of hers. The mild facial recognition problem is just a stepping stone for this.”

“…Looking at it, I have no intention of telling you right now.”

Valdez responded by smiling at her words.

Soon after, the three of them briefly prepared and left the inn.

Serenia put her helmet back on, and Vilma changed the color of her hair her with the magic ball Valdes gave her. It’s her face her, one might have doubts, but that was replaced by wearing a mask that only covered half of her face her. It was because if she changed her face entirely, it would be very uncomfortable when traveling as a member of the warrior party.

A rough outline of the operation was already finished at the inn.

“By the way, how did you know about the saintess’ disease?”

“At the time, I was quite close with the saintess. It was partly because of the basic strategy of the warrior party, and Cloudy had an eccentric personality.”

As a party of warriors, they moved as a group, but not when fighting.

Since each person was a strong player anyway, that side was rather inefficient, and they needed to be more active in order to drastically change the battlefield situation.

That’s why their basic strategy was like this.

The warrior Marc and the Huin tribe martial artist rushed to open the road, followed by the warrior Pedro and Saint Cloudy, who swept across the battlefield. Since there were only two of them, they had excellent mobility and even if surrounded, it was easy to escape with Pedro’s swordsmanship. That’s why, when the enemy’s attention was drawn, Grand Mage Robert, Elf Archer Angelina, and Elemental Weaver Yueli, who remained in the rear, poured out storm firepower. Finally, the dwarf paladin Luciano escorted the three.

It was more difficult not to get close to him as he hugged Cloudy and walked around the battlefield like this in each battle.

“After hanging around like that, I noticed a little bit of awkwardness.

“Aha… But how did the saintess come to suffer from such a disease? If she had the holy power of the saintess’ level, even if her head her was injured, she would have been cured.”

“You’re curious about a lot of things too. …Well, you must have been injured when you were very young.”

“When you were younger?”

“Yes. Cloudy is from the slums.”

Cloudy was born in a small estate located in the Dezac Empire, not in the Holy Kingdom, and was soon abandoned in a slum. As an orphan, he lived a hard day by day, and then saw his talent in his divine power and was taken to the Goddess Church.

After that, he came to the Holy Kingdom following the Holy See of the Holy See who came for regular service. And a few years later, the former saintess she followed died in the war with the demons, and Cloudy became her new saintess according to her oracle her. I was only in my early teens at the time.

“It’s a place that even adults and boys can’t stand, but it’s even more strange that a little girl is fine.”

“…”

Vilma put on a bitter expression.

Despite the pity on her face her, neither Valdes nor Serenia said anything. The slum problem was not limited to the Dejac Empire. At least, there were quite a few slums in the Demon King’s Territory.

Valdés knew very well that this was not a problem that he alone could solve, so she refused to comfort Vilma. More important than that was meeting Cloudy naturally in the slums.

“You’re lucky.”

As he wandered around the slums, he muttered lowly when he saw a number of people in his field of vision his.

The Goddess Church periodically conducted volunteer activities for the people, including the slums.

It wasn’t simply a good intention, but it was a job that implied various purposes. He managed his image to many people externally and increased the propagation rate. In addition, he collected children talented in divine power or martial arts from among the people, and planted faith in the Goddess Church and loyalty to the Vatican in them.

There were many places to get money, such as having to feed and sleep the apprentices, but there was an advantage of being able to acquire solid talent. When it came to money, it was just a matter of receiving donations from the Goddess Church members or extorting expenses by citing various reasons from the royal family of the Holy Kingdom.

Still, the volunteer corps led by the saintess were popular, so there were many cases where their schedules were tightly packed, including those from other cities. But she could only say that she was lucky to meet her on the first day.

If she hadn’t met her here, she planned to continue touring the slums and other areas with a high probability of volunteering.

“Joe, I’m a little nervous.”

“Anyway, you don’t have much to do. You can just keep quiet while arguing moderately.”

“Yep!”

However, the three could not approach the saintess.

“I can’t get close to the saintess.”

“Is it because you’re serving?”

“There is that, but it’s because the period is the period.”

Paladins and the faithful of the Holy See who came out to escort her corps, including her saintess her, stood in their way.

It was also because a criminal with a wrong purpose could come along while serving, and the selection of a warrior party was right around the corner. Perhaps it was only natural that he hadn’t even met the first princess, Mercedes, who had come as an envoy from the Kingdom of Ulstro to stop her request.

But Valdez had expected something like this.

“Then can’t I just meet you?”

“You are…”

Serenia took off her helm, her orange hair dripping with a little sweat.

“!!”

“Bur, Count Bernstein!”

“It’s because I have a connection with Saint Cloudy in the past. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, so I just want to say hello.”

At the words of the sword master, a beautiful married woman with a fresh smile, a soldier stuttered her, her face blushing.

“Now, wait a minute!”

It is quite a famous story that Serenia accompanied her saintess for a year or so during her war. In the first place, the reason why she became the most famous count on the continent was because she became a semi-mate of the hero’s party. With a cause like this, it was difficult for her to refuse.

“Did I do well to follow you?”

“That’s right. Thank you.”

“Huh.”

Serenia also accompanied the envoys and arrived in the city on the same day, but unlike Mercedes, she did not visit the Holy See. She wasn’t meant for today, but it paid off not being able to say hello to her saintess.

Soon after, the soldier who went to her saintess returned.

“The saintess said she would see the count.”

“That’s good.”

Guided by a soldier, she headed inward, slightly turning her head and exchanging glances with Valdez. It meant not to worry because she would do the job she was entrusted with. He also believed in Serenia, so he replied by smiling at her.

“Whoops, I don’t know how long it’s been since I met the saintess.”

Cloudy was rare enough to say that he rarely went abroad unless he was serving, and Serenia was also busy with the reconstruction of Ulstro Kingdom and her duties as her as the knight commander. The two countries are located at the tip of the continent with the Dezac Empire in between, and the two are not friendly.

There were not many opportunities to meet naturally. It wasn’t that the meeting hadn’t happened at all, but she thought it had been at least 10 years. It was the first meeting after both of them changed from their 20s to their 30s.

“May the goddess bless you. It’s been a while, saintess.”

“May the goddess bless you. That’s right. I think it’s probably been over 10 years, Count Bernstein.”

Even though they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, they greeted each other calmly, without a hug or any kind of welcome.

“I heard that you arrived a few days ago…”

“At that time, I couldn’t go to the Vatican because I was organizing the envoys instead. However, I took a student to see the city and saw the saintess, so I took the risk to visit her like this.”

“Oh, I see.”

At Serenia’s words her, the saintess nodded her head.

He heard the news that he had brought in a disciple, that he had come here with him, and that the disciple was of mixed demon race. But the saintess didn’t care much.

Cloudy didn’t particularly hate mixed demons. Of course, he didn’t know if he denied or insulted the goddess, but he hadn’t heard of such a thing. So he didn’t care. Rather, I thought that it would be nice if the disciple of mixed demon race entered the Goddess Church.

“I hope your disciple is doing well.”

“Ha ha, thank you.”

Serenia, who was smiling brightly, quietly looked around and took a step closer to Cloudy.

“Holy Maid.”

“…? Why is that?”

“That… This isn’t really a request.”

“Yes…”

“There is something my disciple asked me to pass on to the saintess.”

“…”

Cloudy tilted her head slightly.

It was the second event related to her bravery after she became a saint. During the time of Pedro, the conditions were not good because of the wartime situation, and even though she was young, a lot of requests came in secretly. So this time, too, a considerable request came back.

However, from Claudy’s point of view, Serenia was never the one to ask for favors. If that were the case, she must have really been asking her disciple to tell her, but nothing came to her mind her right away. In the first place, at a time like this, what words should be conveyed secretly, even through a teacher?

“…Well, that’s fine. Tell me.”

“Does my pupil remember that… Gisela of Ducerne…”

“……Yes?”

Gisela of Ducerne.

As soon as he heard those words, Cloudy’s face her visibly hardened.

The vibration that started from the trembling body of her extended to the silver long hair of her, and the narrow eyes that gave off a gentle feeling were weak, but the pupils of her were open.

Serenia had only seen the eyes of the saintess a few times, so she was also taken aback. What on earth was Ducerne’s Gisela that made her so startled? As far as she knew, Ducerne was the name of the Dezac Empire, and Gisella was one of the most common female names in the empire. When she saw this, she was not greatly surprised.

“…”

Cloudy quickly closed his eyes again.

Then she turned her head to look at Valdez beyond the escorts with a wary gaze. All sorts of thoughts raced through his head, but there were too many people here to put them into action.

“1 o’clock…”

“Yes?”

“Please tell the student to come out to the hotel at 1:00 am… Then, enough.”

At the last word, the saintess turned around and left her seat.

“…?”

Only Serenia, who hadn’t heard the details from Valdez, remained and looked at Cloudy’s back with her with a devastated gaze.

The escorts and other volunteers also moved in after Cloudy. When so many people disappeared, a corner of the slum became white again. It was because the poor also followed the saintess or left individually.

“What do you say?”

Valdes and Vilma approached Serenia.

“… They asked me to come to the hotel at 1:00 in the morning?”

“Oh, that’s fast.”

“Eh? What the hell is that about?”

Vilma looked at Valdes with an absurd look, and Serenia also looked at him, asking for a quick answer.

Valdez glanced at the two curiously mad and shrugged.

“It’s simple. Did I mention it earlier? Cloudy was born in the Empire.”

“…No way?”

“Yes, Ducerne is Cloudy’s birthplace. Gisella is the name of the woman she was best friends with.”

“…”

“And now I’m going to disguise myself as the woman’s son.”