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“You don’t want to go back?”
Lanceil and Callandein stood by their side for a long time and comforted Jiwoo, who barely stopped crying. In particular, Lanceil, forgetting he was sulking, took all of Jiwoo’s tears and runny nose into his chest.
And, he asked several times if he didn’t understand why Jiwoo cried and said she didn’t want to go back.
“But you said you’re the Akarna, right?”
“What about that?”
Jiwoo said while rubbing her eyes with a handkerchief. Her voice was still a little wet.
Callan and Lanceil both looked at each other with incomprehensible expressions, then looked at Jiwoo again.
“Seo Jiwoo, did I ever explain about Elandos?”
“Yes.”
“When we say Elandos of El Ragnile, it also means that he is the most precious of the group. It is our protector who controls our lifespan and protects us from the miasma.”
“But?”
“But, is the Akarna of Carnazion different? Oh, maybe… Can another Akarna take your place, Seo Jiwoo?”
“I am the only Akarna that they have.”
“What?”
Callandein looked dazed for a moment, then asked again.
“Ah, does that mean that there is only one Akarna in Seo Jiwoo’s country… or in your hometown?”
“I’m the only Akarna.”
If there were several Akarnas, there would be no need for Jiwoo to go around exhausting her body like that alone. The temple had the right to summon the Akarna, and the empire monopolized her.
The temple was promoting the Akarna as the vessel of God, so there should not be two Akarna in one generation.
God that resided in Akarna, moved around by living within the body of one person, not two.
A being who was suddenly born and has no trace of living in this world, and suddenly fell from the sky. A completely new existence that people in this world didn’t even know existed. That is the Akarna in which God dwells.
She doesn’t understand why he was surprised.
Because for Jiwoo, it was obvious. It was also a rare common sense in this world for him to be frowning with difficulty.
“That… doesn’t make sense?”
But Callandein didn’t seem to understand.
“…Ss something wrong?”
“There is no such thing as God, so to me, it all feels ridiculous.”
To be honest, even Jiwoo was inclined to agree. She felt that way even more after hearing Helkainis say that there is no God, only phenomena.
“If you don’t understand a phenomenon that already exists, you worship it. Give it a transcendental name, give it a meaning…”
“……”
Jiwoo was lost in thought and didn’t say anything, so Callan smiled with a wry look.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Was I rude?”
“No.”
“Ummm… I think that’s why Helka went to pick up that friend. The friend Helka picked up, who lives far away from our group, is an alchemist. The alchemist knows better than we do.”
‘If it’s an alchemist… that means the alchemist from the outer wall that blasphemes divine power.’
The people of their race did not believe in divinity, the alchemists on the outer wall were known to be heretics, and the imperial people sometimes put them in their mouths and despised them.
She didn’t know for sure yet, but one thing is for sure.
Talking about the divine power with these people, she thought why the imperial people deserved to hate these races. They really didn’t believe in God. It gave the imperial people a good reason.
If they were a devout believer in the temple, or someone who had been indebted to Akarna, who was said to have been God’s emissary, they would take their words as an insult.
Moreover, Callan was aware that it could be rude. But he didn’t budge.
However, it was funny that Jiwoo, who had lived for more than five years as an Akarna in the temple and was revered by ordinary people, could agree with their words.
“I’ll just ask you one thing. Does the Akarna belong only to that temple?”
“Yes.”
“Are they monopolizing you?”
“Ah, yes… The Empire as well.”
Callan narrowed his eyes.
“Hmm… I see… The one and only Akarna…”
As Callan finished his words like that, he seemed to be contemplating something on his own. As Jiwoo stared at him, Callan made eye contact with Jiwoo’s and gently curved his eyes.
Somehow, it was a charming smile that made her face all red.
A fever rose on her face, and she averted her eyes from him, and Lanceil who was quietly next to her, said.
“But it’s what I promised. Aren’t those who break promises the worst…”
“You don’t have to keep that anymore.”
“I always tried to keep the promise I made with you. Of course, I’m glad that you said you’re not going back, but…”
It’s amazing. The words that Jiwoo wanted to hear, the words that she had given up for granted, he said without hesitation.
“Then what happens to the person you were going to marry?”
With that, Callandein, who was next to him, turned his head to her.
“Seo Jiwoo, did you have someone to marry?”
“Ah… Ah, that’s…”
Her face turned white at the unexpected topic. Jiwoo stuttered and couldn’t speak, and was almost flustered. She tried to wave her hand, and her hand stiffened in the air.
Seeing Jiwoo’s pale expression just before crying, Callandein quickly changed the topic.
“Ah, think about it later whether you want to leave or not. We’ll have to wait and see when the foot recovers anyway.”
“…I think so. That’s right. Getting better quickly is the priority.”
Lanceil quickly agreed.
“Seo Jiwoo, I’m planning to hold a banquet tonight.”
“A banquet?”
Callan gently grabbed her hand, which had stood still in the air.
“Yes. We’ve all been waiting for you to wake up. Thanks to you, a good thing happened after a long time, so we’re going to eat and drink. Of course, you have to take the lead.”
“I, I’m the banquet host?”
Jiwoo wasn’t used to getting attention. Even if a victory party was held, it was for the imperial family or nobles, Jiwoo was not invited.
She happened to attend, but she didn’t have a very good memory of it.
Callan, unaware of Jiwoo’s feelings, only thought that Jiwoo was being humble.
“Yes. Nothing good would have happened without you. Anyway, I’ll bring you a change of clothes.”
Callandein went away for a moment. Lance too sighed and got up.
“I guess I’ll have to go because today is the day I stand on the village guard. I hope you enjoy it.”
Lanceil was still strangely awkward with Jiwoo. It seemed that he had not been able to solve the sulkiness he had earlier.
“Lanceil.”
Jiwoo put her hand on his ear to whisper quietly. But as soon as Jiwoo got closer, Lanceil jumped in surprise.
“Why! Why, why are you doing this again! If you keep seducing me in such, in such a place like this, I will…”
Lanceil frowned and bit his lip. And he quickly turned red to the tip of his ear and averted his eyes.
Oh, she thought that was what this meant. She made the same mistake, but Jiwoo quickly spoke to him. Because it would be time for him to go to work.
“My first name is not Seo-Jiwoo.”
“Th, then?”
Lanceil’s ears moved curiously. What he had just tensed up until recently had loosened up a bit.
“’Jiwoo’ is the first name and ‘Seo’ is the last name. So call me Jiwoo.”
“…Really?”
Lanceil gave a somehow welcome response. He glanced at where Callan had gone to get her clothes, then looked at Jiwoo again.
“Am I the only one to call you like that?”
When Jiwoo nodded, Lanceil went out to the village with a smile as if he had never been sulky.
* * *
As Callandein suggested, Jiwoo did not walk directly, but moved in his arms.
The surprising thing she realized when she met him was that Callan was the type of person who looked rather skinny when he wore clothes. But she was forced to touch his chest because of their holding posture, and she could feel his firm chest full of tightness through the thin clothes.
And the forearms supporting her back and below the knees were much thicker than she expected.
She wondered how he was covering this with his clothes. When she touched it directly, his forearm was the size of her thigh.
She was so embarrassed. Even though it’s not the first time she has moved in the arms of someone else, she’s been concerned about it since she got conscious of it.
It was more awkward now that Callan, who used to be friendly and talkative, became quiet. After walking such a short but long distance, Jiwoo was able to see the place called the banquet hall.