Ranshel, unable to resist Zavad’s insistence that he no longer trusted Vershel’s care, went back to the Pompel family’s annex.
And just in time, he registered Hans, who had come to greet them, into the Agent party.
[Quest Status]
+
-Zavad Pompel (Knight): Not Registered [Blessing Skill Not Applied / Registration Not Possible]
-Hans (Shield Soldier): Registration Complete
-Daniel (Assassin): Registration Complete
-Dotter (Archer): Not Registered [Blessing Skill Applied / Registration Possible]
+
From here, they couldn’t move immediately.
First, Zavad had to receive the blessing from Frey, and Dotter was in Pompel Castle.
It seemed like he had a little free time.
But he still had another task remaining.
While Zavad was preparing for the Imperial Knights Entrance Exam, Ranshel took the magic herb he had acquired while working as a believer in the Great Temple and went to see Pietro.
This was to restore the prayer book that Charlotte left behind.
“Pietro-nim, is this the magic herb you mentioned?”
“……Huh? What did you say?”
“You said before that you needed a magic herb from the Great Temple to restore the book.”
To read even a small part of the book, which was stuck together and couldn’t be opened, they needed the power of a special magic herb.
Ranshel sought help from Pietro, a specialist in plants and trees with the Grower trait, and brought the magic herb he had mentioned before.
But Pietro’s condition seemed a bit strange.
“……Huh? What did you say?”
“Don’t you remember? It’s the magic herb for the book I need to restore. I had some trouble getting the specific kind you mentioned.”
“……Uh, uh-huh. Right. I did say that!”
Pietro, who had been staring blankly into space, reacted only when Ranshel brought the magic herb in his hand right up to his eyes and shook it, as if he suddenly remembered.
The strange focus in his eyes was instantly replaced by vitality.
“Yes, you got it. But I can’t make the drug needed for restoration.”
“Oh, that’s alright. I’m going to have the apothecary at the Holy School make it.”
“Uh, uh-huh. Right.”
“…Is something wrong with you?”
Ranshel leaned closer to Pietro’s face and asked.
But Pietro only stared into the distance with the lifeless eyes that had disappeared when he looked at the magic herb moments ago.
Just then, someone knocked on Pietro’s door. It was Hans.
“……Ranshel, could you come out for a moment?”
Hans said that Pietro’s condition had been strange recently.
He kept asking for food again after already finishing a meal, and quickly forgot what had just happened.
Lately, he wouldn’t even respond properly unless the topic was about flowers and trees.
“The old man is getting old, you know….”
“…….”
Ranshel had internally grumbled that the old man was going senile, but he had never wanted it to actually happen.
He shook his head, brushing off the rising sadness.
“You must have had a hard time taking care of him alone.”
“It’s nothing. I was happy to spend time with the old man. I originally stayed in the capital to escort the Young Master, but due to various circumstances, it was almost like I was just goofing off. I worried if I was needed, and I would have found it a bit difficult if I had been alone.”
“Hans-nim is absolutely necessary to the Young Master.”
‘You are also an Agent who must conquer the Dungeon. God has chosen you.’
Ranshel was sorry that he couldn’t tell him that fact.
Still, Frey would call him soon after publicly announcing the prophecy, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about this.
Ranshel left the mansion and had the apothecary at the Holy School create the drug to restore the book.
He submerged the prayer book, whose pages were completely stuck together, in the water diluted with the drug and left it alone for about three days, as he had been instructed.
After the water changed color and he retrieved the book, he dried it in the shade for another three days.
Then, miraculously, the pages started separating one by one, allowing him to read the text written inside.
[As you earnestly prayed, your will reached the heavens….]
However, the content written in the prayer book was literally a prayer, and Ranshel almost felt depressed.
But as he continued reading, looking up unfamiliar words, he noticed that the color of the text gradually changed.
The prayer book had been written with two kinds of ink from the beginning, and after restoration, the characters written with one kind of ink disappeared, leaving only the other kind behind.
Ranshel suppressed his pounding heart and opened the prayer book from the first page again.
There were places where the letters had completely disappeared and places where they were written intermittently, but it was not indecipherable when he skipped the unreadable parts.
And the content was entirely different from the prayer he had read before.
[I have found the flower you liked so much. I believe the name is Primula.]
The hand resting on the page trembled slightly.
[I wish there were many Primulas all over the Empire. You said you thought of me when you saw that flower. I always want to remain in your memory.]
The content was closer to a love letter.
Lines filled with affection for the person he loved.
Charlotte, who was originally a commoner, had once been admitted to the educational institution Ranshel attended, and she left this prayer book there.
Perhaps she met the commoner with whom she eloped there.
If so, by reading this prayer book, he might be able to find out where they ran away to.
Ranshel took a long, deep breath and continued to read the diary-like writing she left behind.
[How can you like a flower that resembles you so much? The outer petals are purple, but the inside is bright yellow, and the more I look at it, the more it seems like you, so I grow to like this flower more every day.]
Primula.
There was a lot of talk about the flower that was always associated with Charlotte.
A Primula bookmark was currently placed in this prayer book, and the psalm Zavad possessed was also about it.
It turned out that it was the flower that the person referred to as ‘you’ in this book liked, rather than Charlotte herself.
[I learn new emotions every day because of you. Lately, I’ve learned fear.]
Charlotte’s true love.
The feelings for the person who made her abandon everything overflowed in every passage he read.
[I am afraid that you will forget me. I am afraid that you will erase me forever.]
His fingertips paused for a moment.
The weight of the feelings soaked into the ink made the page difficult to turn.
He wouldn’t understand Charlotte.
Regardless of the circumstances, she was a person who left her young son alone in the castle.
She should not have done such a thing for any reason.
However, the feeling wasn’t unfamiliar.
The sentiment of picking up a pen while constantly missing one person would surely not be much different from his own now, as he glimpsed the feelings she left behind.
Ranshel slowly ran his fingertips over the page, which was messy due to the ink not being fully erased.
Then he turned the next page.
[I was someone who feared nothing in the world. I laughed at the threats of the Nameless, yet when it comes to you, I always become a coward.]
Ranshel’s fingertips paused for a different reason this time, but he turned the next page again.
[Please don’t forget me. Please remember me. I ask for nothing else.]
He turned it again.
[Now I intend to live a newly created life. I will cultivate a wonderful garden there as well. Perhaps I won’t hold the shears myself and trim the flowering trees as I would your garden, but I want to ask someone else to plant your favorite flowers abundantly. Because perhaps one day, you might visit that place.]
After the next page, Ranshel closed the book.
