EPILOGUE 2.

The Third Wish

The two were able to enter the village through the wall without any particular inspection process thanks to Abel’s authority. Though barely two years had passed, Abel had grown significantly in that time. If he could just grow a little more, he would be able to join the Holy Knight Order as he had wished. Abel wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

“Oh my……”

Bellota looked around, unable to hide her amazement. She knew Selento’s past days. The village that had been devastated as if there was no more hope or light.

However, where they were walking now was completely different from then. Bellota saw the houses newly built inside the wall that spread widely like a fence. Though there weren’t very many, each house was sturdy and carefully built. Everyone had clearly worked together to build them.

A happy smile bloomed on Bellota’s lips whenever people who recognized them greeted them warmly.

“We decided to unite the villages. It was impossible to build walls around all of Selento. We decided to expand the walls little by little as we saved money.”

As he said this, Abel glanced at Seiden. Seiden also knew where the money to build this wall had come from. Abel must have properly collected the monster bounty he had handed over back then.

“Torcana was attacked once more after the Saintess and Sir Knight left, and everyone who stood guard, including the sentries, was killed.”

Though Bellota was very saddened by those words, Seiden didn’t show any reaction. It seemed they had ultimately received God’s judgment.

“What happened to the mother and child from Torcana?”

When Seiden suddenly asked, Abel looked puzzled for a moment before remembering someone and curling his lips up.

“Elise and Noah? Don’t worry. They’re both safe. Elise became the deputy director of the new orphanage built in the village. Noah lives there with her too.”

That was quite a good ending. Seiden nodded with satisfaction, but Bellota tilted her head at the name Elise. It seemed like a name she had heard somewhere before.

“And we took over the castle. We decided to make this our base.”

As a large castle soon appeared, Abel stopped walking and turned to face them. Bellota and Seiden looked up at the familiar castle. The two knew this castle well. Seiden raised his eyebrows as if surprised. So it seemed the Selento residents had built the wall centered around this castle. However…

“What happened to the lord of the castle?”

At that question, Abel curled his lips up as if triumphant.

“He ran away. More precisely, he was driven out. We found out that bastard had been deliberately releasing dangerous monsters into the village.”

“Deliberately releasing monsters? That’s impossible. Why would he do such a thing?”

When Bellota covered her mouth in disbelief, Abel shrugged his shoulders.

“Because that way the village would remain in danger, and he could monopolize the rare monsters in the meantime. Until then, the villagers only avoided monsters, never even thinking about catching them. So when truly dangerous monsters appeared, they just locked the castle gates. That’s when the Saintess and Sir Knight appeared and got rid of them. When the monsters disappeared, he tried to do the same thing again and got caught.”

Abel recounted these incredible events without emotion as he started walking again.

“So we drove him out and took over this castle. We were sick of just hiding.”

Seiden and Bellota followed behind him. Abel’s back somehow looked much broader than before. Abel was surprisingly clearly at the forefront of all these changes. Of course, Abel was a boy who deserved such a position. Seiden remembered the boy who had fearlessly provoked monsters.

“And we waited for the day you two would visit this place.”

His voice was somewhat brusque, just like two years ago. However, Bellota noticed that Abel’s ears had turned red.

“Because we needed to let you know this was all thanks to you two.”

At those words, Bellota smiled happily and glanced at Seiden. Seiden also exchanged looks with Bellota while letting out a slight laugh. Such changes—it was the most joyful and overwhelming gift of all. The reason Seiden had chosen Selento as their final destination was because Bellota had been continuously curious about this place.

Though they had heard the Imperial family provided support afterward, it would have been impossible to restore the entire village with such minimal support. Therefore, he had planned to help rebuild this place with Bellota. But since they had achieved such wonderful reconstruction on their own, there was nothing left for the two of them to do. Of course, they weren’t complaining.

“You two can stay in this castle. You’re not leaving right away, are you?”

When Abel asked while guiding them into the castle, Bellota nodded. Even if there was nothing to help with, the two wanted to stay in this beautiful village for a while.

“If you’ll allow it, we’d like to stay here for a few days and look around the village.”

At those words, Abel muttered something about not being the owner of this place with reddened ears. Nevertheless, since he didn’t stop guiding them, Bellota and Seiden swallowed their laughter and followed behind him.

* * *

Countless people flocked to the castle when they heard that the Saintess and Holy Knight, the benefactors of Selento, had arrived in the village. They welcomed and treated the two grandly as if they had been waiting for this moment. Even Bellota couldn’t stop them at this point.

Among these, the most welcome was the early dinner personally served by Elise, who had rushed over after hearing the news. Elise’s cooking skills were surprisingly impressive. Her cooking was an especially welcome gift for the two who were very hungry after traveling a long way since morning.

“This is really delicious, Elise. How does the stew have such flavor?”

When Bellota asked in admiration, Elise smiled shyly.

“You just need to mix three spices. I’ll tell you the recipe before you leave.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Bellota smiled genuinely happily as she looked at Elise. Though Elise had a past connection with Seiden, she was a woman Bellota had never met. However, Bellota knew who Elise was. She must be the mother and child Geril had talked about.

“Ah, of course they probably weren’t trying to sacrifice the child. They would have just lured the monsters and protected the child. Surely, that must have been the case.”

“But I heard the Holy Knight Commander interfered and forcibly took away both the child and mother.”

She was the woman who almost lost her child after being driven out by the villagers but managed to protect her child with Seiden’s help. It was no wonder she had grabbed Seiden’s hand and burst into tears upon seeing him. Bellota too felt happy that Elise and her son Noah were safe.

Elise’s face looked peaceful now that she had become the deputy director of the newly built orphanage. Bellota stared at her face for a while. Though they had been together during the last visit to Selento, Bellota had been excluded from the subjugation party heading to Torcana, so this was certainly Bellota’s first time seeing Elise. Yet she couldn’t understand why her face seemed familiar.

“Abel caught the monster that attacked Torcana. You wouldn’t believe how amazing it was! He charged right at the monster everyone feared…… Ah, Abel is our village’s hero.”

“It was just luck.”

Abel’s ears turned red at Elise’s praise as he grumbled while needlessly stirring his stew.

That’s when it happened. Bellota, who had finally remembered where she had heard Elise’s name, unconsciously held her breath. At that sound, not only Seiden, who always had all his attention on Bellota, but also Elise and Abel, who had been talking about Abel’s heroic deed, looked at her in surprise.

“What’s wrong, Saintess?”

Then Bellota barely parted her lips to ask.

“Elise, perhaps……”

Bellota’s fingertips began to tremble slightly.

“Do you perhaps know…… Pamela?”

This time it was Elise’s turn to hold her breath. Though Abel’s face became puzzled at the mention of Pamela’s name, Seiden immediately understood what Bellota was talking about. He too looked at Elise with a seemingly perplexed gaze.

“How does the Saintess know our grandmother……”

When Elise asked back in a trembling voice, something that had been quietly floating somewhere in Bellota’s heart settled down low.

“The granddaughter born to the youngest daughter who married into Selento. You saw her when she was a baby! Before entering the nursing home! That granddaughter grew up and came to visit Pamela! Yes, Elise. She got married recently! Well, recently means about 8 years ago, but still! Remember? You even sent letters several times during the first few years.”

The granddaughter born to the youngest daughter who married into Selento.

“Elise. Thank you for coming to see your grandmother. Thank you so much.”

Her heart ached as she remembered Pamela who had given that lonely greeting, mistaking her for Elise.

“Pamela is my grandmother’s name. But we lost contact long ago. We haven’t had the chance to keep in touch……”

When Elise murmured as if her heart hurt, a touching and overwhelming emotion settled on Bellota’s chest.

“We know Pamela. We met her.”