“Oh my, thank you. You didn’t have to bother with just a child falling down.”

“No, children shouldn’t be in pain…”

The Saint, Alensis, gave a faint smile to the child’s mother who was thanking him.

Though since he kept his head down without making eye contact, it wasn’t well conveyed to the other person.

“Well then…”

“Oh my, are you going up already? At least stay for a meal!”

“Don’t waste precious food…”

“Please don’t be like that!”

The woman’s hand swooped in like an eastern martial art technique when she saw an opening, but the Saint avoided it with fluid yet nimble movements.

Shwish. Swoosh.

“Ah, how frustrating! But don’t forget that I’m the weakest of this neighborhood’s Four Heavenly Kings!”

Leaving those words of challenge behind, Alensis hurried toward the mountain path.

His steps returning home from the village were faster than usual.

‘Those outsiders I saw at the restaurant. Something feels off about them.’

The blonde woman was so beautiful she looked like what a light spirit might look like if it became human, and the quiet, neat-looking man was also like a work of art.

They didn’t look like the type who would come to this declining rural area.

‘Could they be sent from the temple?’

It was entirely possible. Enough time had passed since he went into seclusion that it wouldn’t be strange if they had caught his trail.

‘White Ears is in this area. I must take revenge before the temple comes to get me.’

Imelen…

‘I would do anything if only you would come back alive.’

A dark shadow fell over Alensis’s face as he thought of his younger sister, ten years his junior.

‘I’ll avenge you. I’ll kill that thing no matter what price I have to pay.’

His once gentle eyes filled with hatred. Though his posture remained withdrawn, his expression was shadowed with k*lling intent.

His coldly settled expression suddenly flew away as he almost tripped over something at his feet.

“Ah?”

After flailing his arms to regain balance, Alensis discovered a child crouched down.

The child was repeatedly rubbing their eyes with both hands while crying.

“Hic. Hic. Waaah.”

How could crying sound so much like staccato?

But the child’s face looked familiar.

“Aren’t you from the restaurant…?”

A black-haired boy who looked less than ten years old. Definitely the child who was with that dazzling woman.

The child looked up at Alensis with completely dry eyes.

“I’m lost.”

“Huh?”

“I lost my parents.”

“Parents…?”

Were those two people the child’s parents?

Though they looked very young, they could have married early.

Alensis helped the child up and spoke kindly.

“Then they should still be in the village. I’ll take you back there.”

“…! No.”

The child suddenly planted his feet firmly and resisted.

Noah recalled Calliphe’s instructions as he looked at the puzzled Alensis.

“Listen carefully, Noah. Pretend you lost us and got separated, then that seaweed mister from earlier will show interest. Once you get into his house, mission complete.”

“Okay.”

“If you can’t do it, you can stop anytime. I’ll handle it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lynen. Noah, just give it your best shot, whether it works or not. Understand?”

“Don’t pressure the child. Can’t you see how tense he looks?”

“He needs this much grit! You think the world is easy?”

The flashback ended as they suddenly started arguing.

Anyway, Noah really wanted to succeed in this secret mission from Calliphe. Then he could brag to Mihail.

Alensis, who had made his own assumptions about why the child was resisting, started trying to comfort him.

“Ah, is it because I’m a stranger? I’m Alensis. What’s my friend’s name?”

“We’re not friends.”

“S-sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s Noah. My name.”

“Mmm, Noah. Do you remember the way you came?”

Nod.

“If we go back the way you came, we’ll reach the village, and we can wait for your parents there. I’ll stay right beside you. How about that?”

Noah almost nodded in a trance but quickly shook his head instead.

Alensis became even more puzzled. Suspicion was gradually filling his eyes.

“Why not? Is there another reason?”

“That’s…”

Noah also sensed the subtly changed atmosphere. If he didn’t explain why he couldn’t meet his parents, this mission would fail.

‘What should I do?’

In Noah’s panicked mind, only the objective of getting into the seaweed mister’s house kept spinning around.

“C-can’t I stay at seaweed’s house?”

“Seaweed?”

“Ah, no. Your house.”

“Why my house… Is there some reason you can’t meet your parents?”

Can’t meet parents?

Noah recalled what the maids had whispered about him once.

“Even if they get married, I’m not family.”

“What…?”

Alensis’s face hardened as he muttered to himself.

“Parents but why… Wait, then is it remarriage… A rolling stone trying to push out the embedded stone… That kind of situation?”

Alensis asked in what seemed like a voice suppressing anger.

“Did your mother say you couldn’t be family?”

“N-no!”

Noah instinctively denied it. It felt like they were insulting Lady Calliphe.

“Then could it be the father? Was, was he your stepfather?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Good heavens. He looked so proper and upright like a statue.”

Then the puzzle pieces fell into place. Alensis covered his mouth.

‘I thought it was strange that such flashy people would come all the way here. They came to abandon the child before marriage?’

How could there be such terrible people!

Noah, who had been watching carefully, quietly urged.

“I’m hungry.”

With a sympathetic sigh, Alensis’s wariness crumbled. He decided to take the child home.

“Alright, let’s go to my house for now.”

Nod nod.

Alensis took Noah’s hand and brought him to his cabin in the mountains.

While hurriedly preparing a meal for the child, Alensis made a resolution.

‘If I can’t persuade those people, I could take care of the child myself…’

That’s when it happened.

“Noah!”

The young couple Alensis had been wary of burst into the cabin.

* * *

‘As expected, he moved exactly as predicted!’

In the original story, the Saint takes Noah in after learning he’s lost and feeling sorry for him.

Though he had spotted us earlier, it didn’t matter.

‘He was already suspicious of us. He probably assumed Noah wasn’t just lost but abandoned.’

Now if we clear up the misunderstanding, he’ll feel embarrassed and have no choice but to accept us as guests.

I smiled at the Saint.

“Thank you for taking care of our child…”

“Your expression… doesn’t look good.”

My legs were numb from crouching tensely for too long.

Since we couldn’t leave Noah alone on the mountain path, we had been hiding and watching from a distance where we wouldn’t be spotted. Staying tense in case something happened.

Me, crouching.

Lynen, who knew how to conceal his presence, coolly leaning against a tree.

D*mn it.

“You don’t look very happy to have found your child.”

“No, really, my heart dropped.”

“Is that so? But why do your words sound like lies to me?”

‘What’s with that expression?’

The Saint’s face was so shadowed he barely looked like the seaweed we saw at the restaurant.

His reddish-brown eyes glowed within that shadow.

Noticing something was wrong, Lynen stepped forward.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding. We were truly looking for the child.”

“Fine. Then answer this. Were you looking for this child with the heart of a real father?”

“Real father…?”

Lynen hesitated at the unexpected question.

Though we had agreed to pretend to be parents, it seemed he couldn’t tell a lie that would weigh on his conscience.

“…As I thought.”

The Saint muttered and suddenly raised his hand.

“I don’t want to talk with you all right now. First, take a nap.”

Flash!

‘Holy power?!’

Holy power typically shows excellent effects in healing wounds. But depending on the user’s capability, it can also relax tension and loosen consciousness.

If that effect is maximized, it can even put people to sleep instantly.

‘What, he just puts us to sleep because he doesn’t want to see us? Was seaweed this straightforward?!’

“…Ugh.”

Lynen staggered as his strength drained away.

But instead of relaxing, he let out a pained groan through his teeth.

The Saint, startled for a moment, quickly withdrew his holy power.

I was also momentarily confused about what was happening. Was Lynen acting on purpose?

‘Then we should do more!’

I poked Lynen’s side where the Saint couldn’t see.

Then a few seconds later.

“Uuugh, p-painful. My b-body…”

Lynen collapsed slowly, staggering.

However, it seemed Lynen had learned about pain only from books.

“Ugh. The strength in my arm is failing. Could there be something wrong with the brachial plexus…”

“…”

“The extensor tendons connecting to the wrist and thumb seem to be damaged as well…”

“…”

“Along with the pain, I’m experiencing headache, dizziness, and vertigo. Cough, cough.”

A detestable staccato cough.

Red-faced, Noah and I turned away from Lynen at the same time.

W-we don’t know this person.