Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Trust Relationship (3)

By the time we came out of the rift, the sun was already setting, and it was nearly evening.

Lucia let out a refreshed breath in the cool night air, then threw a question at me.

“By the way, you. Do you have some kind of relationship with Yulia?”

“Relationship, you say?”

“When you use Holy Power... a cross-shaped mark appears on the back of your right hand, does it not?”

She tapped the back of her own right hand.

So it finally came.

She had probably said it out of pure curiosity, but to me, this was more uncomfortable than the conversation we had just shared.

“When Yulia used Holy Magic... a cross-shaped mark appeared on the back of her hand too. It looked exactly like the mark that appears when you use Holy Magic.”

I folded my arms and pretended to think about it.

“Hmm... Are you talking about the ‘Holy Symbol’?”

“Holy Symbol?”

“Yes. It is Holy Magic that makes Holy Power easier to control.......”

After briefly explaining the ‘Holy Symbol’ to Lucia, I waved my right hand and gave her an appropriate excuse.

“I did receive some advice from Yulia about the ‘Holy Symbol’....... But who knows? I did not know my symbol would have the same pattern as hers.”

“Could the shapes have happened to be the same by coincidence? It is fascinating, though.”

Of course, that was a lie.

Yulia’s ‘Holy Symbol’ was in the shape of a sword, not a cross.

The cross-shaped mark had appeared on the back of her hand because she had used the Sacred Mark in order to cast ‘Simplified Holy Ground.’

Still, to think Yulia would use the Sacred Mark at Saengterminum this soon. 

The situation had certainly changed a great deal from the previous round.

...Huh?

As I thought that far, something suddenly flashed through my mind.

...Wait a minute?

I might be able to make good use of this information with Yulia.

“Then let’s meet around twelve later. I am working part-time at the restaurant today too, so.......”

“Let’s just meet and go together.”

“Hm?”

“I got chased out last time and could not eat, so I should at least have a meal there today.”

Yulia, that girl, had definitely even dueled with Lucia this morning, saying she would have her ‘Blacklist’ lifted.

It was one hundred percent certain.

With that appetite of hers, there was no way she would be able to endure it without heading straight to the restaurant this evening.

Just wait for me at the restaurant, Yulia.

I will be heading there.

“Hehehe, let’s hurry.”

Perhaps my expression looked quite wicked, because Lucia’s face went cold.

“Were you that bitter about not getting to eat last time? You have a bigger appetite than you look.”

“...Pardon?”

Lucia had ended up making a strange misunderstanding.

***

After washing and changing clothes, I entered the restaurant with Lucia and swept my gaze over the customers sitting at the tables.

...Hm?

Yulia was nowhere to be seen. 

There was no way she had not come, though.

When I asked Lucia, who had changed into a server uniform and returned, I heard the answer I had expected.

“It was Yulia and Viole, right? I heard those two reserved a separate private room.”

“She must be planning to eat with serious determination.......”

“Hm?”

“It is nothing. Nothing at all.”

This was actually better. 

If it was a private room, it would be easier to talk.

“I will guide you there.”

“...Would that not be a little awkward?”

After all, she had almost been exposed as a Demon Cult Leader because of Yulia.

“If I were afraid of that, do you think I would be doing this job?”

“That is also true.”

Convinced, I opened the door to the private room Lucia guided me to.

RATTLE.......

I newly understood why the two of them had taken a private room.

“Eat in moderation. You will get indigestion at this rate.”

“Hehe, have you ever seen me get indigestion?”

“If only you would not say things like that.......”

Because more than ten empty plates were stacked neatly in the corner of the table.

It was true that eating with that many plates piled up at a table where everyone else could see would draw attention. 

Mm.

To think she could eat so elegantly while still putting away more than ten servings. 

Truly impressive, all right?

“Ah, please put the food here on top of....... Hm?”

“Oh?”

For a moment, question marks appeared on the faces of the two people who realized that Lucia and I had arrived.

“What? How did you get here?”

“I thought you would somehow be here, so I asked a server. Mind if we join you?”

“I do not mind, but.......”

As if we had planned it in advance, Lucia, Viole, and I all looked at Yulia.

“...Ah.”

Yulia showed an awkward expression and hurriedly lowered the plates stacked in the corner of the table below it.

“No. This is, um... Right. We moved around a great deal during the Joint Class today, did we not? This is a reasonable level of nutritional replenishment, so.......”

“Ah, is that so?”

“I am telling you, it really is?”

“You really eat a lot.......”

“Ugh....... This is exactly why I reserved a private room.......”

Leaving the teary-eyed Yulia behind, I also ordered food from Lucia.

“The drink will be the same cocoa?”

“That is right.”

“Hmm... We have a new menu item with cocoa this time. What do you think?”

“Oh, then I will have that.”

A new cocoa menu item? 

I could not let that pass.

Hmm....... But why do I not remember anything about a new menu item? 

Even if it was several years ago, to think I forgot this. 

As a cocoa lover, I need to reflect on myself.

As I sat down in a chair and waited for the food to come out, Viole immediately spoke to me.

“You seem to be getting along well with Senior Lucia?”

“That is how it turned out. I suppose we are simply seniors and juniors who know each other now?”

“Wow, so you can still be like that even after confessing to her in that way.......”

Viole looked at me with a truly astonished expression.

Mm... It was not a normal confession relationship, but let us not bother arguing over it. 

If I tried to make more excuses about this, it felt like it would only become troublesome.

To begin with, that was not why I had come here.

“Well, thanks to that, I heard an interesting story from Senior Lucia.”

“...Pardon?”

“An interesting story?”

The atmosphere around the two women sank slightly.

Judging by their reactions, it seemed Viole had also been given a hint by Yulia.

That ‘Aron Bayonel’ had appeared at Saengterminum.

Naturally, I, who was currently acting under the alias ‘Damon,’ could not say that fact aloud.

They had agreed among themselves to keep the fact that ‘Aron Bayonel’ had appeared a secret.

“She said you used Holy Magic because you thought Senior Lucia was a Black Sorcerer.”

So it would be appropriate to answer like this here.

“Ah I heard that from Yulia too. I mean, Senior must have been so startled.”

“I am reflecting on that as well. I did think too excessively.”

Yulia looked dispirited, but, well... from my perspective, her intuition being too sharp was the real problem.

“Anyway, after hearing the story from Senior Lucia, there was one part that seemed a little strange.”

“When you say strange.......”

I touched the back of my right hand.

“She said that when you used Holy Magic, a cross-shaped mark appeared on the back of your hand, Yulia. Apparently, it was identical to the symbol pattern that appears when I use Holy Magic.”

The two women’s eyes widened.

“I let it pass for now. But... the more I thought about it, the more it did not add up.”

The pattern of a ‘Holy Symbol’ was different for every caster.

And it was impossible for a caster to change the pattern of their ‘Holy Symbol’ at will.

That was because the pattern of a ‘Symbol’ was like a fingerprint to a Holy Power Awakener.

“Yulia, your ‘Holy Symbol’ is shaped like a sword, not a cross. I saw it at the Training Hall last time, so I know.”

““.......””

I looked back and forth between the two, who kept their mouths shut and remained silent, then continued.

“What happened? The caster should not be able to change the pattern of the Symbol however they want.”

Why was I, who even knew about the existence of the Sacred Mark, asking about this so persistently? 

Of course there was a reason.

It was because I wanted to check just how much Yulia trusted me.

I was a Regressor.

And Yulia was someone who had fought alongside me until the very, very end.

As a Regressor, I possessed knowledge of the past.

If Yulia told me about the Sacred Mark here... I would also positively consider revealing the fact that I was a Regressor.

If that happened, changing that damned future would become several times easier.

After all, this girl would not want the world to be destroyed either.

For that reason, I waited for Yulia’s answer with a very slight amount of expectation, but.......

“That is... a little difficult for me to tell you.”

“Tsk, is that so?”

It seemed I was still fated to become ferocious.

Perhaps my complexion looked quite bad, because Yulia fidgeted awkwardly.

“Ah, um... That is a Secret Art passed down by the Holy Order.”

“That is right. We cannot carelessly tell others about something like that.”

“If that is what it is, then it cannot be helped.”

A Secret Art, huh. Still, they had told me something similar.

It seemed we still needed much more time before a trust relationship could build between us.

For now, I would have to be satisfied with this level of relationship.

Though the corners of my mouth tasted a little bitter.

“Your ordered drink is here.”

A server brought a cup of cocoa in front of me.

Nice timing. 

Should I give them a small tip?

In order to neutralize the bitterness, I sipped the cocoa that had just come out.

“......!”

Sparks flew inside my head.

My sense of taste, having encountered an utterly bizarre flavor, delivered that shocking taste directly into my frontal lobe.

“Cough! Cough! Gah!”

“W-Why? What is wrong?”

“Did it go down the wrong pipe?”

“Ah, damn it, what the... Why does it taste like toothpaste.......?”

I roughly wiped my mouth and glared at the cup.

Its color had a greenish tint, and its scent was sweet while faintly mixed with a refreshing quality, making it absolutely damnable.

Now that I looked at it... the reason I had no memory of this was.......

It had been a new menu item so shocking that I deleted it from my memory the moment I drank it.

I immediately snatched the receipt the server had brought and checked the menu name.

That was right. 

This was the name.

“Hahaha.”

How dare they mix something like that into my favorite drink, the one I have loved for more than ten years?

This makes me angry.

“...Excuse me.”

RATTLE.

I silently rose from my chair.

This kind of devil’s drink.

As a Black Mage who handled demons, it was only right that I cut it off at the root.

Yes, absolutely.

***

A commotion broke out in the restaurant.

“No. Go back.”

“Ah, seriously, Senior Lucia? Do not be like that. Just tell me this one thing.”

Damon, whose face was twisted as he tried to storm into the kitchen, and Lucia, the server blocking him.

The two glared at each other with upturned eyes, locked in a sharp war of nerves.

“Mint Chocolate Cocoa? I am asking who developed this bizarre menu item that tastes like toothpaste. Hm? I am only going to see that person’s face... no, just their face, all right?”

“Would invading someone’s personal privacy not be a crime?”

“The chef who played tricks on sacred cocoa is the one in the wrong.”

“Should we not respect the diversity of the menu?”

“Ah, respect or whatever, please move aside for a moment! I will find out myself.”

He was truly the very model of a nuisance customer.

As Yulia and Viole watched that scene of chaos from a fair distance away, they looked at each other and nodded.

‘It was a good thing we did not tell him about the Sacred Mark, right?’

‘Yes, truly.......’

Damon had ended up moving one step farther away from building a trust relationship.