Chapter 77: Sister Shara Has Sugar Stuck in Her Ears
“And so Shin-san left?”
Shara Lansra, a Sister of the Church, asked Erica again, thinking she’d sooner believe someone telling her they saw a flying bear.
Apparently, such Monsters actually existed in Faltar, at least.
“Yes.”
Erica “Longdagger”—her companion in activities like Monster extermination, and someone she considered a friend—sipped her tea elegantly with a calm expression and nodded.
As expected of the daughter of a former great noble, her every movement was beautiful.
Shara almost tilted her head at Erica’s utter composure.
Since returning from the Demon Realm Forest, she had, for some reason, been ordered by the Bishop (formal) to meet with a senior Sister once a day, so she hadn’t had time to visit the Longdagger Family. What on earth had happened in the meantime?
She heard that Erica had suffered the Iniquity of being falsely accused and sentenced to Exile from her homeland.
She had been told that Shin, refusing to accept this, had abandoned his life as a proper noble to run away with Erica.
It was strange how they both insisted their being husband and wife was a farce.
Well, Shara had convinced herself that since Shin-san was apparently still a noble, perhaps such an excuse was necessary, accepting their lie that they weren’t truly married.
But now, that Shin was leaving Erica’s side—and for a whole week at that.
When she finally visited the Longdagger Family hoping to see them after a while, this was the unbelievable situation she found.
She’d sooner believe someone telling her there were cows that stood up and danced.
Apparently, those also existed in Faltar, at least.
Even Shara didn’t think that just because a couple was married, they had to be together twenty-four seven, but this was this couple they were talking about.
She could imagine them apart for half a day, maybe even a full day, but a week was seriously difficult to picture.
“Um… Erica, are you alright?”
This question partly referred to Erica’s position as someone whose life was targeted, but mostly it meant, Are you okay without Shin by your side?
After all, Shara had seen Erica when she ran out of Magicka in the Demon Realm Forest.
That had been unbearable; just remembering it made her mouth taste sweet and turned her stomach acid to honey.
“What are you talking about?”
Shara felt a slight sense of relief at Erica’s exasperated look.
It seemed she had worried too much.
“Being apart for just a week, of course I’ll be fine lonely.”
“Eh?”
“Something?”
It seemed her excessive worry had caused auditory hallucinations.
She had already been looked at with pity by everyone at the church when she mentioned hearing the voice of God; she needed to pull herself together.
Seeing Erica’s composed demeanor, Shara mentally braced herself, wondering why she was the one panicking.
“Shin said it was for the sake of his ideal. If that is the case, I will not stop him. If he says he grew complacent, stopping in his tracks because his ideal (the promise after one year) was close by, then this temporary parting must also be inevitable want to see him.”
“Hm?”
“Something?”
Was something wrong? Erica seemed to ask with her gaze. Tilting her head slightly, Shara poked a finger into her ear canal.
Okay, nothing stuck in there.
Seeing Erica looking curiously at her for suddenly digging in her ear, Shara composed herself.
In any case, it was true that she was worried about her.
Being poor at Healing Magic, skilled in Attack Magic like an adventurer, and, to top it all off, best at Syllable (Destruction) Magic, she stood out a bit at the church.
To be blunt, she didn’t have any friends her age within the church.
Well, she had few outside the church either.
Feeling suddenly sad for some reason, Shara spoke to Erica.
“If you get lonely, please tell me anytime, okay? I’ll come running right away.”
They were friends. Surely this much meddling was permissible.
“Honestly,” Erica smiled, looking troubled.
“If that happens, you will be the very first person I rely on painful.”
“Huh?”
“Something?”
Shara poked inside her ear, checking if sugar was stuck in it.