“You’ve arrived. Have you made your decision?” Priest Ophelia awaited the two youths in front of the carriage. The old paladin silently guarded the driver’s seat, the horse snorting impatiently.
The villagers had gathered around them.
They had heard Lesley the monk joyously singing hymns at lunchtime yesterday.
Everyone knew about Lena’s dream.
The villagers had all come out to bless the start of kind, beautiful Lena’s journey towards her dream.
Standing before Ophelia, Lena glanced at Leo once more, then spoke with firm resolve. “Yes, I will go.”
Ophelia read the look in Lena’s eyes.
It seemed they had worked things out.
She smiled softly, recalling her own past. “Then let’s be off.”
“Wait a minute!”
Lena’s parents came rushing out.
They embraced Lena tightly.
They didn’t scold her for not coming home last night. They just stroked her hair and encouraged her to do her best.
“Oh, you shouldn’t have…” Lena said, looking at the small pouch of coins in her hand. If she took this, her parents would freeze during the winter. She tried to return it, but her parents firmly pressed it into her hands.
“We believe in you, our daughter. Remember, we’re always on your side.”
After bidding farewell to her parents, Monk Lesley sidled up to her and handed her a bundle of money.
“Lena, this is for your travel expenses. We all chipped in, so don’t hesitate to accept it. Buy yourself some delicious food at the monastery from time to time… and work hard.”
They had pooled their money, hoping that this rare opportunity would come to Lena someday. And it did. She truly must be a child blessed by God.
Monk Lesley offered a silent prayer.
“Monk Lesley…” Everyone… for me… Lena’s nose tingled.
Just then, her eyes met Leo’s. He was smiling faintly, but his smile was tinged with sadness.
“Leo!”
Lena ran and hugged him, and the villagers struggled to stifle their gasps of surprise.
Those who knew about Lena and Leo’s relationship exchanged glances, all of them stealing looks at Priest Ophelia. But she was looking at the distant mountains, pretending not to notice.
She had already figured it out when she saw them arrive together. But Ophelia believed that as long as they were unmarried and unbaptized, it wasn’t a problem.
It wasn’t something she could say out loud to the uptight, celibate old men of the Church, but then again, she shouldn’t have been a priest herself, by those standards. And yet, God had granted her glorious divine power.
Ophelia clasped her hands behind her back and asked Sir Corin how long the journey to Cony would take, a question she already knew the answer to.
Sir Corin curtly replied that it would take four months at the shortest and five at the longest.
Lena and Leo’s embrace ended.
“I’m going…”
“…Be strong.”
Lena couldn’t take her eyes off Leo as she climbed into the carriage.
The horses pulling the carriage snorted and stomped their hooves, the food the villagers had loaded onto it with difficulty clattered.
“Lena! Be strong!”
Led by Monk Lesley, the villagers began to sing hymns.
Filled with encouragement and affection, the hymns continued without pause until the village was completely out of sight.
Tears welled up in Lena's eyes, and she began to sob softly. Beside her, Priest Ophelia comforted her silently.
***
With Lena gone, Leo threw himself into hunting to earn money for his journey.
Even considering just the cost of a two-handed sword, his {Starting Funds} were woefully insufficient. And now that he no longer had the excuse of taking Lena with him, his father wouldn’t give him any money.
How long would it take for Lena to become a priest? When he asked Monk Lesley, the monk gave him a sympathetic look and replied, “It usually takes four to five years to receive the ritual, but I think Lena will manage it in three. She’s already studied theology extensively, and she’s very bright.”
The ritual at the monastery was an assessment of one’s qualities, determining whether they would become a priest or a monk. It was held every autumn.
According to Monk Lesley, he had three years.
As soon as Lena became a priest, [Lena’s final job class has been decided]… or something like that, that ending would probably pop up.
A long time.
Leo had never lived through three years in a single scenario before.
The shortest was the first Beggar Siblings scenario, which lasted only two days. The longest was the Engagement scenario where he had killed Katrina and returned injured, and even that was less than a year and a half.
But this time, he had a guaranteed three years. He was planning a long journey, so it was best to save up plenty of money.
Leo's father was proud of his son's dedication to hunting. Moreover, his {Hunting} skills were already becoming extraordinary, as if he had found his stride.
One day, he took out some snake wine and offered it to his son.
He wasn’t an adult yet, but a proper hunter had to have a taste of his own homemade liquor.
Leo took a sip of the strong snake wine, wishing he had brought some beer to the cabin.
As they drank, his father suddenly spoke. “What do you think of Barbatos?”
“…I’m sorry. I can’t bring myself to like him.”
His father remained silent.
He was asking for a reason.
“I couldn’t go with Lena because of this tattoo.”
Leo told him what had happened.
His father’s eyes flashed when he heard about the paladin in the story. But when he heard that his son had wanted to become a paladin, he sighed and nodded.
After listening to the whole story, he poked at the dying embers in the fireplace with a skewer he held in one hand, the other still clutching his cup of snake wine.
“Tomorrow, you will go sell the jerky.”
Leo looked at his father in surprise.
He had gone to the market with his father a few times to sell the jerky they made at the cabin. It didn’t seem that difficult, but this was the first time he had been entrusted with it alone.
‘Does this mean he approves of me?’
His father didn’t say anything else. They drank their snake wine in silence, then tidied up and went to bed.
The next day, Leo came down from the mountain, his back laden with a large load of jerky.It was incredibly heavy. He regretted being greedy and packing so much in his excitement to sell it for the first time, but it was too late now.
He had to stop every now and then on the slopes, putting down his load and gasping for breath.
As he reached the entrance of the forest where he used to pick berries with Lena, a pang of sadness struck him. The memory of hugging her and crying his eyes out at the village entrance made his eyes sting, but an unwelcome visitor was waiting for him.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Leo. Long time no see.”
“Oh, hey Hans.”
“Want some water?” Hans offered him a waterskin that hung from his waist.
Leo declined. “I’m going.”
“Alright, see ya.”
‘What am I going to do about that bastard?’
He was the one who had sold them out in the last scenario. Lena had been kidnapped, sold to those princes.
Just thinking about it made Leo grind his teeth.
‘Why did he sell us out?’
Hans had a thing for Lena. Maybe he had been jealous seeing them leave?
No, the reason didn’t matter. He would kill him, that was for sure.
Swallowing his murderous intent, Leo returned home.
Lying in bed, he thought of Lena. Her presence could be felt everywhere.