“Thank you for always being so helpful, Liliana.” Not sure what to say, Layla just thanked Liliana and patted her on the head.
Liliana gave another happy woof, a proud smile on her face as she licked at Layla’s hand. Just like any really smart dog.
†††
In the heart of Evaloti beneath the fierce summer sun, Charlotte stood in front of an array of City Guardsmen.
“Vice Captain Tafman, heading out!” Tafman and his thirty guards saluted. Of course, they weren’t saluting Charlotte, but rather some night elf official who acted as the nominal captain of the City Guard. The night elf snorted; he had to be sweltering under his heavy robes, especially since it was the middle of the day.
“Good. Don’t do anything stupid like deserting.”
“Never, sir! We all have something here to protect!” Tafman’s blunt counter to the night elf’s sarcasm got a round of chuckles from everyone gathered. After giving Charlotte a nod and a smile, he led his men out of the city.
The night elf captain let out another snort, not giving Charlotte so much as a glance before taking his leave.
May they all return safe and sound, Charlotte offered a silent prayer for their safety.
The countryside surrounding the capital had been ravaged in the lead-up to the battle in Evaloti. They were working on restoring that countryside and planning to rebuild a number of small villages around it. In advance of those reconstruction efforts, Tafman would be leading a unit of the City Guard to investigate the territory within a day’s walk of the capital, camping out in the fields as they went. And if they encountered any fiends, they’d been ordered to exterminate them.
Reports of fiend sightings outside the city walls, and their occasional attacks on farmers, kept piling up. It was thought that the prolonged neglect of the land had led to the fiends moving in. The core pillar of the reconstruction efforts was to rebuild a village that would serve as the frontline base in their endeavors against the encroaching fiends.
After seeing them off, Charlotte returned to the church, or rather the Relief Squad’s gathering spot. Seeing the life in the city now, it was hard to believe it had been a battleground just a few months prior.
That was all thanks to Charlotte’s diligence in healing the people...together with Demon Prince Zilbagias’s own repulsive style of healing. As they worked in concert, they quickly brought the wounded and sick back to full health, granting the city an abundance of manpower.
“Priestess! Nothing out of the ordinary today!”
“My shoulder feels even better than before thanks to you!”
“Thank you for your help! You really saved me!”
As she walked, many—mostly people she had healed—called out to greet her, and she replied to all of them with a smile. As time went by, more and more unfamiliar faces were among the crowd. Considering this was still part of the demonic kingdom, she wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not.
Leo...do you think I’m doing a good job? she thought, looking up at the sky. As she was the sole person capable of healing miracles in the autonomous zone, everyone looked up to, respected, and relied on her. She did what she could to respond to that admiration appropriately.
But deep down, she was still that shy, introverted girl she had always been. Having lost the man she loved, she had even started wishing for her own death. Right now, she was just barely holding together the “priestess” image that everyone wanted from her.
If Sebastian hadn’t taken over the city’s leadership, I might have been in real trouble.
On the day they were summoned by the demon prince, Sebastian had seemed quite zealous about taking the position of leader for himself. It wasn’t until much later that Charlotte had realized that he’d taken on that burden for her sake.
And to think this whole time he was one of Barbara’s retainers. That means Barbara was quite the high-class lady, right?
While they were discussing the management of the city one day, Sebastian had let it slip that he had worked for the da Rosa family. Charlotte had immediately brought up the name Barbara da Rosa, leading to the two finally making the connection. Thinking back on the late Swordmaster, that powerful woman who had had a way of taking on an older sister role around those she fought alongside, Charlotte felt her eyes start to grow hot. It would be unsightly for the priestess everyone relied on so much to cry in public, so Charlotte pretended to fall into prayer, waiting for the moment to pass.
But when she closed her eyes, everyone’s faces came back more vivid than ever. The Swordmaster Hessel, the old master Dogasin, the other priests and heroes...and of course her beloved Leonardo.
It seemed her roadside prayer would be a long one today.
“Welcome back, Charlotte! Sebastian was looking for you.”
As she made it back to the gathering spot, the deacon Mycine greeted her. For once there were no emergencies to take care of today, so they had some free time on their hands. Charlotte headed right to the former pub they had transformed into their city hall. She was guided to a small room on the second floor. Opening the door, she saw Sebastian speaking with three pale, unfamiliar-looking men.
“Hello...?”
“Oh, Miss Charlotte.” Sebastian gave her a warm smile, like he might to his own granddaughter, but there was some measure of pain in his eyes.
“Who are these gentlemen?” She had no memory of them at all. They were too pale, like they hadn’t seen the sun in months, and quite slender as well. These three had to be specialists of some sort. Those with specialized skills of that nature were a rare sight in Evaloti, so she would have remembered them if they had met before.
“These men are... They were born in the demonic kingdom. And they claim to be skilled slaves raised in the Rage family territory.”
Charlotte’s eyes went wide at Sebastian’s halting explanation. Considering their situation, it was well within the realm of possibility that they were working for the demons. Instinctively, Charlotte slightly raised her guard against them.
“And, well, they say they were previously owned by His Highness Zilbagias. That was until they were recently freed and permitted to move into Evaloti.”
The alarms in Charlotte’s head were going off. What was the prince up to this time...?
Taking the seat Sebastian offered her, Charlotte observed the men closely. The three slaves winced back at the sudden harsh examination.
“I’m Dirilo. I’m a carpenter.”
“I am Organo. I make instruments.”
“My name is Vigo... I play the violin. We once lived in the Rage family territory, but as a reward for our accomplishments in a mock battle against Lord Zilbagias, he took us in as slaves for a time.”
“I’m not sure I follow. He made you slaves as a reward?” Charlotte said, her confusion eclipsing her suspicion. Was this some kind of savage custom among the demons?
“No, um, we were initially meant to be killed by Lord Zilbagias and his men. But Leonardo... Oh, he was the hero that trained us—”