The plaza in the ruined city, normally serene and quiet, erupted in uproar at the appearance of the divine beauty.
“Arty, what are you doing?” Zenos asked as he ran up to her.
She was supposed to have been waiting at the clinic with Lily—who was a little ways behind the saintess, running and flailing her arms.
“A-Arty ran off all of a sudden, and I couldn’t catch up! I-I’m sorry, Zenos!” Lily managed between ragged breaths.
Arty gently shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Lily. I caused this situation. I can’t keep hiding like this.”
“Arty...”
The Royal Guard, who had been struck dumb by Arty and her unique aura, finally snapped out of their trance.
“S-Sir Seagall! Could that be our target?”
“All of you, stand back!” Seagall ordered, waving both arms widely to send the men out of hearing range.
Arty and Seagall slowly walked to the center of the plaza. The bearded man straightened his back and respectfully brought his right hand to his chest.
“Lady Artemisia, it has been a while. I see your fingers are injured, and...what happened to your hair? Did these scum do anything to—”
“My injured fingers are a badge of honor. Pay them no mind,” Arty said. “And my hair was in the way, so I cut it. The style suits me, don’t you think?”
“Y-Yes, quite...” Seagall muttered, nodding unconvincingly. “I would get on my knees and bow to you as protocol dictates, my lady, but I have not informed my men of your true identity. I ask for your patience and understanding.”
“I don’t mind. As for who healed the commoners—I did, of my own volition,” she confessed.
Seagall cast Zenos an angry glare. “I thought as much. That man almost deceived me with his lies, but he used something akin to defensive, or perhaps enhancement magic, and it’s impossible for one person to master more than a single type of spell. At least one had to come from a different caster. And the notion he could use healing magic on top of that...ludicrous.”
“You’re right. I was the one secretly doing the healing.”
“To think the saintess would be healing the rabble... My lady, let us return to the palace at once. His Highness Prince Figaro is beside himself with worry.”
“Oh, is he?” Artemisia let out a deep sigh. “He’s not worried about me. It’s the nation...and ultimately, his own advancement, that concerns him.”
“My lady, you shouldn’t...” Seagall began, then pressed his lips tightly as he trailed off.
Finally, he gestured with his right hand toward the heart of the capital, where the palace was located, to escort her back.
“This way, please.”
“Very well. But allow me to speak to these people first.”
“A royal, speaking to these rats? Do not be fooled, my lady. These people are animals. They’re not human. They must be planning to use you.”
“They are human. They laugh, cry, and are compassionate and warm people.”
“Lady Artemisia—”
“If anyone is trying to use me, it’s the royal family. And I’m saying I’ll willingly allow myself to be used again, but first, I wish to speak to these people.”
Seagall let out a heavy sigh, then gave a curt nod. “Please keep it brief.”
Artemisia exhaled, then slowly made her way toward Zenos.
“Arty...”
“Thank you, Zenos, for covering for me. I’m grateful to you for keeping your promise to the end,” she said, taking Zenos’s hand. “But you’ve done enough. The people here need you. If the capital so much as suspects a brilliant unlicensed healer lives in the slums, you’ll be in trouble. A shadow healer must stay in the shadows.”
“Are you gonna be okay?”
“Yes. I’ll return to the spire. I already got what I wanted.”
“Right. You did say there was something you were after,” Zenos mused. She’d never told him what it was, though.
Artemisia’s lips curled into a faint smile. “I wanted to try living a normal life, just once.”
Zenos had no response to that.
“The Saintess’s Spire has everything I need. A soft bed, a spacious bath, the best food one could ask for. But that’s all it has. I have nobody to share meals with, and no one to talk to about cooking. I wake up at fixed times, I get attended to by maids, I offer blessings and prayers... Day in, day out, that’s all I do. That place is nothing but an oversized prison.”
Artemisia looked fondly toward the direction of the clinic.
“Here, I got to wake up, do housework, go shopping, eat meals with family, and talk about all sorts of nonsense. I’ve always wanted to do that. So...my wish came true.”
“Arty...”
The saintess looked up at the sky. “Zenos, do you remember the prophecy I mentioned?”
“Right. The ‘most severe rot,’ or something.”
“Yes. I don’t know when it’ll happen. But please don’t forget about it,” Artemisia said, her expression serious.
“I won’t,” Zenos replied with a nod.
She waved to him and Lily and reluctantly began to turn away. “Goodbye, then.”
“Say, Arty? That thing you said before, about not having much time left...was that true?”
Artemisia was silent for a moment, then smiled and shook her head. “No, I was just kidding.”
With that, she wished them well and finally went over to where the Royal Guard was waiting.
“Do not harm these people,” she told Seagall as she walked past. “And make sure that man gets his due. I promised him appropriate compensation.”
“As you command, my lady,” Seagall replied with his right hand over his chest, his eyes narrowing.
✦ ✦ ✦
Now that the conflict had passed, the tension began to quickly dissipate from the plaza.
“You there,” Seagall called out.
“Huh?”
Zenos, who had been about to return to the clinic, turned to face the bearded knight.
“As per Lady Artemisia’s orders, I’ll make sure you get your due. Come with me, please,” Seagall said.
“All right,” Zenos replied. He turned to Lily and the demi-humans. “Sorry, you guys go on ahead.”
He followed Seagall to a Royal Guard outpost, and the two went into a room in the back.
But there was no sign of a reward waiting for Zenos. Instead, guards flanked him on both sides and grabbed his arms, then snapped handcuffs onto his wrists.
“Uh... What’s this about?” he asked.
“Those are special magic-suppressing handcuffs. And you’re being taken to prison.”
“What?”
The two guards stepped back, and Seagall suddenly delivered a punch to Zenos’s stomach.
Zenos didn’t make a sound. Though the handcuffs did make it harder for him to channel his mana, he’d still been able to activate a simple protective spell to minimize damage. Regardless, he faked a slightly pained expression, just in case.
Seagall leaned in close enough that Zenos could feel his breath. “You’re the one who held Lady Artemisia prisoner, aren’t you? The ringleader cannot be allowed to escape justice. You’ll receive the maximum punishment for this.”
“Oh...” Zenos wanted to point out he hadn’t imprisoned anyone, but it didn’t seem like Seagall would listen. “Does Arty know about this?”
“‘Arty’? You mean the saintess? Of course she doesn’t.”
“Then—”
“Our orders were issued by His Highness, the Second Prince. Naturally, he demands that the one responsible be punished to the full extent of the law. Surely you need no further explanation.”
“His Highness?” Zenos echoed.
It wasn’t surprising, considering Arty herself was also royalty, but it did mean that Seagall had the backing of a very powerful man.
“Now, come,” the bearded knight ordered.
Handcuffed, Zenos shrugged and silently followed Seagall.
To be fair, from the royal family’s perspective, some unknown man from the slums had kept a crown-mandated search party from locating the saintess. It was only natural they’d assume he was an extremely dangerous individual plotting something unknown.
If Zenos wanted to, he could make a run for it, but that would just make the authorities launch a forceful search for him in the slums—and, worse, it could lead to an indiscriminate crackdown against all poor. Since it was true he’d kept Arty hidden, his only option was to play along and try to contact her or Krishna somehow.
Seagall, a cruel smirk on his face, looked over his shoulder. “Too scared of your punishment to speak, are you?”
“I mean, not really,” Zenos replied.
“Hmph. We’ll see how long you keep up the brave act.”
Though the sudden arrest was a bit disorienting, Zenos’s greatest worries were not being able to explain the situation to the others and having to be absent from the clinic for a while.
He let out a deep sigh, then muttered, “Just when I thought I could finally focus on the clinic...”