Chapter 128

“And you too, Col. Thank you for coming all this way.” Ilenia seemed impressed with him, but she also did not seem to doubt one bit that Col would be coming, eliciting an awkward smile from him. This sheep girl would truly do anything to get what she wanted. That meant Eve employed her for good reason, and not just because she had an excellent eye for wool as the incarnation of a sheep. “Who is this?” Ilenia looked at Canaan; unusually nervous, he straightened his posture and introduced himself. After Myuri grinned at the way he acted like a naive little boy, she leaned over to Ilenia and whispered something in her ear. She had likely told her they had yet to tell Canaan about nonhumans. After brief introductions, Ilenia quickly gave them the rundown of what had happened so far. She had traveled around with Nordstone on Vadan’s boat, collecting information on the new continent, and that was how she had heard about this astronomer from Diana. By the time she had arrived here to meet her, the astronomer had vanished into thin air. But when she had heard the prince-elector, the astronomer’s employer, had been throwing into prison anyone and everyone who could have had any possible connection to the scholar, Ilenia put herself in jail and started asking around about her. That was the gist of it. “Why do we need that ast—astromon…fortune-teller on our side?” Unable to pronounce astronomer correctly, Myuri switched to the more familiar fortune-teller and asked. Ilenia tore off a piece of the pastry Vadan had given to her and handed it to Myuri as she answered. “We have no choice but to rely on the stars if we are to cross the vast ocean. Miss Diana said she was a very skilled astronomer.” Myuri nodded and nibbled on the pastry. “But it turned out the prince-elector really was throwing every possible culprit into jail, so no one in there particularly stood out in that regard.” It seemed as though merchants, artisans, and even priests all stayed in the jailhouse as a bare minimum show of respect for the prince-elector. Which meant Ilenia was likely the most suspect out of all of them. “Everyone I asked only shook their heads and said love made people crazy.” Myuri did not dislike romance stories, either—she listened to Ilenia with delight. But Col could not keep the question to himself any longer. “And yet everything we’ve learned so far tells me nothing as to why you called me here, Miss Ilenia.” His intention was not to emphasize he was the Twilight Cardinal, but what was true was he did not have all the time in the world. He had plenty of things to do to prepare for his fight against the Church. And since she had drawn him out here with a letter stating that she was in jail and needed help, then she would certainly forgive him for wanting a more concrete reason for being here. After all, he could have turned up with Luward and his mercenaries in tow, ready for war. “Yes, of course. I would need good reason to summon the world-renowned Twilight Cardinal.” Ilenia paused to chuckle, and then continued. “Prince-Elector Duran is in an extremely precarious position. His own scholar stolen away from under his very nose, and he has yet to conduct any proper searches. Plus, there’s the possibility of a torrid love affair, so perhaps this is not a matter we should be looking into seriously.” Ilenia smiled softly, in a matter that suited her fluffy hair, and stared hard at Col. The word sheep was often used to mean weak, stupid, or prey. But if one were to ever stand face-to-face with a sheep in a grassy field, another word should come to mind: persistence. “As I was trying to learn what I could about the new continent, I came across a piece of information I could not ignore.” “What was it?” Myuri asked, and Ilenia smiled. “In a way, the reason we came across this astronomer is because she’s been looking into odd tales. Because I heard that as she was looking for her own information, she heard about Miss Diana somewhere, and went to visit her workshop.” What Ilenia said almost sounded like a riddle. Because Col did not know why the astronomer would have gone to the alchemist. All the knowledge one could gain from observing the stars essentially came from every star that sat in the eastern sky at nightfall at the turn of every season—nothing more, nothing less. Those who crossed the line of that knowledge were generally considered astrologers. Those were the people who forecasted the future from the movement of the stars, and occasionally even attempted to heal the sick. But twins who were ostensibly born under the same stars generally met different fates, proving astrology was not real—or so argued the great first father of the Church some thousand years ago. But Ilenia mentioned Diana’s name. Diana was an alchemist—something closer to an astrologer than an astronomer. But at the time, Col had yet to realize something. Diana was something else entirely in the presence of an astrologer. And that was— “Do you all know what the other name for an astronomer is?” Ilenia asked suddenly. The well-read Canaan answered, “One who wanders among the stars?” “Yes.” Ilenia smiled. “Our missing astronomer was looking for the Moon-Hunting Bear.” Col was not sure if the one who audibly gasped was himself or Myuri. Ilenia stared quietly at Col, with the eyes of a sheep looking into the future on a moonlit plain.