With Filim out of the way, all that remained was Theophilus.
Temporarily heading back to the academy, I regrouped with the princess, who had returned from visiting her family. Then the two of us paid Nemophila a visit.
Several days later, the princess, both members of Black, Nemophila, and I were headed to a certain Forbidden City. It was the one administered by Nemophila’s family—the golden city. Unlike my city, it was still crawling with curions, so we had to avoid several fights en route to our destination.
“Sir Albert, shall we swap positions?” Myra proposed, shooting me a concerned look.
“Thanks, but I’m fine.” I was currently pulling a cart loaded with the coffin holding Theophilus’s body.
“Just let me know if you need anything!”
I looked over at Nemophila, who was walking in silence. After our recent mission, she had been expelled from the Twelve Saints. Publicly, she had retired. Most people sympathized with her since she had lost two holy knights back-to-back—it was hard to blame her for retiring instead of partnering up with a third.
Although Nemophila and Theophilus had attacked Bronze—ostensibly to take credit for killing the giant themselves, though actually because they were trying to steal its ability—the kingdom hadn’t wanted to ruin the celebratory mood, so it hadn’t given her a clear punishment. Her ouster from the Twelve Saints was probably good enough.
Their Heavenly Sword had been returned to the royal family, but it’d never had any power stored in it to begin with. That made me think our lie about Golden Garden would get exposed, but Nemophila had taken advantage of the fact Heavenly Swords can only store abilities for a limited time and claimed it had disappeared prior to the giant’s defeat. Given that the abilities lasted ten years at minimum, it wasn’t a very convincing lie, but she couldn’t be accused of anything since there was no way to definitively disprove her claim. At any rate, it didn’t seem like it would be a problem.
From here out, she was planning on using her holy woman abilities to aid the injured. In addition, in her capacity as a former member of the Twelve Saints and the daughter of the family that administered the golden city, she promised to work with the princess and me. While the sense of loss that had been eating away at her heart probably hadn’t faded, that mission might have finally allowed her to start looking forward. She was no longer obsessed with killing curions.
And so, we had used her connections to get inside the city. There had apparently been a dispute over Theophilus’s body, but we’d somehow managed to get permission for this burial. Though there were probably a bunch of people jumping at the chance to study the body of one of the Twelve Corpses, his identity couldn’t be made public. Since Orlaya and the rest of the princess’s family were already privy to his identity, silencing Nemophila alone wouldn’t be enough. They had probably weighed the pros and cons and decided handing over his body was the best course of action. Anyway, all that behind-the-scenes stuff wasn’t my problem.
Despite the occasional curion, we progressed through the decayed city. With all of us together, the sporadic fights were no issue at all. We ended up at the remains of a garden in Nemophila’s ancestor’s estate. There was a simple grave made using piled-up stones—the grave of Theophilus’s master, Ixeris.
She had been slain by a holy knight and turned to dust, but Theophilus had gathered that dust and buried it here. Nemophila and I had learned that from his memories. Myra and I dug a hole next to the grave and buried Theophilus’s body next to Ixeris. Typically digging a coffin-sized hole would have been backbreaking labor, but with our holy women’s divine protections, we made short work of it.
“Thank you for your help today, everyone.” Nemophila bowed to us after we finished burying Theophilus.
“It’s no trouble at all. It was my holy knight’s wish as well,” the princess kindly responded. Orlaya remained silent with her usual cold expression on her face. Maybe she was simply accompanying her sister and nothing more.
“I couldn’t let a girl come to a dangerous place like this all by herself,” I said.
Nemophila giggled. Unlike before, her smile actually had some warmth in it.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I know you came all this way for Theophilus.”
Of all the things to say. “C’mon now, you know I wouldn’t put in this much effort for a man. I’m just trying to earn your affection.”
“A-Albert!” The princess looked up at me reproachfully.
“You’ve already earned my affection,” Nemophila replied.
“N-Not you too.” The princess was thoroughly flustered.
“I’m honored.”
“However, you’re Lady Astrantia’s holy knight, are you not?”
“Yeah.”
Nemophila gave a lonely smile as she lowered her gaze to Theophilus’s grave. “He killed my holy knight, then died protecting me. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m still not certain how I should feel about him.”
“Don’t forgive him for killing your partner, but be grateful that he protected you. Can those two feelings not coexist?” While it was difficult for hatred and affection to exist together, it wasn’t impossible.
“It won’t be easy, but I’d like to reach that point one day.” Letting him rest next to his master was already plenty considerate. Still, it would be a while before she could accept everything that had happened.
“Hey, Nemophila.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve got a favor I’d like to ask you.”
“Go right ahead.” She put her hands on her chest and awaited my next words.
Yet I didn’t open my mouth. After hesitating for several seconds and awkwardly scratching my head, I finally spoke. “Uh, eventually, when this city is freed, could you leave this garden here?” I’m definitely not saying that for Theophilus’s sake. It’s for... Yeah, it’s for Ixeris. She might have died long ago, but she was still a woman. Obviously my request was simply out of kindness toward her. I was just being my usual self—it was a totally normal thing for me to say. So, Princess, wipe that approving smile off your face. You too, Myra. I see that look.
“I think I can manage that.” Though her father was the one who actually owned the land, she seemed confident that once the city was freed, she could at least secure a single garden.
“Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Our conversation ended there. Forbidden Cities weren’t places you could afford to linger in, so we would need to leave soon. But before that, I still had one thing left to do. I got down on one knee and placed my hand on the ground, looking right at Theophilus’s grave. “I never liked you, and I don’t care about men, but I’ll at least commend you for keeping your holy woman safe.”
He had protected the one he loved. The old man who’d looked after me in the slums and the adoptive father who’d raised me had both told me about a man’s happiness. I suspected Theophilus had found that happiness. The least I could do was recognize that. I activated Golden Garden.
“Are these...?” Nemophila sounded shocked. The garden filled with the golden flowers her ancestor Ixeris had loved. Using the power I’d taken from Theophilus, I returned the garden to its former glory.