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◈ The Regressor and the Blind Saintess ◈

Chapter 16: Seven Days and Nights of White Night - 2

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The Seven Days and Nights of White Night arrived without any omen.

No five-colored radiance rose into the sky. The voices of the gods did not resound across the world.

The night that should have come simply did not.

That alone made the continent tremble.

* * *

At the center of the Grand Temple, Vera saw that every Apostle except Abundance and Love, who had been dispatched elsewhere for years, had gathered there. He gave Vargo a slight bow.

"I'm late."

"You're here."

Vargo's lowered gaze slowly pierced Vera, as though trying to read something from him.

Vera met that gaze without avoiding it and spoke to Vargo.

"I'll be going."

"...Will you be enough?"

"I believe anything more would be wasteful."

Their gazes collided. The atmosphere was sharper than ever.

The reason they continued their conversation without further explanation was because Vera had already told Vargo three days ago.

A procession accompanied by paladins. Someone he had to protect. A woman.

Now that the Seven Days and Nights of White Night had begun, Vargo could not fail to know who Vera intended to protect.

No one asked Vera how he had learned of it.

Just as Vera had expected, Vargo merely continued to watch him in silence.

From one corner, Rohan, who had been carefully reading the room, asked the twins a question.

"Twins. What's with those two? Did you hear anything?"

"I'm sleepy. But the sun won't set. I can't sleep."

"I'm good at holding back sleep."

"...Yes, very impressive."

A sigh escaped Rohan at the twins' irrelevant answers. Then Trevo, who had been watching the situation from a short distance away, spoke.

"Lord Vera, will you really be all right alone?"

"It's not as though you're coming with me. And I'm taking Sir Norn, so I won't be alone."

"That is true, but..."

"Just guard the place well."

Vera dismissed Trevo's words and looked back at Vargo.

"I will head east immediately."

"...Very well."

"Please station paladins near Horden's border in advance. By the time she crosses the border, she will likely be fleeing pursuit."

"...I will."

"Then I'll be going."

Vera gave a brief bow, turned, and left the Grand Temple.

* * *

Vera headed for the temple's northern exit, returned to the cabin he had been using as his residence, and began preparing.

His holy armor would draw attention, so he took it off. He belted on a plain sword with as little ornamentation as possible and concealed his rosary beneath his clothes.

Once he had finished arming himself, Vera let out a quiet breath and calmed his pounding heart.

Then he went over the route in his mind once more.

About four days.

That was how long it would take to reach his destination.

He felt no unease over the possibility that someone else might find the Saintess first.

No group could find her faster than the Holy Kingdom.

Rohan possessed the Authority of Guidance.

Through Rohan, the Holy Kingdom could hear the Saintess's location directly from the gods.

That was why the Holy Kingdom had been able to find the Saintess first in his previous life, and why Vera had waited for this day.

Lemeo Territory.

A small rural territory in southeastern Horden.

The Saintess, Rene, was there.

Squeeze.

Without realizing it, Vera tightened his hand around his sword's hilt. His eyes lowered, and a deep breath escaped his lips.

...At last.

I am going to meet you.

Only after living one lifetime, and then spending another four years, could he finally go and meet her.

As that thought rose within him, Vera felt his insides grow damp and heavy with emotion. Then he opened his eyes wide and shook it off.

Later.

There would be time to indulge in his feelings after he met her.

Having steeled himself, Vera immediately flung open the cabin door and stepped outside.

Waiting beyond the open door was Norn, who had already finished preparing and returned.

"Let's go."

"Yes."

Vera looked once at Norn, who answered briefly, then turned his gaze ahead and began walking.

Strangely enough, his steps felt light.

* * *

During the four days it took to reach Lemeo Territory, Vera walked with a restless heart.

At some point, his mind became so full of thoughts of Rene that no other thoughts could enter.

It was more accurate to say that all the emotions he had kept tightly suppressed until now had burst forth at once.

Vera had always urged himself on, telling himself that there would be time to lose himself in sentiment after meeting her, that he needed to prepare to receive her first.

But now that the moment of meeting her had truly come, even that had become impossible.

No matter how hard he tried to calm down, his uncooperative mind continued eagerly spinning its thoughts.

You...

What kind of person would you be at fourteen?

Would you resent the High God for taking your sight, just as you had said? Would you be living with your heart mired in misery because of it?

Would you be the beauty you claimed could make anyone fall in love at a glance? Or would you simply be an ordinary girl from the countryside?

Your nature would surely be gentler than words could describe, but what would your personality be like? Would you be fussy? Or lively?

You, who had walked on alone even through the gutter... could you still be unable to walk alone?

As those thoughts arose, Vera's eyes took on a vacant look.

It had happened countless times over those four days.

That expression, which almost made him look foolish, was one Vera had never once shown in the Holy Kingdom, startling enough to astonish Norn, who was watching him. It was an expression that appeared only because of Rene.

No matter how firmly he tried to steel himself, no matter how deeply he tried to hide in the mire, she had always shone a brilliant light upon him and made him endlessly weak.

"...Lord Vera?"

Norn spoke as their destination finally came into view.

But Vera did not hear Norn and continued walking blankly.

"Lord Vera?"

Norn called again, but Vera did not hear Norn this time either.

Another thought had filled his mind.

It was a thought about himself.

He had striven tirelessly, but he was still lacking.

He had accepted those shortcomings and resolved to carry them as a burden. Yet worry now filled his mind that she might not welcome those shortcomings.

What if she saw them as ugliness? What if the still-young Rene could not accept the vile person he still was?

Jolt.

Vera's body twitched at the thought. Norn watched him with an increasingly strange expression.

"Who might you be?"

A middle-aged man herding a cow at the village entrance called out to them.

Only then did Vera come to his senses. He raised his head and looked at the man.

He had gray-white hair and a kindly face. His sleeves had been rolled up high for the increasingly warm weather, revealing sturdy forearms.

Seeing that he was clearly a man from this farming village, Vera composed his expression and asked,

"Does a girl named Rene live in this village?"

"Hm? Ah, yes. Kove's daughter. She lives in the house with the red roof over there."

Vera followed the man's pointing finger with his gaze.

Just as the man said, he could see a house with a distinct red roof in the distance.

At the sight of it, Vera felt his thoughts threatening to overflow again. He clenched his fist and forced them away before answering.

"...Thank you for telling me."

"Take care."

The middle-aged man said so, then led his cow away again.

Vera took his eyes off the departing man, looked at the red-roofed house in the distance, and moved his lips.

"May I go alone?"

"Yes. I will wait here."

"Thank you."

Vera bowed his head slightly in thanks for Norn's consideration, then started walking.

The moment he did, he felt the steps that had been light ever since setting out grow heavy.

* * *

By the time he arrived before the house with those heavy steps, Vera felt as though he could not move another inch.

The thought that had come to him just before arriving resurfaced. The thought that Rene might reject him, that the light that had shone upon him might no longer shine on him.

He had to knock on this door. He had to go and meet her now.

Yet his feet would not move, and he stood there for a long time.

Tap.

A sound cut through the air. A dull sound, as though something had struck against something else.

Tap.

Vera raised his head toward the source of the sound.

Tap.

...His every thought froze.

Tap.

A girl was approaching, feeling the ground with a cane. She was still young, her baby fat not yet fully gone, though she had only just begun to take on a feminine air.

Tap.

Her steps were painfully clumsy. Each step seemed so unsteady, as if she might collapse at any moment, yet she placed each one with utmost care.

Tap.

Still, her appearance was such that it drove a single concept so deeply into his mind that nothing else stood out.

Beauty.

Was this what it would look like if that word were molded into human form?

He did not mean the beauty one saw in the opposite sex. It was something more essential than that, the very concept of beauty that formed her.

Tap.

White hair, like the first snow of winter, rippled around her. Beneath eyes fixed upon empty space lay blue irises without the slightest movement, yet that stillness made it seem as though a single shining moment had been preserved forever.

Yes, that was how he should describe it. Under the bright sun, her eyes seemed to cast a spell that captivated others.

Tap.

It was Rene. He knew at once.

It could not be anyone else.

Her appearance was different. Her build was different. He had not even heard her voice yet.

Tap.

Yet the oath engraved upon his soul burned more fiercely than ever, telling him who she was.

Tap.

Vera unconsciously stepped back as Rene drew near.

Rustle.

Grass crumpled beneath his feet.

"Who's there?"

A clear voice rang out.

At that voice, Vera's body stiffened.

"...Is someone there?"

His lips pressed tightly together.

His gaze continued to follow Rene's figure without end.

Vera thought that she had truly been right.

The beauty she had always boasted of was indeed breathtaking.

Yet even as he thought that, Vera thought that one thing she had said might have been wrong.

Those who saw her had likely not felt love, but reverence.

Rene's beauty was that kind of beauty, one which even Vera, who had traveled all across the continent and met people of every race, had never seen before.

While he continued his thoughts in a daze,

"...No one's there?"

Rene's brow faintly furrowed.

"That's strange..."

Her head tilted to one side. At that, Vera spoke in a voice still touched with a dazed quality.

"...I am here."

"Eek!"

Rene's body jolted. A cry like a scream slipped from her lips.

Her face was full of alarm.

Then Rene turned her head in a direction slightly away from where Vera stood and asked,

"W-Who are you?"

She was asking who he was.

Vera opened his mouth to answer, then suddenly realized something and stopped.

Thinking back, he had never told her his name in his previous life.

This was the first moment he would tell her his name.

Only after living one lifetime, then spending another four years, could he finally tell her his name.

As he thought of that, Vera suddenly felt his chest tighten more than it ever had before.

It was not unpleasant.

He did not know whether this was the right way to describe it, but even as his throat clogged tight, it was not unpleasant. It was a strangely pleasant suffocation.

His lips moved.

Overwhelmed by uncontrollable emotion until he could barely breathe, he finally forced out a word.

"Vera..."

But the words broke off before he could finish.

He needed to speak, but his heart was too full for it to be easy.

He took a deep breath. Then, moving his lips again, Vera managed to put the words together.

"I am Vera."

It was not enough.

That single sentence did not ease the tightness in his chest.

Countless sentences began to whirl through his mind.

There were words he had gathered over the past four years.

There were words he had desperately wanted to say when they met again.

This time, I came to take you with me.

I have come such a long way to meet you.

I came here to fulfill the oath I staked my life upon.

So now, you do not need to fear anything.

...He had prepared words like those, but they all felt strange.

Flustered, Vera moved his lips for a long while. He did not know how he should say it, nor what words would satisfy him.

In the end, he gave a bow she could not see and barely managed to say one thing.

"...I came to escort you."

It was such an unremarkable thing to say.

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