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222. Childhood Friend – Connection

My long-lost friend.

I have wandered across the continent searching for you. You abruptly left for a journey in your youth, and even now that I have become a priest and returned to our hometown, you have not come back.

The national cemetery of the Conrad Kingdom. A middle-aged priestess laid down flowers.

Reb.

The gravestone bore the name and achievements of her friend. It was recorded that he gave his life for Lean de Yeriel, the king of the Conrad Kingdom, and Leah sighed.

I never thought we would meet like this.

I surely believed you were living well somewhere, and I had faith in our bond, trusting that God would lead me to you. But my friend, you are buried here. Your name etched in this corner of a kingdom ravaged by war.

This must also be God’s guidance.

He wanted me to stop wandering, to settle down and take care of this devastated kingdom… so he buried you here, I suppose.

Leah raised a brass goblet.

At that moment, bestowing meaningless blessings upon the grave of her friend, she awoke.

Dazed.

She instantly sat up, wiping her sweat, realizing that it had all been a dream. The narrow home of her childhood. Her parents sleeping beside her.

Rumble.

The sound of her tired parents snoring echoed in the one-room home. Missing them for some reason, Leah quietly got up and changed her clothes. When she carefully stepped out so as not to wake them, it was still dark dawn.

“Phew!”

Leah inhaled the dark morning air. Scratching her head, bewildered by the vividly surreal dream, she turned her steps.

She woke up too early. If she went to the vegetable garden to pull some weeds, her mother would probably have breakfast ready.

Leah walked along the dim path out of the village. Her home was so poor that even a palm-sized vegetable garden was outside.

For Leah, who wanted to become a priest, the environment was disappointing. The monastery church was far away, and in this harsh world, a girl in her mid-teens could hardly be anything but confined to the village. Even with the help of Priest Leslie, no matter how much she studied, the possibility of her becoming a priest was as slim as the size of that vegetable garden.

A girl in such a situation might have shed tears over this dark patch of earth. But Leah,

“Ugh!”

Gripped the weeds tightly and yanked them out. Under the brightening eastern sky, she thought while sniffling,

‘Just making excuses without working hard… Don’t be a baby.’

This was a study I started because I liked it.

Whether she could become a priest or not, there could be no regrets in pursuing something she enjoyed.

Leah yanked out all the weeds, turned to face the dazzling east, and felt an urge to study like never before.

So today…

*

When she woke up late, her father was out hunting. Reb sauntered out lazily.

“Mom~ Give me food.”

“Oh my, why are you sleeping in? Just a moment. I’m about to leave, so it’s good timing. Let’s eat together before going out.”

Reb had breakfast with his mother.

As usual, he complained that the food was bitter. His mother responded, “It’s good for you because it has herbs in it!” This was the current life he remembered, now that his mother was alive.

Their trivial conversations were nothing significant.

The conversation revolved around the bugs filling the garden and how Leah, rather than going outside, should catch the bugs for her son, or how they were out of Belleplua flour (used instead of regular flour) and needed to borrow some; small talk like that.

“What are you going to do today, son? If you have nothing specific to do, you could catch some bugs…”

“I’m going to the mountain. I couldn’t pick many berries yesterday, so I decided to go again with Leah.”

“Huh? Leah went to the bakery, you know? She went to gather herbs this morning.”

“Huh? Why? The weather is… clear.”

His mother shrugged.

Leah, who liked to work outside, only went to the bakery when it wasn’t overcast. How strange, Reb thought as he finished his meal and followed his mother to the bakery, which was the only one in the village of Demos run by Hans’ mother.

“Little brother, you’re here?”

“Yes, sister. The bread isn’t baked yet, right?”

“I’m here too.”

“Come in quickly. Did you come to see Leah?”

Hans’ mother greeted Reb and his mother warmly. Leah was in the kitchen kneading dough.

“Leah, I’m here! Why did you come here instead of going berry picking?”

“Oh, it’s exhausting. I’m just working here today and planning to go to church. It’ll be too late if I come back from the mountain.”

“Why? Today is a weekday.”

“Just because. To study.”

Shortly responding, Leah redirected her attention to the dough. She sprinkled finely chopped herbs into the chewy dough and kneaded it vigorously once more. After making the green dough neat by sprinkling flour on it, she finally let her tired arms rest.

“I’ll bring this over.”

“… Is something going on?”

“There’s nothing going on. Why? Is it so strange that I’m going to church on a weekday? I might have been a bit lazy lately~”

Reb looked at Leah, who seemed to have gathered herself, with a complicated expression. However, since there was nothing he could do, he simply listened to her chatter.

While Leah kneaded, Reb took care of miscellaneous tasks. His mother and Hans’ mother were busily trying to develop a new menu.

Eventually, during lunchtime, Leah received bread as her wage.

“You don’t have to give me so much…”

“It’s fine. Since it’s a new development, taste it and let me know if it’s good. You worked hard.”

“Thank you. I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Reb followed Leah outside.

With a generous wage making her happy, Leah chirped, “I guess I should go to church now,” and Reb turned his head at the quiet sound of “tch!”

Hans was standing at the edge of the bakery. He turned away before Reb’s gaze met him, and Reb stared blankly at his back.

We had misunderstood. Hans was actually…

“Reb!”

“Huh? Why?”

Leah interrupted Reb’s thoughts. She passed him the armful of bread she was carrying, saying,

“If you have nothing to do, take this to our house. I’m going to read.”

I’ll be heading to study, so you handle everything else.

Reb pouted, sticking his lips out as he hurried to drop off the bread at Leah’s house. Then he headed for the church.

Leah was sitting near the divine object in the church, reading a book. Priest Leslie was teaching her, while Reb stood awkwardly like a bag of barley, watching Leah study. After a moment, Priest Leslie exclaimed,

“Wonderful. You can stop reading ‘Theological Inquiry of Willard Bofman, the Sixth Saint’ now. I thought it would take you a couple more months to finish this… You’ve worked hard. Just wait a moment.”

Priest Leslie fetched a thick book from his room.

Tigorof’s ‘Ontology of Recognition’. Realizing Leah had surpassed the usual study level, he had brought her a book that he studied in the monastery.

“You’ve only covered the outline of what you studied until now. They’re foundational concepts, but not deep. From here on is the real thing. You will learn not just to simply believe in God, but how the creatures should perceive Him. There are various approaches, but only by moving beyond this will you taste the essence of theology—‘the bondage of creatures’ and ‘the responsibility of creatures.’ Now, let’s start by reading the preface.”

“Human reason has a special mission in recognition of various kinds. Since reason originates from God, it cannot be rejected, and it is beyond self-awareness, hence tormented by questions it cannot answer…”

Leah read the preface in a clear voice. Priest Leslie interrupted after each sentence or paragraph to explain, but Reb couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

So Reb wandered outside, feeling awkward. He wanted to be with Leah, but he feared it would disrupt her studying.

Leah seemed to have had a dream. Given that she was showing a side of herself he hadn’t seen before…

Sighing, Reb returned home to grab his leather pouch.

He picked berries and took them to Leah’s house, and from then on, Reb visited the bakery every day. Leah, working only until lunch, would then go to the church. For this round, Reb chose to be content with spending time with her at the bakery.

I need to send Leah to the monastery church. I have work to do.

– “Do you want me to become a priest? Or not?”

It was a relief that they didn’t ask each other such perplexing questions. Leah would leave for the monastery church, and I would leave too.

‘Oh right. I need to use the mirror… Hm. It’s better not to do it now.’

Reb counted the dates and completed his calculations. It wasn’t something he needed to rush, and acting quickly might lead to unexpected events…

A few days later, at night. Reb, who had been sound asleep at home,

“Hey!”

Woke up startled at the calling voice. The window swung open without permission. Leah was peering down at him with a pale face, backlit by the moon.

*

“Let’s talk about what we discussed last time.”

Leah abruptly awakened her sleeping friend and pressed him.

She had a chilling dream.

Against the backdrop of a magnificent church, there was a gaunt Reb, and she felt welcome as her friend came to the monastery church, waving hello. At that moment, a horrific voice whispered in her mind.

– Do not be afraid.

It was something that looked like a snake. It felt as if sticky scales were wrapping around her brain, rendering her immobile.

The tongue that licked her like she was being savored sent shivers down her spine. Even more terrifying, she was feeling herself merging with that existence. God became cursed, and she was overcome by an unbearable madness.

She awoke at that moment.

The moment the filthy goddess’ harlot drove the blazing scepter like the sun into her heart, she screamed and woke up.

“What, what’s wrong?”

Her parents asked, startled, and she replied, “Ah, I had a nightmare.” When she stepped outside under the pretext of getting some water, she recalled the strange story Reb had told days earlier. He said he became an apostle of Barbatos, the evil god. That it had passed on to her.

An unbelievable story.

It was a story so absurd that even his serious tone made it seem like a joke.

But…

“What’s the matter?”

“Just come out.”

Leah urged Reb, who was still dazed from sleep. She impatiently waited, tapping on the window. Eventually, Reb emerged, his clothes put on backwards.

“About that thing we discussed last time. Is it real?”

“… I told you it’s real.”

“Did you not just have some dream or what?”

[ Achievement: Twenty Photos – Lena occasionally faintly remembers the past in her dreams. ]

Reb fell silent.

A bitter expression. Unlike usual, his face bore the marks of time. He pulled out a blue necklace and replied.

“No. If it were a dream… this wouldn’t exist. I couldn’t show it to you before, so just wait a moment.”

Reb returned with a mirror.

It was a plain mirror without decorations, and both of them leaned against the wall, sitting down.

Suddenly, Leah was taken aback. The mirror reflecting them began to shine like the moon, and a strange man appeared in it. He was a boy with golden hair and golden eyes.

[ Achievement: Bound Item, 2/3 ]

[ Sword – Indestructible. ]

[ Mirror – Beggar Siblings. ]

[ Necklace – A pretty necklace. ]

“Lean, it’s me.”

Could he be around the same age as them? He had a striking face, but his hair was messy as if he had just woken up. He looked at them in confusion and spoke.

“What happened to Reriana… Ah, we learned our names. More importantly, what is this? How did you come to use it?”

They could hear his voice. Leah thought she was still dreaming.

1) Footnote: Excerpt and modifications from the Preface of the Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, 1781).