Chapter 34 : Survey (2)

Ah… I’m so tired.

In the deep of the night, I muttered as I walked down the dim corridor of the lord’s castle, shrouded in darkness.

It’s already the second day since I started the investigation. 

After finishing today’s investigation and sharing the results with the hero, I’m now heading back to my room.

Yesterday, the investigation, which I had calculated would take at least 12 hours and 30 minutes, was fortunately reduced to 9 hours after I passionately persuaded Bliss.

Well… even though it’s still 9 hours, which doesn’t seem like much of a difference, I suppose cutting it by 3 and a half hours is a success in persuasion, right? 

9 hours isn’t too bad to endure after all.

The problem, however, is Reina.

Just think about it—how can a little 8-year-old walk the same path for 9 hours? Even I, an adult, can barely stand it.

But looking at the situation so far, it seems like this will be resolved more easily than expected.

The thing is, Reina is still a little child.

Maybe because she’s in the prime of her childhood, Reina has an immense amount of stamina.

Where in that small body does all that energy come from? 

Even after walking all day, she never gets tired. 

And because of her never-ending stamina, I had to endure a really tough time today.

Today, Reina looked especially bored, so to pass the time and keep her entertained, I told her that if she had any questions, I would gladly answer them.

That was a huge mistake.

Our princess—what is it that she’s so curious about?

“Ruina, what’s that?”

“Ruina, I want to go over there!”

“Ruina, what’s this?”

“Ruina, wake up! Hurry! I’m curious about that!”

With her bright, sparkling eyes pointing at everything and throwing a nonstop barrage of questions, I seriously thought I might die just answering her.

You might think that just answering questions wouldn’t be that hard, but try doing it for 9 hours straight. It’s not easy.

There were even things Reina asked that I didn’t know!

When Reina looked at me with eager eyes, I couldn’t bear to tell her that I didn’t know the answer, so I had to scratch my head and desperately come up with something. 

Can you understand the frustration of that?

And she kept asking so many questions that, by the end, I wasn’t sure if Reina was the one doing the investigation or if it was me.

Honestly, during today’s investigation, I began to question if Reina was even a child.

But even Reina, who seemed to have boundless energy, started to doze off by the evening. It was surprising to see the lively child close her eyes and fall into a quiet sleep. 

It almost felt strange.

Watching her sleep made me realize that she is still just a kid…

Anyway, right now Reina is sleeping. While I was talking with the hero, she drifted off to dreamland.

The problem, though, is that she’s sleeping on my back…

So now, I feel like I’m dying. It’s so exhausting…! I just want to get to my room and lie down on my bed!

But unfortunately, I can’t rest as soon as I get to my room.

After I get back, I need to go to Bliss’s room.

The reason is that Bliss wasn’t able to attend the meeting today due to personal reasons. 

So, I have to briefly stop by my room before going to her room to relay the information I gathered today from the hero and his companions.

“Seriously… why is there so much to do?”

Complaining about the tasks ahead, I continued walking, and before I knew it, I had reached the door to my room.

Alright, I’ve reached my first destination, and now the only thing left is…

Let’s see…

Now, I just need to lay Reina down on the bed and then head to Bliss to share what I’ve learned.

“Ugh… damn, there’s still so much left to do.”

Sighing at the pile of tasks that kept popping up in my head, I opened the door.

And then, at that very moment.

“Ahhh!”

A scream rang out from inside the room.

“Who’s there?!”

Startled by the sudden scream, I quickly pulled myself together and shouted loudly.

‘Who could it be? Is there anyone who should be in our room?’

Since I couldn’t tell whether the scream was from an ally or an enemy, I remained on edge and carefully walked into the room.

As I entered slowly, I began scanning the room, and soon I was able to figure out who the source of the scream was.

“Bliss?”

The person who screamed was Bliss. 

Her eyes were wide with shock, and she was gripping the back of a chair tightly, her mouth agape.

For some reason, Bliss, whom I was supposed to meet, was here in my room.

She seemed frozen in place, possibly from surprise, and wasn’t moving at all—she just stared at me. I, too, stood still and stared back at her in shock.

The silence stretched on.

We couldn’t keep this awkward silence for too long, so I spoke up first.

“Bliss?”

“Y-yes?”

Bliss flinched and answered.

“Why are you in my room?”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, unsure of how to respond.

“Well… I was waiting! Tomorrow! We need to discuss what to investigate tomorrow! So I came, but you weren’t here, so I just waited inside!”

She started babbling suddenly.

“Actually, at first, I thought about going back! But I wasn’t sure when you’d come back, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t be here if I came back later, so… I thought it’d be more efficient to wait in your room!”

“Bliss, calm down.”

“The day we have from Naias is fixed to 24 hours, and we must use it wisely, right? As Naias’s follower, I’ve thought a lot about how to use that time efficiently, and that’s why I decided to wait here!”

“You understand, right? You’re a devoted follower, too, so you get it, don’t you? You don’t think I did anything wrong, do you? If you think I did something foolish, I can say for sure that I didn’t!”

“Yes, Bliss, calm down…”

“I didn’t do anything! I just… just sat here on the chair, I didn’t touch the bed or the drawers or anything!”

Damn it.

Bliss, still babbling, wasn’t showing any sign of hearing me. She looked completely lost in her own world.

So, I raised my voice slightly to get her attention.

“Bliss?”

“Y-yes?!”

Finally, hearing my raised voice, she looked at me, her expression still startled.

Since she seemed extremely shocked, I gave her a gentle smile and said,

“I know you didn’t do anything. Now, please calm down.”

“Ah… I got a bit too worked up. Sorry.”

Looks like she’s finally calming down.

Keeping my soft smile, I spoke again to reassure her.

“It’s fine that you were in my room. We’re teammates, right? Teammates can do that, can’t they? And I trust you, so it’s really no big deal.”

I said this with a smile, but honestly, I’m lying through my teeth. I’m actually really concerned about the fact that she was in my room.

Why? Because something feels off about her.

It wasn’t always like this. Honestly, when I saved her last time, she seemed to be almost on my side, so I thought she’d just be a useful tool.

But after seeing that shocking report at the church a few days ago, I’ve been feeling a little… no, a lot scared of Bliss.

“Thank you.”

What’s with that expression? She looks like she’s feeling incredibly guilty.

She’s still avoiding my gaze… Maybe she feels guilty about something? I can’t shake the feeling that something’s not right.

I want to ask her right now what she’s been up to in here…

But for now, I’ll let it slide. I’m physically and mentally exhausted, and I just want to rest.

I walked past the fidgeting Bliss and made my way to the bed, gently laying Reina down.

I carefully placed her head on the pillow, adjusted her body, and tucked her in. Done.

Phew… now I can breathe.

After successfully getting Reina to bed, I rolled my stiff shoulders and turned to Bliss.

“Now that that’s settled, shall I tell you what I learned today?”

“Yes, please!”

Bliss nodded eagerly as if she had been waiting for me to speak.

“So, what did the others say today?”

“It was the same as yesterday. Olivia said that everyone we investigated today had the same reactions as yesterday, and the hero…”

“Olivia said that the reactions of the people she investigated today were exactly the same as yesterday.”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

As I relayed the stories I had heard from Bliss to her, I reflected on the information we had gathered over the past two days. 

The information we sought through our investigations could be divided into two main categories.

First, we wanted to learn more about the “Eschatology Sect.” What kind of religion is it, what are their teachings, and are they currently holding any gatherings? If so, where?

The second category concerned how the residents of Bireun view the “Creation Sect.” 

We were curious about this because the long-standing famine had made life difficult for the residents, and we thought their faith might have changed as a result.

These were the two main areas we focused on during our investigations yesterday and today. At night, we would gather together to share our findings.

Interestingly, the results of our investigation varied greatly by district.

Olivia, who was assigned to the central area, said that everyone she spoke to was a follower of the Creation Sect, and they had no knowledge of the Eschatology Sect.

On the other hand, the Warrior said that most of the people they investigated had avoided answering the questions, and as a result, they had yet to gather any useful information.

As for our district? It was split right down the middle—half of the people believed in the Creation Sect, and half followed the Eschatology Sect.

One peculiar thing was that the Eschatology Sect followers on our side, just like those on the Warrior’s side, avoided answering questions when asked about their sect.

However, something I noticed during our investigations over the past two days was that the followers of the Eschatology Sect didn’t seem to like us very much. 

It felt like they were hostile toward us, almost as if they resented our presence.

There were all kinds of reactions. 

Many of them refused to answer our questions, which became a common occurrence. 

Some cursed us and told us to get lost, while others scowled at us, as if they had seen something unpleasant.

But the most absurd reaction I encountered was when someone actually threw salt at us and told us to go away. 

At that moment, Bliss looked like she was ready to murder the merchant, and I had to work really hard to stop her from doing something crazy.

And the reactions weren’t just limited to our side. 

The Warrior’s side had it much worse. They were actually attacked by the people they spoke to—Olivia and Agnes were targeted.

When I first heard this, I nearly died laughing. How could anyone attack the Warrior, the one who’s protecting humanity? It was just too ridiculous to believe!

But, all things considered, the information we were able to gather from our investigation was pretty slim. 

We came up with three main points:

1. Followers of the Eschatology Sect are hostile toward us.
2. The influence of the Eschatology Sect is much larger than expected.
3. Most people who follow or have converted to the Eschatology Sect are those who are struggling in difficult circumstances.

It was disheartening to think that after two days of investigation, we had only gathered so little information. But I still believed that if we kept going, we’d find something useful.

“Sigh… Does anyone else feel like the results aren’t matching the effort we’re putting in?” Bliss sighed, clearly disappointed by the results.

“Honestly, I feel the same way… but let’s stay positive! If the results weren’t good today, we’ll definitely get better results tomorrow,” I reassured her.

“You’re right, aren’t you?”

“Of course. There’s nothing in this world that can’t be accomplished through effort!”

“Ha ha, hearing you say that makes me feel better.”

Bliss chuckled, and after a brief moment, she seemed like she was getting ready to leave, standing up from her chair.

“Well, then, I’ll head back to my room now.”

“Okay, have a good night,” I said, relieved that she was leaving.

“You too, Ruina, have a good night.”

Finally, I could get some rest!

As she made her way to the door, I inwardly cheered, getting ready to dive into bed as soon as she left. But then, she suddenly stopped at the door.

“Oh, and…” she hesitated, looking a little sheepish.

“Actually, I was just curious about what was different about your bed compared to mine, so I lay down for a second…”

She said this in a small voice, glancing at me nervously.

I let out a sigh of relief inwardly. I had been wondering what shocking confession she was going to make, but it turned out to be something trivial.

But at the same time, I felt a little annoyed. 

Her words essentially confirmed that she had lied to me, and that annoyed me even more.

How dare she try to deceive me? How audacious!

I simply stared at her without answering, my eyes locked on her face. Gradually, her face turned red.

“But really, I didn’t do anything else! Well, then, I’ll just go now!”

She shouted loudly and quickly dashed out of the room.

Left alone in the now quiet room, I was utterly exhausted from the grueling investigations over the past two days. I didn’t waste any time and immediately collapsed into bed.

The soft, comforting sensation of the bed enveloped me, and as I felt its warmth, my eyes slowly closed in relief.