My face crumpled. My hand sought out Kale’s without me even noticing it.

 

A person becoming a monster.

 

For some reason, that really stood out to me, even more than it normally would. The thought made my heart beat quicker for a multitude of reasons, even while my mind reeled with other possible excuses to explain the situation away. Surely it could have just been a case like the Blood Beast, where the man had simply been infected, and the knights didn’t have any way to fix it other than killing him. Or perhaps it could have been some sort of superstitious thing, a form of witch hunting that wasn’t actually based off the truth. Or maybe there was even some other kind of monster on this mountain that I hadn’t heard of yet that infected someone, possibly in a parasitic way or something.

 

But for some reason my heart was screaming at me that I knew what this really was.

 

The thought that this could be that battle with the dregs all over again haunted me. It felt impossible to draw my eyes away from the man’s slowly cooling body the more I thought it, as if I’d be able to find some kind of sign of his infection, of his impending change. After all, wasn’t I a Saintess? Shouldn't I, of all people, overpowered as I am, be able to tell?

 

And wasn’t the cause of that dreg attack someone touching a dead Saintess’s relic in the first place?

 

But is that even possible in this situation? Is it possible for a Saintess's relic to just be out in the middle of nowhere like this on some mountain? An entire town sprung up around Inaiah’s relic after all, didn't it?

 

Is it… maybe the relic of a more recent Saintess? Maybe that’s why there’s no town or shrine or anything there? It’s not like I know anything about how long it takes for the church to decide to set up something like that. It’s completely possible that they don’t even do it every time, or maybe even that some of the relics end up getting lost... although I highly doubt that the church would just let something so important be lost for hundreds of years like that.

 

Hey…

There’s no way it could be Seria’s relic, right…?

She was the most recent Saintess after me, after all…

 

…Did I ever learn about how or where she died?

 

Okay wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here. I still don’t even know for sure that this situation even has anything to do with a Saintess relic! I’m really just jumping to conclusions, here!

 

Still… I can’t help but feel like I must be right. Is it just the fear of the last dregs incident repeating that’s making me feel this way, or is it maybe something else? Am I… maybe feeling a bit weird right now?

 

“Um, excuse me! Is there maybe possibly a Saintess relic nearby...?”

 

Before I even knew what I was doing, I’d already leaned myself between the two paladins at the front of the carriage and asked my question. It’s like I couldn’t resist the urge to ask the question; I just had to know if my thoughts were true or not!

 

“Er…”

 

The knights had expressions on their faces like they were highly uncomfortable; They kept sending me glances while looking back and forth between each other and pursing their lips. At first I thought it was just because of how insignificant I looked, just like always, since it seemed from the way they'd treated the paladins like they were a very hierarchical group of people. However, the more I watched them glancing at each other for answers, the more I could tell that something seemed a bit off about their actions.

 

Hoping to hurry them up, I nudged at that guy paladin, who thankfully caught my hint pretty quickly.

 

“Ahem! Answer the Saintess’s question this instant!”

 

It was a bit more forceful than I’d hoped for, but his words definitely paid off. I guess there’s no questioning or second guessing a paladin’s words when you’re a knight; Every one of them immediately prostrated towards me in reverence, completely ignoring how dirty the road was underneath them. It was practically the first time that anyone had ever believed that I was a saintess on the first time that they were told. Not getting a single question or disbelieving glance thrown towards me even though they could see what I looked like was… very very different.

 

“Yes! We apologize for our insolence and beg for your mercy, oh Holy One!”

 

Ugh… Okay, I’m glad they believe in me, but this is a bit much now…

 

“Um… It’s fine, so long as you answer my question.”

 

Really, I get that I’m supposed to be all important and everything, but what kind of ‘saintess’ just goes ahead and punishes people for being a little rude to them or not telling them what they want? Certainly doesn’t sound like something a saintess should do… Although now that I think about it, I guess it’s completely possible that it’s happened before. There were battle saintesses in the past after all, so maybe it wasn’t so shocking if they were a little on the rougher side, huh?

 

“Yes, Your Holiness! …You are correct, there is in fact such a relic nearby. However…”

 

The knight in the front paused and fidgeted, obviously struggling with what he should say next. Eventually, though, he looked up towards me with a stony face, supposedly having decided on something.

 

“...I must apologize, but I’ve been strictly ordered not to say any further than this. Instead, please allow us to escort you to our Lord. He’ll be able to explain the situation to you.”

 

Ah, I see. So he’s chosen the ‘Let me go get my manager!’ option so that he won’t end up in any trouble later. Smart. Still, I’m sure whoever this Lord is won’t be happy to have people brought to him anyways, since this seems to be some kind of covert operation or whatever. Still, I’m sorry knights, but even if you get in trouble, I still have to figure out what’s going on with this whole relic thing. It’d be terrible if another dreg outbreak occurred…

 

“...Excuse me, Sir Knight, but would this lord of yours… happen to be the Lord of Tarsus?”

 

The lady paladin, who I hadn’t heard more than a word here and there from over the past few days, suddenly spoke up. It’s still totally the case that I don’t like her at all… but I guess it’s kinda hard to watch someone suddenly clam up like that, you know? Seems like everything with Tarsus starving like it was, and the lord’s negligence being put on full display in front of her like that, must have really shaken her. I hate to say it, but if I had to choose between her constantly acting bitchy towards me and her acting all despondent like this, well…

 

Nah, I actually don’t like either.

 

“Ah yes… That’s correct. The lord we serve is in fact the Lord of Tarsus.”

 

A few of the knights seemed confused at first at how the lady paladin had guessed such a thing, but they quickly got over it and just admitted it; After all, considering where we were, and the fact that the lord in the neighboring town was missing, it wasn’t too odd to guess that he was the lord that they’d mentioned. Besides, we were about to go see him anyway, so why would they need to hide who he was in the first place? Maybe they were just too used to trying to keep things hush hush all the time or something.

 

Either way, it was good news for me.

Seems like the person we were looking for all this time just so happened to have the relic that I was curious about as well.

 

~~~

 

As soon as we got close I could feel it. That strange pulling, calling feeling. After a certain point it wasn’t even just a feeling anymore, but an actual, audible call.

 

-You found me, sister. You must be here to open it.-

 

Yes, there was no doubt; This was just like that time with Inaiah’s relic.

 

The constant call was so distracting that I barely registered anything around me. My eyes were searching everywhere to find where the relic that was beckoning for me might have been, and yet I was focusing so hard that I seemed to be become blind to everything else. I was so anxious to find it that I didn’t even register the man that came up to us shortly after I stepped down from the carriage. It’s a good thing that him talking kind of snapped me out of whatever frantic trance that I was in, or else I might have just kept on ignoring him.

 

“So, I’ve been told that you’re the Saintess. There’s no doubt to be had, with such impressive paladins by your side!”

 

He bowed gracefully, reaching out to offer his hand towards me.

 

“Marn Tarsus, the lord of the town of Tarsus, greets you.”

 

I stared at his hand, almost in a daze. I knew that he’d done it out of etiquette, and I knew that it was polite to accept his hand, whether I really wanted to or not. But for some reason all I could do was keep my eyes wide open and ask the one question that had been swirling around in my mind since I got here.

 

“...Where’s the relic?”

_____

AN: Aaand we're back, with chapter 100! It's crazy to me that we managed to make it here! Thanks for reading all this way! I appreciate it~!