Volume 4, Chapter 15 – Beyond Kusane

A lot of things happened in Kusane—Chris-san catching a cold, Ade showing up in the middle of the night, and so on—but we departed as scheduled.

By the way, after that, when I used magic to cure Chris-san’s cold, she somehow ended up apologizing to me.

“By making me experience such suffering, you were teaching me a lesson for neglecting something as obvious as the fact that one catches a cold when the body gets chilled, weren’t you?”

So she said.

That wasn’t the case at all, but I decided to leave it alone.

I mean, this is Chris-san we’re talking about. No matter how I look at it, trying to correct her misunderstandings sounds like a hassle.

Now then, four days have already passed since the snow began to fall.

The snow piled up on the road to Miyako had already been pushed to the sides, so there was no need to break trail.

In stark contrast to our trek through the snow on the way to Kusane, we were making comfortable progress.

“It’s really a relief that the snow has been cleared,” Chris-san said with deep sincerity.

Her words made me think for a moment.

“You’re right. That way, the burden doesn’t fall solely on you, Chris-san. Thank you, as always.”

As I said this and glanced back briefly, I saw a beautiful landscape stretching out before me: the surface of Tougen Lake reflecting the sunlight in a brilliant shimmer, and the forests and outer mountain ridges painted white by the fallen snow.

The view was pretty amazing. It seemed we had climbed to a considerable height without noticing.

“It’s a lovely view.”

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“Yes.”

I had murmured this to no one in particular, but Chris-san chimed in with an agreement.

“The food was delicious too; I want to come back again!”

“In that case, it might be nice to come back and take things slow next time.”

With that, we turned our backs to the scenery and resumed our walk toward Miyako.

◇ ◇ ◇

The journey from there onward was equally comfortable.

The road was well-paved with cobblestones, and it didn’t get muddy even where meltwater mixed in.

It was a bit concerning that strange customs like human sacrifice rituals still remained, I felt that the Queen’s rule was being properly maintained.

Public security was good; we encountered no bandits, nor did we hear any rumors of monsters.

Besides, if I hadn’t been wearing my “Saint-sama Cosplay Set,” I might not have been nearly made a substitute sacrifice at Matsuhata Juku.

That seemed to be an issue of local superstition within the village, and thinking of it that way, the country did seem peaceful.

“Fishy, and incompatible with my position as a Saint, huh…”

I thought back to what Ade had told me the day before yesterday.

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“Fiene-sama, is something the matter?”

Noticing the voice, I turned my head to find Chris-san looking at me with concern.

“Ah, no. I was just thinking about what Ade told me the day before yesterday—that this country is very fishy, and specifically incompatible with me in my position as a Saint.”

“What? That woman, when did she—!”

“While Chris-san was down with your cold. After Lu-chan finished her bath, I was enjoying the hot spring alone when Ade sneaked in. We ended up soaking in the water together and chatting for a bit, and that’s when she said it.”

Actually, she did a lot more embarrassing things to me, but I decided not to mention the extras.

Ade seems to be quite fond of me and is trying to be respectful, so I didn’t want to stir up any unnecessary trouble.

Besides, it’s, well, embarrassing to say things like “she kissed me” or “she hugged me.”

“Do you think that refers to the custom of human sacrifice?”

“I thought so too. But if it were about the incident at Matsuhata, I’m sure Ade would have been watching from somewhere.”

“That is true…”

“Which makes me wonder if there’s something more to it.”

When I said that, Chris-san fell into thought. She even had a crease between her brows.

“Could it be that they’re doing human sacrifices on a national scale? This is a country where people would try to make Onee-sama a sacrifice, after all.”

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Lu-chan’s opinion was quite scathing.

“Hmm, I’d like to believe it’s not that extreme.”

“I wonder…”

“I mean, if they were doing that, the system would collapse eventually. The families and friends of the sacrificed wouldn’t just stay silent, right?”

“But Onee-sama, the opponents are humans. If they’re humans, I feel like they’d be fine with that sort of thing.”

I feel like Lu-chan’s evaluation of humans is dropping again. I thought it had improved for a while.

Wait, maybe she just likes delicious food and hasn’t actually opened her heart to humans at all?

I stole a glance at Chris-san, but she didn’t seem particularly bothered.

“Fiene-sama. I do not mind. Lumia is speaking of humans in general, not referring to me specifically. Furthermore, I cannot forgive the treatment Lumia and her family received from those fools. While that is not the only reason, I can understand what Lumia is saying, and there are many parts I agree with.”

“I see.”

That’s a relief. Chris-san is my greatest benefactor since coming to this world, and Lu-chan is my precious little sister figure. It would be sad if the two of them fought due to prejudice.

“However, as Fiene-sama said, I believe it would be quite difficult to conduct human sacrifice rituals on a national scale. If such a thing were done in our country, word would quickly spread among the people, and nobles or influential figures would likely challenge the royal authority.”

“I see. Meaning they would win over the populace to become the next royal house.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

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I see; if there were powerful factions within the country, that would likely happen.

But what if there were no powerful factions other than the King? Would some force like the Temple emerge then?

Moreover, the Queen of this country seems to have a very good reputation.

So, thinking normally, the possibility of her forcing sacrifices on people seems low.

But what does it mean for a place to be “fishy” despite having security so good that you can go out without locking your doors?

Since it was only Ade’s comment, I can’t say for sure, but she must have spoken knowing the answer.

“Hmm. I don’t really get it, but humans have it rough too. As for me, as long as the food is tasty, I’m happy~”

True. For Lu-chan, that’s what’s most important.

As we walked and talked, a building that looked like a makeshift checkpoint appeared.

However, we weren’t stopped and passed through boldly.

The only thing the person who seemed to be a guard told us was, “The road ahead is downhill and slippery due to meltwater, so please watch your step.”

Yep, it really is peaceful. Maybe it’s better not to think too deeply.

We carefully made our way down the slope where remnants of snow still lingered.