◆ Chapter 13: A Scholar You Can Depend On

 

 

 

◆ Chapter 13: A Scholar You Can Depend On

 

PINO shows us into one of the rooms in the castle that was set aside specifically for him. Obviously, it isn’t as spacious or luxurious as Cia’s quarters, but it’s more than extravagant to a commoner like me.

Lex and I sit on the sofa Pino directs us to. He heaves an audibly annoyed sigh as he plants himself on the sofa opposite us.

“Do you view me as some kind of convenient human encyclopedia?

“I wouldn’t dare! We think of you as a dependable scholar. Right, Lex?”

“Yes! As Lady Mizuha says, there is no one more dependable than you, Master Pino.”

“Sir Lex is believable, but…I smell someone trying to butter me up.” Skepticism gleams in his narrowed eyes. I’m hurt he can’t trust a compliment from me, but I’ll settle for him being willing to hear us out.

“You wanted to consult me, yes? Surely you aren’t here to ask me to help you with the dragon.”

“Wow! How did you know?”

“…I receive reports from your expeditions too.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less of the king’s master scholar!”

He answers my unfiltered praise with a loud sigh. “It sounds near-invincible from what I’ve heard. Arrows didn’t work on it either, right?”

“Yeah. Thick scales cover its tough hide—not a single arrow the Lucors shot punctured it.”

“However,” Lex interrupts, “my sword cut through the area softened by Lady Mizuha’s holy water.”

“That’s Miss Priestess’s holy water for you. The effects are always outstanding.”

“You know, every time you praise the holy water, I can’t help feeling like it’s a dig at me…”

“Aren’t you just being overly sensitive about it? I, at least, mean it as a heartfelt compliment.”

“I do as well, Lady Mizuha!”

Lex I believe, but Pino definitely does not mean it that way. His wicked expression with the slight upward curve of his lips is saying, “See, you get it.” I knew he wasn’t complimenting me.

“I expected as much, but since your holy water worked, it proves that the dragon was born from the Dark Djinn’s power and your Holy Priestess powers are still effective as a countermeasure,” Pino says, returning to the more serious topic at hand.

“Lex is one thing, but I can’t get close enough to touch the dragon.”

“I barely found an opening without getting trampled,” Lex admits in a vexed voice.

Come to think of it, the dragon rampaged more than any Boneless Ham. Maybe I could pull it off if it was weakened, but I doubt I can approach it when it has that much energy. Even if I was capable of it, I’m confident I’ll be too paralyzed with fear to move.

Pino doesn’t show an ounce of concern compared to Lex and me—he actually looks sure of himself. “All you have to do is get close while it’s weak,” he says.

“It’s finding its weakness that’s giving us so much trouble,” I counter.

“You discovered your attacks work with a sprinkle of holy water. It isn’t necessary to fight in close-combat.”

“How are we going to douse it with holy water without getting close?”

“Just alter your arrows to release holy water on impact. Word about the zombie birds has reached me as well, so I already came up with an anti-air countermeasure. All I have to do is tweak it a bit to work on dragons.”

“That’s my Pino! You get the job done fast!”

Pino doesn’t toot his own horn—he merely snorts. The existence of zombie birds is a real nuisance, but who would have thought they would be useful in coming up with a countermeasure against dragons! We’re in luck this time.

Lex is frowning while I’m rejoicing over the small win. “But we still have to worry about whether we can actually hit a flying target.”

“You don’t have to worry on that front. After all, we already have access to master archers.”

“Ah!” Lex and I utter in unison. It’s always like this whenever we speak with Pino. Those “master archers” have to be the Lucors.

“The dragon isn’t your only problem though, is it?”

“Ah, it figures you already heard about the massive zombie horde.”

“I guessed it before I heard it,” Pino says. “In any event, it isn’t wise to take on thousands when you can only purify so many a day.”

We also can’t look after the people we do purify while we’re surrounded by so many zombies. Taking our time to purify smaller numbers is the best plan.

Lex places his hand on his chin, his brow weighed heavily with other concerns. “But it will be next to impossible to fight the dragon while trying to avoid the horde.”

“Yeah, but it also won’t be an easy task to purify the zombies first,” I say. “I bet the dragon will attack us again if we enter too deep into its territory.”

Lex and I have fallen into pensive thought once more after tossing up more potential obstacles. Usually, this is always when Pino will scoff and provide us with a resolution—except, this time he’s eyeing me with a grave expression.

“Hello? Earth to Pino? Don’t you have a plan?”

“I do, but you will try to enact it if I tell you.”

Now I understand why he didn’t immediately tell me his idea. I sit up straight and look him square in the eye. “I will, since that is what I came here for,” I answer seriously.

“You are vital to the continued existence of this world. I have no reason to send you into the heart of danger.”

Valid logic. I also came prepared for him to say something like that. That said, I’m incapable of persuading him through sound debate. I have but one option now that it’s come to this—I slap my hands together and raise them over my bowed head in supplication.

“Please! I’m begging you!”

“You and your begging,” he huffs.

“I’ll bring Cia with me to see you next time.”

“Wh-Why would you bring Her Highness into this?!” he sputters.

“Of course because of certain reasons?” I crack open an eye and spy on Pino. He’s reacting just as I expected: panicking so bad it’s a waste of his perfect poker face.

“What reasons are those, Lady Mizuha?” Lex asks.

“Special ones. You see—”

“W-Wait! Fine! I’ll cooperate with you!”

I can’t win against Pino in most things, but I have the upper hand when it comes to this one matter. Delighted everything went perfectly according to plan, I flash Pino a devious grin.

“Thanks, Pino!”

“…I have never doubted your title as Holy Priestess as much as I do right now.”

“Hey, I’ve told you a million times,” I say, preparing my best retort for Pino’s hateful glare, “I’m an ordinary high school girl.”

◆◆◆◆◆

“DO you understand why Cladorca was built in that location?” Pino asks.

“Because it’s a good spot for trading with Grantz?” I venture.

“Is it not because it is an easy location to defend from enemy invasion?” Lex speculates.

After obtaining Pino’s cooperation through cheap—smart tactics, he immediately started breaking down the strategy for purifying Cladorca.

“Wrong,” he explains as he points at the map spread out on the table. “While both of those hold true in some sense, they aren’t the fundamental reason. It’s the Bebetor Mountain Range behind the city that deserves our attention: an abundant water spring bubbles right near where Cladorca was built.”

“Ugh, that doesn’t bode well for me.”

“Good for you, Miss Priestess, you guessed it before I said it.”

Nothing good about that.

“Cladorca survives off this spring,” Pino continues. “But like I initially explained, it produces an overabundance of water—enough to flood the entire city if released. Thus, Cladorca built floodgates near the spring’s source to control it.”

“…I think I see where you are going with this. We can release the purified spring water into Cladorca, flooding the region,” Lex surmises.

“Correct.” Pino nods.

“But the water won’t stop coming, right? Am I gonna have to purify all of it until the city is flooded…?”

“I like that idea. You will just have to keep spitting into the water until you turn into a dried-up husk.” Pino sneers.

“No way! Not happening! Not in a million years, buddy! I’ll disgrace myself as a human being long before my mouth dries out!”

“I’m kidding. Relax.”

“…Huh? How so?”

I mean, I’m glad he’s kidding, but I’m not sure what the alternative is.

“Naturally, we will still need your assistance, but this should drastically reduce the load on you.” Pino brings a tall box from the back of the room. He places it on the table and opens the lid. Inside is a flower with four pure-white petals inserted in a glass vase.

“Isn’t this the holy flower?” I ask.

“This is what you went to view the other day, right, Lady Mizuha?” Lex says, peering into the box.

“What’s this got to do with anything?” I look at Pino.

He sets the lid aside and settles back on the sofa. “Considering the time it first appeared, it is extremely likely this flower grew from your holy powers. Based on that, I came up with the theory it may also possess purifying abilities—”

“Does it?! DOES IT?!” I lean forward, hopeful.

“It does not.”

“It doesn’t?!”

I was super hopeful that I could finally graduate from being the Holy Priestess of Spit—this is a major letdown.

“You got my hopes up for nothing!”

“Don’t be so depressed. I discovered it has the fascinating ability to stop rot and decay,” Pino casually informs me. I nearly missed the point because he said it with barely any inflection.

“Wait, isn’t that an amazing find?”

“Yes, it is amazing. You can view it as having the power to strengthen or maintain the effects of holy water. The effects were lost when zombies stepped on it, but it can stop natural decay.”

“In other words, after purifying the area around the spring source, all we have to do is maintain it with Holy Flowers…” Lex mutters, catching on to what Pino was alluding to.

Pino smirks. “Now you don’t need to use as much saliva.”

I would have preferred an alternative that doesn’t involve any saliva at all, but at least now I can maintain some dignity. I smile at Lex and share in this joyful moment with him.

“We still have to work out the finer details, but that’s the general gist of my strategy.”

“I knew I could count on you, Pino! Thank you so much!”

“You have my utmost gratitude as well, Master Pino!”

“It’s too early to rejoice. To be clear, the two of you are incapable of pulling this off alone. Cooperation with Grantz Kingdom is essential,” Pino states matter-of-factly, pulling Lex and I down from cloud nine. That problem is arguably the hardest one I have to face right now.

“…Yeah, I know.”

“How will you do it? His Majesty won’t fall for your cheap tricks.”

“I’ll figure that one out on my own. It’s something I have to do myself.”

It’s not like I came to this world of my own volition with a list of things I wanted to do. But things are different now. I’ve discovered what I want to do here, and I postponed my return to my world because of it. I have to solve this problem not as the Holy Priestess, but as an individual.

Sensing my resolve, Pino suddenly laughs. “Looks like I was being meddlesome for nothing. I will prepare things on my end while you handle yours.”

“Okay. You can count on me—to help you with Cia.”

“Wha?! I wasn’t talking about that!” Pino’s eyes dart away, his face redder than a tomato.

Beside me, Lex cocks his head, demonstrating just how dense he really is.

At any rate, Pino has helped us figure out a strategy. Right now he is so flustered, it makes his usual poker face seem like a thing of the past, but my opinion of him hasn’t changed since the day we met.

He truly is a scholar I can depend on.