NOVEL NEXT Nobody really likes Alebians.
Most people had various reasons for why they found her off-putting, but actually, those reasons mostly boiled down to the same thing.
Alebians’ eyes.
Those peculiar eyes that gave off an incredibly strange vibe.
They felt so bizarre that it was hard to consider her a normal person.
Because of those eyes, Alebians stood out as an exceptionally unique being, even in this diverse Evian.
And now, that person is right here—
“Uh, Alebians?”
“Yeah, yeah… it’s me, Yona. I came to find you.”
With a twist of her lips, Alebians wore a bizarre smile.
Without realizing it, Yona took a step back.
As Yona stepped back, Alebians took a step forward.
Standing at the door, Alebians had now completely entered the room.
The inn room door slowly closed, and Yona stared at Alebians with a completely stiff face.
“Uh, right. I was actually going to look for you.”
“Oh my, I’m so happy you were trying to find me. You could’ve just waited quietly, but hey, it’s still okay.”
Alebians plopped down heavily on Yona’s bed, surpassing her.
“Now that you’ve come by, it’s even better. I can smell Yona’s scent too.”
As if to prove that wasn’t a lie, Alebians took a deep breath.
Yona’s face didn’t look too great seeing that.
“C-can you get me a glass of water?”
Alebians smiled at Yona.
Not her usual twisted smile, but a genuine big smile.
Yona poured water from the kettle by her bed and handed it to Alebians.
“…Thanks for coming. It reduces my effort.”
Still, Yona couldn’t just treat someone who had made an effort for her casually, so she poured herself some water in another cup and sat down on the chair at the table.
“What can I say? I can do anything for Yona. Even tougher things… anytime.”
Okay, maybe not that far.
Yona couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud and just mumbled.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Nope, nothing.”
“…What’s that?”
You said you could do anything but found out nothing? What’s the use of that? And they say it so confidently?
“Then our pretty Yona would be disappointed, huh?”
Alebians took a strange pleasure in seeing Yona’s face twist.
She couldn’t help but let out a smile.
It was gratifying to get a reaction from Yona that was so honest despite her demure looks.
“What’s with you?”
“Just a script.”
“…I know that too.”
“Right, it’s a script not used anywhere in this continent now.”
“Words that aren’t used anywhere on the continent.”
“What?”
Yona glared at Alebians with a frown.
Words that aren’t used anywhere on the continent? What on earth does that mean?
“It’s a script from hundreds, if not a thousand years ago… It was used in the age before the Celestial God existed.”
“…The age before the Celestial God?”
“Yeah, the era that’s said to be without echoes.”
She remembered hearing about it during her nun training.
So, the age of the false Celestial Gods, those gods that people called celestial gods back then.
A time when they worshipped a god that wasn’t truly celestial, and thus, didn’t answer any of those countless prayers — the era without echoes.
“What, this is from that time…?”
Yona unwrapped the Sacred Barrier from her arm.
With every unraveling, dark letters came into view.
Even so, does it make sense that letters change after hundreds of years?
No one recognized them; plus, even Sister Aege couldn’t make sense of them.
As far as Yona knew, Aege was the second smartest after Bishop Poby.
Yet, Aege couldn’t recognize it; it didn’t add up.
Moreover, didn’t Alebians not recognize them at first either?
“It’s strange, even if hundreds of years is a long time, how could the letters be completely forgotten? It just feels off…”
Aren’t letters from thousands of years ago passed down in Yona’s world?
Of course, it’s because they keep being used.
At Yona’s words, Alebians reached out and touched Yona’s right arm.
“Just hear me out, Yona. That’s not a script commonly used; it’s a very niche script.”
“What on earth does that mean?”
“That’s a script used for incantations in the Church of the Celestial God back then. It was used only by a select few, for very specific purposes. So, it’s quite likely it could be forgotten.”
‘…Is that so?’
To Yona, that at least sounded plausible.
If it was a script used for very specific purposes even within the Church of the Celestial God, then it might make sense.
“But, Alebians.”
“Hmm?”
“How did you know about this?”
Isn’t that the real question?
How did Alebians know about a script that was neither known nor remembered?
“…I have a very long lifespan. I’ve lived a long time, Yona. I know way more than you think I do. That’s how it is.”
Alebians smiled.
Yona thought she charged her for a kiss but let Alebians go without one.
“But then, why did killing the Dullahan increase it?”
“… Why did killing the Dullahan lead to this?”
Yona showed the Sacred Barrier only up to her elbows to the Alebians.
So once again, the question remained unanswered.
Why, after killing the Dullahan, did this mark… like a tattoo spread all the way down to the palm?
She just couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“… This is filled with unknowns.”
Yona sprang up from the bed.
Now wasn’t the time to be idle.
She had originally planned to go to the Mage Community after meeting the Alebians, so speeding it up didn’t matter much.
She pulled out a box that had been stuffed deep under the wardrobe and opened it.
It was full of coins and silver.
Yona poured the neatly stacked coins into a leather pouch she had made by layering several sheets together.
There were enough of them that the sound of the coins clattering lasted a while.
The sound of the coins falling was steeped in the time that had passed.
Two and a half years of her working as an adventurer, scrimping and saving.
Those times poured into the pouch with a cheerful metallic sound.
All those efforts accumulated inside her pouch.
“Alright… this should be enough…? After going to the community, if I’m headed to Infura… hmm.”
Now there was one more destination added to her list.
If she could return as a man after visiting the community, and then perhaps return to her original world, that would be ideal.
But things likely wouldn’t go that smoothly, and she’d probably have to settle for one of two options, but even so, returning as a man was the priority.
“I don’t want to be stuck with this nonsense…”
Yona tightly closed the pouch and looked down at her chest.
Honestly, she knew how much attention this drew from men.
How could it not?
What man doesn’t like big breasts?
Sure, there might be some who claim they don’t, but that’s probably just a front.
If a guy genuinely disliked them, he’d be the more dangerous type.
Yona herself liked big ones.
But she never wanted this kind of thing attached to her body.
When she stood and looked down, she couldn’t even see her belly.
Couldn’t see her belly? She also couldn’t see her toes.
Her stomach and waist were so slender and trim that even if her breasts were smaller, they probably wouldn’t be visible.
“Anyway, I need to return to being a man… go to the Infura Church Region and figure out what this tattoo is. It’d be even better if I can get rid of it there.”
It’s incredible how tangled things can get.
She already felt her life was twisted enough after being catapulted into this bizarre world, and now she was a woman on top of that, and to have this strange tattoo etched on her was just absurd.
“Life is messed up.”
Yona lifted the leather pouch.
It felt surprisingly heavy.
Now all she had to do was grab this, pack her things, and go call Alex.
You just need to go and call them.
That bum Alex better not say he can’t go now.
Well, if Alex says he can’t, we can just head to the Adventurer’s Guild and take on a request.
Just as Yona was thinking that…
– Knock, knock.
“Who is it?”
Startled by the sudden knock, Yona quickly shoved the leather pouch into her closet.
– It’s me.
It was the innkeeper.
She had paid her monthly rent, so there was no reason for this guy to come looking for her.
“Why?”
– Someone’s here to see you. Come downstairs.
That was odd. If someone was looking for her, they could just tell her which room they were staying in.
But since he insisted she come downstairs, Yona thought there could only be one reason.
Someone important had shown up.
At least someone higher up than Yona, so of course, it made sense that they wouldn’t come up but would ask her to come down.
“Wow, I can’t believe you’re staying in a place like this. You really don’t belong here.”
Yona frowned at the sight of the brown-haired hero.
As if that wasn’t enough to ruin her mood, there was another nuisance beside him that made Yona raise her irritation level.
“What’s with that look? I feel the same way as you, so maybe you should look down.”
“What are you saying? Isn’t this the girl who was trembling in terror of a demon?”
“…Do you want me to shut that mouth of yours?”
“Go ahead, you little bitch. I’ll knock out all your front teeth.”
Whenever Yona and that priest used to meet, same old bi*, Vigrind—no, now she was the Saint.
“Hey, hey. Let’s not fight.”
The hero, Rude, interjected with his usual bright smile between the two women.
Surprisingly, when Rude spoke up, even Vigrind shut her mouth, huffing and turning her head away.
They were currently in Yona’s room.
She thought it made no sense to call her down and then come back up— they could’ve just come up in the first place. But she figured that Vigrind wouldn’t dare do that anyway.
“What do you want?”
“Watch your tone, you damn brat.”
“Why are you causing a scene when the person involved is quiet?”
“No, seriously.”
“What? What’s ‘what’? Are you seriously freaking out over this?”
Yona stood up, brimming with rage, ready to grab Vigrind by the hair.
Looking up at her, Rude said,
“Come on now, we’re going to be party members soon. Is this how we start? Let’s calm down, Yona.”
“Same pa—what?”
Yona stared at Rude with a bewildered expression, as if she had been splashed with cold water.