Three years later, fourteen years ago.
Western Mist Kingdom. Temporary temple of the Goddess's order.
"Priest~ Uncle~!"
"Play with us-!"
Children from the slums ran into the temple courtyard, screaming noisily.
Soon after, with a creak, the old door of the temporary temple opened, and Zenis appeared, scratching his unkempt hair.
"...Not a priest, but a cleric."
Between his bushy hair, the unmistakable sharp gaze of an inquisitor flashed.
"And how many times do I have to tell you, not uncle! I'm still in my twenties...!"
But even in the face of Zenis's menacing attitude, the children were unfazed. They stuck out their tongues and pulled down their lower eyelids at him.
"Ehehe~ Acting all grumpy again."
"Whether it's a priest or a cleric, it's all the same! In our country, we call them priest-uncles."
"Well, priests usually don't even glance at us, but Cleric Uncle plays with us every day. So, maybe there is a difference?"
Hearing the children's words, Zenis placed his hands on his hips and heavily nodded his head.
"Yes. That's exactly the difference between your Mist faith and our Goddess's order. So, if you convert to our faith..."
"Ah~ There he goes with the boring talk again."
"Nevermind that, let's play ball today, ball!"
The children screamed excitedly, barging into the temple, soon finding a ball and rushing out with it.
"Hey, hey! Wait! Before you take the ball, first a prayer of gratitude..."
"Thank you, Cleric Uncle!"
"Hurry up and come, Uncle~!"
"It's not uncle... Ah, forget it."
Holding the ball, the children ran to a nearby playground. Watching them go, Zenis sighed and took out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth. Then, he stared blankly up at the sky.
This was a cursed country.
From the terrible weather with clouds hanging all year round, the indigenous religion strictly followed caste, ethnicity, and race, and the existing powers that benefited from this indigenous religion were hostile to the Goddess's order.
Naturally, Zenis, being a cleric of that faith, was also looked down upon.
Subjected to all kinds of mistreatment and hostility, Zenis's spirit was gradually worn down.
Infiltrating the leadership was difficult, and support from his homeland was becoming increasingly scarce. Eventually, he barely managed to rent this corner in the slums and move the temporary temple here.
As life got tougher, the beard that had been neglected to grow thickened, and Zenis, who once emitted a cool charm, saw his tidy appearance increasingly becoming shabby.
"Getting old, getting old."
Looking at the stained mirror, Zenis irritably pushed his hair back.
Still, the only place that accepted Zenis, a cleric of the Goddess's order, was this slum.
He treated people's wounds for free and became friendly with the children through balls and toys.
The people of the slums, who had much to gain from Zenis, gradually opened their hearts to him. They were still rejecting the proselytization, though.
Living among the people of the slums for three years, even the sharpness of Zenis's heart, once like a well-honed blade, had now become dull and blunt.
"It's hard..."
Zenis was originally a combatant. He was not skilled in healing magic, let alone proselytization.
There was no better person to fend off the violent followers of the Mist faith who attacked the temple from time to time, but the rest of the mission was overwhelmingly difficult.
Yet, what made him endure this difficult place for three years was,
"Cleric~!"
Thanks, in part, to this girl.
At the sound of a cheerful laugh, Zenis turned to see a plump, round girl dressed in a fluffy dress, waving her hand.
"Cleric! How have you been?"
"...Princess."
Quickly putting away his cigarette, an involuntary, faint smile appeared on Zenis's lips.
The youngest princess of the Mist Kingdom, Cloudy.
She was a rare royal who took an interest in the lives of the poor.
In this country, where social status and class were clearly defined, it was uncommon in the history of the nation for a princess to directly visit the slums and embrace the lives of the poor.
Thus, she was especially popular among the poor, but ostracized in noble society for smelling like livestock.
However, she did not care about such criticism and showed up in the slums today, accompanied only by one of her guards.
"Welcome, Princess. And, um... your guard friend."
As Zenis greeted them, Cloudy smiled brightly, and the guard also bowed his head heavily.
Even the guard she brought along was a slave from the beastfolk. Zenis thought of her as a truly noble royal, fighting against discrimination and corruption with her entire being.
'She's practically the only high-ranking individual I can somehow become close to.'
Given the current situation, where most of his political maneuvers had failed, Cloudy was Zenis's only connection.
Thus, Zenis acted as docile as a tamed dog in front of Cloudy.
"What will you do today, Cleric? I'll follow and help wherever!"
"Um... after playing ball with the kids, I'll set up a regular clinic in the center of the village."
"That sounds so rewarding! May I accompany you?"
Cloudy covered her mouth and laughed merrily, her voice as round and warm as her appearance.
"Of course. Having you help would be incredibly reassuring."
Zenis smiled back.
In this dreary town, Cloudy was one of the few breaths of fresh air. Zenis inwardly thought that without this girl, he would have given up on proselytization and everything else long ago.
***
Late afternoon, after both the ball game and the clinic were finished.
Helping with the cleanup at the clinic, Cloudy wiped the sweat from her forehead and suddenly said,
"You're really amazing, Cleric."
"Excuse me?"
"Being a cleric of the Goddess's order and a diplomat from the Everblack Empire, you must be quite high-ranking, yet you work so hard for the people in these foreign slums."
Zenis awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Well, it's... just part of being a cleric of the Goddess's order."
"The Goddess's order, loving all beings, is truly admirable."
Cloudy smiled bitterly, not fitting her youthful face.
"As you know, our country strictly adheres to a caste system, and the state religion is no different... I wish I could help those in lower places like you, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped."
"You're doing plenty well."
"But I don't have the courage to dedicate my entire life like you."
"I'm just living according to our doctrine. 'Even if it's to save just one believer, do not hesitate to wage a holy war'..."
As Zenis recited the phrase out of habit, Cloudy looked at him with a blank expression. Feeling awkward, Zenis coughed and tentatively broached the subject.
"Do you like our doctrine? Then, maybe you'd consider converting...?"
"Hehe, that's a bit too much for me. Being royalty, I'm also a cleric of the state religion."
Anyway, the people of this country opened their hearts to everything but proselytization. Zenis tasted bitterness in his mouth.
"However, I think the noble intentions of you and the Goddess's order are admirable. I'll take it as an example."
Cloudy smiled brightly with her youthful face.
Zenis thought to himself unwittingly,
'Cute, and kind...'
Such pure goodness in this harsh country... Just having her around was moving.
"I'll be going now! See you again, Cleric!"
Cloudy waved her plump hand as she walked away, with her guard silently following behind.
Waving back at her, Zenis returned to the temple.
"Another day~ of rewarding work~ comes to an end~"
Humming a strange tune on the spot, Zenis shuddered.
Uncle's feature. Adding a weird tune to their words.
He found himself doing what the older priests in the order would do, without even realizing it.
"This really is the end of me..."
Muttering to himself as he opened the door,
Thump.
A piece of paper that had been wedged in the doorframe fell to the ground.
"..."
Zenis's face, which had been drooping for the past three years, suddenly hardened like cold metal.
'A mission order...!'
Zenis quickly picked up the paper. It looked like meaningless scribbles at first glance, but in reality, it was a complex cipher used only by the Order of Holy Knights.
It was a mission order from his sister, Rosetta. Zenis read through the contents quickly.
'There's good news... Diplomatic relations between the Empire and the Mist Kingdom have dramatically improved, and an alliance treaty is expected to be signed soon...'
'The Goddess's order will also be able to officially establish a temple and start formal proselytization... A significant personnel announcement from the order will follow soon... Your hard work over the last three years has been significant, it's time to return home...'
A hollow laugh formed on Zenis's lips as he finished reading the mission order.
So eager to proselytize, yet no one paid attention, but as soon as diplomatic progress was made between the two countries, formal permission for a temple was readily given.
'Well, it's better than being ordered to kill them all if things went south.'
He was always ready to turn the Mist Kingdom into ruins if necessary, but there was no need to use force or see his proselytization efforts come to fruition. After all, in the grand political scheme, Zenis himself was just a tiny chess piece.
'Fine. It's all good.'
Crumpling the mission order in his hand, Zenis looked around the dilapidated temporary temple.
It was time to leave this place.
***
The incident happened that night.
Whoosh...
Zenis was inside the temple, burning all his belongings.
A body meant to disappear like mist. There was no need to leave any unnecessary traces. Just as he had done all his life.
"..."
Clothes and snacks intended for the slum children the next day, and the ball they played with today, all turned to ashes.
Watching memories vanish one by one, Zenis tried to steady his swirling emotions by lighting a cigarette. That's when he heard it.
Knock, knock, knock-
Someone was knocking on the temple door at this hour? Zenis, puzzled, opened the door, and there,
"Cleric."
Wearing a hooded robe, concealing her identity, and having come here was... none other than the youngest princess, Cloudy.
Zenis's eyes widened in surprise.
"Princess?"
Why here?
Did she sense that he would be leaving tomorrow?
Or had she come to celebrate the diplomatic news between the two countries?
As various thoughts crossed his mind, what came out of Cloudy's mouth was completely unexpected.
"Please save me!"
With a face smeared with tears, Cloudy cried out.
"Please save me, Cleric!"
"...?"
Zenis's face turned to confusion.
"Save you? Who's trying to harm you, Princess?"
"My, my father, the king, is trying to kill me..."
"The king is trying to kill you? Why?"
"That, that's because..."
Hesitating, Cloudy grabbed her stomach and tightly closed her eyes.
"Because I was found out to be pregnant...!"
"...What?"
Pregnant?
What is this all about? She's too young...
In front of a baffled Zenis, Cloudy, looking distressed, unbuttoned her dress around her stomach.
Her significantly swollen belly was revealed. How she had hidden it until now was a mystery; it looked almost full-term.
Zenis, with his mouth agape, carefully asked as he examined her belly.
"...Princess, were you married?"
"Would I be?! Obviously, it's an illegitimate child, and that's why father is furious!"
Trembling, Cloudy snatched the cigarette Zenis was holding, put it in her mouth, and took a drag.
Then, with shaking hands, she inhaled deeply. She was quite skilled at it. Zenis's jaw dropped even further.
"...Since when do you smoke?"
"It's a basic skill for royalty."
"Even with a child inside?"
"With the situation this dire, even my child would understand smoking one."
Something... Zenis's fantasy about Princess Cloudy was shattering...
"You seem close to full term, how have you hidden it until now?"
"I'm a bit on the plump side, you see. I lied that I was gaining weight, but that excuse reached its limit."
With her round and innocent face, Cloudy blew out clouds of smoke.
"Huuuh. I managed to hide it well until now, but just had to be discovered today... I only needed to last a few more days, damn it."
"...Who's the father?"
"My guard."
"Ah, that guy."
Only then did Zenis recall the beastfolk slave guard who always followed Cloudy.
"He was my lover. We've been together for 10 years."
"..."
Feeling the atmosphere turn sour, Zenis cautiously asked.
"So, all this time, helping slaves and the poor was also...?"
"Yes. All to make him happy."
"It wasn't out of noble intentions?"
"Noble intentions, my foot, I only need him to be happy!"
Zenis's headache intensified. He took a deep breath.
There was no refreshing end. This country was indeed a cursed place...
"...So, where is this beloved of yours now?"
"He's dead..."
Cloudy's face crumbled into tears again.
"As soon as my father found out, he had him captured and executed..."
"..."
"I have to save this child. It's the fruit of our love!"
Cloudy rushed to Zenis, grabbing his clothes and pleading.
"Please help, Cleric! My father will try to kill the child in my womb. And me as well!"
"How do you expect me to help..."
Outside the temple, the sound of soldiers' footsteps grew louder. The searching torches lit up the night streets.
Feeling the noose tighten, Cloudy's face turned pale and she suddenly exclaimed to Zenis.
"I'll convert!"
"...What?"
"I'll convert! Right this moment, from now on! I'll believe in the Goddess's order!"
Zenis's shoulders tensed up.
Cloudy, shaking him back and forth, screamed,
"The Goddess's order doesn't abandon its believers! Even if it means waging a holy war to save even one believer! So!"
"..."
"Save me."
The soldiers' footsteps reached right in front of the temple. Cloudy cried out,
"Please save my child in my womb...!"
--TL Notes--
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