The next day, early in the morning, I was called by Assand.
The dark circles that have faded through the night cannot be erased no matter how much I wash them. Even so, I was going to die from the heat in the tropical night, but I couldn’t sleep because of the heat and my anger exploded.
Has Lucia already told you everything? There was a sense of insecurity in me, but I pretended to be unconcerned, and staggered into the conference room I had gone to yesterday.
“Sit down.”
But Assand glanced at me and gestured with his chin to sit down, but didn’t say anything. He was sitting opposite Lucia, but she sat there with only her soft smile as if nothing had happened to Lucia.
Flap, Flap. The conference room was very quiet except for the priests handing over papers. Maybe it’s because of yesterday’s incident, all of them are trying not to make eye contact with me, just looking at the documents. After that, Karein was nowhere to be seen. It seems that he was still in the ward as he was seriously injured yesterday.
“As you all know.”
Should I go to the hospital, or was he very sick? Conflict focused on Assand’s dry voice.
“Today is the day Saint Lucia receives the oracle.”
Oh, I see. It was only then that I could understand the expressions of the priests who were strangely nervous. Apparently this is the first day Saint Lucia receives Solar’s oracle since she wakes up, and she can only enter the temple when Solar’s powers periodically weaken, and that’s today.
Even in the original story, the act of receiving an oracle is a very important event. But, what was the oracle? Trying to recall my memory as my habit was, I shrugged my shoulders and stopped thinking when I saw Lucia clasped her hands tightly and her eyes twinkled.
The master of this world will know for sure. Not the fake. No matter how much I thought about it, I reflected on the creepy remarks and shook my shoulders, and Assand and my eyes met.
“You can come too.”
Me, me? Why me? I couldn’t control my facial expression for a moment in embarrassment, but either way, Assand said while swirling a white quill.
“I heard from Karein that you were a priest who had worked in the temple for a long time. Better to see than fairies who don’t know much about the world.”
“No, that.”
“It is not a place where anyone can enter, so be aware that it is a great honor as a priest.”
You’ve never listened to me until the end. Do I even want to go in? No, I don’t! I was very surprised by the command, but as Assand said, I had no reason to refuse, as it was an opportunity to see Solar up close. In fact, I didn’t even have the strength to say no to that cold face.
“Hmm, I hope it went well, human priest. Hahaha.”
Even the priests who would have protested, saying it was nonsense if it was like yesterday, congratulated me with the trembling corners of their lips. Wouldn’t it be better to take me! Why such a human being! It seems obvious that they were thinking that.
“But, Assand-”
On the other hand, Saint Lucia was frowning with a dissatisfied expression on her face, but there was no time, so you had to prepare quickly. She shut her mouth at Assand’s determination to cut off her words and went to her dressing room, escorted by her maids.
***
Luce was a place that valued formality needlessly. Just like wearing a suit and shoes for an important event, there is also a separate priest’s uniform to wear when meeting Solar.
I’m dying from the heat, but the button that tightens to the end of my neck, wide sleeves that seem to be able to fan it, and the uniform that looks like a kimono without even the usual side slits drove me crazy. Who designed this! I’m only looking at the sizzling sun, and I wonder if I even need to dress up. It felt like a wall was hanging around my neck with needlessly heavy accessories.
“Your foot must be uncomfortable. What should I do?”
It’s cramped! Stuffy! As I moaned, Vivina, who had secretly unbuttoned it, looked down at my bare feet and cried out. My foot was so swollen that I couldn’t even wear shoes, and the bandages on my foot were so cramped that they’re stinging to death. Up and down is very spectacular.
“Isn’t there anything made of ruby other than this?”
Meanwhile, the culprit who made me this way took longer than me. It took tens of minutes to choose one necklace. If you hang it around your neck, it’s a necklace, if you put it on your ear, it’s an earring. Already the seventh changing earring, I endured a silent scream. I was sitting blankly, feeling the feeling of a boyfriend being dragged into a department store to buy clothes, and Assand walked in.
“Is it still a long way?”
“Lord Assand! These shoes are so uncomfortable! The heel is too low!”
The color is strange, Lucia, who was grumbling sharply, exclaimed coldly. Lucia had very good proportions, but her stature was rather small. She insisted that she would never wear low heels, saying that she had a complex about it, that she didn’t have long legs.
However, the problem was that Luce was a very hot area, so the shoes I usually wear were tangled and well ventilated, and low-heeled sandals with open toes were the main ones. There was no need to walk in mud or poop, and there was no need for high-heeled shoes at all.
“Why do you need high-heeled shoes?”
Assand frowned and asked as if he had a similar thought. It’s not pretty! Perhaps she was too embarrassed to say that, she hesitates and continues her words.
“I am short, so life is inconvenient. Everyone is tall, so the stairs and door knobs are all high.”
“I know that you always get help from the maids. Don’t you?”
“…… I don’t want to be bothered anymore. I’m going to try it myself. Anyway, Lord Assand, can’t we call the shoemaker? Then I think I can work harder and do better!”
Just once- yes? She raises her index finger and lengthens her words. Has her tongue been cut in half? Sticking out my tongue, trying to imitate her, I trembled on my shoulder.
“Then you haven’t worked hard until now? For such useless reasons…… ”
“Excuse me, Lord Guardian, Miss Lian also injured her foot, so the shoes don’t fit. Why don’t we call them by saying that they’ll also make Miss Lian’s shoes?”
Vivina, who was supporting me, spoke coldly, and Assand looked down at my bare feet wrapped in bandages—the priests looked at me like they were blasphemous, but I couldn’t fit my shoes because they were swollen—what should I do?
“I’ll consider that.”
When it’s done, go up to the temple, and as soon as Assand, who throws that, strides ahead, Lucia takes turns staring at me and Vivina. I was too lazy to even make excuses for nothing, so I shrugged my shoulders and cut her gaze. If I would be afraid of a single human staring at me, I couldn’t even survive 5 years in the monster village.
***
The temple of Solar was located on the top floor of a huge tower in the center of Luce. After riding the carriage for a long time, round and round, when we reached the top, the height was very high. Outside, there were a plethora of hawk-like monsters, and surveillance was thorough enough to come and go.
The soldiers who saw Assand bowed their heads, and soon opened the huge iron door. A huge door studded with sun patterns opens to the left and right with a roaring roar.
“You have to use this. Or you might be blind.”
Just before entering, Vivina handed me a black cloth. Tying a couple of knots of the silky black cloth, covering my eyes, and stepping inside her, revealing a gigantic sphere.
“Solar.”
Solar, blazing beyond the whitish barrier, looked like a globe magnified several dozen times. However, rather than a perfect sphere, the light bleeds so much that it looks as if one had painted circles with red crayons and then rubbed them with their hands. Screams erupted from here and there in the occasional white sparks that popped out.
“How is it?”
“It’s getting worse. Yesterday, it also turned a northern village into a desert.”
“Lucia. Listen to Solar’s oracle.”
Lucia, the only one not wearing black cloth, slowly moved forward and approached the crystal altar in front of Solar. One minute, two minutes, three minutes passed, but Lucia didn’t say anything.
Things like light bleeds around the Solar got worse. It looks like sizzling lava. That looks really bad. Wanting to take a closer look, I gently unwrapped the fabric and opened my eyes.
I thought it would hurt, but not at all. Looking up at the two suns outside seemed to hurt my eyes much more. It’s like looking at a bunch of red yarn…… No, are those all red threads? I later realized that Solar was made of red thread.
It was. It looked like the sun, so I forgot about it. Solar is the source of the red thread. Lucia opened her mouth as she stared blankly at the wriggling wads of red thread, wriggling her eyes.
“Underground, down, save.”
“What does it mean?”
“…… I do not know. It’s just something I can’t understand.”
Assand wrinkled his brow. If you don’t know, who knows? He seemed to want to say that.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Solar. When I wrapped the black cloth, Solar looked just like a sphere with a lot of light, and then I realized that it was a red thread, and when I realized that it was like a precarious bundle of yarn that was about to unravel at any moment. From the occasional bubbling, boiling red thread that swells up and shrinks, it was clear that it had gone mad.
‘Is that my fault! Sisyphus, it’s your fault!’
At that time, there was a halo that appeared behind Solar’s altar, and a faint figure appeared. The image of a middle-aged man who was having a fierce discussion as if he was having a conversation with someone suddenly disappeared as if the TV was turned off.
“…… Laytan?”
“What did you say?”
“Oh, no.”
I thought that would be what Laytan looked like when he was older. What was it? I am seeing nonsense. Rubbing my eyes, I carefully scanned the place, and found a strangely luminous pattern under the altar. The moment I see it, my heart throbs.
“On the floor, what is that?”
“…… You have a pretty good eye. It is the magic circle of Solar.”
For hundreds of years the priests have been unable to decipher it, no matter how hard they tried. The moment I heard the dry voice, my heart throbs like a thump, thump heartbeat. I used to think I only felt pain when I was with Lucia, it wasn’t? Was it related to Solar? With Assand’s gaze behind me, I impulsively pointed at it.
“If you get in there,”
“Assand, my head hurts so much…… ”
“Saint!”
Are you alright! The maids supported Lucia as she sat down and stumbled out, and Assand, who was looking at her with a strange expression, followed. There was no such content in the original, was Lucia tired? In shock, I picked up a piece of stone at my feet. When I turned around, the sphere was still glowing red.
“I’m going to close the building.”
The Guardians sent us out after a moment of hesitation. Boom, the heavy door closed, and two guardians again guarded the front of the temple. Oh, I should have just gone in quickly. I was nervous about it, so I wandered around the door, fiddling with a piece of stone I had picked up near Solar. It looked like it had hardened with a red thread inside.
“…… it’s a part of Solar that came off and hardened.”
One of the guardians, who was standing with his spear raised like a stone statue, spoke gently. Come to think of it, I feel like I’m standing in the sunlight because I’m holding it tight, and a strange languor comes over me. Can I get it to Balkan later? I put a piece of stone in my pocket.
***
In the original story, Solar is only briefly mentioned as the sun of life and the source of the red thread, and little other information is given. As far as I know, the only person who could answer the question was Karein. He was still in the hospital room.
“Miss Lian, your feet are uncomfortable..”
I’m fine, are you feeling better than that? I awkwardly said hello, and his expression brightened as soon as our eyes met, like a different person from yesterday.
“You haven’t recovered yet?”
“Yes. The saint said that it cannot be fixed at once.”
A bruise could be fixed at once. I hesitated for a moment as I looked at the red thread still sparsely on his back, and decided to leave it alone. The scope of treatment has long since left my hands.
“Actually, I want to ask you something.”
“Yes, you can ask.”
“I want to know more about Solar. Just in case Karein knows anything.”
“I don’t know the details either, but Solar has been very strange lately, and Lord Assand is very worried.”
“Ah…… ”
“Have you been to the temple today?”
I thought it was thanks to Karein, but I just shut my mouth and nodded my head.
“Yes. It just looked like a ball of thread.”
“Have you seen Solar with your own eyes?”
Ugh, I was startled by the fact that he grabbed my shoulder and pulled my head back, but Karein’s eyes were full of worry and embarrassment.
“Solar’s light is so bright that it might blind you. Only the saint can see Solar in person, so don’t do such a dangerous thing!”
“It was fine. It just looked like a bundle of yarn.”
“It is still dangerous.”
My ability is also a copy of Lucia, so does it come with the right to see Solar? Contemplating whether to rejoice or tremble at this, Karein lowered his head deeply and looked into my eyes.
“Let me see.”
“Sir Karein, it’s time for treatment…… ”
Suddenly, Lucia’s eyes narrowed as she opened the door and walked in. Oh, the timing really.