LADBITW Chapter 5

The boisterous welcome ended, and the three departed as swiftly as they'd arrived—like wind through an open door.

The kitchen now held the groceries they'd bought together, the bottle of milk Martin had purchased, and the water jars filled to the brim thanks to Penil and Nella's help.

While Lietta had been swept along in a daze, her kitchen had been stocked full enough to last at least a week without worry.

It felt like a storm had passed through. A peculiar storm specialized in supply rather than destruction.

After seeing them off, Lietta sank into a chair at the table, utterly drained. Her head spun, though not from hunger—quite the opposite. She was full.

On the table sat two remaining slices of apple pie, more than the four of them could finish after eating their fill. Beside it lay the sign Nella had brought from the general store as a gift.

The shop had been closed too long, Martin and Nella had said, rising hastily from their seats. Penil had soon followed, mentioning her promised shift change with her son, and they'd all departed together after warm farewells.

Lietta stared blankly at the kitchen, thinking she should cook something before all these groceries spoiled—return the hospitality her neighbors had shown her.

Their visit had left her head spinning, but the full kitchen and the kindness of strangers had filled her heart with warm chaos.

Not just the three neighbors who'd visited, but everyone she'd met and been introduced to on the streets had been kind.

They'd all welcomed her as a new face, pressing gifts into her hands worth more than what she'd paid.

They say Inner Castle folk are prickly and standoffish...

The general store, the bakery, the blacksmith, the fabric shop, the greengrocer, the butcher, the well, the market square...

Lietta quietly recalled each place they'd shown her today, then lowered her gaze to the blank sign before her.

Making a living...

Penil worked at a bakery in the Inner Castle's main commercial district, she'd said. Nella and Martin were business partners at the general store—currently broken up after their on-again, off-again relationship.

'Oh my, Lietta. So you're a blessingsayer?'

'How wonderful! There's been no one in the Inner Castle who can do such things! We'd have to go all the way to the Outer Castle to find one. Especially these days—with no traveling priests on pilgrimage, finding someone with sacred abilities is like plucking stars from the sky!'

'We'll spread the word for you. Oh, and hang a blessingsayer's sign outside your door right away!'

Lietta sat quietly, fidgeting with her fingertips, then rose with sudden purpose. She fetched the thick chalk she'd noticed upstairs and returned.

She stared at the blank sign with an awkward feeling, then wrote "Blessingsayer" in somewhat hesitant letters. Thinking she'd written it too small, she rubbed it out vigorously and wrote it again, larger this time.

She held up the sign, examining it from this angle and that with an uncertain expression, then finally stood.

Lietta opened the door and stepped outside, examining the protruding parts of the fence connected to the door until she found a suitable spot and hung the sign there.

Then she glanced furtively around to see if anyone was watching, adjusting the sign's angle with careful touches, turning it this way and that.

'Why does this feel so strange?'

She suddenly noticed that the doors and fences in Axias were lower than those in Sevitas—and that all the other houses were the same.

'No thieves here...? Is it because the Inner Castle has better security?'

As Lietta turned to go back inside, she stopped, noticing a small nameplate attached beside the estate's gate—a place to write the homeowner's name for letter carriers.

Much smaller than the sign Nella had given her, it couldn't serve as a shop sign, but it was meant for identifying the resident.

Lietta hesitated, then went back inside to fetch the chalk and returned.

She stood before it for a long while...

Then finally raised the chalk and wrote her name.

「Lietta Tristy」

A week later, Lietta Tristy came to see Killian.

"My lord. Miss Tristy has arrived. Will you see her?"

Killian, reviewing documents that had piled up during his long journey abroad, raised only his eyes to Ern without speaking, questioning.

"Who?"

"Miss Lietta Tristy."

"Ah."

Belatedly remembering the woman he'd given a house and sent on her way, Killian lifted his head to look at Ern.

"Is there a problem?"

The question asked whether there was a reason for something that would normally be handled at Ern's level to reach him. Ern answered concisely.

"She wishes to greet you in person."

Ordinarily, Killian wasn't someone easily seen just because one asked. But Ern wouldn't have asked unless he thought it worthwhile, so Killian nodded without much thought.

Ern, who had withdrawn, soon returned escorting a woman to his study.

Killian felt the woman bow deeply from where she stood at a distance. Ern went back out and returned pushing a tea service cart.

Still seated at his desk, Killian continued turning pages of documents until the tea began to be set on the tea table, then glanced up briefly before rising from his seat.

He walked over with languid strides and settled casually into a chair at the tea table, picking up the teacup Ern offered, and only then did his gaze turn to Lietta.

The moment he took in Lietta's appearance, her upswept platinum hair caught his eye first, and a trivial intuition flickered through his mind.

He'd forgotten about it lately, it had become so infrequent.

For a while, Ern had been desperate to make him take a second look at any young woman with platinum hair. All because a few women he'd met years ago had happened to have platinum hair...

Ern should have known he'd simply sent her away that day.

Even knowing Killian was staring at him plainly, Ern showed no particular expression as he finished preparing the tea and withdrew.

Killian smiled wryly despite himself.

He withdrew his gaze from Ern quietly leaving the room and addressed the woman, intending to deal with her appropriately and send her on her way.

"Well then. Are your accommodations comfortable?"

Lietta stood apart, head bowed throughout as she answered.

"Yes. Thanks to the neighbors looking after me and your lordship's consideration, I'm living comfortably. ...Thank you."

Killian stared at the crown of her head for a moment before speaking.

"My face is here, not on the floor."

"...Pardon?"

Lietta barely raised her head a little to look at him.

Without saying more, Killian tilted his head and gestured with his chin toward the chair.

"Sit."

After a brief hesitation, Lietta approached the table quietly. Before sitting, she bowed once more, pressing her hand to her chest, then carefully perched on the edge of the chair across the table.

Her demeanor was utterly modest and demure. Killian could plainly see her taking a silent deep breath. Her face looked quite tense, stiff with nervousness.

'Acting modest when I've already seen her nearly naked.'

Killian regarded her changed attitude with a slightly odd feeling.

'She showed no such signs when she had every reason to be nervous. What on earth is there to be nervous about now?'

Come to think of it, he'd only seen her in ceremonial vestments, a slip, and a dress.

This was the first time he'd seen her in such plain everyday clothing.

Killian Axias rarely had occasion to meet privately with women dressed in commoner's clothing at such close quarters. She had come to see him wearing the plainest possible everyday attire.

'Ah. Does this mean she needs money?'

Killian thought impassively and opened his mouth.

"You've already decided how to make a living, I see. Ern would have handled any budget requirements if you'd told him, but you came in person—so I suppose this requires my permission?"

Lietta hesitated slightly, lowering her gaze.

Her fingertips trembled finely, fidgeting anxiously.

'What grand request requires such hesitation?'

Just before Killian could think it tedious, Lietta finally moved.

"This..."

Lietta drew a small box from her sleeve and placed it on the table.

With trembling hands, she opened the box and turned it toward him.

Inside lay a necklace.

Or was it a ring?

A simple necklace made by attaching a leather cord to a small ring.

"What's this?"

At Killian's question, Lietta bowed her head deeply, her lips moving with a voice that barely crawled out.

"Though my skill is humble... I've placed a blessing upon it. I'm ashamed it's so modest, but this is the most valuable thing I can do..."

Killian was momentarily at a loss for words at the unexpected statement.

No one spoke, and a quiet stillness flowed.

After a moment, he broke the silence.

"A blessingsayer?"

Lietta nodded slightly and answered.

"Yes... Though I'm not skilled, I can perform some purification and blessing. So I don't particularly need business capital or land. I will work diligently and someday repay the house and settlement funds you granted me."

Her voice grew smaller as her head dropped lower.

"Therefore... the monthly living expenses you provide are excessive for me. Please rescind the order you gave the butler."

Killian stared at the bowed woman.

The sight of her clutching her skirt in severe nervousness looked both stubborn and pitiable.

'So I don't need the money was the main point.'

'An earnest type, then. Can't stand being indebted to others.'

Of course, there were also people who made a show of earnestness to extract more, but...

"The budget certainly won't be necessary."

Killian drew a line without refusing her refusal.

"I'll tell Ern. There's no need to repay what's already been given."

Lietta's head snapped up.

"No. I couldn't possibly—"

Killian cut off Lietta's words with an expressionless face.

"Excessive courtesy becomes rudeness. Do I look so desperate that I need such money returned?"

Lietta's face flushed red.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"And this necklace."

Killian's gaze dropped to the table.

'There's no need to bring me something like this. Blessed items can be obtained from temples as much as one wants...'

Killian was about to say this when he noticed Lietta's hands clutching her skirt had turned pale and were trembling violently, and he swallowed his words.

It wasn't unusual for people to fear him, but he'd been quite generous to her. He felt somewhat absurd.

Killian leaned back against the sofa, sitting askew as he regarded Lietta.

'What did I even do?'

He found it ridiculous to be treated this way despite showing goodwill.

Well, whatever. It wasn't like him to pretend to be gracious, exchanging refusals back and forth anyway.

"...I'll accept the necklace gratefully."

As Killian's answer fell, the woman finally let out a small breath of relief.

Then she raised her eyes, slightly moist, toward him.

"Thank you... for accepting it."

Killian watched her silently, then turned his gaze from Lietta to look down at the necklace she'd offered.

Well. Having one more blessed item wouldn't hurt.

It was a harsh season when plague swept the world, after all.

After Lietta bowed politely and withdrew, Killian picked up the humble ring before him and examined it absently. The many small scratches made it seem old.

Crude though it was, it was clearly made of precious metal.

For a poor commoner woman like her, it must surely be the finest thing she owned.

Only the leather cord made to hang it as a necklace was new—obviously high-quality and expensive. She must have purchased it specially to give him as a gift.

She bought my gift with money I gave her.

Killian chuckled softly.

A blessingsayer. She'd said she could purify as well.

It was an expensive skill. Even more so in times like these.

Blessing was the ability to bless people or objects with sacred power, warding off disease and demonic intrusion while invoking good fortune.

Though it was the most basic sacred magic, sacred abilities themselves were rare, so it was a well-regarded skill.

Usually priests with sacred abilities performed such work, but rarely, people who hadn't become priests also possessed such abilities.

Most had grown up in monasteries receiving education from childhood but failed to become priests and returned to secular life.

Most had their abilities manifest late, or had disqualifying factors despite manifesting abilities, so their skills often fell short of priests.

These people were called blessingsayers or blessing practitioners, but because their credentials weren't as certain as priests and their abilities weren't uniformly guaranteed, they were treated a grade lower than officially recognized blessing priests.

Typically they were employed by people whose circumstances didn't warrant going to a temple or who weren't wealthy enough to summon a priest.

Conversely, a verified blessingsayer who'd taken root in a territory was treated as a professional and beloved by many people.

Particularly skilled ones established themselves as local notables and were sometimes more respected than priests.

These days, with plague spreading widely and priests charging high fees while protecting themselves, blessingsayers' hiring costs also skyrocketed to whatever price they named—truly a blessed profession that swept up money bare-handed.

Purification, exorcism, and healing abilities, treated at even higher grades than blessing, went without saying.

Her abilities might not be exceptionally high, but the timing was perfect. Just being brought by him and settled in the Inner Castle would give her a foundation of trust with people without difficulty.

Her settlement as a blessingsayer in this land should proceed without major problems.

'By the way, they were going to bury alive a blessingsayer. In a territory plagued by disease, what a wasteful thing to attempt.'

At such a critical time, to have rescued such a person from crisis and brought her to his own territory—

'Aren't I a bit too competent as a lord?'

"Grand Duke. Shall we spar?"

His faithful retainer and excellent knight Leonard asked.

"Hmm, should we?"

Killian sank into his chair, smiling wickedly as he regarded him.

"It would be troublesome if I became any more competent than this."