“What about lord Al?”

“Yes. Hearing rumours that the two of you will be returning to the East for a while, he asked me if you could meet with him once before that.”

The law-abiding Yoel delivered Al’s request to Daryl and Cecily on the same day. As a matter of fact, Joel himself was a little fed up.

Daryl and Cecily.

They are both of an honest nature. To the point of being refreshing. Joel, who was used to dealing with city aristocrats, was even more dazzled by their behaviour.

And Daryl and Cecily, as Divine children, are moved along by the arrangements of the kingdom and the church. Puppets. Joel knows the situation. In fact, he himself is an active participant. As a mission.

I can’t complain about Vera. I’m not as committed as Rauno. Furthermore, I never thought I’d be affected by something of this magnitude.

The shadow of the royal family.

As a member of the family, Joel has been familiar with dirty work since he was a child.

Vera had her own misconceptions, but the truth is that Joel and Rauno were originally expected to do behind-the-scenes work. Not so now that they are on stage.

Naturally, Yoel knows the bad taste of the aristocracy. In the first place, he is also a member of what Al calls the corrupt city aristocracy. There is no way that he is unaware of his family’s practices. He is aware of the disgusting behavior of those associated with his family.

So, when he is in the presence of Daryl and Cecily, he has come to feel ugly about himself. He does not know why. And Joel knows that Rauno, who is committed to his role, has similar feelings, though not to the same extent as he does.

But that’s still better.

The biggest change.

It is his discomfort with Victor, his direct superior, and Claire, who is even further up the ladder.

It is not fear of violence or power. Of course there is that too, but what Yoel has come to feel is a fear of the untouchable, of things beyond his own existence, of those who are truly above him.

At least, it is something he did not feel until he got involved with the Divine Child matter.

“Well, if lord Al wants to see us, I don’t mind.”

“Yes, I don’t either. In fact, I’ve always wanted to have a proper chat with him.”

“Okay. Then, I’ll mention a day when you don’t have any specific plans and tell Mister Al about it.”

Joel does not really want them to get close to Al.

He feels that if there is to be a breakdown in his relationship with Al, it will be these two,  who will be the catalyst for it. In fact, I don’t think there is any other way.

Aside from Victor, even Joel, who has only been in contact with Claire for a very short time, can see that Claire is showing a fixation on Al. That irrepressibly stirs his anxiety.

“By the way, Mister Yoel. I heard that when Daryl and I return to the East, Joel, and the Knights of the Cathedral will accompany us. Is that true?”

Yoel’s thoughts are interrupted. Cecily’s straight gaze is unbearable.

“Yes. I don’t know why either, but I was also told by the Knights of the Cathedral, and the factions that they are accompanying us.”

“I see. Mister Yoel, and Mister Rauno too, you guys have been .. from the beginning, no, let’s not. Perhaps I am mistaken. Surely.”

Cecily is convinced. Yoel and Rauno know that too.

The consideration is not to touch each other at the moment. Masked puppetry.

***

Evening. On the way back to the dormitory room. Two shadows. Daryl and Cecily.

The dormitory buildings are divided by gender as a matter of course for those enrolled at the academy, although squires and servants are not fussy about this.

As they approach the turning point towards each other’s dormitories, Daryl suddenly stops. Cecily follows suit.

” . Hey, what is Cecily doing? What is Cecily so alarmed about?”

“.. What are you talking about?”

Daryl is aware that Cecily is distrustful of the kingdom and the church, including Joel and his friends.

He has always had a kind of intuition, About good and bad fortune, and he is often drawn to these hunches. Especially the bad ones. The bad ones will never be missed for sure.

At the moment, Daryl has no bad omens for the kingdom or the church. This has allowed him to pretend not to see the distrust Cecily thinks she has. Yes. Even Daryl sensed it. They felt a sense of discomfort in the environment surrounding them. And now it’s different.

“Don’t make fun of me. I know that things are not quite normal right now. .Well, maybe a lot later than Cecily realized, but still.”

Cecily was not fooled by Daryl’s words, but she was surprised by them. You. Did notice it without hunches!.?

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I thought Daryl was Id.. simple and didn’t realize.”

“…. Just now, you were obviously going to say I’m an idiot, weren’t you?”

Just a few leaks of her true feelings.

“Anyway, I know the cause of Cecily being cautious. It seems we’re called the Divine Children. The Goddess of the Oracle has spoken of us, and as such we are the ones who will bring prosperity to the kingdom.”

“Divine Children”

“Oh. Incidentally, it also seems like it would be pretty bad to tell us about this. I’ve heard that there’s a gag order in place and they’re even going to hold an inquisition against anyone who breaks it. Cecily must be aware that you’re being watched, Right?”

The two voices naturally became as if they were whispering.

Daryl already knew. He knew that he was called the Divine Son. However, he has not yet been told the details of the oracle, and Daryl himself does not yet feel it, and has not yet fully believed in it. However, he is confident of one thing.

“What is that? Is that why the Church and the Kingdom want to keep us around? No, wait a minute. Who told Daryl that information in the first place?.”

A natural question. Cecily would rather clarify the source of the information first than consider it. Who on earth could have passed on information that would have put us at risk of the Inquisition?

“I can’t reveal that. I promised not to reveal it. I’m a fool, sure, but I can’t go back on this promise. Of course, I believe Cecily. I’ll just say that I didn’t have any bad premonitions.”

Daryl is unwavering.

Cecily realizes that this is impossible.

“Okay. If Daryl says so, I won’t ask any more questions. You’re not going to reveal it anyway, no matter how much I ask, are you?”

“I’m sorry. Even if it’s a favour from a woman I’m in love with, I can’t do this all the time.”

“Hmph. You’re not old enough for jokes like that, are you?”

He’s joking, but you can see the determination in Daryl’s eyes. A determination as unshakable as a large tree with deep roots.

Perhaps, no matter what, he does not intend on revealing the source of his information. Cecily, too, has been in a relationship with him to the extent that she knows that much. He is not good at hiding things, but once he has made up his mind, will carry it through to the end. No, I knew that. That’s what I thought until today.

“Then, you’ll tell me about this Divine Child or whatever, won’t you?”

“I would like to say that I know about but to tell the truth, I don’t know much about the Oracle myself. But it’s not just about individuals or noble families. The kingdom and church leaders are in charge. In other words, it seems we’ve come to the point where no matter how hard we try, we have no choice but to walk the path that’s been laid out for us. That’s part of the reason why Lord Yoel is sticking up with us, … Ariel and His Highness Adam, too. I heard that the two of you are also part of that oracle.”

Cecily feels some impatience.

It is not clear when he found out, but Daryl had no such pretense. As usual. She is dismayed that he could hide something from her so calmly.

“Daryl. What the hell is wrong with you? No, it’s not just what you’re talking about, …H-how can you be so calm ?”

“I’m not calm. I just know that I can’t do anything. The attack on Lady Ariel that led to me getting to know His Highness Adam, the abandoned church where I confirmed the white mana, the fact that Lord Yoel and the others invited us to join their faction, the fact that I was adopted by the Arthur family and Cecily by the Olcott, in the first place, ..It seems that it all started with the ‘Oracle’ haha.. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Daryl laughs at himself, with a hint of shade. A face Cecily has never seen before.

A straight-up idiot. Cecily has seen Daryl like that. Who is in front of her now? The unknown Daryl.

“Hey, hey, Daryl. Then why don’t we just run away together? If everything around us is a set-up puppet show, how about we go somewhere else …… and start our play anew, just the two of us .?”

Cecily doesn’t think they could do that. But she felt she had to say it. The Daryl in front of her says that if she doesn’t keep him tied up, he’s going to disappear..

“Haha. That’s nice. That kind of thing, too. Cecily might not be happy, but I feel like I can do it anywhere with Cecily. No, I want to do it with the two of us.  but that’s just not possible.”

“Daryl, .what the hell did you find out? What is the Oracle ……?” ಠ_ಠ

“Cecily. Perhaps Lord Al knows something about the ‘Oracle’. Something different from the Church, the Kingdom, and Lord Yoel and others. I can’t rely on it any more, and I don’t know which way the good and bad are leaning, but I have a strong “hunch”. After the meeting with Lord Al, we’ll talk about this again. Just the two of us. Until then, … act like nothing happened. OK?”

“Yeah, I understand okay, okay.”

Daryl and Cecily. They are the ‘Heros’ of this world and the protagonists of the game.

To the Kingdom and the Church, they are just stage puppets in the puppet show called The Divine Child of the Goddess.

However, the kingdom and the church do not know.

They do not know that the so-called called puppet too have a “will”.