Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 154

They must have been sent over a long period, but while she was inside the mansion, the treasure must have blocked the dark power, preventing their delivery. Now they had all arrived at once.

At first, Chrome sent worried letters asking where she was, saying he had seen her being taken by Rubel and the Shinote knights, and asking what she planned to do. But somewhere in the middle, there must have been some change of heart, because the final message was completely different.

[If you’ve received this letter, it means you’ve left the Shinote mansion. I know what you’re thinking. The rumor that Rubel Shinote has gone mad trying to claim you has already spread all the way here. But don’t do anything stupid like coming out to stop it. You should go back inside as soon as you get this letter. There’s a bunch of witches targeting you now. Not only has it been publicly revealed that you’re Rubel Shinote’s weakness, but they’ve also discovered that Hecate’s spell, which they’ve been looking for, resides within you. You’re in danger. I’d like to come help you, but circumstances prevent me from doing so. Please forgive me.]

Eir read Chrome’s letter several times over.

The last time she saw Chrome, he had stamped his adorable rabbit foot in front of her, insisting they needed to break the spell in her presence and that they should leave together to plan for a better day rather than stay in the current situation.

Perhaps because that memory was so vivid, this letter seemed as if it had been written by that rabbit.

The content was too calm and mature for something written by Chrome. Especially the phrase “please forgive me” made her wonder if someone other than Chrome had written this letter.

I hope nothing’s happened to him.

But she couldn’t go back as Chrome suggested. It wasn’t that she was ignoring his advice or treating it lightly—far from it—but this place was near the Central Temple where the power of the gods was overwhelming.

It was close enough that they could reach the Central Temple in three or four days on horseback, and since she was with Abel, they could request an escort from a nearby temple to the Central Temple, which would readily provide holy knights.

If they did that, there shouldn’t be much danger.

When Abel asked what the contents of the letter were, Eir changed the subject.

“Isn’t Henyar Temple the closest? I think it would be good to stop by and request an escort.”

Abel sighed and agreed.

He wasn’t sure what kind of relationship he had with her in his lost memories, but for some reason, he couldn’t refuse when a woman made such a direct request.

He thought it was absolutely absurd that she had fled from the temple and still hadn’t repented for her sin, yet somehow he felt like he had surrendered the initiative to her.

After hearing Abel’s answer, Eir folded the letters, and the ones she had opened flew away somewhere on their own, presumably to destroy the evidence.

Thanks to this, Abel got to witness a flock of black birds once more.

***

Meanwhile, Chrome was hanging upside down over a large lake. This torture disguised as training had been going on for days.

The methods varied. He had been submerged in lake water like this, and there were ongoing experiments to see how long he could withstand being perilously close to hot fires.

These clearly torturous acts could be viewed as “training” because of a witch who had appeared hundreds of years ago.

Even witches had a messiah-like figure, similar to the priests. She appeared about two hundred years ago when priests were torturing and burning witches at the stake.

This savior of witches could not be killed by drowning, burning, or even being thrown from great heights, causing many headaches for the representative of God at that time.

That witch ultimately survived all forms of torture, preserving the lives of witches who were nearly exterminated. She told them how long they would need to hide and how they should live in the future before suddenly disappearing.

Because of this history, there was a ritual among witches to check whether they could survive in water and in flames.

‘But this is different from that.’

Those rituals were performed by their own choice, but this was clearly happening against his will, at someone else’s command.

And that someone was none other than his mother, Freidis, the leader of the Alphadem witches.