At The End Of The Hidden Greenery

Chapter 35

Hearing those words, Jiwoo glanced back at Enciertes, who was following them.

He was startled as if he had been looking this way all along. Then, holding on to his collar, he folded into himself even more. He averted his gaze, and even blushed, too.

She wondered if it would be possible to have a conversation with that person. He looked to be much too shy.

* * *

The place that Helka had prepared was the place where the alchemist would stay. There were long tables, various herbs, and glass bottles of good quality were lined up in rows. There was also some good quality paper and ink on the shelf, probably for recording purposes.

Helka first pulled out a chair and urged Jiwoo to sit down there. Then, he sat next to Jiwoo.

Even then, her hand was still tightly held by him. For some reason, cold sweat formed on her palms, but he didn’t seem to let go.

Enciertes sat quite a distance from them. In normal terms, it was just enough distance so they could still hear his voice.

No one was in the mood to speak first.

Helkainis was silent, and Enciertes kept cowering into himself.

In the end, Jiwoo had to step in first and open her mouth. The first thing she asked was the unanswered question among the questions she had earlier.

“The offer to send me back. If only five Akarnas returned in a total of two hundred years while the rest died, wouldn’t you say that the success rate is low?”

Enci raised his head and slowly opened his mouth.

“…I have never failed during any of my attempts.”

“Then?”

So how come there have been only five successful cases in 200 years?

“Because those imperial bastards tracked them down and killed them all.”

“…….”

“In the first place, an Akarna can’t live that long. They all die within a year. If you order them to do that, everyone would of course run away and get caught and die. It’s difficult to make contact with them before they die, and even if I make contact with them with difficulty, they’ll be tracked down and killed.”

“…But I lived in the temple for five years without any major problems.”

“You lasted for five years.”

Enciertes rolled his eyes and smirked. His white gloved hand pointed at Jiwoo.

“And in the end, you ran away, too.”

“……”

Nothing came to her mind. She really had nothing to say.

Leaving the silent Jiwoo be, Enciertes continued to speak.

“That place you call a temple is such a place where they can interfere in the affairs of other dimensions by forcibly distorting the providence of this world. And an Akarna like you…”

Enciertes’ sole silver eye stared at Jiwoo.

“Through such a place… An Akarna is an existence that is occasionally found by chance in various parts of the world.”

“In various parts of the world?”

As far as Jiwoo knew, the only place where Akarna appeared was the temple. The white altar.

Countless eyes looking her way. Akarna’s duty began from that time. There was no way she could forget it.

“Originally, there were many places like that. On the outer wall… there were more. Until the Empire destroyed them all.”