Saint's Prison - Chapter 123

Those Who Should Be Forgotten

Dusk.

When the setting sun faintly illuminated the cemetery, I finally managed to finish sweeping the fallen leaves throughout the whole area.

It took quite a bit of effort to clean up this vast space all by myself. In fact, my arms were creaking, and they let out a scream every time I moved them.

“The problem is that there are overwhelmingly too few priests compared to the size of the monastery…”

Due to the lack of manpower, it’s impossible to allocate more than two people for each task. As a result, various monastic tasks such as fieldwork, wood chopping, and cleaning are usually performed by a small number of one or two people.

I wiped the sweat on my forehead with my robe.

I’m going back to the monastery. And then, I’ll have Amal heal my fatigue. Amal always gives me a massage after I do physical labor. Receiving it somehow makes my body feel lighter, and I don’t get muscle pain the next day.

When I return from work, there’s a massage and a delicious meal waiting for me. Moreover, Amal serves me as a woman to an excessive extent every night.

Well, regarding the nightly matters, there’s something close to compulsion…

Even so, it’s amazing how I can keep up with Amal every night. When I was in Japan, I wasn’t this much of a sexual powerhouse.

“Ha ha, there’s no way she’s putting an aphrodisiac in the food, right? There’s no way, right?”

…No, it’s possible with Amal .

Although I denied it verbally, I couldn’t completely deny it in my heart, which made me resent myself.

As I tried to distract myself by looking around, I caught sight of a stone standing quietly among the trees growing in the corner of the cemetery.

“What’s that?”

The location of the stone seemed to be isolated from the cemetery’s space. Intrigued, I made my way through the trees to get closer to the stone.

Then, I was astonished. This was because a tremendous number of old, moss-covered stones were haphazardly standing upright.

The size of the stones was about that of A4 paper. They weren’t very large, and their shapes were uneven and ungainly.

“Is this… a gravestone?”

It didn’t seem like any of the stones had names carved on them. However, since they were deliberately placed in the cemetery, there was no doubt that these stones were gravestones.

Nameless, abandoned gravestones.

Are they what is called muenbotoke, or graves without relations? If so, I can understand the reason for them being enshrined like this. But why are they isolated and pushed into such a corner? (TLN : Graves with no one to care for them are called muenbotoke) 

I took another close look at the gravestone closest to me. It had been exposed to rain and wind, and the gravestone looked like it was about to crack. Nothing was carved on the front side.

I leaned forward and looked at the back of the gravestone.

“…Hmm, what’s this? It’s quite worn out, but something is carved here. Is it a letter?”

I brought my face closer to the stone and read the letter.

“…This is a warning. Those who come first shall go to the vessel of death. Those who come later shall go to the vessel of the blue goddess. The vessel filled with death by fulfilling everything shall become the evil dragon that crawls on the ground. Our role as servants of Kaerumu is to hold back the death that overflows from this land. Cut off, burn, and throw away the evil dragon. Oblivion shall not be salvation. Ah, the one who inherits the Cross of Kaerumu. You shall be protected from the nightmare under the cross. Therefore, fulfill your role. If you fear the nightmare, fulfill your role.”

My heart started to pound.

I gripped the cross hanging from my neck.

My throat was parched.

Sweat broke out.

It’s no good. I shouldn’t understand this. But I couldn’t take my eyes off these words even though I thought so.

I’m not foolish enough to think that these words have no meaning. That’s why I don’t want to understand them.

There was a sound of something dripping. I looked down and saw that I had gripped the cross too tightly, causing my palm to tear and the blood to flow and fall. As I stared at it absentmindedly, my feelings calmed down a bit.

I looked at the words again.

“Vessel…”

It must be referring to Amal.

Considering that Amal is a twin, “those who come first” probably means “those who were born first.” In other words, it could be pointing to Amal’s older sister.

The vessel of death is responsible for holding back the death that overflows from Stonehurst. And the vessel that has fulfilled its role will become an evil dragon.

…Is the origin of Stonehurst’s evil dragon legend this vessel of death? And the evil dragon is to be cut off, burned, and discarded. In other words, it will be killed.

“Those who are born later” refer to Amal. The vessel that inherits the blue goddess… What is the blue goddess?

As I thought this far, I felt dizzy.

―――A woman in a blue dress, looking up at the sky.

For a moment, her figure crossed my mind.

Do I… know her?

No, there’s no way.

――――There’s no way.

tln : i’m sorry, i caught cold and can only release 2 chapter todays. im really sorry for my coin reader. i will get rest and be better soon.