I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 90.

The palace has been turned upside down.
The crown prince, the Emperor’s favorite, has gone missing with a holy woman from a hunting tournament, and the man who organized it, High Priest Diego, has disappeared.
The temple has also been turned upside down.
Several high-ranking priests and priestesses have disappeared, including High Priest Diego, and there are reports that they are the demi-humans who have been targeting the saint.
‘It was not a conspiracy in the temple,’ said the High Priest Diego, ’but a proposal to organize a hunting tournament, and that’s when they set their sights on the Crown Prince!’
‘Shut up! You were the one who accepted the proposal, and you insisted on taking care of things when the Crown Prince was out of town, and now this has happened!’
‘If it were the crown prince, he wouldn’t have accepted the temple’s offer like you did.’
‘The Marquise is right, the entire imperial family has just been threatened by a poisoning attempt on a holy woman, and you were the one who accepted the offer, even though everyone told you not to.’
The chamber was filled with shouts as the conservatives, who followed the emperor, and the liberals, who followed the crown prince, argued the merits and demerits.
In the temple, too, there was much talk of High Priest Diego and the missing priests and ministers.
‘Well, I checked, and none of the missing were registered in the temple.’
‘My God. Doesn’t that mean we’ve been praying and living with unidentified people, oh, God.’
‘How did that happen…….’
‘They must have blended into the temple as if they weren’t there, and lived there for years.’
‘And High Priest Diego, I’ve checked with the priesthood and he’s never been appointed or registered as a High Priest, so perhaps that’s a good thing. It’s a disgrace to the temple.’
The frail priests wiped their foreheads and sagged back to back.
A senior priest, his complexion pale and haggard, spoke up.
‘More than that, the Saint has disappeared with the Crown Prince, and the pressure is mounting from the Imperial Palace. We’re taking it in our stride, but the New Kingdom is also putting pressure on the temple…….’
In short, he’s so stressed that his stomach is about to explode.
As the other High Priests and senior priests try to pick up the pieces of the temple where High Priest Diego left off, things go haphazardly, with holes poked here and there.
‘It’s maddening to think that the only saint of the Viatars given to us by the gods, even if she had become a star in the sky, has disappeared and we don’t know where.’
‘Rather than that, they say a man is being sent from the divine country, and now I’m going to be chastised.’
‘We’ll be lucky if we’re only chastised, we could be hanged. Maybe we’ll have to do our time in the ascetic chamber…….’
‘But where are all the guardians?’
‘I’m told they’ve gone into the ancient book depository.’
‘Do you mean to tell me that they are reading in peace at this time when we don’t even know whether the saint is dead or alive? Heh, heh, heh. God, please take this lowly servant away quickly…….’
A collective sigh echoed through the room.
* * *
Iros, Mei, Diane, and Jozef were gathered around a table in the archives with a huge map spread out in front of them.
‘So, the map in the Saint’s subspace pouch is the map of the Western Continent?’
‘Yes. So, as soon as she arrived somewhere, she must have broken her chains, looked around, and then pulled out the map to confirm her location.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because it’s the Sierras.’
Jozef muttered, unable to argue with Iros’s certainty.
‘Well, if she says so, I can’t say no. You’ve been with her the longest of all of us, so let’s say yes.’
‘Then we’ll have to guess where she fell. Guardian, did you notice anything unusual about her disappearance?’
‘Oh, yes. Mei was correct; sometimes when you teleport, a breeze or leaves blow in from your destination.
‘Anything unusual…….’
Iros closed his eyes tightly and thought back to when Sierra had disappeared.
It was horrifying to think about.
‘I reached out, and as soon as my fingertips touched her, she shattered and disappeared, and then she was gone.’
My heart is pounding.
The loss of Sierra burned a hole in my heart.
‘Wait. What happened?’
‘Why? What was it?’
‘I’m not sure, but I think something brushed by her before she disappeared completely.’
‘Like what? Try to think of something.’
Eyes tightly closed and brow furrowed, the group remained silent, waiting for Iros to remember.
As if to reward their patience, Iros slowly opened his mouth.
‘Something small, slender, thin, and light.’
‘……?’
What was that?
The faces of everyone but Iros turned puzzled.
Iros opened his mouth again.
‘Was it delicate, transparent, or was it colored?’
‘I asked you to remember, I didn’t say to come up with a riddle.’
‘Hah. That’s as far as I can go. It’s a miracle you remembered this much in the first place, with the Sierra disappearing, there’s no way you could have seen anything around you.’
Iros clutched his chest in frustration and exhaled as if the ground were about to give out.
Jozef and Diane patted his back and shoulders, comforting him.
‘It’s okay, we’ll just have to find it from here, though I’m not sure if it flew from the place it was teleported from, or from the hunting grounds, or if I’m mistaken.’
‘Is that a compliment or a complaint?’
‘Whoa. Put the sword away.’
‘Do you think you can find a place on this map where the Saint might be?’
‘It’s hard, of course, but I can see where the enemies have tried to send her to die.’
‘Like, for example?’
Diane asked, and Jozef held up a finger.
‘First, a place where the Saint cannot be saved with the help of others. Perhaps a place off the beaten track.’
‘So they confidently sent Sierra away and disappeared themselves.’
‘Yes. Moreover, a place where even standing still poses a threat, where a saint, despite their holy power, can still perish. Maybe they plan to kill her by draining her of her holy power.’
Iros’s hand rested on his sword at Jozef’s hypothesis.
‘No, don’t try to kill me! I thought you said the Saint was still alive and well!’
‘I will cut off one of your hands for blasphemy, and since your thoughts and strategies come from your head, why not an arm?’
‘If you’re only going to cut off one hand, why are you trying to blow off an arm, Diane, stop him!’
‘Ah, Iros, calm down and let him finish his sentence.’
‘…Let’s hear it.’
‘This is it, Wen, I’m speechless.’
Jozef made a pained sound but smirked and shrugged.
‘The third is very far away. The magic circle you drew was multiple, which means you sent it far enough away that you had to use overlapping magic.’
‘How far away?’
‘Somewhere outside the Cyanid Empire. At least as far away as the diameter of the Cyanine Empire.’
‘……!’
‘Even so, I don’t think the mana would have sent it as far as the sandy hells of the Sahara Kingdom. At most, the Duchy of Halt, the Kingdom of Tanin, the Biata Empire, the Kingdom of Elgraton, and the Kingdom of Morgo.’
‘…That’s too many.’
‘It takes some finesse to get it where you want it to go, so Halt, Tanin, Elgratpn. One of those three.’
As Jozef finished, Mei, who had been silent until now, raised her hand.
‘Hey, could it be that mysterious thing you were talking about, the ‘snow’? Snow crystals, to be exact.’
‘Snow?’
‘Yes. They’re small, light, and thin on the sides, and the snow crystals are exquisite, transparent, and change color depending on what’s behind them.’
Everyone’s mouths dropped open at Mei’s words, and they looked at each other, then let out an exclamation of surprise.
‘You’re quite intelligent, I’m surprised. You’re worthy of being voted as the seventh wisdom. I never thought of that.’
‘Hehe. I was thinking of the Duchy of Halt and the Kingdom of Tanin, known for their cold and snowy weather.’
‘Well, since the Kingdom of Elgraton is in the middle of a hot summer, we’ve narrowed it down to the Duchy of Halt and the Kingdom of Tanin. What do you think?’
Jozef rolled his eyes and nudged Iros with his elbow. Iros nodded reluctantly.
‘Well, I suppose it’s worth a try. I can’t believe how easily you’ve narrowed down the candidates. Usually, it’s the unreliable, rambling people who can’t think straight.’
‘You mean we’re reliable? Well, I’m flattered to hear such a compliment from you, you blunt little woodsman.’
‘Humph, the Guardian praised me!’
Iros averted his eyes in embarrassment as the two beamed with delight.
Diane asked, lightening the mood.
‘Where in the Duchy of Halt and the Kingdom of Tanin could a saint possibly be?’
‘The Monster Forest and the Garden Labyrinth in the northern part of the Tanin Kingdom. Those are the only two places where it might be snowing right now. The Duchy of Halt is…….’
Jozef glanced at Iros and held his tongue. Dian was uncomfortably silent as well.
Then Mei, who had been still, slammed her palm into a fist and smiled broadly.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t you say that your guardian is from the Duchy of Halt, so you must be familiar with the Duchy of Halt!’
‘Hey……!’
‘Mei……!’
Jozef and Diane, who had been trying to cover Mei’s mouth, stretched out their hands and then winced as their fingers twitched.
There was a new awkward, uncomfortable air current.
Mei winced, glancing over at them.
‘Huh? What’s wrong, why is everyone reacting like this……? Did I do something wrong?’
‘The Duchy of Halt, it’s my homeland, but I don’t know much about it, I was sold to a slaver when I was young and brought to the Cyanine Empire.’
‘No, slavers?’
‘My parents sold me for two pieces of silver.’
‘Heh, heh!’
Iros replied blithely, and Mei pouted her lips like a crucian carp, now white as a sheet, helplessly threatening to suffocate.
Mei was determined to escape from this space immediately.