For the next few days, I pondered an effective way to inform Alseid about the next high priest.
I'm a pyromancer, not a prophet, and I can't say that I can know the future out of nowhere.
Garcia hadn't been in touch with me for a long time to make an excuse.
I don't go out of the castle at all, so I can't make excuses about who I met or what I heard about, and in fact, I can't say that I lived until I was nineteen years old.
Even if someone is really, really lucky enough to believe in me, there is little I can say about the past life I lived to kill Alseid.
I wonder if a week has passed like that.
It was a clear day, and as I looked at the bright red sunset sky. I finally came up with a good plan.
It was time for dinner to end, so I went to Alseid without hesitation.
Knock knock.
I knocked on the door and spoke out.
"Dad, it's Liana...'
"Come in."
As I entered the room and muttered with a look of asking for something, Alseid asked gently.
"Liana, do you have anything to say to me?"
"Um, that... it."
I spoke carefully.
"Go to Garcia's Tower and see the stars."
"Stars?"
Alseid paused for a moment, as if he was surprised by my words, but then asked back with a bloody smile.
"The weather was nice today. Will Dad take you when the sun goes down?"
I smiled broadly at the answer I had been waiting for.
"Yes, Dad!"
***
"Your Excellency."
The escort knights who had been guarding the tower like an ironclad, even though Garcia was not there, were surprised by the sudden appearance of the lord and withdrew their spears.
"Hmm."
Alseid sat me on one arm, nodded slightly, and went upstairs.
Come to think of it, it's been almost two years since I came to Halias, and it seems like this is my second visit to Garcia's West Tower.
Alseid didn't get me down until he reached the top room where Garcia was staying.
The tower had long since been empty, but Garcia's energy still seemed to overflow.
The air was cooler than before, but the stars that seemed to be pouring down overhead were still the same.
After staring blankly for a long time, he asked.
"Garcia told me that there are four stars over there, didn't he?"
"Yes, Dad."
Alseid muttered bitterly.
"I'm worried that Garcia's star is weakening. Since she's old, she should come back and be comfortable."
"That's right..."
I'm worried about Garcia, but honestly, I couldn't notice any changes in the stars.
And now I have something to say.
So I quickly moved the topic.
"Dad. The star that was there, the star of high priest Spenta. I can hardly see it anymore."
Alseid looked down at me in surprise.
"Did Garcia even tell you about the star of High Priest Spenta?"
"Yes."
I nodded and pointed roughly to a starry spot in the central sky
The red star next to it became brighter. Soon, the high priest will cover the stars.
Alseid bent down to look at me with a serious face.
"The red star has become brighter?"
"Yes..."
I pretended to see something I couldn't see, and Alseid looked at me nervously.
"Baby."
"Yes, Dad?"
"The star in the High Priest of Spenta seems to be fading, and a red star shines beside it? Can you see that clearly?"
I rolled my eyes as if I was frightened on purpose.
"Then... Can't you?"
"No, it's not that it can't be..... It's because I don't look that way."
I whispered softly and put an end to it.
"My eldest brother was like that... If the high priest dies, there will be a new high priest."
"...That's right."
"Isn't that red star the star of the new High Priest?"
Alseid glared at the sky instead of answering.
"Of course, you won't see it. I can't see it either."
My conscience screamed inside, but I again pretended to be timid.
"Am I a bad kid if I say something like this? Is it a nuisance to the high priest?"
"Oh..."
Alseid looked back at me with a surprised face and then hugged me again, as if trying to soothe me.
"Not at all. We're fine with each other, Liana. You're a good girl."
At the same time, he quickly added.
"Since there is no Garcia, the wind is cold here, too. Can we just go back?"
I nodded obediently.
Judging by Alseid's serious face, he was fully pondering my words.
***
Alseid took Liana to her room and went straight to Caliph.
When he knocked and opened the door, Caliph, who was still sitting at his desk, stood up in panic.
"Father? How can you come this far without calling...?"
Alseid offered it without even entering the room.
"I want to go to the West Tower."
"...Yes."
Caliph stood up even though he didn't know anything.
It was definitely a strange combination to suddenly visit the ownerless West Tower.
The escort knights of the West Tower were puzzled by the appearance of the lord, who appeared twice in one night, and greeted him once again.
Alseid climbed to the top floor and stared at the stars pouring down for a long time before opening his mouth.
"Liana said that Garcia told her the star of the high priest in the center over there."
"Oh... Is that so?"
Caliph replied moderately.
In his eyes, there are always many stars and only shining, so he was convinced for a long time that astrology was an area that could not be learned.
AlSeid's tone was unsure.
"But the star is almost invisible now. Instead, a red star became brighter."
However, Caliph unexpectedly concluded.
"...It's Charles Fasia. The next high priest."
Among the priests, the only one who had even the slightest connection with red was Charles Fasia.
His eyes are as red as Meridy's, and his coat of arms is also red.
Except for Meridy, the only family in the kingdom that wears a red coat of arms is the Fasia.
Alseid continued to struggle.
"He is too young."
"However, he has worked like a high priest's hand and feet all the time, and he will have a lot of influence in the castle of Fasia. It's a good position to side with the royal family."
Once a high priest is determined, it does not change until the death of the dead.
If Charles Fasia was to become the next high priest, it was necessary to step forward and pretend to empower him.
Alseid touched his chin slightly.
"Do you think the child really reads the stars? I once saw a lot of strange things by Cecilia's side... She didn't read the stars either."
"Honestly, I'm..."
Caliph shrugged.
"I'm no longer surprised by what Liana did. Father hasn't seen her use witchcraft."
"...How is the training?"
Alseid asked, and a proud light flashed across Caliph's face.
"When she first came, you said that she would surround the north wall with a wall of fire. If this continues, it may become true."
A faint smile appeared on Alseid's face and then disappeared.
"...In the early evening, I received a reply from Garcia. She happened to lose contact with a magic tower shaman named Gregory Orbit."
"Yes?"
"I have a bad feeling. The same goes for the spirit stone, and she hides the fact that the high priest is sick. We cannot let the Temple of Spenta fall into the hands of the royal family again."
"If you allow me, I will go to Fasia myself. Please send a message to the castle of Fasia."
On the face of the man facing him, Halias's unique, colorful eyes shone brightly.
***
The capital Zantar is a shabby bar.
An old man in an old robe crossed the busy interior of the bar.
Then, when he almost spilled someone's drinking glass, the person sitting shouted like a walpae.
"Oh, no! Don't you look straight?"
However, the moment the old man turned his head, the group jumped up as if they had seen a ghost and fell to the ground.
"Uh. I was very rude. Old man, you must be busy, but please go the way you came."
The old man's purple eyes gently died away from his youthful heat.
"What is it?"
After he passed by, the group, with their foreheads on the floor, slammed the back of his friend's head as he asked loudly.
"Oh! Why is this!"
"Come to your senses, you bastard. I just saved your life. How dare you know who he is..."
"What? Do you know him? Who is it?"
"Tsk, you don't have enough. That's Gregory Orbit. You haven't even heard of that name, have you?"
Gregory Orbit.
He was a mysterious shaman who was famous for his single-handed defeat of a hundred mercenaries.
He had only recently appeared in the capital, Zantar.
Maybe after the fire in Meridy?
In any case, after he appeared, the sloppy fortune tellers and the mercenary guilds in downtown Zantar closed their doors one by one.
All the fortune tellers who closed their doors were quacks, and in the case of mercenaries, there were rumors that Gregory had killed them with one finger.
Realizing that he was indeed about to lose his life, a cold sweat ran down the man's back.
The old man in the robe was steadily passing through the crowd while doing so.
Finally, he escaped through the other door and opened the shabby-looking door at the end of the hallway.
What looked like a warehouse was surprisingly hidden in the place.
As soon as the old man entered, he closed the door and disappeared into the darkness without hesitation.
In the pitch-black darkness, only the necklace around his neck glowed a faint purple color.
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