Chapter 17: The Straightforward Bishop (Patreon)

Looking at the painted map lying on the table, Pandora's expression turned rueful. "There's actually a map..."

Here she'd been quietly congratulating herself for remembering a few places, all for nothing...

Though—

"It's not like it has everything, though."

For instance, the map didn't mark the location of the Spirit Beast in the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko.

[As expected, memorizing the map did come in handy after all...] Not that she remembered more than the rough location...

She gave a helpless little laugh and set the map down on the nightstand, catching sight out of the corner of her eye of the cultists chatting around the campfire outside the window.

[So this is what night looks like in another world. No electronics — and somehow that only brings people closer together...]

Never mind. That wasn't something she needed to be thinking about. Now was the time to see through this morning's plan.

She shook her head to clear the thought and turned to look at the bed in the corner.

Night had only just fallen, but that was more than enough to bring on her drowsiness.

[How strange...] She could actually still feel sleepy... Was it just because she wasn't used to this body yet?

Not that it mattered much, anyway. There wasn't anything else to do.

"Good night..."

With no blanket to pull over herself, she murmured the words to the unfamiliar ceiling, then closed her eyes and began the little ritual of thought she went through every night before sleep.

[What did I do today.]

[How are things going.]

[What did I learn.]

[Was there anything that made me happy.]

[What am I looking forward to tomorrow.]

......

The room had already sunk back into darkness.

"Lady Pandora has gone to sleep. Everyone keep your voices down," Geuse said, pressing a hand downward toward the cultists eating fruit around the fire. "Of course, if any of you want to turn in now, go ahead — we've still got a long road ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." they all murmured. Then, "Archbishop, sir, what's—"

The cultists looked toward Geuse, firelight flickering across his face, and asked.

After all, ever since he'd stepped out of Pandora's room, he seemed to be carrying a trace of — melancholy?

"Ah..." Geuse sighed. "I've gone and upset Lady Pandora..."

At those words, everyone froze for a moment.

"You... made Lady Pandora...?"

What on earth had their Archbishop done, to upset someone as elegant and gentle as Lady Pandora?!

"That's right..." Geuse nodded. "I really am a failure of a subordinate..."

Then, under everyone's puzzled gazes, Geuse recounted the whole affair in detail.

"Archbishop, that really was your mistake."

"I think so too."

"Yeah."

The cultists seated around the fire chimed in, one after another.

"But I don't feel like I said or did anything wrong..." Geuse sighed. "If Lady Pandora needed a good map, wouldn't it have been a sin NOT to hand it over?"

The moment he'd mentioned having a map and produced it for her, her smile had visibly frozen — obvious enough that even Geuse could tell exactly how she felt.

"Archbishop, it's not that your intentions were wrong — it's that your approach, in that particular moment, was wrong."

"You were far too blunt about it."

The cultists went on to point out where he'd gone wrong.

Their Archbishop was fine in every other respect — he just handled things too directly for his own good...

"Is that so..." Geuse scratched his head at the words.

Thinking it over, that did seem to be the case, but...

"Then what should I have done?"

"You should have let Lady Pandora discover a better map on her own, as if by chance."

"Or you could have marked the important places on Lady Pandora's own map instead."

Judging by how easily the suggestions came, they clearly had plenty of practice offering Geuse advice like this...

"Uh... I guess that's true, huh..." Geuse nodded at the words.

But just then —

"Actually..." one cultist spoke up, "there was no need for the Archbishop to hand over the map to Lady Pandora at all — or at least, not yet."

In an instant, every gaze — Geuse's included — turned to that cultist.

"Er..." the cultist laughed, a little awkwardly. "After all, Lady Pandora only wanted to confirm the destination..."

That's right...

"Gaide, I really did misjudge you." The man beside him clapped him on the shoulder. "Turns out you're not just cover, after all."

Not only was he always the one responsible for every campfire-lighting duty, but this time he'd even gotten straight to the root of the problem.

"I told you, don't bring that up again..." the cultist now identified as Gaide sighed. "Besides..."

He looked around at everyone warming themselves by the fire while munching on fruit. "I keep telling you all, eating messes with your thinking."

Geuse being the exception, of course...

Not just because he wasn't eating, but because — even if he were, it wouldn't make a difference to him anyway...

"I see..." Geuse nodded at that.

Another lesson learned — when helping someone, pay attention to whether they actually want the help.

Filed away in the little notebook in his head.

And so, about an hour passed.

"Alright. As we planned earlier — you two, come with me. You two, stand watch properly. Everyone else, rest if you'd like."

After tossing more wood onto the fire, which had burned down to embers, Geuse rose to his feet and said this.

"Yes, sir."

Knock, knock, knock.

"Lady Pandora."

Hearing someone call her name —

"Mm..." Pandora sat up from the bed and blinked blearily out the window.

[So it wasn't a dream after all... I really am in another world.]

"Lady Pandora, I'm terribly sorry to disturb your rest."

Geuse's voice drifted in again from outside the door.

"Oh, I've been awake for a while now — you're not disturbing me at all." Pandora replied, gathering her wits.

Then she tested the wooden floor with her foot.

"Hm?" No sign of her shoes anywhere...

"Breakfast is ready..."

"Mm, got it. Thanks for your trouble." She took a deep breath, smoothed her long platinum hair back over her shoulders, and walked toward the door.

She stretched a little to loosen her muscles, then gripped the wooden door handle.

Creak......

[Author's Note: Thanks to reader "" for the 100 VIP points reward!]