TCMED 03

Chapter 03

After passing through the city and a few villages, the regional checkpoint came into view in the distance. Instead of heading straight there, I tugged the reins and changed direction.

My destination was the temple that existed in every region. I left Maximus with the stablehand and entered the building.

An elderly priest sitting near the entrance approached me, brought his hands together, and gave a slight bow.

“May the stars guide you.”

“May the stars guide you.”

After returning the greeting, the priest smiled warmly and asked my purpose for visiting.

I handed him a pouch hanging from my waist. The clinking sound of coins came from within.

“I’d like to make an offering.”

“May the blessings of Mitev be with you. This way, please.”

The priest’s face lit up as he took the pouch and guided me toward the chapel.

“If you require my prayers, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“That’s alright. I’ll just pray briefly on my own and be on my way.”

“Understood. May the stars guide you.”

The priest pulled a key from his sleeve, unlocked the chapel door, and departed.

I never had a religion in my past life, so I don’t know much about it, but in the Mitev faith, it’s customary to receive a priest’s prayer when making an offering on a weekday without a service.

I didn’t really want to, but Pel, a devout believer, had insisted I must pray before this journey and pressed the offering money into my hand. That’s why I ended up here.

‘…Should I just leave?’

The temptation flickered for a moment, but I ultimately chose to step inside the chapel. Pel was friendly with the priests here, so it would be best, in many ways, to at least go through the motions of praying.

*Thud.*

The heavy sound of the door closing behind me echoed.

I slowly lifted my head.

At the far end, on the wall of the main hall, a massive relief was carved—a woman looking up to the heavens, her hands clasped as if in prayer.

I listlessly scanned the interior and sat down in an empty spot. Out of courtesy, I clasped my hands together and stared at the dust floating in the air. I planned to just kill some time like this and then leave.

I must have counted about fifty dust particles.

‘This much time should be enough to look like I was praying.’

Just as I thought that while spacing out for a while.

“Hello.”

A low but gentle voice came from right beside me.

Suddenly, goosebumps erupted down my spine. Lost in my daze, I hadn’t sensed anyone approaching at all.

A long, white strand of hair had entered the edge of my vision.

White hair? If it’s white hair…

I slowly raised my head.

‘Wow, holy shit.’

If I hadn’t bitten my tongue in shock, I would have let that exclamation slip out loud.

‘What the hell is that face…?’

The man, who had the light scattered through the stained glass like a halo behind him, was the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life.

His fine hair cascaded over his shoulders, brushing against my cheek, and his green eyes, like a midsummer forest, were so transparent and clear that my own dazed reflection stared back at me.

For the first time, I realized that extreme beauty could also seem divine.

It was only after the initial shock subsided that I noticed his attire. He was wearing a priestly robe richly embroidered with golden thread.

I had expected as much when I saw the white hair, so it wasn’t that surprising. I already knew that hair could sometimes become depigmented like that due to divine power.

“Are you alright?”

As I stood there dumbfounded, unable to speak, the priest asked with a worried look. I quickly stood up from my seat and greeted him first.

“Oh, I apologize, Priest. May the stars guide you.”

“May the stars guide you.”

He accepted my greeting, his eyes curving softly.

I almost lost my wits again at that, but I pulled myself together. He seemed like a rather high-ranking clergyman at first glance, so I had to be careful not to make a bad impression.

He looked at me silently, a faint smile lingering on his face.

As he did, the smile on his face gradually faded, while his eyes grew deeper.

Even that expression is really pretty.

As I was secretly making that impudent observation, the man’s voice fell softly between us.

“I saw you last week.”

“Huh?”

That can’t be. There’s no way I would forget a face like that if I’d seen it.

I scrutinized his face once more.

His tightly closed lips, concealing his teeth; his gently sloping eye shape, not sharp at all; his head tilted slightly to the left.

Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of deja vu struck me.

It’s strange. I’m sure I’ve never seen him before, but why does that expression feel so familiar? Like I’d met him a long time ago.

But one thing was certain: I hadn’t seen him last week.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t recall.”

At my words, the man’s expression, which had seemed almost sullen, softened into a smile. My gaze was captivated by the graceful curve of his lips.

“That’s understandable. Because I saw you unilaterally.”

The man’s smile deepened.

“Mafel.”

But this time, I didn’t see that smile at all.

My heart plummeted.

“I happened to see you secretly supplying goods to the children of Mafel.”

My heartbeat was already racing out of rhythm. Cold sweat trickled down my back.

Mafel is a place cursed by ‘god’.

And this is the ‘temple’ of Mitev, the sole god of the empire.

I swallowed dryly.

I briefly mentioned it before, but in the Baros Empire, the perception of Mafel is worse than one can imagine.

Besides, the person in front of me now is a priest of considerable standing. The fact that his hair is depigmented to that extent means he possesses significant divine power.

“I-I’m sorry.”

I immediately dropped to my knees on the floor. I clasped my trembling hands together as if in prayer and pressed my forehead against them.

“I overstepped and gave charity that wasn’t mine to give. Please, forgive…”

I bit my lip hard, stopping myself mid-sentence. The situation of begging for forgiveness for something I didn’t even truly regret suddenly felt utterly pitiable.

My body trembled for reasons I couldn’t name—whether fear or anger.

As I kept my forehead pressed to my hands, glaring only at the floor, I felt the man crouch down in front of me.

“Lift your head.”

“But…”

“It’s alright, go on.”

His coaxing, gentle tone held a strange power.

At the same time, the violently surging emotions from moments ago began to calm down comfortably. It wasn’t something I did through my own will.

‘So this is what divine power is.’

I cautiously lifted my head. The man was closer than I expected. He was leaning his weight on one knee, pushing his face toward mine.

I flinched and pulled my head back, and the man gazed at me deeply once more.

Then, suddenly, he smiled brightly.

“…?”

Simultaneously, the strange air of authority he had been carrying completely vanished.

Then, the person who had felt unapproachable just moments ago now looked like just an ordinarily beautiful person.

“You really haven’t changed a bit.”

“…Huh?”

There couldn’t be a better response to express how I felt than that dumbfounded reply.

My mind was reeling, about to explode. The sense of deja vu, briefly forgotten in my fear, was squirming its way back up.

‘Had I really known this person?’

The man leaned his upper body down deeply, looking up at me from below. This angle, too, felt like something I’d seen many times before, plunging me deeper into confusion.

Seeing me like that, he widened his eyes dramatically. He seemed to find my flustered state amusing.

“I wonder if this will jog your memory.”

“Wha—”

“Titi.”

He uttered the nickname the little kids in our village used for me, in a voice so very affectionate.

At that moment, a certain scene from my memories overlapped onto his face.

The bushy brown hair like a midday wheat field, the gaunt body and the priestly robe that looked a size too big, the habit of staring at me and then suddenly smiling for reasons unknown.

“…No way.”

A huge shock struck the back of my head.

I jumped up from my spot and pointed at him (with all five fingers spread out, of course).

“You!”

He smiled brightly at my reaction, clearly delighted. That expression held none of the authority from just moments before.

This made it even clearer.

My friend from my pathetic adolescence—whom I’d met for only a few months, but with whom I’d shared such deep affection.

“Ion!”

At my call, he smiled even more brightly and strode over to embrace me. My friend, who at fifteen had been shorter than me, was now big enough to envelop me.

Ion clung to me, hunching his body over. He rested his forehead against my nape and let out a low sigh.

“I’m here, Titi…”

The words we had promised to say to each other upon our reunion came out of my mouth before my consciousness could catch up.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Only then did I raise both arms and embrace him in return.

Forgotten memories poured down upon us like a flood tide.