Although Ada had a complicated face, he schooled his expression as if he’d changed his mind, then approached Kuuga’s side, wrapped his hands around him, and squeezed.
“From that day when Divine Beast-sama arrived… it’s only been a few days, but I’m honored to attend two rituals with your presence. Congratulations.”
“Ahh… thank you for your assistance.”
Kuuga heard that the Divine Beast hadn’t appeared for 500 years. It might have taken that many years to accumulate enough surplus from the power supporting this world. Moreover, it depended on God which country it would appear in, so even if they became the chief priest, many wouldn’t be able to see one in their lives.
That might be why Ada was overly enthusiastic. Kuuga felt a little guilty having a wedding ceremony rushed in this way…
Kuuga had less than 3 minutes. Now that the wedding ceremony was finished successfully, Kuuga remembered the things he drove in the corner of his mind. It’s about Cary and Kurone.
Although he was mistreated, Kuuga really didn’t want to complain or take revenge on what’s been done to him.
However, since Cary helped Kuuga, he wanted to raise Ada’s evaluation of Cary. So that time with Kurone would have to be explained.
Also, he didn’t care about Kurone that much, but sometimes, he thought of “if” situations.
Obviously, it costed money to prepare a meal. Just because Kurone became Kuuga’s caretaker, it didn’t mean that Kurone couldn’t bear the cost. The church should have given him money.
And from Ada’s viewpoint, Kuuga didn’t think he ever imagined the Divine Beast being served rotten food.
In other words, the church should have provided a reasonable amount of money for Kuuga’s meals. Nevertheless, Kurone brought such things to Kuuga.
Taking the expense of buying food but never spending it. Maybe even replacing the prepared food with rotten foods and serving it to Kuuga. ――in other words, Kurone might have been embezzling funds.
The food cost for 10 days was probably not that high. However, Kurone should have earned quite a bit of pocket money.
If it’s just harassment from Kurone, Kuuga wouldn’t involve himself nor say anything now. However, if he committed a crime, it might not be good to keep silent.
“It’s wrong of me to complain when I already moved, but I have something to say.”
“…what might it be?”
Looking at Kuuga’s serious face, Ada, who guessed it wasn’t anything good, tightened his expression. Gadillas, who was nearby, also became suspicious.
“During the ten days I spent here, did Ada gave instructions to serve me rotten food?”
“E…eh!?”
“Oi, what do you mean?”
Kuuga knew Ada didn’t do so. However, he thought it would be easy for Kurone to say something like that.
The only miscalculation was that Gadillas, who responded to Kuuga’s words, got in Ada’s face. Ada turned a deep blue.
“D-Divine Beast-sama… I-I instructed for you to have the finest things. Please believe…”
Upon hearing those words, Gadillas turned his eyes to Kuuga. He knew that Kuuga would know if Ada was lying. Since Ada was pitiful, Kuuga nodded to Gadillas and informed him that it’s not a lie.
“I believe in Ada. But what I said was also true. I couldn’t have eaten such a thing. If Cary didn’t bring me fresh food, I would have run away.”
“C-Cary, what…?”
“Yes. He said it was an apology for his first reaction, but he helped me a lot. I am grateful to Cary.”
When Kuuga said that, he saw slight relief in Ada’s face. It’s not what Ada instructed, but Ada was responsible for what his men did. If they’re rude to the Divine Beast and it became angry, the country might be abandoned by the Divine Beast. They knew how serious this situation was.
The one who avoided it was Cary, who should have been punished. He should be thanked, not punished for violating a command.
“If that’s the case, where did the ingredients that were supposed to be prepared for me, go?”
“…where is Kurone!”
It seemed like his mind wasn’t working well until now, but Ada, who was able to guess what Kuuga was pointing at, seemed to be in a hurry and gave instructions to a nearby priest.
Because time ran out, Kuuga returned to being a beast. Gadillas, who collected the clothes that fell, patted the head of Kuuga, who had a disappointed expression. He’d do the rest.
Kurone was brought to them with two priests flanking his side. He looked calm as usual, but Kuuga could see that his body was slightly tense so that he could act immediately no matter what.
“Kurone. It seems that the food prepared for Divine Beast-sama had been replaced with rotten food. What can you say about that?”
Kuuga felt strange at Ada’s question and suddenly looked up at Ada’s face. It seemed like Kurone was the same as he looked surprised for a moment.
I heard something like this, is it true? Kuuga thought Ada would ask that way, but he skipped the fact confirmation and went straight to the other party’s testimony! It wasn’t even close to a question.
It might not be necessary to doubt Kuuga’s words from Ada’s perspective. Kuuga thought that too much blind faith was a bit dangerous, but it saved Ada this time. After all, Gadillas was here. Gadillas would have blown up as soon as he said something that doubted Kuuga. This might be a problem if Ada was a teacher in school, but it’s fine for this situation.
However, it was so unexpected that Kurone was unconvinced. His eyebrows, which distorted only for a moment at the unpleasant situation, smoothened the next moment as he hung his head.
“Chief Priest, I deeply apologize for whatever mistake I made. I served the prepared meal…. I don’t know what went wrong, but it wouldn’t eat much…”
“…do you mean to say that Divine Beast-sama is lying?”
“I wonder if it’s because Divine Beast-sama hates me…”
Kurone acted like he’s the one being harassed. He distorted his face into a sad expression, but even when he talked like that, the eyes of the people around him remained cold.
“I think you’re the one misunderstanding something.”
Gadillas, who had the coldest eyes of all, said in a low voice that echoed from the pit of his stomach. Kurone lifted his face and became slightly pale.
“There is nothing to doubt. I didn’t call you here to hear an excuse.”
“Wha… saying that whatever Divine Beast-sama said is the truth is too much…”
“You, how do you think Kuuga is treated at the castle?”
“Eh…?”
“Because of his appearance, he is treated as a demon beast, pointed at with swords, and screamed at. Still, he didn’t try to retaliate against anyone… if what you say is true, you’ve done enough to be hated by this guy, but what do you think?”
Kurone shuddered, stopped breathing, and shut up. He couldn’t make up an excuse. This time, he realized how rude he was to Kuuga.
Perhaps he realized that it was about to get worse. Kurone’s expression hardened as if he was prepared to do something.
[…!]
At that moment, Kuuga felt chills down his spine and jumped out. He didn’t know what Kurone was trying to do, but he thought it would be dangerous for some reason.
When Kurone put a hand on his chest, Kuuga interfered and moved. Hit by Kuuga’s large body, Kurone couldn’t stand it and was blown back. Reading the situation, Gadillas, who ran to the landing point, caught Kurone and pressed him on the ground.
“Ku…”
Gadillas might have been watching Kurone’s movements all this time. He put a hand on the other man’s neck and took out a pendant with a purple stone inside Kurone’s clothes.
“…a magic tool. It’s not something an acolyte can buy. However, it’s also not something you can buy for the food cost of 10 days… you seem to have sinned a lot.”
“No, I wonder if he bought that on the last day…”
“…just what the hell did you prepare…”
Gadillas’ line of sight pierced Ada’s frightened ones as the priest simply denied Gadillas’ reasoning. A miniaturized magic tool was a fairly expensive item, and if Gadillas’ reasoning was correct… what kind of meal did Ada prepare?
Ada shyly told them that he added his own pocket money and ordered Kurone to buy the finest meal. Ada’s faith in the Divine Beast was too scary.
Kurone might have seen such a high-grade meal and thought it would be wasteful for a mere beast. He must have felt that way.
With that much food, Kurone might have had the idea of eating even a little bit, but then felt sorry that the Divine Beast might not be able to eat it and settled on just giving it raw meat.
“If it’s that amount, it would be easy to swindle some of it. Uros, let Luon investigate.”
“Understood.”
“And that too. Check it out. If it’s attack magic, it’s a felony.”
Gadillas tore off the magic tool pendant and threw it to Uros. Even with his head bowed low, Uros caught it smoothly with one hand.
With the suspicion of a crime happening inside the church and an attempted attack on the king, the Royal Guard Knights approached. They received Kurone from Gadillas and dragged him away. As Kurone was being led away, he looked at Kuuga with blaming eyes, although Kuuga didn’t take it to heart.
Kurone used Kuuga, who could not speak for himself. Even if he’s angry, Kuuga felt no sympathy for him.
Glad the corrupt preist is finally getting whats coming to him.