The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 111 Visitors
Unable to return to Lutia before sunset, Eric and his two companions found a nearby hotel to stay in that evening.

Many of the things that happened today were first-time experiences for Eileen, so she was very excited and refused to sleep even late at night, saying that she wanted to have the same experience for her birthday next year.

"The first time is a pleasant surprise, but the second time you can't possibly have the same feeling."

"I believe in Eric!"

"Then why don't you go to Lesser and be my saintess for a day?"

"Okay."

“It’s okay…” Eric shook his head. After a while, when he didn’t hear any movement, he looked at his sister and found that she was asleep sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Kids fall asleep so quickly."

He got up and went over to her, moving her to lie in the middle of the bed. He stared at her face for a while, then took her hand and kissed it.

Happy birthday, goodnight.

This was actually his room, but it made no difference. Eric went to another room to sleep and slept until dawn.

The inn had carriages for rent, so Leslie got up early, rented one, and returned to the wilderness from yesterday, carrying out all the alchemical materials she could find.

Eric and Eileen had just gotten up when he returned with a cart full of things.

“Let’s just take them back. There’s no better place nearby than Lutia to deal with these things,” Eric said, looking at the materials piled up in the carriage.

"That's what I think too, young master."

Eileen no longer had to squeeze onto a horse with him. She got into the carriage, and Eric rode alongside her on horseback. The three of them returned to the outskirts of Lutia around noon.

Eileen got off the carriage and, with Eric's help, sat behind him. "You can handle it yourself. Whatever you sell is yours. I'll take Eileen back to the academy."

Leslie smiled broadly. "Yes, young master."

"Be careful not to get ripped off," Eileen warned.

"I remember everything you said, Miss."

"I don't know many of them either."

“That’s enough. Selling the rest for even one more gold coin is a profit.” After all, it was a windfall with no initial investment, so Leslie wasn’t greedy.

“Okay.” Eileen smiled, waved, and left with Eric.

Halfway there, she suddenly patted Eric on the back, "I forgot!"

Eric turned his head. "What's wrong?"

“I didn’t expect Eric to take me out yesterday. When I left the academy this morning, I even made plans with Shana to have dinner with her when we got back,” Eileen said.

Shana was Eileen's friend at the academy. Eric looked ahead again and said, "Aren't we on our way back now? We can have lunch together."

"So Shana waited all day."

Upon returning to the Lutia Magic Academy in the western suburbs, Eric was about to take his sister to her room and leave when he ran into her friend.

Eileen apologized to her, who didn't mind, and then told her that Archmage Agnes and one of her friends from outside the academy had also come to see her yesterday.

"Who is it?" Eileen asked.

Shana thought for a moment, "She's been here a few times before, she has silver hair."

"Oh, it's Alan."

Eileen suddenly realized, while Eric, who was about to leave, abruptly turned his head, "Who?"

“Miss Alan, didn’t I tell Eric about her?”

“No.” Eric slowly shook his head, staring at his sister. “Is it that pretty Miss Aran who serves as an attendant to the High Priest Simmagudd?”

"Yes."

How did you two meet?

Eileen decided to go find Archmage Agnes right away, so she took Eric with her and told him about how she met Alan as they walked.

"...Then I used a tracking spell to find out who it was, and it turned out to be the person who had bumped into Leslie earlier."

“I asked her why she was staring at me, and she said I looked familiar and that I might be related to Eric by blood. I told her I was Eric’s sister, and she said she had seen Eric in Lutia and had even brought a letter for me to Archmage Agnes.”

"That's when I found out she was the one who connected Eric and me with the teacher! ... Wait, if that's the case, why didn't I mention Miss Alan to Eric?"

Eileen thought for a moment, then clasped her hands together. "Oh right, Miss Alan specifically told me not to tell Eric, saying it would be a surprise when we meet later."

Eric couldn't help but take a deep breath upon hearing this. This female spy...

The initial encounter with Eileen might have been accidental, but his continued approach to her afterward definitely indicated some ulterior motive.

Surprise... more like shock.

Did she say anything to Eileen?

"What did you say?" Eileen tilted her head, somewhat puzzled.

"Do you see each other often?" Eric asked.

“Not often,” Eileen said. “I see her once or twice a month, and she's usually the one who comes to see me. And what she says… is the kind of thing we say in casual conversation?”

If it's just curiosity about the siblings' resemblance that leads to contact, that's fine. Eric's concern is that she might use this to lure Eileen to the Aranid camp.

He thought for a moment, "Did she mention that Eileen should leave Lutia with her later?"

Eileen thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes."

Eric's face turned cold.

“She said that once I had learned enough at the academy, I would travel to the south or go back to my hometown… Oh, she meant for me to leave alone, not that I should go with her.”

Eric frowned again.

What is that woman thinking?
"We're here." Eileen stopped in her tracks.

Eric looked up and realized that he had followed Eileen to a magical floating staircase in the academy.

"This is a magic floating staircase, Eric. Follow me up, something amazing is about to happen."

"..."

Eric was silent for a few seconds, then pretended that he was seeing this thing for the first time and followed Eileen as she stepped on it.

Eileen stepped on the protrusion in the middle and then looked at him expectantly.

The floating platform quickly began to move and slowly rose.

Eric: "Wow."

"Ha ha!"

The floating ladder led the brother and sister to a high place. After exiting, they had to climb another spiral staircase to reach the private research room of the moon elf Archmage Agnes.

She herself was inside at that moment.

“Teacher,” Eileen bowed at the door, then went inside and introduced her, “this is Eric.”

Eric bowed and said, "Nice to meet you, Archmage Agnes. Eric greets you."

The moon elf, over three hundred years old, still looked to be around forty. She stared at Eric without moving when the brother and sister appeared at the door, and only spoke after a long while:
"You two siblings both look a lot like Orieta."

Orietta was his and Irene's original name among the Moon Elves, which Eric learned from a letter Irene wrote to him. It is said to mean "last hope" in Elvish.

This last hope was the last new member of the Moon Elf race to be born in hundreds of years. This race, which was on the verge of extinction, seemed to have lost the ability to reproduce, if you don't count him and Eileen, who were two unique hybrids—after all, in terms of appearance, the brother and sister were closer to humans and did not have obvious Moon Elf characteristics.

“If you are willing to return to your people, I can take you to the secluded place of the moon elves,” Agnes continued. “Through the special magic of the moon elves, your bloodline can be restored to its original source as much as possible.”

Eric was taken aback, and Eileen was also hearing this for the first time: "Teacher, what does 'returning to the origin' mean?"

Agnes looked at the brother and sister and said, "You have the blood of moon elves flowing in your veins. Returning to your origins means removing the impurities and making you closer to the form of moon elves."

The so-called impurities are probably the human bloodline from their fathers.

Eric had never heard of the Moon Elves possessing such technology, and he wasn't particularly interested at the moment. The Moon Elf race was nearly extinct, which might be due to a problem with their bloodline genes; it simply wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Eric refused, and Eileen followed suit.

“That’s a real shame.” Agnes’s expression seemed to freeze, just like her face. She sighed, but her expression remained unchanged, so calm that it gave Eric a chill.

Suddenly she got up and walked over, pulling him and Eileen together, while looking at them and stroking their faces with her left and right hands respectively.

Eric traced his fingertips across his face, glancing at Eileen, who seemed used to it.

After a long while, the moon elf withdrew her hand and said to the brother and sister, "Are you willing to inherit the name Orieta?"

“What do you gain from inheriting this name?” Eric asked.

“A responsibility, and an unparalleled glory that all races on this continent must worship,” Agnes said.

(End of this chapter)