The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 223 Trust

Chapter 223 Trust
The night was not cool at all, and Eric felt his head was a little heavy.

He was starting to feel the strain, so he sat down by the flowerbed, lowered his head, and took a short rest.

He closed his eyes, and the noise of the banquet instantly flooded his mind from both sides.

"...Count, you also think we should immediately..."

"...Madam, perhaps I've had too much to drink? You seem even younger than when we last met...at least ten years younger."

"Stop looking around, your eyes are glued to those noblewomen's chests! Eat more, Duke Edgar has gone to the front lines, and this young master won't be staying long either. Every banquet at the city lord's mansion is a rare treat..."

"Hahaha."

"Eric's over there!"

When Eileen and Molly came to his side, Eric had already opened his eyes, thinking he was fully awake, just a little tired. "What's wrong?"

“You really did drink too much.” Elise sat down next to him, her words shattering his illusion.

“How many people were surrounding them before?” Eileen glanced around. Natalia sat on the other side, listening blankly to a woman who looked somewhat like her talking.

“That’s one of Grand Princess Natalia’s older sisters, she’s been married for a long time,” Elise whispered. “So they’ve escaped here too.”

Eric looked over and said, "No wonder he looked familiar. He's a member of the royal family too."

A few seconds later, a memory surfaced in his mind, still carrying the smell of alcohol.

"Your Highness, this is my sister..."

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Aiden, I should address you as Your Highness.”

Natalia had already introduced him to him before.

"Go and rest," Elise said, taking his arm.

“There are still so many guests…” Eric hesitated for a moment.

“Who else is there?” Eileen waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Look carefully.”

Eric squinted and looked closely before realizing that the figures moving around in the courtyard were all servants cleaning and tidying up. All the guests had left, and the noblewoman sitting next to Natalia was probably the last one who hadn't left yet.

His mind suddenly went quiet.

"what time is it?"

“You can have breakfast after you take a shower,” Eileen said.

Elise told him the more precise time, "It's almost midnight."

Eric glared at his sister, then stood up and walked towards Natalia.

"Your Highnesses."

"Your Highness." The Grand Princess, who was now married, stood up and nodded to him.

“It’s late, Your Highness. Why don’t you stay at the City Lord’s Mansion? I will arrange a room for you next to Princess Natalia,” Eric said.

"No need, Your Highness. I live in the city. Thank you for your kindness."

The woman's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, then turned to Natalia, and continued, "The carriage is waiting for me outside. I should be leaving now. Natalia, remember my words."

"elder sister……"

Natalia also stood up unsteadily, and after saying goodbye, the two of them watched her leave together.

The last guest had already left, and Eric was about to say something when Natalia sat down again, looking up at him.

Eric sat down as well.

Elise clicked her tongue. The servants found a drunken guest passed out in a flower bed. Eileen went to check on him. Molly glanced at Eric and Elise, then looked back. The figure was still upstairs watching them.

"I probably won't be able to see anyone tomorrow morning," Natalia whispered.

“It won’t make a difference if it takes half a day,” Eric said.

"Ah."

They both exhaled simultaneously, and then remained silent.

After a while, Eileen directed the servants to carry someone over. "Eric, someone has passed out in the flower bed. What should we do? Should we just throw him outside?"

"Write a letter and ask your uncle if he agrees."

Natalia smiled.

Eric glanced at the drunkard being carried, whom he didn't recognize, and said, "Just find a guest room and dump him there."

"Oh."

Eileen left with her people.

"I don't know if it's just my imagination because I drank too much, but I remember at the banquet earlier, several people said they wanted to donate 10,000 gold coins worth of supplies to the front lines," Natalia murmured.

“It wasn’t my imagination, I heard it too,” Eric said.

She had just smiled when she heard him continue, "However, Your Highness, it's better to treat it as a misperception, because they themselves may not even remember it."

Natalia's face fell again.

"Alcohol is something we both love and hate."

Eric smiled, looked up at the night sky for a while, and gazed at the crescent moon, remembering what Kasha had said about the next full moon night being about twenty days away.

"It's time to rest, Your Highness."

Natalia responded, and after a while stood up, her body swaying slightly.

Eric reached out to steady her, and she grabbed his arm in return, then smiled at him before letting go.

Eric had the maid escort her back to her room to rest.

After Natalia walked away, Elise and Molly grabbed his arms.

"Stop looking, she has something on her mind and doesn't want to talk to you today."

Eric looked away. "I have something on my mind too. Why don't you talk to me about it?"

"You should wash off the smell of alcohol first."

Eric could not remember much of what happened after that when he woke up again.

It was already broad daylight. Elise and Molly were no longer by her side, but the lingering scent of the two of them could still be felt on both sides.

"Why does it feel like I'm having an affair even in my own home...?"

Eric had no plans for the morning. He spaced out for a while, but didn't lie down for long. He woke up and got up, and met Kasha on his way to the study.

Eric vaguely remembered that he hadn't seen Eileen at the banquet last night, except for when she brought him to eat something.

"Are you getting used to living in the city lord's mansion, Miss Kasha?"

“It’s alright,” Kasha said, walking up to him and pressing her hand against his forehead. A green light shone from her fingertip and entered his head.

The cool, refreshing sensation seemed to swirl around in his head, instantly clearing Eric of the lingering hangover and making him feel much more energetic.

"Is this a divine spell from the Naturalist school?"

Kasha nodded. "It can relieve the discomfort of a hangover."

Eric was more shocked than by the magical effects of the spell that it could work on him, the "unforgiving madman".

Is it because of different sources of faith?

"I don't recall seeing Miss Kasha use it when we were drinking together before."

Kasha tilted her head. "I hadn't learned this divine spell back then."

"I see."

"I specifically learned this skill so that I could drink with Eric next time."

Eric pursed his lips.

"Speaking of which, I don't think I saw Miss Kasha last night."

“There are too many people,” Kasha said.

“Maybe we can have a drink together today,” Eric said to her. “When I get back.”

Kasha nodded.

When Eric arrived at the study, Natalia was already sitting inside.

In the morning, the two of them looked at the intelligence that had been sent the night before.

The winged beings flying through the sky are like news anchors on CCTV's evening news, broadcasting the latest news from the northern front to all parts of the mainland, except it's not free.

Like a newsboy?
The situation at the front was not much different from the previous few days, and Eric inevitably became a little distracted.

Natalia was the same, frowning as if she were thinking about something, but it was clearly unrelated to intelligence.

Would Your Highness like some tea?

"What... Oh, okay."

Eric tilted his head towards the outside of the study, and after a short while, the maid brought over a pot of black tea and poured a cup for each of them.

After drinking a cup of tea, Natalia rubbed the sides of her head, seemingly still suffering from a hangover.

"Does Your Highness still have a headache?"

"Hmm... I accidentally drank a bit too much." She glanced at Eric. "Your Highness drank just as much as I did, but seems to be fine now."

Eric gave her a mysterious smile, then looked towards the door. "Please ask Miss Kasha to come here. Tell her I need to speak with her." "Yes, sir," the maid replied and left.

A short while later, Kasha came to the study, looked at Eric, and then at Natalia.

Eric asked her to cast a spell to cure Natalia's hangover as well.

As Natalia touched her forehead with her fingertips, the green light flickered, and she found that the intangible heaviness in her head had quickly disappeared, leaving her feeling refreshed.

"Amazing...the hangover is completely gone."

She looked at Kasha and sincerely thanked her, "Thank you, Miss Kasha."

The latter looked at her with a complicated expression, shook his head, and said nothing.

Eric asked her to sit down and poured her a cup of black tea as well.

When they were alone, they could each daydream, but with a third person present, Eric and Natalia unconsciously perked up and flipped through the intelligence they had already read several times, and actually noticed some points they hadn't paid attention to before.

"Your Highness Eric, have you noticed that the frequency of the demons' proactive attacks seems to be decreasing?"

"I saw it, but it's just data from the last few days, so it shouldn't prove anything."

"You mean we should continue to observe?"

"Let's observe for a few more days. The frontline staff are more sensitive to these changes; they haven't specifically mentioned it, which clearly means they don't think it's of much significance for the time being..."

Eric paused for a moment, "Of course, we cannot ignore the possibility of the demons agreeing to a ceasefire and peace talks."

After all, in "Thorns of the Crown", the demon race and humans are in a state of constant friction, but generally at peace.

Eric guessed that this was probably the idea of the demon prime minister Luca. Although he had advanced south with the momentum of a surprise attack and even captured Lutia, he found it difficult to quickly destroy the empire after reinforcements arrived. So he proposed peace talks and turned to digest the territories he had already occupied in the north.

The demons completely ceased their large-scale offensives only after a demon force bypassed the Qifeng Mountains—the same route Natalia took from the North to Grandia—and attempted a surprise attack on Tebuni, only to be soundly defeated by the Church's knightly army.

However, now that Luca is dead, it's hard to say whether the Demon King will choose to cease hostilities and make peace.

"Peace talks?" Natalia frowned. "Is it possible for the demons to initiate a ceasefire?"

“It’s very likely, because they’ve realized they can’t swallow us up, and a ceasefire and peace talks are actually the best option for them to gain a foothold,” Eric said.

“Then we certainly cannot accept that,” Natalia said immediately.

Eric looked at her.

Natalia was taken aback, but quickly understood. "Does Your Highness think the front lines will choose to accept?"

“Since we set off, the fighting on the front line has never stopped. Soldiers and supplies are being consumed rapidly. If you ask which side would rather stop, I think it's us.”

Natalia frowned. "We went south to ask for reinforcements so that the front lines could afford to wait."

“But that will take time,” Eric said. “What the front lines need most is time. If we could temporarily cease hostilities, we could not only stop the attrition but also receive supplies from the rear. I think even if I were on the front lines, I would accept the demons’ ceasefire.”

Natalia picked up the intelligence report that had just been delivered yesterday, compared it with the previous reports for a while, and offered her own speculation:

"According to Your Highness's guess, the Demon Clan's recent reduction in the frequency of attacks may be due to their accumulation of strength, preparing to launch a fierce attack that is not enough to wipe out the Imperial Army, but can still cause a huge blow. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for us to refuse the peace talks proposed."

Eric paused for a moment, thought about it, and agreed that it made sense. He then picked up a quill pen, wrote down their guesses, organized them, and prepared to send them to the front lines so that they could be prepared.

“Summon a winged messenger,” Natalia said to the maid outside the study.

"Yes, Your Highness."

While the two were discussing and speculating, Kasha sat to the side, glancing at Eric and then at Natalia, without saying a word.

The morning passed quickly.

In the afternoon, Eric and Natalia went out together to visit a nobleman they had arranged to meet the day before.

Perhaps due to the proper groundwork laid by yesterday's banquet, today's talks proceeded very smoothly, and the other party quickly agreed to send a force of one hundred knights and five hundred militiamen to support the Lutia front.

They politely declined the nobleman's invitation to stay for the banquet, and left each other's residence before dusk, preparing to head back.

As he mounted his horse, Eric glanced back and lowered his voice.

“I can understand why someone with their own territory would choose to stay in Hiss City. Is it really more comfortable for them to live in this little, run-down city than in their own territory or Hiss City?”

Both of them had arrived on horseback. Natalia mounted her horse, smiled at him, and said, "Perhaps they simply prefer Your Highness's hometown?"

“Then bring more, attract all the merchants, and develop Ori City into the new Hiss City, making it the new center of Otwell.”

"Well, this place is still a little small... just a little."

Eric smiled, about to say something, when an owl took off from the roof of the noble mansion, flew over their heads, and headed towards the city lord's mansion.

He tilted his head back and followed it for a moment.

"Your Highness?"

"Huh? It's okay."

Eric looked at the sky. "It's still early, Your Highness. Would you like to take a walk around the city with me before heading back?"

“Okay,” Natalia readily agreed, but then something occurred to her, and she hesitated.

“If it’s inconvenient for Your Highness, we can go back directly,” Eric said.

"Do not……"

Natalia smiled somewhat helplessly. "It's not that it's inconvenient. I'll talk to Your Highness as we walk."

The two men strolled leisurely through the city, riding their horses.

“At last night’s banquet, I met one of the older sisters; Your Highness should remember her.”

Eric pictured a face that resembled Natalia's in his mind. "Of course I remember, Princess Caroline. I even exchanged a few words with her."

“Her husband came from Cus and was very familiar with the Governor of Cus. My sister told me that the Governor of Cus’s son was about my age…”

Natalia paused, took a deep breath, and said, "If I marry him, I can easily win over Governor Kuss."

Eric Lema stopped and turned to look at her. "I don't think the situation is urgent enough to require Your Highness to sacrifice yourself."

Natalia smiled. "That's what I said too. But my sister said I'm way past the age for a typical royal princess to get married, and in two more years no one will want me."

"Who said that?" Eric blurted out.

Natalia looked at him.

Eric looked ahead. “Please forgive my offense, Your Highness, but I must say that Princess Caroline is short-sighted and may not truly care for Princess Natalia. Otherwise, she should have realized long ago that Your Highness is not a noble lady who is worried about getting married, but a future wise ruler who is going to save this empire.”

"..."

The sun was still setting and still had considerable power; Natalia felt her entire face burning hot from the sun.

“That’s going too far… Your Highness Eric.”

"which aspect?"

"In every aspect."

Eric looked at her, then at the road ahead, and swung the reins.

"I don't think so."

The clatter of hooves maintained a steady rhythm, carrying the two of them around the city at a moderate pace.

As Natalia passed by the temporary residence of the Grand Princess, who had married young, she only glanced at it twice and did not stop.

"My sister also said that I should keep some distance from His Highness."

“I am a saint,” Eric said without batting an eye. “Isn’t doubting me like this just ruining my reputation?”

Natalia glanced at him. "Yes, after all, His Highness has always been surrounded by women. If His Highness had betrayed the Church's precepts, he would have been discovered long ago."

"..."

Eric pursed his lips.

“So I refuted my sister’s words,” Natalia said again, letting out a soft sigh, and no longer looking at him. “In many ways, His Highness Eric is the person I trust most, and I will not distance myself from him.”

Many aspects, but not all aspects...

However, if you expose the aspects that you don't trust or deliberately ignore, it could damage trust in other areas.

Eric looked ahead. "Thank you for your trust, Your Highness. I will not stray far from you either."

After wandering around for a while, the two returned to the city lord's mansion together.

Eileen was riding a reindeer through the yard when she noticed the two of them and came over to greet them.

"...Don't ride my friend."

"How did Eric know!" Eileen exclaimed in surprise, dismounting from the reindeer. The reindeer then raised its forelegs, reverting to human form.

“Miss Kasha…” Natalia’s eyes widened.

Kasha looked at Eric and said, "I wouldn't mind having fun with Miss Eileen."

"Don't spoil Eileen too much, she'll take advantage of you."

Eileen stared, and Kasha shook her head.

Molly ran over from the other side, shouting, "My turn! My turn!"