"Tie up?"
Roberta asked reflexively.
"Why?"
"It's not just that I've lived a long time."
She was about to grumble that he was bringing up his age again when a strong gust of wind blew from outside, and the door creaked open. When she turned her gaze, she saw little children peeking out from the entrance of the tent. They were spying on what the two were doing with sparkling eyes.
"The story has been long."
Ulrich smiled at the children.
"Now, let's stop the story and get up."
She looked up at him for a moment before getting up. At the same time, she shook her head to shake off the thoughts that filled her mind. The questions were hardly resolved. Rather, they led to more questions. Her head was so complicated that it was annoying.
However, she decided not to ask any more questions. Although it was difficult to understand, there was no other way now. Whether he was a real lord instead of a substitute, how he performed the Seongsa without receiving priesthood, and what happened with the predecessor, he had an attitude that would not give a clear answer even if she asked.
'Okay. There's plenty of time anyway.'
There was no need to rush. Alonso had also said it.
All she had to do was fulfill her responsibilities as the head priest.
She had just arrived in Ditmarsken. Unless the Hall of Gods ordered her to move her post, she would be staying for at least ten years, during which she could wait for the truth to come out of the lord's mouth himself.
Ulrich came out of the tent and gathered the people who were resting.
"I will resume the Yeonga Seongsa."
As soon as those words were spoken, everyone held their babies in their arms and surrounded him.
'Let's see. What are you hiding?'
Roberta was reluctant to entrust the Seongsa to someone who was not a priest, but she decided to watch quietly. She had seen the Seongsa being performed without any problems in front of her, and she thought she might get a clue if she watched.
If there was a problem, she, as a formal priest, was there.
'Come to think of it.'
Suddenly, Roberta looked around and realized.
There are customs that must be followed in the Seongsa.
"Are you going to proceed as is? The Seongsa?"
Even as she asked, she recalled her memories. Was there a brazier when Ulrich performed the Yeonga Seongsa earlier? There wasn't. He performed the Seongsa without even smoking a single line of smoke.
"I'm thinking of it."
"At least smoke and prepare the anointing oil."
"Why?"
Why? She blinked her eyes.
"Well, that's the custom. To safely perform the Seongsa while honoring Hestio. If you don't follow the customs of the Seongsa, the register may not properly ascend to heaven."
Her voice trembled with embarrassment as she answered.
When the gods built palaces in the sky and resided there, there was Ganymede among them. That god had an adopted son, and the adopted son's name was Hestio.
One day, Hestio looked down at the earth from the sky, and there was a group of humans huddled in a cave to avoid the rain. At that time, dwarves and fairies had achieved a sacred civilization, but humans were just coming down from the trees and wandering around.
Hairless monkeys who couldn't even light a fire and were likely to freeze to death when the weather turned cold, that was what humans were like in those days.
Hestio gave fire to the groups of humans who were hugging each other and shivering, allowing them to withstand the cold, and after the rain stopped, he taught them various skills.
Since then, when humans perform events such as the Seongsa, they have created several customs to honor Hestio and receive his blessings. Lighting a fire at the beginning of the Seongsa and turning it off at the end to create smoke was a representative example.
"The word 'honor' is wrong."
Ulrich shook his head.
"Yes?"
"'Honor' is not the right word, but 'call' is the right word."
'He's talking nonsense again.'
Regardless of her feelings, he continued.
"The reason why you smoke, or rather, light and extinguish the fire, was to call Hestio. Because when the fire went out, Hestio would come down again and light the fire. He taught you how to light a fire, but that's not an easy task."
"······."
"He came to light the fire every time so that you wouldn't have to go through unnecessary hardships, but humans at the time accepted it differently. That human comes when the fire goes out. So, whenever they looked for Hestio, they turned off the fire to create smoke."
Ulrich added that it was unavoidable because it was a time when words were clumsy.
"I said the same thing to Alonso."
She had never heard of it.
"Smoking, applying anointing oil, and immersing yourself in water, all those customs were created in that way. But think about it. What meaning is there in actions that the gods did not teach you to do? Does this help the Seongsa?"
Following that, he spoke in a tone of teaching a student, 'Humans are just using the legacy of the gods and do not know the principle,' and 'Therefore, they package meaningless actions in the name of customs and become obsessed with them.'
She couldn't bring herself to interrupt, but she frowned slightly and gave him a look, but he ended up pouring out everything he had to say. Roberta narrowed her eyes and asked.
"I hope you haven't forgotten that I'm a priest."
"I know it very well."
"Do you say such things knowing that?"
He scratched under his chin with his thumb and looked down at her.
"So? Are you going to arrest me as a heretic?"
"······."
She shut her mouth tightly.
She couldn't refute it. She had no intention of doing anything to him. To be honest, she was more interested than worried. A deeply faithful priest would have been alarmed by his actions, but she was different.
Why, isn't that so? Aren't there many people in the human world who walk the path of priesthood with greed? She was just such a person.
Like Alonso, who recommended Roberta.
And Ulrich had seen through that point.
"Look. See if I'm wrong."
He took a baby from another young man.
It was a child who was sleeping soundly and may have left his parents' hands. Ulrich gently stroked the child's head and pressed his forehead against it. Then, light arose.
Like the baby Roberta had seen a little while ago, light emanated from the center of his forehead and spread throughout his body. She was impressed even though it was the second time she had seen it.
'Except for not following the customs, it's perfect.'
When she checked the baby's pulse, she could feel the flow of mana subtly from the baby. Mana was flowing through the body like blood flowing through the blood vessels, so the Yeonga Seongsa was completely accomplished.
"Is there really no problem?"
Ulrich did not answer yes.
"Try it yourself."
Instead, he handed her a child who had not undergone the Seongsa.
"Perform the Seongsa without customs for all the children here. After completing the Seongsa, if you check directly to see if there are any children whose registers have not risen, you will be able to believe my words a little."
When she lowered her gaze, the child looked up from her arms and giggled. There was a cuteness that made her open her mouth wide when she looked at it. She stroked the child's head as Ulrich had done.
However, she did not press her forehead against it. There was hesitation about whether to ignore the customs and try the Seongsa, but it was fleeting. 'What's the point of not stopping the Seongsa of someone who hasn't gone through the priesthood and coming now?' The impulse mocked her from within, but it did not lead to action.
Even if she became a priest out of greed, she was still a priest. Even if her faith was not deep, she had faith in the customs. Also, would it be rational to throw away thousands of years of side-effect-free customs based on the words of a strange person?
"It's okay."
She said firmly and returned the child to her parents.
"I will follow the customs of the Hall of Gods. However, this ritual was started by the lord, so I am only entrusting it to you until the end. I will preside over all future Seongsa."
"Do so. If you wish."
He readily accepted.
"But keep in mind. Alonso also did it."
Roberta frowned at those words.
"Alonso did not teach me this method."
When she said it with rebellion, he smiled faintly. It was the first smile he had given in front of her, but there was no joy. It wasn't ridicule either, and she felt a smile of pity.
"It can't be helped to live in the land of the one-eyed."
#
After the Seongsa, there was a feast.
In a world with a high infant mortality rate, it was not uncommon for families to be cut off even after having three children. Moreover, Ditmarsken is said to have a harsher environment than other regions, and even adults cannot withstand it.
For this reason, they say that they do not consider a child as a life until the child grows up enough to receive the Yeonga Seongsa, or until before receiving the Yeonga Seongsa, but how can they do that even after carrying it in their womb for a year? The parents hugged the babies who had completed the Seongsa and smiled, unable to contain the outpouring joy.
The Yeongji people gathered in a large tent. It was ten times larger than the tent where Roberta had a private meeting with Ulrich. A feast table was set up inside, and it was warm to the corners because a stove was installed in the same way.
Sitting around the stove, the adults stood up in ridiculous costumes and sang and danced around. The children ran through the gaps and made a fuss.
"Ugh······."
Roberta stuck out her tongue at the pine pollen tea and shuddered. It was a taste that she could not get used to no matter how much she drank. Even the Yeongji people who had lived with pine pollen tea all their lives did not seem to have adapted, and there was no one who did not frown.
'It's strange to eat so calmly.'
She glanced at Ulrich.
There was no such thing as the head seat because they were sitting in a circle, but elderly people took their seats on either side of the seat where Ulrich was sitting.
From a seat quite far away from her, he occasionally nodded and smiled at the old men who were talking beside him, and he lightly sipped the pine pollen tea as if he were drinking plain water.
She was going to continue the unfinished story, but at this rate, it seemed that she would not have a chance today. She smacked her lips and hesitated before drinking the tea again. Her body trembled.
"Priest."
A voice was heard in the noise.
"Are you tired?"
An old man approached her side and bowed. It was the old man who had guided the two to the tent when they wanted to have a private meeting with Ulrich. He introduced himself as Brasse, the clan's elder.
"Yes, because the trip was long."
"Shall I prepare a separate seat for you?"
"No. It's not that bad."
When she shook her head, the elder sat down, saying he understood.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
"Please don't push him too hard."
She sighed inwardly, thinking, 'As expected.'
"I haven't really pushed him hard."
Her voice rose without her knowing.
"I'm sorry if you felt uncomfortable."
The elder bowed his head and handed her a glass. It was wine. When she tasted it, she was surprised at how deep the taste was. It was a high-quality wine that was difficult to taste even in the main temple.
"The owner gave it to me as a gift a long time ago."
"Really?"
She put another sip in her mouth. She felt like her mouth was shrinking and she thought it was a waste to just drink it. There was no way that brewing was possible in this environment, so where did she get it from afar, how much would it cost, and he gave it as a gift?
"It was when I was sixteen years old. I went hunting with the adults and was hunted by monsters instead. I put the injured adults on a sled and ran away, and Ulrich gave it to me as a gift, saying I was great."
Brasse's face was full of wrinkles. Considering that nomads age faster than their age, he must be over sixty years old. She was drinking wine that was at least fifty years old.
"You kept it well."
"The lord kept it for me. As you know, we are a wandering tribe. We don't know much about alcohol. At best, we just gulp down the distilled liquor that is sent from the south to warm our bodies."
The elder filled Roberta's glass.
"When I received this, I suddenly thought. Like when I saw the wooden horse I rode when I was a child after I had my coming-of-age ceremony, I decided to drink this when my life was coming to an end."
She paused while tilting the glass.
"And he returned it to me today."
There was no way she could not know the meaning of those words. To her, who was facing her with a smile erased, the elder showed a kind of reminiscence, laughing heartily.
"Actually, this old man had forgotten. Isn't it half a century ago? I can't even remember what I did the day before, let alone the old days. But he remembered. I was so surprised when I received the bottle! The moment I saw the bottle, the events of that day came to my mind."
The elder's gaze left her and looked for Ulrich.
He was just about to get up from his seat. Did he feel the gazes of the two? He also looked at her and the elder for a moment, but it was only for a moment, and he soon left his seat.
"It is natural for the priest to be suspicious. You must have a lot to say, such as whether someone else is pretending to be the lord, how a human can maintain such youth, and whether he is related to an evil god. Everyone who was here before and everyone who was here even before that were suspicious. It can't be helped. Priests are different from us."
"Different?"
"Yes. It's different. The priest has now been appointed here as the head priest. It's also the first time you've seen him. But we have grown up seeing him from the time we performed the Yeonga Seongsa until now. It is natural for us that his time is different from ours."
"Have you never thought it was strange?"
"Before I answer that question, I would like to ask you first."
Elder Brasse looked at the empty seat where Ulrich had been sitting.
"If a person can live for a very long time, if this person is a being who has escaped old age and death, and if this person has deeper wisdom, patience, and virtue than others, and if your ancestors have served this person for generations... what would you think?"