Arc 3 - Chapter 13: Church of Andromeda (2/2)

"Your Excellence!"

"I thought Yachis were unimportant. But the man says 'Your Excellence.'"

The guard shouted to Yu as he knelt down. "Untie him now!"

Instead of doing as the guard said and untying Link, Kigaro looked at Yu and waited for his command to do something. Yu was pleased by this gesture but now was not the time to praise him, he nodded his head and approved of the guard.

"It's nice to have someone who respects me once in a while," Link said, rubbing his wrists.

"Do you know who he is? Why did you tie him up?"

"We-" Yu was about to offer an excuse when he was interrupted by Link.

Normally he hated being interrupted, but his mouth dropped open at the surprise Link caused before he shot him an angry look.

"There was a misunderstanding, that's all."

Link kept smiling and gestured for the guard to get up.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

As the guard stood up, he turned his head to Yu for a moment and then looked at Link and spoke again. "But you..."

"No need to drag it out."

Link was waving his hands, stretching and enjoying the first seconds of freedom after a long time.

"He's was a good man so."

After what Yurine and Link had said, he had thought he was not respected, but the guard's respect was evident in his every move.

"This guy also treated Yurine with respect. I wonder if they choose the most conservative Zodianists as guards?"

But what surprised him most today was that Link hadn't sold Yu out. He wondered what he could get out of it. Would he threaten Yu with telling the truth later?

Link laughed at Yu's puzzled look and his expression as he tried to comprehend the situation.

"Now that we've cleared up the misunderstanding, we can move on as good friends," Link said.

"Lan, does this guy want me to fuck him? Should I expect something like that? There is something feminine about his face. Is he like me and want me to fuck him? Please don't let something like that happen god, gods... I can't find a waifu since I came here, now a man come out... What the fuck I'm saying? He did something I never expected, I don't know what to think."

If he was in Link's place, he would have hanged himself or blackmailed him.

"Who is he?" the guard asked. This time he was pointing at Kigaro with his suffix.

"The young lady's slave."

Kigaro seemed offended by the answer, but the guard was convinced. Slavery was normal and it was natural for rich people to have slaves. Yurine looked like a very rich girl right now.

After the checks were over, the guard allowed the four of them to enter and the doors of the Andromeda Church were opened for them.

---

"Young lady." Yu opened the car door for Yurine to get out.

After Yurine got out, she locked the door so that no one could enter the carriage and entered the church building behind Yurine while one of the church servants came and took their carriage from the entrance.

"Wow, what a temple! I've never seen one this huge before... What are you laughing at?"

The other roarons were still cold towards Yu, but Kigaro and a few of the ones Yu spoke to often were warmer towards him now.

"I'm sorry, I thought of something different."

"I know what a sinister thing to think, and I grinned because I thought the same thing."

Kigaro was walking behind Yu and Link was behind Kigaro. Yu was disturbed that his mind could be read so easily.

"Why is this guy following us now?"

"I can't understand people," Kigaro complained. "What did I say?"

"There was nothing, the person in the back is talking nonsense."

"When you say the huge-"

"You don't have to explain! Why are you following us anyway? You've come home, go on your way."

He had laughed at something mischievous for the first time in forty years, and he couldn't believe that it had instantly become a topic of conversation.

"T-that was very rude. My feelings were hurt. Didn't I say we'd continue as friends?"

Yu continued on his way without answering.

"I am walking here, why is nobody paying attention to me? Do you know who I am?"

Yurine was bored with the conversation going on behind her and when a couple of maids suddenly appeared, she started to complain to them.

The three maids looked at each other, trying to figure out who she was, but when none of them recognized Yurine, they bowed their heads and apologized.

"The maids... Somehow I didn't expect such beautiful girls to work in a religious institution. They seem to be handpicked."

Not because he was a pervert, but because the maids were really beautiful.

"I'm sorry, my lady, we didn't recognize you. What do you desire?"

"I am the daughter of the Virgo Cardinal and we said we would come here! Now take me to the Pontifex immediately!"

When they heard the word Virgo Cardinal, the servants looked at each other again. They did not know who she was. When she didn't get an answer, Yurine became even angrier.

"Ignoramuses! You work here and you don't know who he is! What good are you!"

"Okay, don't get so angry." Link intervened and dismissed the maids.

He couldn't understand why Link was suddenly so close to them. Within fifteen minutes he was acting as if he were their friend.

"I'm really suspicious. I am already single in the whole isekai because the waifus I found turned out to be yuri and now I am stuck with a yaoi."

After Link sent the servants away, he moved to the front of the group. "Follow me."

Yu didn't understand what had happened, but when Yurine followed him, he walked automatically.

"Maybe we're assassins, maybe we're terrorists, but we're walking around and no one says 'Oh, who are you? What the fuck are you doing here?' Even when you entered Lucia's inn, someone greeted you. What nonsense is this? They came to the church as servants and did nothing. There's not a single security inside, if we go in and kill a man, who will stop us? What kind of system is this?"

"It wasn't like this last year, things have changed," Link said.

"Yes, Yu, and not just here, the whole city seems a bit empty."

Yu was jealous that Yurine agreed with Link's promise.

"The city looks pretty crowded to me." How much more crowded was it supposed to be in winter? "Even more crowded than it should be."

Wasn't it surprising that there was even such a crowd in winter? The roads were full of cars, even though it was difficult to move because of the snow. Was it more crowded than this a year ago? What could have changed?

"That's not what I meant by empty."

Link spoke before Yurine began to tell him what was on her mind.

"We shouldn't talk about such things here."

Yu couldn't take the sudden hardening of Link's voice seriously because he struck him as a slippery man, but he was deadly serious.

"This place is really empty. Even those who see us don't do anything. The guard was never like this, what changed when we came in?"

Yu had no idea. While he was theorizing in his head about what could possibly have happened, they started going up to the upper floors of the church. They kept climbing the stairs and following the path Link had shown them. After a while they entered a corridor with more Andromeda Guardians.

"We can't go on from here together."

As soon as Link finished his sentence, they were met by an Andromeda Guardian.

"Your Long Highness, you have returned early from your mission."

The guard was exactly the same as the one they had seen at the entrance to the church. He was even the same height.

"When I met the daughter of the Virgo Cardinal, I decided to return early."

The guard looked at Yurine and curtsied to her.

"Madam, do you come here to meet His Holiness the Pontifex?"

"Yes."

When Yurine went to see the Pontifex, Yu wanted to go in with her, but the guard only let Yurine in. Even Link was locked out. When he was separated from her and had to wait outside, he started to go crazy with worry.