The journey back to Rosetta Manor was shorter than the one to Beaufort with Grandfather Emilien. After all, not only did we not take as many breaks as we did back then, our carriage also moved at a much faster pace. As a result, we arrived at our current location, the Rosetta Plain, which was about an hour and a half away from the Rosetta Manor, in less than one day on the road.

With Vicar Serena present, the journey felt even shorter.

On this short one-day trip, I got to talk to her a lot. She is a very talkative and straightforward person.

During the journey, I got to ask her, "Why did you help my mother?" Why were you helping me?" given that not everyone would be willing to dive into the total mess that was my mother’s pregnancy and my birth.

Her answer was simple and direct: because Grandfather Emilien had asked for her assistance.

I don't know much about their relationship, but she appears to have a lot of respect for Grandfather. I was curious about where it came from, but I didn't dare to question her about it; after all, I felt it was too personal for me to get involved in.

In a normal situation, I would have simply asked Syrius, but with three of us crammed into this carriage, that wasn't an option.

As a result, the only information I have about her grandfather is that she is currently assisting him with his hospital center throughout the duchy in addition to her vicarious duties.

I did say vicarious duties, but that was a bit of an exaggeration.

When I asked if it was okay for us to have her accompany us while all of her church colleagues were looking for this faceless one, she said it was fine.When I asked her where her confidence came from, she explained that it was because of her position as a vicar, and a particular second reason: her inability to use magic.

She could no longer use magic, or more precisely, she had little to no mana to perform any type of magic.

The reason for this is that when a clergyman performs a child's baptismal, a portion of his mana is dedicated solely to repelling the child's mana to form anything remotely magical, and that for the whole ten-year period between the baptismal and the coronation.

Vicar Serena is currently in charge of the baptismals of 12 children, including all of the heirs of the five great families and a large number of children of fairly high-ranking nobles whose baptisms required more mana than the average noble's.

Given that 4 is the standard number of baptisms a clergy member would be able to supply simultaneously with mana, and 10 is the norm for a vicar dedicated solely to that task, it is fair to say Vicar Serana's current records are a fairly impressive achievement. These figures are even more impressive when you consider that the vast majority of the children baptized by her come from a very powerful lineage.

Considering her accomplishments, she was well-known among the clergy of Beaufort, and this would be the case wherever she went; after all, what she had done demonstrated that she possessed a large enough mana pool to be compared to one of the fourteens.

It stands to reason that she claimed yesterday that if it weren't for her cursed magic, she would be able to claim the title of Archbishop or Holy Paladin, despite the fact that she is currently as frail as a commoner.

"It appears that we are getting closer." Sirius commented, peering outside through the windows.

It was late at night, but thanks to the full moon twilight, we had a fantastic view of the Iharana forest, which seemed to stretch on forever on the faraway horizon.

"Now that we're almost there, there's a question I've been meaning to ask since the beginning of this journey: What exactly will happen once we arrive at the Rosetta manor?"

"The main reason we brought you back to the Rosetta manor is to keep you as far away from the Medvedik cousins as possible. All that remains for us to do now is wait for your great-grandfather to arrive at the manor. With the unexpected arrival of these two cousins, we have no choice but to delegate the responsibility of explaining everything to your Great-grandfather to Madam Mathilda, Luke, and Lord Emilien."

"And, when do you think that might be?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe it will be after the cousins have completed their purpose for coming to Beaumont, whether or not they are successful in apprehending this faceless one. In any case, we don't know when it will be."

So, it could be anytime then.

"I see."

I wonder how Ramia and Mael are doing. All of this happened so suddenly, I didn’t even have the chance to properly say goodbye.

If everything went well, the famous dance party should have ended by now.

I wish I could’ve seen it.

"Don't be so down; your great-grandfather must have arrived in Beaufort by now. With enough luck, maybe the business of the cousins here in Beaufort might have already been settled by now. Who knows, maybe he'll be on his way to Rosetta by tomorrow or maybe the next day. "

"I wasn’t -" I was cut by her pinching my left cheek.

"It's scribbled all over your face. Even though I didn't see it for myself, I’ve heard from Lord Emilien that you, Mael, and Ramia were inseparable; once all of this will be sorted out, you'll have plenty of chances to meet again. And, believe me, it may happen sooner than you think." She said as she retrieved the box and agitated it as if it was some sort of gift she was teasing to offer me.

"What do you mean?"

"You don’t get it? Once your grandfather is here, we will proceed with your coronation. "

"Wait-what?! Already? "

"Yes."

"But, I’m still nine. Aren’t coronations supposed to be made at ten? "

"Yes, but to the point where we are now, the sooner you have your coronation, the better. To be honest, with all the rules we’ve broken so far, breaking that rule should be the least of our concerns. "

"I understand."

"And…"

"And?"

"I want to regain my magical abilities. You see, as horrendous as your unique talent is, in the end, it is just a part of yourself; if your unique talent is truly to erase people's memories, the time will eventually come when you will be able to put it to good use, just like I did. So don’t have to fret too much about that, just roll with it. "

I guess she's right; I'm overthinking all of this.

At this rate, I'll be bald by fifteen.

Suddenly, Vicar Serana's, who was seated in front of us, was peering confusingly at something behind us, and just as I was about to look at what it was exactly, she shouted, "Syrius! Get out of the carriage! Now!! "

Dragged out by Syrius, we jumped out of the carriage onto the snowy ground, closely followed by Vicar Serana. And as soon as we did, I saw why she wanted us to jump out: a rain of stalactites the size of a forearm rained down, piercing the carriage like a colander.

The horses and the two coachmen were killed in the process, leaving nothing but a pile of meat, blood, and bones.

"Are you two okay?" Vicar Serena asked as she stood up.

"Yes, we’re fine. What exactly happened?"

"I don’t know."

"I knew this voice was familiar." A masculine voice called.

We turned to see where the voice came from, and there were six men in the middle of the road, seemingly following our carriage from behind, all dressed in the same priest robe, with the exception of two of them wearing a shield insignia on their shoulder.

"You!! What are you all doing here? " The shocked Vicar Serena shouted.

"Weren’t you supposed to help the Archbishop catch the Faceless One? But most importantly, why did you launch that attack on us?"

It seems she recognized the men.

After all, based on their attire, it was easy to guess from where she knew them. These men were unmistakably clergymen.

"That's a lot of questions, Vicar Serana, but yes, the Archbishop has tasked me with locating the faceless one," the leading man said, showing off.

I too have one question for you, Vicar Serena, only one. WHY ARE YOU ASSISTING THE FACELESS ONE ?! Did you decide to betray the church? "

"What the hell are you talking about?! I was just riding in a carriage when you suddenly attacked me, and now you're spitting bullshit on me! When did you see me helping the faceless one? "

"Don’t play dumb with us. One of these two is the faceless one, and you, a Vicar of the church, were helping them to run away, " the man said, pointing turn by turn to Syrius and me.

The man speaking showed us the bracer he was wearing on his left wrist. The bracer was adorned with a gem, within which, despite the distance I could see, a smoke-like substance was moving violently.

I'm not sure why, but it reminded me of how the spheres of reality figer reacted.

"There must be some sort of mistake somewhere. This one is a commoner, and the other one is just a child. How do you think one of them could be the Faceless One?"

She’s right, that didn’t make any sense.

According to Vicar Serena, the only way they could find the Faceless One was through that magic item that tracked his mana. Therefore, he must be a noble. Meaning that the only person they could accuse of being the Faceless One here was me.

Though I have managed to outspeed a lot of things in my life, I doubt I managed to become the church’s most researched person before I even reached three.

Did they somehow find out about me in some way? And they're attempting to use that as an excuse to execute or detain me.

That can only be that.

But how? How did they find out?

All of this went too fast, way too fast. Did they find out through Grandfather? Or Luke, maybe?

What happened to Mael? Ramia?

Maybe, I should ask. Maybe I’ll get some valuable information from him. There's nothing to lose by trying.

"Mister, please, I think there is some sort of mistake, som-"

When I spoke, I made a move toward the man speaking, but the moment I did, the bracer he was wearing showed a very active reaction.

The clergymen, seeing the reaction of the bracer, became extremely cautious, even retrieving their blades, which looked very much like Martha and Olga, and pointing it at us.

The bracer was clearly reacting to me; there was no hiding from it.

"There’s no doubt about it. The Archbishop was correct, the Faceless One was indeed a child," he said, smiling as if having realized something stupidly obvious.

"In any case, I'm sure he will be heartened to have finally found the one he'd been looking for all these years. "

"But first, we’ll have some cleaning up to do before summoning them over."

While the others began to threateningly point their blades at us, the second man, wearing the shield insignia, retreated far behind the others.

"Clean up?" Vicar Serena asked.

"Yes, clean up. Don’t worry, we won't harm you because of your position, and only the Archbishop is allowed to dispose of that child, so we won't harm him either, but it's a different story for this one. The presence of what is that, a butler, just a filthy commoner, may bother the highbishop, and it's our responsibility to take care of that. "

The moment I heard these words, I remembered that which happened to the two coachmen.

I peered over to Syrius.

What should we do?

Even If we fight back-- can we even do that?

There are six of them, and we’re just three. And none of us can use magic.

As the men took their first steps toward us, and Syrius made his way toward them, even standing between us, I was eventually forced to make a decision.

As I walked past him, I cast a meaningful glance before taking a deep breath, knelt, and prostrated myself against the cold, rock-grounded soil surface about six meters away from them, which had, thankfully, caused them to halt their march toward us, because of their magic item reaction to having me in the vicinity.

"As you can see, I’m the faceless one," I said.

"It seems," commented the leading man, "So what is this for? Don’t tell me you’re going to beg me to let you leave?" The leader asked, slowly casting a spell with his hands, which he pointed visibly weary at me or Syrius.

"No, I know you won’t do that?"

"Oh, then why? Could it be… To spare your butler?"

"No, it’s not that either."

"Then what are you prostrating for?"

As I finally raised my head toward the worst bastard in this short existence, I announced, "To do this!"

Flying out of my pocket, my reality figer, came slamming the man onto what I knew was a man's most fragile part.

Taking advantage of the small window it offered me, I abruptly stood up and threw a rock, which I had noticed earlier and had been stealthily prostrated atop, onto the still pain-afflicted leader.

I don’t know why they are saying that I’m that infamous faceless one, but there’s no way I’m without a fight offering my head or Syrius’s to bastards like them.

The spell he was trying to cast immediately faded into nothingness.

The rock, which was the size of an adult fist, flew at high speed and rammed into the leader's head, obliterating a left chunk of his head.

He was dead.

Before the other clergymen could even react to their leader’s death, Syrius dashed past me, sword drawn and charging at them.

"What?!" The five other clergymen exclaimed, taken aback by what in a split second had happened to their colleagues as well as Syrius' sudden charge.

Under the bright light of the moonlit night, Syrius engaged with two of the clergymen on the left, his hand tightly gripping his glowing sword.

I took advantage of the confusion to launch another throw. Having taken his eyes off me for a split second, the man suffered the same fate as his leader.

The last one on the left retreated toward the second one with the insignia, visibly trying to protect him, while the latter was holding, in his hand, a strange blue crystal.

"Syrius !! The one holding the blue crystal! Stop him! He’s trying to teleport the Archbishop here!!!! " Vicar Serena shouted with bloodshot eyes and a bleeding nose, before collapsing on the ground.

I had no idea what happened to her, but if what she said was true, then we have to stop them.

There was a reason why the Archbishop was supposed to be able to arrive in Beaufort so quickly; they had a way to teleport people, and the crystal he was holding had to be a tool serving that purpose.

Syrius, who had already killed one of the two men he was fighting, was still attempting to eliminate the other. Leaving the task to only myself.

I dashed toward one of the clergymen's corpses, retrieved one of his daggers, and charged at the one holding the blue crystal, but the one that retreated toward the latter, shielding him, began to cast some magic at me.

He summoned stalagmite-shaped rocks, which he flung at me.

I, only from the distance separating us, only with a handbreadth, managed to evade being impaled by his stalactite.

He tried summoning yet another round of projectiles after failing his first attempt, but I flung my reality onto his stomach, sending him reeling a few meters back. I was about to charge at him and the man with the crystal when Syrius, who had already managed to cut down the one he had been up against, casually beheaded the other man in his path as he charged toward the man with the blue crystal.

Syrius' blade was held high to strike the man, but he was stopped in his tracks when a massive magical white pillar that appeared to ascend from the sky appeared out of nowhere.

After a brief moment, the pillar vanished as if by magic, revealing three men:

One was a man in his late fifties with ashen hair, wearing a white robe similar to the one the clergymen had earlier worn while holding in his hand a golden and white staff.

The other was a two-meter-tall giant man built like an armory; despite his impressive physique, his face told me he was no longer as young as his body and musculature gave him. He was dressed in a full set of golden heavy armor and held two massive golden shields in both hands. Shields aside, everything about him made him look like a mighty god of war.

The last one was the youngest and most plain of the group. With the face of someone in his thirties and his blonde hair, he vaguely reminded me of Luke.

"What is... this. Can someone explain to me what the meaning of all this," the man in white priestly outfits said, looking at Syrius and I, and, of course, all the corpses around us.