Leisha sincerely loved Kuze the Passing Disaster.
Though he was always busy making rounds across different regions and could only drop in on the almshouse where she lived about three times a year, and though she had yet to pass her tenth birthday, she felt sincere love for Kuze.
And yet even when she expressed her feelings openly to her teachers and friends—even to Kuze himself—for some reason she couldn't understand, they were always treated like a joke.
"I truly, truly love you, Father Kuze."
Resting against his large back, she whispered words of affection. At that moment, Kuze had a small child resting on his lap, and he was teaching them the Order's script. Wearing the same black clothes, with the same disheveled hair, and the same scruffy beard.
"I love all of you. Everything, even down to your beard." "Stop with the 'Father,' stuff! How many times must I insist?!" Kuze gave a troubled smile.
She hadn't been trying to embarrass him, and the most important part of what she had said definitely wasn't how she was addressing him.
"Besides, this old man's only here in Aureatia for the time being. You should find yourself a much more upstanding suitor than an aging man who wanders around aimlessly."
"I think I'm a really pretty woman, though."
"Yup, yup. I've been around to many different towns before, among all the ten-year-old girls I've seen, I haven't met anyone who's as beautiful as you, Leisha."
"I'm not talking about ten-year-olds."
Leisha stood up from her affectionate snuggling against his back and put her hands on her hips.
"I meant I'm beautiful, even compared to adults." "Bweh-heh-heh, I wonder…"
Her hair was always neatly brushed, and she even put a lot of care into
maintaining her skin, too. She used a skin lotion from the stems of yellow willowseed, which the previous priest had taught her about. The other kids were quick to destroy their clothes by roughhousing, but Leisha didn't. She chose the old clothes made from good fabric that were very rarely donated by the nobility and would wear them whenever Kuze visited.
She was beautiful, and that was why her adoption was decided before anyone else her age.
"My boobs are coming in, and I can handle cooking duty totally by myself, so I'm definitely ready to become a wife. It won't be too long until I perfect my etiquette, too."
"Yeah right, Leisha, you're a total munchkin!" A boy playing with a shuttlecock top hollered.
"The big lady who came today was way prettier than her!"
"If you're so set on being a grown-up, you gotta get boobs like hers!" "Stupid boys! What's wrong with you?! Pipe down, pervs!"
The boys always acted like children and never really thought anything through.
Leisha was so serious about her feelings, too. She couldn't stand them.
"That so? This young lady visitor played with all of you, did she? What sort of girl was she?"
"I don't care. I can't believe that Tu the Magic, or whatever her name was. Baring her legs so much—and her chest… It was obscene! She's the worst! I don't want to think about her!"
"…Tu the Magic." Kuze quietly murmured.
"So she's the hero candidate Flinsuda's sponsoring, huh?" "Father Kuze, do you know her?"
"I suppose you could say that. I've heard about her from a friend. Was she nice?"
All the children besides Leisha chimed in one after another. "She was super nice!"
"She dashed up the trunk of a tree to get our ball! It was amazing!" "My writing was better than hers, though."
"Those boobs of hers were something else." "Ugh!"
Leisha kicked one of the boys. She had to remain ladylike.
"She can write in the Order script, huh? I wonder who she learned it from."
"Uhhh."
"…She did mention it."
Leisha had a good memory and remembered what Tu had said to them. "She said she had learned it from her dad."
"Really…?"
"Aren't I great? I gave you the best answer just now," she said, clinging again to Kuze.
Unlike other adults, for some reason Kuze smelled like ashes from a fireplace. For Leisha, it was a soothing smell.
"You did, didn't you? You're a very observant girl, Leisha. I'll need you to be a big sister to everyone and continue to look after them."
Kuze complimented her, proudly stroking her hair. She was convinced that the warmth she felt welling up inside her from his words was because Kuze did love her.
"Um, Father Kuze. There's a whole lot of good reason for you take me as your wife, you know."
Soon Leisha would be taken very far away. To an affluent frontier family without an heir. They chose her because Leisha was beautiful, something she took great pride in.
But would it mean she wouldn't be able to see Kuze, making rounds for the Order, anymore?
"I'll make you egg dishes that smell like flowers every day." "Bweh-heh-heh. Eggs every day, huh…"
"I'll wear expensive makeup…and become a really pretty wife you can brag about to everyone."
"I'm sure you will."
This time, Leisha sat in Kuze's lap. Just like when she was younger, sitting in his lap every day, never once growing tired of it—before Kuze was as busy as he was now.
"I'll even maintain that beard of yours for you." "Aw, and you used to love playing with it so much."
"You can't be untidy forever if you're going to have a wonderful wife like me."
The truth was, even now, she liked Kuze's unkept beard.
"I'll build a small house, too… Our house. As the woman of the house, I'll run a tight ship and make sure the wallpaper doesn't peel or crack. On cold days, I can light up the fireplace early in the afternoon."
"Well, doesn't that sound nice." "And—and then, Father Kuze. Aaah…"
She loved him so much that no matter how much she fantasized about their wonderful married life together, it didn't feel like enough.
Even if that future was indeed impossible for Leisha to achieve. "You'll be really, really happy, Father Kuze."
She stroked his face, right at the same height as her own, and smiled.
Just like a wife, far more beautiful and far happier than anyone else would. "Really happy. More than anyone else in the whole world."
"Bweh-heh-heh. Oh Leisha... I'm sorry…"
Kuze averted his gaze and pressed down on the inner corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Hey! You made Father Kuze cry, Leisha!"
"It's 'cause you're always making things hard for him!" "You're always giving him trouble, Leisha!"
"Ugh! Be quiet! I… I'm being really serious here! Idiots!"
Leisha was slightly grateful for the boys' immaturity as they jeered at her again.
Grateful because she could convince herself that even if she got teary-eyed herself, it was out of anger at their taunting.
Nighttime in Aureatia.
Though the light from the gas lamps illuminated the streets aboveground, the canal that stretched under the bridge was very dark.
Therefore, if someone happened to be collapsed on the ground and seriously wounded, their voices would very rarely be heard.
"Listen."
Kuze the Passing Disaster squatted down next to the bound man lying on the edge of the canal.
He looked like a powerless, good-natured, middle-aged man.
"Leisha felt proud that she was getting taken in by you, you know that?" The head of a wealthy frontier farming family without an heir.
It had all been a lie.
Feigning their social status, these people would take in children with exceptional features and looks—and sell them off for abhorrent purposes.
Currently, with the Order's authority fading away, and lacking the strength for proper investigations, it was difficult to pick up on criminals with these objectives in mind. Kuze couldn't blame the young man left in charge of the almshouse.
Starting a few years ago, many people had begun hearing tragic stories about children in the Order's care being swept up into the criminal underworld. This exacerbated the persecution of the Order and the expulsion of the poor that had spread across society, and as a result, the Order began to see the power to save others taken from them. A vicious cycle.
"See, she said she was getting taken in because she was the prettiest…"
Kuze was looking at the white angel sitting on the gas lamp on top of the bridge.
The man had lost consciousness and couldn't hear what Kuze was saying to him.
"But why hasn't she been saved yet?"
Leisha had the right to be happy, and that happiness had nearly been taken from her forever.
A person's heart holds the will to save others.
That was the blessing bestowed by the Wordmaker. That alone was something Kuze truly believed existed.
"After all, Leisha's a really good kid…"
This man was a small-time scoundrel. Crimes like this had existed for a long time, and Kuze was only able to glimpse a handful of instances of this commonplace and worldwide activity.
Those with power took from the weak.
Violent gangs attacked almshouses, and slavers targeted orphans.
Aureatia aimed the citizen's criticism toward the Order, and all the sinless, pious faithful were being forced into becoming martyrs to maintain order for the ones living in comfort.
Kuze gave a weak laugh.
"…Bweh-heh-heh."
"Should I kill him?" He felt like he heard such a voice.
He turned to look at the gas lamp over the bridge. Nastique the Quiet Singer was staring at him.
"It's okay."
His reply came out as a sigh. He didn't want to kill. He never did.
Kuze the Passing Disaster was invincible. In this world, Kuze alone was
protected by an absolute authority that could deliver death to any being. A power that only ever killed his enemies and never truly intended to rescue who he wanted to save.
"I made it in time. Without anyone needing to die…"
He was trying to calm himself. Leisha was safe now. That was enough.
When Cunodey died, and when Rozelha died, Kuze was able to give up. He could accept that there was nothing he could do about a tragedy that had already come and gone.
All the deceased had been just as important and cherished as Leisha. In which case, he should have been overjoyed right now that this time he had been able to save her.
"Bweh-heh-heh. I have to keep my smile, you know, but I wonder… What is it feeling…?"
"What you're feeling is fear, Kuze."
Just below the bridge that crossed the canal. There was another voice from the darkness.
The voice belonged to a young boy with gray hair. He looked just as old as the almshouse orphans.
His name was Hiroto the Paradox.
"It looks like you're scared, to me, Kuze. Sometimes the future, which we have the ability to change, can feel more terrifying than a cemented past. 'What if I had been just a little bit later?'…for example."
Hiroto's troops had captured and bound the man underneath the bridge. Kuze had merely arrived afterward.
"It's a good thing you made it in time, while you could still make an impact." "…Yeah. I feel the same way."
"And that's not the only reason for your fear, Kuze, I'm sure. 'Is this sort of thing happening right now all across the Order and just out of my sight?' 'Am I standing by the wayside and letting down kids that I should be able to save…that I should be able to reach?'"
"Bweh-heh-heh. You're a nasty man yourself, Mr. Hiroto."
Given his involvement with the criminal underworld as a cleaner, Kuze knew the Gray-Haired Child's voice. That he had made contact with him like this, before his opponent in the Sixways Exhibition was to be decided, made his objective that night perfectly clear to Kuze, too.
"So that's why you gave me the information on this guy for free, eh?"
"With our forces, it would be possible to track the whereabouts of all the
children in the Order across the whole land. I have some information on organizations we already have a grip on, as well."
Kuze stayed standing stock-still and looked down at the blood-soaked man.
If he had been too late today, what would have happened to Leisha? In this day and age, it wouldn't have been unthinkable if tomorrow another one of the children Kuze held so dear fell victim.
"…Not good enough. That's not enough."
With the white angel watching over him, Kuze stepped into the bridge's shadow, where Hiroto lingered.
"I have another condition. If you have that much power, then I want you to save everyone in the Order for me. After the Sixways Exhibition is over. If you guys manage to win. I want you to make it so all the children can go out into the world on their own and continue our…continue the Wordmaker's teachings that've brought us salvation."
"Education and welfare for the people are absolutely necessary to maintain a civilized society," Hiroto earnestly replied to Kuze.
A politician's superpower was being able to see through to what someone truly desired—and make them believe in a future where it can be made real.
"Aureatia may be planning on using a new governmental body to take over those functions, but even from the perspective of a nonbeliever like me, I think it's far more efficient to construct such an institution by using the already existing Order as the foundation. That is our reason for wishing for the future existence of the Order."
"…Bweh-heh-heh. Think you can do it?"
"I moved the very Free City of Okafu itself into action with the power of my oration alone. I promise that I will closely protect the Order and free them from their current persecution."
"If…if that does happen, that'd be fantastic. Truly…"
"We have already secured two spots among the sixteen participants. You would be the third."
Regardless of whether he believed him, Kuze had no choice but to collude with Hiroto. In order to realistically save the entire Order, it would require an unrealistic degree of power, on the scale of a nation-state, at the very least.
But then, more than anything:
…Listen. Powerful players like you all aren't the only ones hatching schemes, you know. Hiroto the Paradox.
For the real reason behind Kuze's participation in the Sixways Exhibition,
too, would require their strength.
All Kuze wanted was to keep the faith and bring salvation to the followers of the Order.
For this, he would sacrifice anything.
"Let's join forces, Kuze the Passing Disaster." "I accept."
He took the hand spread out before him. Hiroto's hand was small. A petite hand, like the orphans Kuze knew.