A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"The enemy has been defeated, and everything has returned to peace...?" Father Thun narrowed his eyes.

"If that's what you think, then so be it."

"The battle is merely a process of resolving the incident."

"If someone else had defeated those enemies, the outcome would have been completely different."

"What does this mean?" Philly asked, her beautiful eyes wide.

But Father Thun did not answer; instead, he smiled knowingly.

“Thun, tell me quickly!” Philly hated that Father Thun wouldn’t explain things to her.

He's so enthusiastic when explaining things to others, but he's different when it comes to himself.

---

Each of the five rings is engraved with a short passage, and there is a repetition of the same passage in each one.

"The five rings will eventually pass into the hands of their destined owners."

—"Then the five rings will bear witness to your years."

For Father Thun, the years the ring witnessed were these peaceful days.

“If one day…” Father Thun lit the ordinary oil lamp hanging on the church statue, uttering his unfinished words softly. A red-haired girl named Tigia sat at a wooden table, seemingly writing something.

After finishing the last line of her manuscript, she pushed up her glasses with satisfaction.

Tiggia was not alone in the room.

The famous songstress was also in this room.

Unlike Tiggia, Eorus sat quietly on a bed.

People outside only know that Eorz sings very well, but they know very little about Eorz's private life.

Normally, Aiors would rest quietly like this.

The relationship between this girl named Tigia and the empire's songstress remains a complete mystery to those around her.

Judging from their harmonious relationship, they must have a very good relationship.

Aiors looked at the bright sunlight outside the window and touched the blanket covering his lower body.

"Tygia," Eors called out in a flat, monotone voice.

"Yes, what's wrong, Eorth?" Tigia put down her pen and turned to look at Eorth.

“I went to a church yesterday.”

"You said you went to a church yesterday!?" Tigia's face turned pale instantly, as if she had heard something terrible.

"Are you alright? You can't keep going around like this." Tiggia rushed to Eors' side, grabbed her hand, and began to examine her closely.

"It's alright, there's nothing wrong with my body," Eors said in his usual calm tone.

“The priest there told me to keep trying,” Eors said.

“You’ve already tried your best,” Tigia sighed.

"Tygia, is it because I have no feelings that I can't sing songs with emotion?" Eors's deep gaze remained fixed on the horizon.

The neat rows of houses outside the window seemed to completely disappear from her eyes.

"How can you be without feelings?" Tigia tightened her grip on Aeolus's hand slightly.

Eorz was completely oblivious to this.

"You can be happy and sad too."

“This is not something a person without feelings would possess,” Tiggia said, emphasizing each word.

"..." Eors pulled his hand away from Tiggia and placed it on his chest.

She seemed to be feeling something on her chest.

Eorz would be happy or sad, otherwise he wouldn't have gone out of his way to see Father Thun.

But...

"Why can't I express my feelings at all?" Eors grabbed his collar and said in a monotone voice.

Even so, Eorus spoke in the same tone.

Isn't that strange?

She can't laugh when she's happy; she can't cry when she's sad.

Even with a variety of feelings, they ultimately cannot be expressed.

“That’s why people say my singing is devoid of emotion,” Eors said softly, tilting his head back.

Eors's singing was described as a perfect performance, and her steady and superb technique was praised by many musicians.

She can perform any piece of music.

However, some people stood up and said that her singing was fake and could not bring any vitality to a stage.

Eors didn't understand how to bring a stage to life.

Wasn't she singing well enough? Every pitch was perfect, and every word was crystal clear.

Despite Eors's tireless efforts day after day, she still couldn't capture everyone's attention in the audience.

"How exactly can one sing with emotion?" Eors lowered his head, looking at his slender, snow-white hands.

"Don't worry about such things," Tiggia interrupted Eors.

“Eors, I’m very unhappy that you sneaked out by yourself.”

“But since this is one of the few times you’ve gone out, tell me what happened to you.” Tiggia sat down on Eors’s bed.

Tiggia unconsciously leaned against Eors.

Eors also leaned his body towards Tigia.

“So many things have happened,” Eors murmured, his eyes lowered.

"Okay, tell me everything."

“I asked many people for directions on the street,” Eorz said.

"Everyone says I have a nice voice."

"Finally, I went to that church, where there were lots and lots of children."

In fact, Eors quite liked children, although she didn't know why.

However, she always feels happy whenever she sees cute children.

Unfortunately, she couldn't show her happiness.

"Those were all, I heard, orphans."

"The people who are willing to adopt these children are truly kind."

"Then I saw that kind priest, and he told me something."

"He told me to keep working hard and just do the same thing I'm doing now."

As he spoke, Eors suddenly felt sleepy; his eyelashes trembled, and his eyelids gradually drooped.

“Really? That’s what the priest said,” Tiggia said softly.

“Yes, there are many more…” Eors said softly.

The priest probably didn't say much.

But for Aeolus, the priest's few words were important enough.

Even with her favorite Tyria, she would tell herself, "Don't worry about things like this."

Even Tiggia would say something that seems impossible.

No, that's probably what everyone would say.

“Tygia, I want everyone to see my figure and hear my singing…” Eors’ voice grew softer and softer.

"I want to laugh... or even cry..."

After a while, Eors began to breathe steadily and closed his heavy eyelids.

She fell asleep.

Tiggia gently settled Eors into bed and covered her with a blanket.

“I know, I’ve always known,” Tiggia murmured to herself, stroking Eorth’s golden curls.

She knew Eors' dream better than anyone else.

Tiggia got up, walked to the table, crumpled up the manuscript she had written, and casually threw it into the trash can.

"These lyrics are no good either." After hearing Eors's words, Tiggia felt a strong dissatisfaction with the manuscript that she had been quite satisfied with just moments before.

Tiggia composed and wrote lyrics for Eorz, and Eorz was happy to use Tiggia's music and lyrics.

In order not to betray Eorz's trust in her, she was determined to write a song that would make Eorz's dream come true this time.

For young girls, the word "dream" is not just a fleeting illusion.

It is precisely girls in this age group who harbor dreams and realize them.

Tiggia and Eors are the same.

Early in the morning, Sister Lizbern arrived at the chapel.

She has to dust it a little every day, but the chapel is actually quite clean, so it doesn't take much time to clean.

Of course, it is quite puzzling that a noblewoman would come to such a small chapel every day.

Generally speaking, the main reason why noblewomen would enter the church to become nuns was that their families did not want them to tarnish the family's reputation.

Noble girls who were considered to tarnish the family's reputation were sent to the church for ascetic discipline under various pretexts.

But clearly Lizbern is not like that.

She felt quite fulfilled here, and it gave her more freedom than at home.

Lizbern disliked the awkward topics among aristocratic women; she preferred listening to the priest's ramblings.

Lizbern didn't like attending afternoon tea parties; she preferred making desserts with the children.

However, Lizbern's ability to do this is largely due to the lenient discipline of her parents.

Lizbern's parents doted on her and reluctantly accepted her choice.

The young nun hummed a lovely lullaby softly; she often used this song to lull children to sleep.

A red-haired girl followed the sound of the song and found the small church.

When Lizbern was humming, she didn't notice the girl immediately because her eyes were slightly closed.

"Excuse me, is there a priest here named Thun?" The red-haired girl was Tigia.

"Eh..." Lisbeth was slightly startled when she heard the voice.

Has anyone come looking for the priest so early in the morning?

"What did you just ask?" Sister Lizbern stopped what she was doing; she had been startled and hadn't heard the question clearly.

“Um, this church has a priest named Thun, right?” Tigia asked again.

"Yes, what brings you to see the priest?" Sister Lizbern, though very well-mannered, did not have the habit of using the formal "you" with everyone.

Normally, nuns would address others with the formal "you" (formal).

Tiggia naturally wouldn't know these details, and even if she did, she wouldn't care.

However, some people may have objections to whether or not to use "you" (formal).

As for why he is so fixated on that "you," no one else can know the answer.

"It's nothing serious, I just wanted to see him," Tigia stammered.

She inquired with the people around her and learned that this Father Thun was someone who helped others resolve their doubts.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any questions that needed to be answered.