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–––Freya’s viewpoint

That being the plan, finding clues was still tricky. The temple had an archive of records gathered from all over the world, but most of them were simply reports from smaller colonies detailing their produce. Since our country was largely devoted to serving Lumiere, our priorities with archiving were also different.

“I’m sure a more normal country like Bordaule would’ve stored a better assortment of documents…”

I grumbled as I leafed through files. I researched the archives for days, but I was unable to find any information about the staff. The priests and nuns looked exhausted as they continued to look through files with me, but there was no guarantee we would ever find anything.

At this point I was starting to consider visiting the archives of another country. As I thought of that, I noticed a small pile of papers in a corner.

“What are these?”
“Ah, those are the letters with petitions or words of gratitude from other temples. It’s a mix of things that were resolved and those that remained an issue, but no one felt comfortable throwing them out, so they’re just piled up there.”

The temples all over the world were always hard at work to spread the faith in Lumiere. Sometimes their efforts or requests would come to us in the form of letters. I looked through some of them for no reason in particular when I noticed one that looked exceedingly old.

“It’s yellowed and eroded from age. The letters are faded and hard to read too, I can hardly make any words out…”

It seemed to be a letter with a personal request from some village. It looked like a regular letter, starting with a mention of the current weather, how things were peaceful and a request for the receiver to go visit sometime. But my eyes were glued to the last parts of it.

“This year’s…plenty of harvest…our village…please…my dearest Lichium. From…”

The sender’s name was too faded to make out, but Lichium’s name was clear. Maybe there had been other people named Lichium in the world, but there was only one person with that name with ties to the temple. The way the letter was worded made it seem like the sender was close to Lichium. Maybe I would find some leads if I went to the village it was sent from.

“Pretty much all villages have farms, but I guess this one must have a lot of worked land to mention plenty of harvest?”

I took a map of the region from three centuries ago and spread it on a table, closely examining past Lumielle.

“This was shortly after the demons were defeated, so I doubt there was much harvest in the regions closest to the Haunted Lands. Many battles ravaged those areas too…so it must be on the east side.”

I found multiple locations on the east marked with wheat grain symbols. I compared that area with a modern map, and found only one village still existed there.

“It could easily be from one of the villages that no longer exist, but assuming that’s not the case…this is the only possible location. Hmm…it should take around three days to get there on horseback.”

Maybe I could get there faster if I traveled with relay stations, but I had to get there as fast as possible. I took the map with me and ran to my room. Once I had gathered some simple equipment, I opened the window wide.

“I barely had any chances to use it inside the dungeon…but now I’m outside.”

I let mana course through my body and leapt out the window. Rather than falling down to the ground, I gained more and more height. This was the power I gained through my training. Flight Magic. I had studied Lapis’ and the demons’ movements, and somehow managed to replicate it. Flight Magic should allow me to reach the village in just one day.

The people on the surface quickly turned into small specks, and the scenery below scrolled by at a high speed. Some birds noticed me fly alongside them, which made them disperse in panic. I smiled a little and went even faster.

“So this is what Flight Magic feels like…amazing.”

I felt like I had become a bird. I realized that I was enjoying this a bit too much, considering the state the pope was in. I had to force myself to push away the desire to just fly wherever I pleased, and focused on what was important.

I sped up further to empty my mind of needless desires, and after a couple of hours I reached my destination. I could see many people pointing at me and talking to each other as I got closer to the ground. That much made sense, only a handful of people knew how to use Flight Magic.

The village had been a major producer of grain since ancient times, and even now the scenery was covered with fields. They were quite large too, enough to fit a small village in them. It made me wonder just how much the villagers had worked and suffered to grow all that. It really was commendable.

“Umm…excuse me?”

As I admired the fields, a girl hesitantly approached me. She looked to be around my age, or maybe a little younger. She had freckles, and her skin was clearly sunburnt from working the fields. Her blonde hair, almost white, also caught my attention.

“Yes?”
“What do you need from our village? Your attire looks like a priests but…”

My current getup was pretty much identical to that of a common priest. So I could understand why she thought that.

“Oh sorry, my name is Freya. I’m currently known as Lumielle’s hero.”
“Huhh?! Freya…ah!! Umm…why would someone so important come to this village in the middle of nowhere..?”

I introduced myself with a polite bow, and she looked shocked by it. I smiled as kindly as I got, trying to reassure her, and explained why I came to this village.

“I wanted to know if there’s any records of a person named Lichium living in this village. You may have heard of him, as his name comes up in many legends.”