I Was Abandoned Because I Was Told I Had No Talent, but Four Incredibly Strong Yet Clumsy Older Sisters Took Me In. Even the Sword Saint and the Great Sorcerer Insisted on Me Being Their Top Disciple. As a Result of Raising Me in Such an Overprotective Way, My Ultimate Talent Finally Awoke. - Chapter 11

Sunny Spot and Dark Shadow

We arrived in the northern town a little past noon.

Stone houses lined both sides of the main road—it was a pretty big place. Normally it should have been buzzing with energy, but the air felt terribly heavy and gloomy.

The market was almost empty, and everyone walking around had the same dark look on their faces.

In one corner of the street, a kid wrapped in a blanket was being held by his mother, coughing painfully. His face had a sickly grayish color, like he was running a really bad fever.

What caught my eye the most was the kid’s arm.

Where the divine mark should have been—the pattern on his upper arm had faded to a dull gray, so thin it looked like it might disappear any second.

“…The divine mark is fading?” I muttered.

Reizel-sensei nodded with a grim expression.

“It’s a strange illness that’s been going around here lately. Along with high fever, the divine mark grows faint and eventually vanishes completely. The cause is unknown, and there’s no established treatment yet.”

“If the divine mark disappears…”

“They’ll be treated the same as someone without one. They’ll lose their citizenship and get kicked out of the town.”

—Same as me.

I was born without a divine mark. But these people had one, and now it was being taken away from them so unfairly. The terror of suddenly losing the proof of your talent one day and getting thrown away by society.

Deep in my chest, something turned cold and uneasy.

When we reached the square, a crowd had gathered.

A dazzling golden light was leaking out from the center of the group.

Peeking through, I saw a young woman kneeling in the middle of the square.

She had beautiful golden hair that looked like it was woven from sunlight. Her white holy robes were a bit disheveled as she pressed both hands onto the arm of an elderly patient suffering from the strange illness.

Warm white light poured from her palms, and a little color slowly returned to the old man’s faded divine mark.

Healing magic.

But the woman’s face was deathly pale. Big beads of sweat stood out on her forehead, and her lips were trembling slightly. Even I, with no experience, could tell she was using up her own life force to slow the disappearance of someone else’s divine mark.

“There you go, grandpa. That’s it for today!”

The woman stood up. Her steps were unsteady, but she still wore a huge smile.

“Thank you so much, Soleil-sama!”

“May God’s blessing be with Soleil-sama…!”

The townspeople bowed their heads with tears in their eyes. The woman called Soleil laughed brightly and waved her hand. “No need to make such a big deal out of it☆” Her jade-green eyes sparkled.

In this gloomy town, she was the only one shining like the sun.

“That person… she’s amazing…” I murmured, staring at her in awe.

Suddenly, my eyes met Soleil’s.

—In that instant, her expression changed.

She kept smiling. She stayed bright. But deep in her jade-green eyes, the color of the light shifted completely. It wasn’t motherly warmth or protectiveness. It was something deeper, heavier, and stickier.

“…This boy.”

Soleil walked straight toward me with quick steps.

She crouched down right in front of me and peered into my face. We were so close our noses almost touched. She smelled sweet and clean, like sunlight on a warm day.

“What’s your name?”

“R-Rut.”

“Rut-kun! What a nice name! How old are you?”

“Ten years old.”

“Ten! So cute! Hey, are you eating properly? No injuries? Are you sleeping well? You look really skinny!?”

Her sense of personal space was all over the place. The questions just kept coming.

Meltya smiled and said, “Oh my♪” Reizel-sensei muttered, “…Who is she?” while reaching for her sword hilt. Riene clutched her head and groaned, “Not this pattern again!?” Viola silently closed the distance between us from three meters to two.

“U-um, I’m fine. But I’m more worried about you.”

I cut her off.

“When you used healing magic earlier, you looked like you were in a lot of pain. Please don’t push yourself. Your face is completely white.”

I gently reached out and touched her ice-cold hand.

Everything stopped.

Soleil froze in place.

Big tears rolled down from her wide-open jade-green eyes.

“Uh, sorry, did I say something weird—”

“No, no. I’m sorry. It’s okay.”

Soleil wiped her tears and gripped my hand tightly with both of hers, so hard it almost hurt.

“…It’s been so long since someone worried about me.”

Her nose turned a little red as she smiled.

That smile was different from the sunny brightness she’d shown earlier. It was softer, and somehow more fragile.

And—the hand holding mine had a strength that said she would never let go.

“Rut-kun. Thank you. …You really are a good kid.”

＊

That evening.

In a room at the inn, we heard the full story from Soleil.

She used to be a saint, but she was excommunicated from the church for certain reasons. Now she was staying in this town, working alone to slow the progress of the strange illness.

“Did you come across anything about the cause of this disease while you were at the church?” Reizel-sensei asked directly.

For a moment, Soleil’s expression darkened.

“…This illness.”

Her voice grew small.

“I’ve seen it before.”

“Where?”

“…………”

Soleil started to speak, then bit her lip hard and shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have solid proof yet. Let me look into it a little more.”

Reizel-sensei didn’t press any further.

But I had seen it. The moment she said she’d seen it before, her hands clasped on her lap had clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, almost drawing blood.

—That trembling wasn’t from fear. It was anger.

＊

Late at night. In the inn room.

After everyone else had fallen asleep, Soleil stood alone by the window, gazing up at the moon.

The face of the boy she met during the day wouldn’t leave her mind.

So small, so thin, palms covered in calluses—and yet he had worried about her, a total stranger who was falling apart, more than he worried about himself. He had reached out with that warm hand and said, “Please don’t push yourself.”

Ever since she was driven out of the church, she had been alone.

People thanked her when she healed them. But no one ever worried about her, Soleil herself.

She stared at her own two hands—the ones that had touched the boy’s hand earlier that day.

Hands that had saved countless lives. Hands that had never been saved by anyone.

“…This boy alone.”

In the dark, empty room, a sweet, entranced voice slipped out.

“—I will never let him go.”

In the moonlight, her jade-green eyes swirled with a heavy, dark obsession that looked almost like madness.