That night, Yuri brought out Odin’s feather which she had picked up in front of the cherry tomato flowerpot last time. She quietly gazed at it with narrowed eyes then she clenched her fist and squeezed hard.
Fwshh.
The black feather turned into black smoke, spreading over Yuri’s hand.
“…”
But even after some time passed, her surroundings remained quiet. Even when Yuri used the last feather she had gotten from Odin a few days ago, he did not respond to her call.
‘Is it not connecting because the feathers are defective or maybe he is so busy that he can’t even reply.’
Yuri sat down and crossed her arms, mulling over it.
~
‘Arachne, I’m going to live a new life from now on.’ [1]
~
Suddenly, she recalled the last time she saw Odin in that field close to the monastery.
~
‘I finally met a being like the sun in my life.’
‘It’s only now that I realize my life has been colorless. Until now, I have only been a withering plant in a barren wasteland. But when that person called my name, I became a blooming flower.’
‘I’m going to devote myself to that person! Even if my body breaks and becomes a grain of sand in this wasteland!’
~
Yuri, who was still crossing her arms, began to drum her fingers on her arm.
‘Or, has he decided to just ignore me now?’
Odin seemed deeply infatuated with something else and looked like he didn’t have time to pay attention to anything else, Yuri included. So Yuri thought that maybe he knew she was calling him but he was ignoring it.
Flap!
“…!”
That very moment, the soft sound of flapping wings came from beyond the partly opened window.
“Arachne!”
A black crow cut through the house and flew at Yuri. Yuri was a little surprised and her eyes went wide.
“Odin?”
“Arachne, what’s going on today? For you to call me from home when you hate when I enter your private space!”
As Odin arrived in front of Yuri, a black cloak fluttered, and he transformed into a human. His face was a mixture of unsparing happiness and affection.
“Is there something that urgent? I can help you with anything, just say the word.”
This appearance of his was very familiar to Yuri but she was a little confused because Odin’s attitude was very different from when she met him last time.
“It’s been a while, Odin. You seem busy lately.”
“Uh, me? No, I wasn’t that busy.”
At Yuri’s statement, Odin tilted his head like he was baffled. Seeing that, Yuri felt something was out of place more than ever. Her brows furrowed slightly.
She got up from the sofa and approached Odin.
“A-Arachne?”
She had just finished washing up to go to bed, so she was wearing her nightclothes. When she narrowed the distance between them without any hesitation, Odin stalled and stumbled over his words.
Soon enough, Yuri’s hand touched his slightly reddened face. Yuri grabbed Odin’s face with both hands and turned it back and forth to examine it. But she didn’t find anything she could call suspicious.
Despite that, the sharpness in Yuri’s eyes did not disappear. Finally, she opened her mouth again and questioned Odin.
“You, what have you been doing?”
Odin, who had hardened into stone after Yuri held his cheeks, flinched at that moment.
“I…”
As she searched every corner of his face, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment and his shaking eyes were filled with deep confusion.
“I…”
Then Odin’s eyes grew a little hazy.
“Shoes…”
“Shoes?”
Yuri frowned and repeated his words.
Pak!
Right then, Odin suddenly reached out and grabbed Yuri’s shoulder with enough strength to hurt it.
“P-Please let me lick your shoes…!”
Odin desperately screamed something inexplicably strange then he fainted.
“Odin!”
Yuri was startled and checked Odin’s condition. Thankfully, Odin was only unconscious and it didn’t look like there was any other abnormality.
As she recalled Odin’s words, Yuri’s eyes narrowed and the look in her eyes was even more serious.
‘Did he get sucked into a cult or something?’
Both Odin’s behavior and attitude were very strange and it made her feel deeply uncomfortable.
For now, Yuri decided to wait until Odin woke up so she shot out a thread from her hand and moved him to the sofa.
* * *
“Hk.”
Odin’s eyes flung open at dawn.
“A-Arachne? Did, D-Did I actually spend the night here?”
He jumped up from the sofa and looked around then he stuttered when he saw Yuri sitting on the chair opposite him.
Yuri watched Odin hurriedly lower his head to check his clothes—who knew what he was thinking—then she opened her mouth.
“You don’t remember suddenly fainting while we were talking yesterday?”
“Faint? Me?”
Odin asked back like he couldn’t believe it. His pink eyes blinked then he furrowed his brows like he was trying to recall what happened yesterday.
“Oh, right. I asked what you have been doing and then…”
At that, Odin’s eyes grew a little hazy, like yesterday.
“Wait, Odin.”
Yuri had an ominous foreboding. And so, she opened her mouth to say, ‘that’s enough, stop thinking about it’.
“I, I want to lick your shoes…”
However, Odin once again bravely shouted the same words from yesterday then he collapsed into the sofa.
Yuri stood up and moved to check Odin’s condition. Like before, he fainted like he had fallen asleep.
Sure enough, Odin’s condition was not normal. When he tried to remember what happened in the time when she couldn’t contact him, he only talked about licking shoes, exactly like someone who had been brainwashed.
Yuri inwardly clicked her tongue and covered Odin with the blanket again. She couldn’t forcefully wake Odin up and even if she could, it seemed impossible to ask about what he had been doing so far. On top of that, it was time for Yuri to go to work at the coffeehouse.
Odin’s condition was a bit strange but as a test-subject, his recovery power was exceptional, so she felt she didn’t have to worry about his physical body failing for now.
The problem was his head, or more precisely, his mind…
Did he really get brainwashed somewhere? How do you treat this kind of thing? Could Anne-Marie’s ability work in this area too?
Yuri looked down at Odin who was lying on the sofa that used to be reserved for Lakis then she left the house.
* * *
As the afternoon went by, Yuri found Anne-Marie and Hestia walking by the coffeehouse.
“Ms. Anne-Marie, I see you’re heading out with Hestia today as well.”
Lately, Anne-Marie was often spending time with her younger sister in this manner. The skies were clear these days, so the weather was great for outdoor activities.
“Yes, we’re going to the exhibition.”
Anne-Marie smiled and replied.
“The exhibition?”
“I heard they’re going to show paintings and sculptures from famous artists at the exhibition ground. Hestia wanted to see it.” [2]
“Ah, you mean the exhibition they’ve been promoting grandly in the East for the upcoming praying ceremony?”
“Yes, exactly! So you’ve seen the advertising flyers too, Ms. Yuri.”
As she listened to Anne-Marie’s additional remark, a strange feeling seemed to flash through her body.
Sometimes, there were days like that. You wake up in the morning but strangely enough, you feel like you’re going to be unlucky that day or something.
For an instant just now, Yuri’s sharpened intuition gave her a bad sign. Maybe the feeling was related to the fact that the exhibition was related to the praying ceremony which Genos had warned her about.
“Since it’s the exhibition ground, you must be going to Swan street.”
“I’ll bring you a souvenir!”
Anne-Marie and Hestia waved at Yuri and walked past the coffeehouse. Yuri’s slightly narrowed eyes watched the two of them as they got farther away. Soon, Yuri turned around and went back into the store.
She worked as usual for a while, but it wasn’t long before she put down her tray and spoke to Gilbert like she was notifying him.
“Mr. Gilbert. I’ll take a half-day.”
“Huh? Half-day?”
By the time Gilbert looked back, Yuri was already gone.
Yuri left the coffeehouse and headed straight for the exhibition ground that Anne-Marie and Hestia talked about a little while ago.
Swan Street was also a large neighborhood in the East. Furthermore, the exhibition was considerably large scale and the promotion for it was just as large, so it was expected to have quite a lot of visitors.
Because of that, it gave her an even worse feeling.
It was the same even when she recalled the most recent explosion. She didn’t know who the terrorist was, but this seemed like the perfect location to cause an incident. But despite the extremely agitated atmosphere in the East, they were holding such an event, just like that.
Yuri couldn’t help but click her tongue. Sure enough, the apathy towards safety existed everywhere in the world.
She was already dumbfounded when a few days ago, the East’s Central Council announced that the praying ceremony this year would be held with more festivity and magnificence than in the previous years. Of course, it was obvious that the Eastern nobility felt it would hurt their pride if they were scared of mere terrorists and shrunk back so they decided to scale up the event. Only
While such thoughts went through her mind, she arrived at the exhibition ground. As expected, there was a crowd of people gathered together.
pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ ‘I’m sure just recently, people were afraid to go to crowded places because they were afraid of another terrorist incident and yet…’ [3]
Yuri’s eyes narrowed briefly then she mixed into the crowd.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is from chapter 68 if you’re wondering.
[2] I don’t know if it’s an exhibition ground or an exhibition hall. I’ll change the term accordingly.
[3] The literal translation: I’m sure just recently the public sentiment was to stay away from crowded places due to fear of another terrorist incident and yet…(I didn’t use this because no one talks like this)
Q: Swan Street…isn’t that where Snow lives or am I tripping?
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