Chapter 47 - Why I, Amael, Can't Be Ham Sandwich

After finishing Iomene's business, I left the imperial palace and went straight to find Erpha.

This was the first time I was visiting her since the evil god's fragment incident, as I had been busy being investigated and chased by reporters.

"Witch Erpha and..."

"I'll guide you!!"

Ever since I pulled that stunt of bursting the evil god's fragment in front of everyone at the imperial palace last time, everyone's expressions when dealing with me had changed.

I was able to arrive at Erpha's laboratory like a bullet.

"Erpha? It's Amael."

After carefully knocking twice, there was a clattering sound from inside for a moment, and then the door opened slightly.

"Oh, welcome."

Erpha, whose hair was slightly disheveled as if she had hurriedly cleaned the room, greeted me. I smiled faintly at her.

"I'm sorry for coming so late. There were so many things happening..."

In fact, even today, if I hadn't come in the limousine bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor, I wouldn't have been able to come here.

It would have been difficult to take even a single step because of the crowds.

At my words, Erpha opened the door completely and gestured for me to come in.

I stepped into her laboratory.

Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time I was entering Erpha's laboratory.

"Oh, w-what brings you..."

"It might be too late to ask, but you weren't injured anywhere, were you?"

Erpha nodded at my words.

I could see her four hands wandering here and there, having lost their place.

She must be very shy.

"I'm glad. That you weren't injured. I heard that you could be seriously injured if hit by the curse. You need to stay healthy."

"O-of course! I don't do things that would hurt myself. I'm fine. Rather, you were more amazing, Saint. You came back without any injury even from the source of the curse..."

"Haha. It wasn't anything great."

"Yes..."

The conversation broke off.

Erpha was fiddling with her hair, and I felt depressed and couldn't speak up.

She's pretty.

Some people might say she was a bit bizarre because she had four arms, but I thought she was totally doable.

If I could, I'd like to make it a fait accompli right now.

But for her sake, not mine, I had to hold back my feelings.

I want Erpha to be happy.

I don't want her to be with a man like me who's destined for ruin and collapse together.

I suppressed my emotions as much as possible.

I had now secured the secret funds.

What was left was a way to deal with the miracle of tracking and a way to use Time Stop more efficiently.

The reason I came to the Magic Tower was to find out about how to use Time Stop efficiently.

"Actually, Erpha. I came because I have a request."

"Yes! Anything!"

Her eyes filled with expectation.

I'm sorry.

I'm not in a position to accept her feelings.

"I'd like to meet an expert related to time magic. Is there such a mage at the Mars Magic Tower branch by any chance?"

At my words, a slight disappointment flashed across Erpha's face.

"Tower Master Yorgen is an expert in time magic. He rose to the position of Tower Master by writing a thesis in that field. If you want to meet him, the Tower Master won't refuse."

"Thank you, Erpha. Then I'll go to see the Tower Master now."

"Wait!! Saint!"

Erpha grabbed my hand.

"By any chance... nothing happened with Princess Iomene, right?"

So she had been keeping that in mind.

I shook my head.

Iomene did like me. But considering the princess's current mental age, it was probably more of a position of someone she could trust rather than romantic interest.

Moreover, even if the princess had feelings for me, I had no intention of moving towards a romantic relationship with her.

Even with just Erpha, it was this painful.

I had no intention of adding another woman I was kind of dating.

"Nothing happened. I was just playing the role of caring for the mentally unstable princess by her side. Nothing more, nothing less."

Erpha looked at me with a relieved expression.

"I see. I'm sorry... for asking such a strange question."

Erpha smiled brightly, her face reddening.

To think I have to leave such a woman behind soon.

"Erpha. Always live for yourself, whether I'm here or not. You need to be healthy and happy yourself."

"Of course!"

I nodded.

Erpha approached me, held my face, and gave me a light kiss.

I felt even sadder.

"See you again! Saint!"

I smiled back at those words, suppressing my sadness as much as possible.

***

"Saint. It's the first time since we met at the heresy inquisition last time. Haha!"

Tower Master Yorgen looked almost the same as when I saw him at the Pantheon's heresy inquisition chamber last time.

A plump build with a long white beard.

A typical wizard-like character.

I didn't even need to go find him to meet him.

The Tower Master was already waiting for me as soon as I came out of Erpha's laboratory.

"I didn't know the Saint would want to see me! Perhaps you want magical advice related to the princess' treatment?"

"No. I wanted to meet you because there's something I want to hear about time magic."

At my words, the Tower Master burst into laughter.

"Hahaha!! Time magic!! It is my specialty. No. I didn't expect the Saint to ask about time magic."

Saint and time magic.

It was certainly a topic that seemed unrelated.

But I'm a saint, right?

"There's something I need it for."

With just this one sentence, it was possible to gloss over anything.

As expected, the Tower Master nodded with a smile.

"Then I should tell you! What about time magic do you want to know?"

Finally!

I carefully asked a question.

"When using time magic, is the mental power consumption enormous by any chance?"

"You know exactly! That's right. While the mana consumption itself is ordinary, it's a magical field with enormous mental power consumption. That's why we often use techniques to stop time within a limited space. It's used more for experimental purposes rather than practical uses."

"I see. How do mages handle that enormous mental power consumed when using magic? Is there any special training method or technique?"

Tower Master Yorgen shook his head.

"Time is too complex a subject for the human mind to understand in the first place. So rather than mental power training, we often use methods to reduce mental power consumption through artifacts or items."

This sounds interesting?

"What kind of items do you use?"

"We mainly use things like psychic amplifiers using magic crystals."

"Are these items that individuals can carry around?"

"That's impossible. They're experimental equipment, so functions related to portability have been boldly removed, making them enormously large."

Damn it.

Then that means they're items I can't use?

What should I do about this…?

Just as I was about to sigh.

"Of course, there are natural psychic amplifiers that individuals can carry around."

Tower Master Yorgen said something interesting.

"What kind of item is it?"

"A unicorn's horn is the most powerful existing psychic amplifier. With that alone, you can create a portable psychic amplifier."

A unicorn's horn??

Just hearing it, it wasn’t something that would commonly be lying around on the streets.

"Is there any way to get a horn?"

"Unicorns are beings with extremely difficult hunting difficulty. Because they use their horns, which are powerful psychic amplifiers, to perform mental manipulation as easily as breathing, even well-trained mages or hunters can't easily catch them. So there's very little amount released into the market."

Ah...

Is there no way to get it?

"So even our Magic Tower doesn't have many, but do you really need the horn? We have already manufactured portable psychic amplifiers that individuals can carry. If you want, I'll give you that."

My eyes widened at those words.

"Is that really okay?"

"Of course. I heard you provided convenience for mages and witches to research more comfortably by providing free elixir and raising research funds. Moreover, what would I spare for the person who saved the empire? It would be more useful for you to have it than for this old man."

Tower Master Yorgen took out a rocket-shaped necklace from a drawer and showed it to me.

"It's something I made for research when I was young. I've just been keeping it as a memento without actually using it, so it needs some work and tuning to use. It will take about a week. I'll hand it over to you right after that."

Savior!! He's a savior!!

"Thank you, Tower Master."

"Don't mention it. If you allow, may I occasionally visit the Magic Tower temple to research your healing activities? I have a desire to magically interpret the Saint's miracles."

I'm going to go into hiding soon anyway.

I should let him do as he wishes until then.

He gave me such a precious thing, after all.

"Of course. Come whenever you're comfortable."

"Thank you."

With that, I left the Magic Tower.

When I returned to the Magic Tower temple riding His Majesty the Emperor's limousine, imperial knights and court mages, and priests and holy knights of the White Order were filling the inside of the temple.

And at the center of them stood the members of the imperial family.

"You've come already?"

As I ran over in surprise, Iomene sprang out of the Empress's arms like a spring and snuggled into my arms.

"Like!!"

Right. Right.

You cat-like creature.

I stroked Iomene's head, and His Majesty the Emperor was watching that scene contentedly.

"Iomene wanted to meet the Saint as soon as possible, so we hurried to come. For the next 2 days. We'll be in your care."

"Of course. I'll assist the princess as much as possible until the procedure."

The Empress approached me and carefully took my hand.

"Thank you so much, Saint. It's really hard to express in words how..."

"It's nothing, Your Majesty. You can lower your speech."

But that didn't happen.

The Empress, Emperor, and Princess Almene all expressed their profound gratitude to me repeatedly until they left.

And only after that could I finally be left alone with Iomene.

Iomene was purring like a cat, clinging tightly to my side.

"Like!! Like!!"

I stroked the head of Iomene, who was constantly rubbing her face against my body while clinging to me.

"Now together!! Sleep together?"

"No. We can't sleep together."

"Because not married?"

I smiled at her pure, childlike question.

I took her to the room.

The holy knights of the White Order and imperial knights who remained to guard her naturally went out of the room and started standing guard outside.

When only the two of us were left in the room, I gave her cookies and snacks, but she didn't even glance at them.

"Sleep together! Sleep together! Marriage! Marriage!!"

At her tantrum-like behavior, I shook my head sadly.

Since Iomene had the mental age of a young child, well.

Without realizing it, honest words came out.

"If you stay by my side, Iomene will get hurt."

"Won't get hurt. I'm healed."

"That might be true right now. But later. Later, you'll end up getting hurt. Iomene. So when the treatment is over, don't rely on me anymore, and live splendidly with your own strength. Okay?"

"Don't want!! Don't want!! Like Saint!! Like! Marriage! Marriage!!"

Seeing her rush at me and grab me tightly, I felt sadness welling up.

"I'm sorry, Iomene. I'm sorry."

Why are there so many women who like me, but it's impossible for me to stay happily with these women?

Why do I have to leave?

I want to be happy with Erpha.

I sincerely want to just live normally here, playing the role of a saint.

But I can't.

I had to leave so that the people who love me wouldn't get hurt, not me.

"I'm sorry, Iomene."

Without realizing it, my emotions intensified and I started crying.

Seeing my tears, Iomene seemed startled.

"Don't cry. Don't cry."

She hugged me back, flustered.

That childlike innocence made me cry even more.

Today especially.

It was a day when I felt more resentful and hateful towards the Goddess than ever.

TL Note:

For those questioning the title, 햄보칼수가 없어, sounds like “can’t be ham sandwich” but can also be read as “can’t be happy”.