Book 5: Chapter The Third Misdeed of an Undying Lich: “Destroying Other People’s Wealth” — translated by lucathia
After returning to the Holy Temple, I impatiently bid a hasty farewell to the spirit and the poisonous tongue.
“You won’t secretly sneak out of the Holy Temple, will you?” Earth gave me a measuring look full of great suspicion as he added, “Judgment wanted me to keep an eye on you.”
“I’m going to my room!” I snapped. “If you’re worried, you might as well follow me in!”
Earth immediately pulled Cloud back and stared at me with distrust as he spoke. “No thanks. Cloud, you shouldn’t follow him either. This guy just ripped Ice’s clothes apart. If we head in, wouldn’t we be like lambs entering a lion’s den?”
“…”
You call yourself a lamb? Then there wouldn’t be any lions in this world! I gritted my teeth and enunciated my words, “I’ve said it before. I have absolutely no interest in guys!”
Earth shrugged his shoulders and pulled Cloud away, as he departed with a speed akin to flying.
He actually used Cloud as a shield! If my aim hadn’t been blocked by Cloud, I would definitely have shot an Ice Bolt at Earth. After all, “the Sun Knight doesn’t know magic,” so the Ice Bolt would definitely have been shot by Knight-Captain Ice!
Besides, no one would dare to seek proof from the cold and frigid Knight-Captain Ice.
Furious, I turned around. My stomach immediately growled. It’s probably dinner time now, right? No wonder there’s barely anyone around in the corridors. I should go and fill my stomach first, before doing anything else.
I had only managed to walk two steps when I suddenly felt something that was brimming with strong, dark element. Its location was just around the corner of the corridor.
But why would there be something with dark element within the Holy Temple? Hm… Although it could be Roland, the shape doesn’t look like a human. It has four limbs that touch the floor, like some sort of animal, and with that size it probably isn’t a dog… A horse? But why would there be a horse in one of the Holy Temple’s corridors?
Wait? Dark element? Horse?
“Whitey?” I blurted out.
The moment I spoke, it immediately pranced away. I looked around. Since it was currently meal time, there weren’t many people in the corridors of the Holy Temple, allowing me to hurriedly jog after the unicorn. I called after it quietly, but it didn’t even slow down. Still, I didn’t dare call out to it in a louder voice, as things would be hard to explain if I were to be heard by other people.
Like so, it pranced all the way to the gardens of the Holy Temple, and even dashed into the thickets.
As I called out to it, I extended my ability’s range. Realizing there wasn’t a single person in the gardens, I called out loudly, “Whitey, stop hiding, it’s me.”
I walked into the thickets, holy light emanating from my hands as I tried to lure that gluttonous horse out.
“Whitey, want to eat some holy light?”
I pushed aside the leaves, but there was nothing within the thickets, never mind a horse as large as Whitey. Even after I strengthened my sensing, I did not detect anything. But just now, there definitely was… Has my sensing malfunctioned? Or is someone interfering?
“Sun?”
I didn’t turn around. I already knew that the person who had called out to me was Roland, so the action of turning around would truly be an unnecessary move. I immediately opened my mouth to ask, “Do you have business with me?”
Roland didn’t answer when he heard this. Instead, he abruptly rushed forward for the last few steps and gripped my shoulders as he asked hurriedly, “Are you alright?”
“Huh? I’m just looking at the flowers,” I answered in confusion. Why is he so worried?
“…Looking at the flowers?”
Roland’s expression looked very odd. Finally he reminded me, “Sun, you can no longer see.”
Shoot! I forgot.
“I, I’m smelling the flowers!” I made up. “Reminiscing about how flowers looked like, and such…”
Abruptly, Roland stiffened. His expression was very hard to describe. If I had to put it into words, I would roughly say that it had suddenly become very, very gentle… A guy who always observes the stiff code of knighthood suddenly showing such a gentle expression truly makes goose bumps rise all over my arms.
“What does it look like?” Roland suddenly asked.
“What?” I was confused. What does what look like?
“The world in your eyes.” After Roland said this, he smiled and shook his head. “No, I should say, the world inside your mind.”
“You should know that this is really hard to describe to someone who doesn’t know how to sense the elements…” I looked around, trying to find something I could use as an analogy. When I lowered my head and saw the dirt ground, I had a sudden flash of inspiration. I said, “I know! The elements are like different types of sand. In my eyes, everything looks like it’s built out of sand piled together, like sand castles built by children.”
After hearing my words, Roland furrowed his brows. Quite some time passed before he finally said, “A world built with heaps of sand… that sounds very terrible, but it’s just the opposite for me.”
“Just the opposite?”
Roland said faintly, “Everyone looks full of vitality, full of color, except for me, who is built out of sand.”
“That’s not the case at all! You are very good-looking!” I blurted out. When I saw him reveal a doubtful expression, I hurriedly explained. “Because I can’t tell beauty from ugliness, things that have the purest elements look the most beautiful to me. Your dark element is very strong, so…”
Roland laughed. “If Earth hears these words of yours, he’ll once again go around talking about your ‘special inclinations.’”
“… ‘Once again’? Has that bastard already been talking behind my back?!”
When Roland nodded his head in affirmation, I exploded and roared, “That bastard, Earth! My popularity with the girls is already bad enough. I don’t need him making it worse!”
“Popularity with the girls, huh?” Roland smiled wryly and said, “If you want, you can have all of mine.”
“…How many girls are chasing you?”
He raised his hand and started to count. Then, he raised his other hand and continued counting, and counting…
Oh my God of Light! The Church’s education about evil undead creatures is truly a failure! Nowadays, girls go for dead men and don’t even want living men anymore!
“I’m kidding.” Roland stopped his counting and smiled as he said, “There are only five.”
“Only” five… I don’t even have one! No fair! Why does Roland have five women chasing him when he even has his face covered, while I don’t even have half a woman when I am this handsome, have such a high position, have a graceful demeanor, and am even so white that I shine?!
“What’s not to like about having women chasing you?” Feeling angry, I said, “I couldn’t get together with someone even if I wanted to!”
“Have you forgotten what I am?” Roland asked a little helplessly.
Right. Roland was a death knight. Having women chase him wasn’t all that good of a thing in actuality, because even if he did happen to be somewhat interested, it wasn’t like he could “do” anything to that person. He was already dead. He no longer needed to eat, drink, or go to the toilet, so naturally he was also incapable of feeling desire for a woman.
In a way, Roland and I were truly fellow sufferers. One lost his life, the other lost his sight. Although he lost his life, he was still walking about in the world. Although I lost my sight, I was still using a different way to “see” the world.
“Roland, do you still remember the events behind becoming a death knight?”
When he heard my question, Roland’s expression became slightly puzzled.
“Today I met another death knight,” I quickly explained, “and I thought that it was strange. Death knights aren’t very common undead creatures, so I thought I’d ask you.”
Hearing this, Roland nodded his head and said, “When I woke up, I only saw Pink. She commanded me to sweep the floor and wash her clothes, but at that time I was very confused, as if I were crazy. For a long time I didn’t know what I was doing, until that one time she wanted me to pretend to attack you. When I heard your name, I remembered that you were the Sun Knight and might have been able to tell me what I should do, so I went. After that, you know what happened.”
The events didn’t sound too different from what Pink had told me, but I still felt that something was off. Or is it just because I’m currently suspicious of her, so everything seems dubious to me?
“If you’ve finished asking, I’m going to take my leave now.” Roland raised the stack of papers in his hand and said, “I need to give these papers I finished correcting to Storm. He told me that I had to give them to him today.”
After I nodded my head, Roland started walking off. When he passed by me, I couldn’t help but stop him. “Roland.”
“Hm?” Roland stopped and turned to look at me.
I hesitated for a moment before I said, “Promise me, no matter what happens, you will never harm the Twelve Holy Knights.”
Roland’s body abruptly stiffened. He stared at me without breaking his gaze and said slowly, “You don’t trust me?”
“No, I definitely trust you,” I explained quickly.
After he heard this, Roland managed to relax. He added, “I promise you, I will never harm the Twelve Holy Knights.”
I nodded. Roland turned to leave. As I watched his retreating back, I saw that his steps were still a little stiff. It seemed that my question had hurt him after all.
Roland, I really do trust you.
“I just don’t trust myself…” I murmured.
When I returned to my room, I decided to apply a facial mask because I had gone outside today and didn’t want to turn darker.
Although I was currently so white that I shone, I still needed to continue maintaining my skin so that I would remain shining. This was even more crucial now that there was Awaitsun around, stealing our followers with his handsomeness that violated all rules. This is why I definitely can’t slack off with my skin maintenance!
“Right, there’s still the problem of Awaitsun.”
As I stirred my facial mask, I pondered about how I should shake off Earth and Cloud so that I could meet Awaitsun by myself. However, no matter how I thought about it, I felt that once Judgment discovered that I had shaken them off, he would probably imprison me for a year!
It was probably because the things I had done this year were all a little over the top that he had become stricter and stricter, and had even learned how to trick me!
After stirring, I boiled the water and mixed in the materials for the facial mask, but I still couldn’t think of a way to shake off the spirit and the poisonous tongue without being imprisoned for a year afterward.
I walked to my cabinet and took out the last jar of ingredients – lavender extract. At the same time, a small book dropped out of my cabinet.
When I picked up the book, I immediately recognized it as the small book Scarlet had given me. Many necromancy spells were recorded inside. At first, I had thought that this book was the one Pink had given to me, and that Scarlet had only retrieved it for me, but after reading it closely I discovered that the one given to me by Scarlet was much better. There were many necromancy spells recorded inside this one that weren’t in the book Pink had given me, such as how to summon a death knight.
I turned to the page about summoning a death knight. Many essential items needed for the ritual were recorded on the page: an intact corpse that had a deep obsession, a gemstone of the dark element that could be used to replace the death knight’s heart, a location permeated with the dark element so that large amounts of the dark element might be easily gathered to replace the blood of the…
The book even had an illustration of a very complicated magic circle. Even more complicated was how the book detailed that the blood of an infant that hadn’t been carried to full term was needed to draw the magic circle. The surroundings of the circle even had to be lit up by twelve candles made out of human fat… What the heck?!
I furrowed my brows and murmured, “It’s this complicated? Yet the death knights summoned often don’t listen to instructions? No wonder there aren’t a lot of death knights around. If I were a necromancer, I wouldn’t spend so much energy on summoning a puppet that wouldn’t even listen to me!”
Wait a moment!
The procedure is this complicated? I remember that Pink once said…
Knock, knock.
I glanced over and saw that the Bishop of Radiance, one of the Pope’s trusted assistants, was outside my door. Her specialties lay in sealing and support magic. Even so, her support magic might possibly not be as good as mine, but I wasn’t as good with holy magic that had to do with sealing.
I opened my door, making sure my attitude was a bit more respectful. Even though my position was higher in rank than the Bishop of Radiance’s, the current Bishop of Radiance was already an elder in her sixties. I couldn’t look down on my elder just because my position was higher than hers… The only exception is the Pope. After all, he looks like he’s only fifteen, so I treat him like he’s younger than me!
“Good evening, Bishop of Radiance. The night is beautiful tonight. Although the light does not currently shine on us, this allows us to achieve a greater yearning for the morning sun that will rise tomorrow morn.”
“The night is indeed very cool and refreshing tonight, thanks to the God of Light’s blessing. Knight-Captain Sun, your necklace has been sealed.” The Bishop of Radiance smiled as she spoke, and then she handed over a necklace, a necklace with a precious gem.
It was the Eternal Tranquility, but it no longer looked like before, when it had been negligently tied with a piece of string. Now it was set in metal, and spells were even carved on the metal that brimmed with holy element. Although the design of the necklace was possibly very beautiful, to my eyes the Eternal Tranquility itself was the most beautiful. Other decorations were not at all important.
Thinking back, I don’t know how long I spent trying to persuade Judgment before I managed to retrieve it. If I hadn’t dropped my teacher’s name, he most likely would still have refused to return it to me.
After all, this was the gem that once made me, made me… Maybe the gem shouldn’t be in my possession, but it is truly too beautiful! Besides, if I don’t quickly retrieve it, Judgment might take the gem and destroy it. Then, in the future when my teacher comes to find me for the gem, I would be the one destroyed.
The Bishop of Radiance spoke up in curiosity. “Although I do not understand why you want this gem sealed, I can tell you that the gem itself is not wicked. It actually has the effects of calming, exorcising, and sealing.”
“Exorcising and sealing?” Why do I feel like it has the exact opposite effect? Last time, it undoubtedly made me absorb a ton of the dark element.
“Yes.” The Bishop of Radiance nodded and explained, “To be exact, it is a very good support item for helping with sealing. It is too bad that I do not know how to use the water element. If this gem were given to a mage who could use the water element and utilized with a magic circle, the mage could easily seal an entire cave full of the dark element. It is very beneficial for sealing lands of darkness.”
The Bishop of Radiance looked at me, as if she were very much hoping for me to donate the gem to the Church of the God of Light… Are you kidding me?! I don’t want to get destroyed by my teacher yet!
I smiled as I said, “My gravest apologies. Sun is merely safeguarding the gem, and is not the owner.”
“I see.” The Bishop of Radiance revealed her slight disappointment, but after a moment, she smiled and said, “Although it is a pity, I will not push the matter further.”
I hesitated for a moment, but I still asked, “May I ask you a final question? Since this gem has the ability to seal, is it capable of sealing all of the dark element from an entire land of darkness into a single person’s body?”
The Bishop of Radiance shook her head and replied, “Even if the gem has that kind of capability, there is no one who can absorb that much dark element. Even an undead creature cannot do that. I’m afraid that just absorbing a small amount would be enough to cause the person to explode.”
So it’s not possible? I was a little disappointed, but I maintained my smile and said, “So that is how it works. Thank you for dispelling the clouds for Sun and allowing him to see the light. To have received such a warm answer makes Sun feel the presence of the light even during nighttime. It is as if the God of Light has personally allowed Sun to see His brilliance before Sun, enlightening Sun and sweeping away the darkness within Sun’s heart.”
The Bishop of Radiance wasn’t an elder for nothing. Not only did she finish listening to my superfluous words, she even smiled and said, “You’re welcome. Luckily, Knight-Captain Judgment has already asked a similar question, or else I would not have been able to answer so quickly.”
I was surprised. “Knight-Captain Judgment made a similar inquiry?”
“Yes.” The Bishop of Radiance nodded.
Why didn’t Judgment tell me? It can’t be that he hasn’t had time to tell me yet? A little bewildered, I asked, “May Sun ask, when did Knight-Captain Judgment make his inquiry?”
The Bishop of Radiance looked thoughtful before replying, “Hm, it has been some time… Ah! That’s right! It was around two to three days after your return.”
So that means two weeks ago? I put on my smile and said, “Sun is thankful for your gracious time in helping Sun. Sun is greatly honored, filled with endless gratitude.”
“You’re welcome.” The Bishop of Radiance smiled. After giving me a bow, she turned and left.
I closed the door and lowered my head to look at the “Eternal Tranquility” in my possession. The gem was surrounded by metal that was brimming with the holy element. The metal imprisoned the gem’s large amount of water element, even though it couldn’t prevent some of the water element from leaking out. Even so, that amount of water element wasn’t enough to attract attention.
To my side, the water finished boiling. Large amounts of steam burst out from the pot. Because I had spent so much time talking with the Bishop of Radiance, the facial mask that I had finished mixing had started to dry on the surface.
Still, I could not tear my gaze away from the Eternal Tranquility. It was truly too beautiful. Even though it had been sealed, I could still clearly “see” its pure water element, with not the slightest impurity in it. It is so beautiful… Ever since I’d lost my sight, I hadn’t considered anything beautiful.
I could not tear my gaze away, could not apply my facial mask, and could not think… If a seal can contain the gem’s water element, why does my teacher want me to safeguard the gem?
The reason he gave for wanting me to use my holy element to cover the water element isn’t even valid! Even though my teacher was a holy knight and didn’t understand magic, Aldrizzt was a strong mage. He had to have known.
I thought so much that my head was about to burst when I realized that there was someone familiar standing outside. Before he knocked, I hung the Eternal Tranquility around my neck without a second thought and placed it inside my clothes. Then, I yelled toward the door, “Adair, come in.”
After a moment, Adair announced, “Yes, Captain, I’m coming in now.”
After he opened the door to come in, he stood straight and tall in front of me like usual, waiting for my command.
I really haven’t seen Adair in such a long time. I smiled as I said, “You returned early. Did the vacation not please you? I have heard that your home is a small village. Life there should be quite peaceful, right?”
Adair smiled as well, his entire person relaxing greatly as he spoke. “I was not entirely used to it. I did not know what to do there, so every morning I ran eight laps, and then I practiced my sword for half the day. My mother would summon me to chop the firewood after that, and I sometimes helped the villagers hunt, carry water, and fix things…”
When I heard this, I said unhappily, “Giving you vacation time is such a waste. With a personality that knows no rest, one day you’ll die from overworking yourself together with Storm! I’m never giving you time off again, wasting the time I could have used to order you around!”
Hearing my words, Adair started smiling lopsidedly, but then his smile immediately vanished. He looked at me, his face melancholic as he said, “Captain, I heard that you…”
After stuttering for some time, Adair was still unable to voice what he had heard, but I noticed that he kept on glancing at my eyes. I nonchalantly said, “My eyes can no longer see, but that doesn’t affect me greatly. I have another method of seeing. If you only came to see me to talk about this, then you may leave now.”
Adair was stunned for a bit before he hurriedly said, “No, that’s not it. Captain, Knight-Captain Judgment wanted me to tell you a few things.”
“Judgment?” I furrowed my brows and asked, “What things?”
“On the day you disappeared, sir, you told me some things. At that time, you were even holding the Divine Sun Sword.”
Yet I did not at all remember that I had spoken with Adair. It seemed that that portion of my memories had disappeared too. I immediately asked, “What did I tell you?”
“At that time, you had just returned from outside, sir. You looked a little out of sorts and said that you were going to go find an old friend of yours…” Adair lowered his voice and added, “But I’d never seen you in such a frenzy before.”
If I had to name the person who was most skilled at reading my expressions, then that person had to be Adair. I followed with another question. “Adair, did you feel I was lying to you at the time? Tell me the truth! This is very important!”
Adair nodded and spoke truthfully. “I think you were lying, sir. I feel that your manner at the time was as if you had just discovered an earth-shattering truth, like you were about to head off to demand payment from someone. It was like you had returned for your weapon, about to leave to chop someone up.”
Thank you for explaining things so clearly. I’ll count you as one of the tapeworms in my stomach!
Lowering his voice, Adair said, “Captain, there’s something I haven’t told Knight-Captain Judgment yet. I felt I should report this to you first. At the time, you also told me to find someone to shadow Knight-Captain Hell at all times. If he displayed anything strange, you wanted a report right away.”
“Roland?”
First Pink, then Judgment and my teacher, and now even Roland… What’s going on? Is there really something wrong with them, or, or am I the one with problems?
Puzzled, Adair asked, “Captain, should we still have someone follow Knight-Captain Hell?”
I fell silent for a good while, but I really didn’t know why I had given such a command before I lost my memories. For now, I could only ask, “During the time you were away, has someone been following him?”
“Yes, I had Ed follow him.”
“Is there anything odd about Knight-Captain Hell?”
Adair stared at me and said, “Ed mentioned a lot of suspicious things, but…”
“But?”
He lowered his voice as he spoke. “Other than the fact that Knight-Captain Hell is a dead person, there is nothing uncanny about him. But, Ed anxiously told me that Knight-Captain Hell is very strange. He practically does not eat or drink water, and never needs to go to the toilet…”
“Stop following Hell.” Without any expression, I said, “Also tell Ed that if I hear any odd rumors about how Knight-Captain Hell is very strange, I will let him know that I, his captain, am even stranger!”
I think he already knows that very clearly…
“What did you say?”
“Yes, Captain, I will go warn Ed right away!” After he spoke, he hurriedly turned, about to leave.
“Wait!”
Adair stopped and turned around to ask, “Do you have any other commands, Captain?”
I took measure of him and then asked slowly and deliberately, “Adair, do you like facial masks?”
“Huh?”
“Hell!”
I stopped and saw Storm walking toward me. He even had a stack of documents in his hands. He frowned and asked, “Did you just leave from Sun’s room? Wasn’t Adair the one who entered just now?”
“Adair already left.” I nodded my head and said, “But you shouldn’t go in right now. He’s currently…” I made a rubbing motion over my face.
“Applying his facial mask?” Storm furrowed his brows and said, “It’s okay, I’m used to seeing it. It won’t be any worse than the pink one.”
So the pink one is the worst?
“I’m heading off to find Sun.” Storm passed by me, but then he suddenly stopped and turned his head toward me. When I thought that I had already been exposed, he smiled as he said, “Oh right, today’s paperwork was done very well. Thanks so much.”
“No problem,” I replied without missing a beat.
I walked until I was around the corner of the corridor, and then I stood next to the walls, sneaking a “look” while eavesdropping.
The sound of continuous knocking drifted over. Storm also yelled, “Sun, Sun, open the door… Ack! Why did you apply your mask to your hair too?”
“Sun” opened the door. His face and his hair were covered by a light purple facial mask. He vaguely answered, “Even hair needs maintenance!”
“Whatever!” Storm piled all of the documents onto Sun’s hands and coldly said, “Correct these papers. I’m warning you, even though Adair has returned, you’re not allowed to hand these off to him. I already put his portion on his desk.”
“…” “Sun” silently accepted the documents.
Seeing this, I left without any worries, about to go off to find Awaitsun – Silent Eagle, but then I abruptly realized that I didn’t have a clue about where he was. Just as I was about to randomly find a person to ask, I saw that the person that was walking straight toward me was actually Knight-Captain Judgment!
Oh no, here comes the other tapeworm!
I braced myself to greet him, thinking I would leave as quickly as I could, but then he opened his mouth to speak. “I was looking for you, Hell.”
“Oh?” I stopped, trying hard to maintain my composure. I asked, “Is something going on?”
“I would like to ask you to guard Sun outside his door so that he won’t sneak off by himself during the night.”
What the heck?! You actually want someone to guard me… Even though I was seething until my teeth smarted, I immediately promised him on the outside, “Okay, no problem.”
Judgment and I exchanged gazes for some time. Just when I thought he was about to see through me, he gestured behind me and said, “You can head over now. Neither Earth nor Cloud is by his side. I’m afraid that he might already be thinking about sneaking off, wanting to see Silent Eagle by himself.”
As expected of my stomach’s tapeworm! I hurriedly said, “I just left Sun’s room. He’s currently applying his facial mask, so he shouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Right now, I need to pick up the papers Storm gave me. I have to finish correcting them tonight.”
Judgment nodded and said, “Sorry for the trouble. I will be busy for some time as well, so I’m afraid that our swordfights every three days will need to be postponed for now.”
So Judgment and Hell spar every three days. As expected of two extraordinary sword experts, wanting to practice their sword even when they’re so busy. I barged on with my answer, “That is too bad, but there will be ample time for that later.”
“Indeed.” Judgment nodded his head as he spoke, “Hurry and fetch your documents. Sun might already be nearly done with his facial mask. Recently, he has been as white as a piece of paper. He shouldn’t need to take too long.”
Indeed I don’t need to take long, although I actually didn’t even apply my facial mask and let Adair reap the benefits. I nodded, and then I quickly turned to leave without wasting another moment so that the tapeworm of my stomach wouldn’t discover my real identity after staying in my presence for too long.
While walking through the corridors, I felt that something was off.
I put great effort into my sensing to examine my surroundings, finally discovering that the gazes everyone threw at me were different from usual. Normally, when people looked at me, they always focused on my face or my shining, golden-blond hair, but now they weren’t looking at my face but rather at my body… As expected, wearing a skintight leotard is still too outrageous. I really don’t know how Roland was able to become accustomed to wearing this kind of clothing while walking about the Holy Temple.
“Knight-Captain Hell, good evening,” greeted a holy knight who walked over. Behind him, there were several other knights watching. He asked me with great respect, “May I ask if you have time to instruct us in swordsmanship, sir?”
“My apologies, I currently have business. How about some other time?” I tried hard to recall how Roland normally spoke. Although I was a little worried that I would get discovered, I also didn’t want to leave right away. This was a chance to see if Roland was getting along with other people.
It seems that ever since I had him act as the Hell Knight, I haven’t checked on him much except for that one time when his vice-captain Tyler didn’t approve of him. I wonder, has he met any more difficulties after that?
Of course, Roland never told me about any interpersonal relationship problems… But if this rigid guy truly did come to me to complain about matters involving interpersonal relationships, I would probably question if some part of his brain hadn’t been made rot-proof and had thus started rotting.
Elijah had once mentioned that Roland hadn’t interacted with others very much while he was still alive. I wonder if his dispositions changed after death.
“Alright.” The holy knight revealed a somewhat disappointed expression, but then he revealed a hopeful one as he said, “I look forward to the next time I am able to be instructed by you, sir.”
I smiled as I nodded. It seems like Roland is getting along well with everyone! There shouldn’t be much I need to worry about anymore. Just as I wanted to pull someone aside to ask about Silent Eagle’s whereabouts, I suddenly discovered that the person who was leaning by the window-side looked very familiar, like…
“Ty…re… Tyler!”
The person by the window immediately turned around. As I thought, it was Tyler, the vice-captain of the Hell Knight Platoon. When he spotted me, he shouted, “Captain,” before he walked over with a smile.
It seemed that Roland and his vice-captain were getting along quite well. Now I was truly relieved. I immediately asked him, “Where is Silent Eagle? Knight-Captain Sun wants me to ask him a few things.”
When he heard this, Tyler’s expression fell. He said, “I don’t know where Silent Eagle is staying, but he is currently in the Holy Temple’s plaza.”
“He’s in the plaza?” I asked suspiciously, “What’s he doing there?”
“He’s…”
Just as Tyler was about to answer, a commotion arose from outside. Voices and footsteps blended together, and it sounded like the crowd was currently roaring.
“Knight-Captain Ice has lost too! Hurry! Find someone else to come and fight!”
A bunch of holy knights suddenly surged into the Holy Temple’s corridors, yelling loudly all over the place. Their tone sounded furious, which was an uncommon occurrence. Compared to other professions, the holy knights of the Church of the God of Light have always been known for their grace and composure, but now, their fierce expressions and loud shouts made them appear even coarser than warriors.
Suddenly, a holy knight spotted me, and his expression of delight was as if he had seen the God of Light. He immediately shouted, “Knight-Captain Hell is here!”
Once he shouted this, the other holy knights all turned their heads to look at me. Their expressions were as happy as if they had discovered the messiah! A bunch of people rushed over to me and even surrounded me, all of them rattling off nonstop.
“He really overdid it!”
“He needs to stop and realize that he’s at the Church of the God of Light! Someone from the Cathedral of the Shadow God shouldn’t be running around unrestricted here!”
“That pretty boy! Just because he looks good doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants!”
“Knight-Captain Hell, your swordsmanship is the strongest. Sir, you must go and defeat him!”
All of these complaints confused me greatly. Finally, the last sentence was one I could understand. I hurriedly asked, “Defeat whom?”
The holy knights fell silent, each of their expressions full of hatred. In the end, the holy knight who had spotted me first was their spokesperson. He yelled loudly syllable-by-syllable, “Silent Eagle!”
Me? Defeat Awaitsun? With a sword?
While I was escorted to the plaza by everyone, Awaitsun stood in the center of the plaza. With his sword in hand, he radiated an aura so powerful it felt as if he could defeat thousands singlehandedly… However, I could guarantee that if the holy knights in the plaza were to strike, it wouldn’t require “thousands.” It would only take twenty holy knights, and if we were talking about the members of the platoons of the Twelve Holy Knights, then at most only ten would be necessary. If we had members of Adair’s caliber, then at most only five would be needed for Awaitsun to die a gory death.
Although I really wanted to yell something like, “Why don’t we just pummel him as a group,” no matter if it were Hell Knight’s identity or my own, neither of us could shout something like that in public.
In a battle like this that was held under the name of friendly sparring, a holy knight like me could not command others to pummel him as a group.
That was why even though everyone looked like they wanted to turn Awaitsun into dust, no one actually rushed in to attack him.
When Awaitsun spotted me, his expression noticeably twisted. This made me somewhat suspicious. Does he actually know Roland?
Tyler walked over, proud and bullheaded as he said, “Silent Eagle, your swordsmanship is admirable, but please do not think that there is no one in the Holy Temple who can defeat you. Knight-Captain Hell is the Knight-Captain who has the strongest swordsmanship among us. He has never lost in a battle of swords! Do you dare to challenge him?”
Awaitsun only nodded and didn’t say a single word.
The crowd immediately turned their gaze on me. Feeling somewhat awkward, I raised my empty hands and said, “I didn’t bring a sword.”
Tyler immediately turned around and pulled out the sword at his waist. He respectfully used both of his hands to pass the sword over to me, saying, “Captain, please use my sword. Although it does not compare to your precious sword, I believe that…” He glanced at Awaitsun and smiled, “it should be good enough, with room to spare.”
He was right. Even if I held the Divine Sun Sword in my right hand and Roland’s wicked sword in my left hand, while Awaitsun only had a broom, he still would have plenty of room to spare to defeat me if we were talking about swordsmanship.
Under this kind of circumstance, I could only accept the sword, but I didn’t know how I was supposed to fight.
As Knight-Captain Hell, am I allowed to use magic? I wasn’t familiar enough with what the Hell Knight was supposed to know. If I can’t use magic, then I might as well just admit my defeat!
I hadn’t even managed to decide whether to admit my defeat or to use magic when Awaitsun rushed forward, his speed quick enough to scare me to death. I raised my sword, not at all knowing what to do, and I didn’t even move at all, yet he kept brandishing his sword. None of his attacks reached me, yet all of them clashed against the sword in my hand… What in the world is he doing?
As our blades clashed against each other’s, Awaitsun said quietly, “Knight-Captain Sun, it is you, right?”
“…Yeah!”
So he did recognize me. I had almost forgotten that Awaitsun was one of the people who had seen me in this outfit before.
“Thank goodness. I really didn’t know how to step down from this.” Awaitsun relaxed and said, “If I defeated any more holy knights, I probably would no longer have been able to leave. Even though I wanted to lose on purpose, I couldn’t bring myself to do it… But if it’s you, sir, losing to you is a given, since I have already lost to you before.”
Wait a moment, why is losing to me a given? When I defeated you last time, it was because I used a hostage! Just what is up with the education of the Cathedral of the Shadow God? Is it that as long as you win, any sort of underhanded and despicable method is okay?
Once he finished speaking, he fell on his own accord, and his sword also flew out of his hands. He crawled up with difficulty and announced to the crowd, “I concede defeat.”