novelVolume 2, Chapter Sun Knight's Daily Duty #5: “Solve a Colleague's Problem”
| ← Ch.018 | Ch.020 → |
Volume 2, Chapter Sun Knight's Daily Duty #5: "Solve a Colleague's Problem"
Translator: dahlys
As the saying goes, 'Know who the owner is before you beat a dog!' No matter what, Adair is still the Sun Knight's dog... No, no! I meant that he is my subordinate. Moreover, he is the leader of all my d-...subordinates! How dare a fool like you make a move on him! I don't care whether you are the Son of the God of War or not, I'm going to kick your ass!
Plotting revenge not only requires long-term scheming, but must also be done in complete secrecy. He must die very horribly without realizing who the culprit was. Thus, I decided...to solve the problem of Knight-Captain Hell first.
After following the Pope's instructions to contact and make an appointment with Knight-Captain Hell, I went to the meeting place. As I waited for him, I practiced the sincere expression I would use later. I must appear so sincere that the other party cannot bear to bring me trouble.
Not long after, a person walked towards me. I smiled dazzlingly as I watched him walk towards me, conveniently sizing him up at the same time. He was wearing the standard royal knight uniform, but the sword that hung at his waist was not the sword that was given out to all royal knights. The quality of his sword was much better.
His looks and charisma were not bad, but it was an all-purpose type of handsome... What? You ask what I mean by all-purpose type of handsome?
The so-called all-purpose type of handsome refers to a man that can be considered handsome, but is not so good-looking that all other men want to throttle him on sight. This makes for one less possible future love rival.
Also, when you observe the all-purpose handsome types of men very closely, you can still find many flaws. For example, eyebrows that are not thick enough and facial features that are not regular or well-defined enough. After that you will feel that he is not so handsome after all, and will feel guilty for your initial hostility. Lastly, you will call each other brothers and get along very well.
Although men would feel that this man is not too handsome, his handsomeness allowed just enough room for a woman's imagination. Women who like the cute type of handsome men would be attracted to those large, adorable eyes. Women who like the mature kind of handsome men would automatically lean on those broad shoulders. Women who refuse to love anyone but bad boys would be smitten with his frivolous smile.
What? What happened to the flaws that included eyebrows that are not thick enough and facial features that are slightly irregular?
Dear brother, you do not understand women at all! Haven't you heard that men pick on a woman's flaws while women look for a man's strengths? As long as a woman finds a good point she is fascinated with, all the other imperfections will become merits. For example, thin eyebrows are shapely and a slightly asymmetrical face is simply too unique!
In conclusion, the all-purpose type of handsome is also called the all-kill type. Its strongest ability is to be loved by everybody. Even a dog will run forward wagging its tail.
Such people are suitable for doing any job; especially sales, fraud, and other similar professions. Of course, they are also very suitable as spies.
I could not help but praise the foresight of the previous Hell Knight. He could actually choose a future all-purpose type handsome man from a bunch of ten year old kids.
At this moment, the all-purpose handsome man had already walked in front of me. I immediately started smiling and greeted, "Blessings from the God of Light. Sun finally has the pleasure of meeting you, Brother Hell."
"Sun Knight, why is it you?" He seemed to be in shock.
I smiled brilliantly and explained, "His Holiness the Pope informed Sun that you, Knight-Captain Hell, seemed to have some difficulties. As we are both holy knights, perhaps Sun can better understand your problems. Therefore, Sun has come instead."
"Please...Can you not call me Hell?"
Hell Knight took a deep breath and said determinedly, "I am not Knight-Captain Hell, I am just a royal knight."
Damn old man! I just know that something you throw away is definitely a hot potato... Puzzled, I displayed a touch of sadness and asked, "Why do you say that, Hell Knight? Could it be that you are dissatisfied because of some failure of the Church of the God of Light, which has led you to decline the role of Knight-Captain Hell?"
If I find out that the Pope is mistreating you, leaving you no choice but to resign, he is dead!
"No, please don't misunderstand. I said that because..." At this point, Hell Knight sighed deeply before opening his mouth and narrating, "When I was chosen to be the Hell Knight, I only received one year of special training at the Holy Temple. After that, I served the royal family as a royal knight for twelve years. I have two teachers; one is a holy knight teacher who spent one year training me, after which we rarely met. The other is a royal knight teacher who guided me seriously for ten years, and who only retired recently to travel.
"Although the crown prince does not like me, he has never done me any injustice. He has even entrusted some important tasks for me to do. Also, the queen has always taken good care of me. The little princess and I have been playmates since we were young and the princess has stuck up for me many times.
"Not to mention my fellow knights, whom I have known since childhood. They are comrades who have gone to hell and back with me... In contrast, I don't know any of the Holy Temple's Twelve Holy Knights."
He smiled bitterly, looked at me and said, "D-Do you understand what I mean? Sun Knight, I-I am unfamiliar with the God of Light, unfamiliar with the Holy Temple, and unacquainted with the Twelve Holy Knights. On the contrary, the royal family is where I really belong and the royal knights are my real comrades."
After listening to him, I could not help but frown. No wonder the old Pope wanted to kill him. A spy who decided to join the enemy camp was more dangerous than anything else. If he confessed everything to the crown prince, then there would be quite the show to watch.
After I remained silent for quite some time, Hell Knight suddenly slowly retreated a few steps. He said in a low voice, "I did not tell the crown prince anything, but the princess knows about everything. She will not reveal the truth unless I get into trouble. No matter what kind of trouble it is, she will blame everything on the Church of the God of Light."
Bloody hell! I immediately raised my head and smiled sincerely as I explained, "Please do not worry. You should know that I am not skilled in swordsmanship. I could not defeat you even if I attacked, and you can clearly see that I did not bring anyone else with me."
"O-Oh! I'm really sorry."
On hearing this, Hell Knight stopped walking backwards. In a flash, his face turned red. Extremely embarrassed, he apologized, "I did not suspect you on purpose, b-but the princess said that the Holy Temple might kill me to shut me up... Haha! Now that I think about it, how could the Sun Knight possibly kill people to shut their mouths? The moment I saw that it was you who came to meet me, I should have understood that the Holy Temple bore me no ill will. I am really sorry."
What a smart princess! It seemed that Her Highness was not to be underestimated. She also emphasized the fact that she would blame the Church regardless of what happened to Hell. Looks like even she knows that many of the "accidents" in the world could be attributed to "man-made disasters".
"Please give me some time to think how this problem could be solved." With one hundred percent utmost sincerity I continued, "And please do not disclose this matter again. If it reached the ears of the crown prince, there would be a confrontation between the Church and the royal family. I believe you who have served both the Church and the royal family would not wish to see something like this happen either."
Hell Knight nodded and said, "Yes. The time we spent together may have been short, but my holy knight teacher treated me very well too. Although I have decided to pledge my loyalty to the royal family, I will never do anything that will jeopardize the Church."
I nodded. I believed what he said not because he gave his word of assurance, but because if this matter was made public it would do him much more harm than good, as it is very difficult for someone who has been a spy to regain others' trust.
However, if I simply just "set the Hell Knight free" among the royal family, it was like burying a magic scroll that could explode anytime under the Church. The risk was great, as the Church would never know when the crown prince would find out about this.
But if I don't set him free, what else could I do? He had already revealed his hand by declaring that he no longer wished to be the Hell Knight.
Even if I wanted to finish him off once and for all, there just had to be a clever princess acting as his shield such that no one would dare to take action.
Damn old man! You actually made me clean up after your mess! You just wait and see; sooner or later I'm going to make you pay for this!
After walking back to the Church and to my room and then preparing my skin mask and applying it, I still could not figure out a way to solve this problem. I lay down on my bed to apply my mask while continuing to think up a solution...
Knock knock knock!
"...I nearly forgot about the curse every time I apply the mask."
I propped myself up and raised my voice as I said, "May I be so bold as to ask which brother holy knight, who, under the gentle whisper of the God of Light, has come to discuss with Sun about the God of Light's benevolence?"
Judgment's deep voice came from outside the door. He said, "It's me."
"Oh, then just come in directly." I lay back on my bed lazily. It was alright if it was Judgment, because he had already been shocked a few times by my facial mask.
The moment he walked in and saw me, he froze.
I threw a glance at him and asked, "Pink is much better than green, right?"
Judgment's brows creased as he scrutinized my face. Finally, he gave his opinion, "Green may be shocking to look at in the beginning, but after seeing it for a long time, pink seems to be more disgusting."
"I get it now. Next time I will apply the mask so that half my face is green and the other half is pink, so that you get a shock and then feel disgusted."
Judgment laughed and shook his head."How can you still have the time to apply a facial mask? You should have more than a few problems to resolve, " he said.
I clasped my hands behind my head and asked lazily, "What do you mean?"
Logically speaking, the only problem I had that Judgment should know about was the issue of Adair, unless the old Pope had already told him about Hell Knight. But based on my understanding of the old Pope, he was not such a hardworking person. He would not say something twice, especially to Judgment who was not accustomed to dealing with such issues, because there was no point in doing so.
"People from the Monastery of the God of War are here. No matter what their main objective is, it is definitely related to expanding their area of influence and increasing the numbers of their worshippers."
Judgment looked at me but then immediately shifted his gaze. I reckon that was because the pink facial mask was really quite disgusting.
He reminded me, "And recruiting worshippers is your responsibility."
"I know that. I was going to consider the problem of recruiting worshippers while applying the mask."
"I think you were just going to fall asleep, " Judgment concluded simply.
'Tis Judgment who knows me best...
"Alright, then in order to prevent me from falling asleep, you will accompany me in thinking of a solution!"
Judgment shook his head and took out a small white cloth bag with a gold Sun Knight logo embroidered on it."I can't do that!" he said."I still have some criminals to interrogate and I only came here to pass Ice's blueberry chocolates to you. He said that if you carried this with you, you wouldn't have to go hungry again."
Dear Ice! You make such a good wife and mother. If you were female, I would definitely marry you!
I sat up, took the small bag, opened it and smelled the contents. How fragrant!
After smelling the chocolates, I raised my head only to find that Judgment was really leaving. I hurriedly unleashed a flood of questions, "The Monastery of the God of War wants to kill Adair. Not only did the Son of the God of War personally request a duel, he even used me to threaten Adair. If Adair refused to duel with him, he would challenge me." I paused for a moment before continuing, "Even when the outcome of the duel was clear, the Son of the God of War still wanted to kill Adair. He went as far as to prevent the Sun Knight Platoon from assisting Adair. In the end, Adair was instead saved by a royal knight, Elijah. What can you conclude from this information?"
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Judgment came to a halt and thought about it in silence. This is probably an occupational disease from long years of interrogating criminals, right? Once he hears something suspicious, he reflexively starts contemplating the truth behind the scenes.
Upon seeing this I threw a few pieces of chocolate into my mouth and lay back on the bed. I have Ice's blueberry chocolates to eat, a bed to lie down on, and a person to help me think up a solution to my problems. Could life get any better than this?
Judgment opened his mouth slowly and said, "I think there might be a possibility... Sun, wake up!"
"Keep it down..."
I rolled over, but vaguely heard a low voice growl "Grisia Sun" syllable by syllable. This sounds like the tremendously low voice Judgment only uses when he is angry... I hastily opened my eyes and the moment I opened them I saw that Judgment's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. Shocked, I immediately jumped up and shouted, "I'm awake! I'm really awake!"
Judgment stared at me suspiciously. I quickly sat up straight on the bed like a good student, seriously paying attention.
Only then was he willing to continue speaking. He said, "I think the reason they want to kill Adair has something to do with you learning Resurrection."
"Resurrection?" I was stunned for a moment. I blurted out, "How did they find out about that?"
"Although the fact that you learned Resurrection was not publicized, the Church of the God of Light and the Monastery of the God of War are situated closely together. The relationships between the two religions are not very good, so it is not strange that both have planted a few spies in each other's camp to fish for information."
On hearing this, I nodded to show that I understood. Didn't we also plant a spy, Hell, in the royal family? Even the royal family had a spy, so there was no reason to spare our greatest rival, the Monastery of the God of War. Since the Church of the God of Light which advocates benevolence has spies everywhere, the Monastery of the God of War has probably planted even more spies.
"I think they probably wanted to kill Adair to confirm whether you really have learned Resurrection." Judgment fixed his eyes on me and said, "Although you said that you have learnt it, nobody has seen you perform it yet."
He paused some time before saying with a touch of regret, "If you had learned it earlier you could have used it on your old friend Roland."
Hearing this, I froze for a moment and then replied reflexively, "That's impossible! Resurrection has many limitations. One of these limitations is that it must be performed within eight hours of death. If used on a body that has been dead over eight hours, there will be terrible consequences."
"What kind of terrible consequences?"
I went silent for some time before replying, "After reviving... No! That kind of result cannot even be called revival. Anyway, the person's body w-will continue rotting away like a corpse, but will remain 'alive'. Only when the whole body has decomposed or when the head is cut off will that person die."
On hearing this, Judgment blurted out in alarm, "Then wouldn't that be like an undead creature?"
I remained silent until I saw Judgment gradually calm down. I then explained slowly, "Yup. Resurrection and the creation of undead creatures are similar in so many aspects that they can be considered to be the same type of magic. The difference is that one is performed within eight hours of death and the other is used eight hours after death. Also, a necromancer will preserve the corpse to prevent further decomposition, and will control the corpse's brain so that they will be obedient..."
"Does that mean that every necromancer knows how to use Resurrection?" Judgment frowned.
"No." I shook my head and explained, "It is easy to turn a corpse into an obedient puppet, but difficult to truly revive it. Performing the spell eight hours after death is the simplest condition. Besides that, an extremely strong ability to use holy light is required. This point alone makes it impossible for a necromancer to do it.
"There is also the probability of failure and the price of revival. In conclusion, I can only tell you that you better not give me the opportunity to use Resurrection on yourself. That is because I cannot guarantee whether you will have any body parts missing after you have revived, or worse..."
Judgment's expression changed, and he growled, "Worse? Will I become an undead creature?"
I answered honestly, "That won't happen, as you will not become an undead creature if revived within eight hours of death. However, instead of losing something you could gain something. For example, you could grow an pair of horns on your head, a tail on your backside, or large breasts even though you are male. A woman may gain an extra..."
"Enough!" Judgment took a deep breath and shook his head. He said, "This Resurrection seems to be very unpredictable."
I nodded and said, "Of course. If revival was easy, who wouldn't be willing to die? Also, everybody says that the Pope doesn't know how to use Resurrection, but it's not that he cannot do it, just that the probability of a complete revival is very low. It is so low that he doesn't dare to perform the spell at all, because there may be some side effects..."
"Complete revival?" Judgment asked.
"Is a revival without any side effects." I sighed and said, "The probability of me achieving a complete revival is approximately one out of four. This is enough to make the old Pope extremely jealous. He said that this is the highest probability for complete revival anyone has achieved in the last five hundred years."
Judgment nodded to show his understanding, then continued deducing, "The Monastery of the God of War is afraid that once you have mastered Resurrection, the leaders of every country will change their country's religion and worship the God of Light. That is because with your Resurrection spell, they would no longer have to fear death."
I shook my head and said, "Then they have misunderstood. Resurrection has absolutely no effect on those who have died of old age or sickness. People who died from old age will die immediately upon revival as they have already reached their time of death. Same goes for those who died of sickness. Even if they are revived, their sickness will not be cured and they will die again. Those who fear being killed or fear dying of sickness should hire a few more skilled knights, clerics, and healers, as protecting themselves offers more hope than revival."
"You're right." Judgment nodded, but then reminded me, "But if even I am unclear about the many limitations of Resurrection, what about the Monastery of the God of War?"
On hearing this, I went silent. At least one of the mysteries was solved now. The reason the Monastery of the God of War wanted to kill Adair was to confirm if I had really mastered Resurrection. I feel that by understanding the truth of the matter, instead of solving my problems, I now had an extra problem to solve.
How can I let everybody know that Resurrection isn't as useful as it seems to be? If not, someday when some influential people die and they all flock to me for revival, what will happen to my peaceful days?
Judgment continued, "As for the issue of Elijah saving Adair, Elijah's reputation is not bad, so he probably acted with justice in mind."
"You know Elijah?" I asked curiously. Why do so many people know this person! Is he really that famous?
Judgment nodded."Elijah not only has a very good reputation among the royal knights, " he said."He has friends everywhere, including many holy knights. I don't know him in person, but some members of my Judgment Knight Platoon are familiar with him. However..." He suddenly stopped talking to stare at me for a moment before continuing, "Speaking of this, your Sun Knight Platoon seems to be very close to Elijah. That he would take action to rescue Adair is no strange feat for him."
"Why is my Sun Knight Platoon so close to a royal knight?!" I shouted, a little unsatisfied. Even though the crown prince, the true leader of the royal family, and I, their leader, were very much in disagreement, they ran off to become good friends with his underling.
Judgment slowly opened his mouth and answered my question with a question, "Shouldn't I be asking you that, captain of the Sun Knight Platoon?"
I was dumbstruck, and could only quickly say, "Let me go ask Adair—"
Judgment immediately cut me off and chided me, saying, "Adair is very obedient to you and has been resting all this time. Since that is so, then you, the captain, should at least bear the responsibilities that were originally yours while he is recuperating!"
Tsk! I was actually scolded by Judgment. This is all the fault of...the Monastery of the God of War.
A little angry, I said, "Okay, okay! I'm going to ask someone else now."
Immediately after I said that, I leapt off the bed, tidied my clothes and was about to push the door open to leave...
"Sun!"
Annoyed, I turned and asked, "What? I already said that I wouldn't ask Adair."
"You haven't washed your face..."
Once, I had an omnipotent vice-captain, but didn't know how to treasure him. Only after I had lost him did I discover how precious he was... Without Adair, I couldn't even find my own Sun Knight Platoon!
With much difficulty, I heard from Storm that they might be at the Leaf Bud Tavern. I immediately rushed there in a huff.
Those fellas! Didn't I warn them to avoid leaving the Holy Temple as much as possible? Every single one of them turned a deaf ear to my advice. Looks like it's been too long since I last threw someone down a cliff!
Not long later, I successfully gathered all of the members of the Sun Knight Platoon on the street. Every one of them was wearing plain clothes and strolling on the streets lazily. The moment they saw me, they even smiled and waved happily to me!
I grinned, gently lifted my index finger and pointed at the alley to the side, then walked into the alley. Naturally, the Sun Knight Platoon followed me in.
"Captain! Are we going to gang up on somebody?" Ed asked excitedly.
I ignored Ed and smiled as I said to the whole platoon, "Sun remembers warning my brothers here not to leave the Holy Temple for the time being, right?"
Since you dared to turn a deaf ear to my advice, I think all of you have forgotten the reason why you first jumped off a cliff!
The Sun Knight Platoon indeed deserved to be my platoon, as they immediately sensed danger from my unnaturally broad smile. The color drained from all of their faces and in an instant, the lazy hooligans turned into reliable knights standing at attention.
I ceased to smile and glared coldly at Ed, who was standing nearest to me. Ed stammered as he explained, "C-Captain, w-we wore plain clothes, n-not the Sun Knight Platoon's uniform..."
"And then more than twenty people went out together as a group?" I asked with another smile."Now I understand. I indeed do not have to worry, as all the warriors of the Monastery of the God of War only know how to fight and probably don't have eyes, so they can't recognize you at all!"
Ed explained hurriedly, "Captain, w-we did listen to you. This is the first time in a few days that we have left the Holy Temple. We invited Elijah to the tavern with the intention of buying him a drink to t-thank him for saving Adair."
"So it was like that!" I said with a nod. When I saw all the members of the Sun Knight Platoon visibly express a sigh of relief, I seized Ed by the collar and growled, "This reminds me of another matter. I heard that you guys were already very close to Elijah, right? Previously, the mess made by that fat pig of a king gave me twice the headache and now the crown prince is making it five times worse! And yet you guys are having a good time! You actually dared to secretly liaise with the enemy's subordinate behind my back!"
"We did not secretly liaise with him, Captain!" Nearly in tears, Ed said, "We know Elijah because we ganged up on him once."
"Why did you go gang up on somebody for no reason?"
I definitely did not order them to do this. I had never even heard the name of Elijah before, so it was impossible for me to order the Sun Knight Platoon to gang up on him.
"T-that's because we beat up the wrong person... And we only realized we got the wrong person after we had beaten him up, s-so we quickly helped heal his wounds and then apologized by treating him to a drink."
Is this the so-called 'conflict results in friendship'? But that usually refers to two people fighting each other, not a group ganging up on one person, right?
I was speechless for some time. I then scolded, "You even ganged up on the wrong person! I really don't understand how you guys were chosen to join the Sun Knight Platoon!"
Ed softly protested, "Captain, that was the first time we ganged up on somebody! There is always a chance of failure, right?"
"If the person you beat up by mistake was me, then you could relax because that would be the one and only time you ever made a mistake!" I admonished him coldly.
Ed immediately smiled and said, "Captain, how could we possibly beat you up by mistake? You are an outstanding person that even gods envy and a thousand streams of auspicious golden light surrounds you—"
"You have rosy lips and pure white teeth—" added another platoon member.
"Your skin is as white as milk—"
"—If you but turn your head and smile, you could charm a hundred people!" a fourth exclaimed.
"Shut up!" I rolled my eyes. When I get back I have to ask Adair to improve on language education for the platoon members. Just listen to them, what kind of adjectives are they using? The bastards!
"Captain..." Ed examined my expression very carefully. He asked with a voice as soft as an insect, "Can we go find Elijah now? The agreed meeting time has already passed..."
I thought about it for a bit. Until now, all the information I obtained seemed to indicate that Elijah probably saved Adair out of sincerity, and that he was not involved in any conspiracy. Since that was so, then I, as the captain, should also express my gratitude to him.
After all, if Adair had really been killed then, forcing me to use Resurrection on him, who knows whether the revived Adair will be missing any parts, or worse, have an extra something.
Never mind if he had an extra horn or tail—that might make him even more stylish! However, if his breasts were enlarged, then I would no longer have a vice-captain... No matter how capable Adair was, if he ran towards me with bouncing breasts, I would throw him down a cliff anyway!
After imagining Adair with large breasts, I felt like I should kneel down to worship Elijah. I hurriedly said to the platoon members, "If the agreed meeting time is already past, why aren't you leaving? Don't make people wait."
I followed the Sun Knight Platoon to Leaf Bud Tavern. To me, taverns are unfamiliar places. After all, I am the Sun Knight who is known to collapse after three glasses so I cannot go to a tavern for a drink. Only when I was looking for people (in order to get information, I had no choice but to run around the whole city searching for Storm; in the end I found him dead drunk in a tavern. He only woke up after I slapped his face more than ten times. That was also the seventh time I made him angry) and passing by (while fighting with undead creatures on the streets, I was sent flying and crashed through a tavern) have I been in a tavern.
Being the captain, I walked in first. Initially, the people in the tavern took no notice of this. Being curious, one by one they soon turned around to take a look. The moment they turned their heads, their eyes were fixed on me.
I looked around the tavern and noticed that there were more than a few customers inside. The environment was not too dirty and messy, but it could not be considered clean and neat. However, the place was rather large; besides the main dining area, which was surrounded by many rooms, there was a second floor.
When my gaze swept across the bar counter, the rear view of a man sitting next to the bar counter felt very familiar. I am certain I have seen this person from behind somewhere before!
Also, I can't remember what this person looks like from the front, so I probably only saw him from behind. The strangest thing is, why do I remember the view of this person's back so well?
At this moment, somebody suddenly shouted, "I am a good person, don't arrest me!"
After that, everybody started screaming and roaring like they had never said anything in their whole lives before.
"I didn't steal my neighbor Mr. Flower's underwear, it was blown away by the wind!"
"I always pay my bill after a drink, I have never eat-and-run before!"
"I have never vandalized the wall of the Church of the God of Light before!"
Ed and the other members of the Sun Knight Platoon hurriedly jumped forward and explained, "Everybody please calm down. We are not here to arrest people, but to drink."
"Who are you kidding! Everybody knows that the Sun Knight cannot take alcohol!"
"That's right! I heard that his face turns red on the first cup, he gets a headache on the second, and he collapses on the third."
"This alcohol capacity doesn't befit a man at all... No! I didn't say anything!"
Seeing this, Ed panicked and shouted, "The captain is only here to join in the fun!"
"Ed." I called him.
Ed's expression immediately changed, and he hurriedly explained to me, "Captain, I didn't mean what I said just now, really..."
If you didn't add that last statement, I would have believed that you didn't mean what you said... I suppressed the impulse to roll my eyes, as I was currently the forever smiling Sun Knight. I pointed to the person who looked familiar from behind next to the bar counter and said, "Invite that charming knight to join us for a drink!"
Ed glanced at the direction I was pointing, nodded and said, "Oh, Captain, so you know Elijah too."
What? That was Elijah?
Before I could react, Ed jogged to that person's side, tapped his shoulder, and said shamelessly, "Hey! We're here, Elijah! You haven't been waiting for a long time, right?"
That person snapped, "Yes! I only waited for half an hour. This is much better than the last time when I had to wait for one hour... This really makes me wonder who the one expressing his gratitude is."
"Hahaha! Don't be so particular!" Ed slapped him on the back and greeted him enthusiastically, "Come, let me introduce someone to you."
"Who?" He asked a little curiously.
At this point, I walked behind him. He seemed to also realize there was someone behind him, and the moment he turned around...the smiles on both of our faces froze.
"This is our captain, the Sun Knight." Ed introduced me to him while grinning happily, then proceeded to introduce him to me, "Captain, this is Elijah."
I took several deep breaths before revealing a perfect dazzling smile. I greeted, "This is the first time we've met. Greetings, Knight Elijah."
Only after my reminder did that person recover from his shock. He quickly replied, "H-Hello. This is the first time we've met, Sun Knight, so I was overawed by your elegance for a moment. I'm truly sorry."
One smile was dazzling and the other relaxed, but probably only the two of us were clearly aware that the other was in fact smiling bitterly... This was indeed my first time meeting Elijah, but it was my second time seeing "Hell Knight".
Elijah was in fact the one who went on strike—Hell Knight.
But when I thought harder about it, something was still not right! I already saw Hell Knight's 'front', so how could I be so familiar with his back that I couldn't even recall what he looked like from the front?
What? Did you say that maybe I remembered wrongly? That's not possible! Not that I want to brag, but my memory is so good that I can even remember what the winning chances for gambling were thirteen years ago. How could I remember something wrongly?! At most, I only forget random things like Storm reminding me that there is a meeting tomorrow. I don't know why, but I tend to forget stuff like that. How weird!
While I was filled with doubt about myself, the waitress greeted us and led us into a private room. The moment we went in, Ed turned and said, "Captain, what happens in this private room is a secret. Even if we speak loudly, we don't have to worry about being heard by people outside."
"Secret?" My whole brain was now filled with 'back view', 'back view'. The moment I heard the word 'secret', a bell rang in my head.
"That's right!" Ed laughed cheekily and whispered into my ear, "There's even a secret passage where we can leave quietly."
Secret passage... I remember now, I really remember now!
I saw that person's back in a secret passage.
I previously sneaked into the palace via a secret passage because of the issue with Roland, and coincidentally saw the princess kissing a man. At that time, the man's back was facing me, so I only saw the view of his back!
And the person whose back I saw was Elijah... So the man who had a secret affair with the princess was Elijah, and Elijah is the Hell Knight!
No wonder the princess was so protective of Hell Knight. She was in fact shielding the man she loved!
Hell Knight actually had a relationship with the princess? I frowned and pondered whether this was good news or bad news...
Ahahaha, of course it is good news! I must be blessed by the God of Light, for I now have a means by which I can prevent the Son of the God of War from marrying the princess! Hahaha!
"C-Captain?" Ed asked cautiously.
I was in an extremely good mood, and I smiled widely as I said, "Hmm? What's up?"
Ed slowly took two steps backwards. He gulped, avoided my question and instead asked, "About that, the waitress is taking our order, so is there anything you want to eat, Captain?"
I grinned and said, "I want two plates of beef and ten bottles of hard liquor!"
The waitress nodded and left to prepare the dishes.
Ed scratched his head and asked, "Captain, since we have so many people here, isn't two plates of beef not enough to go around?"
"Heehee, who said I was going to share it with you? I am going to have a good chat with Knight Elijah here, so the rest of you go next door and eat!"
On hearing this, Ed and the other members of the Sun Knight Platoon were stunned. Elijah made a wary expression.
I smiled and said, "Don't worry, I just want to thank Knight Elijah properly." To the Sun Knight Platoon, I added in a low voice, "Hurry up and scram! Or are your bones so itchy you want to jump off a cliff to break them and ease the itch?"
Ed immediately turned and slapped Elijah on the back. He smiled and said, "Elijah, have a good chat with our Captain! We'll come back later..."
Since we were friends, we will return to bury your corpse! The expression on all the members of the Sun Knight Platoon was one of grief.
I watched the Sun Knight Platoon wave Elijah goodbye with 'farewell forever', 'we let you down' and other similar expressions on their faces. As they left the private room, the waitress entered and placed ten bottles of hard liquor and two plates of beef on the table. She stared at me and Elijah for some time before she was willing to go out.
"Sun Knight..." Elijah observed me cautiously.
"Hmm?" I smiled as I opened all ten bottles of liquor on the table.
"You seem to be in a very good mood?" he asked, a little wary and confused.
I laughed out loud and said, "That's right!"
He frowned and asked again, "Does that have something to do with me?"
"Of course it does. I suddenly thought of a way to solve the problem of your other identity." Like a devil, I whispered enticingly, "If you are willing to do something for me so that I can answer to the Pope, from now onwards you will no longer be the Hell Knight."
At first, Elijah appeared delighted. Then, his expression darkened and he looked at me suspiciously. He said solemnly, "I will not betray the royal family."
I grinned and said, "Relax! I would never ask you to betray the princess. In fact, this greatly benefits you and the princess." However, you might betray the crown prince a little bit.
Elijah looked at me doubtfully and asked, "What do you want me to do?"
I grabbed a bottle of liquor and hailed, "Aiya! Let us leave business for later. Come, we shall drink a few bottles of liquor first. Cheers!"
After finishing the entire bottle of liquor in one swig and wiping the foam off the corners of my lips, I noticed Elijah staring at me, dumbstruck. I smiled, shook the empty liquor bottle and said, "Your turn."
Elijah looked at the remaining nine bottles of liquor on the table, and his face immediately went pale.
Approximately two hours later I felt that it was about time and sent the waitress to call Ed and the others back.
The moment they entered, they saw Elijah collapsed on the table, unconscious. Shocked, Ed quickly asked, "What happened to Elijah? Captain, you didn't really kill him to shut him up, right?"
I smiled and explained, "No such thing happened, he's just drunk. Knight Elijah has such a good alcohol capacity! He emptied ten bottles of liquor all by himself."
"Ten bottles?"
Everybody's jaws dropped. Ed stuttered, "H-how is that possible? This is the 'drunk-in-one' liquor. It is said that nobody can remain sober after drinking one bottle of this. Even if it's Elijah, the most he can drink is one and a half bottles..."
I frowned. Was this liquor really that potent? No wonder Elijah fell onto the table with a splat and never woke up again.
With things as they were, I could only put on an act and sigh."Because we were chatting away so happily, he unknowingly drank ten bottles. Had I known this earlier, I would have stopped him."
Everybody seemed unconvinced by my explanation. At this point, I reminded them, "I still have some things to do, so I shall take my leave first. You guys remember to send Elijah home. Don't let him sleep in a place like this, he will catch a cold."
Ed and the other members of the platoon nodded with blank expressions on their faces.
I left with my back facing them, as I could not resist licking my lips. That 'drunk-in-one' was unexpectedly good. If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have given Elijah one and half bottles. Tsk tsk! Since I was going to request Roland to do some things for me, I might as well just bring him here and continue drinking as Supreme Dragon.
| ← Ch. 018 | Ch. 020 → |