novelVolume 6, Chapter The Third Week of Annihilating an Undying Lich: “Follow the Instructions of your Teacher”
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Volume 6, Chapter The Third Week of Annihilating an Undying Lich: "Follow the Instructions of your Teacher"
Translator: raylight
Once Stone and I approached the entrance of the Holy Temple, I vaguely sensed that something was not quite right, and couldn't help but walk slower and slower. Despite this, Stone was walking even slower than I. Obviously he had also realized that something was amiss.
The main entrance of the Church of the God of Light usually had people bustling in and out. There were those who came to pray, those who came to report a case, those who came to look at the handsome holy knights or pretty clerics... In other words, there were always all sorts of people, but there was never no one around at all!
However, right then the Church's entrance was even quieter than the palace doors. If it wasn't for the fact that both of the buildings on either side of it were unscathed by damage, I might have thought that this place had already been wiped out by one of the demon king candidates.
Stone blurted, "Damn your teacher..."
I was stunned and then asked in suspicion, "Brother Stone, why the profanity?"
Stone was speechless for a while. Helplessly, he said, "I was saying, 'Damn, your teacher. ' The former Knight-Captain Sun Neo is standing at the entrance of the Holy Temple."
Teacher? In a hurry, I extended the range of my sensing. Sure enough, I saw my teacher. He was standing in the middle of the main entrance of the Church of the God of Light. With a sword hanging by his waist and both his arms folded over his chest, he had an awe-inspiring presence from head to toe, scaring the holy knight guards at the two sides so much that their eyes were wide open and their bodies stiff, the spitting image of two unmoving statues.
Usually, when my teacher acted in this kind of manner, it was when he was preparing to go teach someone a lesson... I haven't done anything wrong recently, right?
Stone swallowed and said, "Sun, I suddenly remember that I have urgent business..."
"Even if it's a life-or-death matter, you're not allowed to go!" I replied brutally. Once I said that, Stone could only show a distressed expression.
Although I really wanted to walk slower, my teacher seemed to have already seen me. If I were to dare take my time walking over to him, he might just directly give me a slash from his blade.
Stone and I were practically jogging over to my teacher, but my teacher still impatiently complained, "You finally came back. I've been looking for you for a long time! If it wasn't for Lesus, who told me that you went to the palace, I almost wanted to have Aldrizzt bomb down a wall to lure you out."
If I knew that earlier on, I would have come back later and let Aldrizzt be the first dark elf in history to bomb the Church of the God of Light. It would also make the Pope dislike him a bit because of the repair fees for the wall, and then perhaps he won't seek him out all the time to study dark magic.
However, since my teacher's retirement, it seemed that even his elegance had been retired along with him. Nowadays, he didn't look like the elegant Sun Knight at all. To say that he was the warlike Son of the God of War would seem to have more credibility in comparison.
"Teacher, may I enquire as to why you are looking for your student?"
I tried my best to adjust my speech to be between being elegant and inelegant. Elegant, because at the side, there were still the holy knight guards, and I had to maintain my elegant Sun Knight image in front of them. Inelegant, as right now my teacher seemed to not be in the mood for rubbish. If I didn't want to be beaten up and laid out flat on the floor inelegantly, it would be best for my speech to not be too convoluted.
"The land of darkness that we purified last time has started to produce mass amounts of undead creatures again. I'm going to go deal with them, " explained my teacher in simple terms. Then in a commanding tone he said, "Grisia, lend me ten clerics and ten holy knights who specialize in holy magic."
I was at a loss for a while, and then hurriedly said, "Teacher, you have already retired. For this kind of matter, just let me dispatch some people, and it will be..."
My teacher impatiently waved at me to shut up and said, "This has nothing to do with being retired! I broke the seal over there, and now that something has happened, how could I ignore it? Just lend me the manpower. Aldrizzt and I will go over and settle the problem."
I fell silent for a moment, before I nodded my head and replied, "Okay."
At this moment, Aldrizzt and the Pope walked out of the main entrance and at their backs were ten clerics and ten holy knights. The holy knights were mostly platoon members from the "good, warm-hearted" faction. I believe that my teacher wanted to use them to make up for his deficiency in holy magic.
I was not sure whether it was because I wasn't smiling, but as soon as the Pope saw me, he had an alert expression as he said, "I did tell Neo to report to you, and didn't agree to let him take away our holy knights without permission."
If Teacher wants to use our holy knights, is there any way I could say no? I quickly turned my head to my teacher to explain, "If my teacher wants to use our holy knights, of course there's no problem! Before, I was only worried that the Pope would dispatch the holy knights to do dangerous things, so I would always tell him to report to me..."
However, once I finished speaking, my teacher immediately smacked me on the top of my head with his fist, even reprimanding me, "What exactly are you treating a holy knight as, a delicate thing to protect? They are holy knights. If you don't dispatch them to do dangerous stuff, then who is going to do the work?"
"Sometimes His Holiness the Pope really does not know how to cherish the holy knights." Before, he even wanted to kill Hell and bury him once and for all!
The Pope opened his mouth, but then shut his mouth again immediately, not saying a single word.
Instead, it was my teacher who frowned and said to me, "When I come back, I'll thoroughly work with you to deal with this personality of yours!" When he was done speaking, he turned toward Aldrizzt, asking, "Is there any news of late about the situation there?"
Aldrizzt shook his head and said, "No, the distance between here and there is extremely far, so news doesn't travel that fast. However, this also means that it would be best for us to move faster, since by the time the news has traveled to us here, whatever happened would probably have already happened a while ago."
Teacher furrowed his brows and gave an "hmm" sound. Then he told me, "Grisia, Aldrizzt and I will go, but we'll be back quickly."
Be back quickly... This trip to and fro should take, at the very least, a month, right? This is not even including the time that my teacher would take to clear out the undead creatures. Should I explain the matter about the Demon King to my teacher? If he knew about the Demon King, might my teacher perhaps not leave?
"Grisia?"
I immediately gave a smile as I said, "Teacher, please take care."
Letting my teacher leave Leaf Bud City is also good! He has already retired, and I really shouldn't continue to make him worry about too many things. Especially since my teacher has already lost his right hand for my sake. What he has done is already more than enough.
My teacher nodded his head. He only said a couple more words, "I'm going, " and following that, he walked past me. This was Neo Sun. His way of doing things was always brisk, and he would never hem and haw.
I turned around and looked at the back of my teacher about to leave. I couldn't help but let a shout escape my mouth."Teacher!"
My teacher turned around, asking in incomprehension, "What?"
Don't go, I don't know what I should do.
I forced a smile and said, "If you can't settle it, don't force yourself and overdo things. Remember to come back and ask for help."
My teacher instantly gave me a hard whack on my head, and growled, "Don't think that I won't be able to hit you just because I only have my left hand remaining! I'm rushed for time, so just this is enough for now. Wait until I come back. I'll give you a ruthless thrashing then!"
Done with his words, he walked down the staircase of the Holy Temple. At that moment, there were already a few others leading horses there. Just loading their luggage onto the horses took quite a bit of time for this team of more than twenty people.
My teacher had an extremely impatient expression on his face. If it wasn't for Aldrizzt, who was at his side trying his best to distract him, he would perhaps have already yelled loudly, "Everyone, get on your horses and go!" and then in the situation where more than twenty people didn't have their luggage, they would live off the wilderness for the whole journey until they reached their destination.
I stood at the entrance, until my teacher and the others' figures completely disappeared.
"Sun? Are you okay?" Stone frowned as he asked.
I turned towards Stone, and with a faint smile, replied, "Sun is fine, naturally. He is merely overwhelmed with feelings of reluctance to part ways with his teacher. However, now is not the time to feel sentimental. Brother Stone, the both of us have to go tell the other brothers about the Demon King. Please go and gather the Twelve Holy Knight brothers under Knight-Captain Judgment, and request for them to bring along their vice-captains. Gather at the conference room."
"Okay."
In front of the Twelve Holy Knights, I talked about the issue of the Demon King in full detail.
Once I finished, everyone's eyes turned wide, and they had looks of disbelief on their faces.
Judgment had on an even deeper frown as he said, "Are you completely sure that what Silent Eagle said was the truth?"
"Silent Eagle himself is living in the palace and seems to have no intention of leaving. After what happened today, I believe that His Majesty the King would also not let him leave easily. I doubt that the Cathedral of the Shadow God would use their own leader to play a joke on us. If the Kingdom of Kissinger wanted to pick a fight, they wouldn't leave their envoy Silent Eagle and the shadowpriests here, especially not while they are being strictly monitored by our kingdom. For them, this is definitely not a good thing."
I looked at Judgment and said truthfully, "Other than what Silent Eagle has said, I cannot find any other logical explanation. Therefore, I can only temporarily treat it as real. No matter what, we will make preparations first. In this time period, His Majesty the King will likely ask for verification with the previous King and with the Queen of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid. If both of their replies are the same, then I will believe that it is the truth."
"What you say is right, " said Judgment, in full agreement.
I looked toward everyone, and all of them seemed to have already calmed down... That was fast! I originally thought that everyone would at least raise a racket, one after another, for ten minutes before we could officially start to discuss what to do. Just hearing that there was a possibility that we would have to evacuate everyone from Leaf Bud City instantly made my brain feel numb and my heart cold. I was completely at a loss as to where I should start on this, and my entire being felt filled with panic.
"Because the situation is very grave this time, I have to request everyone to hand over all of their platoon members to me to plan this as a whole."
After saying that, I paused for a few seconds. Seeing that no one seemed to have any intention to object, I looked toward Adair and gave a string of orders.
"Adair, I am going to entrust all of the vice-captains and platoon members to you. You are then to look to Silent Eagle and Elijah for manpower and split them into groups of combined forces. Each group needs to have at least one vice-captain. The patrolling within the city will be handed over to you to take charge of. You will be granted full authority over this. If the citizens ask why the number of people patrolling has increased, find ways and excuses to get away with it."
"Yes, " replied Adair extremely seriously.
I didn't feel reassured though, so I briefed him again."Be extra careful. The demon king candidates may look no different from an ordinary person. If you meet one, immediately send someone back to report. If the other party is harboring malicious intentions, then make your first priority protecting the civilians and retreating. Don't ever battle against them directly."
Adair nodded his head and shouted loudly, "Yes, Captain."
Blaze protested in a loud voice, "The vice-captains and platoon members all have stuff to do, but what are all we captains going to do?"
I turned toward the Twelve Holy Knights and commanded, "In this time frame, all of the Twelve Holy Knights are to stay in the Holy Temple every day and be on standby. Other than what you guys usually do, we are also to take over the previous duties and workload of the vice-captains. Also, we are to carry our weapons along with us, and be prepared to move out immediately.
"The vice-captains' main mission is only to protect the civilians. If we really have to evacuate, their mission will be to escort the civilians out of the town."
I surveyed the Twelve Holy Knights and said, "If we really have to fight against the demon king candidates, only us captains are allowed to fight them. Even if the others have to evacuate Leaf Bud City, we have to stay behind in the Holy Temple and take care of things. Any problems?"
"None, " the Twelve Holy Knights all replied firmly.
To send all the vice-captains away was to prepare for any eventualities. Just in case a captain was to die, they could be directly substituted with their vice-captain when the danger was over. This way, the Holy Temple could resume its regular operations in the shortest time period.
However, I didn't intend to announce this in front of everyone at the moment. I was going to wait a while, then inform all of the Twelve Holy Knights as well as Adair and Vidar. I would even write an official document addressed to the both of them, for if the Twelve Holy Knights were to all perish in battle, the two of them would still require my signed document to be able to immediately declare all of the vice-captains to take the place of the Twelve Holy Knights.
Just in case, this is only just in case. I sincerely believed that things wouldn't regress to such a terrible state.
"I have a small question!"
Storm raised his hand. I was not sure whether it was the effect of having his fill of sleep, but his smile was especially radiant.
I nodded my head in his direction. With a smile, he then asked, "May I ask if Adair's usual duties and workload will also be taken over by his Captain?"
"..."
The next day, Elijah came to report to me, and even passed on the king's message.
The king had gone to look for his father and ask for clarification about the so-called secret of the royal family that was passed down from generation to generation. However, the fat pig of a king actually didn't remember a single bit of it. Thankfully, the knight who was responsible for taking care of him since he was young still remembered this secret.
The secret of the royal family that had been passed on from generation to generation wasn't passed on from the previous king, but from a knight instead - this fact made the current king so angry that he almost wanted to kill his father.
However, Elijah told me, in the end the king only deducted his father's allowance for half a year. Tch!
Moreover, without a doubt, the contents of the secret seemed to have little difference with that of the legend, so it proved that Silent Eagle was indeed not lying.
After a few more days, the Kingdom of Moon Orchid also sent their envoy.
Their previous generation was obviously a lot more useful. The envoy stated that the Queen of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid and the Monastery of the God of War both support that the Demon King must be born, and they are willing to provide all the assistance they could give.
The Monastery of the God of War had also sent along an entire platoon of warriors, but the Son of the God of War unexpectedly didn't come over. Now that I think about it, there is only one Son of the God of War, so they probably don't dare to send him over to clash forces with the Demon King.
The Kingdom of Kissinger, the Cathedral of the Shadow God, the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, and the Monastery of the God of War had all agreed to lend us their assistance. This would greatly decrease the difficulty of evacuating the city. The king was already drafting up the evacuation plan, and if anything happened, perhaps he might choose to evacuate with no hesitation. At least, that was what Elijah said.
As matters stood, it was practically one hundred percent confirmed that Silent Eagle had indeed told the truth. The demon king candidates would engage each other in a fight in Leaf Bud City, and we were not only not allowed to chase them away, but we also had to help the Demon King be born.
The Demon King's strength was so large that it violated the Contract of the Gods, and even if you split it into three, it was still a frightening force... Was it really that formidable? So strong that even the Church of the God of Light and the royal knights would be unable to control the situation?
Right now, His Majesty the King is probably racking his brains as to whether or not to evacuate the citizens.
Even if there were other kingdoms lending their assistance, evacuating the whole city was still not going to be an easy task. Among them, how many citizens would rather die than leave?
Unless they saw the unbridled destruction done by the demon king candidates with their own eyes, most of them would be unwilling to leave. After all, right now Leaf Bud City looked very calm and peaceful, and to ask them to leave their comfortable homes to go live a vagabond's lifestyle, how could it be that simple?
However, if we wait until the demon king candidates have started their battle to evacuate, I fear that it'll be too late. By that time, it is possible that we might already be suffering fairly heavy casualties.
Even if we mobilized the entire army to evacuate the citizens by force, it would still be impossible to clear out the whole population of Leaf Bud City. We would still need a large number of royal knights guarding the palace, and we couldn't leave the streets empty without anyone patrolling, not to mention how many people the Church of the God of Light would need to keep behind...
"Sun, Sun!"
"Sun, what are you doing?"
I was disoriented for a moment, and then regained my senses. I only stared blankly at the person calling to me. It was actually Storm.
"Huh? What?"
"What?" Astonishment was written all over his face as Storm asked, "Y-You... How are your words so easy to understand?"
I stared blankly for a while. Not understanding what he was talking about, I asked in return, "Why wouldn't they be?"
"'Why wouldn't they be?' This is not a private location. Normally, your words should be full of 'God of Light, ' 'radiant sunshine, ' 'brotherly friendship' and the like... Wait a minute!" Storm suddenly stopped talking, and his expression changed greatly. He snatched away a stack of papers that was in front of me, and while trembling, he said, "Th-This is a document? Y-You actually... You are actually looking through documents!"
Oh? So I was actually looking through documents?
Storm was flipping through the documents wildly as he shrieked, "Oh my goodness! How is this possible? You even drew red lines, circled the main points, and wrote a few short yet efficient ways of dealing with the matter... Y-Y-You really are correcting documents! And you even wrote it this well? Compared to the stuff you wrote in the confinement chamber that was full of 'Under the God of Light's illumination, we should show forgiveness...' that absolutely no one could understand and hence caused me to have to translate it once again, this is much better by a hundred times!"
I'm only casually looking through it right now while thinking about stuff. Last time when I was being confined, I didn't have anything else to do, so I was actually looking through the documents with matchless seriousness! In the end casually looking through it is better than looking through it seriously... If you give me a blow like this, be careful'cause I'll look through the documents with extreme concentration in the future!
Suddenly, Leaf grabbed my shoulders and shook me fervently. He shouted worriedly, "Sun, what's wrong with you?"
At the side, Blaze was also worried as he said, "Is it that he overdid the diet?"
Earth shook his head and said, "I just knew it'd be problematic if he doesn't eat desserts, since he's practically addicted to eating them! Now that you want him to stop abruptly, how is that possible? See, now he's starting to show Dessert Withdrawal Syndrome!"
Is there really such a sickness? I felt a little suspicious.
Blaze shouted in an anxious tone, "Then I'll go right away to look for Ice for desserts!"
"Wait a minute!" Storm suddenly shouted."If you want to give him desserts to eat, wait until he's finished looking through the documents! Otherwise, I'll make you guys look through these documents!"
Once Storm finished speaking, he hurriedly shoved the whole stack of documents back in front of me. I was dazed for a few moments, and then lowered my head to continue going through the documents.
"... I was wrong, you guys hurry and go find Ice for desserts. Sun is simply broken beyond repair!"
Blaze and Leaf instantly rushed out of the room, while Earth gave a sigh, and idly said, "It's one thing after another. The Demon King is coming, Sun is broken. This time it really is the end of the world!"
As I've said, if I were to take out a piece of document that I wrote myself, everyone would definitely be so alarmed, it would be as if Judgment didn't come to a meeting. However, I had no choice but to correct my own documents because Adair was so busy that he almost didn't have enough free time to even come back to the Holy Temple to sleep, so I really couldn't throw the documents to him anymore.
I really didn't want to discover that my multi-purpose vice-captain had actually worked himself to death while I still had sixteen more years to go in the position of Sun Knight!
I stood up and then shoved all of the documents in my hands into Storm's hands.
Storm was stunned, and Earth, who was at the side, immediately gave a shout of realization, "So you were trying to hoodwink us into giving you dessert and hence—"
I interrupted his words, "I'm done looking through these."
Earth's mouth hung wide open, and Storm's jaw nearly dropped to his chest. The two of them stared blankly at me. I briefed them very simply, "I'm going out to see how the patrols are going. If there are any new documents that require reading, just place them directly in my room."
Once I finished saying that, the two of them instantly went from being slack faced to becoming two stone statues, such that even if you waved a hand in front of their eyes, there would still be no reaction.
"Sun!" Leaf and Blaze came running back, and were making a big fuss as they shouted, "Ice refused to give us any desserts, but Cloud said that his desserts haven't been switched to the bitter ones. Quick! Here are two slices of sweet strawberry cake..."
"I'm not hungry. You guys can eat it."
After speaking, I walked past the Leaf and Blaze statues, and returned to my room to take an essential item for going out, my cloak.
With my cloak draped over me, I sat at the side of the fountain in the courtyard. There weren't many civilians nearby, but instead there were a few knights and warriors who would come and go occasionally while on their patrols.
These patrol squads were really doing their part conscientiously. From the time I stepped out of the Holy Temple, I hadn't even walked down a single street before I had been stopped for questioning at least ten times. In the end, I could only drag a patrol squad along to escort me to the courtyard, or else I probably wouldn't have reached my destination even by nightfall!
Who knew that just as I left the squad escorting me and turned to walk into the courtyard, I would immediately be surrounded by another bunch of knights and warriors? They had fierce expressions on their faces and an imposing manner. They looked almost as though they really wanted to skip the process of questioning, and directly drag me off to a corner, surround me, and beat me up.
I pulled off the hood of my cloak expressionlessly, turning all of them into more statues, and then I walked to the edge of the fountain and sat down.
If I didn't know the reason for this, I might have thought that what I had draped over my body was human skin and not a cloak, and that was why I had been questioned the entire way. However, I really didn't have the right to grumble about it. After all, the root reason as to why I would be questioned the whole way here was because I had instructed Adair to raise the tension inside the city. This way the nervous atmosphere brought about by the soldiers treating everyone as a possible suspect would bring about uneasiness among the masses, which was advantageous for evacuating.
"K-Knight-Captain Sun, I'm sincerely sorry about this." The patrolling holy knight walked over and said nervously, "W-We momentarily mistook you for a suspect. It was really not intentional..."
My lips pulled into a smile and I said, "For my holy knight brother to be so dedicated to his guard duties, Sun is deeply gratified. Please do not feel any apprehension for Sun's presence here, for Sun merely wishes to reflect at this place. Please do not hesitate to carry out your duties, dear brother."
The holy knight nodded his head frantically and said yes, and then he returned back to his patrol squad. However, the warrior in the group muttered, "Reflect? You can just obediently stay at the Holy Temple to reflect, why would you come here..."
However, the two holy knights in the group immediately grabbed him and even covered his mouth tightly. They left the courtyard, half-dragging the warrior out.
I maintained my smile as I bid that group farewell and also remembered that warrior's face. Did he think that I really wanted to come here to reflect? If I could, I would also want to stay in the Holy Temple and be a church hermit!
It was true that Adair had always done things without missing any details. Under his lead, not to mention a person, even a mouse could be found—so long as that mouse had a distinctive feature that was a bit different from other mice.
However, the candidates for the Demon King were completely without any distinguishing features. Even if there were ten Adairs, he still wouldn't be able to find them! Thus, I could only put Adair in charge of protecting the civilians. As for the matter of looking for the Demon King, I could only do it myself. I only hoped that the Demon King's elemental composition was not too much like a normal person's. Otherwise, not even my sensing would be able to find him.
Inside the Church of the God of Light, all the various elements were all too strong, which was not good for sensing. Hence, I could only obediently come out to the courtyard to "reflect on" stuff.
I "reflected on" this and that, and started to "reflect" from the courtyard in all directions, not even overlooking the palace that was full of the dark element. In the palace, there were indeed a few people who had very strong dark element. However, when you counted them, the numbers were still less than the total number of dark knights and shadowpriests.
On the streets, there were also quite a few people whose dark elements were also on the high side, however, around them were the presence of people whose element composition were inclined towards the holy element. They should be the dark knights that Adair had arranged to be included in the patrol squads.
There doesn't seem to be anyone who is especially suspicious... Wait a minute!
I abruptly stood up, and my hand gripped the Divine Sun Sword that was by my waist. The Divine Sun Sword provided endless holy light to me. Three steps in front of me stood two people with especially strong dark element... The Demon King and the lich?
"Sun Knight, good to meet you." The other party actually had a faint smile on and even greeted me very courteously.
His greeting startled me a little, but afterward I realized that this person's style of clothing was rather similar to Silent Eagle's, except that his was not as elaborate. Could he be a dark knight?
Other than this guy who I suspected to be a dark knight, there was also a girl behind him. The girl's dark element was also alarmingly high. A guy and a girl together instantly made me think of the demon king candidate and the lich mentor, so these two were simply suspicious to the max!
However, the girl's clothing seemed to be the robes of a shadowpriest.
A dark knight and a shadowpriest? Though these two people still seemed to be a bit suspicious, there were still patrol squads coming to and fro around us. Even if this guy really was the Demon King, he wouldn't have so little common sense as to cut down the Sun Knight in broad daylight before the public, would he?
I broke into a smile befitting that of a Sun Knight and said, "Under the light's illumination, Sun wishes everyone well. May I enquire of this sir as to who you are? Please forgive Sun for being simply ignorant and unable to remember this sir."
He said in a hurry, "There is no need to say that, sir. Yours truly is Stephen Anastas, a dark knight. I have seen you once in the palace, but of course you would not remember me, for at that time there were twenty dark knights there."
Twenty? Then he means the time when the palace found out the truth about the Demon King. This fellow called Stephen Anastas really is a dark knight.
Really, if there's nothing going on, why go running about with a shadowpriest! It had scared me so badly that I had broken out in cold sweat and had been nearly about to unsheathe my sword to cut someone down!
...Fine, I admit that I was going to use the Divine Sun Sword to gather a large amount of holy light, and then attack them with holy light until they died, which had not even the slightest relation to the words "cut someone down."
At this moment, the shadowpriest standing at the back frantically tugged at Stephen's clothes. Stephen looked a bit helpless, and he stepped aside to reveal the shadowpriest behind him. Afterward, he introduced to me, "This is my sister Charlotte. Because we had lived in Leaf Bud City when we were both young, she has been worshipping you ever since ... Actually, I too feel that you are very composed and have an extraordinarily elegant and easygoing temperament." Saying this, he even laughed foolishly, looking a little embarrassed.
Silent Eagle obeys my every word; a shadowpriest worships me; a dark knight feels that I'm easygoing and elegant... Are you kidding me?! I am the Sun Knight! All you people from the Cathedral of the Shadow God, from the top to the bottom, worship me? What's going on? Since all of you worship me so much, then you should have entered the Church of the God of Light instead! Or, I might as well create a Church of the Sun Knight, and let all of you guys jump ship?!
"I see. My gratitude for the kindness that you two shower upon Sun. Sun is simply undeserving of your praise."
While making modest remarks with my mouth, I took the chance to size up the shadowpriest. She hid behind her older brother a little shyly, only daring to reveal half of her face to look at me. However, this didn't stop me from looking at her.
Using sensing, I could still "see" her completely. Though she was a shadowpriest, she looked like a normal girl. With her youth and shy expression that covered her whole face, she looked not the least bit like a powerful shadowpriest.
The only thing that was unique was probably how she had a head of short hair that extended to only a few centimeters past her ears. It was rare for me to see a girl with hair this short.
Once I finished speaking, Charlotte suddenly poked her head out, and then agitatedly shouted, "Y-You're definitely deserving of it!"
Seems like she really does worship me. However, the person whom these two were actually worshipping was probably not me. That's because Charlotte looked to be around the same age as me, and Stephen was probably even older than me by a few years. Thus, the Sun Knight that the two of them had seen when they were young definitely couldn't have been me, but rather, my teacher.
However, to normal folk, the Sun Knight is the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights, with golden hair, blue eyes, pale skin, as well as an ever present smile. Whether it was the thirty-seventh generation or the thirty-eighth generation made no difference at all. Who knew, perhaps they didn't even notice that the Sun Knight had changed.
Hence, I didn't explain much, but only continued to speak words that a Sun Knight should say, "Thank you for your kindness."
"Y-You really don't remember me?" Charlotte looked a little disappointed.
I only gave a gentle smile in return. The person that you worship isn't me, so how could I possibly remember? No matter what it was, I believe that my teacher also couldn't have possibly remembered, for he doesn't have a memory as good as mine.
Stephen promptly reprimanded, "Charlotte, that was something that happened so long ago. The Sun Knight can't possibly remember it, so don't make things difficult for him."
Charlotte lowered her head and looked even more disappointed. In an extremely small voice, she said, "The blueberry lollipop that you gave me back then was very delicious."
...Eh?
"Sun has given you a blueberry lollipop before?" I asked, a little shocked."Was it me and not my teacher? The Sun Knight at the time should have been my teacher."
Charlotte was so agitated that she completely jumped out from behind Stephen's back and even clenched her hands tightly into fists, exclaiming, "Of course it was you! Though at the time you hadn't become the Sun Knight yet, I felt that you were even more radiant than the Sun Knight! You are more like the Sun Knight than he was. You are the one who is the Sun Knight!"
Unexpectedly, it really was me! I started trying my best to recall, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't remember Charlotte. That's strange. I can even remember Roland who I met more than ten years ago, so it makes no sense that I can't remember someone I met after I had become the young Sun Knight.
I apologized full of sincerity, "I'm truly sorry, but Sun really does not remember."
This time, Charlotte didn't give a disappointed look again, but only said, "Never mind..." Yet once she finished, she had on a look like she wanted to say something but was holding herself back.
I found it a little funny and said, "Why would you not speak your mind? Could it be that Sun is overly serious, and hence you feel that it is hard to communicate with him?"
"No, no way! Although your words are a little hard to understand... Eh! I meant to say, to say... Anyway, you're a good person who isn't hard to communicate with in the least bit!"
Charlotte was so anxious that she almost couldn't even say her words clearly.
I spoke in understanding, "Then it must be that Sun has a fierce appearance, and it has hence frightened you."
Charlotte immediately refuted in a loud voice, "That's not it. You're super handsome!"
So. Awesome!
There are quite a few people who say that I'm handsome, but to hear it from a shadowpriest's mouth was especially exhilarating! The Cathedral of the Shadow God has Silent Eagle overseeing it, and that guy is so handsome that he can elicit great indignation from both men and gods. However, now there was actually a shadowpriest who said that I was handsome. That meant that I was truly very handsome. Who knew, maybe in certain women's eyes, I actually wouldn't lose to Awaitsun?
Perhaps Charlotte is exactly someone who feels that I am even more handsome than Awaitsun?
"Actually..." Charlotte was a little embarrassed as she asked, "D-do you still have that kind of blueberry lollipop? Could you give me another one? I have always missed the taste of that lollipop, so even if I have to buy it from you, it doesn't matter!"
...Don't tell me that you claimed that I was super handsome for the sake of a blueberry lollipop?
"Y-You can't?" She started getting nervous.
"Sun has always bought them from the same dessert shop..." I described the location of that dessert shop to Charlotte in detail. If she wants to eat it, she should go buy it herself! That store always has a long queue, and without Judgment Knight to open up a path, I don't know how long you would have to queue to buy something.
After hearing the location, Charlotte still looked like she had something to say but didn't dare to do so. However, this time she didn't falter for long, before Stephen started frantically saying, "Sister, break time is over. We should return to the squad for patrolling, otherwise the squad members would be unhappy."
After Stephen spoke, he instantly addressed me politely as well, "Thank you for being willing to converse with us."
I gave a slight smile as a reply.
Charlotte followed Stephen and left reluctantly, even looking back at me a few times midway... No matter how many times you look at me, I'm not going to help you queue up and buy blueberry lollipops!
After the two of them had left, I thought for a moment. In the end, I decided to still make a trip to the palace, intending to confirm Stephen and Charlotte's identity with Awaitsun personally.
"Stephen?" Awaitsun seemed a little shocked as he asked, "Why would you ask about him, sir?"
I told him about what had happened, and afterwards, I observed Awaitsun's expression carefully.
He nodded his head and said, "I remember now. Stephen did indeed say that he used to live in Leaf Bud City."
"He really is a dark knight, no question about it?" I wanted to verify it once more. That's because I really couldn't remember anything regarding Charlotte, and it's not easy for my super-strong memory to forget about someone, so I was a little suspicious of what the two siblings had said.
After I finished speaking, Awaitsun started laughing. He nodded his head, saying, "If I were you, Stephen would pretty much be Adair."
I was stunned. I really didn't expect Stephen to be such an important figure.
Awaitsun continued, "The two siblings are both very outstanding. Charlotte is even the Cathedral of the Shadow God's youngest shadowpriest in history."
Hearing that, I was a little embarrassed and said, "I was too paranoid."
"No!" Awaitsun instead shook his head, saying, "Your paranoia is not misplaced, for anyone has the possibility to be the demon king candidate."
Hearing that, I frowned, asking, "There really isn't any method to figure out the demon king candidates?"
Awaitsun shook his head and sighed."Only the guides can do that, and even then, they can only distinguish the fragment that they initially found."
So, even Scarlet can't help me figure out who the other demon king candidates are? I was originally intending on possibly negotiating with Scarlet if I had no other choice, but now it seemed like it wasn't necessary.
"In the past, you only needed to locate the place where dark element gathered abnormally, or you could just pay attention to a few major events and that would be enough. The candidates hold great power, so it is usually very easy for them to be part of attention-grabbing major events. However, things are getting more and more difficult, for the guides have also gotten smarter. Now, they would locate the candidates while they were still young and teach them how to control their power. And then, they would use various methods to hide them among the people."
Awaitsun confessed, "The Cathedral of the Shadow God has been looking for this generation's demon king candidates for twenty whole years but has yet to have any leads. I'm afraid that before the fight officially starts, we will continue to be unable to uncover the other two candidates."
I was a little shocked as I asked, "You knew when the demon king candidates would appear?"
Awaitsun nodded his head and replied, "We only need to calculate the rate at which the lands of darkness are expanding, then we can roughly know whether the demon king candidates have been born. Moreover, the calculated age that we have for the candidates would not be off by more than five years. The period of time for when the candidates would start their duels is even more accurate, for the difference wouldn't be more than a month."
"You're that accurate?" I simply didn't dare to believe it. Calculating the surface area of the lands of darkness for the entire continent is definitely not an easy task. An inaccuracy of five years is still considered reasonable, but a difference of only a month is really too unimaginable!
Awaitsun looked at me, and with a bitter smile he said, "That's because to the side of the Cathedral of the Shadow God is a land of darkness. The time when the land of darkness has expanded to the Cathedral's back garden would be the time when the candidates should start their duels. Even if they do not wish to duel, we also have to force them to do so. Otherwise, in less than half a year, the Cathedral of the Shadow God will be entirely swallowed by the land of darkness."
I see. When the Demon King is not around, Silent Eagle is the head of the Cathedral of the Shadow God. Once the Demon King is present, he immediately turns into a lackey; however, becoming a lackey is still better than the having the entire Cathedral of the Shadow God disappear. If the Cathedral of the Shadow God were to disappear, what use is there in just having the title of the head of the Cathedral of the Shadow God?
No wonder Awaitsun is willing to even become a lackey for the sake of the Demon King to be born. I shook my head, saying, "You people really shouldn't have built the Cathedral next to a land of darkness."
Awaitsun unexpectedly gave a smile, saying, "Whether it is the Cathedral of the Shadow God or Silent Eagle, our reason for existing is to stop the lands of darkness from swallowing the world. Hence, only by building the Cathedral at a place where it will be destroyed first would the later generations not dare to slack off."
Hearing that, I finally understood the Cathedral of the Shadow God's thoughtful good intentions, and apologized at once."You are right, I'm very sorry."
"Make no mention of it."
Finished speaking, it was about time for me to take my leave. Though I really wanted to leave, Awaitsun had on a look as though he wanted to speak his mind but was hesitating... He should really go become siblings with Charlotte with how both of them keep on halting their words!
"If you have anything to say, just go ahead and speak, " I said in a straightforward manner."We don't have so much time that we can stand here and play guessing games with each other!"
"You are right, sir." Awaitsun nodded his head, and then continued, "I want to send Alice back to the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, but she refuses to go. That proud wife of mine said that she's going to bear her children in the Cathedral of the Shadow God and told me to do my job properly, so as to not let the land of darkness swallow my own wife."
Are these words really from the princess who was such a coward that she fainted from fright because of me last time? Then I really have underestimated her.
"Sun Knight, although the birth of the Demon King can save the world from destruction, a terrifying Demon King can also destroy half the world." Awaitsun looked at me, and on his face was a smile of gratitude as he said, "I do not know what kind of people the other candidates are, but I am very happy that the only candidate that I managed to get in touch with is someone who would not destroy half the world."
| ← Ch. 068 | Ch. 070 → |