Chapter 32
Night fell over Arien Academy, too.
When the students studying in the dormitories turned off the last lights, the quiet curtain of darkness settled completely. The same was true of the shopping district.
An alley steeped in the smell of liquor and shadow.
There were people running through it.
Two figures, their black robes fluttering, cut through the air like ghosts. The pale limbs visible through the loose folds of their robes were even eerier….
Pat pat—!
“….”
“….”
They were headed for the academy walls. Leaving behind even the drunken mumblings of those asleep, they raced across the rooftops.
A gap of a few meters
was nothing they couldn’t clear effortlessly in a single breath.
Pat, pa-tat—!
“….”
“….”
They were moving in a straight line.
The ghosts racing through the darkness could be stopped by no wall.
Just as they were nearing the academy walls.
Pat!
“?!”
Someone came chasing alongside them.
She moved like a shadow, darting from roof to roof.
The silhouette was feminine.
She was a woman in tight-fitting black leather clothes. A mask covered half her face, and she carried a sword of middling length.
Shing—
A dull black sword that seemed to absorb even the light
was somehow eerie.
The woman holding the sword was Mirian, Lydia’s maid.
Mirian spoke.
“…As expected, it’s about time the rats started showing up.”
“How can you… track down the ‘Black Followers’…?!”
“How are you able to chase us—!”
“….”
‘…Small fry.’
Mirian gathered her energy.
A faint smoke rose from her dull black sword. It was an aura so faint it was barely visible in the dark.
Mirian gave the smoking sword a light flick.
Shrrrk—!
The blade split into countless narrow segments,
and stretched out to an unnatural length.
It looked and sounded like a whip.
It was a technique that reflected Mirian’s inner world.
-Ember Swordsmanship, Dance of Smoke—!
Crack!
“?!”
“?!”
The smoky whip lashed through the air. The heavy sound was so forceful it almost seemed to crack the air.
Thoom—!
The two ‘Black Followers’ stopped running in alarm.
If they took a direct hit,
even they, blessed by the ‘Black Blessing,’ would die.
The power was overwhelming.
“Guh?! Just being near it, what is…?!”
“This is the Ignition stage…?”
“There shouldn’t be anyone else at the Ignition stage in the academy—!”
Mirian charged at one of them again.
“Confessing so readily when things go wrong… Is that basic training for devil worshippers? How pathetic.”
“What…! How do you know about the Black Temple…?!”
“Phew….”
Mirian gave up trying to talk to the devil worshipper.
‘Unless they’re a fallen priest or bishop-level, ordinary followers are trash recruited from the bottom of society. They probably don’t even know which demon they sold their souls to.’
Then they couldn’t perform the ‘Ember Ritual,’ either.
There was no point in talking any further.
Mirian swung her sword like a whip again. The blade split and stretched like a fishbone. An ominous whoosh rang through the air.
An attack meant solely to kill instantly!
Bang—!
“?!”
The man in the black robe rolled across the rooftop to dodge the attack. But he couldn’t completely escape its force.
In the end, he crashed down into a corner of the dark alley.
“Gah?!”
He tried to clutch his arm, which was bent backward and dangling. But the smoky aura ate away at him, interfering with the regeneration unique to devil worshippers.
Mirian landed gracefully before him.
“Guh…?! How dare you mock the Black Temple! Reveal your identity—!”
“….”
“You too, woman, you’re looking down on me…!”
“….”
“You filthy whore of the Sun!”
“….”
But another woman was the one who answered him.
“Oh my, did you just call me a whore to my face? But I can’t deny it, since it’s true. Hoho! If we were near Saintrois, I might’ve remembered your face.”
“What…?”
The Black Follower looked toward the voice.
A woman in a black dress sat elegantly on the rooftop. She held a petal-shaped black dagger.
Mirian silently shook her head at her.
“….”
“Hmm? Ah, got it. I was just saying whatever since the guy’s dead anyway. Silly me. Sorry, sis~!”
The Black Follower took advantage of the moment when they looked away and tried to toss his arm aside and flee. But a massive foot pressing down on his back stopped him.
Koom—
It felt like being crushed beneath a boulder.
“Guh….”
Half his body crushed, the Black Follower slowly approached the threshold of death. The one pinning him down was a massive Black Knight, helmet and all.
The Black Knight spoke in a voice that seemed to blaze. In one hand, he held another follower by the neck, its head twisted.
“…I might tolerate an insult to Sir Beatrice, but I can’t forgive you for insulting Mirian.”
“Kyaa—! Our old man is so cool! A man among men, keeping his love alive like a gentle ember even after twenty years~! Is that why you fell for him twenty years ago, sis?”
“….”
Mirian gave Beatrice a sidelong glare, then spoke to Zach. There was a faint warmth in her voice.
“First, we should check their belongings.”
“…Right.”
But…
Unfortunately, they found no evidence or orders.
Mirian and Zach sighed.
“Damn, another dead end?”
“They’re assassins who’ve been given a single objective through methods close to brainwashing. I hoped we might find something, but I suppose not.”
“I expected an attempt to assassinate the Hero candidate directly while the Hero’s examination was underway, but…”
Beatrice walked over from the other end of the alley.
“This is the first time I’ve seen them grind through followers this doggedly for one job, right? Usually, they run after one failure. At least, not since I joined. Have you ever seen anything like it, sis?”
“No. I haven’t either. Sir Zach?”
At Mirian’s gaze,
Zach slowly shook his head.
“…No.”
“….”
“….”
Zach sighed.
“…Looks like we really have no choice but to do as Sir Lydia said.”
“Push the traitor to the limit until they show their true colors?”
“And we’ll have justification, too~! Our little rookie Hero will become a full-fledged legend! Yay—!”
Beatrice made a lively, girlish gesture, quite unlike a woman in her thirties. Zach and Mirian didn’t react at all.
Zach said through gritted teeth.
“The traitor’s bound to be either that lynx-like holy knight or Albert. They’re damn careful, though, and won’t leave us any evidence.”
Albert in particular.
Zach wanted to put an end to the years of bad blood between them.
“…Maybe.”
Maybe,
they should just cut both their heads off at once….
Beatrice was the one who stopped him.
“Oh, come on~! If we do that, we’ll all have to pack up and leave Gallia, you know? The old fogies in the Theocracy will declare us heretics. Let’s take it slow, like the princess said!”
Beatrice giggled. Then she stabbed one of the Black Followers’ corpses with her petal-shaped dagger.
Pshk!
Then, starting where the black dagger entered, the corpse slowly turned ash-gray and disappeared.
Crumble…
A short while later,
nothing remained but scraps of black robe.
Zach muttered.
“…Beatrice’s ‘inner world’ frightens me every time I see it.”
“Hehe, why? Fallen for me all over again? Don’t hit on me in front of Mirian, now.”
“….”
Beatrice smiled quietly. As she ran a finger over her dagger, she said,
“It’s just… ordinary poison. Like a black rose’s thorn in some back alley. Nothing like our adorable princess’s lofty ‘Dawn’ inner world.”
“….”
“….”
Zach and Mirian didn’t bother to pity Beatrice for her past. That wasn’t what she wanted.
“Let’s call it a night. I’ll return to the academy watchtower.”
“I should head back to the royal dormitory and prepare breakfast, too. We’ve got another grown daughter who says she’s going to eat out instead of at the academy cafeteria.”
“You have your hands full.”
“Not as much as you, Sir Zach.”
At that,
Beatrice looked over with a ‘Hah!’
“Our princess still can’t make her own food?”
“Hehe, that’s what makes her adorable.”
“So cute~!”
*
Lydia headed for the dawn training ground carrying the breakfast basket Mirian had given her. Morgan walked beside her, yawning.
“Huaaawn….”
“….”
“Aren’t you sleepy, Lydia?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Habit.”
Morgan’s eyes widened.
“…How strange. I feel like I’m dying of sleepiness every day.”
“That’s because you stay up late every night.”
“It’s a mage’s fate. Magical inspiration comes most easily in the middle of the night.”
“You’ve made staying up late a habit. It’s an illusion caused by your brilliant brain overheating. It’s a bad habit in the long run.”
“….”
Morgan grumbled.
“You sure have a lot to say for someone who doesn’t sleep beside me.”
“Would you like me to sleep beside you? I’ll allow it if you go to bed early.”
“…That kind of thing.”
“?”
“Don’t say things like that so often.”
“Understood.”
Morgan finally took a step back and fell silent.
Lydia thought as she walked.
‘As expected, ever since the Hero’s examination event began, the Black Temple has been keeping a close eye on us. But the frequency is strangely high.’
The other side,
and this side,
were both in no position to act openly.
The drawback of a secret society was how difficult it was to recruit people.
But…
‘No matter how expendable they are, repeatedly sending out ‘Black Followers’ just to take down one rookie Hero… ‘by the standards of the original story,’ that’s strange.’
The Black Temple’s excessive interference.
But things had already been twisted beyond recognition. They had no choice but to accept the situation as it was and prepare.
Their policy hadn’t changed.
Make Arti stronger.
Make Aria stronger, too.
“….”
Lydia had made up her mind.
At that moment,
Morgan spoke beside her.
“Huh? There’s the Hero reject.”
“?”
“Over there. The Sun God statue. He’s praying there with that old priest right now.”
“…Hmm.”
Lydia could see Arti.
“…!”
Just as Morgan had said, Arti was praying beside Adrian, the Prayer Priest. He was kneeling quietly beneath the weathered statue of the Sun God.
His devout posture looked quite fitting for a believer in the One God.
A little while later,
they finished praying.
Then they exchanged polite farewells.
-Father, I’ll devote myself to my studies today as well.
-If that is your choice, then do so.
“….”
This was…
They’d gotten closer than she expected.
Arti spotted Lydia and Morgan and slowly walked over. Morgan then hid behind Lydia’s back.
“….”
“….”
‘…Morgan calls Arti and Mave rejects to their faces, but is still uncomfortable around him.’
Arti approached, holding a wooden holy symbol of the Sun God. It was crude compared to the proper silver holy symbols used in the Department of Theology, but it was sturdy enough.
He greeted them brightly.
“Oh, Lydia! Good morning.”
“…You’ve become quite devout.”
“Ah… this?”
Arti bashfully showed her the wooden holy symbol.
“The Prayer Priest said that if I was going to pray properly, it’d be better to hold something in my hand.”
“Have you grown close to him?”
“Haha, I don’t know. We’ve only prayed together over the last few days. He sometimes tells me interesting stories, too.”
“…I see.”
“When I was a child, I used to just let the Sun God’s doctrines and the priests’ teachings go in one ear and out the other…. But somehow, they’ve begun to put my mind at ease. I should’ve started learning sooner, like the Saintess said.”
“….”
Arti said that, then clasped the holy symbol and offered a small prayer.
-Thank you for letting me have another encounter like this today.
This was basically…
He’d become a religious man.
‘If Arti got this deeply into the One God faith, Aria would probably be thrilled…?’
Just as Lydia was about to say something,
“?!”
She opened her eyes wide.
From Arti, who was praying with his eyes closed….
Flash—!
A faint blue aura flowed out.
It wasn’t a knight’s mana,
but a wave imbued with divine power.
It was stronger than that of most priests.
“….”
Good grief…
I really can’t trust the original story.