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Okay, so after looking at the polls and the comments you guys have left me, I've decided to compromise and put both chapter links and the entire story into 1 page. It'll take a bit of time before the rest of the books are condensed into 1 page, but I'll try to do them ASAP.

(15/6/2012)

Thursday 17 November 2011

LSK – Side Stories: My dear straw doll.

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Elmairy looked at the person beside him nervously. The person was dressed in all black; even though he wasn't wearing his usual black uniform but a casual black outfit, he still cut a rather imposing figure.

Leithe was indeed as stern as the rumours claimed him to be. They were both about the same age, about sixteen to seventeen years old, yet how come he looked so intimidating?

Elmairy just couldn't understand. And at the same time, he was a little afraid of him.

He and Leithe weren't from the same faction, so typically they wouldn't have been sent out on a mission together. In fact, this was his first time carrying out a mission with Leithe, so he was quite nervous.

This mission required someone with strong holy aura, but as those on his faction were either busy or just plain unwilling to come out themselves, he was the only one left.

Leithe's uniquely deep voice spoke up from beside him. "Elmairy, can you sense any dark aura ahead of us?"

Elmairy carefully stretched his senses out before shaking his head and replying, "No, but as it's quite some distance away, I wouldn't be able to tell if the amount of dark aura is very small. Creus is much better in this than I am."

As he looked on at the dark gloomy house ahead of them, Leithe nodded his head and said, "Creus is stronger at this, but it's a pity he had to go to the Royal Palace with the Sun Knight."

When he noticed that Elmairy was still staring at him, a jolt of alarm shot through Leithe, and he hurriedly added in a low voice, "But even if he hadn't left the Holy Temple, I wouldn't have agreed to carry out a mission with the little Sun Knight!"

Elmairy shrunk a little at that and protested in a small voice, "Creus is really nice and easy to get along with."

"It is not a matter of him being easy to get along with or not," Leithe replied coldly. "His sword skills are terrible, and he often pushes his work off onto others. If I were to be sent out with him I might as well carry out the mission on my own."

"……"

Even though he would have liked to defend his future superior, Elmairy was hard-pressed to come up with anything to refute Leithe's statement, for his words had really hit the nail on the head!

Leaf couldn't resist speaking his question, "You seem to understand Creus very well. Do you know him?"

Another jolt shot through Leithe, but he managed to maintain his calm demeanour, and even managed a displeased frown as he snorted, "How could I know the little Sun Knight well? The little Sun Knight is the representative of the Holy Temple; his every word and action is watched by everyone. It is not hard to learn about his conduct."

Elmairy realised then. Oh dear, this is bad! So word about Creus' poor sword skills and even poorer work ethics has spread to even the judgement areas?

Leithe turned back to survey the house before him. He then turned his attention to the five holy knights accompanying them and gave out his orders. "The two of you, go around to the back and stand guard at the back exit. You, go on ahead and call for the occupant. If you do not receive any response, you have permission to break down the door. Start searching the house once you've gained entrance."

"Yes, sir."

Elmairy felt rather impressed as he watched Leithe calmly giving out orders. Even though everyone knew that they were the future Twelve Holy Knights, the key word was 'future'. And in addition, they were all still quite young, so the Twelve Little Holy Knights didn't really have much real authority. They would still feel a little awkward when giving out orders, especially when the holy knights receiving orders from them were much older, and yet, Leithe did not seem to be similarly afflicted.

The holy knights did not show any dissatisfaction with being ordered about by a child, showing only their respect for Leithe. Elmairy could tell it all from their expressions.

Leithe really was an impressive person. However, Elmairy still wouldn't have chosen to be partnered with Leithe if he could help it, for he felt quite pressured in his presence. Standing with Creus would have been so much easier.

Leithe then gave his last order. "Elmairy, you will stay behind and cover everyone else."

'But perhaps that was a misperception?' It was only after Elmairy heard Leithe's words that he realised something. It was true that Creus always pushed his work onto others. In this situation for example, Creus would definitely have ordered someone else to go ahead whilst he himself would provide cover. But Leithe's sense of responsibility was well-known – he would never push his share of work onto others.

Standing with Creus would have been no easier, he was beginning to realise!

"Elmairy!" After walking ahead a few steps, Leithe noticed that he wasn't followed and growled, "What are you dazing around for? Follow us! And get your weapons out and ready!"

"Ye-yes!" Elmairy had jumped at that and hurriedly notched his bow with an arrow at the ready.

The holy knight ahead of them had called out thrice so loudly that even the neighbours had heard and came out to investigate the noise, but there was no response from the house.

Elmairy felt rather nervous. From the reports he had read, the occupant of the house was armed with dark magic and had been reported using the magic to harm others.

Bang!

The door was kicked down and they filed into the house, searching each room thoroughly as they went. One of the holy knights reported back to Leithe: "There's no one in the house."

Leithe frowned at that before asking, "Elmairy, do you sense any dark aura?"

Elmairy shook his head no.

Leithe's brows knotted in even deeper frowns at this answer.

"Perhaps the report was mistaken," Elmairy suggested. "The public don't know much about dark magic. They sometimes mistake some unusual activities as people using dark magic."

Leithe, too, felt that this very likely, but he'd rather be overly-cautious than to dismiss anything as of yet. "Search the whole house one more time, and if there still isn't anything unusual to be found we'll leave--"

"Kill you! I'll kill you, you unfaithful bastard!"

A gasp escaped Elmairy. "Leithe, that sound……"

Leithe called out, "Let's move," and hurriedly ran in the direction of the sound, Elmairy and the rest of the holy knights running after him.

They found themselves in a garden behind the house. The garden was not very big, and it was easy to spot the person standing amongst a few trees, a thick tree trunk hiding most of the person from view. However, they could hear the cries from the dishevelled person as they continued screaming and raging, a strange knocking sound accompanying every screamed curse of theirs.

As he listened on to the vile curses spilling from the person's lips, Elmairy felt a shiver run up his spine. Leithe, however, did not hesitate to step forward and call out, "Put down your weapons!"

The moment he had called out the order however, Leithe stopped short, stunned.

"Leithe?" Knowing that something was up, Elmairy hurriedly stepped forward, but he too stopped in surprise.

A…… woman?

And a very shocked woman at that. Even though she looked rather dishevelled with her hair in disarray and her clothes all messed up, when she saw Leithe and the rest of them she was so shocked that she stumbled back in surprise, dropping the item she held in her hands…… a hammer.

The woman retreated a few steps, leaning against the tree weakly. Nailed to the tree trunk beside her was a little straw doll, a dozen nails sticking out of it haphazardly with no order.

"You-who are you? What are you doing here?" she screamed in fear.

Leithe replied her in a deep low voice, "We are holy knights from the Church of Light. We received a report saying that someone was using black magic to harm others."

"Black-black magic?" So shocked was the woman that she was stumbling over her words. "But-but I'm just……"

"Pull her aside, and remember not to let your guard down." Leithe ordered one of the holy knights.

"Yes, sir!"

Elmairy didn't really think that the woman knew black magic. Dark element wasn't an easy element to manipulate, and if she really knew how to use dark magic, she should have at the very least the abilities of a capable mage, and not look so flustered and vulnerable as she did right now.

"Take a look at this and see if it has any black magic on it," said Leithe as he bent to pick up the hammer and place it in Elmairy's hands. "Even though I have my doubts that it has anything to do with black magic, my holy aura isn't very strong. Look it over for me."

Elmairy took the hammer and looked it over carefully, before looking up and shaking his head. "This is just an ordinary hammer, nothing else. Its dark aura is not very high."

"Not very high? Then that means it there are traces of black magic?" asked Leithe.

Upon hearing that, Elmairy hurriedly explained. "You misunderstand me. Everything has a complicated combination of different elements, including dark elements, but they are not necessarily dark. Even though I've learnt how to detect dark elements, I cannot say for certain that this hammer has a dark aura. I can only say that the amount of dark elements in it is within normal levels."

"I see," nodded Leithe. After a moment, he then instructed, "Try doing what that woman was doing and hammer at the straw doll. See if you can sense any dark aura."

"Err…… alright."

Even though he felt a little weird and was rather reluctant to follow Leithe's request, Elmairy just couldn't say no, especially when it was Leithe that he was rejecting! And it wasn't just him; there wasn't a single holy knight that would dare to refuse him!

Well, that's not right. At least, Creus would dare to do so.

Elmairy stepped up to the tree and stared at the straw doll, feeling all kinds of reluctance. He raised the hammer before pausing to look at Leithe. The latter merely gave a frown and said, "Proceed."

And so he raised the hammer and swung it onto one of the nails, again and again, harder and harder. As he continued hammering, he got quite engrossed in it till he nearly forgot what he was supposed to be doing……

"…… Elmairy!"

Elmairy jerked awake and asked, "What's wrong?"

"That's enough." Leithe looked at Elmairy carefully and asked a little suspiciously, "Are you alright?"

Elmairy stared at him a little blankly, answering "Yeah, I'm fine."

After looking at him carefully and asserting to himself, Leithe inquired, "Was there any dark aura?"

"Not at all."

"Is that so?" Leithe hesitated, the image of Elmairy's absorbed expression flickering past in his mind. He then made his decision. "Just to be certain, I think it's best that we bring the hammer and the straw doll to the little Sun Knight for his opinion."

"Alright."

~O~O~O~O~

Elmairy knocked on Creus' door and waited patiently. Eight out of ten times when he knocked on Creus' door, Creus wouldn't immediately answer the door.

From behind the door came all sorts of sounds. The clinking of bottles falling, splashes of water…… and even something that sounded like 'shit, this must be a curse!' could be heard, but Elmairy ignored all of them and pushed them out of his head.

The last time he had enquired as to what Creus had been doing, Creus had stuffed an office document half a foot thick into his arms. He wondered idly how long those documents had been sitting in Sun's room……

The door finally opened and a young golden-haired boy walked out, his smile as brilliant as always, although his hair and clothes looked a little damp.

'Was he showering?' Elmairy felt a little apologetic for interrupting his shower.

Creus then began his usual long style of greeting, "My dear brother Leaf, could it be that the God of Light had whispered in your ears reminding you that one should share with one's brothers frequently, leading you to knock upon this Sun's door……"

To stop him from delving any further, Elmairy hurriedly took out the hammer and straw doll and showed them to him. "Leithe wanted me to bring these to you to look over."

Creus looked down at the hammer and doll, his smile freezing for just a moment as he asked in befuddlement, "What is it that Brother Leithe wishes me to look for?"

"See if there's any black magic on it," Elmairy told him. He then proceeded to tell him about the incident.

After hearing the full story from him, Creus looked back down at the items before waving Elmairy into his room.

Elmairy was a little surprised, but he took it in stride and followed him in.

"The heck there is any black magic on them!"

Who would have thought that the moment Creus shut the door closed his speech would become 'not very elegant'? However, Elmairy wasn't very surprised. The Twelve Holy Knights all knew by now that Creus' elegance was directly proportional to the number of people around him.

"Are you certain?" Elmairy asked for confirmation. He hurriedly described the situation in which they had found the woman. "But that woman who was nailing the straw doll was very terrifying-looking! She looked half-crazed!"

"She was only letting out her frustrations," said Creus with a shake of his head. "If nailing straw dolls is black magic, then black magic wouldn't have been so difficult to learn."

Elmairy thought so too, but he didn't understand Creus' first comment. "Why would nailing straw dolls let out her frustrations?"

Creus smiled and explained, "It's not the straw doll you're nailing, but the person who angered you so. Imagine the straw doll as that person, then hammer the nails into the doll with all your strength! And you can even add some of your enemy's hair or nails."

Elmairy reared back in shock and cried out, "That can't be good?"

"What's wrong with it?" Creus shrugged and said, "At least nailing straw dolls is better than her going after her enemy with a knife, right?"

'Hmmm? That actually makes sense!' Elmairy looked down at the doll in his hands, recalling the feeling as he nailed the straw doll as per Leithe's instructions…… No! That's not right, he should never let himself do such bizarre activities!

"Oh, that's right, elderberry," Creus suddenly spoke up.

"My name is Elmairy…… sigh, forget it. What is it?"

"Give me both your hands."

When Elmairy did as instructed, he found himself with an armful of office documents.

~O~O~O~O~

Creus was on his way to Elmairy's. Those documents had been way past the deadline, and his teacher had been on his back about them, so he had to go and check up on Elmairy to see if he was done with them…… Although the probability of him being done with them was very low. There were quite a number of documents in that stack.

And if worst comes to worst, he would have to step forward and help out himself. Creus felt a little depressed. He hated paperwork! For every document he had to go through, he would have to write the words 'God of Light' at least twenty times. It was like detention!

'I hope Elderberry's done with them,' prayed Creus as he pushed open Elmairy's door. He then stood there frozen as he looked in on an unbelievable scene.

Elmairy was hammering into a straw doll nailed to the wall with all his might, again and again, the words spilling from his mouth giving his unsuspecting audience goose bumps. "Damn you! Always throwing all your work to me! Making me unable to finish them and having to work overnight! Unable to refuse a single thing no matter what one asks! What kind of stupid condition is this…… err, Creus?!"

After some time, he finally noticed Creus standing at the door, and he immediately lost his wits.

"Y-You, what are you doing here?" Elmairy stammered, his face unbelievably pale. He, a holy knight, had actually cursed and shouted whilst hammering away at a straw doll. And what was worse, he had been caught in the act!

Would he be mistaken as someone casting black magic just like that woman? He would probably get kicked out of the Holy Temple…… and maybe not just so. He might even be tied to a stake and burned alive!


 

If he were to say something like 'I saw you hammering nails into a straw doll', would he find himself nailed just like the doll? Creus had a bad feeling about this. Even though Elmairy was usually very easy to bully, right at that moment, a very strong gut feeling told him that he should never speak of what he had seen today to anyone else, lest he find himself never seeing the day he takes on the mantle of the thirty-eighth Sun Knight.

"I-I saw…… I saw how neat and tidy Brother Elmairy's room is!"

Elmairy was surprised at that. Was Creus not going to expose him……? And what was that he just called him? How long has it been since he last heard his proper name from him?

Creus continued on hastily, "I'm just here to get the documents. I didn't see anything! And I swear that I won't remember a single thing after leaving this room!"

Seeing as Creus didn't seem to be going to expose him, Elmairy timidly explained, "I-I just wanted to test and see if it would really release my frustrations, and-and I found that it really works, so-so I……"

"Cough!" Creus gave a loud cough before saying, "I'm only here to get the documents and didn't see a single thing, so you don't have to explain anything, just please tell me if the documents are done."

Elmairy nodded and walked to his table to retrieve the thick stack of documents before walking back to Creus. Just as he was about to hand over the paperwork to him, he suddenly stopped.

Creus was debating the merits of snatching the documents and running away when Elmairy spoke up. "Creus, can I have a strand of your hair?"

"…… okay."

He plucked a strand of hair and exchanged it for the stack of documents. As he closed the door behind him as he left, Creus could be heard mumbling to himself, "Oh man, I'm totally reaping the seeds I sow! Why the hell did I go and teach Elderberry how to use it? And I even told him to add a hair or nail…… No no no! I don't remember anything about Elderberry hammering straw dolls. I don't remember I don't remember I definitely don't remember…… I'll go and get drunk with teacher and pretend it's all just a dream! Yes, that's right! I'll go do that right now!"

When he heard Creus' mumblings, Elmairy let out a quiet chuckle. Even though he still held the hammer in his right hand, he didn't feel like hammering the straw doll in the least.

He took out the doll nailed to the wall and added the golden hair into it, saying with a smile, "I'll be using you from now onwards, my dear straw doll!...... and Creus too."


 

~The End~


 

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Thursday 3 November 2011

LSK – Side Stories: You owe me a favour!

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Ceo Storm could never figure it out:

I owe you a favour, and you owe me another;

In the end, who the heck owes who?

Oh, who cares!!


 

There will always be fights between brothers. In the end, you will owe me and I will owe you, so what's one more favour?


 

"Ceo, seeing as today is such a warm and sunny day, could you help this Sun with a little problem?" asked Creus with a brilliant smile on his face and his hands clasped together in front of him, his posture one of that asking for a favour.

He had no problems with helping out. That is, was it any other time…… "But my teacher had instructed me to practice with my homework, and I'm not allowed to do anything else before I complete it," Ceo told him helplessly.

Creus turned to look to his left; Ceo followed him and looked to the left. Isn't it just the usual hallway? Creus then turned to look to his right, and again Ceo followed him and looked to the right. Still an ordinary hallway……? They were currently standing in the middle of a hallway, so no matter which direction they were to look in, they would only see a hallway.

'What is Creus looking at?' Ceo stared at him uncomprehendingly.

When Creus turned back to look at him, he said exasperatedly, "What kind of homework could you be practising here? If you were studying, even though you could study whilst standing, you don't have a single book with you right now. And if you're going to say sword practise, well, even if you weren't afraid of accidentally hurting someone with your sword, you don't have a sword on you either. Look, if you're just trying to find an excuse not to help me, shouldn't you at least try to come up with a better one?"

Ceo stared at him in surprise and was about to explain that he wasn't trying to find excuses, when the opportunity to practise appeared!

He hurriedly pushed Creus aside and stepped forward, when his eyes suddenly widened in shock and horror……

"It's the little Sun Knight and little Storm Knight! Oh, they look so cute!!"

So… so many women! Why are there so many of them?!

At the sight of a dozen female priests walking down the hallway in their direction, all giggles and whispers, Ceo couldn't stand it anymore and turned to hide behind Creus.

"Ah?" Creus twisted his head to look at him in puzzlement, wondering what the guy was trying to do, but one of the female priests at the head of the group had called out to him.

"Little Sun Knight, what are you using for your hair? It's so soft and smooth and shiny!"

Creus wasn't about to tell them about the secret hair serum he had invented, so he beamed up at them and said, "With the God of Light as this Sun's witness, my ladies' hair shines even more brilliantly than this Sun's!"

The female priests tittered at that, and only when the head priest hurried them on did they turn to leave, all still smiling a pleased little smile.

When the sounds of their laughter grew distant, Ceo quickly came out from behind Creus. He stood there facing the leaving priests, his eyes blinking nonstop.

"Do you have a cramp in your eyes?" asked Creus, unable to understand what the heck the blue-haired boy was trying to do.

"Of course not!" Ceo immediately refuted. "I'm practising winking at women!"

"…… does anyone even need to practise to wink?"

"Of course! It's so hard to wink! And the girls keep giggling, or else they'll keep staring at me with twinkles in their eyes, and they always smell so flowery, I hardly even dare to look at them……" as he said this, Ceo looked rather discouraged. "I'd thought there would only be one or two of them in the Holy Temple. That's why I chose to stand here and wait for them to pass by, but I never thought they would appear in such a big group……"

Creus scratched his face absent-mindedly. "I think only the Light Priest would come here on her own. The only other reason for priests to come over here would be when the holy knights are injured, and just one or two wouldn't have been enough, so it's natural that they would come in big groups!"

When he heard that, Ceo's face looked crestfallen, and he said dispiritedly, "I can't complete the homework teacher set for me. Winking at a hundred women is just too hard, it's impossible!"

As he said that, tears started welling in his eyes.

"H-hey, don't-don't cry! I'll help you, alright?" When he saw the other boy's eyes redden, Creus hastily comforted him. "You help me out first, then I'll help you with your problem, okay?"

"Can you really help me?" asked Ceo as he tried to blink away the moisture in his eyes. "Even my teacher hasn't been able to help me!"

"Don't worry! I'm the Sun Knight, remember?"

"You're not yet the Sun Knight……"

"Hmph, I'll be one soon! Anyway, let's go, let's go! Help me out with my problem first; it's more urgent!"

And with that, Creus grabbed Ceo's hand and dragged him off, not giving the latter the opportunity to refuse him.

~O~O~O~O~

Bam!

"What's all this?" asked Ceo as he watched Sun drop a mountain of papers onto the table, his eyes wide with incomprehension.

"Office documents," the other replied simply. At the same time, he placed two inkpots and several pens onto the table beside them.

"Office… documents?" Ceo tilted his head and asked, "Why do you have to go through office documents? We're still in training right now; we don't have to deal with the paperwork yet."

"Try telling that to my teacher," Creus snorted. "But let me tell you right now that no one in the whole of the Holy Temple would dare to say that to him."

"What about the Judge Knight?" Even though history's strongest Sun Knight is indeed an intimidating title, Ceo believed that the Judge Knight wasn't that bad either.

"My teacher told me elegantly that if I dared tell-tale on him to the Judge Knight, he will replace all the paperwork time with lessons on elegance."

"Elegance lessons?" Ceo couldn't understand his point. "What's wrong with them?"

"It's about as bad as your winking lessons……"

"Oh! I'd rather choose paperwork!"

"Exactly. So hurry up with it!" said Creus as he sat down whilst pushing a pen into Ceo's hand. "These documents have to be handed in by tomorrow!"

Ceo merely sat there with the pen in hand, staring at Creus and feeling a bit lost. However, as he watched the latter going through the paperwork in earnest, he felt a little bad sitting around doing nothing and so began going through his first (but certainly not his last) paperwork……

Bang!

The door banged open, and a loud voice could be heard booming, "Creus, where's your teacher?"

Ceo had jumped at the door banging open and had very nearly knocked over the tall stack of documents. The stack of documents that they weren't supposed to be touching in the first place! And now they've been discovered! What should they do?!

Creus, sitting calmly opposite the panicking Ceo merely looked up at his name and said, "Probably in the wine cellar…… cough! I mean, may I ask what the Captain Blaze Knight is looking for him for?"

'Oh dear, have we been discovered? This ominous silence……'

The Blaze Knight then sighed and said gruffly, "Still in the wine cellars at this late hour…… honestly! Find Neo and tell him to get to the main hall right away!"

"Yes, sir," said Creus, standing up. "Ceo, I'll be back soon. Remember to continue doing the paperwork!" The last part was directed to the blue-haired boy.

Ceo's mind had gone blank at the exchange between Creus and the Blaze Knight, and he merely responded with an "okay". By the time Creus and the Blaze Knight were long gone, he suddenly woke up from his daze and realised……

There was a mountain of paperwork awaiting his attention on the table!

~O~O~O~O~

"You actually finished the whole stack! You're amazing!" Creus was most impressed.

Ceo's only reaction to such praise was his deaden eyes becoming even less lively as he said faintly, "Didn't you say they had to be handed in today? I spent the whole night going through them all and didn't get a wink of sleep……"

"That's right! Today's the deadline!" agreed Creus. He then added in a quiet mutter, "But I'm always late, and besides, everyone knows that my teacher Neo always procrastinates with his paperwork."

"What was that?" asked Ceo, not hearing the last part.

"Nothing!" With the stack of documents in one hand, he grabbed Ceo with the other and said, "Let's go! You helped me with the paperwork, so now it's my turn to help you with your winking practise!"

"You still remember?" Ceo asked in faint disbelief. It had occurred to him more than once that Creus was merely using him to help with the paperwork and had no intentions of helping him with his winking practise, but it seems he was wrong.

"Of course!"

After dropping off the paperwork, Creus then dragged Ceo off to some place. When he finally stopped, he turned to Ceo and asked, "How do you feel right now?"

Ceo replied weakly, "Very tired. I haven't slept the whole of last night and even had to look continuously at all those documents. Even now I keep seeing all those words…… 'instructions', 'proposals', 'applications for budget allowance'……"

"Wink at that corner."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Ceo didn't understand, but he did as he was told and winked.

"Ooh, how adorable!"

"What a handsome little knight!"

Ceo blinked blankly as he heard girly screaming from the direction in which he had just winked at. Were there…… girls there?

His eyes widened at that thought and he tried to peer closely at his surroundings, but his efforts were thwarted when Creus covered his eyes with his hands and dragged him off. He then took away his hand and instructed, "Wink to your right."

Ceo winked, and as soon as he was done his eyes were covered once more.

When he was released, he received another instruction, "Wink to your left."

"Wink to your right……"

And so they went around going through those motions repeatedly. When Creus finally released him for the last time, he clapped his hands and announced, "Winking at a hundred girls, done!"

'Huh?' Ceo blinked blankly at Creus's statement as he looked around. This is—the Hall of Light! The women-filled Hall of Light!! He immediately scurried to hide behind Creus.

Creus ignored his actions and dragged him away. Once they were back in the Holy Temple, he crossed his arms and said pompously, "I told you I'd help you! Remember, you owe me a favour now!"

…… huh?

~O~O~O~O~

In class.

"You've finally learned to wink at women without blushing!" The Storm Knight was extremely proud when he heard the report from his student. He clapped his student's shoulder and said approvingly, "I knew you could do it! I'm very, very proud (and thankful)!"

'Only because I had to go through office documents the whole night and couldn't see anything but words before me. I couldn't see at all if the person in front of me was male or female……

'It seems that, I really do owe Creus a favour?'

Ceo wasn't very sure about the matter. Why is it that he still owed Creus a favour after helping him with the office documents? But anyhow, it was thanks to Creus that he had finally learnt how to wink at women, so that means he really does owe him……. right?

~O~O~O~O~

"Here! This is today's paperwork!" said Creus as he dumped the enormous stack of paperwork onto him. "After these are done, you'll be able to see words only and won't have to worry about winking, so you'll owe me another favour!"

Why would he owe Creus another favour? He was already helping him with his paperwork! Is there any logic in owing someone for getting more work?

"I've already helped you with the paperwork before!" Ceo was getting a little angry.

Creus tilted his head at him in puzzlement, before he sighed and said, "What am I to do with you? Very well, even if you don't owe me for this time, you still owe me one for last time's help!"

……why did he not feel like he was getting the better end of the deal? At all?

However, it seems that in order to stop blushing when winking, he had no other choice but to do paperwork?

How did things end up like this??

In his room, Ceo was still turning those thoughts over in his head as he went through the documents, but whilst he was contemplating his situation, he had already finished ten more documents.

"Ceo, what are you doing? We hardly see you around recently. You seem to be very busy these days?"

"Teacher," he greeted. A little dazed from all the paperwork he had been going through, Ceo's reaction was a little slow. He had merely looked up from the latest document to stare blankly at his guest, and when he saw that it was no other than his teacher, he merely stared at him, giving no further response.

"…… What were you looking at?"

The Storm Knight approached his desk and picked up one of the papers.

'Oh no! I'm not supposed to be doing those paperwork!' Ceo's belated reaction finally kicked in too late.

"You--" The Storm Knight's face turned ugly as he stared down at Ceo. "You've been helping Neo with his paperwork?!"

'Oh no! I'm doomed! What should I do? Creus—'

"You don't even help me with my paperwork, yet you are helping with Neo's?! Just who do you think your teacher is? Me or him?!"

'……huh?'

Ceo said timidly, "Creus gave me those. I'm helping Creus, not the Captain Sun Knight."

"I don't care!" The handsome and dashing Storm Knight pouted, throwing a tantrum. "If you're going to help Neo with his paperwork then you're doing mine too!"

It suddenly struck Ceo that since his interaction with Creus, he was discovering many of the Holy Temple's hidden true personalities. But he just nodded his head and said, "Alright, I'll help you with your paperwork, but I don't want any more winking lessons!"

"…… you've been corrupted by Creus, but it's a deal! Besides, seeing as you've already mastered winking, it'll be fine if we drop them from now onwards."

Huh. It seems like he now owed Creus another big favour. But hadn't he already helped Creus with so much paperwork? So who the heck owed who now?

And so Ceo's bewilderment continued.

~O~O~O~O~

"Silly-o! You owed me a favour, so help me with this!"

"Silly-o! Seeing as you owe me one, come and help me with this!"

'Call me Silly-o one more time and I'll knock you silly!'

"…… Storm! Help me! You still owe me, remember?"

Right up until they had officially became the Twelve Holy Knights, Ceo Storm still couldn't figure out why exactly he owed Creus a favour. And why, for god's sake, did this 'favour' seem to stretch on forever……?

After having gone three days without sleep, and finding another stack of paperwork thrown his way courtesy of one Creus Sun, Ceo Storm finally exploded. "Creus Sun!!"

He lashed out with a kick and sent the source of never-ending paperwork flying. He then went after him and continued kicking at him.

"Ah, ah ah!!" screamed Sun as he attempted to dodge Ceo's vicious kicks, but he was no match for his swift and powerful kicks. As he scrambled away from him, Creus cried out, "Why are you so angry all of a sudden? I don't understand! I haven't done anything recently…… I mean, I haven't done anything excessive to you, right? Aah! Don't kick my face!"

'That's right, you haven't done anything recently; you've only just been doing it continuously for the past eight years or so!'

Ceo swung his right foot at Creus' head, only stopping inches away from his face, the wind from his motion even stirring the locks of the latter's golden hair. He then asked unhurriedly, "Now, you have the choice of getting the beating of your life or doing your own paperwork from now onwards. Which do you choose? Hmm?"

"…… please, do kick me! Kick me with all your might! You need not show me any mercy. My holy aura is very strong, and I am the self-healing Sun Knight, so it's no problem! Come on!"

Just then, the door was pushed open and Leaf's head popped in. He asked worriedly, "What's happened? I heard shouting…… you shouldn't be fighting with each other!"

With a shoe mark still on his face, Sun let out a beaming smile and reassured, "Brother Leaf, I'm afraid you've misunderstood. As the saying goes, 'the hand that disciplines is from the loving heart'. Brother Storm and I were merely communicating our love and not a fight at all, so my brother may lay his concerns at rest."

"…… Sorry for interrupting your exchanges of love."

Leaf quickly drew back and closed the door.

Ceo stared at Creus, his right eye twitching, but the latter, on the other hand, beamed up at him and said, "Silly-o, as my subordinate, it is a serious offence for you to attack your direct supervisor! And Leaf can bear witness to it! But see how nicely I explained it away? You now owe me another big favour!"

"……"


 

'And I'll pay you back for it right now! By kicking you--!'


 

~ The End ~


 

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Tuesday 1 November 2011

LSK – Side Stories: Facing darkness.

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Leithe Judge kneeled on the ground, his head bowed and his hands clasped together as he prayed to the God of Light, the symbol of the god – His cross – in front of him.

The prayer room had been thoughtfully designed to give the greatest impact on the devotee. The room was rather dark, with only a window above the God of Light's cross to let in light, bathing the cross in sunlight.

But due to this design, the all-black Judge Knight kneeled before the cross was also shrouded entirely in darkness, making it almost impossible to distinguish his figure from the shadows of the room.


 

'The Judge Knight is coming. Hurry, run……'

'You only know how to torture the chained sinners! Do you really think you are a holy knight?'

'The Judge Knight is a cold and ruthless bastard…… take care never to provoke him!'

'Please- please forgive me…… Should not the gods forgive the sinners? Why won't you forgive me?!'

'Look at you, all dressed in black like a demon from hell, and you call yourself a holy knight?'


 

"Even during such busy times the Judge Knight does not neglect to pray to the God of Light. This Sun is most impressed."

Leithe blinked at the sudden glare of light, and turning around, he saw that the door to the prayer room had been opened. The man leaning in the doorway had a head of golden hair that shined beautifully in the light bathing his figure.

Such brightness.

Leithe looked away and back down. "Praying to the God of Light is the only way I can ascertain to myself that I am still a holy knight."

Creus blinked at that in surprise and hurriedly moved forward into the dark room. "Has something happened?" he asked in concern.

Leithe merely shook his head and said, "I am just confused. Am I really a holy knight?...... Or just a ……weapon." By the end of his mutterings, his voice was so soft that he could hardly be heard.

"Of course you're a holy knight!" exclaimed Creus. "You're the Judge Knight, even! Leithe, if you don't believe yourself to be a holy knight, then no one would be qualified to be one!"

Leithe gave him a faint smile, but instead brought up something completely unrelated. "Creus, do you know where the cross of the God of Light is placed in the Judgement area?"

Creus blinked at that and replied frankly, "I've never really noticed."

"To enable the sinners to look upon the cross and repent their sins, the cross is hanged directly opposite the sinners where they can see it. When questioning them, the cross would always be behind me…… My back is always turned to the God of Light's cross, whilst I face the worst of sins and use even crueller methods to torture answers out of them."

All kinds of evil sins – torture racks, whippings, and even death…… Leithe thought back to the things he had to do almost daily, and realised dully that not a single one of them could prove himself to be a holy knight. Instead, they only made him feel dirty and filled with darkness. With just a slip, he would stumble and fall into the dark abyss of hell, never to make his way out again……

"You are the Judge Knight, and punishing the sinners has always been the duty of the Judge Knight, therefore, you are a holy knight!" Creus comforted clumsily.

"Really? But I can never tell when I might slip and follow them into that pitch-black darkness."

Leithe then stood up and said swiftly, changing the topic. "I have to get back to the Judgement Area, there's still a lot of work waiting for me…… and a lot of sinners to be punished."

And with that, he made to leave the room, but just as he was about to leave, Creus' voice spoke up from behind.

"Leithe. No matter that a holy knight may have their backs turned from the light and face into the darkness, they still walk under the light and not within the dark!"

Leithe paused at that.

"If not for your sacrifice of your chance to face the light, would Sprouting Leaf City have been so safe and full of light today? And yet, you regret this now? Leithe, are you telling me you regret sacrificing your own light in exchange for the people's bright lives?"

Leithe turned around and gazed at the Sun Knight standing in the dark, an expression of deep sadness on the latter's face. "Leithe, do you really regret losing your chance to stand in the light?"


 

'No matter that a holy knight may have their backs turned from the light and face into the darkness, they still walk under the light and not within the dark!'


 

Even though the cross of the God of Light was bathed in the light from the fading sun, it was the holy knight standing in the shadows of the room that had saved him.

If the person standing in the dark was the one who had saved him, then surely he could continue facing the darkness?

"Leithe?"

Leithe chuckled and said. "Creus, even if I were to fall into the dark, you'd just pull me back up, right?"

"Duh, we're best friends! So Leithe, help me teach that Earth a lesson! Beat up that bastard till he can't even stand!" Sun nodded definitely. "That'll teach him to go around flashing his new woman around me again!!!"

… … Who's saving who from the darkness again?


 

~The End~


 

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