Book 4: Move 2 – The Second Move to Slay a Dragon: “Get an awesome ride.”

*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.

 

According to Archie, the city gates had been sealed shut after the unicorn's escape, leaving only a smaller door for people to enter and exit from the city, so we knew for sure that the unicorn was still in the city. However, it was still a mystery as to why the unicorn had yet to be found, trapped as it were in the city with nowhere to escape.

We quickly prepared for our first mission as a group together, worried that as time dragged on unwanted twists of events may happen; such as the unicorn escaping, or it being captured by someone else and secreted out of the city. This was precisely why the Adventurer's Guild had announced a reward of five hundred gold coins for the beast's capture. The only condition they had was for the unicorn to be captured alive, and preferably not heavily wounded.

I picked carefully through the information Archie had gathered previously, and in the end I came to the conclusion that the first thing to do was to search out the unicorn's location and capture it before anyone else could beat us to it.

We were sorely pushed for time!

"Where's my equipment?" I asked of my new companions.

At that, Caecilia and Yuna exchanged looks before the former reluctantly took out a badge. She looked at it longingly for a few more moments before handing it to me.

I looked at the badge lying in the palm of my hand. It fitted just nicely into my hand, and was made of some kind of metal, but I could sense a very dark aura coming from it. I had to struggle to make out the metal elements in the midst of all that dark element, and then making out its shape.

The badge was not flat, but had a relief sculpture in the shape of an imposing…… creature.

I could not recall what the creature was, so I probably hadn't come into contact with it often, but the badge itself certainly seemed familiar to me, so it should be mine.

After that, I waited a moment longer, but nothing else was forthcoming. "Is that all?" I asked in surprise. "Not even a sword? What about my clothes?"

Even though I was currently wearing an outfit – an ordinary white shirt and brown pants – intuition told me that they weren't mine. I had to get back my original clothes – those weren't cheap stuff!

"You're a priest, and priests only use staffs, not swords," explained Yuna. "As for your clothes, they were beyond salvageable. When we found you in the woods, your surroundings were completely burnt. You yourself looked as if you had been burnt alive; your clothes were burnt black and falling apart, and your staff…… I'm sorry, but I think it had been burnt to ashes in the fire."

Burnt to ashes huh?…… how come I don't feel the slightest bit upset to hear that?

That doesn't feel right. My staff should be something very important to me, right? Yet I don't feel upset or anything. Perhaps, it was something that couldn't have been destroyed in a simple fire?

Oh, never mind that.

"Is there really nothing else?" I pressed on.

Both of the girls shook their heads.

'Is that so……' I absentmindedly touched my chest. It felt like something was missing…… Argh! Forget it!

"Alright! Now, the first step is to grab a virgin girl--"

"Are you really going to kidnap a virgin?" Igor exclaimed in surprise. He shot Yuna a cheated look before pointing out, "And it's not like you can tell if one is a virgin or not, so how are you going to get one?"

"I'll just have to grab a little girl, right?" I replied matter-of-factly. "And besides, as soon as we've caught the unicorn we'll let her go home, duh!"

"Grabbing a little girl? I don't know……" muttered Walter, struggling to keep to his morals.

"We can't do that! I absolutely refuse!" shouted Yuna, glaring at me angrily. "You can't do that, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Remember, you are a priest of the Light Church. Everyone knows that priests from the Light Church are the kindest and most honest people. If you were to kidnap a girl, once you've regained your memories, you'd regret it for the rest of your life!"

Regret it for the rest of my life? I-am I really such a good and kind person?

"What are you all so worked up about?" snorted Archie. "We don't have to kidnap anyone, we could just pay her!"

Archie nodded his head in mock solemnity before continuing, "We'd just have to get a girl from a poor family and offer to pay her ten copper coins for a day. But we'll have to get a young one, 'cause otherwise she might not be a virgin either. But that's life; a girl from a poor family – for ten copper coins a day, you can ask her to do anything…… heheheh……"

"Archie!" Yuna admonished.

Archie just shrugged his shoulders, but kept quiet.

I had quieted down after Archie's words. Hearing him speak so, I had felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest…… perhaps Yuna was right, and I'm not really a bad person. If I did kidnap a little girl, I might actually regret it for the rest of my life! But if we're hiring one, then it's a whole different matter altogether.

No need for kidnapping little girls, able to carry out my missions and at the same time not going against my conscience, and also satisfying my love for money; what a perfect solution! Ah, I have a lot to learn from Archie!

Thinking this, I smiled at the aforementioned thief. But for some reason, he returned my smile with a perverted leer.

"I know, I know. I give you the honours of hiring the girl." He shook his head, giving me an exaggerated exasperated look before winking conspiratorially at me. "See how good I treat you, bro?" He continued in an undertone. "So make sure you take a little extra care when healing me, 'kay?"

…… on second thought, perhaps I shouldn't learn from him after all.

"No way!" Yuna immediately refuted. "Caecilia and I will be the ones to hire the girl."

"Ok, that's settled then!"

Walter immediately agreed, before assigning tasks to each of us. "Yuna and Caecilia will hire the girl; Archie, you'll continued to keep an ear out for any further developments. I will try to prepare some equipment that we might need to capture a unicorn, and Igor, you and Creus will start looking around for any trails or clues as to the unicorn's whereabouts."

I glanced at Igor and said politely, "I'll be counting on you."

"No problem, bro!" said Igor as he clasped a hand on my shoulder. "We'll head out and get back my sword and armour before getting a drink or two!"

"Er?" I blinked at him before asking uncertainly, "But the search……?"

I looked back at the other team members, but they, too, were leaving for their respective tasks.

"We'll look around on our way," said Igor matter-of-factly. "And pubs are the best places to hear about any news!"

I blinked at his answer before turning to look at Walter. Walter turned around and smiled at me, explaining, "Don't worry. Searching for clues isn't part of a warrior's responsibilities. I'm only asking him to keep an ear out. Also, searching for clues isn't part of a priest's responsibilities either. So I'm letting you go with him for a drink and to grab a bite. You've been sleeping for so long; even though we fed you some glucose water, you should still be hungry, right?"

'The priest should stay at the back in situations like these,' I recalled. Is this also part of my 'general knowledge'?

"Let's go! Creus, you're coming with me for a drink……" Igor paused and looked at me doubtfully. "Will you be fine? It'll just be a glass. You don't look like you'd be any good at drinking."

Walter – who had just exited the house – poked his head back in and warned, "Igor, if he can't drink then you'd better not force him. A little alcohol is fine, but if either of you get drunk, you know the rules…"

"I got it… what a party-pooper," muttered Igor.

Alcohol!

The moment I had hear the word 'alcohol' I couldn't help licking my lips eagerly…… Somehow, I don't think I would end up as bad at drinking as they believed.

~O~O~O~O~

Igor and I walked along the city's streets; even though night had fallen, the city was still bursting with life. People were still making their way up and down the streets; plenty of stalls lined the streets, selling all sorts of odds and ends. With all the various elements mixed together so chaotically, I had a very hard time making out everything. But whenever I finally manage to piece together something particularly complicated, I would feel a sense of achievement.

"Creus!" Igor suddenly called out.

Bam!

Stars filled my eyes as a throbbing pain shot through my forehead. I crouched down and grabbed my head in agony……

"My god! How could you not have seen such a huge pillar right in front of you?!" Igor asked me in incredulity. "What the hell were you looking at?"

Ah, I walked into a pillar. No wonder it hurt so bad…… "There were too many things; I couldn't piece them all together!" I growled lowly in embarrassment.

"Piece?" Igor asked blankly.

"Damn, it hurts. Oh god, my head hurts so bad," I whined as I gripped my head. It felt like the pillar had spilt my head open.

"Of course it'll hurt, you even managed to crack the pillar," said Igor. "You're a priest, so heal yourself. We should move on, everyone's staring at us."

Heal myself…… Even though I knew that I was a priest, I had yet to use any healing spells. I wonder what I'm supposed to do?

"Elementary Healing!"

I blinked in surprise as light elements circled around me before turning into a new type of element and making their way into my forehead. The more they came in, the less it hurt.

I see! So this is how healing spells work!

Just then, an unfamiliar laugh sounded not too far from us. "Ahahaha! Igor, I've always thought you were stupid, but I never thought there would be someone even stupider than you! Pfft! Walking into a pillar!"

"Wha-? I'm not so stupid as to walk into a pillar…… and Creus isn't stupid either!" yelled back Igor indignantly before realising his mistake. He hurriedly turned to me and explained, "Really, you're not stupid. It's just that, you've only just recovered from your injuries, so perhaps your reactions were still a little slow, and you didn't even notice the pillar and accidentally walked into it."

…… Igor, you're only digging yourself a deeper hole. If you say anything more I'll throw you into the pillar myself!

"Are you alright? Did the healing spell completely heal you?" a soft and gentle voice spoke up. Too bad it's a guy's voice.

Before I could reply, the first voice interrupted.

"Kyle, why did you go and waste a healing spell on him for?" he asked impatiently. "Even if it's just an elementary healing spell, you can only cast five of those a day."

The gentle voice which unfortunately belonged to a guy – Kyle – replied, "It's fine. We're not leaving the city in the next few days, so we won't need much healing."

I stood up and observed the other party. Even though I had only heard two voices so far, there was actually four people altogether – probably a party from the looks of it. The first to speak to Igor just now was also a warrior, but with a higher level of wind elements, so probably a warrior focused on speed. The one who just healed me was – obviously – a priest, so he had high concentrations of light elements. But not as high as mine, I noticed.

Does that mean that I'm stronger than him?

"Igor, this guy doesn't look like one of your teammates?" asked the warrior, all the while keeping his gaze on me.

"'Course he is! He just joined us. Creus is a priest."

"Priest?" he sounded surprised, before asking dubiously, "Don't you guys already have Yuna as your priest?"

"Creus is a priest from the Church of Light," declared Igor proudly. "Just like your sissy."

'Who the hell is like a sissy……'

Sissy gave a light cough. "So, you're a comrade from the Light Church too?" but his soft question was drowned out by his companion's louder voice: "From the Church of Light? Really?"

"Or course, and Creus' healing skills are very strong too!" boasted Igor.

"Truly?" Kyle sounded pleasantly surprised for some reason. "You look so young! To be so strong at such a young age is pretty impressive. What level priest are you now?"

Level? I was at a loss. I had no idea what level I was; I hadn't even known I was a priest until Yuna had told me let alone what level I was. This was the first time I'd even heard about priests having different levels.

"Creus doesn't even need to recite any incantations to cast healing spells!" said Igor, before asking in curiosity, "Hey sissy, what level do you think he is?"

"No need to recite any incantations?!" cried Kyle, startling everyone else.

After a while, he said hesitantly, "This, er…… usually, incantations are necessary for the spells, but if one is very, very familiar with the elementary spells, perhaps it's possible. I think the Cardinals might be able to do so……"

"Cardinals?" I asked. "What's that?"

Kyle was rendered speechless by my question before saying with difficulty, "The Cardinals are the four archbishops, second only to the Pope…… Are you really a priest?"

"No idea," I replied honestly.

"You don't know?!" The four of them stared at me.

"That's 'cause Creus' lost his memories," Igor snatched to say.

"Lost his memories?" The other party stared at me, dumbstruck. Yup, Walter and the rest had looked exactly like that.

After a while, Sissy muttered thoughtfully, "Creus? I don't seem to recall any priest by the name of Creus."

When I heard that, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. If someone recognised me, I might have been able to find my friends quicker.

"It's alright." I said despite my disappointment.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't help you." Kyle looked at me apologetically, saying, "Perhaps you should go to the Church and try asking there. With such an eye-catching person as you, there'd definitely be a lot of people who'd recognise you. Unfortunately, there aren't any Light Churches here in Kissinger. I'm afraid you'll have to go all the way back to Forgotten Echo; there are quite a few branches in Moon Orchid too."

I nodded at him. "Thanks for your help."

~O~O~O~O~

I chugged down the entire bottle of alcohol before releasing a satisfied sigh and wiping my mouth with my sleeve.

Beside me, Igor stared at me in stupefaction. "Creus, stop drinking! This is already your third bottle! Oh no, this is bad! Walter will kill me when he finds out I got you drunk……"

I turned to look at him in the eye. "She sells seashells by the sea shore, and the seashells she sells are sea shore shells," I said clearly. "Who did you say was drunk?"

"Okay…… you're not drunk."

Igor scratched his head before standing up. "Well then, you can stay here and continue drinking, but don't overdo it, okay? I'm heading over to the weapons store next door. Oh, and here, I'll pay for your drinks for now, but you'll have to pay me back when you get your pay!"

"Then I'm not drinking anymore!" I cried out in horror.

"……"

~O~O~O~O~

"It wass just a little bit of alcohol, why couldn't you have just treated me to it?" I complained as we stepped out of the pub.

"You drank three bottles, Creus, three bottles. That's not 'just a little bit'! Each bottle you drank cost one silver coin……"

I really wanted to say 'it's only three silver coins', but I couldn't. One silver for a bottle! And to think that I'd drank away three silver coins…… I haven't even completed a single mission and now I've got a debt of three silvers!

Oh unicorn, where are you?

My hundred gold coins, where are you?

Just then, Igor laughed heartily as he ribbed me. "But I never would have thought you would be such a heavy weight drinker! I would have drunk with you, except that we've got a mission now. We'll have a proper drink once we've finished this mission, that's a promise!"

"Your treat?" I immediately asked with interest.

"…… You really are stingy. Even more so than our thief, Archie," muttered Igor. "How about this, the person who manages to drink the other under the table won't have to pay for the bill, okay with you?"

"No problem!"

I may have lost my memories and have no clear idea of just how high my tolerance was, but I felt strangely confident that no one would be able to drink me under the table!

"Here it is," Igor announced, before turning to me. "You don't have any interest in weapons, right? If you feel bored there's a store selling magic staffs opposite the street. You can go there and pick one out. The party will pay for the staff for now and once you've gotten your pay it'll be deducted from…… Your expression says: 'I'm not buying one if I have to pay for it'."

I nodded emphatically.

Igor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "A priest cannot go without a staff. Forget it. You'll come with me for now, and we'll visit the staff store together later on. I'm worried that you might get conned by them, seeing as you don't remember anything…… Hmm, doesn't seem very likely though, with how money loving you are...... Did you really lose your memories?"

"Hey! Yes, I really did lose my memories!" I protested.

"You sure don't look like it; you don't look worried at all," he said as he stepped into the store.

I shrugged. "I don't feel like there's anything to be worried about. I'm confident that my comrades will come looking for me."

"True……"

The store keeper immediately greeted us the moment we stepped in, his eyes sweeping the two of us before immediately focusing on Igor and completely ignoring me. To be able to tell at a glance that my type did not use weapons – and thus not even bother to waste his time with me; should I say he's materialistic or praise him for his insight?

As Igor and the store keeper discussed something about weapons, I was left with nothing to do but walk around the store. Most of the store's merchandise consisted of swords and daggers. Somehow, the swords feel very familiar to me. The staff, on the other hand, sounded unfamiliar to me…… Do I really use staffs?

I couldn't resist picking up one of the swords and giving it a few swings. It felt familiar in my hands too, I probably do use swords—erk! Where did the sword go?

I stared at my bare hands in bafflement. Wasn't the sword in my hands just a second ago? How did it disappear after a few swings?

"Ahh!!" Igor's voice cried out, followed by the clear ringing of a heavy piece of metal falling to the ground.

I turned to look and realised that the sword had flew from my hands and hit the back of Igor's head with 100% accuracy…… fortunately, it was only the helm of the sword.

Igor touched his head gingerly, pain splashed across his face as he turned around.

"Creus, what the heck did you throw at me…… Fuck!"

When he saw the sword on the ground he looked up at me in disbelieving horror. I immediately looked back in innocence and said apologetically, "Sorry, my hand slipped."

"You and your slippery hands nearly killed me! Priest, you are forbidden from touching any sword!" warned Igor in exasperation before turning back to continue haggling with the store keeper.

I walked over and picked up the sword before putting it back. I dared not touch any other weapon. 'I guess my weapon really is a staff,' I thought.

At least, if my staff were to slip from my hands and hit someone, no one could die from it.

Since I dared not touch anything else, I had nothing else to do. Igor and the storekeeper didn't look to be near finished with their argument anytime soon. "Igor," I called out. "I'm heading over to look at the staffs now."

"Okay, just don't buy anything before consulting me!" he replied without bothering to turn around.

"Got it."

After promising that, I left the store and looked around before noticing the store opposite me. There were carvings of fake staffs decorating the front of the store, so that should be it.

I stepped forward, but felt something pulling at my shirt…… who is it!

This really startled me, for how could anyone have snuck up on me? I can see 360 degrees in all directions; no one could have approached me without my noticing!

I turned to face the person - and relaxed my guard. For the person who had pulled my shirt reached up to only my chest, had a round plump face, long waist-length hair and wore a cute dress – it's only a girl!

I was probably too focused on the store opposite me and hadn't notice her.

I looked down at her and asked gently, "Hello, what's your name?"

"Red," the little girl replied shyly.

Red? What a peculiar name. "And what is it that Red wants with this big brother?"

"Big brother, come with me!"

Red suddenly grabbed my hand with both hands and tried to pull me after her. I hurriedly stopped her and said, "Hold-hold on! I'm with a friend and can't go with you."

But Red refused to let go, and kept pulling while calling out, "Come with me, come with me, come with me……"

I was too heavy for such a little girl to move – even if I am a 'weak' priest. But Red was very insistent, and so there we stood at an impasse. After a few minutes, Red's eyes – which had started filling up with water elements – finally defeated me.

I had no other choice but to bring her with me into the store and look for Igor. Igor was still haggling with the store keeper and looked nowhere near done. "Igor," I called to him. "I'm leaving for a while, so we'll meet up at the staff store, alright?"

"Sure, whatever," replied Igor without bothering to even look at us before continuing on with the shop keeper.

After getting his agreement, I crossed my arms and looked down at Red. "Alright! I am now all yours! You can take me wherever you want."

Red was immediately all smiles and the water elements in her eyes disappeared.

I was dragged off by Red through countless streets and alleys, but thankfully, I seemed to be in possession of an excellent memory and was able to memorize all the twists and turns. Three times left, five times right, the third road from the left at a five-way crossroad…… I managed to imprint our route into my head.

But even though I remembered the way back, it won't do to get distracted now! I still have a unicorn to capture – er, I mean, I have an Igor to meet up with!

"Where are you taking me, Red?" I asked curiously.

Red gave a small tinkling laugh and dragged me into another small alley before stopping and pointing. "Take a look for yourself, big brother!"

I looked in the direction Red was pointing and 'saw' what exactly it was Red wanted me to see. Even though it was some distance away, and even though I wasn't sure if I had ever seen it before, from the moment I laid eyes on it, I was certain of what it was.

A unicorn.

It was in an underground basement, and gave off a staggering amount of light aura. Even with so many things blocking the way between us, I could still see clearly its shape. Just as Walter had described it, the unicorn looked like a horse, except its lines were slimmer and more elegant.

The single horn on its head clearly distinguished it from the average horse. The holy aura the horn was emitting was so strong that I wasn't able to 'look' at it for long, and its shape was a little blurred.

Just then, the unicorn raised its head and looked in my direction…… No! It was looking at me.

It stared at me, as I stared at it.

After some time, I woke up from the shock of seeing a unicorn and asked quietly, "Was it the unicorn that asked you to bring me here? Red…… Red?"

There was no one around.

I blinked in surprise, but wasn't overly shocked. I am an amnesiac after all, and there are way too many things that I do not understand. For all I know, turning into a little girl could be one of the special abilities of a unicorn.

I headed in the direction of the unicorn and entered a small house. The house was pretty old and badly in need of repairs. It was filled with cobwebs and a thick layer of dust covered everything, a sign of just how long the building had been left abandoned. No wonder no one had thought to look here. But then, how had the unicorn gotten into the underground basement?

I was actually already able to 'see' it in the underground basement – it had been resting on the floor, but the moment it noticed me moving in its direction, it stood up and paced around in the underground basement, looking very excited.

I quickened my pace and hurried down the stairs before bursting into the basement where the unicorn had been hiding.

There it stood, not five steps away from me…… no, it had just moved forward a couple steps closer.

Even though I couldn't even tell if Caecilia was pretty or not, I was immediately convinced that the unicorn that stood before me must be one of the most beautiful creatures in the world; a breathtakingly lovely and graceful snow white creature……

Huh? Snow white? I knew somewhat of snow – some kind of frozen water – but what is this 'white'?

Just then, the unicorn moved even closer to stand right before me, nudging me with its graceful head.

"You like me, don't you?"

I smiled at it and reached out to pat its neck. The unicorn pushed its head against me, closing its eyes in pleasure at the petting that it was receiving and even licking my hand……

"Ah! That tickles, stop that! Hahaha… don't you only like virgin girls? It's not like I'm a virgin--"

Wait a minute……

Could it be that-that I'm a 'pure and clean'…… virgin?!!

Just then, as if to fan the flames of my growing horror, the unicorn pushed past my hands and nuzzled its head against my chest.

"Damn horse! Get away from me! I am not a virgin!!"

In reply, the unicorn started licking my face…… You shitty horse! Am I really that 'pure' and 'clean' that you would willingly lick me!

"Oh yeah! Maybe I'm actually only eighteen years old!" I mumbled to myself. "In that case, it wouldn't be that weird if I am still a virgin, right?…… Yes! I can't be wrong, I must be eighteen! No, perhaps even sixteen!"

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 4: Move 1 – The First Move to Slay a Dragon: “Form a rescue party. Again.”

*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.

 

Creus! You cannot escape, you can never escape……

I jolted awake.

I hurriedly opened my eyes, however upon doing so I felt that something was not quite right, but I just couldn't put a finger on what it was exactly……

Normally when one opens their eyes, is all they see a sea of black?

Opening one's eyes and keeping them closed made no difference! If that's so then what's the point of opening one's eyes? Or is it, could it be that, I-I can't see?

That's not right! I can 'see', and it's becoming clearer and clearer, as if someone had wrapped the surroundings with several layers of gauze, and was now unravelling them, layer by layer. The black was fading and the surroundings were becoming clearer to me.

I 'saw ' myself lying on a bed; the bed had a very strong wood element, so it should be made out of wood. A thick blanket covered me, and beside the bed is a chair. Even further away is a table with four chairs around it, and on the table is some water element…… ah, a jug of water.

I could even tell that the jug of water was only half filled.

But, I hadn't even needed to turn my head to 'see' these things. They just appeared in my mind. I tried closing my eyes, then opening them again…… the image in my mind didn't change!

So, what is the purpose of these 'eyes'? Are they not for 'seeing'? And this word, 'seeing', I'm getting more and more confused as to its meaning…… Am I 'seeing' right now? It seems like it, yet not.

I was still puzzling over this when something more important came up – someone's coming!

I turned towards the door, but then stopped in puzzlement. What is the point of turning one's head? I don't even need to turn my head to see the door!

Even though I felt the purpose of eyes rather mystifying, I pushed the matter to the back of my mind to focus on the person who had entered. This person had very high amounts of wind element, but not enough to be a mage…… Ah! Must be some kind speed specialising job like a thief, or an archer. And his appearance…… ah, my mistake, it's a 'her'.

And a 'her' with an extremely good figure to boot! Even though I could not tell if she was beautiful or not, a person's figure had nothing to do with beauty. As long as they had a big bust, a slim waist and long legs, they can all be classified as having a 'great figure'.

"Oh! Are you awake?" she asked the moment she saw me.

From her voice, I could make out that the person was a pretty young woman. To meet a young and curvaceous woman moments after waking, what bliss!

"I…… um, I'm awake," I answered as I struggled to get up and nod at her.

"Don't get up!" She hurried forward. "You've been severely injured…… er, it seems like you're almost healed… Amazing! But Yuna clearly said that with your injuries you would have to lie in bed for a month, yet it's only been three days and your injuries are just about completely healed. Yuna even suspected you for an undead!"

"Yuna?" I asked confused.

The girl placed her belongings on the table before pouring a glass of water and walking back to the bed, all the while explaining, "Ah, Yuna is our party's priest. She and Igor went out to buy something. Igor's our warrior. There's also a druid called Walter and me, Caecilia, I'm an archer. You should be thirsty, here, have some water."

I was feeling a little parched, so I quickly took the glass of water and gulped it down after a quick thanks.

"What about you?" Caecilia asked with curiosity. "What's your name?"

It was not until I had finished the whole glass of water and quenched my thirst that I heard her question.

"My name's……"

"Hm?"

Caecilia moved a little closer, and I could finally 'see' her face. She had almond-shaped eyes and sharp features with full pouty lips. Even though I couldn't tell if she was pretty or not, but based on that busty chest of hers I'd declare her a beauty.

"Are you going to tell me your name or not?" asked Caecilia in suspicion.

I hurriedly came to my senses and answered her, "I'm called-I'm called……"

I trailed off into silence.

Great. I now know what's wrong……

Who am I?

~O~O~O~O~

Four people sat in front of me. Starting from the left is the incredibly built warrior – Igor; skinny as a weed – Walter; the priest whose figure wasn't quite as good – Yuna; and the hourglass figure – Caecilia. According to them there's still a thief called Archie who had yet to return.

From the observations of their respective jobs, I could tell that this party should be pretty good, as they had a good complement of roles in their party…… Huh, looks like my common sense and general knowledge hadn't been lost along with my memories.

"You've got amnesia? How incredible," muttered Walter as he got lost within his own thoughts.

"Yeah! How inconceivable," Caecilia butted in. "I had thought it incredible that he had gotten hurt so severely! How is that possible?!"

Yuna nodded her head in agreement.

"That's right," Igor agreed completely. "Too true."

"Em, m-may I ask," I was a little confused by this, so I asked, "what is so unbelievable about me getting injured? Everyone gets hurt…… er… Everyone can get hurt, right?"

I was getting a little unsure of myself. For someone who can't even remember his own name, the 'general knowledge' I know might not necessarily be correct.

However, the four in front of me had turned to look at me before saying in unison, "It's unbelievable because you are really, really strong!"

"I'm strong?" I asked in surprise. "Am I a warrior?"

"No, you're a priest," Yuna corrected me.

A priest?

I am a priest, yet they say I am strong? But then why does my 'general knowledge' tell me that priests are known for being weak pussies? Hmm, looks like my 'general knowledge' cannot be trusted after all.

"Well, it's not that you're really strong, even though you are a very powerful priest indeed," said Yuna thoughtfully. "We were actually referring to your companions."

My companions…… I asked in surprise, "Is that not you guys?"

Caecilia rolled her eyes at me. "If we were your companions, why would we bother asking you for your name?"

She's got a point.

I fiddled with my hair absent-mindedly as I voiced my question, "You know that I am a priest, and that my companions are pretty strong, yet you do not know my name? Do you or do you not know me?"

They exchanged looks with each other. In the end, it was Walter who answered my question. "We don't know you, really, but we were rescued once by you and your companions. We knew that you were a priest because we saw you casting holy light that one time. And we could tell that your companions were quite strong from their attacks. Even though your party had only three people, you guys must have been pretty strong."

My companions, huh? I wasn't really surprised to hear that I had companions. In fact, several blurry figures came to mind when I heard the word, though there were far more than the number Walter had given. So even though I had no recollection of whom they were and how they looked like, I was very sure that I had companions, and quite a large number of them too.

I felt more relieved after realising this fact, but I was still curious. "What are my companions like?"

"There was a holy knight, and a-a……"

Walter hesitated. I noticed him frowning…… so that would mean he was hesitating, right? But why? Is there something wrong with that companion of mine?

Igor leant near me and said in a low voice, "He's a dark elf."

"A dark elf?" If I wasn't mistaken, the dark elves are a race of white-haired, ebony-skinned elves with a bad reputation, but the finer details seem to elude me.

Just then, Yuna hurriedly said, "Perhaps the dark elf was being held captive by you and the holy knight."

"Y-yeah!" Igor parroted. "Holy knights and priests would never be on the same side as a dark elf! They are dark creatures! And everyone knows that the Church of Light hate dark creatures the most."

"The Church of Light? I'm from the Church of Light?"

I turned the words over and over in my head. 'The Church of Light'. 'The Church of Light' and 'holy knights' certainly seemed to ring a bell, so perhaps it was true.

Yuna nodded and explained, "Your holy light is very strong. Only priests from the Church of Light could have such strong holy light, so it's not possible for you to be a priest from the other churches. But I wonder what you are doing here."

"Here?" I asked confusedly. "Where is here?"

"This is the country of Kissinger, the Church of Chaos's territory! The Church of Light in Forgotten Echo is quite a long distance from here. You would have to walk towards north for five days before you can even reach the borders of Forgotten Echo!"

I nodded my head in comprehension. 'Kissinger' sounded foreign to me, so I'm probably not from around here. And 'the Church of Chaos' didn't sound any more familiar either; not as familiar as the Church of Light, at least.

I turned to Yuna and asked, "Then, Yuna, are you a priest from the Church of Chaos?"

"Of course not. I'm from the Church of War," she replied impatiently. "If I were from the Church of Chaos we wouldn't have needed your help back then in the first place."

What did that mean?

I quieted down, not wishing to ask again. Even if Yuna did answer me, it would only raise more questions. Besides, it's not like I really care about which church she's from. All I want to know is - who the hell am I?!

I would be pleased with even just a name.

Creus! You cannot escape, you can never escape……

I paused. I do remember hearing this when I was startled awake earlier, and the first word – 'Creus' sounds like a name…… Could it be my name?

Just then, Yuna said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I forgot that you had forgotten everything. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's quite alright."

I came to when I heard Yuna's apology. I then said to the four gathered before me, "Seeing as I do have companions, it should be alright. I mean, they're sure to come looking for me, right?"

They looked at each other before Yuna said delicately, "I don't think so. It's already been ten days, yet no one has come for you."

"Ten days?" I blinked before turning to the archer. "Caecilia, didn't you say that I had completely healed within three days?"

"Yup!" Caecilia shrugged her shoulders and said, "But after your wounds had healed, you continued to sleep for another seven days! We were so worried; we had no idea what to do! We couldn't just leave you behind, in your unconscious state, but we had used up all of our money on your medical bills and desperately needed to take up a few jobs--"

"Caecilia!" Yuna hurriedly cut her off.

However, Caecilia refused to be stopped. "But it's true!" she shouted, "We should be frank with him about our situation and have him help us out with the jobs! If not if we were to continue on like this we'll soon be without a roof over our heads!"

"Caecilia!" Walter said sharply. That seemed to stop her. Walter then turned to me and said apologetically, "I hope you can forget about what Caecilia said. We should have helped you without asking anything in return. After all, if you and your companions hadn't helped us out back then we would have died in the cave."

"He's right. So don't mind what she said, she's just too reckless and headstrong," said Yuna as she shot a warning look in Caecilia's direction. The latter backed down, reluctantly.

"Creus."

"What?" They blinked at me in incomprehension.

"You guys can call me Creus. It should be my name…… I guess."

They all nodded; Caecilia even muttered my name under her breath a few times, complaining that it was hard to pronounce.

I then continued on, "According to you, I've saved you guys once, and now you have saved me, so let's call it even. No one owes anyone anything from now on."

The four of them nodded, and Igor even shouted out approvingly "Good man, Creus!"

I smiled before continuing, "As for helping you out with the assignments, I won't refuse, but I want a cut of the pay. I'll take a ten percent cut for midlevel healing and twenty percent for advanced level healing. Should you need divine spells, that'll be another ten percent – thirty percent in total."

"… …"

"Are you really a priest of the Church of Light?!" Caecilia burst out. "I thought that they're all kind and generous?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Who knows? I've lost my memories and don't remember anything. I could be from the Church of Chaos for all I know. And besides, you'd reminded me that in my current circumstances, I have neither companions nor my memory, so I have to depend on myself for food and shelter. If I have to start earning money, isn't it better to earn more than to earn less?"

At that, the three members all glared at their archer; Caecilia, on the other hand, looked remorseful.

When she noticed her group members glaring at her, she complained, "You're not at all like your cultured and elegant appearance!"

My appearance? I asked her curiously, "What do I look like?"

Caecilia leant closer to me and answered seriously, "Beautiful long golden hair, deep blue eyes, fair skin so soft to the touch……"

Fair? What does fair mean......? Hold on! Soft to the touch? "Wait a minute! How would you know my skin is soft to the touch? You didn't touch me, did you?"

"… … Ah!"

Caecilia froze and stared at me in mortification, before hurrying to explain, "I-I couldn't help it! It was when I had to change your bandages, and when helping to dress you I would of course come into contact with your skin. And how could I avoid touching when helping to bath you, or when turning you over on your side while you were unconscious, and……"

And? There's more? It'd be easier if you just list the times where you hadn't touched me.

Damn it! I've been molested by a woman, yet I wasn't awake to enjoy it?! That's not fair! And I'm never one to let things go! I always get even!

"You have to let me touch you in return," I told her.

"Okay--"

"Caecilia!" Yuna hurriedly interrupted. "What nonsense are you talking about?!"

And Caecilia immediately changed her tune in embarrassment, "No! I mean, of course not! You big pervert!"

What a pity…… I should have requested it from her while no one was around. Judging from her reaction, Caecilia didn't seem to mind being touched. No, not at all!

Caecilia embarrassedly ducked her head down at her companions' disbelieving faces, muttering, "Well, it was 'cause he's so handsome, so I agreed without thinking…"

"Think about the holy knight in his party and you won't think he's so handsome anymore," Yuna suggested.

Caecilia looked up at the ceiling. Even though there was nothing up there, her expression turned dreamy…… or should I say, starry-eyed?

After a moment, she looked back down at me before nodding in agreement with Yuna. "She's right, you're not that handsome after all!"

…… I suddenly don't feel as enthusiastic about meeting up again with my holy knight companion.

"Yeah, that holy knight was so elegant."

This time it wasn't Caecilia who spoke, but Yuna. In a manner belying her usual composed self, she recounted excitedly, "And he's so handsome and strong, and he looked like such a perfect gentleman. His voice is deep and mature, and he was pretty generous. He didn't even try to claim credit for saving us, and even apologised for taking our kill away from us, trying to push the spoils of the kill onto us in apology. And he advised us to leave the place to avoid even more danger…… Sigh, he's just too perfect!"

It was now Yuna's turn to go off in her own world.

"And very elegant! Real elegance!" Caecilia shot me a look before shaking her head and muttering, "Not like you, who is only elegant in appearance."

I felt a little miffed at this and retorted, "He may look elegant, but he might in actuality be an arrogant and selfish person at heart!"

"Impossible!" Yuna, Caecilia, and even Igor refuted me.

I was struck speechless. Even the male Igor agreed with them. Could it be that my holy knight companion really was as handsome and mature and elegant and overall great guy as they described?

I refuse to believe there's such a person in this world!

Just then, Walter said a little hesitatingly, "To be honest, that holy knight seemed a little too perfect, and felt rather fake."

I shot a commiserating look at Walter.

"Hey, what's that look for?" Caecilia demanded exasperatedly. She had caught our shared looks of commiseration. "We're talking about your companion! Or do you not wish for your companion to be a good guy but a loser?"

Huh, she's right. It's easier to bully them when they are good guys…… Huh? What kind of thinking is this?! I'm thinking of bullying people? Could it be……that…

I'm not actually a good guy?

"That actually makes sense. Why else would my thoughts be filled with money, women and about getting even?" I mumbled.

"What was that?" Caecilia asked me in curiosity.

"Nothing. I'm just a little worried." I raised my head to look at the group in front of me, asking warily, "How would I know that you guys are not bad guys?"

"How can you say that!" Caecilia huffed at me angrily. "Of course we're the good guys! Who else would help you and stay by your side instead of going off on our assignments whilst you remain unconscious! If we really were bad guys we would have dumped you in a gutter somewhere and gone off on our separate ways!"

"You've got a point."

I beamed at her. It seemed to have a positive effect, for both Yuna and Caecilia – who had judged me to be good to look at but otherwise beyond redemption – were staring at me with stars in their eyes.

Seeing this, I felt the ruffled feathers of my manly pride soothed. "So you guys are the good guys; that's great, ohohoho……"

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Walter muttered to himself, but he was distracted by a hearty slap on his shoulder by Igor who smiled at him and said, "Walter, you're always worrying about nothing! Haven't you always wished for a priest from the Church of Light? Now that a super strong one is here what are you fretting about?"

I had overheard their exchange and quickly turned to smile at Walter, hoping to reassure him, but instead, he blinked and motioned for the rest to quiet down. He then moved over to me, raising his right hand to slowly wave it in front of me.

I grabbed his hand and asked strangely, "What are you doing?"

Walter opened and closed his mouth several times before saying, "It's just, I felt something strange. Your eyes……"

"My eyes?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm probably jumping at nothing," he said. "It just feels like you're not looking at me."

"I am looking at you." I was indeed looking at Walter. The minute shifts in his face's muscles, the circulation of his blood in his body, the regular beating of his heart; I was looking at everything quite clearly.

"I must be oversensitive."

After that, Walter didn't bring up the topic of eyes again, and instead turned to more practical issues, namely—my cut of the pay.

He bargained with me, "Let's forget about divine spells – Yuna's a warrior priest, so her divine spells are definitely stronger than yours. So as your only use to us would be in healing, twenty percent is too much. Our group's policy is to deduct twenty percent of the pay for the group's expenses before dividing the remainder between the rest of the team."

"There are six people in the team, so deducting the twenty percent and dividing the remainder among six would be…… not even fifteen percent."

'What? That won't do!' I immediately haggled, "Twenty percent isn't a lot! I remember that light priests rarely leave the Church for these things, so we should be in great demand!"

"… … Are you sure you have amnesia?"

"If you don't want to then forget about it!"

"Alright, alright! Twenty percent, it is." Walter looked a little annoyed at that concession, but he then came back with the condition: "But you will have to cast the divine spells – Holy Blessings on us!"

Holy Blessings? Do I know that? I thought about it. The words Holy Blessings sounded familiar to me, so I probably did know it. Besides, even if I didn't really know how to cast it, it's not like they're going to kick me out then, right?

"Alright--"

I replied, but was distracted by something. I turned to the door whilst asking, "Does your thief, Archie, tie his hair in a ponytail?"

"That's right! Have you remembered something?" Walter asked in surprise.

Before I could answer him, the door was kicked open. "Walter!"

"Walter! Great news! There's a big job in the city…… eh? He's awake?"

The newcomer had a head of long hair tied in a high ponytail. He was short and thin, probably reaching only to my shoulder and being even shorter than Caecilia; about the same height as Yuna. His voice, however, was a great contrast with his small build, sounding like a foghorn blasting in my ears.

This should be the party's thief – Archie.

When Archie noticed that I was awake, he quickly calmed down. "Aiyah! You're awake? That's great, we can finally take up assignments again! But then the news I had heard this morning would have been for nothing……"

"What is it?" asked Walter.

Archie shrugged as he said, "There's a pretty big mission in the city that doesn't require leaving the city, and the pay's not bad too. I was thinking of hurrying back to share it with you guys."

"Is the pay a lot? What kind of mission is it?" I asked urgently.

Archie blinked, looking at me strangely. He then turned to the rest of his group members.

Walter gave a little cough before introducing me. "This is our new member, Creus. He's a light priest and will be staying with us until his friends come looking for him."

Archie made a sound of comprehension before welcoming me. He then began to excitedly explain the task. "You guys have heard about the unicorn that was in the city recently, right?"

Everyone nodded, with me being the exception. "Unicorn?"

"Oh, right, you were still sleeping, so you wouldn't have heard about it," said Caecilia. "A few days ago a party managed to capture a unicorn! They became famous overnight after presenting the unicorn to the Adventurer Guild."

Unicorn? An unfamiliar word. That still didn't clear up my confusion. I hurriedly asked, "What's a unicorn?"

"What?!! How can you not know what a unicorn is?!" Archie exclaimed in astonishment. His voice was so loud that I could hear a ringing in my ears and I felt a migraine growing in my temple…… How could the others stand this?

I turned to look at the rest of the party; there they sat, calmly and not at all like my flustered self. As can be expected of Archie's longstanding friends, they knew him all too well…… they all had their hands over their ears.

Walter removed his hands and explained, "Creus has amnesia."

"Guh?" Archie looked as if he had stepped into a pile of dogs hit.

Walter then turned to me and explained, "The unicorns are a rare type of magical beast. They look like white horses, except that they have a pearly white horn on their forehead. It is that horn which enables the unicorns to unleash their magic. The unicorns are particularly known for their lightning magic."

Magic? I hesitated. I couldn't for the life of me explain what exactly magic was, but it sounded almost as familiar as Holy Blessings, so……perhaps I knew it too?

When I mentioned my suspicions to them, they roared in laughter.

And the loudest of them all was Caecilia. "That's impossible! You are a priest, not a mage."

Is that how it works? A shadow of doubt remained in my heart. Do I really not know magic? But if that were so, why would the term 'magic' ring a bell with me?

"Oh, stop laughing at him, he's amnesiac! You guys are very impolite to laugh at him so."

Yuna was the only one who had refrained from laughing at me, and had even spoken up to scold the others. My opinion of her immediately improved. Her comparatively lesser figure suddenly didn't seem as great a flaw as before.

She gently explained to me: "We've never seen a unicorn either, and have only heard from stories and legends that they can call forth lightning magic, but as to whether that remains fact or fiction, your guess is just as good as ours."

Archie butted in, "And everyone knows too—sorry, I mean rumours - Yuna, stop glaring at me! It's true that that's what everyone says! – rumours tell that unicorns only willingly allow pure and innocent virgins near them."

They like only virgins? Sounds just like my kind of guy…… Cough! I mean – unicorns are such perverted beasts, serves them right for getting caught!

Just then, Archie glanced sideways – well actually, all the males in the group had shot surreptitious glances too – at the only two possible candidates for virgins – the two females in the group.

"Stop looking at me! Do you actually think I'm one?!" snapped Caecilia.

Everyone (including me) immediately shook their heads, before turning to look at the last remaining candidate – Yuna.

Yuna immediately ducked her head at the attention and turned red as a tomato, before her head gave the tiniest of shakes.

Even Yuna was no longer a virgin!

I was shocked, but saw that I was in good company. The rest, too, had dropped their mouths open in astonishment, especially Igor. The poor fellow looked as if his world had just ended before his very eyes…… looks like someone has a thing for Yuna…… oops, looks like it's even more serious than that, for even his eyes had started to redden in sorrow and anguish.

But it would seem that the rest were already aware of Igor's affections, for I was the only one to show surprise at his reaction; even Yuna hadn't looked the slightest bit surprised. I was the only one who had a shred of sympathy for him, it seemed, and when I moved forward to give him a consoling pat on the arm, he looked back at me in gratitude…… and made to bury himself in my arms and cry out his sorrow! Thank goodness for my fast reflexes! I successfully evaded him.

Archie heaved a sigh in disappointment. "Sigh, what a pity. After the unicorn's escape last night, the Adventurer Guild is now offering a reward of five hundred gold coins for its recapture."

I paused at that, before rushing forward in a flurry of motion and grabbed his shirt. "What did you say?!" I shouted.

Archie stuttered in shock, "W-what a pity…-"

"After that!"

"The unicorn escaped last night!" he continued quickly.

I growled at him.

Archie stared at me in disbelief. It wasn't merely because of my growl (though it was rather intimidating, if I do say so myself), but mostly because I had lifted him up by his shirt, his feet having left the ground and paddling in the air.

"A reward of five hundred gold coins will be rewarded to the one who manages to capture the unicorn!" he finished quickly.

Five hundred gold coins!

I let him down and began calculating. Twenty percent of five hundred gold coins would be – a hundred gold coins! All I need to do to get a hundred gold coins in my purse is to catch that darned pervert horse!

I immediately turned to the others and roared, "Alright! We're taking this mission!"

They stared at me. "But-but, we don't have a virgin……" Walter managed to say after a moment.

I smirked. "Don't we? Then how about we just go grab one instead?"

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 4: To Slay a Dragon - Prologue

*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.

 

I am a knight. To be more precise, I am the Sun Knight of the Church of Light.

The Sun Knight; a head of shiny golden hair, deep blue eyes, a brilliant smile and a merciful and loving nature.

He who forever smiles kindly as he forgives you - 'the God of Light will forgive you of your sins'; that is the fate of the Sun Knight.

~O~O~O~O~

But what the hell has the above got to do with me?!

Sun Knight? Who's that?

And what the heck is the Church of Light?

More importantly…… who am I?

Huh? The benevolent God of Light will light the path of this lost sheep?

But… are you sure I'm a sheep?

 

Prologue: The holy sword and its missing owner

"Captain Judge Knight!"

Judge slowed down and looked back. The person was hard to miss with his signature black skin-tight outfit. In the whole of the Holy Temple, the Hell Knight Captain was the only one with such a unique sense of fashion. But at this moment, someone was missing from Roland Hell's side.

"Captain Hell Knight, should you not be staying by the Captain Sun Knight's side?" questioned Judge with a frown.

Roland got a guilty look at that inquiry.

"You lost him again?"

Leithe couldn't help but see the irony in the situation. It seems that ever since he had ordered the Hell Knight Captain to stay by Sun's side, Sun could never be found with Hell. But he couldn't blame Hell, for even he himself could not say for sure if he could have been able to stop a determined Sun from slipping away from him.

"Forget it, you won't have to follow him anymore." Judge shook his head in exasperation before sighing, "I should have known that sending someone to follow Sun around wouldn't work."

Instead of looking relieved, Roland looked even more worried. "But Sun's blind, what'll he do if he's in danger?"

"If he's able to throw you off his trail, I think he shouldn't have any problems handling himself."

"True," Roland conceded, but still he gave a sigh of frustration. "I just don't get it. How could Sun have managed to slip away from me when his skills are so poor…… "

Leithe smiled at that and said, "If that's what you really think of him, then you're severely underestimating our Sun Knight Captain."

"But aren't his sword skills pretty poor?" Roland asked in confusion.

"Sun's sword skills are unquestionably terrible," Leithe nodded in agreement.

Actually, saying so was a huge understatement. After having been trained by the 'history's strongest Sun Knight' for eight long years and still have his sword skills remain at such an appalling level, it was more than words could describe.

"It's true that the Sun Knight's skills are rather poor," said Leithe, "but if there's one single person in this world that I would rather not make an enemy of, it would be the Sun Knight Captain."

Roland looked even more lost. "But, Creus he……"

"Captain Hell Knight!"

Both Leithe and Roland blinked in surprise. While the latter remained indifferent to the interruption, the former had to quickly change his expression to a more appropriate one, pasting a dark scowl on his face and giving off a dangerous and unfriendly air.

But when he saw that it was one of his Judge Knight Division's knights, his frown became even sterner.

He knew his division's knights very well. They were quite similar to him in terms of behaviour – stern and composed. But to have one of his knights come running to him in such a flustered manner would mean that something serious had happen.

The holy knight took a moment to catch his breath before immediately straightening to salute them. "Captain Judge Knight, Captain Hell Knight."

"What is it?" Leihe asked with a dark frown.

"There was an explosion of unknown origin not too far from here, but luckily there were no casualties. However, the priests said that they could sense a very heavy dark aura still lingering in the area, and that it is very likely that someone had just performed necromancy magic there."

Leithe's face darkened at this news. What necromancer would have been so daring as to cause trouble in Sprouting Leaf City, the base of the Church of Light?

It doesn't matter who they are, if they dared to cause trouble here, he won't let them go!

Leithe gave his order in a dark voice, "Gather all the Judge Division knights, and Hell, you're coming with me."

"Yes, sir."

~O~O~O~O~

When he arrived at the scene, Leithe understood why exactly his knight had looked so flustered.

The explosion had left behind a huge crater ten meters wide.

The surrounding buildings had collapsed in the wake of the blast, and charred earth and shards of rock were strewn everywhere…… fortunately, this place used to be one of the older execution grounds, and was nearly deserted. If the explosion had taken place in the middle of the bustling city, the consequences would have been a hundred times more severe.

"Captain Judge Knight, Captain Hell Knight……"

The priests on site were about to salute them when Leithe raised a hand to stop them and gave the order, "Report."

"Yes, sir."

The priests started reporting what they had gathered so far. "Other than dark aura, we've also managed to sense large amounts of holy aura here. We believe that someone from the Church may have battled the necromancer, and we are now searching the surrounding area for-for their……"

Searching for their body.

Leithe knew without hearing the rest what they were trying to say. As he looked around and took in the sight once more, he could tell that it must have been an extremely fierce battle. If the person from the Light Church had won, they would have returned to the Church to report the incident. Even if they had been severely injured and had collapsed halfway back to the Holy Temple, they would have been spotted by the patrolling holy knights and royal knights.

But there had been nothing so far.

So the only possible explanation left was that they had been captured by the necromancer, or they were dead, possibly buried under one of the collapsed buildings.

Even though there were not as many buildings here compared to in the city, there were still more than ten buildings, and it was clear that it would take some time to clear everything. He hesitated between leading his men to search for the necromancer and staying put here to wait for more news, in the hopes that they would be able to find a survivor who could tell him what had happened.

Just then, Roland walked up to him and gestured at a collapsed building not too far away from them. "Captain Judge Knight, there is a very strong holy aura coming from below there."

Leithe frowned at that. Even if they were holy knights or priests, their bodies would still be taken over by dark elements after their deaths. But if Hell said that he could sense holy aura coming from there…… could it be a survivor?

At that thought, he immediately called to the search party, "Quickly, follow the Hell Knight Captain's directions and start digging there. Be careful, there might be someone still alive down there!"

"Yes, sir!"

The holy knights quickly began removing the rocks and fallen debris away. With their combined efforts they made short work of it, and soon enough had most of the building cleared away.

"Roland!"

Roland started in surprise, and when he turned around he saw a squad of knights in the red uniform of the royal knights of Forgotten Echo, and leading them was someone he was fairly familiar with – the royal knight Elliot who often came to spar with him.

Elliot walked up to him and looked on at the large crater in front of them. "What happened here?" he asked with a frown.

Roland shook his head and explained, "We do not know what happened either, only that there are large amounts of dark and light aura still gathered here."

Leithe, who had been standing beside them, turned to Elliot and asked, "Sir Elliot, can your men join in and help to clear away the debris? We believe that a priest or holy knight might have survived the explosion and is buried alive under the debris."

Elliot looked surprised to hear that, but he immediately nodded. "Of course."

He turned to his men and gave the order to help the holy knights.

As he watched the digging process with a heavy frown, Leithe understood that he was of no use here and decided to head back and see if he could find a trace of the necromancer's whereabouts…… he then suddenly remembered that necromancers were not in his area of expertise.

He turned to his vice-captain and asked, "Has anyone informed the Sun Knight Captain of this incident?"

"Captain, I was unable to locate the Sun Knight Captain, but the Sun Knight Division's vice-captain, Adair, has been informed. He said that he will send out the Sun Knight Division to search the city. He will report back if they find any hint of unusual dark activity."

Leithe nodded in approval. As long as Adair had been informed. But he wondered where Sun could have run off to this time.

"Oh that's right, the Sun Knight Captain is not here?" asked Elliot.

"Elliot, did you not see Sun on your way here?" asked Roland at the same time.

They looked at each other for a moment before smiling wryly and shaking their heads.

Judge's lips twitched at the amusing sight.

It had always been so; Sun might not be skilled at sword fighting, but somehow he's always managed to befriend skilled swordsmen…… no! Not just swordsmen, he's probably already friends with all the strong and powerful in the city.

The Church of Light's Twelve Holy Knights, a Death Lord and the Royal Princess's royal knight lover among them; the history's strongest Sun Knight and even a – unknown but guaranteed to be very powerful – necromancer.

And even without knowing all the strong and powerful, is Creus really as weak as the Hell Knight believes?

Leithe sighed at the thought. He was probably the only one other than the Pope and the previous Sun Knight who knows how strong Creus Sun really was…… no! Leithe felt that even he had not uncovered the full extent of Creus' capabilities.

"Creus," he muttered in an undertone, "You're always saying that you could never hide anything from me, yet I've never truly understood your true strength…… Or perhaps, you yourself do not understand your own true strength?"

Elliot and Roland thought they heard something and asked in curiosity, "What?"

"Found it!"

The three of them looked up at the cry and quickly approached the site. They saw the crowd standing gathered around the hole, watching, but no one was helping to pull out the survivor from the hole. The three of them frowned at that.

"What are the priests doing?" Leithe growled out in anger. "Why are you not helping to heal the survivor?"

The priests were shocked by the reprimand, and when they saw the Judge Knight's dark expression, they paled even further as they hurried to explain, "That-it's not a person!"

Leithe frowned at the strange reply and moved forward to investigate the matter himself. Inside the hole was no person, indeed, but a sword. It lied quietly in the hole and smudged with dirt, unbefitting of its dignity.

"The Holy Sun Blade?!"

Leithe had immediately recognised the Holy Sun Blade which lied at the bottom of the hole. The blade was Creus' most treasured belonging…… even though he rarely used it himself…

He rarely brings the sword out when he leaves the Holy Temple, but on the rare occasions that he did bring it out with him, he always kept it close to him on his person.

Yet now, the Holy Sun Blade is found here, but its owner was nowhere near…… Suddenly, Leithe saw something staining the sword…… He jumped into the hole and picked up the sword to get a closer look.

He was right, it was blood!

Leithe's face paled and he immediately turned to the surrounding knights and shouted, "Quick! Continue digging! But be careful, Sun-the person below might still be alive!"

Roland had jumped into the hole too, and he bent down to touch the earth, although his eyes never left the Holy Sun Blade in Leithe's hands.

He then stood up before saying to him in a soft voice, "There is no holy aura beneath us. The holy aura I was sensing previously was coming from the Holy Sun Blade. C-could it be that Creus-he……"

"No!" Leithe cut him off forcefully before jumping out of the hole. He then instructed the holy knights to continue digging below. Roland, too, jumped out.

Leithe looked around at the area that used to be the old execution grounds and said firmly, "It's not possible! This place…… this place could never be Sun's final resting place!"

So……

Creus, where are you?

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

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~

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

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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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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