Book 2: Duty 5 – The Sun Knight’s Fifth Duty: “Help out with your colleague’s problems”

*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.

 

As the saying goes, 'Think about the owner before kicking the dog'.

And Adair is one of my-the Sun Knight's-dogs…… no, I mean-subordinate. In fact, he's my top dog even… top subordinate!

You bastard asshole actually dared to attack him! I don't care if you're the great Son of War, in my eyes if you've harmed one of mine, you're the Son of a Whore!

But revenge is a dish best served cold. It'll take lots of time and planning, and then when he least expects it--wham! He won't even know what-or most importantly, who-hit him. Therefore, I've decided…… to settle the problem with the Hell Knight first.

Following the method of contacting the Hell Knight as given by the Pope, I arranged a time and place for our meeting. While waiting at our meeting place, I practiced all kinds of sincere and honest expressions on my face, so that during our meeting when faced with my various 'sincere' expressions, the guy would not have the heart to bother me with his problems. Hopefully.

It wasn't long before I spied someone approaching. I smiled at him as I covertly studied him. He was wearing the typical royal knight's uniform, but instead of the usual issued royal knight's sword, he was carrying a sword of a much better quality.

His face and body are not bad either; he had the 'versatile' type of good looks…… What? You ask what I mean by versatile good looks?

 

The so called versatile good looks refers to a guy with a rather handsome face, but not so handsome as to incite the hatred and jealousy of other guys (to eliminate one more rival for any future affections).

For if you were to take a closer look, you would actually see quite a few flaws, such as his too thin eyebrows, or that his nose wasn't quite so straight. You would then feel that he wasn't that handsome after all and feel guilty for previously feeling such animosity towards him, and to make up for that you would make the effort to be extra friendly with him.

On the other hand, while guys might think that his looks weren't all that, his good looks are versatile enough for girls to dream about. If the ladies loved fawning over the cute guy type, they would think that his eyes were big and adorable; if they preferred a more mature and serious guy, they would dream of lying in his strong arms, sheltered by his broad shoulders; and if the ladies leaned more towards the bad boys, they would definitely fall for that jaded and cynical smirk of his.

Huh? But what about those flaws- too thin eyebrows and the not-so-straight nose?

Bro, you really have a lot to learn about women. Haven't you heard? 'Guys pick at women's flaws, whilst women love their men's assets?' As long as a woman can find one thing about a guy that she likes, all his other flaws would become assets as well to her; the thin eyebrows frames his eyes better, or a slightly crooked nose gives him character, and other such nonsense!

Therefore, the versatile good looks are also called the 'universally effective' good looks. Its best selling point being that they are well-liked by all, men and women. Even dogs would feel drawn by his charms.

These people are well suited to any kind of career, with more notably jobs in the selling industry, or the scamming and conning career. Of course, being an undercover spy is also an excellent alternative for these types of people.

 

I couldn't help being impressed with the previous Hell Knight's eye for potential, for he had managed to choose the one child who would grow up into a guy with the versatile good looks from all the other ten year olds.

By now, the guy had reached me, and I immediately smiled brightly at him as I greeted him. "With blessings from the God of Light, this Sun is finally able to meet you, my brother Hell."

"Sun Knight? Why are you here?" He seemed quite surprised.

I smiled softly and explained, "His Eminence the Pope has informed this Sun that my brother the Hell Knight has met with some problems. From one holy knight to another, perhaps this Sun could better understand your problems, so this Sun has volunteered to come and meet with you."

"Sorry, but can you please stop calling me Hell Knight?"

The Hell Knight took a deep breath and announced determinedly, "I am not the Hell Knight. I am only a royal knight."

'Damn that old geezer! I knew it had to be a difficult dilemma for you to have so completely given up on him……'

I gave him a soft and sad look as I asked hesitatingly, "Hell Knight, why would you say such a thing? Could it be that the Church of Light has offended you in some way for you to reject the position of the Hell Knight?"

'If I find out that that bastard Pope has been mistreating you and thus forcing you to desert us, he's dead!'

"No, please don't misunderstand, it's just that……"

At this point, the Hell Knight took another deep breath and said slowly, "when I was first selected to be the next Hell Knight, I was only under the instruction of my teacher at the Holy Temple for a year, but I've been a royal knight in the palace for twelve years. In this life of mine I have two teachers. One is my holy knight teacher; he taught me for only a year, and since then we hardly see each other again. The second one is my royal knight teacher; he had trained me for ten years and had been my mentor until just recently when he retired.

"The Crown Prince might not really like me, but he's never done anything to me, and he had even entrusted me with important missions several times, while the Queen (King's wife)is very fond of me. I grew up together with the princess as playmates and the Crown Princess (Crown Prince's wife) has often helped me out.

And not to mention all my royal knight comrades. We grew up together, trained together, and even risked our lives for each other…… In contrast to that, the Holy Temple and the Twelve Holy Knights are complete strangers to me; I don't even know a single one of them.

He smiled wryly and looked at me. "You-you understand what I'm saying? Sun Knight, I don't know the God of Light, I don't know the Holy Temple, and I don't know the Twelve Holy Knights. Instead, the royal palace is where I really belong, and the royal knights are my true friends and comrades."

After hearing this, I couldn't help frowning. No wonder the Pope had wanted to kill him. A spy in the enemy's camp who's turned coats on us is a great threat. If he were to confide everything to the Crown Prince, we would be in deep trouble.

I had been quiet for some time now when the Hell Knight suddenly began inching away from me as he said in a low voice, "I never told the Crown Prince anything, but the princess knows about all of this. She has promised not to tell a soul, but on the condition that I remain unharmed. If something, anything, were to happen to me, she'll put all the blame on the Church of Light."

'Dear God!' I quickly raised my head and smiled my most sincere smile as I reassured him, "Please do not worry. You should know that I am not very skilled with the sword. Even if I were to attack you, you wouldn't lose. And as you can see, I had not brought along anyone else."

"Er-oh! Sorry!" After hearing my explanation, the Hell Knight stopped backing away and his face turned red. He then apologised to me embarrassedly, "I didn't mean to suspect you of anything, but-but the princess said that the Holy Temple might come after me, ahahah…… Now that I think about it, how could the Sun Knight possibly do something like that as to kill me? I should have realised from the start when I saw that it was you who had approached me, that the Holy Temple meant no ill will to me. I'm really sorry."

What an intelligent princess! Looks like the princess is no naive sheltered girl, to emphasize that if anything were to happen to him, she would look to the Holy Temple for revenge. Seems like she is well aware that many so-called accidents are not really as innocent as they appear.

"Please give this Sun some time to think this matter over, and to try to find a solution to this problem," I said with a hundred percent sincerity. "And please don't let this out to anyone else. If the Crown Prince were to catch wind of any of this, the Church and the royal family would be on very bad terms. I believe that as both the Hell Knight and a royal knight, you would not wish to see this happening."

The Hell Knight nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, it may not have been for long, but my holy knight teacher had always treated me kindly. Even though I've now decided to swear loyalty to the royal family, I would never do anything to endanger the Church."

I nodded, believing him. Not because of his promise, but because if this whole thing were to get exposed, it would not benefit him at all. After all, it's hard to gain people's trust if they were to know about your past spying days.

But if we were to just release this Hell Knight into the wild (serving the royal family can be a really rough life), it would be akin to a ticking time bomb under the Holy Temple. You never know when the Crown Prince might find out about this while we are kept unawares.

But if it is decided not let him go, we can't really force him to take the position of the Hell Knight, can we? So what then?

And if it is decided that the best way to go is to eliminate him, there's still an intelligent princess backing him up and protecting him.

'Damn you old geezer! You actually expect me to deal with this mess you've created?! Just you wait, you're going to pay for all the troubles you've pushed onto me!'

~O~O~O~O~

All the way as I walked back to the Holy Temple and into my room, and as I mixed up my facial mask and slapped it on, I was constantly turning this problem over, trying to think of a way to resolve it. I lied on my bed with the mask on, planning to think it over as I wait for the mask to take its effect……

Knock knock knock!

'…… I'd nearly forgotten that curse of mine that activates every time I apply my facial mask.'

I pushed myself up and called out, "May this Sun ask which brother of mine has heard the gentle whisperings of the God of Light and decided to seek out this Sun?"

From outside came Judge's deep voice, "It's me."

"Oh, then please come right in," I said as I lazily lied back on my bed. It doesn't matter if it's Judge, as he's already been startled by my mask several times now.

He came in and closed the door. Upon turning around and seeing me, he froze.

I glanced at him and asked nonchalantly, "The pink coloured mask should be an improvement to the usual green masks, right?"

Judge studied my face seriously before passing judgement (pun intended), "The green was startling at first, but after looking at the pink mask for some time, it looks even grosser than the green one."

"Good to know. Next time I'll put on a green mask on one side and a pink mask on the other, so that you can be both startled and grossed out."

Judge chuckled at that and shaking his head, said, "You should be having quite a lot going on right now, yet you still have time for your facial masks?"

"Why would you say that?" I asked casually as I folded my arms behind my head.

Judge should only be aware of the case regarding Adair, unless the Pope had told him about the Hell Knight's dissent. But according to my knowledge of the Pope, he wouldn't have bothered to repeat the same thing twice, especially when Judge isn't good at dealing with those kinds of situation, and so informing him about it would have been pointless.

"The Church of War is here, and no matter what their reason for coming, it would definitely be related with matters of spreading their beliefs and increasing their followers."

At this, Judge gave me a look, but immediately looked away. 'Hmm… guess the pink mask really is disgusting.'

He then continued to add, "And strengthening the beliefs of our faith is your duty."

"I know. I was just planning to think about it while I apply my whitening mask."

"I think you'd probably fall asleep instead," said Judge dryly.

'Ahh… he who knows me best……'

"Alright, to avoid me falling asleep, let's think about it together!" I said.

Judge shook his head at me before taking out a small white bag embroidered with the insignia of the Sun Knight. "No can do. I still have a number of criminals to interrogate. I only came by to drop this off with you. It's Frost's homemade blueberry chocolates. He said you can keep it on you so you won't go hungry."

'Oh Frost! You're such a good and loving wife/mother. If you had been born a woman I would definitely marry you!'

I quickly grabbed the little bag and opened it. 'Oh! What a lovely smell!' I thought as I sniffed the heavenly scent of chocolates and blueberries.

I then looked up at Judge, only to see him really getting up to leave. I hurriedly threw out a problem at him. "The Church of War wishes to kill Adair. Even the Son of War himself had personally challenged him to a duel, and used me to threatened him into accepting the duel."

I paused for a moment before continuing on, "And even when there was already a clear winner, the Son of War still tried to kill Adair, even to the point of stopping the rest of the Sun Division from helping Adair. In the end, Adair ended up being rescued by a royal knight called Elliot. Can you deduce anything from all of this?"

Upon hearing my words, Judge did stop in his footsteps and thought about it. 'Aha! This is one of his job's bad points-whenever he hears about something suspicious, it has become second nature to stop and think about the motives behind the incidents.'

Seeing that I had successfully stopped him, I popped a few of the chocolates into my mouth as I laid back. 'Ah… Frost's blueberry chocolates, a warm comfy bed, and someone to figure out my problems, what more can I ask for? ……'

Judge finally spoke up, "I think there can be only one possible explanation…… Sun, wake up!"

"Don't bother me……" I mumbled as I flipped over onto my other side, faintly hearing a low voice calling out my name, "Creus Sun". 'Hmmm, this uniquely deep and low voice can only be heard when Judge has been angered……' I hurriedly opened my eyes, only to see Judge's black face. Startled, I immediately leapt out of bed shouting, "I'm awake! I'm really awake!"

Judge eyed me suspiciously as I quietly sat back on my bed, looking bright-eyed and alert.

Finally, he continued on, "I think the reason they would want to kill Adair should be related to your recent mastering of the resurrection arts."

"The resurrection arts?" I asked blankly. "But how did they even know about it?"

"While we might not have widely announced your resurrection skills, it shouldn't be surprising for them to have heard about it from the spies planted in and around the Holy Temple. After all, we've never exactly been on the best of terms with each other and both religions have been fighting to gain influence among the people around here, so it's no surprise that there'll be a few spies in each other's headquarters."

I nodded my head at that. Aren't there even a few of our spies hiding amongst the royal family? If we've even planted spies in our own country's ruling family, there's no reason to let off on our biggest rival, the Church of War. And if even the Church of Light, known for being kind and benevolent, has so many spies planted everywhere, what more the Church of War?

"I believe that the reason they would want to kill Adair should be related to your learning the resurrection arts." At this, Judge gave me a sideways glance before adding, "Although you claim to have mastered them, no one's actually seen you performed it before though."

He paused for a moment, then added regretfully, "If you had mastered them earlier, perhaps you could have cast them on your old friend Roland."

Upon hearing that I was taken aback and rebutted him immediately, "That's impossible! The resurrection arts have many limitations to them, with one of them being the time limit of eight hours in which I can cast the spells on a dead person. If I were to cast the spell eight hours after the person has died, there will be terrible consequences."

"Terrible consequences? Such as?"

I was silent for a moment as I considered my words carefully. "After being resurrected…… no! You can't actually call it being resurrected…… What I mean to say is that, that person's body will continue rotting on, but the person would still be alive and breathing. At least, until their bodies have rotten away, or until they've been decapitated."

Judge was shocked by my words and exclaimed, "Isn't-isn't that almost the same as an undead creature?!"

I kept quiet, and after Judge had calmed down a little, I continued explaining, "Yes, the resurrection arts is actually quite similar to the arts for raising the undead, the only difference being one is cast within eight hours of the person's death, while the other is done 'eight hours after'. The necromancers would then do something to prevent further rotting to extend the 'life' of the undead creatures, as well as control the minds of the undead, commanding them to do their bidding obediently……"

"Then does that mean that every necromancer is well-versed in the arts of resurrection?" asked Judge, frowning heavily.

"No." I shook my head and explained, "It is a relatively simple thing to turn a corpse into an obedient puppet, but to really resurrect him is much harder. The eight hours time limit is actually one of the simplest conditions. Another condition necessary would be the strong ability for gathering holy light. Just this one condition is impossible for necromancers to achieve.

"Other than that, one has to also consider the low chances of completely resurrecting a dead person, the price one has to pay for resurrecting someone, etc. etc.. In short, I can only give you this warning, you better not rely on me to come back after dying, for I cannot guarantee that I can successfully revive you, and without any important parts missing, or even worse……"

Judge paled and asked hoarsely, "Even worse? Is there something even worse than becoming an undead?"

I answered him frankly, "Well, not to that extent, for as long as you are revived within eight hours you won't turn into an undead, but you might be missing a certain part, or perhaps even have something additional. For example, you could have two horns growing out of your forehead, or a tail growing out your butt, a man could suddenly gain a pair of breasts, or a woman could gain a dick……"

"Enough!" Judge took a deep breath and shook his head, saying "This resurrection art doesn't sound very stable."

I nodded in agreement. "Of course. If resurrecting someone were to be easy, who would want to remain dead? Furthermore, it is said that the Pope does not know the resurrection arts, but this isn't true. He does know it, but his chances of completely resurrecting someone is so low that he dares not use it, for fear of whatever side effects the person might have……"

"Completely resurrecting?"Judge questioned.

"It means to completely resurrect a dead person without them suffering any side effects."

I gave a sigh and added, "I have about a one-in-four chance of completely resurrecting someone, yet this is already enough for the Pope to be envious. According to him, this is the highest chance for complete resurrection anyone has ever achieved in over five hundred years."

Judge nodded in understanding and continued our previous topic. "So the Church of War is probably worried that now that you've mastered the resurrection arts, the faiths of the various countries' rulers would switch to the religion of the Light God, for with you having mastered the resurrection arts, they would no longer have to fear dying."

I shook my head and said, "They are misunderstanding something. The resurrection arts are useless to those who have died of old age or illness. Those who had died of old age would immediately die again upon being resurrected, for their time is already up. The same goes for those who have died of some illness or another. Once revived their illness is not cured, and if it were not treated, they would just die a second time. For those afraid of being assassinated or dying from illnesses, it would be better to just hire more knights and bodyguards, priests and physicians. That way their chances of protecting themselves would be much higher."

"You're right," Judge nodded, but he then reminded me, "But even I was unaware of the various limitations and possible consequences of being resurrected, what more the Church of War?"

At that I became quiet. One of the mysteries has finally been solved-the Church of War's aim of killing Adair is to determine if I had really mastered the resurrection arts. But it seems that even after realising that, I still haven't solved the problem. No, instead I seem to have gained another problem.

How to let the public know of the scary risks and consequences of being resurrected? Otherwise should some VIP die one day, people would be hounding me to resurrect them and generally messing up my peaceful life.

"As to Elliot saving Adair, that Elliot guy has a pretty good reputation, and I believe that he had lent a helping hand purely out of righteousness."

"You know of Elliot?" I asked a little curiously. 'How come so many people know this guy? Is he really that famous?'

Judge nodded as he said, "Elliot's quite popular among the royal knights, and he is friends with a lot of people, he even knows quite a lot of our holy knights. I've never met with him personally, but there are a number of my Judge Knight Division members who know him quite well. However……"

At this point he paused and glanced at me as he continued, "come to think of it, your Sun Knight Division seem to be on pretty good terms with Elliot too, so it's not that strange for him to help save Adair."

"Why would my Sun Division be so close with a royal knight?" I asked, annoyed. 'Don't they know that their leader-moi-and the royal knights' leader-the Crown Prince- are on very poor terms? And yet they have been running off and making friends with the enemy.'

Judge answered my question with another. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you this? Sun Knight Division's Captain?"

I couldn't say anything to that, and so hurriedly said, "I'll just go and ask Adair……"

Judge interrupted me and scolded me, "Adair is following your orders to rest in bed. That being the case, as his captain you should at least allow him this brief period to rest uninterrupted and start carrying out your duties that you've been pushing onto him all this time!"

'Ah! I was scolded by Judge! This grudge will be paid by……I'll just add it onto the Church of War's tab!'

"Alright, alright! Then I'll go ask someone else." I said sulkily. I immediately got out of bed, straightened my clothes and prepared to open the door……

"Sun!"

"What is it?" I asked annoyed as I turned around. "I already promised not to bother Adair."

"You haven't washed off your facial mask……"

~O~O~O~O~

Once upon a time, I had a super-capable vice-captain working for me, yet I never knew to treasure him. Now that I've lost him, I finally realised his priceless worth…… without Adair, I can't even find ferret out a single one of my Sun Division knights!

After finally getting word from Storm that they might be at the Sprouting Leaf Pub and Inn in the East City, I immediately headed there in a cloud of irritation.

'Those idiots! Had I not just warned them not to simply leave the Holy Temple? My warning had just went in one ear and out the other, it seems! Looks like it's been a long time since I last threw someone down the cliff!'

Not too long later, I arrived at the street and saw all the Sun Division knights there, each of them out of their uniforms and strolling along the streets lazily. When they caught sight of me they even had the nerve to smile and wave at me!

I gave a wide smile and crooked my finger at them, leading them down a nearby alley. They followed me happily like lambs to a slaughter.

"Captain! Are we going to beat up someone?" Ed asked excitedly.

I ignored him and smiled at all the Sun Division knights. "This Sun seems to remember warning my fellow brothers to avoid leaving the Holy Temple?"

'You dare to ignore my orders? It seems like you've all forgotten the reason why I made you jump off a cliff when we first met!'

As can be expected from my Sun Knight Division, they immediately sensed the impending danger from my blindingly bright smile and paled, instantly straightening up from their previous hooligan slouch to stand stiffly as an upright and responsible knight.

I dropped my smile and glared coldly at the lucky knight standing closest to me-Ed. Ed stuttered nervously as he tried to explain, "C-captain, we-we didn't wear our uniforms and-and are in casual clothing, you s-see……"

"And then all twenty-four of you came out in one big group?" I asked at them, smiling. "Oh, I see. Yes, yes, nothing to be worried about, the Church of War's warriors are only skilled in fighting and are totally blind, they won't be able to pick you all out from the crowd," I said sarcastically.

Ed hurriedly explained, "Captain, w-we really had listened to your orders. This is the first time in days that we've left the Holy Temple. B-but you see, we had invited Elliot to the pub to treat him to a drink in th-thanks for saving Adair."

"I see!" I nodded my head in understanding, and when I saw them all let out the breath they'd been holding, I grabbed Ed by his clothes and growled, "This reminds me of another thing. I've been hearing that you all were already acquainted with Elliot? I had been troubled by that piggy king not too long ago, (and now the Crown Prince is trying his hand at hassling me too) and now I find that you've been going behind my back and consorting with the enemy?!"

"We aren't consorting with the enemy! Captain," Ed was close to tears now. "We knew him because we had ganged up on him and beaten him up before."

"Why the hell would you guys go and beat him up for?"

I'm pretty sure that I had never given them that order. I had never even heard of his name before this, so how could I have ordered the Sun Knight Division to go beat Elliot up?

"Th-that was 'cause we had mistaken him for someone else…… it was only after we had beaten him up that we realised that he was the wrong person, so we had no choice but to heal him and treat him to a drink as an apology."

Is this what they mean when they say 'No discord, no concord' and 'After fighting, comes friendship'? Although, those sayings usually refer to two people fighting each other, and not a whole group ganging up and beating someone up.

After hearing his explanation, I was speechless. I then scolded them, "How could you guys even bungle up something like beating up the wrong person?? How is it that you guys were even chosen to be in the Sun Division?!"

"But captain, that was our first time beating someone up! We should be given some leniency for our first time……"Ed protested in a quiet voice.

I coldly rebutted him, "If the one you had mistakenly beaten up was me, then no worries, it would have been your last chance to do so, ever!"

Ed hastily smiled and tried to appease me saying, "Captain, how could we ever mistakenly beat you up? You are such a blessed and well-guarded talented person, your holy aura and princely bearing is apparent to all who behold you (added Sun Division Member 1), your lips are cherry red and your teeth gleam like white pearls when you smile (added Sun Division Member 2), your skin is as pale and beautiful as the first fallen snow and soft as silk (added Sun Division Member 3), your smile is so beauteous you can charm the socks of anyone (added Sun Division Member 4)……"

"Shut up!" I rolled my eyes at them. 'The next time I see Adair I better mention it to him to step up on their literature. Just look at them and all that crap they were spewing, what kind of flattery are those?! How sloppy!'

"Captain," Ed inquired delicately as he watched my face carefully, his voice so soft I could barely hear him. "Then, can we leave to meet with Elliot? It's already past the agreed meeting time……"

I stood there considering. 'From what I've heard, that Elliot fellow seems to have been sincere when rescuing Adair and not plotting anything. If that is so, then as Adair's captain I should go and thank him personally.'

After all if it weren't for him, Adair would probably have died, forcing me to resurrect him. Who knows what body part Adair might have been missing after being resurrected, or worse, some extra body part had grown out?

I wouldn't mind if he grew horns or a tail. In fact, he might even look cool with them!

But if he were to gain a pair of boobs, I would lose a very capable vice-captain…… no matter how capable he is, if he came running towards me with a pair of bouncing breasts, I would still kick him down a cliff!

After imagining Adair with a pair of breasts, I shuddered and suddenly felt like I should get down on my knees in gratitude to Elliot, so I quickly said to my knights, "What are you all still standing around for? Hurry up and let's go. You've already missed the appointed time, so don't let him wait any longer."

~O~O~O~O~

I followed the Sun Knight Division to the Sprouting Leaf Pub and Inn. Pubs and bars are rather foreign to me, for as the Sun Knight-known to pass out after only three shots of alcohol, I can never come to a bar to drink. I have only ever entered one when looking for someone (I was looking for Storm to confirm some news and had been looking for him all over the city, when I finally found him passed out in a bar and had to slap him more than ten times to wake him up-that was the seventh time I had angered him), or when I was passing by (whilst fighting with an undead on the streets I was knocked flying into a pub).

As the captain, I was the first to enter. At first, the people in the pub paid the newcomers no notice, but when a few glanced in my direction in curiosity, their stunned eyes became glued to my person.

I looked around the pub; it seemed to be a busy time for the pub as there were plenty of customers. It wasn't as dirty as I expected, but I wouldn't call it clean. It was pretty spacious, and other than the bar area, there was a second floor above, as well as several private rooms around.

As my eyes swept around the bar, a guy sitting at the bar with his back to me caught my attention. His back seemed so familiar. I was certain that I had seen that back before!

As I could not place a face to his back, I'm pretty sure that I had only ever seen his back and never his front. But this struck me strange, for why would I remember a person's back?

Just then, someone shouted, pulling me from my thoughts. "I'm a good person, please don't arrest me!"

And then as if he had broken the spell that had fallen over the crowd, everyone started shouting out all sorts of things:

"I have never stolen my neighbour's panties; it was the wind that blew it away!"

"I always pay my tabs after drinking, and I've never peed in public before!"

"I've never drawn graffiti on the walls of the Church of Light……"

Ed and the rest of the Sun Knight Division quickly shouted over them, explaining, "Everyone please calm down, we're not here to arrest anyone. We're only here to have a few drinks!"

"Liar! Everyone knows that the Sun Knight doesn't drink!"

"That's right! I heard that he goes red after one shot, gets a headache after two, and faints after the third."

"Such a low alcohol tolerance, what a pansy…… Ah, no! I never said anything!"

Hearing this, Ed got worried and shouted, "The captain is only here to gate-crash on our meeting!"

"Ed," I called out softly.

Ed paled and quickly turned to me, trying to explain, "Captain, that just now wasn't really what I was thinking, really……"

'It would have been more believable if you hadn't added that just now.' I resisted the urge to roll my eyes-for I am now the ever smiling and elegant Sun Knight-and called out to the guy sitting at the bar, "Would the knight at the bar like to join us for a drink or two?"

Ed followed my eyes and glanced at the man before saying, "Oh, captain. I didn't know you knew Elliot too."

'What? That's Elliot?!'

Without waiting for my response, Ed jogged over to the guy and clapped him on the back, saying cheekily, "Hi, Elliot! We're here! You haven't been waiting for long have you?"

The guy said exasperatedly, "Of course not. It's only just been half an hour, much better than the last time where I had to wait for an hour…… Honestly, and you guys claim to want to thank me."

"Hahaha! Let's not nit-pick now." Ed patted the other guy's shoulder and said enthusiastically, "Come! Let me introduce you to someone."

"Who is it?" he asked curiously.

By now, I had already walked up to him, and sensing someone behind him, he turned around……

The smiles on both our faces froze.

"This is our captain, the Sun Knight. Captain, this is Elliot." Ed introduced us cheerfully.

I took a few deep breaths before smiling brightly at him and greeted, "Hello, nice to meet you for the first time. How do you do, Sir Knight Elliot?"

Catching my reminder, he jerked out of his daze and hurriedly replied, "H-How are you? Nice to meet you too, Sun Knight. Terribly sorry about that just now, I was caught surprised by your elegant bearing."

The both of us stood there smiling at each other; one smiling brightly, the other smiling openly, but only the two of us were aware that we were actually smiling in irony. This is the first time I'm meeting Elliot, that is true, but this is the second time that I'm meeting the Hell Knight.

I see, so Elliot is the Hell Knight who wants to quit his job.

But as I thought about it, something wasn't right! I had already seen the Hell Knight's face, so why would I specifically remember his back, but not be able to put his face to his back?

What? You're saying that maybe I remembered wrongly?

Impossible!

I don't mean to brag, but my memory is so good that I could even remember the betting probabilities from 13 years ago, so how can you say that I remembered wrongly! I may have selective memory-like when Storm had reminded me yesterday of a meeting the next day, I somehow seemed to have forgotten it. How strange…… (shifty look)-but I wouldn't mistake something like this.

As I pondered and puzzled over it, the waitress had arrived to take us to our table. We were led to a private room, and as we entered, Ed turned to me and said, "Captain, this room is very secure, even if one were to speak loudly, others would not be able to hear anything from outside."

"Secure?" I mumbled whilst still thinking of the mystery of the familiar back, when something seemed to stir in my memories.

"That's right!" Ed grinned and then added in a whisper in my ear, "There are even secret pathways through which one could leave the room without having to go out the door and through the bar."

'Secret pathways…… I've got it! I remember now!'

It was in a secret pathway that I had seen that back.

Back then during the incident regarding Roland, I had sneaked into the secret pathways in the royal palace and had nearly bumped into the Princess and her secret lover kissing passionately in one of the pathways. Back then, the guy had his back to me, so I had only seen his back!

And that guy was Elliot…… so the Princess' secret lover is Elliot, and Elliot is the Hell Knight!

No wonder the Princess was so protective of the Hell Knight; she was worried for her beloved!

'The Hell Knight and the Princess in a secret affair?' I frowned as I thought it over, wondering if this is a good thing or not……

'Oh! Ahahaha! Of course it's good news! The God of Light must be favouring me! I now have a way to stop the Son of War from marrying the Princess! Hahahaha!'

"Ca-captain?" Ed asked me warily.

I was suddenly in an excellent mood as I smiled radiantly and asked him nicely, "Yes? What is it?"

Ed slowly backed away two steps and gulped before saying warily, "Er, the waitress is ready to take our orders, is there anything you would like to have?"

I smiled and said to the waitress, "Two plates of beef and ten bottles of your strongest alcohol!"

The waitress nodded and left to prepare our dishes.

Ed scratched his head in puzzlement and asked, "Captain, with so many people here do you think two plates of beef are enough for all of us?"

I chuckled, in a good mood, and said, "Who said it's for everyone? I wish to speak with Sir Knight Elliot, so you guys can all go eat somewhere else!"

Upon hearing that, everyone looked at me stunned, while Elliot looked at me with wariness in his eyes.

"Do not worry, I only wish to thank Sir Knight Elliot properly," I said with a smile, before saying in an undertone to my knights, "Well? What are you all waiting for? Or are you guys itching for another trip down the cliffs?"

Ed immediately turned to Elliot and clapped him on the back, saying loudly, "Elliot, why don't you have a nice talk with our captain, get to know him! We'll come back later……"

'We promise to bury your body properly. As your friend, we owe you that at the very least,' said their woeful and mourning expressions.

I watched dispassionately as the Sun Division knights bid Elliot farewell, saying all kinds of goodbyes like 'Farewell, Elliot', 'Sorry to leave you to such a fate' and 'I hope you have a better life next time', just as the waitress arrived with the two plates of beef and ten bottles of alcohol. She gave the scene a strange look and looked at both me and Elliot curiously before leaving.

"Sun Knight……" Elliot watched me carefully.

"Hmmm?" I smiled as I opened up all ten bottles of alcohol.

"You look to be in a good mood?" he asked cautiously, a hint of curiosity mixed in.

I chuckled and said, "Yup!"

He frowned and asked, "Is it something to do with me?"

"Definitely. I've suddenly thought of a way to deal with your other identity," I said in the devil's seducing voice. "If you agree to do one thing, giving me a way to answer to the Pope, you would no longer have to be the Hell Knight."

Elliot was ecstatic, before remembering something and his face sunk as he looked at me suspiciously. "I won't betray the royal family."

"Oh, don't worry! I would never ask you to betray the Princess. In fact, it's something that would benefit both you and the Princess, actually." I grinned at him. The 'but you might have to go against the Crown Prince a little' went unsaid.

Elliot looked at me, not knowing whether to believe me or not. "What is it that you want me to do?" he asked.

I grabbed a bottle of alcohol and said, "Oh, we'll talk business later, but first let's drink a few cups of wine. I'll go first!"

I drank the whole bottle of wine in one go, and as I wiped my mouth, I saw Elliot staring at me in shock. I gave a little smile and giving the empty bottle a shake, said "It's your turn."

Elliot looked at the remaining nine bottles of wine and paled.

~O~O~O~O~

About two hours later, I decided that it was getting a little late and so called the waitress to lead Ed and the others back.

Upon entering the room and seeing Elliot slumped over the table unconscious, Ed exclaimed worriedly, "What's wrong with Elliot? Captain, it couldn't be that you really killed him?"

I smiled faintly and explained, "Nonsense. He's only a little drunk. Sir Knight Elliot sure can hold his liquor! He managed to drink all ten bottles of wine."

"All ten bottles?!"

Everyone's mouths were gaping wide open as Ed stammered, "Im-impossible! This is 'Bottled Intoxication'! Known for felling a man with just one bottle of it. Even Elliot would only be able to drink a bottle and a half tops before passing out……"

I frowned at that. So this wine is that strong? No wonder Elliot had slumped unconscious on the table, and nothing I did could wake him up.

'Oh well.' I pretended to sigh remorsefully and said, "Oh, we were having such a great time talking with each other that before we realised it, he had downed all ten bottles. If I had known how strong it was I would have stopped him."

Everyone was still looking at me disbelievingly, so I quickly told them, "I still have some business to attend to and need to leave. Remember to send Elliot back. Don't leave the poor fellow here, or he'll catch a cold."

Ed and the rest of the Sun Knight Division nodded dazedly.

Once my back was turned towards them, I couldn't help licking my lips. That Bottled Intoxication was pretty good. If I had known, I wouldn't have shared that bottle and a half with Elliot! Tsk tsk. Oh well, since I'm going to meet Roland to ask for a favour next, I could always bring him here with me and I can then continue drinking in my Slayer identity!

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 2: Duty 4 – The Sun Knight’s Fourth Duty: “Look after the Sun Knight Division’s holy knights”

*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.

 

Roland wasn't very interested in the clothes designs or the cloth's material. If it weren't for the tailor being utterly smitten by his good looks and insisting on picking out his clothes for him, Roland would have just said 'three outfits, here's the deposit' and left without a trace.

But I hadn't expected Roland's lack of interest in the weapons store either. He had simply looked around and carelessly picked a steel sword. Well, I guess that with that demonic sword of his no sword in this ordinary weapons store would attract him. After all, regardless of its heavy dark aura, the sword is actually one of a kind with its amazingly sharp blade.

So at the end of the day we had ended up spending most of our time in the candy store. Pink had bought as many as two bags full of sweets and candies, a quarter of them consisting of strawberry flavoured lollipops alone. And since she had insisted on waiting for the fresh batch of strawberry shortcakes to come out, we didn't even have time for the toy store.

All along the way back to her little house, Pink constantly pestered me, "Toy store, toy store! Please let's go there, just for a while?"

"Next time! It's almost time for me to change back. If I delay it any longer I'm going to be sucked dry by this Dragon's Holy Robe!" I said impatiently.

"Don't be ridiculous!" scoffed Pink. "You had turned out perfectly fine despite bleeding out so much the last time. My goodness, you're even harder to kill than the undead……"

I rolled my eyes at this and ignored her, turning instead to Roland to say, "We didn't have enough time today, but next time I'll bring you somewhere else more interesting."

Roland nodded to that. "Anywhere's fine as long as I can go outdoors once in a while."

Sigh… I don't know if today's outing was really for Roland's sake or Pink's sake. I shall have to bring him to some more interesting places so he won't get bored next time.

I bid goodbye to them and left, maintaining my Sun Knight's smile all the way back. Hah! I'm always the centre of attention no matter where I go, even on such a remote and quiet street. ……but it seems like their stares are a little strange? Is it my clothes? Are they messy or something?

I hurriedly looked down to check, only to see skin-tight black outfit and silver armour…… I'd forgotten to change back!

No wonder everyone was looking at me so, for no matter where you go such an outfit is sure to arouse suspicion. Honestly, what was the creator of this outfit thinking when designing it? How is an assassin supposed to carry out their mission in such a conspicuous outfit? It's even more eye-catching than the brilliant Sun Knight himself!

'Master, this servant is a nocturnal outfit and should be worn during the night time. It may be eye-catching during the day, but it is perfect for concealing one's self in the night.'

I blinked once before realizing that it was just the Dragon's Holy Robe speaking to me once more. I said comfortingly to myself, "It's not my memory that's poor, it's just that no one would be able to get used to their clothes speaking back to them, right? Dragon's Holy Robe, don't speak up unless necessary or you'll give me another fright."

'Yes, Master. This one will not repeat such a mistake again.'

'Oh man, why does it feels like I'm bullying the outfit?... Oh forget it; let's just quickly find a hidden spot to change back before I suffer from excessive blood loss.'

I looked around for a suitable place but instead caught sight of the Sun Knight Division heading in my direction. I quickly hid myself in the shadows and watched as they passed by my hiding spot to enter a pub. Stepping out from the shadows, I looked at the pub that they had entered consideringly.

'A good captain shouldn't eavesdrop on the personal matters of their subordinates…… but then again, when have I ever claimed to be a good captain?'

After clearing that up in my mind, I quickly found a quiet alley and jumped up onto the roof of the pub, trying to locate my Division knights. It wasn't long before I found them in one of the private rooms.

Luckily for me, the building was built from wood and the noise from the pub area outside the private room was quite loud, thus allowing me to cut out a hole in the roof so I could look in and eavesdrop on my holy knights.

I peered through the hole I made and saw all twenty-five of them sitting at a large table, with my vice-captain Adair sitting at the head. Quite a number of dishes were already served on the table.

'Damn it! It smells so good!'

"What should we do, Adair? We can't find a single opportunity to attack him!"

'Attack? Who are they trying to attack?' I thought with a frown.

"Should we report this back to the captain? Maybe the captain wasn't aware of the situation......?"

Adair shook his head in disagreement and said, "We can't do that. Once the captain has given his orders, no matter what we have to carry them out successfully. Or have you forgotten our captain's first lesson?"

The moment he said that the team all looked at each other wryly and then said in perfect unison, "'If I ask you to jump off a cliff, you better jump, or else I will personally push you off the cliff, and throw down a huge rock after you.'"

With that, the holy knights immediately lapsed into laughter, while one of them nudged the knight sitting beside him and asked laughing, "So, Ed, how did it feel being pushed off a cliff and getting squashed by a rock?"

The knight named Ed gave a wry smile and sighed, "In the beginning when we first saw him, the captain looked like such a nice and kind person and not at all bad-tempered, always seen with such a brilliant smile…… Who knew that in actuality if you did not humbly submit yourself to him, you would be bringing down a whole world of pain and suffering unto yourself."

"Well said!" The other Sun holy knights cheered.

'What rubbish! I have never asked anyone to 'humbly submit themselves to me'! This person who said that, he's called Ed, is he? Well, Ed, you'd better watch out, I've noted down your name!'

Just then Adair hurriedly corrected his team members, "Don't say that, the captain is a good person, he's just a little strict with us, that's all……"

The whole Sun Knight Division turned and gave him a look.

Adair looked a little exasperated and added, "and perhaps he's a little strict with anyone who has offended him too……"

Every single person raised an eyebrow in disbelief, as if to say 'stop bullshitting'.

Adair had no choice but to admit, "Alright, he's also strict with anyone who might offend him…… But no matter what you say, it cannot be denied that the captain is a guy loyal to all his friends and teammates!"

"That is true," everyone nodded in agreement.

'Heheh… it's a good thing you had all agreed, or else…… Hmph! You guys dared to talk bad about me behind my back? You guys all better take care, I've already noted down this incident!'

A few of the Dun holy knights shivered and looked around in suspicion. "Why does it suddenly feel so cold?"

"I also feel it too, let's close the windows."

Ed slammed his fist on the table in anger and frustration, saying "However, that guy Jak is such a coward! Not having the guts to fight one-on-one with Adair, how dare he claim himself to be an advanced level knight?"

'Jak?' I frowned. 'Who's that? Don't tell me he's Adair's enemy, and that Adair's using my name to lead the Sun Knight Division in an attack on him to exact his revenge?'

"But Adair, are you sure that the captain is aware that Jak is under the protection of people from the Church of the God of War?"

'The Church of the God of War?' I was shocked. 'No way? My Sun Knight Division has managed to attract trouble from the neighbouring country's Church of War? Isn't this a little too much?'

Adair answered him weakly, "I'm not sure if the captain is aware of it or not, but I am certain that if he was already aware of them, and that we had not carried out his orders but instead went and bothered him with this…… "

'Hey, hey! What has this got to do with me? I don't even know this Jak guy or whoever he is, and I definitely have no idea about all this stuff to do with the Church of War.'

Ed suddenly buried his head in his hands and cried out, "Aaargh! I would rather go against the whole Church of War than to go against the captain and be pushed off a cliff and getting squashed by a huge rock!"

Upon hearing this, the whole room burst into laughter as they all chipped in, crying out stuff like 'let's all go against them', and 'let's cover their heads with bags and rip out their balls'…… and other similar things. I better stop repeating their words or the God of Light might smite me down with a lightning bolt for polluting the ears of our innocent readers.

One of the Sun holy knights spoke up in concern, "But what if the captain didn't know that the Church of War had gotten themselves involved, and we still went ahead and attacked them? Even though we've already made quite a number of enemies over the years, those were all done under the discretion of the captain. If the captain had no intentions of going against the Church of War, then……"

"Then we'll be slaughtered by the captain," Ed finished for him in a tone close to tears.

At this all the holy knights quieted down and then turned to look at their leader…… Of course I'm referring to Adair, not the me sprawled on the roof above them. Adair gave a sigh and said for lack of a better option, "Alright, I'll go and ask the captain about it. So don't make a move yet."

"Thanks, Adair!"

"We're counting on you!"

"Only you can understand what hell the captain is saying from that confusing spiel of his."

Ed consoled him saying, "If the captain were to push you off the cliff, we'll hide at the bottom of the cliff and secretly catch you."

"No, don't," Adair said sternly. "If the captain were to find out it'd be even worse for me. Please, just let me fall. And if the captain wants to throw a rock down after me, make sure you help him, and remember to pick the biggest and heaviest rock."

Understanding dawned on the rest of the Sun holy knights. "Oh, I see! Adair, how sly of you. If we were to push a huge rock down after you, the captain would get worried that you might just meet the God of Light, so he'll quickly try to heal you. And with the captain's healing abilities, no matter what kind of injuries you have he would definitely be able to heal them all up."

Adair gave a little embarrassed laugh.

'Oh? I see that I have forgotten to mention to them that I now know the art of resurrection, and that even if they had really died and met the God of Light, as long as their head remains I would still be able to revive them.

'Adair, you better have a good explanation for all this later, hmph!'

 

~O~O~O~O~

Back at the Holy Temple, I was still pretty curious, but I had no idea when Adair would come to report to me, and I cannot go to him and ask about it as that would let it slip that I had been eavesdropping on them.

Luckily, I spied the Storm Knight, laden with his usual burden of official documents.

"My brother Storm," I called out.

Storm halted and-used to my questionings-asked, "Is there anything you want to ask, Captain Sun Knight?"

"Have you heard of a guy named Jak?"

"Jak?" he asked. "Are you speaking of the Duke of Ceylan's third son?"

The Duke of Ceylan's third son, so he's Jak! The guy I had told Adair to beat up until he couldn't even speak to repent.

'Adair oh Adair, oh how I've misunderstood you. You are still my most loyal vice-captain!'

"Sun?" Storm asked me uncertainly.

I quickly turned back and said extremely sincerely, "Brother Storm, this Sun is most grateful to you for helping to answer my problem. Your answer has enlightened this Sun and cleared away the clouds of doubt in my heart, as if the God of Light had descended on me and melted away the glaciers from my doubts, leaving behind fresh and clear understanding."

"If you really want to thank me then please never thank me again, you're giving me a massive headache……"

"I wish to pose one more question to you. Have there been any rumours recently about disciples from the Church of War coming to our country?"

"I see you've heard about it too."

Storm's expression turned serious as he said, "I heard that they had just arrived yesterday to attend the king's coronation ceremony. They're currently staying in the guest wing of the Royal Palace."

"The disciples of the Church of War are quite diplomatic, we should look to them as a good example to learn from." With this sentence, I was secretly asking him if they were here merely for some polite social mingling, or if they had another secret agenda.

Storm gave a cold laugh and said, "Even the Son of the War God is here; I imagine this is more than just a simple courtesy calling."

The Son of War. He is the highest ranking person in the Church of War, similar to my position as the Church of Light's Sun Knight. However, it can be argued that his position is even higher than mine as although I am the Holy Temple's head, there is still the Pope of the Hall of Light who could restrict my authority. And if I'm completely honest here, should the Judge Knight wish to fight for the position of head of the Holy Temple, he wouldn't necessarily lose to me.

But it is different in the hierarchy of the Church of War. The priests' positions are far lower than their fellow warrior comrades. Furthermore, the Son of War's autonomous power over the Church of War is incontestable; no one can override his authority.

So anyway, the Son of War coming over to the country of Forgotten Echo is as strange and unusual as me and the Pope going over to visit the Church of War's base-the country Moon Orchid.

Storm suddenly stepped closer and whispered into my ear, "The Princess's handmaiden's brother had let slip to me that immediately upon the Son of War's arrival, he had asked for an audience with the King and the Crown Prince, and after that he had paid a visit to the Princess. And this time the Son of War had come along with a large number of luggages. Extremely heavy and well guarded locked chests."

Luggages? Yeah right. They're probably betrothal gifts. Looks like the Son of War is thinking of asking for the Princess' hand in marriage!

"I also have reason to believe that the Duke of Ceylan is-in some way-involved in this matter. There seems to be a number of people from the Church of War entering and leaving his home--"

"Captain Sun Knight."

Storm immediately stopped talking and backed a step, looking warily at the person who had just interrupted him.

I turned to smile at the person, greeting them. "Captain Judge Knight, what a beautiful evening it is today."

Judge merely said abruptly, "The Pope requests your presence."

Oh, it must be time for it already. I nodded and said simply, "This Sun thanks my brother Judge for his notification."

 

~O~O~O~O~

I knocked softly on the Pope's office door and got back a reply quickly.

"Please come in."

Inside was a person standing in front of a French window (a floor to ceiling window for those that don't know), looking out and seemingly enjoying the view outside. I politely greeted him, "Your Eminence."

"Why do you address me 'Your Eminence'? Come now, Captain Sun Knight, as the head of the Holy Temple, your position is equal to mine after all."

"This Sun Knight dare not show his disrespect, for respecting the 'elderly' is part of one's basic manners," I said, giving ample stress on the word elderly.

Hearing that, the person turned around to face me. The young boy was smiling innocently, looking to be no older than fifteen.

However, this person is far from an 'innocent fifteen year old boy'-at least 60 years away- because this young teenager is the Church of Light's Pope and the man I call old geezer.

Now don't go thinking that I call him an old geezer because I'm jealous of his youth. You see, according to my teacher, when he was ten and being chosen to become the 37^th generation Sun Knight, the Pope had looked exactly like he does now. And when he turned forty and retired, the Pope's appearance had not changed one bit.

So this would mean that the old geezer is at least sixty, but he had insisted on using magic to keep his appearance young.

Well, if you want to cast a spell to look younger, that's fine. Nothing wrong with wanting to look a little younger. Even my teacher had secretly used the same spell to keep his younger appearance, but at least he had kept his appearance at about thirty years old, unlike this old geezer who insisted on looking like a fifteen year old boy, how perverted.

"Ah, Sun Knight, you are still as charismatic as ever," The pope chuckled.

"And Your Eminence, you are still as young as ever," I replied, smiling brightly.

We both smiled at each other for a while before the Pope's face suddenly sank and he said in that clear ringing voice of a fifteen year old boy, "Enough! There's no one else here so stop all this bullshit already. The Church of War is already encroaching on our territory, what are we still quibbling amongst ourselves for?"

My smile, too vanished as I said to him exasperatedly, "How dare you say that to my face. Don't you dare say that you weren't aware of the Crown Prince's intentions to humiliate me by choosing for me to perform the God of Light's Melody without my knowledge?"

The Pope gave a few awkward chuckles and hurriedly explained, "I did this for your own good, you know. Ever since the incident where you had tricked the King, the Crown Prince has been very unhappy with you. Who knows how long he might hold this grudge if you do not allow him to pay you back a little."

I gave a cold snort. 'If that was so you could have informed me earlier. I definitely could have played the role of an unwitting victim well.'

"However, did you really have to perform the God of Light's Melody so well?"

The Pope gave a little frown as he walked over to the coffee table and sat down. "The original intention was to let you make a fool of yourself and lower your popularity a little. Instead, you managed to perform the whole song perfectly and got the opposite effect."

I smiled wryly. I can't really tell him that back then I had stupidly made the decision to sing the whole song because I had lost my reasoning due to my extreme hunger, can I?

"Now because of this the Crown Prince is even more wary of you."

"When speaking with him, did you remember to pretend to be at odds with me, as if you want to topple me in my power and authority?" I asked worriedly.

"Of course," the Pope then gave a shrug, saying "It was the usual, the Holy Temple and the Hall of Light secretly jostling for power, with the Pope and the Sun Knight battling it out…… would you like a cup of tea?"

"Yes, please," I nodded. "And this wasn't enough to dispel his wariness?"

Whilst making the tea the Pope complained, "Well if it weren't for your outrageous actions-to even go so far as to force the King to step down-do you think the Crown Prince would be so wary of you for fear of meeting the same fate as his father?"

"How can he think that? Is he not aware of his father's extremely poor conduct? Forcing his father to step down is one thing, but to force down the Crown Prince with his impeccable reputation is another thing. Not even I dare to claim to being able to do so," I protested.

"Well yes, that is true, but the heart of a human will always lean towards suspicion!" said the Pope exasperatedly as he handed me my cup of tea. "That is why he has decided to curb the Church of Light."

"By using the Church of the God of War?" I asked as I accepted the cup, sipping my tea elegantly as I thought about it.

The Pope had poured himself a cup of the tea and explained as he sipped it, "That's right. The only ones on par with our influence are the Church of War and the Church of Chaos. However as the Church of Chaos is very far away as well as the fact that it's religion is more to the dark side, and thus not very easily accepted by our country's citizens who are so used to the light, the Crown Prince decided on the Church of War."

"And he really plans on marrying off his sister to the Son of War?" I asked, frowning at this, for this move will not be easy to counter.

"My, my. Your information is
quite up to date. The situation is just like you said." The Pope too was looking worried. "If the Princess were to really marry the Son of War, the Church of War would have a legitimate reason to spread their religion within Forgotten Echo."

I sighed at that, "And not only can the Crown Prince curb the Church of Light's influence, he would also get many benefits from the Church of War. Moreover, he is trying to push the responsibility and blame onto the Duke of Ceylan. Even Strom believes that the Duke is the one behind everything. How sly and cunning! How sneaky and underhanded! As can be expected from the Crown Prince who's already had control over the political scene for many years now."

The Pope rolled his eyes and said in exasperation, "This is no time to be impressed! Hurry up and think of a solution to this mess! The youth of today are all restless and filled with energy, they aren't interested in the Church of Light and its more mellow teachings. If the Church of War who places more importance on the strength of warriors were to spread here in Forgotten Echo, they would immediately switched religions."

He then added meaningfully, "Don't forget that securing the faith of followers is your responsibility as the Church of Light's 'walking billboard'. Furthermore, this whole thing was started because of you, so you have to take responsibility of it."

"Bullshit!"

I said coldly, "Regardless of my involvement or not, the Crown Prince suppressing us would have happened sooner or later. Because of that piggy king, the Royalty's prestige among the people has fallen to an all time low. At the same time because the Church of Light has been keeping an eye on him and curbing his more outrageous decisions, our popularity has soared to heretofore unknown heights. Now that he's finally gotten the throne, the Crown Prince would never let anyone or any institution to have an even greater influence on his country than him."

The Pope immediately started in on me again, "That's why I've been telling you all along to show a weakness, but what do you do? You just had to force the king from the throne, making the Crown Prince even more wary of us."

I tried to defend myself, albeit a little embarrassedly, "Well it wouldn't matter if I had showed a weakness or not, he would never have let us off so easily."

The Pope maintained, "It doesn't matter now. My job is to keep the Church of Light running, and making sure that the believers obey the Church's laws is the Judge Knight's job, but the most important duty of the Sun Knight is to strengthen the Church of Light's faith among the people! Therefore you have to settle this issue."

"I know."

As this pertains to the Sun Knight's most important duty, I nodded my head seriously, but left a warning with the Pope, "But I want you to give me your word that no matter how I deal with the issue you cannot interfere in it or stop me."

The Pope agreed right away, "Deal."

Looks like the situation this time really is serious, or else the Pope would never have agreed to my condition so quickly and easily. Every time a problem came up he would secretly interfere in it, and no matter how bleak the situation had seemed, he would always manage to get some benefit out of the whole ordeal, as can be expected from the old geezer who has been in charge of running the Church of Light for quite some time now.

"Oh yes, and another thing!"

The Pope smiled at me cheerfully, giving me an uneasy feeling. He asked casually, "Do you remember the Hell Knight?"

"Hell Knight, one of the Twelve Holy Knights and the only knight from the Cold Blood Faction that does not take orders from the Judge Knight, but instead reports directly to the Sun Knight; specialises in carrying out the more secret missions. Some say that he is a trained assassin or spy among the Twelve Holy Knights. There are also rumours that in the first generation of Twelve Holy Knights, the Hell Knight was not a real person but actually the secret alternate identity of the Sun Knight when he is required to carry out secret missions."

"Why are you explaining it all to me? I already know the history behind the Hell Knight."

"Because you asked me?" I asked sarcastically.

"What I have to say is that there's a problem with the Hell Knight."

I raised an eyebrow and said, "What's that got to do with me? Even though he is supposed to take orders from me, I've never actually seen him before. Wasn't he sent by you to go undercover in the palace not too long after being picked to become the next Hell Knight?"

"Oh don't say that, he is still one of your Twelve Holy Knights, and he's been forced to go undercover as a spy since young. Now that something's happened are you really going to just leave him like that?"

This old geezer…… he's making it sound as if I was the one who had sent the Hell Knight undercover. 'You were the one who had pushed him into such a situation!'

I glared at the old geezer, upset that he was trying to push another problem onto me when I already had enough on my plate, what with the situation with the Church of War and the Crown Prince.

We glared at each other for a while before he gave in first and sighed, "Alright! Since you don't care about Hell at all, I'll just have to sacrifice him. Besides, he's never showed up before, so it'll be easy to let him disappear without a trace……"

I shouted at the Pope angrily, "Old geezer! I've warned you this before, you can do whatever the hell you like and even kill off all your priests, but you will never touch one of my holy knights!!"

The Pope just smiled at me, "Then what about the Hell Knight?"

I growled at him, "Give me the means of contacting him! Now that you have pushed his problem unto me, he's mine from now on. Don't even think of taking him back, got that!"

"But of course! He always was one of yours! I promise that I will never interfere in anything to do with him in the future." The Pope sincerely promised.

What…? To relinquish control of him so easily……. The Hell Knight's problem must be no small matter.

Urgh. The Crown Prince trying to quash the Church, the Son of War asking for the Princess' hand in marriage and now the Hell Knight's problem coming up…… why are all the problems piling up all at once?!

"Heheh!" The Pope chuckled, calmly taking a sip of his tea as he commented, "How rare to see the almighty omnipotent Sun Knight looking so troubled!"

"With such serious matters ahead of us how can you be so relaxed as to make fun of me?" I asked annoyed.

"Make fun? I'm not making fun of you at all. After all no matter how serious or worrying the case is, as long as it is handled by you everything would be solved perfectly--"

"Sun! Sun!" From outside came this thunderous cry.

The Pope and I were both surprised when we heard a series of footsteps approaching us hurriedly. The Pope quickly hid his teacup and teapot in a drawer, lifted his heavy robes as he rushed over to his desk, and grabbed the veil he had left on his desk before quickly putting it on. He then sat down and waited.

I, on the other hand, had hurriedly went over to stand in front of the desk in a respectful manner, pasting on a rather stiff smile on my face and thus completing the picture that I was a little upset and annoyed.

Just in time, the door was kicked open so hard that it banged against the wall, resulting in a second loud bang. I was startled, as was the Pope sitting in front of me.

Who would be so brazen as to kick open the Pope's door?

I turned to see the hot-tempered Blaze Knight and scolded him, "Blaze Knight, how can you be so rude with His Eminence the Pope here……"

Blaze abruptly interrupted, shouting, "Your vice-captain's in trouble! Hurry to him, he's close to death!"

My mind went blank, with only one thought running through it.

'Adair is…… dying?!'

 

~O~O~O~O~

I raced after Blaze through the hallways until we reached a door. Typical of his signature 'hands-free' style of opening doors, Blaze kicked open the door. Upon our entrance, the Sun Division Knights inside the room turned to me, their eyes red, as they cried out,

"Captain-"

"Captain-"

"Captain your head! Move!"

I shoved two of the knights away while searching for Adair, only to see him lying on the bed, his uniform soaked in blood. His face was abnormally pale due to extreme blood loss, and his eyes were closed. He was unconscious, and his breathing was very faint-

'We don't have time!'

I quickly looked him over, making note of his most severe injuries. There were three large gashes on his chest, and another one on his thigh. I immediately placed my hands on his chest and his thigh where he had been injured.

"Intermediate Healing!"

I chanted a short incantation, casting a mid-level healing spell. Healing spells at these levels can only heal injuries like broken bones or some more severe cuts, but they are definitely not enough to heal Adair's severe wounds. However, they can stop his condition from worsening, buying me a little more time.

You see, high level spells require the caster to summon a large amount of holy light, as well as to recite an incredibly long incantation to transform the holy light into healing power. If I were to start right off with the high level healing spells, Adair might have become a cold corpse long before I could even finish the lengthy incantation.

Looking down to check on his condition, I felt that he still looked to be on the verge of drawing his last breath, so I threw another mid level healing spell at him. After the second spell, his breathing became steadier, and I could then concentrate on summoning up my holy light as I started the incantation, transforming the holy light gathered in my hands from its pure white radiance to a soothing golden glow.

"…… Absolute Healing!"

Upon seeing Adair open his eyes, looking bleary and disorientated, I finally let out a sigh of relief. Even though I could still revive him with the resurrection spells if he had really died, the resurrection of the dead does not come without a price. Furthermore, the chances of a resurrection failing are not low either.

"Captain!"

Just then, I only realised that I had been swaying dangerously on my feet when two of the holy sun knights hurried to my side to steady me; Adair too had leapt from the bed in concern for me. Fortunately for me, my Sun Division knights were pretty observant and quick to respond, or else it would be my turn lying on the bed right now.

'Urgh! First the tribute song earlier in the morning, then I had to expend holy light to cover up Roland's dark aura, and just now I had to cast such a high level healing spell. This is all too much, even for me.'

After regaining my feet with the help from the two knights, I then turned to glare at Adair. "Lie back down! Don't think that just 'cause you can't see any wounds on you, it means you're fine. The fact remains that you had been severely wounded. Would you rather I send you sprawling back down, or would you prefer to lie back down of your own accord?!"

Adair climbed back into the bed obediently, not daring to utter a word.

After my outburst, I huffed angrily, before turning to call out, "Blaze."

"Ah?" Blaze stared at me with wide eyes. He was probably shocked by my inelegant and unsmiling self.

I forced out a smile and said, "This Sun wishes to handle private matters regarding my division. Could my brother Blaze please give us some privacy? And please remember to close the door behind you, thank you."

Blaze hesitated for a moment before nodding. After saying "Alright, take care," he turned and left the room.

The second the door was closed, I shook off the two knights beside me, walked over to a chair and sat down. "Now, somebody tell me, what the hell happened?" I asked icily.

"Captain……" Adair began struggling to sit up in bed.

I turned and growled at him, "Quiet, you! I don't want to hear a word from you. In fact, I want you to go to sleep if possible. Ed! I want a rundown on what had happened, now!"

Ed was startled at being called, but I forgive him. After all, this is the first time I have ever called his name.

Ed received several nudges from his teammates before he finally got over his shock and began his report nervously, "Well, we were on the streets in the city when we bumped into Jak. Because we had orders from you, captain-"

"Jak is the Duke of Ceylan's third son. And also, Ed, the Captain never gave any orders……" Adair hurriedly interrupted, but halfway through he clapped his hands over his mouth, remembering just then that he was under orders to keep quiet.

Ah, the person who knows me best may be Judge, but Adair sure is a close second…… If it weren't for my eavesdropping on them from the roof of the pub, and then asking Storm about Jak later, I probably wouldn't have known that Jak was the Duke of Ceylan's third son.

"Continue on, Ed," I said, trying to maintain my stoic captain image.

"So because we had your orders…… er, no! It wasn't your orders-I mean, that is…erm…" Ed stuttered pitifully, unable to spit out a complete sentence. He was sweating bullets, trying to think of an appropriate way to explain the situation.

After hearing nothing but 'errs' and 'erms' for five minutes, I had no choice but to turn to look at Adair.

Adair caught my look and immediately removed his hands from his mouth, pleading sincerely, "Captain, please, please, let me speak. I really want to do the report. If I don't get it off my chest I'm sure I won't be able to have a moment's rest."

I gave a theatrical sigh and shook my head wearily, saying "What am I to do with you? Alright, since you want to speak so badly, you'll explain what happened earlier."

"Yes, sir." Adair nodded his head respectivefully, before launching into a passionate tirade.

"We were patrolling the city streets when we bumped into the Ceylan Duke's third son. Upon seeing him, I immediately remembered of how he had used his sword to wound you, and-even worse-he had done it from the back! It was utterly despicable and dishonourable of him, and completely unbefitting of a knight…"

As can be expected from my vice-captain of five years, his bullshitting abilities are hard to match by anyone else. In reality, I had been escaping when the sword had been thrown at me, yet Adair had managed to turn it around completely, saying that he had attacked me from behind…… 'I really made an excellent choice back then when choosing you, Adair!'

Even the rest of the Sun Division was looking at him with admiring looks, especially Ed who had been stuttering for forever earlier.

"…that's why I couldn't control the urge to challenge him to a duel, but that guy, that despicable and cowardly knight, he refused my challenge and instead got some outsiders to challenge me on his behalf-"

At this, I couldn't help interrupting Adair's long-winded bullshit and asked, "Who was it who had beaten you up?"

Adair drew a deep breath before answering, "It was the Son of War himself."

I was stunned. The Son of War? That guy who had an even higher ranking than me?

I shouted incredulously, "And you accepted? With his high ranking, his issuing you a challenge to a duel is unreasonable! Adair, my vice-captain and right-hand man, are you really that stupid?"

Ed immediately defended Adair, "Adair is not stupid, Captain! It was all because-"

"Ed, say no more…"Adair hurriedly interrupted.

"Shut up! Who made you the boss here?" I shouted at Adair, before turning to shout at Ed, "Continue what you were saying!"

"Yes sir," Ed then explained frankly, "It was because the Son of War had declared that if Adair refused his challenge, he would come and challenge you directly, sir, but-but……"

But, anyone who's seen me with a sword can tell that sword fighting is my biggest weakness.

My poor sword skills may not be widely known, but neither is it exactly a closely kept secret. Anyone can easily find this out by asking around.

So, the Son of War must have specifically asked around about my weaknesses and found out about my poor sword skills, for him to force Adair into accepting his challenge in such a way. But the question is why? Adair is only a vice-captain, not one the Twelve Holy Knights. Even if he were to win the duel, it's nothing to brag about. In fact, it might even cast him in an unfavourable light for picking on someone of lower rank.

Ed continued on angrily, "That Son of War is just too much! After having stabbed Adair several times, there was already a clear winner, yet he refused to let up on Adair!"

The other Sun Division members chipped in angrily, "Yeah! We even wanted to help him, but were held back by the Church of War's warriors……"

"Are you saying that the Son of War wanted to kill Adair?"

I was shaken by the thought. Why would they want to do that? They hadn't even established themselves in Forgotten Echo, yet they intend to go against the local religion, the Church of Light? And killing my vice-captain is no small matter that one can simply laugh off and forget about.

Ed nodded emphatically, saying irritably, "If it weren't for the royal knights coming to our aid, that Son of War would have definitely killed Adair."

"The royal knights stopped them?"

I was surprised to hear that. The royal knights serve under the Crown Prince, and seeing as the Son of War was asked for by the Crown Prince, why would they try to interfere in the Church of War's affairs?

"That's right! It was the squad of royal knights led by Elliot."

"H-Hold on a minute! Who's Elliot?" I asked, puzzled.

Adair hurriedly explained to me, "Captain, Elliot is one of the younger leaders among the royal knights, but his loyalty is to the princess, so he is not a favourite of the Crown Prince."

Another knight added, "But even though the Crown Prince doesn't really like him, his abilities are pretty strong, and his popularity among the younger generation of royal knights is pretty good, so even the Crown Prince would often assign him to some important tasks."

Ed then said in a conspiratorial tone, "And, it is rumoured that he has a thing going on with the princess, he's on pretty good terms with the queen, and even the Crown Prince's wife, the Crown Princess would often help to put in a good word for Elliot to her husband."

'Oi, oi! Are you the Sun Division knights or the Storm Division knights? Why are you all so familiar with all the gossip? It's as if there are twenty-something Storm Knights standing in front of me, gossiping!'

"This Elliot fellow sounds rather like Storm……" I said tiredly while rubbing my temples, trying to relieve my headache.

Ed smirked and said, "Yup! Captain, Elliot is the Storm Knight's number one rival for the court ladies affections! Because of this the Storm Knight really hates him. Haha…"

"You all seem to know a lot about all the things going on."

I don't know if I should be impressed with them or not. Since when have my Sun Division turned into a gossip mongering division?

Ed was really getting into it, "But of course, captain. Even the Storm Knight would often come to us for the latest news and gossip, or to confirm a certain a certain rumour…… I don't mean to brag, captain, but when it comes to gossip and the latest news, if we were to declare ourselves second best, not even the Storm Knight would dare claim to be the best."

"I see, so my Sun Division knights have been spending their time gossiping…… Adair!"

"Yes! Captain?" Adair asked, startled, stumbling out of bed again.

"From tomorrow onwards, the Sun Division is to run one lap around the city every morning!" I said fiercely.

Upon receiving the order, Adair blinked blankly before looking a little troubled.

"What's the matter? Can't do it? And you guys dare to call yourselves knights?" Outwardly, I maintained my enraged demeanour, but inside my resolve was shaking. 'How long is one lap around the city? Maybe it is a little too long?'

At this, the rest of the Sun Division knights quietened down.

'Oh dear, looking at this situation, perhaps one lap really is too much, perhaps half a lap then? But I've already given the order, how can I simply retract it……?'

Just then, Ed gathered his courage to say, "Captain, five years ago when you first met us, you gave the order for us to run five laps around the city. Then three years ago, when our physical results lost to the Judge Division's, you got upset and ordered us to run three laps. At that time, Adair thought that you must have meant to add three more rounds, so these past three years we've been running eight rounds. This time……"

"……this time I mean add one more round. Any more questions?"

In perfect unison, the Sun Division answered, "No, sir!"

"Good! Now , with the exception of Adair, everyone else, scram."

Once everyone else had left, I stood up and walked to stand beside Adair. I regretted calling him stupid earlier without realising the entire situation, but as the captain how can I apologise?

After hesitating for several moments, I decided against apologising. If I did apologise, I just might give him a shock. I should just leave my instructions and be done with it.

"I give you one week sick leave, but avoid leaving the Holy Temple, and tell the rest of the Sun Division to avoid going out too. If they have to, tell them to wear casual clothes and not the Sun Division uniform. Also, you had better get sufficient rest these few days. Eat more eggs and meat, drink more milk, and try not to strain yourself too much."

Adair was surprised, but then smiled and said, "Yes, captain!"

After a moment, he then seemed to think of something and asked, "Captain, then what about the nine laps around the city?"

I thought about it and said, "You just stay in bed and rest. The rest can clean the Holy Temple instead of running, for now."

"Yes, sir" Adair nodded.

Even after all my instructions, I was still worried about him. Adair this fellow is very meticulous and detailed, and usually this is a good thing, but on the other hand, I sometimes get worried that he might one day suffer the same fate as Storm-death from exhaustion.

"Everything I just said is an order. They must be followed, you hear?"

Adair smiled and answered, "Yes, captain."

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 2: Duty 3 – The Sun Knight’s Third Duty: “Take care of the undead creatures”

*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.

 

Bang!

I kicked open Pink's wooden door, but I did not see Pink. Instead, I saw someone else…… no, I mean, something else.

Roland might have the flame eyes of a Death Knight, but he is no ordinary Death Knight. No, in addition to the flames eyes, his pale corpse was covered with black flame markings, and he had a pair of clawed leathery black wings growing out from his back; a heavy and black dark aura surrounding him.

He is specifically highlighted in all the undead creatures books, the one they all warned never to be allowed to be born, for he could summon whole armies of undead creatures; he is the strongest and most powerful of all undead creatures; he is the Death Lord; he is……

He is--wearing a pink apron and holding a mop as he diligently mops the floor clean.

"Roland. What the hell are you doing?" I asked emotionlessly.

Roland calmly raised his head to look at me, and then answered my question seriously. "I am mopping the floor."

I was speechless for a moment. Just then, my stomach gave a loud growl and I suddenly exploded. I flipped over a nearby table and shouted, "What the fuck do you mean by 'mopping the floor'?! You are the general of the vast undead armies, the Death Lord! You should be outside, killing and pillaging the city, slaughtering innocents left and right and leaving behind a river of blood and bodies in your wake! Have you forgotten that you are a Death Lord?!"

Roland was stunned by my outburst as he looked between the fallen table and me, before frowning. "Creus, you are the Sun Knight."

At that moment, Pink walked out from a door, holding a lollipop in her hand. She shook her head and sighed, "My, my. What is the world coming to? A Death Lord who quietly mops floors indoors, while the Sun Knight is demanding him to go out on a homicidal rage."

"Don't say that, Pink. Creus is a pretty decent Sun Knight……" Roland said seriously.

The moment I saw Pink I charged over towards her and snatched away her lollipop before desperately licking it. "How sweet! So sweet and tasty!"

"Ah!"

Pink was stunned by my actions for a second, before bursting into tears. She pounded at me and tried to snatch back the lollipop, but she was too short to reach it. In the end, she gave up on hopping up to reach it and instead started sobbing instead, "Sun, you big meanie! Give me back my lollipop! Sob, sob!"

Roland was clearly taken aback by the scene unfolding in front of him, but he then turned and scolded me, "Creus, as a Sun Knight you shouldn't steal a little girl's candy. That's just not right."

I gave another lick to the lollipop as I refuted him. "What? I don't see any girl here. I only see the corpse of a dead girl. A corpse doesn't need to eat any candy! As the Sun Knight I simply
cannot allow such a waste of good food to happen right in front of me, now can I?"

Roland frowned at that, unable to refute my statement.

After seeing that tears wouldn't work on me Pink immediately stopped crying and accused, "You would allow a Death Lord and a necromancer to walk about in front of you, yet you cannot abide the wasting of a little lollipop? Roland, and you just called this candy stealing thief a decent Sun Knight?!"

But Roland didn't seem to hear her, absorbed in his contemplations on whether stealing a corpse's candy is the right thing to do or not.

"Hmph!"

Pink then slowly began floating up as a heavy dark aura swirled portentously around her, her hair swaying in an invisible breeze. She said ominously, "Sun, I'm warning you. If you don't return the lollipop to me this
instance, I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your miserably short life."

Even though the city's strongest necromancer (and also the only necromancer) was getting into such a wrathful mode right in front of me, I still coolly licked the lollipop and said unhurriedly, "Frost mentioned that he's going to make strawberry ice cones. Do you want them?"

"Of course!!!"

Right away Pink dropped back to the ground and clutched my leg, her shining doe-like eyes looking at me pleadingly. The only thing missing to complete the picture would be a wagging tail.

I humph and said haughtily, "Then the lollipop…?"

"Well of course you can have it! We've known each other for such a long time, our relationship is as deep as the rot on a decades old grave! What's a little lollipop between you and me? If you so desired I would even give you a newly dead ultra-fresh corpse!" Pink said with infinite sincerity.

'Urgh! Who wants your fresh corpse? Stop saying such disgusting things, I'm still eating here! Now you've gone and reminded me of when I had to repay my debt with digging up corpses for you. Urgh! I'd probably seen every stage of rotting corpses, and then some.'

"You guys……" Roland suddenly spoke up questioningly.

I kindly explained it to him, "Don't worry, Roland. Even when we had our worst argument, Pink had merely thrown me out of the house, sending me flying several meters and only knocking down a row of houses. That's a far cry from making me 'regret it for the rest of my miserably short life'."

Pink was quick to complain, "Hey, don't make it sound as if it was completely one-sided. After throwing you out hadn't you immediately come running back and completely destroying the house and my cleaning corpse! It took me a long time before I was able to return the house to just the way it was before."

Roland frowned and asked, "So, you guys aren't going to duel it out?"

"Why would we duel it out?" asked both Pink and I as we stared at Roland with wide eyes.

Roland then said with a serious expression, "Well, you two were fighting over the lollipop, and since we can't determine who is right or wrong, you should duel it out to see who gets the lollipop!"

'Are you kidding me?! The Sun Knight and a necromancer duelling over a measly lollipop?! We would become the laughing stock of the city!'

Pink and I immediately shouted, "We were joking!!"

At that, Roland just shook his head at us as if we were two unruly children and turned away from us. Ignoring us, he reached out to flip back the overturned table to its proper spot before picking up the mop and continue his mopping.

I seriously have no idea what is going on in that head of his. The great and fearsome Death Lord mopping the floor?? And with such a serious expression too, as if mopping a floor is as significant as slaying a dragon. And what was with that just now, me and Pink duelling over a lollipop?...... How is it possible for Roland to have become even more serious than when he was a kid??

As I thought about it, I wondered if I would be seeing in the future many scenes where the great Death Lord is reduced to mopping, dusting, doing the laundry-or even sewing clothes!

'Dear God! I would rather see him sewing a person's mouth shut than to see him sewing clothes!'

As said scenes continued to assault my mind, I hastily turned to Pink in protest, "Why are you making Roland mop the floor? He is a Death Lord, for God's sake, not one of your lowly cleaning corpses."

"Whoever said that I had forced him?! I had only commented that the floor was dirty, when he himself took it upon himself to start mopping!" Pink argued back, but under my suspicious stare she relented, "I may have said it several times."

I stared at her even harder disbelievingly.

"Maybe it was about a hundred times or so…… Ok, fine, I said it at least five hundred times, alright! So stop staring at me!"

'I knew it!'

While Roland cannot be said to be a lazy person, he is someone obsessed with sword practicing. You would have an easier time trying to get me to put down the lollipop I'm holding right now than to get him to put down his sword and do something else.

Pink huffed over to a chair covered with strawberry motifs and reached under to pull out a brand new lollipop. She gave it a satisfied lick before recalling something. She turned to me and asked smugly, "Sun, the special effects I made for you last time was pretty good huh? No one had seen through it and realised that Roland hadn't actually continued on to the afterlife, right?"

"No, but…… Judge might know something," I said hesitantly.

Pink immediately cleared herself of all responsibilities. "That has nothing to do with me. It must be because he knows you too well."

"The Judge Knight?" Roland stopped mopping and asked. He then said earnestly, "His sword skills are pretty good. If it's possible I would like to have a spar with him some time."

"Don't go bothering the Judge Knight!!" Pink and I shouted in unison.

Pink then gravely warned Roland, "Judge is completely different from Sun. He is a real and proper Judge Knight. If he were to notice you running around the city he would definitely catch you."

'Hey! Are you calling me a fake?' I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

Roland looked down at his cold, pale-and most importantly dead-hands and sighed, "I understand, I won't step a foot outside."

'Roland……' I sighed. Even though I had saved Roland from the fate of being barbequed by the Holy Temple, being cooped up indoors together with an annoying necromancer (who would go so far as to comment on the dirty floor more than five hundred times just to get him to mop the floor) cannot be fun. Perhaps to Roland he would rather be burned to ashes than to have to endure this different kind of torture.

"Pink, can you lend the Life Ring to Roland? I'll use my holy aura to mask his dark aura, this way I can bring him out without letting others find out about his true identity."

Upon hearing this, Roland's eyes lit up with hope and eagerness. 'Looks like he really has been cooped up for too long,' I thought.

Pink's eyes had lit up even brighter as she shouted in agreement, "OK! But I want to go out too!"

'What are you butting in for?' I rolled my eyes at her. However when I looked at Pink and her pouting face-as if saying 'if you don't let me come along, don't even think of getting out the front door'……

Sigh! Why does it feel as if I am leading a tour group? And an 'undead creatures tour group' at that? ......

Oh God of Light! Please make sure that I do not bump into the Judge Knight, or I just might become the first Sun Knight to experience the Judge Knight's various torture methods.

"Sun! You are really stupid!"

Pink had probably guessed at my predicament and said matter-of-factly, "you could just become 'Slayer', couldn't you? Even if we were to be found out, as long as you are assuming the identity of Slayer, the Sun Knight would not be connected to us in any way!"

'That's right!' I exclaimed in surprise, "I hadn't realized that the Dragon's Holy Robe could be used in this manner!"

"Duh! Why else did you think I gave you the Dragon's Holy Robe?"

"Didn't you give it to me so I could kidnap the Duke of Ceylan's third son?" I asked suspiciously.

"Of course not! Something so simple as kidnapping someone would not require the use of such a rare and precious artefact!"

"Then the real reason you gave it to me was……?"

"Of course it's so you can do bad things with me!" said Pink matter-of-factly.

"… …"

~O~O~O~O~

To complete the disguise of an ordinary person, other than putting on the Life Ring, Roland had changed out of his usual clothes and into a set of battle outfit and armour that Pink just happened to have lying around.

The outfit was rather simple and unadorned, resilient and unrestrictive. On the chest was a design of a pair of wings, and magic runes were stitched into the hem of the sleeves. I could faintly feel the repressed aura of wind element coming from the runes-looks like wearing this outfit would help increase the wearer's speed and agility.

And the armour was nothing to scoff at either; it was made in a simple style and so well-polished that I could see myself reflected in it. It, too, had magic runes carved onto it.

I frowned and asked suspiciously, "I seem to have seen this wing motif on the battle outfit somewhere before."

"Ho ho! You're pretty observant, Sun. This outfit was in fact worn by the Tornado Knights of the human faction in the Second Great Demon Hunt."

I hit my fist in my other hand, saying, "No wonder! I must have seen this outfit in one of the Holy Temple's wall mural. And this-this armour looks rather familiar too."

"Of course it is. That armour is the very same one worn by the Tornado Knights' captain!"

"Then it goes without saying that this armour is a pretty high quality one."

"Duh!" said Pink smugly. "Every single thing I own is anything but common--ah!"

I had pinched Pink's cheeks painfully and said through gritted teeth, "You idiot corpse! I really don't know how long this body of yours has been dead-not only is your body thoroughly rotted, but even your brain has rotted away to nothing! Why are you giving this top level armour outfit to Roland to wear? How can he blend in with the rest whilst wearing this? We are only going out for a stroll on the streets; we are not going out on a demon hunt!"

"But I only have this kind of outfits!" sobbed Pink pitifully as she gingerly touched her red cheeks.

"I'll just wear my own clothes," Roland said, making a move to change back to his usual outfit.

I gave a long sigh and said, "You can't. Your clothes are so ragged and torn; you'll attract everyone's attention like that too."

Roland answered me seriously, "Not at all, I've already sewn the torn pieces back together."

"… …"

I turned to Pink and said, "Pink, next time I visit I'll definitely knock before coming in. So if Roland happens to be sewing clothes, or doing something even weirder than sewing at that time, please don't open the door."

~O~O~O~O~

After changing back into his own clothes, Roland looked much more normal. Even though his clothes are a little old and patched, he should blend in well with all the other scruffy-looking warriors often seen walking in the streets, so he should be fine. Instead, it is I who stand out in my Dragon's Holy Robe outfit.

I don't know what kind of magic she did, but Pink was able to change her pink-coloured skin to a normal skin tone; and with a black mage's outfit on she actually looked like an ordinary looking girl.

'Darn it! I should be the most normal person among this group, yet now I look the weirdest.'

"But a Sun Knight like you isn't really considered to be normal," Pink mumbled under her breath.

I sent a glare at Pink before saying, "Even though it is just a stroll along the streets, we may never know what might happen. Therefore, let's first get our stories straight before going out. We'll pretend to be siblings who have left home to go on an adventure."

Roland will be the big brother and a warrior. We could have said that he was a knight, but if someone were to ask where his horse is-as all knights ride on horses-he can't really summon out his demonic horse to show them, now can he? So, it is much safer to just say that he is a warrior.

I will be the second brother. Everyone need only look at my skin-tight outfit and facemask to know that I am an assassin.

Pink would, of course, be our little sister who is just beginning to learn to be a mage.

But in actuality, our ages are the reverse. I mean, look at that battle armour from the Second Demon Hunt, Pink is definitely older than she appears to be. And even though Roland and I are the of same age, I am actually older than him by a few months. Moreover, he would have stopped aging after he died, so I'm now even older.

I had contested my role of being younger brother, but……

"I'm older than Roland, why do I have to be the younger brother?"

"Because you're shorter than him."

"Only by a few centimetres! Besides, not all older brothers are taller than their younger brothers. That's just a stereotype!"

"Because you're weaker than him."

"Says who? With the Dragon's Holy Robe, my abnormally strong self-recovery ability, and my knowledge of magic and necromancer spells all combined together, I should be stronger than him! Err…… I should be, right?"

"Because you don't look as dependable as him."

"In what way do I look less dependable than him? My smile was even nominated as the expression that put people at ease the most…… What? Someone with black hair and silver highlights, wears a face mask and a skin-tight black outfit? Well of course he would look like a suspicious person!"

In the end, my appeal failed and I had to quietly accept my role as younger brother.

So, after agreeing to our individual roles the three of us left to walk on the streets. As soon as we left the little house, Roland began looking panicky, and as we joined the more popular and crowded streets, he hesitated before gathering his courage and followed us into the crowd, all the while looking left and right nervously.

"People have taken note of me, I keep feeling people's gazes on me," said Roland worriedly, frowning. "I think I've been found out, maybe we should just go back."

'People are looking at Roland?' I frowned and surreptitiously looked around, instantly noticing those sneaking glances at Roland. There! Those women peeking from the windows, and the groups of giggling girls, and even a few bold women who winked as they passed by us.

"Don't worry, it's just a bunch of women admiring a handsome man," I assured Roland before adding sourly, "But if I weren't wearing my mask, I would definitely attract more admirers!"

"Oh don't be sad, Su-Slayer! There are a lot of people looking at you too!" Pink patted my hand comfortingly. "Look there on the left, a group of holy knights are looking at you up and down! And over there on the right, a knight is staring at you! Oh and-and, over there in the corner, a few priests are sneaking glances at you!"

I had cheered up at Pink's words and had turned to look where she pointed, but instead of the giggling girls I expected, I saw a bunch of men looking me up and down with suspicion in their eyes…… I turned back to Pink in anger and growled, "That's because I look so suspicious!"

Understanding dawned on Pink's face as she said, "Oh, I see. I thought it was strange how only men were looking at you. I had thought that Roland was a chick magnet while you are a 'dick magnet'!"

'Damn you! Who are you calling a dick magnet?!' I said to her threateningly, "...... do you believe that I know all your hiding places where you keep your stash of strawberry candies?"

Not to be outdone, Pink retorted, "Do you believe that I can turn your hair black with silver highlights permanently?"

I quickly shielded my hair and yelled back, "You just try it and you can kiss Frost's strawberry ice cones goodbye. For-ever!"

"You meanie! You're such a sneaky underhanded meanie!" Pink stomped her foot in anger and before pulling out her short mage staff on me.

'Hmph! I won't lose to the likes of you!'

I immediately exchanged 200ml of blood for a dagger and pointed it at Pink……

I hate to admit it, but Pink's short mage staff and my short dagger pointed at each made a rather ridiculous picture and not at all impressive. I could already hear a few people sniggering behind me.

Sprouting Leaf City's law enforcement is very strict. Even drawing out weapons would bring a squad of knights running to intervene and stop the two fighting parties. Yet now, even with so many holy knights and royal knights around us, no one seemed to be bothered to stop us…… 'Hey! Don't look down on us like this! Just because our weapons are a little small it doesn't mean that we aren't dangerous!'

At this moment, Roland backed away a few steps.

Both Pink and I turned to look at him and asked in unison, "Roland, why are you backing away?"

Roland replied matter-of-factly, "To give you enough room for your duel."

"What? Who's duel?" I asked blankly.

"Yours and Pink's," he replied. "You have both taken your positions and are ready to start your duel. You will now settle the dispute between yourselves with your swords, as in accordance with the knight's code of honour."

I looked down at the dagger I held, and then at Pink's short mage staff. From whence came 'our swords'?

Pink looked down at her mage outfit, then at my assassin's outfit, and said a little embarrassedly, "Slayer and I aren't knights so how can you say 'in accordance with the knight's code of honour'?"

By now the sniggering had turned into full-blown laughter, and the holy knights who had previously been looking at me with suspicion were bent over with laughter. Upon seeing this sight, I was suddenly immensely grateful that they did not know my real identity-the Sun Knight.

A few knights walked up to us, laughing as they said, "I'm so sorry to interrupt your 'knight's duel', hahaha… but it is prohibited to fight on the streets."

"This is not a fight, this is a duel," Roland corrected seriously.

The knights snorted and started laughing again at his reply, and the watching crowd's laughter became even louder.

"In all my twenty-three years I've lived, I've never been so humiliated," I said, feeling like crying.

Pink, too, lowered her head and said, "Yeah, in all my two thousand three—Ahem! I mean, in all my years, I've never been this humiliated either."

Just then a shout pierced through the crowd's laughter, "What's going on here?"

I turned only to see a whole troop of holy knights. What's worse, I could see the badge of a sun worn on their chests…… my Sun Knight Division!

All twenty-five of them were present, even my vice-captain Adair was among them. Seeing them fully armed and marching in such an organised manner, it doesn't seem like they are merely out for a stroll, nor do they look like they are planning to gang up on someone…… could it be that this month is the Sun Knight Division's turn to patrol the streets?

This is bad news!

My Sun Knight Division's specialty is in dealing with the undead, and so they are much more sensitive towards any hint of dark aura. Furthermore, they were present at the Royal Palace and had seen Roland's face. Even though Roland looks like a normal live person right now, he doesn't actually look all that different from his Death Knight appearance. He could easily be recognised by one of them.

I couldn't help checking on the holy light enveloping Roland, making sure that his dark aura was tightly sealed away with not a hint of it leaking through.

At this moment the holy knights standing in the corner and laughing at us earlier swiftly approached my division and reported the situation in a respectful tone.

Upon hearing their report the Sun Knight Division's stern faces relaxed a little, and so did I. Looks like we managed to fool them, I thought in relief. But just then I caught sight of my vice-captain Adair walking out from amongst the troop of knights and stopping in front of Roland. He scrutinised Roland before asking casually, "You are a holy knight?"

"No, I am a knight." Roland answered honestly.

'Hey, Roland! Hadn't we agreed on our story earlier? You are a warrior!'

"Is that so?" Adair then gave a cold laugh before asking ominously, "Then why is it that there is a holy aura all around you?"

No sooner was Adair's question out his mouth when the other twenty-four Sun Division holy knights immediately formed a circle around us, trapping the three of us in.

How annoying! I shouldn't have kept ordering them to gang up on people. Now their speed and familiarity in ganging up around people is so quick and practiced that even I wasn't able to react before realizing that they had already trapped us.

As the saying goes, 'You reap what you sow'.

I really, really hope I'm not going to have to experience firsthand the skills my division had acquired at my directions.

Adair slowly drew his sword as he explained to the rest, "If the holy aura isn't coming from you, then it can only mean one thing-the holy aura is wrapped around your body to cover up something else, a dark aura for example."

I now realised that having a vice-captain who is too smart is not necessarily a good thing. Now this'll be even harder to get out of.

"So what if it's covering up a dark aura?" Pink suddenly asked. "Is covering up a dark aura against the law?"

Adair was pretty patient and answered, "Covering up one's dark aura certainly isn't against the law, but those with a dark aura are usually bad news, such as-the undead."

"Then what about followers of the Chaos Church religion?" asked Pink, lifting her head in defiance. "Are you saying that the Church of Chaos' dark knights are bad news too?"

Dark knights?

Aha! What a great move! Why hadn't I thought of that? The only type of knight with a dark aura is the dark knight of the Church of Chaos.

Upon hearing this reply, even Adair was taken aback. His reaction is not surprising as the Church of Chaos is a long way from here. Even though I knew of their existence, I had never seen them before.

Adair frowned and asked doubtfully, "You are a dark knight? Then why do you cover up your dark aura?"

Roland frowned, unable to answer him. I bet he has no idea what we are talking about. This guy doesn't care about anything that's not related to sword fighting.

But again, Pink answered for him, saying mockingly, "'cause there're a lot of prejudiced dummies out there who think that anything with a dark aura is an undead creature!"

The surrounding holy knights bristled angrily at her mocking tone, but the one who had been insulted-Adair did not seem to get angry at all. He merely frowned as he thought it over for a while before saying to Roland, "Please remove the holy aura around you."

Hearing this, I dithered for a while before finally deciding to take a chance and hope that Pink's Life Ring would be enough to dupe them.

I removed the holy aura from around Roland. To other people, Roland might look completely unchanged, but to the Sun Division, they could right away sense the faint wisps of dark aura coming from him, tensing as their expressions turned grave.

Adair frown and thought over the problem for quite some time when his gaze suddenly sharpened. I was immediately alarmed, and followed his gaze to…… the sword hanging at Roland's waist! It was the very same sword that had slashed me back then when Roland came to say 'hi'.

Adair then lifted his gaze and stared at Roland's face. If he still hasn't figured out that Roland was the very same Death Lord they had been chasing not too long ago, then I'll seriously start to doubt my judgement in choosing him to be my vice-captain.

However, I am confident in my judgement, and so I had already started thinking up ways to escape. Perhaps I should take my own vice-captain hostage? But Adair's sword skills are pretty good. If I were to fail in taking him hostage and was instead apprehended by him, how can I face him after this and continue being the captain of my Sun Division, his superior?

"You can go."

'Fine! I'll just have to ask Roland to take him hostage then…… Huh?' I was dumbfounded. 'What did you just say, Adair?'

The rest of the Sun Division asked him worriedly, "Adair, you sure about this? Shouldn't we get the Captain and ask him about this case?"

Adair just shook his head and said, "No need. Let's go. We still have to finish our patrol and then carry out the Captain's orders afterwards."

'Huh? What orders?' I blinked clueless. 'Had I given out any orders recently?'

As Adair had been in charge of the Sun Knight Division for several years now, none of the Sun holy knights protested his decision, and they immediately returned to their original patrolling formation and left us, marching away in a surprisingly neat and disciplined formation.

If I hadn't just seen it with my own two eyes I would never have believed that my Sun Knight Division could be so neat and disciplined. Adair really is awesome! What great judgement I have!

But what exactly are they going off to do? I don't remember giving Adair any instructions? And he had obviously recognised Roland, yet as the Sun Knight Division's vice-captain, is he actually allowing a Death Lord to run about freely in the city?

Perhaps I did not understand my vice-captain as well as I thought?

"Sun, are we going to follow after them?" Pink asked quietly, her eagerness painted quite clearly on her face.

I pondered about it. No, it's impossible to follow behind them with Roland without them noticing. No matter his own dark aura or if I covered it with holy aura, my Sun Knight Division would be sure to notice it.

"No, today we're accompanying Roland wherever he wants to go."

Upon hearing my reply, Pink looked crestfallen, but not for long. She was soon dragging Roland by the hand, looking at everything and anything that caught her fancy. As I watched Roland being dragged about by Pink, I noticed that he hardly seemed to have much interest in the things around him.

"Roland, is there any place that you would like to go?"

"Candy stores! Toy stores! Graveyards!"

I ignored the noisy little girl and asked Roland seriously, "Where would you like to go? I can bring you anywhere…… except the Church of Light."

Even if he were interested in seeing the Royal Palace, I would still have a way of showing him around the palace, but the Church of Light is the only place that I cannot bring him to. After all, that's the headquarters of the undead's sworn enemy. Even if a Death Lord were to try to enter the place he would immediately be drowned by the vast amounts of holy light coming from the place.

Roland's face looked a little disappointed at my words. 'Don't tell me he had actually entertained the thought of visiting the Church of Light?!'

My God! A necromancer without any self-consciousness running around the city is already more than enough, now there's a Death Lord who doesn't seem to be conscious of his status either. Could it be that the undead these days aren't aware of the fact that they are already dead and should avoid all things 'holy' and 'light'?

After thinking it over, Roland quietly shook his head. I sighed and said, "Then I'll just get you some new clothes, oh, and a new sword too. After all, you can't even use that sword of yours without attracting unwanted attention."

The moment that sword is drawn, its powerful dark aura would be unleashed, and then we would have to play hide and seek with a bunch of holy knights.

Roland nodded in agreement, but Pink jumped in between us and protested loudly, "Candy store!"

"Are you still going on about the candy store?" I mocked her. "The number of candy you have stashed all around your house could rival the number of corpses in a graveyard. May I remind you that you are a necromancer? For you don't seem to be very much aware of your profession."

Pink rolled her eyes at me and said impatiently, "How funny. Your magic skills are ten time better than your sword skills, your Holy Light is a hundred times stronger than your frenzy, and your necromancy skills are a thousand times better than your horsemanship. I think it is you who are the one who has the least self-awareness of your own profession, Sun-Knight!"

I couldn't say anything to defend myself.

'Am I really suited to becoming a holy knight?'

In the thirteen years that I've been a holy knight, I've asked myself that very same question at least thirteen times. (Every year after looking at the results for my sword skills, I would ask myself that question once more.)

 

Back then, my teacher would comfort me thus, "Child, becoming a knight was the worst career you could have chosen, and becoming a holy knight was the second
worst career. So stop feeling so sad, for at least you hadn't made the worst choice."

After comforting me so, my teacher would then comfort himself, "And thank goodness I'm your holy knight teacher, and not your knight teacher. If I had to train you up into a decent knight, I might as well kill you and let you reincarnate again into a new body. That would definitely be quicker than hoping to be able to make a knight out of you."

 

"Furthermore, as the leader of the holy knights, the fact that you were actually lectured by an undead necromancer and not even being able to refute her is even more disgraceful! Hmph! What a self-conscientious Sun Knight!" said Pink mockingly.

"If you don't shut up right this instance, I'm not bringing you to the candy store!" I threatened, scowling. Pink was instantly all smiles as she motioned zipping her lips.

"Let's go, let's go! If we are to go to so many places then we'll have to hurry up."

As I walked ahead of them, leading the way through the crowded streets, I was suddenly struck by a thought.

'Perhaps, bringing an undead necromancer and a Death Lord to stroll around on the streets is the most unconscientious action that I, the Sun Knight have done?'

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