Book 3: Step 5 – The Fifth Step in Rescuing a Princess: “Bring along the brains of the operation.”

*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.

 

Once again, my excellent memory has proven to be one of God's blessings unto me, for although I had only been afforded a glance of the map of Moon Orchid previously, I had been able to memorise the locations of most of the more notable places in this country. If the Queen of Moon Orchid had been aware of this talent of mine she wouldn't have dared to simply leave out such a detailed map of her own country in front of me. Hahaha!

After walking for about half a day, I accurately located the little town known as Leafy Forest Town. This town is indeed unique, for surrounding it on all four sides are deep forests, with the town built on this spacious grass field and a river conveniently flowing through it. If not for these unique geological features it would have been nigh impossible for this town to have existed.

But even with said features, such a town located in the middle of a deep forest wouldn't be able to support a large population as it isn't easy to import goods and materials from the outside.

I'm guessing that the only reason this town continues to exist is because of the numerous parties that pass by here needing a place to stay for the night. And businessmen are the same all over the world – wherever there is opportunity for a profit to be made, there they would set up their business, even be it at the entrance to a dragon's lair!

Further past the town is where magical beasts are known to appear in abundance. Even though magical beasts are extremely dangerous, they are also extremely profitable! Everything from their meat and their blood to stuff like their horns and fur can be used and sold, and it is from trading these things that the questing parties get their main revenue from.

I carefully covered the Sun insignia stitched onto my sleeve with a piece of cloth before walking into the town. Although the town was not very large, its development was not very well planned with buildings spread all over the place with no order, hence I had no idea where to go to for a pub.

I stopped a passing adventurer, slipped on a friendly smile and asked, "May I ask where can I find a pub here?"

The adventurer looked at me up and down, mumbling "Where did such a good-looking knight come from? I should…… to get rid of a potential rival", before clearing his throat and saying out loud, "Do you see that street on the left? Walk along that street and turn right after you see two weaponry store, after you pass a grocery store turn right again where you will see two wells. You will then come to a three-way intersection; choose the middle lane and walk pass a bakery before turning left. You should then see the pub somewhere at the end of the street. Did you get all that?"

"Got it," I smiled and repeated, "walk along the street on the left, pass two weaponry stores, turn right, walk pass a grocery store and turn right, then walk along passing two wells until I see a three-way intersection, choose the middle lane, pass a bakery before turning left and walk till the end of the road."

The adventurer was startled by me, saying in shock, "Woah! You actually remembered all of it?!"

I smiled at the adventurer who responded with a flustered look before turning down the street on the left. Hmph! What's a few detours to me? I even managed to memorize a map so large it covered five whole tables! Beat that!

I followed the directions given to me but could not seem to find the two wells mentioned…… I then suddenly realised – there is a river flowing right outside the town, so why would anyone bother to dig up two wells for water?

"I shouldn't have asked a man for directions." I muttered in annoyance. "What well? Hah! He probably wished there was one so he can throw me down it and rid himself of one less love rival!"

Looks like I'm going to have to ask someone else for directions again.

I was just about to head back to the grocery store for directions when a hooded person stepped in front of me, blocking my way. My face darkened at this.

A person with such dark aura…… a necromancer maybe? But this combination of elements doesn't seem right…?

While I was still undecided on my suspicions, the hooded person spoke up in a soft voice, "What an overpowering holy aura. Even I, who do not possess mage sight, can feel the heat from it. How unbelievable, so this is the holy aura of a current Sun Knight?"

I blanched at this. Never had I expected the other person to know of my Sun Knight position, and 'current?', why would he mention that?

Whilst my mind was still racing, trying to figure out who this person might be, the hooded person had already pulled down his hood, revealing his self underneath – his skin was so dark that not even the midday sun was bright enough to lighten it.

"A Dark Elf!"

"No wonder I couldn't tell your character from your combination of elements," I muttered in realisation. "I never would have thought that I would be able to meet a Dark Elf – the infamous race of dark elves who live underground – in my life! What evil plots are you cooking up to have come above ground?"

What I did not say was: 'I knew it! I knew I'd been hit with a spell of bad luck: a midnight stroll would lead to a meeting with a Dark Knight, and now a walk down a street would be interrupted by a Dark Elf! What next? The next time I make a trip to the washrooms I might step on a dragon?...... Touch wood! Touch wood! I merely said that in jest, God of Light! Please, please, please don't take what I said seriously!'

Now, I think I should explain a little to my fellow readers about what exactly a Dark Elf is, or else everyone might not understand how truly unlucky I am.

You see, humans aren't actually the only race in this world, although they certainly are the most commonly seen race. At most you would come across a few dwarves in blacksmiths. (Dwarves look just like humans except for the fact that even when they are fully grown men they are only two-thirds the height of an average person, and practically every male dwarf has a face covered with a thick bushy beard, and no matter their gender they are always very skilled in metal work.)

'Elves' are another known race, but even though almost everyone has heard of them, everyone also knows that elves are a kind but arrogant race. However, it seems that hardly anyone has seen them, for they typically live on the outermost regions of the land in the deepest of forests where hardly anyone would venture.

And then there are some other races that seem to be a mix between man and beast. The fairies, for example, are little green beings which live together in large groups, or the weres who are half man half beast.

Although these races have achieved some form of civilisation – with a simple language of their own, capable of using fire and making weapons – their way of life is still not that much different from a pack of wild wolves, and so they are not considered to be one of the main races.

However, Dark Elves are different. They are definitely one of the main races. They look like Elves with their thin and slender builds and sharp pointed ears, but while Elves are fair skinned, the Dark Elves have ebony black skin, pure white hair and red eyes.

And in comparison with their fairer cousins who tend to live in forests, the Dark Elves choose to live deep underground, for they loathe sunlight and would very rarely come up to the surface. A hundred years may pass without even a sighting of the Dark Elves.

Now, most importantly is their character unique to their race – the Dark Elves are infamous for their nastiness and evil ways. All Dark Elves – from eight month old babies to an eight hundred year old dying Dark Elves are EVIL.

And other than their wickedness, the Dark Elves also have another characteristic – that is, they are all trained fighters. Imagine, an entire race of skilled fighters! While their numbers may not be very large, every single one of them – male or female, young or old – are all highly trained in the arts of combat, and it is said that a single troop of Dark Elves can single-handedly annihilate a city guarded by a well-trained army of soldiers in just one night.

But thankfully the Dark Elves hate the sunlight, and would very rarely venture above ground. And even if they were to come up, they usually come up to pick a fight with the Elves, for the Dark Elves and their fairer cousins are sworn enemies.

But now, standing right in front of me, thousands of miles away from home is a Dark Elf, looking at me with an admiring gaze and saying in a marvelling voice, "You are the second person capable of keeping your calm even after having realised my race."

"Oh? I would like to have met the first one." I answered, whilst considering the option of changing into the Dragon's Holy Robe. But I've heard that the Dark Elves are extremely fast. It would be a small matter to lose my life if I were to be attacked whilst still changing, but……

'SUN KNIGHT FOUND DEAD IN A BACK ALLEY HALF NAKED!!'

What kind of horrible rumours might arise from this shocking headline?? My problem is that this is definitely not an elegant way to die. If my teacher were to hear that I had died in such an inelegant and perverted manner…… well, you all know what will happen to me.

And rather than being dragged from the throes of heaven to the fiery pits of hell by my teacher…… Oi, what are you thinking about now? Keep your mind out of the gutter!

Like I was saying, rather than having died and gone to heaven only to be resurrected by my teacher just so I can die elegantly in front of him, I should just make sure my Sun Knight uniform is neat and tidy so I can die beautifully now.

"From your severe expression, I can guess that you're thinking of how to kill me?" said the Dark Elf with a self-depreciating smile.

'Not at all. I am merely thinking of which pose I should die in and what appropriate expression I should wear to make the best impact on those who will uncover my body. The middle of a back alley is already too unsightly a place to die in, so I have to make sure that my expression and pose are flawless to make up for the inappropriate background!'

Seeing that I had no intention of answering him, the Dark Elf's expression grew even more morose. However, I haven't eliminated the possibility of him acting, for Dark Elves are said to be very sly and cunning with hundreds of tricks up their sleeve. The Dark Elf then continued on, "Before you make your move, there's a friend of mine who would very much like to meet you."

'A friend of a Dark Elf? Great, looks like I'm really gonna die……'

A second hooded person walked out from behind a corner and headed towards us, probably a man from his height. Without saying a word, the man straight away flung off his hood and cloak, revealing – not another Dark Elf, but a handsome golden-haired blue-eyed man in his thirties, smiling at me with a soft and gentle smile.

Even though this new person looked trustworthy, the moment I saw who he was however, my pupils shrank, my whole body went cold and stiff, my heart started thumping erratically, and even my guts started twisting in agony……

"Why…?" The Dark Elf looked close to tears as he turned to the gold-haired man and said, "Neo, why is it that your student could remain calm and collected at the unexpected sight of the evil Dark Elf, yet when he caught a glimpse of you he-he looks so……"

"He looks so happy and touched to see his long-parted dearly respected teacher," the golden-haired blue-eyed knight cut in with a brilliant smile. "Child, it's been three years since I last saw you. Come closer so I may take a better look at you."

I stepped back a few paces, contemplating my suicide.

'Dear God of Light! How mean of you! I would have preferred stepping on a dragon's tail than to see my…… my teacher.

'Ahhhh!!!'

My teacher turned back to his friend with a smile and said, "The boy is quite shy, isn't he?"

The Dark Elf smiled wryly and said, "I don't think so. I feel he looks more like he's just seen a ghost…… Oh, you know? Like 'Ah! A ghost!!' kind of thing."

'You're wrong! A ghost is nowhere near as scary as my teacher!'

My teacher smiled and replied, "My dear Alstier, what a funny joke, but do stop play around. Look, you've scared my student."

"He is scared, that's for sure," said Alstier with a faint smile. "But I'm afraid it's still up in the air as to who had scared him."

"Perhaps he was frightened by your black skin! As you know, Sun Knights have always have had skin as white as snow."

"I concede the fact that your student is fair, but you on the other hand are like a burnt piece of toast." Alstier retorted.

My teacher raised an eyebrow at him and sighed mockingly, "Well, at least it's better than a basin of dirty water…… But do not despair, my friend. Something as trivial as skin colour will not be an obstacle to our friendship."

"Friendship?" gasped Alstier in mock surprise. "Why, I didn't know that we had one …… Err, Neo, your student seems to be leaving."

"Ahahaha! Stop with the jokes already, Alstier. He's my student! He would never dare to pretend not to see me, or not greet me or leave without bidding farewell."

I halted my footsteps. I could feel my eye twitching, before finally, an expression of resolution and hopelessness passed over my face. I turned around and walked back to my teacher, calling out, "My dear beloved teacher! With the blessings of the God of Light showered upon us, we finally meet-"

My teacher's face darkened, and in an ominous low voice, he ordered, "Keep the God of Light to yourself and tell me what exactly are you doing in a quest party?"

I told him about how things came to be, and after hearing my story, my teacher sunk into silence. Alstier, on the other hand, commented coolly, "As a member of the party, it is wrong to leave the party and disappear of on your own!"

I glanced at the Dark Elf. Inside, I wanted to retort 'As a member of the Dark Elf race, it is wrong to act so nice and not at all evil!', but before I go around offending him I had to figure out first exactly what his relationship with my teacher is.

Just then, my teacher smiled at me in understanding and clarified, "You left the party to investigate Alstier and I, didn't you? It is very suspicious for a creature of dark aura and a creature of light aura to be travelling together, much less when they keep a constant distance away from the group."

As can be expected from my teacher; he sure understands me well. I'm pretty sure he would even be able to tell what I had had for lunch just from me farting.

I nodded at him and said, "I first noticed it around the forest's borders, but didn't pay it much attention. But in the following two weeks even though you guys had made detours around the forest, you still seemed to maintain a constant distance away from us, and this made me rather uneasy. But as I couldn't reveal my mage sight, I had no way of telling my team members about it and had to find an excuse to leave the party and investigate it on my own."

At this, Alstier had a look of surprise on his face.

My teacher nodded before turning to Alstier and saying in pride, "See? I told you it's impossible to follow my student without him noticing us."

"How astonishing," Alstier turned to me and said, "I apologise for my previous words and take them back."

I stared at the Dark Elf. 'Can't you be a little more like the descriptions of your race and act a little more evil? This kind and gentle demeanour of yours is completely going against my earlier explanations of the Dark Elves!'

"Why are you glaring at me so?" Alstier asked curiously.

I looked at him up and down and asked doubtfully, "Are you really a Dark Elf? Are you sure you're not just a really, really super sunburnt elf?"

Alstier blinked at me in surprise.

My teacher, however, had started laughing uproariously as he clapped the Dark Elf on the back. "Oh Alstier, aren't I right once again? I told you that as long as you do not attack him, no matter that you are a member of the race with an atrocious reputation, this child would still stand with you and would never draw his sword against you…… even though he's equally as weak with a weapon in hand or not," He muttered that last bit.

After hearing what my teacher said, Alstier's gaze at me softened and he even smiled at me friendlily.

Now evidently in a good mood, my teacher gave my shoulder a pat, saying, "Child, in commemoration of this rare meeting, let's get ourselves a few drinks! I have a great many tales of my adventures to tell you, and I would also like to catch up on the events in the Holy Temple."

He then turned back to Alstier and said humorously, "This student of mine can hold his liquor even better than I; you'll definitely appreciate him for sure, now that you can drink to your heart's content tonight."

"Oh?" Alstier said with interest in his tone.

But upon hearing this, I drew a sharp breath and started glancing about, frantically trying to plan my escape route…… there!

"Er…… Neo, your student is trying to climb that wall over there."

"…… Get back here! We'll pay for the tab."

I let out a sigh of relief at this and jumped down from the wall, saying most sincerely, "Not a problem, my dear teacher. Even though it is said that the Sun Knight cannot take more than three glasses of wine without succumbing to the liquor, seeing that my teacher requests for my company, this student shall gladly accompany you, come hell or high water."

My teacher exchanged a look with the grinning Alstier before saying a little embarrassedly, "Getting you to part with money is harder than getting you to make a trip to hell. Honestly! I have no idea where you got this money stingy personality from."

'Didn't I get it from watching your sad fate……?'

He then continued on, "Change into Alstier's clothing before we head over to the pub. You must not let anyone know your true identity; the Sun Knight's image of passing out after three glasses must not be ruined! "

"Alright, but why can I not change into your clothing?" I asked curiously.

"Because I'm wearing a knight's outfit and there's no way you look like a knight. You may be able to fool the ordinary unsuspecting people, but bars are where powerful professionals tend to lurk in, so it's better for you to pose as someone else! It's a pity we don't have any priest's outfit, or you could have changed into it we would have been a perfect three-people party with a knight, an archer/assassin and a priest. We would have had countless tasks just lining up for us! Sigh, what a pity."

'Fuck you! I'm a holy knight!'

My teacher slid a warning look at me. "Don't you curse me even in your heart, or you can foot the bill yourself."

I nearly went down on my knees at that, begging, "I'm sorry! This humble student shouldn't have cursed my teacher……"

Alstier rolled his eyes at this ridiculous display. With his ebony black skin contrasting greatly with the whites of his eyes, this action of his was particularly obvious. And annoying. He couldn't help saying, "Can you two – the current Sun Knight and the previous Sun Knight – speak a little more elegantly than this so-called savage and uncouth Dark Elf?"

"After years under the God of Light's shining tutelage, I feel greatly sorrowed that there are still corners of darkness in my student's heart. I feel that it is my duty as your teacher to speak of the God of Light's glorious teachings, and pray that the darkness in your heart can be chased away by her Holiness's beautiful glow, and that you can return to the rightful path."

"The God of Light shines Her love and benevolence upon this land, lighting up our lives and bringing peace and goodwill to all the creatures on this land. And yet, hidden within this student's deepest recesses lay pockets of darkness, and that this student would direct this darkness in the direction of my dearest teacher, this is unforgivable and deserves the greatest punishment! But today, my teacher brings the teachings of the God of Light in hopes of helping his student; how can this student refuse such kindness and mercy? This student humbly accepts, and is now filled with anticipation for a renewed life of light and goodness."

"...... Forgive me, I was in the wrong. Please continue with your vulgarity!"

~O~O~O~O~

So after that, we entered through the wide doors of the only pub in town. Upon entering, all the female waitresses looked to the entrance at us and cried out in joy: "Neo!", "Neo, you've retuned!" and "I've missed you, Neo!"

My teacher returned their 'warm' greetings with a few flirtatious winks. If one didn't know better, one would say that he was the previous Storm Knight.

In comparison, Alstier did not seem to be as popular. Even though he had securely covered up his entire body in the cloak, there were quite a number of unfriendly looks in his direction. Looks like they are aware of his race.

When I glanced at him, I could totally understand. Even though he had hidden himself in the cloak, he still had to extend his arm out when reaching for a drink or for some food. Anyone could tell from that black arm that there was something wrong with him.

There could only be two things with black skin: the Dark Elves of the legends, or a walking burnt corpse. And both these things aren't really all that welcome anywhere.

While everyone may have been rather cold and hostile towards Alstier, the treatment we received from the men were equally as poor, and I felt rather unwelcomed......

So seeing as how everyone's hostility towards us was rather obvious, we had to choose a table in a corner furthest from everyone else. Following that, Neo began ordering dish after dish, bottle after bottle. It couldn't be help; the waitresses just kept coming one after another.

Alstier was a little worried as he advised, "Neo, I think it's best if we refrain from drinking too much tonight."

Neo turned to him and asked in amusement, "Too much? It's only a dozen bottles between the two of us!"

"But you ordered two dozen...?"

"Well of course! Or else my student would accuse me of being stingy."

Alstier looked at me from under his hood at that. I couldn't be sure, but I think I saw a hint of pleasant surprise in his eyes...... looks like Alstier is another drunkard. I think the most impressive thing about our three-person party is not our power and capabilities, but our drinking stamina! Between the three of us we could probably drink a pub out of alcohol!

When the alcohol arrived, I immediately grabbed the bottles with both hands and started chugging them down. After finishing the first bottle in my left hand, I immediately followed it with the bottle in my right, then my left, and then again my right...... One minute later, I took out a napkin and delicately patted the corners of my mouth. Hmm, while the wine here cannot compare with the Bottled Intoxication in Sprouting Leaf City, it's still pretty good.

When I looked back up, Alstier was gaping at me. My teacher slapped a thigh and laughed uproariously (not his thigh, the approaching waitress's thigh.)

I opened another bottle and raised it in Alstier's direction, declaring, "A toast to you."

Alstier blinked at me, asking in stupefaction, "What for?"

Although I was not yet drunk, I was a little woozy. When I saw all the unfriendly and hateful looks thrown in Alstier's direction, I looked back at them challengingly and said loudly, "I drink to you for sitting here!"

"Well said, child! I drink to you for sitting here!" My teacher, too, raised his bottle at him.

Alstier slowly removed his hood, revealing his black skin and pure white hair. He then raised his own bottle and said, "Then I toast to the two of you for sitting with me!"

And with that the three of us chugged down the alcohol. When I finished my gulp and looked back down, I was just in time to see a bottle come flying at Alstier's head. Before I could shout out a warning, my teacher had already kicked at the coming bottle, kicking it back in the direction from whence it came from without smashing the glass bottle. The bottle hit the person's face, breaking and drenching its contents all over the person.

He was a warrior with bulging muscles and a huge axe at his side. He did not look at all happy, with a face full of alcohol and a tick in his jaw.

"Haha!" My teacher stood in front of Alstier and turned back to us saying, "Great! I hate warriors the most!"

Still a little woozy and recalling two whole weeks of disdain and contempt from Michael and Ann, I too stood up and smiled, saying, "Like teacher, like student. Teacher, I hate warriors the most too!"

By then, Alstier had stood up too. He cried out, "Neo, Creus, please don't start a fight over me......"

My teacher and I rolled our eyes at him. 'Who the heck said it was over you?'

Alstier looked a little abashed after receiving our looks. He looked between the two of us and the raging warrior and then at the tense atmosphere surrounding the pub. He then said wryly, "Need any help?"

"Drink your wine," My teacher replied.

"Eat your food," I told him.

Alstier sat back down, and perhaps he was a little miffed at us, for he sat with his back turned against us and the rest of the pub and actually started drinking and eating for real.

As the warrior approached us, waving his axe at us in an attempt at intimidation, my teacher said to me nonchalantly, "Child, your sword skills suck. Why don't you join Alstier and have a drink with him? "

"Teacher, I am not wearing a knight's outfit right now," I reminded whilst gathering some water elements and turning it into ice in my hands.

"Oh, that's right."

And with that, my teacher drew his sword and blocked the blow aimed at me, a loud clanging sound resounding through the room and hurting my eardrums. I threw out the block of ice – now as big as a large pot of iron – at the warrior, knocking him out cold! Pun intended.

The warrior was sent flying backwards and flew into a table. The fall looked quite painful, but as can be expected from these muscular warriors, after some while he managed to stumble to his feet, roaring loudly. His red bloodshot eyes looked around him before grabbing at a nearby table and flinging it at us.

My teacher didn't even bat an eyelash at the incoming table.

At that moment, I flung out an arm and raised an Earth Shield in front of him. Earth Shields are shields formed from holy light and are used to block attacks…… This is actually Earth's specialty move which I had secretly learned.

The flying table crashed against the Earth Shield, breaking into pieces, but with the Earth Shield shielding my teacher he was unaffected by the flying shards and debris.

The bloodshot-eyed warrior growled at us, "Are you guys actually defending this black skinned guy?! Do you not know that the Dark Elves are an evil sort?!"

"If you're spoiling for a fight then just come on, there's no need to come up with excuses," said my teacher icily. "Come and fight me then, and I'll let you have a taste of history's strongest-…… knight's ability!"

Phew! I wiped away my cold sweat. Thank goodness my teacher remembered to omit the word 'Sun'.

By then, the other remaining customers in the bar had stood up and started shouting.

"What knight! Anyone who mixes with Dark Elves can't be anything good!"

"Get out of here, Dark Elf!"

"Get out of our town!"

Seeing that he had a whole room on his side, the emboldened warrior shouted even more scathingly, "You evil being! You and the Dark Elf should scram!"

"Oh? Evil being, is it?" My teacher pondered the term for a moment before grinning. "Interesting. This is the first time I've been called so. Well, in order to fit this new title…… should I be a little more evil? Ahahahaha!...... You? You aren't fit to challenge me. My student, go and deal with this pack of unruly dogs!"

And with that he turned with a flourish, walking back to our table and sitting down with Alstier, enjoying the food and wine and completely ignoring the situation behind him.

T-teacher…… After having played the role of the Sun Knight for twenty years, you now want to change and try out being a 'godfather'? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at my teacher's immature behaviour, but seeing as my teacher had asked, I could only step forward and take on the angry horde.

"As you wish!" I shouted and begun casting my magic without even bothering with the incantation…… Actually, it's more like I didn't have time to chant it out as the entire bar had already identified me as a mage. And as the whole continent knows, a mage's greatest drawback is when they cannot finish reciting their spells before being dealt with by the enemy.

And so, everyone came flying at me like a groom at his bride on their honeymoon, so that even if I had wanted to keep up with the pretence of chanting spells and experience the life of a real mage, I couldn't! Hmph!

I summoned an Earth Shield with my right hand, and after making sure that all the incoming weapons would not land on me, I threw out all sorts of magic spells with my left. Wind Blades, Fire Balls, Ice Spears and all the like were thrown out, and if I did not aim my spells at anyone in particular, well it wouldn't matter anyway. With a whole mob of people right in front of me it would have been impossible for me to not hit anyone. With each spell thrown out there would be an accompanying cry of pain. What a sense of satisfaction!

Just then, from behind me came Alstier's voice as he sighed, "Your student sure is enjoying himself. He could have just defeated all of them with intermediate spells, yet he chooses to toy with them with only elementary spells."

My teacher nearly spewed out a mouthful of beer, and he laughed chokingly as he explained, "It's not like that, Alstier. That is because he only knows how to cast elementary spells. Don't forget, this student of mine is not really a real mage. But even so, with the Earth Shield, no one can manage to get a hit on him, so those 'elementary spells' of his are already enough of a problem for them."

"Why hasn't he learnt more advanced spells?" came Alstier's curious voice. "With his ability he should be able to master them easily."

"Well, since he started till now, have you heard my student utter a single word of incantation spells?"

"No."

"He is not a real mage, and was never taught the proper words to the spells. As such, he doesn't really know a single spell incantation. At the very most, he would pretend to mutter something like 'she sells sea shells on the sea shore'. Even with his talent for magic, he is unable to cast the more advanced level spells without their incantations."

A shocked gasp, followed by, "He doesn't know a single spell incantation? Then how did he learn magic spells in the beginning?"

"Well, about that," I heard my teacher mock-whispering. "I was training him in sword practise one day, and after a tiring day of training, we called a break. Whilst resting, he took the opportunity to walk around the city."

"He went walking around the city even though he called for a break?"

"No, it was I who called for a break. I had received more disappointment than I could take and needed a break from him……"

"…… please continue."

"So he came back. The next day, I was coaching him on horse riding the whole day too, and ……"

"Needed a break again?"

"Yes. I was so tired of failing to get him to learn that I got angry and shouted at him, 'Tell me! Why should I waste my time and effort training an imbecile like you?! What the hell can you do? I can't stand this anymore, I'm going to demand another student!' In the end, the child gave it some thought and cast a few Wind Blades to help cool me off. He then went back to his room and brought out some meat, skewered them, and using a Fire Ball he barbequed some meat for me. Lastly, he cast an Ice Spear and poured some jam over it and gave it to me to eat for desert…… I asked him where he learned all these spells from, and he told me that whilst walking around the city the previous day, he saw several beautiful mages being hassled by some thugs. They got annoyed by the thugs and used Wind Blades, Fire Balls and Ice Spears to chase them away. "

"So, you decided to keep this student of yours because of a fan, some skewered meat and a dessert?"

"Yup…… I mean, of course not! Alstier, do you think I'm such a shallow person?"

There was some muffled laughter coming from Alstier's direction.

A note of annoyance crept into my teacher's voice. "It was three beautiful mages, each using a spell of a different element, yet he was able to learn all three different types of spells and could cast them successfully. And that's not counting the holy spells he had already learnt. How can I exchange him for another when he has so much potential?"

"Yes, yes. Of course you can't exchange him."

"You don't sound at all sincere."

"I'm a Dark Elf, well known for being tricky and insincere, what else can you expect? You're lucky I am not using you for any nefarious plans of mine and should be grateful. The word 'sincere' cannot even be found in the Dark Elves' language!" said Alstier with a straight face.

My teacher merely gave a scoff at that and didn't say anymore.

Hearing a lapse in their conversation, I quickly cut in, "My dearest teacher……"

My teacher hmphed at that and said, "You never add 'dearest' without reason. What is it you want?"

Ah, teachers know their students well. I chuckled embarrassedly and asked, "About the compensation for the damages to the bar……"

I had not even finished when my teacher cut in snappily, "It's only been three years; you've gotten stingier! As long as you are with us, you won't have to pay for a single thing, so don't ask me anymore questions about money. Every time you bring it up, I'll let you experience for yourself why exactly I'm known as the strongest Sun Knight in history."

"Yes, sir."

My concerns put to rest, I let out an evil smirk and started gathering large amounts of water aura, filling the entire bar with it. At the same time, I also started gathering some lightning……

By the time the horde noticed the static in the air and realised that something was wrong, increasing their efforts at hacking through my Earth Shield, I let out a cry, "Web of Lightning!" and released the lightning spell. With the air heavily saturated with water, the electricity spread everywhere, and howls of pain erupted all around.

The Web of Lightning – as the name suggests – is actually formed from a combination of two elementary level spells – water and lightning. When I combined an elementary spell with another, I felt a spark of wonder…… and delight.

"An intermediate level spell! And to use three different elements at the same time," exclaimed Alstier in surprise. "Neo, looks like you underestimated your student's potential."

My teacher didn't get upset at his jibe, and instead, when I sat down at the table once more, he asked me excitedly, "Child, how did you learn how to cast intermediate level spells?"

I admitted the truth honestly, "After you retired from the Sun Knight position, I was disguised in a cloak and heading for a certain street, when I saw a-"

My teacher cut in impatiently and waved his hand, not waiting for me to finish my explanation, "Alright, alright, you saw some hot mage, yada yada…… no need to say further."

Inside, I pouted upset. 'Teacher, you've got it all wrong. It was an old mage geezer! You have no idea how hard it was to force myself to stay and watched that wrinkly old face of his as he slowly finished his incantation and finally cast his spell, thus learning the trick to intermediate spells.'

Just then, the bar owner who looked to be a weak timid sort nervously made his way through the debris to our table and said, trembling, "D-dear valued customers, a-about the damage……"

My teacher turned to look behind him lazily, taking in the broken tables, smashed chairs, puddles of water on the floor and the smashed windows. When he nonchalantly dropped several shiny gold coins into the bar owner's hands, the bar owner broke out in a large smile and said, "Please, please continue to smash till your heart's content!"

And so after that, the three of us sat at the only unscathed table in the whole pub, drinking and eating and talking to our heart's content.

I brought up the latest incident of how the Princess Alice had been kidnapped, as well as my unexpected encounter with the Dark Knight. Although my teacher is currently retired, he had been the Sun Knight for twenty years. Such experience is not something to be scoffed at. Perhaps he might be able to point out something I've missed.

When I reached the part where the Dark Knight had declared that he and the Princess were eloping, as well as his apparent unawareness of a ransom note, Alstier spoke out in disagreement, "Surely you do not believe the words of a kidnapper?"

"But he was extremely handsome," I said bluntly.

"How handsome?" My teacher asked with a serious expression.

I, too, answered with matching severity. "The kind 'where men get the urge to kill him and then piss on his dead body' kind of handsome."

Alstier looked bewildered upon hearing my reply, but my teacher merely nodded his head in understanding and said solemnly, "Ah. It was indeed an elopement."

"You cannot jump to conclusions so hastily," Alstier said disapprovingly, shaking his head at us.

My teacher merely clapped the Dark Elf's shoulder, and in a tone of a wise elder imparting wisdom upon a young child, said "Believe me. You're still young and have not the experience I have."

Alstier scoffed at that in humour, saying "I'm already a hundred and thirty-six years old."

"Elves can live five to eight hundred years old, so in human terms, you're not even twenty and even younger than my student here."

Alstier rolled his eyes at him and teased, "Experience should not matter when converting my age, shouldn't it? Therefore I have a hundred and thirty-six years worth of experience."

My teacher smiled faintly at that. "And yet you are still a child; how envious!"

Alstier looked at him, mystified.

My teacher took another swill of alcohol before swiping his mouth with the back of his hand, looking the part of a rugged adventurer and completely different from when he was still the Sun Knight. He then patted my shoulder and said, "Child, continue on."

I nodded my head and continued, "However, there's one thing that I do not understand: The Queen had forced Leaf and I to join in the quest, indicating that she knows that the kidnapper is a Dark Knight – and notoriously difficult for warriors to handle, so with us in the party there would be a higher chance of getting back the Princess. But on the other hand, Ann is leading us around in circles; clearly she doesn't want us to find the kidnapper. Right now I'm really confused. Do they, or do they not want us to find Princess Alice?"

He smiled faintly at my question, not at all baffled by it. "The answer to that is quite simple: The Queen and Princess Ann are on different sides."

"Different sides?" I still didn't get it. Mother and daughter on different sides?

My teacher smiled and explained, "As the leader of a nation, the Moon Orchid Queen definitely wants Princess Alice back, for if she were to be married to the Son of War in an alliance marriage, it would strengthen the Church of War's standing and influence. However, Princess Ann is not the leader of a nation, but the sister of Princess Alice. If she were to find out that her sister did not love the Son of War and that she already had a secret lover, it is quite likely that she would side with her sister."

"I see," I breathed in understanding. "So the Queen had no other hidden motive and truly wished us to find Princess Alice. That note was probably forged by her to find an excuse for not mobilising the army and instead commanding us to form a party to look for her quietly. After all, it would be a scandal should it come out that her daughter had eloped with someone else. And Ann, on the other hand, purposely volunteered to join in the party to mislead us, allowing Princess Alice to escape with her lover."

My teacher nodded in approval and continued, "And she couldn't lead you guys in the opposite direction either, as that will arouse suspicion amongst you guys and give reason to suspect her sympathy for her sister, as in that scenario the Queen will most likely find out the Princess Alice's whereabouts from her."

"And so that's why we've been chasing after them from a distance, and would even occasionally have a brush in with the kidnapper. Unfortunately for us, the one person the kidnapper had bumped into is this Sun Knight who could not have possibly detained him, allowing him to escape once more," I followed.

How sly of her! When we eventually return empty handed, as the only person to have seen the kidnapper, I would have become her scapegoat and receive the brunt of the anger and blame from everyone.

She must really hate me. Wouldn't it have been better to arrange for Alston to bump into the Dark Knight? It would have been perfectly normal for a priest to fail in detaining the enemy, and no one would have blamed him… and yet… she picked me.

Just then, my teacher's face darkened as he reminded me, "Child, you said that when you met the Dark Knight, you were wearing an assassin outfit?"

I jerked upright at that, face paling. Oh shit! If the Dark Knight were to mention to Ann and Princess Alice that he had met an assassin with a strong holy aura instead of the expected Sun Knight…… those two would know that something was up!

"Figure out a way to cover it up!" My teacher ordered darkly, his tone very unhappy.

"Got it. I'll make sure that they take the secret to their grave…… " I replied coldly. "An early one, if necessary."

Alstier didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this scene. "Can the previous and current Sun Knights of the 'Light' Church not speak of sending anyone to their graves in front of the 'evil' Dark Elf? Such talk at dinner is giving me indigestion," he joked.

My teacher and I shrugged. For the sake of the Dark Elf's digestion, we abstained from any more 'un-Sun Knightly' talk.

My teacher then changed the topic, asking, "Child, what was the general direction you guys were heading in?"

After giving it some thought, I answered, "We were going about in a rather circuitous way, but generally we've been heading towards South West."

"South West, you say?" My teacher was silent for a moment before he let out a 'sunny' smile and said, "It just so happens that we have a quest South West of here too. How 'bout you come along with us and give us a helping hand with the quest? Sounds good?"

"Not at all……"

His smile turned warm and gentle. "What did you say? I, history's strongest Sun Knight, couldn't hear you just now; speak up!"

"Sounds great!!" I exclaimed before gulping down an entire bottle of wine. If I can't refuse him, I can at least make up for it by drinking him out of money!

Upon seeing my childish action, my teacher said to me laughingly, "Stop sulking over there. You'll get thirty percent of the reward after the quest is complete, alright? With the three of us, we can take on pretty high level quests, so the rewards should be quite substantial."

Upon hearing this I immediately put down the bottle and turned to him, saying with humility, "What? This won't do. Teacher, as your student, this Creus will walk over coals for you without a single complaint!"

"If that's so I won't share the rewards with you then."

I hastily changed my tune at that. "But a little reward is sure to go a long way at motivating people!"

"Then I'll just give you ten percent."

"But there are different levels of motivation," I hurriedly explained. "The greater the reward, the higher one's motivation! With the proper motivation (an extra ten percent), a holy knight who could only cast elementary level healing spells could be moved to cast intermediate spells! If the reward were to be increased (by another ten percent), the holy knight might even be motivated to cast advanced healing spells! And with even higher rewards still (additional ten percent)--"

"There's no need to go higher," My teacher smiled coldly as he interrupted me. "I'm more partial to holding my sword to one's neck. Shall I show you how the history's strongest Sun Knight motivates one to cast even the ultimate healing spells?"

I shut up at that. Alright, thirty percent is still better than nothing. It's not worth it to risk my neck (with my teacher, not the quest) for that additional ten percent.

Alstier just sat there shaking his head in bemusement. "Both teacher and student…… can not the two of you leave others with some shred of illusion of the illustrious Sun Knight intact?"

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 3: Step 4 – The Fourth Step in Rescuing a Princess: “A must have for rescue missions – a cool-looking bad guy”

*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.

After travelling for two weeks, we once again set up camp for the night. But unlike previous relaxed nights, there seemed to be a rather tense atmosphere around the group tonight.

“We’ve been travelling at speeds unmatched by anyone else, yet why haven’t we caught up to them yet?” Michael demanded, finally expressing his pent up suspicions to Ann. Even though they were childhood friends, his tone sounded rather short and impatient.

As a knight, Leaf has always upheld the noble code that ‘the lady is always right’. But from the fact that he wasn’t even bothering to help defend Ann, I could tell that he, too, had his suspicions. And as for me…… well, I haven’t spoken a word for the past three days, so everyone’s used to me keeping quiet.

Faced with the majority’s suspicions, Ann muttered “Give me a minute” before walking into the forest. After a while, she walked back out and announced, “We are already very close to them, but I do not know the exact distance.”

Looks like the object to track the missing princess is on her person. But it seems that she doesn’t want us to know what it was exactly, hence, her walking into the forest and avoiding us.

Michael was still a little unhappy getting such a vague answer. Seeing that, Ann hastened to assure him. “We really are very close, Michael. We’ll be able to catch up with them in no time!”

Michael nodded, reluctantly dropping the topic.

That night when everyone was asleep, I kept tossing and turning, this way and that…… Urgh! I just can’t sleep! But this isn’t very surprising. After all, I had been sleeping for 24 hours straight and had only just woken up a few hours ago. If I actually did manage to fall asleep I would have to reconsider the fact that I might actually be related to a pig!

After tossing and turning restlessly in bed, I decided to give up on sleeping and crawled out the tent. After sleeping so much these days, I should go out and exercise a bit, or else if I were to continue on in this way-sleeping and eating and sleeping and eating after sleeping…… you get it – it might result in an irreversible outcome…… I might gain weight!! Oh, the horror!

Michael who was currently on his night shift turned back to look at me. I smiled at him before walking into the forest. His gaze followed my progress across the camp coldly, but he did not bother to stop me and ask as to my intentions. Guess he really, really looks down on me, huh?

I walked into the forest, and after using my mage sight to make sure that there was no one around, I took out a dragon shaped badge. I slapped it onto my chest while calling out softly, “Dragon’s Holy Robe, in the name of the dragon’s successor, I order you to activate!”

A tight black outfit instantly wrapped around my body, spreading from my chest to the rest of my body; the lower half of my face and the more vulnerable parts of my body were covered with silver scaly armour. It was then that I noticed that even the silver parts did not show up in the dark, instead it seemed to blend into the dark. When I looked down at myself, I couldn’t see anything and for a moment I thought that my body had disappeared!

‘……’

“I know I had told you not to speak up without good reason, but just forget about it,” I said with no small amount of exasperation. If I could even sense it when it was ‘speechless’, ordering the robe to remain quiet would be pointless.

‘Yes, Master.’

After that, I began walking around, looking for the tallest tree I could find before proceeding to climb it. After changing into the Dragon’s holy Robe, tree climbing had become as easy as pie for me. So without too much effort, I soon made it to the highest branch of the tree.

I looked down to observe the surrounding landscape and features before turning to look up into the sky and noted the positions of the constellations. I then climbed back down and began drawing in the ground the positions of the landscape and stars I had noted earlier.

‘I was right,’ I laughed grimly……

‘Master, someone is using mage sight to spy on you.’

I was startled by this news. All this time it was me who spied on others, yet now someone is spying on me?

I hurriedly asked the robe, “Which direction is the person spying on me from?”

‘This humble servant does not know. Master, the person has recalled back his mage sight.’

‘He’s recalling his mage sight back so quickly?’ After thinking about it I deduced that it must have been Leaf. As he was an archer he would more or less have received some training on mage sight. I must have woken him up earlier when I got up, and just now he was only looking for me. As my holy element aura is extremely strong, he would have located me immediately and hence recalled his mage sight the moment he found me.

Alright, now that my business is done it’s about time for me to get back.

I was about to return to the campsite, but when I thought of Leaf and how he would still remember to search around with his mage sight despite having just woken up, I felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe I should do a search of my own around the place and make sure that there wasn’t anything dangerous around us? If not, I would feel really guilty as I climb onto Leaf’s back tomorrow morning.

I took a deep breath and slowly extended my mage sight to their very limits……

I suddenly stiffened before turning to look in a direction. Not too far away from me there was something with a super-mega-strong dark element aura. I had only ever felt such strong dark aura coming from a Death Knight-Roland. (Even though Pink’s dark aura should be higher than Roland’s, she typically chooses to hide her aura……)

‘Could that be the princess’s kidnapper?’ As I thought back to the Queen’s request, I wondered if it had been a coincidence or if the Queen had known that our opponent was a dark creature-the type that warriors are worst at dealing with-and had therefore insisted on Leaf and I joining in the mission?

But other than the dark creature I could also sense another being with extremely strong wind elements beside it. The person seems to be a wind mage.

I frowned when a thought of doubt flashed through my mind. “Is it just me or has my mage sight seemingly improved?”

When I had just taken over the title of Sun Knight, the level of holy aura on me had been so strong that it had drowned out the other elements; I could hardly sense any other elements…… except for the opposing dark aura, of course. But recently, I don’t seem to have to exert as much effort to be able to sense the auras. Like previously when the magical wolf had attacked me, I had sensed its fire element before it could even attack me.

“Could it be that I’ve been using too much magic recently-I had even used necromancer magic-and this has caused my holy aura to diminish?!”

If that were to be the case then I’m in trouble! I am the Sun Knight; my holy aura can only grow stronger, not weaker! Looks like I’ll have to watch how I use the other magic spells from now on.

And here I had been thinking of taking a walk and exercising my stiff muscles after having slept so much, but now that I cannot simply use magic anymore I think I had better go back and try to sleep. It’s safer for me this way…… As I turned to head back towards the camp, I suddenly sensed an extremely strong wind aura gathering behind me.

When I spun around, a person now occupied the previously empty clearing. He was dressed in light black armour and wielded a pair of slim swords; the dark aura coming from him was staggering – on the level of a Death Knight even.

But, there was no doubt that he was a living and breathing person, could it be…… I was stunned by the thought and burst out with my suspicions, “the God of Chaos’ dark knight?”

But then again, he had just used Instant Teleportation. How would a knight how to cast magic spells? Again, I couldn’t resist asking him, “You know how to cast Instant Teleportation; are you really a dark knight?”

The knight, too, had looked surprised to see me and asked, “What strong ‘holy’ aura; are you really an assassin?”

Realising that we both doubted each other’s identities, we both fell into a strange silence. After a while, the dark knight asked coldly, “You’re our pursuer?”

I couldn’t deny it even if I had wanted to. Other than this guy in front of us and our group of pursuers there was no one else within miles. So I coldly retorted, “If you are the fleeing party then, yes, I’m the pursuing party.”

Even though we had identified ourselves as the fleeing and pursuing party respectively, we remained still, neither making a move to attack. I did not want to fight with him, for I could tell from the familiar way he held his swords and his stance that he was on a level equal to Judge and Roland. I’m not interested in dying at such a young age.

And I think that he did not wish to fight me; the amount of holy aura I had was enough to drown out his dark aura, and he had no interest in dying so early either.

If we were to fight each other, the chances were split fifty-fifty as to who would be killed first: Him being seared alive by a full frontal attack of my holy aura, or me being hacked into two by his dual swords. Seeing as I did not even have a hundred percent confidence of defeating him-which went completely against my 200 percent victory principle-I decided to let him off!

“I do not wish to fight with you,” I told him frankly.

The dark knight frowned upon hearing that, but to show his peace, he put away his swords. But for some reason he did not immediately leave, and so we stood there staring at each other…… Smack!

I glared coldly at my palm. This mosquito sure has the guts to fly around me whilst I’m wearing the Dragon’s Holy Robe! Doesn’t it realise that now that I’m dressed in black I no longer have to worry about dirtying white gloves?!

I flicked away the flattened mosquito, and when I raised my head to look back up, the dark knight was staring at me in shock. I said in an impatient voice, “What? Never seen someone killing a mosquito before?”

The dark knight’s lips twitched as he said in an amused tone, “People killing mosquitoes is a common enough sight, but this is the first time I’ve seen an assassin kill a mosquito.”

‘Oh? Too bad for you then. You still have yet to see an assassin kill a mosquito for I am a holy knight, not an assassin.’

I gave a huge yawn and said, “Seeing as we’re not fighting, I’m going back to bed.”

“Hold on!”

My face darkened at that. Looks like he has no intention of letting me leave. What a pity. I had been thinking of going back and telling them that the target was just nearby and that we should all hurry and catch him. Once we’ve caught him, located the missing princess and attend a wedding, I could then finally return to the Holy Temple to continue my life as a temple sap. What joy!

The dark knight furrowed his brows as he said hesitatingly, “The Princess chose to come with me willingly.”

I was startled by this statement, but on the outside I maintained my calm demeanour and coldly retorted, “Rapists always claim that the women had seduced them in the first place.”

The dark knight’s face darkened at that and he again announced another shocking statement. “We’re eloping!”

‘Damn it!’

I was starting to believe him, for no reason other than because the dark knight was extremely tall, dark and good-looking. He belonged to the ‘enemy of all men’ type – ya know? What with his amazing good looks he could be a potential love rival; all men, watch out!

He looked extremely suited to being a dark knight; because dark knights tend to be the cold and ruthless type, the kind who is forever wary and treats everyone else as his enemy…… With how good-looking he is, he should be wary and treat every man around him as his enemy to be able to survive until today.

“If you had really eloped, then why leave that letter behind?”

But I still struggled, not wanting to so easily believe this ‘truth’…… With such a handsome kidnapper, I’m sure that even if the Princess had really been kidnapped in the beginning, after spending about two weeks in the presence of this ‘bishie’, it probably had evolved into an elopement.

The dark knight blinked at me blankly and asked, “What letter?”

“……”

Just as I realised that there might be more to it than a simple kidnapping and was about to question him further, I heard a faint rustling sound from behind and quickly shut my mouth. The dark knight, too, appeared to have heard it.

He shot me a glance as he took out a mage scroll and whispered “Instant Teleportation”. His entire person was then wrapped in a whirl of wind, and with a ‘whoosh’ he disappeared.

“I see, so he was using an Instant Teleportation scroll. Like I said, how can there be so many people in this world who do not fit their job criteria ……” I muttered as I changed out of the Dragon’s Holy Robe and gathered a small ball of holy light in my palm, lighting up the place. I then proceeded to wait in the clearing.

“Sun!”

Leaf was the first to emerge from the trees. He looked at me up and down, and after making sure that I was alright he let out a sigh of relief. But he still inquired after me with concern, “A-are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I replied. Short and sweet, that’s my motto.

Behind him came Michael, Ann and Alston. When I saw them looking at me with a questioning look in their eyes I explained calmly, “I met a dark knight.” All the while taking note of each of their reactions.

Michael asked questioningly, “Dark knight? What are those guys from the Church of Chaos doing around these lands?”

Alston frowned, seemingly deep in thought.

A look of panic, however, had flashed across Ann’s face, but as expected of a princess she quickly regained her composure, managing to even feign a worried look in my direction.

As usual, I returned her look with a smile. The smile seemed to reassure her and she calmed down.

Leaf then voiced his suspicions. “Could it be that this dark knight is the one who had kidnapped the princess?”

I smiled brightly at Leaf, while the latter widened his eyes at my response, looking for all the world like a little boy who could not understand what he had done wrong. My mind raced with my thoughts as I considered what to reveal. In the end, I decided to play innocent and answered, “This Sun does not know.”

Michael, on the other hand, growled angrily, “It must be him! Where is he now?”

“He escaped with an Instant Teleportation scroll. I’m afraid he’s now some distance away from us,” I replied honestly.

Hearing that, Michael shook with fury, yelling for us to chase after him immediately. After two whole weeks of no real action he’s probably itching for battle.

However, Alston had quickly grabbed Michael and began lecturing his son, talking about how the distance was unknown and that they couldn’t be sure that they would catch up to the dark knight even if they started chasing right now; and besides all our tools and supplies haven’t been packed, if we didn’t catch up to them it would be hard to survive without the tools……

~O~O~O~O~

Back at the camp, it had been decided – at Michael’s insistence – that we would set out two hours earlier than planned the next morning. And so with the exception of Michael who would be on the lookout for the rest of the night, everyone else crawled back into their tents to continue sleeping. However, I don’t think any of us can actually fall asleep after all the excitement tonight.

Leaf and I were among those who couldn’t fall asleep. Since he crawled into the tent, Leaf kept staring at me as if wanting to say something. Before he could say a word, I hurriedly covered his mouth. Leaf stared at me in bewilderment.

After thinking about it, I finally thought of a method to communicate with him without being overheard. I gathered some holy light in my finger, and using that finger, I started writing out glowing letters in the air.

[I think we have been played the fool by the Queen and Princess Ann.]

After reading my words, Leaf struggled to follow my example and write out his reply with holy light too, but…… his writing was so sloppy that it took me a while to figure out his message: [Why do you say that?]

I then wrote out another message: [I know for a fact that Ann is leading us around in circles.]

As for the matter of the ‘ransom’ letter, well…… my theory about the letter’s authenticity cannot stand based on just the dark knight’s word, so I decided not to mention it just yet.

Leaf frowned and wrote: [Then what should we do?]

After giving it some thought, I replied: [We must not get separated. For now, we’ll continue on as before, so you need only worry about carrying me for the rest of the journey!]

Leaf – very diligently – dotted six glowing dots: [……]

About an hour later, Michael started yelling and bellowing, calling for everyone to get up and pack up. I wasn’t bothered at all, for I hadn’t been able to fall asleep the whole night, but poor Leaf was startled awake. As he got up and got ready, he looked exhausted and ready to fall asleep at any time.

 As I watched Leaf go about his morning, I felt a prickle from my conscience. I even hesitated for a moment when it came time to crawl onto Leaf’s back. Thank goodness my conscience had long since been beaten back into the furthest reaches of my soul, for it was only a small prickle, and soon, I was making myself comfortable on leaf’s back.

When Michael saw the two of us, he immediately roared angrily, “Aimer, stop carrying him around, it’s a complete waste of time! He’s useless anyway; just leave him behind and run with us at full speed.”

Right away, Leaf objected. “No, we can’t! Before this, it wouldn’t matter if we had left Sun behind.”

‘Oi……’

“But now that we know that the enemy is a dark knight, we must bring Sun along! Only he can contain the enemy’s dark aura.”

Michael gave a cold laugh and sneered condescendingly. “Is there anything that doesn’t give off a dark aura after we’ve gone through them? Dead bodies are dark, right?”

Leaf was stumped at that. With a party of our calibre, we could have mowed down everything that stood in our way…… even though throughout the whole journey we only had the misfortune of meeting deplorable parties and pitifully weak magical beasts, and thus have yet to have a proper battle. Leaf, Aston and I hadn’t even had the opportunity to demonstrate our skills, as all the enemies were instantly dealt with in a one-sided battle.

After going at an inhuman pace for two whole weeks, we were already deep within the forest, but the situation had yet to change: Michael was still able to deal with any trouble with his bare fists and had yet to draw his sword; Ann was still sending her ‘admirers’ flying with a kick and had only used her axes to cut up our dinner; and Leaf’s only duty was to carry me, with not a single arrow less since we started out on this quest.

Leaf hesitated and turned to look at me. “Sun, it’s only for a day. Will you be able to run with us?”

I had previously sensed a wind mage with the dark knight; and wind mages’ specialties are flying and instant teleportation. This was probably why we were never able to catch up with them no matter how fast we were going. Since we weren’t able to catch up with them before, I do not believe that we would be able to catch up with them now.

And since we won’t be able to catch up, why should I have to run like crazy after them?

I slowly replied, “To avoid slowing down this Sun’s team members, this Sun requests that my brothers and sister to go on ahead without any worry for this Sun. Sun will catch up with my brothers and sister later.”

“Sun?” Leaf stared at me in surprise.

I raised a hand to stop him, saying calmly, “This Sun remains firm in my decision, so my brother Leaf need not bother to persuade this Sun. This Sun will be under the God of light’s watchful gaze.”

Leaf hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying wryly, “Alright then, take care now, Sun.”

“Hurry up,” Michael called out impatiently.

I stood there watching the rest leave. Leaf kept turning back to look at me worriedly, but the trees were growing densely so deep in the forest and soon enough, I could no longer see them anymore.

“Okay! I heard that there’s an interesting little town somewhere in the middle of this forest…… so…… where there is civilization, there should be some alcohol, right?” I mumbled to myself.

It’s been almost a month since I last drank! For a guy spoilt with a secret cellar filled with wine hidden under his room, it’s amazing that I even lasted this long! I was so desperate that I was even thinking of picking some of the fruits from the trees and mixing them with my apple wine.

What’s that? You ask why I would bring along a few bottles of my apple wine?

Er……

Winemakers would sometimes trade their wines with each other for some variety in their merchandise, so…… get it now?

What? Aren’t I a holy knight? Since when did I become a wine merchant?

Of course I’m still a holy knight! It’s just that I have my retirement to think about! I am now already twenty-three years old, and I will be retiring at the age of forty. How can I properly enjoy my retirement with so little time left and yet so little money saved up?? So that’s why I have to do some little odd jobs here and there to help earn more money. Besides, how can I deprive the world of the fruits of my labour when I have such excellent winemaking skills!

Previous                                                                                                             Next

The Twelve Holy Knights

This is the Cold Blood Faction. From left to right are: Hell (I think), Frost, Judge, Metal, Moon, and Stone

 Someone asked for a bigger pic than the one I had put up, so here it is. :D

Book 3: Step 3 – The Third Step in Rescuing a Princess: “Set off on the rescue mission”

*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.

 

"Sun, wake up. We're going to set up camp now."

I was dreaming; I was lying uncomfortably on a patch of grass wet from a rainfall and was just about to use a fire spell to make the grass field warm and toasty, when I hazily heard Leaf's calls to wake up. In a sleepy haze, I blurrily got off his back, and after a while my head got clearer as my brain started waking up. It was then that I noticed that Leaf's entire body was soaked through…… oh, so that patch of wet grass was Leaf.

Thank goodness he had waked me up at such perfect timing. Even a nice person would explode in anger if he were to be roasted alive, right?

Just then, I heard Alston dividing up our work. "Michael, you go with Ann and hunt something. Everyone's quite tired, so some fresh meat should help us to regain our strengths."

Michael simply nodded.

I had to wonder at who this Alston guy was, for him to directly call Michael by his name. In the Church of War, even the highest ranking warrior priest should still be lower in rank to the Son of War; to call the Son of War by his name would have been rather improper.

After receiving their tasks, Michael and Ann immediately left in a whirlwind. Alston continued on to us. He turned to Leaf and asked politely, "Elmairy, can you help to start the fire as well as cook the food later?"

Leaf smiled and nodded. "No problem."

"Then I'll set up the tents," he said smilingly. When he turned to me, he said warmly, "Sun Knight, you will be in charge of gathering the firewood, alright?"

"Of course," I too smiled back at him and was about to bid Leaf goodbye when several howls rose from within the depths of the forest…… Both Leaf and I peered into the inky black forest, where an occasional rustling could be heard, hiding unknown creatures in their shadows; from time to time the howls and growls of various animals could be heard coming from within.

Leaf blanched and turned to me in worry. "I think it'd be better for me to go gather the firewood, Sun. You just stay here and start the fire, and as for the food…… I'll cook it after I come back."

I immediately nodded. Not because I was afraid of the few wolf howls earlier, for as long as I am away from other people I could simply use magic to protect myself. Heheheh… Wolfs cannot protest that the Sun Knight shouldn't be using magic.

What I was really afraid of were…… the mosquitoes in the forest! I'm now down to my last pair of gloves, if this pair was to be ruined too, I would then have to resort to stealing Leaf's gloves.

I nodded at Leaf. Leaf then said, "I'll be leaving Alston to your care then."

I caught the strange look that flashed across Alston's face when he heard this; he probably doesn't think that I would be able to protect him from anything!

Leaf didn't leave as quickly as the other two. He first picked up a tree branch from around the clearing, took out one of his extra bowstrings and tied it around both ends of the branch, then piled a small pile of dried leaves around it before bending to pick another branch…… The entire process was then repeated several times. It's probably kinda confusing for ya, but what he's actually doing is to help me gather the things necessary for starting a fire so that I would only need to rub the sticks together around the kindling to get the fire going.

After he was done, he handed me the things he had been preparing and asked me worriedly, "Do you know how to use these things? Just loop the string around a branch and start pulling on the ends to keep it twirling…… there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Sometimes I really feel that Leaf is the Good Warm Faction's mother, while the Cold Blood Faction's mother is Frost. One likes to nag and help others with everything, while the other likes to stay in the kitchen cooking. Together, the two would make the perfect mother.

Seeing as Leaf had carried me on his back for 24 hours, I nodded and said gently, ""Please do not worry, my brother Leaf, for even when the God of Light shines not in the night, this Sun will not fail in my brother's expectations."

Leaf nodded at that and turned to leave. He kept turning back to look at me-at least three times!-before finally making it past the clearing and into the woods.

I watched as Leaf left before looking back down at the fire-making tools in my hands. It felt rather stupid. With just a fire spell I could have started a fire big enough to burn down the entire forest, much less a small campfire. Yet with the warrior priest here with me I'm forced to maintain my Sun Knight image—no magic!

Seeing as I could not use magic, I resigned myself to using Leaf's fire starting tools. After taking a deep breath, I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed, rubbed, rubbed…… not a single wisp of smoke, and my hands are already raw from the friction! I really, really wish I could use magic!

'No, I can't! Alston's staring at me. But how is he setting up the tents while staring at me all the while?! That should be outlawed!'

I continued on my rubbing…… ah, finally a wisp of smoke. I stepped up my efforts and rubbed—the-the smoke…… it snuffed out.

"……"

Never before in my life have I so yearned to cast a fire spell.

'But, no! Alston's still staring at me, damn it! Can't he just concentrate on setting up the tents?! Or have an urgent need to use the bushes? Or even just to look up and admire the stars in the sky? Just give me one second; one second is all I need to cast a fire spell on these dry sticks.'

But he Just. Won't. Relent on the staring!!

By now Alston had finished with the first tent, but he didn't immediately move on to the next tent, instead putting down the tent pegs and other tools.

'Oh good! Does he finally need to pee?'

But he didn't head out towards the woods and instead walked towards me, reached out a hand and said exasperatedly, "Sun Knight, why don't you let me start the fire!"

I silently handed over the tools to Alston, and then it was my turn to stare at him…… 'Don't you think you can get away with using magic to start a fire either! Priests aren't supposed to know how to use fire spells too!'

But he merely calmly rubbed for a little while, and presto! Wisps of smoke appeared. Another few more rubs and sparks appeared. After rubbing on a little more, a fire was started.

"……" Those tools must have been conspiring against me!

After that, Alston found some sturdy branches and began setting up a campfire tripod where we would be able to cook the meat over.

Even though Leaf had left later than the other two, he was the first to arrive back at the camp. When he entered the clearing, he stopped at the sight of Alston working over the fire and the tripod. He then walked over and placed the firewood beside the fire. As he feed some of the wood into the fire, he said to Alston, "Thanks for the hard work, Alston. Sorry about that."

Alston just smiled back at him. "It's alright, it's only a fire. Seems like the Sun Knight doesn't go out on expeditions often."

"If I'm not mistaken this should be Sun's first time leaving Sprouting Leaf city," As he continued feeding the fire, Leaf turned his head to look at me. "Isn't that right?"

I nodded, maintaining my serene smile.

"Ah, I see." Alston had a clarified look on his face.

Leaf then quickly explained, "As the leader of the Holy Temple, Sun is busy with a lot of work so he doesn't have much time where he can leave."

Alston smiled and said, "That is rather different to how our Church works. Michael may be the highest ranking person, but normally he doesn't really have many things that need his personal attention. Most of the time Michael is more of a spiritual leader."

Actually, same here. I normally don't have much to do…… and even if I do have things I would typically throw them at Storm…… It is only on occasions when I need to show myself that I would show up, just like this time when I had to attend a royal wedding.

"I see, no wonder you guys would call him 'Michael' so casually. We, Twelve Holy Knights, are rarely called by our first names. Especially Sun," said Leaf, glancing at me before continuing. "Other than the Judge Knight and the Pope, no one else can call him by his first name."

Alston gave a light chuckle as he explained, "It's not like that at all. In the Church of War there are not many who can call the Son of War by his first name either. But Ann and Michael grew up together-they are childhood friends-so in private she would call him Michael, but on formal occasions she would still address him as the Son of War. As for me, I call him by his name because Michael is my son."

Both Leaf and my eyes bulged at that startling announcement, but a look of understanding then passed over us. Even though Alston only looked to be in his thirties, he was probably using magic to maintain his youthful appearance. Who knows how old he really is? Both my teacher and the Pope do the same thing, so it's not really that surprising to me.

"May I ask how old you are?" asked Leaf curiously.

"Thirty-five." Alston gave an answer that matched his outward appearance perfectly.

"……" We were both speechless. Leaf then asked again, "And how old is Michael?"

"Twenty-one."

I was a little surprised to hear that the Son of War was actually two years younger than me, but what was even more astonishing was: doesn't subtracting 21 from 35 give you 14? And when you add the ten months of pregnancy, does that mean that this guy standing in front of us had impregnated a woman at thirteen years old?!

Doing xxx with women at thirteen years…… I always thought that was a privilege reserved to the nobility! Since when are the normally 'pure' priest so 'voracious'?

"By the way, this is a secret," said Alston, winking at us, "so don't go spreading it around."

Leaf and I had strange looks on our faces. 'Aren't you spilling out secrets to people from other churches a little too casually?!'

Alston laughed at our expressions, and now that I looked closer, I could see the resemblance with the Son of War. After his hearty laughing, he then explained to us, "This is an open secret in the Church of War. It's easy enough to find out about it if you simply ask around. But even though everyone already knows about it, no one would say it right out loud. So don't worry about it."

So that's how it is. Just like 'the Sun Knight is perfect'; everyone knew subconsciously that there's no such thing as a perfect person in this world, yet a lot of people still believe in it.

Just then, we heard some faint rustlings from the forest and turned to look in that direction. We weren't very wary though, for this spot was not very near the forest's deepest parts. To a group of our calibre, this kind of place is about as safe as our respective Churches.

Michael and Ann appeared from the forest, a dead wolf slung across Michael's shoulders.

When they reached the camp, Michael handed the wolf over to Ann, and Ann took it over to the lake to clean it for our dinner. Strangely, Ann looked rather pleased when she took the wolf from him.

Michael stared around at our camp and frowned, "Why aren't the tents up yet?"

Alston smiled and explained, "I'm sorry, I was too slow."

Hearing that, Michael had a strange look on his face. I could understand the reason for it though. Earlier on, Alston had needed only five minutes to set up a tent, one minute to get a fire going and another minute to set up the campfire tripod. There was no way he could be called slow.

Michael must be familiar with his own father's working style, which was why he had such a strange expression.

Michael took out an iron pot from his bag and set it up with the tripod, all the while listening to Alston and Leaf's conversation and occasionally contributing a sentence or two.

I had absolutely no interest in their conversation and instead turned to look at the lake. Hohoho! I'm more interested in beautiful young girls…… even though she's wearing full body armour and carrying a pair of axes…… I wonder how she's going to deal with that huge wolf? It's even larger than an average man!

I had turned just in time to see the wolf thrown high into the air. As her dominant fire element had shown, she was incredibly strong. She had easily tossed that huge wolf up as if she was merely tossing a small rock.

After throwing the wolf into the air, Ann quickly took out her axes, and when the wolf started falling back down, Ann jumped into the air and 'slash, slash, slash', ten chunks of meat fell to the ground. A heavy 'plop' sound could be heard; it sounded like a pile of something had fallen onto the ground. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but I could guess that it was probably the internal organs spilling out.

Under the soft glow of the moon, Ann washed her bloodied axes in the lake before putting them back on her back. Then, humming a cheerful and upbeat song, she inelegantly squatted by the lakeside and started washing the chunks of meat. After that was done, she then started pulling something long and white and bloody from the pile of internal organs and started washing that too.

By then, I had decided that…… perhaps it would be better to turn back and watch the three men conversing.

"I wonder who it was who had kidnapped the Princess Alice?" Leaf was saying in puzzlement. He then said worriedly, "I hope the kidnapper is treating the Princess well!"

After giving a quiet prayer, 'May the War God protect Her Highness', Alston then explained, "To tell the truth, we don't really know much about it. No one knows how the Princess had been kidnapped. When the royal family had realised she was missing they could only find a letter."

As he said that, he took out said letter and was about to hand it to Leaf, but upon seeing my renewed interest in their conversations, he handed it over to me instead. What a polite person.

After a "May the God of Light's radiance shine on the Princess Alice," I took the letter and started reading it. Leaf knew that I didn't like speaking so he leaned closer to read it with me so that I wouldn't have to explain it to him later.

The letter was pretty simple and straightforward. There was none of the usual threatening or bribing or demands for ransom. Instead, it merely informed that the author had taken the Princess, and that if they wanted her back safe and sound they were not allowed to form an army or to put out search notices. Only the Son of War is allowed to form a rescue party and look for the Princess. If he (the Son of War) can defeat him (the kidnapper) only may he take the Princess back.

'This person's objective doesn't seem to be the Princess but more like some plot aimed at the Son of War,' I thought in suspicion. 'Or else why would he set the condition that the Son of War is to form a party and chase after them?'

But if that was the aim, then why not just tell the Son of War to come alone? Why a group, specifically? Or is he worried that if he were to set the condition that the Son of War come after them alone the Son of War might refuse? After all, he is no less important than a Princess. Hmm… if this letter is real then it is no wonder why the Queen would force Leaf and I to come along.

The Church of War had probably insisted that the two of us come along if the Queen wanted the Son of War to rescue her daughter. With both the Sun Knight and the Leaf Knight coming along, two objectives could be achieved. Firstly, as two of the Twelve Holy Knights, we should be stronger than the ordinary knight; secondly, if the enemy really had some plot cooked up they would have to think twice about if they really wanted both the Church of War and the Church of Light to come down on them……

'Growl!'

All that thinking had made me hungry, but luckily it hadn't been very loud. I handed back the letter to Alston and asked dubiously, "Please pardon this Sun for his uneducated mind, for this Sun cannot see where in the letter it mentions the whereabouts of the Princess? But the War God's children seem to show no doubt as to the future of their mission; could it be that they have received the whispered hints from the War God?"

Upon seeing everyone's blank face Leaf hurriedly translated, "What Sun means is that the letter never said where to go to chase after the kidnapper and the Princess, yet you guys seem to know exactly where you're going……"

Just then, Ann had returned with the cleaned meat and she interjected, "That's 'cause every Moon Orchid Princess has an enchanted item on them which can be traced."

I nodded my head, while Leaf said in understanding, "I see."

Although I still had a lot of suspicions, it wouldn't be appropriate to ask them directly, so I decided to keep them to myself for now and wait for an opportunity later when I can dig for more clues.

What followed after was Leaf cooking the meat while Alston used the iron pot to cook the pile of innards in. Looking at that pot of red and white thing, both Leaf and I turned a little green.

Alston chuckled upon seeing our faces. "The internal organs are very nutritious and can strengthen your body!"

In comparison with the Son of War's simple cooking-tossing the innards into the pot and adding water, then letting it boil over the fire-Leaf put in a lot more effort into his cooking. He took out a box of seasonings and spices, containing more than ten bottles of different kinds of herbs and spices. I could recognise the very basic-salt and pepper-but that was about it.

Ann, Alston and Michael stared at all the different herbs and spices in bewilderment, and at last Michael couldn't resist asking. "What are all these things?"

"Seasonings, of course! How can you eat anything without adding any seasonings?" Leaf replied with bewilderment. He then took out a bottle and started sprinkling some on the cooking meat as he lectured, "This is powdered rosemary, to lessen the bloody smell of the meat. After the meat is cooked and some wormwood, pepper and salt is added, we can then start eating it…… or if you don't like the taste of pepper, we can use garlic instead. Although, wormwood is good for keeping meat and we can keep the uneaten meat with us for a few days, lemongrass can increase our appetite and aid in our digestion…"

Leaf looked vexed and turned to ask his audience. "Which one would you guys prefer?" The audience widened their eyes at the unexpected question, not knowing how to answer him.

I, on the other hand, was pretty used to it. While Leaf was not as good at cooking as Frost, he was a great lover of condiments and seasonings. Even when eating bread, he would add two or more kinds of flavourings. If there weren't any seasonings added to his food he would probably rather die than to eat them as they are.

But—these seasonings do not come cheap, so most of his salary is spent on buying them. This is also why Leaf is often called the poorest knight amongst the Twelve Holy Knights. He is so poor that should the kitchen close for one day he would have to go hungry.

But it's alright, even if he can't eat any meals he can still survive for a while on Frost's snacks and desserts.

Although, every single time Frost sees Leaf adding seasonings to his snacks he would have a freezing cold expression…… wait, Frost's expression is always freezing. How should I put it…… Hm, I guess you can say that he would have an 'I can eat Leaf whole without even without adding any flavourings' expression.

"No wormwood," I answered shortly.

Leaf smiled at that, saying, "Ah, I'd almost forgotten that you hate that bitter taste that wormwood carries. So I'll use the lemongrass then?"

I gave a noncommittal nod. I don't really know what lemongrass is – actually, I don't even have any idea what wormwood taste like either – but the 'worm' in wormwood is enough to reserve a spot on my blacklist straight away.

After finishing with the meat's seasoning, Leaf was not yet satisfied - he turned to look into the pot of innards. After considering the pot for awhile, he took out a delicate looking bottle. As he carefully sprinkled some of the seasoning into the pot, he explained to his captivated audience. "This is saffron; it's a rather expensive spice, but soups taste best with some added in."

The three nodded blankly, but there was a slight hint of disapproval on their faces. From their expressions they probably feel that adding saffron would hardly make any difference…… 'Hah!' I chuckled silently.

Finally, the meat was cooked and the pot of soup was ready. When the three of them bit down on their first bite of meat and took the first spoon of soup or swallowed their first piece of intestine, all three faces immediately changed!

Luckily we hadn't used the wormwood-good for preserving food-that night…… because there wasn't even anything left that needed preserving.

There is a good reason why Leaf remains so poor, ya know!

~O~O~O~O~

When camping in a dense forest such as this, someone has to stay awake and keep watch. So after dinner, Alston divided our shifts among us-Leaf and I were to take the first shift, followed by Michael on his own, and the last shift would be done by Ann and Alston.

After the other three had settled in their tents, I turned to Leaf and said, "Leaf, this place isn't very dangerous. Why don't you rest against that rock and take a nap. I should be able to keep watch by myself."

For some reason, Leaf looked shocked. He looked at me up and down carefully before finally smiling and saying, "Alright then. Make sure you wake me up so you can take your turn to sleep!"

"No need, I think I'll be pretty busy for some time," I muttered thoughtfully.

Leaf looked at me with puzzlement in his eyes.

"Just go to sleep," I smiled.

Following my suggestion, Leaf leaned against a large rock and closed his eyes. Twenty or so minutes passed and feeling that the other three should be fast asleep, I quietly whispered, "Leaf, Leaf? Are you asleep?"

Leaf jolted and immediately opened his eyes. After seeing that nothing seemed amiss, he asked questioningly, "What is it, Sun?"

"Oh, you're not asleep yet." I then told him seriously, "If you've fallen asleep remember to tell me."

"……"

Leaf then closed his eyes again and mumbled softly, "I'm asleep."

"Oh, that's good," I nodded in acknowledgement and said matter-of-factly, "Since you're asleep now, you shouldn't know what I'm up to then."

"……"

I walked back to our tent and took out a whole bunch of bottles…… Not Leaf's seasonings; these are the ingredients for my whitening mask.

Before being carried on Leaf's back, I had still walked for a whole day. Even though I had tried my best to walk in the shade where possible, I still hadn't been able to avoid the sun's rays for a large part of the journey. If I don't quickly apply my whitening mask soon, it'll take me a long time to get my skin back to its flawlessly fair complexion.

And not to mention I had sweated buckets. If I don't take a shower tonight I'll be too smelly for words tomorrow! As the perfect and elegant Sun Knight, if I were to emit an awful smell…… can I still be called the Sun knight?! I might as well change my name and call myself the Stinky Knight!

Therefore, I am now digging out all the things necessary for my shower and whitening mask from my luggage. Because I had to fit all these things into my luggage, my luggage was twice as big as Michael's and the rest. If not for Leaf allowing me to stuff some of my things into his luggage, I probably wouldn't even be able to lift my luggage and would have given up on the quest altogether, regardless of how cute Ann looked.

But now-having to rush on our journey, suffering under the harsh rays of the sun all day, unable to start a simple fire, and having to apply my whitening mask everyday- all these things are enough to make me deeply regret falling for Ann's cuteness and agreeing to join in the quest.

I sighed at my plight.

But then again, I have to come out on this quest. Not only because Ann looked cute, but also because of my promise to my teacher……

 

Back then, my teacher had been teaching me on how to maintain a Sun Knight's elegance even whilst surviving in the wilderness. I had had a massive headache just from listening about how I had to apply whitening masks every day, how to gather usable ingredients in the wild should I ever run out of them, how to elegantly start a fire, how to rush elegantly on my journey, how to shower elegantly in the great outdoors…… I had wanted to cry at hearing all of those things.

Upon seeing my crest-fallen face, my teacher had smiled faintly as he said, "My child, this lesson is a must. As holy knights, it is extremely likely that we would have to go on a quest at some point in time. And even amongst a group of ragged-looking, stinky cavemen teammates, the Sun Knight must still maintain his elegance!"

"But teacher," I protested, "does 'the whole continent know' that the Sun Knight likes to go on quests?"

That had been the first time I had questioned my teacher. He looked surprised at my question, and after giving it some thought, he said exasperatedly, "I guess not. I never thought you would hate this 'surviving in the outdoors' lesson so much. Alright then, you can skip this lesson."

'Praise be the God of Light's compassion!'

I was so grateful that for the first time in my life I sincerely thanked the God of Light.

My teacher sighed at me and said, "If you continue on like this you'll grow up to become a temple guy."

"Teacher, what is a temple guy?"

"Temple guys are those knights who choose to stay cooped up in the Holy Temple all day, sneaking peeks at the next door Temple of Light's female priests, yet dare not speak to them. Whenever come a holiday, take a walk along the hallway closes to the Hall of Light and you'll see a whole row temple guys leaning along the windows! You don't want to become that, do you?"

I slowly answered a little hesitatingly, "But, I-I think it doesn't sound bad to me?"

"What?!" My teacher roared in fury. "You spineless nitwit! I, your teacher, have had-if not hundreds-then at least fifty lovers over my years, yet you-my student, want to become a temple guy?! I forbid it! Swear to the God of Light-right now-that in the future you will leave the Holy Temple to go on a quest, or else I will board up all the windows on the hallway neighbouring the Hall of Light and announce to the whole of the Holy Temple that I did it because of you."

"……"

 

Back then, to avoid incurring the wrath of all of the Holy Temple's temple guys coming after me in revenge, I had no other option but to swear to the God of Light that I would one day leave the Holy Temple to go on a quest. But I never thought that I would miss my home so badly on just the first day……

Right now, I just want to quickly find the Princess Alice so I can get back to my Holy Temple and continue my life as a temple guy. As I prepared my whitening mask paste, I prayed to the God of Light: 'Please, beauteous and benevolent God of Light, have mercy on me and allow me to return to the Holy Temple, where I may better serve you and your people……'

After the paste was ready, I walked towards the lake with the intention of applying the mask whilst I bathed. But when I reached the lake, I suddenly sensed that something was wrong. There was something with a high concentration of fire element hiding amongst the bushes. Normally, bushes should be filled with wood and water element, not fire……

I turned my head and my eyes met up with a pair of blood red eyes glowing out from the dark shadows. I was thinking of calling for Leaf's help when the owner of the pair of crimson eyes nimbly leapt out from the bushes…… it was a magical wolf!

Magical wolves look like normal wolves and other canines, but with the addition of three red horns on their heads. Because of that, they are called 'magical wolves' or 'magical hounds'; they are a type of magical beast.

Magical beasts refer to animals that have magical abilities. I'm sure everyone is familiar with dragons? Well, dragons are also magical beasts; and one of the extremely rare extremely powerful magical beasts at that.

But unlike dragons, magical wolves' level isn't very high. Their speed and agility is not that much higher than an ordinary wolf's; however, with the three horns on their head they are able to attack people with fire balls.

'What is a magical beast doing in this forest? Even though a magical wolf is only a low level magical beast……' I frowned as I watch the magical wolf lunged at me.

With the bowl of whitening mask paste in my left hand, I extended my right at the wolf, and a gust of cold blue swept towards the wolf. This is an elementary water spell – Freezing Magic. Just as the name suggests, it is a spell that freezes one's opponents into a big block of ice…… I had learnt this from Frost. After all, Frost is pretty busy and isn't always around to make blueberry snow cones for me, so when the weather turns too hot, I had to depend on myself and had diligently mastered the Ice Magic so I could make snow cones for myself.

Even though the magical wolf had also breathed out a shot of fire at me, and even though fire conquers ice, it is only when both parties are roughly equal in power that fire can overpower ice. But now…… heheh! I chuckled coldly as I watch the pouncing wolf slowly turn into a block of ice in midair, before dropping to the ground with a 'clunk'.

'Crack!'

A snapping twig sounded from behind.

I instantly whipped around in the direction of the noise, but was surprised to see… "Leaf?"

Leaf was staring straight at me as he said with an apologetic smile, "I noticed some disturbance here."

After saying that, he then looked down at the now frozen magical wolf.

I explained with the utmost solemnity, "The wolf was rushing at me, but it rushed too quickly and tripped over a rock, falling and killing itself."

"……" After a moment where Leaf was speechless, he then reminded me. "But it's frozen."

"Ah!" with a look of realisation, I shook my head in amazement and said, "Before it died, it must have wanted to avoid being eaten, and so used magic to freeze itself."

Once again, Leaf was speechless, but he didn't continue asking along the lines of 'do fire elemental wolves know how to use Freezing Magic?' or 'but even when frozen it can still be thawed out and eaten!', and other such questions. He merely glanced at the bowl of paste in my hand while saying exasperatedly, "I see. I'm going back to sleep."

"Go back to sleep then. Lack of sleep is the bane of the beautiful."

"What?"

I smiled brightly at him. "I said, lack of sleep will not help to rescue the beautiful princess."

Leaf nodded and obediently headed back to the camp site, leaning back against the rock to continue sleeping.

I, too, continued on with my bath and whitening mask before waking Michael up for his shift. I then entered the tent and took my turn to sleep.

And that was how the next few days went……

When it was time to head out, I crawled up onto Leaf's back and slept for 24 to 48 hours.

When it was time to set up camp, I would just sit there daydreaming.

When it was time for my night shift, I would break out my bathing and whitening mask necessities and do what I must to keep my perfect Sun Knight image.

Other than the pesky mosquitoes and having to apply the whitening mask every day, the lack of Frost's after-meal titbits and being unable to sleep at night after having slept the whole day away on Leaf's back, I would say that on the whole this whole questing life is pretty good.

When come dinner time, Leaf would then tell me of how during the day the party had met with robberies, other parties trying to take liberties with Ann and various attacks from magical beasts. However thanks to Michael and Ann, they had easily dealt with any and all interference so quickly and quietly that I had not even woken up.

According to Leaf, the robbers hadn't even had the opportunity to open their mouths before they were beaten up; the other party had scrammed of after being sent flying by just one kick from Ann; and the attacking magical beasts had all ended up as our dinner.

As I ate some unknown magical beast meat and listened to Leaf as he recounted the day's happenings, I ignored the looks of disdain the three from the Church of War kept throwing in my direction.

Yup! Surviving in the wilderness wasn't as bad as I had imagined after all!

 

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