I pushed open the doors to the meeting room, and like always I made my greeting first. In other words, I spouted some nonsense praising the God of Light.
“The resplendent light that has always broken through the darkness brings a morning full of hope. To be able to spend this beautiful morning communicating with my holy knight brothers, and enthusiastically conversing about the God of Light’s benevolence truly gives Sun incomparable joy…”
The more I talked, the more I felt that something was not quite right. When I opened the doors just now, everyone had turned their heads and looked at me dazedly. So be it, but after looking dazed, to my surprise, a look of panic spread across their faces… Even if it has truly been a long time since I attended a meeting, surely there is no need to welcome me back with such expressions of alarm?
“Why is it you?!” Metal shouted very frantically.
…Has it really been such a long time since I attended a meeting?
“Sun! It’s disastrous!” Storm, flustered, stood up and reported, “It’s already been ten minutes past the start of the meeting, but Knight-Captain Judgment hasn’t arrived yet!”
I was stunned, and only then did I notice that Judgment’s seat was strangely empty. Knight-Captain Judgment, who has never been late, never been absent, never procrastinated with documents, and who is the continuous receiver of the lifetime full-attendance award, is shockingly not here for the meeting?
Don’t tell me he has secretly run off to do something again?
I immediately shouted, “Follow me!”
In a flash, everyone wiped off their frantic expressions, stood up uniformly, and followed me to leave the meeting room.
We walked briskly in a line to the entrance of the Holy Temple. I shot Storm a meaningful glance. He instantly jumped out and headed towards the two holy knights guarding the entrance, yelling, “Have you seen Knight-Captain Judgment heading anywhere?”
“Knight-Captain Judgment heading somewhere?” The holy knight guards blankly responded, “We have not seen Knight-Captain Judgment today.”
I threw another meaningful glance at Blaze, and he too jumped out roaring, “Are you sure? You absolutely can’t lie to us!”
The two guards jumped in surprise, and after exchanging a look, they nodded resolutely.
If Judgment has not gone to the meeting and has not gone out, then where is he right now?
At this moment, Roland spoke up doubtfully, “Could Knight-Captain Judgment have forgotten that there is a meeting today, so he already went to the Judge’s Complex?”
This… if it was in the past, I would certainly have said it was not possible, Knight-Captain Judgment would definitely not forget to attend a meeting!
But right now, Judgment was truly absent for the meeting, so all hypotheses would have to be treated as possibilities.
“Let us go see.” At once, I turned around and advanced towards the Judge’s Complex, of course with the ten knight-captains following behind me.
Along the way, we attracted countless astonished looks, so much so that some holy knights had also followed us unconsciously. Thus, this grand line of people arrived at the doors of the Judge’s Complex.
Just when I was about to use a meaningful glance, Metal could not wait any longer and kicked open the gates of the Judge’s Complex with a foot. Then, he charged in bellowing, “Knight-Captain Judgment! Where are you, sir?”
After Metal charged in, we followed him and walked in. Inside, the holy knight in the middle of interrogating and the criminal being interrogated were both stunned. They looked at Metal who was rushing around madly, then turned back and looked at us blankly.
The criminal shrieked loudly, “I only flirted with a woman. Surely this crime isn’t serious enough to have the Twelve Holy Knights interrogating me together?”
I looked around, left and right, and did not see Judgment. However, this did not mean that he was not here. There were many rooms in the Judge’s Complex, so looking around like this would only allow us to see the outermost interrogation hall.
Even if Judgment were to personally interrogate the convict, he would usually do so in the main interrogation hall, but one could not eliminate the possibility of him suddenly deciding to change to a different interrogation room… He has already been absent at the meeting today, so anything is possible, right?
I did not see Knight-Captain Judgment, but I saw Vice-Captain Judgment. I yelled out, “Radar!”
“Knight-Captain Sun, I am Vidar.” Vidar grudgingly walked over.
I beckoned him over with my finger, and with a suspicious expression, he came closer. I whispered into his ear, “Where is Knight-Captain Judgment?”
“Today, Knight-Captain Judgment needed to attend a meeting with the other knight-captains. He will only come to the Judge’s Complex in the afternoon…”
Halfway through his report, he looked bewilderedly behind me. All of the knight-captains were here. Only Judgment Knight was missing.
I softly said, “Knight-Captain Judgment didn’t come to the meeting, but he also didn’t leave the Holy Temple. We’re currently searching for him.”
“Captain didn’t go to the meeting?”
Vidar looked extremely alarmed. I felt that even if he were to hear news about the Holy Temple collapsing the next minute, he would not show more alarm than this. This expression of dismay was enough to confirm the fact that Lesus Judgment was also not in the Judge’s Complex.
After I nodded, Vidar hurriedly said, “But Captain didn’t come to the Judge’s Complex either! H-have you looked in his room?”
His room? I was stunned for a moment. I had actually not thought of that place.
At this point, Metal ran back into the main hall anxiously and with a cry that could seemingly make the heavens collapse and the earth split, shouted, “Knight-Captain Judgment is not in the interrogation rooms either. Where did he go? It can’t be that a-again…”
I interrupted him, “First, let’s check Knight-Captain Judgment’s room.”
Metal blanked out, and then nodded before returning to the ranks. Once again, this party set out on the journey to find Judgment. This journey only lasted for a minute before we arrived at our destination.
I walked to Judgment’s room and knocked on his door. Only three minutes passed before Metal charged forward, looking as if he was going to kick the door open to enter, but I blocked him. I sensed that there was indeed someone in the room, and he was about to open the door.
The door opened slightly, and through the narrow slit, half of Judgment’s face could be seen. He frowned as he looked at me, asking, “Sun? Is something the matter?”
“You’re asking what’s the matter? The time of the meeting has already passed. You didn’t come, so everyone has been looking for you everywhere!”
As I yelled, I pulled the door wide open so that everyone else could see him too. But then, when the door opened, I unexpectedly saw that Judgment was only wearing his undergarments.
I was a bit astonished. Surely this guy was not…
“The meeting time has already passed?” Judgment’s expression looked even more astounded than mine. After asking for the time, he wrinkled his brow, saying, “I’m sorry, I overslept. Let me put on my clothes first.”
When he finished talking, he shut the door, leaving the eleven of us looking at each other in dismay.
This fellow was actually still sleeping? It is already so late, yet Lesus Judgment was actually still sleeping? He can actually oversleep?
“And here I was thinking that only Sun would do such things!” Earth exclaimed incredulously.
That’s right… wait! I protested loudly, “Hey, I was present at the meeting today!”
Earth praised me, “Yes! You were so well-behaved today, how rare! Just as unbelievable as Judgment oversleeping.”
Even though this did not sound like a compliment at all, considering that these words came from Earth’s mouth, such a level of ill-will could maybe truly count as a compliment!
The doors opened again, and having put on his clothes, Judgment came out dressed in pitch black from head to toe. Even though he was the Judgment Knight who had been acting cool for ten years, when he saw eleven pairs of eyes staring at him, he still could not refrain from showing an embarrassed expression. He apologized once more, “I’m really very sorry.”
Straight away, Metal shouted, “Don’t worry, Knight-Captain Judgment. No one blames you!”
Indeed, no one would blame Judgment. Regarding the issue of Judgment oversleeping, everyone was only excessively frightened to the point that their brains stopped working. So currently, a vacant look appeared on everyone’s faces, making it seem like the ones who had just woken up were them rather than Judgment.
“You…” Why did you oversleep?
I had just spoken when Judgment glared at me, so I could only swallow the remaining words.
He gave a straight-forward command, “Now we hold the meeting.”
In the meeting room, I sat shoulder to shoulder with Judgment at the head of the long table. On the two sides of the table sat the “good warm-hearted” faction and the “cruel, cold-hearted” faction.
The moment Judgment sat down, he flipped through his documents continuously. Even though he had broken the principles of “not being late” and “not being absent” today, he still kept the principle of “not procrastinating with documents.”
As he flipped through them, he said, “The case of the lich breaking into Leaf Bud City has damaged the Church’s reputation quite significantly. Many of the Church’s branches have delivered reports of the masses being in a state of anxiety. They have asked for instructions on how to respond.”
Indeed, this has happened. However, because the reputation of the Church of the God of Light has recently fallen a bit, the countenance of the king towards the Church of the God of Light has improved quite a bit, and he has even been unusually loose with giving money. For this reason, the Pope has been who knows how happy, and he has even tried hard to encourage me to go to the streets and take liberties with the women and the good and innocent families, so as to let the Church’s reputation drop even further.
After Judgment finished speaking, he looked straight at me, and I promptly replied with a brilliant smile. He coldly said, “Knight-Captain Sun, undead creatures are under your jurisdiction. Aren’t you going to report on it?”
At this moment, without any change in expression, Storm pushed a document in front of me. With a smile, I opened the document to the last page, signed and stamped it, then pushed the document back to Storm.
I smiled as I responded to everyone, “Under the watchfulness of the light, darkness has already vanished without a trace. The masses have no need to be alarmed.”
Metal unhappily said, “You should at least flip through it a bit. Can’t you at least pretend to read a few pages?”
Is that necessary? In any case, the reports that I write would never be better than Storm’s… but then, this report could also be written by Adair, hmm, or maybe it could have been written by Roland!
Even though Metal said this, it was simply because he needed to have a poisonous tongue once in a while. In fact, everyone was already used to me not writing the reports. If the day came that I took out a report I had personally written, the degree of everyone’s alarm would probably be the same as that of today when Judgment did not come for the meeting.
Used to this, Judgment nodded, looked around at everyone, and asked, “Are there any urgent matters to report first this week?”
Moon raised his hand. When Judgment’s gaze moved upon him, he started reporting, “Soon, a major criminal is going to be sent here to Leaf Bud City under escort from a local church. However, the local church has heard that someone is going to break the prisoner out of jail, so they’ve sent a letter to request for assistance.”
“What kind of major criminal?”
“It is said that the son of a local city lord collaborated with a group of bandits and for a long time, bullied the local population and committed serious crimes like injury to others, thievery, killing, raping, and so on. However, the city lord apparently wanted to cover up his son’s shortcomings, so the local church had to spend an extremely long time gathering the proof, and even had to wait until the opposite side was caught in the act, to capture them and bring them to justice. Only under the circumstances of being caught red-handed was the city lord unable to defend his son any further.”
This matter did not sound easy to handle. I observed Judgment, and as expected, he was frowning so much it seemed like his brows could squish a fly dead.
Who is Judgment planning to dispatch? I was a bit curious. Although this case was difficult, it wasn’t that difficult… Even though the identity of the perpetrator as the city lord’s son made the situation a bit complicated, since the local church had already arrested him it was likely that they had already settled the situation, and there was enough evidence to convict the criminal.
Now, as long as a vice-captain was dispatched to warn the opposite party not to try in vain to break him out of jail, it should be sufficient.
Judgment looked at Roland and commanded him, “Knight-Captain Hell, take your vice-captain and two platoon members to assist them.”
Roland was startled, but promptly nodded. “Yes.”
I was also startled, but immediately understood Judgment’s intention. Roland had assumed the position of the Hell Knight for slightly more than a year, but till today had not gone out on any missions. It was necessary to allow him to familiarize himself on how to conduct an assignment, and since he would also bring along his vice-captain, there probably wouldn’t be any problems.
Judgment asked again, “Is there anything else?”
Everyone shook their heads and passed their documents, arranged according to their different specialties, to Judgment’s hands and my… subordinate sitting beside me, Storm.
But this was not yet the end of the meeting yet. After handing over the documents, some of them looked at me instead.
I smiled as I asked, “Do my fellow brothers have any matters to report to Sun?”
Storm was the first to fiercely utter, “Silent Eagle is still refusing to leave and have stolen many of my admirers. There are rumors that the members in his fan club already number more than a hundred!”
I pondered for a short time. No matter what, Silent Eagle was the leader of another cathedral, and in addition we had previously placed him under house arrest, yet now wanted to chase him away without any reason. Since it was like this…
I chuckled as I replied, “Does Brother Storm need to be so agitated? Since Silent Eagle is not willing to leave, we should uphold the God of Light’s teachings to pardon him and permit his prolonged stay. However, under the guise of this forgiveness, a tithe is to be collected. Otherwise, how will others be convinced?”
When I finished speaking, everyone hurriedly asked Storm, “What does he mean?”
With his eyes shining, Storm chuckled, “Hehe,” then said, “Collect rent! However much we can collect, we will collect. However long he wants to stay, we’ll let him stay! It’s truly a marvelous idea. The Pope will definitely be very happy.”
Everyone loudly cheered “Oh oh,” and Earth further gave me a thumbs-up, saying in admiration, “As expected of Sun. Even if we don’t get rid of him, we must make him lose some face!”
Although I know that you, Earth, are truly trying to praise me, it’s better if you shut up!
Stone raised his hand and spoke, “His Highness requests for your presence at the palace. He wants a full report on this past incident with the lich. Even though I’ve actually already gone to make a report, His Highness apparently wants to ‘conveniently’ discuss with you the official marriage at the end of the year between the princess and Elijah.”
“Wait!” I was astonished, even forgetting my elegance, and retorted, “How does their marriage concern me?”
“Their marriage is none of your business.” Stone nodded, but continued speaking, “However, the congratulatory wedding gift the Church will give is your business. Furthermore, it appears that Elijah has made a request of the king for you to be his best man.”
The congratulatory gift… Can it be that the king wants a bracelet of rose beads with healing powers? I was silent for a while, before resignedly saying, “Since it is so, Sun will go there. Brother Stone, Brother Storm, in two days, you two will follow me.”
“Yes.” Both of them nodded.
After that, everyone had a never-ending pile of matters to report. It made me feel that I really should not have obediently come for today’s meeting. If I had known that there would be so many matters, I would have overslept as well!
Earth coldly said, “The former Knight-Captain Sun has been searching everywhere for the Twelve Holy Knights to spar and drink with him. In the past few days, if we weren’t knocked-out from the fighting, then it would be from drinking. How much longer will this situation continue?”
When Earth finished talking, all the holy knights (other than Judgment) glared at me together.
Even though I did not want to touch any matters concerning Teacher, under the glare of ten pairs of eyes, I could only answer, “Sun will settle it soon.”
When they heard this, everyone rolled their eyes. Having been associated with me for ten years, everyone was quite clear that my “soon” probably meant that I’d put it off until there was time.
Leaf subsequently said, “There are three newborns for you to name, two boys and one girl.”
On reflex, I chose, “Judge, Absenplum, Meetin.”
Judgment stared at me coldly, and I quickly turned my head so I would not look at him. But with this turn of the head, I saw Roland debating whether or not to raise his hand, looking very hesitant. I took the initiative and asked, “Knight-Captain Hell, do you have anything to report?”
Only then did Roland open his mouth and ask, “Pink wants me to ask you, where is this month’s strawberry shaved ice?”
S***, I forgot! I hurriedly turned to ask, “Brother Ice, may I ask if the strawberry shaved ice is undergoing preparations?”
Ice nodded and replied, “The strawberry syrup is already done. Whenever you want to deliver it, I will shave the ice, and it’ll be ready.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Ice has a good memory and remembered the job I had assigned him. A Pink who does not have strawberry shaved ice to eat is not an easy person to deal with.
“Do my brothers have any more matters to report?” If there is nothing more, we can adjourn the meeting! After having such a long meeting, I am very hungry!
Storm instantly said, “I do! The tailor inquires, for the gold trimming of your new uniform do you wish to use resplendent gold or deep gold?”
Cloud said dispiritedly, “The Pope wants you to invite Aldrizzt to the Church of the God of Light for a stay. If you don’t, he’ll dock your salary.”
Stone said, “The princess privately warns that if on the wedding day, you dress up too handsomely and steal her husband’s presence, she will never be done with you!”
Blaze said, “Elijah invites you this weekend to drink with him… Eh! I meant for a chat!”
“Also…”
“In addition…”
“Moreover…”
“…”
I really should not have come to the meeting today!
It was not easy to adjourn the meeting… Actually, the moment I had an opportunity to interrupt, I quickly dispersed the meeting. If not, there would be no end to the reports, and it took so long that Judgment and Storm even started correcting documents during the meeting!
After the meeting adjourned, I called out to Ice and Roland, and the three of us headed to Ice’s room to get the strawberry shaved ice.
Probably due to my sour expression, Ice started explaining, “It’s been a long time since you attended a meeting, so everyone amassed a lot of things to report.”
“It has not been that long!”
“You haven’t come to the weekly conference for about…” Ice pondered for a while, then continued, “two months.”
“Since when has it been that long!”
“It has.” Beside me, Roland nodded, affirming Ice’s words, “Two months exactly.”
I obediently shut my mouth. It was meaningless to dispute matters with these two overly serious fellows; they simply did not know how to say things like “it hasn’t been that long” to give me an easy way out of this situation. Nevertheless, at the very least they were better than having Earth here. Earth would most likely say, “Eh? Since succeeding the Twelve Holy Knights, have you ever come to a meeting?”
After entering Ice’s room, Roland and I waited for him to make strawberry shaved ice, and not long after ate some super sweet blueberry shaved ice while waiting. As Roland ate, he looked remorseful. From the beginning to the end, he has always been troubled by his wasting food.
To let him feel a little less remorse, I took the opportunity when Ice was busy making shaved ice to subtly scoop a pile of shaved ice from Roland’s bowl into mine.
Just as we were about finished eating, Ice also finished. He carefully packaged twenty bowls of strawberry shaved ice, and then passed them to Roland. Following that, he handed over a small pouch with the sun symbol embroidered on it. Naturally, the chocolate inside was already replenished.
Ice spoke to me, “Sun, the strawberry season is ending soon, and thereafter, strawberries cannot be purchased. So, I want to take advantage of this time to make more strawberry syrup, to avoid not being able to make strawberry shaved ice in the future. However, I do not have enough money to buy a large quantity of strawberries.”
Oh I see. The strawberry syrup required to make twenty bowls of shaved ice was not an insignificant amount. I nodded and replied, “I will find the Pope and discuss setting aside a bit of the funds for you.”
Only, I did not know whether or not the Pope would be willing to give the money. If he is not willing, then we will have to… think of a way to extract money from the princess’ wedding congratulatory gift!
Carrying the shaved ice, and in passing requesting two slices of blueberry pie from Ice, we started out towards Pink’s house.
Along the way, after finishing both slices of blueberry pie, I turned to ask Roland, “In two more days you’ll be setting off on a mission with Tyre. You should be getting along quite well with him by now, right?”
“It’s Tyler.” Roland was a bit unhappy as he corrected me. It looks like their relationship is not bad.
He even went further and emphasized, “Tyler is a good person. He has helped me a lot.”
I nodded and asked, “Have you taken off the Dragon’s Saint Brigandine in front of him before?”
“I have. I have shed the disguise in front of the whole Hell Knight Platoon because they wanted to know how I looked like to avoid having someone feigning to be me.” Having said that, he looked anxiously at me, asking, “Will allowing them to know my appearance result in any danger?”
“It won’t! You should let them know your appearance.” When I finished speaking, Roland’s worried expression relaxed a lot. Seeing this, I further asked, “Then does Tyler know that you’re a death knight?”
“There could be some things about me that he is suspicious about, but he didn’t question much.” Roland was rather vexed as he said, “I keep on forgetting to pretend to drink water, eat food, or do things like going to the toilet.”
“In a few years time, maybe you should find an opportunity to let him know.”
“What?” Roland jumped in shock and cried out in alarm, “How can I…”
I interrupted him, hastily explaining, “Tyre is after all, your vice-captain. He has substituted for the Hell Knight in his affairs for three years already, and yet in a few short months accepted you as his captain, and in addition, is loyal and devoted to you. He has the right to know the truth!” I paused for a moment before asking, “Furthermore, the feeling of having something concealed from you is unpleasant, isn’t it?
Though the person previously hiding something from him was myself, so I really did not have any right to criticize him.
Roland was startled for a moment before falling silent. I patted his shoulder, comforting him, “Don’t worry, even if you’re going to reveal it, now is not the time. You can tell him after several more years! When that time comes, I’m sure that Tyre will definitely be able to accept your… identity.”
Roland merely laughed bitterly, with an expression that appeared as if he still would not want to tell him. Nevertheless, this matter did not need to be rushed. Even if Roland told him after a few years, it would not be too late, so I did not pursue the topic further.
“Does Pink live very far away now?” I was a bit worried that the strawberry shaved ice would melt. If she lived too far, then I needed to secretly use a bit of magic to ensure the shaved ice would not turn into a drink.
“It’s only the street next to the Church.”
“That close?” I was astonished. Are you kidding me? A lich is living right beside the Church of the God of Light? If this were to be circulated, the Church of the God of Light’s reputation would probably plummet even more than if I took liberties with women, dressed slovenly without caring about my appearance, and drank heavily!
Roland nodded, chuckling, “She said it is more convenient to live a bit closer. If you make any big messes, she will be able to arrive faster to see the commotion.”
A lich who only loves to watch a commotion… I rolled my eyes. At this moment, Roland suddenly stopped walking, and said, “We’ve arrived.”
I lifted up my head, and then looked uncomprehendingly at the house in front of us.
Roland had walked forward two steps before he realized that I had not moved. He turned around and asked, “Sun, aren’t you coming in?”
“Going in?” I said expressionlessly, “Roland, this is a doll shop. Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?”
“There is no mistake.” Roland said, then pushed open the door of the doll shop and entered.
Seeing this, I could only follow him and enter as well…
“It’s the Sun Knight! Hey, it’s the Sun Knight!”
I put on the standard Sun Knight smile, originally intending to say some nonsense about the God of Light’s blessings, but when I pushed open the door, numerous little kids were screaming loudly. They threw down the various dolls in their hands and then charged towards me with a great force like an earthquake, akin to the assault of a platoon!
Confronted with this army attack, my smile momentarily froze on my face. Almost immediately, two children clambered up both my legs, a horde of children seized the corner of my clothes, another mass of children tightly grabbed onto my fingers… These shackles of a crowd of children are even more frightening than the Chains of Darkness!
At the sight of this, Roland promptly said, “Sun, I’ll hand the shaved ice over to Pink first to avoid the ice melting.”
I scooped up a child, and using his chubby face to cover mine, glared fiercely at Roland. But he was not the least bit scared, and when the children clutched my blond hair and would not let go, he even laughed out loud. Damn him!
After Roland went in, I looked around while being the children’s toy. Everywhere in this doll shop were small-sized tables, chairs, beds, and so on, and of course it was unavoidably full of dolls. It sure was a very cute place.
Other than the children, even the mothers who had brought the kids looked very delighted, and the shop assistant… orc? I froze.
At the counter stood a fellow as large as a horse and covered in fur. Is this an orc of some kind? Just now, because the shop was full of furry dolls, with plenty of monster-shaped toys, I had mistaken the orcs as dolls.
One, two, three… There are actually three orcs! This has turned troublesome!
I was just about to draw out my sword when I realized that the chains of children had not even let my sword escape. They had gripped onto the hilt and the scabbard so tightly, I was afraid I would injure them if I drew out my sword. What to do… Oh right! I can call Roland.
“Big doll, big doll!”
Just when I was about to open my mouth, the children suddenly charged towards an orc. I was shocked!
The orc chuckled, scooped the children up, and started to play a game of throwing and catching. It truly was a sight of harmony between orcs and humans… If only it was not a man-eating orc, with drool seemingly hanging from the corner of its mouth, I would feel a little better.
A lich opening a doll shop, orcs being the shop assistants inside… Pink, your shop should have been opened in hell. It would be more proper to let things like ghosts browse your shop, right?
Complaints aside, I still relaxed a lot. Most likely the orcs were not dangerous. At least for now.
“You’re so well-received indeed.”
Of course! The Sun Knight is synonymous with elegance, amiableness, laughter, tolerance, forgiveness and so on… Who does not love the Sun Knight? Even criminals all love to see me!
Pink walked out from within, carrying a bowl of shaved ice in her hands. Following behind her, Roland walked out as well.
When I saw her, I was momentarily stunned. She wore a set of maid clothes, her skirt flaring out like a dome. And as her preference, her clothes were mostly pink in color. In addition, she wore a lace headband on top of her head, and a pair of garters below adorned her long legs. Her whole appearance was truly tempting people to commit crimes!
However, so long as I remember that the beauty in front of me is actually a corpse, the only crime left that I want to commit is wiping her out.
Pink bent down, purposely made an adorable expression, and told the children, “Everyone is crowding around Brother Sun and no one is paying any attention to Brother Hell. He’s so pitiful!”
The children stared blankly at Pink.
Pink giggled as she said, “Has everyone forgotten Brother Hell? Last time, together with Big Wolf, Second Wolf and Third Wolf, he played a game of knight-fighting-the-demon-king for everyone to watch?”
“Oh oh oh!” The children yelled loudly, then like the tide receding, flowed from my side to imprison Roland.
Facing the army of children, Roland seemed to be able to cope easily as if experienced already. He effortlessly placed a child on his shoulder, then scooped up two others, and lastly could even use his feet to toy with the other children… I mean to play with the other children.
Pink beckoned me, saying, “Follow me to the back!”
Although following an attractive lady wearing a maid outfit to a backroom under the gazes of a crowd of mothers seemed not to be the sort of thing that the Sun Knight should do… The Pope has been enthusiastically encouraging me to go and play with ladies, so this should also be counted as work, right?
Walking behind Pink, I vaguely felt a sense of passing through some magic, but when I hesitated, I saw that Pink was already nonchalantly half-lying on a recliner.
At this point, I noticed that this place was exactly the same as the first house Pink had stayed in, with all the decorations still the same. Only the cleaning corpse seemed different.
The magic is probably to prevent unwanted people from breaking in? Since I did not feel anything weird, I left it alone and asked straight-forwardly, “Why did you open a doll shop?”
Pink shrugged her shoulders, and curled up in the recliner. Without caring that she was no longer a child but a long-legged beauty, she even dared to fold up her legs on the chair, and exposed her small knickers beneath her skirt to the open air!
Pink pouted as she spoke. “Because I love dolls!”
I love to eat dessert, but I would never open a dessert shop! I rolled my eyes, scolding her, “Aren’t you afraid to be discovered by the holy knights? What if they enter the shop? The shop keepers are even orcs!”
“I’m not afraid. My abilities of disguise are fairly high. As long as it is not one of the Twelve Holy Knights, no one will notice! Also, how many holy knights will enter a doll shop?”
Two: Roland and I.
When I think about it, maybe there really is no danger. Who would believe that inside a doll shop is a lich and three orcs in hiding? Even those mothers think that the orcs are people dressed in doll costumes.
“You don’t have any plans for those children, right?” I looked suspiciously at Pink.
Pink rolled her eyes at me and grumpily replied, “If I wanted to do anything sneaky, would I set up shop in the street neighboring the Church of the God of Light? Even though you aren’t much like a Sun Knight, the Judgment Knight is not an herbivore!”
“What do you mean not like the Sun Knight? Up to now, people regard me as the Sun Knight closest to the Sun Knight in the legends!”
Pink replied peevishly, “What Sun of the Sun in the legends… Are you saying some kind of tongue twister? I’m just going to ignore you. If I don’t eat the shaved ice now, it will melt.” When she finished talking, she began to earnestly eat her strawberry shaved ice.
I sat down habitually on the short chair that I had always sat on and watched her consume two bowls of shaved ice. Then, I called out, “Pink.”
“Hmm?” Pink was currently licking the strawberry syrup on the spoon. After replying, she suddenly warned me, “Don’t think that I will share my strawberry shaved ice with you!”
“Who cares? I just ate blueberry shaved ice!”
“Then why did you interrupt me? Can’t you see I’m busy eating shaved ice?”
“I’ve got something to ask you.” I took a few deep breaths and asked, “What’s going on with the various things that have happened recently?”
Pink tilted her head and asked in reply, “Do you wish to know the secrets of the Cathedral of the Shadow God?”
“Not really…”
“Then why do you still ask?”
I was a little speechless. Furthermore, it felt like I was in a dilemma. If I knew the secrets of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, then it would be hard to extricate myself in the future; but if I did not know the secrets, then I’d forever be unable to solve the problem.
After hesitating for a while, I sincerely confessed, “Then regarding Scarlet. I, I put her…”
“Scarlet has nothing to do with me.” Pink rushed to say, “If you destroy her, I will be even happier!”
I was stunned and asked, “You have a competitive relationship with her?”
“Something like that.”
I thought it over, and then warily asked, “Not long ago, I remember that you said you had a concern in Leaf Bud City, so you had to return. Is that concern related to your competition with her? Scarlet didn’t do anything to him, right?”
Pink put down the bowl of shaved ice with a thud, and glaring at me, said loudly, “My concern is hidden very well, so there’s no need for you to worry. But if you’re thinking of disturbing him, then we’ll become adversaries!”
Upon seeing Pink’s anger, I hastily said, “I would do no such thing! You should know that I wouldn’t hurt others lightly.”
Pink thought for a moment, and then reluctantly nodded her head. Following that, she took another bowl of shaved ice from the cleaning corpse and continued to eat.
Even though Pink had not answered me, I still picked up some information from the conversation. Pink’s concern was in fact a “person” and seemingly had not been harmed by Scarlet. The most important piece of information was… Pink’s concern was apparently not me.
I frowned as I pondered over what kind of question would not anger Pink, and after thinking for a while, I raised another query. “Silent Eagle gave me a warning earlier. He said that soon someone will arrive at Leaf Bud City, and they may be thinking of harming me.”
Pink cocked her head to the side and said, “Sun, there is no need to ask me about such matters. Soon, everything will be clear to you. It should only take a few days!”
I froze and hastily asked, “Why?”
Pink merely giggled, then rapidly gulped down her strawberry shaved ice, and did not answer my question at all.
Seeing this, I decided that I’d discuss it again in a few days. In any case, in a few days, if there was still a whole pile of questions remaining, then it would not be too late to find Pink again to interrogate her. In any case, Pink was now living in the adjacent street, so it would not even take ten minutes to walk over here.
“I’ll ask one last question.”
“You certainly have a lot of questions!” Pink replied irritably.
Even though she did not consent, I still could not resist and asked, “What material are your knickers made from? Why are its properties totally different from your other clothing?”
“Oh, it’s sewn from the hair of corpses.”
… If I had known earlier, I would not have asked.
After bidding goodbye to Pink and snatching Roland away from the crowd of children, which caused them to cry, which provoked and offended their crowd of mothers, which caused the reputation of the Church to plummet several hundred points, the two of us left Pink’s new house and set out to return to the Church.
“Thank you.”
The moment we left the doll shop, Roland gave me his heartfelt gratitude. He had already been played with by the children until his clothing was in a mess. If there had been any further delay, he might have lost his clothing altogether.
We had only just stepped into the Church when Storm, bearing a smile and dark eye circles, headed straight for us. He threw a large stack of documents into Roland’s arms, announced that he was now off duty, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Roland gave me a forced smile, saying, “I’ll return to my room to look at the documents.”
I nodded, replying, “May the sacred holy light of the God of Light help you to yield twice the result with half the effort!”
As Roland walked away, I heard him murmuring to himself, “But I am a death knight, so won’t the holy light only slow down my working speed?
I looked outside to gauge the time of day, which was colored by the setting sun. Usually around this time, I would always be waiting for a certain someone to finish work… Come to think of it, with the massive amount of things happening recently, I think it has been a long time since I have waited for that person to get off work. If I do not go now, maybe my good friend, who is not a friend, will really stop putting up with me.
I picked up a basin of clear water, a hand towel and two stools, and then proceeded to the toilet in the Judge’s Complex.
After placing the stools on the floor that was as clean and bright as a mirror, I sat down on a stool, and breathing in the lemon fragrance that filled the whole room, began to daydream while waiting for him.
Since long ago, almost no one used this toilet. However, it was always kept clean and tidy… I think the janitor for the toilet must have long discovered that the Judgment Knight always rushes into this toilet after his work ends.
Most holy knights must have discovered it too. If not, how come no one comes here to use such a clean toilet?
I had been daydreaming for only a few minutes when all of a sudden, a mass of black shadows flashed past and leaned on the sink to vomit profusely. Even though I said “vomit,” most of it was actually the sound of retching while being unable to throw up anything.
After vomiting for so many years, a person who vomits every day would have long since learned to do things the smart way. At present, before interrogating criminals, he practically would not eat anything, generally only drinking milk or honeyed water to fill his stomach.
After a period of time, as usual, he finished puking. I patted his shoulder and passed the clean water and hand towel to him. He took them, then sat down on the stool and started to use the water and towel to neaten his appearance.
Although his appearance was not actually that messy, to Lesus Judgment, this was probably quite messy indeed.
Lesus has always loved being immaculate. Ever since he started practicing in the Judge’s Complex, the level of cleanliness in the Judge’s Complex had been increasing with each passing day, until even the convicts were very clean… It was rumored that if they were not clean, the Ice Knight would spray them with a stream of water until a layer of their skin came off. Only then would they be dragged to Knight-Captain Judgment for interrogation.
However, as a result of his love for cleanliness, Lesus’s vomiting sickness would never be cured. This was because the tortured criminals could not do anything about cleanliness, so foaming at the mouth, pieces of flesh and blood flying about, and even incontinence were common occurrences.
Having a soft heart in addition to a love for cleanliness… Truly, Lesus really is not suited for being the Judgment Knight. Even though he is very good at it.
Lesus glanced at me and asked, “What are you thinking about? Why are you looking at me blankly?”
It’s not like I can say that I was thinking you really are not suited to be the Judgment Knight, right? I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I was thinking that, unexpectedly, Lesus Judgment overslept today, so I wonder if he is keeping any secrets? For instance, things like sneaking out last night to investigate something.”
“You think too much.” Lesus said indifferently, “I merely had a dream.”
While Lesus talked, I observed his expression closely, but since I did not see anything, I could only treat it as that.
“Was it a nightmare?”
Lesus hesitated and said, “I wouldn’t consider it a nightmare. It was just a memory.”
I waited for Lesus to continue talking, but he did not continue, apparently not intending to explain what sort of recollection it was. But then at today’s meeting, his expression had not differed from his normal expression, so there probably wasn’t anything wrong.
After dismissing the notion to continue asking, I looked left and right, and finally stared at Lesus, mournfully asking, “Judgment, where is your prepared dessert?”
Lesus wiped his mouth as he shook his head, saying, “You haven’t come here for a long time, so no one was eating the desserts I prepared. I stopped preparing them since I ended up having to finish them myself.”
Although I felt mournful, Lesus’s tone felt even more so. I understood why. The desserts he usually prepared were really sweet, the kind that tasted like a whole chunk of sugar piled together, and with him not liking sweet things, it must have been very painful for him to take care of it.
Since there were no desserts, I had no choice but to take out the small sun embroidered bag of chocolates to eat.
“Metal complained to me again that Knight-Captain Sun threw aside his work without care and went out to sneak around, this time even bringing along Knight-Captain Hell with him, which was simply too outrageous. He was also worrying, that should you lead Knight-Captain Hell astray, it would be disastrous.”
“What!” I rolled my eyes and complained loudly, “I went out to do my job. I’m always wrongly accused! I’m really busy, alright?! Early in the morning I was busy looking for you, then I was busy looking for strawberry shaved ice, and finally I was busy looking for Pink. I was busy non-stop!”
Lesus chuckled, smiling while he shook his head, “If you let Storm hear what you just said, he’ll probably send you flying with a kick. Anyway, did you hear anything from the lich?”
“Nothing.”
He asked somewhat suspiciously, “Really?”
“Really! The current me wouldn’t hide anything from anyone!” I emphasized, “Pink only said that everything will become clear in a few days’ time, but I don’t know what she means by that.”
Once I finished speaking, Lesus frowned, but this expression did not really seem like doubt. Instead it was more like… distress?
But in the next moment, Lesus regained his usual stiff smile, saying, “Since that’s the case, let’s discuss this again in a few days’ time. There’s no hurry.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
I nodded and proceeded to stuff several pieces of chocolate into my mouth. At this point, Lesus finished tidying himself, took out a book from within his robe, and quietly read.
Just like in the past, after exchanging the main events of the week, I would eat dessert and he would read his book. During busier times, he would take out documents to correct, while I would still eat dessert… but I’m not being lazy! Usually when I am busy, I would be running around outside, so I would have no way to come to the Judge’s Complex’s toilet to chat with Lesus.
After eating half the bag of chocolates, I gave a big stretch and sighed contentedly, “A quiet life is so good!”
“Indeed it is.” Lesus nodded in agreement.
“I just don’t know how long till Teacher will leave! And everyone is too much. They clearly know that I’m most fearful of Teacher, but they still reported to me that he is refusing to leave. Do they think that I can chase him away? I’m not so tired of living that I’d seek death!”
Lesus smiled as he shook his head and asked, “Do you need me to ask my teacher to come visit the Holy Temple? He lives nearby.”
“Yes, yes!”
Right away my eyes gleamed. How could I forget this ace? Teacher Neo was not afraid of the sky nor the ground; the only person who could frighten him was the previous Knight-Captain Judgment, Chasel. I hastily said, “Of course! Ask him right away to spend the night! Then my Teacher will definitely run away the next day.”
Lesus raised his brows, doubtfully asking, “I wonder, after we retire, will you also run away the moment you see me?”
“Why would I?” I instantly denied it solemnly, “When I see you, I surely will not run. Instead, I will…”
“Will frantically pester me and order me to help you buy blueberry pie!” After he said that, Lesus rolled his eyes at me.
“Heh heh,” I smiled. Lesus is so useful, he would do anything from running errands to helping me beat up a dog. In addition, his swordsmanship is good, so after retirement he will unquestionably have food to eat! So why would I run when I see him? When I see him, of course I will immediately pester him!
“I really can’t do anything about you, but can’t you eat some different flavors? I’ve bought so many blueberry pies that there are rumors out there that the Judgment Knight loves eating blueberry pies.”
I reasoned, “But only that shop’s blueberry pie is so popular that I need to send you to buy it! The moment everyone sees you they’ll behave well and give way to you, so there’s absolutely no need to queue up.”
“Careful that you don’t eat so much dessert that you grow fat.” Lesus said flatly, “I heard that the older one is, the easier it is to grow fat… Your expression seems to say that you’re already fatter?”
“… A few days ago when making my new uniforms, the tailor taking measurements said that my waist had grown one and a half inches more.”
“One and a half inches? That much?” He was a bit startled. Then, he frowned as he said, “You really eat too much dessert. After today, you’re only allowed to eat one portion, and I will ask Ice to put less sugar in your dessert.”
“No, no, no!” I yelled hysterically, “I can eat less dinner, but you better not touch my dessert!”
“No way, not eating dinner but eating dessert instead will be bad for your body.” Lesus stood up. The stiff smile on his face had disappeared, replaced by the ruthless face of the Judgment Knight that does not tolerate disobedience.
I fiercely stood up and angrily said, “I was very honest and told you I had become fatter! Since I was so honest, how can you punish me by taking away my dessert! This is not a fair sentence! I object!”
Lesus said dismissively, “This isn’t a sentencing, just a suggestion. As the Judgment Knight, I have no power to sentence the Sun Knight to anything.”
No power? Then who locked me up previously? Don’t tell me it was another Judgment Knight with power?
“It’s just that, perhaps my Teacher will not have time these days to spend the night at the Holy Temple.”
“…”
“In contrast, if the previous Knight-Captain Sun finds out that although his student is younger than him by twenty years he has a waist measuring two inches more than him, perhaps he’ll plan to spend the night at the Holy Temple.”
“Your suggestion is not bad. I’ve decided it’s better to eat less dessert.”
Lesus nodded, and the stiff smile reappeared on his face, but I was only thinking about using my fist to wipe off his smile… On second thought, I better forget it, as it is rather embarrassing to throw a punch and hit empty space.
“Only eating blueberry shaved ice and chocolate the whole day means I’m famished. I’m going to eat ‘dinner’!”
I purposely emphasized dinner, and having finished speaking, I turned to leave, fuming.
“Sun.”
I had only walked a few paces when Judgment called out to stop me. Then, he wordlessly stretched out his hand toward me.
I silently looked at his hand, and he also looked at me silently. Even though he had not said a word, I knew the meaning behind his outstretched hand… Why the heck am I being his tapeworm at this time?
After staring at each other for a while, I quietly walked up to him and reluctantly handed over the small sun embroidered bag filled with super sweet chocolate, and then I watched with wide eyes as the pure white bag was swallowed up by the pitch-black robes.
If I had known earlier this would happen, I would not have waited for Judgment to end work today! Boo hoo hoo, my small bag… After I retire, I’ll definitely run away when I see Lesus!
