chapter 69
69. Festival (3)
1.
I am a person whose eyes go dark even when I hear the ‘reverse’ of history.
There was a reason, of course. In order for the result of hating something to be drawn, shouldn’t there be a reason for that?
Before I was ten years of age, as is the case with most children of the nobility, I began receiving private lessons in various subjects from various tutors.
Although at some point, he chose to walk the path of a knight, but that didn’t mean he could neglect his studies.
There was a reason for this as well.
Basically, the Bartes Empire is based on the succession of the eldest son of the throne or title. However, if a situation arises in which the eldest son cannot carry on the family line due to an accident of injustice, or when the family head judges that the eldest son is unsuitable as an heir, the succession of the family will be passed on to the children below him.
It was absolutely not the case that Shien’s older brother was judged unfit to be the successor. However, I also had an obligation to build up basic academic knowledge in preparation for emergencies.
For that reason, the private lessons that took up the other half of my day, excluding swordsmanship training, were actually manageable.
…But that doesn’t mean I completely absorbed the content and made it my own. Still, I listened to the class with concentration to the extent that I did not hear that I was not educated anywhere.
However, to the disgrace of my efforts, I couldn’t possibly reach my ears as much as a single academic class.
What can I say, of course, that study was history.
There’s a really good reason for this, because the tutor who taught me history was so boring.
You might think that most of the students who talk like that are nerdy students, but it was true. Not an excuse, really.
The tutor possessed the terrifying power of making even a short two-hour class feel like a thousand years. Without exaggeration, it was the most boring time that I will never have again in my life.
Again, this is not an excuse, it is a story based on facts.
“The holy night sky looks down on us-“
…But I never dreamed that waiting for only half of that time would be such a toil.
Those who don’t care about the noise outside and pray. Listening to their voices in a daze, I felt like I was going back to my childhood and taking that boring history class all over again.
Still, time was bound to flow after all.
The moment I felt Luke’s familiar magic spreading throughout the city while I was waiting, I had a hunch that maybe today’s work might work out better than I thought.
And the premonitions of those who have reached the realm of transcendence are overwhelmingly more correct than wrong.
“Oh, oh oh…!”
When I heard someone’s exclamation that suddenly resonated inside the chapel, I looked away and saw the soft moonlight pouring in from the ceiling and illuminating the statue of the goddess Lux.
No, it wasn’t Lux’s statue.
The area reached by the moonlight gradually decreased, and in the end, only the mirror held by the statue of the goddess Lux was reflected.
I wonder how the moonlight was able to penetrate the ceiling. Is there some kind of device installed on the ceiling, or is it a phenomenon related to Nox’s power?
It didn’t matter which way the answer was, but I couldn’t help but be curious.
“Finally!”
Virgo’s voice filled with joy is heard, and at the same time, a bright light bursts from the mirror and engulfs the entire chapel.
It did not take long for the light that covered the hall to fade again.
And after the light faded, the empty space in front of Lux’s statue shook and appeared in its place a stone gate with unknown characters written on it.
“…Hey, haha! This is a truly thrilling moment. How long have I been waiting for this moment to come…”
When Libra said that, brushing her bangs up, Virgo scolded her as if disapproving of it.
“Why are you making such a fuss when it’s not your first time? It doesn’t look like it.”
“That’s right… The Holy Land of Isvant was just an ordinary ruin that was all underground. Alas, you shouldn’t say things like this carelessly. Anyway, it feels a little different from this place where the Holy Land exists in a completely different dimension.”
As Libra says, there exists a completely different dimension beyond that stone gate. The dimension in which Nox’s second sanctuary exists.
“I am disrespectful. Whoa, does it make sense to live long enough and not be able to tell what to say or not to say? It’s okay, so open the door quickly.”
“Yes, I will follow your orders.”
“Please shut up that mouth.”
Libra raises her hands in her exaggerated movements, pretends to block her mouth, then places her hands on her stone gate.
And at that moment,
[Welcome, my apostle.]
A voice clearly belonged to Knox resounded and the stone gate began to move.
“Ah, great god of the night sky!”
While the other followers who heard Knox’s voice burst into exclamations and prayed, Libra took a few steps back.
And at the same time, I also got up from where I had been sitting quietly and holding my breath. The long-awaited time has finally arrived.
The moment another apostle’s head fell to the ground.
“Did you say Lady First? Please go in first.”
“…How are you? f*ck it, f*ck it.”
With a snort, Burgo seemed to be in a bad mood even while he was talking, and approached the completely open stone gate.
As she does so, Libra grabs her back, and puts her hand on the hilt of her sword.
“Brothers and sisters, thank you for being with us today.”
The dimensional gates that look like ripples on the water from time to time shed a soft blue light, but my interest was not in those places.
The moment Libra crosses her portal, she slashes her head with a single sword.
She focused her whole mind on that one thought.
Unless I make a mistake, no one in this chapel will see Libra’s head drop.
“It is natural that the sun rises and sets, and it is inevitable that the era of the holy night will come. But if the sun loses its light, the age of night will last forever.”
Although I can’t say that there are no mistakes in my dictionary, I can say this one thing with confidence. The possibility of me making a mistake when holding the sword is infinitely low. The moment she drew her sword and held it in her hand, Libra would bid farewell to this world.
“Today, we take the second step towards opening the era of the Holy Night. In a way, you could say it was a historic moment for us. It also means that the day when the wishes of all believers come true will come soon.”
“To roughly sum up what the saintess and apostle wanted to say, ‘Please pray quietly and wait until we return after retrieving the holy relics.’ So you can just wait here.”
Libra with a sad expression said that,
“…Libra, does someone talk- kyaaaaa?!”
As he was about to say something, he pushed Burgo through the portal. What did i just see?
“Holy Maid?!”
“Mr. Burgo!”
“Let’s go to sleep. Then we will leave our backs to you.”
Libra raised her hand and said that to the other followers, then muttered in a voice so low that others couldn’t hear it.
“…I’ll take care of the aftermath of that crazy b*tch, so don’t worry. It’s obvious that no one will worry about me anyway.”
I could clearly hear that monologue from me, who was right behind Libra.
The contents are absurd. If there’s someone to worry about a madman like Libra, isn’t that a problem?
Libra, who had been staring at her portal for a moment with her back turned away from her followers, moved her foot, and I also tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.
Turb-Turb-
The sound of Libra’s footsteps pounded in my ears like her thunder.
Libra, utterly ignorant of my existence from behind her back, finally reached out through her portal.
Sleep-
As Libra’s body was sucked into the portal, she drew her sword and swung it with lightning speed. Even if Libra noticed my surprise attack at this moment, the chances of him avoiding this sword were infinitely low, so close to nothing.
With this, there are eight-
“Ugh?!”
The moment my blade touched the back of Libra’s neck, I had to stop it with all her might.
As the speed at which the sword extended was fast, that series of actions put an unbelievable strain on my body.
“What the hell is this…”
I chased after Libra who had disappeared beyond the portal, and looked at her swaying portal in dismay, just like before.
“Who, who is that?!”
As I lifted her trembling hand and carefully tied the back of her neck, a sharp pain burst out. However, it is not that the body lacks training to the point that it cannot bear such trivial pain.
As I raise my hand in front of my face with a half-doubtful heart, I can see that the blood that has come out has stained my palm red.
“Kuh…!”
But before I had time to finish my assessment of the situation, two knives with curved blades aimed at me from both directions.
Two curved swords rushing towards me at the same time without a single error of 0.1 Second. The two assassins, Libra’s escorts, who had troubled me in the previous episode with their excellent passing skills, reveal themselves.
After calming my perplexed mind, I swung my sword and slashed the curved sword. As if they were aiming for it, the two escorts backed away and threw themselves over the portal.
It was an extremely rational and correct decision.
The reason why they were able to cross swords with me in the previous episode was entirely thanks to Libra’s ability, and because Libra was not here right now. It was praiseworthy for avoiding a situation of no-lose and choosing an environment that was advantageous to them.
“Enemies! What are you doing?! Hurry up and subdue the author!”
In place of the two assassins who had just resigned, four men rise from the back of the chapel, each raising their swords and maces.
Seeing that, I put aside the discomfort of missing Libra right in front of my nose, and decided to think again after subduing all of Knox’s dogs.
“…Just kill half of them.”
It’s going to be hard to get things over with if I just kill them all on the spot, so I decided to just subdue them.
Actually, there was another reason.
I think killing myself is an overly merciful option. It would be a hundred times more painful end if left to the heretic inquisitors of the church.
So who would believe in such a god?
2.
“Hey you crazy bastard, you really want me to… What, what? Hey, what’s wrong with your neck?”
Watching Libra cross the dimensional door as if rolling, Virgo raises her voice, but when she sees him who has been to the threshold of her death, she regains her reason.
“Ah… Ha ha ha ha! Man, I really thought I was going to die! Really, should I be thankful for her skills?”
“If that woman is Lud Meyer’s girl?”
“Is there anyone else besides her who can get in my way?”
Virgo, who received Libra’s eyes as if asking if she was sick, frowned at her, but did not open her mouth.
“Anyway, if it hadn’t been for His grace, she really would have died. Even if she didn’t have that woman’s skills, she would have died the way she did. Instead, the woman would have had her throat blown off too.”
“Tsk, you should have died together.”
“Uh, is that a bit harsh?”
“Before I kill you with my own hands, just shut up and follow me.”
After saying that, Libra shook her head as she saw Virgo leading her step forward.
Before she knew it, she crossed the dimensional door and saw the two escorts sitting behind him, and Libra threw a joke.
“Hey, why didn’t you guys protect me?”
“…It’s not that I didn’t protect it, it’s that I couldn’t protect it.”
“Ugh, that’s something to be proud of.”
The two escorts, who were listening to it, had no way of knowing whether Libra was joking or picking.
“Can’t you come sooner?!”
“Yes, yes. I’m going, I’m going.”
A sacred place where the city of civilization from thousands of years ago is preserved intact. Even there, the two apostles and the two escorts began to move towards the huge temple located on the highest point.