Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: I Won't Run Away Anymore
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Firefly Crystal Fruit. A mystical fruit that permanently enhances one's constitution and mental fortitude while reconstructing the body.
The instant she took a bite, Ardine realized she had committed a fatal mistake.
‘I shouldn’t have eaten this right now.’
It was a treasure meant to be consumed when her own flesh had reached its limit.
When further improvement through training had become impossible.
When the wall that people commonly spoke of stood in her path—that was the moment to swallow it. The true value of this fruit lay in allowing one to surpass their limits precisely when those limits had been reached.
She felt a pang of loss for consuming such a precious item now, but a gain was still a gain. The mana circuits etched into her body had been more efficiently reconstructed, and the speed at which she drew in ambient mana had increased. Her flesh had been reforged into a state closer to perfection—her bones stronger, her strength greater. Her appearance had become even more beautiful, her figure more pronounced.
‘An incredible fruit. Even if it only works once, the fact that it permanently enhances one's constitution and talent... it surpasses any elixir I know. And she can mass-produce them like that?’
The princess’s gaze lingered on the golden tree, unable to tear away. If she could, she would uproot it entirely and transplant it to the imperial palace gardens.
The possibilities with this fruit were endless—endless enough to bring joy just imagining them.
Simply auctioning off the right to consume it would bring in a fortune. And that was the most basic use.
As a former wielder of power who knew well the relative values of wealth and authority, Ardine gleefully envisioned countless ways to apply the Firefly Crystal Fruit. She could bestow it upon those loyal to the imperial family to bolster their devotion, or use it in dealings with great nobles seeking to enhance their own martial prowess.
Or perhaps as bait to gather her own forces. If she could produce it in large quantities, she could instantly create an elite army far superior to any ordinary force, their constitutions and physiques improved beyond measure. Select just a thousand men and feed them the fruit, and she’d have a special forces unit ready to go.
Her flights of imagination were cut short when Kyle called out to her.
The reason was simple. They didn’t know what awaited them at Viscount Leighton’s estate.
If what was there truly was a Reaper, then no one present—save Ardine herself—possessed the qualifications to subdue it. Gods weren’t meant for humans to face in the first place.
Only Masters like Ardine herself, or heroes of similar caliber, had the right to battle a god. Lesser beings would perish simply caught in the crossfire of divine power, combat or no.
“So you’re saying that what awaits us there is presumed to be a Reaper.”
The princess’s mind whirred once more.
She nodded, acceding to Kyle’s request. Of course, she had her own calculations in mind.
What was a Reaper? The temples’ greatest enemy. The theocracy and its temples wielded immense power, but they had a weakness: they were forever bound by doctrine.
If she secured proof of a Reaper’s emergence and shoved it in the temples’ faces, would they have time to meddle in imperial politics? They wouldn’t even have the mind to sabotage Ardine’s endeavors.
From that day forward, no political petition would reach even the bishops under the Pope, let alone the Pope himself.
A Reaper—the very existence their goddess most feared—had newly arisen. With that staring them in the face, how could they concern themselves with worldly affairs? The temples’ internal factions would turn on the instigators, ripping them apart.
Are you sane? The goddess desires the Reaper’s subjugation—must you drag other matters into this moment? Are you perhaps a heretic?
Thus, if she could confirm the Reaper’s existence, the temples would be unable to launch political assaults against her for quite some time. At the very least, they would be fully focused on the Reaper’s subjugation.
‘If I can secure proof, I might divert the temples’ attention away from me... away from the Empire.’
Of course, even she didn’t truly wish for a Reaper to have appeared on this land.
Gods were unfathomable beings. Reapers, twisted from their very origins, were moreso. Whether it brought fortune or calamity was all too clear. A Reaper was a disaster incarnate.
She might reap secondary benefits from it, but those gains would be laughably small compared to the losses. The princess had no desire to see the Empire descend further into chaos.
But if a Reaper truly had emerged, she would steer events toward profit however she could. Opportunity always lurked within crisis.
*****
For the first time in their lives, the vampires basked in sunlight—and basked they did. Some, the more reserved ones, stripped to the waist for a few minutes to soak it in.
Others stripped utterly bare, top to bottom. It wasn’t even noon, not summer yet, and though spring’s vigor filled the air, mornings still brought chill winds.
The sunlight wasn’t that intense, but they spread their arms wide, reveling in it all the same. One lay spread-eagled on the ground, shivering from the cold yet delighting in the light.
Roca, freshly awakened and well-rested, stared in bewilderment, rubbing her face furiously. She must have thought she was still dreaming.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Ah, Master!”
Spotting me, the girl’s tail shot straight up. Roca looked around at herself in a daze, then hopped to her feet and walked over. She hugged me tight, and I returned the embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re safe. Truly.”
“Master, I... I won. I beat that woman who tried to capture me.”
Roca clenched her fist, brimming with far more confidence than before.
Her eyes sparkled as she recounted her feat of valor. But that fist trembled all the same.
A first kill was an indelible scar. One could cover it with countless others until it no longer stood out. But once scarred, it never truly healed.
“...And that’s how I turned her to ash. Just touching the light did it.”
There was no point judging right or wrong. Had Roca submitted to Lady Camira’s whims without resistance, the outcome wouldn’t have been better than this.
In the end, people lived bearing wounds. If one couldn’t stomach that, they had to abandon the world—hide in the mountains, forage for roots and herbs. But such folk were rare.
Sometimes betrayed, sometimes crushed, people bruised against one another all the same.
And it was people who could heal the wounds people inflicted.
The Lord watches over me, and the Lord takes my wounds. That was the privilege I held as a priest—and the reason I bore the duty to heal others’ wounds. But Roca was different.
All I could do was hope I could wrap this child’s wounds tightly enough.
“Roca. You just woke up, so rest here. I’ll head to Viscount Leighton’s estate with the princess for a bit. I don’t know what I’ll find there, but it won’t be good.”
“You’re leaving me behind?”
“There might be something extremely dangerous waiting for us. I...”
The girl stared at me intently.
She didn’t wait for me to finish.
“Master. I learned something while fighting.”
Roca refused to let go,
Instead wrapping her tail around my leg to pin me in place.
“That running away just means you’ll keep getting pushed back. Once you take a step back, you can never return to where you were. I won’t do it anymore.”
So what could I say?
A firm resolve had already taken root in the girl’s eyes.
“We’ve only known each other a short time, and you’ve already grown so much.”
I could only pat her head fondly, praising her.
“Our Roca’s all grown up now. Alright, if that’s your will, then let’s go together.”
Perhaps, deep down, I’d still seen Roca as a ‘child.’
But children grew faster than one expected—mentally adult long before their bodies caught up.
I still needed to stand behind her as her protector.
But now was the time to respect her will as well. Not as a child, but as an independent adult.
‘Even if a true Reaper awaits there, I could manage it once, at least.’
Twice would be impossible, but once...
I still had one use left of River of Starlight Tears.
Considering the other Reaper I’d faced—the Blood God Atorije—it should work even against one of them.
Undoubtedly a miracle that had surpassed a Reaper. One that dealt a mortal blow even to an ancient demon king.
* * *