Chapter 352
Chapter 352
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 352
Chapter Title: A Place I Want to Visit (3)
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Holy Knight.
The moment she heard that word, Yarelie's face lit up with surprise.
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
Mages and black mages were polar opposites, but black mages and holy knights were more than just opposites—they were utter nemeses.
Yet Oliver knew such a holy knight, and he was saying he wanted to visit the orphanage where she had grown up... It would have been stranger if she hadn't been surprised.
"Please don't misunderstand. I'm not visiting with any ill intentions."
"Ah... I'm sorry."
Yarelie replied, her face flushed with embarrassment at having her emotions seen through. For a split second, she had suspected Oliver of harboring bad intentions.
Far from being offended, Oliver apologized instead.
"I'm the one who should apologize for peering into your emotions. I try to hold back, but it's a habit from my orphanage days—I end up seeing them without even realizing it..."
It was the truth. Back then, when Oliver had been weak and far less socially adept than he was now, reading others' emotions constantly was the only way to survive. It was the only way to avoid or beg forgiveness before truly dangerous situations arose.
"...Anyway, the reason I'm visiting the Ark Orphanage is because that's where that holy knight grew up. I want to see it with my own eyes—the place that shaped her."
"Ah, I see... If it's not too rude, could I ask how you came to know a holy knight?"
Johanna asked cautiously, her curiosity and doubt shining through plainly. She seemed genuinely puzzled.
The idea of a black mage and a holy knight being acquaintances was just that implausible.
Oliver opened his mouth as he gently steered the carriage.
"It might take a while to explain, but the first time I met the holy knight was when she came to subjugate the Family I belonged to."
"Before you met the elder, right?"
"Yes."
Oliver recalled the script he had rehearsed with Merlin beforehand and answered accordingly.
"Anyway, the holy knight and her group clashed with the organization I was in, and somehow we managed to overpower them."
"Impressive... The matchup between a holy knight and a black mage isn't favorable at all."
She was right.
The incompatibility between holy knights and black mages was so extreme that even a couple levels of difference in skill couldn't overcome it.
Oliver knew that from experience.
The only reason he'd won back then was because he'd luckily possessed a Filterette that produced that beautiful light.
"I got lucky. Really lucky... After subduing the holy knight and her companions, we took our client's advice and didn't kill them. Instead, we took them prisoner and negotiated with the Pater Church's Celland branch."
"And the negotiations succeeded."
"Yes. Our client was skilled at that sort of thing. While the talks were ongoing, I got a chance to speak with the holy knight briefly."
Yarelie stared at Oliver. A black mage conversing with a holy knight—it was bizarre and fascinating.
"...What did you talk about?"
"I asked why she hated black mages, and why she had become a holy knight."
"I was personally curious. Why holy knights despise black mages, and why she chose that path."
Oliver said it with the innocence of a child, like asking why the sky is the sky or why the sea is the sea.
It was such a pure question—foolish yet profoundly hard to answer.
Yarelie felt a strange mix of emotions as she asked,
"What was her answer?"
"I didn't get anything particularly memorable. But separately from that, I did hear something intriguing."
"What?"
"She said I was broken."
"Bro...ken?"
"Yes. Out of nowhere, she asked if I'd ever felt truly sad or angry... It was a pretty interesting question. I'd never thought about it seriously before. Whether I'd ever actually felt sad or angry."
"...You've never felt sad or angry?"
"Not really. The orphanage, the mines, the Family—they were all tolerable enough. I didn't know any other world to begin with... Of course, I later remembered something sad and mentioned it, but after hearing me out, she said I was broken. She told me to stop what I was doing, beg for forgiveness, atone for my sins, and learn how to live like a normal person out in the world. She said she'd help me if I did."
"Help you how?"
"I don't know exactly. I turned her down. It was a tempting offer, sure, but I had a prior commitment. You have to honor promises in order, right?"
Oliver spoke so ordinarily and politely that Yarelie felt an even deeper sense of uncanny weirdness.
It was the aberration of someone off the normal track. Strangely, though, it wasn't just creepy—it also evoked a sense of pity.
Truly contradictory. She wanted to shy away from the eeriness and chills, yet draw closer out of sympathy.
"That's where our conversation ended. The negotiations went smoothly after that, and we parted ways. Some time later, I met the elder."
Oliver told a truth with a few key facts omitted.
"So you haven't seen the holy knight since then?"
"No. After the elder took me in, I ran into her again while working as a fixer in Landa's dimensional realm."
Oliver seamlessly wove in the lies he'd rehearsed with Merlin, lying so smoothly it almost made him proud of himself.
"What were the circumstances?"
"We met during a contaminated zone cleanup. There was a bit of a commotion... She recognized me."
"That must have been a shock."
"Yes, it was. But I was also glad in a way. She'd given me good advice, after all. To go out into the world and meet people."
"...And after that?"
"We'd occasionally meet at secluded chapels and talk. Asking how each other was doing, chatting about this and that... Oh, she gave me a scripture too."
"A scripture?"
"Yes. She told me to read it. I figured there was some intent behind it, but I couldn't quite figure out what."
"Did you read it?"
"Yes, out of curiosity about her intentions. I wondered if it'd make them clear."
"What did you think? After reading the scripture?"
Yarelie asked, her curiosity shifting to a more personal note.
Her earlier questions had some ulterior motive tied to her mission, but now it was pure, genuine intrigue.
Oliver answered earnestly, regardless.
"At first, it struck me as a bizarre book. It interprets stories about people to lay out certain guidelines. The problem was how unnatural it felt."
"In what way?"
"Everyone interprets stories differently, but it declares one specific interpretation as the truth and tells you exactly what to do. That felt off."
"Is that strange?"
"To me, personally, yes. Books are meant to impart knowledge and broaden your thinking, but the scripture falls short there. Plus, it wraps everything in story form only to hand you the conclusion outright. Doesn't that contradict itself? It tells you to think, then gives you the answer... Still, I read the whole thing."
"Why? It sounds like it was tough going."
"I had time, and despite the difficulty, some parts were intriguing. Above all, I thought it'd let me keep talking with the holy knight."
"She must have really grown on you."
"Yes. Like I said earlier, she gave me good advice, and I wanted to talk more with someone who embodied what a holy knight is. Plus, she was pretty."
Oliver recalled the beautiful light she had emitted when they first fought. It had indeed been beautiful.
"...So the holy knight is a woman?"
Oliver pondered for a moment.
"Hm... Ah, yes, she is. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no... It's nothing."
Yarelie answered, her emotions a swirl of confusion.
For some reason, learning the holy knight was a woman seemed to shock her deeply.
'Are female holy knights that rare?'
Fortunately, Yarelie quickly regained her composure and continued the conversation.
She asked how things had been between them.
"We'd share ice cream in the park and talk. About how we'd been doing, and the scripture. That's when I learned she was an orphan. It was fascinating—an orphan becoming a holy knight."
"...Sounds like she took a liking to you, Mr. Xenon."
"You think so?"
"Yes. She opened up about her own vulnerabilities... You wouldn't do that with someone you disliked."
"Ah... I suppose that's true?"
Yarelie tilted her head at his suddenly dry response.
"Do you still meet?"
"No, not anymore. She was reassigned elsewhere."
"Reassigned?"
"Yes, to First Step in the New Continent."
"That's unusual. From what I know, holy knights don't get transferred often."
"Probably... because of me."
"Because of you, Mr. Xenon? ...Did the Church find out you were meeting her?"
Yarelie asked, suspicion creeping in.
If the Church had discovered private meetings between a black mage and a holy knight, even she wouldn't have gotten off with just a transfer... And Oliver certainly wouldn't have remained unscathed.
Oliver shook his head.
"No. It's a long story, but she made some suggestion to her superiors because of me, and that got her booted."
At that moment, Yarelie felt a hunch.
"Was it related to that conversation with Carl? About the boys named Matel and Colin?"
"Yes."
Oliver answered and proceeded to recount the kidnapping of Matel and Rosburn, asking Johanna for help, being refused, and everything else.
Oliver explained.
How Rosburn had been taken, how he'd sought advice from those around him afterward, and how he'd asked Johanna for help.
"...Even though she turned me down."
Oliver went on to describe how he'd tried to sleep it off but failed, infiltrated Matel's place alone, rescued Rosburn, and ended up hearing the confession of a boy named Colin— a tale long if you called it long, short if you called it short.
Having heard the full explanation, Yarelie fell silent.
Her emotions swirled in a complex tangle: shock, doubt, admiration, sorrow, sympathy, pity, and more.
She'd sensed it vaguely before, but Yarelie seemed truly out of the loop on these matters.
She must have thought all mages dabbled in human experimentation... Maybe that was just another prejudice.
She finally spoke.
"...I don't even know what to say."
Even though she wasn't involved, Yarelie's face showed guilt.
Probably because she was bound by the Magic Tower's confines.
"No need to feel bad about it. I wasn't saying it to blame you or make you uncomfortable. Things worked out okay in the end, thanks to the elder stepping in midway."
"......"
"Anyway, that incident was the turning point—we haven't met since. How to put it... My interest just faded."
"...But now it's back?"
"After the Matel business wrapped up, I ended up connecting with the Pater Church again. Her new partner told me something about her... That she'd raised the issue of human experimentation with her superiors, suggested an investigation, and got sent to the New Continent for it—because of me, she said."
Oliver recalled meeting Elton the holy knight and hearing that story.
At the time, he'd felt something indescribable.
Hearing how Johanna had tried to do something, even belatedly.
It was hard to articulate, but the only clear thought he'd had was that he wanted ice cream.
"That's why I'm going to the orphanage. If I visit... I don't know what'll happen exactly, but I just want to go."
Oliver rambled on, and Yarelie nodded silently. She seemed to have something she wanted to say but hesitated.
Oliver peered into her emotions and asked,
"Is there something you want to say?"
"...May I?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"...Why did you hear Colin's confession?"
Yarelie asked carefully, her curiosity pure and devoid of malice or agenda.
Oliver thought it over before answering.
"...It just felt like something I had to do."