It Smells of the Gloomy Mage
Berna shuddered at the worst punishment that could befall a fallen saint.
"Urgh. To think I have to endure this kind of humiliation."
"So you think you can refuse me? You? Refuse me?"
"Uuuugh."
She couldn't refuse.
Berna still loved Eldacrad even after she had been steeped in the Demon King's influence. From her perspective, I was Eldacrad's descendant, the one who carried on his will, and I even held a fragment of the Demon King inside me. That made me another Eldacrad and another Demon King all at once.
"I even carry the power of the Demon King you once offered your body to. In your eyes, even as a woman, I must look just like the two of them, right?"
"That's exactly why I can't even talk back properly."
That's life for you.
"Watch your mouth, fallen saint. Still, setting that aside, a lot of money comes in every day under the Saint's name."
"Hah. Embezzlement?"
Embezzlement? What did she take me for?
"Call it what it is. The Pope skims it off as 'tax.' I took that cut as the condition for becoming Saint, and now we give it back to the people."
"Hah."
"So your job is simple. Every day, take the gold that comes in and either scatter it to the orphanages or hand it out to the poor as 'relief funds.'"
It was work you could just dump on the underlings. Not hard at all.
"That much I can manage."
"And a few more things."
"What."
"First, from what I've seen, the Pope is a womanizer."
Berna snorted as if I'd just stated the obvious.
"They were like that back in the Holy Kingdom too. So what?"
Right. Of course. At a glance it might sound like a warning not to get harassed by the man, but the reality was different. What the current Pope was doing wasn't simply chasing women—he was chasing middle-aged aunties. Married or not didn't matter to him.
"This Pope only likes middle-aged women. He'll even go after married ones under the name of the Church. You still look like you're in your twenties on the outside, so you should be fine. What I'm telling you is to stop him from dragging aunties into the church. Next—there's a succubus named Nora among the nuns. Don't let her suck the Pope dry until he dies."
"Is this even the Goddess Church?"
Of course it was the Goddess Church. What, did she think it was a demon cult? I had no desire to nitpick every little thing right now.
"It is. Next—the nuns are doing military training. Don't complain about it. In fact, it'd be better if you ran some dark-magic counter-training for them."
"I have one question."
"What."
Berna's face was deadly serious. I already knew what she was going to ask.
"I'm really going to the church?"
"Yeah."
Berna screamed. Her suffering was my joy.
I decided to manage Berna myself from then on.
On the way out of the manor I ran into a man in the uniform of the Imperial Capital Army. He acted like we were close.
"Oh. Long time no see, Olivia."
"Uh… yes. Long time no see."
What was his name again? I genuinely could not remember.
"You call your older brother 'big brother,' don't you? So why not me?"
"No, that's… um. It's not like that."
Lockton. That bastard had told him everything. Was being called "big brother" really that nice?
"Don't be shy. Back in the old days you used to follow me around calling me that, didn't you?"
"That was… well. I did, but that's a little…"
Saying it wasn't hard. The problem was that Noel and Celia were right behind me, grinning from ear to ear as they watched. What kind of hell would I catch if I said it here?
"What, is this your rebellious phase? Still, well done. You subjugated Berna, I hear?"
"Yes. Little brother."
From now on I was going to make sure I never ran into family if I could help it. It was bad enough with Lockton; now I had to call the second son "brother" too. What was the second son's name again?
"As expected of Ashtar blood. Truly the granddaughter of Lord Eldacrad."
"So… where have you been, br-brother?"
"Repelling the gargoyles Seto sent."
So Seto had gone after Ashtar first? Even back then he had already abandoned Bernoa and was preparing a new Four Heavenly King. Instead he must have planned to hit the empty Ashtar. That operation had clearly failed. He must have meant to hand over Bernoa, raise a new Heavenly King, and strike a blow at Ashtar's main base all at once—and it had blown up in his face. Leaving Bernoa alive had been the right call after all.
"That's good to hear."
"So you're staying here now?"
No. That would be a stretch.
"I still have to attend the Academy, after all."
"Hmm. Why go back to a place full of people who tore you down? There's no real point in staying at the Academy anymore, is there? You could just remain here and join the mage division."
Realistically, that would be better. But I was the Taesa. And the Emperor's words still bothered me—he had mentioned a curse, something Noah had promised. I needed to look into the Dro-things, and I needed access to the Imperial archives as well.
"Are you going to keep planting yourself in the Ashtar territory forever, br-other?"
"You've gotten a fun way with words while I wasn't looking. Well… I'll probably stay for a while. There's still a Four Heavenly King around."
"Yes."
"That Seto bastard has already sent his subordinates. His hostility toward Ashtar is clear. For the time being I'll need to remain here and keep an eye on the Heavenly Kings."
Come to think of it, the Four Heavenly Kings were the real problem. We had already taken down Berna. War between Ashtar and the Four Heavenly Kings was now a given. They had struck first—Pector's invasion, Berna's intrusion into Eldacrad's mausoleum, Seto's attack. So much had happened in less than a month.
"Understood."
"It would be ideal if you stayed, but I can't very well stop my little sister from studying. I'll go see Father. Let's meet at dinner."
Right. Enough of that.
I glared down the corridor at Noel and Celia, who were still grinning at each other. They had been watching the whole show. Must have been hilarious, hearing the word "brother" come out of my mouth.
"Brother, she said. Brother."
"Wow, just imagining the word 'brother' coming out of Noah-nim's mouth…"
I threw both of them out the window into the garden. Noel was half-buried in the dirt with only her head sticking out when I asked her something that had been bothering me.
"So what were you doing, Noel?"
During the expedition, I mean. I hadn't seen her once. Same with Natalia and Ribelt, for that matter.
"I had the Hero, Maria, and Ella all tied up."
Well, that alone was a solid contribution.
"Those dogs just sat still for you?"
"I knocked them out first."
If Noel had knocked them out, there was nothing they could do.
"They really lucked out."
They woke up and the expedition was already over. And the credit had all gone to the Hero anyway. Ashtar, the Kingdom, and the Holy Kingdom would know the truth, but at least the Hero's face had been somewhat saved.
"I did get an earful from Ella asking if I'd lost my mind."
"I'm surprised it ended that lightly."
"Maria was just mad she lost her chance to rack up glory."
Good thing I stopped both of them. Ella and Siria both just wanted to look good for the Great Forest and the Holy Kingdom. Fine—if you had the skill, you could fight for glory all you wanted.
"You two already seem pretty close."
I glanced back and forth between Noel and Celia. They had clearly built up some real camaraderie. Great. I was the lonely one here. Maybe I should drag Bernoa around so the saints could bond too.
"Well, she's Olivia-nim's former little sister, after all."
Did she really need to emphasize the "former"?
"Celia-nim, I'm still her little sister even now. What's with the sudden past tense?"
Still, it was nice to see. As long as they didn't start fighting like Kise, I could live with it.
"More importantly, Noel—what are you going to do from now on?"
"Beats me."
"You planning to stick with the Hero?"
Sticking with the Hero right now didn't seem like a great idea.
"It's not that I like the Hero. Setting personal feelings aside, I joined the Hero Party—ditching it right away would look weird."
"True, but that bastard keeps trying to hit on me."
Even before the expedition he had been looking for an opening. Which was exactly why he was such a pain.
"Want me to just beat him up from the side? He's already got his eyes on you, big sis. Managing him up close might be better."
Wouldn't it just be cleaner if I killed him myself?
"No. Definitely better to thrash him properly. I can't do it myself, so you hit him a reasonable amount. Got it?"
"Sure. But big sis, I have a condition."
"What."
"That little brother from earlier…"
"Huh?"
What about him?
"Introduce me."
Apparently this girl had fallen for the second brother.
Around the time Olivia, the young lady of Ashtar, was sinking into despair over her little sister, the Hero Eugene sat deep in thought in the guest quarters Ashtar had provided. The reason was Olivia.
"Don't you think that woman's weird?"
"You were just saying you liked her. What are you thinking about now?"
Ella's exhausted question only made Eugene nod.
"I do like her. If she let me, I'd love to hold her at night."
Of course. Ella was certain once again that the only thing inside the Hero's skull was that kind of garbage. The fact that she still couldn't dump him was pretty funny, though.
"Is this guy insane? So what's weird about her?"
"Let's say Pector was just a massive coincidence. That guy was always someone you could talk to. But Berna isn't."
"In short, you're saying catching Berna too is suspicious?"
The common view was that Pector was someone you could reason with. In truth, if Pector ever decided to invade for real, countless fortresses would have fallen—yet he always just satisfied himself alone and left. Maybe it had been the same this time. But Berna was different. Unless Olivia was a mage on par with Noah himself.
How many people on the continent right now could actually beat Berna?
"Yeah. Ashtar doesn't seem eager to publicize this much, which is true enough… but still. Doesn't it feel off?"
A strange feeling had settled over the Hero Eugene. That peculiar scent Olivia gave off.
"What's so weird about it?"
"Exactly. They already fought once at the mausoleum and she beat her, right?"
Siria nodded along with Ella. It was perfectly natural. What was the problem?
"That's exactly what's weird. Common sense—can a duke's daughter who isn't even the Hero pull that off? And it's not like she's spent decades building power. Just look at her body. Not a single proper muscle on her. How?"
Her chest was large, her figure excellent. The subtle charm radiating from her face could stir a woman's heart just as easily as a man's.
"When you put it that way… yeah, it is strange."
"But somehow that woman just gives off this feeling of 'of course she can.'"
A woman who felt oddly familiar.
"Right? I don't know what it is, but when she does something, it just feels natural."
"Yeah. Just like that gloomy mage."
The gloomy mage they called Noah. Noah had always accomplished everything, so whatever he did had simply been taken for granted. For some reason Olivia carried a similar scent. Which only made her more suspicious. They didn't even know how Olivia had actually won, and yet this feeling still rose up.
"Anyway, the whole thing feels off."
Maybe there were more people in the world like that gloomy bastard than he had thought.