Chapter 12
Chapter 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Full Moon Festival - (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm screwed.
It was a conclusion I'd reached after careful deliberation.
"Priest Leo, you're really lucky. To get to attend the Full Moon Festival in your first year at the academy—and in the front row seats, no less!"
Priest Lowen exclaimed with an excited expression.
That's right. This was the main stage for the academy's biggest event, the Full Moon Festival. And we were in the spectator seats right in front of it.
"Um... Aren't academy priests usually not supposed to attend the Full Moon Festival?"
"Huh? Of course not. Normally, it's customary for us to stay at our posts."
"Then... why am I here...?"
Why was I, a lowly priest, sitting here?
In the front-row seats, right in front of the stage where the Shades would burst out from underground.
"Haha, if it's good, it's good, right? You can look forward to it. As you know, the Full Moon Festival is the Erebos Royal Academy's grandest event. Famous figures from all over the kingdom are invited to show off their skills. It's truly spectacular. Even in my five years here, I can't help but be amazed every time. The Lord Himself would probably be impressed."
"Impressed? More like horrified..."
Soon, an explosion would rock the stage, signaling Shades—otherworldly beings—to appear all over the academy, turning the festival grounds into a wasteland.
The audience would scatter in panic, and the Shades would put on a massacre show.
The one emerging from that stage would be the worst. It was like the boss of Act 1, with destructive power on a whole different level from the others.
And here I was, sitting just dozens of meters away from it.
'Should I pretend I need to use the bathroom and bolt...?'
The problem was, that wasn't possible.
If I'd been in the general seats, I could've run straight to the chapel for safety.
But these front-row seats were the issue.
They were completely isolated from the outside. They even had portable restrooms attached, of course, and the entrance was guarded by hulking holy knights from the church.
Trying to run in this situation...
"...Priest Leo, where are you going?"
Sure enough, the moment I started to stand, Priest Lowen noticed like a ghost.
"Oh, uh... I just remembered something really urgent..."
"Come on. The event's about to start. What good is leaving your seat now?"
"No... this is a matter of life and death!"
"No matter how urgent it is, leaving early from this honorable seat arranged personally by the Saintess Candidate would be a grave discourtesy."
Priest Lowen paused, glanced around, and lowered his voice.
"Listen, Priest Leo. We're lowly priests assigned to the academy—we have to watch the cathedral's mood. One wrong move, and we're done for. If you don't want to lose your rice bowl, sit tight even if it's uncomfortable. That's how society works."
"..."
Yeah.
That was the problem.
The seat I was in had been strongly recommended to the cathedral by none other than Saintess Candidate Elise Aurora de Lua herself.
Leaving it would be tantamount to defying the cathedral's authority. A lowly priest like me had no choice.
In the end, I was helplessly bound to this guillotine called a front-row seat.
'How the hell did this happen?'
I couldn't make sense of it.
In my memory of the original game, Elise never did anything like this.
There weren't many priests in the spectator seats in the game either.
"...Haa."
My luck was rotten.
There was no other way to put it.
It was just bad luck.
Maybe the butterfly effect starting with Sophia had led to the Saintess Candidate's whim.
'Damn it.'
I swallowed my curses and stared at the stage, which would soon become a wasteland under the dazzling lights.
"I just wanna go home..."
"It's finally over as of today."
Elise was at last freed from her month-long house arrest.
One month.
Long if long, short if short.
But to Elise, it had felt like an eternity.
The reason was obvious.
Chirp—chirp—.
"Yes. I know."
A bird tamed through holy power had brought her news from the confessional every single day.
Elise's absence had paralyzed the cathedral's operations, drawing more and more worshippers to the chapel.
And in that situation, word of an intruder had come via the bird as well.
"Miss, we've arranged a seat for you at the Full Moon Festival as requested."
The maid Helena said cautiously.
Elise nodded and donned her clerical robes. She stood before the mirror and practiced the perfect Saintess's smile—the one flawless for showing to others.
But soon, that smile twisted.
'He was my savior, the one I found first.'
She had investigated the students visiting the confessional through the bird.
One in particular stuck out.
A student who had gone to the confessional twice. The bird couldn't convey exactly what it saw. But it could transmit emotions.
The first time, steeped in despair. The second, a chilling ecstasy.
It was just like Elise.
That alone was reason enough to be wary.
For some unknown person to monopolize the priest's favor.
"This is... yes. Such a breach of etiquette. Truly."
Elise muttered.
Helena shuddered at the eerie tone.
The miss had definitely changed. That was her thought, just then.
"Helena, all the academy priests are definitely in the front-row seats, right?"
"Y-yes... That's what I heard."
"Good."
Elise had even heard that one student was a priest devotee. She could no longer sit idly by.
So she made her move.
She asked the cathedral parish to have all priests attend the Full Moon Festival—even those not affiliated with the cathedral.
So that chapel priest would be at the festival too.
'All that's left is to find him.'
Elise didn't know the priest's face or age.
The only thing she knew was his voice.
But she didn't need to question them one by one.
'The token will guide me...'
Thanks to her little gift. A unique landmark woven with a thread of holy power.
A handkerchief embroidered with wildflowers.
So all Elise had to do was walk through the front-row seats where the priests were gathered.
The closer her power-infused holy energy got, the clearer the resonance would become.
"Finally, I get to meet him."
Elise smiled into the mirror again.
This smile was far too sinister compared to the perfect one from moments ago.
But Elise quite liked this expression on herself.
In an old warehouse on the north side of the academy, where the noise of the Full Moon Festival didn't reach.
Isabella von Kreuz gripped her training wooden sword so hard it might snap. Her palms were torn to shreds, but she felt no pain.
"Sophia..."
That day, Isabella had been utterly defeated by Sophia Aquilova—the traitor's daughter she'd scorned.
No excuses like being caught off guard worked. Sophia had since climbed the ranks, defeating the academy's top swordsmen one by one.
But Isabella bore too heavy a burden for such consolation.
Just recently, a letter from home had arrived, expressing regret over the incident.
[For a scion of House Kreuz to kneel to the blood of a traitor—what a disgrace to the family name.]
The stern father's scolding seemed to echo from the words, so Isabella swung her sword madly to clear her mind.
The Full Moon Festival, which she would normally have enjoyed more than anyone, she skipped this year.
But that was all.
No matter how much she denigrated her family's secret swordsmanship, no matter how much closed-door training she did—something she'd never attempted since enrolling—Isabella couldn't envision it.
A future where she defeated Sophia.
"Hoo, hoo."
That day, Sophia had been overwhelming.
Isabella felt it in her bones.
Like a beast. Her sword held no philosophy, no finesse. It was disordered swordplay. Yet with just that, Sophia had dominated Isabella.
A difference in talent.
A wall effort alone couldn't overcome.
If things continued like this, Isabella would have to endure her academy life stewing in humiliation under that traitor's daughter.
"No."
She couldn't bear that.
She wanted to crush that bitch, by any means necessary.
She couldn't win with the sword.
Isabella finally admitted that horrific truth.
But that didn't mean she'd accept defeat.
The sword wasn't her only weapon.
'Right. I can use the family's power.'
Isabella's eyes grew cold.
Fair fights no longer mattered.
She just needed to ensure that traitor's daughter could never set foot in the academy again—or lift her head anywhere in the kingdom.
All she had to do was ask her father. With the Kreuz name, burying one traitor's spawn socially was child's play.
"I'll have my revenge."
"Revenge? Want some help with that?"
A reply came to Isabella's mutter.
Startled, she looked up to see a robed man hunched over her.
"Wh-who are you?!"
Isabella swung her wooden sword in panic. But the man dodged with a single step back. Agile movement.
"Whoa, you're feisty. I like that."
He had gray hair and ghostly pale skin. He flashed Isabella a greedy smile.
"A woman burning with vengeance. Haha. Sounds perfect."
"Wh-who are you?!"
"Knight faculty, huh? Nice body too. What a lucky find—a prime vessel."
The man muttered as if Isabella weren't even there, then stared into empty space.
As if someone was there.
"Yes. Among what's available now, she's top-grade material. Might even be better than the original plan."
"...What the hell are you talking to...?"
"Yes. Plan changed. Send the one on stage back. Better to invest power here."
The man continued his bizarre Q&A.
Finally, he turned to Isabella. His pale lips curved into a smile.
"I'll help you with that revenge you want."
Isabella couldn't process his words at first.
How could he know what revenge she meant and offer help?
As she opened her mouth to question him dubiously—
"Guhk."
Something slammed into her stomach.
The man's hand.
Only then did Isabella realize there was a hole in her abdomen. Bright red blood oozed from it. Air escaped her lungs.
Then, an ink-black solid flowed from the man's hand into her body.
"Oh, did I forget to mention it'd hurt a little?"