Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Praise - 1
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“Good work. Must’ve been tough.”
Aurora, having heard the full story, crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair.
The chair had been replaced with one a bit plusher than before. The previous one had prioritized style over practicality, but this one felt far more focused on comfort and utility.
Rumor had it that after we’d been intimate, she’d been so sore she couldn’t even sit for days, so she’d swapped it for something even softer.
I had gone a bit harder than usual back then, deliberately making it tough for her to keep up, but next time, I’d have to hold back a little.
‘If she’s willing, that is.’
Aurora glanced at me sidelong with her legs crossed, then flashed a smile. It was the grin she made when a good idea struck her.
A good idea from her perspective, not mine.
“So, you’re not going to tell me what you were up to in the Holy Kingdom?”
“Didn’t I just spend the last however long explaining exactly that?”
I stared at Aurora in disbelief. I’d just finished recounting everything I’d done there from start to finish, and here she was asking that.
Of course, I’d left a lot out. I couldn’t exactly spill every detail of what happened in the Holy Kingdom.
Like spending two straight days in bed with the popes, or hearing the voice of a god, or receiving a holy relic as a gift.
Every single one was the kind of thing that would cause a massive uproar if it got out. Especially if it reached Cecilia’s ears—it’d be chaos.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Aurora or thought she couldn’t keep a secret, but I just wasn’t ready to let it slip to the outside world.
Not because I couldn’t handle the fallout. I was too busy dealing with bosses as it was; I couldn’t afford trouble from any other direction.
“You went to visit Their Holinesses, right? You didn’t do with them what you did with me?”
Aurora smirked mischievously, pressing her left thumb and index finger together to form a circle, then sliding her right index finger in and out repeatedly.
My expression grew even more incredulous at the sheer blasphemy of it.
“Are you committing sacrilege now too? Don’t blame me if divine punishment comes down.”
“You’d protect me, Delta, so it’s fine. You’re not planning to do all that and then abandon me, are you?”
“What am I to you, my lady, that you’d have me ward off heavenly wrath?”
“Hmm… let’s see. A man who’s hiding a whole lot?”
Aurora’s face was full of mischief. The image of her groaning in pain, unable to take a single step, was long gone—she seemed fully recovered.
And she wasn’t wrong about me sleeping with the popes, so I had no real comeback. Denying it here might just bring the lightning down on me instead.
“Did you summon me just to make crude jokes like that, staying up this late?”
I glanced at the clock. It was pointing to 2 a.m.
To activate Luna’s Easter egg, I naturally had to wait until night when the moon was up—specifically, midnight on a full moon when it hung perfectly vertical over the cathedral spire.
So inevitably, my return here would be very late at night.
The fact that it was now creeping into the early morning hours, though, was largely due to the epic tussle with the popes afterward.
‘How was I supposed to accept that without feeling burdened?’
Floretta and Luna, after receiving the holy relic from me, had insisted on repaying me in some small way and asked me to wait just a moment. Ten minutes later, they showed up with forty double-horse carriages in tow.
To them, it was a holy relic, but to me, knowing the truth, it was just a glorified flashlight. Handing over a weapon with trash-tier performance and getting that kind of reward in return pricked my conscience hard.
I wasn’t the type to brazenly accept more than I’d given, so that level of gratitude felt less like repayment and more like a burden.
I’d tried to take just one carriage-load, but the popes begged me with their bodies to let them express their sincerity, so I’d sweated bullets convincing them otherwise. That was the source of the epic tussle.
‘Selene and I came back to the castle together, and the night watch kids were so shocked they went weak in the knees.’
In the end, after haggling, I’d taken a carefully selected ten carriages’ worth.
The knight commander, who’d stopped by the Holy Kingdom on some errand, returned pulling ten carriages stamped with their emblem. Naturally, the castle flipped upside down.
Not just the night watch sub-commander and knights, but everyone sleeping had to be roused to sort it all out.
Five reverse bunnies and fifty bunny girls picking up treasures at dawn was quite the sight. Sarcasm intended.
‘Not sure if they’ll finish by tonight.’
I’d heard from the night watch that Aurora wanted to see me anytime, so I grabbed a suitable gem and headed to the mansion.
Dumping a mountain of work on them and slipping away myself turned out to be a good thing from the knights’ perspective, judging by the rather peculiar looks from the sub-commander and the others.
“You think I’d do that? The report said two days max, but you didn’t come back on the third either. I called you because I was wondering what you were doing to be a full day late.”
“Well, circumstances.”
“Of course there were. If you’d just been late, that’d be one thing, but you came back loaded with all that.”
Aurora eyed the gem on her desk. Spotting it, her eyes had gone wide at the sudden treasure, then shifted to utter disbelief once I explained.
Remembering that moment, a faint sigh escaped her lips.
“…Anyway, I’ve said what I needed to. It’s late—go get some rest.”
“Understood.”
Aurora stared at me intently, as if she had more to say, then lowered her gaze and reached for the gem on the desk. Confirming that, I turned and left her room.
Good thing it ended without incident. I’d been worried she might try to seduce me like the popes had.
“Weren’t you inside with the lady?”
As I stepped into the hallway and closed the door, a woman’s voice came from right beside me.
I flinched and turned toward the sound. There stood Lana, the black-haired, black-eyed head maid, hands demurely clasped in front of her lower abdomen, as always.
“…I was.”
Calming my surprise, I answered, and Lana tilted her head.
“Why are you out already?”
What was this, déjà vu?
That morning after returning from the Holy Kingdom, I’d gone into Nix’s room after getting the count and inventory of the treasures from Lakshia and the sub-commanders.
According to Lakshia, they were seriously considering expanding the warehouse. The sheer volume was obvious even at a glance, but I hadn’t realized it was that much.
Even with just the ten carriages—far less than the original forty—I was impressed. If I’d taken all forty, the castle would’ve been overflowing with treasures for real.
Seizing the opportunity, I resolved to renovate the entire castle, asked for a full list of facilities needing repairs, upgrades, or expansions, and then told Nix about what happened in the Holy Kingdom.
Specifically, that the seal on her was placed directly by a god.
“…Heh heh, is that so.”
Nix listened quietly to my explanation, then let out her usual vacant laugh.
“So, have you ever gotten involved with anyone from the Holy Kingdom? Or heard a god’s voice like I did?”
“N-No, I don’t think so… Not in my memories, anyway.”
Not in my memories, huh. A very ambiguous statement. At first glance, it sounded like polite Nix’s memories might not have it, but since her personalities shared memories…
“You said you all share memories, right? So even rude Nix doesn’t know?”
“Yes. What I know, rude Nix knows, and what I don’t, she doesn’t. Ah, but there are slight differences in really minute details.”
“Differences? Like what?”
“Like using magic—I’m a bit better at that.”
Come to think of it, rude Nix had switched personalities with polite Nix, saying it wasn’t her area. Probably because polite Nix was better at magic.
“Do you know why those differences exist?”
“Heh heh, even I don’t know that much…”
Nix fidgeted with her fingers in front of her chest, glancing at me. I stroked her head to show it was okay, and her face immediately broke into a beaming smile.
“Got it. I’ll ask rude Nix later.”
Nod, nod—her head bobbed vigorously up and down.
I inwardly cursed the Holy Kingdom’s god—clearly some green-haired cat beastkin lookalike who’d vanished without a proper answer—while continuing to pet Nix’s head.
“Commander, are you in? I heard you were in the black mage’s room, so I came.”
Someone knocked. It was Lakshia.
“I’m here. What’s up?”
“A letter arrived for you, Commander.”
“A letter?”
A chill ran down my spine at that. Letters never ended as just letters. They always meant trouble or a trip somewhere.
“Yes. Shall I bring it in?”
“Yeah. Come in.”
With permission, Lakshia opened the door and entered.
She paused briefly at the sight of me petting Nix’s head as Nix purred contentedly, then handed over the letter and left promptly.
I checked the sender first. Unless it was from Cecilia herself, or a time-attack mandatory quest, or story-critical, I planned to ignore it for a few days.
‘…Lize?’
But it was from Lize. I couldn’t ignore a letter from her, so I carefully untied the knot.