Chapter 53
Chapter 53
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Assault-Type Magic Armor: Sirius (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In his childhood, Austin loved the fairy tales about knights that the temple priests read to him.
The knight who pressed on toward foolish dreams.
The tin knight who lost his body but never his courage.
The honorable knight who risked his life to protect his lady.
Those countless stories became dreams that made Austin yearn to be a knight.
For Austin, becoming a holy knight who followed the will of the gods was, in a way, a natural fate.
“…….”
Austin wanted to be a knight.
A great knight.
A noble knight.
An honorable knight.
For the one who deserved the utmost honor, he received baptism and became a holy knight of the church.
To leave behind the most beautiful moment, he chose a single lady to cheer him on.
And now—
Before his eyes, stripped of his heart and its beating, stood the one and only girl who had always cheered him on.
“Ah, ah…….”
Mary let out a sigh laced with complex emotions as her deep eyes fixed on him.
The girl’s gaze took in the steel knight.
The form of a knight who no longer had a passionate heart or unquenchable courage.
Mary watched Austin, trapped within the jet-black armor, with eyes full of complicated feelings.
“…….”
It was a cruel coincidence.
Even for Austin, the scene was utterly bewildering.
His lover, wrapped in grief.
Austin hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
‘This place… no way…….’
An old, dilapidated temple.
Shattered white tombstones scattered about.
And in the center, a steel knight in jet-black armor kneeling on one knee—
There was only one meaning to the information before his eyes.
—Rozas Border Mausoleum.
Austin Rainer had returned to the north, where his lover awaited.
‘Have I come back to the north?’
The flustered Austin quickly rose to his feet.
Crunch—!
Sirius, cloaked in blackness, drew its blade from the ground.
Clang, screeech—.
The sound of metal scraping echoed, and everyone present began to look up at him.
“Wh-who are you……!”
Beneath him stood a priest with a familiar face, staring up.
The cleric who had taught Austin.
The priest who had always given sound advice to Austin during his time in the parish.
And now, that same priest was bellowing at him, not recognizing him.
Whoosh—.
The priest raised a hand pointing at Austin, roaring from his mouth.
“Intruder! Reveal yourself!”
“…….”
“This is a place where those who have returned to the Guide’s embrace rest! What right do you have to disturb the peace of the dead……!”
Even as his legs trembled at the sight of this monstrous being beyond common sense, he firmly conveyed his point.
The Guide’s embrace.
The dead’s repose.
Sirius’s gaze looked down at the priest as he heard the irrefutable logic.
“A place for rest…….”
This was the temple’s rear garden, where the church’s holy knights were laid to rest.
Landing here had been pure coincidence.
Deep down, he wanted to spill everything truthfully.
Breaking the rear garden was an accident.
The one standing here now is Austin, who loves you all.
He wanted to let those honest words spill out.
“…….”
But even so, Austin couldn’t speak.
Reason held him back.
Instinct restrained him.
And intuition warned him.
‘You can’t live like the old days anymore.’
It wasn’t time to face them yet.
Come up with some excuse.
Pretend you don’t know them.
Otherwise, he’d regret it forever.
Austin heeded that intuition’s warning.
Intuition had guided him for a long time, after all.
“There’s no reason for them to rest.”
A suitable line slipped from the flustered Austin’s mouth.
He didn’t even fully know what he was saying.
Only Mary’s gaze felt vividly clear.
A familiar gaze. A loving gaze.
The priest facing Austin within it continued speaking.
“You bastard! Do you deny the Guide’s teachings!”
Mary looked at Austin.
She quietly stared at the body covered in steel.
What was she looking at so intently?
It was something Austin, caught in this meaningless conversation led by intuition, couldn’t know.
“Great warriors require endless struggle.”
“…….”
“The rest granted to them can hardly be called fitting for them.”
Emotions leaked from deep in his chest.
Emotions he couldn’t suppress.
Facing the overflowing thoughts, Austin felt his limit and began moving Sirius.
He couldn’t stay here any longer.
It would become too hard to bear.
So Austin resolved to leave this place.
“With that absurd excuse, you dare set foot on church grounds!”
Clang, whirr—.
The massive jet-black knight moved.
The rear thrusters activated, kicking up a cloud of dust from the ground.
Even as he did, Austin kept spitting out suitable lines.
Words flowing unconsciously from his mouth became lies that fleshed themselves out.
“I will grant them freedom. If you don’t like my decision, come find me anytime.”
“…….”
“If you want to face me as a knight, I’ll give you every chance to uphold your honor.”
He didn’t know what he was saying.
But he knew he had to act like he had no connection to these people he cared for.
So he denied them.
He denied those he respected, those he loved, and turned his back on the temple that had once been his home.
Today, he was a heretic.
A complete heretic with no excuses or denials left.
Because he loved them, he had to stay away.
As he turned his back on the temple, a woman’s hoarse voice rang out behind him.
“Um, excuse me…….”
“…….”
A cracked, sharp voice.
Yet familiar and dear.
Hearing it, Austin halted for a moment.
‘Mary.’
It was the voice of his one and only lover, Mary.
As Austin prepared for flight, Mary threw a question from behind.
“Could you… tell me your name……?”
A single question asking for his name.
In response, a curt voice emerged.
“Sirius.”
That was the end of Austin’s words.
There was no more he wanted to say, nor could say.
“……Sirius.”
Boom—!
The jet-black knight soared into the sky.
Below the trajectory crossing the heavens, the jet-black knight took in the sight of his longed-for homeland.
Someday, he would return here.
With the qualifications to face his beloved proudly—
* * * * * *
Phantasmal Archive Celestia.
In the library where members of the secret society began arriving as night fell, Austin was sighing with his head buried in his arms on the desk.
The reason Austin had returned from his test flight and was now brooding with a complicated expression was one thing.
What had happened in his hometown that afternoon.
“……I’m a heretic. Beyond redemption.”
After fleeing his own funeral, Austin had landed at three more temples before reaching his destination.
To destroy graves at each passed temple and create plausible excuses.
From the moment he landed at a temple, maintaining good relations with the church was doomed anyway.
Moreover, hadn’t he spouted nonsense at his own funeral for dying in battle against a black mage?
Disrupting Austin’s funeral would only plant the impression of some shady organization’s involvement.
“I must be crazy! How am I supposed to face those people later……!”
So Austin had destroyed four more graves, choosing instead to be seen as a madman with strange beliefs.
He judged it would help with handling the secret society’s affairs going forward.
Even if Sirius was deployed for major operations, its notoriety would cover its tracks.
That aside, his shameful display before his acquaintances gnawed at him.
Especially showing such an awful side before his beloved lover tormented him.
“And Mary, of all people…….”
Whoosh—.
Mary’s face floated into Austin’s mind as he kept his head down.
The eyes Mary had fixed on Sirius held some complex emotion.
Could Mary possibly have recognized him?
Austin entertained the thought but soon shook his head and dismissed it.
“…….”
No matter how much Mary loved him, he couldn’t imagine her recognizing him in Sirius.
Face, name, even voice—all different.
There was no commonality between Austin and Sirius.
“There you are.”
Thud—.
Austin had been self-flagellating with his head down for a while when he heard a familiar voice.
Whoosh.
He quietly lifted his head to look at the owner of the voice.
Entering Austin’s view as he raised his head was the mage he’d spoken with more than anyone here.
“Lord Creighton……?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Chief Mage Creighton Lukbart.
The middle-aged mage who had avoided Austin for a while now approached, holding bottles and glasses in both hands.
Blink, blink—.
Austin stared blankly at Creighton’s hands in turn for a moment.
Soon, he spoke to Creighton in a curt tone.
“What’s this all of a sudden.”
“Came to have a drink with you.”
“Weren’t you planning to never talk to me for the rest of your life?”
Austin shot back at Creighton.
But Creighton merely pulled out a chair and sat down with a calm face, ignoring him.
Thud—.
Creighton set the items from his hands down on the desk.
“As if. Isn’t that right, Sir Austin.”
“…….”
“You know how much I cherish you.”
Austin’s eyes quietly regarded Creighton.
The mage who had avoided him for so long had come to him directly for some reason.
Whoosh—.
Moreover, he was even pouring whiskey into a glass and offering it to Austin.
Creighton smiled as he poured his own drink, speaking to Austin who had taken the glass hesitantly.
“You look like you need a drink today.”
“Lord Creighton, I’m a holy knight. It’s different from priests, but alcohol is still…….”
“Didn’t you already say you’d apostatized? What you did today alone warrants excommunication.”
Sigh—.
Austin’s face clouded with distress as he let out a deep sigh.
In the end, he lifted the glass Creighton had offered.
“Now that I think about it, this is my first time drinking with you.”
“It’s only been a short while since I apostatized.”
“I see. Young men as devout as you are rare.”
Clink—.
Austin and Creighton’s glasses met in the air.
After exchanging a toast, Austin brought the glass to his lips with a complicated expression.
Gulp, gulp, gulp—.
The strong liquor slid down Austin’s throat into his stomach.
It had been so long since he’d drunk that it felt terribly awkward to him.
Creighton, sitting across from him, smiled at Austin downing it in one go.
“Something troubling you?”
“I met Mary today.”
“Mary? Oh, right. You said you’d marry her when you got back.”
The conversation from the Rozas Border Mausoleum.
Recalling it, Creighton asked Austin.
“Disturbed after reuniting with your lover after so long?”
“…….”
Nod—.
Austin nodded in agreement, then continued in a voice tinged with bitterness.
It was about what had happened between him and Mary.
“Lord Creighton, do you believe in unchanging love?”
“That’s a tough question. But there must be a reason you’re pondering it.”
Austin gripped his glass tightly upon hearing Creighton’s reply.
Unchanging love.
Unyielding courage.
Austin himself had once believed in such things.
“I think Mary recognized me.”
“…….”
“Of course, it could be my imagination. I didn’t reveal my name or identity, and we only had a brief exchange.”
Whoosh—.
Austin held out his empty glass to Creighton.
“Even if appearance, voice, and name all change… is it possible to recognize the one you love?”
A profound worry spilled from Austin’s lips.
A question laden with his contemplation.
Creighton paused filling Austin’s glass, his face lost in thought.
Thud—.
He set the bottle on the desk and grabbed Austin’s shoulder, pulling him close.
“There are people who can recognize a lover even if their appearance, voice, and name have all changed.”
“Pardon? Who would that be?”
Slide—.
Creighton’s hand pointed toward someone in the library.
Austin’s gaze followed Creighton’s finger.
In the direction Creighton indicated sat a researcher wearing a monocle, reading a book.
“A man who holds unchanging love in his heart, even if his lover has twenty legs, is right there.”
“…….”
“At your level, you’d surely recognize him, wouldn’t you?”
Austin’s eyes looked at the doctor.
Then he recalled the black armor in his mind.
No matter how he thought about it, bipedal magic armor seemed far better than multi-legged chimeras.
“Have some confidence, Sir Austin. At your level, there’s at least a chance she could still love you.”
“……Yes, Lord Creighton.”
The fallen holy knight gave a bitter smile and downed the glass before him once more.
Austin Rainer.
For the first time since arriving at Celestia, he truly felt like one of their comrades today.
It had been a terribly noisy and tumultuous day.