82. The Night the Full Moon Rose
82. The Night the Full Moon Rose
The remnants of what was once a Master scattered.
The detritus of a bygone era scattered—a man who had been a Master, whose spirit had been broken and who had even sold his soul to a demon.
The people of the Clover Kingdom did not grieve as they watched the Sword Saint die.
To them, that thing was no longer the Sword Saint, but merely a bloodsucking demon.
I didn't get sentimental watching any of it.
"My work ends here. I'll just file a report and let others handle the cleanup."
It felt good to think about dashing off a rough report, heading back to the academy, and snoring away.
Now that I had done this much, I intended to leave the rest entirely to others.
Since it was a matter involving demons, the Church would certainly step in, and since the Empire's mainland had been attacked, the Imperial Household would not remain silent either.
The Church would comb through the kingdom like lice to root out everyone connected to the Demon Church, and the Imperial Household would demand reparations for the attack.
With the Sword Saint dead, the Clover Kingdom no longer had anyone to rely on, and so they would have to take responsibility for their own deeds.
I only needed to read the reports they compiled after finishing the cleanup.
This was the greatest privilege a Shadow possessed.
It was a life of self-indulgence—not throwing one's weight around with great power, but also not bearing great responsibility.
Still, I was grateful just to be able to submit a proper report.
When I used Shukuchi, the collapsed ruins with the ceiling blown open appeared right before my eyes, and in the midst of them was Riber, glaring with a fierce, axe-like stare.
The black armor that had covered my entire body was sucked back into the sword hilt like smoke.
"See? It ended quickly. Now, let's go back."
"...."
Riber looked at me, completely unfazed as I appeared, with an expression that said she had a mountain of things to say but didn't know where to begin.
Seeing her like that reminded me of Emy.
"I know you have a lot you want to ask, but let's return to the academy first. Emy will be worried too."
Riber looked at me and mulled it over, then suddenly stood up, composed herself, and bowed her head respectfully.
"Shadow-nim, thank you for helping me. My rude actions up until now..."
"Agh, aaagh!! Don't do that, aaagh!!"
The sight of her speaking with such proper courtesy gave me such goosebumps that my hands nearly curled up.
I grabbed both her arms and forced her to straighten up.
Riber wore an extremely complicated expression.
"B-but... Atlas-nim is a Master of the Empire... and the benefactor who saved my life and my family's... How could I possibly treat you carelessly..."
"Stop...!! Don't, don't, don't!!! It gives me the creeps, so cut it out!! Just act the way you always did!! We're friends!!"
"Okay... I got... it."
At my intense outburst, Riber stood up, looking dumbfounded and mumbling timidly.
It seemed her head was throbbing after a series of unbelievable events had happened one after another.
"First, let's go back to the academy."
My body was smaller than Riber's, but lifting her was no problem.
I scooped her up and began using Shukuchi repeatedly toward the academy.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Uwup... I'm never... doing that again..."
When we arrived at a remote spot in the academy, Riber's complexion had turned deathly pale as if her stomach had turned.
The sensation of using Shukuchi was apparently unfamiliar to her, making her dizzy.
Paradoxically, the worsened physical condition seemed to have reduced some of the awkwardness between us.
"Alright, then, until we head back, I'll take questions. Ask me anything."
Riber carefully spoke up.
"Atlas... you're a Master... aren't you?"
"Yep, I'm a Master. So, how does it feel to have been training in swordsmanship with a Master?"
"...It still feels like I'm dreaming."
"Like a dream?"
"Only good things keep happening to me. The fact that a fellow classmate was actually a Master and rushed all the way to the Clover Kingdom to save me... it's just..."
It must have been an unbelievable day for her.
Her fiancé, who had promised to quietly return, went crazy and committed an act of terror at the academy... she was kidnapped... and one of her classmates had been gravely injured trying to stop it.
She had been dragged to an unknown location and thought all was lost, but someone had actually come running to stop it, and on top of that, he was a Master.
"I'm so happy... but that's why I'm scared right now... I don't know how to treat you... and if I wake up, I feel like it will all have been a dream..."
It seemed she thought the miraculous salvation that had appeared at her most desperate moment was too good to be true.
She knew that reality was nothing like a story, yet the way things were unfolding so conveniently for her only made her suspicious.
Having been burned once by a Master like the Sword Saint, that was all the more likely.
What she needed after enduring such unbelievable events was conviction.
That was my judgment.
"What dream."
"?!"
My lips and Riber's overlapped.
We were standing face to face, and I had to go up on tiptoe, but with nothing left to hide, I stepped onto thin air in front of her, rose to the eye level I most desired, and kissed her.
It was just a light peck of lips touching lips, but the effect was superb.
"Does this still feel like a dream?"
"Y-you... y-you...!!"
Her pupils, glinting even more golden under the full moon, grew wide.
Her meek, wobbling demeanor from just moments ago vanished without a trace, and her breathing grew hot and ragged from a single surprise kiss.
"Guess you still think so."
I overlapped our lips again.
"Heup..!"
The second kiss was not light.
I roughly pulled her in by the slender nape of her neck and plundered her.
To convince her that this present reality was no dream, I delved in deeper.
Just like the night before, the slick, wet sounds of our tongues and saliva mingling echoed under the full moon for a long while.
"Puha..."
When our lips parted, I felt Riber's hot breath.
Her face looked as though she was about to cry at any moment.
"O-okay..! I get it!! So stop..!!"
As if realizing what expression she was making, Riber stepped back and covered her face the moment our lips separated.
Finding that adorable, I stopped her arms from lifting so she couldn't hide her face.
"I-I'm embarrassed, so don't look..!"
Since it was a face I didn't get to see often, I might as well take a good look.
"Do you remember what I said before I fought the Sword Saint?"
"That you'd crush that old fart...?"
"Not that. What I said right after that."
"From now on... I'll make you believe...?"
"Right, that. I kept my promise and took down the Sword Saint, so you should believe me now, right?"
"Is that how it works?"
"That's exactly how it works."
After mulling over those words for a while, Riber finally smiled again.
"I guess so... that's what it is. Haha... worrying so deeply feels stupid now."
It was a smile I hadn't seen in a long time.
Gloominess really didn't suit her.
"So, anything else you want to ask?"
"Thank you."
Since I had told her to ask whatever she wanted, Riber simply expressed her gratitude.
"Just... thank you. For this and for that and for everything.... I won't ask any more. Tell me when you want to tell me."
She must have had a mountain of things she was curious about, but all she said was thank you.
"Just as I couldn't tell you everything, you must have your own circumstances. Shadows are Masters whose identities must not be revealed, right?"
At that moment, I sensed someone's presence from afar.
"Ri.. Riberrrrr!!!"
"Emy??"
"How did you find this place??"
The source of the presence was Emy, still wearing her anti-demon coat.
Emy came running with her eyes swollen and puffy, tears streaming down her face.
"I also.. have my ways, you knoweeeo!!!"
Just like on the day of the entrance ceremony, Emy came charging in at tremendous speed and cried in Riber's arms.
It seemed she had been searching for the two of us ever since we had slipped away to the Clover Kingdom, even after dealing with the Demon-touched.
"Waaaaah, you two.. disappeared without saying a word... I was so worried about you!!"
"Do you know how much trouble I went through to bring her back?"
"Atlas brought her back? So it's all over, then? Thank you, as always..."
While still hugging Riber, Emy wrapped one arm around me as well.
"I just... I'm just glad it ended without incident."
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The Papal State that oversaw all the churches spread across the continent was a small city-state.
It was the headquarters that governed the faith where faithful shepherds gathered, and the command tower for opposing demons.
At the center of the Papal State stood a single building with a high steeple that seemed to express the majesty of God—that building was Saint Raoul's Cathedral, the heart of the Holy See, built upon the cornerstone personally granted by God.
Saint Raoul's Cathedral was used as an ordinary church for worship services, but it was also a gathering place for the Church's core forces.
Below the Pope, the monarch who led the Holy See, the 'Bishops' who directly operated the Church, the 'Saints' who directly felt God's will, and even the 'Heretic Inquisitors' and the 'Holy Knight Order' who directly grappled with demons—they all gathered at Saint Raoul's Cathedral to discuss future matters.
And to that Saint Raoul's Cathedral, a special dispatch had arrived the previous night.
The sender was one of the Empire's Masters, the Shadow.
The letter briefly summarized the events that had occurred that day at the Empire's academy.
The contents of the letter, in summary, were as follows.
[Discovery of circumstances indicating the Clover Kingdom is in close collusion with the Demon Church,
The people of the Clover Kingdom became Demon-touched and committed acts of terror at the Imperial Academy,
The Sword Saint, the Clover Kingdom's Master, also transformed into a Demon-touched and was eliminated]
The Clover Kingdom had colluded with the Demon Church, the Empire had been attacked, and a Master of the Empire had killed the Kingdom's Master.
With that single, short letter, the Holy See was turned upside down.
-Seems that little brat of the Empire has caused trouble again....
Beneath Saint Raoul's Cathedral, in a vast space prepared for him, a red dragon that had been curled up let out a great sigh.
Its sharp scales shone with a hot ruby light, its sharp teeth gleamed with a cold silver light, and its entire body was covered in sharpness, so terrifying to behold that one's legs would go numb just looking at it—but the golden ornament hanging around its neck indicated that he was merely a single shepherd.
Thanks to his sigh, a wave of hot air rose up in the stuffy underground.
It was a frigid basement, but thanks to the red dragon that breathed out intense heat with every breath, no measures whatsoever were needed to heat this place.
The red dragon nesting in the church basement... he was Saint Macinto, a 'Saint' who had been called by God while also being a dragon, and who currently served as Honorary Bishop of the Church.
"Oh my, an accident? He merely did what had to be done. How commendable."
Unbothered by his scorching sigh, a woman seated on a small chair beside him answered with a bright smile.
Her garment, a vestment of pure white silk with gold thread embroidery, appeared modest yet refined and displayed a restrained beauty. Concealed beneath it was a voluptuous figure that could not be hidden, and intriguingly, she had long pink hair cascading down.
Commonly thought to represent the color of love, pink hair did not occur naturally.
Pink hair, symbolizing God's love, was the hallmark of the Saintess, who was said to be closer to God than even the Pope—the sovereign of the Holy See and the shepherd of all the Church's flock.
She was Saintess Carmel, currently seated at God's right hand.
-One Master who could oppose demons has vanished. If this isn't an accident, then what should it be called.
"If he was a proper Master, it would be an accident. But the report says he had already lost his Master's power... and more importantly, that he joined hands with the Demon Church."
Saint Macinto mourned the Sword Saint's death.
To think that after somehow saving a life that had nearly been lost once, he ultimately fell to the Empire's Master... Reason told him that the Shadow's report was correct, but he could not dismiss the suspicion that the Empire had been involved in the Sword Saint's death.
Even knowing that the Clover Kingdom no longer offered any merit that would make the Empire go to such troublesome lengths at this point, he could not help it.
He had invested his precious time in that man, and he did not want to believe that he had been tempted by a demon's whispers and fallen into corruption.
-I will not believe it until the investigation is complete. To think I even handed over a holy relic to that fellow... Why on earth are you so soft on him?
"That boy grumbles as if he's going through a rebellious phase, but he has worked harder than any other Master.
When that boy was most active, the Demon Church's influence was at its weakest. And also... he's adorable, isn't he?
I'm not quite of that age, but I often wonder if this is how it would feel to have a child... Fufu."
The Saintess, who still looked youthful, said this while stroking her own belly.
Saint Macinto had repeatedly wondered whether he simply could not understand human sensibilities because he was a dragon, but even the Bishops did not seem to understand her sensibilities.
-Ugh, your taste is really... There's barely an age difference between you two, and you're still going on about having a child.
"A child you gave birth to after going through labor pains isn't the only true child."
-What's so good about that ill-mannered brat... O Lord, why have you placed such a child at thy right hand....
"Do not doubt the Lord's will. Embrace him with love. To love a lost lamb is the will of the Lord."
Macinto held his tongue.
Because in truth, God had always said, 'Love thy neighbor.'
No matter how much that one frowned and acted rudely in front of him, he was a Master and a child lacking in love.
-Aigoo... If only you'd behave as kindly as that child...
Macinto suddenly recalled the small girl who had once come to see him.
A lost lamb, a child who possessed a strong will to protect humanity by hunting demons... an exceedingly polite child.
If only the Shadow of the Empire could be half as well-behaved as her....
"She seems to be at the academy... Should I go visit sometime?"
-.....Enough.
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"Whoa, sudden chills... Did I catch a cold?"
"Do Masters even catch colds?"