Chapter 29 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (2)
Chapter 29 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (2)
"Lady Helen."
A priest in white holy vestments entered the noisy meeting room of the knight order. After confirming that the attention of the room had shifted to him, he quietly made his way to the woman seated in a corner of the table.
A calm face and calm eyes. A woman in her early twenties, an age at which her youthful, girlish appearance hadn't yet fully faded. However, the aura she exuded was extremely difficult to find among women of her age.
Her gaze transformed as she listened to the priest's whisper in her ear. Her eyes were already naturally sharp, but whatever she had heard caused her deep blue pupils to tremble with shock.
After exchanging a few more words in secret with the priest, the woman waited until he had left the room before clearing her throat and speaking.
"Commander."
The group of people who had been arguing amongst themselves all turned to look at her at once.
Although dozens of eyes were trained on her, Helen didn't waver in the slightest and kept her gaze fixed on the commander.
The most virtuous and powerful knight among those who had dedicated themselves to the Church of Laurecia in Merde.
Matthias, the knight commander who led the Order of the Holy Knights of the Chief Goddess Laurecia, spoke to Helen with a sharp expression.
"What is it?"
"There is something I must inform you of."
"...Is it intel?"
"Yes."
Matthias, who had been staring at Helen with a displeased look as if annoyed by the interruption, let out a small sigh and spoke.
"A brief recess. We will resume in thirty minutes."
And, surprisingly, the dozens of knights who filled the meeting room, including Helen, cried out in perfect unison on cue.
"Yes! Thirty-minute recess!"
Helen stood up and followed Matthias, who was the first to exit the meeting room.
She had stepped out of the meeting room for the first time in hours. It was midsummer, but the air felt relatively cool. This was because in this weather, a room where the doors and windows were all shut tightly for security had contained over a dozen people.
Helen, who had been taking a deep breath, stopped behind Matthias. They were at a small garden in the back of the church building, a secluded spot.
"Report."
Matthias spoke in a frigid voice.
Helen bowed her head without a single change in her expression and made her report.
"It is intelligence on Evirgio that has just been collated and delivered. It says that the Princess has been released from prison."
"...What?!"
Matthias's face was filled with shock.
This was information that could render everything they had just discussed in the meeting completely pointless.
Raising his guard at the weight of the words he had heard, Matthias lowered his voice and growled a question at Helen.
"Where did that come from? In detail."
"The content came from an informant we planted near Basel. It says the Demon King formally declared the Princess as his... concubine and took her out of prison. And...."
Helen herself was half-doubting what she was saying, but the judgment was not hers to make. She lowered her eyes before Matthias as if in submission.
"It says the Demon King has issued an official proclamation forbidding the consumption of human slaves."
"...What did you say?"
Faced with an incomprehensible statement, Matthias began to lose his temper with Helen.
"This is typical of you. How can I verify that this is reliable information or not?"
"...Verification is impossible."
"So what you're saying is, we won't know a thing until we see it with our own eyes."
With his arms crossed and a sarcastic sneer in his voice, Matthias looked at Helen and shook his head.
"Just because people flatter you by calling you the Saintess and gather under your name to scrape up worthless rumors, you must think you're something special."
"...My apologies."
Saintess Helen simply stood silently, her head bowed with the same expression as before.
But the knight commander continued to spit out barbed words at Helen.
"Do you know how much time and effort so many people are putting into rescuing the Princess right now? Do you think we can just stop all of it because of some flimsy nonsense you happened to pick up?"
"No."
"Wasn't Her Highness your personal friend? Did spending time with the Princess make a nobody orphan girl like you think she was something? What is your intention in bringing this kind of information when your friend is being held captive? Are you saying it's a relief that Her Highness has to whore herself out to the Demon King?"
For the first time, Helen bit down hard on her lip at Matthias's abuse.
Her one and only friend. The woman with whom she had shared her knowledge, her teacher and student.
It was difficult to accept such harsh words about Grünent's circumstances.
But because it was the truth, she couldn't refute it.
Matthias didn't notice her reaction. He was too busy spewing out his own words.
So Helen swallowed her thoughts.
The thought that because of this, many people might die in vain.
And the impious thought that she wasn't sure if rescuing Grünent was the path to honoring Laurecia and the Princess.
However, Helen couldn't bring herself to contradict Matthias. She couldn't even entertain the thought of doubting him.
Because he was the lofty knight commander, and she was a greedy wench who had only risen meteorically through the ranks, yet was still caked with endless desires.
Because despite her vows to dedicate her body and soul to the Chief Goddess, she was a pig-like wretch who couldn't stop her lewd thoughts.
When Helen remained silent for a long time, Matthias made no effort to hide his contempt.
"You must be having depraved thoughts again, you filthy whore. Make sure you go and 'reflect' before you set foot in that meeting room."
Was it her imagination, or did a faint blush seem to creep across Helen's stoic face? As if disgusted to be in her presence a moment longer, Matthias spun around and left the garden on his own.
*
"Please call upon me if you need anything, Your Majesty."
The Owlbear guided Roan to the Forbidden-Book Section again today.
However, as the Owlbear withdrew, his expression was polite and relaxed, unlike before.
Laurecia's relics were still displeasing to the librarian. But he now knew that the Emperor was not as violent as he had been in the past.
It was something he had come to realize because the aura he felt from the Emperor when they met had been gradually changing.
[You said you were a man who used to work with your body, and yet you come to the library often?]
"Well. It's not exactly easy for me to go around asking people about things I don't know."
[You have a point. The original Roan was someone who didn't care even if he didn't know things.]
"Still, I've managed to raise my Knowledge by at least 1 in the meantime."
His Knowledge was now at 41.
It was thanks to wrestling little by little with the Ancient Language textbook during that time.
Once Roan set a policy, the Small Council handled the bulk of the practical work. He spent his time outside of training, meetings, and inspections in his office, using that time to either grasp the state of Evirgio or study Ancient Language.
[So, has your Ancient Language actually gotten much better?]
"...The textbook's a bit lousy."
[Hmmmm.]
Though it was written as a textbook, it was a book that just laid out knowledge in a long-winded fashion, so it felt like looking for a needle in a desert.
Nevertheless, Roan was studying the 'Starlight' magic by jotting down unfamiliar words and looking them up in the dictionary.
Thanks to that, he learned that this magic was the most basic form of Ancient Divine Magic, and that it was a magic that served as the symbol of the priests of the old Laurecia order of antiquity.
"I thought I'd finally finished reading all the explanations, but then something else popped up."
[Huh? Another magic appeared?]
Fiora asked in a surprised voice.
After all, magic and skills weren't the kind of thing one could learn so easily.
However, Roan hadn't even explained 'Blessing of the Stars' to Fiora.
'...For one thing, she's a demon sword....'
So Roan just mumbled an excuse.
"I guess it's because my Knowledge went up."
[That's unusual. You can't learn magic just by reading books. Hmmmmm.]
"It was a type of magic that's like a buff."
[Ah, I see. You don't need to go into detail, Roan.]
Fiora had noticed Roan's hesitation.
Because the sword was in direct contact with him, she could understand her master's emotions more precisely than anyone. She was quick-witted enough not to press further on that subject.
Relieved, Roan began turning the pages.
'Blessing of the Stars' was a magic that appeared a few chapters after 'Starlight'. Considering that the sequence was based on the grade of the magic, this was also a beginner-level spell.
Roan read the description.
'...I still can't make sense of this.'
That was true.
Simply looking up words in the dictionary and reading didn't cause one's language skills to grow dramatically overnight.
Roan sighed at the obstacle that had appeared before him once again.
"Fiora. Do you know Ancient Language?"
[I do know it, but I can't read letters with my sword energy.]
"...Maybe I should look for a teacher."
[What about Grünent?]
Roan thought about Fiora's proposal for a moment, but soon shook his head.
She already believed that the Demon King was a master of everything. It hurt his pride a little to shatter that belief, and if he said he was learning Ancient Language from the basics, he would have to explain the reason, however simply.
She might soon realize the fact that he was learning Ancient Divine Magic.
"...She'd be a safe bet, but I don't want to reveal it yet."
[Hm. I see. Well then... have you tried using it?]
"I did test it out, but...."
He couldn't just outright ask someone to 'describe the effects of this blessing magic.'
The Demon King's blessing? Rather than a buff, it felt like it might be the most powerful curse of all.
So Roan had secretly cast the blessing on nearby servants when they walked by. But when it came to scrubbing the floor or fetching wash water, the buff from the blessing didn't seem to make much of a difference.
"I couldn't really figure out its effect."
[What about that librarian? That one seems to know a thing or two about magic.]
"...Hm."
Roan closed the book. He decided he would have to copy the descriptions of the magic onto paper later and look them up in the dictionary, just as before.
He'd had the experience of Erenier launching a surprise attack on him when she sensed the presence of 'Starlight' the last time.
After using 'Detection' to confirm that no wizards were nearby, Roan asked the librarian.
"You. I'm going to cast a spell now. Would you tell me how it feels? It's a simple support magic."
At the mention of the Demon King's magic, the librarian flinched slightly, but he, too, was a wizard.
There weren't many chances to witness the Emperor's magic directly. His curiosity outweighed his fear.
"It is my honor, Your Majesty. Please cast it."
The Owlbear lowered his Magic Defense.
Soon, he felt mana moving from the Demon King.
At the sudden alien sensation, the feathers on the Owlbear's neck bristled up with a ruffling sound.
"...?!"
"What is it, librarian?"
[Oh ho. This reaction is fascinating.]
"How do you... feel?"
The Owlbear blinked his huge eyes for a moment.
He couldn't bring himself to say that he had felt an instinctive, visceral rejection of the mana emanating from the Demon King.
He was a demon, and what Roan had used was Divine Magic.
Perhaps it was a natural reaction.
In the end, the Owlbear chose to exercise his social graces.
"I was overwhelmed by the sheer power, Your Majesty."
[Tch. What a pity.]
"Hmm."
Roan tilted his head.
"Did you not feel good? Or as if your body was lighter?"
The Owlbear bowed deeply.
"I couldn't say for sure, Your Majesty. My apologies."
Roan tried to hide the disappointment in his voice.
"I see. It's fine."
He had gotten his hopes up after seeing a reaction strong enough to make feathers stand on end. As expected, this seemed to be yet another subtle and useless magic. Just like Starlight.
Why did I only get rewards like this?
In the end, Roan copied down the explanation half-heartedly and left the library.
Left alone, the Owlbear librarian tidied the books as usual and began writing his essay.
After several hours of writing with deep focus, the Owlbear suddenly raised his head in surprise.
"...Is it this late already? Since when did it get so...?"
His concentration today was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
The Owlbear's expression became one of contentment. The inspiration he felt in the passages he wrote today was astonishing even to his own eyes.
He was writing a paper under a pen name, titled 'The Order of Effective Search and Memory Magic Utilization in Bibliographic Studies.'
The writings of demonkind were despised.
Therefore, he enjoyed submitting papers to the human Wizard Tower under a pseudonym and observing their reactions.
The paper written by the librarian causing an unprecedented sensation among human librarians was a story for another day.
The passages the librarian wrote under Roan's Blessing of the Stars were cited for generations as part of a famous thesis.