Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Temperance
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-Whoosh!
Ruin's sword sliced through the empty air.
"Well... Hero, you still don't have the strength to cut me down. My goal is just to take Vanishing Mist over there—our herald—so there's no need for us to waste our energy pointlessly, right?"
"Shut up!"
-Whoosh! Whoosh!
He swung his sword with all his might several times, but Ruin's blade couldn't even graze the masked Black Mage.
His mind, consumed by rage, gradually regained its reason, allowing him to make a rational judgment.
'This bastard... isn't he stronger than me?'
The effortless agility with which he dodged the sword.
The relaxed demeanor without a hint of tension, even with the Hero—natural enemy of Black Mages—right in front of him.
Ruin had dismissed him as all talk, but the Black Mage kept evading his attacks, chipping away at his pride and setting off instinctual alarms.
In front of that, he shouldn't swing his sword out of pride—he should let him go.
His reason and instincts united in screaming for him to send the man away immediately, but the masked Black Mage hindered Ruin from making that decision easily.
"Sir Is probably would have made the rational choice and let me go."
"Shut uuuup!"
That damn Is, Is, Is.
If it were Sir Is, unlike Sir Is, compared to Sir Is—he kept needling Ruin with the same lines, and the surging fury once again paralyzed his reason.
Amid the pointless attacks continuing like that.
"I'll kill you—"
"Hm, Vanishing Mist's life seems in danger, so I suppose it's time to end this."
-Snap.
The masked Black Mage snapped his fingers.
With the sound echoing through the alley, thick purple smoke billowed around him, and Ruin, instinctively trying to leap back, got caught in it by a hair's breadth.
"Urk... What... is this..."
The purple smoke rapidly invaded Ruin's respiratory system, and his red eyes slowly took on a purple hue.
-Thud.
In the blink of an eye, Ruin collapsed, his eyes losing focus, and the masked Black Mage—no.
"I haven't introduced myself. I am..."
"Mocking Deception."
Mocking Deception knelt on one knee in front of him, matching his eye level.
"I expected the Hero to show up... but I didn't anticipate you'd bring such unexpected forces. Because of that, we've taken quite a hit..."
Mocking Deception's hand reached toward Ruin's head.
"So it's fine if I take a little precaution—"
-Clang!
"...What a pity."
The moment it was about to touch Ruin's head, a pure white spear flew in and blocked Mocking Deception's hand.
Even in the sudden situation, Mocking Deception didn't lose his composure and spoke toward his back.
"So that's how it is. Devouring Parasite, Burning Flame, Drowning Drown, Crushing Crush, and now Vanishing Mist. It was all your doing!"
His interest in Ruin seemed to vanish completely as he stood and turned around.
-Clank. Clank.
The sound of metal clashing came from deeper in the alley.
Mocking Deception bowed his head in greeting, and at that moment, a middle-aged man's voice echoed from within the alley.
"You must temper yourself."
A somewhat out-of-place remark.
But Mocking Deception seemed to understand, lifting his head and calling out.
"Laying a hand on the Hero is unforgivable. Yes, I lost my composure for a moment—"
-Stab!
In an instant, a pristine white spear shaft pierced through Mocking Deception's abdomen.
His blood flowed down the spear, but Mocking Deception casually wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve as if it were nothing.
"...Didn't you say I must temper myself?"
With a dumbfounded question, the spear's owner revealed himself.
In the dark alley, a Holy Knight made his presence known with a faint glow.
A middle-aged Holy Knight with golden long hair and blue eyes—his identity was none other than...
Perantia Temperance, the Holy Knight of Temperance among the Seven Virtues.
With his hands clasped in prayer, he addressed Mocking Deception.
"I certainly have the power to take your breath away. But ending it with this non-lethal wound—what is that if not temperance?"
"...Ah, I see."
Mocking Deception nodded as if convinced, then gripped the spear embedded in his abdomen with both hands and yanked it out forcefully.
"I'm truly fortunate the opponent is you, Sir Perantia. You're famous for your no-kill policy, after all."
Mocking Deception was well aware of Perantia, the Holy Knight of Temperance.
He tempered everything and never took the life of even the most evil Black Mage carelessly.
A so-called no-kill pacifist.
Mocking Deception tossed the spear he had pulled from his abdomen to Perantia, who caught it effortlessly and wiped the blood from it with a handkerchief.
"Thank you for your temperance. Then, I'll be taking Vanishing Mist and vanishing."
"One moment."
Perantia stopped Mocking Deception as he tried to leave with Vanishing Mist tucked under his arm.
Mocking Deception turned to look at Perantia, and in that instant, Perantia roared with a fierce expression.
"Temperance! Temperance once more! Touch the Hero if you must, but lay a hand on the 'Unique Star' and you'll face divine punishment! Understand? Temperance, temperance! Temperance!"
Like a man possessed by a demon, Perantia's spasming outburst left Mocking Deception silently nodding.
Then, Perantia returned to normal.
He nodded with a friendly smile.
"Good. Live a life of temperance. And meet your end at the hands of one who does not."
"Haha, I'll take that as a farewell. Let's go, Vanishing Mist."
"Thanks... a lot..."
"No, no. You performed your role as our herald splendidly, so this much service is only right. Without you, operations would grind to a halt in more places than one."
After a brief exchange, the two Black Mages vanished in the blink of an eye.
Left alone with the unfocused Hero, Perantia.
"Hero."
He knelt on one knee and placed his hand on Ruin's head.
"Even welcomes must be tempered."
-Ssssh...
A small amount of holy power tinged with blue light from Perantia's hand seeped into Ruin's mind.
At that moment.
"Gasp...!"
Ruin snapped back to consciousness, drenched in cold sweat, and looked up at Perantia in front of him.
"...Who?"
"Ah, you've come to, Hero. I am Perantia Temperance, who has been granted the overly humble position of Holy Knight of Temperance among the Seven Virtues. It seems you fell victim to that vile Black Mage's mental attack, so I took these measures."
"Temperance... Ah, that no-kill thing?"
"Indeed. I'm delighted you know of it, Hero, but even that joy must be tempered. Excessive emotions invite disaster, after all."
"...Hah, fuck. Thanks for the help, but are all you Seven Virtues Holy Knights fucking psychos? The archbishops were psychos too."
"Psychos? A misunderstanding. We Holy Knights of the Seven Virtues are each blessed by the Goddess with one of the virtues granted to humanity—"
"Ah, whatever. Temperance, right? Then temper your explanations—it's annoying."
"Oh? As expected of the Hero. Even demanding tempered explanations... I have received your teaching well."
"Fuck, this is driving me insane."
Ruin felt suffocated by Perantia's pure gaze, but since the man had saved him, he eventually let out a long sigh to vent his frustration.
"Hoo... All Holy Knights are psychos."
As he said that, Ruin recalled the silver-haired Holy Knight who had earnestly begged him to become the Hero.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "I think you've rested enough now, so I'll come along too."
"Is, are you sure...?"
"I'm fine. My body's been fully recovered for a while now."
It had been two days since Ariana and Jeanne d'Arc made him rest.
By now, with the two Seven Virtues Holy Knights on guard, the empire's capital—where we currently were—should be safe for a while.
But the Black Mages were hiding throughout the empire, gnawing away at it.
So there was no time to lounge around resting like this.
Even while resting, he'd heard that Princess Bellatrix was preparing to send out a knight order, so he planned to join them.
Ariana kept insisting they could handle it and he should rest, but he couldn't back down on this.
He was Ariana's direct Holy Knight, after all.
And from the start, all sorts of incidents were bound to happen during this knight order's expedition—how could he sit it out?
'Come to think of it, the Hero...'
He wouldn't be joining this knight order expedition, but he should still be in the empire right now.
Wonder if he made it here safely.