Book 2: Chapter Sun Knight’s Daily Duty #3: “Manage the City’s Undead”
Book 2: Chapter Sun Knight’s Daily Duty #3: “Manage the City’s Undead”
With one foot, I kicked the wooden door to Pink’s house open, but instead of finding her, I saw another person…no, another corpse inside.
Roland had the distinctive blazing eyes of a death knight, but he was no ordinary death knight. A tattoo of black fire burned on his pale-colored corpse. A set of dragon wings with razor-sharp claws sprouted from his back and a thick aura of darkness permeated the air around him.
He is a creature specifically mentioned by the Textbook of Undead Creatures that must in no circumstances be created. He can summon an entire legion of undead and is considered to be the strongest amongst undead creatures—a Death Lord. He… He was at this moment wearing a pink apron, squatting on the ground, and scrubbing the floor with a cleaning rag.
“Roland, what are you doing?” I asked expressionlessly.
Roland lifted his head in absolute calm and answered me with complete seriousness, “I’m cleaning the floor.”
After a moment of silence, my stomach suddenly growled. I abruptly exploded in a fit of rage, flipping over a table with one swift motion and bellowing, “Why the hell are you cleaning the floor?! You are the bloody Death Lord that commands legions of undead! You should be outside massacring everyone from East Street to West Street, and then back again from west to east. You ought to run around killing non-stop until blood flows like a river and corpses are scattered all over the fields. Don’t forget, you are a Death Lord!”
As if startled by my spiel, Roland looked at the overturned table, and then looked at me. He finally creased his brows and said, “Grisia, you are the Sun Knight.”
Holding a lollipop, Pink shook her head and sighed as she walked out. “What strange times we live in! The Death Lord obediently cleans the floor while the Sun Knight wants to kill until blood will flow like a river.”
Roland said with a straight face, “Don’t say such things, Pink. Grisia is actually a very good Sun Knight…”
As soon as I saw Pink, I charged in her direction. I snatched her lollipop away in a smooth motion and licked the strawberry candy as if my life depended on it. I said poignantly, “So sweet, so sweet. It’s so delicious!”
“Waah!” Pink stared blankly for a second before bursting into a fit of tears, bashing me with her fists while jumping up and down in an attempt to snatch the lollipop back. Of course, for someone of her stature, even jumping was futile as she still wouldn’t be able to reach the lollipop in my hands. In the end she sobbed, “Sun, you big bad bully, give it back to me! I want my lollipop back, waa!”
Roland paused for a bit before earnestly reprimanding me, “Grisia, as a Sun Knight, you shouldn’t be snatching away little girls’ lollipops. That’s not proper conduct.”
I retorted while licking the lollipop, “I don’t see any little girls around, only the corpse of one. What kind of corpse still eats lollipops?! As the Sun Knight, I definitely will not permit a travesty such as the wasting of food to happen!”
Upon hearing this, Roland frowned, unable to refute me.
Realizing that crying was ineffective, Pink immediately stopped wailing. She puffed up her cheeks and accused, “You would permit a necromancer and a Death Lord to remain unharmed before your very eyes, yet you wouldn’t allow the wasting of a single lollipop? Roland, did you just say that this fellow who would even steal lollipops from little girls is actually a good Sun Knight?”
Roland didn’t seem to hear Pink’s voice. It looked like he was still considering whether or not snatching away a lollipop from a corpse was right or wrong.
“Hmph!” Pink slowly hovered in the air, her body releasing a dense aura of darkness. Even her hair fluttered about chaotically. In a cold and ominous tone, she said, “Sun, I’m warning you, if you still won’t return my lollipop, I will leave you not only unable to plead for your life but incapable of begging for death as well!”
Despite seeing the city’s strongest (and only) necromancer losing her cool, I remained as calm as ever. I took another lick of the lollipop before replying lazily, “Ice said that he’ll be making strawberry flavored shaved ice next time. Should I bring some for you to eat?”
“Yeeees!” Pink immediately settled back down to the ground and wrapped herself around my waist, her huge, shining eyes even showing a pleading expression. The only thing missing from the picture was a wagging tail.
I snorted twice and asked very haughtily, “And what about the lollipop?”
Pink answered with incomparable sincerity, “It’s a present for you, of course! We’ve known each other for so long; the extent of our friendship is greater than the extent that a mound of hastily buried corpses has rotted. In comparison, what is the value of a lollipop? Even if you ask for a freshly deceased corpse, I would let you have it!”
Who would want a corpse from you…? I am still eating the lollipop! Don’t talk about such nauseating things, alright? The discussion elicited my memories of “repaying my debts”, when I had to excavate dozens of tombs in the graveyard and encountering corpses in various degrees of decay in the process… Ugh!
“You guys…” Roland suddenly spoke out.
I explained to him good-naturedly, “Don’t worry, Roland. Even during the worst quarrel I had with Pink, all she did was blast me out of the room with her magic, blowing me several dozen meters away and knocking down a whole row of houses in the process. That’s hardly close to leaving me unable to plead for my life nor incapable of begging for death as well!”
Pink immediately grumbled back, “How dare you mention that incident – after you were sent flying, didn’t you immediately run back and use Holy Light to blow my cottage into smithereens, destroying the cleaning corpse along with it? It took me quite a lot of effort just to restore my cottage back to its former state.”
Roland creased his brows and asked, “Then are both of you not going to duel now?”
“Why do we have to duel?” Pink’s and my eyes widened as we turned to look at Roland.
Roland actually replied with a face brimming with seriousness, “You two are fighting over a lollipop. Since it’s impossible to determine who the rightful owner is, the two of you should have a duel over the ownership of the lollipop.”
What a joke! The Sun Knight and the necromancer having a duel over a strawberry lollipop? What would happen if news of this were to leak out?
Pink and I promptly shook our heads, yelling out, “We were just kidding around!”
Upon hearing that, Roland shook his head, showing an expression indicating that he saw us as nothing more than two troublemaking kids. He stopped paying attention to the two of us and instead reached out to set the table that I had overturned upright. Then he picked up the cleaning rag and went back to scrubbing the floor.
I really had no idea what he was thinking. For a bona fide Death Lord to actually be cleaning the floor! Moreover, he was doing it with such a serious expression on his face, as if cleaning floors was a task comparable to slaying a dragon. Furthermore, he expected Pink and I to have a duel over a lollipop… How could Roland have become even more serious than he was as a child?
Having considered this, I thought that the next time I entered this cottage, I should probably expect to see the great Death Lord putting on a serious expression while scrubbing the floors, cleaning the tables, doing the laundry, and maybe even patching up clothes with a sewing needle!
Dear God of Light! Instead of seeing such an unbelievably mismatched scenario, I would rather see him use the sewing needle to sew someone’s lips together or something gruesome like that.
As I thought about this, I immediately protested to Pink, “What were you thinking, ordering Roland to clean the floors? He is the Death Lord, not some random cleaning corpse that you’ve summoned.”
“I did no such thing! I only mentioned in passing how dirty the floors were, and he decided to clean them on his own!” Pink responded self-righteously.
Under my suspicious gaze, she then added a bit guiltily, “Okay, maybe I did repeat myself several times.”
I kept staring at her with increasing suspicion.
“Okay, maybe it was one or two hundred times… fine! I must have said it at least five-hundred times, alright? Just stop staring at me already!”
I knew it! Although Roland was definitely not a lazy guy, he was the type of person who will do nothing besides practicing his swordsmanship. So, getting him to lay down his sword and do something else would probably only be slightly less difficult than making me let go of the lollipop in my hand right now.
With a look of dissatisfaction, Pink jumped onto her strawberry-patterned chair and then took out another lollipop from underneath it, licking it twice. Satiated, her thoughts returned to business. She asked complacently, “Sun, when I helped you create the illusion of Roland ascending to the sky last time, I did a fantastic job, didn’t I?! Nobody should have found out that Roland wasn’t actually sent to the heavens, right?”
“No… Though Judgment might be aware of it.” I added the last bit with a hint of hesitation.
Pink immediately absolved herself of all responsibility, “That’s not my fault. It’s only because he understands you far too well.”
“Judgment Knight?” Roland stopped wiping the floor and said with a solemn face, “His swordsmanship is really spectacular. If I have the chance, I’d really like to compete against him one more time.”
“Don’t go around provoking Judgment!” Pink and I immediately said in unison.
Pink warned Roland somberly, saying, “Judgment is completely different from Sun. He is a true Judgment Knight-Captain. If he were to see you running around the city as you pleased, he definitely wouldn’t let you get away with it.”
Hey! Then do you mean to say that I am a fraud? I rolled my eyes.
Roland looked down and stared at his pale-colored hand for a while. He said with a light sigh, “Understood. I won’t go outside.”
Roland… I sighed. Under my protection, though Roland would not be seized by the Church to be barbequed, he was constantly cooped up inside this little cottage. Even worse, he was stuck living with a necromancer who, in order to force him to clean the floors, would even go as far as to nag about it five-hundred times. For Roland, perhaps even getting himself barbequed into a crisp would be a better fate than this.
“Pink, let Roland wear that Ring of Life from last time. Then I’ll use Holy Light to cover up his aura of darkness. This way he shouldn’t be discovered when I take him out for a walk.”
Upon hearing that, even Roland couldn’t help but reveal a hopeful expression. Looks like he really has been cooped up inside for far too long.
Pink’s eyes lit up even more. She exclaimed loudly, “Great! But I’m coming along to play!”
What are you thinking, getting yourself mixed up in this? I rolled my eyes, but Pink pouted with a look that said, “If you don’t let me tag along, then don’t think about leaving at all.”
Alas! Why do I feel like I just started my own tour group? Plus, it’s a “tour group for undead creatures” at that… May the God of Light bless me. Please don’t let me run into Judgment Knight or else I might be the first Sun Knight ever to be subjected to Judgment’s various interrogation techniques.
“Sun, you really are quite stupid, aren’t you?!” Pink probably saw that I was quite reluctant, so she rudely reminded me, “Can’t you just disguise yourself as ’Supreme Dragon‘? As long as you show us around under the guise of Supreme Dragon, even if we were to be discovered, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the “Sun Knight”!”
Oh, right! The idea suddenly dawned on me and I shouted in alarm, “So the Dragon’s Saint Brigandine could also be used for something like this!”
“You don’t say! Why else do you think I would give you the Dragon’s Saint Brigandine?!”
“Didn’t you initially give it to me so that I could catch Baron Gerland’s third son?” Suddenly, I felt that things were going to take a turn for the worse.
“Of course not! Catching a single person wouldn’t require anything as fancy as a treasure that recognizes its master.”
“Then the real reason you gave this to me back then was…”
“Of course I gave it to you so that we can do wicked things together!” Pink said matter-of-factly.
“…”
In order to disguise himself as an ordinary person, Roland donned a battle suit and light armor that Pink gave him in addition to wearing the Ring of Life. The battle suit had a simple design, allowing great freedom of movement, and even had a pair of wings sewn onto the chest area. A magic circle was drawn onto the lower hem of the suit, and I could faintly feel the magic circle gently gathering the wind element, probably for the purpose of making its wearer more agile. That light armor was even more extraordinary. Its design was simple and effective, and the pure white plating was sleeker than a mirror and brighter than silver. It even had a complicated magic circle engraved onto its surface.
I frowned, and asked with suspicion, “I feel like I have seen this wing symbol on the battle suit somewhere before.”
Pink nodded heartily, “Wow, wow! Sun, your eyes are really sharp! During the Second War of Demon Extermination, the members of the Tornado Knight Squadron on the humans’ side wore this very battle suit.”
I clapped my hands together, shouting out, “No wonder! I’ve seen this suit painted on the Church’s mural before and…and, this armor set looks pretty familiar too!”
“Of course. This is actually the armor worn by the captain of that very same Tornado Knight Squadron.”
“It must have been a very decent set of armor!”
Pink proudly boasted, “As if I need you to tell me that! How could I, Pink, own any ordinary item… Ahhhh!”
In one smooth movement I pinched Pink’s cheeks, pulling forcefully while saying through gritted teeth, “How long have you been dead, corpse? Has your body become rotten, but that brain of yours has decayed away into nothing too? What are you thinking, giving Roland this kind of top-tier gear to wear? We’re just going to go out for a walk, not to exterminate demons you know!”
“Boohoohoo! But this is the only kind of equipment I have!” Pink wept, holding her cheeks in her hands.
“I’ll just wear my own clothes then.” Roland started taking off the armor without a second thought.
I sighed, “That won’t do. Your own clothes are all tattered and raggedy. If you were to wear them outside, you will surely attract lots of attention.”
Roland explained seriously, “That won’t happen. I already patched them up with a sewing needle.”
“…”
I turned to Pink, saying, “Pink, the next time I visit your home, I’ll be sure to knock. In the event that Roland is patching up clothes or doing something even more outrageous, then be sure not to open the door.”
After putting on his own clothes, Roland looked a lot more normal. Although the clothes were a tad bit shabby, there were plenty of ragtag and slovenly soldiers on the streets so it was not really that unusual. Comparably, my Dragon’s Saint Brigandine was more conspicuous.
As for Pink, she used some unknown method to turn her bright pink skin color back into a normal person’s skin tone, and then donned a pitch black magician’s gown. She actually looked like an ordinary little girl dressed like this.
Damn it! I’m clearly the most normal one out of the three of us, yet my current appearance is the most abnormal.
“How can a Sun Knight such as you still be considered normal?” Pink mumbled.
I gave Pink an incredibly supercilious look and then went back to discuss the issue at hand. “Although we’re just strolling, there’s no way to know what will happen, so let’s make up an alibi first. We will pretend to be three siblings who left our family to go on adventures.”
Roland would be the eldest brother who is a warrior. Although we could say that he is a knight, there is the chance that someone might ask, if he’s a knight, then where is his horse? And he clearly cannot summon his undead horse to show others, right? So pretending to be a warrior would just be easier.
I would be the younger brother. Just from the look of my skintight leotard and facemask, it goes without saying that people would know that I am an assassin.
Pink is naturally the youngest little sister, her occupation being a mage in training.
Of course, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. Just from seeing the gears from the Second War of Demon Extermination, one could tell that Pink is so ancient that nobody knows which era she was a product of. Although Roland and I are the same age, I am older than him by more than a month. Furthermore, he hasn’t aged a bit ever since he died.
For this very reason, I had already protested, “I am older than Roland, so why do I have to be the younger brother?”
“Because you’re shorter than him.”
“Only by a few centimeters. Besides, older brothers aren’t necessarily taller than their younger siblings. This is pure discrimination!”
“Because you’re not as strong as him.”
“Says who? I have the Dragon’s Saint Brigandine, super strong self recovery ability, and the ability to use magical and necromancer spells. Taking everything into account, I’d have to be at least as strong as him! Err… I should be, right?!”
“Because you don’t look as reliable as him.”
“What part of me looks unreliable? My smile once won the annual award for the Most Reassuring Facial Expression… What? What does a person who has black hair with silver streaks, wears a mask, and dons a black, skintight leotard look like? Why bother asking that, that’s obvious! Of course, that person would look like a shady character!”
In the end my protest failed and I could only obediently accept my role as the younger brother.
After coming up with an alibi, the three of us casually strolled outside on the streets. As soon as we left the cottage, Roland’s expression immediately tensed up. When we were about to enter into a slightly busier street he hesitated for a moment before he appeared to gather up his courage and set foot amidst the crowd. Every step along the way he would nervously glance left and right, looking very worried.
“Somebody noticed me. I can feel their eyes staring at me.” Roland furrowed his brows tightly and said anxiously, “Perhaps we’ve already been discovered. Let’s just hurry back to the cottage.”
Did someone really notice Roland? I frowned, searching around on all four sides, and immediately sensed the presence of the onlookers. They included a young housewife peeking from behind a window, a group of young ladies chattering at a street corner, and a female dancer who openly walked past us and even coquettishly batted her eyelashes at us several times.
“Don’t worry. It’s only a bunch of women ogling at a hot guy.” After I explained it to Roland, I added sourly, “Though if I weren’t wearing my mask, I’d be able to attract even more of them!”
“Don’t feel sad, Sun— …Supreme Dragon! There are quite a lot of people who have noticed you as well.” Pink patted me on the shoulder. “See? On the left there’s quite a few holy knights pointing towards you and on the right there’s some knights with their eyes fixated on you, and, and around the corner there’s a handful of priests who keep glancing at you.”
I was originally hopefully gazing to the north of Pink’s position, but only did I not see any young ladies chattering, instead there was a group of men sizing me up with wary glances… I resentfully roared at Pink in a low voice, “That’s because my getup looks too suspicious!”
Pink said with sudden realization, “So that’s how it is. And here I was, wondering why the ones who noticed you are all men. And I was under the impression that Roland is alluring to women while you attract guys exclusively.”
How revolting! Who attracts guys exclusively?
I replied in a threatening tone, “Would you believe me if I told you that I know where you hide all your strawberry lollipops?”
Trying not to sound vulnerable, Pink retorted, “Would you believe me if I told you that I can permanently dye your hair black with silver streaks?”
I immediately covered up my hair with my hands while countering, “Go ahead and try it. Careful now, or else you might never taste the strawberry dessert that Ice makes.”
“How shameless! You despicable little man!” Pink stamped her feet, angrily pulling out a tiny magical wand and pointing it at me.
How abominable! One can lose a battle but not his dignity. If he backs down like a coward, he will never be able to look anyone in the eyes again! At once, I gave up 200 cc of blood in exchange for a dagger, which I also pointed back at Pink… Not that I wanted to say this, but this situation with Pink’s tiny wand and my tiny dagger was not in the least bit imposing. I even heard some stifled laughter in the background.
Moreover, the public order in Leaf Bud City is really strict. Forget fighting in the streets—the knights will stop anyone as soon as they unsheathed a weapon. But right now the holy knights and knights around us looked like they had absolutely no intention of restraining us… They’re underestimating us way too much! Just because it’s a little bit short, is it no longer considered a weapon?
At this moment, Roland, who was standing to the side, suddenly started to back away a few steps. Pink and I simultaneously turned around to look at him, asking in unison, “Roland, why are you backing away?”
Roland replied matter-of-factly, “This way, I won’t be obstructing your duel.”
“What? Who is entering a duel?” I asked, puzzled.
“You and Pink,” Roland replied in a serious manner. “You two were already going into your dueling stances. This is great; just let the swords in your hands determine who’s right and who’s wrong, and not by arguing and debating. This is the true way of the knight.”
I stared at the dagger in my hands, and then at the wand that Pink held. Between the two of us, where did he come up with the “swords in your hands”?
Pink stared at her own mage’s gown, and then stared at my assassin’s garb, and said with embarrassment, “Aren’t Supreme Dragon and I a far cry from walking the way of the knight?”
At this time, the quiet snickers from the passerby turned into loud roars of laughter. The holy knights who were originally pointing their fingers towards me were now guffawing while holding their stomachs.
Seeing the current situation, I suddenly felt incredibly lucky. It’s a good thing they don’t realize that I am the Sun Knight.
Several knights came walking over laughing. “Sorry to disturb your duel in the way of the knight,” they said, still laughing, “but making a ruckus and fighting on the streets is not permitted.”
“This is not a fight, but a duel.” Roland replied earnestly. The knights let out another burst of chuckles, which transformed into a full-blown round of unrestrained laughter, prompting the nearby bystanders to laugh even harder.
“Never have I felt more humiliated in the twenty-three years of my life.” I said in a low voice, almost holding back tears.
Pink also held her head down, saying, “Yeah, never have I felt more humiliated in the two-thousand three— Ahem! In the ‘many’ years of my life.”
At this time, a low snarl interrupted everyone’s roars of laughter. “What’s the commotion over here?”
I turned my head to see an entire squadron of holy knights. Furthermore, blazoned on the chests of their holy knight outfits were the emblems of the Sun Knight… It’s my own Sun Knight Platoon! What’s more, all twenty-five members were present, including my vice-captain Adair.
Seeing them all fully equipped and lined up in such an orderly fashion, it doesn’t seem like they’re here to roam the streets or to gang up on someone….. Could it be that this month is the Sun Knight Platoon’s turn to patrol the streets?
This is very bad! My Sun Knight Platoon specializes in eliminating the undead. They are already experts at sensing auras of darkness. Moreover, they had already met Roland at the royal palace. Although Roland looks like a living human being right now, completely different from his appearance as the Death Knight, but there’s no guarantee that they would not recognize him.
I couldn’t help but check up on the Holy Light around Roland, confirming that it was still enveloping him tightly and that not an ounce of the aura of darkness had leaked out.
At this time, the holy knight who was previously standing in a corner holding his stomach in laughter quickly scampered over here, respectfully and courteously reporting the situation to the Sun Knight Platoon. Hearing the report, the members of the Sun Knight Platoon relaxed their expressions. I also breathed a sigh of relief as we seemed to have successfully pulled the wool over their eyes. But then my vice-captain Adair walked out from the center of the squadron, all the way up to directly face Roland.
He sized Roland up before asking in a seemingly casual manner, “Are you a holy knight?”
“No, I am a knight,” Roland answered very bluntly.
Hey, hey! Roland, didn’t we just come up with our alibis? You’re supposed to be a warrior!
“Is that so?” Adair snickered coldly, and then spoke sharply, “Then why is your body swirling with Holy Light?” As soon as Adair’s words left his mouth the remaining twenty-four members of the Sun Knight Platoon immediately formed a circle, firmly enclosing the three of us.
How annoying! If I knew this would happen, I would never have asked Adair to lead the squadron around, ganging up on people. Looking at their astonishing efficiency at surrounding us, even I myself couldn’t react at all before getting completely hemmed in by the squadron.
Is today the day that I reap the evils that I have sowed, for me to get ganged up on by my very own Sun Knight Platoon?
Adair slowly unsheathed his weapon, explaining to the others, “If you are not emitting the Holy Light yourself, then that could only mean one thing. The Holy Light swirling around your body is for the purpose of covering up something else, for example, an aura of darkness.”
Only now do I realize that having a vice-captain that is too clever wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s unlikely that this would end well.
“So what if it’s for covering up an aura of darkness?” Pink suddenly blurted out. “Is covering up an aura of darkness against the law?”
Adair, being the nice guy he was, actually answered back. “Covering up an aura of darkness isn’t illegal,” he said, “but those who possess an aura of darkness are, more often than not, malicious individuals, such as undead creatures.”
“Then what about believers of the Shadow God?” Pink raised her chin, retorting provokingly. “Do you mean to say that the Dark Knights of the Shadow God are malicious individuals too?”
Dark Knights?
Hah! What a clever move! I had actually forgotten that the only types of knights that carry an aura of darkness on their bodies are the Dark Knights who serve the Shadow God.
Upon hearing this, even Adair froze. You can’t blame him either, since the Cathedral of the Shadow God was quite far from here. Although I knew of the existence of Dark Knights, I had never actually seen one before.
Adair frowned before asking doubtfully, “You’re a Dark Knight? Then why are you covering up the aura of darkness on your body?”
Roland furrowed his brows, unable to reply. I reckon that he, who only knows how to practice swordsmanship, doesn’t even have a clue what a Dark Knight is.
At this time, Pink replied mockingly, “Because there are lots of idiots who are under the impression that an aura of darkness could only belong to undead creatures.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, all the holy knights around us had angry expressions on their faces. Only Adair, despite being the one whom the insult was directed towards, didn’t mind it at all. He creased his brows while deep in thought and then requested of Roland, “Please remove the Holy Light around your body.”
Having heard that, I thought for a second. Since we cannot refuse to remove it, we can only take a gamble and hope that Pink’s Ring of Life will be enough as cover-up and let us get away with it.
After I removed the Holy Light without a second thought, it seemed to the bystanders that Roland hadn’t changed at all. But in the eyes of the Sun Knight Platoon, he was emitting a light aura of darkness, and their faces became grim.
Adair frowned and looked like he was deep in thought for quite a while, before suddenly giving us a very penetrating stare. I panicked in my mind, following his line of sight to see that… Hanging on Roland’s waist was the very sword that Roland had used to slice me with!
Adair then slowly lifted his head, staring straight into Roland’s face. If after this he still could not recognize that the person in front of him was the Death Lord from before, then I probably should have misgivings about my ability to pick my vice-captain.
But I am convinced that I have very good taste in people, so I was already pondering over how to make our escape. Perhaps holding my own vice-captain hostage would be a pretty good option? However, Adair’s swordsmanship won’t be defeated so easily. If the kidnapping attempt fails and we get routed by him instead, would I still have any dignity to stay as the captain?
“You guys can leave.”
Okay! I’ll just have Roland seize Adair…eh? I was dumbfounded. What did Adair just say?
At this moment, the other members of the Sun Knight Platoon asked worriedly, “Adair, is that alright? Should we go have the captain come and confirm it?”
Adair shook his head, saying, “There’s no need. Let’s go. The sooner we wrap up our patrols, the sooner we can complete the task assigned by our captain.” What task? I blinked. Did I really make such a request?
Adair was no doubt showing his weight as the vice-captain who always managed my Sun Knight Platoon. After he said there was no need, not a single objection came from the members of the Sun Knight Platoon. They promptly went from their encircling formation back to the patrolling formation and then departed orderly, following Adair.
If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would not believe that my Sun Knight Platoon was capable of forming such a neat and orderly formation. Adair must really be quite incredible. Looks like I really do have good taste in people! But exactly what business did they leave to take care of? I don’t remember assigning any task to Adair. Furthermore, he definitely must have recognized Roland. As the vice-captain of the Sun Knight Platoon which specializes in dealing with undead creatures, how could he just let a Death Lord run about inside the city as it wished? Could it be that I really don’t understand my own vice-captain at all?
“Sun, should we follow them?” Pink asked in a low voice, looking highly interested. I thought for a moment. To bring along Roland while secretly tailing the Sun Knight Platoon seems to be an impossible task. It doesn’t matter if it’s a faint aura of darkness, or if it’s covered up by Holy Light; either way it’s not possible to conceal our presence from them.
“No. We’re here today to accompany Roland on a walk outside, so let’s see where he would like to go instead.”
Hearing that, Pink let out a disappointed groan, but not too long afterwards she was holding Roland’s hand, looking around all over the place. It seemed to me that Roland was being led on by Pink all over the place, and he almost never actively asked to go to a specific place. So I asked, “Roland, is there anywhere you would like to go?”
“Dessert shop! Stuffed toy store! Execution ground!”
I completely ignored the noisy little girl and said very seriously to Roland, “Wherever you’d like to go, I’ll take you there… Except for the Church of the God of Light.”
Even if it’s the royal palace, I have my ways of giving Roland an entire day tour around the place. The only place I cannot take him to is the Church of the God of Light. After all, it was the headquarters of forces that crack down on undead creatures. Even if a Death Lord were to charge inside, he would only be met with a death by drowning in Holy Light.
Hearing that, Roland actually revealed a look of slight disappointment. Is it possible that he really was hoping to tour in the Church of the God of Light? Oh my God of Light! Disregarding the fact that Leaf Bud City has a necromancer who isn’t aware that she is a necromancer, there’s now even a Death Lord who doesn’t seem to realize he is a Death Lord! Don’t tell me that all the undead creatures nowadays have forgotten the fact that they have already departed from this world, and thus should stay far away from anything containing the words “Holy” and “Light”?
Roland pondered for a bit, and then shook his head. I sighed and said, “Then I’ll take you to get some new clothes made. We should also buy you another sword, since you can’t even unsheathe the one you have right now.” As soon as it was unsheathed, the aura of darkness would certainly shoot towards the heavens and then we would have to play a game of cat-and-mouse with a bunch of holy knights.
Roland nodded, but Pink started jumping up and down between us, protesting loudly, “Dessert shop!”
“You still want to go to the dessert shop?” I ridiculed her, “In your house there are more lollipops than there are corpses in the execution ground. Are you even sure that you are a necromancer?”
Pink rolled her eyes and said sullenly, “It’s laughable how your magical ability is greater than your swordsmanship by at least ten-fold, your Holy Light is stronger than your battle aura by several hundred-fold, and your necromancer skills are better than your horsemanship by at least ten thousand-fold. In the end, you’re the one who doesn’t realize that he is a holy knight!”
I was at a loss for words. In my thirteen years as a holy knight, I had doubted at least thirteen times whether or not I was really suited to be a holy knight. (Every year, after testing my swordsmanship and seeing my scores, I couldn’t help but have a moment of doubt.)
In the early days my teacher would console me by saying, “Your worst future job prospect would be as a knight. Your second worst job prospect would be as a holy knight. So stop feeling bad for yourself. At least you didn’t choose the former option.”
After he finished consoling me, my teacher would then, with some rare satisfaction, console himself, saying, “It is a good thing I am your teacher as a holy knight, and not your teacher as a knight. If I had to raise you into a knight, it will be more practical to just kill you with one slash, letting you reincarnate and choose a different career path.”
“One more thing: as the Sun Knight, the highest ranked holy knight, you actually got scolded by an undead creature until you were left speechless. Hmph! I wonder if you are even aware that you are the Sun Knight!” Pink berated me with an extremely sarcastic tone.
“If you don’t shut your mouth right now, then I won’t take you to the dessert store,” I threatened in an ominous tone. Pink sealed her lips, beaming with joy.
“It’s time to go, time to go. With so many places to go, we had better hurry up.” After rushing them, I walked to the front to lead the way for those two. But at that moment, a notion flashed in my mind.
Perhaps strolling around the streets with a necromancer and a Death Lord in tow is the most incongruous action I have ever taken as a Sun Knight?