Book 5: Chapter The Eighth Misdeed of an Undying Lich: “Adding Another Serious Injury To Crimes”
Book 5: Chapter The Eighth Misdeed of an Undying Lich: “Adding Another Serious Injury To Crimes”
Despite having spent a lot of time and energy concocting lies and excuses, in the end I still wasn’t sure everyone believed what I said. From the lukewarm expressions on their faces, it seemed that most of them were still skeptical. It certainly feels as if even the radiance of the God of Light wouldn’t illuminate this. However, I don’t have time to care whether this is going to give rise to gossip in the future that the Sun Knight was involved in a foursome. What’s most important now is to go all-out locating the murderer that killed Lesus!
After Aldrizzt paid the innkeeper one gold ducat and we switched to another room, Pink said, while sipping her fruit juice, “You should know how to use psychic magic by now, right?”
“…By screaming out loud?”
“What the heck are you screaming for?!” Pink huffed irritably, “Use your brain to think!”
“I can’t think of anything!” If I could grasp it by just thinking, why would I even need to find Pink and Aldrizzt to teach me?
Pink rolled her eyes and angrily exclaimed, “I’m trying to tell you to use your brain and think to attack! Just do it like when you’re using elemental spells or holy magic, where you don’t need to consider that much! Do you consider a lot when you’re using magic? Do you use incantations? Do you think about how much element you should use to get it right?”
“Not at all,” I replied honestly.
Aldrizzt gasped.
Pink nodded and said, “I knew that you were just relying on your body’s instincts to cast magic. You use magic as naturally as you breathe. I mean, you wouldn’t ever stop to think before breathing, would you?”
Don’t think too much? As I pondered over it, I just happened to see Pink lift a glass from the table for a drink… Stop! Don’t move an inch!
I stared at her. At that moment, Pink’s hand which was holding the cup halted in midair… Don’t tell me that it really worked?!
Suddenly, Pink’s expression turned savage. Her voice barely resembled anything a human could produce as she snarled, “Grisia Sun, if you dare cast a psychic attack on me again, go ahead and try!”
I blanked out for a short while but promptly stopped thinking about making her “stop.” Pink’s expression returned to normal, but she still unhappily slammed her cup onto the table, looking extremely pissed off.
Somewhat flustered, I said, “Why are you so worked up over it? I was only testing to see if I could do it.”
“Humph!” Pink said, “Then why didn’t you test it on the dark elf and your holy knight?”
I laughed dryly. How could I use one of my own holy knights as a guinea pig? Certainly, I couldn’t use Aldrizzt either. I’ve heard that he is the only one who has ever been able to maintain a partnership with my teacher for such a long time without being so angered that he’d run away. Where else would I be able to find another nanny… I mean, “partner,” for my teacher?
“Since I can use psychic magic already, I suppose applying my sensing ability on a large scale is in order. It’ll be useful for finding the murderer.” I looked at Pink and asked, “Pink, would it be okay if you stayed here for the time being? If the enemy counter-attacks with psychic magic, could you…”
At this point, I was in too awkward a position to continue speaking. Although I did often look to Pink for help on a whole bunch of things, those had always involved something in return. I didn’t have anything left to give her anymore.
Pink shot a glance at me and greedily exclaimed, “One hundred bowls of strawberry shaved ice made by Ice!”
“One hundred bowls? Aren’t you afraid that you’ll burst from eating?” I rolled my eyes at her, negotiating the terms of payment. “I’ll pay you in installments. I’ll give you twenty bowls a month and finish paying in five months.”
Pink tilted her head to think and readily agreed, “That sounds good too. I can eat shaved ice for five months like that.”
After obtaining Pink’s word, I took a deep breath and greatly extended my sensing ability from my vicinity outwards. Numerous scenes immediately popped up in my brain.
The room next to ours. The inn’s lounge on the floor below. Leaf Bud Tavern next to the inn. I can even see Earth who is currently drinking wine in Leaf Bud Tavern next door. Since it is still daytime, the tavern doesn’t have a lot of people… Wait a second! The person sitting at the corner feels pretty familiar, but he’s…
I stood up and dashed out of the room, ignoring Aldrizzt’s shouting behind me.
I rushed all the way to the tavern but realized that the man had already left from the back door. As I promptly gave chase, my thoughts were swirling. In my heart, all I could think of besides “how can this be” was still “how can this be?”
“Wait up!” I shouted at his back as I continued running after him. However, I wasn’t sure whether or not he had heard me, as he increased his speed instead and turned into a small alleyway.
I ran over, but somehow I still couldn’t catch up with him… He must be avoiding me!
Seeing that he was getting further and further away from me, I could not help but shout, “Stop right there!”
He still did not stop. I began gathering water element and molded it so that it was chain-like. Like a live snake, the Chains of Water latched onto the man’s body… But he was not one to be messed with. He never had been.
He made a quick turn and slipped out of the Chains of Water while swiftly executing several chops with his sword. He even cut the flow of water, the Chains of Water breaking into several links. They fell to the floor and reverted to ordinary puddles.
Although the Chains of Water had been cut apart, I had gained a small but sufficient amount of time to dash to his side. I looked at him as I gathered the Chains of Water once more, letting the chains spread densely around the space next to him. Even if doing so could very well spell my doom, I was afraid he might run away again.
“You dare tell me to halt?” But he was no longer trying to escape. As he stood in place, he lazily said, “You’re certainly growing more and more audacious!”
I was rendered speechless. Normally, even deferentially asking him not to move was an impossible task, let alone telling him to halt. Since always, he has been the one who tells others to halt. No one has ever dared to tell him to halt.
Who would dare tell Neo Sun, the strongest Sun Knight in history, to halt?
“Teacher…”
He was indeed my teacher, Neo Sun, the strongest Sun Knight in history. Even though he wore a cloak, he could not block my sensing ability. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize my own teacher.
Be it his appearance, that free and easy posture of his, or that huge amount of pride he held such that he was practically egotistical, everything about him announced that he was my teacher, except for one thing… Teacher was right-handed, but the man before me was currently using his left hand to hold his sword.
“Teacher, your right hand…” I felt almost like I was having difficulty breathing. I struggled hard before I could finally squeeze out a sound.
“Why aren’t you using your right hand?”
He didn’t answer me. I rushed forward and in one fell swoop, I tore off the cloak that he was wearing. Teacher’s right sleeve is empty… There isn’t an arm there in the first place!
Teacher remained calm and composed but somewhat sternly said, “Child, calm down. Although we are in an alley, it’s not as if nobody will pass by. Do you want to let others see the Sun Knight in such a sorry state?”
“Calm down? You’re telling me to calm down?” I could not bring myself to believe it and moaned, “Teacher, you’ve lost an arm! And it-it’s your dominant hand that you’ve lost!”
A swordsman losing his dominant hand… How is this a situation where I can calm down?
Teacher arrogantly proclaimed, “Even if I lost both of my hands, I would still be the strongest Sun Knight in history!”
“When did you lose your arm?” I was a bit at a loss. I frantically said, “Did you pick it up? Perhaps we can still reattach it…”
Teacher’s cheeks puffed in laughter. He said, “It’s been quite a few months already. There’s no way it can be reattached.”
Quite a few months?
“I see.” I calmly nodded my head, trying to maintain my composure as I spoke. “So, at the time when you and Aldrizzt left me in the forest, it was to look for someone to reattach your arm?”
Teacher casually replied, “My entire arm was blasted into pieces. How can it be reattached? I just didn’t want you to find out that I lost an arm…”
Suddenly, he stopped talking and stared directly at me.
It really was severed then! When I exhausted my holy light from purifying the dark element in the cave and fainted, Teacher’s arm was severed… No wonder they abandoned me in the middle of the forest and didn’t wait until I woke up before leaving.
“Who…”
“What?” Teacher stared blankly.
I was so outraged that I started shouting. “Who was the one who did this? Who had the guts to cut off your arm!”
Yet Teacher fell silent and did not respond.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” My suspicions rose further. Judgment has things he won’t tell me about. Silent Eagle also has things he won’t tell me about. Even Aldrizzt is lying to me! He plainly said that Teacher didn’t come to Leaf Bud City, but Teacher’s here right now, and to top it off, he was hiding from me.
Is there something going on that everyone’s hiding from me…? But why would they all need to hide it?
“Calm down! Your teacher lost an arm. It’s not as if it’s something I can show off to my student, is it?”
Teacher patted me on the shoulder, but I still did not really believe his words. Even if it’s not something worth showing off, there still isn’t any need for Teacher to hide it. After all, it’s not as if he can hide it from me his entire life, unless he chooses never to see me again.
“Who cut off your arm?” I pressed on, determined to find the answer.
Teacher looked a bit uncomfortable as he said, “It-It was… a little girl.”
I was surprised for a moment. I questioned, “It wasn’t Pink, was it?” Teacher was acquainted with Pink. If it was Pink, he wouldn’t say “a little girl.”
Indeed, Teacher shook his head. I hesitated for a moment but still asked, “Was it Scarlet?”
He looked at me for a long while before he finally admitted it in an unperturbed manner, “Yes, it was her.”
“I did not know that you also knew Scarlet.” I started feeling more and more uncertain. Perhaps Scarlet and all the things that she is involved in are even far more complicated than what I imagined.
Teacher shrugged as he said, “Ten years ago, I killed her… Or should I say, I killed the corpse she was using at the time.”
“Ten years ago?” I was utterly shocked. So Scarlet already came into the picture that long ago?
Teacher said rather impatiently, “This is just unfinished business between me and her. There is no need for you to exact vengeance on her for me. I cut down her body, she cut off my arm. Sometime in the future, I’ll get my revenge, so this has nothing to do with you.”
Unfinished business? So to put it another way, Scarlet took advantage of the time when Teacher had just finished assisting me in purifying the dark element, when his powers were weakened, to take her revenge? Maybe the time when I lost my memory was also part of her revenge. After all, I am Teacher’s student. The debt accrued by a teacher shall be paid by his students. It would not be strange if she had wanted to direct her revenge at me.
“No, it does have something to do with me now.” I spoke coldly, “Scarlet killed Judgment Knight!”
Teacher was shocked. He hurriedly asked, “She killed Judgment? That child, Lesus, is dead?”
Seeing how frantic Teacher had become, I hurriedly explained, “I revived him. He’s alive and well right now. But he has, without a doubt, been killed once before.”
“Were there any side effects?” He asked with his brows creased.
“Nope.” I shook my head.
Teacher paused for a moment and then asked, “Then what price have you paid for this once again? Aldrizzt told me that you went blind after resurrecting Leaf Knight.”
I momentarily dispelled the element surrounding my hair before covering it again with a new layer and said, “My hair turned white.”
I don’t know whether I was mistaken, but it sort of felt as if Teacher had relaxed a bit. He nodded as he said, “I guess that’s nothing much. And you can stop worrying over this issue. I’ll take revenge for that child, Lesus, together with my own.”
I fell silent for a moment and then spoke, “If that’s the case, you should return to the inn for the time being! Pink’s there too. Perhaps you guys can chat about old times. Come with Aldrizzt to the Holy Temple tonight, and we can have a couple of drinks together, alright? Teacher, it’s been some time since you have tasted the apple wine I brew.”
Once wine was in the picture, Teacher’s face practically lit up. In high spirits, he said, “Okay, then. We’ll come find you tonight to drink together.”
“See you tonight.” I nodded and saluted my leave to Teacher like old times. After which, I turned to leave. Once I was out of the alley, I yelled, “Cloud, Earth, we’re leaving!”
Cloud had been following me all along ever since I ran out of the inn. Earth followed too when I was cutting across the tavern. When they saw my teacher, they sensibly stood at the mouth of the alley to let the two of us have some time alone to talk.
Teacher suddenly shouted to stop me, “Child, where are you going off to now?”
Slightly reluctant, I turned back to reply, “To patrol. There is an excessive number of undead creatures within the city, so much so that even His Majesty, the king, has become alarmed. It will be a problem if this isn’t resolved quickly.”
Only when I heard Teacher respond “ah” did I actually start to leave.
After we had walked over ten steps away from the alley, Earth lazily said, “Patrol? Since when have you been this diligent? I never knew.”
“Of course I’m incredibly diligent. No matter what, I must find that murderer!” I instructed, “Protect me now. I’m going to use my sensing ability.”
Cloud promptly nodded his head, and Earth only nodded after he muttered beneath his breath, “I knew there was no way you’d be so diligent about patrolling.” Once again, I extended my sensing ability. Since I’d executed sensing on a large scale many times before, I had long perfected the skill. I can even walk while doing this with no problems at all!
“Found her.” I smiled faintly as I spat out the name of the person whom I’d only be content with after her death, “Scarlet!”
“Pole…”
What?
Bang!
“There was a pole in front of you.” Earth sighed, “Well, I couldn’t warn you in time. It’s your own fault you went and ran into it so quickly… People are coming!”
I immediately transformed from my squatting form agonizing over the bump on my head into a good-looking, perfectly postured holy knight, and even wore a smile like a breath of fresh air on my face. Earth changed to an honest and sincere expression, and also looked slightly silly. As for Cloud… Cloud disappeared.
After the group of people passed by us, I swiftly searched for Scarlet again with my sensing ability. Shortly after, I bellowed, “I can’t believe she’s escaping!”
“Changing to a ferocious expression right after smiling… Are you putting on a face changing show?” Earth said, plainly not in a good mood. He then stated matter-of-factly, “If she is running away, then just chase after her!”
“She has already noticed that I was looking in on her, plus she has a unicorn. The chase would fail.” I wrinkled my brows as I said, “Crap. I fear she wants to flee the city.”
“A unicorn? Is it that Whitey you mentioned before?” Earth scratched his head and said, “Looks like we can only head back to the Holy Temple to gather people to encircle the area.”
“Encircle the area?” I clapped my hands together. “Right! We can try encircling the area! She’s about to get away. Let’s start surrounding her right now!”
“Right now?” Earth snappily said, “What good would three people do?”
Three people would indeed have no chance of surrounding the area, but what about twelve? I am able to see all the people within the city and even use psychic magic to attack them… Since even attacking is possible, perhaps I can “pass on messages”?
I might as well try it out, rather than just thinking about it. I immediately released my sensing ability and located all of the Twelve Holy Knights. Not only did I use my mouth to speak, I followed what Pink said to “think about it” as well.
Twelve Holy Knights, hear my command!
At this point, all of them stopped. In spite of whatever they had been doing previously, they were all staring wide-eyed now. A few of them were searching left and right, and some were even completely shocked stiff.
Judgment was the calmest of all of them. He was in the confinement room, even shaking his head, as if he felt there was nothing he could do about my actions.
Do not be alarmed. I am Sun.
Everyone nodded their heads, though many of them looked at a loss.
Listen to me. Scarlet is about to escape from the city. I need all of you to immediately stop whatever work you were doing and suit up. Our final objective is to form a perimeter around the eastern city gate to make sure she cannot escape.
Ice and Moon, you two are nearest to the eastern gate. Head eastwards and lead your platoons to hold the eastern city gate. Do not let anyone resembling a little girl leave. As for everyone else, your positions are…
While I was giving instructions, I was simultaneously using my sensing ability. I had a clear view of Scarlet riding Whitey and beginning to head towards the eastern city gate to make her escape. At the same time, the Twelve Holy Knights had also started to move. One by one, they called upon the platoon members within the vicinity, and then mounted their horses and rode to complete the tasks I set for them. They moved in the direction of the eastern city gate while slowly spreading into a semicircular formation.
When I had finished giving orders to the distant holy knights, I turned my head and said, “Cloud, you’re fast. Go look for the royal knights who are on patrol today. Tell them that the Holy Temple is capturing the culprit of the recent disorder in the city and requests that they help us maintain order by forbidding citizens from approaching the eastern city gate.”
“Okay.” Cloud nodded his head obediently and then vanished into thin air.
“Earth, on your way to the eastern city gate, you might as well help spread the message to the citizens to stay clear of the eastern city gate.”
After I finished my order, Earth immediately asked, “And you?”
“Me?” I was slightly confused as I replied, “Of course I’ll immediately rush towards the eastern city gate to lead the troops…”
Earth interrupted my speech right away, using an extremely suspicious tone as he said, “You’re sure that you’re not going to run off and do something stupid by yourself?”
I was taken aback for a moment and denied it, “Of course not.”
Nonetheless, Earth still did not believe me right away. He looked doubtfully at me from head to toe and said, “The others told me to look after you and to make sure that you don’t run off on your own. No matter what you say, they said to keep following you, even if it kills me.”
“What!? I’m not that untrustworthy, am I…” At this point, Earth immediately nodded. Geez, give me some credit! I could only change my previous remark and said, “Even if I was like that in the past, at the very least, I’m telling you guys the truth now!”
I was a little put off, but it was not as if I could protest very much. Why did I have to hide so many things from them in the past? Now, if I try to defend myself, I’m afraid they’ll just use a whole bunch of past examples to refute me.
“Extremely untrustworthy,” Earth stated without any hesitation.
Indignantly, I said, “Fine, why don’t you just follow me, and we’ll leave the task of warning the citizens to the royal knights.”
“But since you’ve spilled everything, I guess I’ll just trust you this one time.” Earth darted a look at me and reminded me, “But you better not be lying to me! If you’re lying to me, there won’t ever be a second time.”
I was utterly shocked and slightly unable to react to the situation. Why did he start off saying I’m untrustworthy only to say he’ll trust me later? But since Earth was still waiting for my response, I simply responded with an “oh.”
Earth promptly ran towards the main street and started shouting, “Emer-Emergency! Undead creatures have appeared at the eastern city gate. May everyone p-please not go over to w-watch? It’s very dangerous!”
I looked at Earth, still feeling somewhat taken aback. To think that this guy, who appears honest on the outside yet is extremely sinister on the inside, would actually follow my orders obediently too?
Suddenly, Earth turned back to look at me. Even though I was only using my sensing ability, I could still see the blazing expression in his eyes spelling the words “Get lost.”
And so, I smiled while taking my strides, “getting lost” toward the eastern city gate.