Chapter 345

As soon as the day broke, I sought out Ranunculus first. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The recipient was naturally Duke Widro.

I couldn’t tell her the story of meeting a god. I just included words that we saw the Oasis and the Goddess’s head stone statue, and that we now intended to move toward the holy site of the Sun.

Also, I asked her to investigate the movements of black mages and the disappearance of top-tier knights among the mercenaries or knights, and reply. I earnestly requested her to also keep in mind and look into the case where they might not be the same organization but two separately occurring incidents.

I also added words that since we would be waiting at the holy site of the Sun at the end of the year, a month from now, she should send the reply to the holy site.

Since the Third God was so relaxed, the world won’t be torn apart right within a year or two. Then we could hope the Imperial Knights’ lives would still be attached until then. Even if we couldn’t rescue them, I thought we could at least stop more suspicious incidents from happening.

It was the Cieron Empire that Ruben would lead, it was right to quickly clean up nasty matters.

We prepared to leave for the holy site of the Sun.

The holy site of the Sun was quite a distance away. If we started from Felix, it was a journey that took exactly a month. Starting from the Goddess’s head stone statue where we were, it would normally take a little over a month and a half, but since everyone was a martial artist, we could increase our speed and arrive a little faster.

Did they say the temperature gets higher the further west we go, the closer we get to the holy site of the Sun. It’s rather a relief, perhaps because we were still a distance away from the holy site of the Sun, the weather had become noticeably colder.

Because the wind was quite cold, every time it blew, Ruben’s white cheeks flushed red. He acted like someone who didn’t know it was cold, and every time I told him to retie his scarf, he nodded saying, ‘Oops’. Thinking it was because he had many thoughts, I felt extremely sorry for him.

Hugh, Elwin, and Leon stood at the front.

Behind them, with Ruben and Marianne in the middle, Benjamin and I stood at both ends.

And behind them, the four mercenaries followed in a group, guarding the rear.

To my eyes, it was a wide desert where this or that sand mountain looked exactly the same, but since the ones leading said they saw a path, I followed docilely. The shadows of the camels walking in a diamond formation stretched long to one side.

Suddenly, Marianne asked.

“By the way, Felix’s divine relic. Has His Majesty the Emperor ever borrowed it? The current Emperor?”

“…Ah, about that.”

Ruben hesitated for a moment, then told Marianne the story he had told me before.

Originally, neither the form nor the function of a divine relic is passed down.

However, the fact that Felix’s divine relic could distinguish between those who are the king’s blood relatives and those who are not was well known. Because empires and kingdoms always wondered if the divine bloodline was being properly carried on, Felix would attach various trade conditions and lend out the divine relic.

However, the story that the current Emperor Veneto Loki Cieron borrowed that divine relic was not widely known.

Because doubting the legitimacy of the 1st Prince was an unvirtuous thing. That record was written in more detail in a special noble almanac passed down only to the Emperor. Naturally, Ruben, who had received and read a copy of it, knew more than others.

“Because it’s a top secret, its form couldn’t be widely known, but Felix’s divine relic is…said to be in the shape of a round silver tray. The diameter is about 45cm, and the depth is said to be barely 2cm.”

“Wow… Do you know how to use it too?”

“They say after filling the silver tray with water just enough so it doesn’t overflow and offering a devout prayer, the Pope directly held the 1st Prince and had him reflect his face in the silver tray. If a subtle golden auspicious light glows from the silver tray, it means the divine blood is correct, and if nothing happens, it means it’s not divine blood.”

Hearing the answer, Marianne made a sound like a donkey and nodded her head.

“I can see why they hide its shape so tightly. It’s smaller and more ordinary than I thought, so if someone took it and ran away, they wouldn’t be able to find it.”

“Yes, because it’s lighter than a feather, there was also talk that it seems it would float in mid-air if it’s not filled with water.”

“What would the other divine relics look like?”

“Well..”

It was quiet for a long time again.

I nagged Marianne to wear her scarf properly and earned laughs. Because she boasted about the rings she put on her fingers again, I scolded her saying rings cannot block the sand dust carried by the biting wind. Marianne also finally felt at ease after wrapping her scarf tightly right under her eyes like Ruber.

Then Ruben, smiling sweetly with his eyes, asked.

“Aren’t you going to scold me?”

“…Ruben, you are doing well.”

“Uung, it’s stuffy.”

Ruben hooked his index finger on his scarf and pulled it down, playing a needless prank. Instead of reproaching him, I reached out my hand and rearranged it well like at first. Then Ruben rubbed his cheek against my hand and acted coy. Lately, the child hadn’t been acting spoiled as much, so I had been concerned. I was exceedingly glad.

“Urgh!”

“What… Not being careful.”

“Ah, ow… Sorry, I am sorry. Don’t look back. Let’s keep going, I’ll go.”

By chance, John, who was following behind, fell off his camel, but he wasn’t the type to get seriously hurt just from falling off a camel. His body is large, so it must be hard to keep his balance. I just passed it off lightly.

Also, during the night, I took time to organize the enlightenment I gained when defeating the Sandworm previously.

That day, I cleaved over fifty jang at once.

It was the first time combining both my lives that I performed such a feat with a sword.

The me in my past life mainly fought in places where allies and enemies were mixed. I was always careful, worrying I might needlessly harm allies if I swung my sword with all my might. It wasn’t much different even when I fought alone. If you just cross one wall, there were numerous civilian houses, so it was right to show mercy in one’s strikes.

However, at that time when defeating the Sandworm, there weren’t many, but exactly one desperate enemy right before my eyes. The guys I cherish were standing at a sudden distance, far enough not to get hurt. I hadn’t known the sword I swung without hesitation or lingering would harbor such decent energy.

Will there be such an opportunity again?

While sitting in the corner of the tent doing Qi Cultivation, I got bored of drawing the sword in my mind and came outside.

Practicing the Heavenly Blue Boundless Sword Art in order, I unfolded it with my body once again, and I also tried modifying the things I learned at the Cieron Academy, like the Imperial Sword Art, Franz Sword Art, and Siren Sword Art, to fit my body.

Because my night sleep decreased due to doing this and that practice, the other guys were also curious and peeked around.

The first to join the training was Ruben.

For some reason, instead of sticking by my side, the child stood at a distant spot. With white moonlight on the completely black desert, it looked as if snow flowers had bloomed. Both the sound of the sword cutting through the wind and the sight of it sparkling and splashing moonlight were truly pretty, so I watched for a long time. His hair, tied high into one, swayed following his steps.

Only around the time the guy stopped, panting out of breath, did I subtly ask.

“Why do you not come near and stay that far away?”

“…Because I didn’t come out.. to interrupt, phew, you…”

“What interrupt.”

Panting breathlessly, the guy smiled brightly, wiped his sweat with the back of his hand, and pointed his sword at me. Glad he was playfully asking me to face him, I also immediately drew my sword.

I thought his strength would be drained because it was an exhausted sword, but that wasn’t the case.

Whether it’s because he has seen a lot, or because he has had many occasions to face monsters directly. I am entirely satisfied with his sword stance, which has become sharper than before. While I looked into the child’s eyes, Ruben chased my sword with his gaze. I felt heart-warming, like watching a puppy chasing a butterfly.

Hearing the sound of swords clashing, the children came out one by one like bees attracted to a flower.

When Elwin offered to face me, I gladly accepted. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Since Elwin had often looked at my sword since the Widro Duchy, it wasn’t awkward. Just last year, his strikes were so domineering and strong that my hands tingled every time our sword energies clashed. Today, it was obvious that the gap had narrowed significantly.

The mercenaries, who had been watching for a long time, asked me to take a look at their swords too, so I gladly accepted.

If I had to strictly rank the skills of the guys out here, Elwin would be the strongest. After him, Hugh, me, and Leon had comparable skills. The remaining four mercenaries were also skilled enough to follow right behind, neck and neck.

However, a sword not systematically trained easily reveals weaknesses. Even just pointing out a few things visible to my eyes made the mercenaries greatly rejoice. Since the meteor hammer wasn’t a weapon I mainly used, I didn’t know it well and couldn’t help, but Giselle and Anne, who used longswords, were so happy they even clapped.

We hung out and played together like that for a long time until Hugh Benson came out of his tent and scolded us, saying, ‘Let’s get some sleep for no reason’.

We usually saw monsters once or twice a day.

We were just passing by the path after killing the monsters we encountered.

Every time that happened, I somehow felt an uncomfortable feeling unlike before. Anne, who was wiping her sword this way and that with an oiled cloth after sticking it into the hot sand and pulling it out to primarily remove the blood, chattered with a pitiful face.

“Would that monster have also been a human once upon a time?”

“…Mm.”

I couldn’t answer immediately, but Ruben next to me immediately returned a gentle answer.

“Even if it was never a human, fundamentally, taking a life is something one must be careful about.”

“…”

“But since we are killing to live, it’s not much different from a kite catching and eating a mouse, and a mouse catching and eating a grasshopper. Just sending them off without pain is the best we can do.”

“…Without pain.”

“Preferably without getting hurt either.”

“You really…speak like a Captain.”

“Is that so?”

Was it thanks to that?

Originally, when going on a subjugation, it was standard practice to kill and eliminate every single monster, but it wasn’t like that here in the desert.

We just left the guys far away alive and passed by. It was because they weren’t going to cause harm to the Imperial citizens, nor were we going to obtain their byproducts to sell.

Occasionally, we took a slight detour to avoid monsters. Every time we did, Ruben looked at me and smiled refreshingly. Every time he did, my face flushed hot for an unknown reason.