Volume 3, Chapter Ninth Requirement of Rescuing a Princess: “Bring the Princess Back to the Castle”

Nausica?

That person fell silent for a while, but did not deny the name I had shouted or the words I had spoken. Then, softly, she said, “Sun, release that girl. I was the one who killed Leaf. You should come at me instead.”

I coldly replied, “The weapon that killed Leaf was the rapier of a dark knight.”

“I told him to do it,” she admitted frankly, and further explained, “If we hadn’t killed him, we wouldn’t have been able to escape your pursuit.”

Upon hearing that, I said, through gritted teeth, “I thought you understood me.”

Pink let out a peal of laughter that tinkled like silver bells, and responded, “It’s because I understand you so well that I killed Leaf. Even if you had known that Resurrection could’ve been used within eight hours of death, during which you could have probably healed the Son of the God of War and company, brought them with you to defeat us, and then resurrect Leaf, you definitely wouldn’t have done so. In your eyes, there is nothing more important than your fellow holy knights, not even a princess.”

“Then you should know,” I burst out furiously, “that anyone who kills my holy knights must die!”

Pink fell silent for a long time, and then said, in a sincere tone, “Don’t fight me, Sun. You should know what I am. I can’t die. It’s pointless even if you kill this body.”

Indeed, I knew that Pink was a lich.

I have mentioned witches before, and one could almost say that a lich is an advanced version of a witch, an evil creature that humans transform themselves into for various reasons. However, a witch can still die, while a lich is more or less immortal. Liches abandon their own flesh, place their “life” in a safe place, and then control various kinds of objects to use as a body.

Compared to a witch, a lich is incomparably stronger. In the first place, to be able to successfully complete the ceremony for transforming into a lich, one had to have been an extremely powerful mage or cleric even before one’s rebirth as a lich. On top of that, they achieved immortality upon dying. One could say that becoming his or her enemy is the most unwise course of action, because nobody would want to have to face off with a powerful lich who knows nothing of death.

Even if I killed Pink, the most I would accomplish would be the destruction of her current body, and she could simply search for a new one.

I took a deep breath, and said, “Then, on account of our former friendship, I will just kill the dark knight.”

Looking slightly embarrassed, Pink said, “Don’t kill him either, Sun. He is the ‘Silent Eagle,’ meaning he is the head among the Dark Knights of the Cathedral of the Shadow God. As the Sun Knight of the Church of the God of Light, you must have heard of this title before.”

I had indeed heard of it before. Although the Silent Eagle was not the spokesperson for the Cathedral of the Shadow God, he was the de facto administrator of affairs… Bastard! Shouldn’t administrators be really busy? Why did he have the free time to come accost a princess?

Pink continued, “If you kill him, your problems will only increase. Even though the Cathedral of the Shadow God may not necessarily be stronger than the Church of the God of Light, they are an extremely vengeful lot. When the time comes, they may not be able to kill you, but they will definitely find a chance to kill one of the Twelve Holy Knights in retribution. You wouldn’t want to see another one of the Twelve Holy Knights lose their life, right?”

I responded indifferently, “You keep going on about ‘them’ and ‘theirs.’ Are you saying that you’re not a member of the Cathedral of the Shadow God?”

Pink snorted and answered with disdain, “Who would count themselves among their own servants?”

Upon hearing that, I furrowed my brows, not really understanding the meaning behind Pink’s words. However, I had the feeling that I was very close to coming upon a great secret of the Cathedral of the Shadow God. Yet I had no desire to tread these dangerous waters; as Pink had already said, the Cathedral of the Shadow God was a vengeful lot, and knowing their secret was not necessarily a good thing.

After a few moments of consideration, I turned around and gave the dark knight a kick. He let out a moan as he regained consciousness. I asked him, “Your name?”

The dark knight raised his head and glanced first at Pink, who was floating in midair, before directing his gaze at me. After a while, he replied, “I don’t have a name. The moment I became the Silent Eagle, I no longer had a name. As the one who defeated me, perhaps you would be willing to give me a name?”

I was stunned. Defeated him? Threatening him with a hostage also counts?

This dark knight of the Cathedral of the Shadow God is so strange… I laughed grimly and then said, “Then you will be called Awaitsun! I won’t kill you now, but eventually I’ll have you pay the price for daring to stab a blade into the chest of one of the Twelve Holy Knights… Just you wait! The Cathedral of the Shadow God may be vindictive, but this Sun Knight is ten times more vengeful!”

“Awaitsun… Alright, from now on I will be called Awaitsun.” Awaitsun nodded and actually accepted the name I gave him.

I ignored this odd dark knight and spoke toward the sky, “Pink, will you return to Leaf Bud City?”

“I will have to return sooner or later,” Pink replied with unexpected honesty. “I have matters to take care of there, so I must go back.”

I nodded my head and then abruptly infused a large amount of holy light into the Divine Sun Sword and shot it straight into the sky, where it unerringly pierced through the petite figure floating in midair.

Pink gave a suppressed gasp, and, in a pained voice, she muttered, “Sun, you…”

I coolly said to her, “I’m tired of looking at a little girl. Go change into another body and then come back.”

Her body slowly began to dissolve into ashes, and with a bitter smile she said, “A body that is to be used for a long time has to undergo very long and extensive treatment…You really are vengeful.”

I nodded and said, “It’s fine as long as you know. Next time you will learn to be more obedient. In any case, do not touch my holy knights.”

Pink muttered, “If I had known that you would catch up with us, I would never have ruffled your feathers… After all the trouble I went through, what did I gain in the end? Where am I supposed to go to find a body now? Sigh… Awaitsun, you’ve really caused me a lot of grief this time around!”

“My deepest apologies,” Awaitsun responded, and despite the injuries that covered his body, he still proceeded to kneel and bow his head to the ground.

This surprised me greatly. It seemed like Pink’s standing in the Cathedral of the Shadow God was very high after all.

Pink waved away his apologies with surprising generosity, saying, “Oh well, never mind that, give the princess to Sun. You can return to the Cathedral of the Shadow God and honorably ask the queen of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid for the princess’ hand in marriage. After everything that’s happened, I doubt that the Son of the God of War will still want to marry your Alice.”

“But…” Awaitsun said with some concern.

Pink interrupted him, “Don’t worry, after knowing that you and I were the ones who killed Leaf, he will not kill the princess. Even though that guy looks nothing like a knight, deep, deep down he still has at least that wee bit of knighthood… Right? At least, I would think so.”

With that, Pink completely dissolved into ashes.

I rolled my eyes at the spot where she had disappeared. If you’re going to die, hurry up and get on with it! Who knew you had so much rubbish to spout…and you, a lich, the most evil of all creatures, even went out of your way to remind this Sun Knight about observing knighthood! Is there no longer any differentiation between good and evil in this world?!

At this point, Awaitsun stood in front of Alice’s body and actually kneeled before me, begging, “Sir, please don’t kill Alice. It was I who killed the Leaf Knight. Everything was my doing.”

“No!” Alice immediately rushed before Awaitsun, used her slim body to shield him, and pleaded, “Please don’t kill him. Kill me instead. Everything was my fault; I shouldn’t have run away from home. I beg of you, don’t kill Eagle!”

Awaitsun immediately wrapped his arms around the princess, determined to protect her, but she struggled desperately to free herself. In a tortured voice, he shouted, “Alice! Don’t be like this.”

“Eagle!” Alice cried tearfully, “I can’t go on if you die. Even if you protect me, it’ll be useless.”

“Alice…” said Awaitsun, his voice racked by sobs. Before the power of love, even an emotionless dark knight could shed tears.

Finding myself faced with these two, who had sobbed themselves into a sorry mess, I was a bit flabbergasted. Never in my life had I imagined I’d be hearing these lines, which sounded as though they’d been plucked straight out of some ultra-classic romance drama. And why did I feel like I was the big bad villain, bent on ripping apart tragic lovers with brute force?

Are you kidding me? I’m the knight who came to rescue the princess, remember?!

My lord, the three hours of transformation are up. Do you wish to provide more blood to maintain the transformation?

I answered Dragon’s Saint Brigandine rather weakly, “No. In one month, I’ve already transformed three times. If this goes on any longer, I really will have anemia. That said, even if I were to continue my transformation, this sniveling duo makes it rather impossible for anyone to muster a killing intent.”

After coming out of my transformation, the first thing I did was threaten other people.

“The two of you are forbidden to reveal my real identity. You are also prohibited from speaking about my assassin’s disguise, or else…”

Alice was probably already frightened to death of me. She tightly hugged her beloved and wildly shouted, “I’ll do anything as long as you don’t kill Eagle!”

Before hearing the dark knight’s answer, I took a moment to sense my surroundings and realized that the dark element emanating from his body was draining away very quickly. It appeared that his wounds were in a really serious condition. If I let him go like this, there is a very good chance he will die on his way back, heh…

I performed Ultimate Heal and healed most of the dark knight’s injuries.

Probably because they were shocked by my kindness, Awaitsun and Alice kept silent. Taking care to maintain an air of mystery about me, I said unconcernedly, “Scram. I will escort your princess back to her mother’s side without harming a single hair on her head.”

Awaitsun hesitated, reluctant to leave. Very cautiously, he asked, “If I had moved back then, would you really have cut off the princess’ hand?”

“I would have. Otherwise, you would have done the same to me,” I promptly responded.

Awaitsun fell silent and seemed like he had no intention of leaving.

I continued, “However, after using the princess to incapacitate you and then beating you to a pulp, I would have rejoined her hand with the rest of her arm.”

At this, Awaitsun gave a long sigh and said, “I believe you, sir.”

There’s nothing wrong with believing me, but what’s with the “sir?” Why are you showing me so much respect? A bit overwhelmed, I wondered, This guy isn’t putting me up on a pedestal to venerate as some kind of lifetime enemy or something, is he?

Awaitsun said to the princess, “Alice, wait for me, for I will definitely go to request your hand in marriage.”

In a tone suggesting that she had been deeply wronged, Alice replied, “But didn’t you say that the Silent Eagle could never marry? We eloped because the Cathedral would not allow you to propose marriage…”

Awaitsun gave a laugh and said, “Since ‘that person’ has already told me to propose to you, no one in the Cathedral will dare to say otherwise.”

That person? Is he referring to Pink? I furrowed my brow again. Who exactly is Pink, anyway?

Afterward, the two young lovers expressed their undying passion for one another, even bidding each other the whole eighteen miles worth of farewells, yet still they would not part. Their antics really made me want to go over and give each of them a nice slice of the sword and send them off to the highest lovers’ heaven of till-death-do-us-part.

I viciously growled, “Awaitsun, if you don’t hurry and go heal the rest of your injuries, you’ll lose so much blood that you won’t even last long enough to propose marriage.”

With that, Alice hurriedly urged her beloved to go, and only then did Awaitsun finally leave.

Alice continued to watch the back of her beloved, and only after what felt like centuries was she willing to turn around to tentatively ask, “Are we going to fly back now?”

“You think I can fly?” I demanded in an ill-humored tone. I sized Alice up and asked, “What level mage are you?”

“Advanced,” Alice answered timidly.

It seemed as though she had already taken me to be some sort of terrible ferocious beast. Her personality was also vastly different from Ann’s. Even if Ann was frightened by me, she would sooner confront me head on, ax in hand, than remain cowering in fear.

I smiled faintly. “Very good. Then, before Leaf and the rest arrive, you will teach me everything you know about wind magic.”

“Teach you?” Alice asked, shocked. “What do I know that I can teach you? Your magic is much more powerful than mine!”

I couldn’t very well say that, in fact, other than the dark magic Aldrizzt had taught me, I didn’t know a single incantation, could I? Besides, I couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t sneak up on me while I wasn’t paying attention and use her magic to blast me to heaven.

I mulled things over, and, taking note of the fact that she was scared witless of me, deliberately adopted a most unpleasant demeanor and bellowed, “What are you asking so many questions for? I’m telling you to teach, so that’s exactly what you’ll do!”

Trembling, Alice squeaked a small “Yes.” She sounded for all the world like a pathetic stepdaughter being abused by her stepmother.

But I don’t want to be an evil stepmother, I thought with dismay. How did a knight rescuing a princess turn into a stepmother abusing her stepdaughter?

I’m a holy knight, not a stepmother!

Alice sobbed as she pleaded, “P-please don’t get angry, I will properly teach you, I won’t ask about anything, I won’t ask any questions ever again, sob sob…Eagle! I’m so scared…”

I am a holy knight. I came to rescue the princess, not to abuse the princess!

“Eagle…sob! Come save me…”

“Don’t cry!” I growled menacingly.

“Sob!” Alice finally shut up, and promptly fainted dead away.

In the days that followed, the princess and I were confronted with some serious problems…

Even though Awaitsun had left a tent, neither the Sun Knight nor the princess could pitch a tent.

Even though Awaitsun had left wood, neither the Sun Knight nor the princess could set up a barbecue rack.

Even though Awaitsun had left game, neither the Sun Knight nor the princess knew how to cook anything except to burn everything to a crisp. Thus I found myself beseeching the heavens, my heart sighing with infinite regret. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have taken Awaitsun along with us. What was I supposed to do with this princess, this utterly useless thing who had nothing to offer but a pretty face?

“Awaitsun is so much better than you. He knows how to pitch a tent, start a fire, and grill delicious meat for me to eat!”

Alice was so hungry that she even forgot to be afraid of me as she cried and wailed, “You’re just a useless knight with a pretty face… No, Awaitsun is a hundred times better looking than you! Wahhhh~ You’re good for nothing, and you’re not even good looking! I want to go back to Awaitsun’s side… Awaitsun!”

“It’s he who’s too ridiculously handsome. It’s not that I’m not good looking!”

I was just as hungry as she was, and this did nothing to help my mood. I joined in with her shouting and yelled, “Like you’re one to talk! Why is your Spell of Flight so lame? Aldrizzt can fly all day and night, yet you have to rest a whole day after flying for only three hours! Not to mention, you fly so slowly; it’s no wonder we’re still not back yet!”

In a voice that was an octave above mine, Alice screamed, “I don’t even know who this Aldrizzt is! In the first place, advanced mages can only fly for three hours, and this is just how the speed was to begin with anyway! Waaaah! Awaitsun! I’m being bullied by a bad guy, so why haven’t you come to save me yet?!”

This pisses me off!

I snarled at her, “Shut up! I’m warning you, I forbid you from telling anyone I can use magic when we get back.”

And then I violated my status as a knight and began to employ large amounts of magical power.

It’s raining, and we can’t pitch a tent? Fine. I’ll use magic to blast a cave directly into the mountainside to sleep in.

We’re hungry, and we can’t set up a barbecue rack? No problem. I’ll gather the wind element, and levitate the meat to roast directly above the fire.

The meat will burn? No worries. I’ll set the meat a bit further away and have it bake slowly. Sooner or later it will be cooked thoroughly, and without being burnt!

Alice sat inside the cave nibbling on the roast meat while vaguely saying, “I’m sorry, I was wrong. You are somewhat useful, although still not good-looking.”

As I savagely wolfed down the meat, I gritted my teeth and said, “It’s your aesthetic sense that’s messed up! You’ve been staring at Awaitsun for too long, so your perception of beauty is all worn out. You’d better be careful; if you keep staring at him like that, soon you won’t even be able to look at your own reflection.”

Alice was so shocked that she dropped her meat onto the floor, and she screamed in panic, “Nonsense! I’m the kingdom’s most beautiful lady, even if I haven’t put on any make up in the last few days… I’m still very beautiful, right? Right?” As the last few words left her mouth, she was so overcome with worry that she sounded as though she was on the verge of tears.

I fell silent for a bit, and hearing her begin to choke up, I comforted her by saying, “Yes, yes, you’re still very beautiful!”

Upon hearing my words, she allowed a small smile through her tears and in a sudden reversal of roles even began to reassure me, saying, “Alright, you’re also very handsome. At least the color of your eyes is very beautiful, not losing to Awaitsun’s, and you have such nice skin…”

At this, she actually touched my face and cried out in surprise, “So soft and smooth! How do you maintain it… No wait, you’re a guy, don’t tell me it’s natural? How nice!”

At lightning speed, I recited, “Fermented milk dripped into ten drops of lemon juice, squeezed into an extract made from a total of thirty roses plus the juice of ten lavender flowers, and, lastly, mixed in a bit of flour – apply it to the entire body, steam for an hour, and do it at least once a week.”

“…Tell me again when we get back. Right now I don’t have anything to write it down with.”

I proposed, “If you properly play the part of a rescued princess and do not reveal my true colors to anyone, when the time comes I can tell you all of the secret recipes of skin care and whitening that I have. I guarantee that when Awaitsun comes to propose, your skin will be as white and smooth as a baby’s.”

Alice very excitedly answered, “Deal!”

The rain continued to pour down intermittently in the following few days. Because I wasn’t sure that I could find another stretch of mountainside within the forest to blast a cave out of, I figured we might as well stay in this one and wait for rescue to arrive. Sure enough, before the weather had even cleared, I sensed that Leaf and the others were already nearby.

Among the company, three had extraordinarily high holy element levels. One was Leaf, the other two… One of them had a high water element level, so it was probably Ice. The other had a high metal element level, but also had earth element, so it probably wasn’t Metal. This elemental composition belonged to… the Stone Knight!

One of the Twelve Holy Knights, he belonged to the cruel, cold-hearted faction and was famous for his stubbornness, which was as tough and unyielding as a rock. It was said that to crack his skull was a simple matter, but to break his stubbornness would be more difficult than overthrowing the Church of the God of Light.

…At least, as far as the whole continent knew, anyways. However, this generation’s Stone Knight was slightly different… He was actually quite an amiable person and very easy to get along with.

I’d heard that the previous Stone Knight had taught him for three years, but had been unable to make the young Stone Knight more stubborn. Discouraged, the former planned to give up on him, and have the back-up knight take his place. (Not all of the Twelve Holy Knights were foolish to the point that they forgot to choose a back-up knight.)

But, other than the fact that he refused to become more stubborn, this young Stone Knight hadn’t done anything wrong. It was difficult to find a reason convincing enough to have him replaced, and so the whole controversy dragged on for a good six months, until the day of adjudication that would decide whether he stayed or left…

My teacher, then the Sun Knight, walked into the adjudication meeting and lightly sighed, “Even if he’s forced to leave the Holy Temple, he still refuses to become a stubborn person? To think that there’s such a person who would so stubbornly refuse to become stubborn… Sigh! What a stubborn child indeed!”

From what I heard from my teacher, after he said those words, the hundreds of people present at the adjudication were all overcome by the same expression, which was said to be one of the rarest spectacles under the heavens.

I asked my teacher what, exactly, that expression was. He thought for a while, and then wrote the character “囧,” and told me to imagine hundreds of people before me, all wearing such an expression. After picturing the scene in my mind, I was of the same opinion that this was indeed one of the rarest spectacles under the heavens.

After this the young Stone Knight stayed, and never again did anyone propose to replace him.

After thinking about it for a while, I understood why Judgment had sent Stone.

Among the cruel, cold-hearted faction, the Stone Knight was the only one adept at handling diplomacy. Even though the Storm Knight of the good, warm-hearted faction was better, if he were to leave the Holy Temple, there would be a very good chance that the place would have to cease half of its activities altogether. Thus, Stone had been dispatched instead, so he could help Leaf resolve the diplomatic problems between the palace and the Monastery of the God of War.

If Leaf were allowed to handle diplomacy, he wouldn’t be able to do anything besides agreeing to any and all demands.

As for the reason why Ice was here, that was even easier to understand. Ice was very strong, and if we really came to blows with the Kingdom of Moon Orchid and the Monastery of the God of War and had to flee, having Ice with us would significantly raise our chances of getting out alive…

“Sun!”

Leaf rushed into the cave, grabbed my shoulders, and began to shake me violently. “Sun! Sun! Are you all right? You’re okay? That’s wonderful! Oh, oh! Princess Alice is also unharmed… Thank goodness!”

He sounded as though he was dangerously close to choking up.

This made me suddenly feel rather guilty. It appeared as though he had been worrying about a lot of things ever since we’d set out on our journey… He truly was the mother of the good, warm-hearted faction…

“Don’t cry, I’m perfectly fine,” I assured him. “Look, the princess has been rescued too.”

Leaf tearfully said, “But, your eyes…”

I rolled my eyes and brusquely said, “My eyes are fine. You worry too much, Mama Leaf.”

“Knight-Captain Sun, I trust you have been well since our last meeting.”

I turned my head toward the cave entrance in the direction of the voice that belonged to the Stone Knight. Behind him followed the Ice Knight, who, in contrast, remained completely silent, as usual.

I donned a Sun-style smile, and gracefully answered, “May the radiance of the God of Light always shine upon you, Brother Stone.”

Stone stared at me fixedly, and then he asked, “Sun, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“…With the God of Light as my witness, the answer is zero, like the contents of your brain!” I responded peevishly. It seemed as though Leaf had already related to them the whole tearful tale, which had definitely been about me being “blinded,” or something to that effect.

“Indeed, that is correct,” Stone replied with a guffaw. He said to Leaf, “Leaf, you worry too much. Sun is just fine.”

After a very long while, Leaf finally responded with “mm,” but I didn’t know whether or not he really believed that my eyes were fine.

Not long after, Mike, Ann, and Austin also arrived, and behind them an entire line of warriors followed. The moment they entered, Ann cried out, “Alice!” and then ran to her sister’s side and anxiously shouted, “Did this despicable, shameless lowlife do anything to you? Did he hit you? Did he try to eat your tofu?”

“Ann, what nonsense are you spouting?” Alice said reproachfully. “It’s thanks to the Sun Knight, who saved me from the evil miscreants and has been painstakingly taking care of me ever since, that I was able to escape from a dangerous situation. He is a noble knight; you shouldn’t insult him.”

Silence fell over the scene. With extreme difficulty, Ann repeated, “Sun is a—a noble knight?”

The whitewashing effects of the recipes for skin care and whitening were quite astonishing to behold; they instantly elevated me from a despicable, shameless lowlife to a knight of noble spirit.

“Yes.” Alice stood up, and in a slightly imperious tone, called, “Servants!”

At her summons, the ten or so people standing at the cave entrance immediately filed in. It appeared as though some of the attendants from the palace had also come. They marched to the princess’ side and proceeded to present her with towels, drape a clean cloak over her shoulders, and even arrange her hair.

Throughout Alice’s entire makeover session, Mike did not utter a single word. Yet I could understand very well why he had not. When I’d eavesdropped on Ann and Leaf’s conversation, I had learned that Alice had once attacked them. If I were Mike, I probably wouldn’t have a pleasant expression on my face either.

In an extremely courteous manner, the Stone Knight asked me, “Knight-Captain Sun, we’ve only just arrived and are therefore unclear about the current situation. Could you perhaps share any thoughts you have concerning the way things presently stand?”

Without hesitation I replied, “We can discuss that after we return.”

Stone remarked, “Knight-Captain Sun always hits the nail right on the head with his words. I trust no one holds any objections?”

This doesn’t have anything to do with ‘hitting the nail on the head.’ I only want to take a bath… How it stinks! By that point, I smelled so disgusting that I had begun to hate the God of Light for not taking away my nose as payment at the time!

Returning to the palace proved to be a much easier task, because among those who came were the mages of the royal household. They had brought with them a magic circle that could provide instant teleportation, and this magic circle had already been set to connect to another magic circle within the palace. By infusing enough of the wind element, we could instantly teleport back to the palace.

After returning to the palace, it was essential to make myself presentable before going to meet the queen, so taking a bath was not an issue. However, after taking a bath and eating some food, I felt refreshed and content, and the soft bed seemed to earnestly beckon me…

Even though I knew I still had to report to the queen on everything that had happened, I was unable to resist the temptation… I crawled into bed, feeling as though I hadn’t fully slept in a month, and immediately began to drift out of consciousness…

“Sun…”

In the midst of my daze I thought I heard someone calling me, and I immediately grumbled, “Oh, what do you want? I’m so tired, keep it down…”

After a while, that person said, “Never mind, go ahead and sleep.”

A few days later, I received the queen’s commendation.

The reason for the commendation was for having performed the deed of rescuing the princess, and the reward was a completely useless knight medal of honor. At the same time, Princess Alice was withholding the medal, and she wanted me to bring the recipes for skin care and whitening in exchange… Does she take me for an idiot? What use is that medal to me?

I refuse to go exchange. I’ll wait for her to come begging me to swap, hmph!

However, that afternoon I was informed that the medal had been carved from precious stones and was worth a fortune… Therefore, I had no choice but to go ask the princess to complete the exchange.

The Son of the God of War cancelled his engagement with Princess Alice.

Although the queen actively tried to prevent the engagement from being cancelled by switching the bride and having Ann marry Mike instead, the two had looked at each other with the same disgusted expression and simultaneously declared, “If I have to marry him/her, then it will be my turn to find someone to elope with.”

The queen had looked very troubled, but right at that time the little princess of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, who was barely ten years old, bounced up before her mother, the queen, and, using an incomparably cute voice, announced that “after she grew up she wanted to be Brother God of War’s bride.” Thus the problem was easily solved.

Mike and the little princess went ahead and got engaged, and the marriage was set for when the little princess turned sixteen years of age.

Among the masses there inevitably spawned rumors along the lines of “the Son of the God of War is actually a pedophile.” However, being able to switch for a bride that was ten years younger than oneself was completely worth the accusations of pedophilia. At least Mike himself was deeply engrossed in planning the education of his future wife.

It appeared that Resurrection had indeed left behind certain after-effects.

After Leaf noticed, at a glance, that a fly flying more than ten meters away had tiny holes in its wings, he discovered that things had become quite serious.

After undergoing repeated experiments (namely, I forced him to count the number of flies crawling on a pile of dog poop more than thirty meters away), it was ultimately confirmed that he possessed super-human eyesight.

As an archer, having super-human eyesight was the same as possessing super powers… Simply put, his extraordinary skill with the bow and arrow had become even more unbelievable.

On a related note, when I pointed out the pile of dog poop that was thirty meters away and had him count the number of flies, he was finally led to believe that I was not blind.

At long last, we had finally returned to the Church of the God of Light.