Volume 5, Chapter The Second Misdeed of an Undying Lich: “Sending out Annoying Subordinates to Disrupt Peace”

ErodingPersona

With Cloud and Storm in tow, I quickly walked toward the Pope’s study and then elegantly and rhythmically knocked on the door. The door was opened immediately. Unexpectedly, the person who opened it was Judgment!

I politely smiled at him and greeted, “May the light always shine brightly,” then stepped into the room.

Within the study, besides the Pope and Judgment Knight, even Earth Knight was present. This made me heave a sigh of relief. Although questioning him would be far easier if I was alone, Silent Eagle had arrived under unknown circumstances, and it would be safer if a large number of people were present. Especially since we had Earth’s Shield, our complete safety was guaranteed.

Other than everyone mentioned above, there was also someone who obviously did not belong to the Church of the God of Light. He turned around, and just by the sheer amount of dark element he had, I could recognize him as Awaitsun, the Silent Eagle of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, even from far away.

The clothes that Awaitsun was wearing were most likely the official uniform of the Silent Eagle. He was wearing a full set of armor, but it was light armor that was made of leather, except for some metal plates that protected his heart and other vitals. He was also wearing a cape that almost brushed the floor. An image of an eagle was outlined with thin metal on both the armor over his chest and the upper part of his cape.

I took special note of his sword, but couldn’t feel anything unique about it. Not only was that sword not filled with any dark element, compared to Roland’s sword, it was downright pathetic.

“This guy is so handsome that it’s unreasonable!” Earth mumbled indignantly.

Storm also muttered in shock, “No wonder the Cathedral of the Shadow God has been gaining so much reputation lately! One glance at him and any woman who isn’t blind would definitely join the Cathedral of the Shadow God!”

Before, when I had last seen Awaitsun, I had already known that he was so handsome that it was almost a crime. However, at that time he was running away; his clothes were simple, messy, and dirty. Now, at such a formal occasion, in addition to wearing extravagant clothes, he was clean and neatly dressed. He must definitely be so handsome that he could make a woman faint… Luckily, I’m blind. If not, later I might not be able to refrain from ordering Roland to assassinate him in the dead of night.

Although killing him off would make every guy on earth shout in delight, if I did that, then I would be unable to find out anything about Pink and Scarlet from him.

I walked past Earth and Storm and softly said, “He’s already married.”

Oh! Both of them let out a relieved expression.

“Long time no see.” Awaitsun smiled and extremely politely said to me, “After returning to Kissinger, I was busy with the wedding and some matters within the Cathedral, so I was delayed in coming over to greet you, sir. I am deeply apologetic for my actions, and I hope that you will forgive me.”

I listened to Awaitsun’s respectful tone and worshipful demeanor and sensed that everyone else was looking at me doubtfully…

I was a little suspicious that Awaitsun was actually pretending to worship me in order to make people suspect that I had some sort of connection with the Cathedral of the Shadow God. However, based on his former highly stupid act of kidnapping a princess, plus his currently steady heartbeat, I believe that he had not thought of doing such a thing. I guess he really just worships me!

How on earth do I know so many simple-minded guys?

Roland’s single “goodbye” had almost gotten me killed due to the misunderstanding it caused; now with Awaitsun’s devotion… Awaitsun, you do know that we are the heads of two opposing religions, right? Your adoration of me is an act of treason! If you want to be a traitor, feel free to go ahead and be one, but don’t drag me down with you!

In order to dissipate everyone’s doubts, I hurriedly started talking and habitually started by saying “The benevolent God of Light”… But halfway through saying “The benevolent God of Light,” I suddenly remembered that this person had already seen me in a completely un-benevolent state before, so I had no need to put on a facade before him.

If I kept on using “The God of Light” in my speech, the moment I finished, I would definitely see Awaitsun’s confused expression and then have to wait for Storm to translate for him. That is such a bother.

I spoke frankly, “Did you come to look for me about the unicorn?”

Awaitsun started and then let out a bewildered expression, obviously not comprehending what I had said. “Unicorn?”

It has nothing to do with the unicorn? But Whitey was taken away by Scarlet; if so, does this mean that Scarlet has nothing to do with the Cathedral of the Shadow God?

Not necessarily. I thought for a while. Neither Judgment nor the Pope could claim to completely know all the things that I have done before; even I couldn’t claim to know all the things that Judgment and the Pope have done. Therefore, although Scarlet might be a follower of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, Awaitsun might also not know what she had done.

“It’s nothing. Just pretend that I never said anything!”

Awaitsun stared at me. Just when I thought that he might start questioning me, he nodded his head in agreement and didn’t bother asking anything else about it.

“That’s right, Alice also asked me to pass a letter to you, sir.” He pulled out a letter from his shirt pocket and said, “She said that I must definitely pass it on to you to let you know how grateful she is.”

When he handed it over to me, I really didn’t dare to take it… Unlike her husband, Princess Alice definitely does not worship me.

After receiving the letter, I immediately passed it to Cloud and said to Awaitsun, “You rushed here all the way from Kissinger. You should be exhausted, right? Why don’t I ask someone to prepare board and lodgings for you so that you can take a rest? After two days, Sun will go look for you and discuss with you the benevolence of the God of Light.”

Awaitsun nodded his head and politely said, “I will await your presence.”

Finished, he turned around and nodded slightly to Judgment and the Pope as a farewell, then left immediately without even looking back.

“Why is he so obedient to you? Just now his attitude towards the Pope and Knight-Captain Judgment was completely brusque, as if saying an extra sentence in their presence would kill him!”

The minute the door closed, Earth immediately dropped his trustworthy face. With his face contorted strangely, he looked doubtfully at me and said, “Could it be that he has fallen in love with you?”

I expressionlessly said, “If that’s the truth, I will immediately inform his wife and tell her to murder her husband! Cloud, read out the letter that you’re holding.”

Cloud opened the letter and read the threatening words aloud monotonously, “If you bully Awaitsun, I will get even with you, even if my body will turn black all over!”

I knew that the letter had absolutely nothing to do with expressing gratitude, but Cloud looked alright after reading it. Luckily, Alice was still a princess and not so despicable as to place a curse on the letter.

Draped in thin gauze, the Pope purposely lowered his voice and asked, “Sun Knight, are you on close terms with Silent Eagle?”

Hearing this, Judgment glanced at me, unconcerned. However, both Earth and Storm didn’t react so calmly. They stared at me disapprovingly.

“Sun is willing to swear to the God of Light.” I said helplessly, “I have only defeated Awaitsun, and then gave him a name.”

“Awaitsun?” asked Judgment while looking at me… Or is he interrogating me?

I truthfully explained, “He killed Leaf. I told him that I wanted him to wait for me, as someday I would make him pay.”

Although, based on the current situation, it really did seem a bit difficult to do anything to him. I couldn’t do something bad to someone who kept addressing me with so much respect… Is this why he was being so respectful towards me? Just so that he could stop me from exacting revenge on him?

“As the head of the dark knights of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, he couldn’t have come just to chat with you, could he?” Judgment said emotionlessly.

“That’s what I was thinking.” I nodded my head in agreement and added, “Don’t worry, I’ll ask him about the real reason he came.”

Judgment nodded and then said, “Be careful though. Judging by the way he walks, he’s a master swordsman. I think that besides Cloud, Earth should also follow you!”

Although I loved the Shield of Earth, I hated Earth Knight. If I have to have him by my side 24/7, then I might as well just let Awaitsun kill me with one swing of his sword!

Even though both Earth and I looked completely reluctant, Judgment still said, “That’s it then. I’m off to judge criminals.”

Judgment politely bid farewell to the Pope and walked out of the study. When I could no longer see him, I immediately said, “Goodbye, Earth. Go off and do whatever it is you have to do then!”

“Judgment wanted me to stick to you.” Earth said coldly. “If it was an order by you then I’d forget it, but Judgment’s orders can’t be ignored!”

Hey! What was that? As the Earth Knight of the “good, warm-hearted” faction, you should be listening to me, your immediate superior, and not Judgment! Why on earth are you so obedient to him?

I was somewhat frustrated and couldn’t help telling the truth, “I want to go look for Silent Eagle. If you are both present, it’ll be hard for me to question him. I need you two to leave me alone for a while; I only want to chat with him a little.”

Cough!

Cloud still stood silently behind me. Although he didn’t say a single word, he didn’t move either. Earth was even franker. “Then go tell that to Judgment! I’ll leave if he agrees.”

“… Forget it then.”

It seems as though I can’t go looking for Awaitsun. I thought for a while. If so, I might as well go out and look for Pink. There has been no news of her recently, and I definitely do not want to meet her alone. I might as well bring Earth and Cloud along then.

Cough, cough!

“Then both of you have to promise me, no matter what it is you see or hear, you can’t speak or attack.”

Cloud obediently nodded his head while Earth shrugged his shoulders.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

I turned around to face the only wooden table in the study and, with the brightest Sun-style smile on my face I asked worriedly, “Dear Pope, Sun sees that you are coughing non-stop. Sun is worried; may Sun ask whether Your Holiness is feeling a little under the weather? If so, does Sun need to bestow the God of Light’s favor upon you?”

“Shut up and get out of my study!” said the Pope very coldly. Although his tone of voice was cold, I saw him rolling his eyes crossly at me… Even though he was shrouded in gauze, that couldn’t block my line of “sight.” I could even see him muttering from his silently moving mouth, “Don’t let Silent Eagle go around as he pleases and tempt our followers to switch religions.”

I hadn’t thought of this, but this really is a major problem! I silently nodded my head.

Just then, the Pope moved his lips and whispered again, “On the other hand, you’re now so fair it’s almost as though you’re shining. Hurry up and go out to recruit more followers!”

I nodded happily and accepted the mission. If there were someone with a great figure who could become my wife in addition to becoming a follower of the God of Light, that’d be even better!

After leaving the study, I hurriedly hastened my pace. Behind me, Earth said coolly, “Are you so eager to go outdoors and wander about randomly now?”

“I am going to conduct an investigation!” I purposefully emphasized.

Along the way, we passed by quite a number of holy knights. Earth immediately swapped to his stuttering way of talking, saying, “S-sun, th-this isn’t the way to the main entrance. D-did you go the wrong way?”

“Brother Earth, although you might not have wished to walk on this path, please believe Sun when Sun says that no matter where we go, light will always shine upon us. As long as God’s people do things by following the way of the light, all difficulties will be blown away like the wind…”

While saying this, as revenge for him saying that I was wandering about randomly, I walked into my room and took out three gray cloaks. All this while, I never stopped praising the God of Light. When I handed the cloak to Earth, his face turned as pale as if he had gone through a fight against a hundred undead creatures!

“Isn’t this a cape?” Earth shook the cloak and murmured in a low voice, “And so ugly too! The one that the Church gives out looks much better than this one.”

“Wrong!” I seriously replied. “This isn’t a cape. It’s a cloak!”

Earth objected, “What difference is there!”

Cloud explained in a monotone, “A cape refers to an outer piece of clothing that has no sleeves and can be draped across the shoulders. A cloak has an extra hood that can be used to block out the sun and snow. It’s a must-have piece of clothing for an adventurer.”

“You’re also wrong, Cloud.” I smiled and said matter-of-factly, “A cape is used to show off, and a cloak is used to sneak…” Around and engage in illegal activities! Oh no, I had almost said that aloud.

“Sneak?” Earth stared at me with a very, very suspicious look. His expression was so sinister that it differed from honesty like night and day!

“Sneak, sneakily hide your real identity!” I grit my teeth and forcefully altered the meaning of the sentence. After that, I hurriedly changed the topic by explaining, “If we don’t hide our faces, the minute we walk out on the streets, we’ll be recognized by the public. Then we won’t be able to do anything besides preach.”

When I finished, I immediately saw Earth display a completely distrustful look… Maybe I didn’t need to forcefully change the meaning of the sentence. After all, Earth would never believe that I was really going to sneakily hide my identity. As for Cloud, even if I said “go out to murder people” after “sneakily,” he might just obediently go along with me and become my accomplice.

“Put on the cloak and let’s go!”

Earth’s expression was one of rebuke. However, he must have remembered that he had promised not to ask, so he stopped talking and silently followed me out of the Holy Temple. After locating a dark alley to put the cloak on, I headed to Pink’s latest residence.

Along the way, Earth kept on stepping on the cloak and stumbling. I, on the other hand, was as elegant as ever and occasionally even stopped to frequent a roadside candy stall to wait for Earth who kept on tripping and falling.

“Stupid cloak! The hood keeps on blocking my line of sight!” Earth furiously caught up with me and grabbed me. He then roared, “Sun, since you’re so used to wearing a cloak, you must go out to do sneaky stuff very often, right?”

Upon hearing the word “sneaky,” I stopped dead in my tracks and asked, “Have you seen Cloud?”

Stunned by the sudden question, Earth looked around before answering, “No.”

“I’m here…” We heard a terrifyingly weak voice, but just where was the owner of that voice?

Someone wearing a cloak should stand out in the middle of a crowd, so how did he float around until he disappeared… Wait a minute! I’m not even using real sight, but my sensing ability! Why can’t I see Cloud?

I can’t find him even with my sensing ability! Cloud, isn’t your floating skill a bit too good?

Earth also knitted his brows together and said, “Cloud, your voice sounds very weak. Are you alright?”

“So bright…” His voice sounded even feebler, as though the extra five seconds in the sun had made him even weaker.

“You’re wearing a cloak, how could it be bright?” Earth objected. “You should stay in the sun more; you’re as pale as a ghost!”

“That’s right.” I had a sudden thought and asked curiously, “Between the current me and Cloud, who is more flawlessly white?”

“You’re sightless as well as brainless. Who do you think is more flawless?” Earth sneered.

“… Why aren’t you the Metal Knight? What a complete waste of talent!”

Earth harrumphed and said disdainfully, “Metal doesn’t even know how to bad-mouth someone!”

“I think so too…” I suddenly stopped talking, halted dead in my tracks and ordered, “Earth, prepare your shield.”

Earth immediately gathered a large amount of holy element in his hands. Following this, Cloud also appeared by our side, sword in hand. Once he was ready to activate the Shield of Earth at a moment’s notice, Earth asked leisurely, “What’s wrong?”

“The guy on the left wearing a cloak is problematic!” I said in a low voice.

“The guy wearing a gray cloak? There’s nothing wrong with wearing a cloak, is there?” Earth asked in a low voice. “He’s just one person wearing a cloak while there are three of us.”

“He’s not alive.” I explained simply.

Earth froze for a moment and then stared at the “human.” He said doubtfully, “Is he really an undead creature? He’s walking rather steadily. He doesn’t seem like one!”

I agreed with what Earth had said. Although all undead creatures would be given treatment in order to preserve them, unless the person was turned into an undead creature by a necromancer upon immediate death, some parts of the body would already have decomposed. They wouldn’t be as steady on their feet as a living person, but this undead creature before us walked as smoothly as a normal person.

Even so, I was positive that the guy was an undead creature. It’s been a long time since I last saw this type of undead creature… No! Actually, I see it every day.

I should have said that I haven’t been attacked by this type of creature in a long time instead. However, in reality, it has probably only been about a year or so… Before I met Roland though, I had never seen a “death knight” before.

“He is a death knight.”

“… Hell?” Earth lowered his voice until it was barely a whisper.

“No, it’s not him.”

I told Earth, “Just in case, chase the public away to prevent them from getting caught up in the battle.”

Earth agreed with an “mmhm” and then started roaring, “Everyone back away! An undead creature has appeared!”

Everyone swiveled their heads but did not follow Earth’s orders; they only stared at us suspiciously. At this moment, all three of us took off our cloaks…

The public cried out, “It’s the Twelve Holy Knights!”

“It’s the Sun Knight! It’s been so long since I saw the Sun Knight on the streets!”

“Then we don’t need to be afraid! Any undead creature that meets up with the Sun Knight will undoubtedly die!”

“Sun Knight, do your best!”

Hearing the words of the public, it was very obvious that they planned to hang around and watch. I frowned, but I was not worried. With Earth here, the death knight could not possibly harm an innocent bystander.

Earth said in a sincere tone, “May everyone pl-please, st-step back a little more; this place is re-really dangerous!”

Everyone obediently backed off and emptied out a large space for us. Earth still continued requesting that they back off even more. I thought that he must be too lazy to pretend to stammer, so he might as well ask them to back away to some place where they couldn’t hear him.

Following that, Earth walked back to Cloud’s and my side and said coldly, “The public has backed away. You don’t need to say a bunch of nonsense about the God of Light this and the God of Light that! I don’t want to fight while having to interpret the meaning of your orders! Give us simple, direct orders!”

So it wasn’t because he wanted to stop pretending to stutter! I shrugged and said simply, “Got it.”

I turned around and looked at the death knight in the gray cloak. He seemed as though he had no intention of running away. Originally I had even prepared to use my holy light to prevent the death knight from running away while Earth was asking the public to back away. However, the death knight just stood, unmoving, at his original position.

This was really strange. Normally, an undead creature could sense that the three of us were filled with holy light and would have chosen to run away. Could he be so strong that he does not need to run?

I started to size up the death knight. He was wearing fairly ordinary clothes. It was clothing that a close-combat adventurer would wear, and could be bought at any clothing store. Also, his features were unfamiliar, and the sword at his waist looked normal. It seems that we cannot determine this death knight’s origins from his appearance.

However, in one short year, two death knights had appeared. No matter what, this was abnormal, so we definitely could not let this death knight get away.

I frowned and said, “Cloud, attack!”

“That is really simple and direct.” Earth mumbled, “Can’t you just talk like this all the time?”

Hearing my command, Cloud immediately readied his sword. I then concentrated a large amount of holy light onto his sword. I can guarantee that the death knight doesn’t need to be cut; just seeing the light would make him cry out in fear…

“So bright!” Cloud shrieked and let out a fearful expression, almost flinging his sword away.

“…”

Hey, hey! Cloud, are you an undead creature? To actually hate light to this extent! That’s too much of an exaggeration! To think that you are actually one of the Twelve Holy Knights filled with holy light!

“Watch out!”

Earth suddenly rushed forward and stood before the two of us, holy light bursting out from his right hand. After driving back the death knight who had dived forward, the holy light then morphed into the shape of a shield, forming a solid barricade in front of Cloud and me.

The death knight was driven back by Earth’s holy light. He kept on roaring in pain, until the gray cloak draped over his body fell off. At this, even the public standing far away gasped, their faces changing to ones filled with pure hatred.

Earth mumbled in a low voice, “This death knight is a little too rotten; he’s a lot uglier than Hell.”

“Cloud, grasp your sword tightly!” I shouted in a low voice.

Cloud nodded and obediently grasped his weapon tightly.

“Cloud, go ahead and try to find out how strong that death knight is.” After giving Cloud his orders, I immediately turned to face Earth and said, “Earth, keep your eyes wide open. Don’t let Cloud get hurt.”

“Got it.”

Having heard Earth’s answer, I was confident that with Earth’s vigilance and Cloud’s special ability, there was nothing to worry about, so I could finally sit back and watch the battle.

Among the Twelve Holy Knights, the speediest was Knight-Captain Storm, the one with the best swordsmanship was Roland, and the one with the best overall fighting ability was definitely Knight-Captain Judgment. However, the one with the most unpredictable fighting style was definitely Cloud.

“Fighting with Cloud is like fighting with a ghost. It wouldn’t be strange if he appeared from a completely unexpected place!”

The above statement was said by Knight-Captain Blaze, who, after fighting with Cloud for five hours, and searching the entire Holy Temple back and forth five times, still had no idea where he should swing his sword to strike his opponent.

The current situation was almost the same; the death knight could not locate Cloud at all. When he gave up on finding Cloud, he rushed toward me and Earth. However, just at this moment, Cloud appeared from behind him and began to attack furiously. The speed of his sword swings was exceptional. But when the death knight managed to gain back some footing and was about to retaliate, Cloud disappeared again.

Earth shook his head and said, “This really is a battle between ghosts!”

It really is! Maybe I should use holy light and blast these two to smithereens to check whether or not Cloud is really a spirit… After all, it wouldn’t matter even if he was a spirit. Hell Knight is already a death knight, and he’s even an upgraded version of it – namely, a death lord. Compared to that, a spirit amongst the Twelve Holy Knights doesn’t seem like that big a deal.

Earth asked leisurely, “However, Sun, what do you plan to do?” After he finished speaking, he did a neck-slicing gesture with a questioning look.

“No.” I ordered without hesitation, “Capture him alive.”

A death knight normally represented great injustice. Judgment would definitely be interested in the reasons contributing to the creation of this death knight.

After watching a while, I realized that the death knight was being overwhelmed by Cloud. Confused, I asked, “This death knight doesn’t seem as strong as Roland?”

“No kidding!” Earth rolled his eyes at me and said crossly, “Do you know how good Hell’s swordsmanship is? Judgment said that if he didn’t use any holy light as an aid, even he wouldn’t dare to say that he can force a draw against Hell!”

I nodded. Before, I had also heard Judgment say that based purely on swordsmanship, Roland was far stronger than him.

“If this death knight is as strong as Hell, then capturing him alive would be a problem.” Earth suddenly paused and said, “That’s not right. After all, the death knight is already dead, so there’s no way we could capture him alive! Ha ha ha!”

“… Your joke is even colder than Ice’s Ice Bolt.”

“I’m so sorry!” Earth coldly replied, “Compared to a Sun Knight like you, my joke was really not funny at all.”

F***!

I will say this once again: Earth, the fact that you didn’t become the Metal Knight is a true waste of natural talent; your words are a hundred times more poisonous than Metal’s!

“Sun!” shouted Cloud after the death knight suddenly ignored his attacks and stubbornly charged at Earth and me. This wasn’t anything unusual; although undead creatures were normally most afraid of me, when they have nowhere left to run, their favorite target for their last suicide attack was also me.

This was because my body was filled with the holy light that undead creatures hate the most. So when they are about to be destroyed, they would definitely pick the person they hate most to join them in hell.

However… Hmph hmph! If he had had Roland’s sword skills, or even possibly Storm’s speed, then it would have worked, but he had neither! With this sort of ability, I could just drown him with holy light.

Although I had just fought with Earth, when the death knight rushed over, the Shield of Earth still appeared before me. This made me feel even safer; with the Shield present, I would be safe even if I stood without moving a muscle.

However, as I was preparing to blast holy light, the death knight suddenly changed his direction of movement. Neither Earth nor I could react in time. The holy light that I shot missed, and the death knight’s sword swung down toward Earth, who had no shield protecting him…It was heading straight for his shoulder.

Suddenly, an image of Blaze being slashed by Roland from shoulder to chest flashed through my mind.

“Earth!”

CLANG!

Earth drew his sword and blocked the death knight’s attack, but he was one step too slow. Blood flowed from his shoulder… You, you actually dared to hurt one of my holy knights in front of me!

I aggressively released a large amount of holy light. After sending the death knight flying, I turned around and cast quite a number of healing spells on Earth.

At this moment, Cloud rushed forward and with a fast, powerful swing of his sword, cut the death knight in half at the waist. Even with that, however, the death knight still could not be killed. The upper half of the death knight stretched out his hands and, using his hands to replace his legs, he slowly began to crawl.

I walked toward the death knight while gathering a large amount of holy light in each hand. I then fired at both his upper and lower halves. Before he could even cry out, he had turned into two piles of dust.

At this, Earth jogged over and stared at the piles of dust. He asked, “Didn’t you want to capture him alive?”

I looked at him and asked, “Are your wounds alright?”

Earth looked at his shoulder, shrugged and said, “Not even a scar in sight.”

“Err… I accidentally used too much power.” I shrugged as well and answered, “There’s nothing more I can do. He’s dead.”

Earth glanced toward his left and his right, and then said in a low voice, “The public is gathering around us. It might be difficult to get out of this.”

I sensed my surroundings. It was as he had said. The public, upon seeing that the death knight had turned to dust, all rushed over with delighted expressions. Not to mention, it was getting late, so by the time we found Pink, it might already be evening. Looking for a necromancer at night was definitely not a smart idea.

“Let’s head back first!” I could only say that much to Earth and Cloud. “We’ll come again tomorrow.”

“Did you come out for a walk? Want to go out for a walk after lunch tomorrow to help digestion?” Earth crossly retorted.

“It’s darker at night.” Cloud said softly.

It appears that this combination of a spirit and a poisonous tongue will be staying by my side until I find out the truth. I suddenly felt that getting a cold and Ice not making desserts for me was actually not such a disaster after all…