Episode 85. Interlude – Moonlight (1)
My head is dizzy from the rising happiness.
Even when I’m still, the corners of my mouth go up.
My body feels light, like I’m floating on a cloud.
-I came to pick you up.
How happy I was the moment I heard those words.
I had many questions about how Dale had figured out that I was Yurina and not Yuren, and how he had known that I would undergo the stigmata swap.
Those petty questions were washed away from my mind in the joy of Dale coming to my rescue.
-It’s okay if you don’t shine anymore.
I lived to become the sun.
I have lived to shine.
Because I had to atone for the sins I committed.
Because I wanted to be loved by my mother again like before.
I had to become ‘Yuren’.
but.
The sun called ‘Yuren’ is so distant and so dazzling.
No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t reach it.
It was so hard. I felt like I was going to die.
Swinging the sword every day to the point where my palms were crushed, looking into my mother’s cold eyes, and having nightmares about my brother.
As I moved towards becoming the sun, my life was filled with only thick darkness.
Dale appeared to me like that.
The first friend I made.
My teacher and my benefactor.
My new sun.
‘I won’t live to be Yuren anymore.’
I broke the chains that had been holding me back for the past eight years.
I erased my fear of my mother and my guilt towards my brother.
To me, who was a coward who couldn’t make any decisions on my own, Dale taught me ‘courage.’
‘Dale.’
Does he know how much salvation I have received because of his presence?
Did he notice that the emotions that had been swelled inside him were overflowing like this?
I don’t know.
No, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know.
I’ll let you know little by little in the future.
‘From today on, I will live for Dale.’
I will give everything for him who gave me new life.
If the moon can shine only when there is a sun.
‘My sun is Dale.’
When I think of that fact, a smile never disappears from my face.
An unknown power overflows throughout my body, as if I had taken some precious elixir.
“Ah, uh. Ah.”
Iron Duck.
A monster wearing black armor rose up.
A puppet summoned by a man named ‘Faust’ before he escaped.
If I had received the stigmata swap from him, would I have become a puppet like that?
‘No, I was a puppet before that.’
Before I met Dale, I was nothing more than a puppet, with no real connection.
but.
‘Not anymore.’
I held the sword and summoned magical power.
The stigmata of the ‘Moon God’ engraved on his left chest glowed with light.
Wooooow!
A golden aura covering the blade.
I squinted my eyes at the golden aura that reminded me of a brilliant sun.
‘It wasn’t this color before.’
The reason my aura is golden is because I forcibly changed the color by controlling my magic power in order to imitate my brother.
‘There’s no need for that anymore.’
I stopped controlling my magical power as if it were a habit, and pulled up my magical power with all my might.
Chaaaaang!
The golden aura gradually turned silver, with a sound like something breaking.
A silver aura as cold as moonlight burned fiercely along the blade.
“ha.”
A thrilling thrill runs down your spine.
A refreshing feeling spread throughout my body, as if my blocked breath had been cleared.
“…ah.”
A soft exclamation escapes between the lips.
My head was filled with unknown information, as if forgotten memories were coming back to me.
‘This is….’
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Guardian.
It was a divine protection that only a very small number of heroes who had awakened to the stigmata were able to manifest.
‘The protection of moonlight.’
Information about the protection of the moonlight flowed into my head naturally.
‘The more you think of someone precious, the more strength you receive.’
I found myself laughing out loud at the information flowing into my head.
I’ve heard that some guardians have some pretty strange characteristics.
No matter what, the more I think about other people, the more strength I gain.
‘There is no guardian angel who suits me better than this.’
He glanced back at Dale and smiled faintly.
Just by looking at him, a terrifying magical power surged through my body.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
The black armored monster ran towards me, screaming.
A black aura burned fiercely from the greatsword held in the monster’s hand.
Just by looking at the amount of aura flowing down the blade, it was easy to see that the black-armored monster possessed tremendous power.
“ha.”
He took a deep breath and grabbed the sword.
For some reason, when I saw the fiercely burning black aura before my eyes, I thought it was rather comical.
“Sun Sword, Type 7.”
A technology that is known only in theory and has never been successfully implemented.
The high wall blocking my path, and the realm beyond it.
I stepped boldly toward that area.
“Glow.”
A silver ring created by riding the blade.
A cold, shining silver ring wrapped around a greatsword that blazed black.
Choaaaah!
The greatsword, engulfed in aura, split in half like a piece of tofu.
“Oh, huh?”
He swung his sword at the monster who was staring at the severed sword with a blank expression.
Kwajik!
The sword pierced through the black armor and pierced the monster’s heart.
* * *
Silver light illuminating the dark basement.
I looked at Yuren, who was surrounded by a silver halo, and let out a soft sigh.
“her.”
Yurina’s magical power was already enormous from the beginning.
The magical power that I felt from Yurina now was far beyond that ‘tremendous level’.
There was only one thing that could explain such a sudden change, unless he had consumed some legendary elixir.
‘God’s protection.’
Memories of my past life naturally came to my mind.
Although Yuren was clearly the strongest swordsman in human history, that doesn’t mean he possessed the ‘protection of God’.
In the first place, the protection of the gods is not something that can be obtained through effort, so it wouldn’t be strange if Yuren couldn’t awaken the protection of the gods.
‘You’re suddenly awakening to the protection of God like this?’
If so, it means that Yuren in his previous life did not not have the protection of God, but rather that he had it but was unable to manifest it until the end.
‘… The future has changed.’
In the exact opposite direction of what I was worried about.
“Dale… .”
Yurina, who had struck down the monster in the armor with a single sword, turned to me with wide eyes.
When she took a step.
“ah.”
Yurina suddenly staggers as if she’s about to fall.
I quickly hugged Yurina.
“When you first awaken the Guardian, your body will become tired as it tries to accept the power.”
“Oh, yeah. I see… But how did Dale know that…?”
Yurina, who was in my arms, closed her eyes without being able to finish her words.
“Phew.”
He carried Yurina, who was sleeping, out of the basement.
The mansion was half destroyed by the magical bombardment, but there were still a few rooms that were intact because the mansion itself was so large.
When I chose a room that looked reasonably ok and opened the door.
“Hee, heek!”
One of the maids hiding in the room noticed me and trembled with fright.
“I’ll do whatever you say, so please, please, please spare me!”
“… … .”
He let out a deep sigh as he looked at the maid who was clasping her hands together with a pale, tired expression.
‘If anyone heard, they’d think I killed everyone on my way here.’
Needless to say, no one was killed while breaking through the mansion.
“Can I use this bed?”
“Oh, yes. Ma, feel free to use it!”
The maid suddenly got up from her seat and shook her head repeatedly.
I laid Yurina down on the bed and placed the back of my hand on her forehead.
‘You have a fever.’
Perhaps it was the process of the body receiving new power that made the whole body feel hot.
“Excuse me, can I ask you a favor?”
“Yes, yes!”
“Please bring me some cold water and a towel.”
“Ah… yes. I understand!”
The maid ran out of the room.
When I pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down, I quietly watched Yurina.
“Where is that insolent republican bastard now?!”
Did you faint and then wake up?
Rosanna’s voice echoed through the hallway.
Boom!
Rosanna burst through the door and glared at me with fierce eyes.
“You…! What are you doing back there?!”
“Can’t you see? I’m looking after the lady’s daughter.”
“You…!”
Rosanna strode toward me.
“You dare to touch the Imperial nobles, a Republic mongrel? Do you think this is a ‘neutral zone’ like the Hero School? You’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll definitely report this to the Imperial side and they’ll not let you off easy… .”
“Inform the royal family, please.”
I chuckled and sat up.
“What, what is it?”
As I stood up, Rosanna flinched and took a step back.
I approached her and raised the corners of my lips.
“If you want to tell, tell.”
“Ha. Where is this braggart coming from? No matter how strong you are, do you think you can handle the imperial family?”
“I can’t do it.”
No matter how much my level has risen rapidly recently, I cannot handle the imperial family alone.
but.
“Then can you handle it, ma’am?”
“What do you mean, can you handle it…?”
“You joined hands with Mine and attempted to use the forbidden stigmata swapping technique. What would happen to the Helios family if this fact were to be known to the imperial family?”
“Hey, wait a minute! What do you mean, holding hands with Mine…!”
“Did you see a corpse in the basement earlier? If you examine that corpse, you’ll find some magic.”
“… … !”
Rosanna opened her mouth wide, looking pale and astonished.
Even if we can overlook the fact that he attempted to use the ‘Stigmata Swapping Technique’ by making a hundred concessions, if it becomes known that he joined hands with Mine, the Helios family will be finished.
Because collusion with Mine was a serious crime on the level of treason.
“I, I didn’t know he was mine!”
“Really? Well, if you say it like that, I’ll believe you.”
I brought my mouth close to Rosanna’s ear and whispered, as she turned pale.
“I don’t know if the Imperial Family will believe that.”
“Ugh…!”
Rosanna’s expression was crumpled miserably.
“What do you think? Should we hold hands and go to the palace together?”
“… … .”
Rosanna remains silent with her head bowed.
The thought was long, but the choice a noble lady could make was determined as she valued her family’s honor more than her own life.
“…Okay. Let’s leave this aside.”
She nodded, biting her lip.
“Hmm.”
I squinted my eyes, looking at Rosanna’s distorted face.
‘It’s a shame to end it like this.’
When I thought about the pain Yurina had to go through because of Rosanna, I didn’t like the idea of just letting it slide as if nothing had happened.
‘What can I do to crush the pride of this arrogant lady so miserably?’
As I continued to worry about that.
“I… . I, I brought you some water.”
The maid poked her head out through the wide open door.
“aha.”
I looked at the maid and raised the corners of my mouth.
* * *
Click.
The door opened cautiously.
The fragrant scent of black tea drifted in through the open door.
“Ugh… .”
Rosanna, who entered the room carrying a tray, was dressed as a maid.
As if to prove that there was a reason why she and Yurina were related by blood, Rosanna, who was in her fifties but still wore a maid outfit, was showing off her dazzling beauty.
“Oh, I brought you some black tea.”
“Are you here?”
“Ta, ta, here I come.”
“Yeah, yeah. You have to speak politely.”
I leaned back in my chair and gestured to her.
“How long are you going to stand in front of the door?”
“Ugh….”
A noble lady from a prestigious imperial family, dressed in the attire of her maids, serving a mere cadet.
It was such a humiliating thing that I would have been better off biting my tongue and dying.
“Let’s see. Since you brought the tea, next time give me a shoulder rub.”
“What, what did you say?”
Rosanna opened her mouth wide in astonishment.
“Where on earth did you come from…!”
“You little brat? What did I tell you to call me just now?”
“Crunch!”
Rosanna’s expression was distorted horribly.
“If you keep doing that, I’ll call all the servants in the mansion together?”
“Oh, no!”
Stand in front of the servants dressed like this.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
“Then… you know?”
I looked at Rosanna with the corners of my lips raised.
Rosanna, who had been lowering her head and licking her lips, closed her eyes tightly.
“Oh, let me rub your shoulders. Master, master, master… sir.”
Rosanna’s face twisted in shame and tears streamed down her face.
I turned my head out the window and chuckled.
The night sky has suddenly become dark.
The soft moonlight illuminated the Helios family.
