Book 2: Chapter Sun Knight’s Daily Duty #8: “Build Good Relationships with Neighbors”
Book 2: Chapter Sun Knight’s Daily Duty #8: “Build Good Relationships with Neighbors”
I waited until night had fallen, and then knocked on each of the twelve knights’ doors. My first sentence to every one of them was “Do me a favor.”
I knocked all the way to Judgment Knight’s room, and said the same thing after he had pulled open the door. “Do me a favor.”
“What favor?” Judgment Knight asked, feigning ignorance. “Buy blueberry pie? Ask Ice to make strawberry shaved ice?”
I requested straightforwardly, “Lend me ten Judgment Knight Platoon members.”
Judgment sighed. “For a mission or for revenge?”
“For a mission…” Seeing the dubious look on Judgment’s face, I quickly confessed, “But I admit that there’s a teensy weensy thought of personal revenge.”
Judgment was dumbfounded, and asked, “Would that be enough for you?”
I shrugged. “Of course. I just want to obtain more followers, not start a war with the Monastery of the God of War.”
Even though I said that, Judgment still took some time to contemplate before he reluctantly replied, “I can only lend you five, in case your temper gets you into any mischief. You have always spoiled your Sun Knight Platoon. Since they were badly beaten up and humiliated in public, I really find it hard to believe that you will restrain yourself and not severely punish the warriors from the Monastery of the God of War.”
“Very well, five it is,” I readily agreed.
Seeing how I had agreed so easily, Judgment frowned again. In order to avoid giving him a chance to regret his words, I quickly switched topics. “How is Elijah’s training coming along?”
“Very well, he’s a quick learner. Cloud has modified his cloud-steps to improve his dodging skills. He should be able to achieve the ability of Stalling after two weeks.”
I nodded. “Very well. There should be no problems then.”
“Could you tell me what your plans are for increasing the number of believers?”
“No!” If Judgment knew of my entire plan, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t immediately cut me down with his sword in order to punish me for hurting my people in the past, prevent me from risking war with the Monastery of the God of War in the present, and keep me from endangering the world in the future.
“You really are up to mischief… Tsk! Then it is better not to tell me.”
Judgment shook his head and decisively abandoned the notion of knowing my plans, saving him the dilemma of having to decide whether to cut me down or not. He slowly closed his door, muttering, “I had better go to bed early tonight so that I won’t feel remorse over lending people to you after knowing what my five platoon members will be forced to do. Speaking of which, every time I agree to do you a favor, I always regret it later!” He sighed heavily.
I advised, “Sighing will shorten your lifespan by three seconds.”
Behind the door came a faint voice, “Agreeing to one of your requests will shorten my lifespan by three years…”
I retorted, “If it really did shorten your lifespan by three years then you would have been dead by the time you knew me for a month.”
“…So you’re aware then?”
After visiting Judgment, I peeked at the position of the moon through the window. It was now approximately ten o’clock, almost time. I swiftly walked towards the Holy Temple’s kitchen. At this time, there was not a soul there, but a few baskets of bread and milk had already been placed on the table.
I carried these baskets, and quietly approached the outside of the detention room where the Sun Knight Platoon were locked up. I didn’t go to the detention room’s only door, but instead approached a wall.
I squatted against the wall and was just about to open a secret door when I heard noises coming from within.
“The captain’s too much, forbidding us to heal; several of us are severely injured!”
“No food has been sent either… Has the Captain really forsaken us?”
An emotional growl interrupted everyone’s complaints. “As a member of the Sun Knight Platoon, how could you, like those outsiders, think that the captain would forsake us? If that were the case, who do you think sent food to us whenever we were in detention? Who would have sent those warm blankets to us? Lastly, who would have opened that secret door to the detention room?”
This voice belonged to Adair, as expected from the vice-captain who understood me best!
A voice quickly explained, “Adair, don’t be too emotional! I, of course, understand that our captain wouldn’t forsake us. It’s just that the captain always asks us to carry out nearly impossible missions…”
That voice sounded like Ed. Tch! I actually thought I could appoint him with some tasks, but it seemed that it just wouldn’t do if it was not Adair!
“But Captain has always given us some help!” Adair hardened his attitude.
“Yes, but captain can sometimes be quite…quite…off his rocker. Last time he wanted us to conceal our identity to beat up Knight-Captain Earth. But he only gave us twenty five sets of assassins’ garb, forgot to give us weapons, and let us get beaten up by Knight-Captain Earth instead…”
Adair’s voice no longer passed through the wall; it seemed that he could not refute this.
This is complete rubbish! How could I have forgotten the attempt to punish Earth? It was just that after I had purchased night clothes with public funds, I was found out by the Pope. As a result he took back the rest of the money. There was no money to buy weapons, but there were twenty something people beating up a person so I thought they could at least get a punch or two in…
I would never have thought that not only they could not break through Earth’s protective shield, but all of them came back with injuries for me to heal. I was so mad!
I furiously threw open the secret door and tossed the basket through the opening with so much force that I could hear the sound of the basket hitting the far wall.
There was silence beyond the wall, until Adair explained, “Captain, everyone was just complaining, they didn’t really mean it.”
I rolled in a dozen rose beads, ignoring Adair’s explanation, and said resentfully, “Those with severe injuries may only use one and should not be fully healed. Every one of you must have an injury of some kind. This is an order!”
Ed sounded as if he was about to cry, “Captain… The people from the Monastery of the God of War were too much and we were just too mad at them, that’s why we spoke nonsense. Please don’t be angry!”
“Captain!”
“We’re sorry, captain!”
“We were wrong, captain!”
My heart softened at the calls of ‘captain’. Those damn fools must have known my weakness. Every time they made a mistake, each of them would desperately cry, “Captain, captain!”
I growled, “That’s enough! Just shut up. Those with heavy injuries, hurry up and treat your wounds. Those with minor injuries, hurry up and eat. There’s a task to do later.” The cries of ‘captain’ behind the wall immediately ceased, and I called out, “Adair.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Gather everyone at the usual place later. I will send people to assist all of you. You will also need some tools.”
“Yes.”
“Captain, will you be accompanying us?” Ed suddenly asked.
“I, Sun, will not be with you.”
“Understood…”
At approximately midnight or so, Adair directed all the members through the secret door. I hid behind a tree and quietly peeked as they came out, then stealthily followed them from behind. Although Adair was very competent, I wasn’t sure if he really understood my plan.
Better to follow them just to be safe.
“Adair, could that flitting shadow behind of us be Captain?” Ed was constantly looking back.
“No, the captain said he would not follow us,” Adair replied, not even looking back.
Hearing this answer, Ed then said, “No wonder the captain favors you, Adair.”
Suddenly, Adair stopped. Ed could not react fast enough and his nose had a severe, intimate contact with the back of Adair’s head.
Ed held his nose with a pained expression, swiftly cast a Minor Heal on himself, and then loudly complained, “Adair, why did you suddenly stop?”
Adair blankly gestured towards the front, and all of the members of the Sun Knight Platoon gazed towards the front in unison… a black-clad member of the Judgment Knight Platoon came over and reported to Adair:
“Ten members of the Storm Knight Platoon, ten members of the Blaze Knight Platoon, ten members of the Leaf Knight Platoon, ten members of the Earth Knight platoon, ten members of the Ice Knight Platoon, ten members of the Moon Knight Platoon, ten members of the Cloud Knight Platoon, five members of the Judgment Knight Platoon—all members present and accounted for. Under the orders of Knight-Captain Sun, we obey the orders of Sun Knight Platoon’s vice-captain Adair.”
Ed dumbly tugged at the corner of Adair’s shirt and whispered, “Adair… Do you think the captain is asking us to beat up those people from Monastery of the God of War, or obliterate them?”
“Uh… I’m not too sure,” Adair replied, slightly perplexed. Just then he saw two crates that were placed in the middle of the gathering place. He loudly muttered, “These must be the tools that the captain spoke of.”
I nodded in the darkness even though I knew that Adair would not be able to see me.
He walked over, opened the two boxes and furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
Ed came over and curiously picked up the items from the box. There were dozens of pieces of clothing of the same style. He said in surprise, “Aren’t these royal knights’ uniforms? There are also their designated weapons… And aren’t those uniforms of warriors of Monastery of the God of War? What are these for?”
Out of habit, all members of the Sun Knight Platoon looked toward Adair, who had just finished thinking. He loudly muttered, “Oh! It seems that we have to split into two groups for the mission—no wonder we need so many people.”
Listening to Adair’s announcement, I gave a satisfied nod. It seemed that he knew what to do, and I shall say again, as expected from the vice-captain I had chosen. I had such great taste when I chose!
Judgment Knight was busy training Elijah, and Elijah was busy being trained by Judgment Knight.
Adair and the Sun Knight platoon were busy doing what I had asked of them during the night. By day, they had returned to the detention room and lay in a pile, sleeping like a mass grave of corpses. They were so corpse-like that even if one were to walk on those ‘corpses’, not a cry of pain could be heard—only the sound of rhythmic snoring.
Even Pink and Roland were busy preparing what I had requested of them. The process of requesting favors from Pink went smoothly. Her eyes immediately shone when I explained my request and she did not mention wanting any payment, so of course I did not mention paying.
Conversely, Roland was so shocked that his face turned pale… But his face has always been grayish white, so there really wasn’t much of a difference.
I yawned loudly, grabbed a blueberry biscuit from my plate and stuffed it into my mouth, then continued flipping through the book that Cloud had lent to me: How to Pick the Right Lucky Accessories to Wear for a Duel.
I sat back and relished the feeling of everyone being busy but me. It felt indescribably good.
There was a scratching sound and then the door was opened. Sunlight spilled in from the outside, filling the space I was in with light, but I was not perturbed. I had lit up a small sphere of holy light to do my reading.
“If Cloud had not told me, I really would not have dared believe that you were hiding here… Isn’t it Cloud’s habit to hide inside a book cabinet? Also, do you really intend to rely on this book for the upcoming battle?”
I raised my head and watched as Judgment Knight stuck his head into the book cabinet, looking at the book in my hands with a ghost of a smile. I raised my eyebrows and exclaimed, “Don’t underestimate this book, it’s really useful! Also, I finally understand why Cloud loves hiding inside bookcases; it’s a perfect little haven after lighting up a sphere of holy light.”
This was also a little haven where no one would disturb me from lazing about. In the past even when I was in the prayer room there would always be someone looking for the Sun Knight, but no one would think to find the Sun Knight in a book cabinet!
Judgment nonchalantly said, “If you have finished your reading and have gotten tired of the book cabinet, please at least check on Knight-Captain Hell.”
“What’s up with him? Could he not learn Cloud’s modified cloud-steps skill?” I furrowed my eyebrows; that would be bad as, according to my plan, Elijah needed stall the fight with the Son of the God of War for at least ten minutes.
Judgment shook his head and said, “He’s learned well, but seems to be depressed. After slight probing, it seems that peer pressure, having an affair with the princess, and disrupting the king’s plans have caused the royal knights to look down on him.”
I nodded and emphatically replied, “Oh, that! Don’t worry, it should be settled within the next few days.”
Judgment thought for a moment, but still shook his head and said, “I have already informed you of Knight-Captain Hell’s status, but if you think that it is not a problem, then I shall not think about it further.”
That perked my curiosity. Usually Judgment could easily deduce that Hell’s plight would be resolved in a matter of days, so why would he purposely approach and inform me of Hell’s poor status?
Could it be that… I suddenly moved, blurting out, “Could it be that the five members of Judgment Knight Platoon did not tell you what I had asked of them?”
“I told them not to report to me,” Judgment closed the cabinet, a mutter passed through the door. “I do not want to know any of it.”
Judgment seemed to know that my ‘mischief’ would not be something small, so he made up his mind not to know anything about the entire situation. It was better this way though; otherwise, I might be cut down by Judgment someday. I would not be able to blame him for it—and may even have to apologize for being such a nuisance.
I gazed at the book in my hands, contemplating whether I should check out Elijah’s status or not. I took the last blueberry biscuit from the plate and stuffed it into my mouth, lackadaisically turning a page of the book.
Place the handkerchief of your beloved into your left breast pocket and her love shall protect your heart from harm.
Mm! This would be useless to me, but Elijah could use it. I had better tell him to remember to ask the princess for her handkerchief and place it in his left pocket!
I finished the blueberry biscuits quickly.
I wiped my mouth, arranged my clothes, and stepped out of the book cabinet.
“Greetings, Knight-Captain Clou— …K-Knight-Captain Sun?”
I turned back to look, and I saw a few holy knights, all of whom were wearing a dumbstruck expression akin to someone who just had their head hit by something heavy. After seeing me turn to look at them, some were so shocked that they turned to immovable statues upon confirming my identity as the Sun Knight.
“The light of His Holiness shines upon the land, filling it with compassion. Even the book cabinet is filled with such a pleasant atmosphere that Sun could not help but to enter and commune with the God of Light’s compassion…”
After spewing my nonsensical explanation, I swiftly ran away. It seemed that I wasn’t suited to hiding inside book cabinets. If I were to hide there a few more times, the number of statues would increase in the corridor to the point of obstructing human traffic.
In order to avoid trouble, I donned a cape, pulled up the hood, and then left the Holy Temple to look for Elijah.
Thinking that Elijah, having just finished Judgment’s strict training, must be tired to the point of being half dead, I guessed that his route would probably be directly from the Holy Temple to the castle. Hmm… Or perhaps he might have stopped halfway for a meal. I guessed based on Judgment’s relationship with him that Judgment most probably would not have prepared blueberry biscuits for him to eat.
I quickly found him in a restaurant between the Holy Temple and the castle. He looked exhausted, and seemed quite depressed. He looked completely different from that macho royal knight I saw only days before; his entire being resembled that of an elderly person, and that all-purpose handsome face had also lost its color. Even the waitress threw his food at him without even sparing him a flirtatious glance.
Poor guy… No wonder Judgment asked me to check on him.
I walked towards the empty chair beside him and sat down, snatching away the piece of beef he had just selected and stuffed it into my mouth.
He stared at his empty chopsticks for a moment before slowly turning his head towards me and asked uncertainly, “May I know who you are?”
I slightly lifted my hood and grinned at him.
“Ah! Su— It’s you!” he exclaimed, and then fell silent. It seemed that he was troubled by something, he held his utensils, unmoving. It wasn’t until I had eaten half of the beef on his plate that he opened his mouth and asked in despair, “Should I not involve myself in this duel?”
Uh oh! He is thinking of withdrawing! I quickly swallowed the beef and coaxed, “Why would you say that? Could it be that you don’t love Her Highness?”
“It’s not that!” Elijah leapt up indignantly “It would be impossible for me not to love her, definitely impossible!”
I nodded, “If that’s the case, then why don’t you want to duel? Do you really want to hand over the princess to the Son of the God of War?”
Elijah sat down sullenly and said in a low voice, “I- I don’t want to… But our social standings are vastly different.”
“Is that what your comrades said?”
In a grievous, somewhat complaining manner, he said, “His Majesty and my teacher have also said so. They are extremely furious.”
I picked up a piece of beef from his plate, slowly chewing and swallowing before saying unhurriedly, “How about this! Why don’t you continue receiving Judgment’s training and think it over for the next two days? It wouldn’t be too late for you to give up then, if you still intended to.”
Elijah nodded quickly this time and happily said, “I wouldn’t mind receiving more training from Knight-Captain Judgment. Knight-Captain Judgment’s swordsmanship is really strong! I have only just received a week of training, and can already feel that I have improved immensely. It is unbelievable!”
“But of course, Judgment was already invincible at the age of thirteen. I think aside from Roland, no one can match him in terms of swordplay…”
“Which holy knight is Roland?” Elijah’s eyes shone, not even hesitating to interrupt me.
“Er… He’s not a holy knight,” I said hesitantly.
“Oh, then is he a normal knight, or a royal knight?” Elijah asked relentlessly. It was obvious that he wanted to meet this Roland, whose strength could match the Judgment Knight’s.
I became curious in return. Had Elijah not known Roland even though both of them were royal knights?
“He was a royal knight, but he died. Haven’t you heard of Roland before?”
“Ah… Is it Captain Roland?” Elijah seemed startled. “I saw him a few times, but we only brushed shoulders and never really knew each other well. He was not exactly a sociable person; he was also somewhat withdrawn and he rarely sparred with others. Even though I knew he wasn’t weak, I didn’t know he was that strong either!” With hints of upset and regret, he added, “If only I had befriended him! That way perhaps I could have persuaded him not to confront the king directly, and then he would not have been killed.”
“You knew that Roland was killed by the king?” I asked, surprised. Hadn’t the whole incident been covered up by crown prince?
Elijah nodded and said in a low voice, “Most of the royal knights knew about it, but because of the crown prince they did not say anything.”
So that’s it.
I nodded. When Roland sought vengeance on the king, there had been close to fifty royal knights present. Covering up the news completely would not have been easy. Besides, the crown prince probably didn’t put too much effort into covering it up; his father’s reputation was so horrible that adding the rumor of killing a royal knight would not change anything.
Seeing Elijah’s disappointed look, I was about to tell him that I know a strong ‘person’ and ask whether or not he was interested, but I saw a bunch of people coming from behind him. I quickly picked up the beef from the table and moved to the next table, pretending not to know Elijah.
Elijah was puzzled, “Knight-Captain Sun, you—”
“There you are, Elijah!”
Elijah jolted, turned his head, and saw a bunch of royal knights stampeding towards him like a herd of bulls. His face immediately paled as he murmured, “They’re not here to beat me up, are they?” while peeking at me with a distressed gaze.
The first royal knight that reached him patted him on the shoulders, growling lowly, “Elijah, you have to win!”
“Aye! Marry the princess!”
“You must not lose to that Son of the God of War!”
The royal knights all spoke over each other, but in general it was all about the many wrongs of the Monastery of the God of War, and then something along the lines of Elijah winning the battle and justice being served. Elijah took everything in dizzily. He lifted his head and saw the elderly knight, who he treated as half his teacher, walking by and quickly cried for help, “Teacher…what’s going on?!”
The older knight ran in like a hot-tempered teenager, grabbed at Elijah’s collar, and snarled, “Lad! If you don’t marry the princess, you may never face me again!”
“Teacher?” Elijah stared aghast at the knight. He stuttered, “W-What’s going on?”
The royal knights beside him indignantly said, “Those damned warriors from the Monastery of the God of War ambushed us at night!”
“They were even shouting something about us ganging up on people and saying that riding horses wasn’t fair. They kept forcing us to dismount to engage them in one-on-one combat!”
The voices of all the royal knights were rising with anger, “We’re knights, knights! We specialize in riding horses and battling in groups! Who would want to fight a single battle with them, who are specialized in one-on-one combat!? We’re not mad!”
“Not good.”
Elijah’s half-a-teacher frowned as he frankly spoke, “Your skills are still lacking; it is impossible for you to defeat the Son of the God of War. It is even more impossible for that Sun Knight who doesn’t even know how to wield a sword… Go, go, go! I’m giving you some special training!”
Hmph! You can lecture your student, but why drag me into it? I glared.
“Wait, I just—”
Elijah probably wanted to say that he had just come back from training with Judgment, but realized he could not reveal this matter, so he could only shut his mouth.
Without any reason to object, Elijah was helplessly dragged up. He could only shoot glance after glance filled with confusion to me from the corner of his eyes.
“It’s the warriors from the Monastery of the God of War!” a royal knight suddenly snarled angrily.
The Son of the God of War was leading a group of fuming warriors, stalking forward through the street. His eyes were levelly fixed not only on Elijah’s face, but on all the royal knights. It was obvious that he was aiming for them.
The Son of the God of War walked in front of the royal knights and immediately berated them. “What’s the meaning of you royal knights challenging us to a group battle on horsebacks? We’re warriors! Who would want to battle you on horseback? We’re not mad!”
Hearing this, the unhappy royal knights started to clamour. “Your single combat is unreasonable, we’re knights! Who would want to challenge you in one-on-one combat?”
Getting that response, the Son of the God of War’s anger became mirth. “Fine, fine, fine! I shall challenge you all to a single combat. It’s up to you whether you want to ride horses or donkeys, or if a few of you want to attack together. It doesn’t even matter if all of you come at once!”
The royal knights were furious, but this time the elderly knight held them back. Walking toward the front and standing before Son of the God of War, he coldly said, “Interesting! Perhaps you want to compete against me. I shall ride a horse, but I will attack alone.”
The Son of the God of War finally noticed the older knight. Recognizing his opponent, he began to frown.
I muttered to myself, “That’s one of the king’s favored knights; even you may not want to anger him at this point of time. After all, His Majesty has only two favored knights, and he’s also the elder one. It’s most probable that the king would listen to his advice.”
The Son of the God of War looked as though he was either about to explode in anger or suffocating, but he did not want to annoy the person in front of him. Finally, he growled, “Let us depart.”
The elder ‘knight confidant’ did not seem as though he wanted to confront the Son of the God of War either. He only sullenly turned his head and thumped Elijah’s shoulder as he warned, “Lad, fight well. Lose and you’ll be in deep trouble!”
“Aye! Lose and you’ll be in deep trouble!” the rest of the royal knights bellowed.
Elijah’s face became paler than Roland’s in a blink of an eye, and he started forcefully tossing a look that was a cry for help from the corner of his eyes.
I honestly pitied him. Basically, the chances of him defeating the Son of the God of War were similar to the chances of me defeating Judgment Knight. But even though I pitied him, I still lowered my head and pretended I hadn’t seen anything. I nonchalantly swallowed the last piece of beef and took out a handkerchief and wiped my mouth.
The Monastery of the God of War and the royal knights had started to feud, and Elijah would not be able to withdraw from this battle even if he wanted to… Mm, it seemed that I could ask Adair to stop his midnight missions.
Lighthearted, I stood and decided to return to the Holy Temple. I intended to get another plate of blueberry biscuits from Ice, and maybe ask Cloud to find me a book cabinet where no one would pass by, then lend me a book for bedtime reading…