Chapter 12.1 : Meanwhile

Meanwhile, in a certain mansion in Rox Kingdom, Lucullus was pacing back and forth in worry.

Lucullus was the captain of the Holy Republic of Lenaria’s 3rd Temple Knight division. His division’s main tasks all lay back in their home country; however, he and his division had to leave the Holy Republic of Lenaria to escort the Goddess’s beloved Hero to Rox Kingdom.

Even now, he was staying in the Hero’s holiday villa.

「What in the hell are you doing, Hyllus?!」

Lucullus shouted.

Then he quickly shut his mouth as soon as he realized what he did just now. He was currently in the Hero’s holiday villa, it was unbecoming of him to raise his voice.

「Is something the matter, Lucullus-dono?」

A girl came in because of Lucullus’ scream.

「Ah, Chiyuki-sama.」

Lucullus respectfully bowed to the girl then raised his face.

The girl was beautiful.

The Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

That was what the people called her.

She looked like any normal girl at first glance. But, the girl was immensely powerful, to the point that not even the combined forces of the entire magic battalion of the Holy Republic of Lenaria could beat her.

Lucullus felt that maybe not even the chairman of the magic academy, Saria, could rival her.

As for the reason why she was called “Black Haired Sage”, it was because the sight of her wet, long black hair after she took a bath was enough to even shake the heart of a faithful husband.

「The soldiers sent out to investigate in the city have yet to return.」

「Investigation… ah, certainly, our side is the one who asked for your help. My apologies for pushing such a troublesome job on you, Lucullus-dono.」

Lucullus looked troubled upon seeing someone whose status was higher than him apologize to him.

「Don’t worry about it, it’s our job as Temple Knights to assist you.」

He straightened his back as he replied to her.

The Hero and his companions were currently looking for someone, thus it was only natural for Lucullus and his subordinates to help them.

The person they were looking for could use invisibility magic, that’s why Lucullus assigned Hyllus, one of his subordinates who excelled in magic, to lead the investigation. Hyllus was gifted with an ability called “Phantom Breaker”, it was an ability that allowed its user to see through any kind of magic or illusion except for the Fairies’ Dancer Illusion. However, even with this setback, he was still considered amongst the top class in this field.

That was why Lucullus chose Hyllus to lead the investigation.

But then, he realized that he made a mistake.

Though Hyllus’ ability amongst the Temple Knights placed him as the first or second strongest, his conduct was a mess and often caused problems.

Hyllus’ problematic behaviour was often overlooked due to his rare ability and the fact that he was Lucullus’ benefactor’s nephew, who also happened to be the leader of the Temple Knights, Boven.

Thus, there was a high possibility that even the other knights who went to investigate with Hyllus would be affected by the latter’s problematic behaviour as, on top of being noble born like Hyllus, they were originally Hyllus’ comrades.

（Why am I assigned with such problematic subordinates?! Please don’t push such trouble on me alone, commander Boven!）

Lucullus mentally complained to his benefactor, who was currently in the Holy Republic of Lenaria.

The time of Hyllus and co’s return had long since passed. Lucullus knew deep down inside that their tardiness was probably because they were fooling around with women during their duty.

Though something might have happened to them during the investigation, they were already given a flute to blow when facing danger or in case of an emergency.

Since they couldn’t even do that, they were already considered incompetent Temple Knights.

To make matters worse, he couldn’t dispatch other members of his troops since it would decrease the number of escorts, which was already kept to a minimum.

That’s why Lucullus was in a really bad mood right now.

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「I will punish them once they come back from their duty.」

「Then, please give them a lenient punishment, we’re originally the ones who imposed this request on your group after all.」

Black Haired Sage Chiyuki was covering for Hyllus and co since it was a fact that they asked for the Temple Knights’ help.

Though many feared the Black Haired Sage due to her ability to use powerful magic despite her young age, after travelling together with the Hero and his companions, Lucullus realized that the girl they feared was in fact a kind and gentle person.

「Come to think of it, Lucullus-dono, do you know Reiji’s whereabouts right now?」

「Hero-sama’s whereabouts? If I remember correctly, he should be in his own room, but I’m not sure right now since no one has entered his room for a while. Have you checked his room? 」

If they were to state facts, the hero was his escort target, so he should have known where his target was. But Lucullus and his subordinates often lost sight of the one they were protecting due to the huge disparity between Reiji’s power and their own.

Thus, Chiyuki didn’t blame Lucullus in regard to this matter, she understood how difficult this job was.

「Good grief, just where in the world is he right now.」

Thus, the girl called Black Haired Sage could only heave a sigh.

◆

The Hero, Reiji, was currently sleeping with a woman on a bed in a certain dodgy location in Rox Kingdom.

That woman was the very princess of Rox Kingdom, Almina.

Reiji had had many relationships with many women in this world. But, just like in Japan, the relationships were mainly requested by the women themselves.

Though he would take the initiative every once in a while, he never forced a woman to have sex with him. If he was refused, he would immediately back down.

That was why he had never had sex with Chiyuki or Shirone.

The fastidious Chiyuki had blatantly rejected him, while Shirone never gave him the chance to seduce her; she was unbreakable.

But, despite suffering a loss every now and then, the number of women who got hooked by him far outstripped these losses, thus he never lacked any women in his life and never knew what it felt like, unlike a certain black haired youth.

And Almina just happened to be one of those convenient women.

This country was raided by Striges sometime ago. At the time, Almina had been kidnapped by them and was about to become their sacrifice. It was at her last moments that Reiji came in to save the day.

That’s why Almina fell in love with Reiji.

「Reiji-sama.」

On top of the bed, Almina brought her face closer to her beloved man’s chest. Unlike the last time she saw his body, there was now a long and ugly scar that ran from her man’s right shoulder all the way until his left hip. Almina softly grazed the scar with her fingers as she thought of the culprit. Her hatred towards the Dark Knight, who had left that ugly scar on Reiji, hailed as the Hero of Light, bubbled.

She heard that the scar left by the Dark Knight was infused with an extremely powerful curse, one that prevented even Saint Sahoko’s healing magic from erasing the scar.

「How dare that Dark Knight leave this ugly scar on Goddess-sama’s lover. Goddess Rena will surely punish him for doing this.」 [TL : Yup, she’ll punish him, ON THE BED]

Reiji smiled wryly upon hearing Almina’s words.

「That guy is dangerous. The one who will defeat him is me. It’s my duty as Rena’s hero. Though I let my guard down before, which resulted in my defeat, I won’t lose to him in our next encounter.」

Reiji replied with a refreshing smile.

「As expected of Reiji-sama. Goddess-sama would surely have been delighted if she had hear your words just now.」 [TL : She wouldn’t!!]

Almina felt exactly as she said.

（Does he embrace Goddess-sama the same way he does with me?）