Chapter 68 - When The Night Is Not, Part-1

A sword landed just an inch away from Priest's cheek. This does caught her off-guard, too...

As sword backed up I grabbed it.

"Sneak attack. Coward!"

I shattered the sword as I launched a heavy kick behind.

"Graaaghh!!!"

The person behind me was certainly pushed back.

I let go of Priest as I turned around.

"Why intrude in others business..."

I walked towards the knight who sneak attacked. He held his solar plexus, hugging his abdomen. No deny he went flying.

"Tell me, where are you Pishachas even coming from? You don't belong here,"

"Bastard!! So you're aware of that—"

"Of course I am..." I got close enough to Pishacha in disguise of knight.

"Then you must know that you shouldn't get too close!— Huh?"

I extended my hand as I saw the Pishacha eradicating from behind of my palm.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.

No way a Pishacha could be hurt by physical means. One just have to wipe their existence.

I then turned my attention back to young lady, who seem bewildered for whatever reason.

"I-I see, so that's how it is..." She murmured.

"...Well then, I don't mind extra hands." She nodded to herself.

𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨?

"What?... What are you staring at? Come here and give me a hand." Then she went ahead and started bossing me around.

I just followed the lead as she went through all sort of stuff. As she search, her expressions become grim and that of frustrated.

I too went through and apparently, there was not a thing or clue.

"...Such a waste of time," I could not help but agree with Priest.

"Though... That was smooth by the way," It was aimed for me.

"You got, surprisingly, a good head on your shoulders,"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Apparently, Priest was quite smart. I thought of using force if she never trusted me, but things not went that way.

Extinguishing common enemy was enough for her to co-operate.

"So, what got your interest in Lucia?"

"Pardon..."

That was unexpected.

"Well, it seem to me, that you care a little lot about her~" She said, as she finished last bit of her investigation.

"What made you think that?"

"Heh~ I can tell... Just by looking at you," She state as she peered into my eyes.

"Why, it seem I hit the spot," She smirked.

"...I am hired for her protection, a mere bodyguard."

She found this even more amusing.

"What? Is it odd of me to be concerned about Princess?"

"No no, definitely not, ehe~"

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺!

What is it she even want, I wonder?

As if she read my mind, she stated,

"Fret not! I only don't like you,"

"That's... sad,"

As if I cared, but it still hurts to be hated.

"If you're done, shall we proceed."

"Yea yea, don't boss me around." So unlike of Priest.

With that, she was back to her whatsoever annoyed face.

𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦...

I could not help but sigh.

"What are you staring at?" Priest glared.

"Nothing... Just disgrace that your bitter tongue not goes with that elegant face..."

"Y-You! Eww, gross!" She turned away as she threw those sharp words.

No deny, she was stunned for the slightest moment.

We made our way out of the room. The door shutdown, and there was just dark in church.

To be honest, I would love to work alone. That too is the reason why I spend the other two off.

This mission could have been great opportunity to scout Curna but, sometimes... its better to have knowledge reserved. Moreover,

"So, where are we heading to?" I asked the priest.

"To the chancel..."

Apparently, she refrained herself to provide anything.

𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴...

I too want to make this as trustful as possible. Power cause fear after all.

It was dark all along. No light only from that of moon and stars.

"Its dark here isn't it?"

"It is... But why I wonder,"

"That's what we're here for."

No candles. No lamps, nothing. The existence of Pishachas was one thing, but could led to blackout, yet another mystery.

With the about silence, only the sound of us walking, we made it to chancel.

"It dark here too, huh..."

Priest paid her respect to lord before keenly observing the surrounding.

I took a seat, let young lady do whenever she had in mind. All I could do was to keep the gaurd. It not necessary need for me to keep standing?

No matter how you see this, it would make no sense for something to be hidden in such obvious place.

Yet young lady had her intuitions so... guess nothing I could do.

As I sat there, I started planning ahead. I might be taking things slow, but I was in no hurry. I had accomplished most of it, that I came for in the first place.

"Hmm..."

"What is it? You figured out any?" Priest asked unsettled.

"Nope... Just my wild imagination."

Then she lost all her interest.

𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸...

I got up as the same time some presence entered the chancel.

Priest too, alert, turned around.

Four men, knights. Guards maybe.

"Lady—! Your holiness, what brings you here?" One of them asked as he approached.

"Ah, I left a thing here so I—?" I pulled priest by her hand and stood in guard of her.

"What—? Oh... I see..." As if realising, she too took her cover behind me.

I launched flame buring three knights, or Pishachas to be more accurate, in instant.

""AAARGGHHGAA!!!"

They were incinerated.

"W-Wha—?!" Last of them, who also seem pretty human to me, was in utter disbelief.

"Y-You bastard!!" He tried to attack me with a knight, only to be kicked hard in gut.

"AUAAagh!!" His sword slipped as he held his gut in pain.

In that instant, threw a knife at my eye followed by a piercing glare.

I just stopped before it could touch me,

"I see... Rather accurate ain'tcha,"

And delivered it back to him, his eye, as I saw his soul leaving his body behind.

𝘈𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺.

"Wow... Your quick," Priest said in amazement.

"Well, sometimes yes sometimes not... I like to take thing slow~"

At my words, she gave a rather disgusted look while taking aback.

𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦... 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭... 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦!

"Get aside! Let me explore him." That's what she said as Priest started examining corpse.

There is still a lot for me to extract out from here but it not be obtain by simple means. In fact, I had to go through all sort of things to finnally investigate this place... though most of it was in vain. Not that I can complain.

But—, I did had other plans but I pretty much accomplished most of what I came here for today.

I would love to get ins and outs of Kingdom, for that I wanted to use Lucia but, as for now, she is completely, utterly, properly useless. Not to mention that I gave my words, her protection.

𝘚𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳... 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰.

As I was thinking what to do about current situation, brightness took over the chancel.

"Huh? What in the world—," Priest stood up as we both witness rays of light piercing through windows, taking over the darkness of room. The idol of deity, I could clearly see it was resembling to someone I know but not to that extent.

"What the hell is going here?!!" Young lady was was confused to her wits. And why not... It was as if it was noon outside.

"Is it morning already?!"

Of course not. There was no way for such phenomenon to occur, especially in my presence.

"Hurry, it seem the time is up. We better get going." I took her hand and rushed out of church.

"W-What is going on?! I can't comprehend!"

As we ran through corridor, we also turned our attention outside to understand the situation better.

To my surprise, the moon was nowhere to be found.

It was replaced by something contradicting.

"I-Is that, the sun?!" Priest was even more shocked.

"It seem so, yes... But is it,"

"A-And why is to huge?!!"

The Sun that overlapped the moon was bigger than usual... much bigger.

"I-It is as if... As if the Sun just got closer to us!! Hey, are we gonna burn?! Are We Gonna Evaporate?!!"

. . . . .