"Hah, seriously… seems like I had interrupted you when you're going to the hotel."
"Huh?"
"I'll take my leave now. Both of you could use one room as you pleased."
Don't know what made him felt so unsatisfied that he just left the room after he angrily kicked the door opened.
"…, what's wrong with him?"
"I don't know either."
Captain Jullius paused for a moment, before continued to speak.
"Well, sometimes he's rather weird."
"Oh, I see."
Turns out he's a mad person since the beginning. I get it now.
"Looks like we're only given this one room."
Just because he was in a bad mood, he reduced the room given to us to just one room? How stingy!
After hearing my words, Captain Jullius looked at the bed.
"Don't worry. It won't be cramped."
The bed in the middle of the room was indeed very big that even if there're three people slept on it together, it still wouldn't be cramped out.
"I shouldn't have wished that he would gave me a nightgown to change into when he only let us use this one room, right?"
Tsk, my dress would get wrinkled when I return home tomorrow if I just slept without changing my dress. I think I could just take off my dress and went to sleep wearing the inner garments. The inner garments was not that different with a nightgown anyways. That silly brat was really a cheapskate! He had dragged us from the hotel to his house, that means he should have served us well as his guests!
While I was trying not to grumbling too much, I turned around to face Captain Jullius. In contrast with me, Captain Jullius was wearing a comfortable nightgo–… huh?
"Captain Jullius."
I immediately approached him and grabbed the front lapel of his nightgown which exposed some of his skin. On the surface of his well-built broad chest, there're lots of evident scars. I knew that it's a normal thing for those who often involved in various battles would have some scars on their bodies, but these're too much. Besides…
As far as I knew, Captain Jullius was taken in under the Emperor's wing before he's 20 years old.
No one knew how old his real age was precisely, but from the rumors I've heard before, he's in mid-twenties now. The Imperial family, included the official Imperial Knights always brought more than one Priest whenever they went for a conquest. That was to say, there shouldn't be any deep visible scars like these. Not to mention that even the probationary knights would get treated immediately when they got hurt so they hardly had any scars left on their bodies. Most likely, the scars on Captain Jullius…
He must have gotten these scars when he's still a child.
I roughly guessed it was when he's in early teens or even younger than that. After I reached a conclusion, my mood worsened. I looked up to face Captain Jullius without letting go of his lapel.
"Which bastard did these to you?"
"Most of them had died."
"It means there're still some out there."
Those crazy bastards who were lesser than a dog for abusing a little child, should have been punished on behalf of the Goddess. The Goddess would be more than willing to punish them with a smile, so those still alive bastards must be exterminated as soon as possible.
"Who are they?"
As I asked him, I could see his hesitation on his pale-greyish eyes which were similar to the color of the sky before the rain falls. Right before the rain falls is my most favorite moments. Well, except when I was in the middle of camping.
"I can't say it."
"Why?"
"They said, I shouldn't talk about my past carelessly."
"I will keep it a secret."
"…"
"I swear."
No matter how I persuade him, he still tightly pursed his lips and won't tell anything. Although I cared about him, our relationship wasn't close enough. I should have just given up, but somehow it piqued my unyielding spirit. I let my hands off his lapel and reached out to Captain Jullius' right hand. My assistant had warned me before that I should never do this, but it won't be any problems as long as no ones know about it.
"I swear in the name of the Goddess."
"… The Goddess?"
"Yes. A clergy will instantly lost his blessings at the very moment he breaks the oath sworn with the Goddess' name. In short, I would lost my holy power if I ever violated the oath. For a devoted clergy, lossing his holy power is much more painful than death. Even though I still hasn't become a clergy yet, but I intented to be one so I hope you can trust me."
My assistant in Holy Knight Squad had told me for countless times not to recklessly made an oath sworn with the Goddess' name. It's a dangerous thing to do. Captain Jullius could forced me to violate the oath by held captive some innocent hostages to threatened me if he'd a wicked heart. Thankfully, he's not someone who would do evil things. I'm sure he's a good person even though we have just known each other yesterday.
Captain Jullius looked confused after he heard my explaination.
"You don't have to go that far…"
"It's fine. Just give me your hand and trust me! I only have to keep this secret until I died."
"But, it could harm you…"
"It's okay. We will be working together in the future anyways. It's not that bad to gain your trust by doing this. Therefore, there won't be any problem that could arise caused by suspicion between us."
"It's not that I don't trust you, Miss Epheria. On the contrary, I trust you."
I held his hand and spread his fingers one after another to open his palm while saying, "All is good then. I also think that Captain Jullius is a trustworthy person."
I saw another old scar on his palm and I really don't like it. Can't we removed these scars? Should I ask the High Priest to lend me a hand? While I was thinking on how to ask the High Priest to help me when I got the chance in the future, I drew a symbol of the Goddess with holy power onto Captain Jullius' palm.
"In the name of the Goddess, I–"
Ugh… I couldn't refer myself as 'Silla Epheria'. And I couldn't refer myself as 'Roel',-the Captain of the Holy Knights-, even more. I could only said it to myself inside my heart. It won't be any problem though.
"–swear not to tell anything to anyone about what I will hear from the Captain of Special Task Squad, Jullius Rizar, right at this moment."
A light emerged from the symbol I drew on Captain Jullius' palm, then the light dispersed before it vanished. I pressed my own palm with his palm while looking at him right in front of his face.
"Now Captain Jullius can tell me more about it right?"
"… alright."
"Which bastard did it?"
"Demon clan."
His unexpected answer made me instantly widened my eyes. If it's demon clan, could it be…
"Were you offered as sacrifices for the demons?"
Long time ago, the Goddess pursued the demons until they're cornered to the Northern lands. After the Northern lands were seperated by the Black Desert, it's extremely rare for humans to be able to meet any demons. Except, if they established a contract. Therefore, almost all human children that's related to the demons were sacrifices.
"Yes. Right after I was born."
His answer was within my presumption. That means, there're people who offered a newborn baby to the demons which likely to be at least equivalent to those of demon kings level? Not only his soul, but also his body were offered as sacrifices? Or perhaps, they just offered the body as the sacrifices? Without making any contract, just a living human body could be offered as sacrifices.
In that case, could it be that Captain Jullius… although this sounds impossible to do…
"Captain Jullius crossed over the Black Desert?"
He nodded. Oh my Goddess! I was already beyond surprised with him being able to survive in the lands full of demons, but he also crossed over that Black Desert? Even if I have my original body, it's still hard for me, but he was able to do it at such a young age and without any holy power on top of that?! Damn! Seems like it's true that Captain Jullius was much stronger than me.
Sigh… I couldn't imagine how hard his life was from when he's still a baby until he could crossed over the Black Desert all by himself. Let alone crossed over the Black Desert, even for any normal people, they would had been dead long before that.
"…, so this matter was kept as secret because it's related to the demons?"
"I was told it's for my own good."
"Of course! Having an unclear origin is many times better than letting other people know about the truth."