Chapter 172 – Sun and Moon – 1
“Long time no see, Helga. It’s been four days, how have you been?”
I waved at the shuffling Helga. I could hear snickers behind me. The other members were watching us with playful eyes.
Helga bowed her head, her face filled with shame and embarrassment. The dazed look she used to have was nowhere to be found.
“…Yes, I’ve been well. I’m really sorry for my reckless behavior.”
“No need to apologize. I understand perfectly. That’s why I deliberately waited for you to feel okay, right?”
The other members’ snickers reached my ears. Most were encouraging Helga to approach boldly just as she had done before.
Helga couldn’t muster a decent retort and merely trembled in place.
‘Did I say too much?’
Watching her, I felt a hint of sympathy. It meant they were close enough to tease each other, but Helga looked so red-faced that it was hard not to feel sorry for her.
Moreover, I had realized that those actions stemmed from her feelings for me.
‘I never expected that to apply here too.’
Demon amplifies the fundamental emotions of humans.
Even when I used the book to kill Aurora’s father, that guy didn’t charge at me immediately; he first threw out lies to stir up desire before going crazy.
According to Stella, the Behemoth’s ability to enchant was the same.
Helga sticking to me after being enchanted meant she had a favorable impression of me. Not in a romantic sense, but in terms of being a good superior.
If it was just positive feelings, it would all have been distorted into sexual desire. Demons were creatures of that sort.
Of course, even without any attraction, it wasn’t impossible to incite desire, but the kind of scenario where they rush at you the moment they see you, like with Helga, was rare unless the demon had specific intentions.
Especially if they were in an imperfectly resurrected state like the Behemoth.
The people in this city who merely stared at me as I passed by were the perfect example. They just looked but didn’t attempt to directly act on anything.
‘The enchantment I experienced in the game has to be different in nature.’
That was the conclusion I reached after hearing Stella’s explanation. The nature of the status ailment was fundamentally different.
In the game, the Behemoth used enchantment to gain power by making humans worship it, so basically everyone enchanted by it was declared a heretic.
No matter the cause and process, the result was that they had worshipped a demon. Thus, no matter how quickly the player acted, the number of victims was huge.
However, the enchantment used by this Behemoth was honestly more akin to lust than mere enchantment. It was unclear which modification was at play.
‘I guess Iris too…’
Iris’s case was similar. After hearing Stella’s explanation, it was clear why Iris’s symptoms were much more severe than Helga’s.
Iris’s feelings for me were significantly stronger than Helga’s. While we hadn’t spent a lot of time together, I had essentially saved the Silver Dawn Knights.
I had killed the former lord, helping them breathe again, and ultimately assisted them in returning to the palace to regain their original position. It was more unnatural for her not to have positive feelings for me.
Those positive feelings had completely morphed into sexual desire, so it made sense she would actively cling to me much more than Helga.
‘I hope next time we meet it won’t be awkward. Otherwise, Lize might interrogate me about what went down between us while I was away.’
Iris, whose body had recovered, dashed off with a flushed face, saying she would return once she completed her orders after hearing that her actions stemmed from her feelings for me.
Thanks to that, I couldn’t explain that those feelings didn’t necessarily mean love but encompassed all positive emotions.
‘Well, I’m sure she understands.’
She wasn’t a child; there was no way she would think of feelings solely as love.
“Distinguished Guest, are you all set?”
Stella approached me with a bright smile. I turned to Helga.
“They say it’s ready, how about you, Helga?”
“It’s perfect.”
Helga, finally free from teasing, quickly responded. The other members erased their smiles and took their positions.
“Yes, we’re finished as well.”
Behind Stella, battle nuns armed with flails and shields stood in formation like a single body. The shields gleamed as they caught the sunlight.
Selene’s spot was right next to Stella, and behind her lined up battle nuns wearing translucent tights and leather jackets, wielding rapiers.
Whether it was due to following their superior’s personality and appearance or not, their appearances were exactly contrasting.
“Inquisitor, how do you find it?”
Stella smiled sweetly as she shook the Behemoth’s head in her right hand. This was a particularly special situation, as they planned to purify it after recording it in the archives.
The head was wrapped in a white veil near its eyes. It was revealed that Iris had been enchanted because she had made eye contact with the Behemoth.
Having divine power would be no problem, but it was a precaution considering any unexpected circumstances.
And this would also be recorded in the archives. It was likely the first time an ordinary person had made eye contact with a dead demon without divine power.
It was also the first case where they had slain a demon and left the corpse behind, so there was no doubt.
“Alright. Everyone, get ready. You’re heading back to the castle first.”
“Aren’t you coming with us, Commander?”
“I have some business in the Holy Kingdom. Nix will be carrying the report for the lord, so just take it to him, and Helga, you go to the lord’s mansion to deliver that.”
“Understood.”
We were getting ready to leave this city merely four days after our arrival. In the game, the Inquisitor had stayed quite a while, but that was no longer necessary.
Unlike the game story where the Behemoth fully resurrected and caused serious havoc in the city, it had been imperfectly resurrected this time and was immediately subdued upon awakening, resulting in relatively light damage.
We could easily conceal the truth of the incident by passing it off as simply the resurrection commotion of demon worshippers.
For reference, all the men had been locked in the basement of a building. It wasn’t too hard to imagine what the women had done to them.
The collective actions of the women were brushed off as being the means of the demons’ malicious powers.
A very convenient all-purpose spell.
“I’ll be right back, Inquisitor.”
“Of course. I’ll wait as long as you need. Take your time.”
I left Stella and Selene behind and headed toward the small hut where Nix lived.
As soon as I approached, Nix, who had been peacefully sleeping with soft snoring on the bed, sat up upon hearing my footsteps. Her chest bobbed precariously, threatening to spill out of her blouse.
Nix rubbed her eyes and looked up at me with a creepy grin.
“Hehe, hello?”
“You’re using honorifics now?”
“Yeah, hehe. I came out yesterday, you know.”
The sleepy Nix clung to me with a grin. I stepped out of the hut with her hanging on me. A few members watched with wide eyes.
“We’re heading back to the castle now. Are you ready?”
“Oh, is that so? Hehe. Alright.”
With a tiny snap of her fingers, black flames cascaded down, burning the hut to the ground. It seemed like there was nothing to take inside.
It did look like there was quite a bit, though.
Strangely enough, the black flames only burned the hut. Even if raw wood doesn’t catch fire easily, the piles of leaves around it remained untouched.
“Hehe, see you later.”
Nix cleaned up the hut with a snap, waved at me while preparing for teleportation. Soon, the magic circle emitted a glowing black light, and the figures of Helga and the other members vanished entirely.
After checking that even the traces of the magic circle had disappeared, I returned to the spot where Stella and Selene were waiting. As I returned alone, the gazes of the battle nuns shifted to a very intimidating sort.
“It’s an honor to serve you once more, Distinguished Guest.”
Stella approach me with a bright smile. Beside her, Selene came up holding a sacred catalyst with a faint crescent moon pattern.
“I’m sure Your Holiness will be pleased.”
“…Lize, is it alright for a moment?”
Having returned to the Imperial Palace, Iris found Lize first after reporting to Kaiquilia. Lize, who had just finished her duties and was resting in the room, growled upon seeing Iris.
“Did you have fun on a date with my boyfriend while I was gone? It must have been sweet as honey, huh?”
Claudia chuckled while watching, placing her hand on Erica’s shoulder. She knew it wasn’t true anger; it was merely a light-hearted pout.
Even Erica, who was polishing her armor, frowned at Claudia’s antics but showed no signs of stopping Lize.
“…It’s related to Delta, Lize. I’d like you to listen.”
Lize’s expression changed at that. Claudia and Erica also stiffened and shifted their posture.
With an expression of hard determination, Iris spoke about Delta. It was a combination that couldn’t help but bring ominous thoughts.
Lize raised her voice slightly.
“…What? Did something happen to Delta?”
“That is…”
As Iris hesitated, an impatient Lize marched towards her. Then she roughly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her closer.
“What happened to Delta? Why can’t you answer?”
In this moment, two things that Delta had overlooked became apparent.
“I…”
The first was that he hadn’t explained to Iris why corpses could enchant or why the effects of enchantment varied from person to person.
“D-Delta…”
The second was that Iris had recklessly combined the word “like” from her actions and Stella’s explanations, concluding her state of mind.
“…I think I like him.”
ㅡclang!
The helmet, which had just been polished, fell with a loud sound, rolling off onto other parts of the armor.
