Chapter 25
As the sunset that warmly dyed the room surged in through the window, he finally opened his eyes.
The familiar ceiling was the first thing to enter his view.
“Awake already?”
When he turned his still-drowsy gaze toward the source of the voice, he saw the sun being swallowed by the horizon to his right.
The light was so intense that he furrowed his brow.
“…Just a moment. I will draw the curtains.”
Because the speaker was sitting beside the bed with the window behind her, he could not see her face clearly.
But it was a voice he recognized at once.
‘…Which cycle is this now? It cannot be a dream.’
His sleep-heavy mind had not yet fully caught up.
More than anything, his head felt unbearably heavy.
Grabbing at his aching hair, he blurted out a question.
“Black hair?”
“Pardon?”
“White. No, that is not it. That cycle definitely ended with me being devoured…”
He groaned, then suddenly lifted his head.
“…Red hair?”
“Uh, yes? Red hair. That is right. You are the only person I have ever seen with such red hair.”
The woman, flustered by the sudden exchange, soon nodded.
“But is that a question you must always ask when you wake up? I feel like you asked me the same thing the first day we met, Young Master…”
Red hair!
A bolt of realization struck his mind.
Aquila Reschenhardt threw off the covers and abruptly sat up.
“…Urgh!”
His vision immediately spun, dizziness crashing over him.
Aquila slammed his back into the bed again and clutched his head.
“Honestly! You should not get up so suddenly!”
A familiar face came into his view.
A woman with brown hair tied up high as usual.
Yujelia, her face full of alarm, hurried closer to the bed to examine him.
Instead of her usual pure white robe, she was dressed in comfortable clothing.
“Is your headache severe? I am not sure how much this will help, but please hold still…”
Yujelia carefully placed her hand against Aquila’s head.
From that point, a gentle energy flowed in like a wave.
Divine Power of the Sun God.
An energy much like her own disposition slowly pushed back the pounding pain in Aquila’s head.
Breathing more easily, Aquila looked at his disheveled hair spread across the sheets.
Red hair.
The mark granted only to one who had received the blessing of the Red Dragon.
Recalling the moments before he lost consciousness, Aquila summoned his status window.
【30th Cycle Possession Target: Aquila Reschenhardt】
The now-familiar name greeted him.
‘It really is the thirtieth cycle. Unfortunately, my mind is still intact.’
Aquila quickly scanned the status window.
【Mana below 5 percent. Caution advised!】
【Status: Fatigue】
His Mana was still at rock bottom from using the skill, but perhaps because the measures had been taken in time, his current condition was not too bad.
Just before he passed out, it had felt as though someone were squeezing his heart dry, but that pain was gone now.
Ignoring the yellow warning window, Aquila shifted his gaze.
Only after confirming that the protection of the Sun God was still flickering did he dismiss the status window.
‘This is acceptable. It is a miracle I did not die.’
“This time—no, this time as well, you nearly died.”
Yujelia spoke softly.
Her tone was calm, as if stating a fact, but concern for Aquila was mixed into it.
“…More importantly, are you all right, Lady Yujelia?”
“Me? Oh, well. I just fainted. I actually feel refreshed after sleeping it off.”
Yujelia replied lightly, smiling.
Despite surely having heard what Martio had intended to do to her, rather than merely being drugged and locked in the confessional, she showed no particular reaction.
‘No, wait. Has she not heard yet? Then why is Yujelia here?’
Thinking it over, the fact that Yujelia was at his side at all was strange.
The last time he had seen her, she had been unconscious.
Aquila raised a puzzled expression.
“You have not been awake for long, have you? Judging by the time now…”
“Oh, no. Vice-Captain Cahena helped me, so I woke up right away. Rather, you did not wake up for an entire day, and Shen was terribly worried.”
“…A whole day?”
Aquila snapped his head up.
“Yes. I was told your Mana depletion was quite severe. Still, since treatment was administered in time, there should not be any major aftereffects…”
Yujelia’s expression darkened.
Since the day she first met Aquila, he had nearly died twice already.
But Aquila hardly heard her words.
‘I lost an entire day just from Mana depletion?’
Normally, once Mana recovered to a certain degree, he should have regained consciousness within an hour.
Even allowing generous time, three hours would have been more than enough.
Was it because this body was not in a normal condition after all?
Considering the original Mana vessel of this body, it likely could not even store that much Mana, so the backlash when depletion occurred may have been severe.
It was probably his first time experiencing Mana depletion as well.
‘A body like glass. What a nuisance.’
Furrowing his brow, Aquila forced himself upright.
Perhaps because he had been exposed to Divine Power, the dizziness was less severe than before.
“Young Master, you should not move yet—”
“Please call Shen and Cahena… no. Please call Ianpel as well.”
As Yujelia tried to make him lie back down, Aquila quickly stopped her.
“Ah, not just the two of them, but Ianpel as well?”
“Yes. They will be waiting for me to wake up anyway.”
Aquila looked around.
The place where he had awakened was a room prepared for patients in one wing of the Grand Temple of Portplum.
Even without seeing the decorations engraved with Raspalara’s emblem, the layout alone was familiar.
It was a place he had often visited back when he served as a priest at the Grand Temple of Portplum.
Given the circumstances before he lost consciousness, the fact that he had awakened here rather than in the underground prison said a great deal.
‘It seems Ianpel brought the holy knights and explained the situation properly.’
There had been clear evidence to begin with, so it was only natural.
“This is urgent, so please do it right away.”
Yujelia, who had been briefly lost in thought, immediately changed her expression at Aquila’s insistence and nodded.
“…All right! But you must not get out of bed!”
Putting on a stern face, Yujelia hurried outside.
Watching her retreating figure, Aquila’s expression hardened as the door closed.
‘If a full day has passed, information from here may already have reached Igrail. I need to plan with that in mind.’
Aquila threw off the covers and got out of bed.
Until the people Yujelia had gone to call returned, his mind worked busily.
***
“…And so, we confirmed the beast’s fang-shaped mark of the Guild of Darkness and recovered the body. The evidence was very clear, and thanks to Priest Chelsey testifying about past incidents, Martio was immediately imprisoned.”
Ianpel’s pale violet eyes turned toward Aquila.
“That is the situation immediately after you lost consciousness. Do you have any further questions?”
Finishing his explanation, Ianpel smiled gently.
Upon hearing that Aquila had awakened, Shen and Cahena had rushed in first, pouring out their concern.
Before Aquila could even review the situation, Ianpel arrived.
And as soon as he sat on the sofa, he provided a full account of what happened after Aquila fainted, without Aquila even needing to ask.
‘At least in matters like this, I appreciate that he wastes no time at all.’
Aquila carefully lifted the cup placed on the table.
Perhaps because the explanation had been given so quickly, steam was still rising from the teacup.
“What will happen to Bishop Martio?”
“Criminal Martio will be transported to Saintroia, where the Holy See resides, and then brought before a sacred tribunal.”
“A formality, I presume.”
“Yes. You know well, don't you? They will hold a trial, but… it will likely end in execution.”
Ianpel smiled as though it were obvious.
“He colluded with the Guild of Darkness and sold orphans. The end of criminals is usually like that.”
No one present seemed surprised, as though everyone but Aquila had already known.
Aquila himself was not shocked by the news of Martio’s execution.
He had already anticipated how the Temple of the Sun would deal with a bishop.
The only one whose expression changed was Yujelia.
It was not sympathy or pity, but rather the complex emotions that arose upon hearing of the execution of someone she had known for a long time.
“Still, I truly was surprised. I thought it would take more time, yet we managed to apprehend Martio so easily.”
Ianpel looked pleased.
And understandably so, since he had been pondering how to bring down Martio from his position as bishop.
It was said that Priest Chelsey had allied herself with Ianpel precisely to report Martio.
While he had been slowly gathering information and waiting for the right moment, this incident had practically fallen into his lap.
‘The one who should have died from the Curse of Deadly Poison walked into the temple alive, so the Guild of Darkness must have been in a panic.’
In any case, when they tried to withdraw quickly, they ended up exposing themselves to Aquila instead.
“I will overlook the fact that you infiltrated the temple this once. There will not be a second time.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Still, I did not expect you to find the secret passage. Did you know it was there?”
“I am rather clever at finding such things.”
“Confidence is a good trait.”
After saying that, Ianpel clasped his hands together.
“Then shall we speak more properly now? I am the type who prefers clear exchanges of compensation.”
Aquila lifted the corner of his mouth in a knowing smile.
Unintentionally, he had ended up doing Ianpel many favors, but that only meant the range of what he could demand in return had grown.
The more so, the harder it would be for Ianpel to refuse.
Aquila brushed his hair back.
“Under normal circumstances, I would have taken my time negotiating every detail, but this time I have already decided.”
“And what would that be?”
“Lend me the holy knights.”
The holy knight order of the Grand Temple of Portplum.
Their martial strength was in no way inferior to the Imperial Knights, and they even possessed healing capabilities.
They would not move for a purely personal request, but—
Ianpel nodded silently.
“I expected as much, since you claimed to know the culprit and a way to capture the Guild of Darkness. I still cannot fully believe that catching that culprit will also lead us to the Guild of Darkness, though.”
“You will find out in due time. Not now, but later.”
“Even so, I cannot lend them all. They are a source of pride, and their price is rather high.”
“A few will suffice. For now.”
“For now…”
Ianpel’s pale violet eyes studied Aquila.
“Where do you intend to go with them?”
“Obviously, to Igrail.”
“The holy knights of the Grand Temple of Portplum setting foot on Igrail’s land… You know better than anyone that this will not be easy.”
The holy knights followed the will of the god, but as their name implied, they were ultimately an armed force.
Such a group stepping onto another’s territory without justification was bound to cause problems.
All the more so since the Reschenhardt autonomous territory worshiped a great ancient dragon.
If mishandled, the issue could escalate severely.
Aquila was well aware of that fact.
However, If justification did not exist, it could be created.
Aquila’s gaze shot straight at Ianpel.
“Then please lend me the Temple of the Sun’s artifact, the ‘Scales of Judgment.’”