Chapter 129 : Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Evan (6)

Lilith's Embrace, cast by the witch, was naturally blocked by the 'Star's Blessing'.

I just played along, pretending to be cursed, and she fell for it.

Anyway.

The fight was over and we were able to successfully finish the bounty hunt that we thought was impossible.

We cut off the heads of the wanted criminals, which could be called their tokens and put them one by one into the cloth bag Evan had brought, then stored them in Evan's subspace.

When we returned to Icata, Evan would submit them all at once to the Capital Defense Headquarters, receive the bounty and then come to the Academy to distribute our shares.

After the battle, we searched the inside of the temple.

I wondered if there would be anything of value, but it was a futile effort.

The witch, Griselda's, words were a lie (though I hadn't expected much anyway) and the treasury was full of only the corpses of people who had been sacrificed.

“……I killed her too easily.”

And so, the Church of Truth disappeared.

I wanted to screw over the mayor of Iberito and his underlings who had been backing the Church of Truth, but it was just a thought.

I didn't have the luxury to put it into practice, nor was it something we had to solve.

As soon as the day broke, we took an airship back to Icata.

And the next day, I was able to meet Evan again at the lunch special lecture.

As soon as we met, Evan suddenly held out two money pouches to me.

They were similar in size and when I took them, the weight felt the same.

“Yours and Yuria's shares.”

I set aside Yuria's and took out two gold coins from my share of the pouch and handed them to him.

But Evan shook his head.

“You don't have to give it to me.”

“Why?”

“Isn't it the tuition fee?”

“It is, but.”

This bounty hunt was conducted under Evan's leadership, not mine and Yuria's.

In addition, the bounty was a secondary objective and the main objective was Evan's teaching.

So I was just giving him the tuition fee we had promised at first, and there was no other reason.

But Evan stubbornly refused it.

“I taught you nothing on this expedition. I thought there would be things to teach you, like how to attack and deal with villains, and how to make a plan, but it seemed unnecessary.”

Well, it was true that I was an expert in catching villains and making plans.

But that was that.

“We promised to give it to you first and I learned a lot.”

In the first place, it wasn't fair to divide it evenly, as it was Evan who had planned the entire framework of this bounty hunt.

In terms of shares, it was right for him to take the most.

“……If you insist, I won't refuse.”

Evan finally took the money, and only then could I smile with satisfaction.

“But, are we going again? Bounty hunting.”

***

A dark room.

Two bishops were talking at a round table.

“How is she doing, Lutus? Is she adjusting well?”

“That’s my business, so don't worry about it. Just tell me when you're going to take care of that thief.”

“It won't take long. Around the final evaluation?”

“Not much time left.”

Heh heh, Lutus let out a sinister laugh.

Cristiano, who was staring at him, asked.

“More importantly, you moved the High Priests, didn't you? To Paragon.”

At the same time, Lutus's laughter stopped abruptly.

“You received information that Gerard was on an outing and dispatched four High Clerics to assassinate him, but you failed. Are you alright?”

“……What about?”

“What do you think? Your position in the Darkness Council. If you keep failing like this, I'm worried that the higher-ups will have something to say.”

Lutus glared at Cristiano and then curled his lips.

“You're the last person to worry about me.”

“Why not? We're friends.”

“Heh heh. Right. Friends.”

“So, in all honesty, I feel disappointed in you. If you had obtained such information, you should have shared it with me, your friend and acted together. Isn't Gerard a common problem we have to solve anyway?”

It was true, but Lutus just frowned and remained silent.

Lutus had considered Cristiano a rival for a long time.

So he knew Bishop Cristiano better than anyone.

A human who hides a more sinister intention than any other.

An ally, but also the most cautious person, wondering when he would backstab you.

This was what Lutus thought of the person named Cristiano.

If he didn't have the devil's seed, that is, 'her', what would Cristiano have done?

“As long as I have that ‘child’ in my hands, my influence in the Darkness Council is stronger than anyone else's. Don't worry, just shut up. And.”

Lutus continued.

“In the first place, I took action because you were doing nothing, weren't I? You said you were thinking of a plan, so why are you just sitting there?”

“I was thinking.”

“So. When on earth is that thinking going to end?”

“As a matter of fact, I have something to say about that.”

Cristiano's head leaned forward.

At the same time, he spoke in a different voice than before.

Openly revealing the nuance that it was an important story.

“I've found someone to kill Gerard.”

A deep smile formed on Bishop Cristiano's lips.

“He's someone who can operate without being restricted by the Academy environment, which is our obstacle. Of course, his skills are outstanding.”

“Are you sure? Gerard is not at the cadet level. His skills must be the most certain.”

“Even if we were to fight him, we couldn't guarantee a win.”

Lutus's eyes widened.

“……There's someone like that? Who on earth is he?”

Cristiano whispered about that person and Lutus's expression gradually brightened.

While he was at it, Cristiano revealed all the plans he had thought of.

By the time the story was over, a smile identical to Cristiano's was drawn on Lutus's lips.

“Heh heh. This time, that Gerard bastard is finished for sure.”

***

The second bounty hunt with Evan began.

This time, the targets were two people.

A Judgment grade villain named Jekal and a Slaughter grade villain named Nadin.

Jekal was the boss of an organization based in the city's underworld.

Well, it was an organization with a strange name, 'The Blood-Stained Hand' and they were using a whole building, with Jekal residing on the top floor.

So we just charged in.

“E-enemy!”

“Intrusion!”

“Get 'em!”

And the ones who got it were them.

Every time we swung our arms, the organization members fainted without even being able to scream.

Near Evan, people were flying around.

Thwack! Clang! Paak! Stab!

Anyway, it was incredibly noisy.

The funny thing was that after finishing up the scene, you could tell who had been beaten by looking at the state of the fallen organization members.

Fainted normally, me.

Groaning from being frozen or burned, Yuria.

And if you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive, being smashed and crumpled somewhere, Evan.

“……”

Still, unlike the fanatics of the Church of Truth who were crazy about the witch and committed murder without hesitation, the organization members here hadn't crossed the line and I thought there would be newbies who had just set foot in this world, so I held back.

“Who are you!”

Except for that bastard.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

I kicked the right outer wall once and then swung my sword at his head.

“Gahk!”

“Huh? What. You blocked it?”

It seems that the boss of an organization is a boss for a reason, and he has a hidden trick up his sleeve.

At my reaction, the bastard smiled grotesquely.

“Kehehe. You foolish bastard. Believe it or not, I'm from a knight school's elite cours-!”

With a 'peok!' sound, the bastard's body flew back and was embedded in the wall.

The cause was the longsword stuck in his chest.

The longsword that flew from behind had pierced his body and not content with that, it had also pierced the wall behind him.

Evan casually pulled out the sword, cut off the bastard's head, and put it in a cloth bag.

I stared blankly at that overly natural sight and shouted.

“Use your turn signal before you throw, pleeease! I thought my heart was going to drop.”

“What's a turn signal?”

“That is……”

I thought for a moment and answered.

“……Consideration and affection?”

“Hmm.”

Evan just mumbled something incomprehensible and went outside.

Yuria smiled as she watched the two of us.

We left the city that way and headed to the city next to it.

Saba-saba-bak.

We walked along a forest path where night bugs chirped.

Chatting, we talked quite a lot as we went.

About the next target, Nadin, or idle talk like the appearance of the trees on the roadside.

And also about Evan's artifact.

It was Yuria's sudden question and Evan, whom I thought would ignore it as it was related to his personal life, unexpectedly answered.

[Iron-Blooded Armor]

Like the 'Star's Blessing', this unique-grade artifact was said to be absorbed into the blood.

“Huh? Then is the thing flowing in your veins mercury, not blood, Professor?”

It was Yuria's innocent question and this time, Evan ignored it.

At that, I giggled.

Because I thought it might actually be true.

The night grew deeper, and we decided to camp.

We made a fire and ate a late dinner.

We had brought some food for dinner, but Evan taught us about foods that could be obtained from the surroundings in an emergency.

The larvae that lived under rotten wood were that food.

“Ugh.”

I grimaced, but Yuria, who I thought would be the most repulsed, surprisingly swallowed it well.

She said it was because of her experience as a mercenary.

Well, I couldn't eat it raw, so I grilled it over the fire.

……The funny thing was that when I ate it, it was surprisingly edible.

In addition, methods for obtaining water on the spot, medicinal herbs and first aid that can be used as a substitute for treatment when injured.

How to distinguish poisonous herbs, how to choose a campsite, how to maintain body temperature, and so on.

Evan taught us about general field life.

“When a war breaks out, there are people who die from being hit by swords and guns, but there are also many who die because they can't endure in the field. In fact, in a war, there are far more cases of marching than fighting the enemy. The weather conditions and the surrounding environment. Everything is an enemy.”

It was an experience that I, who had only experienced 'Heroes of Frey' as a game outside the monitor, could not know.

I did learn the theoretical parts at the Academy.

But knowing through a professor's explanation and the words in a book is bound to be a world of difference from experiencing it in person.

“Because of these things, the 4th-year students who are living as apprentice knights have the hardest time and it's understandable. With just a sword in their hand, they have no opponent in this imperial land, but the things they didn't even pay attention to are holding them back.”

Suddenly, this place had become Evan's classroom.

The rock, weathered by the wind, became a chair, and the remaining tree stump became a desk.

Evan took a tree branch and drew a picture on the dirt floor, using it as a blackboard.

Occasionally, he would stir the bonfire with it, and each time, with a 'tadak' sound, the sparks that flew out illuminated the faces of the three of us.

The endlessly serious Evan, and Yuria with a peaceful face.

And above in the sky, a roundish moon that had secretly visited was peeking out from behind the hazy clouds, auditing Evan's lecture.

And so, our lecture, accompanied by the moon and stars, continued until late at night.

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