SHK CH 77 (Patreon)
Content
CH 77: Darkness and sweetness
Somewhere in the capital of Lustburg, a woman wearing maid clothes could be seen seated on a comfy chair in a basement.
The sole source of light was a magical gear on the ceiling that gave a waning light.
Facing her was a man wearing a black tuxedo with a top hat and a monocle on his right eye, and another woman who was also wearing maid clothes.
The atmosphere between the three was silent and the shadow around them seemed to squirm as if they were alive.
Finally, after a silent contest, the maid with cow horns on either side of her head asked with a smiling face.
"So, you are telling me that even with all the time I have given you there is still no definite proof about the Gorfard having an alliance with the believer of the Crimson lady?"
The middle-aged man adjusted his monocle and with a jester smile, nodded,
"Indeed. Ohoh~! What can we say? They are truly careful. I guess we will have to rely on you when the prince visits the place."
The smile on Milia's face never changed despite the antics of the one facing her. Inwardly though, she was wondering whether she could kill him or not.
"Oh~ Sloppy~Sloppy~. I can feel your killing intent so easily. It seems like those years of peace while serving him really dulled you. I am quite disappointed. Or perhaps is he that important to you? Minos must be turning in his-"
He didn't manage to finish his sentence before feeling a sharp edge over his throat and a slight prickling sensation.
Raising his head, he crossed his eyes with cold eyes devoid of any emotion in them.
"I forbid you from insulting him."
Those words were said in an almost emotionless way and without any threat in it. But he could clearly hear the unsaid part.
The more he looked at her eyes the more he felt as if he was falling into a deep abyss where only death and darkness were present.
Despite this, despite knowing that death would reap him at any wrong words, his smile never wavered.
He feared many things. But death wasn't one of them.
–After all, there were so many things worse than death in this world.
Edgar chuckled merrily before pushing away the dagger from his throat while looking at Milia.
"Scary~Scary~ I was completely unable to react. Seems like I was wrong about you being rusted. Should I say, as expected of the only successful experiment?"
Milia's expression became colder at those words for a few seconds before slowly going back to the previous smiling one.
"Why are you trying to test me?"
Wiping the trace of blood from his throat with a handkerchief, his lips curled in a mocking smile, "... Guess."
Milia wished for nothing more than to simply slit his throat and let him die while bleeding like a pig. But she knew that this freak would still keep his smile even then.
Ketia, the second maid, spoke after letting out a sigh, "Milia, Edgar, it's enough. You know the rule. Infightings are forbidden."
The tension that was building up seemed to deflate a little. Milia walked graciously before taking back her seat.
Seeing this, Ketia, relieved that nothing regrettable happened, continued.
"Despite Edgar’s stupid conduct, he is right. Even though we have many spies in the Gorfard family, the current Duke is an incredibly cautious man with a very restricted circle of confidants. Finding enough proof to incriminate him and make his execution justified isn't easy."
"... I see."
Milia lowered her head as she pondered before asking.
"What about the gladiators we caught?"
This time it was Edgar who spoke after laughing a little.
"Even though you broke them, we obtained no particular important information. The one who bought them was cautious enough to never expose his identity. Of course, we know clearly who are the most likely suspects."
Milia gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Why don't we just release the evidence we have? It should be enough to severely destroy their power and influence."
Milia knew what Ketia was talking about. The Gorfard family caused many problems and had many unpunished crimes under their names. If they used those pieces of evidence, Lilith could reliably strip the Gorfard family of most of its power without any problems.
But–
"This isn't enough."
Milia's eyes lost their light as deep darkness seemed to reflect on it.
While cutting the tail of a lizard could hurt it, it could never kill it. What she wished for wasn't just the fall of the Gorfard family.
She wished for nothing less than its utter and absolute annihilation.
Only by exterminating them could she assure a stable and worry-free reign once Sol took the throne.
But, while simply killing off the Gorfard was the easiest solution. It was also the stupidest.
No matter how powerful an individual was, he could never rule a kingdom alone.
Not even the Wolf king of Wratharis dared to antagonize all the nobles under him even though he could crush them without any problems.
This was why they needed evidence. The kind that could spell the doom of absolutely anyone in this world.
-----
[Church of Castitas]
In the church of Castitas, Camelia was standing over a large golden cup with her wrist, bleeding, over it.
Her expression was completely impassive even as the blood with golden hue was slowly filling the cup while her expression slowly became paler.
Finally, once she judged that she gave enough blood, a bright golden light covered her body and the wound immediately closed while her expression went to a rosy one.
<<Heal>>
One of the most basic holy spells any nun could learn. The spell was an apprentice level spell and normally shouldn't have been to heal such a wound so fast.
But in the hand of Camelia, even the most basic spell could reach incredible levels.
Chloe, who was standing on in a corner of the room in silence, finally spoke.
"What are you preparing this time?"
She asked curiously. Sometimes, she wondered if her aunt had a fetish for bleeding.
Camelia, hearing the question, raised her head and observed the scene depicted on the large black and white gate she was facing.
A woman with fourteen girls behind her, all of them wearing golden robes on the white side of the gate, facing them was another woman wearing a bright red robe on the black side
Smiling a little, she answered in a detached way.
"Soon, something very exciting may happen in the city. I need to make enough preparation to welcome the guests when it happens."
Chloe frowned before also observing the gate. She stared at it for a short while before understanding dawned in her eyes. Said understanding was soon replaced by absolute dread.
"Is this the true reason why you made this game of hiding your power?"
Camelia smiled, "Fufufu~ who do you take me for? I am not a goddess you know? I can't see the future. My plan was only created to reel in some small fish and a rabid dog. Who would have thought that I could also catch some heretics? I guess this is what it means to be blessed by Lady Luck."
Chloe chuckled helplessly while covering her face with her hands.
The more time passed and the more she wondered if she made the right choice in choosing Lustburg to get more experience.
"Oh, little Chloe, don't make such a face. You make me feel like I am the bad guy. You should be happy you know? Killing heretics is always a good way to get more blessings. Besides,"
The image of a green-haired and green-clothed woman flashed in Camelia's head as she murmured, "I even called one old friend to help out."
Chloe didn't know what feelings she should have currently, but happiness was definitely not one of them.
Thankfully, the fear she felt also receded greatly.
"Lustburg is destined to face a storm."
"The coming of a great king cannot happen without a storm to overcome. Soon, Lustburg will welcome a new hero king. Fufufu~! It will be beautiful. I hope he will reward me! Ah~! I can't wait for it~!"
Chloe could only turn her head to not see the current expression of Camelia.
'Perhaps I should have visited the demons? It couldn't have been worse, right...?'
----
[In Edea's world.]
The silver-haired witch slowly opened her eyes. Only to see a golden-haired young man on the corner of the bed while he caressed her.
Snapping awake, she tried to raise herself hurriedly, but the gentle hand gave a firm pressure and kept her on the head.
"You shouldn't move like that. Stay lying down."
Her mind which was still cloudy slowly cleared up.
"Sol? What happened?"
Just as she asked this question, a rush of memory flooded her head and her face flushed.
It became as red as a tomato once she remembered how she fainted because of the pleasure.
Looking at herself, she was surprised to see that she wasn't stained in fluid and was wearing a black transparent négligé.
Sol, forestalling her question, spoke calmly,
"After you fainted, I took you to the bath and washed you before putting on your clothes."
She didn't know what was the most embarrassing in this situation. Him washing her like a baby or the fact that she didn't wake up at all during all this.
Raising the blanket over her head in embarrassment, Medea curled like a shrimp and refused to answer no matter what Sol did.
'How cute.'
He didn't know how many times he had such a thought.
She was like a cute little cat that was playing hard to get. The image of a stern and respectable teacher had been destroyed.
Sol didn't mind her reticence to show herself and continued to coax her as if she was a petulant little kid.
Finally, slightly lowering the blanket, she asked,
"You don't find me disappointing?"
Medea didn't have any experience in sexual relationships but it wasn't as if she was clueless. At the very least she knew that fainting from pleasure for the first time was pretty rare if not impossible.
Sol smiled gently while caressing her head, "I would never. It's my bad for not having taken into account the effect of my life force. What's more, since it was your first time I should have been more careful."
Sol was really given a fright when she suddenly fainted.
The awkward expression on Medea’s face melted as she completely lowered the blanket. Taking Sol's hand in her, she marveled once again at how big they were, giving her a sense of comfort.
Inwardly she couldn't help but chuckle at how helpless she was. In terms of fighting prowess, she could completely crush the current Sol without any problems. But, now that he sat there while she lay down on the bed, she felt at ease, as if everything would be alright in the world.
'Medea, Medea. You are truly a blind fool in love. Still, as they say, fool me, once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.'
She was willing to be an idiot in love for a second and last time.
"Sol, we will always be together right?"
"Yeah."
"You will always love me will you?"
"With all my heart."
"I see."
…
…
…
"Sol?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
----
AN: The gate was shown the first time in CH 29