The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Sweat of Man, Blood of Human (1)

“Hmm.”

The white-haired Apostle, Golden Dawn.

He was reading materials in the Commons’ Beecher located in the Airian Kingdom.

“So, they conducted the ‘His’ advent experiment here as well.”

The true nature of the ‘Commons’ was largely unknown.

From the moment they didn’t call each other by name, it was impossible to define each other’s true identity.

They could only be together because of one belief that bound them together. From the perspective of a typical organizational structure, it was the most fragmented organization, like grains of sand among grains of sand.

Even as an Apostle, it was impossible to know everything about what the ‘Commons’ in other regions did and how they did it, so it was customary to read the records when visiting a new area.

“Compared to the continent, this place is about a hundred years behind. There are even territories of great nobles where trains don’t even run, tsk tsk.”

Much has already changed due to the 3rd Mana Revolution.

On the other hand, Airian was just approaching its beginning.

Golden Dawn paused for a moment while looking at the records he had researched about Airian.

「━Common Calendar June 21st, the day with the longest daytime in a year, ‘Revelation’s Plate’ flickered.

━Common Calendar July 2nd, Count Ethelred took in the mercenary, ‘Flash’ Arna, as his second wife.

━Common Calendar September 23rd, gave birth to a child at the beginning of autumn. The name is ‘Abel’.

━Question 1. Edmund is not the type to take in a second wife.

━Question 2. The pregnancy period is too short for a human child.

━Opinion. It is difficult to know the matters between a man and a woman, and depending on the woman’s characteristics, there are many cases where pregnancy is not noticeable.」

That’s how the record ended.

It was not a flaw for a nobleman of a Count’s status to have a concubine.

It was also common to fall in love with a pretty mercenary met on the battlefield.

However.

Tap━.

Golden Dawn’s wrinkled fingertip brushed against those parts.

“I need to look into this.”

A child born at the beginning of autumn, ‘Abel’.

As an Apostle of the ‘Commons’.

As Golden Dawn, who desperately wished for the golden dawn.

An unknown intuition flashed through him.

Along with a premonition that the reason he came to Airian might be this.

🔹🔹🔹

“Uh……”

Edmund, the self-proclaimed Iron Mask, was speechless at the Saintess’s curse.

“Why?”

Caterina asked, her face completely changed as if she hadn’t said anything.

“I think I heard something.”

“Did you hear anything, Archbishop?”

Caterina asked Barbetta.

“No.”

He replied with a faint smile.

It was a smile formed by Caterina’s changed appearance, who had been swept away by her initial emotions and made only harsh remarks without thinking ahead.

“Well, in that case……”

Edmund let out a bitter smile and answered like the ‘Iron Masked Knight’ he had set up.

“I want to kill my son.”

The Saintess clasped her hands together.

Thinking that this was also the will of the ‘light’, she barely held back her curses and asked back.

“What do you mean you want to kill your son?”

“Because that’s how he’ll become stronger.”

“Who?”

“Cain.”

“Cain said he wouldn’t participate in this Royal Tournament.”

“……!”

Edmund’s eyes widened just like the Saintess’s had just now. He looked completely caught off guard.

“He told the great nobles and us. He hasn’t announced who they’ll send out yet, but Abel will probably be the one.”

“Hmm.”

Edmund let out a groan as he rubbed his fingers against the bucket he was holding.

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“…… Lord Count?”

A middle-aged knight with ordinary brown hair approached and asked.

Swoosh━.

Edmund immediately put on the bucket and replied.

“I am not Edmund, but the Iron Masked Knight.”

The Saintess shook her head.

“It’s too late for that.”

“It’s like cursing and then pretending you didn’t, so it’s fine.”

“……All things are by the light.”

At Edmund’s sharp words, which were surprisingly astute in unexpected situations, she made the sign of the cross.

Barbetta looked as if he would burst out laughing at any moment, but he held it in.

He pretended not to notice, but knowing that the Saintess also had quite a temper, he had to endure it for the sake of the future.

“Ah, is that your setup this time?”

The approaching knight asked back, as if he was used to it.

“Knight Gallwell, you’re the vice-commander of the Royal Knights now, right?”

“Yes. It’s all thanks to Lord Count Edmund for teaching me the sword, haha!”

He laughed heartily.

As befitting a knight that Olivia would send to the Royal Tournament, his whole body was packed with muscles, and he had a large build.

As he laughed loudly, it felt as if the surroundings were shaking.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“Indeed. It seems like yesterday when I was watching you spar with Knight Commander Wayne, and now I’ve become an uncle myself.”

Gallwell took out a pocket watch from his arms.

He pressed a button, and the lid popped open.

Tick━.

A small picture of Gallwell, his wife, and their three daughters was attached to the inside of the watch lid.

“Now I’m a father too. I was also surprised to hear that the Lord Count was getting married, but now I’ve become a father!”

“……Congratulations.”

“Until recently, I wondered how someone like me could start a family and live━”

“I thought the same.”

The Iron Mask persona melted away in front of the family photo, and Edmund replied normally.

Gallwell nodded repeatedly.

“You told me back then, to endure time. That if you don’t break, you grow.”

“I only gave you advice on the sword; it was your part to grow your life.”

Thump.

The knight placed his fist over his heart and smiled brightly.

“Yes, Lord Ethelred. That’s why, what’s the Iron Mask’s setup this time?”

Having come this far in the conversation, even Edmund looked a little embarrassed.

He tried to scratch his head but ended up scratching the innocent bucket and spoke.

“An unknown knight of Airian, who wants to participate in the Royal Tournament for Olivia.”

“Aha.”

The corners of Gallwell’s mouth rose.

He looked around at the surroundings, which had become half-ruined with the ceiling collapsed.

“The knights on McLoud’s side are Olivia’s direct descendants, so there’s nothing you can do about them, and you can’t touch the Chief Paladin, as he’s the Holy See’s force, right?”

He slowly stepped back.

He wasn’t running away.

He was creating distance for battle.

“Everyone, please step aside for now.”

Barbetta tactfully dismissed the other priests.

Shing━.

Edmund drew his silver longsword.

“That’s right.”

“As a formality, and to push aside the me who was brought here to face Knight Commander Wayne, you want to go out yourself?”

Shing.

Gallwell also drew his longsword.

Since it was already a half-destroyed place, there would be no problem even if they fought.

The Saintess pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head.

“Every single knight in Airian is the same, honestly.”

“Don’t they seem full of life?”

The Saintess glared at Barbetta’s words and moved away from the two who looked as if they would start fighting at any moment.

“It’s a good thing that we only live once.”

“That’s what human life is all about.”

“Those people need to become human first.”

“Humans are nothing without affection. Humans have affection.”

“……Were you always like this?”

Archbishop Barbetta shrugged.

“People see what they want to see.”

“Are you saying I’ve changed?”

The Saintess felt a corner of her heart settle down, for a different reason.

She realized that the past her, who was shaken by the precognitive emotions shown by the Holy Crown, ‘Autumn’, and the current her had grown apart.

The moment the two moved away.

Clang━!

As if on cue, Gallwell and Edmund swung their swords simultaneously.

“I won’t be as easy as I was before━!”

Gallwell’s roar.

Swoosh━.

The force in his sword dissipates.

At the same time, the next step forward!

Shheeeek━.

His longsword flew in an elegant curve, like a pebble skimming across the water, spinning once and coming from the side.

A fatal blow that showed how strong the flexibility of his shoulders and the muscular strength to maintain his center of gravity were.

A sword strike coming from the blind spot!

“I see.”

Edmund grinned from inside the bucket.

Thud━!

He simply walked forward and slammed his body into Gallwell’s torso.

As a result, Gallwell lost his balance, and his sword, unable to reach its target, stopped in mid-air.

“A knight must be smart. You can only strike well if you think and then strike.”

“I know that!”

At point-blank range.

Gallwell smiled broadly and tilted his head back.

Crack━!

And then he slammed his head against Edmund’s head above the bucket. His forehead split open, and red blood flowed out.

“But I can’t help but push forward.”

Crack!

And the headbutt that followed.

Neither of them took a single step back.

Thud━.

Edmund’s left fist dug into Gallwell’s side. He could clearly feel the sensation of several ribs breaking.

Crack━!

“This is it!”

Gallwell’s eyes turned completely red in an instant.

Because of the blood rushing to his head!

Because of the pain shooting through his ribs!

But the smile never left Gallwell’s lips.

“Captain Wayne is strong and all, but I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t really make me feel like my life was in danger.”

Crack!

The bucket crumpled and then tore. Through the vertically torn gap, Edmund’s eye could be seen.

“Blood……”

The Saintess, who was watching the two fight as if two mad bulls were clashing, was surprised.

Because she could see the blood flowing down Edmund’s face inside the bucket.

“Knowing that we’ll heal them.”

Clang━.

“They’re causing this kind of commotion?”

Thud━.

The sound of fists and headbutts continued.

Barbetta shook his head at the Saintess’s words, clicking his tongue.

“I think they’re just fighting because they want to fight. And Sir Gallwell must have been frustrated, having stayed at Expert level for so long.”

“Do people fight like that because they’re frustrated?”

“That’s what a true knight is.”

“……Are the paladins on our side like that too?”

At the Saintess’s question, Barbetta shrugged.

“Why don’t you ask Sir Rinaldo sometime?”

“Crazy bastards.”

“How else could they charge at the enemy with just a sword if they weren’t crazy? Look at it positively. We have a winner.”

Thud.

One man falls to his knees.

“Cough━.”

Even as he vomited bright red blood on the floor, he grinned.

“Not bad, Sir Gallwell.”

Thud, thud, thud━.

Edmund said, tossing the torn bucket to the floor.

“Still not enough.”

Gallwell, his face somehow refreshed, awaited his evaluation.

Drip━.

Edmund wasn’t unscathed either.

Perhaps because he had been headbutted inside the bucket, red blood flowed from his ears and nose.

It was human blood, the same as Gallwell’s.

“But you’re less lacking than before. You’ve become a father.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

It was praise from Edmund, who was colder than anyone else when it came to the sword, so Gallwell was delighted.

“Then I’ll take your place in the Royal Tournament.”

“With that injury, you won’t be able to participate anyway.”

Thud━.

Gallwell collapsed backward.

But his half-crushed ribs stabbed into his internal organs, and excruciating pain washed over him.

Heal.

The Saintess, who had been watching, healed Gallwell with divine magic before his condition worsened.

“Phew. It can’t be helped. You must have received Princess Olivia’s permission, so I’ll consider Lord Edmund participating……?”

Caterina saw Edmund’s eyes dart around awkwardly.

He roughly wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve and picked up the bucket from the floor.

Creak━.

He roughly squeezed the torn parts together with his grip and put it on his face.

“The Iron Mask will take care of the permission.”

“Don’t tell me you just came here without any plans?”

“…….”

Whoosh━.

As if they had never fought, Edmund lightly pushed off the ground and exited through the hole in the ceiling.

The Saintess muttered as she watched him go.

“He’s not going to break the ceiling again, is he?”

Gallwell, who was lying on the floor receiving treatment, and Barbetta both shook their heads with identical expressions.

Because that’s the kind of guy the self-proclaimed Iron Mask, Edmund, was.

Crash━.

And as expected, a loud noise could be heard in the distance.

Judging by the direction, it was Marquis McLoud’s villa.

“Cain has really grown up.”

Caterina let out a sigh and mentioned him, who would be in the south.

With a feeling that she somewhat understood why Olivia wanted him.

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