Chapter 628
It was a match that left a lingering aftertaste.
The fatigue and stress built up from the fanatic incident seemed to wash away a little in the cheers of the crowd and the smiles of his peers.
Simon dispelled the Chaos Reaper he had summoned and turned his head.
“Hector.”
He was shaking the dragon’s wings as if something unclean had touched his belongings, scattering scales into the air to clean them.
Then, when his eyes met Simon’s, his face twisted into a scowl.
“What?”
Simon gave a wry smile.
“No, just. Thanks.”
“Shut up.”
Even when expressing gratitude, he still acted like that.
Simon had long since grown used to it. Hector stored the dragon parts back into subspace and turned away coldly to leave.
“I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself tangled in, but don’t you dare die before I beat you myself.”
Simon, still smiling, watched him exit the arena and replied.
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
“Shut up!”
His reaction was almost disgusted, which made Simon chuckle silently.
* * *
After the match, Simon stopped by the waiting room to drink some water, when members of Group 10 and Fitzgerald came looking for him.
“Good work, Simon.”
Loraine spoke as she handed him a soft, white towel.
It smelled of freshly washed fabric, warm and cozy. Simon accepted it with a smile.
“Thanks, Loraine.”
“We won! We really won!”
Eshu, still intoxicated with victory, jumped up and down, grabbing Toto’s shoulders and bouncing him around. Toto’s face turned beet red as a side effect.
Wiping off his sweat with the towel, Simon quietly asked Fitzgerald, who was standing nearby.
“How did the morning match go?”
The match he had just played was in the afternoon. The morning match he had missed due to the investigation into the fanatics.
Because Simon had been pulled out at the last minute, Summonology lost a core fighter, and other unprepared students had to fill in that gap. Of course, the schedule must have fallen into disarray.
Fitzgerald opened his notebook and answered, without exaggeration or understatement.
“The morning match without you placed us 7th. Overall, today’s performance is mid-tier. We won’t know the total ranking until the 3rd-year results come in, but I expect we’ll fall to about 3rd place.”
“……I see.”
Simon lowered his head.
“Hey, don’t worry too much about it, Prez!”
Eshu raised her bright voice and came over.
“Do you know how much you’ve done for us already? Even those who were cursing you heartlessly all morning changed their minds after watching this match……!”
“Eshu.”
When Loraine shot her a look, she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
Simon smiled faintly.
“No, it’s fine. I deserved some of that criticism.”
After all, Simon himself had been the one to throw cold water on Summonology, who had been leading as 1st place overall.
But Loraine shook her head.
“The student council work is also for all of us, isn’t it? Some grumbled, sure, but deep down they’ll understand where you’re coming from.”
“……Thanks, Loraine.”
Her words were warm, but not all students were as rational and mature as Loraine.
Still, Simon was prepared to accept the criticism that would come from losing 1st place.
‘As long as you all can stay safe.’
Clenching his fist, Simon steeled himself. Then Fitzgerald spoke.
“There’s one more match tomorrow. Can I count on you, Simon?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Thanks. Variables like this are always to be expected. Today was a mess, but tomorrow we’ll adapt somehow and raise our ranking again.”
It was Fitzgerald’s own blunt way of encouraging him. Eshu and Toto quickly joined in.
“Don’t worry, Prez~ I’ll talk to the others and smooth things over!”
“M-me too! I’ll work twice as hard for your share, so don’t worry, Simon!”
“Thanks, everyone. I’ll do my best.”
He had become the Student Council President. He had already braced himself for situations like this.
Right now, he had only one thought: to protect this school no matter what.
* * *
Leaving the stadium, Simon returned to Professor Grerion’s cave, the basecamp where Neftis’ close aides had gathered.
In the time he had been gone for one match, the security had been significantly reinforced.
Necromancer agents were stationed at every point in the cave, and the barriers had been layered three and four times over.
After passing through the complex security procedures and heading deep inside, he once again saw the sight of the Saint of Harvest, seated with only a third of her face remaining.
“Mm.”
Even seeing her again, his heart ached.
Though her face was gone, her saintly authority still leaked out, as stalks of wheat sprouted throughout the cave.
“You’ve returned, Simon.”
Kajan, who had been speaking with the agents, turned to greet him.
“Welcome, Student Council President.”
Alastair, the Crows agent closest to Neftis, also welcomed him.
Simon greeted them and came forward.
“Sit down.”
“Yes.”
Alastair was steeping tea leaves in a cup. Despite his rough, imposing appearance, his hand at brewing tea was practiced and refined.
Simon accepted the cup he offered and asked:
“Has there been any progress in the case?”
“A lot has happened in just a short while.”
Kajan sat down heavily next to him, massaging his neck with a tired expression.
“First, the Dark Emperor festival will proceed as planned.”
Kajan and Alastair, like Neftis’ other closest aides, did not fully trust the entire Keyzen Headquarters. If they shared information, it was inevitable that leaks would occur.
About Ever Kire’s abilities. Especially the fact that, in cooperation with Israfil of the Holy Federation, they had brought the Saint of Harvest into the very heart of Roke Island—this was something the rest of headquarters knew nothing about.
However, in the case of the priest they had captured this time, it had been discovered by Quinter, one of the Crows and Bahil’s old classmate. So they had been forced to report the detention to Keyzen Headquarters.
Keyzen HQ and the Dark Alliance were delighted at the capture of a priest who had entered Roke Island, and now insisted on pushing ahead with the Dark Emperor festival.
“The only definitive proof that Ever Kire even entered Roke Island is the sight of this saint—whose death was manipulated—sitting here.”
Kajan pointed his finger at the faceless Saint of Harvest.
“Obviously, we can’t reveal her existence.”
“Of course.”
This matter was a secret deal between Israfil and Neftis, something neither the Holy Federation nor the Dark Alliance knew about.
If word got out that they had colluded with an enemy nation, another catastrophe would unfold. It was indeed a card that could never be revealed.
“More than that, new information has come in.”
Alastair said as he pulled a new Class-1 confidential file from an envelope.
“News about Ever Kire.”
He laid the document flat on the table, activated the magic circle drawn on it, and a mana screen spread out.
“First, the large amount of bloodstains found near the Saint of Harvest. The agents who discovered the site first managed to collect it before the blood completely soaked into the sand, and analysis confirmed it belonged to a priest.”
He turned his head to Simon.
“That blood was not the Saint’s, nor the priest we captured, nor Professor Farahan or his assistants.”
“Which means it’s highly likely it belonged to Ever Kire.”
“That’s our conclusion. And—”
Shrrrk!
Alastair unfolded a chart and handed it to Simon.
“This is the list of ships docked at Keyzen Port. To summarize: one ship is missing.”
Indeed, 26 ships had been officially registered as leaving Roke Island that afternoon. But when they investigated the remaining vessels, it appeared that one additional ship had also departed.
One ship had simply vanished like a shadow.
On Roke Island, where security over every vessel was tightly maintained, such a thing should have been impossible.
‘Ever Kire must have interfered.’
That was Simon’s thought.
“We’ve only just received this report ourselves, but that ship was discovered at the outer harbor of Langerstine. And there, the same blood was found as what we collected around the Saint of Harvest.”
“In other words—”
Kajan set his teacup down and continued.
“There are two possible scenarios we can infer. Either Ever Kire sustained a severe wound while trying to capture the Saint of Harvest and has already fled Roke Island. Or—”
“She staged it all to make us believe that. Right?”
“Exactly. You catch on quickly.”
Alastair, who had been listening to their exchange, lowered his arm and walked forward.
“I lean toward the former case.”
“Hm.”
“Now this is just my conjecture. Ever Kire struck the Saint of Harvest, who was resting with her holiness and authority sealed.”
In Simon’s mind appeared the image of the fanatic Ever Kire using her powers to sever the Saint’s face.
“Having dealt with her, Ever Kire must have been careless. She prepared movement magic to erase the traces and carry the Saint of Harvest away, but even without her face, she was still capable of wielding saintly power.”
Alastair stretched out his hand and stroked the stalks of wheat growing in the cave.
“Ever Kire, not realizing she could still fight, was caught off guard, grievously wounded, and as our necromancers began to swarm in, abandoned the Saint and fled. Before the guards tightened their net, she slipped off Roke Island. That is my speculation.”
Simon, who had been listening silently, tilted his head.
“Doesn’t that sound too optimistic? I doubt a fanatic would so easily abandon her objective.”
“Ever Kire tried to kill the Saint whom priests praise as ‘the daughter closest to the Goddess’. Immediately after, her faith may have collapsed, causing problems with her holiness. It’s not an uncommon occurrence among priests.”
“What are you talking about now?”
Simon sprang to his feet.
“If you mean a holiness slump, that makes no sense! The only reason Ever Kire even tried to neutralize the Saint was because she obstructed her plan in the first place!”
Such ignorance about priests.
Well, that was about average for the continent. Necromancers and priests might be absolute within their own domains, but their understanding of each other was abysmal.
“This isn’t the time to judge right or wrong based on speculation.”
Kajan interjected.
“We’ll have time to debate once we have concrete results.”
Alastair nodded, and Simon looked at him in puzzlement.
“Results? Is there something else coming?”
“Right after, the Saint of the Divine Sea contacted us.”
Kajan scratched the scar under his eye as he spoke.
“When she heard what happened to the Saint of Harvest, she said the situation was far more serious than she’d expected and promised additional support.”
Simon’s eyes widened.
He had assumed they would simply take the Saint of Harvest and be done with it.
“Ad… additional support? Who’s coming?”
* * *
Dark Alliance.
The teleportation magic circle of the Nameless Forest.
“Yes, preparations are complete.”
A girl with snow-white hair was speaking into a communication crystal.
A worried voice echoed from within the crystal, but the girl answered brightly.
“Of course. I’ll remember.”
All around her, paladins knelt on one knee with their swords planted into the ground, waiting.
“Yes, I’ll contact you once the mission is over.”
Click.
Ending the call, the white-haired girl in a black robe slung her bag over her shoulder. She smoothed down her pale hair beneath the robe, which turned to a flowing ash-gray as it darkened.
She lightly tapped the ground with her shoes, brushed the choker necklace at her throat, and then turned to the paladins with a radiant smile.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters
Very good story and translation but half the chapter aren't for free and it is wayyyy too expensive will it stat like tjis foreve or will it get free after some time