Chapter 1 - Part 1
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Bonus Chapter (2/2)
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***
Griffith’s eyebrows twitched at those words.
She was a woman until recently, and now suddenly she is a man?
A real man?
Griffith’s gaze, which suddenly turned cold, turned to Lelia. His eyes were full of doubt and disbelief.
Lelia was so surprised that she couldn’t even make an excuse, as his gaze was overbearing.
Either way, Kalix was excited and stretched out his forearms.
Lelia blinked her eyes.
[What the hell are you trying to talk about?]
“I… saw it… it’s this big! Almost like mine. He is a man among men.”
At Kalix’s words, Griffith frowned as if it was vulgar.
Lelia was dumbfounded.
[What is Kalix talking about now?]
Maybe that…
[I think so…]
[No way, it’s nonsense.]
[I don’t have anything like that, and for it to be the size of Kali’s hand? Isn’t that impossible in the first place?]
Is Kalix crazy? Lelia blinked her eyes and something flashed in her mind.
The drug that was used against Emperor Perseus!
“Did you happen to see it secretly when I used the medicine against Emperor Perseus?”
“Uh… Yes. The arch door was not closed. I was curious to see what you both were talking about.”
“……”
Lelia’s mind went blank.
[Wait, then maybe…]
[Did he see the same illusion that Emperor Perseus saw?]
It was a drug that created illusions to create confusions for the other person.
If the emperor saw the vision that Kalix saw… .
“I saw you take off your pants and show it to Emperor Perseus, who suspected you to be a woman.”
Lelia felt her head getting dizzy as she remembered the pale expression of Emperor Persues.
Kalix suddenly patted Lelia on the back and said, “I understand. It’s possible. How hard was that for you? But you… did it happen suddenly, or did your mother hide that you were a man from the beginning?”
Kalix thought of Lelia as he recalled the hypothesis he had thought of alone in his room.
He was bewildered that Lelia didn’t know what he was talking about, but she understood immediately.
[Do I have to say it right now?]
But if they knew she had used such a drug, Romeo or Griffith would immediately find her suspicious. It was a different matter when it came to changing her hair color and eye color.
[It’s a game item, so I can’t explain the fact…]
Lelia eventually chose to nod her head.
After she breaks the spell of golden words anyway, she can go to them and clear up the misunderstanding.
[For now, let’s get past this situation.]
“… After all, it’s the latter.”
The latter seemed to be a probable cause…
At those words, Kalix let out a short, harsh swear word.
“Hey… Really, you are a man… Awesome. But you wore those things all the time – dresses and even lived like a woman? How uncomfortable would that be? It would be very inconvenient if it was that size. No, was it rather comfortable? Is it because the skirt is full?”
Kalix was talking to himself all this time. He patted Lelia on the back of her head, saying that she had a hard time.
[I don’t know if he’s hitting or stroking my hair since his hand is so strong…]
Unlike Kalix, Griffith was expressionless.
Lelia looked at Griffith and said, “That… Thank you for your help.”
“… No need.”
The short answer came back, but Lelia was determined to ask what she was curious about.
[How the heck did he know she was in the Imperial Castle?]
But before she could ask Griffith, Romeo spoke up instead.
“By the way, how did you know he was there?”
“… I took the wrong way.”
Griffith replied calmly. Romeo snorted as if he knew what his answer would be.
“What about your servants?”
“They said they’d guide me, but I refused.”
Come to think of it, Griffith had no sense of direction since he was a child. Lelia tried to stifle her laughter.
“What about the temple? Did you do well?”
When Romeo asked once more, Griffith nodded and got up.
Lelia glanced at Griffith on his way to the inner room, and she was astonished. As she took in her breath for a moment, Griffith’s broad back was incredibly muscular.
But that wasn’t what surprised her.
There was a strange tattoo on his back.
[He’s not a pirate, so why does he have such a tattoo…?]
When she looked back at Romeo and Kalix in amazement, Kalix said, “Ah,” and explained.
“That guy suffered a serious injury to his back in the battle. He got a tattoo to cover the wound. There was a guy on the team who knew how to get tattoos.”
“…Oh.”
Lelia tilted her head in dismay.
Griffith and the tattoo. It was a terrifying tattoo that could show a connection to piracy.
She felt totally out of place with him who had divine power.
In fact, Griffith was like that when he was young, but he always had a good and exemplary image. His brown hair was always neat and his voice and expression were calm. Maybe because of the divine power, he felt holy somehow.
But this Griffith, who she met again as an adult, was a little different.
His high-level fighting skills, strong alcohol intake, and even tattoos.
It felt like witnessing a faithful priest turn into a gangster.
While bewildered by this strange feeling, Griffith entered the room and walked in carrying something.
[Put some clothes on…]
He still had his shirt off. She wanted to nag, but she held back and lowered her gaze.
After all, now that she is pretending to be a man, she can’t really run away from him…
Griffith approached the table and put something down, then proceeded to sit down again.
“Ugh!”
Lelia saw him put it down on her table and she covered her mouth in astonishment.
“Do you know what this is?”
Lelia’s response caused Kalix to ask unexpectedly.
“… Oh, no. I was just surprised.”
“Oh, you’re surprised by the sword, aren’t you? Why is this boy so scared? Unlike Leo.”
Kalix hit Lelia in the back with a playful punch.
“…”
[Maybe tomorrow I will have a bruise on my back.]
But that wasn’t the point now.
That’s exactly what Griffith put down on the table..
[The Kreutz Holy Sword is here…]
The sword, decorated in white and gold, gave off a holy feeling at first glance.
Even those who don’t know swords well will recognize that it is a very old and wonderfully treasured sword.
When Lelia learned this from her grandfather, she had also learned about temples.
So she recognized the holy sword that she had seen as a picture in the book.
[Of course, I knew that Griffith would become the master of the Holy Sword thanks to the original story, but…]
The Kreutz Holy Sword was one of the temple’s greatest treasures.
It has been said that it is a sword possessed by the first Holy Emperor who received the will of Herna, and that only those with divine power that could surpass him could draw it. And among all the successors, no one drew that holy sword.
Lelia looked at Griffith with a dazzling gaze.
A friend who had done a great job and she felt proud.
But Griffith’s expression was gloomy.
“This is fake.”
“As expected.”
Romeo said as if he knew it.
As Lelia blinked in bewilderment, Romeo kindly explained.
“The temple wants to make him the next successor. So they openly gave him a fake holy sword, and started spreading news that the next owner of the holy sword had appeared. In order to force him to be there.”
At Romeo’s words, Griffith quarreled with a twisted posture.
“Do you even have to explain that to him?”
“… From now on, he is Kalix’s own younger brother.”
Lelia wiggled her lips. She wanted to ask for more, right away, but she couldn’t.
[It seems that Griffith doesn’t like me.]
She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t know because he gave off such a strong feeling.
[Then why did you save me earlier? You think I’m Leo’s sister?]
When he thought she was his sister, he was fine, but thinking that she was his little brother, did he suddenly start to hate her?
While Lelia was shaking her head, the three of them started talking about the temple.
After the subjugation of the dragon was over, the temple was carrying out various undertakings in order to exert influence on each empire.
Lelia just listened quietly and kept her mouth shut.
Then, the final topic of the conversation turned to ‘Oscar’.
“By the way, when is Oscar coming?”
“Yes, I haven’t heard from him.”
Romeo said anxiously. Strangely, he had not been able to contact him for a while.
At those words, Lelia started worrying.
[I can’t believe Oscar didn’t contact them.]
In Lelia’s mind, Oscar was still a poor child who was afraid of rainy days.
Of course, the last time she saw him… she was so scared of him.
She never imagined that Oscar, who used to be cute and pretty, would change so much. He was tall and, of course, he still looked stunningly handsome. The problem was that he was terribly cold.
It can’t be helped because he must have been abused by the emperor even after returning to his home country.
Her heart ached when she remembered Oscar.
[But now that we’ve come all the way here to Griffith, Oscar will be here soon.]
When Oscar arrived, they would part ways again for a while. A part of her heart already felt empty.
[I’ll take care of the alchemy business and go see him again.]
Lelia promised to do so.
However, the meeting with Oscar came sooner than expected. It was in a way she wasn’t expecting at all.
***
It was that night…
Griffith left the Imperial Palace in the afternoon.
He said he had no intention of staying in the Imperial Castle, and went to the mansion he had saved by asking Kalix and Romeo in advance.
Lelia was lying in her bed, but her heart was pounding and she couldn’t sleep.
That was when she pulled out the bunny doll and hugged it tightly.
The wind was blowing hard, and her window rattled.
[What kind of wind blows like this? It’s going to rain, huh?]
She couldn’t fight it, so she got up to close her window.
SNEAK
It was then.
In the blink of an eye, someone appeared and placed a blade around Lelia’s neck.
“…!”
Lelia caught her breath as her heart stopped. Her mind went blank.
***