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(Bonus chapter: 7/10)\n
âHah, seriously⌠seems like I had interrupted you when youâre going to the hotel.â\n\nâHuh?â\n\nâIâll take my leave now. Both of you could use one room as you pleased.â\n\nDonât know what made him felt so unsatisfied that he just left the room after he angrily kicked the door opened.\n\nââŚ, whatâs wrong with him?â\n\nâI donât know either.â\n\nCaptain Jullius paused for a moment, before continued to speak.\n\nâWell, sometimes heâs rather weird.â\n\nâOh, I see.â\n\nTurns out heâs a mad person since the beginning. I get it now.\n\nâLooks like weâre only given this one room.â\n\nJust because he was in a bad mood, he reduced the room given to us to just one room? How stingy!\n\nAfter hearing my words, Captain Jullius looked at the bed.\n\nâDonât worry. It wonât be cramped.â\n\nThe bed in the middle of the room was indeed very big that even if thereâre three people slept on it together, it still wouldnât be cramped out.\n\nâI shouldnât have wished that he would gave me a nightgown to change into when he only let us use this one room, right?â\n
Tsk, my dress would get wrinkled when I return home tomorrow if I just slept without changing my dress. I think I could just take off my dress and went to sleep wearing the inner garments. The inner garments was not that different with a nightgown anyways. That silly brat was really a cheapskate! He had dragged us from the hotel to his house, that means he should have served us well as his guests!\n\nWhile I was trying not to grumbling too much, I turned around to face Captain Jullius. In contrast with me, Captain Jullius was wearing a comfortable nightgoâ⌠huh?\n\nâCaptain Jullius.â\n\nI immediately approached him and grabbed the front lapel of his nightgown which exposed some of his skin. On the surface of his well-built broad chest, thereâre lots of evident scars. I knew that itâs a normal thing for those who often involved in various battles would have some scars on their bodies, but theseâre too much. BesidesâŚ\n\nAs far as I knew, Captain Jullius was taken in under the Emperorâs wing before heâs 20 years old.\n\nNo one knew how old his real age was precisely, but from the rumors Iâve heard before, heâs in mid-twenties now. The Imperial family, included the official Imperial Knights always brought more than one Priest whenever they went for a conquest. That was to say, there shouldnât be any deep visible scars like these. Not to mention that even the probationary knights would get treated immediately when they got hurt so they hardly had any scars left on their bodies. Most likely, the scars on Captain JulliusâŚ\n\nHe must have gotten these scars when heâs still a child.\n\nI roughly guessed it was when heâs in early teens or even younger than that. After I reached a conclusion, my mood worsened. I looked up to face Captain Jullius without letting go of his lapel.\n\nâWhich bastard did these to you?â\n\nâMost of them had died.â\n\nâIt means thereâre still some out there.â\n\nThose crazy bastards who were lesser than a dog for abusing a little child, should have been punished on behalf of the Goddess. The Goddess would be more than willing to punish them with a smile, so those still alive bastards must be exterminated as soon as possible.\n\nâWho are they?â\n\nAs I asked him, I could see his hesitation on his pale-greyish eyes which were similar to the color of the sky before the rain falls. Right before the rain falls is my most favorite moments. Well, except when I was in the middle of camping.\n\nâI canât say it.â\n\nâWhy?â\n\nâThey said, I shouldnât talk about my past carelessly.â\n\nâI will keep it a secret.â\n\nââŚâ\n\nâI swear.â\n\nNo matter how I persuade him, he still tightly pursed his lips and wonât tell anything. Although I cared about him, our relationship wasnât close enough. I should have just given up, but somehow it piqued my unyielding spirit. I let my hands off his lapel and reached out to Captain Julliusâ right hand. My assistant had warned me before that I should never do this, but it wonât be any problems as long as no ones know about it.\n\nâI swear in the name of the Goddess.â\n\nâ⌠The Goddess?â\n\nâYes. A clergy will instantly lost his blessings at the very moment he breaks the oath sworn with the Goddessâ name. In short, I would lost my holy power if I ever violated the oath. For a devoted clergy, lossing his holy power is much more painful than death. Even though I still hasnât become a clergy yet, but I intented to be one so I hope you can trust me.â\n\nMy assistant in Holy Knight Squad had told me for countless times not to recklessly made an oath sworn with the Goddessâ name. Itâs a dangerous thing to do. Captain Jullius could forced me to violate the oath by held captive some innocent hostages to threatened me if heâd a wicked heart. Thankfully, heâs not someone who would do evil things. Iâm sure heâs a good person even though we have just known each other yesterday.\n\nCaptain Jullius looked confused after he heard my explaination.\n\nâYou donât have to go that farâŚâ\n\nâItâs fine. Just give me your hand and trust me! I only have to keep this secret until I died.â\n\nâBut, it could harm youâŚâ\n
âItâs okay. We will be working together in the future anyways. Itâs not that bad to gain your trust by doing this. Therefore, there wonât be any problem that could arise caused by suspicion between us.â\n\nâItâs not that I donât trust you, Miss Epheria. On the contrary, I trust you.â\n
I held his hand and spread his fingers one after another to open his palm while saying, âAll is good then. I also think that Captain Jullius is a trustworthy person.â\n\nI saw another old scar on his palm and I really donât like it. Canât we removed these scars? Should I ask the High Priest to lend me a hand? While I was thinking on how to ask the High Priest to help me when I got the chance in the future, I drew a symbol of the Goddess with holy power onto Captain Julliusâ palm.\n\nâIn the name of the Goddess, Iââ\n\nUgh⌠I couldnât refer myself as âSilla Epheriaâ. And I couldnât refer myself as âRoelâ,-the Captain of the Holy Knights-, even more. I could only said it to myself inside my heart. It wonât be any problem though.\n\nââswear not to tell anything to anyone about what I will hear from the Captain of Special Task Squad, Jullius Rizar, right at this moment.â\n\nA light emerged from the symbol I drew on Captain Julliusâ palm, then the light dispersed before it vanished. I pressed my own palm with his palm while looking at him right in front of his face.\n\nâNow Captain Jullius can tell me more about it right?â\n\nâ⌠alright.â\n\nâWhich bastard did it?â\n\nâDemon clan.â\n\nHis unexpected answer made me instantly widened my eyes. If itâs demon clan, could it beâŚ\n\nâWere you offered as sacrifices for the demons?â\n\nLong time ago, the Goddess pursued the demons until theyâre cornered to the Northern lands. After the Northern lands were seperated by the Black Desert, itâs extremely rare for humans to be able to meet any demons. Except, if they established a contract. Therefore, almost all human children thatâs related to the demons were sacrifices.\n\nâYes. Right after I was born.â\n\nHis answer was within my presumption. That means, thereâre people who offered a newborn baby to the demons which likely to be at least equivalent to those of demon kings level? Not only his soul, but also his body were offered as sacrifices? Or perhaps, they just offered the body as the sacrifices? Without making any contract, just a living human body could be offered as sacrifices.\n\nIn that case, could it be that Captain Jullius⌠although this sounds impossible to doâŚ\n\nâCaptain Jullius crossed over the Black Desert?â\n\nHe nodded. Oh my Goddess! I was already beyond surprised with him being able to survive in the lands full of demons, but he also crossed over that Black Desert? Even if I have my original body, itâs still hard for me, but he was able to do it at such a young age and without any holy power on top of that?! Damn! Seems like itâs true that Captain Jullius was much stronger than me.\n\nSigh⌠I couldnât imagine how hard his life was from when heâs still a baby until he could crossed over the Black Desert all by himself. Let alone crossed over the Black Desert, even for any normal people, they would had been dead long before that.\n\nââŚ, so this matter was kept as secret because itâs related to the demons?â\n\nâI was told itâs for my own good.â\n\nâOf course! Having an unclear origin is many times better than letting other people know about the truth.â\n\n
(T/N: the rest 3 bonus chapters will be released on weekends. Oh, and also, donât forget that Iâll release one chapter every day on the last week of December. So, stay tuned!)