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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Elicis opened her eyes on a bed. Though she awoke in an unfamiliar place, she couldn’t spring up from the bed. The bed itself wouldn’t let her go.
‘What is this…’
The mattress that gently enveloped her entire body, the blanket that maintained her warmth, and even the pillow that supported her head perfectly while keeping it properly aligned.
It was incomparably more comfortable than her quarters at the church. As if falling in love with the bed itself, she found it difficult to stand up.
‘Oh Lord.’
After much internal struggle and drawing on her faith in God, Elicis managed to rise from the bed. She looked around.
There was only a bed and a desk. Though there were no windows, her special training allowed her to tell how many hours had passed since she’d lost consciousness.
Not much time had passed since she collapsed. Even accounting for how quickly darkness fell in the mountains, the sun wouldn’t have set yet.
‘What happened to my subordinates?’
But she had no way of knowing that. All she knew was that she’d fainted while fighting a house-sized wolf and woken up in this cabin.
Realizing she wouldn’t learn anything by staying in the room, Elicis opened the door.
“…Huh?”
When she opened the door and stepped out, she found herself in a room identical to the one she’d just left. Surprised, she looked back and forth between the room behind the door and the one she’d entered.
Without a doubt, they were completely identical rooms, down to the last speck of dust.
“What is this…”
Bewildered, she crossed to the new room and searched every corner, but couldn’t find a single difference.
Returning to the original room with no results, she let out a sigh as she assessed her situation.
‘…Magic.’
Only a witch could do something like this.
Once she reached that conclusion, everything started falling into place.
She had been pursuing a man named Johan. Johan was heading to a cabin in the forest.
She’d fainted in the forest and woken up in a witch’s cabin. This was compelling evidence of Johan’s connection to witches.
‘But the holy power showed no reaction…’
While she was deep in thought, the door opened and someone entered. Before she could properly react – Elicis moved as she’d been trained.
She grabbed the person who entered, twisted their joints, kicked them, and subdued them. The sequence flowed as naturally as water.
“Ugh!?”
Suddenly pinned down, Johan shouted at Elicis who was sitting on his back with his face pressed to the floor.
“What- what are you doing!?”
“…You’re suspected of being a witch follower. Surrender quietly and tell me how to leave this-”
Just as she was about to demand the way out, something kicked her and sent her flying into the corner of the room with a thud. Though there had clearly been nothing there, what had hit her? When she turned to look, she saw nothing.
Meanwhile, Johan got up, massaging his twisted arm and shoulder.
“Do holy knights repay kindness with hostility?”
“…Kindness?”
“Don’t you remember? You were about to be killed by a giant wolf?”
Of course, this was a lie. Fenrir hadn’t tried to kill Elicis. Rather, he had kindly brought her to Johan.
But Elicis didn’t know this. She’d fainted immediately after being struck once… She had no way to tell if Johan’s words were true or false.
“…I apologize.”
“Apologize? After trying to kill me while throwing around accusations about witch followers?”
“Kill you? I merely said you were suspected-”
“You’re the ones who indiscriminately kill citizens just because they’re suspected.”
Johan still vividly remembered the scene that had shocked him so much it still haunted his dreams – innocent citizens being massacred in the square after being accused of being followers.
And Elicis knew very well that other holy knights would act without hesitation if they suspected any connection to witches.
“I- I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Even if you didn’t, that’s what holy knights end up doing, isn’t it?”
“…That may be true, but.”
“If you took me to the church, could you protect me? Could you ensure a proper investigation?”
She couldn’t. Elicis hung her head in silence. When faced with pure logic, silence was her only option.
Other holy knights might have spouted sophistry about doing anything for God, but… Elicis couldn’t do that.
“…I cannot.”
“So you were trying to kill me?”
“…Yes.”
“Repaying kindness with cruelty?”
Bow- Elicis nodded. And- it was said that beasts who don’t know gratitude should be put down. Johan smiled lightly and said:
“Kneel here until I return.”
“If that will satisfy you…”
He watched her kneel on the floor before leaving the room. Even after he disappeared, Elicis didn’t straighten her legs. She just waited. As promised, stubbornly – until he returned.
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‘Damn, this really hurts…’
After leaving the room, I massaged my shoulder while recalling what had just happened. The moment I’d opened the door and entered, Elicis had subdued me with movements straight out of an action movie.
If I hadn’t immediately enhanced my body with mana, my arm would have been dislocated and something might have broken – her movements were that skilled.
‘I thought people who weren’t witches couldn’t use mana… how can someone without mana be this strong?’
It wasn’t for nothing that medieval knights were called living weapons. I had learned that fact firsthand.
While I was still rubbing my shoulder, Marguerite, who had followed behind me, asked with concern:
“Are you okay?”
“Ah- yes. I’m fine. Thank you for saving me.”
“It was nothing. If I hadn’t saved you there, Evangeline would have killed me.”
Just before, when I was being subdued in the room – Marguerite had followed me in. Invisible to others, she had been able to cast magic at Elicis without interference.
Thanks to her magic throwing Elicis aside, I’d been able to subdue her with words.
“By the way, when are you planning to go back in?”
“Well… I’ll think about it later.”
“Right. Calming your master down is probably the most urgent thing right now.”
At Marguerite’s words, I thought of Master who had locked herself in her room.
She apparently hadn’t liked me bringing another woman into her home in my arms. She’d gone straight to her room and locked the door.
By now her anger should have subsided somewhat, and she’d be waiting for me to come comfort her after removing the bolt from her door.
So seeing Elicis again would have to wait quite a while. After soothing Master’s mood, having dinner, bathing – it would be late at night.
‘If she’s still kneeling by then, I’ll accept her apology.’
With that thought, I headed to Master’s room carrying fruits and flowers. After comforting her there, having dinner, bathing – I collapsed into bed, exhausted.
A day passed.
Morning came.
“Ah.”
Only then did I realize I had completely forgotten about Elicis.
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Click, the door opened. It had been about 16 hours.
Johan, who appeared through the doorway, was different from before – he just poked his head in to check Elicis’s position. This was to prevent being attacked like last time.
After peeking in and scanning the room, Johan let out a sigh when he saw Elicis was still kneeling. From the look of it, she hadn’t just taken up the position after noticing his approach.
Johan sighed at the excessively rigid holy knight.
“…You can stand now.”
“Thank you… ugh-!”
As Elicis tried to rise, she collapsed forward. Though her knight’s training had allowed her to maintain the kneeling position for over a dozen hours, she couldn’t overcome physical limits.
After being compressed for so long, her knees and thighs were not only swollen but had lost all strength from lack of circulation.
Fortunately, Johan was close enough to catch her before she fell.
“Are you alright?”
“…I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been like this the whole time?”
“Isn’t that what you ordered?”
Hearing her words, Johan clicked his tongue. True to their religious devotion, these people had no flexibility at all.
He’d never imagined she’d actually keep kneeling the whole time – he’d expected her to kneel for a few minutes then lie down on the bed…
“I did say that. So… has your thinking changed at all?”
“…You are still a witch follower. That fact hasn’t changed.”
“Oh? Then you won’t be able to leave here.”
“However- you’re also my benefactor who saved my life. According to doctrine, repaying kindness is as important as avoiding sin.”
Elicis said this while glancing up at Johan. She still couldn’t dismiss her suspicions that he was a witch follower. If she reported this to the church, they would dispatch witch hunters.
They would burn not just this cabin but the entire forest. And that would be an act of ingratitude. Putting her own merit before repaying kindness wasn’t right.
“If doing right means turning a blind eye to sin-”
“…What are you saying?”
“I will remain silent about everything I’ve seen and heard here.”
It was a risky decision for her. If the church didn’t believe her report and sent people to investigate the cabin, and they discovered Johan’s connection to witches – she too could be accused of being a witch follower.
But a life-saving kindness had to be repaid even at the risk of one’s life. This was all she could do.
Hearing her words, Johan nodded as he looked at her. Though not perfect, it was a reasonably good outcome.
“Come out. Let’s eat.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I cannot eat food prepared by a witch…”
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“…One more bowl.”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t eat it earlier?”
“I- I said no such thing!”
Johan smiled wryly as he filled Elicis’s plate with more food. Though she had initially resisted eating food prepared by a witch, she was powerless before the witch’s seasoning.
Scrape scrape-
The sound of a metal spoon scraping the plate echoed.
Looking at her empty plate, Elicis blushed as she held it out.
“…J-just one more – just a little please!”
“…Are you a holy knight or a pig?”
“Wh-what! How dare you insult me!”
Johan shook his head in disbelief as he took her plate to fill it again. By the end of that day, the pot that was meant to last until dinner was completely empty.
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If Johan actually lets Elicis return to the Church he is going to regret it big time. The Holy knight that is her superior is not going to be easily fooled. There’s an even higher chance that Elicis’s subordinates that escaped the forest have already contacted the Church.
I was completely wrong about this.