Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

I too hope for her to be safe.

「You're right. Uhm?」

I tilted my head upon looking at the curved sword.

「Is something the matter, Chiyuki-san?」

「Take a look, Nao-san. There's something written on the sword's blade.」

I showed the curved sword to Nao.

「Ah, you're right. There really is something written on there.」

「Moonlight Goddess… do you understand what that means, Decius-dono?」

These words might be a clue left behind by Sienna for Decius.

The reason she didn't write any kind of clue that could be understood by just anyone might be out of fear that her message would be erased by her opponent.

Though discarding her sword meant reducing her combat capabilities, she might’ve gotten cornered to the point of being forced to do so.

I gave the curved sword to Decius.

Decius might be able to understand Sienna's message.

Decius then looked at the words written on his sister's curved sword.

「This is undoubtedly Sienna's handwriting. Moonlight… Goddess, could it be?」

Decius knitted his eyebrows as he pondered over this matter.

「Do you know what's that message mean?」

「Well, it's something that happened the night before the banquet. Sienna and I met a mysterious woman. Her beauty was simply mesmerizing… with the moonlight shining over her, it was as if she was a Moonlight Goddess. That woman is the only one who comes to mind when it come to ‘Moonlight Goddess.’」

Decius spoke as he looked up to the sky as if he was growing senile.

Nao was whistling upon seeing such an expression on Decius' face.

Though he looks like a straight-laced, expressionless man even from our perspective, I never thought that he could make such an expression: an expression of someone in love.

Though it seems like a nice topic to see the other side of this man, I had to mind TPO right now.

「Did you happen to know that woman's name, Decius-dono?」

「Unfortunately not since she left right away… But, I heard that they came to see the Hero of Light-dono.」

「To meet Reiji-kun? Ha~h.」

I pressed the palm of my hand to my forehead.

Decius looked like someone who experienced a broken heart upon recalling that matter.

「Then, do you know the whereabouts of that beauty right now?」

「Yes, based on her appearance, she might be a foreign noble, but if I’d known that this would happen, I would’ve asked for her name and address.」

Decius looked like he was regretting his hesitation that night.

「It can't be helped, not even God can predict the future after all. So there's no mistake that the Moonlight Goddess is the woman you met before. What shall we do then? Shall we gather new clues by finding that Marchas?」

I asked them.

「Let's go back after searching for a bit more.」

We nodded upon hearing Decius' remark.

Moonlight Goddess.

That woman might be the clue to solving this case.

I committed that name to my heart as we continued with our investigation.

===

◆Small Time Villain, Marchas

The light turned on inside the bar as night fell. But, I couldn't smell the aroma of liquor or fish oil. On the contrary, I was inside a wide room filled to the brim with pink colored smoke.

The smoke smelled really nice and it colored the room pink under the light.

「Are you sure that you won't go back, Marchas?」

My colleague spoke to me while drinking and embracing a woman with his free hand.

Just like me, my colleague was also a member of the heretic cult. He was busying himself with groping the woman's ch*st beside him.

Though the me from yesterday would be replying with a lecherous smile on my face, the current me wasn't in the mood to do so.

「Going back my a*s. Like h*ll I'm gonna goin' back…」

I muttered so.

「Hehe, I see… Well, I'll be going back first then.」

My colleague left along with the woman who served him.

And then, I looked at the woman who left along with my colleague.

「Spider…」

I muttered so.

The woman who accompanied my colleague looked like a spider for a moment.

It wasn't just the woman who just left along with my colleague. Sometimes, I saw that the women working in this store were monsters masquerading as humans.

The women who worked in this store were the employee-slash-harlots. But, they weren’t just a normal harlot. They were far more beautiful compared to the harlots in the back streets.

This store was the only store with such a collection of beauties.

This store looks like your usual, normal bar from the outside, but it was in fact an illegal gambling den and bro*thel managed by the underground organization, 『Red Spider』.

This store was perfect for anyone who wanted to forget about unpleasant memories.

The women were beautiful, the liquor and the dishes were delicious. That's why I came to this store.

But, I'm not in the mood to enjoy that today.

Though I had no idea why things looked a little bit different in my eyes now, I somehow guessed that this might be related to that Dark Knight.

My body trembles non-stop whenever I recall that Dark Knight.

I was even more terrified by the fact that he could literally hide his identity so well and make himself appear like a normal person.

And worse of all, I actually tried to sell that very same person. There was nothing I could do even if that person killed me on the spot.

And yet, far from killing me, he thanked me instead. Thanks to that, I barely managed to come out alive from the seemingly hopeless situation.

And then, I felt some sort of power flowing into me when he placed his hand on my head. After that, the scenery that I saw around me changed a little bit. And thanks to that I couldn't enjoy the liquor in this store.

Rather, could it be that this liquor originally tasted like this?

Before, it was so delicious. And yet, despite drinking the same liquor, today the liquor tastes especially awful.

Which reminds me, someone did say the same before. That fella also said that the taste of the liquor was awful.

Why did I lose that ability around this time of the day?

「Marchas-san.」

When I turned to the side toward the one who called me, there was a woman standing there. I remember this woman, she was the woman beside the sect master.

「Hehe, is something the matter?」

I asked back to her, smiling to hide my inner turmoil.

「The new sect master is calling you. Please come with me.」

「New sect master? Okay, please guide me.」

I was laughing. The new sect master was the female successor of the previous sect master who became the current vice-sect master. Did that person want to know something from a no-name grunt like me?

I stood up from the sofa and followed after the woman.

The new sect master was a reliable person. I might be able to erase this anxiety of mine as long as I met that personage.

The new sect master has always been absent all this time. When did that person return to this country, I wonder?

Soon, we arrived in front of the sect master's room.

「I brought him as per your order, New Sect Master-sama.」

「You may enter.」

I heard the voice of the new sect master from inside the room.

It was a young man's voice.

When I was forced to enter the room by the woman, I saw that the room was filled with pink smoke.

A man sat in the middle of this room. He was a blonde haired man with pale white skin as if there was no blood flowing beneath that skin, long slit eyes and bright red lips.

The young man was so beautiful to the point of being easily mistaken as a woman.

「Eh?」

I unintentionally leaked out a dumbfounded voice upon seeing the new sect master's figure. Because he looks completely different from before.

I was really happy when I met him before. It was to the point that I'm willing to die for this person.

I, who was born in a musician's family, got kicked out from the house after ruining myself in gambling.

After that, my life was a wreck. I couldn't become a freedom fighter or a soldier due to my weak body. Thus, I left with no choice but to live by stealing from those weaker than me.

Ainoe-neesan was the one who picked me up when I was at my wits end.

That was how I joined the organization and met the new sect master.

That was the first time I felt that my life until now was solely to meet this person.

But now, I don't feel anything at all. Rather than that, I felt that he was repulsive.

I looked around the room. It was the same room. The room was filled with the collection of freshly severed women's heads lined up in the cupboards.

Before this day, I didn't feel that this kind of scenery was strange at all. But now, I knew that this room was clearly abnormal.

「Marchas-kun, is it? Is something the matter? You seems restless.」

The new sect master asked with a smile on his face.

「Nah, it's nothing. Ehehe.」

I entered the room with a smile on my face, bluffing to prevent him from noticing my flustered state and my back that was already drenched with cold sweats.

「Let me get to the point. You met him, right? How do you feel right now?」

I had no idea what he meant.

「Him? Who is the "him" you're referring to?」

New sect master was clearly displeased upon hearing me question him back.

「The Dark Knight, don't you know about him?」

My body trembled again upon hearing him saying Dark Knight.

「The Dark… Knight?」

「Yes, the Dark Knight. He's famous amongst us as someone whose power rivals that of the Hero of Light. Let's see, maybe the reason he caught my interest is because he foiled my father's plan twice. Thus, I want to know more about him.」

The new sect master was laughing innocently like a child.

「If you ask me about what kind of a person that man is. U~hm… He doesn't stand out at glance. But, he can suddenly become extremely terrifying being in the next moment and…」

I was at a loss for words, unable to find the exact words to describe the man known as the Dark Knight.

「Same as Zeal-kun's testimony huh. Does that mean he's an expert at hiding his power? That makes him a rather tricky person I guess.」

The New sect master nodded as he said so.

「Uhm?」

Suddenly, I caught something in my line of sight.

When I looked at the direction where that feeling came from, my line of sight intersected with the head of the woman in the cupboards.

I unintentionally screamed at the top of my lungs.

「Uhm? Is something the matter, Marchas-kun?」

The new sect master looked at me upon hearing my scream.

And then, he stood as if noticing something.

The new sect master then walked towards the cupboard and picked up the head whose line of sight met mine.

「T-That head, could it be?」

「Fufufu, Do you remember her? You're the one who brought her here, you know? And now, she's one of my most important spirit.」

The new sect master said so with a delightful smile on his face, caressing the head very carefully.

===

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