Free Web Novel“Hm? Cia went back? That fast?”
“Hmph. Do you think everyone is as idle as you? Her Majesty has many things to do!”
Saint Haze Palace, the Empire’s temporary office.
Veil paused her work, crossed both hands protectively over her chest, and stared warily at the certain blond who had wandered over at some unknown point.
Damn it. Why didn’t the guards outside stop him? Were they just going to let this guy go wherever he wanted? Could he even casually enter Her Majesty’s bedchamber?
“Do you need something from Her Majesty?”
Veil took two steps back, just in case this guy’s lust suddenly flared and he pounced on her.
“Nothing much... I just wanted to find Cia and apologize for what happened before.”
Muen scratched his head. He had not felt this kind of posture, as though someone were guarding against a thief, in a very long time...
Now that he thought about it, it was kind of fresh.
It would be even better if she did not keep staring at him with the eyes of someone looking at a perverted sex thief.
“What happened before?”
Veil frowned. “Did you do something Her Majesty hates? Something guilty? I understand... you finally cheated, didn’t you!”
“...Where the hell did your mind go? Ahem, actually, it wasn’t as exaggerated as you’re imagining. I just, after making her drink some wine, did a little something, that’s all.”
Muen coughed dryly and tried to phrase it as tactfully as possible.
After all, he could not actually say that kind of thing out loud.
“Wine?”
Veil’s brows immediately relaxed, and she hummed with gloating delight.
“So that’s it. Then you deserved it. You clearly knew Her Majesty doesn’t like drinking, yet you still made her drink. You were simply courting death!”
This guy...
He had definitely relied on Her Majesty’s favor to do something like that.
Acting spoiled because he was favored. At this rate, Her Majesty would sooner or later grow to hate him too. When that time came, she wanted to see how this blond would keep acting so arrogant.
Maybe Her Majesty had left in such a hurry this time precisely because she had already come to hate this guy!
Then what had she gone to see Duke Campbell for earlier? Could it have been to cancel the engagement with this guy?
“In any case, you won’t find Her Majesty here. Hurry up and leave. I still have official work to handle.”
Thinking of this, Veil’s mood became light and cheerful.
“Cia really already returned home?”
Muen was still somewhat unwilling to accept it. He felt Celicia’s return had been rather sudden.
But whether from here or from the information he had gathered elsewhere, the proud Her Majesty the Empress should probably, maybe, perhaps, possibly...
Really have already set off for home.
Supposedly she had only brought a small elite escort force and traveled quickly all the way. She had already left Saint Blancfazesiya last night.
“Didn’t she leave anything...”
“Go, go, hurry up and go. Don’t bother me. Her Majesty returned home, so I have to handle all the official work here!”
Veil clearly did not want to communicate much with a certain blond and directly began impatiently driving him away.
“...Fine.”
Helpless, Muen could only withdraw from this temporary office.
Since Cia was not here, he could not exactly stay and help handle affairs.
By the next day, rumors would probably be spreading everywhere that the future prince consort, before even taking his position, was already attempting to interfere in politics. Then his reputation would stink even worse...
“Looks like I won’t be able to apologize.”
Muen sighed.
He had not been lying. He really had come to find Celicia to apologize.
After all, she had not appeared for these two days. Besides thinking that Celicia had been too embarrassed because of what had happened then, he also felt that perhaps he really had gone a little too far at the time.
But...
Who asked the atmosphere to already be like that?
With a cute little wildcat right in front of him, who could resist teasing her a little?
With a beautiful daisy blooming right before his eyes, who could resist plucking it?
So he was not the one at fault.
Celicia was too beautiful, too charming...
“I’ll write her a letter later.”
Thinking that Celicia might truly be angry, Muen subconsciously shivered.
Her Majesty the Empress getting angry was no joke.
Before, she had only thrown a small tantrum and had almost kicked his ass to pieces. If she were truly angry...
He did not dare imagine it.
“Maybe I should prepare some healing supplies in advance?”
Thinking this, Muen strolled all the way out of Saint Haze Palace.
A strand of warm sunlight fell through the gaps in the clouds, gilding this city of art with a layer of gentle light and shadow.
The rain that had lasted for months had finally receded, and Saint Blancfazesiya had finally welcomed its first clear, warm sunlight of late autumn.
On the streets, Imperial knights were still patrolling continuously. Before the Kingdom’s new king arrived, the Empire remained in charge of this place’s defenses, and the Imperial army continued guarding every street strictly. Only, the restrictions in every respect were no longer as severe as they had been in previous days.
Therefore, ordinary civilians had finally begun appearing on the streets.
After these past several days, which were hard to say whether they had been long or short, they had finally adjusted to the existence of these Imperial soldiers. Some of the bolder ones had even already set up stalls by the roadside and begun hawking their goods.
No matter what happened to the world, life had to continue.
As long as disaster had not completely destroyed this city, everything would eventually return to its proper track.
After withering and decay, life would naturally begin to sprout again.
“With weather this nice, I’ll take a leisurely stroll first.”
Feeling the worldly bustle gradually swelling around him, Muen could not help stretching, extending the muscles and bones throughout his body as far as they could go.
Although Veil had just called him an “idle person,” and although he did indeed resemble some wandering loafer aimlessly strolling around, when he thought carefully about it, ever since the war between the Empire and the Kingdom had begun, he had barely spent any time leisurely at all.
When had his last leisure been?
If the difficult battles with beautiful girls were excluded too...
Oh.
It was probably his date with Ariel at the amusement park.
That really had been a very, very long time ago.
Even pushing further back, aside from a few brief periods of rest, he had barely experienced true leisure ever since coming to this world.
For one reason or another, for all kinds of reasons, even for reasons originating from himself, he had always had no choice but to run forward.
After all, as the pitiful yellow-haired villain in the story, if he did not hurry and change his fate, what awaited him would only be a miserable death.
That was an outcome already proven in every respect.
Fortunately.
All the forward momentum had not been wasted.
Just as he had once firmly believed, in this world, the one thing that would never betray him was effort.
Ah, of course, now he had to add one more thing.
The love of all the beautiful girls would not betray him either.
But in any case...
The once-weak Muen Campbell had already traveled very, very far from his original starting point. He had even gained the qualifications to actively stop his steps and properly rest for once.
Fate could no longer toy with him as it pleased.
“Then... where should I go next?”
Muen rubbed his chin and thought carefully.
He said it was a stroll, but he still ought to have a destination, right? Yet he was unfamiliar with Saint Blancfazesiya and did not even know where to go...
Muen felt a little troubled.
After running for too long...
It seemed he had already forgotten how to be leisurely.
“Yo.”
Just then, someone suddenly called out to him.
Muen’s body abruptly tensed. Almost instinctively, he instantly entered a combat state, both hands already moving behind his waist, silently gripping Elizabeth’s handle.
...Because before that voice rang out, he had actually failed to sense anyone approaching.
Had he relaxed after only a few minutes of leisure?
No.
He had not relaxed. The fact that he could not detect the other party’s approach meant the newcomer’s strength was...
“It’s you...”
The moment he turned and saw the newcomer, the power that had been about to burst out of Muen was forcibly suppressed again. At the same time as he cursed inwardly, he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
“You bastard... why are you even suppressing your aura and sneaking around on a public street? You scared me to death.”
It was not an enemy.
It was an old acquaintance.
“Sneaking around? What are you talking about? I’m not sneaking around. I’m just afraid this appearance of mine will scare ordinary civilians.”
The slovenly priest limped toward Muen while pulling the black trench coat around himself tighter, concealing the ghastly wound marks on his chest.
Pedestrians brushed past him, yet not one noticed this peculiar oddball beside them.
“As for you...”
The Limping Priest looked Muen up and down, then said with a smile that was not quite a smile:
“Why so nervous? Did something guilty?”
“Why does everyone think I did something guilty?”
Muen’s cheek twitched.
“Do I have the face of someone who easily does guilty things?”
“Aren’t you very clear on that already? If you don’t do a few more guilty things, you’d be letting that face of yours down...”
“That’s a stereotype! Go ask around in the Empire. The fact that I, Muen Campbell, am a good man is something all of Belrand has witnessed!”
“I really envy your thick skin, the kind that lets you say stupid things without blushing. If you ever enter the Crowned realm one day, that face alone will be enough to drive countless enemies to despair.”
The Limping Priest sighed.
“But don’t worry. Doing guilty things is fine. Even if one day you’re chopped to death by a hatchet because of the guilty things you did, for the sake of our friendship, I’ll prepare the best coffin for you.”
...I fucking want to send you into a coffin right now!
Suppressing his irritation, Muen smiled without warmth.
“So, what are you doing in a place like this? I thought you only knew how to stay cooped up in your graveyard playing at affectionate self-torture.”
“Even the most reclusive person has to come out and replenish necessities. What’s more, unlike a certain someone who can leisurely bask in the sun on the street, I have proper business to attend to.”
The Limping Priest pointed to his ring and opened up a little of its access information.
“Coffins?”
Muen swept his consciousness across it and said in surprise:
“You really did prepare coffins... and this many?”
Although the Limping Priest had not served as a Church executioner for many years, as a Crowned one, he still possessed a certain foundation. For example, the spatial ring in his hand could hold even more supplies than Muen’s ring, which could fit several magic cannons.
But at this moment, there was only one thing inside that ring.
Coffins.
A lot of coffins.
They all looked newly made, not even painted yet, with rough wood grain exposed.
“You stopped guarding graves and switched careers to reselling coffins?”
Muen’s expression turned strange. “That’s also professionally aligned, I guess, but for a dignified Crowned one to do this kind of work, isn’t that a little...”
“Sorry to disappoint you. These coffins were made by me after I went outside the city to fell trees myself. The craftsmanship is crude, the construction is simple, and they still haven’t reached a level where I can take them out and sell them.”
“Then why did you make so many coffins?”
“To give them away.”
“To give them away?”
“The war is over. Many people will take off their armor, put down their blades, and return from the front lines.”
The priest gazed into the distance beyond the city. A trace of emotion and melancholy appeared on his weathered face.
“Some will return alive. Some will not. Some can lie in spacious, exquisite, high-quality coffins, while others will not even have a place to lie down. Either their corpses will be exposed in the wilderness, or they’ll be casually wrapped in straw mats. No matter which it is, none of that accords with the doctrine spread by the Goddess.
“So... these coffins are for the latter.”
“...I see.”
So they were meant to give those bones with nowhere to return a place to rest?
Muen’s expression turned surprised. He had not expected that this useless priest, who usually drank and mutilated himself, would actually go out of his way to do such a thing.
It seemed this guy was not entirely good-for-nothing after all.
At least at times like this...
He was still an excellent cleric.
“But...”
Speaking of that war, Muen’s memories naturally returned to more than a month ago, to that fortress that had not been breached even until the final moment, and to that cruel, despairing blood sacrifice.
“I think this time, many people may no longer even have bones left.”
The Witch of Repentance’s Ancient Magic had driven a bloody feast of gluttony.
The soldiers who had lost their reason had devoured one another. Forget flesh and blood—even many skeletons might no longer exist.
And even those that remained...
With pale bones piled into mountains and exposed across the wasteland, who could still tell who was who?
“Is that so?”
The priest froze slightly, but did not look too surprised. He merely nodded.
“Then placing a piece or two of clothing inside and setting up a gravestone is good too.”
“...Indeed. That’s pretty good.”
Perhaps those souls wandering far from home would be able to find where they belonged through that, and from then on sleep peacefully in the Goddess’s embrace.
Muen hoped so.
“Want to go in for a drink?”
The priest suddenly asked.
Muen snapped back to himself and only then realized that, without noticing, they had already arrived at the priest’s graveyard.
There was no gloomy weather, no misty rain and fog. Viewed from the front, this graveyard now looked much more normal. It was only that at some unknown point, a swaying wooden sign had been hung on the rust-stained, mottled iron gate.
“Hope... Graveyard?”
Muen stared dumbly at that obviously newly hung wooden sign.
“Hope? A graveyard can be called that?”
“Don’t complain to me. I wasn’t the one who named it.”
The priest patted Muen on the shoulder. There was actually a hint of helplessness hidden in his words.
“When you go in later, don’t get scared.”
“Scared?”
Muen looked suspiciously at the priest. “Is there another Crowned one hidden inside?”
“No.”
“Then what could possibly scare me?”
Muen sneered disdainfully. “Do you really think I’m some kind of coward? Fine, I admit you can scare me. But being scared by someone else or something...”
“......”
The priest said nothing. He merely pushed the gate open in silence.
“Welcome!”
With a pop, colorful streamers scattered down. A girl dressed in a nun’s habit stood before Muen with great momentum. Before he could react, the girl suddenly gave a standard ninety-degree bow.
“Welcome to Hope Graveyard! For our grand opening promotion, buy one grave plot and get one free, with a standard coffin included and professional priest service. Would you be interested in learning more?”
“......”
Huh?
What the hell?
Muen lowered his gaze and saw a pair of snow-white rabbits bouncing up and down, stabbing his eyes until they hurt.
Hiss...
He could not help immediately sucking in a sharp breath.
He felt that he had indeed received a tremendous fright.
