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Okay, so after looking at the polls and the comments you guys have left me, I've decided to compromise and put both chapter links and the entire story into 1 page. It'll take a bit of time before the rest of the books are condensed into 1 page, but I'll try to do them ASAP.

(15/6/2012)

Friday 4 February 2011

Book 1: Rule 6 – The Sun Knight’s Sixth Rule: “When away from home, you rely on your friends. So make friends, even be it an undead corpse.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

"Sun should be fine, right? His recovery ability has always been the best……"

"Did you not see his face when he collapsed? He looked no better than a dead corpse!"

'How rude! Who said that?! I'm much better looking than a dead corpse!'

I wanted to flip over, but my body felt so heavy, so I gave up and continued sleeping.

"You grace, will Sun really be alright? But he hasn't moved in two days……"

'Oh? I see. I haven't moved in two days…… No wonder my butt hurts. Why didn't anyone help to flip me over?! Oh, and what if my trousers were to get creased?! The perfect Sun Knight's pants getting creased…… how can I let that get out?!'

Fearing that my pants would get even more creased, I wriggled diligently to smoothen it out. But that little move had spent me out of all my energy, and so I fell asleep once more, ignoring the startled cries around me. All the while never once opening my eyes…

"What should we do? Sun has been unconscious for five days now, if this continues, he might die from lack of nourishment……"

"Get out!"

"What?"

"I said, everyone get out!"

Following that order was a lot of outraged cries, fighting sounds, arguing voices, etc. How noisy!

'Do you guys not see the severely injured patient resting here?! Keep the noise down!'

I flipped over in irritation, turning my back to all the commotion, and continued to sleep……

"Sun! Get up!"

I pressed my face into the pillow and continued sleeping.

"Creus Sun! Get up, right now!"

I suddenly stiffened…… 'Creus?'

Ahh… It's been a long time since someone had last spoken my name, I've almost forgotten that I was called Creus.

Ever since I officially became the Sun Knight, everyone just calls me Sun. You see, after becoming one of the Twelve Holy Knights, our last names are changed to our individual titles – for example, my last name became Sun. But actually, each of us still has our own names; it's just that people hardly call us by our real names anymore.

Because I rarely hear their names, I've forgotten most of their real names; for instance, I can never remember the Leaf knight's name…… was it 'elderberry'? Or 'strawberry'?

But to call out my full name, looks like Leithe Judge is angry for real. If I don't get up now, I may never wake up again……

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and said my first sentence in five days hoarsely, "Will it kill you to let me sleep for just a while longer?"

Judge's ever stiff expression sagged in relief and he chuckled. He shook his head as if to say, 'What can I do against you?' before bringing over a bowl of fish porridge to me. Oh, I see he had remembered to add my favourite herb - parsley!

My stomach rumbled hungrily at that heavenly smell.

Instantly, I bounced out of bed and lunged for the bowl hungrily……

Before I could snatch it over, Judge had moved it away from my reach.

"Leithe Judge!" I cried out mournfully to him.

Judge calmly brought over the bowl while saying, "Take your time and eat slowly. Remember, you've only had some glucose drink to sustain you for the past five days. You might get yourself sick if you eat too quickly."

I took over the bowl and ate slowly to appease him.

"Actually I shouldn't have added the parsley. You should be eating bland foods that are easy on the stomach," mumbled Judge as he frowned. "But if I didn't do so, you'd probably refuse to eat some tasteless porridge."

'You really know me all too well! Who would want to eat plain porridge!'

While waiting for me to finish my porridge, Judge took out some official documents and started going through them. 'Sigh… you sure don't waste any time, do you?'

After finishing the bowl of porridge and gulping down a whole bottle of water, my hunger and thirst for the past five days was finally satisfied.

Seeing that I'm done, Judge put away the documents and looked at me, waiting.

Knowing what he was silently asking, I told him all about my visit with Pink and the following incidents thereafter.

Of course, no one is supposed to know that the necromancer and I are in cahoots…… oops! Sorry, I mean - that we are acquainted with each other. However, Judge is my best friend and I've never hidden anything from him, so naturally he was aware of Pink's existence.

After listening to my story, Judge kept silent, deep in thought. I, on the other hand, reached down under my bed, searching for something…… I remembered stashing a large chunk of jerky under my bed, so where is it now? Ah - ha! Found it.

I ate the enormous piece of jerky while looking closely at Judge's expression. His face is usually set in a stern expression - similar to how mine always has a smile on - but when in private, all kinds of expressions would come out. Take for example how I had stuck up my butt in the air while searching under my bed just now. How elegant do you think that was?

Judge looked up with at me with some uncertainty, but the moment he caught sight of me eating the piece of jerky, his expression turned thunderous as he snatched it from me. "Are you crazy?!"

"But I'm really, really hungry…" I pouted at him.

"I'll get more porridge for you later," he said unsympathetically, keeping away my jerky instead of giving it back to me.

"I've taken a look at the sword you brought back with you," he said, cutting directly to the point.

I tilted my head in thought, 'he must be talking about the one I had taken from the knight, back at the execution grounds.'

"And? Have you found out to whom it belonged to?"

"The sword had the Ceylan family's insignia on it - an orchid. Only a high levelled knight could have wound you like that, and there are not many of them. Within the Ceylan household, there are only three knights who meet these criteria - the Duke of Ceylan's third son, as well as two other knights pledged to the Ceylan family."

"But which one was it?" I pressed further. I believe that Judge is capable of finding out almost everything just from examining the sword.

Judge kept silent for a moment before speaking, "The duke's third son. His allegiance is to the Crown Prince."

I, too, became silent before asking hopefully, "You sure it's the duke's third son and not anyone else?"

The question I really wanted to ask was, 'is the crown prince really the culprit between all this?'

Only a direct order from their liege could have made a knight who placed such importance on honour do something as despicable as disposing a body in secret. If the duke's third son's pledged lord is the crown prince, then there could be no doubt as to who had really tortured the Death Knight.

Judge nodded his head and said, "It couldn't possibly be the other two knights. One was in another country that day, while the other was patrolling the city. There are many other knights with him that day who could attest to this."

"The crown prince…… torturing a person to death?" I muttered strangely. This just didn't seem like something the responsible and kind crown prince would do.

The room suddenly grew quiet and oppressive. If it really was the crown prince, what could we even do about it? Even if there was irrefutable proof that the crown prince was guilty of the crime, could we really send the country's only heir to the guillotines?

"Outside the temple……" Judge suddenly spoke up haltingly, before stopping.

I looked at Judge. I had thought he was acting rather strangely today.

Usually, when the both of us are alone, he would drop his stern look and smile - although he looks quite funny when he does so. His smiles are quite stiff, you see; I guess it's because he doesn't get many opportunities to smile.

But today, he might have smiled a little initially, but it had looked forced. I can tell - it had looked exactly like my smiles.

I looked at him and he looked back at me. A strange atmosphere grew around us, one that I had never before felt between us.

"Damn it……" I raked a hand through my golden hair in frustration before giving him a hard look. "If you've got something to say then say it! Don't try to hide it from me, or else I will no longer acknowledge you in the future."

Judged hesitated for a moment, but at the dark look in my eyes, he sighed and said, "The whole city's filled with rumours saying that you had tortured the Death Knight to death."

I stiffened at this, but Judge continued on. "Because of this the Pope has given us new orders to forget about the investigation and to instead start slandering the Death Knight. We are to announce that he was a criminal of the worst sort who was caught by you, and that when he could not be persuaded to show remorse for his crimes, he was sentence to death by me.

"The reason why he would have a grudge with you was because you were the one who had originally caught him," said Judge calmly, as if it was only the weather we were talking about and not the slandering of a possibly innocent man.

But this is so obviously a lie!

I was enraged. I do not know if it was anger for the poor Death Knight who has become a victim of circumstances; or perhaps it was because I had been forced to drag myself out to investigate in my weakened state, and nearly killing myself in the process - only to get a notice saying that the investigation was to be discarded!

I felt such great burning anger seething inside of me, threatening to engulf me in its flames; but strangely my limbs felt so cold, freezing even, as I broke out in a cold sweat.

"Calm down," Judge said in concern when he noticed my state, patting my shoulder comfortingly.

I shoved away his hand violently, this action causing the both of us to freeze for a moment.

He retracted his hand slowly and kept quiet, but I couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out, "Do even you believe that I'm responsible for that knight's death?"

The Judge Knight stared down dazedly before looking back at me and said, "I believe in proof."

My face darkened upon hearing this.

Judge elaborated, "Right now, it is possible that the crown prince had killed the Death Knight, before ordering a knight loyal to him to dispose of the body at the execution grounds......"

"But, it could also have been me, isn't that right?" I interrupted sharply. When Judge didn't deny my words, I got even angrier and shouted, "After all, the only person the Death Knight has mentioned so far was me! You have only my side of the story of the incident at the execution grounds, and a sword I had brought back with me. I could have made the whole thing up! Perhaps I was thinking of shifting the blame onto the crown prince, and since no one would want to further investigate the crown prince, this case would be closed, isn't that right, Judge Knight?!"

My chest heaved up and down after my rant. I could feel an ache in my chest; was it just because I was getting tired? Or was it my anger trying to burn its way out? I do not know.

After a long while, Judge finally spoke just one sentence, "It's possible."

"Damn you!" I yelled furiously.

My expression cold, I got up from my bed and went over to my wardrobe, took out my cloak before looking at my Holy Sun Blade hesitatingly. I was considering taking it out but then decided against it. After all, it wasn't like I had any confirmed plan. I only wanted to get away from here and Judge!

"Sun, where are you going? You still haven't fully recovered--" Judge had stood up too, looking disapprovingly at me.

"I'm going to see Pink." I interrupted him and then mocked, "If you want to, you can add 'consorting with necromancers' to my list of crimes."

"You - " Judge was getting angry too.

'Oh, dear!' I thought nervously. I hadn't meant to slip out that last sentence. Now Judge has gotten angry……

'Oh! I don't care! So what if he's angry? I'm even angrier!'

I grabbed the cloak and headed out, deciding to discuss the events with Pink, when I suddenly remembered something and turned back to Judge. "Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to spread the Pope's ridiculous rumours. I will find out the truth."

Again, Judge went silent at my words. I felt a little nervous, because in the past, this best friend had agreed to all my demands - among which many were rather random and unreasonable - with no questions asked. Taking my place in fights, helping me to investigate a case, helping me to get even with someone…… Yet now he keeps quiet…… 'Oh dear, I really shouldn't have angered him,' I thought.

Fortunately, Judge was more forgiving than I thought, for after turning it over in his head for a moment, he replied, "I can only suppress it for three days, at most."

"Very well! Three days it is." I agreed before I put on my cloak and left my room.

~O~O~O~O~

"Hey boss, give me your biggest, sweetest, pink, strawberry flavoured lollipop!"

I tossed out a silver coin and got back in return a lollipop even bigger than my head. Straight away, I regretted my actions. What was I doing, trying to act cool? Now my retirement fund has decreased by one silver coin!

My heart heavy with regret, I trudged over to Pink's house. I don't know if she knew I was coming or if she was just enjoying some sun, but when I reached her place she was already outside staring hungrily at the huge lollipop I held. Her drooling saliva was enough to fill as many as three buckets full.

She rushed towards me but I quickly lifted it out of her reach, causing the tiny necromancer to jump around me trying to reach the lollipop. In the end, she gave up and pouted at me, clasped her little hands together and knelt in front of me, looking at me pleadingly.

"Has the Death Knight been here?" I asked, waving the lollipop.

Pink swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "Yes."

Ah - ha! Looks like we're getting somewhere.

"Does he still listen to your orders?"

"He's never listened to my orders. Death Knights are rarely obedient. I told him to sweep and mop the floor, and to wipe the tables, but he completely ignored me." Pink pouted.

Asking a Death knight to sweep and mop…… Alright, fine. Even the Sun Knight runs errands for her and buys her lollipops. Ordering a Death Knight to clean shouldn't be so surprising.

"Oh yeah! Sun, don't go provoking him, he's really strong right now. You can't beat him."

I looked at her strangely. This indifferent little necromancer who's afraid of nothing, is asking me to avoid the Death Knight?

Pink mumbled, "If you are cut into tiny pieces by him, even I would have trouble reviving you. Then I won't have my apprentice anymore."

She then tugged at my cloak and asked me eagerly, "When are you going to become my apprentice?"

"When I'm dead."

Don't mistake this sentence for a refusal!

A few years back when I was unable to complete my mission, I had foolishly turned to Pink for help. Of course, she wasn't going to help me out for free, so I promised to give her things in return for each time she helped - lollipops, beautiful pink frocks, a pair of good - looking male and female corpses……I had to go digging around several graveyards for ten nights, looking for corpses fitting those requirements.

In the end when I had nothing left to offer, I actually went ahead and offered my 'dead self'.

Ever since, I hardly dared to ask for her help any more, afraid that I would lose even my 'alive self' to her.

"What is that Death Knight's unfulfilled obsession?" I asked, waving the lollipop high up in the air. I intended to make full use of that one silver coin that I had spent.

Pink looked at the lollipop before reluctantly saying, "Don't know, he won't say."

"How about who his murderer is?"

Pink gave me a strange look and said matter-of-factly, "Duh, wasn't that you?"

"I didn't kill him!!" I shouted angrily.

"Oh, I see… so it wasn't you……" Pink glanced everywhere else but me, not looking like she believed me at all.

'This brat…' I grinded my teeth, wishing I could bite her instead. But, of course, I didn't really do so. I'd probably die from food-poisoning from eating rotten flesh if I actually bit her!

And besides, I still need her to clear my name. So, I smiled at her my most innocent, most misunderstood and hurt smile - guaranteed to arouse that mothering instinct hidden within all women and to generate sympathy for me.

Sure enough, Pink looked at me with an intense look in her eyes, rushed to me with her arms outstretched, looking like she wanted to give me a hug, and then she…… snatched the lollipop from me.

So, the brat was eyeing the lollipop! I had forgotten to hold it up and she had taken the opportunity to snatch it away!

With the lollipop now gone, I wondered if she would still agree to help me. 'Don't tell me I have no choice but to sell of 'my alive self'!' I thought as I slumped to the ground, depressed.

Pink crouched down beside me licking her new lollipop. She then patted my arm comfortingly and said, "Don't get so depressed, Sun. If it really wasn't you then just find out who the real culprit is."

"Easier said than done." I rolled my eyes at her. "It seems that the crown prince is involved in it. I can't just go up to the duke's third son and ask: 'Hey, was it the crown prince who did it?'"

Pink tilted her head and thought it over. "Then just kidnap him here, and I'll interrogate him for you for free!"

"……Which do you think would be worse? Torturing a guy to death, or consorting with necromancers?"

Pink looked at me as if to say 'One really cannot make a horn of a pig's tail' and shook her head, sighing. "Are you stupid? Can't you just cover up your face and be done with it?"

I was sorely tempted to do as she had suggested, for Pink could make anyone talk. It would save me a lot of effort……

But wait a minute! That duke's third son is a pretty strong knight in his own right! With my holy spells and my Holy Sun Blade, I could probably defeat him, but I can't guarantee that I can get him alive!

Besides, someone in the duke's household would come running to help him. I definitely can't defeat all of them!

"He's too strong, and he's bound to have a lot of guards around him, I can't kidnap him." I said, feeling even more depressed than ever.

"Says who? You're the one person I acknowledged worthy of becoming my apprentice!" Disagreed Pink. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into her house. Now, she may look like a little girl, but she's as strong as an ox! I was unable to break her grip on me and could do nothing but follow her in.

Sob, sob! Being dragged by a little girl half my height is horrible! As much as two thirds of my body was being dragged along the ground……

'Bang!'

She dragged me into the house and slammed the door behind us, before releasing me and running to a large chest. As she rummaged through the chest - carelessly throwing around various things - her 'cleaner corpse' dutifully picking up her mess after her.

I stared blankly after her. When a pair of lacy panties landed on my head, I couldn't hold in my curiosity any longer and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Found it!" She exclaimed - just after I had asked my question - before removing from the chest a badge the size of my hand.

I then stared at her blankly as she scurried over and slapped the badge onto my chest. I looked down and examined the badge. It was black with silver trimmings in the shape of a dragon; simple yet beautiful. It made a great accessory.

But I knew that nothing Pink owned was as it seemed. Except her lollipops, of course. There are five categories for Pink's belongings: dangerous, very dangerous, extremely dangerous, capable-of-destroying-the-world dangerous…… and not dangerous at all.

"What is it ?" I asked nervously. I still don't know which category this badge falls into!

"Ouch!"

Pink had pricked my finger with her sharp nails and held the badge under it, letting a few drops of my blood fall onto it. The badge suddenly glowed softly, and I understood that the glow signified the badge's acceptance of my ownership.

There are many various objects which require drops of blood - or in some cases, a magic ritual - to let the object recognise its owner, before allowing you full use of them.

My Holy Sun Blade is one such prime example. I had to undergo an extremely complicated ritual and had spent a lot of my blood to switch ownership of the sword from my teacher to me. Only after going through said ritual was I able to access its full powers. To any other person holding it, they would only be able to wield it as they would an ordinary sword.

One thing these objects all have in common is that they are precious, valuable and expensive!

Not even a whole vault of gold could necessarily get you one of these treasures, yet here I was, casually given one of them. I had to admit that I felt quite touched by Pink's generous gesture.

When I looked at her, I could tell that Pink was feeling a little discomfited by the ceremony. After all, my blood is well known to be one of the holiest things in the world, and absolutely lethal to all Dark creatures.

"All done!" Pink let out a deep breath and quickly retracted her hand, dropping the badge into my lap. I picked it up curiously and asked, "What is this?"

Pink looked at me mischievously and instructed, "Shout out: 'Dragon's Holy Robe, in the name of the dragon's successor, I order you to activate!'"

I looked at the badge a little sceptically, 'I wonder which god had designed such an old - fashioned incantation……'

Well, I'm sure Pink won't harm me. I mean, if she had wanted to she could have easily done so without needing to go through all this hassle. So, I began chanting, "Dragon's Holy Robe, in the name of the dragon's successor, I order you to activate!"

The moment the words left my mouth, the badge trembled and floated up, emitting a silvery glow which became stronger and stronger until I had to close my eyes from the glare. Eyes closed, I could feel something - probably the badge - attach itself to my chest before growing bigger and bigger until it had enveloped my whole body.

To be honest, I was feeling extremely nervous. For all I know, this badge could be capable-of-destroying-the-world dangerous, but it was a little too a late to do anything now.

"Wow. Wow! Sun, you have such a great body!" I heard Pink exclaiming.

'Huh? I have a great body? I'm not naked, am I?!'

I quickly opened my eyes and looked down. Phew! Luckily I didn't see anything that looked like naked flesh. But my clothes had turned into a skin-tight black outfit, moulding to my figure and leaving nothing to the imagination…… No wonder Pink had said that I had a great body.

The black outfit had a light covering of silver armour protecting my chest and other important places, and even the boots were of a silver metal. At a closer look, I realized that the armour was actually made of many interlocking scales as small as my thumbnail , becoming a strong flexible armour that wouldn't hinder my movements at all.

"This is a magnificent piece of work……" I couldn't help admiring. But halfway through my sentence I suddenly realised that my voice had changed, no, more like I was speaking through something.

I curiously walked over to the only mirror in the house and looked at my reflection. A cool looking guy wearing a black skin-tight outfit and silver armour looked back at me. Especially with the streaks of silver in my black hair, I was dastardly handsome, capable of stealing the hearts of eight year old girls and eighty year old grandmas alike …… w-wait a minute! Streaks of silver amongst black hair?

I was stunned.

"Ahh---!!! My hair, its changed colours! My golden hair! Ahh!! I'm going to lose my job, I can't be the Sun Knight anymore! Nooo--! I don't want to become depressed over losing my job and have to join the God of Light!"

The handsome man capable of stealing the hearts of eight year old girls and eighty year old grandmas alike screamed while grabbing his beautiful black and silver hair.

"How noisy," said Pink, calmly licking her lollipop.

~O~O~O~O~

"OK, so its 300 ml of blood to change once, and it lasts for three hours. Every additional hour is another 200 ml of blood. I would advise you to go for five hours at the very most, or else you might very well die from blood loss."

Why does it sound like it is being put to work, and that I'm paying its wages in blood……

"However, after returning to your original appearance, you have to wait for another 24 hours before you can use it again."

And I even have to give it break times. Only working five hours a day, isn't that a little too little……?

"After you've changed forms, your defence doubles, your strength increases by 60%, you can jump higher by 50%, and your speed increases by 120%."

What detailed figures, why not just make it simpler and double all of them?

"After adding up all that, Sun, you should be about…… 85% as strong as the Judge Knight!"

'Ergh! You don't have to remind me how bad I am at battling!'

"However with that ridiculously good recovery ability of yours (even better than the undead), as long as you can drag out the fight for three days and three nights, you'll definitely win!"

"……Have you forgotten that this outfit will suck my blood? I would have become a drained corpse within a day or two, let alone three days and three nights!"

"Oh, that's right! I forgot about that…… it's alright! I'll just show you a few necromancy spells then, watch carefully!"

I don't want to! I'm the sun Knight; if people were to hear that I knew black magic, I'd be tied to a stake and burned alive!

…… Eh? I've learned it? Oh God! I've learnt it just by seeing it once?! Nooo--! Don't tell me I'm a priest prodigy, a magician prodigy, and now even a necromancer prodigy?!

"Sun, did you pick becoming a Sun Knight by throwing a dice? That dice god must really hate you……"

Stop talking about it…… sob, sob…!

I spent one hour at Pink's house listening to her explaining the rules of the Dragon's Holy Robe, as well as accidentally picking up a few necromancy spells…… Oh dear! I must take extra care not to accidentally use those spells, or I'll be in big trouble!

When Pink got more and more excited and started breaking out the more advanced spells, I quickly escaped from the little house to avoid becoming an advanced level necromancer.

Sigh… Forget about it! Now, if I can locate the Duke of Ceylan's third son within half an hour, spend another half hour bringing him to a deserted place, and use a further half hour to force the truth from him with the spells Pink just taught me, I should be able to change back within the three hour limit and avoid having to pay out additional blood to this blood-sucking outfit!

It might not seem like a big deal to you, losing just 300 ml of blood, but I've already lost too much blood too many times to remember, these past few days!

So without wasting another moment, I rushed off to look for the duke's third son. By my fist or by my black magic, I will definitely force out the truth from him!


 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

 

Thursday 3 February 2011

Book 1: Rule 5 – The Sun Knight’s Fifth Rule: “Save up, or else you’ll have a very bleak retirement ahead of you”


 

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

I was not kidding when I said that the execution grounds North West of the city was really, really far. To avoid me joining the rest of the corpses at the execution grounds when I finally reach the grounds, I decided to part with my hard-earned money and rent a carriage.

I could have gone back to the Holy Temple and asked for one of their carriages, but I would then have to put on my Sun Knight act-smiling, praising the God of Light, always elegant and perfect……

Seeing as I can't even bear to smile in my current condition, I'll just have to fork out the money for the carriage. Even though it pains me to do so, all my preciously hoarded savings would do me no good if I were to die now, would it?

At the carriage rentals, I chose the cheapest carriage-hopefully it'll last me to the execution grounds before falling apart; and hired the cheapest coachman-an indifferent old man who couldn't care less who his passengers were.

The carriage stunk like a whole basketful of rotten eggs, but I persevered. I sat in a corner and made myself comfortable. Soon, I began nodding off to the carriage's gentle swaying ……

'Bump!'

I jerked awake with an expressionless look on my face; a large bump now graced my forehead.

The carriage had braked sharply, causing my head to knock into the walls so hard that the flimsy wall had snapped broken.

I sat there considering the idea of paying out a small sum of money to the keepers of the execution grounds, and adding the coachman to the ranks of corpses 'dead by means other than hanging'.

"I'm sorry, but a few knights suddenly appeared ahead of us; I had to brake sharply to avoid crashing into them," apologised the coachman, not sounding apologetic at all.

'Knights?' I thought as I cautiously rubbed the swelling on my forehead.

There are no real differences between holy knights and ordinary knights. Both carry weapons and ride horses; both wear armour; both are cannon fodder in battles; both are the first in a team to die…… cough! I mean, both use their bodies to shield their teammates from attacks, nobly sacrificing their selves to save others; sparing no effort to help out other innocents even at the threat of death.

The only distinction between the two is that the former pledge themselves to the Gods, while the latter pledge themselves to other humans. Because the holy knights serve the Gods, they have additional powers gifted to them by the Gods. For example, holy knights have the 'self-recovery' ability, which allows them to recover from their injuries much quicker than ordinary humans.

For instance, just yesterday I had bled out a lot of blood onto the streets, yet I am strong enough to get out of bed the next day! If I were an ordinary knight, I probably would have died on the streets there and then!

While the ordinary knights don't get any special powers from the gods, they do get much higher wages-at least two to three times more than holy knights!

As long as an ordinary knight is able to survive till his retirement age, he should be able to live off his savings comfortably for the rest of his old age.

Whereas for a holy knight…… if one does not privately find other means of supplementing one's income, as well as scrimping and saving wherever they can, even the Twelve Holy Knights would barely have any money at their retirement. We would have to continue working pitifully even well into our old age, for the other option would be to starve to death and join the God of Light.

(Quietly: For example, the strongest Sun Knight in history-my teacher, is now working as an adventurer, competing for quests with the younger generation and stealing from monsters and thieves……cough! I mean, he is setting an example for the younger generation and serving justice to the evil.)

Before leaving the Holy Temple, my teacher had solemnly left behind this advice, "Child, if you don't want to have to work as a priest after your retirement (too dangerous for you to work as a knight, your sword skills are too lousy), you better have a good retirement plan to avoid such a bleak future."

Thinking about his parting wisdom, I started feeling terribly guilty for the money I had just spent. I should have just walked. I believe that with my self-recovery abilities, I should have been able to at least make it to the execution grounds.

While in the midst of lamenting my unwisely-spent money, I heard noises coming from outside. The sound of trotting horses and the clanging of armour intermixed with shouts.

"What's happening?" I asked impatiently, as I looked out of the carriage.

I was just in time to catch sight of the fleeing coachman leaping from the carriage and swiftly running away, abandoning me behind.

'Right! Just you wait! I'll definitely drag you off to the Judge Knight and sue you for abandoning the Sun Knight!'

I 'prayed' for him to join the God of Light-sooner rather than later. But the moment I turned around, I could understand why he had ran off so quickly, for standing in front of the carriage were three tall knights, not looking the least friendly.

"Go back!"

Although they, too, were stunned at the sight of the fleeing coachman, their leader had managed to quickly regain his wits and shout at me.

I frowned at that. As the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights, hardly anyone would dare to yell at me. With the exception of my teacher, the Pope and that ignorant fat king, I had never been yelled at by anyone else before.

'The fallen tiger is harassed by a mere dog.' To think that I, the fallen Sun Knight am now harassed by three lowly knights! 'You three better watch your mouths, or I'll……get Judge to beat you up!'

Hey, don't give me that look! Try nearly bleeding to death and see how strong you are the next day!

My sword skills might not be very good……OK, they're terrible-but remember that this is in comparison with the rest of the Twelve Knights and my dear teacher! If you were to compare me with the average knight, my sword skills are actually pretty…… average.

And don't forget, my sacrifice of higher wages entitles me to a bunch of blessings and abilities. With all of that taken into account, I should be about the equivalent of a strong knight!

And when you add my superb self-recovery abilities, I should be even stronger!

But frankly, after bleeding so much blood, I have hardly enough strength to draw my sword, much less take on three powerful-looking knights.

So, I could do nothing but get out of the carriage, jump into the driver's seat and meekly turn the carriage around.

"At least you've still got that much sense!" Upon seeing me turn around and leave, the three knights did not hassle me any further and merely turned to leave in the opposite direction.

I quietly noted that they, too, were going in the direction of the execution grounds.

When they were finally some distance away, I quickly jumped down from the carriage and hid in the bushes while the horse continued pulling the carriage onwards. As long as I walk within the bushes, those knights shouldn't notice me there.

I was very curious as to why these knights would want to visit the execution grounds. Something smelled fishy. If this mystery happened to be linked to the murder case I'm investigating, then all the better for me. Even if they were unrelated, I could still report their suspicious activities to Judge and let him investigate further.

So, I quickened my pace to catch up with the knights, going at a full sprint. I have a feeling that my wounds are going to get worse from this. But it's OK, my self-recovery abilities are second to none in the Holy Temple; I should be fine.

No matter how grievous the injury, I've still always been able to get out of bed the next day. Even if my internal organs had spilled out, my heart had been injured and my lungs had difficulty drawing in air; within three days I'll be able to get out of bed for breakfast and ready to apply my whitening mask once more.

But there is a downside to recovering quickly-ever since the Pope found out about my exceptional recovery abilities, my sick leave has become shorter than anyone else's……

After cursing that old Pope in my mind for a while, I finally reached the execution site. The grounds were a simple earthen ground with a small wooden building off to one side. In the middle of the execution grounds stood one lonely gallows. The noose hanging from it was merely a piece of rope tied into a loop at its end; but it was still effectively deadly.

This execution site is one of the oldest and most run down there is. No criminal accused of the more serious crimes or criminals of importance would have been executed here. Only some unimportant thief that no one cares about would be hanged here.

But this is Sprouting Leaf, the capital city of Forgotten Echo, as well as the centre of the faith of the God of Light. If you were to talk a stroll in the city, you'd see royal knights making their rounds on one street, pass by several holy knights on their patrol in the next street, and on the next one, you'd see a group of priests spreading the teachings of the God of Light to the people. Moreover, the terrifying Judge Knight would patrol the streets daily at random times! A staggering total of 1056 criminals of various crimes have been caught in the past ten years!

Do you think any thieve would dare to rob and steal in this city?

So because thieves are a dying breed within the city, this execution site has not seen much business for quite some time.

But it is precisely because this place is so deserted that a lot of suspicious dealings have been going on around here. To think that the bodies of non-criminals would be dumped here! A dead body means that a crime has been committed. Looks like the capital city isn't as safe and crime-free as the Holy Temple believed.

I chuckled darkly. Wait until I tell Judge about this. That cold face of his would become even colder as he sweeps the whole city for hidden transgressions and crimes.

The site was empty but for the three horses secured at one end. 'Looks like the three knights had made it here before me.'

The old and decrepit building was lighted however, and several figures could be seen through the windows.

I blessed upon myself two abilities-Holy Blessings-which increases my defence, and Divine Wings-which increases my speed-and approached the building, taking great pains to avoid being seen from one of the windows.

"……the corpse?" A voice demanded fiercely from within.

"Sir…… there are many……erm…… which…… do you mean?" This voice sounded weak and frail, likely belonging to an old man. Even with me focussing all my attention on their conversation, I still missed out a few bits of it.

However, I dared not step any closer and instead hid behind several tall trees. Even with the weak blessings my condition was still very poor. I might be discovered if I got any closer.

"……blue eyes," said one of the knights impatiently.

The frail elderly voice floated over, sounding to be on the verge of tears. "Sir, I would never be so disrespectful as to look at a dead person's eyes!"

"Gold hair-no-more like brown, about 23 years old, rather handsome face."

I frowned upon hearing this, a feeling of dread welling up inside me.

Blue eyes, brown hair, 23 years old…… the same age as me. Sigh, to have died at such a young age, it wouldn't be surprising if the Death Knight felt some resentment about this.

"It's already been buried……"

"You dare lie to me!"

That shout was followed by a string of punching and crying sounds, until the old voice said even more weakly, "……sold two days ago."

"Sold to whom?"

"A man with a little girl."

My eyes gleamed at this. Praise the God of Light! These three knights are connected to the Death Knight.

'A man with a little girl?' I scoffed. It should be, 'a little corpse with a big corpse'! It must have been Pink and her 'cleaner', the undead she specially summoned to clean her house.

"What did the man look like?" the knight asked furiously……

'Wrong! You should have asked: 'what did the little girl look like?''

"Hood was pulled down……I couldn't see……"

"You damn idiot……!"

"Kill him. He's a liability to us." A new voice said.

"Please have mercy!" Pleaded the frail voice.

My expression immediately darkened. As the Sun Knight, I can't just stand by while someone is being killed right in front of me…… can I?

But with my current condition, I can't do anything to help. I'd only get myself killed too!

'To rescue or not to rescue…… hmm……'

"Please…… please stop-" the pitiful sobs were heartlessly ignored as kicks and punches rained down upon the weak and frail body.

'You idiots! I've been contemplating for such a long time, yet you haven't killed off the guy, what's wrong with you? Why are you using your fists when you can just slice off his head with one blow?!

'Don't you know that procrastinating with these things only invite heroes of justice to interfere? Especially this Sun Knight who has to uphold justice!'

Glancing down to make sure that I still had the blessings, I crept towards the window and peeked in. Inside, two of the knights were beating up an old man while the third stood by, unaffected by the scene playing out in front of him. 'The boss gives the orders, and the grunts do the work.' So logically, this guy should be the leader.

Softly, I muttered a spell. I may be a holy knight, but I am really more suited to becoming a priest, or even a sorcerer. Actually, anything would have suited me better than being a knight! 'Sob, sob…'


 

My teacher would often sigh exasperatedly, "Why is it that you can learn a magic spell after seeing it just once; yet no matter how hard I try to teach you, no matter how many times I show it you, you can never get a sword move correct?!"


 

To avoid unnecessary gossip-like saying that I'm not in the right career or something, I rarely use magic in front of others. But these are extreme circumstances; moreover, I don't intend to reveal my true self, so it should be fine……

"Paralysis!"

I cast a paralysis spell on the leader before bursting through the window and kicking him in the back. Straight away, he slumped down without a sound.

'Hey, looks like I can become a pretty good assassin too!'

After kicking him down, I drew his sword and turned to face the remaining two knights. I can't draw my Holy Sun Blade and reveal myself, now can I? Only a blind idiot wouldn't be able to guess at who I am if I were to swing around my Holy Sun Blade.

I dodged their attacks, muttered another spell, and flung out my arm at them. The grease spell caused the floor to turn slick and smooth, thus tripping one of the knights. I immediately stomped on his leg, breaking his calf.

Ha! A knight with a broken leg is no match for even a helpless priest. With such heavy armour on, they cannot hope to stand up again on a broken leg.

"A mage swordsman!" The other knight cried out, alarmed.

'A mage swordsman? Puh-leze.' I rolled my eyes at him. 'I'm merely a Sun Knight who had accidently learned elementary spells.'

But having defeated two of them so easily boosted my confidence. I guess these three aren't high levelled knights. Good news for me.

The last knight looked at me in fear, not daring to get too close.

I could understand his situation. Mage swordsmen are either very strong or very weak. Since I had quickly felled their strongest member and another in such a short time, he probably thinks that I'm one of the strong ones.

All of a sudden, I felt a very strong aura from behind me. Whipping around, I saw the leader that I had kicked down earlier slowly getting up, his expression stormy. Even more alarming is the aura drifting off of him- Frenzy. Only knights of the highest level have Frenzy.

"You sneaky, disgraceful scumbag!" He roared. He reached to draw his sword only to find it empty as the sword had been stolen by me. He grew even angrier at this.

This guy's a high levelled knight! No wonder he was only wearing light armour, unlike the other two who were arrayed in full armour.

'Frenzy' is something that envelopes one's body and it is better than armour. Not only can it block an enemy's blows, it doesn't hinder one's movements, and doesn't weigh a thing, thus allowing for greater speed and agility. It's great both for defence and offence!

However, not everyone can attain 'Frenzy', as only a high levelled knight can achieve that state.

Back then, my teacher had attempted to teach me to attain 'Frenzy'. He had tried every method in the book-and many ways not in it- demonstrating it to me at least 20 times a day…… in the end, I still couldn't get it. Instead, I had accidently learned Holy Blessing while recording beautiful female priests.

It was only until after the title of Sun Knight was passed on to me that I had finally learned how to release Frenzy, but it was a very close call. I had nearly died in that mission and only the accidental triggering of my Frenzy had managed to save me.

But still, I prefer using Holy Blessing over Frenzy. It is easy for me to gather holy light and summon the Holy Blessing to wrap around me; but when trying to summon my Frenzy, one time out of three times I will fail to successfully summon it. Furthermore, my Frenzy is so weak that I dare not entrust my life to it. It's just easier to use Holy Blessing and forget about Frenzy.

Sneaking a peek at the high levelled knight's Frenzy, it doesn't seem that that his Frenzy is at all weak.

"Grease!" I flung out once more.

Unfortunately, my technique was not as successful this time. It failed to fell the high levelled knight, as he and his light armour did not weigh enough to make him slip, although he did stagger for a moment. Instead, this use of magic merely seemed to incite greater fury. "You despicable scum!" He roared once more, as he grabbed a table and threw it at me.

He probably expected me to stand my ground and slice the table in half, before battling it out with him in a fierce battle of The Knight vs. The Mage Swordsman!

However…… I dodged it while throwing out a smoke spell, creating a smokescreen to hide me from their sight.

Using this opportunity while they are momentarily blinded, I grabbed the wounded old man, vaulted out the window and rushed to the tied horses. With a swing of my sword, I cut loose the horses and slapped two of them on the rump, startling them into dashing away. I then hurriedly swung up onto the last remaining horse while pulling the old man up in front of me, and hurriedly rode away.

Suddenly, a sword was thrown out of the broken window towards us.

If I tried to dodge this sword I would definitely fall of the horse; if I fall off, the knights would catch up to me in no time and there's no way I can get away easily!

Even right now, my Holy Blessing is growing thinner and weaker. I have no hope of winning against them, much less when one of them is a high levelled knight.

Right, no dodging then!

'I should be alright with the Holy Blessing and my Holy Healing……'

'Fzzz'

The sword had managed to cut through my Holy Blessing shield! I paled and tilted to one side, letting the sword slice through my right upper shoulder and just barely missing my heart. My shoulder immediately started spurting out blood.

Fortunately, the sword had not harmed the horse and soon, the horse's long strides had taken us away from the execution grounds and put some distance between the knights and us.

I used a healing spell to stop the bleeding from my wound while thinking about the knight I had fought earlier…… I believe I would have a hard time with him even if I were fully recovered. I had only managed to kick him down that first time because of the element of surprise, and had gotten away from him only with the help of magic.

Such a strong knight; and from his shouts of 'despicable!' and 'disgraceful!' I could tell that he is no ordinary knight. For him to care so much about honour, he is probably in the service of a noble.

'But for such an honourable knight to secretly dispose of bodies at execution grounds…… It just doesn't seem to fit!

'Unless he was carrying out orders from his lord……'

Ergh!

I suddenly experienced a dizzy spell. Looking down, I noticed that my wound had reopened and was bleeding once more. Well, that's normal. Riding a horse would jar open any wound.

'I better hurry back to the Holy Temple and get healed up properly.' Tearing a strip of cloth from my cloak, I simply wrapped it around my wound, before focussing on getting back to the city.

Upon reaching the city gates, I let the old man off after healing his wounds, advising him, "If you value your life, you'll leave this place and get as far away from here as possible, do you hear me?"

The old man looked much better after receiving my healing. He hurriedly nodded with terror before limping away.

I left the horse behind and slowly made my way into the city. That horse belonged to those knights. If I were to bring it back to the Holy Temple, someone might find out about today's events. Furthermore, I'm currently bleeding from my shoulder. It would attract too much attention if I were to ride the horse in the city. I don't want to have to deal with questions from the patrolling guards.

With a hand pressing against my wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, I slowly entered the city. The guards at the city gates frowned at me but did not stop and question me. They've probably seen too many wounded adventurers before. And anyways, there are plenty of watchful guards and knights within the city; who would dare to stir up trouble here?

'I really have lost too much blood in two days,' I thought ruefully as I resumed my 'tortoise crawl' and crawled through the city.

Even though I hadn't done anything, a troop of patrolling guards kept eyeing me suspiciously. I guess a bleeding person in a cloak and hood is rather suspicious. They probably think that I might stir up trouble; or collapse onto the ground and die.

Keeping a wary look on the approaching guards, I swiftly entered a side alley where I could see three holy knights chatting with one another.

As I neared the trio, I reached out an arm towards the nearest one who had his back turned towards me. This action alarmed the troop of guards as well as the other two holy knights who were facing me, and they quickly pulled back the third holy knight who was still unaware of what was happening.

…… I had only wanted to pat his shoulder to catch his attention……

"May the God of Light bless you, my brothers," I said loudly, only now realising how weak I actually sound.

"Who are you?" The holy knights looked at me baffled, frowning at all the blood covering my figure.

Raising my hood slightly and letting them catch a glimpse of my face, I asked, "Do you recognise me?"

The three holy knights stared at me with wide eyes. "You-you're the Sun-" stammered the youngest one.

"Shhh!" I pressed a finger to my lips and winked at them mischievously with a relaxed smile…… Although I really wish to collapse there and then, I forced myself to maintain my Sun Knight image.

The three of them just stood there staring at me with mixed emotions. They were about to salute me before remembering that I didn't want to reveal my identity. When their eyes flickered down to my blood soaked figure, they widened in consternation and looked at me worriedly.

"I need someone to escort me back to the Holy Temple. Would you be willing to spare some of your time to do so?" I asked. This time, my speech was much simpler and easier to understand, without any of the usual praises for the God of Light peppered in. I just want to get back to my room and sleep!

"And another thing, those guards seem to have some misunderstanding towards me. Could one of you help to explain it to them? But please remember not to reveal my identity."

The holy knights nodded cautiously, and one of them immediately went over to the guards. I have no idea what he told them, but the guards accepted it and nodded to him before leaving.

The youngest holy knight in front of me nervously asked, "D-do you want to heal your wounds first? I know some healing spells…… Ah!" He suddenly seemed to realise something and stopped.

"Please. And thank you," I smiled.

Upon hearing my acceptance, the three knights looked at me in disbelief. I could guess at the reason for their surprise. I'm quite famous for my mastery of holy spells; so it is quite hard to believe that I would need someone's help in healing……

The holy knights kept their questions to themselves and quietly escorted me to the Holy Temple, but only after the youngest had healed me a little with what limited spells he knew.

With the escort of the three holy knights I reached the Holy Temple in no time at all. After thanking them, I turned and started climbing up the steps to the Holy Temple.

"Sun- Are you sure you'll be alright?" The youngest knight called out worriedly.

I took a deep breath before turning to them with my most radiant smile. "Please to do not worry, this Sun will be fine."

But despite my reassurances, the three holy knights had let out a startled gasp and continued looking after me even more anxiously. I couldn't understand why.

I pulled down my hood as I neared the entrance to the Holy Temple. The knight standing guard immediately saluted me and I successfully entered the Holy Temple. Swiftly, I walked towards my room, calling out internally, 'I'm coming, my bed……'

"Sun!"

I stopped at this call, but before I could turn around, I was dragged off by the arm. I could do nothing to stop it as I was already very weak.

"What happened to you? You're covered in blood, is it the enemy's? Haha, you must have really beaten them to the ground!" said the person bluntly. He was very strong, as he was all but dragging my entire weight with him. He had red hair, a loud voice and a tall figure.

This is one of the Twelve Holy Knights-the Blaze Knight. He is a straightforward and reckless person, with a fiery temper to match his flame-red hair. Like me, Storm and Leaf, he is also part the Good Warm Faction.

'Blaze…… please let me go and let me walk on my own! I'm very close to fainting!'

"Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you why I was looking for you." said Blaze as he dragged me forward, not even once looking back at me. On both sides, passing holy knights were dropping documents, cups and even valuable swords onto the ground. I must look extremely weak and pale.

If this continues on, my Sun Knight reputation will be in tatters! So, gathering up every last ounce of strength I had, I weakly reached up and pulled down my hood, covering my face.

"Frost is lying in bed. That Death Knight's sword seems to have some strange aura surrounding it. They're saying that it is a 'Death Sword' or something like that. Even the Pope isn't able to suppress the dead aura. They say that only you can get rid of it."

A dead aura? No wonder! No wonder I'm still so weak. With my excellent recovery abilities I should be doing much better than I am by now. That sword is no ordinary sword. How unfortunate that it had fallen into the hands of a Death Knight.

Blaze dragged me all the way to the Cold Blood Faction's living quarters, and proceeded to kick open Frost's door. "I've found Sun! So now what do we have to do to save this icy guy?"

The scene within didn't look as serious as I'd expected. The Frost Knight was lying calmly in bed reading a book, while several high levelled priests stood around discussing about the best way to heal him.

Judge was looking over several official documents from beside Frost's bed; even while taking care of someone, he'd never waste a second to deal with official matters.

The priests looked up happily at Blaze's announcement and said, "We only need to drip some of the Sun Knight's blood on his wound," they explained. "With his blessed holy blood and some of our purification spells, we should be able to expel the dead aura. The Frost Knight would need to rest for a few days after that, but he should be fine."

'Is that so? Then could I have a few days to recover first? Between the two of us, I seem to be the one worse off……'

Ouch! My arm suddenly hurt, and blood started spurting out from the newest wound on my arm.

"That sounds pretty simple. After all, Sun is as hard to kill as a cockroach! Bleeding out a bucket or two of blood should be fine for him." Said Blaze as he grabbed my shoulder and held my arm above Frost, shaking and sprinkling my blood all over him. Covered with my blood, Frost's already cold face turn freezing.

The priests hurriedly came forward and started chanting the spells for purification, pouring all their energy into healing Frost…… 'Hey, hey! Has everyone forgotten that I, too, was slashed at yesterday? And my wound was much deeper than Frost's! Leave some purification for me too!'

I felt like weeping as I watched them cast purification spell after purification spell. I opened my mouth to protest but no sound came out.

"Sun Knight, you……" Judge appeared to have notice that something was off about me. He looked at me with some hesitation but did not continue.

His hesitation was understandable-after all, we are the Sun Knight and the Judge Knight who are opposing rivals-even though we are secretly friends. It would be inappropriate to openly show concern for me in front of Blaze and all these priests. And anyway, with my recovery skills, I don't think anyone would believe that I am on the verge of dying……

As the priests cast the purification spells, I could feel my consciousness fading rapidly. 'Please, anyone! Please catch on to the fact that I might be going to join the God of Light sooner than I expected……'

The last thing I saw before my vision went black was Judge tearing me from Blaze's grasp and ripping off my hood. He gasped at my face before turning to shout at the priests, but I couldn't make out what he was shouting.

Oh, Frost had leapt out from his bed! How unusual to see such a panicked expression on his typically expressionless face. Completely opposite to Frost, Blaze had a looked of dazed disbelief on his face.

Oh, I don't care about that anymore!

It doesn't really matter if I die or not, right now the only thing I want to do is sleep…… I closed my eyes……

'Ah, how comfortable. Goodnight, everyone.'


 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Book 1: Rule 4 – The Sun Knight’s Fourth Rule: “A Sun Knight must have great recovery abilities”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Due to my great injury, my three day vacation was extended to one week. It was rumoured that Leaf had attempted to get a month for me but was denied as the Pope had an important mission for me.

Sigh… Leaf, you really are a nice guy!

I added the soured milk to the paste mixture and mixed it in carefully with the Holy Sun Blade's scabbard. The scabbard is really useful. As it's made out of pure gold, I can use it to stir apple wine or my whitening paste without having to worry about it rusting. Actually, it seems to gleam even brighter than before after I wipe it clean!

Hmm… Ok, looks just about done to me; I should be able to apply it on now. After the long fight yesterday, I should have immediately done my whitening routine that night, but was unable to due to me collapsing from excessive blood loss. When I had woken up this morning, I had nearly fainted once more when I saw myself in the mirror. My beautiful creamy white skin had darkened to a honey golden colour!

Oh God! I'm going to have to undergo my whitening routine every night for a whole week before I can get back my previously fair skin.

"S-Sun! What are you doing?" Leaf had suddenly come into my room and was now staring at me in shock.

I've just finished whipping up my whitening mask and am going to apply it to my skin…… I thought distractedly, looking down at the scoop of whitening mask I had in my hand.

Why is it that the one time I forget to lock my door, Leaf forgets to knock before entering?!

But luckily I have yet to apply the paste! Or else if Leaf had seen a paste covered me, he would have mistaken me for a rotting undead and immediately drag me off to Judge.

"You've just lost a lot of blood yesterday and should be resting! What are you doing out of bed?!" Leaf hurriedly pushed me back into my bed and tucked in the covers around me firmly.

I rolled my eyes at this. Oi! I'm still holding a pile of paste in my right hand!

"Sun, what are you doing with this paste?"Asked Leaf as he stared perplexedly at the paste in my outstretched hand.

Leaf looked at it and thought for a moment, before turning to smile at me, "I understand now. You're hungry, aren't you?"

……However did he come to this conclusion? Does that pile of paste even look edible?!

"Eating this will make you sick." Leaf scolded as he swiped the pile of paste from my hand and threw it back into the bowl. He then proceeded to take the bowl away with him as he left. "I'll get something for you from the kitchens"

Hey, hey! I have no objection to you bringing me something to eat, but where do you think you're taking my whitening paste to?

That bowl of whitening paste cost me five days' worth of salary! I had planned to use it for a week of whitening!

When Leaf opened the door, he was startled by the person standing outside and dropped the bowl of paste……

My five days' salary! Nooooo---!

I leapt from the bed to save it but couldn't reach it in time……

Luckily, the guy standing outside the door calmly caught the bowl. He was black haired, black-eyed and clothed in black. Giving out a heavy and depressing feeling, the terrible and fearsome Judge Knight stood at my door.

"Judge Knight, may I ask what business you have here?" Asked Leaf warily.

Oh, I forgot to mention this before, but nobody else knows about our friendship but the both of us. On the surface, we still dislike each other and fight like cats and dogs.

It seems that I'm the only one on the Good Warm Faction who actually likes him. The rest are still wary of him and avoid him whenever possible. I guess the brainwashing since we began training at the Holy Temple was rather successful.

The Judge Knight merely stood there expressionlessly, looking rather intimidating. In his uniquely deep voice, he answered, "I'm here to tell Sun about the Pope's mission for him."

The nice and kind Leaf could never hope to stand up against the Judge Knight's daunting presence. He turned to me forlornly, "Sun……"

I had felt rather dizzy after my earlier burst of action, and sank down slowly and gracefully onto my bed. "Leaf Knight, since this is an important mission entrusted to Sun, this Sun accepts it."

"But you just received such a grievous injury, you should be resting now." Leaf said apprehensively.

"Please do not worry. This Sun has the God of Light's protection."

If you keep on insisting on forcing me to speak, I really will faint in front of you!

"Well……all right." Leaf said reluctantly, before he closed the door behind him.

Judge followed to lock the door, ensuring that we would not be bothered by anyone else.

He then went directly to the point. "The Pope is rather concerned about this incident. He wants you to secretly investigate the events surrounding the Death Knight. You're given one week to do this," he said, as he put down the bowl and sat down.

I knew it! I knew it was too good to be true. There's no way the Pope would have willingly given me a whole week off……

"Sun does not understand. What kind of mission could not be carried out under the God of Light's watchful eye?" I asked, resigned. These kinds of secret investigations are always very troublesome.

"I do not know." Judge replied.

"The appearance of a Death Knight is rather worrying, but why is the Pope getting involved? And why does he want me in particular to investigate it?"

I was rather bewildered. The Pope was a slave driver who exploits every man power available but this is a little too much! My recovery abilities may be pretty good, but I did bleed all over the streets just yesterday. I need at least three days' rest to get back to my optimum condition. If the matter was so urgent, why he didn't he assign the task to any one of the other Holy Knights?

"The Pope is not interested in the outcome of the investigation. Once you've found the culprit, you need only report it to me," said the Judge Knight with a severe look in his eyes. This stern look was not directed at me, but at the unknown culprit.

Ahh……The Sun Knight is to secretly investigate the matter, and the Judge Knight is to secretly deal with the criminal. Looks like this matter wasn't as simple as I thought.

I don't think you fully understood the situation, so let me explain it to you.

Creating a Death Knight is a very difficult and complicated task. You need two things to create a Death Knight, and one important 'food' to sustain and make it grow stronger.

Firstly, you need a high levelled necromancer

A high levelled necromancer isn't easy to find as a necromancer isn't a very popular job. In addition, a lot of people discriminate against necromancers, causing them to hide away in very remote places where people can't find them easily.

Secondly, you need a fresh corpse filled with a great deal of hatred and bitter resentment, and it has to have died with an unfulfilled desire.    

Now, finding a corpse that meets those requirements is even harder than finding the necromancer.

How hard can it be, you ask?

Well, I have to clarify that the corpse's resentment cannot be some simple thing where he had not had a satisfactory last meal or something. Oh no, to create a Death Knight, you need hatred and resentment for something greater, like a bitter grudge against someone, so strong that he would want to return from the grave!

And lastly, the only thing that could make a Death Knight grow stronger-an impossible obsession!

The more impossible it is, the greater his hatred; and it is his hatred that makes a Death Knight grow stronger and more powerful. When his hatred and resentment reaches a certain level, he will evolve into a Death Lord, and by then we'll all be in a lot of trouble.

No matter how strong a Death Knight may be, he is only one; but a Death Lord possesses the powers of a necromancer, allowing him to raise an army of the undead, as well as allowing him to increase their skills with magic.

In short, the birth of a Death Lord must never be allowed to happen, or it'll spell great disaster for all of us.

Now, how to kill a Death Knight? The easiest method would be to defeat it before burning it till nothing remains.

The second method is to find out his grievances and obsession. Help him to get his revenge, help him to achieve his obsession, and he would finally be at peace and be able to move on to the next life on his own.

The second method may sound more humane and the 'right thing to do', but generally it is easier to just defeat it.


 

Back to the story:

"Why is the Pope so concerned about this Death Knight?" I asked curiously. What could have caused the Pope's conscience to rear its head and make him interested in a Death Knight's past grievances? I am sure even the God of Light was surprised!

Judge looked at me strangely and said, "I heard that during the entire fight, the only thing the Death Knight had said was that 'he'll come back for you', is that right?"

That's right, I nodded. He did say that…… suddenly, I understood what Judge was getting at!

Usually, a Death Knight would only appear around one person-the person whom he has a grudge on, or else someone who was connected with his obsession……

"I'm under suspicion?" I asked, so stunned that I forgot to speak praises of the God of Light.

The Judge Knight nodded solemnly.

"I didn't kill him! I don't even know him!" I protested.

Judge merely nodded and said, "Then find out the truth and clear your name. But you'd better get a move on it; people are beginning to suspect you."

~O~O~O~

I'm pretty sure I could become a Death Knight if I died right now.

I'm filled with such great resentment!

First of all, I was attacked by the Death Knight and had bled all over the streets. Then I get a week's holiday, only to find out that I would be using it to investigate a murder case. Worst of all is that I find myself the greatest suspect for the murder!

I had originally planned to apply my whitening mask and sleep for three days before enjoying the rest of my holiday. But how can I sleep anymore when I am the prime suspect for a murder?!

The moment Judge left my room; I staggered up and begun preparing to leave. A one week deadline to solve a murder case is already asking for a lot, but it is even harder still to solve a Death Knight's murder. I don't even know how long the guy had been dead for, before coming back as a Death Knight!

So even though I felt weak enough to collapse at any time, I still dutifully dragged myself out of the Holy Temple and began my investigation…… Should I die from carrying out this investigation, I swear I'll come back as a Death Knight and seek my revenge upon that Death Knight!

I pulled on a cloak and strapped on my Holy Sun Blade…… Who knows when the Death Knight might come looking for me? It's best to bring it along with me, just in case.

I had thought of riding a horse but decided against it when I realised how dizzy I was. I'd only get dizzier atop a horse. If I were to slip from the horse's back in my current conditions, I'd surely die.

So walking it is. I just pray that I don't collapse in the middle of my investigation.

To avoid any unnecessary distractions, I pulled up my hood to conceal my face, and slowly left the Holy Temple. A lot of people went around me impatiently, giving me a 'do you think yourself a tortoise? Why the hell are you walking so slowly for?' look.

I was feeling too weak to bother about anyone and merely continued on slowly. The further I walked, the quieter my surroundings grew, as busy shops bustling with people slowly gave way to poorer housing areas. The noisy streets grew less and less crowded until all that remained were a few drunkards lying about and the occasional person going about their business.

"Oh, ho—What a pretty cloak! Mister, are you looking for your missing wife?" sniggered a couple of drunkards.

I walked past them slowly step by step, neither speeding up nor slowing down, until I reached the darkest and most rundown part of the street and stopped in front of a house that looked rather inhabitable.

I kicked open the door and swept into the house while yelling angrily, "Damn corpse! Where are you! Come out here! I've been greatly inconvenienced by you!"

There were only a few pieces of broken furniture inside; and covering every inch of surface and more were layers upon layers of cobweb. If one had simply rushed in, they would have gotten wrapped up in all the cobwebs until they become a giant cocoon.

No one could have been living here, not even a stray dog.

But I know for a fact that this was merely an illusion spun by a necromancer to hide from the prejudiced public.

"Dead corpse! So you refuse to come out?" I slowly reached out a beautiful white hand from within the folds of my cloak….. Shit! It's a golden coloured hand.

Sob…… I've turned into a honey golden coloured Sun Knight!

No, forget about it for now. I have a necromancer to draw out. Without reciting any spells, holy light began gathering in my hand, growing stronger and stronger until its soft white glow illuminated the whole house.

Not that I'm bragging or anything, but there aren't many priests who can gather so much holy light without needing to recite a spell. Other than the Pope and his cardinals, only a handful of priests can achieve this feat.


 

While teaching me magic, my teacher once remarked, "Child, you are perfectly suited for a priest."

"Really?" I had asked happily, cheered up by this praise. I had been rather discouraged about my dismal sword skills, you see.

"Yup. If you had joined the Hall of Light, you would definitely have become one of the strongest popes ever!"

My eyes sparkled at this as I dreamed about the fame and glory of the strongest pope ever……

"But since you had joined the Holy Temple instead, you will just have to settle for being a very weak Sun Knight."

'A man fears choosing the wrong career, while a woman fears marrying the wrong man.' This saying is quite true. A single uninformed choice had changed my fate from becoming the strongest pope to becoming the weakest knight. How I regretted my choice. For as a young boy, I had foolishly fallen for the glamour of a knight; leaping at the chance to wear cool armour and wave about a sword.

It is only now when I am more experienced that I realise what a great career being a priest is!

As a knight, I have to spend money my sword, taking it in to be sharpened. I have to spend money on a good set of armour, as well as having to pay to have it fixed whenever an enemy takes a swing at it.

But if I were a priest, I won't have to lug about a sword, or spend money on it. Even though priests have to buy a magic staff too, but with my superb abilities at calling up holy light, even a broken tree branch is sufficient for me.

Furthermore, as a priest I won't need to wear armour. Even though priest have to buy a set of priest's robes too, as I said earlier-my abilities at calling up holy light can more than make up for a lack of them. I would be fine even wearing a scrap piece of cloth.

God had gifted me with the all the talents necessary for a priest, yet I stupidly chose to become a knight. And even worse, I cannot quit this job and can only continue to be the Sun Knight until my retirement, or the day I die, whichever comes first……


 

"Sun! Sun!" the shouts finally drew me from my lamenting.

I jerked my head up and saw a little black shadow jumping about while desperately shouting out my name. I quickly released the holy light.

"Oh, oh! It hurts!" The little shadow crouched in a corner of the room while sobbing pitifully.

The whole house looked different, for my holy light had broken the necromancer's illusion spell. The numerous cobwebs have disappeared, leaving behind a clean looking house, but……

Pink! Pink, pink, pink! Everything was pink coloured!

There was no need to set the illusion spell to hide the fact that a necromancer was living here.

The walls were pink; the tables and chairs were pink; the bed was pink; even the dolls and stuffed toys filling the house to the brim were pink coloured. Nobody would believe that a necromancer lived here!

The dark and debilitated house, filled with dirty cobwebs had looked even more suited to a necromancer than this pink house!

"Sun……" The little black shadow tugged at my cloak shyly.

I looked down—that's right-the necromancer only reaches up to my waist—I glared down at it fiercely.

The shadow folded into its self and sniffled softly at my glare.

"What are you crying for? You're a necromancer!" I looked at the little shadow disbelievingly. "If anyone has the right to cry, it should be me! Not only was I slashed at and bleeding all over the streets, people suspect me of doing unspeakable acts of evil, as I'm the only person the Death Knight has mentioned."

"Well, you probably did do it……" the shadow muttered quietly. But not quietly enough.

"What. Did. You. Say?!" I clenched my teeth and slowly picked it up……

~O~O~O~

A handsome young man with honey golden skin sat on a pink recliner, surrounded by pink. On his lap sat an adorable little girl with large soulful eyes and beautiful golden curls.

But if you were to look closely at her, you would realise that her skin was pink coloured! How shocking and creepy……

"So, corpse, are you saying that you don't know about the corpse's history?" I asked with a frown.

"Hey! Don't keep calling Pink corpse! Pink is called Pink!" The pink coloured girl complained as she licked her lollipop, but pouted when I glared at her and explained. "Pink had only went to the execution grounds as usual to buy back a corpse. The last time, Sun had requested for a better undead, so Pink had spent more money this time and got a fully intact corpse……I didn't know that that corpse would have such strong resentment and obsession that it became a Death Knight."

Pink tilted her head at me cutely and said, "And coincidentally his obsession seems to be Sun!"

"But I don't even recognise that guy!" I shouted irritated. I have never seen that guy before in my life, why would his obsession be me?

I did not know if Pink believed me or not, as she merely looked down and concentrated on her lollipop.

I knitted my eyebrows and asked, "You said you bought the corpse from an execution site? Is it a criminal?"

"I don't think so." Pink looked back up at me with an experienced look in her eyes…… She might like pretending to be a little girl, but who knows how old she really was.

"You don't think so?" I asked her perplexed. "Are not all those sent to the execution sites criminals?"

Pink looked at me in contempt and laughed, "Yes, on the surface! But I'll tell you something I learned from years of buying corpses. It is a simple matter to get rid of an unwanted body at execution sites for just a little bit of money."

"Really? And how can you tell if they were criminals or not?" I asked, wondering if I should mention this to Judge and ask him to investigate this matter.

"Idiot!" Pink laughed condescendingly. "Criminals are executed by hanging till death. While all the corpses I've bought have rope marks around their necks, it is easy to tell the criminals from those who are not by checking to see if their cervical spines are broken. Those without a broken neck had not died from hanging, but by other means."

"And how did the Death Knight die?"

I decided to focus on clearing my name first, and think about the execution grounds later.

Pink tilted her head to one side cutely and thought for a moment before replying. "Tortured to death. His body was covered with scars. He must have been tortured for a very long time before dying from the torture."

Tortured to death…… I could feel a few chills going down my back.

"But Sun……" Pink suddenly looked at me in admiration. "I never knew you shared the same hobby as me. We could have a discussion next time and exchange ideas about torture. I've never tortured a person till he could have enough resentment to become a Death Knight before."

Upon hearing this, I grabbed Pink by the shoulders and gave her a hard shake. "To hell with your discussions! I've told you already, I don't know that guy at all!"

After being shaken by me, Pink's eyes looked to be on the verge of falling out. I quickly slapped my hand over them, popping them back into their sockets with a 'pop'. I had no desire to see eyeballs falling out of their sockets.

"I understand. Pink does not know those tortured by Pink either!" Pink smiled at me knowingly and winked.

Why you…… Die you little…… But wait, she's already dead……

This evil little necromancer actually believed that I had tortured that Death Knight.

"Which execution grounds did you buy the corpse from?"

"The one north west of the city."

"Ahh… The one furthest from here…" Looks like I have another long journey ahead of me.

I resignedly stood up and pushed away my longing to collapse onto the pink bed just a few steps away from me…… How I wish to lie there, burying my face into the pink cake pillow on the bed, and sleep for three days and three nights.

However, I have to crawl over to the corpse-filled execution site and question its corrupted keepers about the corpse's real history.

Just thinking about it makes me feel even more tired……

I pushed away the pink corpse from my lap and slowly got up, before slowly making my way over to the door……

"Sun."

I turned around and looked at Pink-who was leaning against one of the pink walls and licking her bright pink lollipop.

She batted her eyes at me and said, "You should remember that Pink keeps her word. I would gladly accept you as my apprentice at any time. Even the Holy Temple and your teacher, the strongest Sun Knight in history, cannot force me to hand over my apprentice."

I stared at her blankly, uncertain of her meaning. Was she offering to protect me?!

The corpse might be a little weird-OK, a lot weird-but she is definitely a loyal friend.

I smiled at her weakly and waved goodbye; the little girl didn't say another word either and merely waved her lollipop at me happily.


 

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