Chapter 117 - Mission Impossible (4)
It was a sunny day. The flowers were in full bloom. The bees were flying around, and the birds chirped.
The sky was blue and clear as if it was reflecting the ocean’s water. The holy priestess was standing alone in the middle of a well tended and beautiful garden. She was enjoying the sun. Her eyes were closed and there was a smile of pleasure at the corner of her mouth. It truly made her look innocent and pure.
‘By looking at her right now, she really is a beautiful girl that deserves the title of the holy priestess…..’
It wasn’t as if she was wearing an outfit with distinct characteristics. It was a homogeneous white outfit for the female disciples. It was a simple attire that was decorated with a golden cross, which was the symbol of the holy priestess. However, her straight black hair was flowing atop the attire. Her hair acted as the best accessory that could adorn her.
The sunlight was falling on her, and It was as if a halo was being casted around her. However, she was emitting a light that exceeded the sunlight. Even though Artpe knew her true nature, he almost became fooled by her appearance.
“I know the weather is nice, but you shouldn’t fall asleep standing up.”
“H...hero-nim.”
When Artpe approached her, the holy priestess was very taken aback. It was understandable. The afternoon schedule for the hero’s party was quite packed. As if Artpe understood all of this, he had a grin on his face.
“I left it all to Maetel. I can’t open my mouth wide open as I mindlessly wave my hand to the crowd atop the balcony. Also, I cannot listen to the boring old tales told by those smelly old men.”
However, Maetel could do it, since she really was an idiot.
“But….. These are tasks you must complete if you want to gain recognition as the hero in Paladia. If you only send Maetel-nim…. If you continue to do this, Maetel-nim’s position will grow as Artpe-nim’s position lessens.”
“I don’t care what others think of me. Anyways, I wanted to have a conversation with you. I don’t want anyone to bother us.”
“Ah. Ooh ooh.”
At Artpe’s straightforward words, the cheeks of the holy priestess turned red. She was so embarrassed that she didn’t know what to do with herself. It made him wonder how she was able to say such words in his room. It made him wonder if she was the same woman.
Of course, the holy priestess was already rotten to the roots. She didn’t become rotten, because impurities were introduced from the outside. She had become rotten from within herself. In some ways, she was like Aria. She was an innocent maiden brought up in a good family. In fact, she hadn’t had the opportunity to meet boys of the same age as her. This was why she had grown up pining for the hero!
“I...I see. I guess it can’t be helped. It wouldn't have gone over well if his holiness saw this, but he is busy right now…. Let’s sit here.”
“All right.”
Vadinet was flustered as she led Artpe towards a pavilion setup within the garden. Artpe stopped Vadinet, who was about to go get some tea. Artpe took out a tea set and teapot set from his Dimensional Pouch. When she saw this, her eyes widened.
“You carry all of these with you?”
“In truth, these are all Artifacts.”
“Hoo hoo. I see.”
The holy maiden didn’t take him seriously, but they really were true Artifacts. The tea set could check if the tea leaves had poisonous properties. It could also check for magical effects. If the effects was negative, it was eliminated. If the effects was positive, it would amplify the effect. It was an Artifact that possessed an excellent ability. After going through Artpe’s Reinforcement, the Artifact had reached a pretty amazing state.
“If you inject Mana into it, it’ll produce clean water. It’ll also boil the water.”
“Oh my······.”
However, today’s leading character wasn’t the teapot. Artpe took out another pouch from within the Dimensional Pouchl. He carefully took out a handful of the content within the pouch. The tea hadn’t been brewed yet, but she could already smell a clear fragrance. She tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Those tea leaves······?”
“World Tree. I acquired it after I helped the Elves.”
“Ah ah. I heard about that incident from others. It was an incident caused by the desires of countless humans. If hero-nim hadn’t stepped forward…...”
In such matters as this, she manifested normal behavior. She dramatically changed into someone else when it came to anything that dealt with the hero. Artpe let out a sigh as he put the tea leaves into the pot.
“It seems hero-nim isn’t only facile in the ways of the magic. You have talent for other disciplines.”
“No, I mostly use magic for everything.”
The water was letting out a fragrant smell. He waited until the tea cooled to a drinkable temperature. Vadinet was touched by the gesture as she received her tea. She was once again deeply moved when she took a sip. Her blue eyes was filled with a golden light.
“I am so happy that I want to make this day a holiday.”
“I see······ I am honored.”
“Yes, that is why I want to float this idea to the pope later on.”
She was really going all out!? Artpe put on a pleased expression on his face. He wondered if he should quash the holy priestess’ idea, but he hesitated. There was genuine delight on her face for a change, so he didn’t want to disturb that. He decided to let it go.
‘Her behavior is a bit excessive if she is simply acting this way, because I’m the hero….. What the hell is she thinking about? Fuck. I have no idea.’
He had no idea how he could bring this woman back to her right mind. Silpennon had already declined this task, so he couldn’t just bully Silpennon into taking up this task again. Still, he was having a hard time believing that this woman had truly fallen in love with him…...
“Hero-nim. Hero-nim?”
He had fallen deep within his thought, but he broke out of it when the holy priestess called out to him.
“Hero-nim, weren’t you going to ask me something? I’ve always lived in this place, so there isn’t much that I can answer…..”
“Ah. That is enough. You’ll be part of our party soon, so it would be strange if we didn’t know anything about each other. I just wanted to know about you.”
“Then······.”
The holy priestess’ eyes twinkled once again. He thought her reaction was a bit excessive.
“Will hero-nim tell me about yourself?”
“Of course.”
That had been his aim from the beginning. Artpe’s eyes also twinkled.
“Then…. There really isn’t much to tell you about me, so I’ll start first….”
Her cheeks turned slightly red as she opened her mouth. She faced Artpe’s face, and she finally put aside the ‘How do I separate Maetel from Artpe?’ thoughts from her mind for a short amount of time.
She started telling him about herself.
Maetel was covering for Artpe by doing all the tasks that was scheduled within Lihazeta. She gave a bright yet vicious smiles to the high rank priests, who had been trying to take care of all her needs. She returned to her room. When she entered, she saw Artpe lying atop the bed. He looked like a dried squid stretched out on top of the bed.
“Uh. You are here…...”
“Artpe, why do you look so tired?”
“Ooh ooh. I’m really sick and tired of women…....”
Moreover, he really hated trying to please a woman.
“That right. All women other than me is bad. I’m glad to hear you acknowledge this fact.”
“You still don’t understand me completely…...”
He had been with Vadinet until Maetel came back. He had been face to face with Vadinet, and during the whole meeting, he thought about what she was thinking and what she wanted. When he was freed from such thoughts, his mind was in a very exhausted state.
“Hmmmmm.”
At Artpe’;s words, Maetel narrowed her eyes as she approached Artpe on the bed. She flopped down next to him. There was the faint smell of sweat, but there was also that sweet body odor that he always smelled on Maetel. The two scents mixed together as the smell gently tickled Artpe’s nose. Artpe let out a faint smile as he spoke.
“You smell of sweat. Go wash yourself.”
“Artpe, you are too much! I suffered on my own all day, yet you talk to me that way! Eh-eet!”
Maetel flatly ignored Artpe’s words. She went out of her way to stick close to him. It was a result that he had expected, so he decided not to say anything about it. He just decided to enjoy what was going on right now.
“Did those old men do anything abnormal?”
“Nope. They were pretty tame today. The pope grandpa wasn’t overt about his actions, yet there were alot of men that was letting out a musty and irritating smell.”
“Are you sure you aren’t confused with the smell of bachelors? Ah-yaht.”
Artpe was having fun with her again, so Maetel made a light fist. She brought it down on top of Artpe’s head. Then she flung her body atop him as if she was a bedding.
“Heavy!”
“You played with that woman the whole day. Artpe is bad. This is the price.”
“I did agree to endure this, but this is quite sudden and unexpected.”
“I might have restrained myself in the day, but it is fine since you are mine at night.”
Mmm. As expected, Matel was as dangerous as the holy priestess. Artpe made a cool judgement as he made a retort.
“I’m thinking about searching her out tonight?”
“······Artpe?”
The voice of Maetel could be heard from above Artpe. The voice sounded very brutal. It scared him a little bit, but he regained his right mind. He gave her an explanation.
“It is important for me to keep her occupied during the day and night. I have to make sure she doesn’t have any other thoughts. At the same time, I have to get her to let her guard down against you. ······I’m not sure if she really has feelings for me.”
“You two aren't just going to sleep! You are going to do the other kind of sleeping! You will do the thing you refused to teach me until the end!”
“That is the one thing I won’t do, so you can rest easy.”
Afterwards, Maetel continued to press down on Artpe from the top, and she pinched his cheeks. She continued to torment him. However, it seemed she didn’t realize that her actions were more of reward than a punishment. She wouldn’t be able to break him until she realized this fact.
“Artpe, you really are too much. It is my pleasure in life to cuddle with you while we sleep…..”
“Isn’t it time to find a different pleasure in life?”
“No way.”
“Stop pressing down on me! Stop pressing down! You should study up on the basic concept of shame!”
“I buried all of that within the Ancient Temple!”
While Artpe and Maetel were rolling around the bed as they acted silly, Silpennon was slowly awakening from his sleep. Moreover, he realized that Aria was quietly looking down at his face.
“What are you doing?”
“Your face isn’t that of a thief. I was thinking that was really strange.”
“Hmmph.”
Of course, there was a story behind his circumstance if he got into the details of his background. However, this was a musing coming out from a pure and unsullied girl like Aria. He just snorted as he decided to forgive and forget. He got up.
“Did anything out of the ordinary happen?”
“I skipped the morning roll call. However, people don’t usually notice me, so it wasn’t much of a problem.”
“You are saying such a sad thing as if it is nothing…..”
Silpennon let out a bitter laugh as he looked at his surrounding. It was the same as when he went to sleep.
“They gave him a really good room. It is quite unexpected.”
“The holy priestess strongly insisted…..”
“She isn’t a holy priestess. She a witch bitch.”
They were in the residential area of the Zero Class, and this room had been assigned to Artpe. There was a standing order that said no one should intrude into the room since one never knew when Artpe would use the room. It became Silpennon’s base of operation thanks to that order.
“I brought you some things to eat.”
“I’ll eat it with thanks.”
Silpennon took the bread in her hands. He took a bite as he picked up the map on the desk. It was the map he started working on last night. It was an inner map for the Zero Class.
“Did he say one week? That is a short amount of time. How am I supposed to go through all of this place in a week? Moreover, I can only move at night…..”
“Actually, I practiced after I heard hero-nim’s words yesterday…. Like this...”
“Huh? ······Kek!”
Silpennon stopped looking at the map. He raised his head to check on Aria, and he choked. He could hear her voice, but he couldn’t see her anywhere!
“I’m able to hide a little bit better now!”
“Y...you…. You were able to do this in one day?”
“Shouldn’t I already know how to do this in the first place·····? Isn’t that supposed to be normal?”
Airia once again revealed herself to Silpennon, and she tilted her head in puzzlement. It was such a cute gesture that it got a rise out of Silpennon.
“I won’t be found by anyone. That is why I’ll go on ahead to see if it is safe. If it is, I’ll call for you, Mr Silpennon.”
“That isn’t the problem… No, it’s all right. If you are so eager, I’m fine with that.”
“E...eager! I just want to return the corrupt temple to its clean state!”
She pretended to be coy as she answered him. However, Aria couldn't hide her child-like excitement. Silpennon wondered if this arrangement would be fine as he once again started his exploration of the Zero Class.
Artpe had been hell-bent in supporting Silpennon in his growth. He was a thief that had his entire body armed with Artifacts. Now he moved in concert with someone that possessed an Innate ability. His worry had been for naught. They weren’t even found once as they searched out the secrets of the Zero Class.
Everyone was carrying out their mission faithfully, and the promised time of one week was one day away.