CH 82

There was no way to avoid the misunderstanding if he saw that himself. I mumbled incoherently, tearing at my hair, and came up with an excuse. “First off, what you’re thinking right now is a misunderstanding. We’re nothing like that, truly. Not at all.”

“You say it is a misunderstanding, but that was not the only time I saw you coming out of there.”

This wasn’t even the first time?! Even if priests were prone to waking so early, how…? Who’d have known August had long noticed while here I was, thinking I’d done a perfect job sneaking out. Realizing I had no excuses to give, I buried my face in my palms.

“I thought I had seen wrong at first,” the priest continued. “But I noticed that since the day I saw you come out of His Excellency’s room as if running away, you would always come to me full of bruises.”

Well, the story itself was correct. I sighed deeply before explaining, “It’s not like His Excellency is acting violent. If he really tried to get rough, I probably wouldn’t have even been able to look for you, Reverend August.”

“Are you being serious? He should have controlled himself so nothing like this ever happened in the first place. It is natural for the strong to be considerate of the weak, and I believed His Excellency to be that kind of person, yet…”

“It wasn’t a controllable situation.” First, I had to calm August’s rising distrust and disgust toward Mayer Knox. It would be horrible to be mistaken for a piece of scum that abused his lover, wouldn’t it? “To start with, I’m not the captain’s lover and—”

“He would treat someone not his lover so harshly?” August flared up, not even letting me finish, and I could feel his appraisal of Mayer drop even lower. It didn’t seem like I could get out of this situation with a vague excuse. No other choice, then; I had to mix lies with truth. I sat opposite August and whispered, “What I am going to tell you from now is an absolute top secret in the Dark Knights.”

Affected by my solemn attitude, August nodded sternly.

“His Excellency has recently awakened to mana.”

“…Mana? His Excellency?” the priest asked in a whisper, the look on his face changing abruptly.

I nodded and added, “To be accurate, I forcibly awoke his latent talent.”

“I was there when you did it with Brother Sevi Ventus… I still cannot help but be amazed. Who would have thought such a thing possible?” August was easily convinced, perhaps because he had personally seen Sevi’s case. And this was why a good precedent was important in business. “Your ability is truly as good as Saint Marianne’s blessing, Sister. But why is this being kept a secret? The awakening of His Excellency’s mana would serve to raise your fame along with the Dark Knights’, no?”

That was because Mayer had demonic power, but that wasn’t something I could reveal to August. I squeezed my brain to the limit trying to come up with an excuse. I couldn’t take too long or it would seem suspicious. “Even now, His Excellency is the strongest, even though he has no mana.”

“Right. He has achieved so much pure physical strength only… No one would be a match if he gains mana in his arsenal. It will become a beacon of hope for the people.”

“Do you think there’d only be hope?”

August frowned at my meaningful question. While he was trying to figure out what I was saying, I set my brain to work even harder. I had to spin a lie as coherently as possible. “Everyone in the world will be shaken by how His Excellency awoke his mana alone, yes? It’s natural. We’re talking about the Dark Knight, the strongest of humanity gaining mana. But not everyone will welcome it. For some, this news will spell despair,” I began.

“You mean to say, Sister…”

“There will be those who stand up for the greater good, but not all expedition corps’ are like that. Some move by their desires. Like, say, people who believe they’ve got a chance to become emperor if things go well… People who regard the captain’s lack of mana as their only hope. So what do you think will happen if our secret is made known?”

Although I put on a placid face, my mouth was dry while my heart pounded with nervousness.

“…They might give up on closing dungeons. Is this what you mean?”

August managed to complete my heat-of-the-moment excuse with his words. It fit like a piece of a puzzle. Excited, I continued explaining. “They wouldn’t completely give up, not with their reputation on the line. But they would surely end up demotivated, which would be troublesome. It’ll take a long time for the captain to awaken his mana and be able to wield it in dungeons.”

“Gates will continue to open in the meantime and if the speed at which they are closed slows… Even if His Excellency slays the demon lord in the end, the losses to the empire would be severe.” August concluded.