13 Mink Street

The air suddenly grew silent.

Karon released his grip and rolled to the ground, gasping for breath in great lungfuls. All the while, his eyes remained fixed on the captain.

Nio reached both hands behind himself, but because Karon had put the sword in through the man’s back, and because the greatsword was so long, he could not reach the hilt. His movements looked faintly ridiculous. In the end, the captain could only look at Karon, but Karon offered no response.

Left with no better option, the captain grabbed the blade protruding from his chest with both hands and slowly, bit by bit, pushed the sword back and out of his own body. Once he had shoved it far enough, he rose up. In the same motion, he leaned forward. At last, the greatsword slipped free of his body and clattered to the ground.

The captain then leaned against a large rock nearby and gestured at the sword wound in his chest. “Heh. Straight for the heart. You really did want to kill me.”

He reached up and tore the wound in his chest open. He thrust his hand inside. Right away, a wet sound of stirring and tugging came from within. It was the sort of sound that would cause most mentally healthy people to become acutely uncomfortable.

“Luckily I shifted my heart out of place earlier. Healing it there is far too troublesome.” After setting his internal organs back into place, Nio withdrew his hand from his chest. He looked at both hands, which were slick with blood. He seemed half inclined to lick them clean, in the interest of wasting nothing, yet out of consideration for the person beside him, he could only casually shake his hands off in front of himself.

Karon asked, “Captain, when did you wake up?”

“Only just now. Fighting you took a lot out of me, so ‘he’ could no longer stay in control; He had no choice but to sink back down. That’s when I woke up.

“Sigh. Luckily, I woke up at just the right moment. A bit later and you would have been burned to death. Very dangerous.”

“I don’t believe that. Every ‘just the right moment’ contains an element of deliberate arrangement. You’re the one who told me that.”

“All right then, I woke up after defeating Ophelia.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

“I woke up when Ophelia gave me the opening salute with her sword, but since she wanted to play, I thought I might as well play along. I’ve long heard that Darkmoon Island produces first-rate warriors, and especially fine swordsmen, so I thought I’d take the chance to exchange a few moves with her.”

“Nope.”

Nio turned his head and looked at Karon. “You think I was acting? No, I really was deranged, honest. When the two of you first came out of that cave and I shouted, ‘Elisa, you left me forever,’ I really had fallen into derangement.

“But when I shouted, ‘Genevieve, you left me forever,’ I woke up.

“Hahaha! The only woman in my heart is Elisa. How could I possibly call out another woman’s name with any affection? ‘He’ overdid it, and disgusted me. That’s what woke me up.”

“So from the moment you started fighting, you were already awake.”

“Yes, you could put it that way.”

“Why?”

“Well, since we’d already come so far, something has to be left behind, doesn’t it?”

“Something has to be left behind?”

“I told you, I don’t like going home empty-handed. I had originally sensed that there would be something extremely important here, and damn it, there is, but what I found is nothing but extremely important memories.

“What use do I have for that? Satisfy my curiosity? Read another man’s autobiography while experiencing it in immersive detail?

“I want holy relics. I want rare materials. I want notes on ritual arrays. I want treasures worth actual credits, but here, apart from stones, there’s nothing but corpses... well, and those pythons that go down into the sea to catch fish. I can hardly haul back a crate of snake gall bladders and sell them.”

“You still haven’t told me what it was you left behind...”

“I didn’t leave anything behind, only wounds. Though I did leave you something very good. That princess of Darkmoon Island already had feelings for you, add to that the bond formed from you risking your life to save hers, and what do you think will happen next?”

“All of that, just for this?”

“Yes. Just for this.”

Karon was so pissed he nearly laughed. At this moment, he truly wanted to point at the captain’s face and curse him, but the words would not come, because the captain had no face to point at.

“A noble girl like that, she has status, experience, beauty, presence, and not only can she fight, she’s capable in every other respect as well. Her character is first-rate. Her only flaw is that she is still too young. Feelings are something that genuinely need time and age to settle into understanding, so this is exactly the moment when girls like that are easiest to win over.

“Give it a few more years, let her grow mature in this respect, and even if she feels something for you, she will be able to strangle that feeling off herself without effort.”

“Captain, are you lecturing from experience here?”

“Of course. Elisa was like that too. At that age, boys and girls both still carry dreams in their hearts.”

“Captain, you should know my attitude toward feelings by now.”

“Yes, I’ve always known, but you should also know my attitude by now. I’m only here to watch the fun. The more chaotic things get, the happier I am. I never had any intention of taking your feelings or your emotional choices into account. I just thought this would be interesting, entertaining, dramatic, and worth doing, so I did it.”

“...”

Because the captain was being so blunt, Karon truly had no way to argue back.

“In truth, you’re the same,” Nio said, looking at Karon. “You think you’re mature. You think you’ve been through many things. You think you’re steadier and more capable than most people, that you understand how to weigh choices. I was exactly like that too, truly.

“And then I regretted it. Don’t be like me. Really, don’t be like me.”

“Captain, promise me something. If you ever want to do this again, at least give me a hint in advance.”

“If I’d given you a hint, it wouldn’t have been so realistic. Miss Ophelia isn’t someone who is easily fooled. She’s smart. If you’re going to stage something, you have to perform it for real, otherwise flaws will appear.”

“But doing it this way, don’t you think it’s a little too...”

“Despicable?” The captain smiled with disdain. “Then is deliberately manufacturing a chance meeting despicable? Is preparing a gift in advance for someone’s birthday despicable? Is getting yourself drunk on purpose so the other person has an opening despicable?”

The captain rubbed the wound that was already rapidly healing and continued, “When it comes to feelings, where is all this ‘natural’ you speak of? Every so-called natural development relies on one side deliberately pushing it along, and sometimes both sides pushing it along in silent understanding. It’s just that most people lack the conditions to play the stakes as large as we do.

“The next time you see Miss Ophelia, you’ll feel how different she is. You are the first man she had feelings for, and now you also fought for her life with your own. That mark isn’t something she can erase.”

“I think I’ll be too embarrassed to see her again.”

“What is there to be embarrassed about? When you drove that sword into me, did you know I was only pretending to be deranged?”

“I...”

“At the very least, in the moment you created a chance for her to escape, you were sincere, weren’t you? So there is no need to feel guilty, and no need to feel embarrassed. You really did risk your life for her, and you really did save her. That is a fact.

“Of course, you can also choose to come clean and tell her the truth. Tell her that the one trying to kill her was your captain, that your captain deliberately created this opportunity to push your relationship with her forward. Go on, see whether she will be moved by your honesty.

“Then your captain’s identity as a Light remnant will be exposed, and then your own identity will be exposed as well.”

“Why would my identity be exposed?”

“You can’t sell me out and still expect me to keep your secrets. No one gets to be that shameless.”

“Captain—”

“Relax. We already had an understanding. We both know it. Unless one of us deliberately betrays the other, then no matter when, no matter what, we will both keep that secret.”

“Captain, that isn’t what I meant. I mean, what do we do next?”

“What do we do? You can only accept this as fact. If she says you saved her, then you have no choice but to acknowledge that you saved her. You can’t explain it, and you mustn’t explain it. And after that, you continue being your proper self. Keep treating her the way you used to, keep your distance, never go that one step farther, but instead of wanting to kill off her feelings because of your coldness, she’ll start seeing things from a different angle. The more you behave like this, the less she’ll be able to forget you, and the deeper the impression you’ll leave.”

“Captain, you’re wandering off topic again. What I’m asking is, how do we wrap this up now?”

“Wrap it up? Very easy. That array wasn’t the one that sends people back to Darkmoon Island. The real array that returns to Darkmoon Island is on the other side, on another platform.”

“What?!”

“Oh, oh, don’t worry, don’t worry. The one she used just leads to another island, to a cave in the island’s harbor. As soon as she walks out, she’ll see a lot of her own people at the docks. Then she can report that she’s safe and board a ship. In about three hours, she’ll be back on Darkmoon Island.

“As for me, I can use that time gap to go through the other teleportation array, return directly to Darkmoon Island, head back to the hotel, walk into our room, lie down in bed, pull the blanket over myself, and catch a little more sleep.”

“And me?”

“As for you, you stay here and wait for her to send people to rescue you.”

“I... stay here?”

“Yes.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. I couldn’t beat you, yet somehow I’m the one who survives, while you vanish without killing me? That logic doesn’t close.”

“That does seem to be the case.”

“What do you mean ‘seems’? When you were pretending to be deranged and attacking us earlier, you didn’t think about that?”

“I’m not a god. How could I possibly think through every single detail in that short a time?”

“Then what do we do now?”

“That’s easy enough too. We can set up another kind of scene. For instance, my body had already broken down, so I tried to take over yours. But I failed. Then I went mad and died violently.

“There are plenty of corpses in that pit, all Light skeletons. We dig one up, make a few modifications, then burn it a little with sacred flame and leave behind some traces of Light remains. That should explain everything.”

“Explain everything?”

“Yes. Because they believe you carry the Darkmoon bloodline.”

“Captain, how do you know about that?” When Karon and the captain had exchanged secrets, Karon had not mentioned that matter. Compared with the fact that Tiz had blown up the Temple of Order, such details felt minor.

“Oh, while you were chatting in the study, I happened to stand at the door for a while. I heard her say that you and she share of the same bloodline. Yes, really, I just happened to hear a little.

“So she mistook the Darkmoon power you transform with Light power as proof that you’re one of her own, didn’t she? Good. We can use that misunderstanding in our arrangement.”

“Can that really be made convincing?”

“That depends on how we fabricate things. You know, when it comes to forging identities, I really am an expert.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“Let’s sort through this from the beginning. If you have any additional little secrets that would help us set this up, then say them now. Time is limited. Once this place is arranged, I have to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible. Your disappearance, I can suppress. Our daily ceremonial guard duty doesn’t require the full team anyway. But if I, the captain, disappear, Archbishop Wolfram will definitely grow suspicious.

“And don’t worry about Darkmoon Island publicly reporting any of this. First, this island involves their ancestor’s filthy relationship with Light vermin back then. Second, they don’t want your identity exposed to the Church of Order. So they’ll only come looking for you in secret. They absolutely will not make a fuss.

“My body developed a problem, so I needed a replacement body. Ophelia should have gathered that I am Phileas from what I said, but Phileas couldn’t possibly have lived for so long, so he must have returned through some special means.”

“And if he needs to replace his body, it makes perfect sense, as he isn’t truly alive.”

“My body happened to be ruined by the sword you drove through me, so it was no longer convenient to keep using it, so I subdued you and attempted to take your body for my own. During that process, the Darkmoon power inside you erupted, protected you, and dealt me a grave blow. You lost consciousness. I failed. I burned to ashes.

“How’s that? Very theatrical. Darkness struck down at the critical moment, while the righteous, handsome young man received protection from some unseen providence. It fits the audience’s taste perfectly.”

“It won’t work. The mad pope of the Phileas family once said that he didn’t believe the God of Light existed, so I don’t think the people of Darkmoon Island, even though they believe in Darkmoon, will accept that I’m some chosen son of Darkmoon who would be forcibly protected in that way.

“And there’s an even bigger logical flaw. Ophelia saw me fight you using Darkmoon Blades, so she knows you already knew there was Darkmoon bloodline inside me. If you were trying to forcibly seize my body, you wouldn’t make that mistake.

“For example, if halfway through taking my body, you suddenly cried out in shock, ‘Ah, I never expected you had Darkmoon bloodline in you too. Darkmoon is protecting you...’”

“That would be impossible.

“Oh, right. Why did you use Darkmoon power just now?”

“How is that my fault?”

“All right, let’s shift the narrative and write it differently. Actually, this gives me an idea. Maybe we can use this chance to leave behind even more. Perhaps we can take the opportunity to raise your standing in the eyes of the Darkmoon Council of Elders.

“How about this: while I was trying to seize your body, Bernard himself manifested and protected you, causing an accident to happen to me, and that’s why you survived. How’s that?”

“How is that any different from Darkmoon protecting me?”

“Because Bernard stands lower than Darkmoon, which makes it easier for people to accept. Besides, isn’t there still a statue of Bernard in the cave? I’ll put your body in the coffin, or you can just lie on top of the coffin lid, then I’ll move Bernard’s statue into position so it faces you, like he’s protecting you. Then I’ll scatter my remains beside you. Ancestor manifests, protects the outstanding descendant he has chosen, and once again it fits audience taste.”

“Captain, that still sounds a little far-fetched...”

“Still not logical enough? Aren’t your standards a little too high? You have to understand, some things that happen to certain people are fundamentally illogical to begin with. For instance, what sort of person has a grandfather who goes and blows up the Temple of Order? Reality, damnable reality, often doesn’t follow logic at all.”

“Captain, how about this. Don’t just include Bernard, but the statue beside him too. Put both of them on either side of me, have them both protecting me, because in their understanding, I’m a descendant of Bernard and Lady Poelle.”

“Lady Poelle? The heroine of that love story?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a moment...” The captain slapped the back of his head. “I think I’m remembering some scenes. Bernard really did love that lady back then, but she never wanted anything to do with him and found him irritating. There are memories of that in Phileas. When he and Bernard were still close friends, working together to build Darkmoon Island, Phileas mocked him about it quite a bit.

“Heh. Every time he was teased back then, Bernard would flush red with embarrassment and curse at Phileas with a laugh, saying, ‘Keep tearing open my wounds like that and I’ll bury you alive.’

“Fine, we’ll do it your way. But doesn’t adding another character make the whole thing more complicated and less believable?”

“When they come in, I can use Progenitor Allen’s fire-attribute power to bake the inside of the cave once. Then, when they reach my side, I’ll pretend to be unconscious and bring out Lady Poelle’s aura. If you help me arrange a supporting array to strengthen the effect, I can summon her phantom image. That way, when they see me, it will look as though Lady Poelle is lying beside me, sleeping with me.”

“Lady Poelle’s aura and phantom image? You can fake that successfully? According to my memory, Bernard kept a whole room of memorabilia related to her. He even used some strands of her hair that he secretly kept to make a puppet that would talk to him, so the upper levels of the Darkmoon Clan may have actually encountered Lady Poelle, and I don’t mean just through portraits.”

“I can do it, because Lady Poelle and I are in a symbiotic relationship.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you tell me that the last time?”

“Because, Captain, you had no more secrets left worth trading.”

“Damn!” Nio slapped the ground hard. “So Lady Poelle is still alive?”

“Yes. She’s a cat my family keeps.”

“Hehehe... all right. At this point, even if you told me some heretical god is your family dog, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“So, can we begin preparing now?”

“Of course. Let’s begin.” The captain stood up and spread his hand. A sword of Light appeared in it.

“Captain, what are you...”

“Preparing.”

“Why do you need a sword to prepare...”

“Oh, because your injuries aren’t serious enough yet. Allow me to help.”

“...”

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