112 – Then the devil came in through the front door (6)
The Grand Executor ignored Cain and only looked at Lily. Lily’s agitation manifested itself in the tremors of her body. To tell her not to worry, Cain turned his hand back and held Lily’s wrist.
“I asked ‘you’ what you were doing, Liliana!”
Cain gave her hand a little strength. She simultaneously pulled in her chin and lowered her posture a little. It is a posture of preparing for defense, or in other words, preparing for a fight.
That in itself is nothing short of a provocation to Astrid, one of the strongest fighters in the white blood group. However, to Lily, who is a stronger warrior than Astrid, it is a gesture that touches more than a hundred words of comfort.
Like a knight looking out from her castle, Lily no longer trembled.
“I am preparing to go to the ‘mine’ that the prisoner mentioned earlier.”
“It is your duty to return to Valhalla!”
“I have more than one duty. While her duties as a Valkyria are clear, her more important job is to protect the Emperor and the Empire. “The fate of the entire empire is at stake in my work.”
“What nonsense…” ! The restrictions placed on you are also obligations that must be maintained by His Majesty the old emperor and the old chieftain. Are you saying that the orders you received are more important than the duty that not only you but all White Blood members must follow? Please tell me. “How great and grandiose this is!”
“Isn’t injustice happening right in front of your eyes?”
Lily stretched out her hand towards the ‘mine’ to the north. But Astrid just sneers.
“Who told you that it was injustice? Who gave you the right to judge the count’s injustice? Ah, the Security Bureau is such a great institution that it can wield its omnipotent power as long as it is within the imperial territory!”
The eyes of the knights who were listening all turned to Lily. But Lily wasn’t embarrassed at all.
“A knight’s duty tells me so.”
Astrid glared at Lily. Lily calmly accepted that look.
“Grand Executor. We are the White Blood ‘Knights’. If a knight doesn’t act like a knight, he’s just a bunch of fighters, no matter what he says. I go to perform the knightly duties assigned to me. Would you say that the duty to obey orders is stronger than the duty to protect the weak?”
“If that’s the case, what would you say?”
“I will return exactly what you just said. ‘Who told you to judge that, Grand Executor?'”
One of the oblivious knights burst out laughing. Despite this, Astrid did not get upset, and he did not take out his anger in any wrong place. He’s still just apathetic.
“Okay. I admit it. What you do is upright and upright. However, ‘what you do’ is not the only thing that is upright and right. Just as there is no difference between worse and less bad, there is also no difference between better and less right!
I wondered what great things I could do when I left home, and all I learned was how to put self-righteousness on my tongue! Listen carefully, you foolish thing! ‘All the wandering Valkyria will face is blood and wind’!”
Lily remembered the answer Cain gave her one day.
“We are going to stop the wind of blood that harms people. Valkyria is not looking for blood and wind. “Valkyria is looking for the wind of blood.”
“The fate and fate of white blood is an experience and lesson learned through countless amounts of blood. This means that our ancestors learned it by clashing swords with each other! Are you wise enough to disobey the teachings of those years?”
“Then, like my ancestors, I will learn by crossing swords with swords.”
The sound of laughter. Some applause. Astrid trembled in his hands.
“This…” The thing that doesn’t have a beard hair… !”
Lily’s body stiffened. She implicitly squeezed Cain’s shoulder tightly. Like a person hanging from a cliff. Astrid took another step.
“Are you coming? If so, try making a pun on this too. I hereby command you as the temporary head of the Brünnhild family, Liliana! Obey my words right now! Will you listen to me if I get beaten like when I was young? !”
Maria was startled and looked at Lily and Astrid alternately. ‘House owner? Go away? ‘Were they one family?’
“Head of the house?”
Cain suddenly intervened.
“Okay. I am Astrid Brunhild. The second eldest member of the Brünnhild family, and the temporary head of the family now that my brother is in danger of death. You don’t know why your father hated you, I know! “It was because I was stubborn, just like your mother, to not let things happen like this!”
Astrid pushed Cain, but Cain did not budge.
“Who dares interfere in the affairs of the Brünnhild family!”
But Cain is indifferent.
“I am.”
“What is the Security Bureau, interfering in the internal affairs of the family?”
“I am Lily’s boss. But it’s not just because of the position. Speaking of personal things, I will also give a personal reason. We fight together, cry and laugh together. You owe each other your lives, and you are up against the unthinkable.
You, the Brünnhild family, have only brought Lily her suffering, but you have given Lily a favor we cannot repay even if we spend all our lives. So… I, too, will not put Lily through her suffering again. “Lily is so precious to me, and I don’t easily let her go where she doesn’t want to go.”
Even the blunt members of the White Blood Knights seem to have been moved by those words. What Cain was talking about was similar to the sense of camaraderie that members of the White Blood Knights felt toward each other. Fighting together and protecting each other. Isn’t the most powerful weapon faith and trust? But it couldn’t move Astrid’s heart.
“Where can a stranger without a drop of blood speak loudly?”
Maria leaned her body forward as if displeased. Lily was also moved. But at Cain’s next words, everyone stopped moving.
“Okay. “We are not related by blood.”
“… What?”
“They said they didn’t mix ‘blood’.”
Cain was able to speak openly. Because it’s true. Astrid’s eyes grew wider.
“Well, what does that mean?”
“We sometimes sleep in the same bed together, but we are not related by blood.”
Someone hiccuped, and someone dropped their knife. Although the knife was placed on her foot at the last moment and the sound was heard, it didn’t happen. Lily declared clearly to her dead-eyed Astrid.
“That’s right. “We took a bath together, but we didn’t share blood.”
Astrid threw her head back. It seems like my body isn’t listening.
“This…” What a ridiculous and obscene thing… ! It’s so childish and obscene… !”
Just right.
Maria snapped her fingers. A sacred fire rose from the tip of her middle finger. A miracle that only those chosen among the clergy can perform.
“I speak with the conscience of a priest.”
Maria grinned.
“That’s not a lie.”
Astrid got down on his knees. It was because her legs had lost strength. Maria scratched her head.
“No. They didn’t go around naked or do it in front of others, so what kind of obscenity is that?
And I can tell you on the conscience of a priest that these two men are very sound. He said he didn’t do anything that would be embarrassing to the world. Doctrinally and socially, we sleep, wash, and eat together, but we didn’t do anything like that?
And what, childish? “Love is inherently childish.”
“That’s right.” Lily whispered. She didn’t mean to, but Cain’s earlobes burned. To hide her flushed face, Cain spoke a little harshly.
“I have no interest in the Brünnhild family. Lily and Maria, that’s it. So I’ll go wherever Lily tells me to go. If you want to go home quickly, do so. “We’re going to do what we have to do.”
Astrid didn’t seem to understand Cain’s words at all. Her eyes are completely out of focus and her face is still full of blankness.
She came to her senses when Cain and his party finished preparing to leave for the north, encouraged by the knights who gave them a small thumbs up.
“You foolish thing… “
Astrid muttered.
“No matter how much you block the window frame. No matter how much she prevents contrast. The devil comes through the front door… “
Cain turned to her angrily, but Lily calmly pulled on Cain’s collar. ‘Are you okay. Does not matter. Now.’
* * * * *
“I’m sorry.”
Cain apologized sincerely. Lily didn’t accept it.
“You didn’t lie, did you?”
That was true. Maria also helped.
“If you really feel like it, just don’t make something you regret.”
“How?”
“After you come down from here, give the priest some money. About two gold coins. Then, we will gather all the people in the neighborhood and organize a nice wedding mass. By the way… “
Maria shook her head.
“Did you say that girl was Astrid? “Are you really your aunt, Lily?”
“That’s right. “In her strictness, she was more severe than her father.”
“Shall I scold you?”
“No.” Lily smiled and shook her head. She said, “She is a person who takes great pride in her family and white blood, and she just values principles. “She was so good at martial arts that she became the Grand Executor.”
“I think being human is worse than a feather pen with no hair. “Oh my god, why are you talking so recklessly?”
“Don’t hate me too much.” Lily quietly let out her luck.
“He is the one who insisted that I be given the title of Valkyria. Although his father was against it, the knights countered that they had to follow tradition. Do you remember? The person who insisted most strongly was my aunt. “It is the only good thing the Brünnhild family gave me.”
“No, hey! What nonsense. “You got what you deserved!”
Lily just laughed at Maria’s reprimand.
“Because it wasn’t an obvious family. By the way… That’s surprising. “I didn’t know you would take sides there like that.”
“That. Greatness. That… What does the story about that devil mean?”
“That?” Maria sighed.
“It’s one of the folk tales. There was a revelation that a demon would enter a certain monastery. So, the story goes that all the monks were praying day and night, were well armed and stood guard, and then the devil disguised as a priest came through the main gate.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s a funny story. But it’s not just a funny story. It is a story that provides comfort to those who believe that there is a predetermined fate. Because it happened just as it was revealed.
It was accepted by heresy inquisitors as a warning story about the dangers of blindness. But I don’t know how it is received by the warriors. “I actually didn’t even know that white blood was such a superstitious group.”
“It’s probably because of randomness.” She answered as Lily carefully pushed back her protruding branch.
“In war, you never know who will die. Even if you undergo rigorous training, you will die in a ridiculous accident. Even if you do everything you can, what will come will eventually come. That’s how we teach.”
“What? “Does that comfort you?”
“If there is a fixed ending… You don’t have to be afraid until you reach the end. This is also the meaning of the greeting that white-blooded warriors will not die until white blood flows. People can’t bleed white blood. So, you can go forward and fight without fear.”
“Because we are people.”
Cain muttered. She asked Lily what she meant, but Cain didn’t answer. Because she was preoccupied with other thoughts.
Although the members of the White Blood Knights are unique, they are also human. It means that a person has what he or she should have.
But why could they treat the same family so harshly? Why could that have happened? Cain didn’t know.
So instead, she gently pulled Lily closer and kissed her lightly. Lily seemed a little surprised, but she followed Cain’s gesture.
“… You guys are real. After… I usually do that. It’s definitely a strange time… “
Mary’s lament flowed through one of her ears.
After some time has passed. Cain and his group wore masks. The horse was hitched in a place out of sight, and the luggage was tied to a tree some distance away.
The earl’s guards were spread out here and there. As expected of thieves, their discipline was poor, and there were many of them sleeping openly.
Cain, Lily, and Maria selected suitable people, knocked them out, and stole their clothes. Pretending to be on patrol, we naturally entered the wide-open cave beneath the rock cliff.
Into the winding belly of the ‘mine’.