Judas hates ghosts.
It’s not just because of the bizarre shapes they suddenly pop up in or their ability to meddle in the real world without having any physical form—it’s the transcendent terror of not knowing their true nature and having to be powerless against them that really gets to him.
For instance, if his opponent were a person, he could respond. He has learned countless excellent forms of conversation, including the art of throwing someone over his shoulder.
But ghosts? You can’t hit them or break them.
It’s this inability to counter them that makes Judas dislike ghosts and, ultimately, fear them.
“So that’s why it’s scary! It’s not that I’m cowardly or anything. No way!”
And then he overheard someone talking about ghosts while alongside Eliya.
“Should we check it out?”
Eliya suggested.
“…Why can’t we just send someone else? Why does it have to be us?”
He tried to refuse.
“No, this is my job too. We should go check it out ourselves. There might be something serious going on.”
His refusal was refused.
“……”
He didn’t notice that Eliya was grinning wickedly as she glanced around.
In the end, he couldn’t help but be led by Eliya’s hand.
He had no choice but to follow, and Eliya playfully patted Judas on the backside.
“Don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll protect you.”
Eliya’s magic can even burn something that has no physical form, like a ghost.
“…Yeah.”
Judas decided to fully depend on her warm and reliable presence.
“After all, there’s no one else like Eliya.”
“Of course not.”
*
“I want to hear more about that ghost story we just heard.”
Eliya said suddenly to those who were whispering.
“Huh—!”
They jumped, trembling in surprise.
But soon, they recognized that the one before them was Eliya, the current Empress of the Bevel Empire.
It’s hard to know the true appearance of someone who holds such a high position.
Moreover, they were just ordinary soldiers hired in Jericho.
However, they recognized Eliya because she is special.
When the Evil God was destroyed, she appeared in everyone’s visions like a dream.
Unless you were born after that event, everyone knows Eliya.
“Y-your Majesty…!”
“Shh. Lower your voice. I don’t want to create unnecessary disturbance.”
“Y-y-yes!”
“Anyway, tell me more about that ghost story.”
“U-uh… it’s not a big deal that Your Majesty should worry about…!”
“That’s for me to decide.”
The soldiers had no choice but to speak at Eliya’s firm attitude.
Meanwhile, Judas listened attentively, all tensed up.
Eliya felt Judas’ grip on her hand tighten.
‘So cute.’
She smiled softly to herself without letting it show on her face.
“It’s been happening for a few days now. Food has started disappearing from the campsite set up outside the city.”
Jericho is one of the main supply points.
With a significant influx of people, the city’s size couldn’t accommodate everyone.
So, some people set up tents outside the city to spend the night.
“It wasn’t much at first, so I thought maybe I was mistaken.”
“But it kept happening among the merchants over the course of several days. I suspected it might be a thief, so I investigated, but everyone denied it. There was no actual evidence of theft.”
“Then one day…”
As the soldier’s voice quieted, Judas also became tense.
“One family decided not to sleep at night, planning to catch the thief. They lay in the dark pretending to be asleep while waiting.”
“They waited for a long time until the moon started to fall. Just then, they heard footsteps coming from somewhere.”
“But those footsteps didn’t sound like a normal person’s.”
Judas swallowed hard without realizing it.
“It sounded like scurrying, almost as if it were crawling on all fours.”
“But it was so faint it seemed like a sound that normally shouldn’t have been made.”
“There’s that saying, right? Evil spirits don’t behave like ordinary people!”
Y-yeah, that saying exists.
Judas’s back was starting to get cold and sweaty.
“Wanting to confirm it, they suddenly lifted their heads. And just then, they saw it approaching the box where the food was stored. So they jumped up!”
“It was a flat creature that crawled on all fours and ran away!”
“Moreover, despite not resembling a person, it had fluffy black fur and yet was wearing white clothes…”
Judas felt the urge to hug Eliya.
It was like how she snuggled a cat doll for comfort, and he wanted to do the same.
The impulse to nestle securely in her embrace surged uncontrollably, but he held back for now.
He was quite proud of himself.
“So what happened next?”
“Since then, there have been multiple similar sightings.”
“The guards tried to form a search party, but… they haven’t found any solid evidence yet.”
“Oh, and around the time this report came in, they started hearing the sound of a child seemingly moaning somewhere.”
“Did you find out where that sound is coming from?”
“Yes. I’m the one involved, but when I went to the spot, there was no child or person, just the sound getting louder.”
Judas wanted to run away.
“Hmm….”
Meanwhile, Eliya pondered seriously about how to resolve the situation.
“I want to check the place where the rumor started. Just tell me where it is, and I’ll figure it out from there.”
“Yes. It’s outside the southern gate of Jericho. They’ve made a large bonfire and set up tents, so you should be able to find it quickly.”
After confirming the location, Eliya immediately put on her hood.
She didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention.
Judas also wore his hood low as he followed her.
Eliya stopped a little away from the soldiers.
“Are you scared?”
“…No? Not really?”
“Then I don’t need to hold you.”
“Why? Why does that conclusion come from? It’s not logical.”
Eliya laughed with a peal of laughter at his nervous reaction.
“Alright, alright.”
By chance, there was a discarded wooden plank stacked beside them.
Eliya climbed on top and spread her arms wide.
“Come here.”
Judas didn’t feel shy at all.
He strode over and hugged her tightly.
He took a deep breath and exhaled.
Her cozy and warm embrace.
The soft, sweet scent of her skin melted away his anxiety.
The solid mass of two bodies felt like peace washed over the entire world in that moment.
Eliya cuddled his head into her chest and patted him.
“Good boy. It’s alright. You’re being good. Are you very scared? Should I send someone else?”
“…I’m not scared at all. I just wanted to hug you.”
“Oh, I see.”
“……”
For some reason, she was treating him like a child.
But he didn’t dislike that feeling.
Judas felt quite ashamed of himself.
‘…Wait a second. Thinking about it, if I have the moonstone, wouldn’t I be able to handle evil spirits too? The magic infused with properties works on evil spirits. Why was I scared?’
His fundamental reason for fearing ghosts vanished.
But he still loved Eliya’s embrace, so he decided to stay there a little longer.
Meanwhile, Eliya felt a strange sense of stability while hugging Judas.
She wondered if this is what it feels like to have a child.
A desire to protect and do anything for him.
She wasn’t planning on having children yet.
She was regularly receiving post-coital contraceptive prescriptions from Mei because she wanted to enjoy her time alone with Judas for as long as possible.
But she thought she would have children someday.
At the very least, after subduing the Demon Realm and when the world stabilizes.
Just imagining the future where she would have a child filled her heart with warmth.
‘Judas has some surprisingly childish traits.’
…Actually, not just surprisingly, there were quite a few.
But she adored even those parts of him.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Should we go solve Jericho’s problems?”
“…You suddenly sound so confident.”
They moved to the location the soldier had pointed out.
Right in front of Jericho’s southern gate.
People were camping, using whatever they could find to set up tents around a bonfire.
They didn’t look like refugees.
They were just passing through.
“This is where they say that ghost has been appearing… but if it’s been seen only at night, then does that mean it doesn’t move during the day?”
“During the day, it would be hard to approach since people are awake.”
It was close to daytime now.
The sun was at its peak and slowly setting in the afternoon.
Both Eliya and Judas were too well known to casually mingle with the people here.
If they revealed why they were inquiring, rumors about a ghost living here might spread.
Eliya wanted to avoid unnecessary commotion.
For now, she thought that the real perpetrator wasn’t an evil spirit or ghost.
“It seems difficult to find traces like footprints?”
“There’s too much foot traffic to find anything.”
“Then we should go to the point where that sound was said to come from.”
They walked from the campsite to the place the soldier had indicated.
As Eliya walked, she examined the route.
“It leads to a shaded area outside Jericho’s outer wall.”
“……”
The shaded area.
A secluded spot.
Judas felt fear creeping back in.
Even though he knew he could challenge that enemy, whether he could actually confront it was a different matter.
-Kkiiiing….
Just then, a moaning sound echoed.
“!”
Judas swiftly hugged Eliya tightly.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Eliya calmly patted his backside.
“Th-that sounded like a real child’s voice. A human voice…!”
Eliya allowed his imagination to run wild.
‘No way that’s the case.’
There were tall plants surrounding the area, suggesting it hadn’t been frequented by people.
They pushed through the grass toward where the sound had come from.
There, they found a small nest made of wood.
A shabby little nest made from rotten wood and discarded planks.
It was propped against the city wall to shield it from rain and wind.
Around it, remnants of food that someone had eaten were scattered.
“…Oh?”
Judas began to realize that what he feared wasn’t happening at all.
Just then, a black shadow crawled out from the shaded area, showing caution.
Its ears were flattened to its head.
It was crouching and baring its teeth.
Eliya remarked as if she had expected this.
“Dogs.”
The thing that stole people’s food wasn’t a ghost, but a beast.
A perfectly normal dog, in fact.
“…….”
Judas couldn’t even feel embarrassed.
That dog was…
“…the one that used to hang around my house?”
It was a dog he recognized.
The one that sometimes came to visit the yard he had set up in Jericho.
A Border Collie, one of the herding breeds.
The dog recognized Judas too.
Relaxing its stance, it perked up its bright eyes and wagged its tail.
“……”
And suddenly, Judas was engulfed in an overwhelming sense of embarrassment.
The oblivious dog greeted him.
“Woof!”
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