Chapter: 604
I lightly moved my body in front of the dungeon door.
Unlike my original body, which couldn’t exert its strength due to the backlash of having performed miracles multiple times, my mental body was in perfect shape.
As I forced my outer body to move and finally entered the mental world, I felt completely light! Now this is what a body should feel like!
Excited, I hopped around, snorting and opened the door.
What awaited us was a castle shaped like a prison made of stone.
Just gazing up at the castle, which seemed to hold a history where no one had escaped, took my breath away.
“Is this the Ruel family home?”
“…I’m losing my mind. So it wasn’t just showing the memories of a doll.”
“Wait a minute, old man. This dreary place is a mansion? Were you not a nobleman but a prisoner? It suits your looks, though.”
“The mansions of the past all looked like this. Back then, the concept of a nation was loose. With wars potentially breaking out at any moment, there was no time to care about appearances.”
I lost my words to such a harshly realistic reason and followed the somewhat gloomy old man’s lead.
“Though I say that, I didn’t like this place when I was young. It really is as barren as you described.”
“That’s also why he decided to become a holy knight. The church is bright and magnificent compared to this gloomy place.”
“Don’t steal my words.”
“I was just saying it instead of you, thinking you’d be too shy to speak up.”
This was a bit surprising. I thought the strict old man would have been a devout believer since childhood.
“By the way, in this era, thinking like Ruel was normal. It was tough to have faith when gods and humans were close to each other.”
The time when gods and humans were close, meaning the Shoddy God wasn’t looking down on me from the heavens like now but was sticking right next to me, wreaking havoc.
…No way! That would be like developing an idol crush on a Sloppy Fox in today’s context! Is that even possible!?
“Back then, not many people kept their faith for noble reasons like now. It was simpler. Because it was pretty and cool. Because it was fun. Because the authority granted was satisfactory.”
“Some even claimed they would give privileges if you believed in them.”
“You’re talking about the God of Oaths? He was amusing from afar. Up close, just a conman.”
As I listened to the casual revelations about the old man and Garad, a man appeared on the street.
He was young with traces of boyhood everywhere, but his physique was different. He had a formidable body that could overpower the average adult man, exuding the presence of a general.
“Looks like it’s childhood me after all.”
“If it’s that time, then you were the one challenging powerful visitors to fights in your territory, huh?”
“Haaa. Lucy! Get rid of that thing quickly. I can’t stand the sight.”
Grandpa scowled as if he had seen a cockroach, and I tilted my head in confusion.
Isn’t it too much to call that a dark history? It’s normal for a kid with power to get cocky at least once.
Well, I’ll have to fight since I can’t pass without taking that thing down.
“Hah. What’s this kid doing?”
Oh.
“If you’re here to hassle me, go home and ask for some milk. Maybe you’ll find it interesting in ten years.”
Huh?
“Ugh. What can I do? It’s a crime for me to be this good-looking.”
There wasn’t a single thing about his gestures, voice, or expression that wasn’t bothersome.
“I wish there was a woman who looked like me.”
The young old man was an extreme narcissist, as if painted in a picture.
“Kwah! Hahaha!”
“What on earth was I thinking back then?”
“Kuhuk. Kuk. Hahaha!”
As I grasped the self-deprecating speech of the old man and Garad’s endless laughter, I finally let out a long sigh.
“Fuhaha♡ Don’t you think your mirror at home is very bad?♡ Saying you’re good-looking with that kinda face?♡”
“Baseless slander is disgraceful, kid. If you’re turned down, just go home quietly.”
“What are you talking about?♡ I have no interest in you, an eunuch!♡”
“…Eunuch? Me?”
“Anyone who doesn’t react after seeing a beauty like me is no different from an eunuch!♡”
“Hah. Your self-consciousness is a bit overly inflated. You need a mirror yourself, I think.”
“Hehe~♡”
As I narrowed my eyes and threw off the cape that was covering my armor, I saw the opponent suddenly stiffen.
“Huh?♡ Weren’t you supposed to not react to a kid like me?♡”
“Wh-what kind of armor is that?”
“Your movements look very suspicious now. Did you get really angry about something?♡ Hahaha♡ Just~ kidding♡”
Seeing the flushed man grasping his weapon tightly, I couldn’t help but tease him.
“Why?♡ Are you going to charge at me?♡ Are you sure about that?♡ If you get pounded by me, it’s gonna be really embarrassing!♡”
“You little brat! Alright! I’ll teach you your place!”
The man’s reason was completely gone, and his movements were painfully simple.
Is this really the holy knight Ruel I know? At this point, I didn’t even want to bother wielding a weapon.
Sigh I sighed inside and gracefully dodged the straightforward attack, then moved in close.
I recalled how Lasha had swung her fists back in the arena when we faced off.
Gathering the divine spirit at the tips of my fists, which had been a burden during the previous fights, I thought to burst it out as I punched.
With a bang, the man’s body flew through the air.
The shabby CGI had him soaring like a poorly animated film, crashing into the wall and then landing on the ground like trash.
Huh? Is that it? I expected him to get up and charge again, though.
“You worked hard dealing with your younger self.”
“Huh? Is that it? The old man was really sloppy back then.”
“That’s because back then, I thought I could crush techniques with pure strength. After joining the Holy Knights and getting smashed, I realized just how arrogant I was.”
The old man looked at his past self sprawled on the ground with pity, then wiped his face.
“Lucy, I get that you’re excited to finally move properly after a long time, but let’s leave it to me from here on out. At this rate, it feels like I’m going to collapse faster than seeing the end.”
“Hmm. I don’t like stopping the fun of teasing a sloppy grandfather.”
It may have started sloppy, but the grandfather I meet in the future won’t be sloppy at all.
At some point, he would become an opponent who would be hard to win against even when I go all out. Thinking of that made me not want to step back.
While I was pondering how to convince the distressed old man, Garad draped a cape over my shoulder.
“Just listen to him this time. It’s getting a bit sad; it’s not fun anymore.”
“Isn’t that also fun in its own way?”
“And by the way, if you take too long, the kids outside will start to worry.”
…Ah. That’s right. I’m currently down without being able to offer any explanation. If I keep stalling, I’ll just get nagged.
Phoebe’s nagging is ridiculous! I was shocked watching her preach for hours in freestyle!
Remembering the scolding I received when I broke my arm using my super strength, I trembled my shoulders and decided to accept the old man’s suggestion.
“Alright, then let’s hurry.”
From there, it was nothing short of swift.
No matter how strong the old man from the past was, he was just a shadow of the current grandfather. After enduring all those trials, the current grandfather’s might was unparalleled.
“Just now, Ruel deliberately allowed the attack. You can withstand that much without issue. By showing a slight opening like that, you can induce the opponent’s carelessness.”
As past grandfathers fell one by one in front of us, Garad stayed close to my side and explained the fighting style of the old man.
Each fighting style varies, so it could never be the perfect answer, but there was still plenty to learn from it.
Maybe because he himself polished his basics to the limit and reached the ranks of heroes, Garad’s explanations were easy to understand.
“That womanizer who keeps wagging his tail around sure can talk.”
“Much better than Ruel, right?”
“What nonsense! I’m used to explaining now! I’m not the old me!”
“It’s pretty persuasive hearing that while facing the old you.”
As we continued deeper into the dungeon, we eventually arrived at a stark white room filled with calm.
Ruel and Garad questioned if they had been in this place before, but I hadn’t.
This was a familiar location for me. This was the very place you reach at the end of the dungeon I was just in.
An idol with sharp eyes that seemed to shoot out red beams stared at us silently before heading towards the exit without a word.
Was it telling us to follow since it would show us what happened?
The moment I stepped out of the room behind the heavy-footed idol, what welcomed me was Ruel’s likeness bound up, along with two named inquisitors I remembered being directly under Pope Cesare earlier today.
And the Pope himself.
“Your Holiness. Is it alright for us to do this?”
“Of course.”
The Pope nodded, casually acknowledging Cesare’s hesitance.
“This kind of idol is nothing but an insult to the holy knight Ruel. It’s a fitting role to be mere hunting dogs that tear at the fallen.”
This was different from what I knew. The Pope behind the monitor, even if a fake, was someone you could honor sufficiently. He wouldn’t simply dismiss something like this.
“Oh. Please, just leave it as it is. I have urgent business to attend to.”
The Pope, who was giving orders to others, suddenly turned his head towards me.
No way?
It must be a simple misunderstanding, right?
“I’m so glad to finally meet you, young lady of the Allen family.”
…What?
“I believed you would surely arrive here, chosen by the Lord.”
The Pope bowed his head with a bright smile like a child receiving a Christmas present.
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