Published at 25th of March 2019 9:52 pm

Chapter 4 Teacher’s… Part 1: True Love

“Big Bro Adair!”

Elaro hurriedly knocked. Not long after, Adair opened the door, his face sleepy and puzzled as he looked at Elaro.

At first, Elaro had immediately wanted to blurt out his conjectures, but there was movement inside the room. Only then did he remember that other than Adair, there was another Sun Knight Platoon member in the room. If he remembered correctly, it should be that person who was always full of smiles, Ed.

Ever since the Church of the God of Light had deployed troops to defeat the Demon King, forcing him to practically live in seclusion in the Demon King’s Castle, no longer rampaging all over the place, the Church of the God of Light’s reputation had grown in leaps and bounds. The current number of holy knights was at its highest within the past fifty years. Even Adair, who used to have a single room, had chosen a platoon member to stay with him in order to empty out another room.

In the Holy Temple, other than the Twelve Holy Knights, no one else had the privilege to request a room to himself. Even the Twelve Holy Knights-in-training often lived two to a room, unless there were extra rooms they could use.

Even so, Elaro was an exception. He still had a room to himself.

In the past, for Grisia’s convenience to apply facial masks and accomplish other miscellaneous things, Neo had stressed that his student needed his own room. And so, Grisia followed “tradition” and had his student take a room for himself.

When Adair saw Elaro’s hesitant expression, he immediately turned his head and asked, “Ed, have you fallen asleep?”

“…I’m asleep.”

Adair nodded and closed the door behind him. He turned to face Elaro and said, “Go ahead and tell me what is so urgent that you can’t wait until tomorrow morning to come find me.”

Elaro quickly described his “dream” in detail, and then he told him the deduction he had just made. “Big Bro Adair, I believe that it wasn’t a dream, but rather Teacher using telepathy on me! Something really has happened!”

Adair lowered his head to think. Even though Elaro was anxious, he knew that Adair was loyal and devoted to his teacher. He would likely be even more worried than Elaro, so it wasn’t as if he were wasting time.

“I understand now,” Adair finally opened his mouth to say. “The undead creature during the day must have really been sent by Knight-Captain Hell himself. It was probably a warning! Although I don’t know what actually happened, since none of the knight-captains have returned, I’m afraid that the situation probably doesn’t allow Knight-Captain Hell many options. His only option was likely to use this method to warn us that trouble has occurred.”

I-Is that so? Elaro stilled, immediately feeling a little upset that he hadn’t been able to make the connection earlier.

“Let’s not wait until tomorrow. I’ll go find Vidar immediately and seek out His Holiness, the Pope with him. Elaro, go and contact… the people you need to contact.” Adair looked at him directly, believing that he didn’t need to spell things out.

“Should I wait until Big Bro checks out the situation before acting?” Elaro really didn’t want to bring such bad news to them.

Adair said strictly, “Better to waste our efforts, than to allow anything to happen! You should know how important the two of them are to Captain, right?”

Elaro shivered. “Yes!”

“You’re really good in every aspect, except decisiveness!” Adair ruffled Elaro’s hair roughly, like he was punishing him and consoling him at the same time. “It won’t be long before you take over. You should hurry and learn from Captain. Be decisive in your commands!”

Elaro smiled wryly. “I’m just worried that I’ll do something wrong and cause everyone to waste their efforts, or even create a larger mess. That would be terrible.”

Adair’s expression shifted strangely as he asked, “Do you think Captain has never done anything wrong?”

Elaro frowned. “I have never known Teacher to have done anything wrong.”

“Hasn’t he ever told you to do something before, and then once you’ve completed it, you discovered there was no follow-up, and you don’t know what the result was either?”

“Yes…” And many times too. Elaro hesitated for a moment, but then quickly defended his teacher, “But it’s probably because Teacher didn’t tell me what was supposed to happen afterwards. There are lots of things he does that hold deeper meanings—“

Adair purposely retorted, “How do you know that there was a deeper meaning, and not just that he did something wrong but didn’t tell you?”

Elaro froze. Come to think of it, there really were times when he finished doing something and there was no follow-up. Even if he asked Teacher, he rarely received a clear answer…

“Come on, no matter how much you worship Captain, don’t treat him as if he is the God of Light. Captain still has his limits.”

Elaro was silent for a moment, but then he said sadly, “I hope that Teacher has not reached his limit this time.”

“I hope so, too.” Adair sighed and opened the door to the room. He shouted, “Ed!”

“Here!”

“Bring me my sword.”

After Adair finished speaking, Ed immediately rushed out. He held a sword in his hand. It was evident he had been prepared.

Adair took the sword and told Ed, “Vice-Captain Vidar and I are going over to see how Captain’s mission is coming along. During this time, you will lead the other platoon members and follow the usual schedule to complete your duties. If anything unexpected happens, listen to Elaro’s commands.”

“Understood!” After receiving the order, Ed rather tactfully turned around to go back to being “asleep.”

Adair patted Elaro’s shoulders and said, “Elaro, do your best. I’m leaving now.”

“You’re leaving right away?” Elaro was rather surprised.

“Of course, there’s no reason to dally. The sooner we clear up the situation, the better!”

After he finished speaking, Adair turned around to leave.

Elaro watched Adair, who had just given him so much sound guidance. He looked rather unruffled and appeared as if he wasn’t very worried over Teacher’s situation, but Elaro keenly sensed that Adair was not as relaxed as his expression seemed to imply.

“Big Bro Adair,” Elaro finally opened his mouth to call out to him.

“What now?” Adair turned his head to look toward Elaro, a light crease between his brows. He looked a little displeased.

Elaro reminded him very cordially, “You’re only wearing pajama pants.”

“…” Adair fell silent for a moment and then shouted, “Ed—“

Elaro stood before the door to a small house. Dawn had only just broken. The morning light spilled across the small garden in front of the house, causing the lavender flowers that filled it to glisten. There were also several different kinds of violets being grown in pots, making the entire garden look rather luxuriant. These two were Charsia’s favorite plants. Although she was only twelve, she was already an expert at managing the garden.

Formerly, there had only been a lawn outside of the house, and overgrown weeds frequently occupied it. It wasn’t until a certain someone abused his power and ordered the holy knights under his command to weed the place at regular intervals that the garden began looking pleasant.

Elaro stood before the door, hesitant about knocking. The morning light grew stronger and stronger, but he still didn’t move. His only thought was to let them sleep until it was fully bright.

He stood there up until the door opened by itself, and a woman waved him in with a smile. “Come in.”

Although Elaro was a little surprised, he tried his best to smile and said, “Auntie Charlotte, why have you gotten up so early?”

“I was waiting for someone.” Charlotte leaned against the door frame and asked with a smile, “And haven’t you shown up?”

Elaro’s heart fell. He knew very well that the one Charlotte was waiting for wasn’t him. If he remembered correctly, every time his teacher returned from a “mission,” he would always, without exception, come to this small house. Sometimes, he would bring Elaro along as well, because Charsia always made a fuss about wanting to play with him.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Auntie Charlotte had already lived here for more than ten years! Elaro couldn’t help looking at her. She really didn’t look like a woman who was already over forty years old. At most, she looked like she was in her early thirties.

“Come on in!” Charlotte took hold of Elaro’s hand. “Although the weather has grown warmer lately, it’s still quite chilly at this hour. You must have been standing outside for a long time already. Don’t catch a cold and be like your teacher, falling sick so frequently.”

When he heard this, Elaro felt even sadder. He had once heard the Twelve Holy Knights mention by accident that Teacher had almost never fallen sick in the past. However, as the years went by, his body grew weaker and weaker, and the boundary that separated “then” from “now” was obviously…

“Then, pardon my intrusion.”

He stepped foot into the house. The inside hadn’t changed much, just the decorations made out of pressed flowers had grown in number. This was Charsia’s work, and other than those things, there were also a few objects used for prayer. Those things belonged to Charlotte, who was a cleric.

Almost no trace of Teacher could be seen within the house, probably because he never visited much in the first place.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Charlotte asked in concern. “Are you hungry?”

“Not yet. I’m quite hungry,” Elaro answered honestly.

Actually, even if he weren’t hungry, he would still say he was hungry because Auntie Charlotte’s interest was cooking, and her cooking was superb. As time passed, a lot of holy knights began voluntarily coming to the garden to weed it, and sometimes, when they ran over and saw that there weren’t a lot of weeds, they would become very disappointed. It was because after they finished weeding, Charlotte would always cook a delicious meal for them.

Finally, Charlotte simply opened a small restaurant that operated by reservations. It was a restaurant that only served holy knights and clerics—of course, they had to pay. If anyone dared to dine and dash, that person would definitely be killed by the leader of the Holy Temple.

“Sit down,” Charlotte said. “I’ll cook something for you.”

Elaro nodded and quietly sat down to wait. Soon after, he saw an eye-catching small head peeking in through the door…

Golden hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a pair of large eyes framed by a round face, incomparably cute—she was also one of the reasons the holy knights and clerics loved visiting. A child this cute was rare.

“Charsia, have I woken you up?” Elaro felt very apologetic.

“Not at all!” Charsia rushed over, her large eyes smiling so much, they had turned into arcs. She reached both hands out, wanting Elaro to lift her up and sit her on his lap.

“Big Brother Elaro, it’s been so long!” Charsia complained, while acting spoiled.

“It’s because Teacher has gone on a mission, so I can’t leave the Holy Temple for very long in the meantime.”

“Uh huh.” Charsia nodded and said, “I know. Mama has been waiting for Papa the entire time.”

When he heard this, Elaro’s heart ached. He abruptly hugged Charsia and said, “Sorry… I’m really sorry!”

“Big Brother?” Charsia was momentarily puzzled, but then she suddenly yelled, “Mama!”

Startled, Elaro turned his head to look. Charlotte stood by the kitchen door, holding a tray piled with food, her face blank.

“Auntie Charlotte…”

Thump—

A soft sound unexpectedly came from the window. Charlotte’s tray fell to the ground at the same time, and soup spilled over the floor, but she didn’t pay it any attention. She stepped over the broken bowls and plates, rushed over, and snatched Charsia into her arms from Elaro. She worriedly shouted, “Elaro! This is a warning trap Grisia set. It’s the window to the left!”

Has he really come?

Elaro immediately drew his sword. Even though both the Judgment Knight and the Hell Knight unanimously praised his swordsmanship, he didn’t have any confidence—the Demon King’s absolute and frightening power was not something even the most skilled swordsmanship could hope to withstand.

Anyone who is on the Demon King’s mind will have to perish when he goes crazy!

Elaro stood protectively in front of the mother and daughter. He stared fixedly at the window. First, a pair of hands appeared on the windowsill, and then that person slowly stood up, raising his hands to show that he meant no harm. It could be because of the trap, but his entire body was covered with dirt. He was completely unkempt.

“Hungri?” Elaro was taken aback.

Hungri looked abashedly at the three extremely nervous people inside the house. He answered, “Yeah, it’s me.”

Elaro breathed out a huge sigh of relief, but then he immediately grew angry. He scolded severely, “Hungri, why are you sneaking around? You scared Auntie Charlotte and Charsia!”

“Sorry…” Hungri apologized awkwardly, but then he asked in confusion, “But why are you all so nervous?”

He couldn’t comprehend it. With Elaro’s strength, there weren’t many people in Leaf Bud City who could be a threat to him, and Auntie Charlotte had always appeared fearless. Why would they become so frightened over a trap being set off?

Elaro was at a loss for words, but luckily, Charlotte lent a hand in smoothing things over. “Come on in, Hungri! Let’s eat breakfast together.”

Hungri smiled awkwardly. “Okay.”

Elaro and Hungri cleaned up the mess on the floor together, while Charlotte and Charsia rapidly whipped up a four person breakfast. After that, they all sat down together to eat.

Charsia riveted her glare on Hungri. Hungri patiently endured it and said, “I already said sorry for scaring you by accident. No need to keep glaring at me, right?”

“I didn’t get scared at all!” Charsia pouted. She looked at how Hungri and Elaro were sitting on the same side, and loudly declared with quite some discontent, “Even though you and Big Brother Elaro are closer in age, I won’t give him to you or any other girl!”

When he heard this, Hungri rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. This wasn’t the first time Charsia had said this to him, so he merely responded snappily, “I’m a guy! How many times do you need me to repeat that before you get it?”

Charsia immediately refuted, “Liar! You wanted to be the Judgment Knight, so you cross dressed as a guy. Everyone says so!”

“Who is this ‘everyone?’” Hungri immediately raged, “Tell me who they all are. I’ll slaughter them all!”

Charsia actually began listing them all. “Ji from the food market, Uncle Charlie from the street corner, the royal knight big brother who sometimes sneaks in among the holy knights to eat… Ah! But the Uncle and Auntie from the next street over, who plant a lot of flowers, insist that you are indeed a boy.”

“… Those are my parents.”

Charsia came to a sudden realization. “So that’s it! They’re lying to help you cover up!”

“Cover up, my ass!” Hungri cursed.

“Ah—you swore again! Be careful, or my papa will smack you!”

Hungri’s face paled, but he still didn’t back down. “I’m not afraid of your dad. It’s not like he’s my teacher!”

“Even though he isn’t your teacher, my papa will still smack you!”

“Hmph, the person your dad is afraid of the most is my teacher!”

“Papa wouldn’t be afraid…”

As Elaro watched Hungri and Charsia’s interaction, which could cause people to burst out in laughter, his lips involuntarily lifted upward. This scene made him feel more relaxed and cheerful, feelings he hadn’t had in a while.

After they finished eating, Elaro took the initiative to help clear up the bowls and utensils. He walked with Charlotte into the kitchen. The latter took the bowls and utensils and said, “I can wash the dishes. You seldom visit. You should go play with Charsia.”

Elaro shook his head and quietly said, “Auntie, you should leave.”

Charlotte froze. She turned and placed the bowls and utensils into the sink. As she washed them, she said, “All right. I’ll leave after tidying up… Is he doing okay?”

Elaro shook his head. “I don’t know the situation, yet.”

Charlotte softly said, “Mm.”

Silently watching her back, Elaro didn’t know what to do. Should I console her? But what if Auntie is currently crying? Would she want anyone to see that? After deliberating for a while, Elaro only said in the end, “Auntie, I have to take my leave now. You and Charsia should hurry and leave as soon as possible.”

“Elaro!” Charlotte still could not help turning around and calling out, “Please, do your best to try and save him!”

After she finished speaking, she wiped away her tears. She was a little embarrassed for crying in front of someone younger than her. Her face was red, but she still looked resolutely at Elaro.

Elaro handed over his handkerchief and averted his eyes from her tears. He said with staunch determination, “Auntie, rest assured that I will do everything I can to allow Teacher to return! I swear to the God of Light!”

“Why did you follow me?”

On the way back, Elaro asked the person next to him.

“I didn’t.” Hungri turned his head away. “I merely went to see Auntie Charlotte. Can’t I do that?”

When he heard this answer, Elaro didn’t say anything more, primarily because he really didn’t have any more energy to argue with Hungri.

After walking for a while, Hungri couldn’t stand the silence any longer. He started speaking.

“Why won’t Knight-Captain Sun marry Auntie Charlotte? They even have a kid already. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t get married. Letting Auntie Charlotte and Charsia live by themselves outside the Church for so many years with no man to protect them, how is that acceptable?”

“Although Teacher isn’t by their side, he is most definitely doing everything he can to protect them!”

Hungri asked, “But wouldn’t it be even better if he were by their side?”

Elaro fell silent for a moment, and then said, “Teacher has his reasons.”

“I believe you,” Hungri said calmly. “If he didn’t have any reasons, then my teacher wouldn’t leave it be. He would drag him off to get married to Auntie Charlotte.

“Do Knight-Captain Sun’s reasons have anything to do with the current situation?”

The moment he said those words, Hungri saw Elaro’s expression change. Elaro really wasn’t very good at concealing things. As long as Hungri was able to raise related questions, he was confident he could figure out the answer from Elaro’s bearing.

“I really can’t tell you.” Elaro hesitated once again, very afraid that Hungri would continue pressing him for answers. He hurriedly continued, “But one day, I will definitely tell you and everyone else. Definitely!”

“… You really will?”

Elaro nodded his head quickly. He had really grown afraid of Hungri’s ability to interrogate.

Unexpectedly, Hungri didn’t continue to press him. He simply said, “Okay, then I’ll wait for you to tell me.”

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