Chapter 113

Chapter 113

That Is Not How You Disguise Yourselves

“...Still, after that, she never came back.”

Daidros, the blacksmith who had made the cursed blade, and a gold dragon, said that. Then he shook his glass, and the sound of ice striking the glass followed.

He still lived with liquor at his side.

“It is fortunate Bernice did not come back.”

On my way back after dealing with the demons earlier, I had stopped by Daidros’s mansion.

There was something simple I wanted to confirm.

Just as I had discovered Shady’s, the darkness spirit Shade’s, true name through Perception, I wanted to know whether it would also work on a “dragon,” who could be said to possess a true name like spirits.

To start with the conclusion, I did discover it.

Daidros’s true name.

Should this be seen as the effect of the “Blindfold of Piercing Insight”?

I still could not be certain, but I at least knew that a special power I had not grasped was hidden within it.

As expected, items of Legendary grade or so usually carried stories of their own.

If I went to meet an “appraiser,” I would be able to obtain at least simple information, but honestly, I wanted to avoid even encountering an appraiser.

Since it was a game focused heavily on story, I did not think they would have just thrown an item at me without any additional story. But until now, I had neither felt any special energy from the blindfold nor encountered anyone who knew of its existence.

Even though I believed I had met quite a few prominent figures on the continent.

A gold dragon right before my eyes, the Saintess, the Sword Saint... At the very least, if there was an additional story, it did not mean it was connected to them.

I thought my fame value was fairly high, but perhaps there had not been much movement from villains... or perhaps that was because I had thoroughly avoided the major villains.

After all, there would be no one who knew the fellows infamous across the continent better than me.

“So why was the Saintess looking for you?”

Daidros, who had taken a sip of liquor and set it down on the table, asked.

“She offered me induction into her knight order.”

“...Were you not an academy student?”

“That is right. So she created the position of ‘honorary knight’.”

“...Honorary knight, is it. Hah, she used her head a little. Wait... there is one thing I do not understand... Was the Saintess’s knight order not one that only women could enter?”

At Daidros’s question, I finally burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, I thought so too.”

At the sound of my laughter, Daidros narrowed his eyes.

“...Judging by the faint scent of demon blood on you, it seems you have already entered the knight order.”

Daidros squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

“Did the smell of blood cling to me...?”

For no reason, I lowered my head and sniffed at my clothes.

Perhaps because the scent of blood itself had settled in my nose, I could not smell anything in particular.

Daidros said that when the Saintess came to find him and asked about me, he had spun lies in order to protect me, wondering if perhaps I had fallen into danger.

When I told him what this generation’s Saintess, Bernice’s, authority was, he laughed hollowly.

No matter what, I thought it would not be easy to form a friendship with a dragon, yet somehow, things seemed to have gone remarkably well with him.

In many ways, perhaps the fact that I had drawn his interest was significant.

“More importantly, to think you entered the Saintess’s knight order with such things inside your body... No matter how faint the energy may be, there is no way the Saintess would fail to notice.”

Daidros tapped his finger toward my chest and said that.

The Tear of the Dead near my heart, the Cursed Blade Sierra, and Shady too.

Just as he said, I had plenty of dark things that did not suit the Saintess.

Daidros could sense the energy of spirits. This was something I learned for the first time.

He said he had clashed with spirits several times in the past.

Still, it seemed he could only faintly sense their energy and could not visually confirm spirits.

“Miss Sierra is the problem...”

Daidros’s gaze went to Sierra, who was floating beside me.

It had already been confirmed that Bernice could see Sierra. What remained was explaining why I had to carry around a dangerous object like a cursed blade.

Daidros also said that if I told her the story, it did not seem like a problem that could not be overcome.

He said, how could one ignore the tender love between master and disciple that surpassed death itself?

“It does seem better to tell her in advance...”

Even if I could not reveal the other things inside my body, revealing what I could, such as the cursed blade, would be less suspicious than hiding everything.

Unfortunately, the timing had not been very good last time.

It would have been nice if I could have collected at least horns while dealing with the demons this time, but Shady had eaten everything cleanly, horns included.

“Will it be delayed a little longer...?”

Since I would not have many chances to meet Bernice anyway, the situation should not be urgent.

***

Meanwhile, Saintess Bernice had entered the academy in a “disguise” together with Eclin, vice-captain of the Silver Wings Knights.

Because open class had made their appearances known inside the academy, and this was not an official visit, disguise was unavoidable.

The problem was the disguise Eclin had come up with.

“Costume heads...”

Wearing costume heads used at festivals and the like meant no one would discover their identities, but Bernice thought this drew an enormous amount of attention in its own way.

They had somehow managed to enter the city. By climbing over the fence, they avoided encountering the academy staff at the main gate.

Now they only needed to find Zeto.

“What is that? Did they come to advertise something?”

“I know those! It is Cobby and Becky!”

“Cute...”

But as passing students began reacting one by one, the two of them instantly found themselves trapped in a crowd and reduced to a curious spectacle.

The shopkeeper who had sold them the costume heads had explained the characters.

This bear and rabbit were apparently the protagonists of a fairy-tale book popular among children.

“What should we do...?”

Bernice whispered to Eclin beside her.

But Eclin was just as flustered.

Since she had heard these characters were popular, Eclin had thought that no matter where they appeared, it would not seem strange, and they could pass naturally.

Why were they so popular even among academy students who had already become adults?

The fairy-tale book the general store owner had shown Eclin for reference had definitely been an ordinary fairy-tale book for children, one very much meant for infants.

However, the reason was simple.

The female students simply liked cute things and were watching, while the male students were only approaching and standing beside them to strike up conversations because there were female students around.

This was something Eclin, whose interests were greatly distant from those of girls her own age, could not understand.

Soon, Eclin, wearing the large and cute bear costume head, made a natural movement in order to get through this troublesome situation and opened her mouth.

“I am Cobby! Nice to meet everyone~!”

It was a cute gesture that made it impossible to imagine she was the vice-captain of a knight order.

Thinking that she had put Bernice in a difficult position, Eclin abandoned her pride.

Fortunately, her face was hidden... so perhaps she felt a little less embarrassed.

Eclin thought that if she played along roughly, they might lose interest and leave, but the students’ interest only grew more intense.

“Kyaak—!!”

“So cute!”

“So it was a woman...!”

Soon, the students’ gazes turned toward Bernice, in other words, “Becky,” who was wearing the rabbit costume head.

Cobby and Becky were always a pair.

The students who had seen Cobby’s introduction now expected Becky’s introduction.

“Saintess, let us avoid speaking if possible.”

Bernice, who had discussed this with Eclin in advance, stood there blankly, at a loss.

Bernice’s authority rejected even a simple phrase such as “I am Becky.”

Because that was a “lie.”

As Bernice’s silence continued, people began tilting their heads. Expectation was turning into doubt.

Having no choice, Bernice moved her body.

Since she could not introduce herself, she decided to respond to their expectations with an even cuter gesture than the one Eclin had shown a moment ago.

“...Kyun.”

From Bernice’s mouth came a strange little cry as she copied exactly the pose of Becky she had seen in the fairy tale.

It had not been intentional, but she felt that when taking this pose, she had to make such a sound.

However, because the people had unfortunately grown quiet in expectation, everyone ended up hearing Bernice’s cute voice.

Bernice endured.

She believed this, too, was a trial bestowed by the Chief God that she had to withstand in order to ask forgiveness from Zeto.

Eclin, watching Bernice maintain her pose amid the pouring cheers of the students, stood dazed.

“The Saintess made such... a cute gesture...”

Because she especially adored Bernice, her nose was bleeding. Eclin thought it was fortunate that, thanks to the costume head, no one noticed the nosebleed.

“How long must I keep doing this...”

Just as Bernice was maintaining the pose with a flushed face...

Someone burst through the crowd and approached them.

The red-haired female student who pushed through the people was bleeding from the nose just like Eclin.

She indifferently wiped her nosebleed, pointed at Bernice, and opened her mouth.

“This... this is... the ‘real’ Becky...”

The one spouting nonsense was none other than Yuri Clementine, who had always especially liked fairy-tale books.

Yuri also liked Cobby and Becky very much.

In her room at the main house, their dolls were piled up like mountains.

At Yuri’s sudden appearance, the students around them, and even Eclin and Bernice, who were acting as Cobby and Becky, all froze in dumbfounded silence.

“What is this?”

Not caring about their silent question, Yuri immediately began murmuring.

“Becky is originally a timid, fragile rabbit... Introducing herself in a situation with this many strangers would not have suited Becky... But then, to smooth over this situation by taking Becky’s ‘feel-better pose’... that judgment...”

Yuri’s serious explanation continued softly.

Eclin, who had been listening quietly, whispered softly to Bernice.

“Is this not the young lady of the Clementine family we saw during open class...?”

At Eclin’s reluctant question, Bernice, still maintaining the pose straight, nodded faintly.

“Lord Clementine, when you said your daughter had many pure sides, was this what you meant...?”

Bernice was recalling the conversation she had shared with Zeras during open class.

“How... should I commemorate this...? I cannot draw a picture... Uuuh...”

Soon, Yuri stamped her feet.

Leaving such Yuri aside, Eclin examined their surroundings.

The crowd was growing thicker and thicker.

This was not good.

Just as she was thinking they needed to run first, then perhaps come back in a disguise other than costume heads...

Someone else burst from within the crowd.

The man walking through the people wore clothing different from the students.

Eclin and Bernice knew who he was.

Yuri, who had been standing before them, turned back at his presence and opened her mouth.

“Instructor Edward?”

“Miss Yuri is here too. I heard there was an unapproved pair wearing costume heads, so I came to see...”

Edward trailed off, and his gaze, so thin one could hardly see his pupils, swept over Eclin and Bernice, who were in disguise.

“...Follow me.”

Soon, Edward’s concise words followed along with a suspicious smile.

Yuri blankly watched “Cobby and Becky” quietly following after Edward.

“I have to... commemorate it...”

***

The place Edward took them to was a quiet empty lot where people did not walk around.

He had already sensed Bernice’s divine power long ago and realized she was the Saintess. Because he had lived together with Priscilla, who possessed an enormous amount of divine power, he was able to notice it.

There was no one besides the Saintess who would possess divine power surpassing Priscilla’s.

“You said it was a personal visit... I understand.”

After hearing Eclin’s explanation, Edward answered that way.

Eclin and Bernice quietly waited for Edward’s “measure.”

The two thought he would ultimately send them back because this was an unapproved visit. Innocence Academy was that closed-off a city.

But after clapping and saying, “Interesting, how interesting,” Edward’s following words differed from what they expected.

“If you were going to disguise yourselves, you should have done it properly. What is with the costume heads? They were amusing, but it is hard to call them a disguise. As you saw, they stand out far too much.”

At Edward’s words, Eclin nodded in agreement, yet felt doubt as well.

It was their first time in their lives disguising themselves, so they had been clumsy beyond measure.

Thus, what he said was not wrong, but why was this man criticizing the “disguise” rather than the “unapproved visit”?

Eclin found that strange.

Soon, Edward opened his mouth again.

“A disguise means blending in among people. However, because the Saintess’s face is known to many, that must have been difficult, yes?”

Bernice and Eclin, listening to Edward’s sudden “lesson,” nodded.

Then the corners of Edward’s suspicious lips rose wide, and he snapped his fingers.

“In that sense, how about wearing student uniforms? To the students, would you not look not like the Saintess, but a student they are seeing for the first time... who greatly resembles the Saintess? More than that, in the first place, walking around in uniform will not draw much attention.”

...Edward’s words were quite plausible.

But was he not missing something important?

Thinking that, Bernice carefully asked him a question.

“But we do not have uniforms...”

“That is true. The only normal way to obtain an Innocence Academy student uniform would be to enroll in the academy, after all. However, I have a way to get them. I do have a good father, as you see... I will obtain about two sets for you.”

Edward was the son of Headmaster Juliut Klaus. In other words, he was openly saying he would “abuse” his own authority.

“Is it all right to do such a thing? No, more importantly... why are you helping us this much?”

Eclin, who could not understand Edward’s actions, asked.

“...Is it not more fun this way?”

At her doubt, Edward shrugged and said that.

“What on earth is with this man...”

Because Bernice had her authority, she knew Edward’s words were the “truth.”

Edward Klaus was someone even Bernice, Saintess of Innocence, could not grasp.