Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – How Not to Grow Dull

Within the knight order, word spread in an instant that Erin had become a sacrifice to a demon god.

Not only had she failed to resolve this strange calamity, she had become the sacrifice herself.

Because she was known as the strongest within the paladin order, opinion split sharply. Some pitied Erin, while others denounced her as a disgrace to the order and insisted that she be stripped of her position as commander.

Erin tried to ignore it. Yet in the span of a single half day, as she felt the way people looked at her change so abruptly, a flood of thoughts rose unbidden.

Normally, she would have dismissed it all as laughable and moved on. That was all it ever deserved. And yet, the fact that overnight she had fallen from a promising Holy Knight Commander to a demon god’s sacrifice made things complicated.

Only a day had passed, and already the atmosphere wavered like this. What would it be like in the distant future? 

I need to be more resolute.

As Erin walked toward her office, she thought this while meeting the gazes that brushed against her from all sides.

No matter the disgrace of being offered to a demon god, killing the demon god would solve everything.

Her life had always been a repetition of such moments. Born a commoner’s adopted daughter, possessing not a shred of holy power, she had still risen to this position through innate swordsmanship and magic that overwhelmed all else.

If she hit rock bottom, she would simply climb back up again.

If she did not waver and held her ground as she was now, this hardship too would someday be resolved.

She told herself that, but because she had climbed to this place without anyone’s help, there was no wall stout enough to shield her now.

As the petty glances continued to prick at her, Erin’s steps unconsciously quickened.

Even a tree with roots sunk deep into the earth sways when the wind strikes it.

When she slipped away from those gazes and reached her study, her hand trembled as she opened the door.

He would not have done all this simply to take my blood.

There were many ways he could have obtained it. If he had truly wanted to kill her, he could have done so last night.

Yet he wanted to meet again tomorrow. Did he intend not to kill her outright, but to watch her fall slowly before ending her?

It was a theory with enough merit. If so, she had to consider why Gabriel’s target was her in the first place.

Their ill fate had begun eighteen years ago, on that day. Before then, they had never once crossed paths.

Was she nothing more than a toy for his amusement, something to be played with and then destroyed? Sitting at her desk, Erin tightened her grip on the fountain pen in her hand.

In a moment of lost control, the pen snapped in her grasp. Shards bit into her palm, but her fist clenched even tighter.

“…What did you see in me that amused you so?”

Erin let out a soft, humorless laugh and slowly opened the hand that had been holding the pen. A mixture of blood and ink, along with the fragments, spilled across the desk.

She stared quietly at her hand as it healed in an instant, then ran her fingers over her face.

When Gabriel proposed the verbal contract, he had not included any condition that he would not kill her.

Nor had she imposed a condition that he could not kill her. If he killed her before she killed him, it would not violate the contract.

That too must have been part of his aim when he set the sole condition as drinking her blood every two days.

If I do not want to be toyed with by shallow tricks, I need to prepare just as thoroughly.

She was pondering how to respond to the situation, knowing she had to go again tomorrow, when Ten’s voice came from beyond the door.

“Commander, Duke Ferr has arrived,” Ten said from outside.

Why would Duke Ferr come all the way here? Erin frowned slightly, tossed the broken pen into the wastebasket, and opened the door herself to greet him.

“Welcome, Duke,” Erin said in greeting.

Ferr merely looked down at Erin in silence.

He had always been like this. Even when he had come upon hearing that she had become the Holy Knight Commander, he had said nothing, only gazing down at her.

But now, with no words forthcoming, the silence was deeply awkward.

After ten seconds that felt like an hour, Ferr brushed past her and entered the study.

Erin quickly instructed Ten to bring tea, then followed him inside.

“The emperor has resorted to shallow tricks,” Ferr said as he sat naturally on the sofa by the desk, laughing as if the thought still amused him.

As expected, he had come because of this matter.

Erin did not sit across from him. She remained standing and offered an apology.

“I am sorry. It was something I should have handled better,” Erin said.

“It ended at this because it was known to be the work of a demon god,” Ferr replied.

Ferr offered no further reproach.

In truth, Erin had expected even him to criticize her.

No matter that they were father and daughter in name, their relationship existed purely for mutual benefit.

“Because you wield the sword better than my son.”

In place of Duke Ferr’s son, who had been deemed a failure in a family of holy knights, Erin was the one meant to become the Holy Knight Commander.

That was Erin’s role.

She looked quietly at Ferr. He had not come merely to say this. What, then, was he here to say?

She could not help feeling tense.

“I have informed the Pope as well. I entered into a verbal contract with the demon god,” Erin said.

“And for what purpose did the demon god claim to have done so?” Ferr asked.

“I am still investigating,” Erin replied.

“Do you know why I chose you? A child with no holy power at all,” Ferr said.

Why ask that now? Erin’s brow creased slightly. As if amused by her reaction, one corner of Ferr’s mouth lifted.

Ferr opened his mouth as though to continue, but Ten entered just then and offered them tea, interrupting the moment.

When Ten hurried back out, Ferr laughed lightly.

“He is sharp. You chose a good subordinate,” Ferr said.

“Thank you,” Erin replied.

“To continue, then. It is not just your magic. You possess instincts beyond that of animals, do you not?” Ferr said.

“You have said as much before,” Erin answered flatly.

At her curt reply, Ferr studied her in silence. His crimson eyes, empty of any discernible emotion, revealed nothing.

Resting his chin on his hand, he looked at her for a long moment before speaking again.

“You would not have obediently agreed to a verbal contract with a demon god. What were the conditions?” Ferr asked.

If he knew Erin as well as he believed, she was not the type to accept such a thing without thinking ahead.

She was the kind who bent as if yielding while hiding her blade behind her back, slipping deeper when the opponent let down their guard, only to strike a far deadlier blow.

As if to confirm Ferr’s expectations, Erin said nothing at first. She looked at him in silence, then slowly spoke.

“…In exchange for giving him as much blood as he desires, he agreed to tell me how to kill the Night Demon. And to allow me to strike him down with my own hands,” Erin said.

“And the last condition?” Ferr asked.

Erin frowned faintly, displeased by the question. She had no wish to tell him even this much.

Yet Ferr’s violet eyes pressed for an answer.

Should she speak, or not? Erin hesitated even in that brief instant. The final condition was not aimed at the demon god, but at the humans who had dared to offer her up as a sacrifice.

“There is none,” Erin said.

“…Very well. If you say there is none, then there is none,” Ferr replied.

Ferr took a sip of tea and rose from his seat. Erin turned and stepped aside to let him pass.

“Pay no mind to what others say,” Ferr said.

“Thank you for the advice,” Erin replied.

“Using yourself as bait to exploit the enemy is something worthy of praise,” Ferr added.

At those simple words, Erin merely nodded in response.

Ferr lightly tapped her arm, then paused.

“Eat something. You have lost too much weight. How are you supposed to swing a sword like that?” Ferr said.

“I will correct it,” Erin replied.

“…Even if only on paper, we are family,” Ferr said.

At the word family, Erin’s brow creased.

Family.

Her only family had long since been killed by Gabriel. And in a relationship bound purely by mutual gain, what better bond could one possibly expect?

The faint crease in her brow smoothed away as if it had never been there. With only the slightest lift of her lips, Erin opened the door herself and spoke so that only Ferr could hear.

“Only on paper,” Erin said.

Ferr glanced at her, as if he understood the meaning of her words, then passed by her without another look.

She had no family. There should be no one at her side.

Only then would her resolve for revenge never grow dull.