Book 1: Chapter Fourth Rule of Sun Knights: “One’s ability to recover has to be better than good”

As a result of losing an entire street’s worth of blood, my three day long vacation was successfully extended to a week. I heard that Leaf was even going to help me get it extended to one month initially. Unfortunately, His Holiness the Pope seemed to have a mission for me to carry out, so the attempt failed. Sigh! Leaf, you really are a nice guy!

I poured soured milk into a basin filled with flour goop with one hand as my other hand stirred the goop using the sheath of the Divine Sun Sword. I really must say that the Divine Sun Sword’s sheath is full of amazing uses. As the sheath is almost completely made of gold, it’s guaranteed not to rust, regardless of whether it is used to stir this body mask mixture or to stir my apple wine.

Not only would the sheath not become dirty after stirring, it would shine brighter than ever if you wiped it with a cloth!

Hmm, looks like the body mask is almost ready. I should be able to start lathering myself with it. After fighting for that long yesterday, plus the fact that I fainted from heavy blood loss, I didn’t manage to apply the body mask in time last night. When I woke up this morning and took a look in the mirror, I nearly fainted dead away; my skin had changed from the color of soured milk to the color of honey!

My god! It looks like I won’t be able to salvage my fair skin if I don’t apply the body mask for an entire week.

“S-Sun! What are you doing?” Leaf Knight had pushed open the door to my room all of a sudden and was gaping at me, wide-eyed.

I’m done with mixing the body mask and about to lather myself with it… I thought woodenly with a gob of body mask in one hand.

Crap! I forgot to lock my door. Of all times for this fellow Leaf to forget to knock on the door!

It’s okay, it’s okay! I was only going to lather myself with the body mask; I haven’t actually applied it yet. Otherwise, if Leaf caught sight of me just when I was looking like a decomposing undead creature, it’s entirely possible that he would haul me before my good friend Judgment Knight, who would then interrogate me to see if I’d been possessed by an evil spirit.

“What are you getting up for? After losing that much blood yesterday, you should stay in bed and get some rest!”

Leaf quickly crossed the intervening space and swiftly forced me down onto the bed with one hand, and then covered me with a blanket.

I rolled my eyes. Hey, hey! There’s still a gob of body mask in my hand, you know!

“Sun, what are you holding onto that flour goop for?” Having covered me with the blanket, Leaf was now looking uncomprehendingly at my right hand, which I had extended away from the blanket.

Leaf stared thoughtfully at the body mask for a while (although it looked more like he was spacing out), and then turned to look at me with a smile. “I got it. You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

…How on earth did you reach that conclusion? Does that gob of raw flour look remotely edible to you?

“You’ll fall sick if you eat this kind of stuff.”

Leaf gave me a somewhat reproachful look as he scooped the body mask up from my right hand, dumped it back in the basin in which I had mixed it, and then picked up the basin. As he headed for the door, he looked over his shoulder with a smile and said, “I’ll go and get you something to eat from the kitchen.”

Hey, hey! I have nothing against you helping me to get something to eat, but where are you taking my body mask mixture?

That basin of body mask used up five days worth of my salary. I plan to make it last an entire week!

Leaf marched to the door and yanked it open, only to promptly receive a shock from the person standing outside. The basin slipped from his hands and began to fall…

My body mask that cost me five days worth of my salary! I jumped out of bed, but I could not possibly make it time to rescue my salary…

Thump!

The person standing outside the door calmly caught my salary in an outstretched hand. His entire being resembled an ominous dark cloud, for not only were his hair, his eyes, and his clothes black, but even the atmosphere surrounding him seemed to be dark and bleak. This person is none other than the one who leaves fear in the hearts of those who behold him, someone from whom even ghosts flee upon catching sight of: the Judgment Knight.

“Knight-Captain Judgment, may I ask if you have any business here?” Leaf Knight asked warily.

I nearly forgot to mention, Judgment Knight is my “best friend who’s not my friend”, something that only the two of us know. On the surface, our relationship is still like that of water and fire.

Moreover, it seems that between the members of the “good, warm-hearted” faction and the “cruel, cold-hearted” faction, ours is the exceptionally good relationship; all the other knights truly view the opposing faction with dislike. Clearly, the church’s indoctrination during our childhood was a huge success.

Judgment’s cold face was expressionless, his aura imposing without him even doing anything. In his uniquely deep voice – which had scared heaven knows how many criminals to death – he said, “I am here to deliver the Pope’s instructions for a mission.”

There’s no way a nice guy like Leaf could possibly win against Judgment Knight’s aura, so he turned to look at me with an uneasy smile. “Sun…”

Suddenly leaping from my bed had caused me to feel a bit giddy, so I slowly, gracefully sat down on my bed and said, “Leaf Knight, since it is a mission from his His Holiness the Pope, Sun must of course listen attentively.”

“But you’re heavily injured; you should rest,” Leaf said worriedly.

“Please do not be troubled, Leaf Knight. Sun has the protection of the God of Light.”

If you freaking force me to open my mouth to talk one more time, I will faint for you to see!

“Then…okay.” Leaf left my room helplessly, shutting the door behind him.

Judgment locked the door considerately, so as to prevent yet another fellow from barging into my room without knocking.

Judgment sat down and put down the basin of body mask. Without wasting time on banalities, he went straight to the main point. “The Pope takes the recent incident very seriously. He wants you to find out the origins of the Death Knight within a week – and do so secretly.”

I knew that damned old skinflint couldn’t possibly be so kind as to give me a week’s leave!

“Sun does not understand; what mission could it be that it cannot be placed before the radiance of the God of Light?” I felt extremely unenthusiastic; missions like this that requires sneaky searching are usually a hornet’s nest.

“I don’t know,” Judgment responded shortly.

“Even if it’s a Death Knight, it shouldn’t require as much attention as His Holiness the Pope places in it, so why does he have to especially send Sun to investigate?”

I was really troubled. Although the damn old man knew how to exploit knights well, and my recovery ability was more than just ordinarily good, this time I did after all bleed an entire street’s worth of blood. If he doesn’t let me recuperate for three days, I think it would be impossible for me to recover to my original state. If matters are really so urgent, why doesn’t he get the other holy knights to investigate?

“The Pope does not wish to see the results of the investigation. After you have found out the truth, telling me will be enough.” As Judgment Knight spoke, his eyes were stern, though that sternness wasn’t aimed at me, but rather at the criminal.

Oh… He wants the Sun Knight to go and investigate the matter sneakily, and then have the Judgment Knight dispose of the criminal surreptitiously? Looks like this matter is not just your ordinary, everyday affair.

If I just say it like this, I believe that everyone probably still won’t quite understand what secret words were being exchanged between Judgment and me, so I’d better explain again in detail.

First, we start with the explanation from the birth of a Death Knight. To give rise to a Death Knight, well, it’s not that I want to complain about it, but it’s an extremely difficult process indeed. One must first prepare two “necessities” to give birth to it, as well as a type of “food” to let the Death Knight infant to become more powerful as it grows.

The first necessity is: A necromancer of a high level.

Although this is not considered to be too hard to find, it’s still not easy. After all, necromancers themselves are not a popular occupation choice. In addition, this occupation faces grave occupational prejudice, thus necromancers can only live in desolate mountains and cemeteries and the like.

The second necessity is: A fresh corpse with an aura of grudge that reaches as high as the sky, and has yet to fulfill its wish.

The difficulty of finding such a corpse is even higher than finding a necromancer.

Perhaps you would say, what’s so difficult about finding a corpse with a grievance?

I have to tell you though, that it can’t be any small complaint or feud, or a small resentment like not having his fill of food before dying. To be able to create a Death Knight, it has to be an injustice as great as the sky as well as an obsession that can revive the dead!

And the only food that will help the Death Knight “infant” become strong is: “Obsession that cannot be accomplished”!

The harder it is for the Death Knight to accomplish, the more hatred he feels. Hatred acts like food, and will let the Death Knight infant grow until it’s smart and strong. When his hatred and obsession reach the heavens, he evolves into a “Death Lord”, and then matters will be very serious indeed.

No matter how powerful a Death Knight is, there is still only one of him. However, a Death Lord has the powers of a highly skilled necromancer. Not only can he summon an undead army, he can even use many different kinds of magic to assist the undead army.

In other words, never should a Death Lord be born, otherwise it would be a frightening catastrophe.

After talking about the birth of a Death Knight, it’s time to talk about how to annihilate a Death Knight. The simplest way is to use force and trash it, and then use fire to burn it away completely, and all problems solved!

The second way is to investigate what was the obsession of the Death Knight and the injustice it has received, and help it to get its revenge. After settling its obsession, it will ascend to heaven by itself.

Although the second method sound more befitting of justice and morality, everyone still has the tendency to directly trash it, for it is much easier.

“Why is His Holiness the Pope so concerned over this Death Knight?”

I was extremely curious, for though that damn old man still has a conscience, after being in a high position of the Pope for so long, I believe that little remains of that conscience. This time, he actually wants me to specially investigate a Death Knight’s injustice, the fact which would even cause the God of Light to shout ‘Unbelievable’!

Judgment glanced at me with a bit of a strange look, and slowly said, “I hear that the only words that the Death Knight spoke were that he would come back to find you…?”

I nodded my head. Yeah, that’s right! He said that he would come back to find me… Damn, I realize now!

Usually the only person that a Death Knight would pester would be the person who is related to his hatred or obsession…

“I have been suspected?” I was stunned, and even forgot to add decorative phrases and to praise the God of Light.

Judgment Knight nodded his head, his face solemn.

With a whole head of cold sweat, I clarified, “I didn’t kill him, I don’t even know him!”

Judgment nodded again and left behind a few words. “Then find out the truth, and prove your innocence. You have to move fast though, for everyone is starting to get suspicious.”

I feel that if I were to die now, there is a 99% chance that I would become a Death Knight. My grievance is as deep as the sea!

First, the Death Knight slashed me for unknown reasons, and my blood spilled through an entire street. Then I thought I gained a week’s worth of holidays, only to realize that this week was for me to go investigate the matter. Moreover, the biggest suspect in this case actually happens to be myself!

I originally wanted to apply my body mask, lie in bed for three full days, then get up for holidays. However, now that I know that I am being treated as a suspect, how could I still dare to stay in bed?

As soon as Judgment left, I stood up shakily. There was only a week’s worth of time, and to investigate the truth was a very hard matter itself. Not to mention that it was the case regarding the Death Knight, and who knows how long that Death Knight had been dead for already!

Therefore, although I felt like I would pass out at any moment, I still crawled up with all my might to investigate the case. If I die because of this, I will definitely become a Death Knight, and then look for that Death Knight for revenge! I threw on my cloak, and took the authentic Divine Sun Sword. Who knows when that Death Knight will come back to find me. Better bring along the Divine Sun Sword to be safe.

Originally, I wanted to go and take a horse to ride on. However, upon thinking again, I remembered that I currently have a serious deficiency of blood in my body. I was already dizzy, and if I were to climb onto a horse and sway around, I might directly fall off from the horse’s back and die.

I guess I can only walk then. Let’s hope that I won’t collapse mid-way.

In order to avoid trouble, I pulled the hood of the cloak lower, not wanting to be recognized by the masses. Then I moved slowly, and sometimes there were people circling around me from the sides to cross by, and rolling their eyes as if to say, “Are you a tortoise crawling?”

The current me who had severe low blood pressure was too lazy to mind anyone, and continued my tortoise style of walking. As I walked, the street became more and more deserted. The surrounding scenery went from a big pile of wealthy and busy shops, to run-down residential houses. The number of passer-bys congesting the street also gradually decreased, and at last there were only a few left in twos and threes. Their expressions were vacant, as though they were people who had no idea where to go.

“Yoooo! What a pretty cloak! Young Master, are you unable to find where your wet nurse is?” Some of the drunkards lying at the side of the road laughed jestingly.

I continued walking past these drunkards. Even my footsteps maintained at the same slow speed. Finally, I walked to a shady corner that even the citizens of this run-down street would not go to, and stopped in front of a broken-down house that looked like no living being stayed there. Then, I slowly raised my head to look at this house.

Thump!

I kicked the main door down with one foot and rushed into the house, shouting in rage, “Corpse! Show yourself! I’m in trouble because of you!”

Inside the house, there were only a few toppled over rotting tables and chairs. There were even really thick cobwebs covering the furniture. If someone were to rush into the house daringly, then they would definitely be tangled in the cobwebs straight away to become a giant silkworm cocoon.

Because of this, not even a stray dog would live in this kind of place.

However, I know that this was just an appearance that necromancers use to avoid people with serious occupational prejudice.

“Corpse! You aren’t coming out, huh?” I slowly extended a hand from underneath the cloak, and then the white and elegant— Damn! It’s a honey-colored hand!

Sob! I have become a honey-colored Sun Knight!

Never mind that, let’s find Corpse first before worrying about it. Even without reciting any incantations, my hands started to glow with the light of holy magic. The light turned from weak to strong, and at last the white and gentle light filled the whole run-down house.

Not that I want to boast about this, but to be able to gather so much holy light without reciting incantations is something that few can do. Even amongst the higher leveled clerics, including the Pope’s cardinals, there are only a handful who can do it.

When my teacher taught me magic, he often said in surprise, “Child, you really are a naturally gifted cleric.”

“Really?” The young me was extremely happy, for at that time I was upset over my tragic swordsmanship.

“Yeah, if you had first entered the Sanctuary of Light, then in the future you would have definitely become one of the very best Popes in the history of the Sanctuary of Light!”

With glittery eyes, I imagined the best Pope’s honor and glory…

“But since you initially entered the Holy Temple, then you can only be a very weak Sun Knight in the future.”

As expected, females are scared of marrying the wrong man, and men are afraid of entering the wrong profession. One moment of choosing the wrong career actually made me go from the strongest to the weakest. I really regret that decision bitterly. Children are foolish, and always think that the knights wielding a sword and wearing armor are cool.

Now I know that being a cleric is truly the better career choice!

As they don’t have to wield a sword, they don’t have to spend money to repair one. They do require money to buy a staff, but judging from my ability to gather holy light, I’d be fine even with a tree branch!

Also, clerics don’t have to wear armor, so they don’t have to buy armor, and also don’t have to spend money on repairing it when the enemy has chopped their armor to pieces. Even though clerics still need to buy clerical robes, nonetheless I repeat, judging from my ability to gather holy light, I’ll be fine even with a white curtain on my body!

The heavens gave me such a good clerical potential, yet I went to become a knight, plus it was even a job that you cannot regret, cannot change professions, and can only continue to be one until you retire or die: the Sun Knight… Even I want to scold myself for being an idiot!

Ah, regret…

“Sun, Sun!” The shrill screams interrupted my remorse.

I turned my head abruptly, and saw that a small, blurry shadow was fleeing in all directions, and screaming my name like its life depended on it. Seeing the situation, I gathered back all of the holy light with a ‘whoosh’ sound.

“Sob! How painful!” The small shadow squatted in the corner and cried continuously.

The whole house had already changed, for my holy light had erased the necromancer’s illusion magic. The scene of the cobweb-filled house disappeared, and was replaced with a tidy small house, but then…

Pink, pink, it was pink everywhere!

How crazy! This place totally doesn’t need to use illusion magic to cover the fact that a necromancer lives here.

Who would believe that this house that has pink walls, pink tables and chairs, a pink bed, and even pink dolls filling the whole house, is actually a necromancer’s residence?

Even the cobweb-filled, run-down house from before looked more like a place where a necromancer would live!

“Sun…” The small shadow shyly tugged on my cloak.

I lowered my head to see — that’s right! I lowered my head, for this fellow’s height reaches only to my waist! — the necromancer. I glared at her with a fierce and serious expression.

The small shadow squatted down and started sobbing softly due to my glare. “Why are you crying? You are a necromancer!” I stared at the small shadow unbelievably, and growled, “Besides, the person who should cry is me. I have not only been slashed at and bled a street’s worth of blood, but also been suspected by everyone that I have done something that is intolerable by heaven, and thus a Death Knight would come to pester me.”

“It might turn out that you actually really did it…” The small shadow said softly.

“WHATT DIIID YOOOOU SAAAY?”

I fumed with rage between gritted teeth, glaring at the small shadow, and slowly picked it up…

In a house where the walls are pink, the floor is pink, and the bed on the side is also pink, a handsome man of honey-colored skin sat on the pink deck chair. Sitting on his knees was a pretty little girl who looked delicate and refined, with bright and beautiful big eyes full with spirit and curly golden hair. She looked almost as cute as a doll.

However, on closer inspection, this girl’s skin is actually pink too, which lets people suddenly realize that there is something strange about her, and goose bumps silently crawl up their back…

“So you are saying, Corpse, that you also don’t know where that dead body came from?” I furrowed my brow.

“You’re so mean! Don’t call me Corpse, I’m called Pink!” The pink girl held a lollipop in her hand, and was even pouting as she complained. After a glare from me, she explained with much grievance, “Pink only did the same as in the past, and went to the execution grounds to buy a corpse. And Sun, last time you said that you wanted a better undead creature, so Pink specially spent a lot of money to buy an intact corpse… Pink also didn’t know that that corpse’s aura of grudge and obsession was so strong that it would actually become a Death Knight.” Pink tilted her head to look at me, and with a cute expression, said, “Moreover, the object of his obsession just happens to be you, Sun!”

“But I don’t know that fellow!” I was practically about to be driven crazy, for I obviously hadn’t seen him before. Why would the object of his obsession be me?

It is unknown whether Pink believed me or not, for she only lowered her head to lick her lollipop.

I furrowed my brows, asking, “You said that you bought the corpse at the execution grounds? Is he a criminal?”

“Shouldn’t be.” Pink lifted her head, and though her face was just as adorable, her eyes showed a hint of maturity… Who knows how old is this hag of a necromancer that likes to act cute.

“Huh?” I touched my nose, and asked skeptically, “I thought only criminals would be sent to the execution grounds?”

Pink laughed at me with disdain. “On the surface, that’s true! However, Pink will tell you that Pink is a person with many years of experience when it comes to buying corpses. A lot of corpses that cannot be openly dealt with, yet are feared to be discovered by other people, can be piled onto the heap of criminals’ dead bodies at the execution grounds by paying just a little bit of money.”

“Is this true? How would you confirm that he’s not a criminal?” I frowned, Should I tell Judgment Knight about this news, and let him investigate?

“Idiot!” Pink rejoiced in the dead’s misfortunes as she said, “The dead at the execution grounds are all hung to death, but I have bought many corpses that are not. Their necks all have strangling marks, but Pink is after all very familiar with corpses, and with one look Pink can tell that those marks are casually made after their death with a rope. Their necks are absolutely not broken at all, so they were not hung. “

“How did that Death Knight die?”

I decided to throw the incident of the execution grounds’ fraud aside first, for right now, it was more important to prove my own innocence.

Pink tilted her head slightly with a cute expression, and carefully considered for a while, before choosing the most accurate answer. “He was tortured to death. His body has too many injuries, so he was tortured for quite a while, and in the end he died of course.”

Tortured to death… My scalp is starting to become numb.

“However, Sun…” Pink suddenly looked at me with much anticipation. “I didn’t know that you had this kind of hobby. Next time we can exchange torturing methods with each other, for you know, I haven’t been able to torture out a Death Knight yet.”

Hearing that, I blew my top and grabbed Pink’s shoulder, shaking her violently. “Exchange?! I told you before, I don’t know him!”

As Pink was shaken around, her two bright, beautiful and spirited eyeballs swayed up and down like crazy. There seemed to be a tendency for them to fall out, so I hurriedly used my two hands to smack her eyeballs back into her eye sockets with a bang. After all, I had no wish to see a scene with her eyeballs falling out.

“Pink got it, Pink also doesn’t know those who were tortured by Pink!” Pink looked at me with a smart-alecky smile.

I cursed silently. This dead fellow… Wait! She really is originally a “dead” fellow anyway. This evil-natured necromancer actually refuses to believe that I didn’t torture that Death Knight.

“Which execution grounds did you buy the corpse from?”

“The one outside the city, in the northwest direction.”

“The one that is the furthest, huh…” Looks like my troubles are still in the midst of becoming bigger.

Resigned to my fate, I stood up from the deck chair, and although what I wanted to do next most was to fall onto the pink bed beside and hug the pink cake bolster to sleep for three days and three nights…

However, reality is always contrary to one’s wishes. What I had to do next was to go to an execution ground that was full of the stench of corpses and interrogate the corrupt execution ground manager to find out where the rotten corpse was from.

Just thinking about it made me feel that my future was bleak…

I pushed away the pink doll-like Corpse on my lap, and then slowly climbed up, and even more sluggishly walked to the door…

“Sun.”

Hearing that call, I turned my head back. Pink was leaning against the door, licking her pink lollipop, and her beautiful eyes winked at me.

“You know, what Pink has said before in the past still counts. If you want to, I’ll accept you as my disciple anytime, and even the Holy Temple and that teacher of yours with the nickname of “The Strongest Sun Knight” can’t make me hand over my disciple.”

I was stunned for a moment, and was a little incomprehensive. Could she mean that she wants to protect me?!

Corpse may be a necromancer whose peculiarity exceeds the limit, but to tell the truth, she sure is loyal.

I pulled a rather weak, faint smile, and waved goodbye to her. The magician girl didn’t say anything, and happily waved her lollipop ferociously to bid farewell to me.

[Sun Knight Volume 1 Chapter 4 End]

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