Praise – 1

“You worked hard. It must have been tough.”

Having heard the whole story, Aurora crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair.

The chair had been replaced with a slightly softer material than before. If the previous one had focused more on style than practicality, this one felt like it focused much more on practicality and comfort than style.

According to rumors, after she and I had sex, she had trouble even sitting in a chair for several days straight, so they changed it to a softer material.

At the time, I did intentionally go harder to make sure she couldn’t follow me, but anyway, I thought I should restrain myself a bit next time.

‘That is, if she has the intention to do so too.’

Aurora, with her legs crossed, glanced at me repeatedly, and a smile appeared on her face. It was the kind of smile she made when a good idea came to mind.

A good idea from her perspective, not mine.

“By the way, aren’t you going to tell me what you did in the Holy Nation?”

“What did you just hear?”

I looked at Aurora with a bewildered expression. What I had just told her was exactly what I had done in the Holy Nation. And she was asking such a question after hearing it all from beginning to end.

Of course, I had hidden quite a lot. Because I couldn’t tell her everything that had happened in the Holy Nation truthfully.

The fact that I had sex with the Popes for two days straight, the fact that I had heard God’s voice, and the fact that I had given them holy relics as gifts.

Every single one of them was content that would cause all sorts of ripples if it spread outside. Especially if it reached Kaikilia’s ears, it was obvious that all hell would break loose.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Aurora, and I knew she could keep a secret, but I still didn’t want to reveal it to outsiders.

It was nothing else but that I felt I couldn’t handle the aftermath. I was busy enough dealing with bosses; I absolutely couldn’t stand trouble arising from other places.

“You said you went to see Their Holinesses, the Popes. Didn’t you do with them what you did with me?”

Aurora, with a leering smile on her face, made a circle with the thumb and index finger of her left hand, and repeatedly inserted and withdrew the index finger of her right hand into it.

At that grand blasphemy, my expression became even more bewildered.

“Are you committing blasphemy now? Even if divine punishment falls, I won’t be responsible.”

“Delta, you’ll stop it, so it’s fine. Surely you’re not going to abandon me after doing something like that, are you?”

“To you, Youngju-nim, who exactly am I that I would even stop divine punishment?”

“Hmm… I wonder. A man who hides a lot?”

Aurora’s face was full of mischief. Seeing that the sight of her groaning about how her back hurt so much she couldn’t move an inch had completely vanished, it seemed her body had fully recovered.

And since it was true that I had sex with the Popes when I went to the Holy Nation, I didn’t really have anything to refute. Rather, if I denied it here, wouldn’t lightning strike me?

“Did you call me just to make such a vulgar joke, and you haven’t slept yet?”

I glanced at the clock. The time indicated 2 AM.

To activate the Easter egg for Luna, I naturally had to wait until the moon rose at night, and specifically until 12 AM, when the full moon would hang exactly vertically over the spire of the Great Cathedral of the Moon.

Therefore, it was inevitable that I would return here very late at night.

However, the fact that it was now past late night and closer to dawn was largely due to the grand struggle I had with the Popes afterward.

‘How am I supposed to accept that when it’s such a burden?’

Floreta and Luna, who had received the holy relics from me, said they wanted to give me a small token of gratitude and asked me to wait a moment, and then brought 40 two-horse carriages in just 10 minutes.

To them, it might have been a holy relic, but to me, who knew the truth, it was just a flashlight. My conscience pricked me quite a bit to receive such a reward after handing over a weapon with performance no better than trash.

As long as I wasn’t the type of person who could brazenly accept more than what I had given, such a return gift was not a reward but a burden.

So, I tried to take only the equivalent of one carriage, but the Popes physically held onto me and pleaded, begging me to let them express their sincerity, so I broke out in a cold sweat trying to persuade them. That was the cause of the grand struggle.

‘When I returned to the castle with Selene, the kids on night watch were so surprised their legs gave out.’

Well, even what I picked and chose to take after the struggle was still the equivalent of 10 two-horse carriages.

The Knight Commander, who had gone to the Holy Nation saying he had something to attend to briefly, returned pulling 10 carriages emblazoned with the Holy Nation’s emblem, so it was only natural that the castle was completely turned upside down.

Not only the Vice Knight Commander and members who were on night watch, but even the sleeping kids had to be woken up to start organizing.

The sight of 5 reverse bunnies and 50 bunny girls collecting treasures in the early morning was quite a spectacle to behold. Of course, that’s sarcasm.

‘I wonder if it’ll be over by tonight.’

I heard from the kids on night watch that Aurora had told them to come find her anytime, so I took just one suitable gem and left for the mansion.

I had dumped a pile of work on them and slipped away alone, but since that was a good thing from the Knight Order’s perspective, the gazes of the Vice Knight Commanders and members looking at me were very subtle.

“Would I really have done that? The report said two days at most would be enough, but you didn’t return even on the third day. I just called you because I wondered what you were doing that made you a day late.”

“Well, there were my own circumstances.”

“Of course there were circumstances. If you had just been late, that would be one thing, but you came back having received all sorts of things like that.”

Aurora glanced at the gem placed on her desk. Upon seeing it, Aurora’s eyes widened, asking what kind of gem it suddenly was, then she made a dumbfounded expression after hearing the answer.

As if remembering what happened then, a faint sigh escaped her lips.

“……For now, I’m done saying what I needed to say. It’s late, so you can go back now.”

“I understand.”

Aurora stared at me with eyes that seemed to have something more to say, then she lowered her gaze and reached for the gem on the desk. Confirming that, I turned and left Aurora’s room.

It was a relief that it ended without any particular incident. I had been worried about what to do if Aurora tried to seduce me, just like the Popes had.

“Weren’t you with Youngju-nim inside?”

After I went out into the hallway and closed the door, a woman’s voice came from right beside me.

I flinched and looked in the direction of the voice. Standing there, as always, was the black-haired, black-eyed head maid, Lana, with her hands demurely clasped in front of her lower abdomen.

“……That’s right.”

As I calmed my startled heart and replied, Lana tilted her head.

“Why did you come out already?”

What is this, déjà vu?

That morning, after returning from the Holy Nation, after hearing the quantity and list of treasures from Rakshia and the other Vice Knight Commanders, I was in Nix’s room.

According to Rakshia, they would have to seriously consider expanding the warehouse. I could roughly tell the amount was enormous just by looking, but I never imagined it would be that much.

Even with just 10 carriages, which was drastically reduced compared to the original intended amount, it was this much, so I wondered if the entire castle wouldn’t have truly overflowed with treasures if I had received all 40, which was four times that amount.

At this opportunity, I decided to completely renovate the castle, and after asking them to compile a complete list of facilities that needed repair, improvement, or expansion, I told Nix what had happened in the Holy Nation.

That Nix’s own restriction was directly imposed by God.

“……Hehe, is that so?”

Nix, who had heard my explanation, was silent for a while, then she giggled aimlessly as usual.

“So, have you ever been involved with someone from the Holy Nation? Or have you ever heard God’s voice like me?”

“I, I don’t think I’ve ever done that… It’s not in my memory.”

‘It’s not in my memory,’ she said. It was a very ambiguous statement. At first glance, it sounded like it might be in the memory of the informal Nix, but Nix’s personalities share memories.

“You said you share memories, right? Then the informal Nix wouldn’t know either, would she?”

“Yes. What I know, that Nix also knows, and what I don’t know, that Nix also doesn’t know. Ah, but there are differences in very detailed parts.”

“There are differences? In what aspects?”

“Things like using magic, I’m a little better at those.”

Now that I think about it, I remembered the time the informal Nix said that wasn’t her area and switched personalities with the formal Nix. Was it because the formal Nix was better at magic?

“Do you know why such differences occur?”

“Hehe, even that, I don’t really know…”

Nix fidgeted her fingers in front of her chest, gauging my reaction. I stroked her head to show it was okay. Her expression immediately softened into a silly smile.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll ask the informal one later.”

Nod nod, her head vigorously shook up and down.

I continued to stroke Nix’s head, cursing inwardly at the Holy Nation’s God who had disappeared without even giving a proper answer, and who clearly resembled a green-haired cat beastman from somewhere.

“Captain-nim, are you there? I heard you were in that black mage’s room and came to find you.”

Someone knocked on the door. It was Rakshia.

“I’m here. What’s up?”

“Captain-nim, a letter has arrived for you.”

“A letter?”

As soon as I heard that, I felt a slight chill. Hadn’t a letter never just ended as a letter so far? It seemed like every time, something exploded or I had to go somewhere.

“Yes. May I deliver it?”

“Okay. Come in.”

Rakshia, having received permission, opened the door and entered the room.

Then, seeing me stroking a head and Nix purring as her head was stroked, she paused for a moment, then handed over the letter in her hand and immediately left.

I quickly checked the sender. Unless it was a letter directly sent by Kaikilia, or a time-attack mandatory quest or story, I planned to ignore it for a few days.

‘……Rije?’

However, the sender of the letter was Rije. Since I couldn’t ignore a letter sent by Rije, I carefully untied the knot.