Ch.275Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

Veronica suggested that I take a rest.

It was a kind of recuperation.

“Whether intentional or not, you’ve encountered a demon, so it would be best for you to rest for a while.”

“Rest, you say?”

“I mean you need proper care, not just mindlessly eating and sleeping.”

Her proposal essentially boiled down to this: for my safety, I should recuperate either by staying at the cathedral for a while or by visiting frequently.

I had no reason to refuse.

So without much deliberation, I decided to accept her suggestion.

“Very well.”

“Good decision.”

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

Several hours had passed since the incident in the sewers.

Though I was advised to take rest under the guise of recuperation, unfortunately, I was not in a position to relax comfortably.

Judging from the reports collected by my subordinates, it was highly likely that the Imperial government, including the Military Administration Command, had already grasped the situation to some extent by now.

The Inquisition forces participating in the joint investigation had moved as a group in the middle of the night under the command of a high-ranking clergy member, who happened to be Veronica from the Kiyen Empire. They must have noticed that something unusual had occurred.

No, putting all that aside, even though it was underground, several gunshots had been fired. The Military Administration Command wouldn’t be so incompetent as to remain unaware.

Recuperation is recuperation, but one must distinguish between public and private matters.

So, I tried to ask Veronica, my informant, about the current situation, but…

“Major, why are you concerned about such things right now?”

Her response was quite cold.

“Don’t worry about the aftermath and just rest for now.”

“But surely there are priorities, aren’t there?”

“Ah- you’re really not listening. Stop acting like an old man in a nursing home and just rest, will you?”

“No, but you’re my informant…”

“I don’t care. Just hurry up and move forward.”

Veronica refused to answer, pushing my back firmly. When I didn’t budge despite her strong push, she pressed her body against my back and started pushing with her full weight.

The scene reminded me of Sisyphus, who was punished by the gods to push a boulder up a mountain.

But unlike Sisyphus who was at least strong, Veronica lacked strength. She was gritting her teeth and pushing with all her might, but I couldn’t tell if she was joking or seriously trying to move me.

Despite her face turning bright red from the effort, I didn’t move an inch. Honestly, she should have given up by now, but I feared it would only make the atmosphere awkward.

“Pleu… efeu… grr…”

Finally, I pretended to yield to her strength and began to move as if being pushed.

*

I wanted to hear explanations about what had happened, but Veronica persistently refused to answer.

There was the surface reason that I needed to rest and put work thoughts aside for stability, but I suspected Veronica had some other ulterior motive.

“Saint, you’re not thinking something else, are you?”

Veronica’s expression soured at my cautious question.

“What do you mean by ‘something else’?”

I tried every means possible to extract an answer, but Veronica’s lips remained firmly sealed with no sign of opening.

It was a truly frustrating situation, but unfortunately, there was little I could do at the moment.

It wouldn’t look good for a foreign diplomat to interrogate a saint in the middle of a church filled with clergy and Inquisition forces. Depending on the circumstances, it could even escalate into a diplomatic issue.

Above all, Veronica wasn’t someone who would withhold answers without reason. There must be some story behind her reticence.

So, I had no choice but to trust her and wait.

When the time was right, she would approach me quietly and provide information as she always did. That’s the kind of person Veronica was.

“It’s nothing. I was just asking.”

I sighed as if giving up. Veronica smiled brightly at my roundabout surrender.

“Good thinking. How much better would it have been if you’d been like this from the start?”

“This is driving me crazy…”

“People should rest when it’s time to rest. Don’t worry too much. Once you’ve had a good rest, I’ll explain everything slowly.”

She patted my back and added:

“Now! Let’s go have some fun!”

*

Despite the grand expressions like recuperation and systematic rest, the relaxation turned out to be quite simple.

“Shall we eat first?”

“The food in the North isn’t that great. I don’t mind, but will it suit your taste?”

“Why would we eat tasteless food? Did you hit your head? Of course we’ll eat inside the cathedral.”

Veronica first recommended a meal.

“Eating well and resting well is the best. After the meal, there will be an examination. If there’s any problem, we’ll call a healer afterward, and if there’s no issue, you can just take a good nap.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I don’t have any major injuries. Just some minor scrapes.”

“What’s visible isn’t everything. There might be problems somewhere, so I’m saying you should get checked.”

Better safe than sorry, right?

It sounded a bit nagging, but she wasn’t wrong. As she suggested, I decided to eat first and then rest comfortably.

But there was one problem.

“Um… Saint?”

“Yes, Major. What is it?”

“Don’t you think this is a bit excessive?”

I muttered, watching the monks and nuns entering the dining hall. The monastics of St. Basilius Cathedral were carrying armfuls of fruits, vegetables, meat, bread, and even fish, which was rare in the North.

The monastics began bringing the food into the dining hall.

They rushed down the corridors as if their eyebrows might be blown off by the wind, continuously setting up food on a long table that could easily seat twenty people.

“I can understand procuring food that’s hard to find in the North, but why are you calling out people who are resting? What’s all this about?”

I looked at the struggling monastics with disbelief, but…

“Major, why do you care about those people?”

Veronica stood with her arms crossed, indifferent to the situation.

She spoke to me in a very confident voice, as if wondering what the problem was.

“According to church law, a saint ranks higher than not only the Archbishop General but also the cardinals and bishops of the order. If you think about it, I’m their superior. A very distant one at that.”

“Does being a superior mean you can exploit your subordinates like this?”

“If they’re jealous, they can become saints themselves.”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

“…Veronica. Do you have no conscience?”

The saint, standing with one leg crossed, smirked.

“That’s rich coming from you, Major.”

I bickered with Veronica while watching the busy monastics. The monks and nuns who were suddenly dragged into dining hall duty looked miserable, but no one was brave enough to ignore the saint’s orders.

The cathedral’s monastics had no choice but to complete the meal preparations, albeit reluctantly.

When informed that the meal was ready, I was guided to the table by a monk. Just as I was about to pick up the set utensils and look around at what food was available…

-Screech.

With the sound of a chair being pulled, someone sat down across from me.

It was Veronica.

“Why are you eating with me?”

Veronica, sitting across the dining table, paused from cutting cream cheese with her knife and looked at me as if to say, “What kind of question is that?”

“Should I starve instead?”

“No…”

I glanced at the clock hanging in the corner of the dining hall. 1:57 PM. It was almost 2 PM.

“It’s well past mealtime. Have you not eaten until now?”

“It just turned out that way.”

Veronica said nonchalantly.

She hummed a tune as she took a bite of bread spread with cheese and fig jam. I looked at her enjoying her meal with disbelief.

“Saint.”

“Yes.”

“You weren’t waiting to have a meal with me, were you?”

Veronica’s chewing motion stopped abruptly. She hastily put down the bread she was eating as if discarding it, repeatedly cleared her throat, and gulped down water.

After a while, when she finally calmed down, Veronica, covering not only her mouth but also a significant portion of her face with her hand, coughed lightly and said to me:

“Major.”

“Yes, Saint.”

“Just eat your food.”

“……”

Is this a saint or a gangster?

I sighed softly and began eating.

*

There are many strange things in this world. Sometimes I think about that while sitting in my office watching television.

For example, there are meals with the wealthy and famous. News like “A billionaire paid tens of billions of dollars for dinner with a world-famous star, a renowned scholar, or a great entrepreneur.” Occasionally, when flipping through channels, such news occupies a corner as gossip.

Meetings between the wealthy and the great. What kind of conversations take place when meeting someone admired by people? Such thoughts always followed when watching the news.

From that perspective, I was quite fortunate.

I could dine with a saint who received the respect of believers worldwide and received protocol equivalent to a head of state in the international arena. Not just one, but two saints. And not just once or twice, but multiple times.

Even without saying it openly, there must be many who curse me behind my back.

A saint whom many couldn’t even glimpse from a distance even if they paid a fortune. Yet here I was, dining with a saint without paying a penny. I must have received more curses for this than I would in my entire lifetime.

However,

As always,

Life is a comedy when seen from a distance, but a tragedy when seen up close.

The meal with the saint that everyone yearned for was absolute garbage.

“Veronica. Do you really have to do that while eating?”

Veronica, sitting across from me, slightly parted her lips. A fluffy gray mist flowed out from between her red lips.

“What’s wrong?”

“No. Who smokes during a meal?”

Veronica had tobacco in her hand.

Not a cigarette, but a cigar made by rolling dried tobacco leaves whole, crafted by an artisan.

The cigar, with a soft brown hue like freshly baked bread, was burning evenly while firmly holding its ash.

As she inhaled the smoke, the edge of the cigar glowed red. After taking a deep drag, Veronica slowly exhaled, savoring the aroma and taste.

“Hmm… nice. Would you like to try, Major?”

“……”

Veronica held her wine glass and offered me the cigar.

Even I had never been offered a smoke by a clergy member before.

I looked at Veronica with disbelief, but she brazenly maintained her composure.

She put the cigar down in a dedicated ashtray and casually started sipping her wine. Then she suddenly said something outrageous.

“You don’t smoke, you don’t enjoy drinking, you don’t even glance at gambling, and you don’t have a woman either. What joy do you find in life, Major? The more I see you, the more curious I become…”

“One can live perfectly fine without alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or romance.”

“But there’s no fun. No fun at all. Sometimes you seem more like a clergy member than I do.”

If a clergy member has less patience than a civilian, can they even be called clergy?

I tried to reprimand her, but it had no effect on Veronica. She proudly enjoyed alcohol and tobacco in broad daylight. And in the cathedral’s dining hall, no less.

At this point, even if the divine god struck Veronica’s head with lightning, it would be justified, wouldn’t it?

A saint is said to be the most cherished and beloved child of the divine god, but thinking about it, isn’t this a form of impiety?

“Sigh…”

Fortunately, no other clergy or monastics witnessed this spectacle.

As soon as the meal was prepared, Veronica had driven all personnel out of the dining hall, so no one but me witnessed her disgraceful behavior.

I rubbed my face with my palm and asked Veronica:

“Are you not injured?”

“Are you worried about me?”

“……”

I subtly looked Veronica up and down as she asked playfully.

“Honestly, Saint, I think you’re more likely to die early from disease than from injury. Like lung disease or liver cancer.”

“……”

Veronica, who had been smiling, stiffened her face and became serious. Her middle finger extended as a bonus.

We sat around the table and exchanged various stories.

“How are your siblings these days? Is Francesca doing well?”

“She’s working in a comfortable post without a single injury. She’s even started a business recently.”

“That’s good. I was worried about her since this is her first conflict zone. Is the Hero doing well too?”

“She’s doing fine. Actually, too well, which is the problem.”

Both Francesca and Camilla were self-sufficient, so there weren’t any major issues.

If I had to find a problem, it would be that Camilla’s weight had increased?

Somehow, she was becoming more vibrant day by day.

She should be using the most energy among our group except for me, flying to the front lines and engaging in combat, but Camilla showed no signs of fatigue.

“She must be secretly eating something somewhere. I told her not to do that.”

“Is there a need to restrict her meals like that? Honestly, the Hero looks good to me. She’s pretty.”

“Is that so? I couldn’t really tell.”

Veronica, who was picking at a chicken wing, smiled mischievously and made a joke.

“In my opinion, Major, you should visit an ophthalmologist first. Or maybe a urologist.”

“You’re not calling me impotent, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

It was the right statement.

The right statement to get hit.

Like a tiger, I pounced and gave Veronica a knock on the head.

“Ow, why did you hit me?!”

“Because you deserved it.”

I delivered another knock to Veronica’s head. That was the second one, including the one I gave earlier. When she asked why I hit her again, I replied that it was because she was being impertinent.

After pacifying Veronica’s unruly behavior through such peaceful means, peace returned to the dining hall.

“Ah, this still hurts…”

“That’s why you should be careful with your jokes, Saint.”

“That’s something a narrow-minded person who can’t take a joke would say.”

Veronica grumbled while rubbing her forehead, and I sighed deeply and admonished her.

As always, today’s conversation was unremarkable. Veronica would joke, I would admonish her, and if she played a prank, I would respond appropriately. We continued our trivial chatter like that.

As the prepared food gradually disappeared and the meal was nearly over…

“Ah, right.”

As I was having dessert, I belatedly realized that Lucia wasn’t present.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her at the cathedral today.

“Veronica.”

“What is it?”

“Where is Lucia?”

“Ah, Lucia?”

Veronica gave me a glance as she carefully scooped up her dessert.

Then, as if it were no big deal, she blurted out while eating her dessert:

“She’s under disciplinary action right now.”