Ch.77Chapter 77: A Major Incident

It was sweet.

Such a sweet moment was flowing between us.

The comfort of our lips gently overlapping felt wonderful.

The touch of our hands on each other’s shoulders, supporting our bodies, felt just as nice.

I wished time would stop and this moment would last forever.

But, truly regrettably.

The flow of time was all too relative.

Painful moments drag on slowly no matter how much you pray for them to pass quickly.

Yet my modest wish for this accidentally found happiness to last just a little longer was fulfilled in exactly the opposite way I had hoped.

*SLAM*

The entrance door to the lodging where Shizu and I were staying burst open.

The sound was loud enough to completely transform the quiet atmosphere that had enveloped our private happiness.

With the mood shattered, it was only natural that we couldn’t maintain our current situation.

As soon as we heard the door open, we both understood what was happening and began to move away from each other.

Though our goal was the same, our actions differed slightly.

For me, disappointment outweighed embarrassment, and while I stopped the kiss, I tried not to distance myself from her, wanting to extend our tender moment just a little longer.

But Shizu, feeling more flustered than I was, instinctively created distance between us, thwarting my modest wish.

Thus, faced with the same situation, we reacted differently.

While Shizu widened her eyes and hurriedly moved away from my face at the sound of the door opening,

I slowly opened my eyes, lamenting the loss of the softness she had shared with me as she pulled away.

Even after our faces separated, the contrast in our reactions was stark.

I forcibly suppressed my disappointment, slowly stood up,

And straightened my disheveled clothes, preparing to greet whoever was about to enter.

Unlike me, Shizu could barely compose herself.

“Ah…! Uh…!! Eh…!!!”

She blurted out incoherent sounds, flailing her arms as she tried to gather her dignity.

Watching her, in my heart I thought:

‘Cute.’

I realized my mouth was stretching into a smile as I watched her display such adorable behavior.

This wingless angel who had tenderly cared for me when I fell asleep, unable to fight off drowsiness, not only possessed a face that inspired admiration for its beauty,

But could also show such diverse expressions that made me feel how cute she was with just a hint of fluster.

I wanted nothing more than to embrace her tightly and tell her how cute she was, but,

‘Let’s hold back for now.’

It was clear that doing so would only add fuel to her already flushed face.

So I simply placed my hand gently on her head as she continued to struggle with her embarrassment, and said:

“It’s okay.”

Though brief, my words had quite an effect.

*Tap tap tap*

Despite the rather noisy footsteps now clearly audible in this space,

Shizu’s arm-flailing and flustered movements stopped all at once when my hand touched her, and,

“U…um.”

Finally, a somewhat coherent word escaped her lips.

As the noise she had been making in her panic suddenly subsided,

*Thud thud*

Now only the sound of someone slowly approaching, no longer running, echoed in this quiet space.

‘Good.’

Feeling relieved that we wouldn’t have to awkwardly greet whoever was about to enter the room,

I could finally finish preparing to welcome my sister, the owner of those footsteps.

When the door first burst open, I was too startled by the sudden noise to notice who had entered.

But as time passed and I slowly expanded my spiritual perception, it wasn’t difficult to recognize who was approaching us.

*Thud thud*

The footsteps continued rather cautiously, but in such a quiet place, even these footsteps couldn’t break the silence that made me wonder how long this stillness would last.

*SLAM*

Finally, the entrance door connecting our private space to the outside world opened with a loud noise.

The urgency in the hand that threw open the door was clearly evident, far from any sense of calmness.

And it wasn’t just the hand.

There was no trace of composure in the appearance of my sister, who revealed herself as she flung open the door.

“Huff… Huff…”

Her rough breathing was clear evidence that she had rushed here in a hurry.

She must have run desperately—how else could the breathing of one of the Empire’s finest superhumans, whose respiration wouldn’t normally be disturbed by moderate running, be so ragged?

Just as my curiosity began to outweigh my disappointment at our happy moment being interrupted,

“Huff… Huff… Thank goodness.”

Seeing the relief that spread across my sister’s face as she caught her breath and looked at us both,

I had the intuition that something unpleasant had happened within this fortress.

And it didn’t take long to confirm that my intuition was correct.

#

Night Haven at dawn should be a place full of vitality.

With physically trained superhumans full of vigor greeting the morning,

It’s normally a place where they demonstrate that their energy hasn’t waned by engaging in various bustling activities.

By now, the Night Haven I remember would typically be filled with the powerful footsteps of Imperial Knights jogging in full armor and

The energetic voices of Imperial citizens residing within the grounds—that would be normal for this time of day.

However, right now, the same silence that Shizu and I had experienced when we were alone here pervaded the entire Night Haven.

It wasn’t just my imagination.

Sensing something unusual in my sister’s expression as she showed relief at finding us both safely in the room,

I closed my eyes to assess the situation, extending my spiritual perception beyond our quarters to observe the surrounding environment.

There was almost no sign of people moving outside.

Only the minimal personnel necessary for fortress defense registered in my perception.

Strange.

This place should be brimming with vitality, if only to demonstrate the fortress’s robustness to the demonic beings that always target it.

What could be the purpose of this seemingly intentional silence?

As my suspicions deepened and my thoughts grew complicated,

“Ahem.”

A gentle throat-clearing sound near my ear awakened my mind from being buried in suspicion.

Slowly opening my closed eyes and turning toward the source of the sound,

“As I mentioned before you fell asleep,”

The expression on my sister’s face, which had briefly shown relief at seeing us both, now displayed complete solemnity.

It was an expression intended to accurately convey the serious situation that had occurred within the fortress.

As I waited calmly for the words to fall from my sister’s lips,

“Last night, there was an unexplained casualty within the fortress.”

My sister’s voice, though composed, couldn’t hide her dejection, and,

“…A casualty?”

Upon hearing this, the word “casualty” reflexively escaped my lips.

I couldn’t readily comprehend the mention of a casualty coming from my sister’s mouth.

“I don’t quite understand.”

So I opened my mouth to request a more detailed explanation from her.

It wasn’t an idle question.

I needed to hear whatever she had to say in order to properly process the situation in my mind.

As I waited for her words, I briefly fell into thought.

Trying to recall what had happened yesterday.

Our group had just arrived at Night Haven to participate in the Subjugation Festival, and before the welcoming ceremony could even begin,

Demonic beings from beyond the massive mountain range, exuding malice as if they were breathing, threatened us with an undead army so vast that “large-scale” would be an understatement.

Even comparing it to my experiences before my regression, I was momentarily intimidated by the unprecedented scale of the army.

But then a hero with a greatsword sliced through the sky, and I truly marveled at the feat as the undead army scattered like scraps of paper.

I had felt relieved that the situation ended without anyone dying or getting injured, and had spent time creating good memories with Shizu as we explored the fortress interior.

So how could a casualty that only reached my sister’s ears late in the evening have occurred in such a fortress?

“Was this casualty so urgent that it required staying up all night?”

No matter how much I thought about it, I reached the same conclusion, so I could only express this doubt.

“There were no deaths, but three people were… severely injured.”

Seeing that my sister’s expression was deliberately maintaining composure, I held back what I was about to say and simply waited for her next words.

And when they finally came, I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Yesterday, just before midnight, three veteran knights of the Imperial Knights were attacked by an unidentified assailant within the fortress as they were heading back to their quarters.”

…Can Imperial Knights even be “attacked”?

The Imperial Knights, who can turn surprise attacks from the Shadow Corps’ elite agents—sent by the demonic realm for assassinations—into direct confrontations, thanks to their transcendent skills.

I couldn’t believe that the two facts—being “ambushed” and suffering “severe injuries”—could exist together.

So as I listened to my sister’s words, all I could do was narrow my eyes.

Seeing the emotion revealed in my expression, my sister continued:

“The three were attacked in the same location by a single entity and were brutally defeated.”

My sister’s mouth slowly opened to explain the outline of the incident.

Her voice relayed the case summary based on the testimony of one veteran knight who was the strongest among the injured and thus in the best condition.

With each word that fell from my sister’s lips, I couldn’t openly express it, but

I have no doubt that had I been alone when I learned this fact through some document, my face would have turned pale.

The description of the suspected perpetrator who effortlessly inflicted severe injuries on three veteran knights naturally evoked memories of the most terrifying being lodged in a corner of my memory.