Chapter 15: Temperance

Whoosh!

Luin’s sword sliced through the air.

“You see… Hero, you still lack the strength to cut me down. That vanishing smoke over there is just a distraction—my real goal is to retrieve our messenger. There’s no need for us to waste strength on something unnecessary, don’t you think?”

“Shut up!”

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

He swung his sword with full force again and again, but Luin’s blade failed to even graze the masked black mage.

Luin’s mind, once consumed by rage, gradually began to regain reason, and with that, he was able to think more clearly.

‘This bastard… Is he stronger than me?’

The way he dodged the sword without a hint of effort.

Even standing before the Hero—the natural enemy of black mages, he looked relaxed, completely unbothered.

Luin had thought him just a loudmouth, but as the masked black mage continued to evade every attack, Luin’s pride was slowly being chipped away, and instinct sounded the alarm.

In front of that, he shouldn’t be swinging a sword out of pride.

He should let him go.

His reason and instincts united, urging him to release the mage immediately.

But the masked black mage didn’t allow Luin to make that decision so easily.

“If it were Sir Ace, I believe he would’ve made a rational decision and let me go.”

“Shut uuuuup!”

That damn .

Ace this, Ace that.

If it were Sir Ace.

Unlike Sir Ace.

Better than Sir Ace.

With those same words, he kept picking at Luin, and as the rage built up once again, it clouded Luin’s reason.

As the meaningless attacks continued.

“I’ll kill him”

“Hmm. Miss Smoke’s life looks to be in danger, so let’s wrap this up.”

Snap.

The masked black mage snapped his fingers.

With a sharp sound echoing through the alley, thick purple smoke spread around him.

Luin instinctively tried to retreat, but he was just a moment too slow.

“Guh… What is this…?”

The violet smoke quickly infiltrated Luin’s lungs, and the red glow in his eyes slowly turned a deep purple.

Thud.

In the blink of an eye, Luin lost focus and collapsed.

And the masked black mage—no.

“I forgot to introduce myself.”

“I am…”

“The Mocking Deceiver.”

The Mocking Deceiver knelt on one knee in front of him, matching his eye level.

“I expected the Hero to appear…but I didn’t expect him to bring such powerful companions. Because of that, I’ve taken a bit more damage than planned…”

The Mocking Deceiver’s hand reached toward Luin’s head.

“A little tampering should be fine—”

Clang!

“…What a shame.”

Just as his hand was about to touch Luin’s head, a pure white spear flew in and blocked it.

Even in the face of the sudden interruption, the Mocking Deceiver didn’t lose his composure.

Instead, he turned toward the direction behind him and spoke.

“So that’s what this was. The Devouring Parasite, the Burning Flame, the Drowning Suffocation, the Crushing Pressure… and now even the Vanishing Smoke. They were all your doing!”

As if he’d completely lost interest in Luin, he stood up and turned around.

Clink.

Clink.

The sound of metal clashing echoed from deeper within the alley.

The Mocking Deceiver lowered his head slightly in greeting.

And in that moment, a voice of a man who sounded like he was in his middle age
came from the shadows of the alley.

“You must practice temperance.”

A rather abrupt statement.

But the Mocking Deceiver seemed to understand what it meant, and raised his head to shout in reply.

“Laying a hand on the Hero is… an unforgivable act, indeed. Yes, I briefly lost my composure—”

Thud!

A pure white spear pierced straight through the Mocking Deceiver’s abdomen.

Blood flowed down the spear shaft, but the Mocking Deceiver simply wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, as if it were nothing.

“…Didn’t you just say I must practice temperance?”

He asked, sounding half amused.

Then, from within the dark alley, the spear’s owner revealed himself, his presence glowing softly in the dim light.

A holy knight.

With long golden hair and blue eyes, a middle-aged holy knight stepped forward.

His identity was none other than…

The Holy Knight of Temperance among the Seven Senior Knights—Ferrantia Temperance.

With both hands clasped as if in prayer, he addressed the Mocking Deceiver.

“I certainly have the power to take your life. But by ending this with a critical wound instead, is this not what we call temperance?”

“…Ah, I see.”

The Mocking Deceiver nodded as if he accepted that, then grabbed the spear embedded in his abdomen with both hands, and forcefully pulled it out.

“How fortunate that my opponent is you, Sir Ferrantia. You’re famous for your stance on non-lethality.”

The Mocking Deceiver knew very well about Ferrantia, the Holy Knight of Temperance.

Known for restraining himself in all things, he never took a life lightly—even that of a wicked black mage.

The so-called Doctrine of Non-Lethality.

The Mocking Deceiver tossed the spear he had pulled from his abdomen back to Ferrantia.

Ferrantia caught it with ease, pulled out a handkerchief, and began to wipe the blood from the blade.

“Thank you for your temperance. Then, I shall now disappear—together with Miss Vanishing Smoke.”

“Wait.”

As the Mocking Deceiver prepared to leave, tucking Vanishing Smoke under his arm,
Ferrantia called out and stopped him.

The Mocking Deceiver turned his head to look at Ferrantia, only to see him wearing a fierce expression, shouting furiously.

“Temperance! We must practice temperance once more! It’s one thing to lay a hand on the Hero, but the moment you touch the ‘Unusual Star,’ you will be struck down by divine punishment! Do you understand? Temperance, temperance! Temperance!”

Like a man possessed by an evil spirit, Ferrantia howled in a fit of rage.

Seeing this, the Mocking Deceiver quietly nodded without a word.

And just like that, Ferrantia returned to his usual self.

He nodded back with a pleasant, friendly smile.

“Very good. May you live a life of temperance. And to those who do not—may they meet their end.”

“Ha ha, I’ll take that as your farewell. Let’s go, Miss Vanishing Smoke.”

“Th-thank, you…”

“No, no. You served well as our messenger. This much service is the least I can do. There are more than a few places that would grind to a halt without you.”

After a short exchange, the two black mages vanished in the blink of an eye.

And so, Ferrantia was left alone with the unfocused Hero.

“Hero.”

He knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on Luin’s head.

“Even your visions… must be tempered.”

Ssssshh…

A gentle stream of divine power, tinged with blue light, flowed from Ferrantia’s hand into Luin’s mind.

In that moment.

“Huff…!”

Luin awoke in a cold sweat, then looked up at Ferrantia standing before him and asked,

“…Who are you?”

“Ah, you’re awake, Hero. I am Ferrantia Temperance, somehow blessed enough to hold the title of Holy Knight of Temperance, one of the Seven Senior Knights. It seemed you had fallen victim to a mental assault by a wicked black mage, so I took the liberty of intervening.”

“Temperance… Oh, that non-lethal guy?”

“Indeed. I’m glad you recognize me, Hero, though I must also temper my joy. Even excessive emotions can lead to misfortune, after all.”

“…Ha, f*ck. I appreciate the help, but seriously—are all the Holy Knights among the Seven Virtues total lunatics too? Even the archbishops are out of their minds.”

“Lunatics? That’s a misunderstanding. The Holy Knights of the Seven Virtues are each a virtue bestowed upon humanity by the Goddess—”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Aren’t you all about temperance? Then temper your explanations too. I’m not in the mood.”

“Hoho, as expected of the Hero. To even temper explanations… I have learned much from your teachings.”

“…F*ck, I’m seriously gonna lose it.”

Luin felt pure frustration at Ferrantia’s wide-eyed zealotry moment, but since the man had just saved his life, he let out a long sigh and vented his irritation.

“Sigh… Every Holy Knight’s a damn lunatic.”

As he muttered that, Luin found himself thinking of the silver-haired Saintess who had once so earnestly begged him to become a true Hero.

“I think I’ve rested enough. I’ll be joining you.”

“Ace… are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. My body’s been fully recovered for quite some time.”

It had been two days since Ariana and Jeanne d’Ark forced me to rest.

By now, with two of the Seven Virtues’ Holy Knights on the scene, the imperial capital where we were staying should be safe for a while.

But the black mages are still lurking throughout the Empire, slowly eating away at it from the inside.

So I really don’t have time to be sitting around resting.

Even while I’ve been taking it easy, I heard that Princess Bellatrix has been preparing to dispatch a knight order, and I plan to join them.

Ariana kept insisting they would go without me and that I should stay and rest, but this isn’t something I’m willing to back down from.

I’m Ariana’s personal holy knight.

And besides, this knight order’s deployment is bound to be full of incidents and problems.

There’s no way I could just sit this out.

‘Speaking of which, the Hero… He’s not joining us on this mission, but he should still be somewhere in the Empire.’

I wonder if he made it safely.