The weather was still nice. When they left Aedia, it had been winter. It was the last part of spring in Paladia.
Artpe and the holy priestess continued to have a date in the same location as they enjoyed the nice weather. They had done this for six straight days.
“Hero-nim, I made you some apple tarts. Would you like to have a taste?”
“Ah. Yes. I’ll have some. As it happens, I wanted to eat some apple.”
“Ya-ho······! In truth, I thought it might have been better to bake a quiche filled with meat, since you are still growing.”
“No. I eat meat every day, so this is fine.”
Vadinet took out a tart loaded with apple and whipped cream, and she place it on the table. Artpe looked at her with bitter eyes. However, he was met with blue eyes that shone with life. She was filled with great expectation as her eyes remained planted on Artpe.
‘She has no opening.’
During the past six days, he had tried various methods to target her feelings. He tried very hard. However, he had barely made any progress. At the very least, that was his opinion.
This was why he was rethinking his plan at that point. Maybe, the plan was wrong from the start? He was having such thoughts.
“I’ll cut it, so it’ll be easier for you to eat. …….ah.”
Vadinet took out a knife that looked well matched with her, and she enthusiastically cut the tart into pieces. It might be just his imagination, but it looked as if Vadinet suddenly had an idea. Her cheeks became dyed red.
Afterwards, she picked up a fork, and she stabbed at a bite-sized piece of the tart. She raised it towards Artpe’s mouth.
“W...would it be better if I feed this to you?”
“I’ll just eat…. Nevermind. Thank you.”
Artpe was going to refuse her in the beginning, but he hurriedly changed his words when he saw the disappointed expression on her face. If Maetel found out about this, the holy priestess would be killed. However, if that happened, it was fate.
“Is it tasty, hero-nim?”
“Mmm······.”
Artpe closed his eyes tight as he ate what was given to him. The holy maiden was so happy that she didn’t know what to do with herself. This sight made him rethink his response.
“Yes. At the very least, it is the tastiest tart I’ve tasted.”
“Ah, jeez. Hero-nim….”
“In truth, this is the first time I’ve eaten a tart.”
“That’s really bad. I’ll make a lot more tarts for you. From now on, you have to only eat tarts made by me. Hoo-hooht.”
As expected, this plan was flawed from the beginning. From the moment she met him, her fondness towards him had been maxed out. So how was he supposed to seduce her more!
‘I don’t understand her. There is no way I can understand her…….’
Artpe ended the date a little bit early, and he returned to his room. It wasn’t the room he was residing with Maetel. It was the original room assigned to him. It was the room where Silpennon was hiding.
“You are here?”
“Yes. Hello, Aria.”
“Y...yes, sir. I am happy Artpe-nim looks well…...”
She should be used to him by now, but Aria became nervous every time she faced Artpe. Silpennon spoke bluntly when he saw this.
“The way you treat him is different from how you treat me?”
“That’s because Mr Silpennon is Mr Silpennon······?”
Aria turned to look at Silpennon, and she spoke in a comfortable manner as she answered him. Artpe smirked when Silpennon looked slightly hurt by her words. Silpennon wondered if he should tell her that he used to be the crown prince of Diaz. He wonder if that would allow him to regain his dignity in her eyes. However, he gave up on that idea. He thought he would look pathetic if he did that.
“Silpennon, how are you doing on your side?”
“By the sound of your sagging voice, I can tell that you haven’t made much progress. Everything is going smoothly on our side.”
Artpe glared hard at Silpennon, who had went straight for the jugular. However, Silpennon continued to lay out the documents in a leisurely manner as he spoke.
“Your way of doing things won’t bring about any progress. You are merely preventing the holy priestess from doing anything else. Of course, if your plan is to preserve the office of the holy priestess after you bring down the temple, your plan is a success.”
“Why aren’t I making any progress with her?”
“In the mind of the holy priestess, the relationship with you and her is already complete.”
As expected, Silpennon’s comment was right on the money. The holy priestess had considered Artpe to be her mate from the moment she met him. This was why there was no change in her mental attitude. The good will towards Artpe and the hostility towards Maetel were running down parallel lines.
“How is that possible? That is what I’m asking. Even if her delusion is severe, we just met, so how can she…..”
“That is….. It is hard to verbalize.”
In his past life, the holy priestess had loved Silpennon. This was a truth that he had clung to. There wasn’t a hint of doubt in his mind about that. Artpe couldn’t overcome his frustration, so he was mumbling to himself. At that moment, Aria carefully spoke up.
“Maybe, it’s because Artpe-nim is handsome······?”
“······.”
“······.”
Artpe’s eyes narrowed. Silpennon looked at Aria with a similar gaze. Aria became flustered as she tried to explain herself.
“Ah. No! You aren’t simply handsome…. I think you are so handsome that anyone would fall for you on first sight!”
“You are quite bold in your confession.”
Silpennon sounded baffled, and this made Aria become much more flustered as she gave her denial.
“That is…. Of course, I think Artpe-nim is handsome, but it isn’t like that! ….anyways, it isn’t like that!”
“You can speak the truth. That man is a lecher. He likes it more when there is more women.”
“It isn’t like that!”
Aria became angry at Silpennon’s account of the event. Her ears became red to the roots. The sight reminded Artpe of the holy priestess, who he had been seeing for the past couple days. This was why he had unintentionally been in a position to study the anatomy of a woman’s heart. This was why he was uncharacteristically keen in realizing something.
‘She has her eyes set on Silpennon. I guess it was to be expected.’
From Maetel’s perspective, Artpe was her prince. From Aria’s perspective, Silpennon was probably her prince. She had been living a life of a maid, yet a thief had found her as if by fate. On top of that, he was an extremely handsome young man!
She was moving around the temple with a comrade of the hero. She was cooperating with him to find out the corruption within the temple. It really was a storyline from a novel. It would have been strange if she didn’t have any interest in Silpennon!
“Why do all women fall for Artpe? Even our Leseti speaks his name once or twice a day. She speaks his name as if she believes he'll somehow be magically summoned in front of her.”
It seemed Silpennon was clueless. He was the quintessential obtuse main character.
“······it seems you are like me in many ways.”
“What? I don’t know what you are talking about, but you are making fun of me, right?”
“A...anyways! I’ll say it again.”
Aria realized that Artpe had realized the truth, so she quickly ended the conversation by giving an explanation.
“If I’m in the holy priestess’ shoes, I would think of the hero-nim as my destiny….. I was trying to say that I wouldn’t be able to resist falling in love with Artpe-nim on first sight. It is because the holy priestess-nim is in an ideal situation that all women want to be in.”
“Moreover, the only obstacle in her way is Maetel.”
“That’s correct······.”
The inside of Artpe’s head kept getting more complicated. Silpennon spoke as he watched Artpe.
“Anyways, you should probably change how you treat the holy priestess. We are almost finished on our end”
“You guys are almost finished? ······Ah. I see.”
Artpe let out a bitter laughter as he looked at the documents placed on top of the table. One of the document was the inner map of the Zero Class, and most of the map was covered with black check marks. There really wasn’t much ground to cover. They were getting close to the finish line.
“I think our search will end tonight...no, it'll end tomorrow night. Also….”
Silpennon’s eyes were filled with a cold rage.
“Their plan is going to be carried out soon. When you sent Maetel to the forefront, Paladia’s image of a ‘hero’ started to move on from you. It was transferred to Maetel. They want to get rid of Maetel before it is too late.”
“Until now, Artpe-nim did well in keeping the holy priestess in check. However, our enemies will try to send an invitation to her before they carry out their plan. They probably believe that Artpe-nim is deep in love with the holy priestess-nim. I believe they will use her to separate Maetel-nim from Artpe-nim.”
“······that really sounds plausible.”
Artpe silently looked over the files as he listened to Silpennon and Aria. He suddenly raised his head as he mumbled to himself. A high rank priest, who was hiding his demonic energy, had just knocked on the room next door. When Silpennon was notified of this fact, he became anxious. He asked Artpe questions in an argumentative manner.
“What are you going to do? Are you going to stop them right now?”
“I’m not sure…. Let’s listen in on them for a little while before we make the judgement.”
Artpe placed his hand on the wall of the room, and he activated his Listen-in spell. It was a spell that could capture voices through any sound dampening spells or barrier type spells. He was always thankful of Aedia. It was a spell he took from them.
[It seems the relationship between hero-nim and holy priestess-nim have improved a lot.]
[Does it look that way? Hoo-hue. Ooh-hue hue.]
[However, you always meet him in the same location, and that must be stifling…. As it happens, a festival welcoming the heroes is about to open. The pope gave his consent. Both of you will be allowed to go downtown. I came here, because I wanted to notify you of this news.]
[Oh my. What an excellent suggestion….]
As expected, this was how they were going to proceed. From their perspective, it was the most logical step. They would avoid exposing their actions to anyone outside their circle by sending the hero and the holy priestess out for the day. When one took into consideration of the improving relationship between Artpe and the holy priestess, the plan sounded much better.
[I’ll have to thank the pope directly. I want to go thank him in person.]
[The pope wanted to personally cheer you on, but unfortunately, he is busy doing another task.]
[He is cheering for me······ It is as if everyone is trying to help me. I am so very happy.]
[We know how much sleep you lost waiting for the hero-nim. It was a sentiment we also felt alongside you.]
On the surface, it sounded like a conversation between a fool of a priest and a maiden in love. However, Artpe knew their intentions, so the conversation gave him the creeps.
[Then we will prepare the carriage for you tomorrow.]
[Yes. I want to thank you again.]
The holy priestess saw the priest out with a bright voice. When the priest left the room, she was left alone in the room. She sat down, and for a moment, she let out a laugh.
[That is such a thinly disguised plan. They want to get rid of Maetel by putting Artpe-nim and me out of the way….. It seems they are finally going to show their teeth in earnest. He stank of demonic energy. He couldn’t even smell his own rotten smell. Before long, the reputation of the temple will crash to the ground.]
Artpe wasn’t too surprised when he heard her words. In his past life, Vadinet had been a little bit older, but she had known all about the corruption within the temple. It wasn’t surprising to find out the current Vadinet also knew about the corruption.
However, the words that came out of her mouth afterwards truly surprised him.
[This can’t happen. If I don’t go to Artpe-nim right now…. He’s probably with that bitch right now.]
After saying those words, the holy priestess shot out of her seat. Artpe couldn’t comprehend what had just occurred, so he just blinked his eyes. Silpennon and Aria had been watching him, and they wondered what had happened. They looked at Artpe with expectant gazes.
“The internal force within the temple is dead set on killing Maetel.”
“And? What about the holy priestess?”
“······it sounded as if she is trying to prevent that from happening?”
He had spoken those words in a dazed manner. Silpennon and Aria had on a similar expression as Artpe.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Did she realize that you were listening in? What if she knew you were using the Listen-in spell? Maybe, she purposefully spoke those words, so she won’t buy any ill will from Artpe-nim!”
“No way. I’m able to manifest my spells without anyone in the Zero Class finding out about it”
“So what the hell happened then? If we take into account the hostility towards Maetel-nim by the holy priestess-nim, she should be cooperating with their plan in earnest! She shouldn’t be trying to stop it!”
“That is why I’m also lost as to what is going on!”
The three of them couldn’t accept the reality, so they kept prattling on with each other. However, they had forgotten one important fact. Vadinet was heading towards Artpe to tell him the truth. Of course, Vadinet would meet Maetel, who was guarding the Artpe-less room!
Artpe desperately got up from his seat.
“You guys continue your search. I’ll have to listen in on what Vadinet has to say to Maetel.”
Yes, he would listen in on the conversation between the two. This would allow him to decipher what Vadinet was thinking. He was sure of this.
He’ll know if she was simply a psychotic bitch, or if she had other plans. He would be able to find out if Vadinet wanted to turn into a Demon again in this life, or if she wanted to stand by Artpe’s side as the holy priestess!
“······we are heading out!”
“Ah. Ah-ooh-ooh. I’m scared. I’m scared to find out what will come of this.”
“······let’s just continue our investigation. We have to end it quickly.”
In his past life, he hadn’t shown this level of resolve even when he fought against the hero. Artpe looked resolute as he slipped out of the room after placing a camouflage spell on himself. Silpennon and Aria were resolved to just focus on their own work.
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