Dark Forest (1)

A forest with little to no light.

Instead of soil, the ground was a sticky swamp.

As if being tangled with dirt, it gave off a stench strong enough to make the head ache.

Deep within the swampy forest, where the grass was as sharp as blades, something huge was beating.

An apricot-coloured thing with disgusting blood vessels extending all over in an oval shape.

“It has grown so much.”

A man was standing in front of it.

His eyes were filled with blood.

It seemed like he was tired.
However, just looking at the giant beating egg made a smile form on his lips.

“I told you not to open your mouth! It is going to rot.”

Standing next to the man, a beautiful woman was covering her nose.

She took a step back, brushing her blue hair down to the waist.

At her words, the man smiled bitterly.

The woman couldn’t understand why she was here.

Of all people, why her?

‘I want to go home and take a bath in warm water.’

If she stayed in this place any longer, her body would be polluted.

“Hold on, baby! It isn’t long before you get out of this stuffy place! The day you wake up, the time will come when we will do the mission!”

“I think it will be better if you talk a bit slowly?”

“You are really noisy.
You only need to guard this.”

The man walked away with a mad smile.

The woman trembled when she saw it.

If it wasn’t for the superior’s orders, she would have killed the man on the spot.

No.

She would have slit his throat the moment they met.

‘Why does he want me to help with this dirty thing?’

The rotten egg.

The woman who knew what was inside was horrified.

She wondered if it was right to let something like this hatch.

She was confused.

‘There must be some meaning.’

The woman decided not to think any further.

The more she thought about it, the more she was feeling stressed.

And stress is an enemy of the skin.

‘When I return, I need to take care of my skin!’

She swore, rubbing her forehead.

When Jamie returned to the room, Venna was nowhere to be seen.

“Sarah must have taken her.”

“By the way, I don’t need to pay attention to Beiryl? What does that mean?”

Without even being given a proper reason.

Jamie was just curious about the relationship between him and his mother.

“Some bad relationship?”

If it was worth telling, Sable would have said it.

Would Sears give him an honest answer?

“Hmm…”

The two people didn’t seem to have a good relationship.

But if Jamie was to ask, she would surely answer him.

Because Jamie knew how much she loved him.

Burdening love.

She didn’t give him much love in the Marquis’s mansion, but if she wanted, she could come anytime.

Jamie stopped thinking about that and remembered Sable’s joking words.

“Where is the Mirinae forest? Do you know, Black?”

Kik?

Black jumped out from the shoulder and shook its round face.

“I thought so, how could you know?”

Jamie rubbed Black’s fur.

Black seemed like a cat sometimes.

And being touched by its Master felt nice.

It wasn’t summoned for a while, so it felt refreshing.

“Arrived!”

“The Archbishop of Pyro Church has arrived!”

A loud announcement from outside.

Black fluttered as Jamie got up and then sat on his head.

As they both looked out, they saw a group approaching the mansion.

Using the Sight of Hawk to have a better look, it was the people who had left the church.

‘Finally here.’

Knock!

“Young Master.
You need to be prepared.”

A maid spoke from behind the door.

Jamie allowed her to come in.

“It has been long, Archbishop.”

“I am glad to see the Marquis in good shape.”

“When was the last time we met?”

“I think it was at the end of last year.”

Marquis Bell and Sephira, Archbishop of Pyro church, were greeting each other.

Drex and Sable greeted them.

Jamie walked into the hall holding Sears’ hand.

“Huhu! And this is!”

Archbishop Sephira looked at Sears with wide eyes.
And then approached her with a happy face.

“Aren’t you Lady Sears?’

“It has been so long, Archbishop!”

Sears lightly embraced Sephira.

Sephira looked at her with a happy face.

“You have changed a lot.”

“Huhu.
I did get old.”

“No.
You look more mature than before.”

Sears smiled like a child at the praise.

To her, Sephira was a gift like existence in her childhood.

Sephira smiled and looked at the kids behind her.

“And these children?”

“My son and daughter.
The eldest is 7 years old, and the youngest is 3.”

“Huh.
The spoiled girl of the family is a mother of two?”

“S-spoiled girl?”

Sears exclaimed in a shocked voice and then hurriedly turned to Jamie and Sarah to give an explanation.

“Archbishop is saying this as a joke, don’t believe it, okay?”

Even if it wasn’t mentioned, Jamie knew clearly how Sears was like.

Yet, he didn’t say much and just smiled awkwardly.

Sarah didn’t know the word ‘spoiled’, so she just tilted her head.

-I guess Master's mother was a tomboy when she was a child?

‘Don’t you get that feeling right now?’

Jamie responded to Venna.

Jamie walked over to Sears and then greeted Sephira.

“I am Jamie Welton.
It is an honour to meet the Archbishop of the Pyro church.”

“Nice to meet you, little one.
And this child.”

“Sarah Welton…”

Sarah replied shyly by staying hidden behind her mother.

Sephira laughed, looking at the cute appearance.

“Haha.
It is like seeing Lady Sears as a child.”

“Archbishop, you really…”

Sears blushed and turned her head.

“Haha.
After all, I am also meeting my daughter after 7 years.”

“Right.
Marquis.
The years go by too fast.”

“I should have come for you both.
I am sorry.”

“Didn’t we see you now? This is fine.”

“I was thinking of coming to the church.
Is it fine to bring the kids?”

“Yes.
It is fine.
Please come soon.
Those people are also waiting for you.”

Jamie had met Ricky a while back, but he pretended not to know.

“Let’s walk down the memory lane sometime later.
I have something to talk about with the Archbishop.”

“Ah, yes.
Sure.”

“Thank you.
Let’s go now.”

“I will see you in a bit.”

Sephira followed Marquis to his office.

Sears looked at their backs and mumbled.

“Something must be happening.
don’t you think so too?”

She asked her smart son to confirm.

Jamie couldn’t say that [Daemon] had shown up, so he responded like something was up.

“Why aren’t they telling me?”

She shook her head.

Looking at her daughter and son, Sears asked.

“It has been so long, want to have tea together?”

Sears looked bright, probably because she met the Archbishop after a long time.

Jamie smiled and said.

“Yes!”

He was curious about the relationship between Sears and Beiryl.

‘I need to ask naturally.’

What happened between those two?

Jamie took his mother’s hand and walked towards the garden.

Still, he listened to the voices in his head.

-Another person was beaten yesterday.

-I swear on the name of the Goddess that I will never forgive them.
We need to subdue that wicked group.

-I agree.
Didn’t we meet today for that purpose?

It was the voices of Marquis Bell and Sephira.

The moment they turned their backs, a part of Black was attached to them, like a wiretapping device.

They wouldn’t be aware of Black’s existence.

Jamie smiled.

“Something making you happy?”

Sears asked her son.

It seemed like he smiled.

It wasn’t common for Jamie to smile without reason.

So Jamie responded.

“It is because I am having tea time with my mother after a long time!”

“Oh my! Mother is touched!”

Sears hugged Jamie tightly.

And Jamie wept.

-Master, your face looks weird.

‘Shut up.’

Jamie hoped that Sears would let go of him quickly.

The Marquis put his teacup down and asked.

“Did you get anything from the main church?”

“We received a letter last night.”

Sephira put down his teacup and answered.

He stroked the white beard and then told the message.

“They said they would send two Holy Executioners.”

“Huh.
The pope must be in a difficult situation.”

“Since we have Sir Lars, we will have three of them in Apton.”

The Main church was the headquarters, and they were also aware of this [Daemon] incident.

Before the situation got worse in Apton, they sent two Holy Executioners to solve the problem and return.

“Who did the pope send?”

“We weren’t sent that information.
Maybe it is someone who was protecting them?”

“I guess so.
Everyone must be busy.”

The Holy Executioner is a paladin, and they were the strongest power of the Pyro Church.

“I just want to thank you for taking care of Apton.”

“Don’t say that.
Everyone thinks of Apton as the second sanctuary of Pyro.”

“Thank you for thinking so.”

“Anyway, we have two Holy Executioners coming, but we can’t wait till then.”

“Obviously.
Even at this moment, my troops are searching for the bases of those people.”

“I heard that you almost grabbed them.”

“My aide had a hard time and found them, but they slipped right out of hand.”

“If it is the aide, you mean the assistant, right?”

“Right.”

[Daemon], the one in charge of handling it, was Sable.

“He is a talented person.
The last time I saw him, I thought he was unique too.”

“Well, true.”

“How did you find him?”

“Long story.
I’ll tell you when we aren’t bound by time.”

“I look forward to it.”

Sephira smiled as he sipped his tea.

And then asked as if he remembered something.

“How is Sir Onyx doing these days?”

At the mention of Beiryl, Marquis’s expression turned still.

Sephira, who noticed it, asked.

“What is it?”

“No, nothing.
Just that.”

He remembered the conversation he had with Beiryl last night.

[I think I will be away for a while.]

[Because of Sears? Or…]

[The latter.]

[This poor boy.
What will your father in heaven think if he sees you now?]

At the Marquis’ words, Beiryl kept apologizing again and again.

He disappeared the next morning.

“…”

When the Marquis didn’t answer, Sephira just laughed.

After a moment's silence, the Marquis smiled.

“I'm sorry.
I don’t know the reason too.”

“It is fine.
Emotions are a tricky thing.”

“Those words are so true.
Anyway, our priority now is to annihilate [Daemon].”

“I know.”

“Let’s show them what happened 50 years ago.”

“The Goddess will look forward to it too.
But what do we do if they go running into the Ariazad Great Forest?”

Ariazad Great Forest.

Apton was one of the cities that guarded the borders of the kingdom, and was adjacent to the Blonney Kingdom.

Since the two were allies, there was no need for any checks.

No, even if they didn’t have a healthy relationship, it was unlikely for the two kingdoms to put checks on each other.

It was because of the huge forest which was between the two, the Ariazad.

Ferocious monsters lived in that great forest, and it was one of the six banned places in the world.

The monsters in there never came out, but they never showed mercy to those who went in.

So the two kingdoms needed not to be wary of each other.
If they wanted to go to war, they would have to cross the great forest.

The problem was that criminals often used that forest to hide.
However, as entering it meant death, people never pursued them.

“If they go into the Great Forest, we won't have to worry about it.
That would be an execution sentence for them.”

“I was thinking that they might lurk around the Mirinae Forest.”

“In the Mirinae, I doubt they would be able to stand against my men.”

At the confident answer from the Marquis, the Archbishop smiled.

“By the way, how is the Apostle and the Saint? I heard they are my grandson’s friends.”

“Haha.
They are such cute kids.”

The two talked about Ricky and Anna for a bit and then came back to the topic and started to talk about what they had to do in the future.

Jamie stopped listening.

Instead.

“Mother.”

“What, my son?”

“Can I ask something?”

He looked at Sears with the most innocent eyes.

Sears nodded at that.

“Anything.”

“What is your relationship with Sir Onyx?”

“…”

But the question left her speechless.

“Is it something I am not supposed to know?”

When Jamie said that, Sears shook her head.

“No.
it is nothing like that.
Right.
Where should I start?”

She asked while stroking the hair of her daughter, who was playing with Venna.

“I first met him when I was your age.”

Sears began telling the story, looking back on the old memories.