"What are you, a moron?! They would be charred black in an instant if you do that!"
4 "hit my pocket" From a j.a.panese song for children, called "Fushigi na Poketto".
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After scolding me with eyes fil ed equally with anger, stupefaction, and contempt, Alice s.n.a.t.c.hed the meat buns from my right hand. Aah; the moment I let out that miserable cry, the thermal element in my left hand, too, vanished as though it dissolved into the air. The knight didn"t look at me any longer and brandished open her lithe left hand as she voiced out a melodious sacred art.
"Generate thermal element... aqueous element... aerial element. "
On three of her fingertips, from her thumb to her middle finger, appeared points of light, orange, blue, and green in color.
I tilted my head in bewilderment over Alice"s intentions before she continued processing the three elements in a complex manner with additional sacred arts and her fingers" movement.
She first made a spherical swirl with the aerial element and made the two meat buns hover in there. Next, she threw the thermal and aqueous elements in too and the moment she touched them, she burst them.
Shuu! That sound rang out as the wind barrier immediately became blotted out in pure white. Though it appeared calm on the outside, scalding steam must be swirling within that barrier.
I see, so this would cause the same effect as when using a steamer.
After around thirty seconds, the three elements finished their part and vanished as they scattered. The two meat buns falling onto Alice"s hands from midair had swel ed in a perfectly round 138.
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shape as though they were just made, with warm steam rising from them.
"L-Lemme have one already... wait, a-aaaah!?"
Upon spotting Alice trying to down both of the meat buns held in her two hands as I reached my hand out, I let out a pathetic cry. But fortunately, the great integrity knight stopped right before it reached her mouth and muttered "I"m joking"
with a rigid face before presenting one to me. s.n.a.t.c.hing it while feeling relieved, I blew on it before taking a big bite into it.
Every existence in the Underworld was like a dream, relived from one"s extensive memories-my mind understood that, but the texture of steaming bun"s tender skin and juicy meat fil ing still momentarily invited me into paradise. The precious food ended up in my stomach-or to be accurate, a part in my fluct light"s memories in merely three bites, and I let out a deep sigh while tasting both a sense of satisfaction and a sense of dissatisfaction at the same time.
By my side, Alice, too, downed her meat bun in four bites and a doleful sigh escaped from her just like me. While feeling a profound emotion over how this amazing integrity knight who was like an avatar of battles had a somewhat girlish side to her too, I nonchalantly spoke.
"I see... I didn"t think it would be possible to steam a meat bun with just elements and no other tools. I guess that"s just as 139.
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expected of the big sister of that Selka and her skill at cooking, don"t you..."
It happened in the moment I said that aloud.
The hand reached out at a ferocious speed once more and strongly gripped my nape. However, this time, Alice"s face expressed neither bewilderment nor contempt.
An intense light surfaced in her blue eyes like fireworks, her cheeks tinted pale-white, and her lips trembled slightly.
Practically lifting me up with her right hand alone, the knight let out a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"You, what did you just say?"
Here, I final y realized what a horrible slip of the tongue I had made, far too late.
There was nearly no mistake that the golden integrity knight glaring at me from twenty centimeters away was Alice Schuberg, Eugeo"s childhood friend and the elder sister of that sister apprentice from Rulid, Selka, but the person herself had no recollection of that. The moment she was taken away to Central Centoria eight years ago and made into an integrity knight through the "Synthesis Ritual", she would have had an important fragment of her memories stolen away and a "piety module" inserted in its place, becoming unable to recall anything from before the ceremony.
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The current Alice believed herself to be summoned from the Celestial World to maintain the peace and order of the world, and to battle the invasion of darkness-no, she was made to believe so. To the girl, the authority of the Axiom Church and its highest minister, Administrator, was absolute, and there was probably no chance she would accept some story about Administrator kidnapping humans of high caliber from all over the world solely for the sake of satisfying her own desire to dominate.
In the first place, it was due to the expectation that Alice wouldn"t be swayed no matter how hard we tried, that Eugeo and I decided on the plan of using the daggers bestowed upon us by Cardinal to send Alice into a temporary frozen state. The current situation was in no way expected, but stil , there was probably only one thing for me to do-avoid the battle against Alice while re-uniting with Eugeo, and creating an opportunity to use the dagger he held.
Agitated over how I had destroyed that entire plan with a single line, I desperately racked my brain. It was clear upon seeing Alice"s expression that this wasn"t a situation I could play off by saying that I messed up on my words.
No matter how I thought, there were no more than two choices. Whether to fight with Alice here and now, and make her faint without landing a fatal blow, then carrying her up to 141.
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the ninety-fifth floor-or to gather my resolve and tel her everything.
The choice I would pick would depend on what Alice could believe. A fight if I believed her skil with the sword to be inferior to mine. Or a conversation if I believed her intelligence to exceed mine.
Upon thinking hard for several seconds, I decided. Taking Alice"s gaze, burning like a blue flame, head-on, I opened my mouth.
"You have a little sister, that"s what I said. I"ll tell you... I don"t know if you will accept any of it, but I"ll tell you everything of what I believe to be the truth."
Perhaps sensing a certain something behind my brief words, Alice was the one who hesitated this time, before abruptly opening up her right hand after several seconds had pa.s.sed.
The knight continued kneeling on both knees as she fixed her stare down on me who fell onto the terrace on my backside. I suppose this act of listening to my words in such a situation alone would already be straying from the proper conduct of an integrity knight. Her reason, recommending that she end my life with a single slash, must be going through a bitter battle against her desire to gain new knowledge within herself.
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Perhaps having steeled her mind, Alice eventually lowered her waist slowly and spoke after a.s.suming what resembled a formal sitting posture.
"...Talk. But take note... if I judge your words to be any sort of deception, I will cut you there and then."
Hearing that low and stifled voice coming from Alice, I took in a deep breath and gathered strength in my core before curtly nodding.
"...Go ahead. If that judgement to cut me was truly made by your own self, that is. If you want to ask for the reason why I phrased it so... it would be because you have a instruction within yourself, pa.s.sed down by someone else, yet hidden from your consciousness."
"...Are you talking about the duty of the integrity knights?"
"That"s it."
The moment I nodded, Alice"s eyes narrowed with hostility.
However, at the same time, I spotted a faint wavering of emotion in the depths of those eyes. That was definitely Alice"s true spirit. With the intent of directing my words towards there, I continued.
"The integrity knights are existences summoned by the G.o.ddesses" messenger, the highest minister of the Axiom Church, Administrator, from the Celestial World to preserve order and justice... that"s what all of you identify as, I believe.
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However, the only ones who believe so are those within the Central Cathedral. The thousands of people living in the Human World don"t think that the slightest bit."
"What... drivel are you spouting?"
"You can just go ahead and ask anyone at all, go down into the world and ask those living in the capital this. Ask them what"s bestowed upon the champions of the Four Empires Unity Tournament held annual y. They will answer with this. The honor of being appointed as an integrity knight of the church."
"Appointed as... an integrity knight...? That couldn"t possibly be true, that is simply ridiculous. I have been acquainted with a great many integrity knights, but not a single one had claimed to be once human."
"It"s the other way round. There wasn"t a single one who hadn"t been once human."
I straightened my back and peered into the knight"s eyes. I desperately cried out towards Alice"s human spirit that definitely laid in their depths.
"Alice. I believe you have no memories of who gave birth to you in that Celestial World place or where you grew up. Your first memory is probably the scene of Administrator looking towards you and telling you that you"re a sacred knight sent from there or something like that, isn"t it?"
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It seemed I had hit the bul s-eye as Alice raised her upper body slightly while biting her lips.
"...That"s... because integrity knights have their memories of the Celestial World sealed away by the G.o.ddess, Stacia, upon descending to this land and... can one day return to the sacred land once more after we carry out our duties as knights and obliterate all of those wicked beings of the Dark Territory...
regaining our memories regarding our parents and siblings...
that"s what the highest minister... had said......"
The golden knight"s resolute voice trailed off and vanished.
I understood in that instant. Integrity Knight Alice strongly sought memories of her family from the depths of her heart, even if she wasn"t self-conscious of it. That explained her sharp reaction towards Selka"s name earlier.
Picking my words with care, I continued the explanation.
"Administrator"s words were true on one count. The knights"
memories real y are sealed away. But the one who did it wasn"t G.o.ddess Stacia, but the highest minister herself. And it wasn"t the memories of the Celestial World that were sealed, but the memories of being born and raised among this world of humans.
The same goes for the other integrity knights too, like Eldrie for example. He was born in a high cla.s.s aristocratic family in Norlangarth North Empire, achieved victory in the Unity 145.