39 – The Legend of Sun Knight Vol 1 Chapter 1.3

39—Legend of Sun Knight Volume 1

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 1: In Training, Part 3—Sun Knight – translated by lucathia

Donation money had just come in the previous day. Judge was currently hard pressed for time. The ”donation money” turned in by the branch churches was not just cash: the majority was food, products from various regions, precious stones and jewelry, and weapons and equipment. They had to sort them as quickly as possible, prioritizing dealing with all the perishables, and then taking some to sell, while storing some as provisions. Since the prices of each region differed, they had to refund money or ask for a surcharge in case of any price discrepancies after the sale…

This year especially, the villages had had great harvests, so the items sent over by several branch churches were all food supplies and products. If they didn’t quickly finish processing these things, handing them over to cooperating merchants, they would rot, and that would be terrible.

This job was not actually difficult, just very time-consuming. In the previous generation, this was the responsibility of the Stone Knight and the Leaf Knight. In this generation, Elaro had given the responsibility to Judge and Valkyrs, the Earth and Metal Knights-in-training.

Valkyrs led several platoon members in delivering the checked off goods to the marketplace, while Judge stayed behind to continue making an inventory. Although the other person had only taken ten people, leaving more than thirty people behind, they were still scrambling all over the place.

“Captain, piiiiiiig!!”

“…”

Judge was a little speechless, but he had already heard the pigs’ cries, so he didn’t seriously think that his platoon member was cursing him. He reflexively cast the s.h.i.+eld of Earth, but then he thought that it wasn’t quite right, so he hurriedly dispelled the s.h.i.+eld and dodged to avoid collision. A drove of pigs brushed by his calves, rampaging through the open s.p.a.ces of the Holy Temple. Several sorry-looking holy knights chased after them.

He breathed a sigh of relief, glad he had dispelled the s.h.i.+eld in time. If those pigs had collided straight into it, breaking their necks, it would have been terrible. The prices between a live pig and a dead pig were very different. He would probably have had to take care of the discrepancy himself.

“Cows, sheep, and pigs have all arrived! It wouldn’t be strange if we get a fish tank next!” A holy knight said in frustration, “The items sent by the branch churches have been getting more and more outrageous, especially the livestock. Sending over horses would have been easier to deal with.”

Judge shook his head and said, “W-we are knights. The branch churches lack horses the most. It’s im-impossible that they would send us horses.”

“Captain is right.”

The person who had spoken was a member of Judge’s platoon. Actually, most of the current knights-in-training were only fifteen, and normally they did not need to choose their platoon members so early. Usually, they would choose them around the age of seventeen or eighteen. However, the circ.u.mstances of their generation were quite unique. Most of them had started their training between the ages of seven and nine. Now that almost eight years had already pa.s.sed, most of the current Twelve Holy Knights were slowly handing their jobs over to the next generation.

Judge did not belong to the “slowly handing over” side. His teacher had long since finished handing over all the responsibilities to him. The Earth Knight really didn’t like working much, but this was not his fault. After all, on one hand the current Twelve Holy Knights were already at the age to retire by normal standards. On the other hand, they were also the ones who had chosen such young children to succeed them.

In response, the Sun Knight often had a smile on his face while he looked at Elaro in front of everyone, regretfully saying, “In the blink of an eye, the child is already over twenty and can a.s.sume full responsibility, under the G.o.d of Light’s care. Yet the affairs of the world like to hinder us to no avail, for his teacher finds that, although he already has many years to his name, his hands still hold the Divine Sun Sword, unable to pa.s.s on the benevolence of the G.o.d of Light…”

At first, few could understand what the Sun Knight wanted to convey, but after hearing it more than a hundred times, it wasn’t possible not to come to some sort of understanding—the Sun Knight wanted to retire. Elaro was already of the age to take over, but unfortunately, the children chosen by the other Twelve Holy Knights were all too young. When Elaro had been twenty, the others had only been thirteen and fourteen, so of course they could not succeed their teachers back then.

The situation dragged on, and now Elaro was already twenty-three, yet no one knew when he would officially take over. After all, some of them were only fifteen and couldn’t possibly become one of the Twelve Holy Knights yet.

Regarding this matter, Judge didn’t care either way. In any case, he had already started doing the duties of the Earth Knight since a long time ago. There was no difference whether he officially took over the position or not. At most, he would just receive the Earth Knight’s weapon and room.

Judge saw around thirty people approaching from a distance. Elaro was likely the one who had sent these people over. The day before, Judge had asked him to send help. He had originally thought that since everyone was super busy right now, Elaro would at most send just one group of people, but this number meant it was likely that two groups had come. Judge was very happy… Wait, these two people were—Valica and Shuis.

His face immediately fell.

The two of them walked up to Judge. At the same time, the holy knights on each side—it didn’t matter if they had originally been there or if they were the ones who had followed the two over—all fell silent.

Valica smiled and said, “Judge, Big Bro Elaro told me to come help you.”

The moment Judge heard that, he knew that nothing good could happen. Told “me” to come help you? Then, where does that leave Shuis, who is behind him?

“Big Bro Elaro is not your brother!” As expected, Shuis immediately grew angry.

Valica snorted and looked askance at Shuis. “He’s not my brother, but does that mean he’s yours? Big Bro Elaro is an orphan just like me. He only has a younger sister.”

Shuis stated as if it was indisputable, “It goes without saying that Elaro is my big bro. Ever since before I was selected, I’ve been calling him big bro. You’re the one who b.u.t.ted in halfway and started endlessly calling him ‘Big Bro Elaro, Big Bro Elaro’!”

Elaro and Shuis had known each other longer than Valica had. This was a gap Valica could never fill, and it was also his most vulnerable weakness. So the moment he heard Shuis mention it, he also grew angry. “You have both of your parents and a bunch of brothers and sisters. I’m an orphan with nothing. I finally have a brother, yet you want to steal him away?”

“You’re the one who is stealing my big bro!”

“S-stop fighting…” Judge intervened somewhat weakly. He looked left and right and scratched his head, unable to do anything about the fight. The conflict between Shuis and Valica was one known by all of the Twelve Holy Knights-in-training—except Elaro.

Elaro often inquired after them with great concern, wondering why Shuis and Valica hated each other so much. No one wanted to tell him the truth: “It’s all because of you.”

Even though they didn’t all call him, “Big Bro Elaro,” the truth was, because of their age gap, Elaro was like everyone’s older brother. The eleven of them were all his younger brothers. He guided them, he loved them dearly, and they respected him deeply.

It was just that among younger brothers, there were those who liked to stick to their older brother, and there were those who didn’t like to do so. There were those who grew easily envious, and there were those who didn’t. Among them, the ones who liked to stick to their older brother the most, and who also grew envious the easiest, were Shuis and Valica. It went without saying that the two of them would argue endlessly.

When Judge saw them argue, to the point that one of them grabbed the bow from his back and the other stomped the ground hard with one foot, he couldn’t help but sigh heavily. He resented Elaro a bit for sending these two over to him at the same time. Sending them over separately would have been no problem, as both of them were very competent and could help him a lot, but sending them over together would only result in a row.

He stood between the two of them and said, “I-it’s fine if you argue! But don’t use violence. If you get h-hurt, Elaro will be super angry.”

Once they heard Elaro’s name, both of them hesitated. Valica took the lead and put away his bow, unenthusiastically saying, “Fine. For Big Bro Elaro’s sake—”

“You’re not allowed to call him Big Bro Elaro!”

As he yelled angrily, Shuis gave a kick toward Valica, who twirled the short bow on his back and conveniently used it to block Shuis’s foot. Valica snorted coldly and said, “Even your sneak attack failed. I really don’t know how you pa.s.sed Elaro’s inspection. Did you act like a spoiled child in front of big bro?”

Huge flames ignited in Shuis’s eyes when he heard those words, which were a bit excessive. Even the platoon members behind Shuis frowned, growing somewhat angry.

Seeing this situation, Valica fell silent. Inwardly, he was feeling a little remorseful for speaking so offensively. As a matter of fact, no one knew Shuis’s strength better than he did.

Ever since they were young, in order to please Big Bro Elaro, who had excellent swordsmans.h.i.+p, they had always striven to practice hard. Later on, when they developed animosity toward each other, they were deeply afraid that the other person would receive a crumb of praise more from Elaro, so they practiced even harder. In the present, their strengths could be said to be at the top of the Twelve Holy Knights-in-training. Of course, not including Elaro.

However, for Valica to lower his head and apologize was an impossible task. He could apologize to anyone and everyone, as long as he was in the wrong, but Shuis was the only exception.

Shuis was so angry that he grew calm instead. “Why don’t you come and test out how I pa.s.sed?”

When he heard this, Valica immediately nocked an arrow. He knew how fast Shuis was. Even though he did not have the Wings of G.o.d spell cast on him, the Storm Knight’s speed was just as his t.i.tle hinted at—never to be underestimated. Without advance preparation, Valica was sure he would be at a disadvantage from the start.

With a tap of his foot, Shuis rushed straight toward Valica in a flash, a twist launching into a roundhouse kick. Although the Leaf Knight’s speed was not as quick as the Storm Knight’s, when speaking of agility, he was definitely not in any way inferior. With a quick turn of his foot, he easily dodged the roundhouse kick.

However, the kicking skills of the Storm Knight had always involved consecutive attacks. An upwards kick closely followed the roundhouse kick, and then became a heel kick… The kicks rained down in quick succession, like a raging storm, not allowing his opponent time to catch his breath.

Valica used the smallest steps possible to dodge his opponent’s continuous attacks. If the attacks were not strong, he would directly use his bow to block them, or he parried it. As he dodged, he backed up at the same time. He was not losing or retreating; rather, it was more advantageous for an archer to be at a distance.

However, even in close combat, the Leaf Knight’s skills had always been among the quickest and most agile within the Twelve Holy Knights. Faced with an attack akin to a raging storm, he was still able to find an opportunity to shoot out two arrows. One of the arrows left a streak of blood on Shuis’s right arm, but Valica also suffered the price of a kick to the left cheek for it.

Once the holy knights to each side saw their captains getting hurt, their fighting spirit also rose, and both sides began mutually hooting encouragement. Even their hands found their weapons. They were waiting for the most impulsive person to draw his weapon first. Immediately after that, a huge scuffle would certainly break out.

Seeing the situation, Judge sighed and muttered, “Elaro, I’ve decided to hate you.”

Resigned, he walked forward and told the thirty or so people the two of them had brought, “Don’t interfere. G-go over there and help with the inventory.”

No one moved. The two sides continued to stare fixedly at each other. They were mostly all older than Judge, and they weren’t his platoon members either, so Judge’s orders weren’t very effective. All he could accomplish was prevent them from fighting for the time being, but if he were to turn his head and leave, he was afraid that the two platoons would immediately start a brawl.

Judge couldn’t do much about the situation. He could only stand between the two sides, using himself as a wall to separate them. Then, he stared fixedly at Shuis and Valica, who were in the middle of fighting, ready to cast the s.h.i.+eld of Earth to prevent the two of them from overdoing it in the fight and receiving severe injuries.

Unable to join the fight, the two platoons instead called out, “Go Captain,” to support Valica and Shuis. The current scene had turned into a scene of two extremes—one side was calmly making an inventory of the goods, chasing after pigs, and herding sheep, while the other side was lifting up weapons and shouting, “Go Captain!”

With their platoon members fanning the flames, sure enough, Valica and Shuis fought even more explosively. Several times, Valica’s arrow pointed directly at Shuis’s chest, and Shuis also repeatedly kicked toward Valica’s head. Luckily, both of them were very strong and did not let the other person’s attack succeed, or else the attacks would have most definitely brought about severe injuries.

It was instead Judge who was watching the entire battle in alarm. He nearly tossed out the s.h.i.+eld of Earth more than once, but luckily, he stopped himself in time. Otherwise, if Shuis ended up kicking the s.h.i.+eld of Earth with his full strength, the resulting leg injury would probably be severe. It was the same for Valica. If his arrow had hit the s.h.i.+eld of Earth and resulted in the arrow shattering, the splinters would have flown in all directions.

Judge had already learned his lesson. There was one time when he had cast the s.h.i.+eld of Earth and Shuis ended up with a fractured right leg, while Valica ended up with splinters from the exploded arrow pierced into his body. It alarmed Judge so much that he kept apologizing after the incident even though neither of them blamed him. Once Elaro learned of the matter, he even tossed both injured parties into the confinement chamber, and didn’t bother looking into Judge’s involvement.

However, Judge didn’t ever want to see that kind of scene again, so he no longer dared to casually cast the s.h.i.+eld of Earth to stop them. Still, this also made it so that their chances of receiving heavy injuries increased greatly.

This didn’t work. That didn’t work. The only thing Judge could do was pay even closer attention to their conditions, hoping that he could find a better time to cast the s.h.i.+eld of Earth—perhaps the reason why his s.h.i.+eld of Earth always received full marks during inspections was actually thanks to these two people.

He was concentrating so hard that when a hand suddenly rested upon his right shoulder, Judge jumped in shock. But after he turned his head to look, he meekly retreated and continued taking stock of the goods. He no longer paid any attention to the two people who were fighting.

Valica was the first to notice something was off, because the platoon members shouting by the sides had suddenly fallen silent. He twisted his body, dodging a sweeping kick from Shuis, and in the midst of turning, he glimpsed a streak of brilliant gold, stunning him. Thus, he did not manage to dodge Shuis’s next attack, and his left shoulder received a heavy kick.

Once he landed his kick, Shuis also discovered something was off. He and Valica had fought for many, many years. He knew the other person’s strength very well. This kick of his just now shouldn’t have landed, and once it did, not only did Valica not retaliate, he even frantically looked in a certain direction. Even the arrow nocked on his bow was drooping toward the ground.

Shuis also stopped his attacks, not worried that this might be a scheme for him to lower his guard. Valica wasn’t that type of person. Then, he followed the other person’s line of sight. His face immediately paled.

Elaro stood where Judge had originally been. His expression was neither angry nor strict. It was more expressionless than anything as he looked at them, but that was more than enough.

Valica gulped and put away his bow. Shuis lowered his leg. Both of them approached Elaro apprehensively, and then they stood straight with both hands pressed against their thighs. Their stances were fairly similar; even their heads were lowered to the same degree. If someone did not know them, they might think that these two people were such good friends that even their actions were very similar.

“I…” Elaro breathed in deeply and said, “am very disappointed in the two of you.”

For Shuis and Valica, this one sentence probably has an attack power of 1000%, Judge and the other holy knights thought to themselves, immediately feeling sorry for them.

As expected, once these words were spoken, Valica’s face turned deathly pale, and the rim of Shuis’s eyes even turned red. Seeing this, Elaro gave a light sigh.

“Maybe it’s my fault. The Storm Knight and the Leaf Knight do not have to get along with each other.”

Even though Elaro said it was his fault, Shuis and Valica felt even more ashamed instead. They hurriedly opened their mouths, wanting to apologize, but the moment the word “Big—“ sounded at the same time, they froze. Then, they glared at each other.

Seeing this, Elaro’s heart plummeted even further. He had always wanted them to be able to get along, but the more he tried, the more strained the situation grew. Could it be that since I had forcefully tried to improve their relations.h.i.+p, it created the opposite effect?

The two of them still had their heads lowered, not daring to look at Elaro. They seemed rather apologetic, but even so, they refused to approach the other person. Even though both of them stood in front of Elaro to apologize, the s.p.a.ce between them was wide enough to fit another three people.

“Valica, stay behind to help Judge take stock of the goods. Shuis, take your platoon members and go to the training grounds to find Rhonelin. Together with him, lead the platoon members in practicing the sword. Even though you mainly rely on your kicking skills, swordplay is fundamental. You can’t slack off there either.”

Heads still lowered, the two of them nodded and then left to do their own jobs. En route, they were afraid to even look at Elaro, afraid to see his harsh expression.

It was true that Elaro was frowning. He watched them leave separately and even furtively turn their heads back to peek at him, but they only dared to do so once. The moment they saw Elaro’s expression, they no longer dared to look again. Their expressions were full of shame and fear.

So, my own Twelve Holy Knights are scared of me? Elaro sighed. He didn’t know if this was good or bad, just that he was a little… disappointed.

Elaro sat on a hammock hanging from a banyan tree in the gardens. This was his favorite place to reflect on things. The hammock’s width was comfortable, and purple flowers on vines drooped down from the top of the tree, so it was not easy to see this hammock from outside. It was quite hidden, but he could see the entire garden through the vines.

If anyone wanted to find him, they would come to the gardens and shout for him. Elaro would then appear from the opposite corner—he didn’t want other people to discover this secret hideout.

Actually, this place was originally one of the Cloud Knight’s hideouts. However, after that time when Elaro’s teacher had ordered him to find Knight-Captain Cloud, and Elaro discovered this place, the Cloud Knight had stopped coming here. The place became Elaro’s special hideout for reflecting on things instead.

You already learned Storm’s kicking techniques, and your archery isn’t bad either. I can overlook all of that, even though they say to be careful of biting off more than you can chew. Well, in your case, you’re learning everything well enough, so there’s no harm in learning a bit more. But do you have to learn Cloud’s “You can’t find me” skill too?

It’s fine if you learn his confusing steps, but there’s no need for you to learn the hide-and-seek part too, right? Since my youth, I’ve had to search for Cloud, and now that I am advanced in my years, I have to search for my student too?

Teacher would complain from time to time, but he never truly forbade Elaro from occasionally hiding. Elaro even felt that his teacher already knew of his hiding place, but just hadn’t revealed him.

After thinking of his teacher’s words, Elaro couldn’t help but think of his teacher too. No matter if it were the Sun Knight or the Judgment Knight, they were both people that everyone wholeheartedly believed in. There was absolutely no one who dared to go against them… Except the current Twelve Holy Knights.

The current generation of Twelve Holy Knights all wholeheartedly believed in the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight. When it came to important situations, they had even less hesitation in following commands given by the Sun Knight. However, during normal times, they were able to get along like friends. This was Elaro’s ideal kind of interaction, but…

Today was the teachers’ first day away on their mission, yet he had already gotten into disagreeable situations with Hungri, Shuis, and Valica in succession. Moreover, these situations were actually not all that uncommon. Hungri had always been at odds with his philosophy, and Shuis and Valica had been quarreling for many years already. Even now, he couldn’t figure out a way to solve the conflict between them—

“Brother, you’re really hiding here again!”

Elaro raised his head and looked over. What his eyes immediately caught sight of was a white cleric robe with a golden trim. He had always felt that this outfit suited the other person very well, making her appear just like an angel. As long as he saw her smile, he would feel delighted.

He smiled and said, “Ludia, why are you here?”

Ludia was the only person who knew this place. Elaro and his sister had relied on each other since they were young. He would hate not letting his sister know where he was. He remembered how, when they were younger, she would immediately cry without stopping the moment he was out of her sight. It was hard to even leave her side to find food.

Ludia brushed the purple flower vines to the side and sat next to her brother without asking. Like a little girl, she swayed the hammock and smiled as she asked, “Brother has come here to stare off into s.p.a.ce again. What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about how you have grown up so much without my noticing,” Elaro lamented. He really didn’t know when that little girl, who had always been crying her heart out, had stopped crying, and had now turned into a reliable cleric.

Ludia burst into laughter. “Brother, you’re not that old! You’re like an old man sitting there lamenting over how his children have all grown up, and how he has grown old. If I remember correctly, you’re only twenty-three, right?”

Elaro smiled ruefully. He knew his mindset was too much like an old man’s, but it couldn’t be helped. Since a young age, he had watched a bunch of younger siblings grow up. It could be said that he was like an older brother, and sometimes he was even more like a father, completely bringing to life the saying, ‘An older brother is like a father.’ And add on a teacher whose expectations were rather high…

“Elaro, you’re an adult now, and you are mature and understanding. Your fighting skills are pretty good too. It could be said that you excel in several areas. Teacher is quite pleased and has only one request of his student.”

“Teacher, please tell me!” Elaro earnestly p.r.i.c.ked up his ears to listen. No matter how difficult the request, he would follow it at all costs!

“Teacher’s only request is that as long as I have a request, you must follow them all, do you understand?”

“… Understood.”

He had a strict father with constant requests coming from above, and defiant children demanding his attention from below. This was the a.n.a.lysis Ludia had given him. Elaro could only smile wryly in response.

Ludia asked gently, “What happened? Don’t tell me nothing happened. You’re so busy, Brother. You wouldn’t come here randomly to look at the scenery.”

Elaro hesitated, but when he saw Ludia waiting for his response with an encouraging smile, he eventually spilled everything that had happened today to his little sister—the conflict with Hungri, and how Valica and Shuis had gotten into another fight.

After he finished describing the day’s events, he said helplessly, “Ludia, why are you laughing?”

Ludia covered up her mouth. “Every time I see Brother having a headache over those two kids, I find it very amusing.”

Elaro was even more worried. “It’s not amusing at all. As their comrade, I don’t want them to hate each other.”

“Fighting here and there doesn’t mean their relations.h.i.+p is all that bad!” Ludia hugged one of her brother’s arms and raised a hypothetical scenario. “Brother, if one of their lives were in danger, do you think the other person would lend a hand to save them?”

Elaro was momentarily stumped for words, but then he pa.s.sionately replied, “Of… of course! If either one dared to look on without helping, I would never forgive them!”

“Don’t be so agitated.” Ludia patted her brother’s shoulder. “They’re still kids, after all. Right now is exactly the time when they’re br.i.m.m.i.n.g with youthful vigor. It can’t be helped that they would compare themselves to each other, and you happen to be the person they’re most conscious of. It’s not strange that they would strive for your favor.”

“Speaking of the person they’re most conscious of…” Elaro was helpless as he said, “Shuis is still unwilling to write back home. Recently, he even stopped reading the letters from home.”

Ludia looked at her brother with sympathy. The next generation of the Twelve Holy Knights was truly difficult to manage. She didn’t know if it was because things could only go in the opposite extreme. The current generation of the Twelve Holy Knights mostly had compliant personalities. The only one who wasn’t very compliant was the leader, the Sun Knight. However, the next generation was mostly comprised of rebellious personalities. If there were any with compliant personalities, it could only be the next generation Sun Knight, Elaro himself.

This really is a worrying matter!

Ludia inevitably grew a little worried. She turned her head and saw Elaro’s slight frown. Although he was only twenty-three, his facial features were mature and handsome. Her smidgeon of worry disappeared abruptly, and she hugged Elaro tightly, shouting, “Brother, you’re truly too handsome!”

“Huh?” Confused, Elaro lowered his head to look at his sister, not knowing why she had suddenly blurted that out. However, it wasn’t all that strange, since Ludia often mentioned this to him. He merely rubbed her hair and didn’t ask anything further.

After getting spoiled, Ludia pulled herself together and combed her hair that had been messed up from the rubbing. She returned to being a gentle and reserved cleric and continued to console Elaro. “Don’t worry, Brother. You’ll definitely be fine because you’re the best brother in the world. Even with as many as eleven troublesome little brothers, you’ll definitely be able to whip them into shape!”

“Don’t use words like ‘whip.’ Girls shouldn’t speak so coa.r.s.ely.” Elaro smiled wryly. “Besides, we’re not brothers, but rather comrades. Our relations.h.i.+p should be like that of friends, just like the teachers’.”

Ludia was blunt. “But the gap in your ages has made it difficult for you to be like Teacher Grisia from the start, to be friends with the other Twelve Holy Knights.”

When he heard this, Elaro was silent for a moment, but then he muttered, “This is all my fault. I am the only one whose age doesn’t match any of the others. Is it because my age is different, that I can’t understand their feelings? Is this why everyone is unable to get along?”

Ludia immediately refuted after she heard her brother’s words, “Brother, it’s just the opposite! It’s actually a good thing.”

Elaro looked uncomprehendingly at his sister.

“This generation of the Twelve Holy Knights is full of strong-willed children. No one is willing to follow anyone else, and their abilities are all pretty strong. If it wasn’t because Brother watched them grow up, giving them this image of an older brother they cannot disobey in their hearts, how would you have been able to win over these children who have such great pride and arrogance?”

When he heard “pride and arrogance,” Elaro furrowed his brows and said, “It’s true that they might be a bit prideful, but it’s not to the point of arrogance. Having such strength, it’s not wrong for them to feel a little prideful. Besides, they are still children, so their personalities would be more direct. It’s not a bad thing.”

Ludia covered her smile. She knew her brother loved these ”little brothers” the most. Even his real sibling couldn’t criticize them!

“Did they ask you to come find me? Was it Valica or Shuis?” Elaro was quite sure someone had. Otherwise, it would have been too much of a coincidence that Ludia had come here right after he had arrived. It was also obvious that she had known something had happened.

“Make a guess?”

Elaro only pondered for a moment before he said with certainty, “It was Valica, right? Shuis wouldn’t do something like this. He would only come to me with red eyes and a lowered head, repenting until I forgave him.”

“Right on!” Ludia clapped and said, “As expected of Big Brother! You understand your little brothers so well!”

This time, Elaro no longer denied considering them his younger brothers. But when he saw Ludia’s smile that wasn’t quite a smile, he seemed to remember something and hurriedly said, “Ludia, no matter how many younger brothers I gain, you’ll always be my most precious little sister!”

“What are you talking about?” Ludia pouted and said, “Just because they’re your younger brothers doesn’t mean they’re not mine, right? The moment Valica offended Big Bro, didn’t he immediately come appealing to Big Sis? Besides, isn’t eleven enough? Do you still plan on acquiring more younger brothers? Also…”

She tilted her head, m.u.f.fling her laughter. “Did you forget that you also have a cute ‘Charsia’ as a younger sister? Or is it that you no longer see her as a younger sister? It’s not surprising. Charsia has already claimed that she’ll marry Big Brother Elaro when she grows up. I get it, she’s a fiancée and no longer a younger sister.”

When he heard this, Elaro froze, but then he frowned and said, “What are you talking about? Charsia is only twelve, and aren’t you afraid of what might happen if Teacher were to hear your words?”

“Hehe, that’s why I chose to say it now, when he’s away on a mission!”

Away on a mission, huh… Elaro sighed to himself. Only he knew the truth behind this “mission.” Ludia and the other young holy knights-in-training didn’t know what was actually going on, but they had some suspicions. After all, every half a year, the Twelve Holy Knights would all go on a mission together. No matter if it was the “frequency” or the fact that they “all” went, it was all very suspicious.

He didn’t know if it was because his ability to conceal things was too poor, but Elaro always felt that everyone already knew that he knew the truth behind the “mission.” Hungri would often even say things like, “Knight-Captain Sun trusts you so much, so he must have told you where they’re going for this time’s mission.”

Elaro always replied that he didn’t know, but he always felt that Hungri didn’t believe him much. The others also frequently looked at him with suspicion in their eyes. Shuis was probably the only one who never doubted, but Shuis regarded him with a blind conviction. Shuis didn’t even need to hear Elaro’s words. No matter what, Shuis would always say, without the slightest hesitation: “Big Bro Elaro is right.”

In comparison, Valica was more reasonable. He would avert his gaze, afraid that Elaro would see the doubt in his eyes. But if he were to be asked to say, “Big Bro Elaro is wrong,” he probably wouldn’t be able to do that either.

Why have these two kids grown to show me so much deference? Elaro had never understood why. The other kids had also grown up the same way, but no one else turned out like Shuis and Valica, who revered him so much that they fought for his attention.

“Holy knight Elaro!”

Elaro abruptly returned to his senses, and discovered that his mind had wandered off. He inwardly reprimanded himself, and hurriedly glanced out from between the vines. In the garden, a person wearing a black knight outfit was calling out to him in a hurry.

Is that a knight from the Judgment Knight Platoon? Elaro furrowed his brows as he stood up from the hammock. As usual, he would walk out from a different direction, but before he left, he glanced at Ludia, wondering if she planned on staying, or if she had other plans.

“I’ll go with you.”

Ludia had a bad premonition, especially since the person who had come for Elaro was part of the Judgment Knight Platoon. It was likely that Hungri had created some sort of trouble again. She would go too. If anything major happened, she could help. If nothing major happened, she could persuade Elaro not to get angered to death by Hungri.

The shouts from outside sounded quite urgent, so Elaro didn’t dare waste any time. He hurriedly walked into the garden.

Once the knight saw Elaro, he relaxed. “Thank the G.o.d of Light for limiting His severity.”

When he heard this, Elaro grew even more worried. “What happened?”

After being asked, the Judgment Knight Platoon member showed a troubled expression. Seeing an elder reveal such an expression made Elaro’s heart sink. Just how bad is the trouble this time, for a Judgment Knight Platoon member who is always calm to reveal his uneasiness?

His heart leapt as he remembered the situation from earlier. Anxious, he no longer worried over disrespecting an elder and solemnly asked, “Don’t tell me he beat the criminal from just now to death?”

The holy knight quickly waved his hand in denial. “He hasn’t died yet, but he is being resuscitated as we speak!”

It actually reached the point of needing resuscitation. Elaro hurriedly looked toward Ludia, and his sister nodded at him. No further words were needed; Elaro immediately picked her up in his arms and sprinted toward the Judge’s Complex. As long as Ludia could make it there in time, the healing could immediately be declared successful!

After all, she was the Pope’s talented student.