Chapter 64 : Waiting

“Artorius, do you know what stars are?”

I turned my head at the sudden voice behind me.

There was a young girl. She was beautiful.

Beautiful. That one word was enough to describe her.

No matter how many embellishments one might add, they could never fully express her beauty.

Ah, but perhaps calling her a face sculpted by the gods could suffice.

She truly looked like someone molded by the hands of a deity.

From her pure white hair, mismatched eyes, nose, lips, neck, body, arms, legs, hands, feet—there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t beautiful.

If she were to step out into the world, she would undoubtedly cause a great stir.

Men would hang themselves just to catch a glimpse of her beauty.

Women would either admire her transcendent allure with awe or harbor jealousy.

But such a thing would never happen. It could never happen.

It won’t ever happen.

The reason is simple.

She’s confined.

Between her and me, who she is now calling, stands a massive iron cage.

The cage is so colossal that when I look up, I cannot see its top.

It’s the kind of cage one might use to imprison a monster.

When I look at it, one question always arises. Why is she imprisoned?

Is it because of the chaos her beauty might cause? Or is it out of a desire to possess her beauty?

Or could it be that someone jealous of her beauty locked her away?

The truth is none of the above.

Then why exactly is she confined?

I don’t know.

It’s absurd, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m merely the one ordered to guard this place.

The girl spoke.

“You know, they say the sky outside sparkles like jewels because the gods scatter them there.

Isn’t that amazing? There’s nothing to see if you look up here, though.”

I closed my eyes without responding to her words.

“Can’t you call me something other than ‘Number 27’?”

She had asked me that once.

When I sent her a look that said, What are you even talking about?, she explained.

“They say everything in this world has its own name. I want to have a name too!”

I initially refused…

But her desperate, pleading expression was so pitiful that I gave her a simple one.

“Eve? What does that mean? Night, you say? Wow! Thank you so much! Eve… Eve… Eve! I’ll remember it! From today, my name is Eve!”

She looked so happy. That was a relief.

From then on, the routine between her and me continued.

I guarded her, and she remained imprisoned.

This routine would likely persist.

The higher-ups wanted it this way, so it had to be.

Thus, our peaceful yet monotonous daily life would continue.

Yes, surely this ordinary life would go on…

“I wish I could go outside someday. It’s so dark here.”

“Artorius, if I ever get to leave here, will you guide me? You will? Really?!”

“When will I ever be able to leave…?”

“I want to leave…”

“Artorius, can’t you take me out of here?

…You can’t, huh? I see.”

“Why am I the only one locked up like this?!”

“I want out! Open this! Open it now!”

It continued…

“Artorius… what’s that spear? Why are you pointing it at me?”

“Haha, you’re joking, right? No, right? Not you, right? Answer me, Artorius! You’re not like them, right?”

It continued…

“So, it’s true after all. What I saw was the truth. You too…!”

“I trusted only you! I believed what I saw wasn’t real! But you’re the same as them after all!”

Could it…

“No! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear what you have to say!”

“Move, Artorius! If you don’t move, I’ll…”

“I’ll kill you too.”

“That’s not it!”

Artorius shouted and sat up.

As soon as he rose, he instinctively scanned his surroundings, a habit ingrained in him.

He took in the sight of the walls blocking even a sliver of light and the single iron gate preventing any escape.

Only after confirming everything did Artorius recall where he was.

He also realized the scene he had just witnessed was a dream.

“A dream…”

Artorius muttered with a deep sigh.

“What an unpleasant dream.”

The dream he just had felt too vivid to be dismissed as just a dream.

It was so vivid that when he woke, he was drenched in cold sweat, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.

That made it all the more disturbing. If it had been one of his usual hazy dreams, he could have easily brushed it aside.

But this dream had been so clear, the emotions he felt during it lingered in his chest like nails driven deep.

Artorius took a moment to calm his tense body.

Once his tension subsided, he began assessing the situation.

For now, he was imprisoned. The reason was assaulting a commoner.

Though he could have protested the injustice, he had willingly accepted imprisonment to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Thus, he had led a quiet, uneventful life in the prison until now.

And then, he had that dream.

Artorius got up and approached the iron bars.

It was silent outside.

“Strange.”

Usually, the hallway would be filled with the crude voices of criminals, but now it was eerily quiet.

There was something else strange too.

“Faint, but I sense magic.”

He could feel a faint trace of magic in the surroundings.

Before he closed his eyes, there hadn’t been the slightest hint of magic, making the situation even stranger.

As he moved his body, the odd feeling intensified.

“My body feels stiff.”

His body felt slightly sluggish, and he experienced a mild dizziness in his head.

This was the state of his body as he briefly moved.

Yet he felt oddly familiar with this condition.

He began recalling where he might have experienced such a feeling before.

“It’s like being under interrogation magic.”

Interrogation magic.

He felt as though he were under the spell used by inquisitors to question criminals.

“Something’s off.”

He thought as he gripped the iron bars.

His body, his mind, the situation—all were telling him something was wrong.

The subtle trace of magic he felt throughout his body amplified this thought.

“Should I leave?”

He hesitated.

Right now, he was confined in prison.

Even if his imprisonment felt unfair and unjust, the law was the law, and he believed in abiding by it.

However, if the magic he sensed was real, he would have to break out of the prison immediately.

As a paladin, his duty was to eradicate evil.

If the magic wasn’t a figment of his imagination but real, it would justify his actions.

In that case, even if the city of Bilne later held him accountable for escaping, the church would likely intervene on his behalf.

He had reasons to stay, and he had reasons to leave.

It was a simple choice.

Yet for some reason, he made no decision and only stared at the iron bars he was gripping.

At that moment—

Click-clack, click-clack!

Footsteps echoed in the previously silent hallway.

Judging by the rapid pace, the person making the sound was running.

He shifted his gaze to look beyond the bars.

The footsteps were approaching him.

Soon, the owner of the footsteps appeared before him.

To his surprise, it was someone he knew.

Artorius called out the person’s name.

“Bliss?”

When he called her name, Bliss stopped running and turned to face him.

“There you are, Artorius!”

Bliss approached with a big smile and gripped the iron bars tightly with both hands.

Her face was filled with exhaustion, and her breathing was rough, likely from running so hard to get here.

Artorius, sensing something odd about her, asked why she had come.

“What brings you here?”

“I came to find you!”

Bliss answered without hesitation as soon as Artorius asked.

“Artorius, get out of there right now! Hurry! We don’t even have time to talk like this!”

“Bliss, I’d like to, but…”

Artorius responded with a wry smile, gripping the iron bars.

“This is locked…”

“Ah…”

The sound of the bars rattling as he shook them drew Bliss’s attention, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Seeing her expression, Artorius thought her face seemed to say, Ah, I messed up!

“What should I do? I don’t have the key! Damn it! Should I go back up to get it?”

Bliss stomped her feet in frustration, clearly flustered.

Artorius sighed deeply, then grabbed the iron bars and said,

“No need.”

“What?”

With a deep breath, Artorius began applying strength to his arms, gripping the bars tightly.

—Creeeeak.

With a sound like something being crushed, the bars started to bend outward.

Soon, he widened the gap enough to step out.

“If you could do that, why didn’t you just do it earlier? Never mind, let’s not waste time on that now.”

“So, why are you looking for me?”

Ignoring Bliss’s exasperated expression, Artorius asked calmly.

“The castle is under attack!”

“By whom?”

“I don’t know. As soon as the attack started, I came straight to find you.”

Artorius’s eyes widened at Bliss’s words.

‘Who could possibly attack the castle?’

He recalled everything that had happened during his time in Bilne.

But no matter how much he searched his memory, he couldn’t think of anyone capable of such a thing.

“Either way, that’s not important right now. Let’s get going!”

“You mean me?”

“Who else is here besides you?”

“Do I have a role to play?”

Could the situation up there really be so severe?

‘For them to need a paladin…’

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Artorius’s expression turned serious.

“We need to suppress the enemy! If they’re bold enough to attack the castle, they’re clearly not ordinary people!”

“That’s true. So, where do we go now?”

“We’re supposed to meet at the entrance. Let’s go quickly. You’re not planning to sit this one out, are you? Can’t you feel it, too? The magic—”

Artorius immediately understood what she was referring to. Among clergy, such a statement was only made in one situation—when magic was detected.

‘So it wasn’t just my imagination.’

Artorius nodded.

“Then follow me. It’s time for you to fulfill your role as a paladin.”

With those words, Bliss took the lead and began running.

Artorius followed close behind, their footsteps echoing through the prison hallway.

“When will Lady Ruina arrive?”

“She should be here soon…”

Bliss trailed off, glancing toward the castle interior.

The two of them, now at the castle entrance, had left the underground prison and hurried to their destination.

Though they encountered some minor obstacles along the way, their advanced combat training allowed them to handle the situations skillfully.

Thus, they quickly reached the castle entrance.

Outside, it was nighttime rather than daytime, but Bliss attributed this to how long she’d spent underground, while Artorius dismissed it as a result of his dulled sense of time.

The night only reinforced Bliss’s urgency, pushing her to move even faster.

However, when they arrived at the entrance, they found no sign of Ruina—only an empty gateway.

Initially, they assumed she might not have come out yet and decided to wait.

But no matter how long they waited, Ruina didn’t appear.

“What could have happened to Lady Ruina…?”

Bliss’s voice was tinged with anxiety.

She was worried.

Based on Ruina’s past displays of skill, Bliss thought the time they’d waited should have been more than enough for her to join them.

The fact that she hadn’t appeared meant one of two things:

Either she had arrived before them, grown tired of waiting, and left on her own…

Or something had happened inside the castle that prevented her from leaving.

Bliss believed the first scenario was more likely—it made sense given the time difference between day and night.

But the possibility of the second scenario weighed on her, preventing her from leaving.

If the first scenario was true, there was no issue.

But if it were the second, it would spell disaster.

It would mean something had happened that even Ruina’s abilities couldn’t handle.

“Let’s split up here.”

Artorius broke the silence, his gaze fixed on the castle exterior.

“Why?”

“I just felt an immense surge of magic outside.

Something about it doesn’t feel right. I’m going to check it out immediately. Will you come with me?”

Bliss hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

“I’ll search the castle again. If Lady Ruina left ahead of us, it’s fine, but if not, it could be serious. And you’re a paladin; you’ll be fine without me.”

“Fair enough. I respect your decision. I’ll go on ahead.”

“Wait! Do you have a weapon?”

At Bliss’s question, Artorius paused.

He held out his palm and chanted,

“[Return].”

The moment he spoke, particles of light appeared around his hand, coalescing into a long spear.

As he gripped it and struck the ground once, the light surrounding the spear peeled away like a shell, revealing its true form.

“The weapon of the divine. I’m always envious of that.”

“So, are you saying you want to be a paladin now?”

“No way. I’d never willingly take on such a troublesome title. Now go.”

Bliss shook her head vigorously.

“Very well. See you later, then.”

With a casual farewell, Artorius sprinted into the night.

Bliss watched him disappear into the distance before turning back toward the castle interior.

“Alright, let’s head back inside.”

Clutching the morning star she had brought from her room, she prayed.

That Ruina had left before them.

That nothing had happened to her.

That her own uneasy feeling was wrong.

Bliss whispered a heartfelt plea to herself.

“Lady Ruina, please wait for me.”

She stepped into the castle once more.