“Little bro! Get up quickly!”
In the middle of the summer, Armida made a fuss early in the morning. Barely holding out my head out of the blanket, I frowned as I saw her roaming the hallway. She usually got out of her bed very late but today she’s roughhousing.
“Hey sis, what’s going on?”
She huffed and puffed in front of my room with the door open.
“Today is Saint Euroa Day!”
“So what?”
“What the hell? Don’t you know there’s the largest festival in Kara on Saint Euroa Day?”
“So what?”
“Today is the date when my friend Euroa came to Kara for the first time.”
During the birth of human civilization, Euroa was one of the Seven Great Saintesses who helped Saint Prosia and spread the religions in this world.
“Really? Why is Euroa your friend?”
“Didn’t you know that Saint Euroa was the Water Valkyrie?”
I pretended not knowing it but I actually got wind of it. The legends of the Seven Great Saintesses and Valkyries seemed to be significantly related.
But I tried to ignore those relations because there’s one fact which I didn’t want to admit. It’s about the identity of Armida, the Dark Valkyrie.
Our Carl’s family defended the religion of Darkness until we’re invaded by the Yosrahim Empire. And the ‘Great Saintess Armida’ who possessed sacred and noble nature was the one who spread the religion of Darkness in this world. Yes. One of the Seven Great Saintesses had the same name as Armida, the Dark Valkyrie who’s standing in front of my eyes right now.
“Oh really?”
“Yes!”
“Then are you Saint Armida? Not a homonymy?”
“Of course, I am Saint Armida. You didn’t know that?”
It’s big news. If I told this fact to Helen or the aristocrats who’re living in Carl’s territory and eager to achieve independence, they would treat me as an insane man. Currently, they were pretending to be believers of the religion of Light yet believed the religion of Darkness in secret. And the Saint whom they deeply revered was, Armida.
“Well, I actually got wind of it but…”
“Then why did you ask? Anyways, get ready quickly. There’s a lot of theatre festivals as well as a huge festival at the Saint Euroa Temple. I will go and watch those festivals for sure.”
“Sure. Have fun. I bet there’s plenty of food as well.”
Then I snuggled down under my blanket again. If I showed a little interest, my schedule today would become very tiresome.
“Hey, little bro!”
“What’s up?”
“Are you serious? I already bought theatre tickets for both morning and night hours.”
“Refund my tickets.”
Once I tucked my blanket, she snuggled into it and dragged me out by force.
“Hey! Get up quickly!”
“No. I feel tired.”
We scuffled on my bed for a while and suddenly her face was right in front of my face by accident. There’s an awkward silence a little bit. I stared at her scarlet lips and blinked my eyes. Then I kissed on her lips by surprise.
It was a very light kiss but Armida pushed her body backward hysterically and screamed in astonishment.
“Little bro! What the hell was that?!”
I was at my wit’s end and stood up. Her reaction was so loud that even Shura came to my room in surprise.
“What’s going on, ma’am?”
Even though Shura tried to calm her down, Armida kept yelling.
“Hey, you bastard! That was my first kiss! Undo it, you jerk!”
I made a hollow smile.
“That was not a kiss. Just a peck.”
“A peck?”
“Yeah, just a peck. If that was a kiss, no one would be innocent except newborn babies. Parents give a peck to their babies all the time.”
“So it was not a kiss then?”
“Yeah. A real kiss is much thicker. What happened a moment ago was like a greeting such as good morning and good night. Seriously, you are so naive.”
She seemed to be relieved a little bit but still tilted her head to the side.
“Little bro, still our lips were touched so wasn’t it a kiss?”
“No way~ Hey sis, if that’s a kiss, all the families in the world will be unethical.”
“Family? Unethical?”
“Yes, we’re like a family. I am a husband and Shura is a wife.”
As I held Shura’s waist in my arm closely, Armida pointed at herself.
“Then what about me?”
“A stupid, old and unmarried sister who lives in her little brother’s newlywed home. It’s such a typical family.”
“Hey!”
Armida’s scream echoed through my room. It seemed like a quite dangerous situation given her sharper fingernails. I hurried to the hanger and took out my outfit.
“What are you doing? You said you wanna go out.”
Still being angry, she plopped down on the ground.
“I am not going!”
“Come on. Let’s go out. I’ll buy you a lot of delicious food.”
She glanced at me.
“What kind of delicious food?”
“Anything you want.”
“Okay then. I want to eat a streak. A lot.”
“Okay. So, we’re good now?”
She grudgingly stood up.
“Well, I should show my generosity since you’re sincerely asking. Let’s go.”
Once she left, I sighed shortly. I couldn’t tell she’s my old sister or childish daughter. Yet, she’s pretty so it’s fine. Somehow, I forgave almost every mistake made by pretty women.
* * *
The streets were full of a festive atmosphere. Lotus blossoms revered as the Flower of Water were lined along many strings on the streets. All over the plaza, troubadours and clowns held their own little events to attract local residents and little children.
“Little bro, come here quickly. The play will start soon.”
Armida started walking ahead and urged me to come quickly. I was astonished and stared at her. I was holding a medium size oak barrel full of dates juice and Shura was holding huge hot dogs in a bag.
These were Armida’s snacks during the theatre. I just couldn’t understand how it’s possible for Armida with a slim body to eat all these foods. Maybe Valkyrie’s strength came from food.
“Please welcome~ The play ‘The Showdown of the Immoral Grand Prince and Heros’ will start soon. Please come and watch.”
Standing in front of Kara’s Central Culture Center, I read the title of the play and kept blinking my eyes. I followed Armida since she insisted so much but actually, it seemed I should not watch this play.
I entered the building earlier than Armida and asked Shura in a small voice.
“Hey, don’t you think she knows my identity?”
“I don’t think so. She’s not so quick-witted and meticulous.”
“Well, maybe you’re right.”
“Yes, I don’t think you should be worried.”
“Then let’s go inside. It seems she doesn’t know anything so I guess it’ll be fine.”
“Yes.”
Our seats were VIP lounges on the third floor. They’re veranda seats for five people in one room.
Soon after we took our seats, the magic lanterns illuminating the stage and other areas faded away one by one. Then I heard a signal indicating the beginning of the play.
[Hahaha! I will destroy the whole world!]
I scratched the bridge of my nose at the shout of the evil-looking actor who was playing me. All of a sudden, I became the villain trying to destroy the whole world. Even if they wrote the scripts this way to make the play more fun, I felt so unfair because it was simply not true at all
A little after, ‘The Holy Land of Divinum Incident’ scene began. In the play, I stopped one carriage and met a very handsome man who’s supposed to be my rival during our years in the Imperial Aristocrat School. His name was Hubeo Boris Ferrero, a young aristocrat from the promising Duke’s family.
I was being chased after by those from the Yosrahim Empire and Hubeo generously let me get on his carriage. Then we entered the Great Temple of Divinum together. But there’s a weird thing. A blonde elf with light blue skin was Hubeo’s companion. She was Shura.
‘La-di-da~’
Soon, the incident happening in the waiting room followed. I attacked Hubeo in surprise to steal the Seven Sacred Weapons in the Hall of Divinity and a bloody massacre started. By my surprise attack, Hubeo was seriously injured and about to lose his consciousness but as soon as he obtained his family’s treasure which was Alohim, the Great Wand of the God of Storm, he was fully recovered.
Eventually, Hubeo with the great magical power and I had a final battle. But he retreated because of my magic attack which was as strong as that of Beelzebub.
The Holy Land of Divinum was on fire due to my magic attack. The sacred temples and historical relics were being destroyed as well. Meanwhile, I laughed like an insane person and brutally slaughtered people.
Shura glanced at me with slight wariness.
“Master, did you really do those things?”
“Hell no!”
In an impatient mood, I kept reading Armida’s countenance and started writing what really happened on a note. I made a few holes in the tower and broke one stained glass. The rest of them were destroyed by the damn Valkyrie, Katrianne.
Moreover, I never killed anyone at the Great Temple of Divinum. I only sliced off an arm of one Holy Knight who was trying to attack me.
“Oh, I see.”
After I finished explaining to Shura, I clenched my fists. I would certainly retaliate against Hubeo. Based on the play’s plot, the scripts must be written by Hubeo or he exerted a huge influence.
Otherwise, it’s impossible to write the scripts this way. It’s totally untrue. At that time, Hubeo was so frightened and never stepped outside the office at the entrance of the Hall of Divinity.
[Hahaha! The world will be destroyed completely! The divinity will be profaned!]
With my devilish shout, the play was at its peak. Hubeo started praying and asking for help from God because my devilish power was so strong.
Shortly after, his prayer made Shura, Ignes, and Katrianne conscious of their strengths of the Great Saintesses. Then he combined all the magics of sacred weapons together and made his final lethal attack which was called ‘Hubeo Saint Trio EX’. His attack struck me and my body was on fire. Then I said “I will be back” before I became ashes and disappeared.
As the grand finale fell, Armida in anger suddenly threw a hot dog in her hand onto the stage.
“You sons of bit****! It’s totally fake! Where’s the scene when Katrianne ate shit!”
Because of her, the auditorium became very noisy and I looked at her gently with narrow eyes. It seemed that she came to watch this play, which didn’t suit her taste, to see Katrianne eating shit.
* * *
After a rowdy play, I left Shura and Armida for a little bit and headed to a different place. In fact, Armida asked me to come with her since she’s going to a hair salon to get a new haircut. So, I told her that I would go to the Saint Euroa Temple first and reserve our seats.
A man should not go to a hair salon with a woman. If he did, he might have to spend the whole day there.
‘Instead of spending time in a hair salon, it’s much better to seduce a beautiful local woman.’
I headed to the northern gate of Kara to go to the Saint Euroa Temple which was located on an island south of Lake Kara. So, I had to go out of the castle.
This was my first time going to the Saint Euroa Temple yet I was in the right direction without getting lost because the way to the temple was very crowded.
I looked ahead thoughtlessly and found a familiar person from behind. Other people were avoiding him since he looked like a corpse with hollow eyes. He’s the skinny Master Swordsman whom I met before but actually, I couldn’t remember his name.
“Hey~ Uncle zombie~!”
Callan turned around and frowned after he saw me.
“I told you my name is Callan.”
“Yeah, I know. Wow~ We’ve met again, Callan. How have you been?”
“Good. What are you doing here?”
I followed him quickly.
“There’s a lot of festivals today. So, I am just trying to hang out.”
“What are you going to do at the festival?”
“Well, for right now I am just gonna hit on some girl.”
He kept staring at me and said.
“If you’ve got nothing to do, just go home.”
“Why~? Today is a holy day.”
“So spend your holy time at home.”
I looked up and down at him with suspicious eyes.
“You are so weird. Why do you keep telling me to go home?”
“Forget it then.”
He walked forward quickly and then I followed him right away. I felt bored anyway so I would just hang out and talk about stupid things with him.
However, his responses were brusque. When we first met each other, he seemed like a good guy. But he’s weird today. Maybe he’s on his period.
* * *