Chapter 113: Disguise, that’s not how you do it
“…But she hasn’t come back since then.”
That’s what Deidros, the blacksmith who made the Spectral Sword and a gold dragon, said. Then he shook his glass and the sound of ice hitting it followed.
He still lived on alcohol.
‘I’m glad Bernice didn’t come back.’
I stopped by Deidros’ mansion on my way back after dealing with the demons.
There was something simple I wanted to check.
I wanted to know if it had an effect on ‘dragons’, which can be said to have true names like spirits, as I found out the true name of Sheddie, the dark spirit Shade, through my intuition.
To put it bluntly, I found out.
Deidros’ true name.
Should I see this as the effect of the ‘Blindfold That is Beyond Reason’?
I couldn’t be sure yet, but I knew that there was some special power hidden that I couldn’t grasp.
Legendary items usually have their own stories.
I think I would have gotten some simple information if I had gone to see an appraiser, but honestly, I want to avoid appraisers as much as possible.
It’s a game that focuses on the story, so I don’t think they would just throw items without any additional stories, but so far I haven’t felt any special energy from the blindfold or met anyone who knows about the blindfold.
I think I’ve met quite a few people who are doing well on the continent.
Even a gold dragon like him, or a saint or a sword saint… Anyway, if there is an additional story, it’s not related to them.
I think my reputation level is high, but there’s no movement from the villains either…Or maybe I’ve been avoiding major villains too well.
There’s no one who knows more about the villains on the continent than me.
“So why did she look for you? The saint.”
Deidros asked me after taking a sip of alcohol and putting it down on the table.
“She offered me to join her knight order.”
“…Didn’t you say you were an Academy student?”
“That’s right. So she made a position called ‘honorary knight’.”
“…Honorary knight. Ha, she used her head. Wait… There’s one thing I don’t understand… Wasn’t the saint’s knight order only for women?”
Deidros’ question made me laugh out loud.
“Hahaha, I thought so too.”
At my laughter, Deidros opened his eyes wide.
“…Looking at the faint smell of blood, you’ve already joined the knight order.”
Deidros closed his eyes and shook his head.
‘Does blood smell…?’
I bowed my head and sniffed my clothes. I didn’t feel any particular smell, whether it was because the blood smell was stuck in my nose or not.
Deidros said he lied to protect me when Bernice came to him and asked about me, thinking that I might be in a dangerous situation.
He laughed bitterly when I told him what Bernice’s power was.
No matter what, it’s not easy to get along with a dragon, but somehow things went very well with him.
It seems that he was interested in many things.
“By the way, how did you get into the saint’s knight order with that on your body…No matter how weak the energy is, the saint wouldn’t have missed it.”
Deidros pointed at my chest with a tap.
The Tear of the Dead in my heart area, Spectral Sword Sierra and Sheddie, as he said, were dark things that didn’t go well with the saint.
Deidros could sense the energy of spirits. This was something I learned for the first time.
He said he had clashed with spirits a few times before. But he could only feel their energy vaguely, and he couldn’t see them with his naked eyes.
“It’s Sierra’s problem…”
Deidros’ gaze turned to Sierra who was floating next to me.
It was already confirmed that Bernice could see Sierra but I hadn’t explained yet why I had to carry around a dangerous thing like a Spectral Sword.
Deidros said it wouldn’t be a problem he couldn’t get over if I told him my story.
He said how could he ignore the touching love of the saint beyond death.
‘It might be better to tell her in advance…’
Even if I can’t reveal the other things in my body, it would be less suspicious to reveal what I can, like the spectral sword.
Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t very good last time. It would have been nice if I could get some horns while dealing with demons this time, but Sheddie ate them all without leaving anything behind.
‘Will it be delayed a little more…?’
I won’t see Bernice often anyway, so it’s not urgent.
Meanwhile, Saint Bernice entered the academy with Ecline, the vice-captain of the Silver Wing Knight Order, in ‘disguise’.
Since their appearance was known in the academy due to the public lecture, disguise was inevitable for this unofficial visit.
But the problem was the disguise that Ecline came up with.
‘Doll costumes…’
They wore doll costumes that were used for festivals or something, and they were not exposed to anyone, but Bernice thought that this was attracting people’s attention in its own way.
They succeeded in entering the city and were able to avoid the academy staff at the gate by jumping over the fence.
All they had to do now was find Zetto.
“What is that? Did they promote something?”
“I know that! It’s Kobi and Becky!”
“They’re cute…”
But as they passed by, the students started to react one by one, and they were trapped in a crowd of people and fell into a spectacle.
They heard an explanation about the dolls from the owner of the general store who sold them.
These bears and rabbits were the protagonists of a popular children’s book.
“What should we do…?”
Bernice whispered to Ecline next to her but Ecline was also confused.
She thought that if these dolls were popular, they could appear anywhere and pass naturally but she wondered why they were so popular among adult academy students.
The fairy tale book that the general store owner showed her as a reference was a very childish, ordinary fairy tale book for children. But, it was for a simple reason.
The female students just liked cute things and watched them, while the male students came over and stood next to them and tried to talk to them because there were female students around.
Ecline, who had very different interests from her peers, couldn’t understand this so she soon moved naturally to overcome this difficult situation and opened her mouth while wearing a large and cute bear costume.
“I’m Kobi! Nice to meet you all~!” It was a cute gesture that no one could imagine as a vice-captain of a knight order.
Ecline threw away her pride, thinking that she had made Bernice uncomfortable. Fortunately, her face was hidden…
Maybe it was a little less embarrassing.
She thought that if she treated them roughly, they would lose interest and leave, but the students’ interest grew stronger.
“Kyaaak!!”
“Cute!”
“She’s a woman…!”
Soon, the students’ eyes turned to Bernice, who was wearing a rabbit costume, ‘Becky’.
Kobi and Becky were always a pair so the students who saw Kobi’s introduction were expecting Becky’s introduction now.
‘Please don’t talk, Saint.’
Bernice, who had discussed with Ecline in advance, stood still and didn’t know what to do.
Her power rejected even simple words like ‘I’m Becky’ because it was because it was a ‘lie’.
As Bernice’s silence continued, people’s heads began to tilt and expectation turned into curiosity.
Bernice had no choice but to move her body. She couldn’t greet them, so she decided to respond to their expectations with a much cuter gesture than the one Ecline showed earlier.
“…Kwang.”
A strange word popped out of Bernice’s mouth, who imitated Becky’s posture from the fairy tale.
She didn’t mean to, but it seemed like she had to make that sound when she took this posture. But unfortunately, everyone heard Bernice’s cute voice because the people were quiet with anticipation.
Bernice endured it. She believed that this was also a trial given by God to ask for forgiveness from Zetto.
Among the cheers of the students, Ecline watched Bernice maintain her posture and lost her mind.
‘The saint is doing such… cute gestures…’
She liked Bernice very much and was drooling but she was lucky that no one noticed her drooling because of the doll costume.
‘How long do we have to do this…’
As Bernice blushed and maintained her posture, someone popped out of the crowd and came up to them.
The man who walked out of the crowd was dressed differently from the students but Ecline and Bernice knew who he was.
Yuri, who was standing in front of them, turned around at his presence and opened her mouth.
“Instructor Edward?”
“I heard there were two people wearing doll costumes without permission. I came to see…”
Edward trailed off and scanned Ecline and Bernice with his eyes that were barely visible.
“…Follow me.”
Soon Edward uttered a concise word with a suspicious smile on his face and they followed Edward quietly. Yuri was staring blankly at ‘Kobi and Becky’.
“I have to…remember…”
***
Edward took them to a quiet clearing where there were no people wandering about.
He immediately sensed Bernice’s divine power and recognized her as a saint. He could recognize this because he had spent years with Priscilla, a woman of immense divine power.
Only the saint could possess a greater amount of divine power than Priscilla.
“You said it was a personal visit… I understand.”
After hearing her explanation, Edward replied while Ecline and Bernice waited in silence for him to take action.
They wondered if he would eventually send them back for their unauthorized visit. The Innocence Academy was a closed city after all. But Edward’s next words, after clapping, were not what they expected.
“If you’re going to disguise yourself, you might as well do it right. What’s a puppet? It was fun, but I wouldn’t call it a disguise, because as you can see, it’s too obvious.”
Ecline nodded, agreeing with him, but also questioning him.
It was the first disguise she’d ever worn, and it was clumsy so he wasn’t wrong, but why was he pointing out the disguise instead of the unauthorized visit?
That puzzled Ecline.
Then Edward spoke again.
“To disguise yourself is to blend in with the crowd, and since your face is known to so many, I suppose that was difficult?”
Bernice and Ecline, who have been listening to Edward’s haphazard ‘lesson’, nodded.
The corners of Edward’s mouth twitched up in a suspicious way, and he snapped his fingers.
“On that note, why don’t you wear the cadets’ uniforms? The cadets wouldn’t recognize the saint…Wouldn’t they see you as a cadet who looks a lot like a saint? Besides, you wouldn’t stand out as much if you were in uniform in the first place.”
..Edward had a point but he was missing something important.
With that thought in mind, Bernice asked him a cautious question.
“But we don’t have uniforms…?”
“That’s right, the only way to get a uniform for an Innocence Academy cadet is to enter the Academy through the normal channels, but I have a way to get one, and I have a father who’s as good as it gets… I can get you a couple.”
Edward was the son of the headmaster, Juliut Klaus, which meant he was openly talking about ‘abusing’ his power.
“Is it okay to do that? No, more than that… Why are you doing this to us?”
Ecline asked, confused by Edward’s behavior.
“…Isn’t it more fun this way?” Edward shrugged in response to her question.
‘What the hell is this guy…’
Bernice knew that Edward’s words were the truth.
Edward Klaus was untouchable, even to Bernice, the saint of innocence.