News of the One-Armed Giant’s extermination spread through the kingdom in the blink of an eye. This time around, three pairs got the most attention.
First up was the pair from the Colors following up their performance against the Pestilent Guardian Dragon, Orlaya and Myra of Black. Second was the pair who had taken down the Shaman of the Heavenly Garden and lost its holy knight during the fight against the giant, Nemophila and Theophilus of Blizzard. And finally, there was the pair from the Colors who had assisted in the guardian dragon’s extermination and delivered the final blow to the giant, Astrantia and Albert of White.
Orlaya and Astrantia were descendants of the witch, Myra was the descendant of a great hero, and Nemophila was the tragic holy woman who kept losing her holy knights, so I could see why they would draw attention. The fact that I, a holy knight who had essentially come out of nowhere, had killed the giant seemed to be making waves.
Last time I’d given Orlaya all the credit for taking down Hector, but we’d opted against going down that route again. Partially because there were just too many witnesses for it to be feasible, but on top of that, this mission had been more of a group effort. Although I had dealt the finishing blow, it didn’t seem like we were going to be automatically appointed as members of the Twelve Saints. To be precise, everyone who participated agreed with me that the princess needed more time to grow.
When reporting back to the kingdom, they had managed to smooth things over by saying that while White’s achievements were extraordinary, appointing them to the Twelve Saints would be premature at this point in time. That said, this feat meant an award ceremony at the academy wasn’t gonna cut it. We were summoned to the capital and forced to take part in a ceremony celebrating the defeat of three of the Twelve Corpses in such a short period of time.
In reality, the grave keeper was also dead, but we had to keep that under wraps to avoid explaining that the Skeleton Sword Saint had been set free from his city. His extermination would be reported when the opportunity eventually presented itself. Nemophila had seemed confident she could hide his death for a few years. Her family was in charge of the golden city, so they could make some adjustments on their end.
We’d be fine saving that glory until after the princess had grown enough. Once that day came, we’d enter the golden city and report back to the kingdom that we’d defeated the grave keeper. But that was a conversation for another day.
For now, the public perception was that three of the Twelve Corpses were no longer in the world. The hands of time that had been frozen for three centuries had suddenly begun to move once more. The situation attracted the entire country’s attention, and the ceremony was packed with well-dressed nobles. While the beautiful women wearing expensive gems and showy dresses were nice on the eyes, it was painful not being able to approach them due to the difference in status. At least the food was good.
On the bright side, there was also a fairly hefty monetary reward and a guarantee of our status after we graduated. Saints had social classes as well—grades, to be specific. Grades were based on the level of curion you could eliminate. There were Special Grade, Upper Grade, Grade One, and Grade Two. The Twelve Saints were above Special Grade. The most skilled students at the academy, the Colors, were automatically made at least Grade One upon graduation. However, every student who had participated in the mission to kill the giant would be made Special Grade. Apparently, that wasn’t normal.
Aside from that, we also got a bunch of awards with fancy names that I didn’t bother remembering. It was funny how uncharacteristically nervous the princess had been during our audience with the king. Unfortunately, she’d had such a serious look on her face when telling me to behave myself that I couldn’t poke fun at her.
Anyway, that’s enough about the capital. The important stuff happened after.
✦ ✦ ✦
First up was the One-Armed Giant, Filim.
“This way, Al.” Scorching Sun’s holy woman, Campsis, beckoned to me. She was a beautiful woman whose yellow-tinged red hair was tied up in a side ponytail to her right. Her makeup, the striking decorations on her nails, and her short skirt all gave her a different vibe from other holy women. She was flashy, if nothing else. Right around twenty years old, she was exactly my type.
Ordinarily, I would have enjoyed nothing more than having a rendezvous with such a woman, but today, I just couldn’t get in the mood. “Yeah, I’m coming.” I was visiting her hometown. The princess’s family had just summoned her, so we were acting separately at the moment. With Orlaya and Myra accompanying her, there was no need to worry about things on her end. Since Campsis had wanted to return to her hometown to tell them about the giant’s defeat, I’d taken the opportunity to join her.
“You’re pretty weird, y’know that, Al?”
“Am I?”
It was a small town—just barely small enough that everyone knew each other. That being the case, everyone crowded around Campsis the moment they saw her, making it hard to reach our destination. There were a bunch of men who mistook me for her boyfriend and tried to start something, and her simply smiling and not denying it just made things more difficult.
“There are a lot of stories about the people the giant saved in this town, and some of their descendants even live here, so I get why they’d care about the giant’s death, but you’re different.”
On that day three centuries ago, the people that Filim had helped escape the city had scattered. His mother and friends had wound up reaching this town. “I’m the one who killed the giant, so I figure I should at least pay my respects.”
“To let his mom know you set her son’s soul free? You’re a nice guy.”
We arrived at a plot of land on the town’s outskirts—the graveyard. “I was actually just planning on telling her I killed her son.”
“That makes you sound awful.”
“It’s not my place to judge whether killing undead is right or wrong.”
“It’s pretty hard on the heart if you don’t believe it’s right.”
“Maybe.” Right or wrong, I killed the undead because I was a holy knight. Whether it was painful or not didn’t matter. I didn’t feel the need to say all that though, so I just gave a half-hearted response.
“All right, we’re here. This is Kind Witch Ulrika’s grave,” Campsis said.
There was an old gravestone. It looked like it’d been cared for, but the letters carved into it were hard to make out. Crouching down, I just gazed at it for a while. Your mom’s here waiting for you to return. Although Filim’s Tracking Field was inside me, his soul was not. But since I’d seen his memories, I felt it was okay for me to give him some closure.
“I’m sure she’s still waiting. Make sure you keep your promise this time.”
If Heaven was real, I was certain Filim’s mom was waiting for her son there. Now that he’d been set free from the witch’s curse, they could be reunited. And then she’d give him a stern scolding. She had the right to—he’d gone against her and saved the city that had accepted him.
“All right, I’m done,” I said as I stood up. I didn’t have any more business here.
“Already?”
“Yeah. Mind showing me your favorite place to eat? I’m starving.” I exaggeratedly rubbed my belly, which got a laugh out of her.
“Sure, I’ve got the perfect place. How’s my mom’s cooking sound?”
“Introducing me to your parents feels like we’re skipping a few steps.”
“How could you say that? Aren’t we in a serious relationship?” Campsis immediately played along with my joke. She was a really easygoing girl. Had it been the princess, her face probably would have been bright red. That was what made Astrantia cute.
That day, several descendants of survivors from Trislimigante tearfully came to thank Campsis and me. The story had been passed down from parent to child for several generations. It was odd how they celebrated the giant being set free as though he had personally helped them, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. Campsis’s mom’s cooking also really hit the spot.