The high priest of Rozantine, dressed in white, leaped from his horse. With a grim expression, he stormed over.
“Lord! What have you done to the Grail!”
Being a direct servant of the goddess, the high priest spoke down to the lord.
“The Grail has vanished! Do you realize what has happened because of this! Rozantine has become hell!”
Surprise appeared on the faces of Leticia, Ahwin, the Lord of Rozantine, and everyone else present, except for the high priest.
“Rozantine has become hell?”
“It was fine until this morning, wasn’t it?”
The knights of Rozantine, following the lord, were beyond puzzled; they were horrified.
“High Priest! Rozantine has become hell? What do you mean!”
“Please explain! What exactly is happening!”
“Our families are there!”
The high priest stomped his foot and shouted.
“All water in Rozantine has vanished! This morning, all water in Rozantine disappeared in an instant. The water in the lakes, the drinking water, even the holy water vanished!”
“All water in Rozantine has vanished?”
Tenua looked at the high priest in shock.
Just moments ago, he had claimed that his stealing the Grail had nothing to do with Rozantine’s safety.
Yet now, he was told that all water in Rozantine had disappeared. It was a story he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, believe.
“Stop joking! The entire city’s water vanishing. That’s something not even Josephina, no, Lady Josephina could do!”
“If someone stole the Grail and incurred the wrath of the goddess upon Rozantine, it would make sense, Lord Tenua.”
The high priest, still unaware of Tenua’s crime, brightened.
“This is fortunate, Lord Tenua. It seems the Lord of Rozantine has squirreled away the Grail. As a Wing of the Goddess, you must punish the Lord who has caused this to Rozantine…”
“The punishment should be his! He’s the one who stole the Grail!”
Then, the lord stepped forward.
“Last night, he came to me. Threatening to kill me if I didn’t hand over the Grail, he attacked my son, Louis! He tried to kill the boy!”
The lord glared at Tenua, fury for harming his son emanating from him.
“As the High Priest said, it’s clear that because of him, Rozantine has incurred the wrath of the goddess. The disappearance of Rozantine’s water must be because of that!”
The lord, following Ahwin’s cue to blame the disaster on Tenua, drew his sword from his side.
“I volunteered as an escort to retrieve the Grail and undo my mistake. I wanted to protect Rozantine, but it’s already too late!”
He raised his sword high. The grey blade gleamed white in the sunlight.
“I will personally execute the criminal who stole the Grail and plunged Rozantine into despair!”
* * *
No one could have imagined that the lord could kill Tenua as he charged at him.
Tenua was a Wing of the Goddess. He could tear apart his opponents with a flick of his finger using the goddess’s power.
But Tenua did not do so.
Rather, he could not do so.
Without offering any resistance, he was struck by the lord’s sword, as if bound by something, unable to move even a finger.
“Gurk!”
Tenua looked at his bleeding abdomen in disbelief, then raised his eyes.
With a pale face, he mumbled in shock.
“There’s no way all water in Rozantine could have vanished. That’s impossible…”
Leticia was still standing a few steps away, quietly watching him.
With a serene look in her eyes, as if she had anticipated all these events.
As Tenua’s trembling gaze fell on her, the moment his frozen gaze touched her wrist.
His eyes widened.
A black jewel.
There was a bracelet with a black jewel embedded in it.
‘Earlier, when that woman bound me, surely…’
Her wrist had shone brightly.
‘Then, that light, could it be. It came from that jewel.’
The black jewel capable of overpowering a Wing and vanishing all water in Rozantine at once.
A name naturally came to mind.
“Elixir…”
Tenua’s lips moved. Leticia lowered her gaze and naturally grasped the Elixir with her other hand.
That action was the answer to Tenua.
“…This can’t be.”
Tenua fell to one knee with a thud.
“Die, you demon!”
At that moment, the lord stabbed Tenua once more. Tenua fell onto the sand without even a scream.
Red blood spread across the sand.
After a moment, his convulsing body went limp. He died without even closing his eyes.
The lord, glaring at Tenua’s body, clenched his fist tightly.
Then, he raised his blood-stained sword high. What came next was crucial. To justify the death of a Wing in front of everyone, there were words that had to be spoken.
“Let it be clear to all! I have killed a Wing! The Wing did not resist at all!”
He shouted until his voice broke.
“This is the will of the goddess! The goddess has withdrawn her power from the corrupt Wing! That is why I was able to kill the Wing! The will of the goddess is with me!”
“The will of the goddess…”
The high priest murmured with a pale face. He looked back and forth between the dead Tenua and the lord, then spoke to Ahwin with a half-mad look.
“Lord Ahwin, is this truly the will of the goddess? Has the goddess truly forsaken Lord Tenua?”
Witnessing the death of a Wing firsthand was unimaginable. He couldn’t be in his right mind. If things went wrong, not just the lord but everyone present could end up dead.
Ahwin looked coldly at Tenua and said,
“The Wing was unable to use his power and died by the lord’s sword. It is reasonable to see this as the goddess withdrawing the Wing’s power.”
“Then, if that’s the case…”
“If the goddess has decided so, then Tenua is indeed a sinner.”
Finally, Ahwin declared it. The one closest to the goddess at this place had named Tenua a sinner.
He addressed the shocked imperial knights looking at him.
“Prepare to return to the sanctuary immediately. The Wing has become a sinner. There can be no task more pressing than this.”
“The escort mission for the delegation ends here. I will personally show the sinner’s body to the Saintess.”
Naturally, the command from Josephina to massacre the delegation upon crossing the Principality’s border became unfeasible.
“I will confess to the Saintess myself for not completing this mission. But first, we must find the Grail. Behemoth!”
[At your service, Lord Ahwin!]
“Tenua has stolen the Grail. Find the Grail from the sinner’s possession immediately.”
[Understood!]
A gentle breeze searched Tenua’s body and retrieved something.
[Lord Ahwin, here! The Grail was in Tenua’s possession!]
Everyone was astonished.
“Lord Tenua really stole the Grail?”
“Why does the Grail look like that? It’s supposed to be golden. Why has it lost its light? Could it be because Lord Tenua stole it?”
“Just now, Lord Ahwin used the power of the wind, right? Lord Tenua couldn’t use any power and died!”
Tenua had stolen the Grail, and the Grail had lost its light, but unlike Tenua, Ahwin could still use the goddess’s power.
There was only one implication.
“The goddess truly forsaken Lord Tenua. She took away his power!”
“Lord Tenua? Watch your words. He is a sinner. He is no longer a Wing!”
People began to get excited.
“Serves him right! How dare he meddle with our Rozantine!”
“The lord said that if the Grail was taken, all people in Rozantine would die, yet he ignored that!”
“Just go to hell!”
Not just the people of Rozantine but also the imperial knights who had come with Tenua burst out in indignation.
“That trash, I knew it would end like this!”
“He never deserved to be a Wing in the first place! He founded a dark mercenary guild just to kill people at will! How could such a person ever be a Wing!”
“A creature that should have been disposed of long ago had the grace of the saint and lived well as a Wing should have stayed quiet!”
“Do you all remember? This wretched creature spoiled the well! He threw the corpse of a demon into our drinking water!”
“And then he said he did it for fun? Tsk! You’re worse than trash, ptoo!”
Someone spat on Tenua’s corpse. Then others joined in. There were even those who threw stones. Tenua’s corpse was quickly made a mess.
It was hard to believe that he once terrified the people of the imperial capital, such was his miserable end.
Leticia took in the entire scene.
From the moment the lord rushed at Tenua to the people throwing stones at his corpse, she never took her eyes off for a single moment.
It was not a scene easy to watch, but she clenched her fist tightly and endured until the end.
She thought she had to.
It was a matter she had started.
It was the end of the one who had tormented her.
Furthermore.
‘Because I will continue to experience such events from now on.‘
She decided to take away everything that Josephina had.
Surely, another day like today would happen again.
She was prepared, but her heart was still uneasy.
‘It’s okay. Everything will be alright.’
Leticia closed her eyes and exhaled a slow breath.
She calmed her churning stomach and reached out her hand towards the Grail that had fallen in front of her. She intended to return the fallen Grail to the lord.
And the moment her hand touched the Grail.
The elixir under her sleeve began to faintly glow. The light moved smoothly towards the Grail.
Leticia’s eyes widened. The corner of the Grail she had held began to regain its color.
The Grail, which had been a dull gray, suddenly shone brilliantly golden.
Leticia, startled, quickly picked up the Grail.
And then she hid it behind her back. She couldn’t let others see her fixing the Grail now.
She was not yet strong enough to fully oppose Josephina.
To stand before the people as a saint, she needed at least five. Five Wings were necessary.
“The Grail, how…”
But it happened that the lord saw this. The rest of the people were all focused on Tenua.
“It became fine as soon as you touched it. It was definitely broken…”
Listening to the astonished voice of the lord, Leticia bit her lip hard.
She was not prepared for this situation at all. Her heart pounded with tension.
‘The lord saw me. What do I do? How do I explain?’
There was no way to explain. The Grail had become fine as soon as her hand touched it. To anyone, it was clear she had fixed the Grail.
Anxiety washed over her before joy.
‘Will the lord keep the secret? Will he be on my side?’
Although the lord had moved according to her plan this time, she did not fully trust him.
“Sir, let’s talk for a moment.”
Then, someone tightly grasped the astonished lord’s forearm. The lord swallowed a gulp of air and looked up at the person.
“Ah, Lord Ahwin?”
“Keep your voice down.”
Ahwin warned in a cold voice.
“If you want to live, quietly follow.”
“Ah, understood.”
Ahwin dragged the lord away. The lord could not make a sound and followed Ahwin.
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