Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 54

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 54
From that day forward, Idir Hubert did not show him even the glimmer of her hair.
By morning, Deyan Boislav Nemanic played with a cat in his room, and after lunch, he took solitary walks.
Of late, he had discovered a new walking path—one distinct from the route he used to take with Idir Hubert.
“Oh my. Good afternoon, sir.”
“That looks heavy. Let me help.”
The path led through the servants’ quarters.
He would find the gardener tending the Garden in his straw hat and pull weeds alongside him, or frequently linger near the Kitchen or by the water pump, using the servants’ back stairs.
At first, he worried that the servants’ surprise at seeing him might hinder their work.
Yet they quickly accepted his presence and welcomed him readily.
Truthfully, they regarded him as simply bored and lingering about.
But what of it.
Deyan enjoyed watching their vitality.
The colorful ordinariness—so different from the bleakness he had always witnessed—felt extraordinarily special.
He harbored no delusion of truly belonging here.
He simply wished to learn what ordinary life meant, standing at the edge of this commonality for however long he remained.
Yet to merely observe felt like surveillance, so he began voluntarily helping with their labor.
“You’re so kind. Might you help with just this one thing?”
“Give it to me.”
“This one isn’t too heavy, really.”
“Give it anyway.”
Initially they refused to let their guest bear such tasks, but now when Deyan insisted, they feigned helplessness and divided their work with him.
Deyan found this way of passing time quite satisfying.
To see the smiles of those he had helped, merely for moving something that weighed nothing to him—it was a strangely rewarding experience.
By treading lightly into the corners of their daily lives, he felt himself becoming quite decent and ordinary.
If he gathered and stitched together these small pieces of ordinary life one by one, would not his own life too be marked by some peaceful season?
Such a hope dwelt within him, faintly.
“Here you are.”
“……!”
Giselle appeared suddenly before Deyan, who had been resting unobtrusively to the side.
He had not sensed her approach at all; his eyes widened in alarm without a sound escaping his lips.
“The Ducal Princess is looking for you.”
As if it mattered.
The knight remained expressionless and clipped, stating her business cleanly before turning to leave.
Deyan composed his startled nerves and followed her.
As he trailed Giselle, he found himself repeatedly catching sight of her boots beneath her neat dress and her hair bound in a single, orderly braid.
‘How does she hide weapons in that cumbersome skirt?’
He found himself genuinely curious about Giselle, who could transition from handmaid to knight in an instant, drawing weapons as if from nowhere.
Perhaps because he had been yearning to move more freely, her smooth and swift motions held his interest.
‘If I could, I’d want to spar with her once.’
Though Deyan held the advantage in raw strength, Giselle far surpassed him in technique—a match would teach him much.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
Giselle asked without turning her gaze from ahead, her pace steady.
Apparently he had been watching her intently without realizing.
Caught, Deyan startled and quickly averted his eyes, playing innocent.
The calluses on her index finger, rough beneath his own touch, had not escaped him.
“No, I wasn’t really looking at anything.”
“I felt your gaze.”
But Giselle would not be placated.
With his wandering eyes finding nowhere to go, Deyan eventually confessed honestly.
“I was curious where you hide your weapons.”
“I wear four Daggers each on garter belts at the thighs and calves, eight Concealed Weapons at the waist, and I use the Hair Pin securing my hair as a weapon when necessary. I also conceal one in each sleeve.”
He expected her to say very little.
Instead, Giselle not only answered readily but even showed him the Short Blade hidden in her sleeve.
The way she drew it to her palm with a flick of her wrist was expertly done.
“Is your curiosity satisfied?”
“I apologize for staring. There was no intent to offend.”
“Yes.”
“I mean it.”
“Yes.”
Whether she meant it was fine or not, he could not tell.
Giselle simply acknowledged with that single syllable and continued on her way.
Deyan considered apologizing once more, but the thought that Idir Hubert might learn of this foolishness and mock him silenced him instead.
In silence, he followed Giselle into the Office.
“Your Highness. I’ve brought him.”
“Yes.”
She glanced up from her documents just enough to acknowledge them both, her head still bowed.
“Would you wait a moment? Let me just finish this.”
“I’m fine standing.”
“Bring tea.”
Deyan sat on the sofa Giselle indicated, staring vacantly.
Five days had passed since their last meeting.
Without Idir Hubert’s permission, he could not even glimpse her shadow.
‘Now I truly understand how much she distrusted me.’
And simultaneously, he felt how far he had adapted to life in the Grand Ducal Castle in the meantime.
Presently, Idir Hubert finished organizing her documents and sat before him.
The first thing she said, after moistening her lips with tea, was this:
“You’re thinking something foolish right now, aren’t you?”
How did she know.
Without thinking, Deyan raised his hand to his face as if he could read it by touch.
* * *
As if touching his face would reveal his expression.
I watched Deyan play the bumbling fool with disdain.
‘It seems he’s grown even more foolish in the interim.’
“You look ridiculous doing that. Stop and examine this instead.”
I set a stack of documents before him.
In the corner of the documents was a small illustration—a drawing of the Holy Relic from the day he contacted the spy.
At that time, Deyan had drawn the Holy Relic with perfect accuracy from explanation alone, and I recognized the spy’s betrayal from it.
“I suspected the drawing was quite precise and checked whether the actual Holy Relic existed.”
The documents I gave Deyan were my report on those findings.
Based on the final clue left by the traitor spy, I had gathered extensive information alongside the Holy Relic’s Temple affiliation.
As a result, I was able to confirm the existence of a Heretical Faction within the Temple.
“Heresy……?”
“You’re aware that the Temple manages many ancient texts—old scripture, Law Texts recording doctrine, and the like, yes?”
“Of course.”
The Temple possessed nearly everything related to the divine, including Holy Relics and all manner of records.
It was naturally the Temple’s duty to manage these.
Among them would certainly be documents on ancient Magic long extinct, and unwholesome texts contradicting Temple doctrine—including those concerning Demons.
I gestured for Deyan to turn to the next page.
“A Heretical Faction worshipping Demons has emerged within the Temple.”
Within the most sacred and faithful institution, a faction supporting the most unholy of Demons had taken root.
Whether the Temple itself had recognized this fact remained uncertain.
But they would surely not stand idle upon discovering such a schism, so it seemed reasonable to suppose they were currently observing its movements in secret.
The information I obtained about the Magic Circle Beval used at the Black Market, and Joaquin Perez’s ability to attack Deyan with a Holy Relic—both may have been enabled by this Heretical Faction’s activities.
‘If it were me, I would have eliminated it quickly while it was still small.’
Why had the Temple shown no decisive action.
Were they concerned their reputation would suffer?
They held too much power yet to worry about losing the people’s favor.
‘A noble Family must be involved.’
If a powerful Family—one possessed of enough influence to make even the Temple cautious—were implicated, the delay in rooting out the Heresy became comprehensible.
Or there might be reasons I had not yet conceived.
Whatever the cause, the emergence of this Heretical Faction would deal a severe blow to the Temple’s honor.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————