ven in Aalto. Just don’t tell people in Holm that you are a musician." Natasha shrugged, "I suggest that you continue to publish some new music pieces, if you can send any to me, which will be a pretty good disguise for you."
"I’ll try my best." Lucien also did not want to just give up his music completely after leaving Aalto.
After agreeing on how to send letters, Lucien took the Fire Weaver Bracelet, Aaron’s Asthenia Dagger, Grimsteel Dagger and Alert with him, and left the triple-headed flail to Natasha, since it was too clumsy for him to carry.
"I’ll take care of your friends. No worries, Lucien." Natasha smiled.
"Thank you. I’m so lucky to have you as my friend, Natasha." Lucien expressed his heartfelt thanks, then he turned around.
"Lucien…" Natasha called his name from behind.
"Yes?" Lucien looked back.
"Remember, life is more than just magic. You have music, and you have friends." Natasha waved her hand.
"I’ll keep that in mind." Lucien grinned.
After a while, when Lucien had completely disappeared in the woods, the smile on Natasha’s face faded, and she commanded seriously,
"Show yourself. You’ve been listening for quite a while."
"As you wish, Your Grace." Salvador, the leader of the night watchers, slowly appeared in the sky and landed in front of Natasha. His hand was tied with a piece of white handkerchief.
"Why didn’t you take any action right away?" asked Natasha directly.
"Apparently, you care for this guy a lot, Your Grace. I wouldn’t have any chance of killing him in front of you, although, yes, I wanted it very much… This damned Professor."
"I see," said Natasha coldly. "Then why did you choose to stay? You want to talk to me?"
"Yes, Your Grace." Salvador answered, "I want a deal for keeping this secret for you, Your Grace."
"Ah?" Natasha was almost amused, "You don’t want to take revenge for the dead night watchers anymore? I thought you were pretty determined."
"I was and I still am," said Salvador calmly. "But I cannot miss this chance… the chance of climbing up towards a higher status in the Church, and cooperating with the princess. I already gave up so many things and now I’m walking in the darkness… all because…"
"Not interested." Natasha cut him off directly.
"All right…" Salvador paused a bit, "Let’s get to the main point. To be more specific, I want…!!!"
Before the next word jumped out from Salvador’s mouth, Natasha rushed and hacked her sword directly toward him, without any hesitation.
In the next second, Salvador was split into two halves by the sword.
"No one dare threaten me," said Natasha coldly.
There was no blood coming out of Salvador’s body, and his body was dissolving into small shining pieces in the air. Before his body completely disappeared, his last remaining awareness turned into his voice, "Radiant… knight?"
After another ten minutes, Camil showed up from the other side of the forest, carrying Wyon and Cacharel under her arms, who were both unconscious.
"Natasha, you’re a radiant knight now." Camil recognized Natasha’s change right away, "It seems like this bitter fight turned out to be your great chance to make this breakthrough. Congratulations, Natasha. I’m very proud of you."
Natasha smiled, but in a sad way.
When Natasha and Camil came back to Aalto, the sun was rising above the horizon. After comforting the grand duke who had been tortured by his worry and anger for the whole night, Natasha went directly to the Golden Cathedral.
In a confessional, Natasha found Sard, who was praying silently there.
"Grand cardinal, I need to confess," said Natasha in a low voice.
"God’s here." Slowly, Sard opened his eyes.
"I killed a night watcher… I killed Mr. Salvador." Natasha crossed herself.
"I don’t see your penitence." Hearing that the leader of the night watchers was killed, Sard showed no emotion.
"I feel no regret. This was my choice, and I’m willing to accept the punishment for the choice I made," answered Natasha seriously.
"Why di you kill him?" Sard asked.
Natasha did not answer.
Sard slowly stood up. Compared with yesterday, he looked much older, "I’ll report to the pope. He will be deciding the punishment to your sin. You stay here, Natasha."
After Sard left, veins in Natasha’s face and her hands started to swell and burn. Her beautiful face contorted out of the great pain. However, she kept kneeling on the ground in front of the big cross without giving out a single groan.
In a bright, simple study, there was a white-haired elder sitting in front of the desk.
He said to the cardinal gently, "Natasha confessed her sin, and God forgives anyone who’s willing to confess. Natasha’s honest, and now she’s a radiant knight. The punishment shall not be too harsh. Send her to the lowest abbey in Aalto for three years."
"Yes, my pope." The cardinal slowly left the room.
The pope picked up a small pile of paper in front of him, on which there were a bunch of fractions of words which did not really make sense,
"He seemed to be okay with my speech…"
"He often looked confused…"
"Maybe he started to vacillate now…"
Following the instruction for anti-tracking given by Natasha, Lucien came back to Massawa around nine in the morning. The sun was already shining brightly in the air.
Before entering the small town, Lucien took out all the stuff from the pockets and burned down his black sorcerer robe.
Lucien did not see Joyce and his coachman around. After talking to the owner of the hotel, Lucien got to know that they all fled away because of the chaos happened in Bonn last night.
Putting on a worried look, Lucien was actually cheering in his mind. He said to the hotel owner, "That’s too bad then. I gotta hire another coach and some guards on my own. Can you please send word to the association that it was me who terminated the contract with them on my own? This way, the association won’t trouble them. After all, I understand their fear."
"What a kind gentleman you are!" The owner of the hotel took out a pen and paper and praised Lucien, "And it won’t be too difficult for you to hire some new people, sir, since lots of adventurers and residents from Bonn are right now staying in our town."
After signing his name on the letter written by the hotel owner, Lucien went back to his room and started to prepare for his new journey.
(The End of the First Volume)