22 - Chastity

"More strength!" Ariadne stood in front of Eriu and watched as Eriu swung the large sword in his hand.

Now I think I might die before dinner comes. 

For one week, Ariadne and Louise took turns teaching swordplay, and it was unfortunate for Eriu, who could only hold a penknife, to have to deal with his mother holding a sword five times the size of a penknife.

"Repeat from the beginning!" Eriu widened his eyes in disbelief and sighed tiredly, following Ariadne's order to start over, "One!"

I am dying, I am dying!!!

"Twooo!!!!" 

"You dare to go first in the midst of the enemy when you are so weak? Give it more power!"

Hoof....

"Three!!!!" Sweat continued to drip nonstop every time Eriu swung the large sword in his hand. His breathing was laborious every time he raised the great sword and began to swing.

3 hours later.

"Haa... Finally..."

Eriu, feeling tired, immediately sat down on the floor, not caring if it was clean or not. It felt like this week's training could break every bone in his body. If he could choose a teacher, he would prefer Louise to Ariadne.

Louise was still very gentle in his teaching, unlike Ariadne who was really brutal.

Louise's sword technique relies on speed rather than strength, and Ariadne's sword technique relies on strength rather than speed. The principle of Ariadne's sword technique is that as long as you can make the enemy stop, victory will come.

I don't know what she was thinking, but one morning she suddenly told him that he, who didn't have much energy and was just lazy, would be the one to fully inherit her sword technique because she thought I was more suitable than Eros.

Even Louise thinks that his sword technique is not suitable for Eriu and is more suitable for Eros. If the principle of Ariadne's sword technique was to stun the enemy's movement, the principle of Louise's sword technique was to hit the vital point and directly stab the fatal part.

"Here you go, drink it." As the familiar voice behind him pressed the cold bottle against Eriu's cheek, Eriu raised his head to look at the person behind him.

Eros smiled when Eriu looked at him jealously.

His hair, tied in a ponytail, still looked neat even though this boy was training at the same time and hour as him. Only a little sweat dripped from him, and even his scent was still the same as it had been in the morning.

"What a scam....;

Eriu held up his shirt and smelled it, his face turning sour in an instant.

This was the first time he wanted to be a protagonist or one of the love target candidates. The possibility that his body would not stink even after running for hours was already confirmed because they must all have received VIP from the world. 

Eriu took the bottle given to him and unscrewed the cap. A chill ran down his throat as the cold water entered his mouth, "Cool!"

"So how's practice been?" Eros soon sat down next to Eriu which made Eriu scoot away from him, "?

"Stay away from me. I stink." Eriu waved his hand and told Eros to stay away from him, Eros widened his eyes before laughing out loud, "Haha, you only care about that after you put dirty clothes that have not been washed for more than 3 weeks on the chair?"

"..." 

Tch.

Eriu didn't even try to fight back against his words because it was the truth and the possibility of winning was also very small. Eriu took a sip of water and answered the question Eros had asked earlier, "The training is so hard that it feels like the time of my death is coming soon."

"It can be said that I can see the Heavenly Castle before the date."

Lately, during his training, he even thought of worshipping the original owner of this body for being able to withstand such hard training. No wonder 'Eriu Grith' was considered a nuisance by the protagonist's love target candidates.

He is handsome, strong, kind, caring, and the only Chimera who can survive. Killing the most difficult boss would make it easier for them to pursue their love's heart in the future. 

Eros chuckled at my joke before surprising me with the next sentence, "I broke my leg practicing..."

"Huh!?" Eriu turned around and looked at Eros' leg, "...Erm, it looks fine..?" Eros lifted the hem of his pants, which showed a dark red spell, "Papa is giving first aid and will go buy some healing herbs soon."

"It really hurts." The pink eyes looked at him as if there was a hidden intention behind it, "...I don't want to." Eriu shook his head repeatedly, rejecting the idea that came to his mind. Seeing this, Eros narrowed his eyes with a sly smile on his face, "Pervert."

"!" 

"I haven't even said it yet, but you're already thinking nonsense."

"Although I really want to eat your homemade desserts," it seemed that Eros would not stop teasing him, "but I want to hear what you think."

"Maybe that's not a bad thing."

Eriu rolled his eyes, as if he thought Eros' talk was meaningless and he wanted to tease him one hundred percent, "If you tease me one more time, don't expect me to make dessert for you." 

"Not especially with that request of yours, I'll cancel it right now!" 

Eros, who had been happy, immediately made a sad face, "It is not good to cancel something that has already been agreed upon. 

"That's called breach of contract, I can sue you." Eros' words made him wonder if there was such a thing in this world as hiring a lawyer who would listen to a child's babbling because his promise was not kept.

And even if there was evidence, there was no way the lawyers of this world would listen to it, unless the babbling child was filthy rich, making it a distinct possibility that the lawyer would think twice about such a ridiculous request.

As if Eros knew what he was thinking, Eros struck back with a new reality: "I have the recordings."

"..."

"As long as you and I are alive, the proof will be there." 

Eriu turned his head and put a smile on his face, "Well, we are friends, aren't we? My words are just nonsense, so don't listen to them." I almost forgot that this guy is a psychic! 

This 'incarnation' of Ramiel, someone who was among the strongest of them, couldn't possibly not have a way to find evidence if the evidence traveled to where he was every time he wanted it.

"Hm, you're right, we're friends and I'm not that cruel after all!" 

Eros moved closer to him, each distance getting smaller and smaller until only a few centimeters remained. Eriu could only accept that if Eros himself was okay with his body odor, that was fine too, but if he ever found a deodorant potion, he would buy it immediately, or if he could make it, he would buy the ingredients.

Eriu looked up at the sky whose color was different from day to day, now maybe the theme of the sky was the golden sea above the sky because the colors of orange, yellow, red, pink, and a little purple looked neat like a rainbow, but at the end of the color there was a white color like a wave and after that the surrounding color was blue.

"...What will happen in the future?" Eriu, who was staring blankly at the sky, unconsciously spoke his thoughts. Maybe it was because he felt worse and worse lately, and it felt like something was going to go wrong just like that time.

Was it because he had read the book Emma had given him?

Probably, considering that the contents were full of things that seemed forbidden. Examples of the contents of the book alone ranged from rituals for resurrecting immortality to ancient stories about the fall of a very prosperous empire without cause and effect.

He also tried to look for the Kastarofi War that Eros had mentioned, but unfortunately there was little information about it. The book only described the possible beginning and end of the war and its aftermath.

It was written that the beginning of the Kastarofi War was caused by "they" who thought about their principles with "they" who were thirsty for everything, which made "they" try to control the 14 incarnations but not according to "their" wishes, a great war occurred.

And in the end, this war ended with the death of many innocent people and, of course, the death of the incarnations. No one seems to know that someone managed to survive and create a small village.

With the end of the war there were many things that changed many people and examples are ancient rituals that are so horrible to strange spells that everyone doesn't even know how to use these spells. But worse of all were the cults running around.

Eros looked out of the corner of his eye and opened his mouth, "I don't know. I'm not a fortune teller and I don't have visions of the future."

"Someone once said to me, Don't think too much, and everything will fall apart if what you think doesn't work out. So let it go and even if you become poor, there will be a church that will take you in". 

Eros laid his head on Eriu's shoulder, "But the person who said that hanged himself because he thought too much." Eriu flinched, but chose to remain motionless as he listened to the original story of the protagonist, which had never been heard.

From the story, it seemed that the person he mentioned was not 'Eriu Grith'.

Ariadne had previously told them why they came here instead of the other villages. The goal is to escape secretly, they will not participate in the Anastasi ceremony, but escape when the ceremony is held. Emma wrote a hidden message saying that there might be a cold war between the kingdoms.

Emma said that she overheard it while working at the Vandals of Vervena. Fearing that it might actually happen, she and her ex-husband decided to flee from there.

They must stay calm and not get caught.

No church or strange cult should know anything about Eros or Eriu. Otherwise, they will capture Eros by force and the possibility of Eriu's death is very high. Emma knows this secret because she used to be one of the witches who was awarded as the strongest magician, and the award was also given to her by the Tower!

It's no wonder that she knows our secret, and it would be strange if she didn't have any assets here.

Getting an award from the Tower was so difficult that even the son of the Tower's owner, the incarnation of Gabriel, couldn't get it.

Eros slowly stroked his hand before intertwining their fingers, "But to me, his words are words of lies. Why did his words not match his life and end in such a tragic way?"

"He should never have said that to me." As if his memories were being pulled back, the 'priest' stared at the grave in front of him, the rain soaking his body, and even the 'priest' did not know how to describe his feelings.

Whether it was hate or love, he still couldn't figure it out. 

Trying so many times and only looking at the grave of 'that person' was like daily food until it became bland and made him wonder. But why didn't he stop, even though he already knew the last story of 'him'?

Eros lowered his head and stared into those blood-red eyes, deliberately making that person stare back at him as before, making him unable to take his eyes off of him and continue to do so in the future.

"Screw that."

"All I know is that as long as the two of us are together, everything will be fine, even in the future." Exactly as Eros wanted, Eriu, who was staring into his eyes, could not divert his attention and was caught by it.

Like a spring wind that could make your nose itch.

Eriu looked away and pursed his lips. He himself wondered if his earlobes were red or just his feelings because his ears felt very hot, "If you expected me to fall in love with you, it looks like you succeeded." 

"Pftt..." The sound of laughter seemed to tickle his heart, "It's an honor to hear that."

Damn, it's only fitting that you have so many fans!

It's impossible not to fall in love with him. Even I, a straight person, was questioning the truth I had believed in all this time.

Louise, who was standing in a corner not far from the backyard, was so quiet that his jaw almost dropped to the floor when he accidentally overheard their conversation. His hand, which was casting a cooling spell, did not move when the water bottle in his hand fell.

Are kids growing up faster these days?

It was the first time he realized such a strange reality.

That he was losing to his own son in romance.

***

In the center of the hall was a beautiful statue of a goddess with various beautiful green and gold ornaments symbolizing prosperity.

Beneath the goddess statue, a woman was sitting on her knees with her eyes closed, praying before the statue. 

The light coming in through the large glass behind the statue makes the statue look even more sacred. One eye of the goddess is covered with daffodil flowers, as if to symbolize the truth she sees, while the other eye, which is closed, is a form of the goddess' compassion for her people.

The hand of the goddess points to the sky and holds the balance scale in her left hand.

The black-haired woman there prayed for hours, as if to say that she was the only one who worshipped the Goddess so sincerely. When she raised her head, her black hair fell behind her back, her green eyes shining like the purest emerald ever seen.

She looked like someone who could never be touched by the dirty hands that wanted her.

But alas, her life was like garbage.

"Blessed by holiness and fallen in righteousness."

"I swear in my name never to betray you, my goddess, Uriel, the chastity."

Her life, which had always been on top, fell because of this truth.

All these false truths were destroying her and her son.

So she kept praying and praying to the goddess that brought her down. She believed that it was just a trick, that there was no such thing as a child of God.

How dare that shameless woman pollute her life by saying that the child is the truth and is that purity.

"Therefore, in your name, I wish to give us, your people, the truth.

The unattainable flying bird will fall after its head is shot off, and so will she who carried the two sins.

"The truth will be the eternal tree that will continue to protect your people.

Symbolizing the love story over the lake, swearing the truth.

I have given birth to the child the world wanted, so lift me up to the peak of power.

Even the eternal tree is at my side.

I am the Messiah, the intermediary between the Goddess and the world.

An ordinary creature who brings abundance to the world.