IDMWE 06

Chapter 06

“What on earth…?”

Leona was so startled that she let out an exclamation before she could stop herself.

Because of that, Rigan, who had opened his eyes, shot her a look asking what was wrong.

“Th-that is…”

Leona hastily looked down at her own hand.

Unlike the result of the constellations’ strange vote, where she had received 453 votes, her hand was perfectly fine.

“No, it’s just these constellations keep saying weird things. But it seems like nothing’s actually wrong.”

“…Just behave yourself in the temple. Don’t go making me look bad too.”

“No, that’s not it!”

Regardless of what Leona said, Rigan made a dismissive face and closed his eyes again.

‘Hah, seriously…….’

Leona wanted to punch that carefree face of his, but she held back because she didn’t want to cause a commotion in the temple, just as he had said.

She sat quietly on the sofa and looked down at her hand again.

‘Is nothing going to happen? Then what was that talk about voting earlier?’

Just as Leona let out a small sigh due to her complicated thoughts—

Bang—.

Suddenly, the sound of the reception room door opening was heard.

“Ahhh, no, Lebi!”

Following Nathaniel’s urgent cry, something unidentified flew like a shot toward Leona.

“Whoa!”

Since she didn’t feel any killing intent, Leona simply raised her hand to block whatever was flying toward her face.

Slap.

“Euh, huh?”

At the same time as something heavy collided, she felt a sticky sensation clinging to her hand.

“…Hand?”

Her gaze naturally followed the other hand that was touching hers.

Past the long fingers and large hand, past the thick forearm, what came into view was Rigan’s face, his teeth clenched tightly.

“Huh?”

So, to summarize the situation.

Leona’s left hand, which she had reflexively raised to protect her face, and Rigan’s right hand, which for some reason had stretched out to block in front of her, were stuck together.

Very snugly. Without a gap.

“I’m so sorry!”

Nathaniel’s face, which was said to be capable of bringing peace to the continent, was completely scrunched up in distress.

He bowed his head repeatedly, offering apologies to Rigan and Leona.

“…Enough with the apologies. What on earth is this?”

“Well… This fellow is a divine beast named ‘Lebi,’ and when it touches two targets, it sticks their bodies together for a day…”

“No, what kind of divine beast has such a nonsensical, story-ruining ability?”

Startled, Leona’s mouth let out a rough tone without her realizing it.

Before Leona could even be flustered by her own slip of the tongue, Nathaniel answered.

“It’s a divine beast that exists in the temple to allow for a peaceful time of reconciliation when fights break out.”

So, it’s a divine beast that forces the parties involved in a fight to spend a day together, making them realize cooperation and friendship, leading to reconciliation.

“That’s such nonsense…”

“I truly apologize.”

As Rigan’s expression grew fiercer by the second, Nathaniel apologized repeatedly.

“I went into the storage room to get the items to give you, but it suddenly materialized and jumped out…”

He said he was also surprised by the sudden escape of the divine beast.

“Sirpion’s divine beasts all have peaceful and quiet personalities, so I really had no idea it would cause an accident like this.”

Nathaniel said, looking at Lebi with a truly puzzled expression.

“This one isn’t usually this mischievous…”

The divine beast named Lebi, the culprit of this entire incident, was now gleefully spinning wildly in the air.

And in the midst of it all, a fluttering white-winged angel was situated.

“Why is it acting like this? It’s really strange.”

Nathaniel seemed completely unable to see the angel.

Leona and Rigan glared at the angel, the root cause of this whole mess.

Receiving their fiery gazes, the angel hurriedly spoke.

“Ah! My divine power is already depleted! I should be going now!”

**[Tooth Decay King]: Holding hands is so cute. Lovey-dovey.**

**[Handful Squad]: Ah, I want to see more.**

**[Seoin Malgo Dongin]: Found an entertaining dimension channel for the first time in a while.**

**[Female Character Chaser]: Newbie, call us again next time!**

With those words, the angel and the constellations vanished without a trace. Leona and Rigan’s gazes fell upon their clasped hands.

“So… we have to go around like this for a whole day?”

Still, this was a temple and he was a High Priest; there must be some way. Leona and Rigan’s earnest gazes turned to Nathaniel, but he only nodded with an apologetic expression.

“That is correct.”

“…Crazy.”

Once again, Leona’s mouth had blurted out her inner thoughts.

Nathaniel said, ‘I’ll organize and send the items I originally intended to give you later,’ and urged the two to return quickly.

So, with grim expressions, the two had no choice but to board the magic carriage, holding hands.

“So, you’re saying the constellations held a vote?”

Rigan’s face was filled with disbelief after hearing the whole story from Leona.

The fact that 453 votes were cast for sticking hands together, and 3 votes were cast for sticking something else together—he didn’t even want to know what—was shocking enough to him.

The magnitude of that number was far greater than he had anticipated.

“There are over 400 of those strange constellations? And you just stood there watching? Is your brain just for decoration?”

“No, how was I supposed to know something like this would happen?!”

“So instead of using that useless head of yours directly, wouldn’t it have been better to entrust it to a brain that is far, *far* superior to yours?”

“I just didn’t want to talk to a jerk like you, okay?!”

Leona yelled and whipped her head away. It was a silent protest indicating she didn’t want to talk anymore.

And so, the carriage was filled with silence.

Each other’s breathing and the body heat felt through their hands were utterly dreadful.

When about 30 minutes of what felt like an eternity of suffering had passed for the two of them—

Clunk—.

Clunk—.

The surroundings seemed to become slightly noisy for some reason, and then the carriage jolted.

Because their hands were stuck together, the bodies of the two sitting side by side on the same side bumped into each other.

Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, Rigan spoke.

“Can’t you move away a bit?”

“The carriage is narrow, where else do you want me to go? Out the window?”

“I wish you would.”

Leona momentarily thought that jumping out of the carriage wouldn’t be such a bad idea, just to wipe that smug look off his face.

She would probably just get a few scratches from a proper fall, but wouldn’t that mage, unaware of such things, get scraped all over on the ground?

Half-seriously, she was about to pull back the curtain hanging on the carriage window.

“…Hey, Rigan! Get out!”

“What? This idiot can’t even tell a joke from…”

“That’s not it! Just look over there!”

Rigan followed Leona’s gesture and looked out the window.

What met Rigan’s gaze was the outermost checkpoint of the Vatican grounds.

There, a man was causing a disturbance, threatening the citizens lined up for entry.

Soldiers stationed at the checkpoint were trying to subdue him, but it didn’t look easy.

Flames erupted from the man’s body, deflecting the soldiers’ attacks, which caught the eyes of the two.

“…An Aether criminal. …Today’s bad luck is really something.”

Individuals who could handle Aether, a special energy different from ordinary people, were strictly managed by the state due to the danger they posed.

Of course, in every country, there were criminals who abused that power.

“Hah, instead of analyzing that, why don’t you just move that heavy butt of yours! Don’t you see those people are in danger?”

Leona immediately tried to stop the carriage and jump out, but she couldn’t do as she wished.

Because Rigan, with their hands connected, didn’t budge an inch and held his ground.

“What are you doing! Subduing a guy like that is our Special Forces’ job!”

“Are you suggesting we show ourselves to people looking like this?”

Rigan raised and shook their connected hands, and Leona exploded.

“You’re worried about saving face right now?! This situation is no joke! Are those people out there worth less than your pride?”

“Ha…”

“You really are trash, aren’t you? It’s amazing that there’s still more of you to be disappointed in!”

Having shouted that, Leona immediately drew her sword from her waist.

Then, she proceeded to swing it down toward her own arm.

“What are you doing right now?”

Rigan quickly channeled his Aether to block Leona’s hand.

Clang—.

As Rigan’s hastily cast shield blocked her sword, Leona exploded once more.

“Just let me cut off my arm and go alone!”

“Why are you suddenly trying to cut your arm off and causing a ruckus?! Are you out of your mind?”

” I can just reattach it later with regeneration magic!”

“Do you think regeneration magic is something just anyone can do?!”

“Ah-ha, so it seems the *great* Sir Rigan can’t perform regeneration magic.”

As Leona jeered, Rigan’s temper also flared up.

“I can do it! It’s just that it consumes too much Aether and is inefficient.”

Such a large spell was a burden even for the caster. It was a spell that would leave a mage incapacitated for a week after a single use.

“Knights are always like this. So brazen, as if magic is something you can just commission!”

“What?”

And if she cut off her arm, did that mean he would have to keep carrying her arm around with blood dripping from it?

She was truly an ignorant and barbaric woman.

“I don’t even want to talk to a fool who acts out on her own without hearing a person out.”

Rigan left the incredulous Leona behind and kicked the carriage door open.

As he stepped one foot outside, it created a formation as if he was blocking Leona inside, holding her back.

“Hey, are you not going to move?”

Ignoring Leona entirely, Rigan extended his hand.

His black Aether moved in a peculiar shape, and simultaneously, a colossal wall of water rose up from 500 meters away.

“Hiiik!”

The wall of water separated the rampaging man from the people.

It was such a clean execution that it was hard to believe it was cast from such a distance.

“Wh-who are you!”

Before the startled man could react to the suddenly appearing wall of water, Rigan’s next spell followed.

It was a powerful freezing spell called ‘Frozen Strangulation.’ Rigan unleashed spells that even most high-ranking mages couldn’t perform, without a single gasp of breath. And all of them were cast wordlessly.

If the mages of the Magic Tower were here, it would have been a sight to bring them to tears, applauding.

The flames surging from the man’s body gradually died down, and soon, ice encased him up to his head.

“Ugh.”

The man gasped a few times as if strangled, then collapsed limply and uselessly.

After confirming the fallen man, Rigan dispelled all his magic and turned around to look at Leona.

“See? This is long-range suppression.”

He raised the hand connected to Leona in front of her eyes and spoke.

“Different from stupid knights who can’t attack if they can’t get close—This is precisely, *ma.gic.*”

He was truly irritating, making her want to hit him.

Leona stared at the face smirking arrogantly in front of her.

‘Should I actually hit him…?’

Rigan clearly didn’t know how dangerous it was to provoke a knight at such close range.

And the kind Leona was more than willing to kindly inform Rigan of that fact.

Wondering which spot she should hit to make it known she’d hit him well, Leona was scrutinizing Rigan’s annoying face.

“…Ah?”

“What, what are you going to do staring at me like that?”

Rigan tried to pick a fight, but at that moment, Leona didn’t hear a single word.

Her eyes were now fixed not on Rigan, but on something behind him.

“Damn it.”

Thanks to her excellent dynamic vision, Leona immediately grasped the situation, and her face contorted fiercely.