The Legend of Sun Knight Side Stories 15: “Pride”

The Legend of Sun Knight Side Story: Pride

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

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“Pride” – translated by lucathia

Vival always raises his chin with pride.

However, this pride was nearly nonexistent before Lesus.

Even if the future Judgment Knight never lifts his chin, the expression on his face always remains a deep frown, and no one can have more pride than him.

Never go against Lesus. That is something only Grisia can accomplish.

“What are you so haughty about, hmph!”

Vival had his chin raised, barely glancing through the corner of his eye at the person who had approached him. Although the other person had given him a friendly smile, Vival had completely ignored the other’s action and walked passed him. Unsurprisingly, muttered swearing came from behind.

I’m sorry. Vival silently spoke these words to himself.

“Not bad!”

A man walked out from behind a tree. Although he had spoken words of praise, and he was even clapping with his hands, both his slightly raised chin and his purposely impeccable clothes made people feel like the praise was actually closer to words of mockery.

Vival let his chin drop. A smile appeared, his entire demeanor changing. “Teacher, thank you for your praise—”

Before he even finished speaking, his teacher rolled his eyes at him. Vival quickly raised his chin and changed his words, saying, “This is nothing for me!”

Hayseth Moon coldly snorted. “You sure know how to talk big!”

Despite his words, he extended a hand to rub his student’s head. At the same time, he felt somewhat saddened that his student had already grown this tall in the blink of an eye. Also, his student had his head raised, so it was getting more and more difficult to rub his head.

In addition, he didn’t know when the child would grow up to the point that he would no longer wish for his teacher to rub his head! Thinking of this, Hayseth quickly rubbed some more. Vival’s hair was soft and fine, very comfortable to the touch.

No matter how much the Moon Knight was worried about the future, at least right now Vival was still very willing to let his teacher rub his head. Still, Vival sometimes worried that he was acting like a spoiled child when he was already eighteen. It really wouldn’t do, especially since none of the others seemed as much of an attention seeker as he was.

Hayseth coughed and retracted his hand, returning to his prideful attitude with a straight back and a raised chin. He coldly said, “Vival, what is the first requirement of maintaining a prideful demeanor?”

“A neat and tidy appearance!” Vival immediately began combing his hair that had become messy from the rubbing. His hair only came down to his shoulders, so it was not very difficult to manage. At least, it was much easier to manage than Grisia’s long hair…

Once he thought of Grisia, Vival spoke distressfully, “Teacher, about my appearance, I do not think I can win against Grisia. It is very difficult to maintain a prideful demeanor in front of him.”

When he heard Vival’s words, Hayseth was struck speechless. That guy Neo was not the Moon Knight, so Hayseth really didn’t know why Neo had raised his child up to have an impeccable outer appearance—No, he really shouldn’t think about it too much. Neo most likely did it out of “amusement!” That guy had always been like that.

Winning against Grisia in appearance was truly too difficult. Hayseth coughed again and said, with a raised chin, “Grisia is the Sun Knight, the leader of the Holy Temple, the one who will lead you in the future. You do not need to be too prideful before him.”

“Okay.” Vival breathed a sigh of relief, but then he began worrying again. “Teacher, then what about Lesus?”

Seeing his student afraid of one person after another, Hayseth couldn’t help but be somewhat angry. However, he immediately thought of the both of them, Grisia and Lesus… and believed that his student’s reaction was nothing to criticize him about.

“Same logic. Lesus is the Judgment Knight under the Sun Knight, and he is the person you will directly take orders from in the future, so no need to be too prideful before him either.”

Suddenly, Hayseth used the corners of his eyes to glance around before he approached his student and lowered his voice to ask, “Vival, if you had to choose between angering Grisia or angering Lesus, who would you choose?”

“Teacher…” Vival helplessly asked, “Have you once again made a bet with someone?”

“Ahem!” Hayseth coughed loudly and said, “Just a small one. Tell me quickly. I still need to return and collect the bet from all of them!”

You mean pay the bet! Teacher, you always lose nine times out of ten! Vival sighed to himself and then wondered out loud, “Teacher, do you feel death by jumping off a building is worse or death by jumping into the sea?”

“What kind of question is that? You die either way, only by a different method.”

Vival looked into the distance and lamented, “Exactly. Both ways lead to death, so what does it matter how the death comes about?”

“…” Hayseth suddenly felt that his generation really wasn’t that tragic even though they had Neo. “No, I’ve made a bet with other people, so you have to give me an answer!”

“If I really have to make a choice, I’m probably more afraid of…”

“Holy knight Vival!”

When he heard his name, Vival immediately shut his mouth, returning to his cold and unperturbed expression. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone running toward him from afar. Once the person reached his side, a greeting was administered toward Hayseth. “Knight-Captain Moon, may the God of Light’s severity look after the world.”

Like usual, Hayseth did not return the greeting. He merely coldly glanced at the other person. “What?”

“Knight-Captain Moon, I am here for holy knight Vival.”

Hayseth darted his eyes at his student. Logically speaking, this had nothing to do with him, so he could leave right away. However, he hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the bet…no, the answer yet, so of course he didn’t really want to leave.

Seeing the unfamiliar face before him, Vival asked doubtfully, “Who are you?”

“I am Vidar Brigg.” The other person’s attitude was somewhat wary, but he paused and couldn’t help revealing a proud expression as he said, “I am Captain Lesus’s vice-captain.”

Surprised, Vival said, “Lesus has already chosen a vice-captain?” I thought we only just finished selecting our platoon?

“Yes.” Vidar nodded. Even though he wanted to maintain a calm attitude, his bright expression and his lips that kept quirking up were both betraying him.

Vival used the corner of his eyes to discreetly study the other man. He was somewhat curious why Lesus had chosen him. He looked a little… baby-faced, and he didn’t seem like he could hide his emotions well. Vival had thought that Lesus would choose someone like himself whose expression wouldn’t change even if the Holy Temple were to collapse.

After a moment of observation, Vival realized that the other man had not spoken anything more. He could only pretend to be impatient and say, “What in the world did you come here for anyway?”

“Uh…Ah!” Vidar jumped, finally remembering what he had been sent here to do. He quickly said, “I am here to relay that Captain Lesus would like to see you.”

Vival blinked. “Lesus is looking for me? Got it, I’ll head over right now. Lead the way.”

“Understood.”

Vival had only just turned to leave when Hayseth made eyes at him desperately, never to be satisfied unless he received an answer.

With a wry smile, Vival said, “Teacher, I feel that compared to jumping into the wide and open sea, neither floating nor sinking, not knowing when I would perish, death by jumping off a building is much cleaner and to the point.”

When he heard the conversation, Vidar looked back curiously but didn’t ask anything. It was not an uncommon occurrence for teachers and their students to chat, though the topic this time was rather strange.

Once he heard the answer, Hayseth furrowed his brows, but he knew that Vival wouldn’t joke around with him. After thinking carefully about the two children, Grisia and Lesus, and then comparing the methods of “death,” he immediately came to a realization and smiled as he said, “I agree.”

The bet was his!

Vival followed behind Vidar. Although he was a little puzzled over why Lesus wanted to see him, he thought it probably had to be a mission, so he didn’t plan to ask Vidar about it first.

They reached the Judge’s Complex, and Lesus seemed like he had just finished an interrogation and was now going through the confession. A few holy knights were cleaning up the place.

“Vidar, give this document to my teacher, and then take the others to the training grounds to practice our new series of swordplay. There will be a test in three days.”

Vidar answered in the affirmative and led the holy knights who had finished cleaning the place away from the Judge’s Complex.

Once everyone had left the Judge’s Complex, Vival finally relaxed a little. He rubbed his neck as he asked, “Why did you choose Vidar as your vice-captain?”

Lesus answered quietly, “When I asked if anyone wanted to be my vice-captain, he was the only one to raise his hand and say yes.”

…The others probably only reacted too slowly, or even if they reacted in time, they wouldn’t raise their hands and say yes in such an outrageous fashion! It’s not like they’re kindergarteners!

Vival took several deep breaths and then asked, “Is he powerful?”

“He’s okay.”

Just okay? Vival opened his mouth but then recalled that it was Lesus who had said “He’s okay,” which probably meant that he must not be bad.

“There’s something I need your help with.” Lesus lowered his head and looked at the whip hanging by Vival’s waist. He asked, “How are you with a whip?”

Help? Not a mission? Vival looked at his whip in bewilderment and said, “I’m very good. I’ve already finished learning all the forms, and my teacher says that my control is even better than his!”

“Very good.” Lesus nodded his head. “Come with me.”

Vival was a little puzzled, but the person before him was Lesus, so there was no need to worry. If it were Grisia, then he might need to worry a bit. Rumor had it that even Demos, who made people really doubt if he even existed or not, had fallen in to a dizzyingly busy state, and the perpetrator behind that was exactly Grisia!

Lesus opened the door to the last interrogation room. The moment Vival followed him inside, he spotted a person tied to the interrogation rack.

Is this an interrogation? Although he had received a bit of training in interrogation, Lesus had never asked him to help…

However, when his gaze swept across the face of the criminal, he yelled in surprise, “Laica!”

Vival rushed forward. Laica was heavily chained; even his mouth was chained, and it was not going to be easy to free him. Vival immediately turned his head, asking, “Lesus, w-why have you tied him up?”

Lesus stood by the doorway, looking at Vival. Then, he reached behind to close the door to the interrogation room and even used a sword to block the way, barring outside people from entering.

“…”

Vival backed up and began to calculate how much of a chance he would have of winning against Lesus… No! It would be more practical to think about whether he wanted to die by Lesus’s hand or to kill himself off instead!

“Lesus, has Laica done something bad?” Vival shot Laica a worried look. Once he discovered that Laica did not seem to have many injuries, Vival couldn’t help but relax a bit.

Lesus slowly walked over and said, “No, he completed his mission very well. You can practically say he completed it perfectly.”

“If that’s so, why have you tied him up?” Vival was already starting to consider if he would be able to break the chains with one swing of his whip. With Laica, they would at least have a slightly better chance against Lesus.

Lesus stopped and began organizing the interrogation tools that were to the side. “A few years ago while facing the enemy, I poured everything into my sword aura. When I took a heavy step backward, I accidentally stepped on Laica’s foot, yet he showed a smile. From that moment onward, I felt that something was off.”

Vival didn’t understand. “It was only a small injury, so what’s wrong about smiling to show you that he was fine with it?”

“I stepped so hard I cracked the brick floor.”

“…”

Lesus said indifferently, “Several times after that, once he completed an assigned mission very satisfactorily, I would ask him what kind of reward he wanted. Although he said he didn’t need anything, he kept looking at my foot. So I kicked him.”

So you kicked him? Vival’s eyes were wide open, suddenly gaining a deeper understanding of his future Judgment Knight.

“And then?” Right after asking, Vival somewhat regretted doing so. He had a feeling that he might hear something he shouldn’t hear.

“Then, he fell to the floor and looked at me. He made no motion to climb back up, so I kicked him again.” Lesus’s tone was still very indifferent.

“…And then?” Vival was so shocked he felt numb.

Lesus picked up a short whip, turned to look at Laica, and then put the whip down. After that, he picked up a short stick, looked at Laica again, and started walking over with the stick.

“Whenever Laica completes his missions very satisfactorily, I would sometimes reward him.”

Reward? What’s with the wooden stick… Vival’s face twitched.

Lesus walked before the interrogation rack. Vival unconsciously took a step to the side to let him through. In the next second, he saw Lesus swing the stick at Laica who was tied to the rack. He nearly shouted out in alarm, but he saw that Laica hadn’t reacted much, so he must not have been injured too badly. Only then did Vival calm down.

“Sigh…”

Vival abruptly twisted his head. Did I just hear Lesus sigh?

“We started training when we were ten. The older we get, the stronger our bodies become. Using too little strength won’t even hurt Laica anymore, so now harsher blows are required. But it’s really hard to grasp the right degree, so sometimes clerics become necessary. It makes it easy for suspicions to arise.”

Lesus furrowed his brows and said quietly, “So, I’ve been thinking, whips should be a good choice of weapon. The degree of pain will be strong but the injuries won’t be deep, yet I am not good with a whip, so I could only come to you—”

Vival hurriedly interrupted. “Wait a moment! I don’t understand. Why do you need me?”

Lesus calmly said, “I need you to help hit Laica.”

“…Why hit him?” Vival nearly needed to force the words out.

“Laica likes to be hit, so whenever he completes his missions very satisfactorily, I would hit him as a reward.”

Are you joking… However, Lesus wasn’t one to joke; moreover, he wouldn’t joke about something like this. Vival started to hate his own understanding of Lesus. He couldn’t even say, “You’re kidding me!” to him.

“Vival.”

Vival lifted his head to look at Lesus. The other gestured at Laica and said, “Later, I have a battle I promised to attend, so please start immediately.”

Start what? Vival stood rooted to the spot, looking at Lesus who growled, “Swing your whip!”

Reflexively, Vival grabbed the whip by his waist and swung it toward the interrogation rack. When he heard a soft whimper, he abruptly realized what he had done. He looked up and saw a tear around the thigh area of Metal’s pants, and there was blood trickling from it.

I actually harmed a comrade! Vival paled, helplessly looking toward the person who had given the command, Lesus.

“Put more strength behind it.” It was like Lesus was trying to guide him with his words. “Carefully watch Laica’s expression and listen to him. It’s very easy to tell that this still isn’t enough for him, so you need to put more strength behind it.”

Vival hurriedly passed the whip over. “Lesus, you do it. I can lend my whip to you. If you don’t know how to use a whip, I can also teach you…”

Lesus didn’t take the whip. He merely turned his head and looked at Vival.

“…You want me to put more strength behind it? What kind of injury do you want me to inflict? Tell me, and I can accomplish whatever you want!”

“Don’t injure his bones, don’t make him bleed too much, don’t hit his face.”

“Understood!”

Teacher, I was wrong. Can I still change my answer? Actually, death by jumping off a building is very scary too~~

“Brat! What the heck are you changing your answer for? You made me lose the bet again!”