The Legend of Sun Knight Side Stories 9: “Beloved Voodoo Doll”

The Legend of Sun Knight Side Story: Beloved Voodoo Doll

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)


“Beloved Voodoo Doll” – translated by Raylight

A little nervous, Elmairy looked at the person standing beside him. The other person was completely clothed in black. Although he was not wearing his usual black robes and was just wearing normal clothes to enable more freedom of movement, he still managed to look intimidating despite not actually being angry.

Lesus really was as solemn as the rumors implied. We are all sixteen, seventeen years old on average. How can he be this imposing?

Despite thinking it over a hundred times, Elmairy still could not figure it out. At the same time, he was a little afraid of his companion.

Actually, he was in a different group from Lesus, and in theory there should have been no chance of them going on a mission together. Thus, having to go on a mission with Lesus this time made him extremely nervous.

Someone who was good at using holy light was needed for the mission. However, all the other people in Elmairy’s group were either preoccupied by other matters, or didn’t want to go. Hence, he was left with no choice but to go.

Lesus’s distinctive deep voice rang out, “Elmairy, can you feel any dark element up ahead?”

Elmairy felt carefully for a while, and then shook his head, saying, “No. However, this distance is simply too great. If there isn’t a large amount of dark element, I’m unable to feel it. In this aspect, Grisia is better than me.”

Looking at the gloomy house before him, with its spacious grounds and large courtyard within its walls, Lesus also concluded that the distance was rather great. He shook his head as he said, “In this aspect, Grisia is indeed very strong. It’s a pity that he went to the palace with the Sun Knight today.”

Elmairy kept on staring at Lesus even after he had finished speaking. The latter’s heart lurched, and he hurriedly continued in his deep voice, “But even if he had not left the Holy Temple, I would not go on a mission with the young Sun Knight!”

Elmairy flinched, and in a small voice, he tried to explain, “Grisia is easy to get along with.”

Lesus coldly replied, “Regardless of whether he is easy to get along with, his swordsmanship is too lousy, and he often makes other people do his work for him. If I were to go on a mission with him, I’m afraid that I’d have to complete it alone.”

“…”

Although he wanted to defend his future immediate superior, Elmairy could not come up with any rebuttals at all. Lesus’s words had really hit the nail on the head! He couldn’t help but blurt out his own suspicions. “You understand Grisia really well. Could it be that you’re close to him?”

Lesus’s heart received yet another shock, but his face remained indifferent. After making a displeased expression and coldly snorting once, he said, “Why would I be close to the young Sun Knight? The young Sun Knight will one day be the Holy Temple’s role model, and everyone observes his each and every move. It is not hard to know of his conduct and deeds.”

Elmairy suddenly realized something. How terrible! So Grisia’s reputation for having lousy swordsmanship and throwing his work to others has already spread to the Judge’s Complex?

Lesus turned his head and gave an order to the five holy knights behind him. “The two of you, go to the back door and wait for further orders. As for you, knock on the door and call out to the owner of the house three times. If you hear no reply, immediately break down the door and enter, then begin the search.”

“Understood.”

Elmairy was extremely impressed by Lesus’s composure while giving orders. Although everyone knew that they were the future Twelve Holy Knights, the emphasis was on the word “future.” Not to mention, they were still young. Therefore, the young twelve knights did not actually hold any form of authority. Most of them would’ve hesitated and used a less commanding tone when giving orders to a bunch of holy knights who were many years their senior. However, Lesus did not seem to be troubled by this in the least.

The holy knights that were being commanded by a child also did not reveal any sort of dissatisfaction or awkwardness on their faces. They revered Lesus, and Elmairy could see that just from the expression on their faces.

Lesus is really amazing. However, if possible, Elmairy still didn’t want to go on a mission with him, as the feeling of oppression that came from being around Lesus was just too much. Standing at Grisia’s side is much more relaxing.

Lesus gave a final command. “Elmairy, you stay behind me and provide cover for everyone.”

Surely that’s just my own misperception? Hearing Lesus’s words, Elmairy abruptly realized that Grisia would always make others do his work for him. For example, in a situation like this, he would definitely tell others to go ahead first while he stayed at the back. However, Lesus’s conscientiousness was known far and wide, and he would probably never make others do his work for him.

Standing at Grisia’s side is actually not in the least bit relaxing either!

“Elmairy!” Lesus had walked a few steps and realized that the person behind him had not followed him. He shouted, “Why are you in such a daze? Hurry up and follow me! Also, take out your weapon as a precaution!”

“Yes, yes!” Elmairy received a huge shock. He quickly took the bow from his back, drew an arrow, and notched it on the string.

The holy knight who was at the front shouted for the owner of the house thrice. His voice was so loud that even the neighbors stuck their heads out to see what the commotion was, but there was still no reply from within the house.

Elmairy was a little nervous. According to the report, there was someone who was using dark elemental magic here. More importantly, the dark elemental magic was being used to harm others.

Bang!

The door was finally kicked open, and the party entered the house rapidly. Along the way, they searched the rooms one after another, not allowing any clues to slip by them.

Though the house was not small, it was not a palace either. Hence, in almost no time at all, they had searched the whole house several times. A holy knight reported to Lesus, “There is nobody inside the house.”

Lesus frowned and turned around to ask, “Elmairy, do you feel any dark element?”

Elmairy shook his head.

After receiving this reply, Lesus’s frown deepened.

“Perhaps it was a false alarm.” Elmairy made an attempt to explain, “The public has little understanding of the dark element, and sometimes when they see a few unusual occurrences, they believe that there is someone using black magic.”

Lesus also thought there was a high probability that that was what had happened, but he preferred to be a little more cautious. He said to everyone, “Go back and investigate one more time. If there is nothing abnormal, then we’ll leave…”

I’m going to kill you! Die, you unfaithful man!

Shocked, Elmairy yelled, “Lesus, that voice…”

After yelling the command “go,” Lesus started sprinting away. Elmairy and the other holy knights could only run after him.

They rushed to the middle of the courtyard. The courtyard was not big, and it only took a few glances to realize that someone was standing in the thicket, with a huge tree blocking a large portion of the person’s figure. They could hear the seemingly endless string of curses that the person was spouting, and see their disheveled hair. Also, the curses were accompanied by the sound of something being knocked on, and the source of that sound could not be identified.

Hearing the malicious curses coming from that person’s mouth, Elmairy’s scalp prickled. However, Lesus did not hesitate as he took a huge stride forward and yelled, “Put down the weapon in your hands!”

After his outburst, he finally got a good look at the person’s appearance, which caused him to become temporarily stunned because he had no idea what to do.

“Lesus?” Seeing that something was wrong, Elmairy rushed forward, but he too ended up rooted to the spot, dazed.

That person is actually a… woman?

Moreover, it was an extremely terrified woman. Although her hair was disheveled and her clothes were in a state of disorder, when she returned to her senses and saw Lesus and the others, she was so frightened that she couldn’t stand properly. She even dropped the object in her hands… It was a hammer.

The woman retreated a few steps and leaned on a tree. Beside her, a doll fashioned out of straw was actually pinned to the tree by many haphazardly placed nails.

“You, all of you, who are you? What do you want?” She shrieked in horror.

In a low voice, Lesus said, “We are holy knights from the Church of the God of Light, and we received a report that there was someone here using black magic to harm others.”

“Black, black magic?” The woman was terrified out of her wits, and couldn’t even speak properly. “I was only, only…”

“Take her aside first. Remember, do not let your guard down,” Lesus instructed the holy knights at his side.

“Understood!”

Elmairy sincerely felt that that woman didn’t seem like a practitioner of black magic. The dark element was not an element that could be easily harnessed. If she really knew how to use dark elemental magic, then she would have to be a relatively strong magician, and would not display such a distraught look.

“See if this has any traces of black magic.” Lesus bent down to pick up the hammer, and then placed it in Elmairy’s hands, saying, “Though I don’t believe that this has any relation to black magic, my holy light abilities are not strong. Will you check it for me?”

After Elmairy received the hammer, he turned it around to examine it from all angles. Then, he shook his head and said, “This is just an ordinary hammer with no anomalies. The concentration of dark element inside it is not high.”

“Not high? Then that means that there is some?” Lesus asked.

Hearing that, Elmairy hurriedly tried to explain, “You misunderstood what I meant. Every object’s elemental makeup is extremely complicated, and most are made up of a mixture of different elements. Although I have learned to sense the dark element, I am still unable to conclude whether this object has dark element or not. I can only say that its dark element is within the normal range, and is not unusually high.”

“I see.” Lesus nodded his head, and muttered to himself for a while. Then, he said, “Try copying that woman’s actions and hammering the straw doll. See if you can feel any dark element from doing so.”

“Uh… Okay.”

Although Elmairy felt that this was a little strange and didn’t actually want to do it, he couldn’t come up with any excuse to refuse. Not to mention it was Lesus asking! Never mind me, I doubt any holy knight would dare say “no”!

Actually that isn’t right either, because at the least, there’s Grisia who would dare to do so.

Elmairy walked to the front of the tree and stared at the straw doll. Having no other alternative, he raised the hammer and hit the doll once. Then, he turned around to look at Lesus. The latter frowned a little, and said, “Continue.”

Elmairy could only pick up the hammer and whack the doll again and again continuously. The more he hit it, the greater the strength he used, and the more engrossed in the task he became, until he seemed to forget what he had been doing in the first place…

“… Elmairy!”

Elmairy snapped out of it abruptly, and turned his head around with a puzzled look as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“That’s enough.” Lesus looked at Elmairy, and with a hint of suspicion, he asked, “Are you alright?”

Thoroughly confused, Elmairy answered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

After scrutinizing Elmairy and confirming that he was indeed back to normal, Lesus inquired, “Is there any dark element?”

“No, none at all.”

“Is that so?” Lesus pondered for a while, but he was still rather concerned at how mesmerized Elmairy had become just now. After thinking it through thoroughly, he made a decision. “For caution’s sake, I think we should hand the hammer and the straw doll over to the young Sun Knight for appraisal.”

“Okay.”

After knocking on Grisia’s door, Elmairy waited patiently. That was because whenever he knocked on the door, Grisia would be slow to respond eight out of ten times.

Elmairy heard a variety of noises coming from behind the door. The sharp sound of something falling; the sound of flowing water… Occasionally, he would even hear swearing like “F***, this must be a curse,” but Elmairy pretended not to hear any of that.

He remembered the time when he had unnecessarily asked Grisia, “What are you doing?” Immediately, Grisia had shoved a stack of documents into his hands that was at least half a meter tall. I wonder how long it took to accumulate so many documents…

Once the door was pulled open, a golden-haired teenage boy walked out. His smile was incomparably radiant, though his hair and clothes were still a little damp.

Had he been bathing? Elmairy felt a little apologetic.

Grisia began his long-winded inquiry. “Dear Brother Leaf, is it the God of Light’s whispers, or possibly because brothers should communicate with each other more often, that caused you to come and knock on the door…”

In order to stop him from continuing, Elmairy immediately took out the hammer and the straw doll, saying, “Lesus wanted me to show you these.”

Grisia bent his head to examine the straw doll and hammer, and his radiant smile became stiff for a moment. Puzzled, he asked, “What is it that Brother Lesus wishes me to see?”

“He wants you to see if there is any black magic in it.” Elmairy gave an honest recount of what had happened. “A citizen reported that someone near his house was using black magic to harm others, so Lesus and I went over to check it out…”

After hearing the whole story, Grisia bent his head to examine the hammer and straw doll once more, and then waved to Elmairy, beckoning him into the room.

Elmairy was a little surprised, but he still followed Grisia in.

“There isn’t any black magic on this at all!”

Unexpectedly, Grisia made a conclusion right after closing the room door. Not to mention, his tone was “not elegant at all.” Elmairy was not too surprised about that. All of the Twelve Holy Knights knew that Grisia’s degree of elegance changed according to how many people surrounded him -– as the number decreased, his elegance would drop as well.

“Are you sure?” Elmairy was a little uncertain, so he immediately started describing the situation at the time. “But that woman’s appearance as she hit the straw doll was really frightening! It was almost as though she had gone crazy!”

“She was only venting her emotions.” Grisia shook his head, saying, “If hitting a voodoo doll is black magic, then black magic would be far too easy to cast.”

Elmairy had also thought so, but he didn’t understand the other sentence that Grisia had said. “How does hitting a voodoo doll help one vent his emotions?”

Grisia smiled once, and explained, “It’s not hitting the voodoo doll that helps, it’s hitting the fellow who made you angry that lets you vent your emotions! You imagine the voodoo doll as your enemy, even stuffing his hair or fingernails inside it, and then you stab him mercilessly with a nail!”

Elmairy’s eyes opened wide as he exclaimed, “That doesn’t seem like a good thing to do!”

“What’s so bad about it?” Grisia shrugged, saying, “It’s better if she hits a voodoo doll rather than actually killing her enemy with a knife, right?”

Hmm? When you say it like that, it sounds very logical! Elmairy looked at the straw doll in his hands, recalling what he had felt when he had followed Lesus’s instructions and hammered it… No! No way, I definitely cannot allow myself to engage in such eccentric behavior!

“Oh yeah, Strawberry.” Grisia suddenly shouted.

“My name is Elmairy… Forget it, what’s the matter?”

“Hold out both of your hands.”

Elmairy did as he was told, and held his hands out. Then, a pile of documents, half a meter tall, was shoved onto his hands.

Grisia was currently searching for Elmairy because the documents were overdue and his teacher was nagging at him non-stop. He had no choice but to go and check if Elmairy had finished yet… Though the probability that he isn’t is higher, seeing as the pile of documents was as tall as a mountain.

If there were no other choice, he would also have to join in and correct the paperwork. Grisia felt a little depressed, for he hated correcting documents the most. To correct one document, he had to write the three words “God of Light” at least twenty times. It’s just like being punished and having to write lines!

I hope that Strawberry has already finished. Grisia pushed open the door to Elmairy’s room, and then, seeing a situation that was just too shocking, froze in place.

Elmairy lifted the hammer and hit the voodoo doll on the wall forcefully again and again. He even cursed non-stop as he did so, saying, “Curse you! You always make me do your work! I often can’t finish and have to pull all-nighters! ‘No matter what kind of request it is, I can’t refuse it,’ what kind of lousy set-up is that… Grisia?”

After cursing for a while, Elmairy finally saw Grisia standing at the doorway, and was immediately scared out of his wits.

“Y-You, why are you here?” The color of Elmairy’s face was so terrible that it couldn’t get any worse. As a holy knight, he actually did something like cursing while hitting a voodoo doll. Also, he’d actually been found out! Just like how they misunderstood that woman’s actions, would people think that I’m using black magic? Then, I would be replaced… Maybe not just that, I could even be burnt at the stake!

Grisia suddenly had a really bad feeling about this. If I say something like “I saw you hitting a voodoo doll,” will he hammer the nail into my body instead?

Though Elmairy was usually very easy to bully, his intuition told him never to mention the matter of Elmairy hitting a voodoo doll in his room, otherwise he might not live to be promoted to the Sun Knight.

“I-I see… I see that Brother Elmairy’s room is really very clean!”

Elmairy was stunned. Grisia doesn’t intend to report me? …Not to mention, what did he just call me? How long has it been since he last said my name correctly?

Flustered, Grisia said, “I only came to retrieve the documents, and didn’t see anything. Also, I swear that after I leave this place, I definitely won’t remember a thing!”

Seeing that Grisia really did not seem to have any intention of reporting him, Elmairy then timidly explained, “I, I only wanted to test whether I could really vent my frustrations using this. I discovered that it was actually quite useful, s-so I…”

“Cough!” Grisia coughed loudly as he said, “I only came here to retrieve the documents, and didn’t see anything. Therefore, you don’t need to explain, just tell me whether you have finished correcting the documents?”

Elmairy nodded, walked to the side of his desk, and picked up a thick stack of documents. He then walked to the doorway, and was just about to hand the documents over to Grisia when he suddenly stopped moving.

Just as Grisia was considering whether to snatch the documents and run, Elmairy suddenly asked, “Grisia, can you give me a strand of your golden hair?”

“… Okay.”

Grisia plucked a strand of his own hair, and handed it over to Elmairy with one hand while receiving the documents with the other. As he closed the room’s doors, he attempted to hypnotize himself by muttering, “I’ve really brought this onto myself. I actually taught Strawberry how to nail voodoo dolls, even telling him that he can use hair and nails… No, no, no! I don’t know that Strawberry nails voodoo dolls, don’t remember, don’t remember, don’t ever remember… Later I should go drink with my teacher until I get wasted, and then treat it as a dream! Yup! I’ll go do that!”

Hearing those mutterings, Elmairy started smiling. Although he was still holding the hammer in his right hand, he didn’t feel like nailing the voodoo doll anymore.

He took the voodoo doll from the wall, and stuffed the golden hair in. After that, Elmairy smiled as he said, “From now on, I’ll have to trouble you to vent my anger! Beloved voodoo doll… And Grisia.”

48 Responses

  1. starwarrior

    Yes. Yes. YES! I’ve been checking constantly and the God of Light as smiled upon us readers.

  2. LennyThynn

    Oh wow, Grisia was the one who taught Elmairy about voodoo dolls?

    What a thing to come biting backXDXDXD I bet he regrets that. And he was so shocked at seeing Elmairy has a scary side, too.

    This one was amazingly funny, as usual. Thank you for translating!<3

  3. Pyro

    Wow… I knew about the voodoo doll thing with Elmairy, but this story was just creepy.

  4. beta

    Further evidence that the only way to get Sun to remember their name is through fear.

  5. Gohankuten

    So it wasn’t the previous Leaf but Grisia that got Elmairy into voodoo. Still funny as hell though lol. Grisia actually changed one of the few knights that was exactly like their image.

  6. Siluna

    Lol! So Grisia is the one who enabled Elmairy to use voodoo dolls! I think that may have landed in Grisia’s top ten most scary moments. XD

  7. Listening Daisy

    “From now on, I’ll have to trouble you to vent my anger! Beloved voodoo doll… And Grisia.”
    I wonder if he extended his assortment of dolls over the years…

    • Jasae Bushae

      @starwarrior
      http://www.princerevolution.org/knight_v3c1/ seems he generally grabs some proportionate to whenever grisla upsets him XD
      silly leaf, even in revenge hes to nice XD

      Carefully holding the lock of hair up, he asked, “I cut a little more, is that alright? I believe that along the way, I will need to use it frequently… I mean, along the road where sunlight shines brilliantly, I will frequently need to take it out and hold it under the sunshine. It will definitely be very pretty as it sparkles.”

    • shiro

      @Jasae Bushae
      Wait so that means that during the night when Grisia wasn’t around he nailed voodo dolls?! That may explain why he was awake when Grisia killed the animal….

  8. Aerebes

    This just made my day life. It was actually Grisia who taught Elmairy how to use them <===my face when i read this

  9. d1r31

    Thank you for the translation. It’s good that Elmairy found an outlet for his frustration & stress. I shudder to think of how things might have turned out otherwise. Maybe Grisia would have not lived long enough to become the actual Sun Knight & Roland would have been pressed into duty instead.

  10. Aurelia

    Oh my goodness!
    I love this story! xD
    Hahaha the ‘dark-ish’ side of Leaf, brought out by our beloved Grisia.
    This has to be one of my favourites. <3
    Thanks for the translation!
    You guys are awesome (: /offers virtual cookies (again.)

  11. NeoWarrior

    LOLololoLOLOLOLolololOLOLOLololol
    So it was Grisia who taught Leaf how to use a voodoo doll in the first place!!!!
    Hahahaha! OMG! OMGOL! OMGOW! OMSG!

    This is seriously hilarious!

  12. Ozzien

    “Moreover, it was an extremely terrifying woman.” Do you mean “terrified woman”? It would make more sense in context.

    “To correct one document, he had to write the three words “God of Light” at least twenty times. It’s just like being punished and having to write lines!” :DDDD No wonder he hates correcting documents XD

    • [PR]lucathia

      Yes, it should be terrified. Thanks! I’ll get that changed.

    • MoonlightFlower

      @[PR]lucathia
      Are you sure? From my understanding, “terrifying” means someone is scary, but “terrified” means someone is scared.

      In that context I think it would make senses if it is “scary”, as it is a woman venting out her anger after all….

    • [PR]lucathia

      There are two ways to read the original characters used here for terrified/terrifying, and the one that fits better depends on the context. One way is more passive where she is the one being alarmed, and the other way is that she is alarming other people. Based on the way the paragraph later reads, I do believe it should be “terrified” here because the paragraph details how she is scared of Lesus, and later paragraphs then detail how she backs up and shrieks in fright.

  13. MPToki

    Yay!!!
    I been checking every day, and here is a new chapter!!!! =D
    Thank You For Updating =D
    So, Grisia taught Elmairy how to vent out his anger~
    Thats nice because people would go crazy if they hold on too much stress.
    Any way Thank You Again =D

  14. nuro

    i thought grisia only afraid of lesus….. so even elmairy can make grisia stunned

  15. Vi

    sooo… he’s more interested in troubling Grisia (or whoever he’s angry at) than using the voodoo dolls? and having Grisia ‘accidentally’ discover Leaf’s voodoo is more of a way to trouble Grisia further?

    uh, who remembers what our un-dead knight discovered about Leaf?

  16. Sasifras

    Though I have read this before, I was stalking this site to see it again. I love how Grisia is connected to all of his fellow knights in some interesting ways. But this, this just makes you want to hug Elmairy and tell him he is adorable.

  17. Anonymous

    Oh, the laughter.

    Though a small part of it, I really enjoyed how Lesus’s attempt to appear disliking of the Sun Knight turns around and instead reveals how close he is to him. *great amusement*

  18. Domene

    Thank you all for the translation I really enjoyed it.
    I think that leaf is really good to not kill sun knight given the opportunity I myself would at least hold a huge grudge at him.

  19. YourEveryDayStalker

    @_@, i think you already posted this one , in your livejournal *cough* seems like an easy month *evil smirk*

  20. The Man Behind the Curtain

    I thought for sure it was a technique passed down by previous Leaf Knights, like Grisia commissioning undead creatures from a necromancer.

  21. dollyfishe

    wahahhahahaha read this on phone and i cant believe how hard i laugh \(^^)/
    good thing i’m all alone :D
    thank you for the update ^^ u all really great still can do the translation despite u all in exam :D i guess for next month there wont be much update ? ah well, me only need more patience for that :D

  22. AC

    Hahahaha… so that’s how Sun knew…
    The voodoo doll technique is really good – it has to be, to allow Leaf to be such a nice guy despite his prolongued convivence with Sun.
    Thanks for the story.

  23. kagami

    Hmmm…. I wonder will Elmairy teach his future student about venting anger to the poor voodoo doll? Like Neo taught Grisia to do it to the undead creature? Hahahaha… :D

  24. Ozzien

    My reason for suggestin was this:

    “Elmairy rushed forward, but he too ended up rooted to the spot, dazed.

    That person is actually a… woman?

    Moreover, it was an extremely terrified woman.”

    Leaf wouldn’t have been so surprised if the woman was terrifying because then she would have fit his expectations of a black magic user. It’s possible that terrified could be used, but stating something surprising (that she was a woman) and then saying “moreover” suggests that something equally surprising would come after.

  25. Mokona

    why do you call it a voodoo dall?
    it is as acurate as a recipy for jewish pork roast

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