Chapter 207: Good and Evil
Ronaldo opened his mouth and grinned, the gap where his front teeth should have been a dark hollow, and his left hand snapped back toward the case. A slender, elegant rapier appeared in his grip. He struck backhanded, and the blade hummed as sword-light flared along its edge.
This strike was easily ten times faster than the one before it. Parker only had time to register that something was wrong — a coldness spreading through his stomach, as though something had driven into it — before the pain caught up with him. He let out a scream, disbelief plain in his eyes, and forced out one last phrase.
"The Reverse-Grip Cross Sword—"
Then he crashed to the ground.
Tina heard him say it. The distance was considerable, but a knight's hearing far surpassed an ordinary person's, and her expression turned grave. Her teacher Catherine had once told her about the Reverse-Grip Cross Sword — a fusion of elven swordsmanship and knightly technique, blindingly fast, its strikes impossible to anticipate because there was no telling where the blade would come from. It was said to feel almost like the sword cut through space itself. But the technique was notoriously difficult to master, requiring some rare aptitude, and if you ever crossed paths with someone who wielded it, your best option was to keep your distance.
By then Ronaldo had already sheathed his blade. He'd wrapped the case back in its cloth sack and slung it over his shoulder again, and before him, Devil's Hand Parker lay still on the ground.
Shuang cried out.
"Sister Tina, what are you doing here?"
A unicorn stepped out slowly, Shuang perched on its head. Joe and Jed looked on in confusion as Tina answered.
"We tracked the devil worshipper Parker here, and we've finally put an end to him. Shuang, how are you here?"
Ronaldo blinked in surprise at the sight of her. It brought Evan to mind — didn't he have a flower fairy too? When had flower fairies become so common? This one seemed to know the woman knight, though it didn't occur to him to connect her with Evan.
He walked over just as Shuang was saying, "My true self is in Nabos — this is only a split image of me. I came back to see how things were going. Sister Tina, you looked so fierce just now, and those wings were beautiful. Ling, this is Sister Tina, a friend of the li— of the master."
Then she introduced Ling to Tina. "This is the unicorn Ling, a good friend of mine and the master's." As for Joe and Jed, Shuang had already forgotten they existed.
Joe and Jed's eyes lit up at the sight of the flower fairy and the unicorn, already scheming about how to win the unicorn over. Neither of them caught that Shuang had nearly let something slip — that she seemed to belong to someone. A flower fairy was typically a mage's companion, but the two of them were knights, and it was the unicorn that interested them; a unicorn as a mount would send their combat strength soaring.
It hadn't crossed Tina's mind to think that way. She had heard Evan speak of Ling before, and she was delighted to meet her.
"Hello. I'm Tina. I'd be glad to be your friend."
"Lovely knight, it's an honor to meet you. Hello, I'm Ling," Ling said.
Joe and Jed both blinked, and then Joe spoke up.
"Honored unicorn, hello. I'm Joe. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Your words are full of lies and ill will. I don't like you." Ling had no patience for human niceties — whatever she felt, she said. Joe froze for a moment, then his face twisted with anger.
"Full of ill will? Don't slander me. I'm a noble knight — how could I possibly be full of malice and lies?" His expression twisted further, while Jed began to laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Joe's glare swung toward him.
Jed said smugly, "You've clearly been scheming about the unicorn. They say unicorns are perceptive — a man who isn't pure of heart can never win one's favor. Caught out, were you?"
"And you'd dare claim you haven't been thinking the same thing?"
"True enough, I have had the thought. That's why I kept my mouth shut instead of embarrassing myself," Jed said with a grin. At that, Ling backed away several steps, faint sparks of light flickering along her horn. She couldn't make sense of human hearts. By her own measure of good and evil, Tina seemed like a genuinely kind person, though there was blood on her hands as well — so how had she ended up traveling with these two wicked men?
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Only then did Tina realize what her companions had been plotting.
"Both of you, behave yourselves. Don't even think about the unicorn — she's my friend."
She shot them both a fierce look. Joe seethed inwardly but kept his outward manner respectful, while Jed simply laughed.
"Miss Tina, I stand corrected — I won't think about the unicorn anymore. Not that I could ever win her over anyway. You should be the one to claim her. You're a pure maiden; she'll listen to you."
"That's enough. We came out here to hunt down a devil worshipper, and now that the task is done, we should rejoin the others. We haven't gone deep into the Black Forest — nowhere near the heart of it — and I hear there are powerful beasts further in." With that, she turned to go.
Ronaldo caught up with them just then, and Tina thanked him. He waved a hand.
"No need. I'd wanted to be rid of Parker for a while now — today was as good a day as any."
Ling studied him with interest.
"You're an honest one. A good man — not like those two, with their hidden schemes."
Ling had no grasp of social tact, and her verdict earned Ronaldo their enmity on the spot. Joe said nothing, but his eyes turned dark as he studied Ronaldo, and a flicker of hatred crossed Jed's face too, gone as quickly as it had come.
Ronaldo laughed heartily at Ling's words.
"You flatter me. I know my own worth — I've never had grand ambitions. To put it plainly, I've no great designs on the world. I just take each day as it comes. Hardly worth a divine beast's praise."
Rough as Ronaldo looked on the outside, he was a shrewd man underneath, and his hearty laugh was simply cover behind that rough exterior.
"You're Ronaldo — Aunt Iris's nephew. You seem even bolder than before," Shuang said suddenly.
"You know him, Shuang?" Ling asked.
"Of course I do. Wang and I once ate at his family's inn — though that meal turned into quite an ordeal, as it happened," Shuang said.
Understanding dawned on Ronaldo. "You're the pet that rides on that necromancer's shoulder! No wonder you seemed familiar. Here I was wondering why there were suddenly so many flower fairies about — turns out we already know each other."
At that, Tina stopped and gave Ronaldo a smile.
"So you know Wang too. Thank you again — where are you headed?"
"I'm making my way to Kansas City, alone. I'll stop at Waltersdorf first to see if Teresa's still with Viscount Leonardo. If she isn't, I'll go on to Kansas City to look for her," Ronaldo said.
"You know Sister Teresa?"
"Wait, how do you know Teresa? Ah — I understand now. You must be the girl Wang told us about back then. Is she doing well?" Ronaldo said, startled for a moment before the connection clicked into place. Evan had told them about Teresa once, back when they'd first met — and now, only two or three short years later, here he was running into her by pure chance.
Tina had no idea what Evan had told them back then, but she answered his question anyway.
"Teresa slipped back into Kansas City about a month ago. The governor there has changed too — the old one was promoted elsewhere."
"Thank you. I'll head there at once," Ronaldo said. In truth, the real reason for his journey was the Saint's Skull — and Teresa was likely the one who knew where it was.
Tina had never truly worried about Teresa. In the two years since, Teresa had studied hard and was no longer the girl she'd once been — she'd honed her sword aura and grown remarkably skilled at moving unseen. By Catherine's own judgment, she could go anywhere in the world and manage well enough. With the old governor of Kansas City gone, there seemed little danger to speak of, and only a few days ago a letter had arrived saying she was safe and that the Saint's Skull remained well hidden.
Watching Ronaldo go, Tina found herself missing Teresa a little. She decided that once she was back, she'd check whether there were any assignments near Kansas City — she wanted to pay the city a visit herself.
She turned back and waved to Shuang and Ling.
"Goodbye, Shuang. Goodbye, Ling."
She pulled the reins and turned her horse toward Parker's body. As they drew close, Joe took the man's head with a single stroke of his sword and left the rest of the corpse where it lay, abandoned. Ling flinched, distaste plain in her eyes.
No one buried the dead in the Black Forest — the forest's own beasts would take care of a corpse soon enough. But Shuang took to the air and circled the headless body a few times, searching it. She spotted a ring on one of his fingers, set with a small fragment of spatial stone — a space ring. Hovering above, she pointed a finger, and the ring slipped free of the corpse's hand and floated up into her grasp. She sent a probe of her spiritual power into it, and delight lit up her face at once.
Inside were piles of gold coins. Besides those, there was a full set of alchemy equipment, though few actual magic items — just a single scroll and a handful of jewels. Jewels and gold coins were exactly what Shuang loved most.
Her behavior left the unicorn baffled.
"Shuang, why are you taking a dead man's things?"
"Well, he's dead now, so it's all ownerless anyway. There's plenty of gold and jewels in here — do you want some?" Shuang asked cheerfully.
Ling took a step back. "I don't want any of it!"
Shuang gave her a scornful look. "You unicorns are so rigid. This gold and these jewels could help a lot of people — just a few days ago I gave two gold coins to a poor little girl. I'm doing good work. Leaving it here to rot would be nothing but a waste."
She turned back to what was left of Parker. "Well, since I've taken your things, it wouldn't sit right leaving you exposed out here in the wild. I'll bury you."
As she spoke, her slender little wand appeared in her hand, and she began chanting. With a flick of the wand, the earth churned and turned fluid as water, and the headless corpse sank down into the ground.
Ling said, "Shuang, that's a little disgusting. You've been with the lich so long, you're starting to turn into one yourself."
"I have not. If anything, I've grown more compassionate — a proper do-gooder now." Shuang waved the objection away. "Never mind, there's no reasoning with a rigid mind like yours. Good and evil isn't something you can simply smell out. You unicorns think you can tell people's hearts apart so clearly, and yet that's exactly why you'll never become gods — you're too rigid about it. Ling, are you interested in seeing more of the human world? That Tina seemed like a good choice to look after."