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Chapter 66: One Step Before the Tragedy

(A few weeks ago)

In the royal castle, the Queen sat on the edges of her fountain. Charming ladies, wearing chitons, sat around her, some singing captivating melodies and others with harps, playing light music, a true heaven on earth.

The Queen took a glass of grape juice served to her by one of the young ladies and drank a few sips, when further away, the wind blew, followed by the appearance of a servant with elf ears.

"Queen Gloria, I\'m back."

She curtseyed to the queen who handed her her glass, smiling.

"Well, I felt bad for letting one of my precious nymphs perform such a shameful task."

"Do not worry, my Queen, it is my pleasure to be a weapon for the kingdom."

"Hm, come, join us."

She took a few steps forward, and one of the ladies opened her hands and blew towards her, spreading a pink wind that covered the servant and illuminated her clothes.

The spark faded gradually, revealing the outfits replaced by an angelic white chiton.

The servant slowly walked towards her but suddenly froze. Around her, the atmosphere had changed, and the ladies, with worried expressions, looked at the Queen.

"Oh... Eryl... Why?"

The air took on an orange hue and dark clouds formed in the sky, the ground seemed to shake ever so slightly.

The ladies slowly moved away from the somber-looking queen.

"Why do you want me to erase you?"

Eryl lowered her head and put a knee on the ground.

"I would never dare to anger my Queen."

"Then why do I feel the disgusting taste of another sin on you? And a new one to make it worse."

"My Queen, I had a strange encounter during my mission, I think it will interest you."

She explained the events of the Undead Rift in full, and during the speech, the pressure slowly eased and the queen, in a better mood, took a sip of grape juice and looked up at the sky.

"Hm, so the player has overstepped her bounds, leaving her charge to Sloth was a bad idea... What kind of person is Greed?"

"I mostly hear about him from nobles wanting to follow him, he is a very talented man, he seems to care about the people in a team from the Southern Guild, and he is also very protective of a Baron\'s daughter, so if you want to control him... And from the power I\'ve seen and his academic rank, I\'d say Greed hasn\'t fully awakened yet."

"I see... Greed has appeared, so there are 7 of us now... Hmm..."

"My Queen, are you worried about the Twilight of the Gods?"

The queen looked down at her servant. She got up and walked around a bit before looking up at the cloudy sky again.

"Worried? Do I look like I should be worried about something?"

She raised her glass and the clouds cleared, bathing her garden in rays of sunlight.

"I could never worry about the coming cataclysm. At worst, it might bother me that my beautiful paradise will be disrupted, but I will remain, and I will build everything back brick by brick if necessary."

She finished her drink and walked over to Eryl, the maid lowered her head but made sure to leave her neck exposed, for the Queen\'s ultimate punishment, but it was a gentle pat on the head that greeted her.

"It\'s okay, you didn\'t do anything wrong, you were in a rift involving 2 sins, it\'s a miracle you\'re alive."

"My Queen... Thank you."

The queen walked towards the fountain.

"This land must be cursed to birth so many sins... Hm? You said that Greed was a knight?"

"Yes, my Queen, in your Royal academy, it appears that he is hiding his power, however."

The Queen stopped and a wide smile slowly appeared on her lips.

"What are the odds... And he can fight? He can be like me and... Her?"

"... I\'d be a fool to assert that someone could sit on this table, but he is definitely different than Sloth."

She resumed her walk and sat down on the edges of the fountain.

"Of course, anyone is better than Sloth, but this is also this singularity that distinguishes us from the humans. But I never expected to get a second chance after all this time. Eryl, tell me honestly: how manipulable is he?"

(Back in time)

In the student council room, the maid in front of the door managed to completely change the atmosphere by this last sentence, Moonra and Solaria were visibly shocked, and the prince managed to mutter a few words in his tense.

"... M-Mother?"

"Hey! Are you allowed to use this name in front of everyone?!" Solaria shouted.

She faced the maid angrily, but Eryl took a thinking stance and closed her eyes, with a mocking smile.

"Hm? You talk about this when you were about to say a horror about your mother?"

"I... I wasn\'t about!... But... Whatever! You can\'t talk about it in front of everyone!"

"Y-Yeah, what are you doing here? I hope you\'re not here to watch us!" Solaria joined his sister.

The council members were confused by this scenery, Freya, Mercy, and Hope seemed worried, and Cid, who was unconscious during the main event of the battle, did not understand the tension.

"Well, why don\'t you tell me more about the healthy hero who decided to quit?"

It was enough to defeat the 2 heirs. Moonra and Solaria lowered their heads, admitting defeat, which added to the incomprehension of this moment.

Iris then approached and put a hand on their shoulder.

"I am deeply sorry, miss, but as this little lady\'s knight, I cannot allow you to embarrass her further, even if you are an acquaintance."

"My, if it isn\'t the daughter of Avalon. It\'s a pleasure for me to meet the heir of one of our future Holy Knights."

She bowed slightly, Iris was a little surprised but stepped forward to stay between the maid and Solaria.

"What do you mean gluttony?" Mercy joined them. Moonra tried to stop her with his gaze but the girl ignored him.

"Oh, Lady Mercy, good to see you so fine, is your knight now strong enough to compete as a Holy Knight?"

Mercy glanced at Hope and sighed.

"I had others plan anyway, but what did you mean by gluttony?"

"Mercy! I believe it\'s not that important!" Solaria grabbed her hand.

"I heard my... Someone mentioning this before, s\'not nothin\'!"

"Someone? Could that be your brother?"

This time, Mercy stopped moving and turned toward Eryl. Her orange eyes shone slyly, giving the girl a pitiful look.

"But he would be so worried to know that you\'re going into rifts by yourself, my lady."

"It... It\'s none of your business! I don\'t need your advice!"

The nobles exchanged a glance, sensing an air of danger emanating from the maid.

Soon after, the sound of approaching footsteps was heard and a young boy with short blue hair appeared at the door.

"M-Miss Iris! Come quickly, there\'s a fight in the courtyard!"

"What?!" Iris rushed down the hall without warning, so quickly that no one else could react.

"Ah, it\'s already started." Eryl smiled mischievously.

Thomas signaled the other members of the council to leave but Eryl positioned herself in front of the door.

" What are you doing? Move!" Lisa yelled at the maid while the woman remained unfazed and rubbed her ear.

"My apologies, but I believe that among the council, only Iris will understand how to handle the situation."

"What?!"

"Ma\'am, with all due respect to the Kingdom, this is the Royal Academy. Only the council members are responsible for maintaining order here. We have been dealing with this issue for a long time now, so please step aside."

"Sir Thomas, I am speaking for your own good. You seem to be a little tense lately due to all the assumptions made about a particular student. I can guarantee you that going there right now will be like a death sentence."

For the first time, a new expression appeared on Thoma\'s face.

His eyes became shady and his teeth etaient serres les uns contre les autres.

"It\'s... Him?"

Eryl didn\'t answer but slightly moved aside, as to invite Thomas to meet his fate.

The young boy took out his glasses and gave them to Hope next to him.

"Enough."

He in turn rushed into the corridor, followed by a few students.

Hope and the nobles stood by, looking at each other worriedly. They knew why Thomas was so angry, they knew who he was running towards.

"Ah... Such a promising talent... What a waste." Eryl sighed, but her sad words didn\'t match her amused face.

"Prince, he\'s your knight, so I suggest you stop him quickly, otherwise we\'ll have to find you another one."

"... What? I don\'t... I don\'t understand, what\'s going on?"

He looked at his comrade, but when he met Hope\'s desperate gaze he understood that this was a serious matter.

"It\'s this Anesi again? What\'s the problem seriously? You\'re acting like he wants to kill someone, if he is trouble, just expel him!" Solaria supported her brother, and she in turn headed towards the door.

"I think that\'s where the problem is, what happens after he kills him." Freya stepped forward, looking at Eryl. "That\'s the Winter Wolf\'s lesson, right? Testing his limit."

"Good, You\'ve studied well."