"If I exorcised spirits like this every day, I could digest my Clown potion in less than a month."
His face dark, Klein tossed the emptied holy water bottle to Leonard, who caught it with a grin.
"Then I suggest you go straight to a circus in the West Borough. Maybe in just one week, His Excellency the 'Sword of the Goddess' will personally oversee your advancement to Sequence 7."
"As long as you're willing to play the curly-haired baboon jumping through flaming hoops."
Watching the two mercilessly mock each other, Angel smiled slightly, feeling her chest warm.
Oh, that's just The Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem's temperature. Never mind then.
Taking the "Mutated Sun Holy Emblem" from her chest, she checked her pocket watch and found less than two hours remained until the time limit for contact with the sealed artifact.
"We should hurry back to the church, then take turns guarding the emblem and recovering our strength. Otherwise, we might not make it in time."
She interrupted their conversation with her suggestion.
The three—or rather, the sweat-soaked Klein—had cleared all the "haunted" locations in Morse Town. Several divinations had yielded no additional discoveries.
Already heading toward the church, they quickened their pace and soon returned to the Evernight Goddess church in the town center.
After explaining to Priest Sial that they needed to occupy the church for a while and subtly indicating that proximity might carry certain risks, the priest vacated the premises.
Fortunately, no believers came to the church at noon. After Sial departed, only the three Nighthawks remained.
"The return to Tingen requires over three hours. We'd best all rest for an hour to recover our resistance to the negative effects."
Taking the emblem from Angel, Klein said.
"I think taking turns guarding for an hour each is the best approach. I can go first."
Though he appeared calm, he seemed somewhat excited—inexplicably eager. He'd specifically requested to borrow this sealed artifact. Was he planning to do something in private?
Having advanced to Witch, Angel's Instigator instincts had sharpened. She could now sense a trace of Klein's negative emotions—though not strong. They seemed to stop at the level of "guilt over deceiving teammates."
"Maybe we should have two people guard while one rests? The recovery effect would be similar, but it's safer."
Leonard suggested with a light laugh, his gaze fixed on Klein, trying to read something from his expression.
Klein's emotions clearly deflated...
Angel smiled inwardly at the easily-read Clown. She adopted a thoughtful expression, remaining silent for a moment before speaking:
"If it's two people per group, the rotation times would need to be more precise and reasonable. First, we'd need to establish a system of equations to solve for rest time and rotation method, then compare it to the single-person rotation result to find the optimal solution..." She spouted a few lines from math knowledge she'd long forgotten, then employed her Persuasion ability. "By the way, Leonard, how's your math?"
The latter had already grown as confused as she'd been earlier listening to historical knowledge. When Angel called his name, his body trembled. He hastily answered:
"Let's stick with single-person guard duty. Each person guards for an hour, so everyone gets two hours of rest. See? Much simpler."
As if fleeing from something, Leonard practically flew toward the church door.
"Well, alright then..."
Klein wore a reluctant expression, but the moment Leonard turned away, it transformed into a delighted smile.
Thank you—
He mouthed the words silently to Angel.
"I'll relieve you in an hour. If you feel you can't hold on, call me over earlier. We'll be just outside the door."
After instructing Klein, Angel followed Leonard out of the church.
"Did you just use your Instigator ability on me?"
Under a tree by the church, leaning against the trunk to escape the afternoon sun, Leonard suddenly asked.
Finally caught on, did you? Pretty slow...
Angel adopted an inscrutable expression.
"Actually, to be precise, I didn't 'instigate' you to do anything. That was 'persuasion.'"
"So you admit it?" Leonard simply walked around from behind the trunk and stared at Angel. "If I pushed open the church door right now, what would I see?"
How should I know...
Frowning slightly, Angel looked toward the church door. The pointed-roof structure currently had its back to the sun, casting shadows between the entrance and the large tree where they sheltered. As the sun moved westward, the shadows gradually approached.
"I don't know," she admitted honestly. "Don't you want to be the 'protagonist' of an adventure novel? Why not try to find out yourself?"
Leonard laughed awkwardly and leaned back against the trunk.
"Remember, we all agreed not to probe each other's secrets. So this time I won't trouble Klein, but if you two are hoping to discover my secret during this mission and find what's special about me—that's impossible."
So Leonard's been suspicious from the moment Klein picked up on Captain's words and volunteered for the mission. He suspects Klein and I want to secretly observe him and use this opportunity to discover something special about him?
You're way too narcissistic, Mr. Midnight Poet!
Angel sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead, no longer engaging.
But why did it suddenly get so hot...
She looked up and noticed the sunlight had somehow intensified. The clouds penetrated by sunlight seemed to evaporate, disappearing against the azure sky.
"What beautiful weather."
She remarked with admiration.
Unfortunately, after just a few minutes, the fierce sunlight was gradually obscured by reappearing white clouds, returning to its previous intensity.
Yet Leonard seemed unwilling to give up. He looked once more toward the black-painted walls of Morse Town's church.
...
When the hour for shift change arrived, Angel opened the church's side door and entered. She could feel Leonard's expectant gaze on her back.
Says he won't look, but he's clearly curious...
She closed the door behind her before walking deeper inside.
The temperature inside the church was much higher than outside. Klein leaned against the front pew, seemingly resting with closed eyes. As Angel approached, she discovered his face was covered in sweat, his shirt soaked through. Even the ends of his black hair had become somewhat dry and curled, as if he'd been baked by that strange sunlight.
Angel frowned, extending her right hand toward Klein. Using the Witch's frost abilities, she summoned numerous ice crystals that didn't coalesce together. This wouldn't form frost spears or similar constructs, but it rapidly lowered the surrounding temperature.
In mere seconds, the church's high temperature was dispelled by her extraordinary ability, transforming instead into cold dampness. In the area closest to Angel, mist even formed from moisture condensing in the chilled air.
"Achoo—"
Klein, feeling the drastic temperature change in his sleep, sneezed.
Seems like he's caught a cold...
Angel guiltily stopped her frost power, letting the surrounding chill slowly dissipate as she watched Klein's eyes gradually open.
"Sorry, I was a bit tired and rested for a while. Is it time already?"
The first thing he did upon waking was reach for his trench coat pocket. Only after breathing a sigh of relief did he speak in a hoarse voice.
"It's been an hour. I'll guard the sealed artifact now. You go rest outside, or ask the priest for some water."
Angel pointed toward the church door.
"Thanks, I will."
Klein nodded, removed The Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem from his chest, and handed it to Angel. Then he stood unsteadily and turned to leave the church.
"Wait," he suddenly remembered something and returned. "Here, take this. Thanks for helping me get Leonard out of the way."
From the trench coat pocket he'd been covering, he produced a thin golden disc and handed it to Angel.
"It's called a 'Sunflare Charm.' The activation word in ancient Hermes is 'Light.' I haven't tested how strong its effect is—remember to throw it far away."
This was a pre-inscribed charm, similar to the Evernight Church's "Slumber" and "Soul Repose" charms, but its base material was gold, and its patterns were far more complex.
The moment Angel took the charm, she felt a warmth similar to The Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem seeping from it, penetrating her skin and entering her body.
Without doubt, Klein had spent his solitary hour creating this charm, and he must have utilized the power of the sealed artifact "Mutated Sun Holy Emblem."
By directly giving this to me, isn't he openly admitting his actions and bribing me?
Watching Klein's slow departure, Angel smiled faintly and tucked the charm into her inner pocket.