[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: New Horizons -That Lollipop's Lingering Taste-
Title: New Horizons -That Lollipop's Lingering Taste-
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 6172
Summary: Grisia accepts Charlotte's lunch invitation. A certain kidnapping is avoided. Even after all these years, Charlotte hasn't ever forgotten the taste of that blueberry lollipop they shared by the fountain side. AU of V6C5.
Notes: For the
whole_new_world Alternate Reality/Changing Canon prompt "Alternate Showdown." Prompt table over here. This was actually the first of the New Horizons AU oneshots I started, even before That Day Back Then, but it sure took me a long time to finish. :') This story is basically an imagining of what a lunch between Grisia and Charlotte might've gone if he had actually accepted the invitation.
New Horizons -That Lollipop's Lingering Taste-
“Are you free right now? I'll treat you to lunch," said Charlotte after I gave her the blueberry lollipop I had saved for her. She hugged the lollipop to herself as she waited for my response. Hey, I'm not going to snatch it back from you, okay? I already gave it to you!
Besides, I had eaten an entire basket of blueberry desserts not all that long ago. I wasn't going to fight her over a single lollipop.
Still, for a mere lollipop, I'm getting an entire meal, and my lunch companion is even going to be a cute girl. What a deal!
There was no reason for me to turn down such a good deal, except that I really needed to confront Awaitsun. I simply couldn't accept her invitation. Wait, didn't Awaitsun say that Stephen is basically his Adair? He and Awaitsun must be close.
Awaitsun trusted Stephen enough to bring him from the Kingdom of Kissinger all the way here on this diplomatic trip regarding such a delicate situation. It wasn't possible for him not to be privy to some inside information about the Demon King. Even if Awaitsun refused to tell me a method to allow me to give up my demon king qualifications, it was possible that a subordinate as close to him as Stephen would have some clue. Getting leverage before confronting Awaitsun was not a bad course to take.
I considered the girl who was still clutching to her chest the blueberry lollipop I'd given her. She smiled up at me shyly. Well, who am I to turn down this opportunity to gain the upper hand against Awaitsun and his lackeys when it's practically handed to me on a silver platter?
I softened my expression and smiled gently at her. There was no way she wouldn't fall for that.
She beamed, making her appear rather cute even to my sensing.
As it wouldn't do for the Sun Knight to be seen with a girl, I asked her to meet me at the restaurant we were to dine at, to which she gave me a pout. Hey, hey, don't go stealing my specialty now!
Then, I returned to my room to fetch a cloak and prepare for my meeting with Charlotte. When I arrived at the restaurant, she was already there and had selected a private booth, which did throw my plans off.
No matter. If we could not be overheard through the walls, I could always rely on psychic magic to communicate what was going on if the situation called for it, and this did allow us some privacy from the public.
I gave a nod to my shadow, and he made his way to the closest table in our vicinity.
I joined her, slipping inside the booth without a sound, much to her surprise. Do you take me to be some ungraceful lout? But after her initial surprise, a wide smile spread across her face, instantly brightening her entire person up, chasing away the darkness that shrouded her. She exclaimed, "I almost thought you weren't going to come!"
Hey, hey, I didn't take that long to change, okay? You barely had to wait! I said none of that, however, as to her, I was the Sun Knight, not someone to joke around with like a close friend.
I pulled my hood up higher now that she knew it was me, making sure my face would be shrouded when the waitress came to take my order. Across the table, Charlotte pouted at my visage getting hidden.
The moment the waitress left, she complained, "Why can't you drop the hood? It's only the two of us here."
Not only am I meeting you at a restaurant, I'm even meeting you in a private booth. Can you imagine what the headlines will say if this ever hits the news? Please, spare me an early meeting with the God of Light!
I already had a hard enough time quelling the rumors of the legendary "foursome," those rumors resulting from that disastrous teaching session of Pink's. There was no need to add a new rumor to rekindle the fire.
"Please allow Sun this. Sun is here because of your pure heart"-what a silly, pure-hearted girl to be so enamored of a single, blueberry lollipop-"and wishes to share with you the benevolence of the God of Light. Sun may only do so wearing this garment, as is the God of Light's will." I held my hand against my chest as I spoke to show my sincerity.
She made a face at my words. Perhaps she didn't like my explanation, or perhaps she was already tired of hearing God of Light this, God of Light that. Who knows? As a shadowpriest serving the Shadow God, it probably rubbed her the wrong way to have to hear another god get praised every three sentences. But hey, you're in the Sun Knight's presence! You should at least mask your reaction! You're not Storm, you know? You don't get to complain. Besides, everyone knows the Sun Knight speaks this way. You can't even claim ignorance for being a shadowpriest who lives in a different kingdom-you used to live in Leaf Bud City!
I let it slide, however. I mean, here I was, sitting at a private booth with a cute girl for the very first time in my whole entire life, and she was neither a corpse nor a princess who would snub me and call me a despicable and shameless bastard. In fact, she was clearly enamored with me, having pestered me to share a meal together with her. She had even claimed that I was super handsome, which was no small compliment when she had to have high standards with Awaitsun coloring her judgment. I am never going to stop bragging about this to Earth!
For a moment, a terrible thought crossed my mind-she hasn't been pestering me all this time to get me alone to ask me for love advice about someone else, right? Like Adair? Or my "best" friend, Earth? I'd heard too many tales of that happening before among the holy knights. A guy, super happy to get invited, only to discover that he wasn't the object of the girl's infatuation… and was, in fact, never considered in the first place, viewed as a good friend and stepping stone. Whether he was even viewed as a guy was a question to be debated.
Well, if that were the case, I'd make sure to give the person in question my "best" wishes, such as hiding all of their right socks so that they'd only have their left socks left. No more correct socks for you!
Ahem, devising plans to hide someone's socks was hardly why I had agreed to her invitation.
I smiled widely, certain that even while I wore a hood, my smile would still be bright enough to capture her heart. It worked, for she smiled back at me and sighed, "You're so beautiful, Sun Knight."
Hey, hey, what happened to "super handsome?" Seriously, the things I needed to let slide with this girl.
She seemed content to just sit there and stare at what little bit of my face she could see under my hood. Creepy. Okay, she has got to be interested in me and not Adair or Earth. But why?
In any case, I could definitely make use of her interest to swindle some information out of her. As the youngest shadowpriest of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, she had to be of considerable talent. Moreover, she was the sister of Stephen, whom Awaitsun considered to be his "Adair." Even if Charlotte didn't know much, I bet her brother did, and she could make him talk.
Her creepy staring was finally interrupted when the first of the appetizers was brought over, a platter of salmon seasoned with lime and cilantro, piped onto cucumbers. As Charlotte was going to pay for the meal, I did not hold back at all with what I ordered. Though I could not order in large quantities, as it would not do for even one person to think of the Sun Knight as a pig, I did order the most expensive items on the menu, not that there were any cheap things on the menu at this particular restaurant. Charlotte didn't even bat an eye at the price-don't tell me shadowpriests actually make a lot of money? I don't believe it!
Perhaps a gentleman would feel bad about making the lady pay so much, but she was getting free eye candy out of it, so she really wasn't losing out. As for the hood preventing her from seeing much, well, the less she could see, the more she could use her imagination. Even better!
In any case, I could not wait to finish the appetizers to make way for the main course and dessert. There was no way I wasn't ordering dessert after this.
Of course, as the Sun Knight, I could not eat without manners, so I picked up my utensils and gracefully set to work, one slow bite at a time.
The soup was served next, of a creamy consistency that Leaf would no doubt love. All this time, Charlotte did not even move to pick up her utensils, opting to stare dreamily at me instead, elbows propped on the table, hands folded under her chin. As the Sun Knight, I was quite used to people staring at me all the time, but even I was starting to feel that this was getting awkward. No matter how gracefully I'm eating, if I'm the only one eating, then in juxtaposition, I'll still appear like a pig!
"Sun Knight, are you liking the meal?" she asked, eyes trained on me.
I dabbed at my mouth, preparing to speak even though I really wanted to eat more. "Sun thanks you for treating him to this delicious meal. You are too generous. Please, join Sun in partaking of these exquisite delicacies."
Start eating already and stop staring at me! Then, I can continue eating!
She ducked her head, a shy smile adorning her face, probably due to elation over my gratitude and invitation to join me in the meal. She finally picked up her spoon, as it must be awkward having it pointed out to her that she hadn't started eating and was obviously staring at me. I mean, I do have a beautiful-ahem, handsome-face, but do you have to look at me as if I'm more delicious than the super expensive soup that was served to us?
While she was busy with the soup, I decided to go on the offensive. It never hurt to start with some praises.
"Sun hears from the Silent Eagle that you are the youngest shadowpriest they have ever had. You must be talented. The Cathedral of the Shadow God is lucky to have you in their service," I said, laying it on thick.
Charlotte hastily gulped down the current spoonful of her soup and stuttered, "Um, yes."
"Sun also hears that your older brother Stephen is one of the Silent Eagle's most trusted dark knights. The two of you siblings are both so gifted. It is a pity that you moved out of Leaf Bud City all those years ago. Perhaps in a different life, the two of you would have joined the Church of the God of Light, and we would have been colleagues under the same roof." To think that we had let two such talented people move away? We could have had them in our ranks!
Charlotte's eyes widened at my words, and she blurted, "T-that could never happen!"
The strength behind her words took me by surprise, but I didn't let it deter me. I merely let my voice soften as I said, "Sun apologizes. You and your brother must love the Shadow God dearly. Here Sun is, being so unrealistic. Sun only wished to share the benevolence of the God of Light with you."
She waved her hands in the air, spoon still held in one of them. Thankfully, the spoon had nothing on it, or else we could very well have been splattered by soup. She gestured at herself while frowning. "Um, I just mean, look at me, all full of dark element. I could never become a cleric. They're so… shiny."
Shiny? I suppose clerics do use the holy element a lot to heal people and cast other protective spells. It is indeed quite an impossible feat to become a cleric without any aptitude for the holy element, but hey, if I could become a holy knight even without any horseback riding or sword skills… I mean, ahem. There are ways.
"Sun is relieved that he has not offended you, but do you not consider yourself worthy of becoming a cleric of the God of Light? You are talented. Sun can tell you have a masterful command of the dark element. Are you not able to heal with the dark element?" I asked. I had never heard anything about the dark element being used in such a way, but hey, she was the master, not me. The more I could learn about the dark element, the better.
"I can, um, sort of," she whispered.
"Truly?" I questioned.
At my curiosity, she began rambling off. "The dark element is a naturally corrosive element. It can't heal in the way that holy element does, but it can be used to knit bones back together and numb pain. It's also particularly useful for flushing toxins out of the body, kind of like… battling poison with poison, I guess. Too much of the dark element in our bloodstream can be harmful to our body, but since the dark element is akin to a strong poison, it can overpower weaker poisons. For people like us, we are already used to the dark element, so we don't feel any negative effects from having it course through our body in place of toxins."
I absorbed the knowledge, impressed. She was obviously in her element. I had never known dark element had so many uses outside of battle. But from her explanation, it sounded like the dark element could not be used on people who were not normally exposed to it. For such people, the dark element was pretty much a poison and would do us more harm than good.
"You could have been our first cleric versed in the dark element," I concluded. "And your brother could have been a boon to any of our Twelve Holy Knight platoons. Tell me, has your brother served as a dark knight for long? The Silent Eagle has only good words to speak about him."
"Um yes, he has served as a dark knight for many years already," Charlotte answered.
I pressed on. "What do his duties entail?"
"He helps the Silent Eagle carry out the Shadow God's will. The current focus is locating all of the demon king candidates and overseeing the upcoming birth of the Demon King."
Finally, we were getting somewhere, and I was even getting a good meal out of it. The roast pig I ordered was served while we conversed, and I elegantly sliced up portions for myself as I continued to prod for more information. It was quite delicious, but I might have ordered a bit too much. No! No, this could never be too much. I'll always have room for dessert!
"How does your brother go about his search for the demon king candidates?" I asked, trying to inject as much curiosity into my voice as I could. I was indeed quite curious about it, but I doubted she would reveal it so easily despite how much she liked my face and that lollipop.
Charlotte shrugged. "He and the other dark knights have their ways. I don't know how they do it."
Well, that's so helpful. I stabbed the slice of meat in my plate, trying to think of a different way to attack this topic.
"Does he have anyone in mind that he thinks might be a demon king candidate?" I asked, wondering what she would say. Direct was still the way to go, unless she started clamming up. Do Stephen or Charlotte know about me? Awaitsun knows, but has he shared that information with anyone else?
Stephen was his right hand man, after all. Awaitsun might have clued him in, or Stephen might have been the one to figure out my candidacy in the first place from my guide's actions. The guides were the only ones who could truly tell if someone was a demon king candidate, but Awaitsun had said that candidates had great power so were usually part of attention grabbing major events. Even if the guides were much more careful in concealing the candidates now, it should still hold true that the candidates would be more powerful than some random nobody. If Stephen or any of the other dark knights had good deductive skills, then they might have been able to narrow down their guesses.
Charlotte was a terrible liar. After I asked the question, it was all over her face that she and her brother obviously knew who one of the candidates were, and even her body language had become shifty, yet she seemed to have no clue that it was me. Weird. Something didn't add up. If they know about another candidate, why wasn't Awaitsun informed? Or could it be that Awaitsun knows, but he's keeping me in the dark because he doesn't want to support the other candidate? Is the other candidate someone who would destroy half the world?
"Enough about my brother!" she pouted. "Did you agree to meet me because you're interested in my brother?"
Of course I'm interested in your brother… Hey wait! Hold your horses! What are you trying to imply here??
To think that I had wondered if she had invited me so she could ask for advice about someone else. Now she was accusing me of it! Bleeeeh! I have absolutely no interest in Stephen in that way!
Damn her for cutting off my interrogation without even knowing what she had done. I couldn't continue on with my previous line of questioning without making her wonder why I was so focused on her brother. Damn it!
"Sun is here to share a meal with you, not your brother," I agreed, outwardly calm. "But Charlotte, why do you value time spent with Sun so much?" Gotta turn the conversation back on her!
At that, Charlotte began toying around with the ends of her super short hair. She had to reach quite high to be able to twist it around her fingers. Few girls had such short hairstyles. It made me wonder if it was the current fashion in the Kingdom of Kissinger, but none of the other shadowpriests who had arrived with Awaitsun had hairstyles like hers. So it was probably just a Charlotte thing. It made her look lively, like someone suited to the name Charlotte, a healthy girl.
"I… Sun Knight…" she began and twisted her hair some more. "Sun Knight, I once dreamed of joining the Holy Temple. But I was just an unlucky girl. You made me think differently! You made me want to work hard to prove that I wasn't just an unlucky girl. That's why I decided to become a shadowpriest. And I wanted to come here and tell you that I made it! I became a shadowpriest!"
It was like she was declaring to me, See? I'm not useless. I'm someone. And it's all thanks to you.
I opened my mouth. Then, I closed it, unsure of what to say in response to her passion. I had inspired her that much? But I still could not recall ever having met her, even though the more she revealed, the more it had to be me that she was talking about and not my teacher. But this too did not add up.
Something strange was going on here.
Charlotte continued, "That day, you said you were meeting your teacher to find your big sister. I… You saved me from a bunch of bullies and shared a blueberry lollipop with me. I'll never forget the taste of that lollipop we shared. I've always missed that taste."
"We shared a lollipop?" Dang, itty bitty Grisia, you were pimping! Sharing a single lollipop with a girl?
"Um... you didn't have enough money to buy two..." Charlotte answered.
All right, that sounds more like me.
She placed her hand against the side of her outfit, where she had stashed the lollipop that had led to this lunch invitation. She really treasures it, huh? And not because of a sweet tooth.
It really had been me that she had met back then.
The taste of that lollipop... I bet she would forever equate it with being saved, yet I had absolutely no recollection of meeting her. However, I had indeed forgotten all about how my meeting with my "big sister" went that day. Could I have forgotten more than that? With memories of that day missing, it was not so farfetched to consider that perhaps more memories had been lost than I even knew about.
The meeting had meant so much to her that it had changed her life, yet I remembered none of it.
I frowned. It all went back to Scarlet, to this demon king business, almost like it was fated, or scripted. I hated the feeling, but it meant that nothing was truly coincidence, and that meant...
"Sun Knight?" she prodded.
I shook myself out of my reverie and plastered my smile back on, showing her a regretful one, trying to hide the disorientation I felt. My memories were not toys for another's amusement, and I was definitely not a puppet for others to manipulate. That day back then reeked of a manufactured occurrence, and both Charlotte and I were deep at the hearts of it. It could not be a coincidence that I had met her that day, or that I had forgotten her so completely. Someone did not want me to remember. If I had not accepted Charlotte's lunch invitation today, I might never have had the chance to unravel this mystery.
But here we were. My smile turned forlorn. I murmured, "Sun cannot apologize enough for not remembering such an important encounter."
"Do you truly not remember? You said to wait for you. I waited and waited, but you never came back…" Water element began gathering at the corner of her eyes, her voice turning smaller and smaller as she spoke.
I forgot everything about that day, okay? It's not you! It's me!
"Is it because you changed your mind? You think I'm unlucky, after all? Why didn't you come back? I waited so long…" she whispered, her voice laced with pain.
This conversation was rapidly spiraling out of my control, and I hadn't nearly gotten enough useful information out of it, only more questions. Charlotte was possibly more deeply involved in whatever was happening than I had first considered.
"Sun is sorry. Sun truly does not remember." Try as I might, the memory of that day was gone, but that lollipop's taste... that I had gotten to experience again and again after our meeting. It was a taste that I too...
The lollipop I gifted Charlotte had been from a basket prepared by Lesus and the others. Plenty of lollipops over the years had been from Lesus and Roland queuing up at the store for me. It was... it was a simple gesture, but one that meant a lot. It was a taste that I too loved.
Charlotte's shoulders slumped. "So I meant so little to you… Stephen was right. He said you would not remember me, but I hoped against all hope that you would." She swallowed hard and wiped at her eyes. "No matter. I'll make you remember me!"
She surged forward, all of a sudden grabbing me by the lapels of my cloak over the table, knocking over her bowl as she did so. Soup spilled across the surface of the table, dripping down the sides. I couldn't believe she hadn't finished such a creamy, delectable soup. Even after all this time, she had never truly been focused on eating.
"What are you doing?" I said, alarmed, hand darting out to grab her wrist.
"Making you look at me!" she cried out.
Gone was the timid girl who had smiled shyly at me, who had tenderly cradled the blueberry lollipop to her chest. A feisty one stood in her place, not taking no for an answer. Her brother had obviously failed in her education somewhere along the way.
She tried to push down my hood with her free hand to expose my hair and face, but I quickly grabbed that hand too, putting us at a stalemate, both hands bound. Hey, even though I'm not all that strong, I can at least stop a shadowpriest from jerking my hood down, okay? Charlotte, give me some more credit than this. After getting thwarted, she stomped her feet like a spoiled child.
"Why won't you look at me?" she begged. "Why do I feel like you're not looking at me?"
Asking a blind man to look at you is impossible!
Suddenly, I felt the dark element swirl around us, gathering at an alarming rate-wait, don't tell me it's Charlotte?-and then a boom!
All thoughts of using psychic magic had flown from my mind. It hadn't even occurred to me. The entire private booth had exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the wall of the establishment. The table between us was no more, and the same fate had befallen the roast pig that I had been enjoying. There was no way the restaurant was going to serve us dessert now, and a perfectly fine pig had been wasted.
"You…" I said. Your education has really failed! How can you waste perfectly good food like this?
All of a sudden, in a whirl of wind element, Roland appeared between us and forcibly removed Charlotte’s hands from me.
Thank the God of Light, the cavalry has arrived!
Roland backed up, pushing me behind him, putting a large distance between us and Charlotte, who was now cradling her wrist. She stared at Roland in disbelief.
“You should have called for me,” Roland said to me.
I gave a shrug. Things had happened too fast. Thankfully, Roland was quite the observer himself and didn’t need me to clue him in about when to make his grand entrance this time.
Even if the sudden increase in dark element hadn't drawn Roland's attention, the explosion surely had, and now that I was paying attention to my surroundings more, I could tell how abruptly the explosion ended just around our booth. Roland must have done something to keep the damage contained while I was still distracted.
Phew, I was right to bring Roland along to help me eavesdrop, even though the eavesdropping part failed pretty hard. Even with how little experience I had sharing a private meal with a cute girl, even I knew that this was not how such meals normally went!
"Sun, her eyes are completely black," Roland commented.
Black eyes.
I nearly wanted to plant my face in my hands.
Dear God of Light, are you playing a joke on me? Why can't I enjoy a peaceful meal with a cute girl? Why does it have to involve missing memories, explosions, and stupid identity stuff?
She had black eyes, just like that time I was overtaken by the dark element in the Valley of Trizer. I had not thought that accepting the lunch invitation of a cute shadowpriest would lead me to finding one of the other demon king candidates. With eyes like those, I'd have to be stupid not to understand that she was a demon candidate just like me. No wonder Awaitsun didn't know about her. She and Stephen must have been hiding the information from him. Is Stephen even Charlotte's actual brother?
The question was… why? Why had Charlotte and Stephen kept it such a secret? Wouldn't the Cathedral of the Shadow God support their own shadowpriest as the next demon king instead of the spokesperson of the neighboring religion? Surely Awaitsun had not thought that Charlotte would be someone who would destroy half the world as the demon king? He had thought so highly of her! No one would have predicted that she would nearly destroy half of a private booth in a restaurant, but even that was a far cry from destroying half of the world.
"A creature of darkness?" Charlotte said slowly, taking measure of Roland. "A creature of darkness is protecting the Sun Knight? What's going on?"
Roland was disguised, his appearance his usual one as the Hell Knight, but I was not surprised that she could tell he was not human, even if she could not tell exactly what he was. His dark element levels must be off the charts.
See, Charlotte? I can even have a death lord become the 38th Hell Knight. There would have been no problems getting a "cleric" who could not use holy light into our ranks. She truly could have become the first cleric of the Holy Temple to be a master of the dark element. We could have used such an expert among us.
And I bet you thought you could not be friends with the Sun Knight if it were known that you were a demon king candidate. But you could not be any more wrong about that. If, as the Sun Knight, I declared that all apples were to be called tomatoes, then that's the way things would be from then on.
"Charlotte, those eyes of yours and that power you just showed, I know you’re a demon king candidate," I said, making up my mind, fingering the Eternal Tranquility that rested against my chest. She didn’t deny it. The destroyed room was plenty of evidence, and no one else would have eyes like hers.
Awaitsun wanted to support me under a simple claim that I was someone who cared for my subordinates and who would not destroy half of the world. Well, then, I had just as simple of a reason for my own decision of who I wished to support.
"Sun," Roland cautioned, but I just shook my head at him, mind made up. I placed my hand on his shoulder, urging him to let me pass.
Here was a girl who was going through the same things I was, stuck between the choice of staying a normal person or shouldering the burden of becoming the big bad guy, who was sadly misunderstood and would continue to be misunderstood, in order to save the entire world. Unlike me however, she was clearly an expert at gathering the dark element, given the state of this room.
It was not making her go crazy-well, not too crazy... blowing up a private booth in a restaurant because of some tantrum was not ideal behavior, but at the very least, she was not as crazy as I had been in the Valley of Trizer when I'd let the dark element take over, dying my hair and eyes black, as well as my heart. She was clearly still herself. All signs indicated that she would have a much better handle of the dark element than I ever would. Thus, she would be much less likely than me to be overwhelmed by the dark element and lose her mind.
"Do you wish to become the Demon King?" I asked. The choice was simple enough. This lovesick girl in front of me? She was definitely volatile enough to hurt people without a care, but she was not a lost cause, only misled. I did not doubt that she could walk the "shiny" path of light, if she so wished to accept my hand to pull her onto such a path. She cared for me, and I believed I could stop her from entertaining any thoughts of destroying half of the world. "If you swear never to harm the Twelve Holy Knights, Sun will support your bid to become the Demon King."
Roland shifted his weight, but he did not cut in, letting the conversation play out.
"Only the Twelve Holy Knights? What about other people? The citizens? Your king?" Charlotte asked, emphasizing each with a swing of her hands.
"Only the Twelve Holy Knights," I agreed, but she was right. I needed to add one more stipulation. "And the other demon king candidates."
Because hey, while the Twelve Holy Knights stipulation would protect me, it would not protect the third, unknown candidate. Going by how I was a decent human being and Charlotte was as well, the third demon king candidate was probably not all that different from us, also caught in this demon king business reluctantly. They could very well be an amazing candidate, but I had no clue who they were, so I couldn't throw my hat in with them. But that did not mean I wanted them to get hurt or killed to get them out of the race. There must be a way this could all be solved without anyone getting hurt. Finding out that method was why I'd accepted this lunch invitation in the first place.
Charlotte made a face. "How can I become the demon king without defeating the other candidates?"
"Defeating doesn't mean killing, Sun is sure of that." I said. "Do not tell Sun that there is no way for the other demon king candidates to safely give up their candidacy? Sun believes the Cathedral of the Shadow God must have a way for that to happen."
Now that I knew who one of the other candidates was, it should be much easier to get Awaitsun to reveal how I could give up my qualifications. There was no reason why he couldn't support Charlotte, unless he discriminated against girls.
"Then, will you support me?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
"Do you wish to become the Demon King?" I asked, once again.
"Do you want me to become the Demon King?" she asked in return.
"Yes," I said sincerely, hand held over my heart. "Sun meant every word of what he said. You are talented, and you have a pure heart. Sun dearly believes that you will be able to save us all. Though the Demon King may be someone immersed in darkness, only through taking on the world's darkness will we be led to light."
And though she may not know it now, if she so chose to become the Demon King, it would be the greatest gift she could ever give to me, worth all the lollipops in the world.
Charlotte sniffed, and I realized that the water element had begun welling up in her eyes once more. She opened her mouth but closed it several times before she swiped at her eyes and said, "Can I... really be someone so important? I'm not just an unlucky girl?"
"Of course you can be someone important," I said. "Sun's friends are always important. Besides, how can you be unlucky? You are the luckiest of all, bringing light back into our lives."
Her smile was a wobbly one. "We're friends?"
"Did Sun not give you a blueberry lollipop?" I asked. "I do not hand them out to just anyone, if you must know."
She smiled wider at that, and Roland's shoulders relaxed minutely.
I let my hand drop from the Eternal Tranquility. One day, I would let her know that I too was a demon king candidate, but for now, it was not quite the time to reveal my entire hand. We still had the third unknown candidate to consider.
For a single blueberry lollipop, I had found a way to continue being the Sun Knight and save the world at the same time. The demon king candidate I was supporting wasn't going to destroy half the world, and I was going to be able to shock Awaitsun with my support of the other demon king candidate.
Worth it.
In the end, we did not have any of the restaurant's expensive desserts, as the restaurant was righteously furious with us, but we did share the blueberry lollipop I had given to her. I closed my eyes, savoring the burst of sweetness, wondering what little Charlotte had felt all those years ago when she had tasted a blueberry lollipop for the first time.
Perhaps for her, that had been her first taste of friendship and hope, a taste she had never forgotten, a taste that I too cherished.
I did not need my eyes to know that the water element was now freely flowing down her face.
My choice was simple. I could support someone like this.
the end
So yeah, I do believe that Charlotte would have blown something up anyway even if Grisia went to lunch with her. (It kind of just happened as I wrote...Boom!) The only difference here was that Roland was around to mitigate the damage. I bet she'll blow something else up when she learns that Grisia kept it a secret from her that he's also a demon king candidate.
Huh, every fic in this collection has revolved around the demon king so far. Here are the titles of the next few fics to the New Horizon collection. The demon king will be featured again. XD No idea what order I'll finish them in, or if I will get to them anytime soon.
That Power Forever Gone <-This one's about 6k now, but I'll probably scrap a lot of it.
That World Without Him
That Person Now Returned
That Darkness Seeping In
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/357872.html. You can comment here or there.
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 6172
Summary: Grisia accepts Charlotte's lunch invitation. A certain kidnapping is avoided. Even after all these years, Charlotte hasn't ever forgotten the taste of that blueberry lollipop they shared by the fountain side. AU of V6C5.
Notes: For the
whole_new_world Alternate Reality/Changing Canon prompt "Alternate Showdown." Prompt table over here. This was actually the first of the New Horizons AU oneshots I started, even before That Day Back Then, but it sure took me a long time to finish. :') This story is basically an imagining of what a lunch between Grisia and Charlotte might've gone if he had actually accepted the invitation.
New Horizons -That Lollipop's Lingering Taste-
“Are you free right now? I'll treat you to lunch," said Charlotte after I gave her the blueberry lollipop I had saved for her. She hugged the lollipop to herself as she waited for my response. Hey, I'm not going to snatch it back from you, okay? I already gave it to you!
Besides, I had eaten an entire basket of blueberry desserts not all that long ago. I wasn't going to fight her over a single lollipop.
Still, for a mere lollipop, I'm getting an entire meal, and my lunch companion is even going to be a cute girl. What a deal!
There was no reason for me to turn down such a good deal, except that I really needed to confront Awaitsun. I simply couldn't accept her invitation. Wait, didn't Awaitsun say that Stephen is basically his Adair? He and Awaitsun must be close.
Awaitsun trusted Stephen enough to bring him from the Kingdom of Kissinger all the way here on this diplomatic trip regarding such a delicate situation. It wasn't possible for him not to be privy to some inside information about the Demon King. Even if Awaitsun refused to tell me a method to allow me to give up my demon king qualifications, it was possible that a subordinate as close to him as Stephen would have some clue. Getting leverage before confronting Awaitsun was not a bad course to take.
I considered the girl who was still clutching to her chest the blueberry lollipop I'd given her. She smiled up at me shyly. Well, who am I to turn down this opportunity to gain the upper hand against Awaitsun and his lackeys when it's practically handed to me on a silver platter?
I softened my expression and smiled gently at her. There was no way she wouldn't fall for that.
She beamed, making her appear rather cute even to my sensing.
As it wouldn't do for the Sun Knight to be seen with a girl, I asked her to meet me at the restaurant we were to dine at, to which she gave me a pout. Hey, hey, don't go stealing my specialty now!
Then, I returned to my room to fetch a cloak and prepare for my meeting with Charlotte. When I arrived at the restaurant, she was already there and had selected a private booth, which did throw my plans off.
No matter. If we could not be overheard through the walls, I could always rely on psychic magic to communicate what was going on if the situation called for it, and this did allow us some privacy from the public.
I gave a nod to my shadow, and he made his way to the closest table in our vicinity.
I joined her, slipping inside the booth without a sound, much to her surprise. Do you take me to be some ungraceful lout? But after her initial surprise, a wide smile spread across her face, instantly brightening her entire person up, chasing away the darkness that shrouded her. She exclaimed, "I almost thought you weren't going to come!"
Hey, hey, I didn't take that long to change, okay? You barely had to wait! I said none of that, however, as to her, I was the Sun Knight, not someone to joke around with like a close friend.
I pulled my hood up higher now that she knew it was me, making sure my face would be shrouded when the waitress came to take my order. Across the table, Charlotte pouted at my visage getting hidden.
The moment the waitress left, she complained, "Why can't you drop the hood? It's only the two of us here."
Not only am I meeting you at a restaurant, I'm even meeting you in a private booth. Can you imagine what the headlines will say if this ever hits the news? Please, spare me an early meeting with the God of Light!
I already had a hard enough time quelling the rumors of the legendary "foursome," those rumors resulting from that disastrous teaching session of Pink's. There was no need to add a new rumor to rekindle the fire.
"Please allow Sun this. Sun is here because of your pure heart"-what a silly, pure-hearted girl to be so enamored of a single, blueberry lollipop-"and wishes to share with you the benevolence of the God of Light. Sun may only do so wearing this garment, as is the God of Light's will." I held my hand against my chest as I spoke to show my sincerity.
She made a face at my words. Perhaps she didn't like my explanation, or perhaps she was already tired of hearing God of Light this, God of Light that. Who knows? As a shadowpriest serving the Shadow God, it probably rubbed her the wrong way to have to hear another god get praised every three sentences. But hey, you're in the Sun Knight's presence! You should at least mask your reaction! You're not Storm, you know? You don't get to complain. Besides, everyone knows the Sun Knight speaks this way. You can't even claim ignorance for being a shadowpriest who lives in a different kingdom-you used to live in Leaf Bud City!
I let it slide, however. I mean, here I was, sitting at a private booth with a cute girl for the very first time in my whole entire life, and she was neither a corpse nor a princess who would snub me and call me a despicable and shameless bastard. In fact, she was clearly enamored with me, having pestered me to share a meal together with her. She had even claimed that I was super handsome, which was no small compliment when she had to have high standards with Awaitsun coloring her judgment. I am never going to stop bragging about this to Earth!
For a moment, a terrible thought crossed my mind-she hasn't been pestering me all this time to get me alone to ask me for love advice about someone else, right? Like Adair? Or my "best" friend, Earth? I'd heard too many tales of that happening before among the holy knights. A guy, super happy to get invited, only to discover that he wasn't the object of the girl's infatuation… and was, in fact, never considered in the first place, viewed as a good friend and stepping stone. Whether he was even viewed as a guy was a question to be debated.
Well, if that were the case, I'd make sure to give the person in question my "best" wishes, such as hiding all of their right socks so that they'd only have their left socks left. No more correct socks for you!
Ahem, devising plans to hide someone's socks was hardly why I had agreed to her invitation.
I smiled widely, certain that even while I wore a hood, my smile would still be bright enough to capture her heart. It worked, for she smiled back at me and sighed, "You're so beautiful, Sun Knight."
Hey, hey, what happened to "super handsome?" Seriously, the things I needed to let slide with this girl.
She seemed content to just sit there and stare at what little bit of my face she could see under my hood. Creepy. Okay, she has got to be interested in me and not Adair or Earth. But why?
In any case, I could definitely make use of her interest to swindle some information out of her. As the youngest shadowpriest of the Cathedral of the Shadow God, she had to be of considerable talent. Moreover, she was the sister of Stephen, whom Awaitsun considered to be his "Adair." Even if Charlotte didn't know much, I bet her brother did, and she could make him talk.
Her creepy staring was finally interrupted when the first of the appetizers was brought over, a platter of salmon seasoned with lime and cilantro, piped onto cucumbers. As Charlotte was going to pay for the meal, I did not hold back at all with what I ordered. Though I could not order in large quantities, as it would not do for even one person to think of the Sun Knight as a pig, I did order the most expensive items on the menu, not that there were any cheap things on the menu at this particular restaurant. Charlotte didn't even bat an eye at the price-don't tell me shadowpriests actually make a lot of money? I don't believe it!
Perhaps a gentleman would feel bad about making the lady pay so much, but she was getting free eye candy out of it, so she really wasn't losing out. As for the hood preventing her from seeing much, well, the less she could see, the more she could use her imagination. Even better!
In any case, I could not wait to finish the appetizers to make way for the main course and dessert. There was no way I wasn't ordering dessert after this.
Of course, as the Sun Knight, I could not eat without manners, so I picked up my utensils and gracefully set to work, one slow bite at a time.
The soup was served next, of a creamy consistency that Leaf would no doubt love. All this time, Charlotte did not even move to pick up her utensils, opting to stare dreamily at me instead, elbows propped on the table, hands folded under her chin. As the Sun Knight, I was quite used to people staring at me all the time, but even I was starting to feel that this was getting awkward. No matter how gracefully I'm eating, if I'm the only one eating, then in juxtaposition, I'll still appear like a pig!
"Sun Knight, are you liking the meal?" she asked, eyes trained on me.
I dabbed at my mouth, preparing to speak even though I really wanted to eat more. "Sun thanks you for treating him to this delicious meal. You are too generous. Please, join Sun in partaking of these exquisite delicacies."
Start eating already and stop staring at me! Then, I can continue eating!
She ducked her head, a shy smile adorning her face, probably due to elation over my gratitude and invitation to join me in the meal. She finally picked up her spoon, as it must be awkward having it pointed out to her that she hadn't started eating and was obviously staring at me. I mean, I do have a beautiful-ahem, handsome-face, but do you have to look at me as if I'm more delicious than the super expensive soup that was served to us?
While she was busy with the soup, I decided to go on the offensive. It never hurt to start with some praises.
"Sun hears from the Silent Eagle that you are the youngest shadowpriest they have ever had. You must be talented. The Cathedral of the Shadow God is lucky to have you in their service," I said, laying it on thick.
Charlotte hastily gulped down the current spoonful of her soup and stuttered, "Um, yes."
"Sun also hears that your older brother Stephen is one of the Silent Eagle's most trusted dark knights. The two of you siblings are both so gifted. It is a pity that you moved out of Leaf Bud City all those years ago. Perhaps in a different life, the two of you would have joined the Church of the God of Light, and we would have been colleagues under the same roof." To think that we had let two such talented people move away? We could have had them in our ranks!
Charlotte's eyes widened at my words, and she blurted, "T-that could never happen!"
The strength behind her words took me by surprise, but I didn't let it deter me. I merely let my voice soften as I said, "Sun apologizes. You and your brother must love the Shadow God dearly. Here Sun is, being so unrealistic. Sun only wished to share the benevolence of the God of Light with you."
She waved her hands in the air, spoon still held in one of them. Thankfully, the spoon had nothing on it, or else we could very well have been splattered by soup. She gestured at herself while frowning. "Um, I just mean, look at me, all full of dark element. I could never become a cleric. They're so… shiny."
Shiny? I suppose clerics do use the holy element a lot to heal people and cast other protective spells. It is indeed quite an impossible feat to become a cleric without any aptitude for the holy element, but hey, if I could become a holy knight even without any horseback riding or sword skills… I mean, ahem. There are ways.
"Sun is relieved that he has not offended you, but do you not consider yourself worthy of becoming a cleric of the God of Light? You are talented. Sun can tell you have a masterful command of the dark element. Are you not able to heal with the dark element?" I asked. I had never heard anything about the dark element being used in such a way, but hey, she was the master, not me. The more I could learn about the dark element, the better.
"I can, um, sort of," she whispered.
"Truly?" I questioned.
At my curiosity, she began rambling off. "The dark element is a naturally corrosive element. It can't heal in the way that holy element does, but it can be used to knit bones back together and numb pain. It's also particularly useful for flushing toxins out of the body, kind of like… battling poison with poison, I guess. Too much of the dark element in our bloodstream can be harmful to our body, but since the dark element is akin to a strong poison, it can overpower weaker poisons. For people like us, we are already used to the dark element, so we don't feel any negative effects from having it course through our body in place of toxins."
I absorbed the knowledge, impressed. She was obviously in her element. I had never known dark element had so many uses outside of battle. But from her explanation, it sounded like the dark element could not be used on people who were not normally exposed to it. For such people, the dark element was pretty much a poison and would do us more harm than good.
"You could have been our first cleric versed in the dark element," I concluded. "And your brother could have been a boon to any of our Twelve Holy Knight platoons. Tell me, has your brother served as a dark knight for long? The Silent Eagle has only good words to speak about him."
"Um yes, he has served as a dark knight for many years already," Charlotte answered.
I pressed on. "What do his duties entail?"
"He helps the Silent Eagle carry out the Shadow God's will. The current focus is locating all of the demon king candidates and overseeing the upcoming birth of the Demon King."
Finally, we were getting somewhere, and I was even getting a good meal out of it. The roast pig I ordered was served while we conversed, and I elegantly sliced up portions for myself as I continued to prod for more information. It was quite delicious, but I might have ordered a bit too much. No! No, this could never be too much. I'll always have room for dessert!
"How does your brother go about his search for the demon king candidates?" I asked, trying to inject as much curiosity into my voice as I could. I was indeed quite curious about it, but I doubted she would reveal it so easily despite how much she liked my face and that lollipop.
Charlotte shrugged. "He and the other dark knights have their ways. I don't know how they do it."
Well, that's so helpful. I stabbed the slice of meat in my plate, trying to think of a different way to attack this topic.
"Does he have anyone in mind that he thinks might be a demon king candidate?" I asked, wondering what she would say. Direct was still the way to go, unless she started clamming up. Do Stephen or Charlotte know about me? Awaitsun knows, but has he shared that information with anyone else?
Stephen was his right hand man, after all. Awaitsun might have clued him in, or Stephen might have been the one to figure out my candidacy in the first place from my guide's actions. The guides were the only ones who could truly tell if someone was a demon king candidate, but Awaitsun had said that candidates had great power so were usually part of attention grabbing major events. Even if the guides were much more careful in concealing the candidates now, it should still hold true that the candidates would be more powerful than some random nobody. If Stephen or any of the other dark knights had good deductive skills, then they might have been able to narrow down their guesses.
Charlotte was a terrible liar. After I asked the question, it was all over her face that she and her brother obviously knew who one of the candidates were, and even her body language had become shifty, yet she seemed to have no clue that it was me. Weird. Something didn't add up. If they know about another candidate, why wasn't Awaitsun informed? Or could it be that Awaitsun knows, but he's keeping me in the dark because he doesn't want to support the other candidate? Is the other candidate someone who would destroy half the world?
"Enough about my brother!" she pouted. "Did you agree to meet me because you're interested in my brother?"
Of course I'm interested in your brother… Hey wait! Hold your horses! What are you trying to imply here??
To think that I had wondered if she had invited me so she could ask for advice about someone else. Now she was accusing me of it! Bleeeeh! I have absolutely no interest in Stephen in that way!
Damn her for cutting off my interrogation without even knowing what she had done. I couldn't continue on with my previous line of questioning without making her wonder why I was so focused on her brother. Damn it!
"Sun is here to share a meal with you, not your brother," I agreed, outwardly calm. "But Charlotte, why do you value time spent with Sun so much?" Gotta turn the conversation back on her!
At that, Charlotte began toying around with the ends of her super short hair. She had to reach quite high to be able to twist it around her fingers. Few girls had such short hairstyles. It made me wonder if it was the current fashion in the Kingdom of Kissinger, but none of the other shadowpriests who had arrived with Awaitsun had hairstyles like hers. So it was probably just a Charlotte thing. It made her look lively, like someone suited to the name Charlotte, a healthy girl.
"I… Sun Knight…" she began and twisted her hair some more. "Sun Knight, I once dreamed of joining the Holy Temple. But I was just an unlucky girl. You made me think differently! You made me want to work hard to prove that I wasn't just an unlucky girl. That's why I decided to become a shadowpriest. And I wanted to come here and tell you that I made it! I became a shadowpriest!"
It was like she was declaring to me, See? I'm not useless. I'm someone. And it's all thanks to you.
I opened my mouth. Then, I closed it, unsure of what to say in response to her passion. I had inspired her that much? But I still could not recall ever having met her, even though the more she revealed, the more it had to be me that she was talking about and not my teacher. But this too did not add up.
Something strange was going on here.
Charlotte continued, "That day, you said you were meeting your teacher to find your big sister. I… You saved me from a bunch of bullies and shared a blueberry lollipop with me. I'll never forget the taste of that lollipop we shared. I've always missed that taste."
"We shared a lollipop?" Dang, itty bitty Grisia, you were pimping! Sharing a single lollipop with a girl?
"Um... you didn't have enough money to buy two..." Charlotte answered.
All right, that sounds more like me.
She placed her hand against the side of her outfit, where she had stashed the lollipop that had led to this lunch invitation. She really treasures it, huh? And not because of a sweet tooth.
It really had been me that she had met back then.
The taste of that lollipop... I bet she would forever equate it with being saved, yet I had absolutely no recollection of meeting her. However, I had indeed forgotten all about how my meeting with my "big sister" went that day. Could I have forgotten more than that? With memories of that day missing, it was not so farfetched to consider that perhaps more memories had been lost than I even knew about.
The meeting had meant so much to her that it had changed her life, yet I remembered none of it.
I frowned. It all went back to Scarlet, to this demon king business, almost like it was fated, or scripted. I hated the feeling, but it meant that nothing was truly coincidence, and that meant...
"Sun Knight?" she prodded.
I shook myself out of my reverie and plastered my smile back on, showing her a regretful one, trying to hide the disorientation I felt. My memories were not toys for another's amusement, and I was definitely not a puppet for others to manipulate. That day back then reeked of a manufactured occurrence, and both Charlotte and I were deep at the hearts of it. It could not be a coincidence that I had met her that day, or that I had forgotten her so completely. Someone did not want me to remember. If I had not accepted Charlotte's lunch invitation today, I might never have had the chance to unravel this mystery.
But here we were. My smile turned forlorn. I murmured, "Sun cannot apologize enough for not remembering such an important encounter."
"Do you truly not remember? You said to wait for you. I waited and waited, but you never came back…" Water element began gathering at the corner of her eyes, her voice turning smaller and smaller as she spoke.
I forgot everything about that day, okay? It's not you! It's me!
"Is it because you changed your mind? You think I'm unlucky, after all? Why didn't you come back? I waited so long…" she whispered, her voice laced with pain.
This conversation was rapidly spiraling out of my control, and I hadn't nearly gotten enough useful information out of it, only more questions. Charlotte was possibly more deeply involved in whatever was happening than I had first considered.
"Sun is sorry. Sun truly does not remember." Try as I might, the memory of that day was gone, but that lollipop's taste... that I had gotten to experience again and again after our meeting. It was a taste that I too...
The lollipop I gifted Charlotte had been from a basket prepared by Lesus and the others. Plenty of lollipops over the years had been from Lesus and Roland queuing up at the store for me. It was... it was a simple gesture, but one that meant a lot. It was a taste that I too loved.
Charlotte's shoulders slumped. "So I meant so little to you… Stephen was right. He said you would not remember me, but I hoped against all hope that you would." She swallowed hard and wiped at her eyes. "No matter. I'll make you remember me!"
She surged forward, all of a sudden grabbing me by the lapels of my cloak over the table, knocking over her bowl as she did so. Soup spilled across the surface of the table, dripping down the sides. I couldn't believe she hadn't finished such a creamy, delectable soup. Even after all this time, she had never truly been focused on eating.
"What are you doing?" I said, alarmed, hand darting out to grab her wrist.
"Making you look at me!" she cried out.
Gone was the timid girl who had smiled shyly at me, who had tenderly cradled the blueberry lollipop to her chest. A feisty one stood in her place, not taking no for an answer. Her brother had obviously failed in her education somewhere along the way.
She tried to push down my hood with her free hand to expose my hair and face, but I quickly grabbed that hand too, putting us at a stalemate, both hands bound. Hey, even though I'm not all that strong, I can at least stop a shadowpriest from jerking my hood down, okay? Charlotte, give me some more credit than this. After getting thwarted, she stomped her feet like a spoiled child.
"Why won't you look at me?" she begged. "Why do I feel like you're not looking at me?"
Asking a blind man to look at you is impossible!
Suddenly, I felt the dark element swirl around us, gathering at an alarming rate-wait, don't tell me it's Charlotte?-and then a boom!
All thoughts of using psychic magic had flown from my mind. It hadn't even occurred to me. The entire private booth had exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the wall of the establishment. The table between us was no more, and the same fate had befallen the roast pig that I had been enjoying. There was no way the restaurant was going to serve us dessert now, and a perfectly fine pig had been wasted.
"You…" I said. Your education has really failed! How can you waste perfectly good food like this?
All of a sudden, in a whirl of wind element, Roland appeared between us and forcibly removed Charlotte’s hands from me.
Thank the God of Light, the cavalry has arrived!
Roland backed up, pushing me behind him, putting a large distance between us and Charlotte, who was now cradling her wrist. She stared at Roland in disbelief.
“You should have called for me,” Roland said to me.
I gave a shrug. Things had happened too fast. Thankfully, Roland was quite the observer himself and didn’t need me to clue him in about when to make his grand entrance this time.
Even if the sudden increase in dark element hadn't drawn Roland's attention, the explosion surely had, and now that I was paying attention to my surroundings more, I could tell how abruptly the explosion ended just around our booth. Roland must have done something to keep the damage contained while I was still distracted.
Phew, I was right to bring Roland along to help me eavesdrop, even though the eavesdropping part failed pretty hard. Even with how little experience I had sharing a private meal with a cute girl, even I knew that this was not how such meals normally went!
"Sun, her eyes are completely black," Roland commented.
Black eyes.
I nearly wanted to plant my face in my hands.
Dear God of Light, are you playing a joke on me? Why can't I enjoy a peaceful meal with a cute girl? Why does it have to involve missing memories, explosions, and stupid identity stuff?
She had black eyes, just like that time I was overtaken by the dark element in the Valley of Trizer. I had not thought that accepting the lunch invitation of a cute shadowpriest would lead me to finding one of the other demon king candidates. With eyes like those, I'd have to be stupid not to understand that she was a demon candidate just like me. No wonder Awaitsun didn't know about her. She and Stephen must have been hiding the information from him. Is Stephen even Charlotte's actual brother?
The question was… why? Why had Charlotte and Stephen kept it such a secret? Wouldn't the Cathedral of the Shadow God support their own shadowpriest as the next demon king instead of the spokesperson of the neighboring religion? Surely Awaitsun had not thought that Charlotte would be someone who would destroy half the world as the demon king? He had thought so highly of her! No one would have predicted that she would nearly destroy half of a private booth in a restaurant, but even that was a far cry from destroying half of the world.
"A creature of darkness?" Charlotte said slowly, taking measure of Roland. "A creature of darkness is protecting the Sun Knight? What's going on?"
Roland was disguised, his appearance his usual one as the Hell Knight, but I was not surprised that she could tell he was not human, even if she could not tell exactly what he was. His dark element levels must be off the charts.
See, Charlotte? I can even have a death lord become the 38th Hell Knight. There would have been no problems getting a "cleric" who could not use holy light into our ranks. She truly could have become the first cleric of the Holy Temple to be a master of the dark element. We could have used such an expert among us.
And I bet you thought you could not be friends with the Sun Knight if it were known that you were a demon king candidate. But you could not be any more wrong about that. If, as the Sun Knight, I declared that all apples were to be called tomatoes, then that's the way things would be from then on.
"Charlotte, those eyes of yours and that power you just showed, I know you’re a demon king candidate," I said, making up my mind, fingering the Eternal Tranquility that rested against my chest. She didn’t deny it. The destroyed room was plenty of evidence, and no one else would have eyes like hers.
Awaitsun wanted to support me under a simple claim that I was someone who cared for my subordinates and who would not destroy half of the world. Well, then, I had just as simple of a reason for my own decision of who I wished to support.
"Sun," Roland cautioned, but I just shook my head at him, mind made up. I placed my hand on his shoulder, urging him to let me pass.
Here was a girl who was going through the same things I was, stuck between the choice of staying a normal person or shouldering the burden of becoming the big bad guy, who was sadly misunderstood and would continue to be misunderstood, in order to save the entire world. Unlike me however, she was clearly an expert at gathering the dark element, given the state of this room.
It was not making her go crazy-well, not too crazy... blowing up a private booth in a restaurant because of some tantrum was not ideal behavior, but at the very least, she was not as crazy as I had been in the Valley of Trizer when I'd let the dark element take over, dying my hair and eyes black, as well as my heart. She was clearly still herself. All signs indicated that she would have a much better handle of the dark element than I ever would. Thus, she would be much less likely than me to be overwhelmed by the dark element and lose her mind.
"Do you wish to become the Demon King?" I asked. The choice was simple enough. This lovesick girl in front of me? She was definitely volatile enough to hurt people without a care, but she was not a lost cause, only misled. I did not doubt that she could walk the "shiny" path of light, if she so wished to accept my hand to pull her onto such a path. She cared for me, and I believed I could stop her from entertaining any thoughts of destroying half of the world. "If you swear never to harm the Twelve Holy Knights, Sun will support your bid to become the Demon King."
Roland shifted his weight, but he did not cut in, letting the conversation play out.
"Only the Twelve Holy Knights? What about other people? The citizens? Your king?" Charlotte asked, emphasizing each with a swing of her hands.
"Only the Twelve Holy Knights," I agreed, but she was right. I needed to add one more stipulation. "And the other demon king candidates."
Because hey, while the Twelve Holy Knights stipulation would protect me, it would not protect the third, unknown candidate. Going by how I was a decent human being and Charlotte was as well, the third demon king candidate was probably not all that different from us, also caught in this demon king business reluctantly. They could very well be an amazing candidate, but I had no clue who they were, so I couldn't throw my hat in with them. But that did not mean I wanted them to get hurt or killed to get them out of the race. There must be a way this could all be solved without anyone getting hurt. Finding out that method was why I'd accepted this lunch invitation in the first place.
Charlotte made a face. "How can I become the demon king without defeating the other candidates?"
"Defeating doesn't mean killing, Sun is sure of that." I said. "Do not tell Sun that there is no way for the other demon king candidates to safely give up their candidacy? Sun believes the Cathedral of the Shadow God must have a way for that to happen."
Now that I knew who one of the other candidates was, it should be much easier to get Awaitsun to reveal how I could give up my qualifications. There was no reason why he couldn't support Charlotte, unless he discriminated against girls.
"Then, will you support me?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
"Do you wish to become the Demon King?" I asked, once again.
"Do you want me to become the Demon King?" she asked in return.
"Yes," I said sincerely, hand held over my heart. "Sun meant every word of what he said. You are talented, and you have a pure heart. Sun dearly believes that you will be able to save us all. Though the Demon King may be someone immersed in darkness, only through taking on the world's darkness will we be led to light."
And though she may not know it now, if she so chose to become the Demon King, it would be the greatest gift she could ever give to me, worth all the lollipops in the world.
Charlotte sniffed, and I realized that the water element had begun welling up in her eyes once more. She opened her mouth but closed it several times before she swiped at her eyes and said, "Can I... really be someone so important? I'm not just an unlucky girl?"
"Of course you can be someone important," I said. "Sun's friends are always important. Besides, how can you be unlucky? You are the luckiest of all, bringing light back into our lives."
Her smile was a wobbly one. "We're friends?"
"Did Sun not give you a blueberry lollipop?" I asked. "I do not hand them out to just anyone, if you must know."
She smiled wider at that, and Roland's shoulders relaxed minutely.
I let my hand drop from the Eternal Tranquility. One day, I would let her know that I too was a demon king candidate, but for now, it was not quite the time to reveal my entire hand. We still had the third unknown candidate to consider.
For a single blueberry lollipop, I had found a way to continue being the Sun Knight and save the world at the same time. The demon king candidate I was supporting wasn't going to destroy half the world, and I was going to be able to shock Awaitsun with my support of the other demon king candidate.
Worth it.
In the end, we did not have any of the restaurant's expensive desserts, as the restaurant was righteously furious with us, but we did share the blueberry lollipop I had given to her. I closed my eyes, savoring the burst of sweetness, wondering what little Charlotte had felt all those years ago when she had tasted a blueberry lollipop for the first time.
Perhaps for her, that had been her first taste of friendship and hope, a taste she had never forgotten, a taste that I too cherished.
I did not need my eyes to know that the water element was now freely flowing down her face.
My choice was simple. I could support someone like this.
the end
So yeah, I do believe that Charlotte would have blown something up anyway even if Grisia went to lunch with her. (It kind of just happened as I wrote...Boom!) The only difference here was that Roland was around to mitigate the damage. I bet she'll blow something else up when she learns that Grisia kept it a secret from her that he's also a demon king candidate.
Huh, every fic in this collection has revolved around the demon king so far. Here are the titles of the next few fics to the New Horizon collection. The demon king will be featured again. XD No idea what order I'll finish them in, or if I will get to them anytime soon.
That Power Forever Gone <-This one's about 6k now, but I'll probably scrap a lot of it.
That World Without Him
That Person Now Returned
That Darkness Seeping In
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