Volume 7, Chapter 38 – Blood-Stained History

Having become completely lost within the vast palace, we relied on Sara-san’s divination to decide which way to go, but for some reason, we ended up in a dungeon that looked as though it hadn’t been used in a very long time.

“Hmm, I wonder why we ended up in a place like this?”

“But Onee-sama, we still haven’t been spotted by the soldiers.”

“That is true, but still…”

The iron bars were rusted and crumbling, and there was no one moving inside the cells. Skeletal remains, which looked as though they had been dead for a considerable amount of time, were scattered here and there.

“How terrible. Funeral Rite.”

I laid each of the skeletal remains to rest.

“Now, there’s only that heavily reinforced door at the very end.”

“Fiene-sama. Please leave it to me.”

With those words, Chris-san cleaved the iron door apart.

The door collapsed with a loud, clattering crash.

When we entered, we found the figure of a man wearing a crude tunic.

No, that’s not right.

Rеαⅾ οո ΚαtRеαⅾiոɡCαfe

He had the shape of a human, but his body was faintly translucent, and the wall behind him was visible through him.

It was a ghost.

And had he been tortured? Painful scars remained all over his body.

“Ugh!”

Chris-san let out a groan, but she didn’t lose her composure as she had in the past. It seems that since she became able to cut them with that technique called Eta-something, she is gradually overcoming her weakness.

“Hello.”

I spoke to the ghost. However, he did not react to my voice.

Hmm, Sara-san is watching, but oh well.

——Use Dark Magic to bring this man back to his senses so that he can speak.

Though barely visible, a faint trace of Dark Attribute Mana was absorbed into the man’s ghost.

“Ugh… k-how dare you… to my Luma compatriots…”

“Hello. Are you a Luma?”

“Eh? Wh…? Eh? Could you possibly be… Saint-sama?”

Rеαd оn KatRеaԁіոɡCαfе

“Um, yes. I am called that, for the most part.”

“Ohhh! At last, I have met Saint-sama I have been searching for! My name is Bartolo. I am a Holy Knight chosen by the Holy Sword Lufiqar. Saint-sama, would you be so kind as to tell me your name?”

“I am Fiene Argentata.”

“Oh! Saint Fiene-sama! Please, allow me to pledge my sword to you.”

Ah, I see. This person doesn’t understand yet that he is dead.

However, being chosen by the Holy Sword, he must have possessed a strong and noble spirit.

Perhaps that is why he managed to avoid becoming an evil spirit, but I should still send him off properly.

“Bartolo-san. I’m sorry. I held the Holy Sword Lufiqar today, but it seems the Holy Sword has lost its power. And—”

“What are you saying? Saint Fiene-sama, the sword you currently wear at your waist is indeed my Holy Sword Lufiqar.”

“Huh? Does that mean that sword was a fake and the real Holy Sword was sealed?”

“Oh, so they were doing such a thing! Not content with massacring the Luma people and stealing the Holy Sword from me, they even committed such a blasphemous act in defiance of God!”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?”

“Eh? What are you talking about? It must be the Eibra, the people of the desert. They treacherously deceived us Luma, took women and children as hostages, killed many men, and stole our land. Have you forgotten the tragedy where so much blood was shed!?”

Rеаd oո КatRеаԁіnɡСаfе

Bartolo-san seemed to be trembling with rage. However, this must have been something that happened during the era when Bartolo-san was alive.

“Chris-san. Did such a thing happen?”

“I am not aware of it. However, the Yellow Planet Federation of Emirates was established approximately 100 years ago. I have heard that there were various conflicts between tribes at that time, but as for the details…”

“Which means that, because the Eibra stole the Luma people’s land and settled here a hundred years ago, the Luma lost the place they called home. And then, sixty years ago, they created something called the Defiled in an attempt to eradicate the Luma. Is that it?”

“Most likely…”

I see. That’s why those people view the Luma with such hostility. And they’re carrying out ethnic cleansing to erase their own dark history.

“Bartolo-san. I understand your anger, but it is time for you to be called into God’s presence.”

“Eh? …Wh-what? I can still fight! I have endured all this time to protect Saint-sama and become the hope of the Luma people!”

“Bartolo-san…”

“I! I! O-ohhhhhhhhh!”

A faint black haze began to coil around Bartolo-san’s translucent body.

Ah, this is probably because he remembered his rage toward the Eibra because of us, and as a result, he’s starting to become an evil spirit.

At the very least, I should send him off properly before that happens.

Rеαԁ οո ΚαtRеαdіnɡСαfe

“Calm.”

“A… a… a… Saint… Fiene… sama…”

He seems to have calmed down somehow. And Bartolo-san still seems to be conscious.

“Bartolo-san. I will carry on your wishes, and I will save the Luma people. So please, please sleep in peace.”

Saying this, I knelt and took a prayer position.

“O great Holy Knight Bartolo. In the name of I, Fiene Argentata, I send thy noble soul to heaven. May holy Blessing and peace be granted unto thee.”

Then, strongly wishing that Bartolo-san’s soul be saved and that he may sleep in peace, I activated Funeral Magic.

“Fi… ne… sa… o… oh… ka…”

I didn’t know what he was trying to say at the end, but I felt as though tears were falling from Bartolo-san’s eyes the last time I saw them.

Translator Note

Eh, you guys see… Bartolo (バルトロ) has the same name as the Knight Bartolo from Volume 6, Chapter 36, but…

They’re different people, okay?