Arc 3 Chapter 37 : His Name ...

[Ariel POV]

The beautiful full moon hung high in the night sky...

The battle within the city had finally ended.

We had won.

The remaining monsters had fled beyond the city walls, while the Vampires had disappeared into hiding, their whereabouts unknown.

At the moment, I was sitting on the rooftop of a building beside the man who had saved me more times than Brian ever had.

I turned my head and looked at him.

The masked man was gazing silently at the devastated city below, his eyes fixed on the destruction left behind by the attack.

I wondered what was going through his mind.

"Hey, may I ask you the question I left unanswered earlier?" I asked him.

"Of course. You can ask me anything," the masked man replied without taking his eyes away from the city.

I now possessed the power of The Truth Seeker, which allowed me to see into someone's heart and determine whether they were lying or telling the truth.

"Why did you join the Heretics? Why did you kill the people from the Temple?" I asked seriously.

"Everyone has their own interest. Everyone has different moral standards."

The man looked up at the full moon hanging in the sky.

"We don't want them to discriminate against and hunt the Cursed Children. But the Temple Authority insists that they must be exterminated if they cannot control their powers."

To be honest, I had already begun looking into this issue.

There was no denying that their powers were extremely dangerous and difficult to control.

That was why the Temple Authority had taken such an extreme measure—to protect the majority of people from the threat posed by those uncontrollable Cursed Children.

Even I didn't know what the right solution was.

Should we take the risk of endangering countless innocent people?

Or should we sacrifice a small number of people for the sake of protecting the majority?

"To be honest, I don't want to weaken the Temple Authority," the masked man continued.

Using Truth Seeker, I detected no trace of a lie in his words.

"They are the main force standing against the Demons who could invade this world at any moment," the masked man said.

He was right.

The Demons were evil creatures who sought to exterminate humanity.

I had witnessed the atrocities they committed during my practical training in this region alongside the other academy students.

Speaking of my fellow academy members...

There was something about this masked man's way of speaking, his attitude, and even his gaze that felt strangely similar to that black-haired man.

I wanted to know the true name—or perhaps the true identity—of the man who had always come to my aid.

"Hey, may I know your real name?" I asked.

This time, he turned toward me.

His eyes met mine.

There was no mistake.

That gaze...

It was exactly the same gaze Raul always gave me whenever we spoke.

"You really want to know my real name?" the man asked, as though seeking confirmation.

I nodded.

My hand instinctively moved to my chest as my heart began beating faster than before.

For some reason, I felt incredibly nervous waiting for the answer that was about to leave his lips.

"My real name is..."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

My heart began pounding even harder.

In just a moment, I would finally know his identity.

"Evans... Baxter..."

Silence fell between us.

I could only stare at him, unable to respond.

I couldn't detect even the slightest trace of a lie in his heart.

He had answered my question truthfully.

So...

It wasn't him?

I had been so certain that he was Raul de Garcia...

"Evans Baxter, huh? That's a unique name," I murmured.

He could only smile in response.

"You know, Ariel ... "

His smile became slightly mischievous.

"You're the first person to learn my true identity."

"Heee~ Then does that mean I'm become someone special to you, Evans?" I asked half-jokingly.

But Evans turned his gaze away from me.

His expression became melancholic as he looked back toward the full moon.

Once again, his expression reminded me of Raul when we spoke at the mining site during the first stage of the Survival Exam.

"There is only one person who is truly special to me right now," Evans murmured, looking like someone who had lost his way.

"I want to see her again, even if doing so will only hurt my heart."

For some reason, he looked incredibly lonely when he said those words.

And for some reason...

I didn't like seeing him like this.

I wanted to comfort him.

I wanted to make him smile like he had before.

I wanted to always be there for him, just as he had always been there to help me whenever I needed him.

I reached out and touched his cheek, gently turning his face toward mine.

He merely stared at me with an emotionless expression, so different from the one he had shown moments ago.

My hand, still resting against his cheek, slowly moved upward toward the mask covering his face.

I knew that mask was an artifact capable of changing his appearance and hair color to conceal his true identity.

I wanted to see his real face.

I didn't want to know only his real name.

But before I could remove the mask, the man caught my hand.

He stopped me.

"Why?" I asked.

"For the good of both of us," he answered briefly.

"It's time for me to leave."

He pointed toward the east.

I followed the direction of his finger.

A blond-haired man was riding toward us on horseback.

Beside him was a pink-haired woman, followed by several Inquisitors.

"Looks like your escort has arrived."

The masked man stood up.

"Congratulations on becoming a Saint, Ariel."

He turned around.

But I grabbed his cloak before he could leave.

"Hey, Evans... Will we ever meet again?"

He gave me a small smile.

"I'll be by your side whenever you're in trouble."

He paused for a moment.

"I promise."

After saying those words, Evans manifested his wings.

Then he leaped into the night sky and flew away, leaving the city behind.

[Duke Alvaro POV]

I was currently in the Duchy of Toledo—the territory controlled by House Garcia within the Aragon Empire.

I was reading a newspaper containing information about the recent attack by Demons and monsters in the Margraviate of Cataluna—the very place where the man who had entered Raul's body had been undergoing his practical training.

"I never expected Vilmore to be defeated so easily without having to face a single Holy Knight or Grand Espada."

However, the newspaper also mentioned that a new Saint had been chosen during the battle in Cataluna Fortress City.

Could she have been the one who defeated Vilmore?

This meant I would have to alter several of the plans I had prepared for the future.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I heard someone knocking on the door of my study.

"Come in."

The door opened.

A woman with shoulder-length black hair entered the room, dressed in a distinctive combat outfit.

She walked toward me before speaking.

"I've come to report on your son's activities while he was there, Duke Alvaro."

She was the daughter of one of the members of the Ashina Clan who had formed a Blood Pact with me.

I had asked her father to provide me with someone capable of spying on the man who had entered my son's body and reporting all of his activities to me.

"Very well. Tell me everything he did in that region," I ordered.

The woman proceeded to tell me about Raul's daily patrol duties.

She also reported how his group had fought against and destroyed the headquarters of a Vampire faction.

Afterward, he became involved in the battle at Cataluna Fortress City against the Demons and monsters attacking the region.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"That is the entirety of my report regarding your son's activities, Duke Alvaro," she answered flatly.

"Very well. You may leave and resume your surveillance mission," I ordered.

The woman left the room.

Once she was gone, I began thinking about the report she had just given me.

Something wasn't right.

I had given Raul the Masquerade Mask last year, shortly after The Fool died while fighting Holy Knight Hosentia.

At the time, he had told me that he wanted to kill a talented academy student whom I predicted would become a problem someday.

But because his body had been taken over by this outsider, that plan had never been carried out.

According to the information I had received, Holy Knight Remilio had been killed by a young Performer who had only recently joined The Masquerade.

If The Masquerade had approached the man who possessed Raul's body and recruited him, then there was no doubt.

He was the one who had killed Holy Knight Remilio.

Which meant the woman's report was either a lie or a fabricated story.

Because if she had truly been monitoring the movements of the man possessing Raul's body at all times, she should have reported Raul's battle against Holy Knight Remilio as well.

That suggested something else.

The man who had entered Raul's body had already discovered the woman's presence and made some kind of arrangement with her to falsify her reports to me.

Of course, it was also possible that the woman had been deceived when the man possessing Raul's body used the Masquerade Mask.

The artifact could alter the user's identity, after all.

But my instincts told me that my first assumption was far more likely.

I could not afford to underestimate someone capable of killing a fighter of Holy Knight caliber.

"It seems I'll have to contact Princess Lilith in the Slavic Tsardom and alter our plans."

Indeed.

My agreement with Tsar Feodor to invest in his nation had merely been a cover.

It allowed me to collect the souls of citizens of the Slavic Tsardom who died during the monster attacks in that country without arousing suspicion or interference.

And indeed, Princess Lilith and I had already made an agreement to open a gate connecting the Demon World to this world.

The method was simple.

We needed to gather human souls and use them as sacrifices through a forbidden artifact to open a gateway connecting the two worlds.

"I have to eliminate that man."

My eyes narrowed.

"He is an unpredictable Variable capable of destroying our plans in the future."

I hated uncertainty more than anything.

That was why Princess Lilith and I had to deal with the man who had entered Raul's body as soon as possible.

Our plans had to proceed without a single obstacle.