"The Night Apostles?" Sarah repeated the na, but she didn’t seem to know who I was talking about.
Unlike her, the other four girls knew exactly which group I ant.
Erina was the first to break the silence. "They’re a cult. Their mbers call themselves followers of Hel, the goddess of ice and cold. Honestly, what a troubleso group."
"Hel." Hearing the goddess’s na, Sarah swallowed hard. When she was younger, she used to be afraid whenever Ms. Grace told stories about Hel—the half-living, half-dead goddess who ruled over a frozen hell, where she received warriors who had not died honorable deaths.
Alicia, who had discovered her fear of the undead in the mine, looked particularly frightened at the ntion of corpses.
Justine spoke, trying to remain calm. "They believe that Hel was wronged, and that she should be the true goddess of this world—the one who should rule it. They believe that only the death brought by Hel can cleanse the impurities of this world."
"The Night Apostles—they call themselves that because they believe the sun interferes with their lady’s manifestation in this world, and that the solution would be to cover the world in an eternal night, preventing the sun from shining upon the land," Diane said in a serious tone.
"Huh? You’re joking, right?" Sarah said nervously. "If the world were covered in eternal night..."
"That’s right. The temperature of the world would drop. Plants would stop growing, animals would begin to die, and soon after, it would be humanity’s turn. The world would be turned into a frozen hell, where the souls of the dead would wander for all eternity."
"They’re insane!" Sarah said, her voice shaking. "If they do that, it’s obvious they’ll die along with the world. Is that what they want?"
"Yes, that’s exactly what they want, Sarah. They understand the consequences very well, but they also believe Hel will reward them for restoring her to her rightful place," Justine said.
"Rick, could this cult be involved in the assassination attempt against Alicia?" Diane asked .
I nodded. "The Night Apostles are controlling the Silver Fang from the shadows. They’re also behind Gerard’s change of heart—why he would turn against his own blood."
Alicia placed a hand on her chest, looking down uneasily, thinking about the uncle who had once been dear to her.
An icy silence hung in the room after Justine finished speaking. I could see the nervous looks on the girls’ faces as they processed the absurd mindset of our enemies.
"Well, that pretty much sums up our current situation. The Night Apostles are our enemies—the ones manipulating the Silver Fang from the shadows. Not to ntion that one of their mbers will try to kill and take my tattoo. Oh, and destroying the tattoo on my back won’t solve the problem either—they have a specialist who can recover it. They’re definitely a huge pain in my ass," I said, taking a breath before continuing. "If you follow from here on, just know—"
"No, don’t even start, Rick," Sarah cut in. "We’ll be with you until the end."
"Hey, let finish. I was coming up with a good speech for this mont."
"There’s no need to say it," Diane added, siding with Sarah. "We’ll stand by your side, even if the goddess of death herself cos after you."
"Y-Yeah, t-that’s right! W-we’re not a-afraid of them!!" Alicia said in a trembling voice. The princess was clearly scared, but she was still willing to follow .
"We don’t even need to say it," Erina told . "You can count on us to stop those fanatics."
Justine nodded in agreent. "And we’ll save you too, Master."
I looked at the girls in front of . Seeing their unwavering resolve, I felt a warmth spread through my chest. There were so many things I wanted to say, but all I managed was, "Thank you."
At that mont, the sound of clapping drew our attention. Our eyes turned to Justine.
"Well, we can talk more about the future later," said the girl with glasses, "but what matters now is that Rick gets as much rest as possible today."
"She’s right, let’s let him rest a bit," Alicia said.
Almost all the girls headed out of the room, but before leaving, they noticed the one who hadn’t moved.
"You’re not coming with us, Erina?" Sarah asked.
"Hmm, I wanted to ask Rick sothing." Erina seed a bit nervous as the others looked at her suspiciously. "I promise I won’t do anything to him. I just want to talk for a bit."
Justine relaxed her expression and said, "Alright then, don’t take too long."
The others followed her, still not entirely convinced that Erina wasn’t going to try anything with .
Now I was alone with Erina, the girl sitting beside with the diary resting on her lap. When I noticed she didn’t quite know how to start the conversation, I decided to take the first step.
"Sothing wrong, Erina?"
"Eh, I was just thinking... how do you feel about your dad?" she asked, averting her eyes. "In the end, all he did was try to prevent the worst from happening to you, even if he was wrong."
She was talking about my tattoo. My dad had carved it onto right after finishing his work, just to make sure I wouldn’t be affected by the "curse." Maybe because her own family situation wasn’t exactly ideal, she wanted to know if I was okay with it. The Silver Captain—despite how bold she could be at tis—had a good heart.
"Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Before the transmigration, this body didn’t have a clear answer, and I don’t really dwell on it much. But I think I understand him a little. If sothing happened to you, I’d probably do anything to bring you back. And if we had a child, I’d do everything I could to protect them. I can’t agree with his actions—he was a man consud and driven mad by fear—but I can’t say I hate him for what he did to ."
"I see..." she said quietly.
"But it’s pretty annoying to talk about this. This subject really gets on my nerves. I’ll probably even have trouble sleeping after this," I added irritably.
Erina smiled. "Not only do we have tomorrow’s battle, but the fate of the world is in our hands. It’s pretty stressful, isn’t it?"
As she spoke, her hand slid over my body, moving slowly down my chest, then my stomach, until it reached my groin.
"E-Erina, I need to rest for tomorrow..." I said.
"If you stay still, I can take care of you. If you get just a little tired, I’m sure you’ll sleep well," she replied with a mischievous smile.
"Didn’t you tell them you just wanted to talk?"
"I did. But all of them already had their ti alone with you—except . So now it’s my turn to have you all to myself~"
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