I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

The first place they stopped was a quaint little café.
Carlyle sipped coffee with a surprisingly rich aroma—surprisingly good for a medieval fantasy setting—and looked across the table at Felix.
What she wore over her face was a magitech mask to disguise her identity. It made sense: if someone as infamous as the Gray Cardinal were to walk around openly, she’d draw attention in seconds.

“It’s… cute.”
That was the first impression that came to mind.
“What’s cute?”

“Well, for someone of your age range, I thought maybe something a bit more...”
⋯⋯How to put it.
He expected something more mature. Not the kind of place where a young couple on a date would go.

Hearing that, Felix scowled.
“I’m in my late twenties.”
“⋯⋯.”

Seeing Carlyle blink blankly, Felix repeated the line with clear irritation.
“Late twenties. Just like I look.”
The tone said: wipe that look off your face.

Flustered, Carlyle answered,
“⋯⋯But the young lady called you old.”
“Gray probably thinks that. But I’m really in my late twenties.”

“⋯⋯.”
“I spread the rumor on purpose—that I’m older than I look. If people found out someone in their twenties had risen to the rank of cardinal, there’d be plenty who wouldn’t take me seriously.”
She sipped her coffee again as she gave that explanation.
“⋯⋯Oh.”

He had no idea how to respond and let out a vague noise. Felix sighed and continued.
“Besides, I can’t even use divine power. It’s not like I can make myself look younger with magic.”
“⋯⋯Sorry?”

“I said I can’t use divine power. The miracle-type techniques I sometimes pull off are all trickery. I’m just a hollow shell.”
At this point, it became clear.
This person had absolutely no intention of hiding anything from Carlyle.

‘Holy Hero. That thing she just said—’
[Didn’t know. Not at all.]
The Holy Sword replied with a groan.

That a high-ranking figure in the Orthodox Church—on the level of cardinal—was completely incapable of using divine power?
If that ever got out, it’d be a massive scandal that would turn the world upside down.
And yet, she had just confessed that weakness to Carlyle without batting an eye.

“⋯⋯I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Wouldn’t matter even if you did. Not like anyone would believe it.”
“Still, I don’t quite understand why you’d tell me something like that.”

“Think of it as a sign of affection. I told you, didn’t I? I came out here to woo you.”
“We haven’t really interacted enough to have built that kind of affection, though.”
Felix chuckled.

“Not one word back down, huh. Even after seeing what I’m capable of.”
“⋯⋯People often say I’m strange.”
Certified by Gray herself—a man with not even a shred of fear of death.

Then again, after so many regressions, one of the first changes you noticed was growing a thick skin.
“Why, though. Why the affection…”
Felix pulled something from her pocket.

“You remind me of someone I knew. In your face, in the way you act.”
It was a locket with a photograph.
She handed it to Carlyle.

“Here. Don’t you think you look alike?”
“⋯⋯Yeah. I see it.”
He had no choice but to answer that way the moment he saw it. The resemblance was uncanny.

It looked like a photo of himself from before the regressions. Exactly the same as how he looked as an adult.
“Who is this?”
“⋯⋯.”

Felix went silent.
After a long pause, she gave a slight, bitter smile.
“Family.”

“Ah… Your younger brother?”
“My father.”
“An old picture, then?”

“No. The last one.”
“⋯⋯.”
The man in the photo looked unmistakably younger than Felix did now.

The fact that such a young-looking photo was the “last one” could only mean—
“⋯⋯I’m sorry.”
“No need. It was a long time ago.”

She really had a talent for bringing up awkward topics.
As Carlyle’s eyes drifted away uncomfortably, Felix finished her coffee with a sharp sip and placed the cup back on the table.
“⋯⋯Mm. The coffee’s awful. Let’s move somewhere else.”

To be honest, up to that point, Carlyle still didn’t believe half of what Felix was saying.
But at the very least, the part about her not using divine power was clearly true.
She walked right into a staff member behind her and crashed, not noticing them at all—something no one with supernatural perception would’ve done.

With a soft yelp, the two went tumbling to the floor.
And just his luck—the staff had been carrying a tray of hot beverages. Scalding liquid splashed across Felix’s arm.
“—Agh?!”

She let out a cry and clutched her arm.
Anyone could tell from her reaction—it was a burn.
What made Carlyle freeze wasn’t the injury, though.

It was the staff member’s reaction.
Face contorted in frustration, they looked down at Felix’s arm and snapped,
“⋯⋯You should’ve watched where you were going!”

“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯Hoo boy.
Carlyle tensed up, glancing between Felix and the staffer.

This was clearly a mutual fault, and yet that kind of aggressive remark could start a conflict out of nothing.
And this wasn’t just anyone—this was the person who crushed Red Alex with a single phone call. Did this staffer have any idea who they were messing with?
But—

“⋯⋯.”
Felix simply stared at the employee.
Saying nothing, as if gauging the person’s mood.

Her eyes scanned him up and down.
Then—
“⋯⋯Yes. I’m sorry. That was careless of me.”

She said it quietly, then reached into her pocket.
She even smiled faintly, as if it were her fault.
“Here, let this cover the laundry.”

She handed the stunned employee a bill with that gentle, graceful tone.
The staffer stood frozen in place, watching dumbly as Carlyle and Felix exited the café.
***

“Ow—ow ow ow—could you maybe be a bit gentler?!”
“⋯⋯Don’t whine. It’s just ointment.”
Seated on a park bench, Carlyle applied ointment and wrapped Felix’s burned arm in a bandage.

“What was that back there?”
“What was what?”
“Why didn’t you do anything to that guy? You don’t seem like the type to let that slide.”

“Well… he probably had his own situation. Did you get a look at him?”
“⋯⋯Not really?”
“Skin was dry, face full of fatigue. Someone who couldn’t take care of himself and was buried in work.”

“⋯⋯.”
“He probably lashed out because he was desperate. If it had gone down as mutual fault, he’d have to pay damages too. He was just panicking.”
“⋯⋯.”

She’d observed all that in those few seconds?
No, even more than that…
She was compassionate.

She got hurt, but still thought of someone else first.
It was the exact opposite of how she’d acted when dealing with Red Alex earlier.
“People like him are the reason I fight. If I can’t ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ even recognize what someone like that is going through, then what’s the point of protecting the weak?”

“⋯⋯.”
It was as if she’d read his mind.
He’d heard something like this before. From Gray, actually.

Carlyle let out a small, helpless laugh.
“Still, you really can’t use anything, huh?”
If she’d had divine power or anything like it, there was no way she would’ve gotten hurt like that.

Felix shrugged.
“Born that way. Can’t use a single supernatural ability.”
Magic, miracles, sorcery...

She explained it bluntly—that she wasn’t born with the ability to manipulate mana, the fundamental energy behind all supernatural powers.
“It’s not that rare, really. There aren’t that many people born with powers. If you look at the population, people like me are the majority.”
“And yet you still climbed all the way up to cardinal.”

In a world where superhumans existed, society naturally revolved around power.
The apex of value was the individual who could face an army barehanded.
No matter how many sheep gather together, they can’t win against a lion.

And yet the next words she spoke flew in the face of that “rule.”
“It’s because I’m ordinary that I got this far.”
“Sorry?”

“I can’t do anything myself. So what? I find people who can.”
If she needed magic, she recruited mages. If she needed technology, she found scientists. If she needed strength, she acquired superhumans.
If she couldn’t recruit them, she persuaded. If she couldn’t persuade, she threatened. If threats didn’t work, she faced them head-on and broke them.

Rather than waste time chasing what she couldn’t do, she made those who could serve her.
A weak, ordinary person’s greatest power—the ability to form a group.
And Felix clearly had a natural talent for that.

The result of that ability was known across the continent.
The woman even the Hero feared: the Gray Cardinal.
“Let them come, whatever they are. If it’s for the sake of protecting ordinary people’s ordinary lives, I’ll crush every last fantasy that threatens it.”

Magic, divinity, demons, Heroes—
To all those capable of smashing her to dust, she spoke with calm defiance.
“So many have sacrificed themselves for me. And I’ve buried enemies in numbers far greater than that.”

She patted the bandage Carlyle had just finished wrapping and went on.
A person with nothing.
A mere mortal, using the pitiful and cowardly strength of humans.

Going up against those with the power to shake the world.
A mantis against a cartwheel. An egg against a rock.
Call it bravado. Call it madness. Call it noble resolve.

Felix’s voice held none of those things.
It carried only the serenity of stating a simple truth.
The certainty that could only come from one who had walked through countless results.

“I will protect humanity the only way I know how, Carlyle Belfast. Even if I lose in the end—this is the vow I make to myself.”
And in that moment, the figure of the cardinal sitting before him…
Maybe it was just his imagination.

But she looked like a giant.
There was a charisma that pressed down like weight.
“⋯⋯.”

Carlyle sighed inwardly.
Honestly—
‘You seem more like the Hero than she does.’

[⋯⋯Not going to deny she’s impressive.]
Even if it’s dirty. Even if she has to crawl through filth.
She would protect people her own way—backing down for no one.

That was what she meant.
That resolve—it was a guardian’s vow, carved into bone and soul.
“So. Let me get to the point. This is the real reason I brought you here.”

“Yes?”
“Work with me. Help protect people.”
The cardinal smiled.

“I’ll give you everything I have in return.”
“⋯⋯.”
“That's what this was all about. I told you from the start—I came to seduce you.”

Gray. Felix.
They both really had a gift for being spectacularly bad at explaining things.