The Plan

As Glory slipped her armour back on, I leaned against the round table, probing, "When's the next battle, milady?"

Gods, I hated watching her cover that radiant body.

Couldn't she just stay here, in The Velvet Pavilion, where I'd decree clothing forbidden?

A Fool's dream.

She smoothed the black skirt etched into her white armour, crescent moons glinting faintly. "Tomorrow," she said, voice steady but laced with steel. "We're storming their temple for a holy scroll. Bishop Adoni won't rest until it's ours."

Her openness stunned me.

She didn't bother hiding behind the secrets of the church.

Had our bond grown so deep already?

I pushed my luck.

"What kind of scroll?"

Her golden eyes flicked to me, laced with scepticism.

I expected her to demand that I mind my own business like the fool I was. But her lips parted, and she answered.

"It holds a spell from the Moon Goddess herself," she said, frustration creeping in. "Only those who believe in her can wield it. The Sun Covenant clings to it out of greed, nothing more."

Her voice trembled, not just with anger but with grief.

This war wasn't just a duty to her anymore. Not after Rosalia's death at the hands of their bishop.

For Glory, it was vengeance.

A reckless idea sparked in my mind, bold enough to make me grin. If I pulled it off, I could become even stronger.

But the risk… it could unravel everything.

Glory finished strapping her longsword across her back, then glided to me, her orange curls catching the tent's red glow.

She pressed a soft kiss to my cheek, warm and fleeting.

"Thank you, Mr. Fool," she murmured. "You always know how to lift my heart."

I flashed my widest grin, bowing playfully. "My pleasure, love."

She paused at the curtains, glancing back with a wink. "Oh, and your secret's safe with me."

With that, she slipped into Lirania's starry night, leaving me alone in silence.

My secret.

She meant my sudden appearance in the tent, flickering into existence like a flame.

Maybe she thought it was a teleportation spell, some jester's trick to hop across the lands of the Knownworld.

She didn't know the half of it.

The Neverworld, the god's gifts, the Horrors only I faced.

Alone, I sank into my chair, crossing one leg over the other, my mind buzzing.

That daring plan teased me, an enticing gamble that felt almost irresistible for a man like myself.

I weighed the pros: A power that could rival spells such as the Sword of Radvaha.

And the cons: exposure, drawing the attention of Holy Bishops

It was an easy decision for a Fool to make.

Tonight, I'd take the risk.

———

[The Next Morning]

Glory woke in the Holy Barracks, the sun shining through the window, casting its glow on herself and her sleeping comrades.

She was the first to rise. Around her were her fellow female knights lying beneath their covers.

The bed beside her was empty. The space where Rosalia used to sleep.

Glory shook her head free of the thought.

In only a few hours, they would storm the battlefield once again, and face the might of the Sun Covenant.

She had to be prepared if she wanted to get vengeance.

Bishop Palios. I swear that I'll kill you myself.

Or at least, that's what Glory thought...

BANG.

The door to the female barracks suddenly crashed open, waking the other knights and raising alertness.

It was a young lady in a nun's robes. A disciple of the Moon God.

She seemed out of breath, like she had just fought a war herself.

"T-the Holy Scroll... It's been taken!"

Sharp sounds of disbelief spread throughout the barracks. Even Glory found herself dumbfounded.

Taken? The most heavily guarded artefact of the Sun Covenant?

"What do you mean taken?" A fellow knight spoke as she rose from her bed, naked.

The nun hesitated for a moment, cheeks flushing red as she realised all the women in the room were naked.

It felt like a sin to be there.

"Bishop Palios sent us a letter, surrendering from the war. He says that he has no use risking his life in battle whilst there's no longer anything to fight for... he says that he wishes for our religions to coexist in peace."

For a few moments, the Knights were all stunned.

For the Bishop himself to send a letter of surrender was a huge deal.

But that left an important question.

"What has Bishop Adoni said on the matter?" Glory asked, and all the knights waited intensely.

"He says that we strike, now. Not for the Artefact, but for the enemies head."

The Knights muttered to each other in agreement. Many of them had lost friends in yesterday's battle. Today, they would be able to correct their mistakes.

But as the nun left the knights to gear themselves up, a question hung in the air of the room.

"It's a shame that we won't be able to claim the Holy Scroll for ourselves." A young knight pointed out. "Imagine how powerful Bishop Adoni could have become."

"I know, right? Who do you think stole it?" Another asked.

"..."

"I don't know. But whoever it was must have strength that rivals a bishop. It's no easy task to break into a holy temple, and escape with your life."

Chatter continued to spread throughout the room, but Glory found herself frozen.

A sudden thought crossed her mind.

A possibility that she believed couldn't exist.

No... she knew that it could. She only hoped that it didn't.

For if it did, then she would be filled with a primal fear for a man that she had seen as harmless.

Mr Fool... have you somehow played a part in this?

———

[The Night Before]

As I stood at the entrance of Sunapolis's Holy Temple, I could sense the artefact that lay within.

I knew hardly anything about the infrastructure of the Temple, only that the guards inside were within my capacity to defeat.

Yes, being in the Knownworld limited the spells that I could use.

But with me currently holding over 100 units of mana in my veins, such a task would hardly prove difficult.

The Sun Covenant might hold beliefs in a god, but in a way, The Fool was a god himself.

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