Chapter 358: It's All Your Fault (Please Subscribe)

「Mm!!? 」

「Cough, cough, cough—no, that's not right! 」

After taking a satisfied deep breath, the Bishop of Ashes suddenly widened her eyes, realizing what she was doing.

What am I doing!?

What on earth am I doing!!!

She quickly pulled the bloodstained handkerchief away from her nose, eyes wide as she stared at the smear of blood—as if from it she could see Herbert's smug grin.

And, faintly, she could hear his teasing low laugh—"If you really like it that much, you could just tell me straight~ No need to secretly pocket my fresh blood like this~"

The Bishop of Ashes's expression twisted slightly, angered by her own thoughts, and she burst out furiously: "Nonsense! I would never think of doing such a thing!"

Tch!

As if to prove something, she flung the handkerchief to the ground in a fit of pique.

Whoosh—slap.

But that alone wasn't enough to vent her anger, so she also lashed out hard with her snake tail, as if treating the handkerchief as Herbert himself.

Whoosh—slap!

Slap slap slap!

After a fierce bout of venting—perhaps also using it as a way to cover her own embarrassment—the Bishop of Ashes finally stopped, letting out a long breath.

「Haa……」

She looked up at the demiplane Herbert had made a mess of, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly, and muttered: "Herbert, it's all your fault, you brat, it's all because of you."

However, although the various tomes were scattered all over the floor, looking like a headache waiting to happen, she wasn't in any rush to tidy them up.

If she really wanted to clean up, a simple restoration spell could handle it easily.

But the Bishop of Ashes preferred to do it herself, putting each of these things back in place one by one.

Anyway, she had all the time in the world; she could take her time sorting things out.

In fact, even if Herbert hadn't caused trouble, she would still, every so often, shuffle all the tomes and reorganize them, just to while away the overly long hours.

「……」

The Bishop of Ashes silently looked at the mess on the floor, then after a while suddenly shook her head and laughed softly: "Pfft-haha, haha!"

"When was the last time I had such a big emotional swing?"

"Two hundred years ago? Or three hundred? No, it might actually be over five hundred years, right? After I buried the last of my Keeper-of-Secrets kin, I never had such an intense emotional fluctuation again."

She raised both arms high, stretched hard, and let out a long sigh.

「Mm—haa! 」

"A long-overdue bit of excitement—it's actually quite fun."

The Bishop of Ashes took off her hood, clasped her hands behind her neck, and pulled out the strands of hair that had been tucked into her clothes earlier.

Swoosh—

Like a waterfall, deep purple hair cascaded down in sleek strands—extremely long, the tips falling to where an ordinary person's "ankle" would be.

This overly long hair didn't hinder the Bishop of Ashes's movements; as she gently shook her head, the strands actually trembled as if they had a will of their own, emitting a hissing sound similar to a snake flicking its tongue.

Hiss hiss hiss……

And without the shadow cast by the hood, her appearance was, for the first time in ages, revealed within this space.

Among the monster girls Herbert had encountered, her non-human proportion in her normal state could rank near the top.

Those densely inscribed, rune-covered scales only stopped spreading at her neck, leaving a human head intact.

On either side of her overly pale cheeks were some eerie markings, which would make one instinctively think of certain ancient runes.

The impression she gave was quite peculiar—at first glance she looked like a green girl of only fifteen or sixteen, but in the blink of an eye she seemed like a glamorous woman just past thirty.

And no matter which appearance it was, both were filled with a fatal allure, enough to draw anyone's gaze.

But the moment one looked into her eyes, all those desires would vanish without a trace.

In those deep eyes, like amethyst, there was an inexhaustible ocean of knowledge.

When one stared straight into her eyes, all one could feel was intellect—indeed, an overwhelming rationality—and not a shred of desire would remain in one's heart.

Compared to the impulse of a momentary surge of lust, a vast body of knowledge could easily dissolve everything, forcibly turning anyone who gazed upon her "true form" into a slave to knowledge.

This was the real reason the Bishop of Ashes kept her appearance hidden all year round—it had nothing to do with Herbert's earlier guess that she feared stirring desire in others.

It was to avoid turning the poor souls who saw her into idiots who knew nothing but chasing after secrets.

The Bishop of Ashes lowered her eyes, lightly twirling a strand of hair around her finger, and murmured softly: "Hehe, honestly, it's all your fault…… the secrets here have all woken up."

At that moment, the demiplane trembled slightly.

She could feel it—the secrets that had slept for who knows how long were stirring awake.

This was rare.

The unchanging dead silence was the norm here.

Herbert's intrusion, on the contrary, had breathed a long-overdue spark of vitality into this place.

That was a good thing.

But at the same time, it was also a bad thing.

Because soon, the secrets that had awakened gradually began to spiral out of control.

Tome after tome flew down from the bookshelves, transforming into all manner of shapes—animals, monsters, weapons, armor…… and some secrets even took human form, walking through the air.

They couldn't truly speak, but they could emit a kind of droning sound.

Hum—

The sound was heavy and muffled, but if you tilted your ear to listen out of curiosity, they would quickly turn into whispers, flowing into your ears and forcibly pouring themselves into your soul!

The Bishop of Ashes was naturally outside their sphere of influence, completely ignoring their effect.

But even she found these sounds annoying.

So, after ignoring them for a while and seeing they showed no sign of quieting down, she spoke: "Enough. Be silent."

She was in a good mood at the time, so her tone was quite gentle.

But clearly, these secrets mistook her kindness for weakness—the noise grew louder, escalating further!

Buzzzzzz!

"Tsk."

This finally angered the ever-smiling Ash Bishop; she lifted her eyelids slightly and said slowly: "I told you… be quiet."

Hoo—

In an instant, all sound vanished.

Each secret froze in place, then, as if rewinding, their prior forms reversed entirely, reverting back into books, flying backward onto the shelves.

Though these secrets lacked self-awareness, they were surprisingly perceptive in certain matters.

Even such mindless things could instinctively know who not to provoke.

"Hmph."

The Ash Bishop withdrew her gaze, let out a soft huff, and walked toward her resting place deep within the semi-plane.

All the good mood she had barely mustered had been mostly ruined by their disturbance.

Tired. Time for a long-overdue rest.

Meanwhile, as she walked deeper…

Her serpent tail silently emerged from beneath her skirt, swept swiftly across the floor, shoved the books aside, and retracted quickly—her demeanor clearly disdainful.

But if one looked more closely, something interesting could be noticed.

After her tail had thoroughly swept the area, the handkerchief was nowhere to be found on the ground.

The handkerchief stained with Herbert's blood had vanished—where had it gone?

Hard to guess!

How so?

How strange~

On the other side, Herbert, having been thrown out of the rift, was now secretly rubbing his own buttocks in a corner of the abbey.

"Ssshh…"

Herbert hissed through his teeth, rubbing his rear in an undignified manner, muttering words that could be easily misunderstood: "I told you to be gentle with my butt!"

"It was just a lick of your tail—why so violent?"

"If you're upset, I can let you lick me back… oh wait, I don't have a tail."

"…"

Herbert fell silent for a moment, glanced down, then slowly shook his head: "Then again, maybe I don't lack one entirely."

Don't think too much—he meant his ability to manipulate flesh and transform into semi-dragon forms.

Really, truly!

After the sharp pain in his buttocks slightly subsided, Herbert straightened up and exhaled deeply.

"Still… what did she say at the end? 'No next time'?"

Thinking of the Ash Bishop's warning, Herbert pursed his lips, trying hard to look obedient and well-behaved.

But he couldn't hold it in—he burst out laughing: "Hah! She actually thinks I'll behave… isn't that asking too much?"

"First time's new, second time's familiar, third and fourth times become routine~"

Since the Ash Bishop didn't fling Herbert away at the start, she certainly wouldn't do so later.

As her affection continues to rise, even if Herbert repeats his initial behavior, her revulsion won't be as strong as before.

The hardest step—the "ice-breaking"—has already been taken; the rest is simple.

What remains… is just waiting for Herbert to slowly continue his courtship.

"No rush with the Ash Bishop—she won't run off. Just slowly raise her affection."

Herbert patted his buttocks and stepped out of the corner, heading toward the Third Ordinance Hall.

His life in the Mist Abbey was simple, unadorned, and dull.

Aside from eating and sleeping, he faithfully held his post—though he didn't need sleep and could eat little.

He spent his days tirelessly trying to reform and redeem stubborn demon-girl prisoners.

This was truly exhausting!

"Come to think of it, I should find a chance to properly thank the Knight Captain—he appeared just at the right moment, letting me advance my courtship so easily."

Without exaggeration, the Knight Captain's arrival was a stroke of genius.

His presence forced the Ash Bishop into a delicate, inescapable predicament, giving Herbert his opening.

No wonder he's the Grandmaster of the Holy Knights—he's truly the people's good servant!

Major credit due!

"Still, though my courtship progress has advanced, I've made no headway with the materials."

He extended his tongue, transformed it into a blade, then let it return to normal, sighing with regret: "Even turning my tongue into a blade can't scrape off any powder from her scales… these scales are too hard."

Did Herbert lick the Ash Bishop's tail because he genuinely liked it?

Of course—yes, he truly liked tails.

But not entirely.

Herbert had long been secretly using his tongue to try scraping off some powder… for this purpose, he'd been working hard at licking!

But whether he turned his tongue into a blade or into a feline barbed tongue, he still couldn't break through.

He was almost licking sparks off it, but there was still no change, so he could only face the facts and give up.

And to cover up that little move, he could only keep gnawing, pretending it was a simple bout of madness — an act of desecration.

"Right, the candidate the Knight Commander mentioned — please don't let it really be me."

Herbert was somewhat interested in the battle armor worn by that "Fallen Angel," and wanted to borrow it to try on.

But!

As an accomplice who had stolen the Sun God's authority, Herbert had no desire to go to the Sun Church's main base.

What kind of decent person delivers themselves right to the door?

Isn't that just sending a lamb into a tiger's mouth!

Who knows if the Sun God might notice?

Whoever wants to go can go — I'm not going, anyway.

"But I can't just go to him and say no, that would expose that I was there too… I'll refuse when he contacts me later."

A polite refusal.

"Well, although the main errand didn't get done, and I can't go back to ask again for a short while, it's not a big problem."

Herbert's original plan had been to gather information from Bishop Ash, but by a stroke of bad luck he had stumbled onto an unexpected side quest.

"Still, the Sun Church's reaction like this is something I can tell Lucille about — she should be able to give some advice."

As the only surviving "Sunspot" of this era, she'd probably be delighted to see a scene like this unfold in the Sun Church, wouldn't she?

"After I finish chatting with Lucille, I can leave this aside for a while. It's time to go check on Elda and see how their construction is going."

"I wonder how Sophia's people are getting along with Teresa and the others?"

Mushroom merchant Miss Mise had already heard the general situation from him; even though he wasn't present, she should have already gotten to work.

Probably won't be any problems.

The entire Elda territory doesn't have many people right now — with so few inhabitants, they can't stir up much trouble.

"Speaking of which, the Bouncing Egg problem hasn't been fully resolved either. I remember at the time I left it to that girl called Unier to handle… she herself probably has some issues too."

What exactly is the Bouncing Egg?

And what's the situation with that "God's Blessed" girl of the Ice Goddess?

After having seen a real "God's Blessed" with his own eyes, Herbert's vigilance toward such beings had risen considerably.

He realized more clearly that they were mortals — but also not merely mortals.

"Well, letting one problem handle another problem — that's using the barbarians to control the barbarians. For now they should be able to keep each other in check."

Running through what needed to be done in his mind, Herbert also returned to the Discipline Hall.

This time, he didn't dawdle any longer, and walked straight through the teleportation gate into the fifth floor, the Aurora Sanctuary.

"Lucille, I'm back! You… hmm?"

Herbert looked at Lucille, and a strange thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

Who says I can't wear the angel's battle armor?

Then, without even thinking, he spoke up directly: "Um, Lucille…"

"Hmm?"

The fallen angel looked back in surprise, not knowing why he had suddenly changed tack mid-sentence.

The corner of Herbert's mouth twitched, and he uttered words that even he found somewhat abstract: "Um, uh, cough cough, can I borrow your clothes to wear?"

"Mm, no problem… hmm?"

The fallen angel nodded and was about to start undressing, then her movements suddenly froze, and she silently looked at the boy before her.

Do you even hear what you're saying?

"No, cough, I mean… can you take off your clothes and give them to me? Uh, that's not right either."

The more Herbert spoke, the more confused he got, until even he could barely hold it together.

"Tch! Anyway, forget it — you take yours off first."

He gestured, and called out loudly to the fallen angel:

"Strip the armor! Strip the armor!"

(End of Chapter)