Finally, I can Retire, Or so I Thought

”Tap... tap... tap.”

Johan walked down into a crypt and stood in front of its door. He raised his hand, and the stone door sealing the crypt slid open. He then turned back to look at Dion, Sheila, who was carrying Cleo, Aria, Mei, and Luna, who was holding Gina in her arms.

”Come on, step inside,” Johan invited.

The faces of Dion, Sheila, Aria, Mei, and Luna looked confused and uneasy. It was glaringly obvious they hadn’t expected to step into a random crypt belonging to who-knows-whom. Seeing no one move, Johan nudged his glasses up his nose.

”Don’t worry, this is my temporary home, not a trap,” he said.

Hearing Johan’s words, Dion and the others looked at him with even more doubt, viewing him as a total weirdo. But having no other choice, they finally nodded and followed Johan inside. They walked down the stairs when suddenly—blam!—the stone door behind them slammed shut, plunging the entire corridor into darkness. Then, blaze! Torches flared with green fire, illuminating the hallway.

”Wow... this is... creepy,” Dion said, glancing back.

Luna, Aria, and Mei were walking squeezed tightly together, while Sheila, who had originally slung Cleo over her shoulder, was now carrying Cleo princess-style in both arms.

”Are you guys... scared?” Dion asked innocently.

”Who wouldn’t be in a setting like this?” Aria shot back.

”Yeah... why would you even ask that?” Luna added.

”I should have just killed him earlier... he’s terrifying,” Mei chimed in.

”Give me a break, you guys. Stop talking, he’s gonna hear you,” Dion said.

”I can hear you loud and clear,” Johan called out from up front.

”Hahaha... they’re just joking... sorry... really sorry,” Sheila said, trying to keep Johan from taking offense.

”It’s fine, I’m used to being misunderstood. That’s why I didn’t have any friends back at the academy or in the department... sob,” Johan confessed, pouring his heart out.

”Great... now he’s trauma-dumping,” Dion thought in his head as he glanced back at the girls. ”You guys went too far,” Dion said in his head, glaring sharply at the others.

”Sorry,” Aria, Luna, and Mei mouthed, realizing the meaning behind Dion’s look.

Upon reaching the bottom, Johan raised his hand again and another stone door slid open. As they stepped inside, the eyes of Dion, Luna, Aria, Mei, Sheila, and even Gina widened. They saw a space that looked like a bedroom, a library filled with countless bookshelves, and a laboratory with a table full of ampoule bottles.

”Wow... this is... your home?” Dion asked.

”Yeah... just lay Cleo down on my bed,” Johan replied, pointing to a bed made of stone topped with a mattress.

Sheila laid the unconscious Cleo down there, and then they all sat around a long stone table with chairs also made of stone. Clap... clap. Johan clapped his hands. Clang... clang. From the adjacent room, two suits of bikini armor worn by invisible entities emerged, appearing to float on their own while carrying two trays of drinks.

Seeing such an unusual sight, Luna, Aria, Mei, and Sheila were naturally bewildered. Gina, who was sitting on the table, looked confused as well, but when one of the bikini suits gently petted her head, she settled down.

”W-what are those? Ghosts?” Aria asked.

”Hmm... not ghosts, but eidolons. Since they don’t have physical forms, I gave them armor so they wouldn’t be naked,” Johan answered casually.

Then everyone turned to look at Dion, who was facing away to avoid looking at the two eidolons.

”What’s wrong with you?” Luna asked.

”Nothing, haha,” Dion replied. ”Man... those eidolons look just like humans except their bodies are made of some kind of light, but... they have a shape, and... they’re sexy... damn it,” Dion said in his head.

After the two eidolons left, they drank the beverages provided by Johan. Johan then turned his gaze toward Dion.

”Sorry... I tried to inspect your class, but I couldn’t see anything... what... is your class?” Johan asked.

”Oh... so that’s why you asked earlier. Just assume I don’t have a class or a rank,” Dion answered casually with a wave of his hand. ”Not gonna bother explaining, they never believe it anyway, total waste of energy,” Dion thought in his head.

”I see. So what actually happened back in the capital?” Johan asked.

Hearing Johan’s question, everyone went quiet. Luna, Aria, Mei, and Sheila turned to Dion, seemingly waiting for his approval before telling the story. Dion looked at them and nodded. Only then did they recount everything to Johan, from the coup plot and the slaves to how Dion freed them. Johan listened without asking questions, simply nodding as he absorbed and processed what Dion and the others said.

However, when he heard Luna and Mei’s account of the girl in the tower and the collection of dark magic scrolls, Johan’s expression shifted. He became dead serious and asked,

”Did you see that girl?” Johan asked.

”No, we only heard her terrifying voice and ran. We didn’t see her,” Luna answered.

”Why the sudden shift to serious?” Mei asked, observing Johan closely.

Johan stayed silent for a moment, appearing to be in deep thought. He then turned to look at Cleo resting behind him before looking back at Dion and the others.

”We... from the magic department and the royal magic agency of Lutherias... suspect that someone behind the dark cult that worships the demon god and seeks to restore the glory of demons as written in the scriptures from 1,000 years ago is residing in the palace and is a member of the royal family. If you really did see those forbidden magic scrolls there, coupled with that girl in the tower... it’s likely all our investigations were correctly pointing in that direction,” Johan stated.

Hearing Johan’s words, Dion, Luna, Aria, Mei, and Sheila gasped in shock. They turned to look at one another, and then Luna remembered something and turned back to Johan.

”Wait a minute... Cleo also mentioned that back when she was at the academy, there was a girl from Minatheras who held an SSS-rank class and had a voice like a demon,” Luna pointed out.

”Correct. She is King Theobald’s daughter... her name is Minerva von Reinhold... her class is... SSS-rank Living Lich. She was expelled from the academy for killing three students who bullied her and trading her victims to summon demons. Cleo and I certainly won’t forget that incident because the academy was nearly destroyed back then,” Johan said with his head lowered, his hand trembling as he adjusted his glasses.

Dion, Luna, Sheila, and Mei certainly knew the story, three S-rank demons that almost leveled the academy. They even still remembered the classroom in the right wing of the academy that was sealed and off-limits to everyone because of that event.

”We know about that incident,” Dion said.

”Yeah... we didn’t experience it ourselves, but the instructors told us about it,” Luna added.

”Even though I didn’t believe it back then and almost snuck into the right wing out of curiosity, after hearing it from someone who witnessed it firsthand, I believe it now,” Mei said.

”Which means... Cleo knows about it too, right?” Sheila asked, turning to look at Cleo.

”Of course, everyone in our year knows about it. Shortly after, Minerva vanished into thin air... the palace told the public that Minerva died of an illness, but since you mentioned a girl with a demon-like voice in the palace tower, it’s definitely Minerva,” Johan answered.

The mood in the room instantly turned pitch silent; not a single person spoke. Even Gina was quiet; she flew up and went to sleep beside Cleo, while Dion looked utterly exhausted.

”I knew it, there’s bound to be a new problem, and this time it’s a dark cult connected to the palace... it just never ends... my gut was totally right,” Dion said in his head.

***

Meanwhile, inside a room in the palace of the Minatheras Kingdom, ”Hum... hum... hum,” the sound of a creepy girl humming could be heard.

”Ugh.”

René, who was lying on the bed, began to move. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the vaulted, dark ceiling above. His eyes widened instantly, and he sat right up in shock.

”Huh... what is this... where am I?” he asked, confused.

”Are you awake, my husband?”

Hearing the creepy girl’s voice beside him, René turned his head slowly. He recoiled in shock at the sight of a beautiful girl in a black dress with black hair, snake-like green pupils, and pale skin, sitting beside him with a sweet smile.

”W-who are you? W-where is this?” René asked, terrified.

The girl stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. She leaned her body toward René and wrapped her arms around his neck, causing René to flinch in shock and grab both of her arms.

”You’re in my room, my husband. My name is Minerva, and from now on, we will always be together,” Minerva said.

”W-what? I... I don’t understand,” René said, bewildered.

”Right now, you are no longer René the SS-rank Sword Saint, but you are René, wielder of the SSS-rank Bloodfiend Blademaster class,” Minerva said, pointing toward a round mirror on her wardrobe.

René turned to look at the mirror. His eyes widened as he saw himself now possessing pale skin, red eyes, white hair, horns on his forehead, and fangs in his mouth like a vampire.

”Is that... me?” René asked, confused as he felt his cheek. ”I...I don’t understand...what happened to me ?” Rene asked again.

”Correct, and starting today, you are my husband,” Minerva answered. She then stepped forward and kissed René’s lips directly, to which he naturally returned the kiss passionately, wrapping his arms around her waist. ”And I will never let you go,” Minerva said in her head.