Chapter 385: Date on the Hill

It had been quite some time since the Cathedral had begun to expand its power in earnest.

Celeste sat back in her seat, silently thinking to herself.

…Under God’s protection, carrying his mission to save the whole world, a coalition of heretics created by those who are dissatisfied with the current system, Cathedral.

In the current reality, where the truly incompetent people simply called the ‘Hero Association’ hold all the real power over the talented people.

Ever since she was branded a villain for standing up to them, she’s been thinking.

I have to change the game.

“God gave me the power and said, ‘You will conquer this world, you will save it. This must be why he said, ‘My child-‘, she thought.

And so, Celeste, created Cathedral, a meeting of villains to share information. To bring all the famous, treasonous villains together in one place, so they could meet regularly and socialize.

Powers are basically given by the Sun God, so those who are handpicked and given powers by the gods, even if they are called villains themselves.

…And so she gathered the villains.

Finally, the moment she had been waiting for came.

The moment she’d been waiting for: the sensation that God was close to this world.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she could feel it clearly, for she had received her powers directly from the Sun God himself.

At the same time, the powers of all the powerful people in the world grew stronger.

-Surely, the influence of the gods.

And just like that, Celeste felt her own power grow unimaginably stronger. Only then did she realize that now was the time to fulfill her destiny.

It was time to overturn the system and save the world, at last.

With that, she summoned the members of Cathedral and proclaimed. Let us unite and take the world into our own hands. Let us conquer the world in the name of Cathedral.

…From the moment Cathedral began to take on the world in earnest, Celeste knew there would be many difficulties along the way. She would have a lot of work to do, and a lot to think about.

But she was having a much easier time leading this Cathedral than she’d ever imagined.

And there was only one reason for that.

…Because of this man stretched out in front of her, sighing, Egostic.

“Ha…”

He was far too competent for his own good.

If you gave him a job, he took care of it, and everything he did was perfect, especially when it came to planning and executing, his plans were always meticulously laid out and never deviated from.

He was strong in the face of the unexpected, and he always saw the big picture, so everything worked seamlessly.

As a result of his game plan, Cathedral’s influence has spread across countless nations.

The rebellious heroes of the Hero Association were few and far between, and one by one their hopes were dashed or they were imprisoned.

The heroes were not harassed, as they had all been chosen by the Sun God and given their powers…Most of them were locked up.

With all this going on, Celeste had to admit, as she looked at him, that he was irreplaceable.

‘…I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve been able to rely on one person so much.’

Always at the top, always alone, it was the first time someone understood her completely and was there for her.

Celeste found herself relying more and more deeply on Egostic.

…So much so, that she often found herself thinking of him.

‘No, calm down, I’m fine, okay? We’ll just have to wait here…Uh…’

‘Uh… Pah, wait…! Uh…’

‘Mmm….’

“….”

‘…If such a kiss was destined to happen at some point, as prophesied.’

I’d rather not have my first kiss be so overwhelming.

Wouldn’t it be better if I approached Egostic and kissed him first?

‘… Wait. And now that I think about it, the way I kissed him back then, I kind of looked like I was used to it…’

She thought this to herself, and was surprised at what she was thinking.

Anyway, that’s when she was having these delusions.

“Celeste. I’m free for a while…Do you want to go on a date?”

He was lying in the chair, and he said it out of the blue.

“Yeah, well… Wait, what?”

Celeste was drinking coffee in her office with Egostic and she spilled her coffee in surprise at his words.

Gee, what the hell are you talking about?

Egostic laughed, as if it didn’t matter, looked at her, smiled, and replied.

“Isn’t going out to play called a date in America? I thought so.”

He said, sounding so naturally virtuous at her question.

…Her blood ran cold at his words.

Yes, that’s how it’s used. It is used…

“Ugh… just be quiet.”

With that, and a slightly flushed face, Celeste looked up at his smirking face and said, “Ugh… just shut up.”

He must have known what he was talking about. He’s the kind of guy who likes to play pranks in the first place.

“Hahaha. Alright, let’s go then.”

“…Hmm. Who’s going?”

While Egostic laughed at that, Celeste crossed her arms and replied bluntly.

…Of course, even as she said that, her body was shaking.

She’d never said she wasn’t going.

***

“Where are we going?”

An open garden, beneath a bright sun, covered in lush greenery.

There, with sun-kissed green leaves blowing in the breeze against the blue sky, Celeste looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“The scenery here is nice, so I wanted to come here with you once, Celeste. Isn’t it pretty?”

“Hmm…Well, it’s not bad.”

She tilted her head at my words, but judging from her expression, she seemed to like it quite a bit.

I’ve been here before, and it’s a nice view.

“Or…

Maybe she’s just happy to be here with me.

No, I had to, because the more she liked me, the less likely the world would end, which is to say. That is.

‘…All of it, for Stardus.’

Remember. The reason for all my actions is for our Stardus.

With that resolve, I smiled wryly at Celeste.

After all, the reason I came here was to get closer to her.

“…And there’s also a secret.”

“Hmph?”

She raised an eyebrow at my words, her golden eyes analyzing my thoughts.

Of course, she doesn’t have that ability.

…But lately, she’s been keeping her eyes open rather than closed in front of me. Is that a positive thing?

“Well, never mind, we’ll see.”

Celeste looked at me for a long moment, then sighed and followed me silently.

After all, she’s got her hands full with Cathedral right now, and she followed me when I asked her to just hang out, so she should have feelings for me. It has to be…

Anyway, as we walked, I asked Celeste a few questions.

“So, what’s your favorite food?”

“Favorite food… I don’t know, I don’t really have one, except maybe pie sometimes.”

“Oh. I make great pasta. I’ll have to make it for you sometime.”

I’m lying. I’ve never made pasta before.

“You? Well… I’ll look forward to it.”

I saw her smile, so maybe it worked?

Anyway, that’s how our conversation went.

Sometimes she would ask me.

“By the way, Egostic, about that Sun God’s orb…”

For a moment, I cringed at the mention of the relic, but thankfully it was a different story.

“You said you destroyed the Sun God’s knight because it was corrupted.”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

I replied, secretly breaking out in a cold sweat, but fortunately, she didn’t look suspicious or resentful. Rather, it was pure curiosity.

I wondered if this was the same woman who had tried to kill me once upon a time when she heard I had broken a holy relic.

“How did you break it? It should be hard to break.”

“Ah…that’s the thing.”

At that question, I smirked.

“I used the power of the stars.”

So far, so true.

“The power of the stars?”

“Yes. The star power I possessed was alien to the sun’s power, so they clashed and could be destroyed. I believe that’s why the Sun God chose me to be his messenger.”

This was just a quick setup.

…It was pretty plausible for something like that.

“Aha…”

Nodding her head in understanding, Celeste smiled slightly before continuing.

“…It’s a shame that the holy object was corrupted, but I suppose it was inevitable, but I’m quite curious as to what you did there.”

She wonders what happened in the ruins of the holy relic.

Hmm. I guess I could paraphrase a bit, right?

I opened my mouth to say something like that.

“Uh, yeah. It was hard to get through there, so I used my country’s hero, Stardus.”

“…Stardus.”

“Yes. There, the Sun God’s knight was attacking, and I had just given Stardus all the patterns of the knight’s attacks in a message from the gods, and she fought him off with some fantastic moves…”

The corner of my mouth twitches up at the mention of Stardus. Oh, man, that was spectacular.

And so I excitedly explained but Celeste’s response was simple.

“…….ha.”

The icy cold voice next to me as I was trying to explain, stopped me in my tracks and I turned around.

“…You must have been very excited, being with that woman named Stardus, right? Just stay next to her, why are you with me?”

Ugh.

Celeste said that in a low voice, full of coldness.

“…Haha. Are you pouting?”

“No. Just don’t follow me.”

“Ahaha…I wonder why.”

I struggled for a while to calm her down as she bolted up the hill ahead of me…