Chapter 94: Rain?

Over the following days, Chris continued wandering around the capital, searching for Fallen and Acolytes and eliminating them whenever he found any.

At some point, Aelia decided to join him, as she wanted some action herself. She had spent quite some time staying inside the residence, and now that the twins were slowly recovering, she wanted to stretch her legs and do something useful.

With the two of them working together, their investigations became even more efficient. Chris could sense demonic energy, while Aelia could deal with most of the enemies without much trouble. Even when they encountered stronger individuals, the two rarely needed to put in much effort.

As a result, they quickly became famous throughout the capital.

However, it wasn’t the kind of fame most people would desire.

The noble and merchant families who had heard about their visits were particularly frightened. Nobody wanted to wake up one morning only to find Chris standing at their doorstep, casually asking to inspect everyone inside.

Some families even went as far as complaining to the royal family, demanding that the Queen put an end to their actions. Unfortunately for them, the Queen dismissed every complaint as though it were nothing more than a passing breeze.

She had given Chris full authority to investigate, and she had no intention of interfering with his work simply because a few nobles were uncomfortable.

As the days passed, the number of Fallen and Acolytes hiding within the capital grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, Chris could barely sense any more of them, and their investigations gradually came to a standstill.

At first, Chris had tried capturing and interrogating them, hoping to obtain useful information that could help with the ongoing investigation. Unfortunately, all his efforts had been wasted.

The Fallen seemed incredibly intelligent and cautious. They never revealed any details to their subordinates, only informing them of the tasks they needed to carry out. As a result, Chris couldn’t obtain any useful information from them.

...

One beautiful, sunny day, Chris and Aelia were summoned to the palace once again.

At the moment, the two of them, along with Aldric, were standing in front of the throne, looking at the Queen.

Chris was wearing the same black military uniform with golden details, while Aelia wore a completely white one. She had strongly refused to wear anything black, claiming that it simply wasn’t her style.

She was also wearing a veil over her face and a hood over her head, leaving only her beautiful blue eyes and a few strands of platinum hair visible.

the Queen looked at the two of them for a moment before nodding.

"You two have done a good job."

"Thank you." Aelia smiled and nodded in return, while Chris remained silent.

"You have earned your reward."

As she spoke, the Queen casually tossed four green badges towards Chris.

He caught them easily and immediately stored them inside his storage ring without even looking at them.

The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"What’s the matter? Are you not going to say a word to me?"

Chris looked at her for a moment before asking. "What’s your name?"

"Huh?"

The Queen was startled by the question. Her eyes widened slightly, as though she had just heard something ridiculous.

"C-Chris!? Do you actually not know the Queen’s name?" Aldric looked at him in disbelief.

"Huh? And how should I know? Everyone keeps saying ’Her Majesty this’ and ’Her Majesty that.’... How am I supposed to know her name?"

Aldric slapped his forehead. "Couldn’t you have asked someone, then?"

Chris simply shrugged. "I wasn’t really that interested. I had other things to deal with."

"Pfft..." The Queen suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahahahahahaha!"

Aldric flinched at the sound, while Chris simply watched her in confusion.

It was the first time he had seen her laugh since they had met. Until now, she had always maintained that cold and arrogant expression, regardless of whom she was speaking to. Even when Chris had openly challenged her authority, she hadn’t shown much emotion.

Seeing her laugh so suddenly was rather unexpected.

The Queen wiped a tear from the corner of her eye before looking at him again.

"You know, you’re the most ridiculous man I’ve ever met."

"Thank you?" Chris scratched his cheek, unsure of how to respond.

"Since you’ve asked, I’ll tell you my name." She shook her head with a smile. "My name is Amara Duvir de Dunestia. May I ask why you suddenly wanted to know?"

Chris raised an eyebrow. "That’s one long name..."

"CHRIS!?"

Aldric looked as though he was about to faint, while Aelia giggled beside him.

Chris paid him no attention and continued speaking to Amara.

"Since I’ve entered this place, I’ve been wondering how I should address you. There is no way in the world that I’ll be calling you Your Majesty or anything like that."

Aldric gasped.

"Will you shut up, old man!? What’s with all those weird sounds?"

Chris finally turned towards him, looking annoyed.

"Y-You! You’re impossible!" Aldric shouted before turning towards the Queen. "Please don’t mind this fool, Your Majesty. He’s just like that... Unrepairable."

"The fuck do you mean by that, old man!? Who needs to be repaired? Am I some kind of scabbard that needs patching up?!" A vein bulged on Chris’s forehead as he glared at Aldric.

"Pfft..."

Amara and Aelia suddenly started laughing together, leaving Chris and Aldric looking at them in confusion.

Aldric glanced at the Queen, then at Aelia, before finally lowering his head. He had no idea how the conversation had turned into this.

"Hahahaha... It’s fine," Amara finally said as she calmed down. "You don’t need to call me Your Majesty."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"But you’re not making this easy for me, Miss..." He held his chin for a moment. "Miss Duvir de Dunestia?"

Amara shook her head. "You can just call me Amara when we’re in private."

Aldric couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He opened his mouth to say something, but Chris immediately turned towards him.

"Just shut up, old man. Believe it or not, if I hear another strange sound from you, I’ll start reciting your entire Art of Courting Maidens."

Aldric gasped before quickly covering his mouth with his hand, clearly indicating that he wouldn’t say another word.

Chris nodded in satisfaction before turning back towards Amara.

However, the Queen seemed to have remembered something.

"You know, you’ve received quite a nickname in the capital. And your girlfriend has received one too."

Aelia immediately became interested.

"A nickname?" She looked at Amara.

"Yes." The Queen nodded. "Since you two have stirred up quite a lot of trouble for the noble and merchant families, and they don’t know your real names, they decided to give you nicknames."

She turned towards Aelia with a smile.

"Yours seems to be Ice Veil."

"Oh?" Aelia looked surprised for a moment before smiling. "Ice Veil, huh? It sounds nice! I like it!"

She happily clapped her hands, clearly pleased with the name.

Amara’s smile widened as she looked at Chris.

"Do you want to know yours?"

"I don’t like where this is going..." Chris shook his head before sighing. "What is it?"

"It’s Ashen Rain."

Chris simply stood there with a deadpan expression.

Amara seemed to enjoy his reaction and continued explaining.

"It’s because, and I quote, wherever you went, the ashes of people rained down from the sky."

She tilted her head slightly.

"What? Don’t you like it? It sounds cool, does it not?"

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Like it? Cool? Ashen Rain?"

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Are they actually complete idiots? I use fire, and they name me rain? What kind of joke is this? Aelia uses ice, and they call her Ice Veil, but me..."

He couldn’t believe it. Of all the names they could have given him, they had chosen something completely opposite to what he would have expected.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Amara and Aelia burst into laughter again.

Even Aldric displayed a grin and was just about to say something when Chris turned towards him.

"I’m warning you, old man..."

Aldric immediately closed his mouth and turned away, his shoulders trembling as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

Chris sighed before looking at Amara.

"So... I don’t think you’ve called us here just to give us our rewards and tell us our... names or whatever those are. Why did you really call us?"

He knew he had to change the subject, and quickly, before they started laughing at him again.

Fortunately, it seemed to work.

Amara’s expression gradually turned serious as she nodded.

"You’re right. I called you here for something else."

Chris nodded.

"What is it?"

"There is still some time before the royal dungeon opens. Were you planning to investigate other cities apart from the capital?"

"No." Chris shook his head.

Amara raised her eyebrows. "No? You better have a good reason for that." Her expression hardened slightly.

"And you better not threaten me," Chris replied, narrowing his eyes. "I’m not one of your little soldiers. Remember that."

Aldric nervously glanced between the two. Amara remained silent for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"You’re right. I’m sorry for that."

"That’s better."

Chris nodded before continuing.

"And there is indeed a reason why I won’t be doing that."

Amara looked at him, waiting for him to explain.

"The investigations in the capital went quite smoothly, didn’t they?"

"Yes. Quite smoothly."

Chris smiled slightly.

"And that’s exactly the problem. It was too easy."

He shook his head. "I don’t believe for a second that we’ve actually won this confrontation. They must be planning something."

Amara’s expression tightened.

"Are you certain?"

"They’re not fools, Amara." Chris shook his head. "Their minds might be corrupted by the demons, but they’re definitely not going to sit quietly and watch us eliminate them one after another."

He crossed his arms before continuing.

"They’ve already lost a lot of people, and yet we haven’t seen any meaningful retaliation. That alone tells me something is wrong."

"I expected something like that," Amara replied with a nod. "But if they really intended to do something, why haven’t they retaliated already?"

"Who knows?" Chris shrugged. "They must be waiting for something. So, our best option is to keep the most important place, the capital, safe and free of their influence."

Amara remained silent for a moment, seemingly considering his words.

"Do you think they might be waiting for the royal dungeon?"

"I don’t think so." Chris shook his head. "The most powerful people in the country, like Aldric, won’t be entering the dungeon. They won’t have any greater chances of dealing with us than they do now."

The Queen nodded and smiled. "Good thinking."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

Something about her reaction felt strange. She seemed a little too pleased with his answers, almost as though she had already known what he was going to say.

He looked at her suspiciously before asking.

"Were you... Were you actually testing me this whole time?"

Amara smiled and raised both hands.

"I’m sorry, but I had to. I wanted to see how you think."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "So, you’ve already thought about all of this?"

"Chris, Her Majesty is actually a genius," Aldric suddenly explained with a proud smile. "She’s the most intelligent woman in our country. Her intelligence is beyond anything we can measure, and she can even predict the future sometimes."

Chris slowly turned towards Amara.

"Seriously?"

Amara smiled.

"Surprised?"

"So you already knew why I wouldn’t investigate the other cities, and you also knew what the Fallen and Acolytes were planning?"

She nodded.

"Yes. While I don’t know their exact plan, I believe they’re waiting for the international competition. Until then, we should be fine."

Chris nodded slowly.

He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around everything. He had thought he was simply explaining his reasoning to the Queen, only to find out that she had already considered most of it herself.

He glanced at Aldric, who was still wearing a proud smile, before looking back at Amara.

’What an annoying woman...’

Amara noticed his expression and smiled as if to annoy him even more.