Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

Fortunately, as soon as these words came to his lips, he remembered his current position of himself -

A warm-hearted brother who knows the inside story, but only a little bit.

So he hurriedly stopped the topic that was about to go off the rails, and continued calmly:

"Hasn't the witch promised you that she would help you revive Laciel? Then, when Laciel is resurrected, you can give this ring to her in person."

Except for Laciel herself, everyone in the brave team knew that Charles had customized a ring for her. Perhaps after the ring was made, Charles would take the ring and kneel down on one knee to propose to Laciel.

Charles asked his companions to keep this secret for him, so until Rachel pretended to be dead while blocking the knife for Charles, she didn't notice anything unusual.

It would be a surprise to her.

"I just wonder how she will react when I grab her hand and put the ring on her ring finger?"

Charles thought silently as he gently touched the jewelry box through his clothes.

Then he looked at Joseph and smiled, a smile that had rarely appeared on his face since Rachel faked her death.

"I will," he said.

He would grab Rachel's right hand and put the ring, which should have been given away long ago, on her ring finger.

This time, he would not miss it no matter what.

But at this moment he suddenly thought of something else, so his expression quickly became serious, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.

"Also," Charles asked, "have you come up with any results for the investigation I asked you to do?"

Joseph's face also tightened when he heard this.

"Yes," he replied in a low voice, "According to unreliable intelligence... the assassin who assassinated you was from Sheffield."

"Sheffield?" Charles frowned. "Is this information true?"

Joseph shook his head:

"I've already told you, Captain, this is 'unreliable intelligence'. I can't guarantee its authenticity."

"..."

Charles was silent for a moment, staring at Joseph's face with his iron-gray eyes, while trying to recall whether he had offended any big shot in Sheffield in recent years.

"How sure are you?"

He asked abruptly.

"If you insist on asking that..." Joseph hesitated, "Fifty percent, at most."

"enough."

Charles nodded slightly, indicating that he understood the situation.

His expression was calm, and there was no disturbance in his tone, but Joseph became nervous.

The sturdy man secretly glanced at the holy sword on Charles' waist and found that Charles had grasped the hilt of the holy sword tightly without him knowing when. He swallowed his saliva immediately and even almost sweated profusely.

"Captain, you don't want to..."

Even Joseph himself could hear the hesitation in his tone, even a slight tremor.

Xia Se said "hmm" lightly, and exerted a little force with the hand on the hilt of the holy sword. A sharp edge burst out from the scabbard, reflecting a cold light.

"Victoria, Sheffield... they should give us an explanation."

As he spoke, he gently put the holy sword back into its sheath, then raised his head and looked at Joseph.

Something was surging in Charles' iron-gray eyes like mist, his expression remained calm, but Joseph, who was familiar with him, knew that he was definitely not as calm as he appeared.

Sure enough, Joseph soon heard Charles whisper to him:

"If they don't intend to give us an explanation, then after Miss Witch and I have resolved this matter, I will go to Victoria... I will go to Sheffield."

"——Then, I will come back to ask for an explanation myself."

The brave man declared.

Although he made the arrogant statement that he was one man against an entire country, he used a very ordinary tone of statement.

Joseph was stunned.

He knew that Charles was probably really angry this time.

In the past, even when he was mocked and insulted by despicable monsters and misunderstood by those who did not know the truth, Ciel never explained or refuted.

Joseph had been curious about this, and Rachel had asked Charles a similar question -

"Why don't you stand up for yourself?"

Charles's answer was:

"It's useless except wasting time. Besides, I have to be responsible for my words and actions."

At first Joseph didn't understand what Charles meant.

But then he understood.

Although not many people paid attention to it at first, as Ciel did more and more things, the reputation of the hero who always kept his word gradually spread throughout the entire continent. In the end, the "promise of the hero" had even become a special commodity that could be used for trading and was expensive.

Almost everyone knows that a brave man keeps his word.

Because of this, Charles became more and more taciturn outside, and only after returning to Conker, in front of his companions, would he show his lively nature again.

But now he said that if Victoria, or Sheffield, was unwilling to give him an explanation, then he would go to Sheffield in person and ask Sheffield to give him an explanation.

If someone else had said this, Joseph would probably have just thought that person had drunk too much, but the person who said this was Charles.

Then this sentence is not just a simple sentence -

What lies behind it is the promise kept for nearly a decade, which is represented by the brave man Charles, and the people united by Charles' good reputation. It is a force, or power, that should not be underestimated in any case.

But even so, Charles might not be able to compete head-on with the Victoria Empire, which is now at its peak.

Joseph sighed and continued:

"I was also very angry after learning this information. Who would have thought that it was an assassin sent by the Victoria Empire..."

Charles just looked at Joseph without saying anything, as if he was waiting for something.

Should I advise him to face reality and temporarily give up the idea of ​​seeking an explanation, or...

Joseph suddenly shut his mouth.

Then, looking into Charles' eyes, he could not help but grin, took off the pair of small glasses on his nose that did not match his temperament, took off the standard robe of a White Tower apprentice, and casually threw the two things aside.

"Okay, I have to admit," he moved his neck and wrists, making crisp sounds, "It's Xirui's job to persuade you to calm down, and what I should do is..."

He nimbly flipped out from behind the counter, and his strong body landed on the ground as gently as a feather falling, without making any sound.

Joseph stood in front of Charles.

With a smile on his face, the sturdy man raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched Charles' shoulder without any courtesy.

"Captain, I need to confirm this," he whispered to Charles, "Our enemy this time may be the entire Victoria."

Charles did not hesitate at all. He nodded to Joseph:

"Ah."

Joseph's grin widened when he heard this.

As if he thought it was fun to be an enemy of a powerful empire, the strong man whistled and sighed:

"cool!"

Then, he placed his fist on Charles' left shoulder, his light golden eyes filled with excitement.

"Tell me the time and the place," Joseph whispered, "and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you."

Just like in the past few years, the two of them had always worked together seamlessly on the battlefield, one holding a huge shield and the other holding a holy sword.

Charles looked at Joseph and said nothing more, no thanks and no explanation. Perhaps there was no need for so many roundabout words between men - he just raised his hand and clenched his fist, gently bumping fists with Joseph, and all he wanted to say was expressed.

This is friendship between men.

……

After getting the ring and confirming the information, Charles planned to leave Kangkel and return to the Sea of ​​Forest.

He turned around, raised his arm and waved to Joseph as a farewell.

Joseph watched Charles disappear out the door, and his gaze turned to the White Tower apprentice's standard robe and glasses that he had thrown on the counter.

For some reason, he suddenly felt in a very good mood and even wanted to go to the pub for a drink.

Just go.

The strong man took action.

He quickly locked the door of the shop, but for some reason, he stood there for a long time without moving.

It had been a while since Charles left, but he seemed to have just discovered something, as if he had just woken up from a dream, and even said the opposite:

"You are finally back, Captain."

[To be continued]

-

14. Change of name

Before using the Warp Spell Scroll to return to the Forest Sea, Charles carefully compared the similarities between Miss Witch and Laciel.

Their personalities are almost identical. They both like golden roses, both like biting their fingers when thinking, and both will poke him with their wands to remind him to turn off the forbidden spell before using the warp spell.

Not only that, the witch lady could also transform into Lacie's appearance without ever seeing her, and her appearance was exactly the same. When he was dealing with the crazy mother that day, he once thought that the person standing in front of him was the real Lacie.

But maybe that was the real Rachel, he was just too stupid to guess it.

It was so obvious that the witch didn't even think of concealing it. Could it be that because he had not guessed her true identity for a long time, she deliberately revealed her true identity to him?

When Charles thought of this, he couldn't help feeling ashamed.

"But why," he couldn't help but think, "Why did Lacie do this? Why did she join the team as a priest in the first place?"

Following this line of thought, he soon thought that perhaps it was because he had not paid off his debts that Lacie approached him?

But the question is, if Rachel wanted to collect the debt, why didn't she say it? In the past three years, she never mentioned this matter.

Or is it for revenge?

Because he accidentally destroyed the magic circle she had constructed with great difficulty, she joined the team and wanted to take revenge on him?

But this doesn't make sense... In the past three years, Miss Witch has not done anything bad to him. She even helped him clean his room, fed him when he was too poor to afford food, drank with him, and occasionally washed his clothes... In the end, when the killer attacked him when he was in a weak state, Miss Witch sacrificed herself to block the fatal sword for him.

Are the above actions her revenge on him?

Then the Sherpa would like more such revenge.

Charles has never been in love. Most of his understanding of love comes from Joseph's sister, the bunny-eared assassin named Siree.

Xi Rui told him that no matter whether you are a man or a woman, if you are willing to spend time and energy and do a lot of things for another person, then you probably like that person.

If this theory holds true...

So, it turns out that Miss Witch had fallen in love with him two or three years ago?

But this guess doesn't make sense at all. How could Miss Witch fall in love with him for no reason?

Ciel tried his best to figure out why the witch disguised herself as a priest to join the brave team, and how she fell in love with him, but maybe he could ask.

If you want to know the answer, why not just ask Miss Witch?

Besides, he still has a contract.

As long as he used the master-servant contract, even if Miss Witch didn't want to reveal her identity, she would have to be obedient and tell him the reason why she joined the team.