Taming the Evil Saintess

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Ophelia had already spent nearly three years with Elliot.

Their relationship was somewhat antagonistic, but that didn’t mean Ophelia hated Elliot enough to want to kill him. In the almost isolated Cathedral, he was practically her only companion.

To Ophelia, Elliot was a rather peculiar individual. For the first year and a half, he was a taciturn knight. And for the remaining time, he was an irritating brat with a nasty personality who would tease Ophelia whenever he got bored.

Elliot always maintained a detached demeanor.

No matter how many filthy curses Ophelia hurled at him, he never flinched and would respond with biting retorts.

There was a time when Ophelia, in a fit of rage, insulted his parents.

“Look at you, raised by lowly wretches without a foundation. That’s why you turned out this way. Hmph.”

Realizing her words as soon as they escaped her lips, Ophelia panicked, but instead of getting angry, Elliot merely smiled bitterly and replied, “Well, Ophelia’s right. I’m an orphan, after all. A nobody who grew up uneducated. In that sense, today’s night training will be an extra hour.”

He was that calm of a person.

But now, what was Elliot doing as Ophelia observed him?

“Hey, Elliot?”

“Yes.”

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“….”

He didn’t look fine at all.

Ophelia had never seen Elliot so flustered before. The skin under his eyes trembled, and his fists, tightly gripping the sword’s hilt, were repeatedly clenched and unclenched.

Even during their ride in the wagon, he pulled at his hair so many times that his golden locks were scattered throughout his hands.

“….”

Elliot stared nervously out of the wagon’s window.

Beyond the abandoned rice paddies lay a forest rotting away in darkness.

There lay Lauren Village, their destination.

As soon as he heard about Lauren Village from Evangelin, Elliot insisted on going there. Not even lenient warnings could sway him; the atmosphere was so tense that even Evangelin, sitting across from him, had to raise her hands and prepare for transport.

“From here on, we can’t go by wagon.”

How long had it been? With a ripping metallic sound, the wagon came to a halt.

Evangelin opened the wagon’s double doors and spoke.

Elliot followed her orders without complaint.

“Of course, foot traffic is also prohibited.”

“Why?”

“There should still be monsters lurking around. At least dozens, I’d say.”

Monsters.

At that word, the hair on Ophelia’s neck stood on end.

They were beings unseen in peaceful Cathedrals. However, among the people of the continent, monsters were known to be the minions of the Demon King, evil beings.

“So for now, we’ll stop here. Later, I’ll issue you permits. I’ll attach a few knights for your escort to enter.”

“What happens if we go in now?”

“You’d be fined under Imperial law.”

“Ophelia.”

Elliot turned to Ophelia. When she tilted her head in confusion, he took the pouch from her inner pocket and handed it over to Evangelin.

“I’ll pay the fine first. It should be enough.”

“Huh?”

“If that’s insufficient, just leave it on credit in the Cathedral.”

“Wait, this isn’t like paying an entry fee to an amusement park! It’s a fine! It’s a prohibition to prevent entry! Can’t you see the no-entry sign over there?”

Evangelin exclaimed, clearly exasperated.

“A permit can be applied for and will arrive within a week! It’s dangerous right now! Why are you so impatient?”

“I’m going in now.”

“No. Even if Sir Elliot is fine, I’m not okay with it. If any guests of the Empire I serve were to sustain severe injuries in a place like this…”

“That won’t happen.”

“Agh, come on.”

The conversation seemed to end there as Elliot slowly moved toward the black field.

Ophelia hesitated but eventually shrugged at Evangelin and followed behind Elliot.

“I’m going too.”

“It’s dangerous. Stay outside.”

“I think being next to you is a bit safer than that serpent-like woman over there.”

With those words, Elliot didn’t say much more.

He only urged Ophelia, looking at her intently.

“Don’t you dare fall behind me.”

“Of course, I won’t.”

Ophelia shrugged her shoulders.

Whatever was happening, Elliot was out of sorts.

This place, Lauren Village, had to mean something significant to him.

Such thoughts brought several scenarios to Ophelia’s mind.

“Everyone has a past they want to bury.”

When asked about his past, Elliot had responded like that.

At that moment, the expression on Elliot’s face bore a nostalgic longing for the past.

Could this possibly be Elliot’s hometown?

Was he unaware that his hometown had been attacked?

As Ophelia lost herself in those thoughts, a sound like a beast’s cry tore through the air.

“Back.”

Elliot said this as he shielded Ophelia behind him, and at the same time, a creature that looked like a ghoul mixing a human and a wolf sprang out from the darkened bushes.

A bizarre appearance. Hundreds of sharp teeth were exposed within its mouth.

“M-Monster! Hey! Behind you!”

Ophelia shouted in shock, but—

“…Behind, you say?”

Before Ophelia even finished her sentence, the beast’s head was already severed in half.

Slam!

Ophelia heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air a moment too late.

When had Elliot drawn it? A silver sword was now in his hand.

“…There are quite a few monsters. We should hurry.”

“Uh, okay.”

Ophelia stared at the split corpse of the monster, rapidly trailing behind Elliot.

She hadn’t even realized when he had drawn his sword. She didn’t see him swing it. Was it truly possible?

In that moment, Ophelia recognized that Elliot’s previous swordsmanship lessons had been merely child’s play.

Remembering how confidently she had felt before him made her cheeks flush red.

“Is this the village?”

“Presumably.”

While she was having such thoughts, they arrived at Lauren Village.

It wasn’t a large village. Perhaps that’s why the tragedy that had occurred there was clear at a glance.

Roofs collapsed. Corpses, picked apart and turned to bones because they couldn’t escape in time, lay everywhere. A horrific scene. Ophelia had seen such sights in books or paintings, but never in real life.

This was almost her first time witnessing corpses.

“Ugh…”

The shock was so profound that it nearly made her nauseous.

Elliot patted Ophelia’s back a few times as she gagged, then crossed through the middle of the village.

Ordinary houses that looked plain and worn down. He tore open a barely standing door and stepped inside.

Elliot knelt down in one corner of the room, discovering a skeleton that could only be that of a boy.

“Hey, do you know that one?”

“Not really.”

Elliot slowly picked up a pendant that had snapped from the neck of the corpse.

In that fleeting moment, Ophelia didn’t miss the slight tremble in Elliot’s hand.

“Ophelia, let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“There’s no longer any reason to stay here.”

*

An old pendant.

An item from the Sword & Magic Chronicle game. It was the accessory worn by the protagonist hero at the start of the game.

The effect was quite trivial. Experience gained +5%. Later on, it would be replaced by some brilliant accessories and destined to be sold for 1 gold in a shop.

However, this pendant was now clutched in my hand. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize it. Even though I had seen it depicted in crude pixelated graphics, there was no sense of disconnection from reality.

“…”

The hero was dead.

With that realization, there was no longer any reason to remain in Lauren Village.

“You’re already out.”

As I stepped out from where I had entered, Evangelin stood there, looking exasperated.

Next to her stood a man with blue hair. For some reason, he looked familiar.

“Who is this?”

“Owen. You must have heard of him, Sir Elliot.”

Hound Owen.

One of the Mark Holders of the Empire.

In the game, his profession was that of a thief. A character with utility known for scouting and disarming traps, a character I fondly remembered.

“I’m glad you got out safely. If you were any later, I would have sent Owen in.”

“…”

Instead of responding to Evangelin’s words, I stared silently at Owen.

When our eyes met, Owen shrugged and stepped forward to offer me a handshake, but instead of taking his hand, I blurted out immediately.

“Owen.”

“Yes.”

“I have a request.”

“…Using informal speech from the first meeting?”

“Yeah. This is more like a request from you as a personal guest than as the knight of the Cathedral of the Saint. You might say it’s an assignment.”

At those words, Owen’s expression changed.

In this world, there was likely no one as skilled at gathering intelligence as Owen.

The story’s central hero had died.

In this world, heroes are the protagonists.

Such a protagonist died in a place he should not have, a place where he couldn’t be killed. It wasn’t a natural disaster.

“What assignment is that?”

“I’d like you to look into the individuals responsible for the disaster that befell this village.”

“…Hmm.”

Upon seeing my expression, Owen gave a chuckle.

“You’re suddenly making rudeness your style. Do you have some connection to this village? Or is there some lingering sentiment? Or perhaps it’s a noble-hearted request as a knight? You don’t seem particularly virtuous.”

He was clearly mocking me.

I furrowed my brow.

Even Owen was different from the original. In the game, he rarely spoke. The mute hunting dog, Owen. That was the title he had earned in the game.

But now Owen was chattering away, spewing nonsense with ease.

At this moment, I felt the urge to sew his mouth shut.

“…”

Normally, I would have just laughed it off, but currently, I was in a state of mental distress.

There is no hero.

The Demon King cannot be defeated.

The world will perish.

In other words, my future plans had completely collapsed.

Therefore, I couldn’t hold back as I grabbed Owen by the throat.

Though Owen wasn’t necessarily small, my strength was more than sufficient to lift him with one hand.

“Hey, hey! You crazy bastard! What are you doing?!”

Ophelia gasped in shock but didn’t stop me as I slammed Owen against a nearby tree.

Thud!

“Cough.”

I glared at the bewildered Owen.

“I’m extremely sorry, but my mood is quite foul right now. That means I don’t have the luxury to entertain your nonsense.”

“…”

“Just do what I say. I’ll pay you however much you want.”

I added hastily, realizing I might have messed up.

“Of course, it’ll be paid by Ophelia.”

“…”

*

“Cough, cough. Ugh! I really thought I was going to die. What kind of malice is this…?”

Owen coughed repeatedly, still rubbing his aching throat.

A sudden strike. He had tried to dodge, but there was no avoiding it. It was a new experience even for him.

“Haha.”

A hollow chuckle escaped him.

Owen was the top agent of the Information Bureau. He even received a mark from the god designated for intelligence gathering in the shade. Evangelin couldn’t, let alone the head of the Information Bureau, order him around at will.

“Just do as I say.”

It was a threat I hadn’t heard in a long time.

‘If you find out anything, contact me through the Cathedral.’

Just moments ago, Elliot had left such a warning, but on Owen’s neck, a bright red handprint remained.

If he were to withdraw now, he might come back to kill me.

“I guess I’ve got no choice but to investigate.”

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

“It’s a priority level two job. I must do what I need to do.”

Evangelin sighed and asked,

“What do you think?”

“What about?”

“What do you think of that Elliot guy?”

It was already strange that he was heading to Lauren Village, but upon hearing the village had been attacked by monsters, the atmosphere shifted completely.

Even after seeing a Mark Holder like Owen, he didn’t flinch at all; rather, he even confronted him.

Well, granted, Owen had deliberately provoked him.

Anyway, he wasn’t an ordinary guy.

It was understandable that he would be made a knight in service to the Saintess.

“In any case, it seems clear that he has some connection to this village.”

“Could it be his hometown?”

Evangelin pondered aloud, and Owen shrugged.

“Well, that would seem reasonable. Anyway, I’m just here to gather information. Analyzing it is your job… but.”

Owen stopped speaking and lowered his stance.

On the road leading to Lauren Village, a monster lay slain.

“Did that knight take it down?”

“Most likely. It’s a fresh corpse.”

Owen lifted the monster’s head. A blood-red line sliced down the center of its face.

“A single strike.”

Elliot had only been holding a one-handed sword.

To think he took down a monster with just that.

It wasn’t so difficult. If one were a Swordmaster of the Empire, it would be a simple task. Owen himself wasn’t a swordsman, but if he put his mind to it, he could take down a monster in one blow.

However.

“The cut is clean. It’s so steady, it’s like it was sliced with a cleaver. Even considering the aid of mana, it’s impressive.”

“Remarkable, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

Owen couldn’t fathom that Elliot’s skill was at the Swordmaster level.