Chapter 34 – The Culprit (3)

When Adel accepted the sphere of light, she ended up losing consciousness.

This was partly due to the holy power shaking her body, but also due to the call of a certain transcendent existence.

A woman born as a peasant’s daughter, sold off as a miserable slave, and finally becoming the squire of a glorious knight. Adel opened her eyes in an unfamiliar space.

As soon as she opened her eyes, what she saw was a pair of burning orange eyes. Unlike the sticky gaze of demons, they were clear and mysterious eyes.

The owner of the eyes looked down at Adel.

She was a woman so colossal that she made ordinary humans look like dwarfs.

Lying on a bed draped with a thin veil, she maintained an amused expression throughout.

Occasionally, she covered her mouth and smiled softly.

“…”

Adel tried to open her mouth.

Where on earth was this? Why was she here? But Adel’s voice failed to come out, only echoing in vain.

She did not know the reason. Perhaps it was because of this strange pressure weighing down on her body. Or perhaps it was because of the woman’s momentum, which felt reverent beyond mere mystery.

Unable to move or speak, the only thing Adel could do was rack her brain.

She recalled what had happened before coming to this strange place.

The subjugation of the demon that stained Hameln, the purified church and goddess statue, and the sphere of light that was shot.

The puzzle was easily put together. Realizing the woman’s identity, Adel widened her eyes.

‘Goddess Hel…’

Before Adel’s thoughts could even finish, the woman smiled and gestured. Then, the sight before her eyes disappeared like a mirage, and the world inverted.

Adel experienced a distortion of space that went beyond her senses or range of perception. Her stomach felt crazily bloated, and her head spun along with all kinds of colors before her eyes.

Thump.

Adel regained her senses once again. Then, this time, a colossal sun was approaching.

It was large enough to cover the sky and burning hot.

Adel wanted to cry. She also wanted to curse. So she cried and cursed.

“Shit. What on earth is this situation…”

Before she could even finish her words, Adel was swallowed by the sun. With a heat that seemed to burn even her soul, the female knight lost consciousness once again.

Only a very brief moment had passed for her to accept the holy power and awaken. From the perspective of Velloc and Cara, Adel had woken up after the light flashed a few times.

Adel let out a groan and opened her eyes. Her cat-like eyes opened wide as she looked around.

“Adel. Are you okay?”

“Are you okay?! Did you perhaps meet a god?”

Black eyes were looking down at her, filled with worry. The witch’s brown eyes also shone with curiosity. It was a bonus that the light emitting from the staff in her hand was illuminating the surroundings.

Adel could not answer immediately.

She closed her eyes slightly and opened them, or shook her head a bit. This was because she was still in a daze. Then, she felt a hand supporting her head. It was hard like a rock and was a rather familiar sensation.

“Ah…”

Adel opened her mouth blankly before hastily breaking away from Velloc’s embrace. Stumbling for a moment to regain her balance, she bowed her head out of nowhere.

“I am sorry, Lord Velloc. Please punish me!”

The fallen subordinate apologized as soon as she opened her eyes.

“What for?”

Velloc asked in bewilderment, and the mage came up with a roughly similar answer.

“Could it be… because you absorbed the goddess’s holy power instead?”

Adel, biting her lips tightly, nodded as if she was correct. She felt an unfamiliar energy inside her body. It was the power she had felt when she met the goddess in her dream. If her thoughts were correct, this was definitely holy power.

Without even being able to meet Velloc’s eyes, Adel fidgeted with both hands and trembled her shoulders.

“Hmm… indeed.”

Cara also let out a low groan and looked at the two. Although Helena’s power had bounced off thanks to the grace Velloc possessed, from Velloc’s perspective, it was true that his power had been taken.

Moreover, their relationship was not that of companions, but between squire and master. In addition, judging by that reaction, there was a strict discipline between the two…

Contrary to Cara’s worries, Velloc let out a deep sigh.

“What on earth are you talking about, Adel…”

“Huh?”

“That is… I took the power that should have gone to you, Lord Velloc…”

Velloc approached the mumbling Adel and examined her body. He raised her bowed head to meet her trembling eyes and checked her limbs. “Hmm. You look perfectly fine,” Velloc said.

“In the first place, it was a power that did not suit me. Didn’t it bounce off? Isn’t it a good thing that you accepted it instead?”

“That… may be so, but.”

Velloc’s sigh grew deeper. A loyal and dedicated squire was good, but her stiff behavior sometimes made him feel a sense of distance.

He thought she had loosened up while traveling for the past few months, but that was not the case. Could he not change this somehow?

Should he stop being master and squire? Having finished his thoughts, Velloc spoke to Adel.

“Adel.”

“Yes.”

“What on earth do you take me for?”

“Yes? That is, of course, the true knight of this era and my truly great master, Lord Velloc Heine.”

Unlike before, a boisterous answer burst out immediately. Velloc suppressed his cringiness and nodded solemnly.

“Right, in your thoughts, I am that kind of person. Then let me ask you the opposite. Do I, the great knight you think of, look like someone who would get angry over merely having a god’s holy power taken by a companion?”

“Companion… N-No, you are not!”

Adel, who muttered Velloc’s words in her mouth for a moment, hastily shook her head.

“Yes, Adel. In the first place, it was a power I didn’t need. Because I am already strong even without something like a god’s holy power.”

“I-I see! Those are truly correct words!”

Ignoring Cara, who was muttering from behind, “Then is the grace of the ancient god not holy power?”, Velloc busily comforted Adel.

Since she already possessed infinite loyalty and affection toward her master, the effect appeared immediately.

Adel soon stood up vigorously, saying she would bring the warhorses left at the stable, and ran out.

In the ruined church, only one bandit knight and a red-haired witch remained.

“Somehow, instead of a relationship between master and squire, it feels like you’re taking care of a child.”

Cara smirked, as if she had enjoyed a good show. The witch’s face, combined with the white light coming from the staff, looked like a ghost. Velloc snorted.

“Are you teasing me?”

“No, not at all. Honestly, I’m impressed. I initially thought you would chop off Adel’s neck.”

“What a horrible thing to say.”

Whether because he did not even want to imagine it, Velloc shuddered. However, the witch’s smile deepened further.

“Listen, kind knight. Most knights do not cherish their squires like that. They only think of them as consumables that can be replaced at any time.”

Cara recalled Velloc’s flustered expression, Adel’s gloomy face, and then her face that gradually brightened as she smiled brightly.

It was a heartwarming sight. Because she had indirectly come to know the character of the group she would be joining in the future.

‘At least there is no need to worry about being abandoned after following them.’

It was when the relieved witch was tapping off the ash on her robe. The light flashed again from the goddess statue. Velloc had an expression that said, ‘That again?’, while the witch’s eyes sparkled once more.

“Let’s go. Maybe there’s something.”

Cara tapped Velloc’s shoulder, urging him. Velloc did not know why this witch was suddenly acting so friendly, but he moved for now.

Indeed, just as Cara had said, there was something.

There were glowing letters and patterns that seemed to be written in light, and a strange book. The letters were not clearly visible due to the blowing ash. So Velloc picked up the book first and examined it.

It was full of doctrines and praises for the Sun God. It was a prayer book.

Did she prepare this for the newly born Paladin? How kind. When Velloc, who let out a smirk, turned his gaze back to the floor, Cara, who had already swept away the ash with her palm to check the letters, spoke.

“Stranger. Let there be a path there.”

“…”

Velloc did not say anything for a moment. It was because of the impact the word ‘stranger’ brought.

Normally, an outsider from another land or country is called a stranger. But the entity that brought up this word was a god.

A god who exerted influence over the entire continent, beyond this Adria Kingdom.

Such a god calling him a stranger? The answer was clear. The goddess Helena knew about his identity. And she was conveying some message.

Velloc’s heart began to pound. It was a feeling on a completely different track from the excitement before a battle.

A strong nostalgia for his hometown stimulated him. Even while Velloc was lost in thought, Cara’s words continued.

“It seems like some kind of revelation… and this pattern next to it. I’ve seen it somewhere.”

Did it stimulate the mage’s curiosity? Cara went so far as to rummage through the bag she had brought, pulled out an old document, and began to read. After a moment, pointing to a portion of the page, Cara showed it to Velloc.

“Look at this, Velloc.”

It was a clue to return home, which he had found after a long time. Velloc also opened his eyes wide and examined the page. Amidst the white light stretching out from the staff, the appearance of the monstrosity drawn in the ancient book came into view.

It was the appearance of a monster with several horns on a grotesquely swollen piece of flesh. Even for a demon, this looked a bit too extreme… When Velloc’s face turned sour, Cara hastily pointed to another part.

“Don’t mind the illustration. It’s just a fiction created by the imagination of storytellers. What we need to focus on is the pattern and the guy’s name.”

Following Cara’s finger, the exact same pattern that was drawn on the church floor was written in the book. Before Velloc could even read the words, the impatient Cara spoke.

“Astaroth. He is an archdemon.”

Astaroth? Come to think of it, it seemed the snake-headed demon had said something like that. Velloc tilted his head.

“An archdemon?”

“Yes. By any chance, do you know the Seven Deadly Sins forbidden by the church?”

“Wrath, sloth, pride, things like that?”

“Yes. To be precise, it’s not that those emotions themselves are denied… but judging the sins caused by those emotions… No, that’s not what is important right now. Anyway, each of the archdemons is tagged with an original sin.”

“Then this guy too…”

Cara nodded. Her complexion seen in the darkness had turned slightly paler.

“That’s right. Astaroth is an archdemon symbolizing corruption. According to this book, no matter how faithful a knight or priest was, they could not escape his clutches.”

Cara let out a soft sigh. For some reason, it felt like they were caught up in an incredibly dangerous affair… Cara, who ruffled her hair, spoke to Velloc.

“When you saw the revelation earlier, I saw your expression stiffen. Words like ‘stranger’ and ‘there is a path’. On top of that, the goddess proudly displayed the archdemon’s pattern… Is what I am thinking correct?”

Cara could not think to the extent that Velloc was not a person of this world. However, judging by his behavior so far, she could tell what kind of enemies they would have to face in the future.

Velloc smirked at Cara’s concern.

“I see. So that was it.”

Was all of this my fault? Was it karma? Strictly speaking, I am also a victim. Isn’t this too much?

Velloc, who was smiling slightly, hardened his expression and glared at the goddess statue. The goddess no longer emitted light. She only stared coldly at him, fitting for a rock without emotion.

Velloc recalled memories of a long time ago.

It was only a few months ago, but he had experienced too many things in the meantime. Thus, it was a memory that also felt faint.

The things he had done beyond the monitor before falling into this land. Increasing the difficulty of the normal game, choosing hellfire mode, and adding new races.

“The five archdemons and their followers. And establish justice…”

Velloc muttered. Unable to hear because of his low voice, Cara asked back.

“What did you say?”

“So it wasn’t the minor ones, but the boss that I had to kill.”

Velloc’s voice was still low. However, his eyes were glowing bright blue.