Taming the Evil Saintess

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“What is this?”

Ophelia grimaced as she looked at the thing that was supposed to be food.

It used to be Woong who cooked for us.

But now that Wuzmund was gone, the culinary responsibility of our party had fallen to Barton.

“Are you telling me to eat this kind of stuff?”

What lay before me looked like the product of endless creative experiments in the kitchen.

Of course, it was all Barton’s heartfelt cooking.

“It might look a bit… like dog food, but it’s better than the slop you make, Ophelia.”

“Hey, have you even tasted my cooking?”

“I did. Back at the Cathedral, your solo-made meal.”

During a certain unfortunate equestrian exclusion event, I had once tasted the leftovers of Ophelia’s forced cooking.

She had surely used expensive ingredients, but the outcome was trash.

“…”

Ophelia seemed to have run out of words, frowning as she brought the food to her mouth. Perhaps the taste was better than expected, she widened her eyes in surprise.

“See, even if mercenary food looks like garbage, it has balanced nutrition!”

“Yep, eating well means you can fight well, my lady.”

“…”

Ophelia’s movements with the spoon came to a halt at Barton’s words.

“W-Wait, what did you just say?”

“You eat well, you fight well.”

“That title you attached!”

“My lady?”

“Gyaaak!”

Ophelia hurled a hot mess tin at Barton’s face. A veteran mercenary indeed, he merely tilted his head to dodge.

“Why, why are you doing this, my lady?”

“Just not that!”

Ophelia shouted through gritted teeth.

“Don’t call me like that!”

Her face was completely flushed red.

And though Barton was a cheeky dolt, he was quick to pick up on things.

The problem was he used that quick wit to tease others.

“Aha.”

Barton grinned, wearing a big exclamation mark on his face.

“What’s wrong with calling you my lady?”

“Uh, it’s not that…”

Ophelia fumbled her words as Barton furrowed his brows.

“If you don’t like being called my lady because it sounds old, how about ‘wife’?”

“W-Wife?”

“Or even ‘first lady’? Ophelia the First Lady. Doesn’t it sound perfect?”

“T-That’s! We haven’t even had a ceremony yet!”

“Not yet?”

“…”

Barton wore a look of mock surprise and spread his arms wide.

“I heard from the leader earlier that this place is often used for ceremonies, so why not do it now? I might not have any congratulatory gifts, but I can definitely give you applause equal to a wedding gift! What do you think, guys?”

The Black Eagles only really worked smoothly during times like this and not when fighting.

Laila raised her drink, and the mercenaries cheered in unison.

“… Ugh.”

Ophelia cast a pleading look at me, but I subtly slipped away.

I also had no intention of being drained by those guys.

*

It wasn’t until dawn that we were able to roughly figure out the situation of the Cathedral through Emily’s familiar.

“Troops are congregating at the Southern Gate.”

“Why?”

“It seems the Imperial National Church’s knights are delivering an ultimatum beyond the gate.”

“…”

The religious war that Yurede had mentioned was about to begin.

So if we were to prevent a civil war, now was our last chance. I cast a brief glance at Ophelia. She seemed to notice my gaze and stuck her tongue out at me.

Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t in such bad shape to pull that kind of trick.

“We’re going to crash into the Holy See. This time, we’ll push through in one go. While the troops are gathered to the south, we’ll burrow in from the north.”

“… Do you really think the Hell Duke wouldn’t know about that?”

Cecilia asked, and I nodded.

“Of course, he’d know. The Hell Duke isn’t an idiot. The Holy See is surely garrisoned with possessors and high-ranking knights of the Demon King’s army, as well as Cathedral Knights. So this time, we’re planning to throw in every resource we have.”

In fact, waiting here for the national church’s knights to arrive wouldn’t be a bad approach. If we charged in together with them, breaking through the Holy See would be much easier.

But dealing with the Hell Duke immediately would likely be much easier than managing the chaos brought about by the religious war.

Above all else, Ophelia’s position would become precarious. That was something I absolutely wanted to avoid.

“Let’s get started.”

I said as I glanced at Azar.

His complexion was clearly better than yesterday.

Feeling somewhat relieved, we prepared to depart.

Because the troops were concentrated at the Southern Gate, I thought it wouldn’t be too hard to break through the streets of the Cathedral.

“Elliot, over there!”

Emily exclaimed, suddenly alarmed and looking up.

“That’s…”

There was a massive shape atop the bell tower.

It resembled a human body with a massive tumor clinging to it. The monster’s legs were massive like a beast but its claws curled like those of a raptor. Lastly, the creased face of the monster raised doubts about whether it even had sight.

“… Hey, is that… no way, is it our Ian?”

And then we realized that the monster’s eyesight was likely better than that of an ordinary hawk.

Despite being so far away, it had turned its head toward us and leapt toward us with incredible force.

“Scatter!”

Albrecht shouted, and we immediately spread out.

The point where the monster landed was right in front of us. Boom! The massive creature slammed into the ground with an explosive sound. Tiles shattered, and a cloud of dust rose, and as the creature’s face popped out, I frowned.

That was a familiar face.

“… Ian?”

Possessor Ian.

The high priest of the Ice Palace Purification Church and the one who led the hunt for possessors was now standing before us as a Chimera.

Hatred shone in Ian’s eyes. He had lost his reason but was filled with resentment toward us.

“Is this the work of Idmien?”

I grimaced, and Ian vanished from my sight.

No, he didn’t disappear. He moved at unbelievable speed. I instinctively grabbed my sword.

Crash!

“Gah!”

His claws wrapped around my sword and slammed it to the ground. Had I not blocked with the holy sword, I would have surely been killed. A long gash was left on my breastplate. While it didn’t reach my skin, it was clear those claws could slice through steel like butter.

Quickly assessing the situation, I shouted.

“Stick together! Don’t let it get to our sides!”

Overwhelming attack power that could tear through even armor like paper, and a speed that was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.

This was truly a work of Idmien.

If only the subject wasn’t human.

Crash!

Ian leapt into the air, aiming to squash me, but he was met with a fireball and sent crashing down. Emily’s support.

His burned skin peeled away, and the excessive tumor melted, but he showed no sign of feeling pain. After all, if he had thought of pain, he wouldn’t have jumped from that height.

Thanks to Emily, I at least had time to regain my footing. I planted the holy sword in the ground to support myself, and Ophelia rushed in to cast healing magic on me.

“Hey, what in the world is going on?”

“It looks like a Chimera made by Chimera Sorcerer Idmien.”

“But the Chimera we saw at Azar’s mansion didn’t look like that!”

“Well, that depends on which monster’s body parts are stitched together.”

I wiped the blood from my mouth and glared at Ian.

That massive leg was certainly not that of a regular beast.

I felt like I had seen it before, somewhere in the North.

The name…

“Combining human and manticore bodies, what a diabolical idea.”

Azar emerged wielding his shield.

At the same time, Ian charged at him, but Azar was the strongest among us. He tilted his shield, wrapped in mana, to deflect Ian’s claws, then swung the axe he gripped tightly. Targeting Ian’s knee, the axe struck deep, and blue blood splattered.

Ian, feeling no pain, continued his assault, but Azar slipped under him and twisted his body. Naturally, the axe embedded in the knee spun as Ian fell over.

“Kyyaaaak!”

The monstrous roar that erupted sounded nothing like a human’s. Had its vocal cords been replaced by those of another creature?

The Mark on Azar’s forearm glowed. He aimed to smash Ian’s head to pieces with his axe, but Ian was faster and pulled away.

Boom! With a thunderous sound, the ground was deeply dented. Azar frowned, dissatisfied that his critical hit had missed.

“That old geezer sure can fight…”

“In battles against humans or mages, no one can surpass the Golden Lion in battles against great beasts.”

Ophelia muttered, while Cecilia explained.

Indeed, the territory of La Bre, where he had been the lord, was a magical region where giant beasts often popped up. Thus, Azar, having gained actual combat experience there, should be able to handle a Chimera like Ian.

“I think I sense demons approaching.”

Emili Li, who had one eye closed, came over to me. She was currently sharing vision with her familiar. This was legitimate map-hacking, so it had to be true.

“Reinforcements, huh?”

I picked up my sword and watched the duel between Azar and Ian.

“… Azar, do you think you can win?”

“Time is the issue.”

Azar answered nonchalantly while he sliced at Ian’s ankle with his axe. Ian’s wounds healed almost instantly, but the tendons were much slower to regenerate. The Mark glowed again, and Azar’s strike lodged deeply into Ian’s shoulder.

If it’s like that, it seemed I could leave it to Azar. I turned my body, leaving ten mercenaries to assist Azar.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“I’ll catch up soon.”

Leaving Ian, who had become a Chimera, in the hands of Azar and the mercenaries, we stepped out to confront the Demon Knights. The streets were deserted; it seemed the residents were either hiding in their homes or had evacuated.

Thanks to that, we could spot the demon knights striding directly down the boulevard, without needing to distinguish friend from foe.

“… That’s…”

I spotted a figure in black armor walking right in the center. The demons were all large, but he was particularly massive. Almost three meters tall, he resembled a gnarled, blackened tree.

And that figure was quite familiar to me.

“Leader, that guy is no ordinary demon.”

Georg said, and I nodded.

“Of course not.”

That was the Hell Duke’s subordinate, a mid-boss of the dungeon.

He was a character even seen in the game.

“Negilus.”

“I heard you’re a possessor, and now you know my name? It’s a shame we haven’t had a chance to introduce ourselves.”

The loyal knight of the Hell Duke, known as the Black Knight Negilus, raised a massive greatsword inscribed with runes, glowing red from within his helmet.