Chapter 406 - Overtime
Christmas Day—the day commemorating the first descent of the Goddess, whom so many people living on this land today worship and offer their faith to.
At the end of the year, after completing the most important harvest, the people give thanks and devotion to the Goddess who has allowed them to breathe and live through another year safely.
People from all walks of life on this land, nobles and commoners alike, even the Queen and Princess of the kingdom itself—befitting the continent's grandest event—personally visit the church to grace the occasion.
Truly, this one day transcends differences in status, allowing humans to celebrate as equals having safely passed another year, while praying for eternal peace and safety in the years to come.
But,
Amid the sacred festival where joyful smiles never faded from the faces of the masses, there were those clad in cold armor, carrying spears and swords meant for slaughter.
They had stealthily surrounded and watched the church—the head temple of the Goddess Church where the event was held—without drawing the people's eyes. And these were no wicked cultists serving an evil god.
Surprisingly, they were knights sworn to protect the kingdom and the royal family. Among them were many clad in pure white armor symbolizing the Goddess's Crusaders, for reasons unknown.
Hidden in the shadows, they monitored every person entering the church to hear the Saintess's good words for the year. They were poised to spring out at the slightest sign of anything suspicious.
Though their faceplates hid their expressions and eyes, the aura emanating from them suggested that even a single death wouldn't be out of place right then.
And at that moment, clank! As women with red hair, armored just like the others and mounted on horseback, stepped forward from among them, the knights knelt on one knee to express their loyalty.
The holy knights, who served only the Goddess and the Saintess, merely bowed their heads in respect even to the Queen who ruled the kingdom and the Princess who would one day succeed her.
-How dare they...
-Insolent fools, kneel at once!
Though their faceplates hid expressions once more, the knights showed clear displeasure and anger toward the holy knights who dared not kneel to the Queen and Princess. But the holy knights remained silent.
-These bastards really...!
"Enough. This isn't the time to get caught up in petty squabbles with the likes of them."
One fiercely loyal knight reached for the sword at his waist, but at the words of the red-long-haired woman—the supreme ruler of this land, Raipelth—he bowed his head deeply once more.
Then, the red-short-haired woman right beside Raipelth—the Princess who would one day succeed her as Queen, Ariel—spoke on her mother's behalf.
"Report."
-No suspicious persons or signs have been observed thus far.
"...That's exactly what makes me uneasy."
A joint operation with the Goddess Church's holy knights, based on the sage's warning that the group who suddenly kidnapped the Saintess and the Holy Knight Captain months ago might strike during the Christmas festival.
It was hard to predict the chaos if word spread among the common folk that the Saintess and Holy Knight Captain had been kidnapped in broad daylight.
Only those present here and a tiny handful of others knew about Violet and Christia's disappearance and abduction.
To avoid greater chaos from large-scale troop movements, they had gone undercover with only elite knights comparable to the holy knights, each worth a hundred men—no ordinary soldiers.
Yet Ariel couldn't shake her anxiety.
'If they show up, it's a problem. If they don't, it's still a problem.'
As mentioned before, only a select few knew of the kidnapping. The common people remained oblivious to the Saintess's absence.
Until now, the church had brushed it off as the Saintess being busy or away on important matters. But if even this once-a-year Christmas festival passed without her, suspicions would sprout among the masses.
Rumors had already circulated for months that she might be ill, whispered among the people.
For the Saintess herself to miss the most sacred and momentous day, even more so than the anniversary of the Goddess's descent?
It wouldn't just tarnish the church's face—it would give wings to the bad rumors, spreading like wildfire across the land.
But if they didn't appear, it might end as baseless gossip, mere fodder for the idle. If they did... if her suspicions were right...!
"Eleonora..."
She had never forgotten the horrific scene beyond the crystal orb on the day the Saintess was kidnapped.
'That Eleonora—the proud Eleonora—naked, prostrating before that black-haired man, shaking her hips as she took his cock...!?'
"Ariel?"
"Y-Yes, m-mother?!"
"Are you alright? Your face is flushed. Do you have a cold...?"
"No! Ahem, I mean... Your Majesty."
That depraved scene, her dear friend fallen into lewd corruption—had she unconsciously let out her frustration? Ariel cleared her throat under her mother's worried gaze, insisting she was fine, but Eleonora's platinum blonde hair filled her mind again.
'Eleonora, I've trained relentlessly following your example. I may not have reached your level, but with Mother...!'
Bad rumors might follow later, but if Eleonora and her group appeared as expected, this time she would definitely rescue her from the man who had corrupted her so thoroughly!
But first...
"Mother, there's something I need to tell you..."
Just as she prepared to reveal what she'd seen that day—what she'd hidden even from her mother about her friend's fate—a brilliant light flashed!
Whoosh—!!
"Ariel, look at that!"
"That's...!?"
Suddenly, a circular magic circle formed in the sky centered on the church, and dazzling light poured down like a cascade, enveloping it. Raipelth and Ariel yanked their reins in unison, spurring their holy knights toward the church.
-Huh? Wha-?
-What's that?
-No idea, but we should run—?!
The massive magic circle manifesting from the church spire threw the people into panic, frozen in place.
"We don't need to wrap this up quickly. The sage messaged that he'll join us soon anyway! But..."
"You mean resolve it before the people's confusion worsens!"
If rumors swirled about the Saintess's seclusion for months, the mage tower's grand sage—whose absences typically lasted years—moving would amplify them exponentially.
Just as position makes the man, so too does man make the rumor.
If word reached anyone's ears that the sage himself had mobilized, this incident would balloon into a world-shaking crisis, all but guaranteed.
'...Though it's not quite that bad—more like a national emergency.'
For her dear friend. For the noble knight who had stripped before bandits to protect her, despite Ariel's own reckless folly.
Ariel, like Raipelth, raised her slender conical lance and charged toward the church with the knights and holy knights monitoring from all sides, sealing it airtight.
-M-Mommy!
-Get back! What is this before the Goddess—th-the Queen and Princess?!
Civilians gaped in shock at the sight of the armored mother-daughter duo charging on horseback during such a joyous day, but neither Raipelth nor Ariel had time for that.
A faint beam of light now shone on the church, and who knew what was happening beyond those firmly shut doors—not to mention the countless civilians inside.
"Some knights, start controlling civilian entry and exit at the doors until this is over! The rest of you, with me, Ariel, and the holy knights..."
-Kyaa, ack?!
-Saintess?!
-Where did she come from—wait, what is that outfit?!
"No time to waste. Move in now!"
"Mother! There's something I need to—huff, I'll follow!"
As the sage predicted, the kidnappers had appeared with the Saintess during the festival. Raipelth ordered the knights to open the church doors.
With Ariel beside her, she seized the moment the main entrance swung wide and spurred her horse straight into the uproarious chapel.
"This far!"
"Hand over the Saintess and Eleonora you've kidnapped, you—huh?!"
And there, the mother and daughter beheld it.
A goddess statue with a benevolent face, hands clasped in prayer; stained glass evoking noble grace. Yet marring it all: a massive bed, and atop it, naked women coated head to toe in thick white semen, reeking of vulgar night-bloom musk.
"Wh-Why... why...?!"
Ariel saw the black-haired man from the crystal orb—and the naked Saintess, Violet, in his arms, legs spread toward them.
And
"Oh my, who the fuck are you guys?"
Sin Seon-dong himself, inadvertently exposing his naked body to the sudden influx of stares directed at Ariel and the others.