Chapter 24
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Corrupting Sword (2)
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Evan Alemier.
An Inquisitor of Crossbridge and the eldest son of the Alemier family, Evan was returning to Crossbridge after a short vacation.
The information Evan had gathered during his time off was shocking enough to rock the Holy Land.
The stirrings of the Cult of the Evil God.
And the advent of the coming Hero.
Either way, there was no doubt that the situation would only grow more difficult with time.
That was why Evan chose to return to the Holy Land as quickly as possible, even if it meant pushing himself a little.
He had started moving along the shortcut his brother, Hurs, had told him about.
"The road is quite rough."
Clip-clop Clip-clop.
Urging his horse on, Evan spoke as he scanned his surroundings.
The shortcut Hurs had mentioned was indeed more rugged than the usual path.
It wasn't so treacherous as to cause problems if one was careful, but he could see why people didn't frequent this route.
Had he more time, Evan himself would not have chosen such an adventure.
After several hours of kicking up dust along the path, it was around the time the summer sun reached its zenith that Evan spotted others on the road.
"...Are those people?"
He could see the figures of several people atop a shabby-looking carriage.
They were still quite a distance away, so he could only just make out their human shapes.
However, it was clear that continuing at this pace would lead to an accident.
Spotting the distant carriage, Evan pulled on the reins and began to slow down.
Neigh!
As Evan slowed his galloping horse, the gazes of the people on the carriage turned toward him.
Two men. And one woman.
That was the entirety of the group Evan could see.
"Someone's coming from the other direction."
One of the men watching Evan approach from afar spoke up.
The young man Evan saw had an innocent face.
Seeing him seated in the driver's box, holding the reins, he appeared to be a young coachman or an errand boy.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Having slowed his horse to a visible crawl, Evan approached the carriage and brought it to a halt.
Hmph! Evan's horse let out a rough snort and stopped completely in its tracks.
Although his brother Hurs lived here, Evan was ultimately an outsider from the Holy Land.
Evan dismounted his horse and slowly approached the carriage, intending to ask for directions.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for directions."
Evan said as he began to walk toward the carriage, brushing the dust from his body.
His clothes were covered in dust from the long ride.
At the sight of Evan approaching while dusting himself off, one of the men facing him showed a hint of vigilance.
The man, clad in a robe, looked considerably older than the young coachman.
As Evan's gaze shifted to the man who had been watching him, the man met his eyes and spoke.
"Directions? Where are you headed?"
"To the Holy Land."
"The Holy Land... Are you perhaps a Holy Knight?"
Nothing about the clothes Evan currently wore indicated any connection to the church.
Despite this, the man facing him asked if he was a Holy Knight, his wariness apparent.
An ordinary person would have no reason to be wary of a traveler heading to the Holy Land.
It was an obviously suspicious sight.
Crackle.
Drawing upon his divine power, Evan detected an unpleasant energy that registered on his senses.
There was only one kind of energy that repelled divine power.
The mana of the nether dimension.
The inhuman power that warlocks built by offering sacrifices.
"And if I were a Holy Knight, what then?"
A warlock and his companions, wary of a Holy Knight.
It was a suspicious combination no matter how you looked at it.
As an Inquisitor of the Holy Land, Evan's duty was to deal with those who served heretics and corrupted mages.
Sensing that something was amiss, Evan naturally placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and advanced.
His original plan had been to simply ask for directions and be on his way.
But he had already learned too much to just ask for directions and leave.
"What do you mean? I was simply curious."
"Is that so. You seem to be a curious one."
"That's just the way I am."
Within the tense atmosphere, the warlock facing Evan swallowed hard.
Gulp.
The warlock swallowed, his hand twitching.
To Evan's eyes, the warlock did not seem to possess any remarkable skill.
He was at a level that could be handled by the Empire's third-grade investigators at most.
If he were to step in himself, it wouldn't take long to deal with him.
Having made his decision, Evan took another step toward the warlock.
"I suppose warlocks would be quite curious."
"What did you just..."
"After all, one wouldn't dabble in forbidden magic without an extraordinary amount of curiosity."
Shing.
With a grating sound, Evan's sword left its scabbard.
In a single fluid motion, he drew his blade and immediately swung it at the warlock before him.
It was a sword strike of such speed that most mages would have been unable to even react.
Clang!
What blocked Evan's swift strike was a hand wreathed in darkness.
His sword, aimed at the warlock, having been stopped, Evan frowned and looked at the hand that blocked it.
A hand extending from a dark shadow was holding his blade at bay.
"That was dangerous, Loan."
The shadow that had blocked Evan's sword had emerged from the feet of the girl seated behind the warlock.
Beyond the shadow holding back his sword.
A gray-haired girl sitting on the carriage was looking down at the two of them.
The girl was hugging a large book, a pure-looking smile on her face.
At the sight of the girl who had moved the shadow to block his sword, the warlock beside her let out a sigh of relief and replied.
"Hoo... Thank you. Had it not been for you, Apostle, I would surely be dead."
"Be careful. He seems to be a frightening person."
"It seems so. I never imagined he would just swing his sword without warning."
A warlock. And an Apostle.
Overhearing their conversation, Evan took several steps back and grew cautious.
The magic he had just witnessed was utterly foreign to him.
It was the first time he had ever encountered such high-level magic.
This being was fundamentally different from the warlock before him.
While the girl manipulated the shadow, Evan could sense immense mana emanating from her.
A tidal wave of mana with no visible end.
It was clear she was a high-level mage, one that could not be opposed by ordinary means.
"Who in the world are you?"
"Are you curious about my identity?"
"Yes. Reveal your identity."
"If you wish to know someone's identity, isn't it proper etiquette to introduce yourself first?"
Tap. Tap.
The girl said, tapping her book with her finger.
Each time her slender finger touched the book, a powerful wave of mana pulsed from it.
It was a terrifying level of mana, belying her youthful face.
Yet, the girl seemed as if she would reveal her identity if he played along, so Evan quickly weighed his options.
The opponent before him was a force that could threaten the Holy Land.
If he could learn about her by merely giving his own identity, it was a relatively cheap price to pay.
Having made his decision, Evan announced his name to the girl.
"My name is Evan Alemier! A Holy Knight who serves the God of Honor."
"The God of Honor? Your actions just now didn't seem very honorable."
"...There is no honor to be shown to the wicked."
Evan did his best to ignore the girl's taunt.
It wasn't a statement he'd made up just to get by.
Life and death were always on the line in battle.
An honorable fight could only be had with an opponent who was worthy of honor.
This was even written in the doctrines of the church.
Despite Evan's response, which could seem somewhat shameless, the girl nodded as if she understood.
"Is that so? Well, since I've heard your introduction, I suppose it's only polite for me to introduce myself as well."
The girl who had been sitting on the carriage stood up.
Clutching her book, she descended with light steps to face Evan, who was glaring up at her from below.
Though it was a height from which one could easily fall, a hand of shadow reached out to support her.
Thud.
Having landed safely on the ground, the girl looked at Evan with a faint smile.
Soon, her gentle voice echoed through the narrow path.
"My name is Yutenia Hi-Lost. I am the first Apostle, serving the Great One."
"Apostle... Do you mean an Apostle of the Evil God?"
"To call the Great One an Evil God, that is quite a rude attitude."
Regardless of Yutenia's displeased expression, Evan, having heard her identity, fell into serious contemplation.
An Apostle of the Evil God.
The existence of such a being meant only one thing.
The Evil God's influence in this world had grown to the point where it could send forth an Apostle.
Looking at Yutenia with a tense expression, Evan raised his sword.
If he could eliminate the Apostle before him, he had to do it now.
A fight had been unavoidable from the start.
"I have only spoken the truth."
"Were you always this rude?"
"A god that devours people does not deserve respect. We have decided to call those who turn a blind eye to even that obvious truth, Evil Gods."
He took up the sword to punish evil.
That was the path Evan Alemier had chosen.
If he had intended to run away, afraid of catching the Evil God's eye, he would never have taken on the mantle of a Holy Knight in the first place.
Taking his stance, Evan's gaze, filled with killing intent, fixed on Yutenia.
"You'll regret it if you do something foolish."
"If I were afraid of death, I would never have chosen to become a Holy Knight."
Hearing Evan's words, Yutenia let out a short sigh.
Her gray eyes, lost in thought, fell upon the book in her hands.
A thick, mysterious book.
And standing beyond it, Evan.
As her gaze shifted between the two, a powerful wave of mana erupted from Yutenia's body.
"Very well. I had no intention of letting you go from the start, anyway."
Flinging open the book she had been clutching, Yutenia declared to Evan.
Simultaneously, a countless number of hands began to reach out from beyond her shadow.
An incomprehensible domain of unknown depths.
The overflowing hands from beyond began to flow like a wave, aiming for Evan.
The First Apostle, Yutenia Hi-Lost.
The Apostle of the Evil God, bestowed with a sliver of divine authority, revealed her full power to Evan.
Facing Yutenia's attack, Evan infused his gripped sword with divine power and charged forward.