Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: First Love from a Faint Memory, Met in Crisis.
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“Intruder over there!”
A holy knight led a squad of holy soldiers charging straight at me. I leaped into the nearest building and scanned every corner. No escape routes. It looked like a shrine dedicated to some saint, with only one entrance—the way I’d come in—and the rest sealed off by white walls and stained glass.
“Damn it.”
I stepped on the tombstone of this nameless saint and launched myself into the air. The holy knight who’d caught up swung his sword with all his might, but it didn’t touch me. I was already shattering the stained glass and slipping outside.
I landed lightly on the ground and vaulted over the wall back into the entrance plaza.
“Catch him!”
Holy knights and soldiers swarmed from all directions. With black-armored knights mixed in, it seemed the Dark Church’s holy knights had joined the chase too.
They must’ve been exhausted from standing night watch yesterday. Poor guys, really putting in the work.
“They should just crash and sleep it off. Why drag themselves out here?”
I shook my head and slipped into the central Tower of Grace in the plaza, climbing the spiral stairs to the top.
The circular tower loomed dizzyingly high, making the security forces blanketing the entire Divinum Grand Temple look like a swarm of tiny black ants. It seemed like a solid spot to trap a good number of holy knights and soldiers for a while.
I took a moment to catch my breath and wait. The first holy knight to follow me up got knocked out, and I snatched his sword too.
The pursuers who came after shouted up at me standing on the parapet at the tower’s peak.
“Halt!”
“Screw that.”
I leaped off the tower. Gripping a sword in each hand, I drove them into the wall to slide down bit by bit.
A holy knight poking his head out a window below recoiled in shock. He’d spotted the Aura Blade cloaking my swords.
“The intruder’s a Master swordsman! Be careful!”
Far below, I eyed the cluster of pursuers flooding into the plaza. High enough that I could see the whites of their eyes clearly. I jumped down, kicking one holy knight in the back while rolling across the ground, then sprang up like a shot, soaring over the hedgehog-thicket of soldiers’ spear tips.
The stunned pursuers gawked at my retreating figure as I dashed away.
“What kind of guy...?”
“He’s fast as hell.”
Meanwhile, I kept racing down the central avenue toward the Hall of Divinity. Endless waves of defenders forced me to loop around for a good while, but the distance was steadily closing.
Dozens more soldiers blocked my path again. I hopped the nearby wall into the Archives of Grace, climbed to the third floor, leaped across to the roof of the neighboring Archives of Sin, and landed on the other side.
“Where the hell did he go?”
The pursuers floundered in confusion. I’d been popping up and vanishing like lightning—east, west, everywhere—leaving them no clue how to track me. Shaking off another big group, I soon reached the outskirts of the Hall of Divinity.
What now? Knight Izenberg’s guarding the entrance.
Izenberg was an upper-tier Master swordsman among the holy knights. His skills were top-notch, drawing offers from multiple nations, but his fanatical faith in the Light kept him bound to the Church for life—a zealot among zealots.
The problem was him standing guard at the Hall of Divinity right now. I could handle him alone, no sweat, but with other holy knights and soldiers around, it’d be a hassle. A real slog, for sure.
“Stand down!”
Holy soldiers blocking the path to the Hall thrust their spears at me as I charged. I dropped low, sliding under them like on ice. As their spear tips dipped, I vaulted high over their heads.
The holy knights guarding the rear rushed me all at once. I zigzagged, dodging their strikes.
Boom! Crash!
Just as I broke through their line, a barrage of holy power blasts rained down ahead. First-circle divine magic. But it was firing endlessly without casting. Meaning the priest targeting me was at least a fifth-circle divine mage.
I backpedaled out of the blast radius and spotted a high elf woman on a nearby rooftop, unleashing the holy blasts at me.
“Stop right there!”
The long silver-haired elf woman yelled at me. I could’ve put distance between us and bolted, but I froze, staring at her with trembling eyes.
Her tall, slender elven frame was elegantly graceful. Snow-white skin like a winter plain, deep sapphire eyes gleaming with light. From her delicate jawline to her straight nose, her features curved like a masterpiece painting, and her slim neck flowed into a waist so fragile it begged to be held.
Beautiful. But her looks weren’t what caught my eye. This woman was none other than my first love—the one I’d crushed on hard back then.
Princess Ignatius?
The first place I’d met Ignatius was at Sden Fortress.
I’d eaten something bad the night before and was feverish, fighting demonic beasts with everything I had amid the crumbling fortress. Normally, I would’ve fled long ago, but that day I was out of my mind, acting totally reckless.
A deep gash across my waist. One shoulder mangled and useless. Most of my five thousand troops were dead. My unit and I were cornered in an alley by the beasts, death’s stench thick in the air.
No way out. Fatally wounded, I could barely stand. Sensing the end, I led my remaining men in a final suicide charge against the horde.
But as I collapsed in exhaustion, ready to die, a miracle happened. Dazzling light approached from afar, reducing every beast around me to dust in an instant.
Then a woman’s voice rang out.
“You’ve done well. Thanks to you all, Sden Fortress is safe. We’ll take it from here—fall back and rest.”
She was the captain of the Divine Knights’ Second Division, Grand Saintess Ignatius, princess of the high elf kingdom of Lumen. She became my first love around age thirty—and the savior of my life.
Of course, we never met again after that. But the image of her from that day lingered in my mind as a cherished memory, even in this reincarnated life.
Why is Princess Ignatius here...? Oh, right. She’s participating in the Hall of Divinity ceremony this year too.
Like my fiancée Princess Sierra, Ignatius was here to be chosen by one of the Seven Divine Artifacts—the Radiant Vice Shield Shaia.
Ignatius rushed forward, blocking my path. She was always like this. Kind and merciful to the weak, but unyielding against injustice.
“Who are you, to commit such atrocities in the Divinum Grand Temple?”
Princess Ignatius’s sharp gaze pierced me.
Even with holy knights and soldiers encircling us, I couldn’t move from the spot. I just couldn’t leave her here.
“P-Princess Ignatius...?”
She hesitated, startled that a stranger knew her.
“You... know me?”
“Yeah. Very well...”
In a flash, I lunged and wrapped my arms around her slender waist. The feel of my first love was so soft, so fragile.
Ignatius recoiled at my sudden move, struggling to break free. But she soon went still as a lamb. My sword was at her throat.
Holding her hostage, I shouted to everyone.
“Nobody move! Or she dies!”
Pity for a first love? Please. For Yojjo, I’d sacrifice even her. With Lumen Kingdom’s princess in my grip, no one would dare touch me.
“G-Grand Duke’s Heir?”
Meyer Count arrived just then. Seeing the hostage, he didn’t dare approach.
I showed off the terrified Ignatius to him.
“Count. Know who this is? Princess Ignatius of Lumen Kingdom. If she dies by my hand, the Yosrahim Empire and House Karl are in deep shit. Heh heh heh.”
Meyer Count stiffened in shock.
Ignatius was Lumen’s next queen in line. Killing her here would create an irreparable rift between Lumen and Yosrahim—the Light faction splintering apart.
A pale-faced male high elf holy knight blocked Meyer Count.
“Don’t provoke the hostage-taker. If the princess dies due to your recklessness, you’ll pay dearly.”
Convinced she was the princess, Meyer Count waved his hands frantically.
“Grand Duke’s Heir. Don’t... don’t joke around.”
“Heh. Does this look like a joke to you?”
I nudged the sword slightly, and a thin trickle of blood ran down Ignatius’s neck. Not deep, but enough to threaten the count.
“Everyone, back off!”
At Meyer Count’s command, they all retreated.
As a path cleared and I started moving, Ignatius spoke in a small, trembling voice.
“You... You’ll never be forgiven.”
“Shut up and come quietly. I’ll give you good news as payment for playing hostage.”
“Don’t lie to me. Why would I believe a villain like you?”
“Because it’s about you becoming Grand Saintess.”
Ignatius’s eyes widened in shock. The title of Grand Saintess hadn’t been claimed since Saint Prosia and the Seven Saintesses ascended—no one, because the Seven Divine Artifacts had never chosen a human master.
“Don’t try to fool me. The Seven Divine Artifacts have never taken a master before.”
True, until now. But not anymore.
Soon, all Seven would emerge. Three before this year, two this year, two next.
To me, it felt like the gods tossing them out as a final mercy to humanity before doom—otherwise, why?
But in the era of ruin, only four shone. The other three slipped from their masters’ hands for some reason and returned to the Hall of Divinity.
“Three have already appeared. Dig into hidden history, and there were more. Valkyries can wield them anytime if affinities match.”
Ignatius’s eyes bulged. Few knew three of the Seven were out there—or that Valkyries could claim them at will.
“Y-You? How do you know that?”
I knew because I’d lived it. A secret now, but common knowledge in the age of ruin.
“Oh? You knew too? Ah, right—Valkyries and elves get along.”
“...”
“Anyway, come quietly. Nothing bad’ll happen.”
Ignatius followed without a fight. Still doubtful, but hope lingered—she couldn’t shake it. Being master of a Divine Artifact was every faithful soul’s sacred dream.
First Love from a Faint Memory, Met in Crisis. End