The Incubus Mage Who Conquered the Church
The Incubus Mage Who Conquered the Church
'Is he dead?'
I approached the fallen Jake to check if he was still breathing.
Just in case, I kept the wave still surging around me exactly as it was.
Surrounded by the churning water, I checked Jake's pulse.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, I honestly couldn't say—but Jake was still alive.
Not only that, he was still clinging to consciousness by a thread, and the bastard just stared up at me with terror in his eyes.
"Cough! M-Mage... spare me."
"You tried to kill me. Why should I spare you?"
"I-I will never touch you or Sister Kate again."
Jake begged, pleading for nothing but his own life.
I'd given him a good scare, but I had no intention of actually killing him.
Provided he agreed to one condition.
"Leave Yoen-su and go to another church branch. I'll spare you if you swear never to interfere with us again and promise never to return to this city for the rest of your life. Swear it upon that god you serve."
For a nun or a paladin, swearing upon a god's name is as binding as an unbreakable vow.
If a member of the clergy breaks a vow sworn to Baldur, they receive instant divine punishment—a penalty all but fatal.
That wasn't something I invented; it was information Kate had given me.
Better to settle this cleanly instead of pointlessly getting blood on my hands.
Jake spat out the water that had flooded his mouth and nose, nodding frantically all the while.
"Cough! I understand! I swear to Lord Baldur! I, Jake, will never again bring harm to the mage Luke and his companions, and I swear to depart from Yoen-su!"
And so I extracted that promise from Jake and let him go.
Of course, I didn't dispel the magical wave still surging around my body. I planned to keep it going until I had Kate out of the church.
Seeing that I'd taken down a paladin, I was braced for the congregation to riot in outrage.
"I-Is the duel over?"
"What in the world is that wave? Is that magic too?"
"The mage brought down that mad paladin!"
But the moment the congregation filed back into the church, I realized my worries were completely unfounded.
On top of that, the congregation was looking at me with undisguised goodwill.
I wondered why for a moment, but the answer came quickly.
'I did protect the congregation, after all.'
The rampaging paladin had nearly cost them their lives several times over. Among them were a few elderly members who seemed to hold considerable authority. Seeing how I had tried to protect people's lives even in the middle of a duel must have fostered goodwill toward me.
It was ironic.
An incubus, treated as evil, saving the congregation from a paladin instead.
Even I thought it was a pretty bizarre turn of events, but who cares.
The point is, I beat the hell out of the paladin who dared to try and steal my lover.
"Mongma-niiiiim—!"
"Kate."
Kate, who'd been forcibly dragged away by the nuns, came sprinting back into the church the instant she returned, throwing herself into my arms in tears. She was crying so hard my clothes were completely soaked.
"I'm so glad you're alive! When they forced me out and evacuated me outside the church, I thought you were dead! If you're hurt anywhere, show me—quickly."
"My arm, the back of my neck—I got scraped up all over."
I'd picked up minor wounds all over my body during the running battle with the paladin.
When I showed her the injured areas, Kate immediately used a healing spell to mend the wounds on the spot.
The moment holy light wrapped around my body, the wounds sealed up rapidly.
"So, what is this wave anyway? Is this the new magic you learned, Mongma-nim?"
Once my wounds were healed and I could breathe for a moment, Kate finally looked at the magical wave still surging around me.
"You're only asking that now?"
"Healing you came first! Don't you think?"
A wave crashing over dry earth would normally be terrifying, but Kate treated me first without asking any questions whatsoever. I could feel her genuine affection, and it warmed me.
"Liquid Ring. It's magic that controls fluid—water—in the form of a wave. The shape is fixed as a wave, but its power is far greater than any water magic I've used up until now."
"Hmm. So you defeated Paladin Jake with a wave. As far as Jake goes, he's a paladin who ranks within the top ten in terms of strength at our Yoen-su branch. It's rather astonishing you beat someone like that."
Kate's gaze drifted toward Jake, who lay drenched on the ground.
He seemed to lack even the strength to move, just lying there unable to get up.
Up to this point, I assumed everything was over.
But a moment later, something completely unexpected happened.
"Heh. Heh heh heh."
Jake, collapsed on the ground, stretched his hand toward the sky.
At first, I thought it was just a meaningless gesture. Then I heard what Kate said, and I understood exactly what it signified.
"That man—he's trying to offer a prayer to Lord Baldur right now."
"A prayer?"
"It's the hand gesture where you raise your palm toward the sky and bend your ring finger. That's the pose paladins use when offering prayers. When a paladin prays, sometimes Lord Baldur grants them special power."
Grants them special power.
Hearing that, I felt an ominous premonition for some reason.
Soon enough, Jake, still collapsed on the floor, began to pray in a booming voice, as if he'd drawn strength from somewhere.
"Lord Baldur! Grant me the strength to win love and vanquish evil! If you would only restore a small measure of my stamina, I would ask for nothing more!"
What.
Win love and vanquish evil?
I spared his life, and he immediately turns around and tries to stab me in the back?
'The evil he's referring to is probably me.'
Incredibly, Jake had pretended to accept defeat while preparing to backstab me at the first opportunity.
"Guess I'll just have to kill him."
"You're going to kill him? A paladin?"
"Yep."
"I love how decisive you are! Well, I'm a nun, so I'll handle the aftermath somehow. I do know someone quite high up among the paladins, after all. You can kill him."
Unexpectedly, Kate seemed to have connections among the paladins.
Without a worry, I prepared to send the magical wave to snuff out Jake's life.
But oddly enough, I didn't need to lift a finger.
'The vow made in Baldur's name.'
They said breaking that vow would bring divine punishment, right?
A divine punishment close to death. The divine punishment I had only ever heard about—I was now witnessing it with my own eyes.
"Uh, ah-ahhhhh? Lord Baldur? Lord Balduuuuur?"
With his arm still raised high toward the sky, Jake's entire body shriveled, growing gaunt as a mummy. That huge frame wrapped in plate armor withered, and his face transformed in an instant into that of a dying old man.
"Wh-what's happening to him all of a sudden?"
To the bewildered Kate, I explained what had happened earlier.
"I made him swear an oath in the name of the god Baldur. Never to touch you or me again and to leave this city. But it seems he broke the oath right away, and that's why he ended up like that."
"Y-you made him swear an oath in Lord Baldur's name? Is he insane?"
Kate stared down at the skeletally withered Jake with a dumbfounded look. Only now seeming to fully grasp the situation, Kate examined him and nodded.
"Paladins are the most special beings among Lord Baldur's followers. Sometimes, even if they break an oath, Lord Baldur imposes only a light punishment and lets them off. Though the probability is very low."
"How low are we talking?"
"One percent."
I was flabbergasted.
He gambled on a one-percent chance, broke his oath, and tried to stab me in the back?
Even when enhancing gear in an RPG, one percent is a goddamn awful success rate. I still remember crying because I couldn't break through that one percent in some gacha hell-game I used to play back on Earth.
"Maybe he just wanted to commit suicide. That paladin."
"That could be it! Perhaps being defeated by an incubus was so shameful to him that he volunteered to let Lord Baldur kill him. Jake, that guy—he did have a bit of an anger management problem, you see."
"Well, consider it treated. He's dead now, so there's nothing left to get angry about."
Jake, who had aged in an instant, breathed his last just like that.
The crazed paladin was dead, and the congregation wasn't hostile toward me, so there was no longer any reason to keep the wave going. My magic power had been draining like mad, and I was on the verge of collapse myself.
Splash!
The moment I deactivated the Liquid Ring spell, the wave lost its form and became simple water, soaking the floor thoroughly.
Now it was time to take Kate and leave the church.
I was just about to tell her about the celebration party we were going to have on the inn rooftop tonight.
"I have something to say for a moment..."
Abruptly, my words were cut off as someone called out to me from somewhere.
A priest in black robes, emerging from the main chapel of the church, addressed me.
"I, too, have something to discuss. Could you spare a moment? Horned Mage."
Seeing the old priest who'd come out of the chapel without a sound or warning, Kate's expression turned startled.
"That is Father Franz. He's the one who governs our Yoen-su branch. Among the nuns, we call him the Boss."
"Boss? Is this some kind of criminal outfit?"
I found it absurd that Kate called a priest "Boss," but it wasn't inaccurate. In the military-like organization of the Luminous Church, a priest was, in a sense, equivalent to a field-grade officer.
'He's wearing an eyepatch over one eye, so he looks a bit intimidating.'
On top of that, the man called Father Franz had one eye and a build as burly as a martial artist's. He had such an aura that I nearly bowed my head and almost called him "Boss" without thinking.
"I have some good tea prepared inside. Please, come in."
The head of the church was asking in a courteous tone, and I was willing to spare him a moment of my time.
But there was something I had to ask before going in.
"Well... I've killed one of your paladins. Is that all right? To be precise, I didn't kill him myself, but as things played out, I left him half-dead. Then Lord Baldur finished him off."
"It is fine. Lord Baldur's will is absolute, after all. The young paladin's death must also be His will."
"I see."
I followed Father Franz into the main chapel of the church.
Kate stuck right to my side and came in with me, even though the priest hadn't specifically invited her.
As we walked together down the long corridor of the chapel, Father Franz spoke.
"Before I tell you what I have to say, allow me to ask a trivial question."
"Yes."
"Horned Mage. What is your relationship with Sister Kate, a nun of our church?"
What's my relationship with Kate?
I was ready to answer that question.