novelraw Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Ch.24 I truly felt I was screwed.
Red Desert.
The moment sand blew in the wind.
“Waaah! M… Master!”
“Run faster!”
“This is already top speed!”
Leah and I were being chased by something.
Having defeated the Demon King, the final boss of the main story, and possessing the ability to instantly kill any opponent, the only being we had to flee from was…
-Wooooosh!
A gigantic something whipping up an enormous sandstorm.
A vast, hazy wall of sand chased after us.
The Red Desert’s worst monster.
Giant Deathworm.
A monster with thick skin, dwelling deep within the sand.
It hides deep in the sand, tracking prey by sound and devouring them—making it incredibly troublesome.
“M… Master, can’t you kill it with a one-hit lethal spell?”
“How am I supposed to hit it when it’s hiding so deep in the sand?! Why can’t you use magic?”
Indeed, the reason this creature is so troublesome is that, buried in the sand, it’s difficult to land attacks.
Even if ‘Equality’ grants instant death regardless of defense…
You still have to hit it for the defense-ignoring instant death to apply, right?
The only moment to kill the Giant Deathworm, moving deep underground, is when it surfaces to snatch prey.
“You idiot Master! How am I supposed to prepare magic when it’s chasing us so fast through the sand?!”
A gigantic worm dozens of meters long chasing us through the sand—a deadly situation.
If we keep running like this, we’ll all be eaten.
Even though I cast holy magic on the horses, being living creatures, they’ll eventually reach their physical limits.
Considering the creature’s circular mouth lined with hundreds of spiral teeth, we’d undoubtedly suffer excruciating pain.
Thus, I had to make a decision.
“Leah, we’ll have to… abandon the carriage.”
“Hik? Really?”
Seeing her face turn pale as she asked if I was serious, I nodded urgently.
“Yeah. If we stay like this, we’ll inevitably be eaten.”
“Ugh…”
Saying that, I looked down at the sandy ground.
Damn… to think I’d ever jump from a running carriage.
Even as a veteran, I never experienced this in the Destiny game.
When hunting Giant Sandworms, you usually prepare bait separately.
I’d been here so long I’d forgotten that crucial tip.
“Pipi, hold on tight.”
Leah released the carriage reins and tightly gripped Pipi.
I pulled the reins with all my strength to slow the carriage…then wrapped one arm around Leah and jumped from the carriage.
In that fleeting moment,
I drew ‘Equality’ from its holster.
One, two, three.
The instant the Giant Deathworm exposed its head above the sand to bite the carriage,
I pulled the trigger.
-Bang!
An extremely brief moment.
All of this happened in less than a second.
With a cheerful sound, the Giant Deathworm crashed face-first into the carriage and tumbled over.
-Crash!
The carriage shattered, and the horses flew into the air.
-Thud!
I landed on my back, letting out a groan from the massive impact.
“Ugh…!”
A gasp escaped me from the suffocating pain.
“Master? Are you okay?”
-Pii?
“My… my back hurts.”
Perhaps because I absorbed the full impact of jumping from a moving carriage while holding an adult woman?
Leah, freed from my arms, helped me sit up.
“Ouch!”
Damn… if I’d known, I should’ve cast holy magic before jumping.
In a life-or-death situation, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Or I should’ve delayed a bit longer and told Leah to cast Fly magic.
“Where does it hurt?”
I sat up and said,
“My shoulders and back are aching. Healing.”
Casting holy magic to heal my wounds, I gazed hopelessly at the shattered remains of the carriage.
“Damn… looks like we’re in for a rough journey.”
After a while, we salvaged the relatively intact items from the carriage.
“Master… the tent seems to be destroyed?”
Seeing the tent poles bent or broken in strange directions, I could only sigh.
“Truly, it’s one mountain after another.”
The only silver lining was that most of our food and water were stored in Leah’s subspace.
Because Leah said heavy items in subspace were hard to retrieve, the fact that only the heavy tent and carriage were destroyed provided some relief.
“Still, we’re lucky.”
“Haa… seriously. What are we even doing?”
Leah, enraged, messed up her hair and shouted.
“Waaaah! Master, why must I, who defeated the Demon King, be stuck in the middle of a desert like this?!”
I shrugged and casually replied,
“You followed me, didn’t you?”
Leah, eyes blazing, lunged at me.
“That’s because you suddenly said you were going to the New Continent! But why must we cross the desert?!”
Her torrent of verbal abuse left my ears ringing, but I brushed off the sand on my clothes and explained why we had to do this.
“To prevent the war between dragons and humanity?”
“Huh?”
***
Saint Cecilia received a letter from Priest Hans.
“Hehe… a letter from the priest.”
Though upset that her lover had left without a word, her mood instantly soared upon receiving the letter stamped with his seal.
‘It must be an apology letter and one telling me where he is.’
Cecilia wanted to immediately go to the address Hans provided, but she couldn’t leave yet—the Emperor’s personally hosted festival hadn’t even begun, leaving her frustrated.
At that moment, a Holy Knight, seeing her bright smile, spoke to her.
“Saint, you seem very happy?”
“Hehe, of course I’m happy. How upset I was when he left without a word.”
Cecilia carefully broke the wax seal and unfolded the letter.
Greetings. I am Zailo, a knight serving Priest Hans.
“?”
Briefly puzzled by the mention of a knight serving Priest Hans, Cecilia recalled he was once the continent’s greatest merchant and continued reading.
Regrettably, I must inform you… Priest Hans passed away not long ago.
The moment she read that line, Cecilia felt her heart stop.
“That… that can’t be?”
The Holy Knights, seeing Cecilia’s pale face, asked worriedly,
“Saint, what does the letter say to make you so pale?”
“Are you alright?”
The trembling of her hand holding the letter immediately revealed her state was far from normal.
Due to a chronic illness he had suffered from for a long time…
Though Priest Hans has passed away, he would surely rejoice in heaven upon learning that you, Saint, have defeated the Demon King. As his funeral has concluded, he has been laid to rest at Grave 10-5 in the Imperial Capital’s cemetery; I hereby inform you.
Similar to the letter sent to Mia, but Cecilia, unaware of that, fainted dead away.
“Ah…”
“S… Saint? Are you alright?”
“Saint?”
The Holy Knights grabbed Cecilia’s slumped body on the sofa and shook her, trying to wake her, but when she didn’t rouse, they exchanged glances.
“What could the letter say?”
The letter, crumpled tightly in Cecilia’s unconscious hand.
The Holy Knights carefully pried open her fingers and retrieved the letter to read.
They too were initially shocked to read that Hans had died.
Had he met a violent end in the New Continent? That would explain Cecilia’s sudden fainting.
But the final line stating he was buried in the Imperial Capital’s cemetery raised their suspicion.
How could Priest Hans, who had clearly headed to the New Continent, be buried in the capital’s cemetery?
“This… what nonsense is this?”
At one Holy Knight’s question, Eric, equally puzzled, fixed his gaze back on the letter.
“Indeed. Let’s read further.”
Reading further, their suspicion only deepened.
The strangest point was that Priest Hans supposedly knew the Hero party had defeated the Demon King.
That’s why he must have headed to the New Continent.
When the Demon King revived, the route to the New Continent was blocked by giant monsters and demons.
Circumstantially, he must have left knowing the Hero party had killed the Demon King.
Yet the letter claimed Priest Hans didn’t know the Demon King was dead—creating a sense of dissonance.
“Sir Eric, what do you think?”
“Sir Philip… this letter seems forged.”
Saint Cecilia had spent her entire life in the convent.
Thus, she was naive and unfamiliar with worldly matters.
In contrast, the Holy Knights were specially selected by the Papal See to assist the Saint.
Unlike the Saint, who studied only divine scriptures in the convent, they were exceptionally talented individuals.
To protect the Saint, they needed exceptional martial prowess; to serve as her secretary, they needed intelligence.
Thus, they instantly realized this letter was a lie.
“What impious person would tell such a lie?”
“Indeed. How dare someone tell such an impious lie to the Saint, whom God Himself established, Sir Eric?”
Philip and Eric had long served Cecilia closely.
She was the most benevolent and pure person.
Though occasionally fragile-hearted like a child, they believed even that fragility might be the pure heart described in scripture, as God Himself had chosen her.
Thus, the fact that someone would deceive such a pure heart filled the two Holy Knights with rage boiling to the tips of their hair.
“If we find this person, they must be subjected to the quartering punishment (tying limbs to horses and tearing apart).”
Hans and Giovanni, who would be subjected to quartering if caught by the Holy Knights.
“Ugh… where is this?”
Fortunately, Cecilia regained consciousness soon.
“Saint, have you come to your senses?”
“Sir Philip? Sir Eric? Ugh… I just had a bad dream.”
Cecilia said, covering her eyes with the back of her hand.
Her voice was intermittently mixed with sobs.
“In my dream, I received a letter… huu… saying Priest Hans had died…”
She probably knew, too.
That it wasn’t a dream.
Feeling as if her heart was torn into a thousand pieces upon hearing Priest Hans had died, leaving her behind,
Cecilia, filled with grief and sorrow, heard the Holy Knights say,
“Regarding that letter, we also read it, but it seems to be a lie.”
At those words, Cecilia’s trembling shoulders stilled.
“What. did. you. say?”
In an instant, her delicate voice overflowed with dense killing intent.
Though killing intent from a Saint seemed utterly unfitting, even a Saint, being human, couldn’t help but feel rage upon hearing the letter claiming her beloved had died was a lie.
“If you read this letter…”
Thus, the Holy Knights continued, pointing out each oddity in the letter.
“Perhaps the most important thing is to check the date inscribed on the gravestone.”
Cecilia bolted up from the sofa.
“I must go immediately to the grave mentioned here.”
Thus, Cecilia and the Holy Knights energetically headed toward Priest Hans’s grave…
Meanwhile, Giovanni was still lying in wait near Hans’s grave.
‘They should be arriving about now?’
He had waited since morning for the Saint to come.
‘Surely… she won’t do something strange like the elf princess?’
The elf princess had dug up Hans’s grave and even opened the coffin lid.
But the Saint, famed for her kindness and gentleness, would surely be different?
Believing the person directly chosen by God would be different, Giovanni waited for the Saint.
“Haa… haa…”
The beautiful Saint with long platinum hair arrived, escorted by the Holy Knights.
‘Yikes… terrifyingly, she’s already here.’
“10-5, 10-5.”
Cecilia frantically searched for Priest Hans’s grave.
Her voice rose upon finding what she sought.
“Found it!”
Then, upon examining the gravestone, Cecilia sighed deeply, seemingly relieved.
“Phew… thank goodness.”
‘What’s thank goodness?’
Could it be ‘thank goodness’ that her beloved had died?
Suddenly recalling Mia’s bizarre behavior from earlier, Giovanni swallowed hard.
“Hahaha… Sir Philip… may I borrow your mace?”
‘M… mace?’
Typically, a mace is a weapon used to incapacitate heavily armored foes by delivering blunt force.
Though not bladed, it’s a fearsome blunt weapon.
“Here you go, Saint.”
The knight named Philip handed her a rather heavy-looking mace hanging from his waist.
Cecilia smiled brightly in gratitude.
“Thank you.”
And… upon receiving it, the Saint frowned.
Understandably, a mace is a weapon for blunt strikes.
For the slender Cecilia, wielding it would be quite strenuous.
But Cecilia cast holy magic on herself and broke into a bright, cheerful smile.
Then, her next action left Giovanni utterly shocked.
-Thud!
-Crack!
The Saint, face expressionless, swung the heavy mace and smashed the gravestone.
‘Huh?’
A Saint smashing the gravestone of a man she was deeply involved with.
In some ways, even more shocking than the high elf digging up graves.
-Bang!
She was smashing it as if it were her sworn enemy.
“Sc… scary. Brother… why did you get involved with such women?”
He had firmly believed the Saint would be sane.
Leah, who had stormed his mansion, was notoriously fierce, so it was fortunate it ended there.
But the virtuous Hero Scarlet had self-harmed, unable to accept Brother’s death; the elf princess Mia, perhaps actually a dark elf, had dug up the grave.
Honestly, their extreme actions seemed more like a group of lunatics than a Hero party—Giovanni was utterly horrified.
But… the pinnacle among them…was perhaps the Saint smashing the gravestone?
Giovanni was so shocked his mouth hung open so wide his jaw nearly dislocated.
While Giovanni was still stunned, a fragment of the shattered gravestone flew and struck Cecilia’s forehead.
“Saint?! Are you alright? Blood… blood is flowing.”
Eric urgently grabbed Cecilia’s shoulder, worried.
“Ah? It’s nothing.”
Cecilia cheerfully said, covering the wound with her hand.
After a flash of light, only blood remained—the wound had completely vanished.
This minor pain only further fueled her rage, as a chilling breath escaped between her plump, beautiful lips.
“Sir Eric. Find the person who sent this letter and make them pay for insulting the Saint and God.”
Giovanni truly felt he was screwed.
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