Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the figure aiming a sword at me slowly came into view.
It was a familiar face.
“So you’re the knight who was part of the Saintess’s party.”
We’d never exchanged words, but I remembered the faces of the group well enough that recognizing him wasn’t difficult.
“Priest Flawi. You will tell me the truth.”
The knight made no effort to hide his suspicion, revealing his hostility openly.
“Hm, if I tell the truth, will you let me live?”
“First, the first matter.”
“You’re not even pretending to listen.”
What a pity.
Regardless, the knight kept his sword aimed at me while bringing his free hand to my collar.
Seizing the moment his gaze shifted from my neck to my collar, I quickly reached out.
‘Power of Bless.’
I grabbed the blade directly.
In the process, my neck and palm were cut, and a searing pain washed over me, but I ignored it and pulled.
“?!”
The knight’s center of gravity collapsed, and as he lurched forward, I rose to my feet and thrust my remaining hand forward.
I grabbed his face to block his vision and slammed him down to the floor.
Thud!
“Ghk!”
The impact rattled his brain, and he wouldn’t be regaining his sense of balance for a while.
“I retired from the Tower, but I’m still on par with the active priests.”
I healed the blood dripping from my grip and my neck.
The knight, unable to believe my calm demeanor, could only stare wide-eyed.
I kicked the dropped sword away, sending it skittering across the floor.
I couldn’t help but furrow my brow at the blood soaking the sheets.
‘Tch, of all things, bloodstains never come out easily.’
Just as I was getting annoyed and about to ask for a reason, the door burst open.
“Priest Flawi!”
Sister Malza stormed in, clutching a flowerpot overhead.
“Uh… The Goddess clearly gave me a revelation in my dream that you were in danger…”
Sister Malza stammered.
I could see the Goddess’s efforts, but I shook my head at the wasted trouble.
“You must have had a dream with the Goddess in it. But it seems it was just a dream, so I think you should go back to sleep.”
“Is that so?”
Sister Malza started to nod but stopped.
Her gaze flickered between me and the knight sprawled on the floor.
“Um, but what are you doing right now?”
It was certainly a difficult scene to explain.
“I was learning self-defense.”
Ever since I started impersonating a priest, I’d had to come up with so many excuses that lies came easily.
“I’ve always been interested, and the knight kindly offered to teach me.”
Sister Malza looked at the knight as if asking if it was true.
The knight said nothing.
His brain was rattled, so he couldn’t speak.
“It seems the knight is too embarrassed to say anything.”
“Ahaha!”
‘She actually buys that.’
“Then sorry for interrupting!”
But as Sister Malza was about to leave, a sense of caution made me add a warning.
“Oh, and one more thing. That flowerpot, you clearly cherish it, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t forget to put it back in its place.”
“Oh, yes!”
Only then did the door close again.
“Now then.”
I met the knight’s eyes.
“…”
After a few seconds of silence to pressure him, I brought up the main topic in a composed tone.
“I’ll ask you why.”
Whether he still couldn’t speak or was choosing to keep his mouth shut, the knight remained silent.
But it didn’t matter.
“Whether there was a misunderstanding or the knight is possessed by Satan, we can find out in due time.”
I lit the oil lamp on the desk and illuminated the knight’s face.
His eyes were trembling, oddly enough.
“Do you know this? They say a spoonful of olive oil a day is great for your health.”
He must have developed nystagmus from the concussion.
“This is the same kind of oil, so it should be similar. It’ll surely be good for your eyes too.”
I slowly tilted the lamp toward the knight’s eyes.
“But don’t worry. There won’t be any scars left.”
The oil slowly beaded and dripped down.
Drip-
“Gyaaaaah…!”
“Hm, you’re more cowardly than you look. I was just joking.”
Before the lukewarm drop of oil touched his eye, I caught it with my finger and muttered.
Unfortunately, the knight couldn’t withstand the shock of the concussion and the fear, and he passed out.
‘It doesn’t matter. I can just ask his superior directly.’
As I dragged the knight toward the room where Priest Patch was sleeping and opened the door, I found an unexpected figure standing before me: the Saintess.
-Hehe.
I heard the Goddess’s voice, tinged with laughter.
-I shook Daddy awake while he was sleeping!
‘…Well done.’
She must have made a huge fuss all over town about how dangerous it was.
-You’re not going to convert, right?
‘I think I’ll need to think about that.’
-Kyack!
The Saintess stared at the subdued knight for a moment before giving a short bow.
“I’m sorry. It seems there was a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding, you say.”
“…And Sir Irsil tends to get heated when it comes to anything related to demons, so he must have acted rashly.”
“…”
“Sir Irsil’s reckless actions will be dealt with, I promise.”
I couldn’t bring myself to get angry in front of a minor promising to handle the aftermath, so I could only sigh inwardly.
“Forget the punishment. Instead, I’d like an explanation. What grounds did this knight have for attacking me?”
The Saintess seemed to choose her words for a moment before speaking.
“There are two reasons.”
Two reasons.
Suddenly, the matter the knight had first brought up as ‘first’ flashed through my mind.
“The first is that your energy was detected heavily in the dungeon, Priest Flawi.”
‘I figured that was the problem.’
It was something I’d half-expected.
On the other hand, I wondered how they’d already been to a dungeon half a day’s journey away.
But with divine powers in play, I assumed they had their ways.
“The second is…”
The Saintess trailed off.
“It’s because we couldn’t find any trace of your past at all.”
‘…That’s troublesome.’
But my thoughts were cut off by her unexpected follow-up.
“But I won’t ask.”
“..?”
“Just now, my Lady vouched for you, Priest Flawi.”
I had a rough idea.
-Ahem.
‘So even a goddess can’t win against her youngest daughter.’
But not all my questions were answered.
“I have one more question.”
The Saintess nodded slowly.
“If you had asked the Lord even once, there would have been no misunderstanding. Why didn’t you?”
The same went for finding the dungeon.
If they’d asked for cooperation, it could have been resolved easily, but they’d gone the hard way.
It wasn’t unreasonable to question such puzzling handling of affairs.
“It’s not that we didn’t ask; it’s that we couldn’t, Priest Flawi.”
It was Priest Patch, who must have arrived at some point, who answered.
“What we’re tracking is none other than a demon.”
That was already known news.
But the next piece of news left me dumbfounded.
“And it’s already here in Millers.”
The reason they hadn’t spoken was simple.
To prevent the demon from catching on by people knowing the information.
…
-Hmph…
It was late in the night, so late that even the Goddess in the high heavens was struggling to stay awake.
I steeped tea leaves brought from the Healing Center and filled the cups of the Saintess and Priest Patch.
The tea was fairly good, but given the mood, no one touched it.
“So your search for the dungeon was also related to the demon.”
“..That’s right. A dungeon is a suitable place for a demon to recover its power.”
Priest Patch’s gaze wavered for a moment.
He seemed to be hiding something else, but I didn’t press.
I had my suspicions, and above all, I didn’t want to get deeply entangled in this matter.
“The problem is that finding the dungeon took longer than expected. In the meantime, who knows how much power the demon has recovered…”
Priest Patch trailed off with a low sigh.
“My fixing the dungeon in place for the domain became the problem. I have no excuse.”
Having accepted Charlotte’s request to fix the dungeon in place, it had effectively provided the demon with a residence.
Unable to even offer empty words of comfort, Priest Patch let out a heavy sigh.
Come to think of it, his sighs seemed a bit louder than necessary, as if he wanted me to hear.
“Even if it was out of ignorance, this is my doing. I must set it right.”
“There’s not much a country priest can do to help—”
Priest Patch cut himself off and glanced at the unconscious Sir Irsil.
“Hm, I suppose you could be of help after all.”
The way he bobbed his head was somehow irritating, and I wanted to strangle him.
Either way, my task was set.
I had to return to the dungeon and destroy the Mana Stone.
Even if the Lord wailed about it.
The only variable was the demon lurking somewhere in the dungeon or the city, but I wasn’t too worried.
‘She’s the Saintess, after all. She won’t lose to a demon.’
Unfortunately, it took less than a day for that thought to change.
‘Nothing goes right.’
I looked down at the unconscious Saintess and the others sprawled beside her and could only sigh.
“Demon friend, how about we just call it a draw?”