29 - Marquis Maron
Episode 29
After sending all the lumberjacks home, I urged Reikart to return to Maron Keep as quickly as possible. However, he insisted on confirming something and asked me to wait a moment.
"I'm not sure if the Order Paladins have retreated completely. If we run into them, someone might accuse us again."
"Let them. If you were worried about that, you wouldn't have come to Purify in the first place."
"Still, I'll just go check."
"If you're worried about those guys, just say you're worried."
"It's not that."
Reikart was feeling guilty. He clearly thought this tragedy wouldn't have happened if his identity hadn't been exposed.
I tend to believe that what's meant to happen will happen, but if checking would ease his mind, I could wait for him to return.
"Go and come back quickly."
After sending Reikart off, I slumped down on a tree stump to relieve the fatigue that had built up from Purifying five lumberjacks. Before long, I saw him running towards me at full speed.
What, why is he back already?
His speed was incredible. Literally full speed. Startled, I jumped to my feet just as Reikart shouted at me.
"Run, Hayley!"
Why run?
Looking closely, I saw blood splattered all over his body. His drawn sword was also covered in blood. The moment I saw that, my chest went cold and my heart pounded.
I double-checked my location. This was the Contamination boundary, so I could take refuge in the Magical Energy with just a couple of steps.
I had left the horse outside the Contaminated Zone because I was too lazy to keep Purifying it, and I was waiting at the boundary.
Reikart grabbed my hand and pulled me into the Contamination.
"Get in."
"What's wrong?"
"Something strange happened in Selbon. I think the Order is involved somehow..."
"What strange thing?"
"One of the Holy Knights turned into a monster."
"Huh?"
"I can't really explain it... Anyway, that monster killed a fellow Holy Knight and absorbed his power, and then tried to kill the soldiers and villagers left behind by the Order."
"What?"
"I cut off his head."
"Eek!"
"Everyone saw it. Let's get out of here."
Oh, my fate!
"You killed him?"
"Yeah... I guess he's dead? I cut his neck halfway through."
"Then why is he chasing us?"
I pointed behind him with my hand.
Reikart was startled and turned around. Then he shouted loudly.
"Eek!"
"Eek!"
The Holy Knight who had turned into a monster was chasing him at an incredible speed.
It was a sight that was truly scary enough to haunt my dreams. The Holy Knight's neck, with his helmet off, was covered in blood and wobbled precariously, just as he had said he had cut it halfway through.
Not only that, but one of his arms was missing, and ominous green light emanated from his eyes.
"Why are you alive? How are you alive!"
"How am I supposed to know! You said you killed him?"
"You go inside!"
Reikart stood in front of me. I quickly ran into the Contamination. I went quite deep and hid behind a tree.
Only after confirming that I was safe did Reikart approach the monster.
'It' was a being that could only be described as a monster.
Even though blood was dripping from his severed arm, he poured hostility towards Reikart. The Holy Knight's armor was broken and torn in places, making it impossible to recognize its original form, and the skin revealed inside was pale.
"How can I kill it?"
My fickle tongue screamed and was surprised, but it did not show any signs of disarray when faced with a real fight.
While narrowly dodging or blocking the monster's attacks, he observed the opponent's movements with his eyes.
Then, after a brief moment of contemplation, he immediately cut off its head.
"Ah!"
I shouted without realizing it.
Even though its head was severed, the ominous light remained. The fallen limbs twitched and searched for the enemy.
"Not the head, then."
This time, Reikart stabbed it in the heart.
Only then did the monster Holy Knight stop all movement and begin to return to being an ordinary corpse.
The light that had been streaming from its eyes slowly faded. The pale skin gradually regained its color. And Magical Energy like heat haze flowed from its dead heart.
Yes, it was Magical Energy.
"......!"
Reikart and I were so surprised that we looked at each other at the same time.
Hiding behind the tree, I rushed to the dead Holy Knight. Then, with a mixture of hope and doubt, I reached out my hand towards him.
Magical Energy resembling heat haze flowed out and gathered in my palm. Then it swirled gently above it.
It was quite a large amount of Magical Energy for something dwelling in a human. That was if we were talking about quantity. It was less than what I had extracted from Reikart's body when I first found him, but more than what was generally found in the tainted.
Why.
Why would Magical Energy be dwelling in the Holy Knight's heart?
Why did the Holy Knight go berserk and become a monster? Why did he kill people? Why, how.
Divine Power is known to dwell in the hearts of Holy Knights. Because it is an innate power, children who manifest Divine Power from a young age are filtered out and taken to the Order to be raised. Among them, some of the most outstanding and robust children become Holy Knights.
For Magical Energy to flow from the heart of a Holy Knight, where such sacred power should reside.
"Look at these bastards..."
Absorbing all the Magical Energy gathered in my hand at once, I smiled grimly.
Selbon was turned upside down.
It was only natural. It had only been a short time since the Order forces had blockaded the village and conducted an Inquisitorial Trial, and now one of the Holy Knights who had remained to monitor the village's nonbelievers had suddenly turned into a monster and started massacring people.
While screaming and fleeing in panic, Reikart Winter suddenly appeared and killed the monster Holy Knight.
"The villagers are in great confusion. I asked the lumberjacks, and they said that many people had left the village in the meantime. There aren't many people left who said they couldn't abandon their hometown, no matter if they were heretics or not, and now this has happened."
"What about the ones left behind by the Order?"
"Two Holy Knights are dead, and more than half of the soldiers are dead too."
"What happened to the surviving soldiers?"
"They fled the village as if they were running away."
They must have gone to report to the Order.
I stood on the hill and looked down at Selbon.
Smoke was rising from the village square. It seemed they were burning the bodies.
The lumberjacks I had saved prostrated themselves and expressed their gratitude, saying that Reikart had saved them once again, but we knew that things wouldn't go so simply.
"Should we tell them to leave the village?"
Reikart asked.
I didn't know.
"It's not just me or the Inquisitorial Trial that's the problem now... I don't think they'll just leave this place alone because of the Order's image."
"But we can't force them to abandon their homes and become fugitives."
"The problem is that we don't know how the Order will react."
The Order might announce that this incident was a predetermined tragedy, an accident caused by the evil Sorceress Hayley, and try to appease the villagers.
Then my notoriety would increase, but Selbon would not face any greater danger than this. Perhaps it could even become a more prosperous and developed village with the support of the Order.
But I believed that humans should always prepare for the worst-case scenario, the worst tragedy.
