The smell of burning blanketed the entire village.
Northeast of the Molten Barony.
The slash-and-burn village that had once been peaceful was now swallowed by the infernal flames of hell.
At the center of those flames stood a massive suit of armor.
It was two heads taller than an adult man, and its shoulders were broader than most gates.
The enormous armor gripped the haft of a warhammer in its hand and was offering a prayer.
Beneath the heavy hammer lay the corpse of something that could not be called human.
Three heads, eight arms, and two torsos.
Each and every part looked human, but the whole was a product of hell.
Sssssss—!
Each time the knight recited a prayer, the monster’s corpse burned under the pure white light emanating from the warhammer.
As if such a situation were routine.
Even as the grotesque enemy burned away, the knight merely prayed in silence.
There was not the slightest tremor in that hand.
Watching the scene, a nearby knight exclaimed in admiration.
“As expected of Sir Eleonor. Even when facing such a monster, you don’t show the slightest agitation.”
“There is no need for pointless flattery, Sir Felix. This is nothing more than a routine mission.”
A confident woman’s voice flowed from within the giant knight’s helmet.
It was a figure truly befitting one at the very forefront of the Paladins of the War Order.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Felix’s lips.
“My, how humble you are. As expected of the leader of the young holy knights.”
“I told you, flattery is unnecess— haah, enough jokes, Sir Felix.”
“Oh, you noticed?”
That joke again.
Looking at Felix’s eyes through his helmet, Eleonor clicked her tongue softly.
If not for those jokes, he would truly be an excellent adjutant.
‘Since he won’t listen no matter what I say, I suppose I have no choice but to endure it.’
As if unaware of Eleonor’s thoughts, Felix casually took out a letter and showed it to her.
Judging by the seal stamped on the letter, the sender was—
“Baron Molten.”
“Correct. It seems a report related to black magic has come in.”
“A report?”
“They say there appears to be a soldier involved with black magic.”
Black magic.
The moment she heard those words, Eleonor’s presence changed.
Her relaxed air from a moment ago vanished, and Eleonor looked at Felix with a murderous aura.
“Black magic. Under normal circumstances, this would be a matter for the Justice Order to handle. Why was it reported to us?”
“Doesn’t the Justice Order mainly operate in the capital? It seems they hope matters in the southern territories will be handled by the likes of our War Order.”
“I see. How does Baron Molten say he learned of this?”
“He says one of the soldiers made an accusation. You should read the details yourself.”
Receiving the letter from Felix, Eleonor quickly read through its contents.
The tedious, exaggerated prose peculiar to nobles.
But the gist was simple.
One of the soldiers had slain a troll.
However, the power used in the process seemed suspicious.
They might be a witch, so please dispatch an investigator from the Order at once.
When Eleonor lowered the letter after finishing it, Felix approached her.
“What shall we do? Should we all move?”
“No. I will handle this matter alone.”
“Alone… you say?”
“We were going to part ways soon because of the academy matter anyway, were we not? It is only proper that I handle this by myself.”
After saying this to Felix, Eleonor whistled, and a horse larger than most bulls approached her.
Mounted on her beloved steed, she looked down at Sir Felix.
“Then we shall meet again next time, Sir Felix.”
“Yes. May fortune be with you, Sir Eleonor.”
Eleonor saluted Felix with a gesture and rode toward the Molten Barony.
Judging by the distance, it would take about three days to arrive.
‘Will it truly be black magic, or…’
Would they be someone worthy of using “this”?
Thinking of the single letter tucked inside her clothes, Eleonor picked up speed.
**
In a corner of the empty training grounds.
Senior Lena and I were facing off, glaring at each other.
With the string of her favored shortbow drawn, Senior Lena watched my movements,
while I stood unarmed, waiting for the arrow to be released.
A brief silence—
What broke it was the sunset glow gathering at the arrowhead.
With a roar that tore through the air, a sunset-hued arrow was fired at me.
Its target was near my lower abdomen.
Just as the arrow shot toward me was about to pierce my stomach,
a hand covered in crimson blood moved.
Crack.
The arrow, caught in a hand reinforced by Red Blood, shattered into pieces on the spot.
But separate from that, blood flowed down from my hand.
Because I had used too much strength, the arrow had shattered and dug into various parts of my fingers.
‘I failed to control my strength again.’
This wasn’t catching the arrow. It was breaking it.
As I stared at my right hand for a while, Senior Lena immediately noticed the injury and rushed over in alarm.
She looked relieved when she saw that, fortunately, it was not a serious injury.
But my expression was not very bright.
“I couldn’t catch it this time either.”
“But you blocked it, didn’t you?”
“No, blocking it isn’t enough. I have to catch it.”
“…Is there a difference?”
“Yes. A huge one.”
Blocking was possible by simply smashing brute force against it.
But catching an arrow required using exactly the right amount of force.
When I explained it that way, Senior Lena nodded.
But contrary to her action, she still shook her head as if she could not understand.
“Fine, I understand the purpose of the training. But do you really need to do something this insane?”
“You heard too, Senior. Who’s coming in three days.”
**
This morning, the captain of the soldiers summoned Senior Lena and me to his tent.
Unlike his usual insolent attitude, he was trembling in fear.
As soon as Senior Lena and I closed the door, he clung to us.
“The Justice Order is coming! An inquisitor is coming!”
“Wait, calm down and explain slowly.”
“Do I look like I can calm down? You might be able to run away, but I’m headed for the stake!”
The captain shouted with a pale face.
In the end, the conversation could not continue until Senior Lena and I rushed at him and forced him to calm down.
Only after the captain had finally calmed himself did he open his mouth with a slightly more composed face.
“Someone among the soldiers reported it to the baron.”
“Reported it?”
“Yes. The contents said that black magic seemed to have been used when the troll was subjugated.”
Understanding the situation, Senior Lena looked at me with a stiff expression.
Judging by her eyes, she was probably asking whether we should run.
I gave Senior Lena a look telling her not to worry, then spoke to the captain.
“Don’t worry. An inquisitor won’t come.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. Those people rarely leave the capital unless it’s something extraordinary.”
It would be one thing if a priest of the Order reported it personally.
But they were far too busy to come all this way just because of a single soldier’s speculative report.
Even in the actual game, the chance of encountering an inquisitor in a remote region was barely around one percent at best.
After hearing my explanation, the captain let out a sigh of relief.
But Senior Lena looked at me with suspicion in her eyes.
“How do you know that?”
“Uh, while studying to become a knight, I learned how the Orders operate. That’s how I know.”
“Suspicious…”
Senior still did not erase the suspicious look from her face, but when I acted calm, she had no choice but to accept it.
Still wearing an uneasy expression, she opened her mouth to me.
“Well, fine. Then we don’t have to worry about anything?”
“No, that’s not it, Senior. Someone else will come.”
“Who?”
“A holy knight of the War Order. They’re much more reasonable than inquisitors. But…”
If the person I was thinking of came.
“They might be an even more troublesome opponent.”
**
“Is the person who’s coming really that dangerous?”
At Senior Lena’s question seeping into my ears, I finished my thoughts and returned to reality.
“Hmm, well.”
Was she, Eleonor, a dangerous person?
After a brief moment of thought, the answer I reached was both yes and no.
“As long as she doesn’t judge us as ‘evil,’ she won’t be that dangerous.”
“That means if she thinks we’re villains, she becomes dangerous.”
I nodded and continued.
“The War Order isn’t as rigid as the Justice Order, but they’re the same in that they show no mercy to evil beings. So we have to thoroughly become ‘people who are not dangerous.’”
“So that’s why you’re going this far? To show, ‘I have complete control over my power’?”
“You understand well.”
“You know…”
Senior Lena let out a deep sigh and gave me a pitying look.
“Even so, isn’t this too much? There must be a gentler method.”
“We can’t finish it within three days with a gentle method. And this will help you too, Senior Lena.”
“Me?”
“Yes. The sunset-hued arrow. It’s become much easier to use, hasn’t it?”
At my words, Senior Lena answered with silence.
Judging by her expression, she did not want to admit it, but she could not deny that it was true.
“You still can’t handle mana properly, Senior. That’s why you only shoot one arrow at a time, like it’s a finishing move. But once you get used to it, you’ll be able to surpass an ordinary soldier and reach an even higher level.”
“Still, I don’t like hurting you…”
“This much is fine. So please keep helping me train from now on, Senior Lena.”
Senior Lena looked at me for a while without saying anything.
A multitude of emotions crossed her sunset-colored eyes.
Gratitude, guilt, pity, anger.
After several minutes, that gaze eventually turned into acceptance.
“You’re seriously a bad guy. You know that?”
Though she grumbled at me, Senior once again put some distance between us and drew her bowstring.
At the tip of her arrow, a sunset light even clearer than before had gathered.
And I took my stance once more to stop it.
“Then let’s begin, Senior.”
The arrow was fired immediately after.
I focused my mind and moved to catch the arrow.
And so, for three days, Senior Lena and I continued training.
On the first day, I was barely able to succeed once out of ten times.
On the second day, I could succeed about five times out of ten.
And on the final day.
Looking at the sunset-hued arrow humming in my hand, I smiled in satisfaction.
With this, my success rate was ninety percent.
My control over Red Blood had also reached an extremely delicate level.
“Now I can finally end this.”
Watching my expression, Senior Lena wiped the sweat running down her forehead.
Now all we had to do was wait for the holy knight who would arrive soon.
Just as the two of us thought that—
Thump.
A sudden surge of Red Blood went berserk inside my body.
It was not to attack something, as it had before.
Rather, it was more like—
‘It’s trying to run away.’
The moment I grew flustered by that fact,
Boom!
Something enormous dropped down onto the ground.
When I turned toward the source of the sound, there was steel.
A warhorse larger than a bull pawed the ground with its hooves, clad in iron armor.
That sight alone was astonishing, but what was even more so was the being mounted atop that horse.
A height that easily exceeded two meters. Metal armor without visible seams.
And pure white light spreading from around the eyes.
‘Divine power.’
Was Red Blood rebelling against that?
I controlled the Red Blood thrashing about to flee and looked at the giant knight.
The knight standing on the ground looked around for a moment, then strode toward me.
“This is… fascinating.”
A clear woman’s voice rang out from within the massive armor.
“It is reacting against divine power, but that does not mean it feels entirely wicked. It is closer to something more primordial.”
Before I knew it, she, Eleonor, had approached and was looking down at me.
“I see. You are the soldier who slew the troll?”
With the enormous warhammer resting on her shoulder, she declared to me,
“I shall begin investigating you now.”