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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 32: Ophelia Violet (1)
Under the dark sky, a group of horsemen moved towards the city dyed in gray.
They were the Holy Knights of the Solar Theocracy.
Clad in shining armor, holding shields and swords engraved with sacred symbols, the Holy Knights rode their horses with fierce momentum.
All of them were Holy Knights possessing Blessings and Powers.
Their mere appearance changed the air, and the rising sun illuminated the knights.
"Our brothers and sisters are struggling in a city tainted by evil! In the name of Sol Invictus, we shall annihilate evil!"
"Sol Invictus!!"
The battle began in an instant.
As the fierce charge and sacred aura of the Holy Knights clashed with the Demonics, they were mercilessly crushed and scattered into pieces of flesh.
"By the light of our Savior, Sol Invictus!"
Holy flames wrapped around the sword of Matthias Adelheid, the Commander of the Holy Knights.
Every time he swung it, the Demonics were reduced to ash amidst their screams.
It wasn't just Commander Matthias.
Some Holy Knights incinerated the monsters with the sunlight pouring from their shields and swept the front lines by releasing waves of light.
Other Holy Knights created spears of the sun and threw them towards the hordes of Demonics, where they exploded in their midst, sweeping everything around.
The Holy Knights.
The strongest force possessed by the Solar Theocracy.
Clad in holy swords, holy spears, and blessed full plate armor, they unilaterally slaughtered the Demonics.
The Demonics that had seized control of the city were so overwhelmed by the Holy Knights' power that they began to flee.
It seemed it wouldn't be long before peace returned to the city and the sun shone its light upon it.
"Tch. The Holy Knights are here already? They requested reinforcements sooner than I thought."
Luca clicked his tongue, watching the monsters being completely trampled.
They were going to be discarded anyway as their marketability had decreased, but still, among that many small fries, some must have evolved.
What a waste, what a waste.
This whole affair turned out to be a complete loss.
He didn't even break even and only suffered losses.
The warlock Luca was a merchant.
A merchant of warlocks and witches.
And a merchant for those who sought to use wicked power.
What he was commissioned for was 'controllable Beta grade or higher Demonics'.
For this, Luca had summoned an Alpha Demonic from the demon realm and bound it with spells.
After that, it was as was known.
He forced it to repeatedly give birth to lay eggs and fed them to people to cultivate hosts.
The goal was to secure promising Beta Demonics born from devouring these hosts.
Since there would also be individuals that grew into lucky Alphas, he prepared plenty of food.
But the plan failed.
Because of that outsider priest boy who interfered in the middle.
"Huu... if it ends here, I can still accept it as a business failure."
Luca sighed, looking at the humanoid figure gradually approaching.
The restrained attire typical of the Eclipse Inquisition.
The silver figure approached without losing its way, even with a lace blindfold covering its face.
Luca greeted her first.
"To what do I owe the honor of your visit, distinguished one?"
"Are you the heretic who attacked the city?"
The woman spoke directly to the point, without returning Luca's greeting.
"I'm not a heretic... I'm an atheist."
"Strictly speaking, atheism is also heresy."
"That's a bit too much."
"......"
Luca met the gaze from behind the blindfold that stared intently at him.
If you were a warlock, if you were a member of the wickedness tainted by evil, you couldn't not know.
The saintess of the infamous Eclipse institution.
She was the kind of being whose presence made self-immolation the recommended course of action.
"Grrrr..."
"Kyaaa..."
The Demonics growled, sensing an instinctive danger before their natural enemy.
Thirty Beta Demonics whose marketability had been secured, and... one Alpha.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
It was not some weakened Alpha from giving birth and being bound.
It was a monster among monsters that had devoured the flesh and blood of thirty thousand three hundred citizens of Campbell and evolved.
Even though it was still in its growth stage.
"What a waste, what a waste."
Towards them.
"Attack."
Luka commanded them to die.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The Demonics charged towards Iris all at once.
Iris quietly removed her blindfold and pointed a finger at the monsters from the demon realm charging at her.
"Heresy needs disinfection."
Before the dawn rose, the city greeted the morning without sunlight.
***
The identity of the knight with the ominous aura who had beheaded the Alpha Demonic was guessed by Henry.
"A-Are you a Holy Knight?"
"No, she's a knight. Holy Knights use holy power. Of course, it's not that there are no Holy Knights who use aura, but..."
Aaron watched the unidentified knight who had suddenly appeared.
Was there such a strong person in the city? Or was this reinforcement from outside?
Just then, with a chuck!, the knight lifted her head.
"Knight? Thanks to you, we're alive. Are you perhaps a knight from the city hall...?"
"......"
Thump, thump!
The knight strode towards Ray.
Without giving Aaron or Jenny a chance to stop her, the knight quickly approached, taller than Ray by a head.
'She's... big...'
Considering that Ray was still growing, the female knight was remarkably tall.
"......"
"Um, Knight?"
Just then.
The knight took off her helmet and threw it aside.
Tann! Tann!
Abundant light purple hair.
In contrast, deep violet eyes and a blindfold adorned with a flashy flower covering one eye.
Her overall haughty impression was filled with intense vitality and vigor.
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere..."
At that moment, the female knight abruptly put both hands under Ray's armpits and lifted him up.
"Uh, uhoh!?"
"Ray! Ray Anderson!"
The knight, holding him up so his feet didn't touch the ground, didn't hide her delight.
"We finally meet! Ray Anderson! Have you been well?"
Only then did Ray realize the identity of the female knight who had lifted him up.
"Miss Violet?"
"Exactly! I am Ophelia Violet!"
Ophelia Violet.
She was the Margrave's daughter whom Ray and his companions had rescued from the Archdemon.
***
Ophelia Violet.
The daughter of the Margrave, whom the Archdemon Capricorn had attempted to possess for half a year.
Why had she, who should be in the border region of the Albion Kingdom, appeared here?
"Um... Young Lady?"
"Yes! Ray Anderson!"
"That... why are you here?"
At Ray's question, Ophelia tilted her head and replied.
"Because you're in danger, of course?"
That didn't explain anything.
How did she even know I was in danger?
"Anyway, Ray Anderson! No, let's call you Ray. Between us!"
Had she eaten a train's firebox? Her voice resonated loudly.
She was a young lady who couldn't control the volume of her voice in many ways.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!
Just then. A flash of light passed through the city, dyeing the entire city white as day.
It was such an intense flash that it made you wonder if you would go blind from the excessive brightness.
"Oh my, the Saintess's sparkle is amazing."
"Saintess?"
"I came with the Saintess of Radiance, Iris. From the North!"
He'd have to hear the full story to understand, but it seemed Iris and Ophelia had come after receiving the support request from Campbell Church.
"Um, Miss Ophelia."
"That title feels too distant. You are permitted to call me Young Lady Ophelia."
"......Young Lady Ophelia."
"Yes? Ray."
Seeing her expression clearly waiting for his reply, Ray said in an awkward voice.
"Uh, could you... put me down?"
Ray had been floating in the air all this time.
"Oops~"
Ophelia gently lowered Ray to the ground.
Then she put a hand to her forehead and seemed to measure the difference in their heights.
"Ray needs to grow more. They say commoners sometimes starve, and it shows that Ray hasn't been eating his five meals a day."
"......"
Isn't it at most three meals?
Ray wondered if all that food had gone to her height.
No, it went to other places too...
"Miss Violet."
"Hmm! This voice. Not a commoner, but sounds like the child of a well-to-do family. And you are?"
At Ophelia's bewildering question, Aaron closed his eyes tightly and replied.
"I am Aaron Graham. A member of the Graham household. The fight is not over yet."
"Mm! That's right. As a noble, I cannot abandon those Demonics!"
Ophelia picked up the sword and shield she had neglected and charged out of the church.
"......"
"...Aaron. Are nobles originally this high-strung?"
"The Violet clan is known for their brawn... no, for their military might."
Ray thought that this surely couldn't be the average noble.
"Absolutely not. Never compare nobles to the Violets. That young lady is a bit... an anomaly."
Right?
***
The monster incident in the free city of Campbell was brought to an end with the intervention of the Holy Knights dispatched from the Solar Theocracy.
"Monsters appeared, and the Holy Knights came and wiped them all out!"
"Did you see that light? They say it was a miracle caused by the Saintess!"
The citizens of Campbell recounted witnessing the Saint and the Holy Knights, the strongest force of the Solar Theocracy.
And naturally, their faith turned towards the Solar Theocracy.
"Those damn Sun-Moon Cult bastards. They say they were the root cause of this whole situation!"
"You can't trust those cultists. My cousin paid an enormous amount in offerings there."
Although the citizens of Campbell had a lax standard for religion, when the damage directly affected them, they were filled with hatred for heresy.
It was a desirable phenomenon, and it was clear that their faith would now turn towards the Solar Theocracy.
And.
"Did you hear about it? The hymn that echoed through the city that night."
"Not just that, you know? There were people who fought against the monsters from hell that attacked the church!"
"Their name was probably... Ray. I think it was Ray..."
"My nephew was in that church that day! Sol Invictus! Bless this grenade! In your mercy, shatter the enemy to pieces!"
The names of Ray and his companions were also clearly etched into the free city of Campbell.
Now, they would visit Campbell Church every week to offer hymns and prayers, gather talents, and praise Ray Anderson and his companions.
Ray Anderson of the Solar Theocracy.
His name was slowly spreading.
***
Even after the commotion in Campbell ended, Ray and his companions stayed at Campbell Church for a while.
This was due to the city's mayor and administrative staff being wiped out, coupled with the lack of security.
It was an incident where close to 50,000 people died in Campbell, a city boasting a population of 300,000, and they had to deal with the monsters hiding in the city's back alleys and sewers.
It wasn't that difficult, thanks to the presence of the Holy Knights.
"Well, we'll be setting off now."
"You even helped rebuild the Church... We're always receiving help from the brothers."
"Not at all, we were able to survive several times thanks to Bishop Yuna."
As they were leaving.
Bishop Yuna handed Ray and his companions lunch boxes and gift bundles, showing her reluctance to see them go.
These were thankful people who had come to a declining church, suggested new methods, led the revival meeting, and protected the people during the city's crisis.
'The future of the Solar Theocracy is bright.'
Bishop Yuna was certain that these wonderful brothers and sisters would illuminate the future of the Solar Theocracy.
"Huu~ This incident was quite eventful~"
"Those wicked heretics! Brother and sister, you always break through battlefields like this!"
"No, this was definitely not normal..."
Ray agreed with that statement wholeheartedly.
In their first mission, they met a witch, didn't they, and exorcised an Archdemon.
In their second mission, he thought it would end with a revival meeting for a failing great church, but then some crazy warlock released monsters on the city.
"In the past few months, a witch, an Archdemon, an Alpha Demonic... Isn't this truly insane?"
"Ohhh! As expected of Brother Ray! Demon Slayer!"
Henry fussed and looked up at him with admiration, but Ray yearned for peaceful days more than such adoring gazes.
And most of all.
"Ah, Ray. Don't put too much strength in your waist, lean back comfortably. It's not good for your growth."
"...Why am I the only one riding on the same horse as the young lady?"
Ray and his companions received a few horses as compensation when they left Campbell Church.
To be exact, it was the number of people, but with Ophelia joining them, someone needed to share a ride.
"Hehe, you're saying something foolish. That's because there are four horses and five people!"
"...Young Lady Ophelia, aren't you going back to the North?"
Is it alright for a noble young lady to be in a place like this?
Of course, he was grateful that she came to help.
If it hadn't been for Ophelia, he might have been seriously injured by the thrashing Alpha Demonic.
"Ah, I've decided to dedicate myself to the Solar Theocracy."
"Huh? Really?"
She was the young lady of Violet, wasn't she?
He wondered what she lacked to do such a thing, and then, ‘Ah’ Ray realized the reason.
"That... has the rumor already spread?"
"The rumor that I was possessed by a demon? Of course, it spread widely in high society!"
"Ah..."
At Ophelia's words, the atmosphere around them became solemn.
The scandal of being possessed by a demon was fatal to her, the daughter of a high-ranking noble.
If a noble young lady who needed to find a marriage partner in high society was possessed by a demon, who would desire that?
Knowing how important reputation was in noble society, Aaron offered words of comfort.
"Well... everything will be alright."
"It doesn't matter! I wasn't interested in the useless people in high society anyway. And there are prospective grooms in the Solar Theocracy!"
"Huh?"
Something about the flow of her consciousness was strange, and Ray subtly observed Ophelia.
With a bright smile, Ophelia's eyes sparkled.
"So, Ray. How many children should we have?"
"Cough...!"
Cough! Cough!
Ray almost fell off the horse.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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