Bellota followed Felton straight to the underground of the cathedral. Hidden behind the garden of the cathedral, in a place where bushes grew wildly, the underground was a secret place known only to a few trusted priests by the Pope, besides the Saintess and the Commander of the Holy Knights.

Things that should not be known outside were being conducted there. For instance, secret research was conducted without the imperial family’s permission.

Entering the underground, Bellota faced the reality of what Felton had told her and held her breath.

“It’s a reknil’s corpse.”

Bellota couldn’t take her eyes off the massive monster’s corpse and she tightly grasped the hem of her dress. What was in front of her was indeed a reknil’s corpse. It was dead, with its eyes rolled back but in a complete state without any scratches or cuts.

“How……”

“It seems the commander has smuggled out one.”

Felton too had an expression of disbelief as he recounted. How could this massive creature have been smuggled out without being noticed by the meticulous and flawless Imperial Knight Order? Did they use magic stones? But if it was a magic stone capable of containing such a large monster, it would surely be very expensive. Besides, the temple hadn’t asked for it specifically.

Bellota also harbored the same question but couldn’t hold back her curiosity and joy as she examined the reknil. She had been regretting that all of reknil’s corpses were collected by the imperial family.

Felton glanced at Bellota. Until they entered underground, her eyes had been so calm they were almost sad, but now they sparkled with light excitement. That made sense since reknil was such a rare monster that one would never get to see in their lifetime unless they resorted to such measures to smuggle it out.

And Bellota had been deeply immersed in studying the characteristics and curses of monsters and finding ways to deal with them for a long time. She looked pleased instead of disgusted at seeing such a dreadful monster’s corpse. Sometimes this complicated and headache-inducing research felt like her only hobby and joy. But there was no way for the Commander of the Holy Knights to know that…

“It was donated for your research, Saintess.”

Felton, unable to shake off a feeling of bewilderment, faithfully relayed the message left by Seiden. Upon hearing it, Bellota, who had already fearlessly been touching the hard shell of the reknil, turned her gaze back.

“……Sir Seiden?”

When Felton nodded to her quiet question, Bellota’s eyes quickly became confused. There had been countless instances of research on monsters or divine power being conducted underground without the palace’s permission, but all those were cases where the temple secretly bought monsters at a high price or the priests deliberately hunted them.

In contrast, the dispatch of the Holy Knight Order was reported to the palace, and in the case of rare and useful monsters like reknil, the palace’s tracking followed them even more closely, so it was impossible to secretly take away monsters. The palace did not give out rare monsters, fearing that the cathedral’s power would become excessively large, using all sorts of excuses.

Yet Seiden dared to defy the imperial command and smuggled out a reknil. Knowing what consequences it would bring if it was discovered……

Besides that, it’s a donation for her. As the Commander of the Holy Knight Order, he must have known what kind of research was being conducted here. But until now, Seiden had never directly intervened in this research.

“……”

Bellota looked at the reknil again with a dazed face. The hard touch that reached her fingertips was indeed incomparable to the shells of other monsters. She could understand why the palace was so eager to collect all of the reknil corpses.

“It’s a good thing. If we can study the reknil, it will be a great help in exterminating monsters that carry a similar curse. We might also find out what components make up its poison.”

As Felton spoke in a much lighter tone, Bellota finally slowly nodded.

“Yes, surely it will.”

Affirming this, the tangled thoughts in her head smoothly unraveled, providing a simple answer. This too must have originated from Seiden’s faith. Since he had found out that something was wrong with her.

She was a saintess who would crumble at any moment, but still, Bellota had a mission to save the empire’s people. There was a duty she had to fulfill as much as possible before her end came.

“If this matter leaks out, I will chase down that bastard who dared to mock you to the ends of hell.”

He said such terrifying words with a dizzying gaze.

“I will catch him and cut out his tongue. I will tear apart his limbs so he can never utter such dog-like words again.”

What made him so angry.

“Now that I know about this, I cannot hand over the saintess to those scum.”

Everyone knew.

“……”

It wasn’t allowed for him to tarnish the name of God or fail to complete the noble mission bestowed by God. So there was no reason for me to feel hurt by Seiden. Because I could understand his firm and noble faith.

“Can we start researching right now?”

Bellota quickly composed herself and asked Felton briskly.

I also had a duty to join his efforts and resist this curse. Until the very end, I had a duty to protect this solid mission.

“Yes, of course. I’ll prepare.”

Felton, as excited as Bellota at the thought of being able to study that precious reknil, quickly responded and turned around busily.

Bellota once again stroked the reknil’s hard shell and swallowed a determined breath.

* * *

“Vice Commander, behind you!”

When a sharp shout came from behind, Kabillon quickly turned around. But Seiden’s reaction speed was significantly faster than the movement of his head.

Krrraaack!

The monster that aimed for Kabillon from behind and tried to pounce on him was bisected by Seiden’s sword and met a gruesome death.

“Huuh……”

Thanks to that, Kabillon, drenched in disgusting blood, momentarily felt his heart chill and swept his chest as if he forgot he was in battle. He wasn’t surprised at all by the sight of the monster being bisected—he had seen it enough times to draw it with his eyes closed, whether with pastels, watercolors, or even stained glass for those who wanted it. Though he couldn’t guarantee the quality.

But the way Seiden’s appearance, who was endlessly finishing off those monsters as they came at him, never seemed to get easier to watch, was strange. How the tip of Seiden’s sword could precisely bisect only the body of the monster without touching a single hair on Kabillon’s head, even though the monster had come right up to his nose, remained an eternal question.

Without even waiting for a thank you for lightly saving Kabillon’s life with a single gesture, Seiden sped off like lightning and was slicing through monsters pouring out like a tide. Wherever he passed, the corpses of monsters that were cut into pieces lay tragically scattered. The knights’ mouths stupidly hang open at that unbelievable scene.

Eventually, inside the knight order that had pierced through half of the vast forest in just one day, a quiet yet intense strategy meeting took place that night.

“Did you see the commander’s eyes go wild?”

“He really seems determined to complete this within three days.”

“But how can we cover this vast area in just three days……”

“We’ve already pierced through half.”

“Can’t you see that’s why everyone is dying right now?”

Then Ren coughed up blood as if to prove those words.

Ren was a knight who had transitioned from a novitiate priest to a holy knight and had healing abilities thanks to his experience as a priest, taking on the role of healer instead of priests during subjugations. According to standard procedure, a certain number of priests should always accompany them on dispatches, but because the holy knight order’s dispatches were too frequent and accompanying priests inevitably slowed them down, Seiden didn’t prefer it.

Moreover, since the Holy Knights of Kanbremes usually suffered remarkably few injuries, it wasn’t difficult to handle minor injuries with just some medicine and Ren. However, today was different. Upon reaching the subjugation area, Seiden suddenly turned to look at his knights and issued an irrational command to finish everything within three days. He was truly catching up with that schedule without any gaps.

Due to the relentless onslaught of monsters, even those robust knights inevitably suffered injuries, and Ren’s stamina was hitting rock bottom from handling it all alone.

“I’m…… dying, Vice Commander.”

As Ren uttered those heavy words with a pale face, Kabillon’s face also showed considerable sympathy.

“Wipe his nosebleed, will you?”

Kabillon handed over the embroidered handkerchief he had shoved in his pocket and Luke quickly took it and blocked Ren’s nostrils, from which blood was streaming.

“Ah, please try to calm the commander down, will you? How are we supposed to deal with all this in just two days left? We need at least three more days!”

Because they have an excessively fearsome commander, Kabillon, who ended up bearing the brunt of the grumbling alone today as well, sighed deeply while running his hand through his hair.

“Where is the commander?”

* * *

Rustle.

Seiden’s eyes, as he was standing still in the dark thicket, flashed coldly at the slight noise. Soon, a new monster sprung up right before him, who was holding his breath in anticipation.

Flap—!

Despite the sudden and noisy movement, Seiden, without blinking an eye, raised his bow and shot an arrow precisely. The monster, instinctively sensing danger and trying to flee, plummeted after being pierced in the heart by the arrow before it could even soar into the sky.

Thud, a heavy sound of friction echoed before Seiden lowered his bow, which was held high, and slowly moved forward. He picked up his prey that he had hit just moments ago and examined it closely.

“…….”