The mans eyes roll back in his head. Ive managed to remove the obstacle. All thats left is to escape through that window.
Okay, Eris, lets get out of here.
I remove Eris gag and go to untie her restraints.
Hey, are you Alright?
When I do, Eris voices her concern, half in tears. I havent seen her make a face like this very often. It feels kinda fresh.
A guy like that is no challenge for me. Just a small fry. Cmon, lets escape.
You were all beat up, werent you
After that, Eris clings to me and sobs out a few words. Ordinarily Id stay like that and enjoy the the soft sensation of her chest, but unfortunately were not out of the crisis yet. I concentrate on untying Eris restraints.
Im not hurt anymore.
There we go, the ropes are untied too. We gotta hurry out of here.
I untie the ropes that were binding Eris arms and legs, and stand her up. The door still seems fine. Now we just have to escape through the window.
Its hopeless theyre already ahead of us.
Informed by Eris, I look out the window. Just like she said, outside the window there are the silhouettes of a number of priests.
Was I too slow? I needed to defeat that Bardas guy before we got surrounded from outside.
I see one of the priests raise a mace over his head in order to smash the window. From now on, who knows how many priests are going to come climbing in through that window. Among them, there may be another battle-hardened man like Bardas just now.
But unlike Bardas who was just sleeping in bed, hed have a weapon from the outset.
Even though one-on-one would be hard enough, if there are more than one of them
Is it already hopeless?
No, not yet. If I give up, that will be the end for Eris. I wield my mace. If it comes to that, Ill fight off every last priest by myself.
-The instant I resolve myself, I hear a loud crash.
Its not the sound of the window in front of me shattering. Its a louder, thunderous boom that shakes the entire building.
-!!
Then, some kind of roar.
Uwaaaaaah!
Ee-Eeeeeeeek!
A Dragon!? Why is there a dragon here!? Eep, Dont come any closer!!
Human voices, escaping in a panic. Those are most likely the voices of the archbishop and his priests.
Hold on, a dragon? What the heck is happening? The moment I try to think about it, accompanied by an incredible noise and impact, one of the walls of the room is blown off. I shield Eris at once.
When I take a look at the wall theres a dragons face there. The face of a dragon I remember, jutting through the wall of stone.
I-Is this okay!? I-Its really okay, right!?
From the other side of the dragons face, I hear a familiar voice. Its Ruruka. Thats Rurukas voice.
Yes, Ruruka-san. Well done. Seeing the unsightly figure of that archbishop fleeing in terror, I am finally satisfied as well.
Thats the reason you had me and the dragon crash in!?
Indeed. I simply had to repay him in kind, you see.
I remember the voice thats talking with Ruruka, too. But it cant be. Im certain that Aria told me she was supposed to have returned to the royal capital.
-The dragon gingerly withdraws its head from the wall.
On the other side of the wall, theres Ruruka, and as I thought, the saint.
Drop your weapons and surrender!
When I come out of the room through the newly-opened hole, I notice countless knights rushing into the church. Looking back towards the window, the priests that were outside just now have also been restrained by the knights.
Huh what kind of development is this? Why is the saint here in this city? Why did the knights come to this church? At the same time these questions arise, one of the knights who entered the church changes their expression and runs over.
Its Aria. The one who claimed she was returning to the capital with the saint; even shes here.
Onee-chan!? Why are you in a place like this!? Dont tell me, the woman abducted by the archbishop, that was you!?
Aria
Aria takes the hand of Eris who had sunk to the floor and pulls her to her feet. But why are the knights and the saint, not to mention Ruruka and even Aria, showing up at the church with this kind of timing?
Aria, what in the world is going on? Please explain.
Onii-san!? You look severely injured, are you alright!?
When I try questioning her, I get questioned instead. Oh yeah, Im all covered in blood thanks to that man named Bardas. So soaked with blood that its trickling down the sleeves of my clothes.
Eh, Shiki!? Wait, uwahh, blood!? Is that all blood!?
Maybe because she heard my voice, Ruruka comes rushing over to me. And, patting her hands all over my body to examine me, she raises a complaint to the saint.
Hey, Saint-sama. What is the meaning of this!? Why is Shiki here!?
Come to think of it, he was an acquaintance of yours, wasnt he? My apologies, it slipped my mind.
The saint answers Ruruka inquiry bluntly without looking at her. Her cold eyes are currently fixed on the archbishop, who has fallen on his rear.
Ruruka and the saint. That combination makes me recall something.
-Purge.
If I recall correctly, Ruruka was saying earlier that the reason the saint came to this city was for a purge. By some chance, was that
The saint speaks while eyeing the violet jewel in the archbishops hand.
That is the one that was previously stolen in a raid by the evil god adherents, the succubus jewel. As I thought, you were the one who instigated that. That is quite a perilous item I shall have you return it.
The saint suspected it, huh? The fact that this guy was trying to resurrect an apostle of the evil god. So thats why it was a purge. From the beginning, the saints goal was to purge this archbishop?
Why! Whyyyy! You were supposed to have fled back to the capitaaalll!
Still down on his ass, the archbishop directs his rage towards the saint.
How truly foolish. I was simply waiting for you to do something worthy of being purged. I slipped in amongst the knight brigades investigation unit and secretly returned to town, you see.
Now that I think about it, Aria was saying that a few days earlier, the lord sent out a large-scale investigation unit over the Krankheit Turtle incident. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the saint and the archbishop were engaging in an information war.
Just holding the succubus jewel amplifies the owners desires. Evil rumors constantly spring up around you. By continuing to observe you, I was certain that you would commit some sort of criminal act I must say, the results were somewhat beyond my expectations.
The saint was observing the archbishop? Which means, this situation where the saint stormed into the church is because she had the justification to purge the archbishop, due to him committing the criminal act of abducting Eris?
The way shes speaking kinda sounds like the police arresting a criminal on separate charges.
Apparently, Saint-sama was convinced that this archbishop was an adherent of the evil god from the unnatural flow of the donations. But that wasnt definitive enough evidence to mobilize the knight brigade so thats why she put on this act. I only heard about it myself after we left town, though.
Aria gives us an explanation.
So thats how it was?
It seems like everything played out exactly according to the saints plan. Most likely, what the saint and the lord have been discussing up until now was how to get that archbishop to reveal his faults.
That must be the result of an incomplete revival. The illustration of the succubus drawn in the Bible had a more glamorous figure. In that respect it was exactly like Eris. The current succubus I could easily call it a childs figure.
Why whyyy
As for the succubus, those seemed to be considerably important; shes fallen into panic. Shes not paying attention to her surroundings one bit, just checking her own body over and over in that atmosphere. Her face is half in tears.
Offensive magic, fire.
The saint raises an audibly ruthless voice.
While Im still speculating, the knights and the saints escorts finish their chants. Fire bombs, lightning, and balls of ice fly towards the succubus, who only recently revived.
! Eek, Hot! Cold, S-stooooooop!
Screaming out, the succubus spreads the wings on her back and dodges the concentrated fire of magic.
She kinda doesnt seem that strong. After she was called an apostle of the evil god, its a bit disappointing. Although with how shes dodging the magic in every direction, her only strength seems to be in running away.
Show no mercy! She positively must be brought down here!
The saints order flies out. Aimed at the succubus flying around inside the church, even more magic shoots out.
Higiii!
Ah, the dragon just hit her with its tail and smacked her against the wall. However, although shes getting battered, the succubus immediately resumes her escape. I can see tears spilling from her eyes.
Foul humans! Hey, this is a church! Foul humans, from the accursed church that sealed Evil God-sama!
The child-size succubus is saying something in her shrill voice, but it has no impact at all. Screeching the occasional Its hot or Its cold complaint, shes just buzzing around like a gnat.
I-Is that really the same succubus that was written about in the Bible?
However, doesnt that mean shes had a lot of combat experience as an apostle of the evil god? The succubus manages to slip through the rain of magic as she hovers around the ceiling where the stained glass has already broken off.
Although her hair is considerably burnt, and chunks of ice are clinging to her legs.
The dragon pursues her close behind,
Kuh hows this!
but the succubus pupils shine red, and in the next moment the dragons movements stiffen a little. And the succubus continues to stare at the dragon.
Guuhh, a dragon is impossible after all, huh
However, she seems to give up quickly, and stops looking at the dragon.
I-I wont forgive this! I absolutely wont forgive you jerks! A city like this, Ill crush it in no time with my monster army! Just you wait and see!
After that, in tears, the succubus flees into the sky. She quickly melts into the dark of night, and can no longer be seen.
So she eluded us
The saint mutters with a shameful face.
I gotta say, she felt kinda underwhelming
How do I put this, at the very least she didnt feel like an apostle of the evil god. Calling that a threat to humanity doesnt seem fitting at all.
Do not be deceived by appearances. Her resurrection appears to be incomplete, but that is unmistakably the succubus, an apostle of the evil god.
According to the materials left in the church, at times she would periodically assimilate herself within human society, and at other times she would lead a host of tens of thousands of monsters and lay waste to numerous countries.
The saint advises me with chagrin.
Tens of thousands!?
Tens of thousands. Did she just say that the succubus controls tens of thousands of monsters? Sure, it was written in the bible that she manipulates monsters desires and controls them as an army and stuff, but That many of them?
The succubus is not the type of apostle that engages in combat directly. One must be wary not of her fighting strength, but her special ability to manipulate desires. It would have been ideal to bring her down here, but
Furthermore, she declared that she will make an attack on this city. It will be essential for us to prepare countermeasures posthaste.
The number of knights in this city is perhaps not even a thousand. Despite that, tens of thousands of monsters are apparently going to attack us. I was deceived by the childlike form, but seems like thats really an apostle of the evil god. This is starting to feel dangerous.
Hey, Shiki. This may not be the right time to ask you this, but come to think of it, that Aria girl was calling you Onii-chan earlier, huh what what does that mean?
Completely falling for Arias trick, Ruruka asks me timidly. But this really isnt the time to be having a conversation like that. An army of monsters is supposedly going to come attack us, so we should really run away immediately.
-Suddenly, theres the sound of the glass window breaking.
Eeep!
Along with that sound, with incredible force, something comes plunging into the church. That was fast. Way too fast. Did the succubus come back with monsters already?
Or so I thought, but nope.
Something busts through the window and slides to a stop along the ground. A short body. Silver hair. Its Yuel.
Yuel just dove through the window. After that, she quickly surveys her surroundings, finds me, and rushes over.
Masterrr!
Yuel, Why are you here!?
Yuel makes a beeline to me, then looks up at me with a tearful face.
When I woke up, Master was gone, the front door was open, and I was so worried that something happened! I heard a huge sound from the church, so I thought for sure that you would be here!
Yuel explains in a quivering voice. It would seem shes been desperately searching for me. I must have ended up making her worry. Actually, speaking of worries
I-Im not injured, okay. Im fine, Yuel, dont worry!
Im covered in blood. Its not like she wont worry just because I tell her not to, but for the time being I let her know that Im unhurt.
Master, Im sorry I couldnt be by your side, Im sorry
When I do, Yuel clings to me with no regard for getting covered in blood herself. After that, she starts sniffling and begins to cry.
After Eris was abducted, I myself disappeared without a trace, not leaving behind a single clue. Yuel too must have been in a cold sweat this whole time, scouring the city in that kind of mental state.
I pet Yuels head. At the same time, I hear a voice from the saints direction.
Ahh! That girl! Thats the girl, Philine-sama! When I was trying to observe the archbishop at the orphanage, shes the one who chased me all of a sudden!
When I glance over, the young beast girl who was getting her head patted by the saint not too long ago is there. Her name was Astel, I think? Her fluffy, light brown hair is disheveled, and shes pointing at Yuel.
Yuel chased her at the orphanage? Oh yeah, Im pretty sure she was saying something about a beast girl being on top of the roof so she ran after her. Yuel-san, did you chase away the surveillance that the saint placed on the archbishop?
Well, sneaking around near me, she might have thought that it was some suspicious fellow.
Yuel doesnt even seem to be listening to that voice; shes just clinging tightly to me like shes trying to ascertain my warmth, continuing to cry. Now that I get a closer look, her body is covered in wounds. Shes barefoot, and blood is oozing from her feet.
She was likely in a great hurry to search for me. I cast healing magic on Yuel, then pet her head again.
The Astel or whatever girl gives Yuel an intense glare as she vents her accusation.
Philine-sama, hey, Philine-sama! Thats the girl! Its that girl!
Astel, be silent a moment.
However, the saint rebukes her, making an expression like shes deep in thought. Astel does as shes told and says no more, ears drooping as she hangs her head.
The saint continues to stare at the hole in the ceiling through which the succubus left.
Remaining here forever will solve nothing. For the time being, shall we consider what to do henceforth at Lord-samas mansion?
The saint mutters that, then for some reason looks at me and smiles sweetly.