Chapter 23

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 2, 2025

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Chapter 23

When the bushes rustled, Chloe was startled, but Abel was unusually calm. He casually spoke towards the bushes.

“You’re here?”

“What~♡ Were you waiting for me~?”

Out from the bushes came Estelle. She returned unharmed, with only some Ogre blood on her clothes and skin.

“Not really. The sounds earlier, were they from the Ogre dying and falling?”

“Yes~♡ Why do you ask?”

Hearing Estelle’s answer, Abel looked at Chloe and said.

“Did you hear? The Ogre’s gone now.”

“…Uh…Did the Saint defeat all the Ogres?”

When Chloe asked in confusion, Estelle lowered her eyes and looked at Abel.

“I’m not as weak as the Hero~♡ I don’t cower before mere Ogres~♡”

“I didn’t cower either, you know?”

“Who was it that couldn’t react to the flying mace and got sent flying far away~♡”

As Estelle giggled and mocked, Abel trembled and cursed.

“…Damn it.”

“Bad words are not allowed, Hero♡”

But Chloe didn’t even hear the bickering between the Saint and the Hero.

The Saint single-handedly defeated a group of high-level monsters, the Ogres?

“Come here. I’ll treat your wounds properly~♡”

“…Okay.”

“Getting this hurt by mere Ogres~♡ The title of Hero doesn’t suit you~♡”

“…Shut up.”

Chloe could only look at the two with awe.

#

“Hey, Hero.”

“…What now.”

The Saint, who was treating his wounds while making annoying remarks, pointed to the Holy Sword on his back.

“The Holy Sword seems a bit different, doesn’t it?”

“Huh?”

At her words, he drew the sword.

A pure white blade. The same.

The size is ridiculously big too…What’s changed?

“Nothing’s changed, has it?”

“You fool♡ You really have a narrow view~♡ Look at the hilt you’re holding.”

“The hilt?”

Listening to the Saint, he looked at the hilt.

“Huh?”

Why is this gold? It was gray before.

“See? You didn’t even notice your own sword changing~♡ Fool♡ Idiot♡”

“…Why did it change?”

“Hmm~♡ Maybe it’s a sign that the Holy Sword is awakening?”

Ah, this was the Ego Sword, right?

“What’s the condition for awakening the Holy Sword of Order?”

“How would I know?”

“Huh?”

Last time, Elfride talked as if she knew.

“The Holy Sword of Order has a tricky condition for awakening its ego, but no one knows exactly what it is. No one has ever awakened it before.”

Come to think of it, Elfride did say it was tricky, but she didn’t tell me the condition.

“Then what did I do to make it change like this?”

“Who knows…All you did was look at me pervertedly~♡”

When did I do that, you damn woman.

“Maybe it’s because you saved me?”

That was Chloe.

“Saved you?”

“The Hero saved me when I was about to be killed by the Ogre.”

“Hmm…Is that so?”

The Saint narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

Why are you looking at me like that? You told me to protect her too.

“You looked at Chloe with a lecherous gaze, so it must have liked you~?”

…I’m not interested in kids, you crazy woman.

“…When did I look at her lecherously? And saving someone in danger is just natural.”

“I’m joking~♡ I don’t mean it either.”

You’re the worst, teasing me knowing full well.

Whether she knew my thoughts or not, the Saint spoke in a serious tone.

“A Hero is someone who saves people no matter what. Don’t forget the feeling and emotion of saving someone.”

“…Okay.”

…Her expression is too serious for me to say anything else.

After treating all the wounds and listening to the Saint’s advice, I cut off the Ogre’s head and took it. She said having a trophy would reassure the villagers.

“Oh my! Thank you so much, Hero!!”

As the Saint said, when we returned to the village and showed the Ogre’s head, the village chief repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

But isn’t it hard for someone his age to bend his back that much?

Not just the chief, but all the villagers came out to see the Ogre’s head and rejoiced. Seeing them so happy makes it all worthwhile.

“My, we must hold a feast today. For the Hero’s sake.”

“It’s okay. It’s better to use that effort to rebuild the village….”

“No, we can’t do that. Do you want to make this old man an ungrateful wretch to his savior?”

…If you put it that way, I have nothing to say.

“…Just a small one, please.”

“Don’t worry about it!”

The feast prepared by the villagers was held in the evening. All the villagers gathered in the center of the village, bringing delicious food and drinks, and lit a fire in the middle.

This feels like a campfire.

“Here, please eat. Although it’s not much, I hope you enjoy it.”

“You’ve prepared a lot, really….”

The village chief smiled kindly and offered me a drink. Glancing at the Saint, she nodded slightly.

Is that permission? Without hesitation, I took the chief’s cup and drank it in one gulp.

“Ahh!”

So this is the taste of medieval beer. It’s much better than K-beer.

I’ve been craving real beer so much….The nobles’ feasts only had wine, which was always disappointing.

“It’s delicious!”

“Oh, you like the beer?”

“Yes, keep it coming, Chief!”

Chloe also carefully took a cup offered by a village woman and sipped it.

This is how you drink beer, Chloe.

After downing another cup, the chief clapped his hands and said.

“You drink well, Hero!”

“Ahh! This is the taste!”

“We’ve prepared plenty of drinks. Have some snacks with it!”

“Oh! The food is delicious too!”

This is what a party is. The nobles’ quiet feels are just heavy and not fun.

At least they eat and sleep well, so there are many pretty people on average, which is nice for the eyes, but aside from that, there’s nothing enjoyable.

On the other hand, this feast is just drinking and having fun. Nothing to hold back. It’s great.

The Saint…well, she’s a priestess, so…

So she was refusing alcohol. Seeing her just picking at the food made me feel a bit off.

…Or so you thought, huh?

Can’t drink this delicious booze alone? Serves you right, you b*tch~!

#

“…Mmm.”

Abel was completely knocked out. He had decided to drink from the start, and it didn’t take long for him to end up like that.

Chloe, who was weak to alcohol, had only had a few drinks but was already lying on the floor, half-asleep.

Only Estelle, who hadn’t touched a drop, sat there calmly, watching the burning firewood. The village chief asked her:

“Saintess, does the food suit your taste?”

“…Yes, it was tasty.”

It was tasty. But Estelle wasn’t particularly fond of the food.

“If only they hadn’t played any tricks.”

“…Huh?”

The village chief looked at her with a puzzled expression. Estelle gave him a bitter smile.

“So, when are you going to start? I’m getting tired of waiting.”

The Saintess looked at the chief with eyes that seemed to know everything. The chief was flustered at first but soon chuckled lightly.

“…Hoho.”

The chief wiped the smile off his face and looked at Estelle with a serious expression.

“…Since when did you notice?”

“From the part where you said you couldn’t ask for help while being oppressed by ogres. It didn’t make sense, did it?”

Estelle chuckled.

“Ogres are dumber than trolls. Do you really think an ogre would notice if the villagers decided to sneak out? They wouldn’t even think that people could slip away secretly.”

“…You know monsters too well.”

Estelle didn’t say it, but there were more suspicious things.

First, the slaughterhouse. They found places with knives hanging around, supposedly to disguise offerings for the ogres. The villagers called it a slaughterhouse, but that couldn’t be true.

A slaughterhouse needs livestock to slaughter, but there was no sign of any livestock in the village. No cows, pigs, or even chickens.

Even if the ogres had eaten all the livestock, there should still be related facilities, but there were none in the village.

That meant the slaughterhouse was a lie. So what was it? Why were there so many knives and traces of blood splatter?

…The answer was obvious. It was a place where they slit open and disposed of something other than livestock.

Yes.

‘People.’ The whole village must have been doing this.

Assuming that, it explains why they couldn’t ask for help from other villages and why there were so many places with knives hanging around. The village was also hidden in the foothills, so it wouldn’t have been easily noticed.

The only question was… the security forces of Lancaster City should have been patrolling this area. How did they manage to keep trafficking people without getting caught? That was the mystery.

‘…Well, I’ll figure that out later.’

“By the way, it’s impressive that you’ve lasted over a year. The ogres must have had a huge appetite. You must have saved up quite a bit of money, huh?”

“…Being too smart isn’t always good. If you had been asleep like your companions, it would have been easier.”

Gregorio and the other villagers stood up, each holding a knife. Even the villagers who seemed to have passed out from drinking were all in on it. It seemed like it was all an act.

After glancing at them, Estelle muttered while looking at the burning firewood.

“Calling the Saintess of the Church a b*tch… Kek.”

Estelle chuckled lightly and made an offer to Gregorio.

“I’ll give you a chance. If you surrender now, I’ll let it slide.”

“…You’re full of yourself. Just a totem that sticks to the hero and only gives blessings, what makes you so confident?”

“A totem?…Pfft! You seem to know a lot about the reality of heroes and saints.”

The relationship between modern heroes and saints was exactly as Gregorio described. The hero did all the fighting, and the saint was just a totem that gave blessings.

That’s because the current saints weren’t real saints.

Originally, a saint is a proxy chosen directly by the gods. But gods don’t choose proxies every time.

In the current situation where demons and monsters are rampant and humans feel threatened, each church began selecting saints to support heroes and expand their influence, even without divine revelation.

This became a tradition, and now, every generation selects a saint.

That’s why saints can only give blessings. They don’t know how to use sacred artifacts to support heroes, and even if they wanted to, they lack holy power. Because they’re not real saints. They’re not true proxies of the gods, but fakes.

In that sense, Gregorio’s description was accurate. A totem that only gives blessings. It was so funny because it was true.

The villagers were approaching to capture Estelle, carrying chains and shackles to bind her, Abel, and Chloe.

“…But do you know something?”

But no one here knew.

“Grab her!”

“I’m the real one.”

《Sacred Chain》

Clang! Clank!

In an instant, chains of pure white light shot out from thin air, binding all the villagers. They couldn’t even take a step.

Gregorio, unable to hide his shock, shouted at Estelle.

“…What did you do!?”

“I just showed you the power of a real saint.”