Chapter 1: Prologue – Excommunicated

A church hall filled with numerous clergy and holy knights.

And…

At the highest point there, a golden-haired green-eyed woman whose face exuded both beauty and cunning…

The Archbishop

Maxim Caffeola spoke in a stern voice as she looked at the young holy knight standing before her.

The man with reddish-blond hair and slightly tanned skin. And black eyes. Even at this moment, he was glaring coldly, staring straight into the archbishop’s face.

“I’ll ask one last time! Will the sinner admit his sins and kneel before the Lord?”

“I beg your pardon… but what sin have I committed for you to keep accusing me like this?”

-BANG!-

The young holy knight responded in a tone filled with bewilderment.

In response, the archbishop vented her anger, slamming her fist hard on the podium.

“Did you not covet wealth while bearing the body of a holy knight devoted to serving God! Those who walk the path of the clergy must dedicate themselves solely to carrying out the Lord’s will! How dare you commit such an evil act!”

“But… is making money a sin? Besides, it’s not like I embezzled wealth using indulgences like you people do. This was simply the legitimate result of a contractual transaction!”

“This… this man… how dare you utter such blasphemous words! Embezzlement, you say! How dare you desecrate the holy indulgences written by His Holiness the Pope to save the people from sin while bearing the body of a holy knight!”

“Save them, my ass… using some scrap of paper to ‘save’ people…”

The young holy knight’s words directly struck at their vulnerability.

At this, not only the clergy present, but even the other holy knights began to show deep resentment.

“This heretic has gone too far!”

“How dare such a renegade spout such drivel!”

“What are you doing! Render judgment upon him at once, Your Grace!”

“A fallen servant who has blasphemed against the Lord!”

“A follower of Iscariot, blinded by greed! Such a one cannot remain a holy knight!”

Voices of condemnation arose from all sides.

Yet, the young holy knight showed not a shred of wavering as he stood upright.

And seeing his demeanor,

the archbishop, her voice cold with seething anger, asked:

“I’ll give you one last chance. Repent your sins and take an oath! Swear that you will never again commit such acts, and willingly offer your possessions to the Lord as a sign of repentance! If you refuse to the very end, you will be stripped of your sacred right to serve the Lord as a holy knight!”

With a final warning, the archbishop spoke.

The intense look of anger in her green eyes had subdued countless people before, and she was confident it would be no different this time.

However, the young holy knight responded to her in a nonchalant tone:

“To be honest, I have no intention of remaining a holy knight any longer. Just go on as you were.”

“…This… this bastard…”

Unfazed by her ultimatum, the holy knight spoke.

Seeing his attitude, the archbishop finally felt her last shred of patience snap as she began to shout in a harsh voice.

“Very well! If you insist on being so defiant, then so be it! Although I had intended to show leniency by allowing you to retain the chance to serve the Lord due to your noble bloodline! But in this case, I have no choice!”

With those words, the archbishop produced the declaration she had prepared.

She then roughly stamped her seal on the declaration and shouted in an angry voice:

“The defendant, Santana Andreadas, has coveted wealth while bearing the body of a holy knight, and even denied the holy indulgences embodying the Lord’s will! This is a grave sin that tarnishes the dignity the Order of Holy Knights must uphold above all others! Therefore, I, Archbishop Maxim Caffeola, hereby excommunicate the defendant Santana Andreadas!”

“The archbishop has declared his excommunication!”

“Seize the sinner at once! Strip him of his holy knight’s armor and insignia and cast him out!”

Thus, with the declaration of excommunication, the young holy knight was dragged out.

Santana Andreadas.

A man who had lived his entire life as a holy knight and had quite a reputation in this city…

In this moment, he was stripped of all his rights as a holy knight.

They listed various charges, but the crucial accusation was that, as a member of the clergy, he had used a peculiar method… the so-called “sorcery of the devil” to amass considerable wealth. And in the process of being questioned about this, he had blasphemed against the Pope’s holy indulgences.

This was a grave sin that could potentially warrant the death penalty, but because he bore the bloodline of a fallen noble, he ultimately received the maximum punishment for a noble – excommunication. With this, the trial concluded.

However, even if he did not face execution, this could not be seen as a positive outcome.

In this country where the Church wielded immense power, excommunication was tantamount to a declaration that you would no longer be treated as human.

All basic human rights were revoked, meaning you would be stripped of any legal protections. Any land, property, and possessions you owned would ultimately be seized through due process.

Quite literally, your existence would be no different from not being alive.

As such, those who were excommunicated were typically driven out of these Church-ruled lands, forced to flee to the pagan territories in the east or the heretic domains in the north.

However…

In this very moment, when such a cruel judgment had been rendered…

The holy knight Santana, now stripped of his insignia and armor as a result of the excommunication and being cast out…

No, to be precise…

The being who had been reincarnated into this character named Santana, an ordinary retail investor from South Korea who, until just a few months ago, spent far more time staring at charts than looking at people’s faces.

I, Kang Tae-hwan,

felt not despair, but an intense surge of anger for an entirely different reason.

‘So… you’re really going to go this far in the end? Fine then, I’m done with you lot too! This damned coffee-mix archbishop… and you wretched holy knights and church bastards! Go on and try your best without me!’

I, Kang Tae-hwan, had made a living in my original world through the stock market, bitcoin, and futures trading.

However, some time ago, after being involved in a traffic accident, I found myself reincarnated into Santana, an extra holy knight who made a fleeting background appearance in the dark fantasy novel ‘The Fallen Holy Knight’ that I had rather enjoyed reading.

Quite literally, a character with no real connection to the protagonist, appearing only briefly in the beginning before vanishing completely until the very end.

The only reason I even remembered his name was because it appeared early on, and it happened to be the same as a character from a famous manga series I liked.

But just because I reincarnated into this extra character, I couldn’t simply resign myself to following the original storyline as a mere holy knight.

Regardless of the original character’s lack of significance, the setting here was a bleak dark fantasy world for the holy knights…

Plagued by successive outbreaks of disease, famine, and wars erupting one after another.

In this world, the holy knights and clergy would literally crawl through the depths of hell, and by the end of the story, the protagonist holy knight and most of his companions, including many clergymen, would meet tragic demises or ruination.

Given this grim background and progression, the forgotten Santana would likely have met an equally miserable death somewhere along the way.

Having reincarnated into Santana, despite being a reader who followed the original story with a heavy heart, I tried to use my knowledge of future spoilers as well as certain “money-making methods” from my original world that the people of this world were unaware of. I did this in an attempt to save the church forces, the Order of Holy Knights, and even lend a helping hand to the protagonist’s group.

However…

Unexpectedly, these actions of mine ended up being labeled as heretical acts unbecoming of a holy knight, resulting in my swift excommunication from the Church.

While my intention was simply to help, they seized upon this flimsy pretext to obstruct me, and even tried to confiscate the wealth I had painstakingly accumulated to secure my future. The bastards in the Church did this with greedy eyes.

Witnessing their rotten behavior, any sense of pity or compassion I had vanished without a trace.

‘So… there’s always a reason for those destined to fall, huh? No, I’m trying to make money to save you fools, and this is how you troll me? Fine, go ahead and do as you please! You’re the ones cutting your own lifeline, so let’s see how it goes!’

Thus, expelled from the church hall, filled with resentment, I returned to the quarters where I had been residing as a holy knight.

I had to go there, at the very least to gather my belongings so I could move elsewhere. There were also some remaining matters to take care of.

However… the moment I arrived at the entrance, two female holy knights guarding the place aimed their swords at me, blocking my way.

“…What’s this?”

“You filthy heretic! How dare you try to set foot in the sacred quarters of the holy knights!”

“An excommunicated wretch who made ill-gotten gains through sorcery! Leave this place at once!”

The two female holy knights spoke in cold tones.

Nunne Spolia.

Tine Glassate.

Both were typical fair-skinned, green-eyed beauties with golden hair, yet at this moment, they were threatening me with drawn swords.

Just days ago, these two had been fawning over me, but now their sudden hostile demeanor…

Filled with outrage surpassing even anger, I shouted:

“What the… Hey! This is the building I bought with my own money, you know? Even if I’ve been excommunicated, the formal excommunication process won’t be complete for another week! Until then, I still have the legal right to reside here!”

“Insolent fool! A wretch excommunicated before the Archbishop dares to spout such nonsense!”

“Leave immediately, or I shall take your head in the Lord’s name!”

The one who had relocated the rather shabby former quarters of the holy knights to this place using the money I had earned was none other than me.

As a result, although it served as the quarters for the holy knights, the legal ownership of this place was undisputedly under my name.

Just then, these very women had been so delighted that they were ready to bow down to me, desperately trying to curry favor.

Yet now… these very same wenches had discarded any gratitude, threatening the legal owner with drawn blades.

“Hey, just let me in for a bit! The formal excommunication process isn’t even complete yet, and I have plenty of my belongings still inside. At the very least, let me take them when I leave… Argh!”

In the next moment, a sharp pain sliced through my shoulder.

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, I crumpled to the ground, bleeding from my shoulder. Seeing me like this, the holy knight Nunne spoke in a cold voice, her bloodied sword in hand:

“The next blow will be at your neck!”

“Leave this place immediately! There will be no further mercy!”

“You… you bitches…”

Thus…

Suffering a sword wound to the shoulder while being denied entry into the property I had purchased with my own money, an utterly outrageous and infuriating situation, I steeled my resolve once more.

I had intended to help them out of a sense of pity, but they blatantly nitpicked to treat me as a criminal, excommunicating me, that damned archbishop and those holy knight wenches.

Like trying to save a drowning person only to have them break your arms and legs while branding you a robber – this pathetic spectacle made me harden my heart completely.

‘Fine… if you’re going to act like shameless dogs, then so be it. A bunch of trash blinded by the cash in front of you, cutting your own lifeline! Whether you fall or not, I couldn’t care less – I’ll just live life my way!’