Ch.457Ten Days of Aftermath

Lacy decided to stay in Nashiriya.

The collapse of the Church of Grimnir, one of the eleven deity churches, was too significant an event to simply resolve and leave behind with a light heart.

There was too much to do for the aftermath. She needed to secure as much evidence as possible to prepare for the questioning from other churches who would be shocked by the news, and she also had to stabilize Nashiriya, which had become a power vacuum.

This wasn’t something that would end in a day or two.

—-

On the morning after annihilating the Church of Grimnir.

Lacy, wrapped in brilliant holy light like a veil, calmed the anxious city residents and gained enthusiastic support by denouncing the evil deeds committed by the Church of Grimnir before them.

Thanks to this, there was almost no resistance despite the city’s upper echelon being wiped out overnight.

Well, from their perspective, a beautiful woman who scattered pure white holy light like feathers and took care of them was far more trustworthy than magic priests who always wore robes and showed no interest or concern for them.

It’s natural that exceptional beauty creates trust where there was none.

Add eloquence and presence to that, and it’s perfect.

Well… even if there had been resistance, nothing would have changed.

Anyone who could raise a voice of criticism after seeing someone destroy an entire church overnight would have to be the hero instead of Demian.

Lacy’s actions didn’t end there.

She seemed determined to completely win over the hearts of Nashiriya’s citizens, as she dug out all the treasures stored in the Grimnir cathedral and distributed them to the citizens.

She argued that since these were now ownerless assets, they should be used for the people before other churches could interfere.

In fact, this distribution work probably consumed the most time.

After gathering and organizing all the Church of Grimnir’s assets, she had to distribute them evenly to all city residents, prioritizing the impoverished classes who had suffered direct harm.

Finally, she planned to hold a large-scale memorial service for the poor before meeting the investigators who would come to assess the situation.

The original plan was to solve problems in various cities to raise Lacy’s reputation while simultaneously tracking down those who had thrown the Holy State into chaos… but that was already ruined.

Having destroyed a church immediately upon entering Nashiriya, it would be difficult to move to another city until proper explanations were given.

Besides, we couldn’t just leave this city in a state of anarchy.

Therefore, we ultimately had to remain in Nashiriya until the investigators arrived.

It would take at least ten days, at minimum.

—-

I invested those ten days in training myself and my companions.

I had to. My strength was considerably weakened compared to normal.

Hersella, who had fallen asleep, showed no signs of waking, and perhaps because of that, the recovery rate of my Karma of Murder was seriously slow.

I could enhance my physical abilities somewhat… but it was far from enough to use any techniques beyond that.

“Kheuk…!”

Of course, even in this condition, I had no problem beating up Demian.

Even without the power of Karma of Murder, I still had the physical body of a werebeast and the power of heroic achievements.

“I told you not to leap in front of me!”

I spent my time enthusiastically pummeling Demian and subtly teaching Millia archery techniques I’d seen in games while offering advice.

Of course, I didn’t forget to train Agnes and Hush as well.

“Hmm… if you’re planning to engage in close combat with such a short blade, you need to secure a definite means to close in on your opponent. Either enhance your physical abilities with miracles to increase your charging speed, deceive the eyes with illusions, or combine offensive miracles to confuse their movements. If you just charge in recklessly like just now, you’ll be subdued before you can even close the distance.”

“…I see. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Agnes, who had been charging at me, nodded carefully while looking at Durandal’s blade tip hovering before her neck.

Unlike Lacy, who specialized in rear support, Agnes was more like a paladin. While her holy power itself was impeccable, her skills as a knight weren’t particularly outstanding.

At best, she might be comparable to the Rose Knights.

Moreover, because she used an unusual sword like a shotel, she was helpless against knights using longswords like me, though she might fare better against shield-bearers.

Still, according to Agnes’s explanation, it was a fairly useful weapon in actual combat rather than duels.

The sacred artifact of the Church of Menes, the Blade of Moonlight.

When infused with holy light and swung, a crescent-shaped slash would emit along the blade, cutting down even distant enemies.

The power of the slash varies according to the lunar cycle, with the greatest power manifested on the night of the full moon.

…Honestly, it’s a somewhat enviable ability.

Durandal isn’t a bad sword, but compared to a blade that emits slashes of light, it feels too plain.

When exerting full power, there’s no better sword, but the conditions are so strict that I rarely get the chance to use it properly.

I’ve been wielding this sword for over eight months now, but I’ve only used it properly once.

—-

Unlike Agnes, I had no idea where to start with Hush.

Unlike our first meeting where she just threw a few daggers, this was a sparring match where I was holding back, so I could perfectly grasp Hush’s strengths, weaknesses, and combat style.

Being lighter than humans, her movements were quick, but she lacked decisive power.

Knowing this well herself, she seemed to have trained more for ambushes than direct confrontations.

Throwing daggers at vital points, rushing in quickly from blind spots to stab with her dagger.

Or wrapping a wire from her wrist around the neck. That sort of thing.

If it were simply a matter of strength, I could just make her train relentlessly, but there was no way to fix the problem of being pushed back due to insufficient weight.

She said she doesn’t gain weight no matter how much she eats due to her racial characteristics, so what could I do?

From what I heard, she couldn’t strengthen herself with the power of Karma because she was a half-blood, nor could she fight with elemental power like pureblooded fairies.

In other words, she had clear growth limitations.

In the end, the only option seemed to be equipping her with the best gear possible to compensate for her lacking combat abilities.

A cloak of concealment, werebeast leather armor, and black iron daggers and short swords should be enough to use her as an assassin.

Therefore, with Millia’s advice, I taught Hush only the basics of short sword techniques.

“Um… so, you hold it like this, rush in, and stab like this!”

“……”

…Honestly, Millia wasn’t much help.

How could she forget all her swordsmanship after just a few months of using a bow?

Well, if Millia had been skilled with swords, she wouldn’t have recommended archery in the first place.

—-

After helping train my companions, I devoted all my remaining time to training myself.

This incident made me keenly realize that my strength was still insufficient.

Without Hersella’s help, without Hush’s help, I would have lost my life unable to defeat even a single church.

…It’s pathetic.

Having reached the realm of heroes and being able to gain the upper hand against most enemies… perhaps I had become somewhat complacent.

Even though I shouldn’t have, considering what lies ahead.

I sharpened my mind again and devoted myself wholeheartedly to self-training.

Although there was little room for growth in physical abilities, and my swordsmanship had reached its technical limit… the power of Karma was an exception.

The power of Karma of Murder had fallen asleep with Hersella, but the power of achievements I had accumulated still radiated brilliant light within me.

I realized anew.

While I had been overly dependent on the almost omnipotent power of Karma of Murder, this radiance was the foundation of my soul and the direction I should aim for.

Ten days. A short time in some ways, a long time in others.

I invested most of my spare time in contemplating and refining my own Karma, training to become even slightly stronger.

And I achieved results.

– Boom!

My fist, thrust toward the empty air, accelerated like lightning and shattered the wall of air.

I looked at my right arm, which had achieved a new miracle, and smiled with the abundant joy filling my chest.

The heroic tale Defying Fate, which compresses time to deliver a strike at an unfathomable speed.

That ability was not limited to slashes.

Now, I could bestow the ability of Defying Fate upon my own flesh.

Even if it was only for a very brief moment.

—-

Ten days later.

Nashiriya had now entered full winter, with cold winds sweeping through the deserted streets, and people pursued quiet daily lives holed up in their homes instead of wandering the streets.

It wasn’t because of some grand reason like manifestation of anxiety.

It was simply too cold to wander the snow-covered streets without reason. Thanks to Rurik, I wasn’t cold at all.

Anyway, it was around this time that the investigation team dispatched from the Holy Capital arrived in Nashiriya.

“Pleased to meet you, Acting Cardinal Elmaine Stardolf. I am Ceylon of the Church of Astraea.”

The man who came as the representative of the investigation team was someone I knew.

Not someone I had met, but someone I had seen in the game.

Ceylon of True Gold.

A high judge of the Church of Astraea and the man called the strongest paladin of the church.

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Ceylon. I’ve heard much about your reputation. Sending Astraea’s True Gold suggests that the Holy Solar Alliance considers this matter quite serious.”

Lacy responded to his greeting with a sharp comment.

Implying there was no need to send the church’s strongest paladin for a matter already resolved.

“Eleven churches. When one of them might have been vile cultists, how could we take this lightly? Cardinal Ernritter ordered me to thoroughly investigate the whole story, exterminate all those who are guilty, and return.”

Ceylon slightly bowed his head, casually deflecting Lacy’s point, and glanced at me as I was smoking beside her.

…Quite a challenging look.

There was clear hostility swirling in his golden eyes.

“Do you have business with me?”

I flicked my cigarette ash into the air and glared at him.

It seemed that the noble judge had quite a few complaints about me.

Right. The Church of Astraea values punishing sin more than praising good deeds, so it’s natural they’d find me distasteful.

Though it’s entirely because of Hersella, until last year, Aishan-Gioro Haschal was nothing more than a notorious mass murderer.

Even so. No matter how much he disliked me… did he have to show it so openly? How unpleasant.

“Ah… I apologize, Lord Median. This is my first time facing a knight who has reached the realm of heroes, so I… If you found me rude, I offer my apologies.”

Ceylon changed his expression completely and bowed his head to me in apology.

It might not have been a sincere apology, but his attitude was respectful enough to make it awkward to press further.