Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 46: Saintess (1).

Looking at the monsters that were instantly bisected, Dajian couldn’t accept reality and glanced around.

“Huh? What is this…?”

Dojin slowly withdrew his sword and exhaled. He had put all his strength into that single blow. Although he seemed on the verge of exhaustion, about to collapse at any moment… the basics of combat lay in momentum.

If he showed any weakness now, despite having annihilated the enemy, Dajian would aggressively attack him.

What mattered was bravado. The pretense that he was still relaxed, and thus had the energy to continue fighting.

Dajian slowly retreated backward, fleeing from Dojin.

“Y-you… So, you’re with the knights. Did you come to capture me, or are you from the tower’s executive? Or perhaps the church’s inquisitor…”

“You talk too much.”

Dojin slowly approached him. Dajian panicked and scattered dark magic. Exhausted, Dojin couldn’t even think of avoiding it and advanced while being hit.

Each time he was struck by the scattered dark magic, his limbs went numb, and his energy waned. One eye momentarily lost vision, and even his will to walk forward was stripped away.

All sorts of curses clung to his body. Dojin personally realized why dark mages were shunned. Such filthy magic would be very useful in battle, but at the same time, no one would want to use it.

Humans were sometimes compared to demons, but that didn’t mean there was no line separating them. Dark magic was used by those who crossed the line that humans should keep.

“You don’t want to die, do you?”

“Of course! With the magic I invented, you can be saved from all kinds of diseases! Countless patients can escape from their suffering!”

“Don’t you pity those patients?” Dajian shouted, as if struggling to survive.

Dojin let out a hollow laugh as he listened to that absurd remark.

“It’s not your place to say.”

He knew that all those actions were not for the patients.

Saying it was for the patients was hypocrisy.

Just because the technologies obtained through human experiments during World War II contributed to saving lives, it didn’t make the acts good.

Dajian was just a madman ensnared by magic.

A madman, by nature, should be isolated from the world.

“St-stay away!”

Dajian struggled one last time. The genius dark mage who once controlled the underworld vanished.

What was left was a coward who had shown his true colors. So fearful that he had killed numerous people and caused immense suffering, a cancer to society.

Thunk.

“Aaaaah!”

He cut off his leg—the same left leg as Ilone’s. The legless man screamed, tears and snot streaming down.

“Try to solve it with your great magic.”

“Screw you, you crazy bastard!”

“Looks like you can’t.”

Dojin ignited the sword with flames. It was the last flame. He used it to cauterize Dajian’s leg.

Overwhelmed by the burning pain, he eventually passed out. This was enough. Death could not grant him peace.

“Phew… Why is this so exhausting?”

He had said he would return before dinner got cold. He was sorry, but it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.

Sitting atop the corpse of the defeated monster, I watched as the ceiling collapsed. The fire I set before entering was finally destroying the building.

I could see outside. Under the dazzlingly bright moonlight, a crowd of people had gathered. Well, considering the size of the fire, it was only natural that people would gather before the fire spread.

Firefighters in this world used magical tools with large mana stones attached. They sprayed water from these tools to extinguish the fire.

The guards barged into the building where the fire had been extinguished. Dozens of criminals with severed wrists, decapitated wolf-people, and boxes filled with drugs.

It wasn’t difficult to realize what this place was for.

“Freeze!”

As soon as they entered, the guards immediately apprehended Dajian, who was clearly dressed like a mage.

Dojin was about to applaud them for doing such a good job. However, the moment he raised his hand, startled guards quickly restrained him.

“Don’t move!”

“…No, I was just.”

“Be quiet! Don’t open your mouth!”

“So, I mean–”

“I said don’t open your mouth!”

Thud, hit by the baton swung by a guard, Dojin lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was inside a cold, iron-barred cell on the floor.

‘Guess my dinner’s all cold now.’

Looking at the morning sunlight streaming through the gaps in the bars, I realized morning had come.

And that the dinner I asked to be prepared must have completely cooled down.

‘How embarrassing.’

I said I’d be back before it got cold, but by now it must be not just cold but spoiled.

While I was thinking that and passing the time, a guard approached from afar.

Jingle, jingle.

“…Shall we go out?”

“…Already?”

The man approached, jangling the keys, and opened the prison door, announcing my release. Though I was taken aback by his words, I slowly stood up.

Having slept on the cold stone floor, my entire body felt stiff. Crack, crack. I stretched my cramped muscles and stepped outside, noticing the guard looking at me with a curious expression.

“What are you staring at?”

“No… I apologize.”

“?”

The guard was unnecessarily deferential. Seeing that, I sensed something was amiss. At first, I thought Ilone had claimed my innocence and got me out, but… that alone wouldn’t provoke such a reaction.

She was the captain of the guards, but only the head of one department within the guards. She wasn’t the commander overseeing everything.

I stepped outside, pondering who might be influential enough to affect the entire guards.

Receiving my clothes and sword, I squinted at the sun I hadn’t seen for half a day.

Under the brilliant sun, a knight radiating grandeur awaited, even deflecting the sunlight.

“Ah, it was you.”

“…Do you know me?”

I burst into laughter as I watched the knight trying to act like a stranger, concealing her face and lowering her voice.

[Charlotte Valois]

─…Does he know who I am?

The Saintess’s Holy Knight.

She, who had once worked as a maid in our mansion to keep an eye on me, was standing there.

Whether Dojin had realized her identity or not, Charlotte lowered her voice as much as possible and spoke.

“…The Saintess is waiting.”

“Ah, yes.”

Charlotte, worried that opening her mouth even a little more might reveal her true identity, quietly guided Dojin to the carriage.

After climbing into the carriage, she glared at him as he yawned loudly and carelessly, as if exhausted.

Sensing her gaze, Dojin turned his eyes towards Charlotte.

“Holy Knight.”

“…What is it?”

“Why is the Saintess summoning me?”

Even though he had a rough idea of the reason, he asked again to avoid arousing Charlotte’s suspicion.

Hearing his question, Charlotte pondered over what to say, fearing that a lengthy explanation might reveal her identity.

So she dismissed it with a single sentence.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, I see…”

With those words, Dojin couldn’t utter a single word until they arrived. Every time he tried to speak, Charlotte would glare at him with eyes so fierce that they were noticeable even through her helmet.

Creak.

“We have arrived.”

The carriage arrived at the mansion, and the coachman slowly opened the door. Stepping out of the carriage, Dojin realized the existence of such a mansion in this city and let out an exclamation.

‘Is this a palace?’

The mansion he lived in was not small, but compared to this place, it was nothing more than an ordinary house.

Charlotte passed by the dazed Dojin and entered inside. Coming to his senses late, he hurriedly followed her.

Inside the mansion, there were only female attendants, and perhaps because of that, whenever they met his eyes, they blushed and smiled coyly.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Charlotte stopped Dojin in front of the reception room and went inside first to report to the Saintess.

“Saintess, he has arrived.”

“Really? Then… could you bring him in?”

“…Please be careful. The other party is a man.”

“I know. Don’t worry.”

A moment later, Charlotte brought in Dojin, who was waiting with a dumbfounded expression at the door.

He let out a hollow laugh upon seeing the Saintess waiting inside the room.

‘No, what is that at home…?’

The Saintess was wrapped up tightly, just as when he had seen her at the previous festival. Even women in Islamic countries on Earth wouldn’t cover themselves this much.

She wore a veil that covered her face and donned a nun’s habit that enveloped her entire body, with her limbs covered by stockings and gloves.

However, the unusual point was that despite covering her entire body with no exposed areas, she looked incredibly provocative.

“…”

The Saintess watched Dojin, who was looking her over, for a moment before whispering to Charlotte. Charlotte then conveyed what she heard from the Saintess.

“The Saintess says she welcomes you.”

“…Pardon?”

However, for someone hearing this for the first time, her way of speaking was utterly perplexing.

There was a person right in front of him, yet she wasn’t exactly ignoring him. It was said that the old nobles or royalty of Earth used to speak like this. Could it be that such a way of speaking existed in this world, too?

“Um, why do you speak like that?”

Dojin couldn’t contain his curiosity. Knowing from the information he got from Charlotte in advance that the Saintess wasn’t particularly hostile towards him, he felt there was nothing to hold back.

Then, the Saintess, with an expression of interest that could be discerned even through her veil, gently tapped Charlotte again.

“…The Saintess has been blessed by the gods.”

“What’s the big deal with being blessed…?”

“Thanks to that, she receives attention as precious as the gods themselves. In return, the Saintess has the duty to maintain her purity in mind, spirit, and body.”

“…Purity in mind, spirit, and body?”

“Yes, the Saintess’s beauty, voice, touch, all of it. They are not permitted to any man other than the gods.”

Upon hearing this, Dojin felt slightly incredulous and looked at the Saintess. Any man who sees her bare skin would go blind, those who hear her voice would become deaf, and those who touch her skin would lose their lives.

Is she not the ultimate weapon capable of annihilating all of humanity, restricted only to men?

Men could neither see, touch, nor hear her.

“Why would a holy lady like you call upon a man like me?”

However, rather than being startled by her abilities, Dojin asked why she had summoned him.

He knew she had received some kind of oracle, but he had no idea what it was about or what she expected from him. He was clueless about such matters.

The Saintess hesitated for a moment, then whispered into Charlotte’s ear. After hearing the Saintess’s words, Charlotte slowly opened her mouth.

“The Saintess said she doesn’t particularly desire anything.”

“…What? Then why did you help me?”

“It was something that naturally had to be done. We can’t just keep a hero who eradicated a dark mage and a criminal organization locked up forever.”

“Something feels off.”

The Saintess smiled broadly at Dojin. Though she said so, it wasn’t that she didn’t want anything from him.

On the contrary, she wanted a lot. If possible, she wished he could completely remove this dreadful curse.

Of course, that was impossible…

Meanwhile, Dojin was looking at his skill window while watching the Saintess.

‘This might work…’

A curse that renders every man who touches her crippled?

He could solve it by doing it.

He had such an ability.

However, the flaw was that he couldn’t just ask the Saintess to let him do it outright.