CH 24

Evan Alemia.

Evan, a Crossbridge Inquisition officer and the eldest son of the Alemia family, was on his way back to Crossbridge after a short leave of absence.

The information Evan had gained through this leave was of a content that would have a serious impact on the Holy Land.

The cult of the Evil Gods.

And the emergence of a hero.

Either way, there was no doubt that the more time passed, the more trouble it would cause.

Evan therefore chose to return to the Holy Land as soon as possible, even if he was exhausted.

He started moving on, a shortcut he had heard about through his brother, Haas.

“It’s quite a hard road”

Evan, who had been urging the horse he was riding, spoke as he looked around.

The shortcut Haas spoke of was on the steeper side of the terrain than the road they usually took.

It wasn’t enough to cause any problems if you rode with care, but it was an area where it was understandable why people didn’t pass through much.

If Evan had only had more time to spare, he would not have chosen this kind of route.

It has been several hours in a cloud of dust.

Evan, who was determined that he would have to change his horse once he reached the border, found other people on the road, around noon.

“…are there people?”

He could see some figures on the shabby carriage.

Due to the fact that there was still quite a bit of distance left, he could only barely make out the shapes of people.

However, it he continued to ride at this speed, there would be an accident.

Evan gripped the reins and started to slow down when he saw the wagons in the distance.

As Evan slowed the running horse, the eyes of the people in the carriage turned to Evan.

Two men. And one woman.

That was all Evan could see of the group.

“There are people coming from the other side.”

One of the men who had been watching Evan come from the distance, spoke.

The young man in Evan’s eyes was an innocent-looking figure.

Seeing him sitting in the coachman’s seat and holding the reins, it was clear that he was a young horseman, or smh.

After moving his horse, which had somehow become visibly slower, Evan stopped his horse as he approached the carriage.

Evan brought his horse to a complete halt.

Although his brother Haas lived here, Evan was only an outsider from the Holy Land.

Evan dismounted from the horse he was riding and slowly approached the carriage to ask them for directions.

“I’d like to ask you a quick directions if you don’t mind.”

Speaking as he started to approach the carriage, Evan brushed off the dust from his body.

The long ride on the horse had left Evan’s clothes with a lot of dust on them.

As Evan approached, brushing off the dust, one of the men facing him showed signs of wariness.

The robed man looked much older than the young man who was in charge of the horse.

As Evan’s gaze turned to the man who was looking at him, the man who met his gaze opened his mouth to Evan.

“If you are looking for a road, where are you going?”

“I’m on my way to the Holy Land.”

“Holy Land… are you a Holy Knight by any chance?”

There was no trace of the symbolic temple element present in the clothes Evan was now wearing.

Nevertheless, the man facing Evan asked him if he was a Holy Knight and looked alarmed.

An ordinary person would have no reason to be wary of a passer-by on his way to a holy city.

He clearly looked suspicious.

Evan, raised his divine power and sensed an unpleasant aura hovering over him.

There is only one kind of energy that is repulsive to sacred power.

The magical power of the Dark Elements.

It was the power of inhumanity that the Warlocks had built up through their offerings.

“What would you do if I am a holy knight?”

The Warlock and their party were wary of the holy knight.

It was a suspicious combination by every account.

As Inquisitor of the Holy Land, Evan’s role is to deal with those who served heretics and corrupt wizards.

Sensing that the situation was abnormal, Evan naturally reached his hand on the scabbard.

Originally, he intended to simply ask for directions and proceed through.

But he had learned too much to just ask for directions.

“What am going to do? I was simply curious.”

“I see. You’re curious”

“I’m that type by nature.”

The Warlock’s neck moved as he stood facing Evan in the stiffened atmosphere.

– Gulp.

The Warlock, who swallowed his spit, shrugged his hand.

In Evan’s eyes, this Warlock did not appear to have such outstanding achievements.

At best, he was of a caliber that could be handled at the level of a third-level Imperial agent.

If he were to take up the matter in person, it wouldn’t take him long to sort it out.

Having made his decision, Evan took a further step towards the Warlock.

“You’re right, the Warlock certainly are curious one, aren’t they?”

“Just what the….”

“Because you don’t mess with forbidden magic unless you’re very curious.”

–Sling-!.

The sword was pulled out of Evan’s sword holder with a friction sound.

He pulled the sword out with a gesture as natural as water flowing, and immediately swung it at the Warlock in front of him.

It was a swift strike that ordinary wizards could not even cope with.

But a hand shrouded in darkness prevented Evan’s sword from being swung.

As the sword swung at the Warlock blocked, Evan looked at him with a frown.

Extending from the dark shadows, a hand blocked Evan’s sword.

“That was close, Roan.”

The shadow that blocked Evan’s sword extended from the feet of the girl who was positioned behind the Warlock.

Beyond the shadow blocking the sword.

A gray-haired girl sitting in a carriage was looking down at them.

The girl was holding a large book and smiling genuinely.

As the girl moved her shadow and blocked the sword, the Warlock at her side breathed a sigh of relief and replied.

“Phew… thank you. If it wasn’t for the Master Apostle, I would have died for sure.”

“Please be careful. He seems to be a scary person.”

“It seems so. I didn’t expect him to suddenly swing a sword at me.”

Warlock and an apostle.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, Evan took a few steps back and stood alert.

The magic he had just encountered was very unusual, even for Evan.

It was the first high-level magic he had ever faced in his life.

It was different, in essence, from the Warlock in front of him.

While the girl was moving shadows, Evan could sense enormous magical power around her.

Magic like an endless tsunami.

It’s obvious that she was a high-ranking wizard who was impossible for ordinary people to hope to counter.

“What in the world is your true identity,?”

“Are you curious who I am?”

“Yes, I am. Reveal your true identity.”

“If you want to ask someone else’s identity, isn’t it polite to introduce yourself first?”

Tap-Tap-Tap.

The girl said, tapping her book with her finger.

Every time the girl’s thin fingers touched the book, a powerful magic wave spread from her book.

Unlike her youthful-looking face, she had a tremendous level of magical power.

Even so, Evan quickly weighed up in his mind, the girl who seemed to reveal her true identity if he would just go along with her for a little while.

The opponent in front of him was a force to be reckoned with, a threat to the Holy Land.

At best, it would be a reasonably cheap deal if he could find out about the other party by her identity.

Having made his decision, Evan revealed his name to the girl.

“My name is Evan Alemia! I am a holy knight in the service of the God of Honour.”

“God of honour? It seems that your earlier actions were not honourable at all.”

“…There is no honour to be upheld for the wicked.”

At the sight of the girl sarcastically criticizing him, Evan desperately ignored her words.

They were not the words he had spoken out with the intention of making a proper statement.

In the midst of battle, life and death always come and go.

You can only fight with honor against an opponent who is qualified to honor you.

This was something that was in the temple doctrine.

The girl nodded as if she understood Evan’s answer, which seemed half brazen.

“Is that so? I heard you introduce yourself, so it’s polite for me to introduce myself as well.”

The girl sitting in the carriage, rose from her seat.

Hugging her book, she stepped down with light steps and turned to face Evan, who was staring at her from below.

Despite being at a height where she could have fallen, a shadow reached out and supported the girl.

Landing safely at ease on the ground, she looked at Evan with a faint smile.

Soon a relaxed girl’s voice resounded.

“My name is Euthenia High Lost. I am the first Apostle who worships the Great One.”

“Apostle… you mean the Apostle of the Evil God?”

“It is very disrespectful to call the Great One an evil god.”

Apart from the displeased Euthenia, Evan was in serious distress when he heard about her identity.

Apostle of the Evil God.

The existence of this being meant only one thing.

It meant that somehow the Evil God had become so influential that he had sent down an apostle to this world.

Evan looked at Euthenia with a nervous face and lifted his own sword.

If he could eliminate the apostle in front of him, No, he had to do it now.

A fight was inevitable from the start.

“I was only speaking the truth”

“How rude can you be?”

“A man-eating god is not worthy of respect. Those who turn a blind eye to even that obvious truth, we have decided to call them evil gods.”

He took up the sword to dispose of evil.

That was the path Evan-Alemia chose.

If he had planned to run away because he was afraid of being scowled at by the evil gods minions, he would never have taken on the job of a holy knight in the first place.

Evan’s eyes looked at Euthenia as he took his stance, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

“If you do something foolish, you will regret it?”

“If I had run away for fear of death, I would not have chosen to be a Holy Knight.”

Hearing Evan’s words, Euthenia let out a short sigh.

Her gray eyes, turned contemplative, lit up at the book she held in her hand.

A thick, unidentified book.

And Evan stood beyond it.

A powerful wave of magic overflowed from Euthenia’s body as she looked at them alternately.

“It’s fine. I didn’t intend to let you go from the beginning.”

Euthenia declared to Evan as she opened the book she was holding in her arms.

At the same time, countless hands began to reach out from behind Euthenia’s shadow.

An endless, impenetrable realm.

Numerous hands came all together and became a wave aiming at Evan.

The first apostle, Euthenia High Lost.

The apostle of the Evil God, endowed with divine authority, revealed her power against Evan.

Faced with Euthenia’s attack, Evan infused his sword in his grip with divine power and charged forward.