## Chapter 213 – 213. Saint (2)
# 213. Saint (2)
There are three clerics who represent the Vatican.
The Pope, the agent of God.
The Saint and the Saintess, chosen by God.
Among them, the Saint has the authority to command all Holy Knights. In Korean terms, it’s like the Minister of National Defense.
Looking at power alone, the Saint is among the top three in the Vatican.
Moreover, they receive the respect of over a billion believers, so their social status would be among the top five in the world.
The Saint was replaced a few years ago.
Elin Theresa.
A monumental figure who was born with tremendous divine power and rose to the position of Saint despite being from a slum.
Why is someone like that here?
‘I don’t remember seeing any articles about her visiting Korea.’
I pretended to sip my tea and subtly scanned the Saint.
I couldn’t see her face because of the pure white veil, but the atmosphere I felt was definitely unusual.
Should I say that I felt reverent without realizing it?
‘Well, if word got out that the Saint was coming, it wouldn’t have been this quiet.’
At least hundreds, no, thousands of people would have flocked around the church.
Naturally, she would be treated as a state guest and would have to meet people she didn’t want to meet.
Thinking about it that way, I thought that even if I were the Saint, I would have entered the country secretly.
‘I should pretend I don’t know for now.’
More than that, I was more surprised that the Saint was a woman, not a man.
It didn’t make sense in terms of common sense.
The Saint is a title that only men can have. All the previous Saints were men.
This was a legally defined matter, so even the Pope couldn’t change it arbitrarily.
‘Not my business, though.’
I decided to bury this matter in my heart.
Threatening her with this to get something out of her would be foolish, considering the other party is one of the most powerful figures in the world’s strongest religious group.
I’d be lucky if I didn’t get stabbed in my sleep after a clumsy threat.
“So, the demon worshiper you met at the gate was manipulating fraud and commanding hundreds of undead?”
“Yes, at first I thought it was just a normal fraud, but it contained a curse. My hands and feet were gradually going numb, and it seemed to be a paralysis-type curse.”
Naturally, my attention turned to the middle-aged man sitting next to me.
Natural condescension and a composed demeanor.
Being dispatched from the Vatican with the Saint meant he was definitely not an ordinary person.
On the surface, he seemed like a Holy Knight who came along as the Saint’s escort.
But the thought that that wasn’t the end of it kept lingering in my mind.
He’s clearly full of loopholes, but my instincts warn me that I’ll be defeated the moment I rush in.
“The undead weren’t very strong overall. Most were D-rank, and occasionally there were some C-ranks mixed in.”
Instead, there were a lot of them.
Even if there were two A-rank hunters in that place instead of me, running away would have been the best option.
The true value of a mage shines in a battle of attrition like a battlefield.
“The party leader’s statement said that the demon worshiper even commanded Knight Helm and Chorus King, is this true?”
“Yes, fortunately, the undead disappeared naturally when I defeated the conjurer.”
The night before, I contacted the party leader, Kim Yu-joon, and roughly coordinated our stories.
As long as I don’t get caught in any strange leading questions, there won’t be anything to hold against me.
“How did you know the demon’s identity? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been baptized.”
“…?”
What?
Is he giving me grief for not being baptized right now?
“…He told me voluntarily.”
My head was heating up, but I decided to hold back for now.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a cleric being rude on the first meeting because I was an atheist.
“It’s also strange that a mere 2-circle mage survived against so many undead, what’s your magic power level?”
But I couldn’t stand being ignored twice, not even once.
If I put up with this, I’m just a pushover.
“Well, I don’t remember things like that.”
“What?”
The man seemed momentarily stunned by my sarcastic tone, but soon his expression twisted fiercely.
Whether he did or not was none of my business.
‘If you’re unhappy, hit me.’
I have no intention of respecting a guy who not only spoke informally to me on our first meeting, but also discriminated against and ignored people for such trivial reasons.
Aftermath?
It’s true that the church’s power is strong, but that’s only true in the West.
It’s not like there’s only one religion in the world.
Even in China alone, there isn’t a single church in that vast land. Japan is also one of the countries where the church’s influence is weak.
Rather, it was strange that I, the prospective son-in-law of the Seongbuk Choi family, was being treated like this and staying still.
“I clearly heard that I was called in for a hearing, but why do I keep feeling like I’m being interrogated as a suspect?”
I raised my magic power.
They were the ones who showed their momentum first.
“That’s why non-believers…”
Now, as if he had no intention of hiding his hostility, he began to spout nonsense in English.
Seriously, a Holy Knight calling me a non-believer.
“Well, I think a non-believer is several times better than a fanatic?”
I also responded in English, raising the corners of my mouth.
Since getting the dating app, the language barrier has been as good as gone for me.
“How dare you…!”
As if the word “fanatic” was the trigger, a rough aura surged from the Holy Knight’s body.
I don’t want to admit it, but objectively, he was stronger than me.
At that level, you could consider him an S-rank hunter.
As expected, the Saint’s escort wasn’t something that just anyone could do.
But whether he was stronger than me or not didn’t matter.
Because the one who strikes first loses here anyway.
“For a cleric dispatched from the Vatican to say the word ‘non-believer’, it’s like a human rights protection organization employee being a racist.”
“…Perhaps because you’re a mage, you’ve lost your sense of fear.”
His voice was more gentle than before, but my skin was tingling with a rough murderous intent.
If I did well, I might really get hit.
Of course, in exchange for throwing a punch, I’d receive about two mid-to-high-level artifacts that the Vatican was storing.
By the way, it’s okay even if I don’t receive them.
Instead, the Vatican will burn in my hands someday.
Of course, even if I received compensation, my intention to punch that rude Holy Knight in the face someday wouldn’t change.
In the midst of the tense atmosphere, I was waiting for the timing to use the barrier when.
“Sir Felix.”
A soft voice pierced my ears.
It was the voice of the Saint, who had been silent until now.
“I apologize.”
The Holy Knight immediately bowed his head to the Saint.
I was speechless at the surprisingly quick change of attitude.
To think that someone like that could become a Holy Knight, if I had known this would happen, I would have become a Holy Knight too.
If I had, I would have become a Paladin a long time ago and lived a life of luxury.
The Saint, who was looking at the Holy Knight, suddenly bowed her head to me.
“I apologize on behalf of Sir Felix’s rudeness.”
The veil slipped down, and our eyes met for a moment.
As I saw in the news, the cross engraved in her golden eyes was sparkling.
“It’s about a demon-related matter, so Sir Felix must have been impatient. Please be generous and let it go.”
Well, the Holy Knight next to her still doesn’t seem to know what he did wrong.
Rather, it seemed like he was just building up anger towards me for making the Saint bow her head.
“Yes, well… I understand.”
“Thank you.”
It’s a little disappointing, but someday I might have a chance to build a good relationship with the Saint.
Thinking about that time, it would be better to just let it go.
“Sir Felix, could you leave us for a moment?”
Even with the sudden expulsion order, the Holy Knight got up without saying a word.
You could say that he follows orders well, but in my eyes, he just looked like a typical weak-to-the-strong, strong-to-the-weak kind of guy.
Soon after, only the Saint and I were left in the reception room.
“I apologize again. He’s a bit rough around the edges, but he’s not someone who doesn’t know loyalty.”
“He seems like it.”
He was so rude to me, but he was a guy who was always polite to the Saint.
As I glanced at the door the Holy Knight had left through, I thought I heard a small laugh from somewhere.
After that, the Saint asked me this and that. Most of the questions were formal, so I answered them appropriately.
By the way, her tone seems to have become a lot softer, is it just my imagination?
“Mr. Hyun-woo, do you know that it was 23 years ago that demons officially descended to Earth?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. It was definitely in Moscow, wasn’t it?”
23 years ago, demon worshipers attempted a demon summoning ritual near Moscow.
The demon, who descended at the cost of thousands of lives, massacred the residents of nearby villages and headed towards Moscow.
Numerous hunters and clerics gathered to build a defensive line, but they were no match for the demon.
The blood of the victims dyed the pure white snowfields red, and the demon reached Moscow.
Contrary to everyone’s fears that a massacre would begin.
“Valentina Sasha Danilova.”
The demon was defeated by a certain mage.
She, the master of the White Magic Tower, was a great Russian mage who had achieved a higher level than Hanrahel.
“The main body didn’t descend, but it’s the first time in 23 years, so the Vatican will announce this incident on a large scale.”
“I’d rather not become famous.”
Even now, I’m disguised as a 2-circle mage, so I’d rather not receive any more attention here.
“I’ll keep that part a complete secret, so you don’t have to worry.”
The Saint’s promise was more reliable than most contracts.
There’s also a saying that the higher the cleric, the less likely they are to lie.
I don’t know if that’s just a rumor or not.
“You don’t mean I have to go to the Vatican in person to receive compensation, do you?”
“If you wish, we can arrange an awards ceremony in the Vatican.”
“I strongly decline.”
I heard a small laugh from beyond the veil.
“There are many restrictions that follow in order for a demon to descend to Earth. Demons who are serious about their safety are reluctant to bear the risks.”
I also saw that story in the books I borrowed from the research society.
If there were no restrictions, the Earth would have been devastated by the demons long ago, and the restrictions are God’s grace, so humans should always praise him?
It was a very blatant religious book.
“That’s why demon worshipers try to perform summoning rituals through human sacrifice. Of course, they are frequently stopped by the church’s knights.”
With a small laugh coming after every word, the Saint sipped her tea.
The sight was so peaceful that I unknowingly let my guard down.
‘…This is the Saint.’
The atmosphere I felt on the outside was completely different from ordinary people.
It wasn’t for nothing that the modifier “chosen by God” was attached to her.
“Mr. Hyun-woo, you noticed that Sir Felix and I aren’t just ordinary clerics, right?”
I nodded quietly.
Isn’t it stranger not to know in the first place?
Besides, one of them was wearing a suspicious veil, and the other was too strong to be called an ordinary Holy Knight.
“Aren’t you curious about my identity?”
I already know.
“Well, mages live longer if they kill their curiosity.”
But I couldn’t say that as it was, so I made up an excuse.
The veil showed a faint smile, as if she liked my answer.
“…Actually, the reason I dismissed Sir Felix for a moment was because there was something I had to ask Mr. Hyun-woo.”
Flutter.
At that moment, the Saint threw off her veil and stared at me with a golden, shining cross.
I was momentarily flustered by the sudden situation, but I couldn’t say anything.
An unknown pressure that crushed my whole body made it hard to breathe.
An irresistible, holy radiance was covering me.
“Mr. Hyun-woo, are you a demon worshiper?”
What was in this place was neither a Saint nor a Saintess, but divinity.
