“Are you certain the person you saw was Lady Selina, the Silver Sword Princess?”
The Holy Knight asked the boy standing before him.
“That’s right! It was definitely Lady Selina!”
The boy was so excited he looked like he might jump up at any moment as he recounted his experience to the Holy Land’s clergy.
Despite the scrapes and bruises still marking his body, they did nothing to dampen his exhilarated mood.
“Those demonized ones were controlling terrifying monsters and attacking everyone! My mom and I were nearly killed. But right then, a sword came falling from the sky and drove the monsters back!”
“A silver sword?”
“Uh-huh!”
The boy nodded vigorously, his eyes shining with pure adoration.
“Then we saw a swordswoman wearing silver armor. She looked exactly like the one I learned about in class—it was Lady Selina’s Divine Might Armament! She was incredible, controlling five swords to protect everyone and slaying all those evil demonized people! Her swordsmanship was so cool, a million times cooler than what the teacher described!”
The Holy Knight jotted down notes. After comparing them with the accounts from other witnesses, he glanced at his companion. The testimonies were essentially identical. It was confirmed. After the disaster in Kado City, Lady Silver Sword Princess had appeared and resolved the situation.
“How incredible. Could Lady Sword Princess’s heroic soul have manifested?”
Another Holy Knight turned toward the silent red-haired girl.
“Miss Sophie, what do you think about this matter?”
“Well… As long as everyone is safe, that’s what matters,” Sophie replied absentmindedly.
“What’s wrong with Miss Sophie?”
“Don’t disturb her. Miss Via is still missing, so she must be really worried.”
“That’s true.”
The Holy Knights stopped pressing her further.
Although many in the Holy Land looked down on Via for her lack of talent, everyone knew how close Sophie and Via were.
Up until now, Via remained missing. She might have encountered danger.
The Holy Land’s clergy were still intensifying their search efforts.
“Sophie, have you rested enough?”
A man dressed in archbishop’s robes walked up to Sophie, his face showing clear displeasure as he looked at her seated form.
It was Belon. The surrounding clergy all bowed respectfully to him.
“Archbishop?” Sophie lifted her head.
“Come with me.”
“Yes.”
Sophie stood up and followed Belon out of the temporary camp.
Belon had arrived with the Holy Land’s reinforcement team. From what she had heard others say, he was furious. “Something like this happened in Kado City? During the Saint Prayer Day, demonized ones actually launched an attack and ruined an important ceremony!! Damn it. Why did it have to happen in Kado City, the one you and Via were responsible for? The entire city fell, causing massive casualties. How useless is that Yuwen? Now the Empire and the common people’s opinion of us will drop even further!!”
Sophie had no desire to comment much on Belon’s complaints.
“The Demon King supposedly descending into our human world, and the Silver Sword Princess becoming active once more… This is ridiculous. It’s like something out of a poorly written novel.”
Belon continued grumbling nonstop.
The areas handled by the other saintess candidates had all gone smoothly during the Saint Prayer Day.
Even Nana, who had the lowest expectations, hadn’t caused any trouble.
Yet the most reliable location, Kado City, had suffered such a major incident.
The success of the Saint Prayer Day was supposed to win over a large number of new believers in the human world and further increase the Holy Land’s influence. Now it had completely backfired.
The Holy Land’s archbishop stopped walking. “This is the place.”
He had brought Sophie to a room that had undergone temporary modifications. A magic array had been set up, and at its center was a blue artifact bearing the Holy Land’s emblem.
This was an extremely rare communication device capable of ultra-long-distance transmission across space.
“His Holiness the Pope wishes to speak with you.”
“Yes. He wants to hear about the Kado City situation directly from you. Choose your words carefully. You don’t need to mention anything too terrible. Only speak of what is necessary. Also, place as much blame as possible on the demonized ones and hint that they may have colluded with some imperial nobles. Understood?” Belon instructed.
“Understood.”
“I’ll take my leave first.”
Belon departed.
Sophie stepped forward and stood before the artifact.
The magic array sensed her presence and lit up, gathering mana to power the device and initiate the communication.
“Sophie.”
Pope Altes’s voice rang out as he communicated with her through the super long-distance device.
“Is that you?”
“Your Holiness, I am here.” Sophie bowed toward the direction of the voice.
“Your voice sounds very downcast. Are you doing alright?”
“Thank you for your concern, Your Holiness. I don’t have any major issues right now. I’m just very tired.”
“I have received a general report from the Holy Knights about what happened in Kado City. A group called Abyssal Eye, consisting of demonized individuals, attacked the city, disrupted the Saint Prayer Day, and plunged the citizens into disaster.”
Altes paused briefly. “And when everyone was on the verge of despair, it was the Silver Sword Princess clad in her Divine Might Armament who stepped in and defeated the demonized ones. Correct?”
“That was…”
“It was you, wasn’t it, Sophie? You used the Divine Might Armament.”
“Yes.”
Sophie admitted it.
Currently in the Holy Land, only Altes should know her true identity.
Even the fact that she could take the Divine Might Armament with her had been permitted by the Pope.
“I thought that in this life, you would choose to lay down that burden and peacefully inherit your mother’s duties as a saintess. So, what prompted you to activate the Divine Might Armament?”
Even though Altes clearly knew the reason, he continued to question Sophie, insisting that she say the answer out loud herself. It was almost like forcing someone to cut out their own heart and display it.
“It was… Ville…”
When Sophie spoke this name, the fatigue weighing on her body seemed to grow even heavier.
*How could it not have been his true self?*
The arch-enemy she was supposed to slay with her own hands had reincarnated alongside her, only to become her closest family instead.
“I once swore that my mission was to defeat Demon King Ville. No matter the cost, I must remove him from this world and send him to hell.”
“So, during the Kado City incident, did you carry out that mission?”