“Miss Via, please step out of the carriage. We will arrange a special escort to take you to the teleportation point and return you to the Holy Land as quickly as possible.”
The Holy Knight was already growing impatient as Via remained seated inside the carriage, showing no intention of moving.
He couldn’t understand it — the Saintess Candidate who had disappeared in Kado City had somehow ended up in a place like this.
Regardless, the Holy Land had issued a direct order: if Via was found, she must be brought back immediately.
He stepped forward, intending to force the carriage door open — even if he had to drag her out himself.
“If you continue to act so stubbornly, we will be forced to take action.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
The Little Yellow Cat leapt onto the carriage window the moment it sensed hostility. It puffed up, let out three sharp hisses in a row, and swatted its tiny white paws at the clerics outside, as if declaring: Don’t touch Via.
“Miss Via, where did this wild cat come from?!”
The Holy Knight’s anger surged at being provoked by such an insignificant creature. He barely restrained himself from smashing it with his weapon and instead demanded an answer.
“This isn’t a wild cat. It’s my pet.”
Via calmly swept her gaze across the surroundings. She pulled Little Ha back into her arms and gently stroked its fur.
Aside from the guards at the gate, there were five Holy Knights remaining. None of them were particularly strong — all were only Silver rank. As for the guards, they were even weaker, mere ordinary humans.
She silently gathered mana, preparing to cast a spell. For her current self, these people posed no real threat.
“Miss Via, we do not wish to use force. Please cooperate!” the Holy Knight issued his final warning.
“I understand. I’ll get off the carriage and cooperate,” Via said. “But could you step back a little? You’re scaring my cat. It’s very frightened right now.”
“…Fine.”
The Holy Knight exchanged glances with the others before stepping back slightly.
Everyone present knew what Via’s supposed strength was — a useless girl without even a trace of holy power. She couldn’t possibly cause any trouble.
Even so, they surrounded the carriage.
Via quietly infused mana into a crystal sphere, setting it to activate after a delay — five seconds.
The pink-haired girl then took out a staff.
She leaned halfway out of the carriage door and pointed the staff forward. Both the Holy Knights and the guards showed expressions of confusion.
But Via ignored them.
She began chanting at incredible speed. Mana surged around her body, gathering at the tip of the staff.
“Four.”
“Miss Via, what are you doing?!” the Holy Knight demanded.
The chant completed.
A smile appeared on Via’s face.
“You’re all… in the way.”
With her cheerful voice, the mana condensed at the staff’s tip exploded instantly, transforming into violent currents of wind.
The guards were forced backward, while the nearby Holy Knights were slammed against the walls.
The barricades at the city gate were shredded into pieces by the wind magic, swept away in the raging gale.
At the same time, the delayed mana in the crystal sphere activated, stimulating the horses with demonic bloodlines.
With a long neigh, and propelled by the rushing wind, the carriage shot forward — as if riding the wind itself.
Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, the carriage practically flew out of the city gate.
“Meow!”
Little Ha cried excitedly, its body nearly thrown into the air. Via quickly grabbed it, pulling it into her arms before waving behind her.
“Bye~”
Holding a bouquet of white carnations, Sophie Shirleyford stepped into a field of grass.
It had just rained, and the air was heavy with moisture. Mist lingered over the ground, and each step she took sank softly into the earth beneath her feet.
This was the Land of Eternal Rest within the Holy Land — the burial ground for clerics who had made outstanding contributions throughout its history.
“Mother.”
Following her memories through winding paths, Sophie finally stopped before a gravestone.
Her mother, Sylvia Shirleyford, rested here.
Looking at the gravestone, a wave of sorrow welled up inside her.
Though her childhood memories were somewhat blurred, she still remembered that day clearly.
Her mother had taken her and her younger sister out of the city for a picnic in the countryside.
But along the way, the knights assigned as their guards suddenly vanished without a trace.
Then, nine suspicious figures appeared — clearly lying in ambush beforehand — and launched an attack.
In the end, during that incident, her mother died protecting her and her sister.
With her final strength, she left behind a last wish: that Sophie must protect her younger sister.
Afterward, the Holy Land and the Empire joined forces to capture the attackers for interrogation.
Yet strangely, before the interrogation could even begin, all of them died in prison.
As she grew older, Sophie had always wanted to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death.
However, the incident was classified as a top-level secret. Due to her current status, she had no authority to access it.
The Pope had promised that if she became the next Saintess, she would gain the right to learn these secrets.
Thus, beyond following in her mother’s footsteps, uncovering the truth had become one of her greatest motivations to become a Saintess.
But…
“Mother, I… am lost.”
Sophie placed the white carnations before the grave.
She crouched down, clutching her head, her expression filled with pain.
Her mother had told her to protect her younger sister.
Yet that very sister was her sworn enemy from a previous life — and also humanity’s greatest foe: the Ville.
As a human, and as a cleric of the Holy Land, she should stand against Ville.
Only as an older sister was she meant to protect her.
These two beliefs clashed violently within her, leaving her completely at a loss.
Which one was right… and which one was wrong?
“Mother, Via’s previous life was the Demon King Ville — my enemy, the one who brought disaster to the human world. In this life, she has regained her memories and intends to walk the path of the Demon King once more.
What she’s doing… is something humanity cannot tolerate — she has willingly embraced the abyss and become a demonized being.
I… what am I supposed to do?”