Free Web NovelIan managed to leap in front of Keith and stop him just in time.
Keith had been about to cut Louise down in a single strike, but when someone intervened, his sword stopped.
Stopping a blade already in motion was no easy feat.
Keith was both startled and furious. ƒreewebɳovel.com
“What are you doing!”
That was exactly what Ian wanted to ask.
“Were you about to attack my party member?”
“That man is not your party member. He hid his face with cloth, and you were deceived. Did you not see it? That cursed black hair. Those cursed black eyes.”
Keith did not sheathe his sword. Instead, he tried to persuade Ian.
Ian realized the zealot had entered fanatic mode.
Ah, this bastard...
“I have black hair and black eyes too,” Ian said reflexively, trying to defend himself.
“The traitor clan has ashen skin. It is the proof of their betrayal. Do you truly not know that? Remove that cloth. You are being deceived. I will show you. Now step aside.” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
“What are you going to do?”
“I will cut him down and show you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ian’s voice began to recover its edge.
He was supposed to lose a precious four-star character to this lunatic? Did Keith have any idea how hard Ian had worked to get him?
Besides, by any rational standard, Keith was not a character Ian could recruit. Wasn’t he affiliated with the Papacy?
“Lord Ian, I...”
Louise’s voice trembled.
“Shut up. Don’t move an inch from behind me.”
Ian spread his arms, blocking Louise from view.
Keith understood his intent.
The politeness in his voice vanished.
The holy knight, beloved by the divine, spoke coldly.
“Do you truly intend to protect the traitor clan?”
“Yes.”
“Then you too are an apostate.”
The tip of Keith’s sword touched Ian’s chin.
The five-star hero, Holy Knight Keith, glared at Ian with open hostility.
Ian’s temper flared.
He knew why Keith had shown him favor at first.
It must have been because of <Purification>.
Ian had used a special ability normally reserved for high-ranking priests. Keith must have judged him to be a priest because of it.
Keith’s title was Divine Representative.
He was a fervent apostle. To him, those who served the divine were brothers. He was an absolute protector of believers who followed the divine and sought salvation through it.
And he was just as hostile toward those he judged to stand on the opposite side.
Now Keith had judged Ian to be an apostate.
Even if Ian stepped aside and let him kill Louise, Keith would still hunt Ian down.
Am I seriously going to die here because of this bastard?
Keith had almost gotten him killed by triggering the event, and now Keith himself was going to finish the job?
The thought made Ian’s anger impossible to suppress.
Everything had been absolute garbage from the moment he arrived here, but dying like this?
This kind of garbage death?
“Kill them, then! Kill everyone who gets in your way, monsters or people, kill all three hundred people under my protection, and survive alone! You damn bastard—is that what your god wants?!”
“...Three hundred?”
I knew he’d react to that.
Ian bit his lip.
Keith valued human life.
And yet there’s probably no character who’s killed more people than this guy.
But Keith was still considered a “good” character because, by his standards, the people he killed deserved to die.
Keith’s mission was to save the world and turn it into the “world of the divine.”
In other words, a kind of heaven.
And for that, humans who would praise the divine in that heaven were necessary. That was why priests, who followed the will of the divine most closely, received special treatment from him.
Even with <Purification>, he’ll hesitate if it means killing three hundred people.
In this ruined world, there were not many humans left alive.
Even if most of those three hundred belong to the traitor clan.
Then, without warning, a large hand shot out and closed around Ian’s throat.
The armored grip was cold as metal.
Ah, shit.
The grip tightened so hard Ian could not breathe.
For a moment, he thought he was really going to die.
His mind went blank.
His pulse hammered wildly. Ian struggled on instinct, desperate to survive.
A faint voice reached his ears.
“Lord Ian!”
“Move!”
Keith caught the arrow flying toward him with his other hand and snapped it.
Even in this situation, Ian found that annoyingly impressive.
Crazy bastard...
“...It was not a lie.”
After staring at Ian for a moment, Keith threw him to the ground.
“Keuk—cough! Cough!”
Ian writhed, coughing violently.
What the hell did that bastard just do?
It felt like Keith had checked something.
His pulse, maybe.
...A human lie detector?
Ian was dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, he kept coughing, the taste of blood rising in his throat. If he was unlucky, this might end with him vomiting blood again.
Keith looked down at him with cold eyes.
“Leave.”
A brief silence followed.
“And never let me see you again. I do not know whether sparing you is right. If we meet again, I may kill you.”
He even gave Ian a kind warning.
Thanks, you bastard.
Ian ended up vomiting blood.
“Cough!”
“Lord Ian!”
“...?”
Only then did Ian realize that his HP had been draining while Keith held him by the neck.
That meant Keith’s action had been judged as an attack.
This madman had genuinely been considering whether to kill him.
“You...!”
“Stop. We’re leaving.”
Ian stopped Louise from drawing his bow and ordered a retreat.
Keith watched until their figures vanished behind a pillar.
Ian thought Keith might suddenly change his mind and attack after all, but it never happened.
Only after they had walked deep into the forest did Ian finally let out a sigh.
I survived...
“Ha...”
Crazy bastard.
It seemed he would have to give up on recruiting Keith.
Louise was the one who stepped forward to bandage Ian’s neck. He had experience treating wounds from hunting dangerous creatures near the village.
He treated Ian in silence, his mouth pressed tightly shut.
If he opened it, he looked as though he might cry.
But when Ian’s collar shifted aside and revealed the dark bruise around his throat, Louise could no longer hold back.
“If it weren’t for me...”
“Keith is a zealot. If it weren’t for you, he might have attacked us for entering a heretic temple.”
“...”
Louise fell silent.
Ian warned him.
It would be troublesome if Louise started harboring unnecessary hostility. He had the sort of nature that made him attack anyone he decided to take revenge on.
“We really can’t let that bastard see us again. He’ll kill us without hesitation. Next time, he truly won’t spare us.”
“Ah...”
Suddenly, Louise burst into tears.
Ian was startled to see him acting like a boy his age.
Wh-what is this?
“I will swear eternal loyalty to you! You may kill me at any time, Lord Ian! No, please kill me! Use me however you wish! I will do anything for you!”
“No, I’m not going to kill you...”
What is this all of a sudden?
Ian was dumbfounded.
Then the system window chimed.
Ding!
[‘Poison Hunter’ Louise’s loyalty has reached its maximum.]
[Loyalty: 100%]
Ah. I see...
Ian did not understand the situation, but it did not matter.
A loyalty value of 100% meant that even if he ordered Louise to walk to his death, Louise would answer, “Understood,” without hesitation.
I’ve completely secured the four-star character.
The boy seemed to have been shocked by Ian’s injury, but...
The price of getting strangled had not been too bad.
Looking in the mirror, Ian had to admit the wound was enough to make him sigh, but would a pretty face keep him fed in this game?
Ian grunted through the treatment.
But Keith... can I really not get him?
Probably not.
Ian felt regretful.
Keith watched the group of apostate priests disappear into the forest.
Apostate priest.
If any phrase described the black-haired, black-eyed man with that innocent-looking face, it was that.
Keith had come here under the Pope’s orders to cleanse the heretic temple.
He had been somewhat surprised when the skeleton army surrounded him, but they were no match for him.
The problem lay elsewhere.
There had been others in this area besides Keith.
How?
This place lay deep in the forest, where there was not even a proper path. It was difficult to imagine anyone stumbling upon it by coincidence.
And yet they had arrived precisely at the heretic temple.
But they were human.
Keith had not thought long before rescuing them.
Above all, he had seen the arrow shot by the black-haired man among them. It had flown toward Keith, scattering the sacred energy of <Purification>.
The ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) man was blessed by the divine.
He is a high priest.
Keith had to save him.
But among the man’s companions, there had been a member of the traitor clan.
That cursed race.
