Honorary Secretary
On the walls, around the fallen men, skeletons were lying with their jaws clicking.
At that moment, the inquisitor came up the stairs to the castle wall.
The Inquisitor stared at the skeletons on the wall with his characteristically emotionless eyes.
‘Devil, cursed, blasphemous, judgment.’
When I looked at him, words I had heard for a long time came to mind one after another as if breathing.
Then the heretic inquisitor bent down, putting strength into his legs. Without thinking, he had already drawn his greatsword and was holding it in his hand.
Hard.
At that moment, the skeletons turned their heads and looked at the inquisitor.
The inquisitor dove into the skeletons without a moment’s hesitation.
The great sword, shrouded in brilliant light, was an inevitable judgment passed down to the dead.
‘···.’
The heretic inquisitor, who had destroyed all the skeletons and still had not lost his breath, looked up at the sky.
Knock knock knock.
Heavy rain continued to beat against the armor.
The Inquisitor found the raindrops crashing against his armor amusing.
At that moment, an unusually large raindrop struck her sharp nose. She spun around, following the scattered droplet.
As I was feeling regretful as I watched the water drop disappear into the puddle, something lying on the ground caught my eye.
He was the abbot of the monastery.
‘···!’
The inquisitor instinctively took a step back.
Only after I was hanging on the edge of the wall, almost on the verge of falling, did I realize that the abbot was unconscious.
The inquisitor approached him cautiously and stealthily.
I jumped on the crow’s feet just in case he would wake up.
Looking down at the abbot from above, the inquisitor fiddled with the handle of the mace at his waist for a long time.
The Inquisitor sighed and shook his head as the heavy raindrops fell on his head, crouching down. Then he stretched out his hand and blessed the abbot’s head.
Kwa-ang.
At that moment, I saw a blue light flashing in the distance.
And something ugly that appears as its opponent.
‘···devil.’
The inquisitor, who had been looking at the wall for a moment, thought of someone and jumped down the wall without hesitation.
Ku-ung.
As soon as I set foot on the ground, a stabbing pain came up.
The inquisitor sat there motionless for a long time.
***
I headed towards the castle walls.
Heavy fatigue and wet mud kept dragging my feet, but I pushed him away with all my might.
‘That damn bastard’s skeleton.’
I found myself smacking my lips as I thought of the skull.
Unlike the guy who was holding the weight, he didn’t give anything.
The thing really was nothing but bones, just like its appearance. Even those bones were shattered into dust when its skull was broken and washed away by the rain.
He was a blabbering, rambling man worse than a goblin.
It is the villain’s duty to properly compensate for his hardships.
Feeling wronged, he picked up the black hood the skeleton had been wearing and wrapped it around his body, but it was just a worn-out hood that didn’t feel like much. It was also small, only covering his waist.
I thought about throwing it away, but I felt like I was doing some free volunteer work, so I just wrapped it around my body.
‘I guess it’s fortunate that at least the rain has stopped it.’
The waterproofing effect of the black hood was better than I thought, and when I put it on my head, no water got in at all.
I arrived at the castle wall with all sorts of thoughts, looking ridiculous with only the lower half of my body wet.
The walls were quiet.
As he carefully climbed the slippery stairs, he saw people lying collapsed all over the wall.
‘Sleeping outside in this weather.’
He clicked his tongue and looked at the people.
They all seemed to have had a hard time, but they all looked okay. Their expressions weren’t bad either, as if they had been freed from the burden of breaking the skull of the skeleton.
Kwaaaaang!
Then a blue light flashed beyond the castle walls.
‘I guess it’s not over yet.’
Seeing as the Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen, it seemed he was on the devil’s side.
Then I grabbed the edge of the wall and jumped down.
Kuung-.
Mud and water on the ground splashed heavily, leaving huge footprints on the ground.
Then I shook my legs slightly and headed towards the place where the blue light was flashing.
Kwaaang!
There, the knight Adela and the devil were fighting noisily.
The devil’s upper body was swollen like a giant tree, and black hairs covered it here and there, giving it a horrifying appearance. And in the center of it all, a man’s face was stuck there, as if it were a poorly Photoshopped image.
Adela was trying to approach the demon by cutting its growing stem with her sword imbued with aura.
However, the devil’s resistance was stronger than expected.
‘What about the Inquisitor?’
As he looked around, he saw the Inquisitor sitting and resting under a large tree.
The inquisitor had planted his greatsword in a tree and was sitting underneath it to avoid the rain.
The inquisitor who found me bowed his head. I bowed as well and walked over to the inquisitor.
“Can I help you?”
In response to my question, the Inquisitor pointed to Knight Adela with his chin and shook his head.
‘Did Knight Adela tell you not to help?’
That seemed to be the gist of it.
I sat behind the inquisitor.
I didn’t really want to stop him since he said he wanted to do it one-on-one in an honest manner.
‘One-on-one with the devil… Even knights are known to be strange.’
Suddenly, he nodded as he remembered Ben returning to Bolt Castle with the soldiers of the Fener family.
Anyway, there were a lot of strange guys among the knights.
Knock knock.
The inquisitor held out a cake that had become soaked in water and turned into rice cake.
‘Where were you keeping it···.’
I didn’t really want to eat it, so I bit off a bit of the end and put it in my mouth. It was sweet, despite the moistness.
The sweet taste in my mouth slightly helped me regain my senses.
The inquisitor put the rest in his mouth.
She moved her puffy cheeks slowly but eagerly.
I squinted my eyes and observed Adela.
She had a habit of twitching her elbows before putting strength into her sword. Her calves would sometimes twist slightly, as if she was putting too much strength into her legs…
I put such trivial things in my head.
I wish I had nothing to take out, but things in this world don’t always go as planned.
I watched her movements as if she was carrying cash in her wallet just in case.
It was a rare opportunity to be able to look at the knight’s aura in such detail and with such ease, so I concentrated.
‘The aura concentration seems particularly weak?’
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me and I recalled the auras I had seen fleetingly in my memory.
Back then, whenever I saw Auror, I would just curse inwardly, saying, ‘Those despicable dogs!’ But now that I’ve dealt with Auror, I have a different feeling.
‘No, he’s not weak. Rather, he’s above average. Rather than that···.’
Compared to the others, the concentration of my aura was particularly thick. It was as if I was pouring out all the aura that the others were dividing evenly.
– To state the obvious.
The tenant arrogantly agreed, perhaps thinking it was a compliment.
‘···Rapid-fire bastard.’
– I bet you didn’t like that either.
I didn’t ask him questions like, “Wouldn’t it be better to split it up and use it for a long time?”
I could anticipate the answer because I read this guy to some extent, just as he read me.
He wasn’t satisfied with the current output either.
Kwaaaaang!
You cheeky devil!
Kkaddddddddd-.
Knight Adela raised her aura greatly, and in response the demon fired dozens of branches simultaneously.
I put my thoughts aside and focused on the battle again.
Looking at the situation, it seemed like Adela wouldn’t be able to handle it alone, so I had to find a weak point before going in.
‘The more branches there are, the thinner they become. The force applied varies depending on the thickness.’
He inferred it from the changes in Adela’s expression according to the thickness.
“Oh, did you just see a branch fly out of your mouth?”
The inquisitor nodded to my question and pointed to his forehead with his hand.
“Are you saying it flies from the forehead too?”
The inquisitor nodded again.
“It must be difficult to deal with you.”
The inquisitor nodded at my answer, and I nodded along.
Adela, who had just been hit in the face by a branch, screamed and drew a long aura.
A spectacular sight unfolded as a blue line was drawn in a straight line and countless tree branches were cut down and fluttering like flower petals.
It was a very cool sight, but it didn’t look good to me.
‘You’re stupid.’
Just now, the branches were thin, so she didn’t have to use that much force, but Adela used more force than necessary, whether it was because she was excited or because she didn’t understand.
At that moment, a few of the branches struck Adela’s armor. This time, they were as thick as an adult’s forearm, and Adela staggered violently.
‘I’m tired.’
Adela’s aura has noticeably weakened.
The speed of the branches that the devil was spewing out was slow as if he was tired, but there were still many of them.
– Take that.
‘That’s an order. The tenant is being cheeky.’
I got up from my seat, muttering a curse.
I was going to intervene even if it wasn’t what the tenant said.
As I got up, the inquisitor looked up at me with wide eyes.
“It looks dangerous, I think I should help you.”
The inquisitor nodded at Adela and shook his head, but I nodded.
The inquisitor nodded and rose from his seat.
“How dare you! On the subject of the devil!!”
At that moment, Knight Adela, who was hit by a line the size of her torso and flew backwards, blew up her flagship.
It was a very appropriate situation to intrude.
‘I wonder how many seconds it will increase this time.’
I laughed bitterly because it seemed like it was starting to get interesting.
***
‘Obviously, it should be weaker.’
Knight Adela bit her lip and readjusted her grip on her sword.
Unlike other demons, this one didn’t seem to be weakening, but rather seemed to be getting stronger.
‘No, is it that my strength has weakened?’
Phew···.
A hot breath came out of Knight Adela’s mouth.
My body, soaked in rain, felt like it weighed a ton, and the sword, which was already heavy, felt even heavier.
‘It was a mistake to refuse the help of the Inquisitor.’
At that time, I was confident that I would win, so I refused to lose the ball.
It was a wrong decision made due to the anxiety that had seeped in from not being able to establish a position in recent events and had eaten away at rational judgment.
‘Even that guy Aaron···.’
Even though he was a knight himself, he was chattering and looking for someone else, which made his emotions explode and soon led to a foolish choice.
But my pride wouldn’t allow me to ask for help again now.
‘No, I don’t support it.’
When I pull myself together and swing my sword forward again.
Phew-!
‘···this!’
A thick branch that had dug into the blind spot struck Knight Adela in the abdomen.
Although the thick iron armor was not penetrated, the impact was fully transmitted. At that moment, Knight Adela’s posture wavered.
An unusually thick tree branch was shot straight at Knight Adela, who was suddenly defenseless.
‘shit!’
Only then did Adela realize her mistake and open her mouth.
“help···!”
In the face of death, pride was not a consideration.
At that moment, a huge red light appeared in front of her.
A man in red armor blocked the thick branch for her.
Kuuung!
There was a loud noise that seemed to shake the ground, but the man’s back did not waver.
The man was pushed back, drawing two long lines on the ground.
‘who?’
Knight Adela stared at the man’s back with questioning eyes.
The man slowly turned his head.
When I met his unusually deep eyes that didn’t match the scars engraved on his face.
“Get out of the way!!”
‘huh?’
For a moment, Adela was dumbfounded by the scream that burst from the man’s mouth.
“Vicky!”
Soon, he realized that the shouting was directed at him and became enraged at the rudeness···.
“Ugh!”
The man was pushed backwards, and Adela, who had bumped into him, fell over, tangled.
The back of the man lying on top of her was so big and heavy that she felt as if she was being crushed by the world.
When he couldn’t breathe, instinctive fear set in.
“That’s why I called you Vicky.”
A man with the corners of his lips twitching as if he was forcing a smile reached out his hand.
It was clearly rude, but Adela swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue and stood up on her own, knowing that it was her own mistake.
The man, who had shaken hands with his other hand because his hand was sticking out into the air, turned his head toward the devil.
“I will open the way for you.”
Adela hesitated for a moment at the man’s words and then nodded.
The condition was not good. It was not the time to be proud.
At that moment, an inquisitor appeared beyond the man, approaching the demon while emitting a white light.
Hundreds of twigs were fired at the Inquisitor, but they were all blown away by the light radiating from the Inquisitor.
They looked like flies flying into a huge fire.
Soon the man started running, and Adela followed him, biting her lip.
I didn’t trust the man, but I had a light-hearted thought that he might be able to block at least one branch.
The man did not cut down the branches that were shooting, but pushed them away or scattered them.
It might have been the best I could do since I couldn’t use Aura, but it worked surprisingly well. The branches formed a straight line, so if you pushed them to the side, they wouldn’t come back.
His face grew hot at his own stupidity in only trying to cut the branches.
Kuung-.
The man pushed a thick branch that had been shot at him away with his forearm, sending it flying to the side. It was a clean, uncluttered movement.
‘Who is this person?’
I felt like I had seen it somewhere, but I couldn’t remember it at all.
However, the man was clearing the way as he had hoped, so Adela put aside her doubts and focused only on raising her aura.
Soon, the surroundings became filled with cut branches, and I felt as if I was trapped in a world of trees.
“Now is the time!”
The man suddenly stepped aside.
Drumroll please.
As the man stepped aside through the branches, the face of a demon appeared before him.
‘You really nailed it.’
Adela stabbed him with her aura, which had been raised to its limit.
Soon, a large blue dot appeared on the creature’s forehead.
Thud thud thud-.
The branches that had filled the surrounding area lost their strength and fell.
As the world filled with trees collapsed, thick raindrops greeted her.
But Adela didn’t stop there, she twisted his wrist and completely crushed the demon’s face.
The bastard’s forehead split open, and black blood soaked the ground.
The bastard’s facial features became distorted and hideous.
The bastard screamed in pain, but no sound came out, only broken branches falling.
The moment he was about to draw his sword-.
“Oh no!! This is dangerous!”
Adela’s vision darkened at the huge shock that followed the loud voice.
‘Did you let your guard down?’
You can’t let your guard down against a devil until he’s beheaded…
However, through my blurred vision, I saw a demon collapsing.
‘Now, more than that Aaron guy···.’
Still, I lost consciousness thinking that I had defeated the devil.
***
‘Did I hit you too hard?’
I thought about it for a moment while looking at the unconscious knight, but knights are naturally strong, so it seemed like it would be okay.
At that moment, the inquisitor began to strike the demon’s head, which was already torn in half, with his mace.
The Inquisitor was as absorbed in the game of head-butting as a child would be in a game of ball.
The Inquisitor was not satisfied with simply making it out of a piece of meat, so he crouched down in front of it and began to work on it in detail.
His round and luscious back of the head was exposed right in front of me.
“Ah! This is it! The devil is making his last desperate effort…!”
The Inquisitor fell forward with a thud.
Just in case, I opened their eyelids and shook my finger slightly. There was no reaction from either of them. They seemed to be sleeping soundly.
For one reason or another, I had lost my ability to see, so I approached the devil with a relieved heart.
‘He’s stronger than I thought.’
I picked up the ugly thing that fell while leaving a light review.
I hesitated for a moment because it was similar to last time but had a different shape, and then lightly put it in my mouth.
‘···I’m going to poop blood again.’
I picked up the two who had passed out while thinking useless thoughts and headed towards the castle gate.
As the rain weakened.
The day was slowly dawning.
***
“···So we should just leave it like this?”
Baron Fullfoot frowned at the somewhat complicated explanation and asked back.
“yes.”
Nova bowed her head to him and answered in a firm voice.
‘How can you not treat talented people well?’
Baron Fullfoot pressed his fingers against his temples.
But that doesn’t mean I can ignore Nova’s words, because I’ve never suffered a loss by doing as Nova says.
‘The skeleton that single-handedly took down soldiers is easily defeated by a mere guard leader!’
What a stupid arrangement.
But if we leave him like this…
“What is the reason?”
The Baron tried to suppress the doubt that was rising to the tip of his chin and asked solemnly.
“···I don’t know exactly, but it looks like someone is chasing me.”
“Pursuit?”
“yes.”
Baron Pulpouts scratched his head at Nova’s neat answer. He had been leaving most of the work to Nova and was taking a back seat, so his mind wasn’t working very well.
‘Isn’t it dangerous if you’re being chased?’
I had such doubts, but I was in no position to choose since there was only one knight in the Fullfoot family.
“I offered him higher positions, but he refused them all. No, I felt he was annoyed by them all.”
‘Did I give Nova the power to say hello?’
Baron Fullfoot nodded for a moment.
Of course, it was much better to give it to Nova than to some other idiot.
‘A powerful man of unknown past who refuses high positions…’
It was a story that would be joked about in a gathering of nobles.
“Yes, in that case… give me a good woman. Nothing can hold a man back as tightly as a woman. If you want, give me two… no, even three.”
As Baron Fullfoot spoke, he thought of the fine women in his domain.
At that moment, Nova’s expression mysteriously changed.
‘Was this child someone whose facial expressions changed this much?’
I’ve been watching Nova since I was a kid, but today was the first time I noticed how expressive she is.
“He is an honorary monk.”
Baron Fullfoot, who had been secretly looking for good women, opened his eyes wide at Nova’s words.
“Honorary monk?”
“Yes, I am an honorary monk of the order.”
“If it’s about honor, then it doesn’t matter anyway. Even monks have at least one government behind them.”
Baron Fullfoot replied with no hint of surprise, as befits a nobleman.
“I heard that he is very devout and stays away from women. He especially hates women with large breasts…”
Although Nova’s expression was somewhat odd, Baron Fullfoot nodded.
‘A powerful man of unknown past who was so faithful that he avoided women, but hated high positions…’
Baron Fullfoot tapped the window frame with his fingers.
“But an honorary monk? Didn’t you say you disliked the title?”
“I think it’s probably because it’s an honor. It seems like they accepted it because they only had the rights and no responsibilities.”
In response, Baron Pulpouts let out a sigh.
‘There is no responsibility, only rights…’
That sentence felt very sweet to Baron Fullfoot.
“So, I understand that the church doesn’t have any special demands on him.”
“Really? It’s clear that the church recognized the man’s worth. But he’s my lord. I can’t just stupidly ignore him···.”
Baron Fullfoot trailed off and thought about what to say next.
With only one knight left, Castle Cassidy desperately needed at least one strong man. Even if he wasn’t a knight…
The Baron was troubled over which position to give up.
Most positions came with rights as well as responsibilities.
At that moment, I looked at Nova in front of me and collected my thoughts.
‘Yes, Nova hasn’t gotten married yet either. It’s not common to find a beauty like Nova···.’
As I looked at Nova’s somewhat anxious face, a brilliant idea occurred to me.
You can get the opportunity to tie them up while giving them a position at the same time···.
“I will appoint him as honorary secretary.”
Baron Fullfoot spoke firmly, as if he would not take any objections.
“···Yes? But isn’t there no such position?”
“It doesn’t matter. I am the lord. And since you are his secretary and have an acquaintance with him, wouldn’t he be more comfortable accepting it?”
Baron Pulpouts felt a sense of awe at the sight of Nova, whose expression usually remained unchanged, widening his eyes in surprise.
Then Nova bowed her head, and Baron Pulpouts sniffed and laughed.
“But where did Vivian go? Vivian!”
The Baron found Youngae.
Nova then stepped back politely.
‘If you’re an honorary secretary… it turned out better than I expected.’
However, Baron Fullfoot didn’t notice the corners of Nova’s mouth going up as he left the room.
***
There were quite a few people who had come to their senses on the walls.
The guys who had been searching the pockets of those who had not yet woken up made eye contact with me and raised their hands.
‘Uncivilized medieval bastards.’
I walked around kicking him every once in a while.
Only then did the guys wake up the unconscious ones.
“Ah, captain!”
Berman, with a tired look on his face, waved his hand and greeted me.
They were huddled together as if they were in solidarity.
“Captain, where have you been!”
Kel grumbled and handed me the umbrella he had been using.
“Okay. It’s already wet. What can I do?”
“Huh? Earlier···.”
Kel muttered as if he felt wronged.
“But what is that?”
Brick asked, pointing to my waist.
‘Oh, there was this.’
At that moment, the weasel looked back and forth between me and the things on either side of me, then blinked as if calculating something.
“···Aren’t you the knight and the heretic inquisitor?! Tongue···Brother! Are you finally going to give up? The time has come! Our brother will take over Castle Cassidy!”
The weasel screamed, pulled out the sword at his waist, and shouted, ‘I pledge my loyalty!’
The men around him made strange expressions and each fiddled with the weapons on their waists. Their momentum was unbearable.
‘You’re being rude… You’re not some thug or anything…’
I suddenly coughed in vain at the endless talk.
“I brought it because you passed out after fighting the devil.”
The men nodded to him, but still held the handles of their weapons.
Even the Scar gnome made a strange gesture to the bakers.
“Okay. Everyone go and clean up.”
I waved my hand, feeling that if I left it alone any longer, something really bad would happen. The guys nodded and dispersed around.
After that, Adela, who had come to her senses, looked around with a frown on her face and disappeared without even saying thank you. It was clear that she had not received any home education.
As soon as the inquisitor heard the abbot’s voice, he jumped up, looked at me, nodded vigorously, and disappeared. Perhaps it was a thank you.
It seemed like things had settled down to some extent, so I took Hannah, who hadn’t come to her senses, and headed to the dorm.
As I opened the door to my room, a club suddenly flew at me.
He dodged it and threw a punch, but barely stopped when he saw that the opponent was a washing machine.
The surprised washing machine nodded and pointed at me with both hands. I waved back and pointed at Hannah, who was in my hands.
The washing machine nodded and reached out to Hannah. It became fluffy as if Hannah had put it in a spin dryer.
‘It also had a dehydration function? But why was the wizard using a club…’
The washing machine, which had finished its magic, fell forward.
He clicked his tongue and looked around.
The refrigerator was overturned on the table, and there were three ice cubes with only their heads left on the table.
There was a lot of water pooling under the ice cap, as if it had been made entirely of ice. It didn’t look very good to have only three faces.
He grabbed Kanna by the back of her neck and threw them both into the room inside, then headed to my room.
I was so tired that I just collapsed on the bed.
I left the sword unfastened and by the bedside so I could pull it out at any time.
Only then could I close my eyes in peace.
***
As soon as I opened my eyes, I looked for a sword.
Only after I took hold of the sword could I breathe.
As I was catching my breath, something about my body felt strange.
He was impressed and examined my body-.
“Each-!!”
I sneezed.
***
“General, an envelope with the White Leaf Guild emblem on it has arrived for you.”
‘I told you not to call me general…’
Vermunt clicked his tongue as he looked down at the man prostrating himself before him.
No matter how many times I told him, it was no use.
Because both he and these others were ghosts who could not forget the past.
Vermunt waved his hand lightly.
The man politely placed the envelope in front of him and stepped back.
‘In the end, it was just a facade.’
Vermunt suppressed the memory that came to mind when he heard the word ‘General.’
It was so heavy that even a moment of carelessness would crush me and make it difficult to breathe.
He acted as if he couldn’t forget the past and missed it, but funny enough, his and the man’s faces were all oily.
My skin, which had been dry and cracked when I was in the desert, became shiny.
Vermunt, who had been looking down at the envelope for a moment, reached out his brown hand covered in black tattoos and opened the envelope.
Kuung!
The thick desk collapsed in an instant at Vermunt’s fist.
His thick arms trembled in the air.
“Aaron.”
A moment later, a man’s name leaked out from between Vermunt’s thick lips.
“There you are.”
···A comrade who can be chewed and eaten.
Vermunt, the ‘Fallen Fifth Star of the West’, bared his sharp teeth.
