I, reincarnate as the leader of the villainous knight order

Chapter 45: The Saint

In the novel, it was supposed to be me, Justin, along with the dragon, attacking the royal castle, with the Crown Prince leading the First and Second Cavalries to defend it. When things got dire, the Saint, along with the Holy Knights, was expected to appear, using her divine power to calm down both the dragon and me, Justin. In that moment, the Crown Prince’s knights and the Holy Knights were to seize the opportunity and successfully defeat us.

Afterward, there was a scene where the Saint seemed sad, as if she could have avoided killing the dragon if she had purified the magic stone embedded in the person controlling it. It’s been a while since I read the novel, so I even forgot the Saint’s name. Actually, I could barely recognize myself or any other characters based solely on the story’s progression and the sound of their names.

So, if the magic stone embedded in the person controlling the dragon could be purified, then we might not have to fight the dragon unnecessarily. There’s no certainty, but I had a strong conviction.

“You guys! Hold this thing back for a moment!”

“What!?”

Ignoring my subordinates, who were clearly astonished, I leaped off my horse and ran towards the Saint using my enhanced physical abilities. More accurately, I headed towards the High Priest beside her.

“Aren’t you the Saint!? I need something purified… from this guy!”

“Huh!? Y-Yes! What is it…?”

While the Saint was responding, I slashed through the upper half of the High Priest’s clothes from below, exposing his chest. Nobody reacted to my actions, but right after, the Holy Knights surrounded me.

“Saint! Purify the magic stone in the High Priest’s chest controlling that dragon!”

As I deflected the swords aimed at me and shouted, the attention of the Holy Knights and the Saint focused on the High Priest’s chest. Like the dragon, there was a reddish-black magic stone embedded there.

“What are you doing…! This is necessary for the world! We must prove the Saint’s power before the Evil God revives!”

“Using the power of the Evil God!? As a High Priest, you’ve lost the qualifications!”

The Saint and the Holy Knights seemed perplexed by my exchange with the High Priest. My subordinates were in trouble if I didn’t hurry! While nobody seemed to notice when he was hiding under his sacred robe, someone with the aptitude for divine power could sense the ominous aura emanating from him. Everyone seemed more wary of the High Priest than of me.

I kicked the High Priest down and, holding him down with my foot, forcibly tore off the magic stone from his chest, along with the flesh adhering to it. The High Priest realized what I was about to do and grabbed my arm to resist, but I used my enhanced physical abilities to tear off the flesh that had become attached.

“Stop it!! Aaahhh!!”

Letting out a scream like a dying wail, the High Priest lost consciousness. There was no time to confirm if he was dead. I immediately thrust the magic stone, still attached to pieces of flesh, in front of the Saint.

“What… is this…?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me! Purify it quickly!! ‘Purification Cleanse’, now! Purify it!”

Due to the pieces of flesh still attached to the High Priest, the Saint was too frightened to be of any use, but I impatiently ordered her to do the purification magic to clean the magic stone.

“Y-Yes! ‘Purification Purification’!!”

Unlike the faint light emitted by the Saint earlier, this time a flash of light occurred.

“Ugh…”

I instinctively covered my eyes with my arm, and when the light subsided, I tried to look at the magic stone, but my vision was still blurry from the afterglow. I tightly shut my eyes and shook my head, but it didn’t help. After blinking repeatedly, my vision finally began to clear up.

Then what I saw was a bluish transparent magic stone that made me doubt if it was the same as before. As for the dragon, perhaps due to the synchronization of the magic stones, the dragon’s magic stone was also purified, and it seemed quite dazed, as if just waking up.

My subordinates, unsure of what to do, surrounded and observed, but the dragon just stared at them. Wait, could it be because I’m holding this magic stone that it’s synchronizing with me?

“Hey, should we check if the High Priest is still alive? Well, considering he’s been deceived by the minions of the Evil God, I’m not sure if we should still call him a priest.”

I told one of the Holy Knights, and reluctantly, they began examining the High Priest’s body.

“Sigh… What should we do about that dragon?”

Passing a little magic through the magic stone in my hand, surprisingly, my consciousness synchronized with the dragon. More accurately, it entered what you’d call a tamed state.

“What…? No way, this can’t be happening!”

“Kyuu…”

The dragon tilted its head and looked at me, or rather, looked down at me. Did it see my memories when it synchronized with me? Its behavior was just like my younger brothers from my previous life.

“Ugh… No, but…”

It’s impossible to keep such a huge dragon as a pet. Just as I thought that, the dragon roared toward the sky.

“Roaaar!”

The subordinates surrounding the dragon panicked and prepared their swords, but thanks to the taming, I understood. That roar was the dragon’s spell. As evidence, the dragon was now about the size of a horse.

“The dragon is okay now! No need to worry!”

Perhaps realizing that everything had settled down, my beloved horse, Eleanor, trotted over to me.

“You did well, Eleanor. You were amazing.”

I gently stroked Eleanor, who endured the terrifying experience of being chased by a dragon.

“T-Thank you so much…”

Huh? Eleanor spoke!? Did taming the dragon enable me to speak with animals!? For a moment, I thought so, but it seemed like the voice didn’t come from Eleanor. When I looked at the direction of the voice, for some reason, the Saint was blushing shyly. Could it be…

“Um, why do you know my name? Um, could you tell me your name too…?”

I felt like I was losing my mind at the forgotten name of the Saint.