Taming the Evil Saintess

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I found myself in a predicament.

Mined creatures don’t use tools. No matter how well-crafted a sword may be, it can’t match the hardness of their reinforced skin, nor do they possess the intelligence to wield their sword strikes with true swordsmanship.

Thus, mined creatures fight solely with their bodies. They certainly wouldn’t use bows either.

In other words, the arrival of arrows meant we inevitably had another enemy.

Or it might be the work of someone trying to frame the mined creatures.

“Damn it. I’m never doing this again.”

Ophelia, who had diligently played the bait role, handed me an arrow with a look of exhaustion.

“A willow branch with peacock feathers. This is an arrow primarily used by elves.”

“Which tribe uses them?”

“All tribes. It’s hard to specify.”

Erwin spoke with a dark expression.

Though he said that, we were already guessing which tribe was pulling the strings.

“It’s probably the work of the Redrick Tribe.”

Azar concluded that without hesitation, and my opinion wasn’t much different.

I recalled the glare Commander Badarn had given me at the Melt Rune Guard post the other day.

A mix of contempt, hatred, and fear—without a doubt.

“…Erwin, what do you think?”

I sought the opinion of Erwin, the only elf present, but she only shook her head.

“I also think it’s highly likely to be the Redrick folks. However, what’s puzzling is… even if they lack discernment, I don’t think they’d attack us.”

“That’s true.”

Albrecht nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s probably a message rather than a simple attack.”

I unfolded the note attached to the arrowhead.

The Redrick Tribe didn’t intend to kill Ophelia; they were sending a threatening shot instead.

It was undoubtedly an implicit threat to stay out of this matter.

“This is….”

However, contrary to my expectations, the note contained a bloody inked willow pattern.

I had thought there would be a message written here.

“Erwin, do you know about this symbol?”

I handed the note to Erwin, but she shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Yet, I didn’t miss the fact that her eyes wavered for a moment.

“That aside! What are we going to do?”

Suddenly, Ophelia kicked the chair leg in exasperation.

“I almost died, you know?!”

“But you didn’t die, did you? And if it’s Ophelia’s Holy Magic, she can probably reattach a limb or two.”

“Hey!”

As Ophelia lunged at me, I caught her and sat her on my lap.

“…L-Let go!”

She squirmed, but once I firmly pinched her waist to hold her still, she quickly calmed down.

“Ugh, let me go…. Everyone’s watching…”

“Oh my goodness.”

“Please calm down. We’re thinking here.”

As I soothed Ophelia, I slipped into thought.

We had to catch the mined creatures.

Of course, the Fairy King instructed us to deal with the troublesome situation, meaning there was no room to back out. If it wasn’t the mined creatures’ doing, we needed to find evidence.

Otherwise, the Fairy King would never be satisfied.

Most troubling was that brief moment of hesitation Erwin had earlier.

“First, let’s continue with the Red Cloak operation.”

“What? No way!”

“You have no choice. Let me ask you for this.”

As I massaged Ophelia’s shoulders while she sat on my lap, she cleared her throat and twisted her body.

“Then, I have one condition.”

“What is it?”

*

Puff puff.

“….”

What am I looking at right now?

To describe what I see, I’m sitting in a small room, where Ophelia and Emily are cozily gathered, each with a pipe in their mouths. Surrounding them is a thick cloud of herbal smoke.

Ophelia and Emily are smoking hookah.

Yeah. Hookah.

“Hey, Elliot, you wanna try?”

“You already put your mouth on it.”

“Don’t make me aware of it!”

As Ophelia yelled angrily, I sighed heavily.

Without even asking, Azar chimed in to defend.

“It’s an elf specialty. They say it’s good for your health.”

“…Even if it’s good.”

Two beautiful young women were smoking hookah.

On top of that, with the unique flashy interior decorations of the elves.

Thus, a scene was completed that was not only decadent but bordered on the criminal.

No matter how important Ophelia’s role was, and despite the conditions she laid down, accepting this was still a challenge.

My inner Confucian Dragon cried out.

I suppressed it.

“We should gradually resume the operation.”

As I said that, Ophelia reluctantly put down the hookah, or rather, the mana chō, and stood up. Emily did the same.

“So, does this mean I’m going to wander alone again?”

“Yes. But since there may be more danger than last time, I’ll be watching closely this time.”

“Okay.”

As I said that, Ophelia’s expression noticeably brightened.

It seemed the simple act of walking alone in the woods at night frightened her.

Just then, the sun began to set.

I took Ophelia out of the residence building.

“Elliot, this is bad.”

In that moment, Albrecht, looking extremely tense, ran up to me.

“What’s going on?”

“Well….”

Albrecht seemed about to say something but shook his head vigorously.

“Follow me. It’s faster to see it for yourself.”

With that, Albrecht turned and added briefly.

“Saint Lady, please prepare yourself.”

*

During my time on Earth, I used to kill time by watching cheap slasher movies.

In one of them, there was a scene where a crazed killer ripped a victim apart and hung them on a mast.

What I was seeing now was exactly that.

“…Ugh.”

Ophelia, who had followed me, gagged.

I pulled her closer, capturing the horrific scene before us in my gaze.

“When did this happen?”

“Less than an hour ago.”

An elven male’s body, with limbs severed and his entire body mutilated, was displayed, skewered near the Melt Rune.

Not just displayed—it was clear it was meant to be seen.

It didn’t appear the killer intended to conceal the murder.

Rather, it felt like they wanted everyone to know.

When I caught sight of the victim’s face, I was even more shocked.

“Could that be, the Commander?”

“Yes. That’s the problem.”

Commander Badarn of the Redrick Tribe, who had shown us a sharp attitude just days before, lay dead with his eyes wide open.

“Could it be that it wasn’t the work of the Redrick Tribe?”

There was no doubt that the corpse wasn’t the doing of the mined creatures.

Because mined creatures don’t use weapons, and even if they did, they’d not assign meaning to murder. They wouldn’t display a corpse in broad daylight for everyone to see.

Most importantly, the faint symbol etched on Badarn’s blood-soaked chest.

It was the willow branch.

…

The commander of the Redrick Tribe, whom we had suspected the most, was dead.

Then, what about the arrow that flew at Ophelia yesterday?

My mind was in a mess.

It seemed I had been drawn into a more significant incident than the mere mined creatures.

“…For a moment, can you take care of Ophelia?”

I handed the dazed Ophelia over to Albrecht and approached Erwin, who was casting a troubled expression at the corpse across from me.

“Erwin.”

“…”

“Erwin, pull yourself together.”

At that, Erwin abruptly turned her head to me.

Fear was still evident on her face.

An elf who had lived for over a hundred years wouldn’t be so disturbed by just seeing a torn-apart body.

I pulled out the note bearing the willow pattern from my pocket.

“You know this symbol, right?”

“…Ugh.”

“What the hell is this?”

Yesterday, when Erwin saw this pattern, she had a noticeable reaction of panic.

She must know something.

As I pressed her, Erwin bit her lip until it bled and let out a deep sigh.

“Yes. It’s a symbol I know very well.”

“What is it?”

“It belongs to my older brother.”

“…Older brother?”

Erwin’s sibling.

A sudden sense of déjà vu washed over me.

In the Sword & Magic Chronicle, every named character had a recruitment quest, and Archery Master Erwin was no different.

Surely, the core of the quest had been to lead a reconciliation with her estranged father.

The quest detail itself wasn’t much. Just tracking the whereabouts of her father, who lived in Elvendell, and securing a quest item by meeting him.

However, players raised several questions. According to the description of the quest item, Erwin’s immediate family consisted of five members, three of whom had names inscribed on the Great Forest Cemetery.

Whether this was mere coincidence or a meticulously crafted Easter egg by the developers, opinions varied among players.

And now, I was hearing that answer.

“My older brother…”

Erwin took a deep breath and spoke as if vomiting out words.

“Committed a heinous act. He killed my family.”

It seemed this matter was more serious than I had anticipated.