Knights Of The Stigmata

――The headquarters of the Holy Church located in the central ward of the royal capital, commonly called the “Grand Cathedral.”

――A conference room prepared for the Knights of the Stigmata.

Currently, in that room the Holy Church’s greatest fighting force, the Knights of the Stigmata, was gathered in full, and an extraordinary tension filled the air.

The first to speak was the Second Stigmata—Johanna Hohenzollern, seated at the head of the long table.

“Thank you all for gathering here despite your busy schedules today.”

Johanna was a white-haired old woman skilled in barrier magic.

Her once peerless beauty had aged yet retained ample dignity, and her straightened back showed no hint of deformity—an almost perfect bearing.

For decades Johanna had supported the Knights of the Stigmata, was recognized as a saint by the College of Cardinals, and was the formidable woman known by the title “Holy Mother of the Border.”

At her crisp, ageless voice, the rest of the Knights of the Stigmata turned their gazes to Johanna in unison.

“Exactly so, Holy Mother. That’s quite a grand title, but we are after all field operatives—so being ordered to interrupt all of our assigned duties and be summoned together like this—can we assume something quite significant has come up?”

The one who interjected was the Fifth Stigmata—Selva Arturus.

He was a bespectacled man with unruly white hair, wearing a white coat over his vestments, looking every bit a researcher.

While serving on the front lines as a Holy Knight hunting monsters, he also worked as an apothecary researcher, and his findings had greatly benefited the Holy Church.

“Silence, Selva—that’s what Lady Johanna is about to explain right now, isn’t it?”

“Oh, my bad—Kaine. It’s been a while since the Knights of the Stigmata assembled in full, so I got a bit excited. It’s a shame Lord Weidenreich isn’t here.”

The one chastising the apothecary Selva was sitting opposite him: the Fourth Stigmata—Kaine Kaiwell.

He was an eerie, ageless man wrapped in bandages concealing all his skin, clad in a long leather coat and hat, the brim drawn low over a face swathed in layers of bandage.

His bandages and leather coat were spattered with what looked like blood, and he still gave off the scent of blood, as if he had only just finished hunting monsters.

“Um—excuse me. I hate to interrupt as a junior, but could you introduce that cute girl over there first? I’ve been curious about her for a while now.”

The one who spoke further was a red-haired girl sitting beside the blood-scented Kaine.

Her name was Annise Redby, a lively 17-year-old who held the seat of Sixth Stigmata.

The girl Annise indicated, hunched at the seat opposite her, was a blonde girl named Florence Cuticle.

“My, how careless of me, I’m sorry. I should have introduced Miss Flo first. Miss Flo, please greet everyone.”

Johanna, who had been leading the Knights of the Stigmata in place of the late Lord Weidenreich, apologized and then prompted Florence to introduce herself.

With that, all members’ gazes focused on Florence.

“Ah! Eh! Um! I-I am…! Th-that…! Auu…”

But the nervous Florence, intimidated by the hard-bitten members of the Holy Church, couldn’t get her words out properly.

Seeing her struggle, the one to lend a hand was the Holy Knight seated across from Johanna, the Third Stigmata—Sheena Aytel.

“She is Florence Cuticle, appointed to the Knights of the Stigmata as of today. She’s still a bit shaky, so please go easy on her.”

“Y-yes! I will train myself so as not to be a bother to everyone! Please take care of me!”

“Cuticle… could she be the daughter of the ‘Saintess of Mercy’ Frances? The child of a genius is a genius, I suppose.”

Florence stood and bowed deeply.

Florence, who had recently helped defeat Vanargand in the S-Rank Dungeon 【Crimson Night Moon】 alongside Sid Ranorus, gained a great deal of experience and leveled up considerably.

Furthermore, her mother had also been a former member of the Knights of the Stigmata, and inheriting that blood, Florence’s talent bloomed and she accumulated achievements rapidly.

Her reputation reached the College of Cardinals, and her skill in healing magic was so valued that at the young age of twelve she was appointed to the lowest seat of the Knights of the Stigmata, the Seventh Stigmata.

“Don’t be so nervous, Miss Florence! With Lord Weidenreich having been martyred, the average age has suddenly dropped and it’s gotten quite lively. I mean, we’ve been hiring way too many young girls recently—me, Miss Lilium, Florence. There’s definitely a lecherous old man with hiring power in the College of Cardinals!”

“Annise, that’s disrespectful. Don’t you understand what Lord Weidenreich felt when he sacrificed himself against the Crimson Vampire Princess?!”

“Senior Sheena, please don’t be so angry. I’m joking, I’m joking. I was just trying to ease Miss Florence’s nerves. And I don’t think she was hired just for her looks.”

The two did not deny the possibility of a lecherous old man among the Cardinals.

“Huh? But the Knights of the Stigmata had a fixed membership of seven, right? Is an eighth possible? Oh! Maybe because Lord Weidenreich died everyone moves up a rank? Then I’d be promoted from Sixth to Fifth—isn’t it about time I called myself mid-level?!”

“No. We will not announce Lord Weidenreich’s demise yet. Therefore there will be no adjustment of the order.”

“She is Lilium Morse’s successor.”

“…Huh?”

Hearing Johanna and Sheena’s words, Annise’s smile froze.

“What do you mean? Did Miss Lilium get fired?”

“Lilium is dead.”

“Whoa…”

“Indeed, Miss Lilium was weak, so it couldn’t be helped… She was one of the heroes who cleared the S-Rank Dungeon, and the Cardinals appointed her forcibly to add prestige. I thought she’d die eventually. It’s exactly the face-hiring Annise just mentioned.”

“Lord Weidenreich didn’t get his reward either…”

Selva and Kaine muttered their complaints in unison, exuding the scent of chemicals and blood.

“So, does that mean we’ve been called to avenge Miss Lilium?”

“Depending on how you take it, it might be. Now, we’ve strayed a bit—let’s get to the main topic.”

Johanna finally began to explain why the Knights of the Stigmata had been summoned.

“The one who killed Miss Lilium—and the Hero party—was a youth of the Shikai Tribe named Sid Ranorus.”

“…!? Mr. Si-Sid…!?”

“Is something the matter? Miss Flo?”

“N-nothing at all! I’m sorry for interrupting the conversation, Holy Mother Johanna.”

Florence had blurted out upon hearing the unexpected name.

He had been her comrade in the Vanargand hunt and had been a lifesaver to her.

“(That someone like him would kill a Hero party… he didn’t look like that type of person…)”

“But that’s not the issue. If it were mere murder we could ask Kaine, the Fourth Stigmata, to handle it. Even avenging a Hero party is a job for the Royal Palace. What’s important is that he has awakened as a Shadow Necromancer.”

“…!?”
“…!?”
“…!?”

The moment Johanna uttered the term Shadow Necromancer, the three faces of Sheena, Kaine, and Selva—aside from the teenage Annise and Florence, changed color.

“Um—pardon my ignorance, but what is a 【Shadow Necromancer】?”

“Young Miss Annise and Miss Florence might not be familiar with it. That’s understandable—it was deliberately concealed. But we can no longer keep it that way.”

“I see—The awakening condition of a 【Shadow Necromancer】 is that a Shikai Tribe member who cast 【Necromance】 on themselves acquires an Undead body. So you mean there is a Shikai Tribe member who drank the blood of the Crimson Vampire Princess?”

“Lord Selva is correct.”

“So, what exactly is a【Shadow Necromancer】?”

To Annise’s question, Selva adjusted his glasses with his forefinger and answered.

He explained it was a special class that commands not corpses but Shadows.

Unlike typical 【Necromance】, the body does not rot, and even if defeated it can resurrect infinitely.

By turning monsters defeated by Shadows into Shadows themselves, their numbers multiply exponentially, and a single【Shadow Necromancer】 holds the potential to overturn the world.

――And they were told that once before there had been an attempted coup d’état by a 【Shadow Necromancer】.

“Wow… that’s terrifying.”

Johanna continued.

“The last confirmed awakening of a【Shadow Necromancer】 was twenty years ago. With Lord Oswald gone, I am the only surviving member of that suppression team—our Knights of the Stigmata at the time paid a heavy price but succeeded in slaying the 【Shadow Necromancer】 who plotted to overthrow the nation.”

“That incident taught the Holy Church that the Shikai Tribe was exceedingly dangerous—and thus the Shikai Tribe hunts began…”

Thereafter, over the course of ten years, the Holy Church greatly reduced the numbers of the Shikai Tribe.

“I see. Well, that was informative.”

“In other words… the mission assigned to us this time is…”

“Correct. The extermination of the 【Shadow Necromancer】—Sid Ranorus. We must kill him by any means before the target reaches a level beyond our control. That is the top priority mission given to us by the College of Cardinals.”

Johanna declared in a stern voice.

The Knights of the Stigmata acknowledged the gravity of the situation and steeled their resolve.

All except one—Florence, who was acquainted with Sid—did so.

“(Mr. Sid… why… did it come to this…)”

<Chapter 1—Born of the SHADOW Necromancer—End>

<Chapter 2—KNT’s of the Sword and Balance—To be continued>