Chapter 10

It was like a scene out of a myth.

The monster struck by the priest’s scattered blood was engulfed in flames.

The space that had been filled only with darkness was suddenly full of azure light.

The whole world flared blue.

‘What on earth is that….’

The Red Knight gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t bring himself to intervene in that fight.

‘Once again I’ll do nothing….’

The knight had to grit his teeth at the déjà vu of that helplessness.

Recalling the memory of that day he wanted to forget but couldn’t.

Daniel Tirian.

He was the only son of a knightly family from a rural village.

It was a beautiful memory.

Though an old memory, it felt vivid enough to grasp right now.

A mother whose black hair had been especially beautiful, and a father in armor returning from duty.

In hindsight they were an odd pair.

The stern-looking father was always flustered by the playful mother, and she often teased him.

How such mismatched people met and married still puzzled him.

Daniel would often snort-laugh watching them.

His mother was clumsy with many household tasks but renowned for her cooking; her mushroom soup was Daniel’s favorite.

The two had taught Daniel many things since childhood.

Under warm sunlight, Daniel learned swordsmanship from his father.

Even on days off, his father taught quietly, showing no sign of fatigue.

It was the swordsmanship of a well-trained knight.

His mother taught him various studies and history, making him more mature than his peers.

It was probably because of that.

Why Daniel had managed to survive until now.

“…Mom?”

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

His mother’s face broke into a bright smile at his call.

She didn’t even know blood was streaming from her eyes.

The illness that began suddenly in his mother worsened rapidly.

Blood and pus flowed from her eyes and ears, and black spots appeared on her skin.

Her once glossy black hair grew dull.

With the matriarch ill, the household naturally fell into disarray.

His father gave up his post as a knight to stay at home.

They called many doctors, but all shook their heads and left.

Meanwhile strange things began in the village: nearby crops withered and villagers were gruesomely killed by something.

For some reason their father hesitated, then contacted the church.

Not long after, an Exorcist priest dispatched from the order arrived at their home.

He was a plain-looking priest with brown hair and a dagger.

He looked at the mother and smiled reassuringly at the father and Daniel.

He appeared to perform a simple blessing, said the problem was solved, and the mother indeed seemed much better.

Why had they struggled so long when it was this simple?

Daniel grumbled as he watched his father breathe a sigh of relief.

That night, after the Exorcist priest had left.

The true nightmare began.

─Kyaaaah!

A servant’s piercing scream tore through the night’s silence.

A following, unidentifiable cutting sound sent shivers down his spine.

“W-what’s happening…”

It was when Daniel left his room and headed to the master bedroom.

His father grabbed his sword as he stepped out and said to Daniel.

“Go to your mother. Be careful.”

Before Daniel could answer, he barreled out and was already in the front yard.

A sword bursting with bright light.

Seeing it through the window, Daniel realized for the first time that his father had been an advanced knight.

Why had he hidden that until now?

That question didn’t last long.

His father was fighting and defeating an unknown enemy.

Who cared that he’d hidden his identity?

Daniel clenched his fist.

We can win.

He held to that hopeful moment.

─Thud

His father’s severed head tumbled across the ground.

Horrifyingly, the severed neck blinked as if unable to comprehend.

The aura from the still-glowing sword made that scene clear.

And the shape of the foe as well.

A man with brown hair and a dagger.

It was certainly the Exorcist priest they had seen that day.

Daniel swallowed, hiding his form, and mouthed the priest’s words.

Whether from disbelief or inability to accept it.

Daniel just muttered vacantly.

“You’ve hid well… for a long time…?”

What was he saying?

More importantly, why the priest had killed his father?

For a moment he lost himself, then came to his senses.

The priest who had suddenly burst in cut his father’s throat in the blink of an eye.

Would he stop there?

Of course not.

Daniel dashed into the bedroom where his mother was.

Servants screamed behind him, but he tightened his jaw and ignored it.

“Mom. Get up. Run right now…”

“No.”

She was already up.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching a doll that looked like Daniel.

To Daniel, who couldn’t fathom the situation, she pointed to the wardrobe and said.

“There’s a passage inside that leads outside. See the situation and run.”

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“Daniel.”

She cut him off, looked at him silently, then smiled faintly and said.

“Please.”

He had never seen her make that expression.

Daniel asked no more.

He knew something bad would happen, but he followed her command.

He entered the wardrobe and closed the door.

“aihtaraq.”

His mother chanted an unknown spell.

─Flare

Her body burst into red flames.

There was no scream.

The heat was hot enough to melt stone as the fire spread through the room.

Even the wardrobe was engulfed, but strangely the inside wasn’t hot.

The succession of horrors stole all sense of reality.

As Daniel stared dumbfounded from inside the wardrobe.

The door opened and the familiar priest appeared.

Startled by the heat, he flinched and stepped back.

Then with a grimace he sighed deeply and murmured.

“A murder-suicide? Potent. There won’t even be bones left.”

That was it.

The priest shook his head and disappeared from the doorway.

Daniel simply watched numbingly.

He felt like vomiting.

Feeling nauseous, Daniel stared at his mother’s burning body.

A silent howl churned in his throat.

He had been powerless while his father was slaughtered and his mother burned.

Overwhelmed by helplessness and grief, he could barely breathe.

But he couldn’t stay like that.

Swallowing his tears, he pushed the wardrobe wall as his mother had told him and found the passage.

The blue dawn had already broken and greeted him.

Daniel emerged and stared at the black, roaring mansion.

Despite the great fire, no one came to help.

People’s wariness had been heightened by recent strange events.

Ironically, that allowed Daniel to slip away unnoticed.

The first thing Daniel did was find shabby clothes and throw them on.

He couldn’t risk being recognized; he didn’t know who was friend or foe.

Disguised as a beggar, Daniel hid in a nearby estate’s large town to gather information.

Soon after, the Order branded that day’s events as the work of a demon and closed the case.

Had the Order been deceived by one Exorcist priest or was the entire Order complicit?

Daniel couldn’t be sure, so he had to doubt everything to be safe.

From that day on, the Order became Daniel’s enemy.

Daniel left the town with unsteady steps.

The Sicaris region in the empire’s west, where the Order’s influence was weakest.

Daniel began working as a mercenary there.

Thanks to his early sword training he quickly distinguished himself, and the red helm he wore to hide his face became his epithet.

The Red-ornamented Knight.

A noble house heard of him and hired him for a territorial war; after great achievements, Daniel even received an honorary knighthood.

But Daniel had no intention of ending his life as a knight.

Why had his father hidden his skill and stayed in a rural domain?

How had his mother been able to use magic?

And…

Why had they had to die?

Daniel was left with a thirst for vengeance.

Thus the wandering knight Daniel roamed the empire, gaining renown for his skill.

One domain he visited.

It was Rengbaster’s land, rumored for its delicious mushroom soup.

Arriving there, Daniel received an unexpected request from the lord.

“My daughter suddenly fell ill. She bleeds pus from her eyes and ears. With villagers being killed like that… If you catch whatever it is, I’ll reward you.”

Daniel felt a powerful déjà vu.

So he accepted the job and stayed at the manor to watch the situation.

As time passed, everything matched his memories of that day.

The forest was withered, the young lady clung to life, doctors shook their heads in ignorance, and villagers were slain by an unknown monster.

So Daniel honestly told the lord about his past.

The lord, pondering with a grave expression, believed him.

It was an opportunity.

To find a lead for revenge and protect the young lady to erase his past helplessness.

After several more days, today an Exorcist priest and a deacon came to see him.

He thought he had grown stronger.

But it was an illusion.

“….”

Reteil was like a natural disaster.

That monster exuded unbelievable power and presence.

Meanwhile, the Exorcist priest fought like an evil spirit.

Even when his arms were cut off and his side torn open, he did not stop.

Because the blue flames enveloping his body endlessly regenerated him.

The priest, seemingly aware of this, displayed unheard-of antics in battle—picking up severed arms to throw and burn them, or picking them up and reattaching them—and continued fighting.

At this point it was impossible to tell who was the demon and who was the monster.

Daniel couldn’t dare intervene in the priest and Reteil’s hours-long duel.

‘Still, if things continue like this.’

If they could stall for time, might there be a chance?

Before he knew it, the sky brightened blue.

The deep blue sky signaled the arrival of dawn.

Daniel prayed desperately that the torn, bleeding priest would hold on a little longer.

But his prayer proved futile.

─Thud!

With a thunderous sound, the ragged priest fell beside Daniel.

“…Are you alive?”

“Yes. Barely.”

The priest rose, his twisted and broken arm bones grinding into place.

Up close his body trembled like a leafless tree.

His armor was shattered, only the blood-soaked priest’s robes barely retaining his shape.

In a voice thick with fatigue the priest spoke.

“I need help.”

“My help?”

Daniel was afraid.

What could someone like him do in such a fight?

The priest turned to look at the reluctant Daniel.

Then he said calmly.

“I don’t know what past you have. But can you live repeating the same regrets?”

The words hit him like a fist to the chest.

Just imagining it felt like a hammer driving into his solar plexus, making it hard to breathe.

Only then did Daniel remember.

The helplessness that clung like old grime and wouldn’t wash away.

What he had been searching for all that time.

“…No.”

Daniel slowly shook his head.

The priest nodded lightly and turned his gaze back to Reteil before speaking.

“It’s tired too.”

Literally.

Reteil bore not a scratch, yet it stood oddly still, panting.

“It seems susceptible to heat. Probably due to that thick mane.”

“So you used fire?”

The priest nodded at Daniel’s question.

He had deliberately scattered his blood around Reteil and burned a blue flame.

Daniel realized the air around them was much hotter than before.

“…You said it disappears when the sun rises. It wasn’t the light but the sun’s heat that drove it away.”

“The sun is rising now. We’ll stop it at the right moment.”

“What? That’s possible…?”

“For a short moment it’s possible. At that time, strike its face.”

Faced with the priest’s confident answer, Daniel fell silent.

After coming this far, he couldn’t back down now.

“I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

The priest nodded and began to walk toward Reteil.

Reteil, seemingly fatigued, stood and watched the priest walk toward it.

It was that moment.

─Gleam

The red-tinged morning sun poured down onto its crown.

As the light that had been pushing back the forest’s darkness streamed onto Reteil.

“Now.”

The priest tilted the tip of his sword toward Reteil and intoned.

“Talisman control ritual open. Shadow Bind.”