I...

　The female knight Elmia woke up with a severe headache, fatigue, and pain in both shoulders.

''What, what is this?!''

　Elmia was standing - no, she was standing.
　Chains were suspended from the ceiling and her hands were secured by restraints attached to the end of them.

　Both of her legs were also tied to the chains and restraints secured to the floor, making it almost impossible to move.

　The chains extending from the ceiling that restrained her hands were just long enough for Elmia to stand tall and just barely reach them, and if she didn't stand on her toes, her full weight would be on both shoulders.

''Ugh.''

　She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but both of her shoulders were dislocated as she was supporting her own weight with her shoulders alone while she was unconscious.

　Intense pain washed over her. She put pressure on her toes and managed to reduce the load on her shoulders.

　She tried to use the heel on herself, but the restraints seemed to have the power to block the magic, and she couldn't even release the magic, let alone activate it.

''What ... where ... where am I?''

　Even though she is a woman, Elmia is a holy knight who has endured rigorous training. Furthermore, she is so capable that she has risen to the position of the leader of the Holy Order.

　She controlled her body perfectly and held herself perfectly still even in the supposedly unstable position of standing on her toes. Thanks to this, the pain in my shoulder is much better.

　The pain is not completely gone since it is dislocated, but he has experienced dislocated shoulders many times, even in combat training.

　It hurt, but I managed to endure it.

''Se, Seira-sama?!''

　As she suppressed the pain, her awareness was turned to the being she was supposed to protect, rather than what was happening to her.

　A holy knight's mission is to protect the saint, even at the expense of himself. Protecting the saint takes precedence over everything else.

　Elmia was in a dark place where she could barely see her own limbs. She looks around, but for some reason, she can't focus and see in the distance. She wakes up and her consciousness is clear, but her senses, such as sight and hearing, are not working as well as they should.

　Has she been poisoned?
　If so, how and when did it happen?

　Elmia tried to remember the last memory she had before she woke up.

''As I recall Lady Seira and I were greeting the Priestess with Isha...''

　Elmia was planning to go with Seira and her daughter, Isha, a candidate for sainthood, to a sanctuary a short distance away from the Holy City of Sanctum.

　Isha was the most outstanding candidate for saint in the last few years. In order for her to become a saint, the current saint, Seira, had to baptize Isha at a spring in the sanctum sanctorum.

　Once the baptism was completed, and on Isha's sixteenth birthday, God of Creation allowed the replacement of the saint, she would be cleared to become a new saint.


　The last thing Elmia remembered was going to report to the priest that she was heading to the sanctuary.

　At that time, the holy wine that the priest served us to bless us on our way to the sanctuary - I don't remember after the three of us drank it at the same time as the priest urged us to do so.

　Don't tell me that the priest had us?
　Suddenly, such a thought occurred to him.

　However, the person Elmia and the others went to report to was a priest who had served the Holy City and Seira for fifty years.

　It was inconceivable to Hermia that he would betray Seira.

　Then why on earth........

　As I tried to sort out the situation, my vision was returning to normal.

　It was dark, but she managed to make out her surroundings. What Elmia saw in her eyes was──.

'Lady Sayla!'

　It was the figure of a saint, lying on a stone platform about waist height. There were no noticeable external injuries.

　Seira's hands and feet were attached to wooden restraints.

''Sayla-sama!　Are you safe?　Please wake up, Lady Seira!

　I called out many times, but Seira never woke up. I'm sure you'll find a similar stone platform next to the one on which Seira was lying, and over there was Isha, a candidate for sainthood.

　Isha, like Seira, has been bound hand and foot.

'Are you alright Isha!　Get up, get up!''

　No matter how many times I called out to them, they did not open their eyes. But their chests were moving up and down, so they were breathing. They were both alive.

　First of all, I am relieved that Seira is safe.

　Elmia looks around to assess the situation. This was a five-meter square windowless stone room.

　At the edge of the room, Elmia's holy armor was thrown away in a mess.

　There was a door in front of Elmia, and with the light that had slightly heaped through the gap, she managed to see the inside of the room.


　─ ─ Suddenly, the door opened.

''Shut up!　He's up already....

　He was blinded by the torchlight of the man who came in, as he stared frantically in the darkness.

　Still, I could figure out who he was by his voice.

''Duke Iffel.......do you know what you're doing!

　The one who appeared in front of Elmia was the Duke of Iffel, the ruler of this Holy City.

''What do you do?　Of course I do it knowingly. They're keeping the saints locked up.

　With that, the duke reaches for Seira's body.

''Don't!''

　The Duke withdrew his hand.
　He didn't follow Elmia's words, but the moment he was about to touch Seira, his hand was played by something.

''Tch, that's an abominable ward.''

　A saint is always protected by the Holy Wards.
　Duke Iffel's hand was played by it.

　But it's strange.

　By nature, the holy wards are not supposed to be in opposition to the human race.

　No matter what kind of a villain they are.

Duke, you're not suggesting...

　A part of Duke Ifer's body had changed when he was played by the holy wards covering Seira.

　The humanization on the right hand side that had touched the Holy Warding had dissolved, a horn had sprouted from the right side of his head, and his right eye had been dyed completely black.

　He was not a human.

''Ah, so the humanization has dissolved... well, while we're at it, let's introduce ourselves. My name is Guzion, I am a demon in the service of the Evil One.