Rukna looked down at the ground beneath her feet. A black fog hung like a shadow under her legs.

Rukna rotated her body, drew her sword, and swung it.

At the same time, an enormous holy power gushed out from her body. That power sparkled like stars under the early winter sun.

“Kie! It hurts! It hurts!”

The demon, which she had never seen before, screamed. Its face was like a Laplanus made of black clay.

Where the stamen should have been in the center, there were hundreds of teeth, and the thick stems under its neck wobbled like octopus legs.

The strange thing was that it spoke like a person.

Demons are not supposed to talk because they have no intelligence.

‘What is that thing?’

Come to think of it, she had learned about it in her divine studies class. A being that looks like a demon but has intelligence.

It was a devil.

‘Why is a devil here?’

Did Chad already break open the egg of the devil? But before she could ponder, a pair of tentacle-like pistils stretched out to grab Rukna.

Rukna quickly rolled to the side to avoid it.

Having missed its prey, it grabbed pieces of wooden roof instead and shoved them into its mouth.

“Yuck, it’s disgusting! I need to eat humans. Where are they, where are they!”

The eyeless devil seemed to search for its opponent by sound, stretching out its pistils and searching the surroundings thoroughly.

Rukna was about to quietly back away and look for an opportunity to attack.

Crack. A small piece of wood was stepped on under her shoe.

“Found you?”

Long pistils rushed towards Rukna.

Damn it! Rukna dodged and took a defensive stance. But the devil was faster.

It was different from the demons she usually faced. It was an unbelievably strong opponent.

She calculated that she would have to give up one of her wrists to save her life at this rate.

Slash! With the sound of air being cut, a blue light flashed and the devil’s body was split in half.

A soldier wielding an axe had cut its body.

An aura flowed from the axe that only those who had reached the master level could use.

There was such a skilled person in our camp? Rukna looked up at the helmeted opponent with blank eyes. The soldier’s face was not clearly visible with the sun behind them.

“Are you all right, Priestess?”

The soldier held out a hand. Hearing the voice, the soldier was a woman. Moreover, the voice was familiar.

‘Where have I heard this voice before?’

Rukna narrowed her eyes and carefully examined her savior’s face.

“Ah, I’m not a suspicious person.”

As the soldier took off her helmet, short black hair fluttered. Distinct features and blue eyes. This woman who resembled Matian was…

“Lady Mela Chamber?”

Rukna grabbed Mela’s hand, stood up, and greeted her.

She was a person who valued a woman’s demeanor and honor more than anyone else.

It was really surprising that such a woman had cut her hair short and worn armor instead of a skirt.

“Oh my, you know me?”

“Ah… yes. I heard about you somewhere before.”

Rukna glanced at Mela from time to time even while rescuing the children buried under the roof.

“Haha, I guess it wasn’t good rumors.”

On the other hand, Mela did not recognize her.

She probably never imagined that Rukna, who had been a man, would become a priestess.

“That’s right. I’m Mela Chamber. I’m the subject of those rumors about destroying the seeds of life and serving as a subordinate of the Red Eagle.”

It was a rumor Rukna was hearing for the first time. She didn’t know Mela had been the subject of such rumors after the Golden Plains incident.

Mela untied the lace handkerchief tied to the hilt of her sword and wiped the corners of her eyes.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Even after quite a long time has passed, I haven’t gotten used to those rumors. Will you believe me, Priestess? They’re all false rumors.”

“I know, Lady Mela.”

“What?”

“That they’re all false rumors. I know you were falsely accused, and that you were upright.”

Rukna spoke flatly while clearing away a pile of planks.

“Don’t be shaken by such rumors. Because I believe in you, Lady Mela.”

“…!”

Mela turned around just like that. And with her back to Rukna, she cleared away the collapsed roof pieces.

The pieces she moved to one side were full of tear stains.

To think her heart could flutter this much just because an unfamiliar priestess said some nice things to her.

‘What a sight I must be, really.’

Having regained her energy, Mela lifted the heavy planks up high.

Each time, Rukna quickly pulled out a child buried under the pile. The two worked quite well together.

“We, we survived! Yahoo!”

“Waaah. I won’t follow Maya anymore!”

The children were relieved, crying and sniffling.

Meanwhile, the girl, Maya, tightly held a sack of cornmeal in her hand and wouldn’t let go. She said it was a treasure she had found searching an empty house.

“Now that it’s come to this, let’s look for butter too!”

Maya said to the boys.

“Aren’t you scared at all, Maya?”

“The hero took care of the monster for us. So we have to do what we need to do.”

“What if it shows up again!”

“You stupid idiots. If you live with that attitude, you won’t be able to meet your mom and dad!”

Maya said something unexpected. Rukna and Mela stared at Maya.

“We have to be useful for our mom and dad to take us!”

“That’s a lie, your parents were eaten by demons.”

“Maya was just a smart-mouthed fool.”

“Wahhh!”

At the boys’ words, Maya finally burst into tears. I hate you guys! Maya ran towards a collapsed building, crying.

“Please take care of the remaining children, Mela.”

Rukna followed after the girl. As soon as the girl turned the corner of the building and disappeared from view, a scream was heard.

“Kyaah!”

“Maya!”

Rukna drew her sword and turned the corner. Chad was standing there.

A tentacle extending from his back had Maya’s body tightly wrapped.

“Shall this big brother let you meet your mom and dad?”

“Let me go, you ugly mister!”

“…This is why I hate kids.”

Chad tossed Maya into the air and then walked towards the devil’s corpse.

Rukna, who had barely caught Maya, evacuated the girl to a safe place and then became wary of Chad.

Mela glared at Chad who had appeared in front of her, breathing roughly.

Regardless of how the other party reacted, Chad knelt on one knee in front of the devil’s corpse.

“Say hello, Ruka. This is our mother.”

Still, she ate her fill of at least one village. She’s still as greedy as ever. Chad grinned looking at its corpse.

Mother? He had heard the palace maid who gave birth to him was dead, so it was strange.

“Ah, the foster mother who raised me. The one who engraved eternal love in me.”

Chad lifted the loose top he was wearing to reveal the traces of love. Long whip scars that had just begun to heal remained.

“I was so grateful for that, I tried using black magic, but it failed. Even a strong woman like my mother wasn’t enough to fully open the egg of the devil. She ended up being eaten by the devil and becoming a devil herself.”

He expressed in a roundabout way that he had used his foster mother as a sacrifice.

It wasn’t a complete failure. He said he had gotten a slight glimpse inside the devil’s egg, grinning at Rukna.

“Do you know what I saw in there?”

Before Chad could finish speaking, Rukna’s sword flew at him.

Oh my, he took a step back. Her sword glowing with holy power seemed like an even more threatening weapon than a sacred sword.

“Calm down, Ruka. I didn’t come here to fight, you see.”

“Die!”

“Please, you’re the prettiest when you’re thinking of me, Ruka.”

Just as Chad was smiling with satisfaction, his upper body toppled forward with an ugh sound.

The axe Mela had thrown was stuck in his back. Her eyes were full of hatred.

Dark red blood dripped from the open wound.

But that was momentary, his flat back squirmed and black tentacles popped out one by one from inside.

The wound that had looked fatal quickly disappeared between the tentacles.

“So Matian’s cousin was alive.”

You’d think she would have bitten her tongue in shame, but her life string was quite long indeed.

“I don’t have time so I’ll have to go now. Let’s meet again next time.”

Chad gave his farewell. His body turned into black sand and soon scattered into the air.

It rode the wind and flew past Rukna’s side.

In that fleeting moment, she heard Chad’s voice saying, “I saw the Black Scholar.”

Haha! The sound of his laughter faded away. Her face turning pale blue, Rukna couldn’t move from that spot.

As the western front led by Matian was quickly being taken care of, the tide was gradually turning in favor of the empire.

With the influx of demons from the west decreasing, the central region also quickly regained stability.

Rukna touched the cup of warm milk as she heard the hero’s continuous reports of victory.

To really call it a victory, the Chad of that day had been too relaxed.

Rukna thought about it. Why was he stirring up various places in the empire? Was there a reason he had to scatter the military? Or…

‘He might be creating sacrifices.’

It was said that the more negative emotions enveloped a sacrifice used for black magic, the more powerful the effect.

So he could be going around spreading chaos and picking out the most miserable victims.

‘Using his foster mother as a sacrifice, that bastard succeeded in breaking the seal on the devil’s egg.’

Now if he just prepared a suitable sacrifice, he would summon the Devil King to this land.

‘Is the world really going to end as Karzan’s Prophecy Book said?’

Rukna left the tent.

People were carrying luggage to return to the capital.

The children who usually followed Rukna saw her, smiled brightly, and ran over.

“Teacher, are you okay?”

“Have all your aches healed?”

It seemed the children had been worried after she took a few days off to rest after meeting Chad.

“Of course. The teacher is strong, you know. I got all better eating the scones you guys made.”

“I knew it! I told you that was the best recipe!”

“Stop it. It was Uncle Noum’s butter that helped.”

“Ah, the pretty big bro Noum who came to the teacher’s tent with a hammer?”

At the girl’s words, Rukna’s eyes grew wide. Big bro Noum?

“Someone that good-looking is an oppa, you know.”

Maya pointed to Noum, who was talking with Jerome in the middle of the camp.

Rukna stared blankly at his back for a moment and then called his name.

“…Aaron?”

Despite the small voice, he turned his head and stared at Rukna.

Aaron, who had gone from student council clerk to the owner of the Golden Plains, saw her and grinned.

His porcelain doll-like appearance was still beautiful. Rather than the title of Noum, the nickname ‘Earth Fairy’ suited him better.

“Rukna Golden.”

He called Rukna’s old name and approached her.

Aaron, who had known from the beginning that she was a woman, recognized Rukna who had become a priestess at a glance.

“You… remember me?”

“What are you talking about. You’re underestimating the memory of a prospective judge too much.”

Ah, now I should call her Priestess Rukna instead of Rukna Golden.

Aaron muttered like that and handed her a 1 rouble bill.

“Have you been well, Priestess Rukna?”

His way of speaking like the northern grand duke was the same as ever. Rukna smiled and looked down at the bill.

“It’s too small an amount for a greeting, Aaron.”

“It’s money I owe you.”

“You borrowed money from me?”

Rukna diligently took the bill and put it in her pocket.

Aaron smiled and twirled the hammer in his hand round and round. It was a nervous habit he did whenever he was embarrassed for no reason.

“I received a letter from Bolton. He said you’re marrying Matian soon.”

“What?”

A marriage story she didn’t know about herself was coming out of someone else’s mouth. Rukna jumped up.

Bolton, what the hell are you going around saying?