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When a woman of a certain level of attractiveness is sitting alone in a tavern, there’s always something that happens.

“Hey, pretty lady. Isn’t it lonely drinking alone?”

Pretty flowers attract butterflies. Especially in a tavern where light and darkness mix just right to blur perception and loosen people’s rationality, it’s even more inevitable.

“Don’t drink alone like a sad sack, why don’t you join us for some fun?”

“Oh? Are you flirting with me right now?”

Three men approached Hildegard, who was out drinking in casual clothes.

Even as they blatantly showed signs of getting too close, Hildegard didn’t seem the least bit annoyed. Instead, she smiled with interest, her eyes narrowing as she looked over the men who were hitting on her.

Hildegard wasn’t very fluent in Andalusian, but these things usually work through nuance anyway. The men, noticing her suggestive gaze, laughed crudely and naturally sat down next to her.

Hildegard didn’t stop them, smirking as she put down her glass.

“If you’re sitting next to me after saying all that, I guess you’re up for a drink? Here, take a glass!”

“Oh, oh! Offering drinks as soon as we sit down? You’re a bold one, aren’t you? Alright, let’s have a drink!”

With Hildegard, who loved her drinks, and the men who approached her to flirt, the atmosphere quickly heated up.

Some tried to sneak in shoulder touches, dirty jokes, or even sexual harassment, but Hildegard skillfully deflected their attempts, using them as entertainment to liven up the drinking session.

Naturally, the flirting men couldn’t help but realize.

‘This woman is a pro.’

They hesitated for a moment, debating whether to continue their advances or stop. But it was brief. Hildegard’s beauty caught their eyes. Her cool, imperial demeanor, sharp features, and a well-toned body from martial arts were rare even in Cadiz, a city with a lot of movement.

That eliminated the option of giving up.

“Hey, miss. After we leave here, how about we treat you to a second round?”

“Hah, why are you asking the obvious? Are you just going to drink and wipe your mouth?”

Though they didn’t understand each other’s words, they exchanged opinions through nuance. As soon as the bottles on the table were empty, they got up.

As the men got up, offering to treat her to a second round, Hildegard quietly thought.

‘These guys, they smell faintly of demons.’

Though Hildegard was a heavy drinker who enjoyed binges, she was still a Nun Knight affiliated with the Paladins. Once she detected traces of demons, ignoring them wasn’t an option.

‘Well, I’ll play along with these guys for now and see where the demonic presence is coming from.’

Of course, they couldn’t stay in Cadiz for days, so if things didn’t work out, she planned to just confirm the demon’s traces and report it to the Cadiz church. The Templars or Nun Knights active in Hiberia would handle it. That was her thought.

But her judgment changed the moment they approached a building that seemed to be the men’s hideout.

The hideout’s location was cunning. It was close enough to the slums that thugs coming and going wouldn’t raise eyebrows, yet far enough to avoid detection by priests who often visited the slums for charity or medical services.

From the hideout, Hildegard sensed an unmistakably strong demonic presence, and she couldn’t help but frown.

‘Is the presence concentrated in such a small area to avoid detection by the local priests? Besides, unless they’re oddballs like me, clergy wouldn’t frequent taverns. And this presence is foul. I can’t just leave this to others now.’

The area where the presence was felt and the hideout’s location were both carefully placed to avoid the daily routes of the church’s priests.

‘Was it a coincidence? Hah, no way.’

A sense of malice was palpable. This was definitely the work of demons.

‘It was lucky I wasn’t dressed as a priest or nun.’

There are many theories about the foresight of spirits, but both spirits and clergy agree that their foresight isn’t omnipotent. If this place had been left alone, there was no guarantee that the Templars or Nun Knights of Hiberia would easily detect and come to investigate.

Even Ariel beside her didn’t seem to notice the demonic presence until she saw it directly.

‘The range of the presence is being controlled so skillfully. Maybe it’s a creature with the ability to evade foresight and detection.’

Thinking it was getting troublesome, she slowly began to stretch.

“Huh? Pretty lady, what are you doing all of a sudden?”

One of the men accompanying her asked, puzzled by Hildegard’s sudden actions. Hildegard subtly creased her lips and replied.

“I just thought of something I need to do now.”

“Huh?”

*Whack.*

A strike that curved like a snake. Its tip accurately hit various points connected to the man’s spine. Blood flow, breathing, nerve signals, balance, and spatial awareness—all were perfectly disrupted by the blow.

Without even a sound, the man fainted and slumped to the ground. The suddenness of her actions and the resulting situation left the other men momentarily stunned, their expressions blank.

“What the… what’s going on!?”

“Marco’s been attacked!”

Before they could recover from their shock, Hildegard, with her fist clenched, had already closed the distance to within a hand’s breadth.

The sound of strikes followed. Close-range punches aimed at the vital points of the two remaining men. In the next moment, Hildegard’s back fist naturally struck the temples of the staggering men.

Like before, the men lost consciousness and fell. With all three men down, Hildegard began assembling the halberd she had hidden at her waist.

The three-sectioned pole, axe, spearhead, and hook came together to form the halberd she usually wielded.

After a test swing to ensure it was properly assembled, Hildegard checked her condition. Her physical state and the weapon’s condition were both fine. Though still a bit tipsy, her body was nicely warmed up. The only thing bothering her was,

“Not wearing armor is a bit concerning.”

But she had inner armor under her tunic, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. With that thought, Hildegard gripped her halberd and prepared to charge into the building ahead.

True to its reputation as a thug hideout, the building had guards. They appeared to stop Hildegard as she charged in with her weapon.

But mere thugs with weapons were no match for Hildegard. She quickly knocked them all down and headed straight for the source of the demonic presence.

The building was three stories tall. The demonic presence and power were emanating from the third floor. Finally reaching the third floor, Hildegard smashed through the entrance and found herself in a spacious hall.

The sight that greeted her made her stomach churn.

The room was filled with rising smoke and a strange scent. Men and women, intoxicated and disheveled, lay scattered around.

‘Did they have a drug party or something?’

Hildegard looked around with a disgusted expression and swung her halberd without hesitation. With a crunching sound, large holes were made in the walls, letting in fresh air and clearing out the drug-filled atmosphere.

Even if her body, refined and sanctified by Light Power, couldn’t be affected by drugs, it was a precaution against any unforeseen situations.

“Tsk.”

Clicking her tongue, Hildegard knocked out the intoxicated individuals one by one and headed straight for the source of the demonic presence.

There, she found a statue of an unknown material, shaped like the head of a bizarre beast.

“Looking at the horns, is it a deer? No, the head shape resembles a canine.”

After briefly examining the statue, Hildegard gave up. Whatever. Though she was knowledgeable about the old gods of the Pantheon, she was essentially a field combat Nun Knight. Interpreting and deciding how to handle such objects was the job of other church orders.

And among the Templars and Nun Knights affiliated with the Paladins, there was a standard protocol for dealing with such objects.

Seal it.

As Hildegard made her decision, her body began to ripple with silvery-white Light Power. The Light Power, intensified from her time with Sophia, was filled with an unwavering resolve to tolerate no evil.

The light emanating from the Nun Knight extended towards the statue. As she guided the light, Hildegard thought that maybe this could be wrapped up without much trouble. She planned to envelop the statue in Light Power and seal it with a sealing technique.

But then.

In an instant, a shockwave pushed Hildegard’s body and spirit back. Even with her body protected by Light Power, she had to take five steps back to absorb the impact. When she steadied herself and looked ahead, the statue was gone.

Instead, there was a swirling black current accompanied by a scream-like laughter, and countless shadows flickering with the shaking light. And within those shadows, glowing lights—no, the eyes of beasts.

Soon, the laughter mixed with the growls and barks of dogs, and the cries of deer. When the laughter finally ceased, only the growling breath of a dog remained.

Finally, the enemy revealed itself, and Hildegard’s expression turned to disbelief.

“What did you do? No, what are you?”

What stood before her had antlers like branches, fur as black as night, and eyes that glowed blood-red. The demon that emerged from the shadows of the hall resembled Cernunnos Tibićena, the horned spirit of death that had caused trouble at the Spell Tower earlier.

+++++

It was around the time Sophia and her group were starting to wonder about Hildegard’s absence. Suddenly, Light Power condensed before them, forming a figure. It was none other than Ariel, the spirit who had been accompanying Hildegard. She looked unusually urgent.

Sensing something ominous, Esiocles asked.

“Aren’t you Ariel, the spirit accompanying Knight von Wolfstein? Where is she now?”

At Esiocles’ question, Ariel finally spoke, urgently conveying something. The group soon understood the gravity of the situation and jumped to their feet.

[……! ……!!!]

“What!? A demon? And Knight von Wolfstein is in danger!?”

Esiocles exclaimed in shock. Though she didn’t make a sound, Sophia also swallowed a sigh at the urgency of the situation.

Nun Knight Hildegard Ritter von Wolfstein. She was now in grave danger.

 

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