I’m a Holy Knight, but I Contracted with an Evil God - Chapter 19

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 19.
【Locked in, are we.】
“I’m actually fine with it.”
【Optimistic, then.】
“I’m avoiding group training, after all. The captain’s recognition means a few jealous types will obviously make trouble—this way I sidestep it.”
【You think letting them stew alone for a few days will settle things?】
“That too, and… I think I’ve picked up an ally.”
Leon recalled Sirent, who had protested the confinement on his behalf while he spoke—all because Aila had deemed it his punishment.
Perhaps she’d been deeply impressed by how he’d dealt with the Corrupted Being in Acalon; she was now insisting the penalty against him was unjust.
Despite it being none of her concern.
【That spear wielder?】
“Yeah. At least now I won’t have to worry about scheming from behind the scenes.”
He’d never been the type to silently accept harassment, but if someone could head off that trouble before it started, that was preferable.
Better to prevent annoying situations from arising in the first place.
【She seems quite curious.】
“Seems like it. Still, she’s got decent prospects ahead of her.”
【You said you knew her face?】
“Yeah. Probably won’t make Elite Knight in the end, but she’ll still carve out a position for herself—no harm in getting to know her.”
Leon recognized Sirent because she would eventually rise to become vice-captain of the 2nd Knight Order.
Given how Elite Knight Candidacies worked—a position that only opened when a senior Elite Knight died—many Candidates gave up midway through the grueling apprenticeship.
Leon suspected Sirent was one such case.
He’d never seen her during his own apprentice days, yet she’d suddenly appeared and risen through the ranks at an extraordinary pace.
“Seeing as she was originally an Elite Knight Candidate, the captain must have had her marked from the start.”
【So she’s in a similar position to that weak one?】
“Efricio? A bit different, but… close enough. It’s not what I should be focusing on right now anyway.”
The solitary cell Leon had been assigned as punishment was what the Church of Light called the Chamber of Silence—a sort of penitent’s cell containing only a single-person bed and a small desk, cramped enough to hold nothing more.
The only light came from a small gap no larger than a palm pressed against the ceiling.
A faint beam of sunlight seeping through that opening was the entirety of the room’s illumination.
It was precisely the sort of place suited for penance or meditation.
At the same time, it was ideal for solitude.
Leon pushed his belongings to one side and sat down on the floor.
【What are you planning?】
“What I do in the Chamber of Silence is my own business, isn’t it?”
Leon replied to Ecrisie that way before beginning to regulate his breathing.
It was a standard Breathing Technique he’d learned from the Church before his regression.
After some time, a faint light began to gather across the back of Leon’s left hand.
【Ho. I see. You intend to refine the Chaos you absorbed from that Corrupted Being.】
“Right. And what you showed me in Acalon too.”
Thanks to absorbing from the Corrupted Being, the Chaos contained within his Stigma had grown slightly.
He meant to internalize the Sense Sharing that Ecrisie had taught him there, building on that foundation.
This newfound sense would grant Leon fresh perspective.
“……Hah……”
As Leon’s breathing deepened, his senses awakened anew.
He strained to recall the sensation Ecrisie had shared, reliving it from memory.
This time, through Leon’s strength alone.
And.
“……!”
As if a sixth sense were opening, his entire nervous system bristled.
Just as in Acalon, a sensation spider-web thin and exquisitely delicate flooded the confined room.
The range was narrower than when Ecrisie had shared it, but the density was far greater.
【Impressive. You grasped the method quickly.】
The admiration that spilled out was uncharacteristic of Ecrisie—something Leon didn’t even notice.
He was too busy growing accustomed to the flood of new sensations.
The Church’s stronghold felt different now that his sense had awakened.
A density of something in the air entirely different from Acalon.
Leon knew instinctively what it was.
The same thing he’d absorbed through his Stigma in Elderit and Acalon—unfamiliar still, yet beginning to feel familiar.
The quantity was infinitesimal, yet unmistakably present.
“This isn’t a Corrupted zone, yet there’s… Chaos in the very air?”
Unable to find a better term, he called it Chaos.
But that improvised name was apt.
What Leon had newly discovered in the air was exactly the same as Chaos.
The quantity was desperately minute, yet its presence was undeniable.
【Of course. Absolutely.】
“You said Chaos is the substance that forms the foundation of your world, didn’t you? So why is it in the air of this world?”
【Chaos is the substance that comprises my world, so it stands to reason that it would be mixed into the atmosphere that comprises that world, no?】
“What does Chaos being in the atmosphere here have to do with Chaos being in the atmosphere of my world?”
【The relationship between worlds is fluid. Through that, the atmospheres of two worlds naturally intermingle at microscopic levels. This is entirely normal.】
At Ecrisie’s explanation, Leon focused his attention on the minute Chaos before his eyes.
Chaos, which only became visible after heightening his senses, drifted like dust motes beneath sunlight—barely a speck in quantity, yet so ubiquitous that it existed everywhere in the room.
“If this is a normal amount… does it become lethal enough to spawn Corrupted Beings when something like this clumps together?”
【It’s difficult to clump naturally. But if someone artificially bundles it together, then yes, it would.】
“Artificially…”
【Yes. Didn’t you witness it yourself?】
At Ecrisie’s words, Leon recalled what he had experienced in Elderit’s sealed sanctuary after his regression.
And with it came the realization that the tragedy of Elderit he had witnessed before regressing—was in fact a manipulated incident orchestrated by someone’s hands.
And a new thought began to surface.
“Come to think of it, about Acalon…”
【What?】
“The Phantom Tree we found in Acalon was probably the same ones’ doing as what happened in Elderit, right?”
【I can’t deny it. Acalon is a decaying village managed by Arseriel’s offspring, isn’t it?】
“Right. The Church of Light manages Acalon. For training Elite Knights.”
【Then the fact that so significant a Corrupted Being remains there means only one thing.】
“That there are similar ones within the Church itself?”
【That’s quite likely.】
His mouth turned bitter.
It was partly because the suspicion he’d harbored was proving true, but also because the reality felt far fouler than he’d anticipated.
Unclean hands had touched the place where he’d spent twenty years before his regression.
“The Church of Light could be behind this.”
【Claiming the entire Church is complicit seems premature. Isn’t it more likely that there are merely a few rats among them?】
“Those rats could be more numerous than we think. Besides, I was sent to that village in the first place because of a Church assignment.”
【Was that so?】
“It was. The mission was to retrieve you.”
【You? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.】
“Now that I think about it, that’s strange.”
The Oracle—Arseriel—why did they want the Church of Light to obtain Ecrisie?
“When I went to the village, I didn’t think it strange. I just figured it was another tiresome errand. I had no idea the sword I was supposed to bring back harbored an evil spirit.”
【It certainly is strange. If the order came not merely from the Church but from an Oracle, then Arseriel should also be capable of sensing my existence.】
“Can you sense Arseriel’s presence?”
【I cannot.】
“Why not? You said you and Arseriel are of equal rank. Shouldn’t you at least be able to do what Arseriel can do?”
【I slept for a very long time until you awakened me. It’s true that Arseriel and I are not fundamentally different, but my current self is incomparably diminished compared to my prime.】
“You mean you’re unable to do it because your power has weakened?”
【Stubborn one. Did you need to put it so bluntly?】
Leon listened in silence as Ecrisie bristled indignantly, and only after the edge had eased from his tone did he speak again.
“Ecrisie.”
【What.】
“Do you remember that Western Ecology Report we saw in Archive Section 2?”
【The one with the strange title that you mentioned?】
“Yeah, that one.”
【I remember. Wasn’t that when you said you’d steal the Librarian’s Key?】
“I said I’d borrow it, not steal it.”
【And the librarian lending you that key would know nothing of it, presumably.】
“Oh, now we’re synchronized?”
At Ecrisie’s somewhat peevish tone, Leon wore a crooked smile.
【Planning to go back?】
“Yeah. Something about it feels off.”
【The title was certainly absurd. Even more so to leave something like that in a warded location.】
“And I have a reason for it—I’ve just thought of an interesting hypothesis.”
【A hypothesis?】
“Right, hypothesis. You said the title ‘Western Ecology Report’ was absurd, didn’t you? Especially for a document kept in Zone 2.”
【That’s true.】
“What if that title wasn’t camouflage?”
【What do you mean?】
“I mean, what if it were actually a report about… this?”
As he spoke, Leon gazed at the Chaos drifting before his eyes.
Fine as dust, yet emanating a power far too immense to call mere dust.
“Chaos dispersed through the air. The quantity is minute, but according to your logic, this state is ‘natural,’ isn’t it? And if it’s natural, couldn’t we say this Chaos also constitutes another ecosystem that makes up this world?”
【That’s not wrong.】
“Then, if the Church—failing to properly understand Chaos—classified it as something unknowable and decided to investigate it? That would explain why a mere ecology report is kept separately in Zone 2.”
【…That’s a fairly plausible theory.】
“Right? Though it’s all speculation, of course.”
【A plausible speculation, though.】
“Well, it could be something else entirely, but that’s what comes to mind for now.”
【It certainly seems worth examining again.】
“So as soon as the confinement ends, let’s ‘borrow’ the Archive keys from the Librarian.”
【Without the Librarian’s knowledge, naturally?】
“Ah, come on—let’s not sweat the small details!”
* * *
On the morning of the fourth day, the moment Leon stepped out of the Chamber of Silence, it wasn’t his fellow candidates waiting for him but a summons from Commander Aila.
Called to her private office the instant his confinement was lifted, Leon found the space as austere and meticulously ordered as its occupant’s temperament.
“Did the confinement suit you?”
“I had plenty of time to think, at least.”
“Then your thinking should be finished.”
He noticed something faintly amused flickering in her gaze.
Aila drew something from her desk drawer and tossed it onto the table before him with a clink.
The small iron-sealed box made a light metallic sound as it landed—solid steel binding it shut.
“A recently acquired Contaminated Object. Barely reaches Grade 6, let alone Grade 5.”
Leon said nothing, his eyes moving between the box and Aila’s face.
He grasped the meaning, but to speak first would be a mistake.
After a moment of silence, Aila finally opened her mouth.
“Honestly, I arrived at the chapel mere seconds too late that day to verify it myself. You Purified a Grade 4 Corrupted Being, so this should be easy, shouldn’t it? Try. I need to know how your Stigma moves.”
Continued in next chapter ▶
Holy Knight With a Contract to an Evil God
Author
Ram Dah
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing House
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
March 27, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227066
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violations are subject to criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes your precious manuscripts.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————