I’m a Holy Knight, but I Contracted with an Evil God - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 55.
Before the Vanisher Execution Knights who had raided the Shadow Marketplace could locate and seal the rear exit of the Auction House, the two of them slipped away into the forest path on the outskirts.
After running through the cool night air, Corbin came to a halt once he judged they had put sufficient distance between themselves and the Auction House, then surveyed the surroundings with careful attention.
While Corbin kept watch, Leon carefully unfolded the pages of the Ledger he had torn from his coat.
“No matter how many times I look at it, I can’t make sense of it.”
Corbin furrowed his brow and tilted his head.
Leon too had pored over this list many times, yet he could find no common thread among the names listed.
In fact, upon examining the names more closely, he realized his initial assumption that all of them were nobility had been utterly mistaken.
“Background, age, gender… there’s nothing in common. What could the criteria be?”
“I think finding that out will be our first objective.”
At Leon’s words, Corbin folded his arms and fell into contemplation once more.
After a moment of silence, Leon made a suggestion.
“Let’s try organizing them by region first.”
“And after we organize them?”
“We meet them in person. That would be better. We might see something in a face-to-face meeting that we can’t discern from a list alone.”
As he spoke, Leon pointed to several names on the list.
They were all names of nobility.
“We should leave the nobles for last, and postpone the Imperial Capital and its surroundings as well.”
“You’re right—all things considered, it’d be best to stay away from the Imperial Capital for a while after today.”
Corbin nodded heavily.
It was clear that everyone who had visited the Shadow Marketplace today would come under surveillance.
Unlike Leon, who had concealed his face behind a mask, Corbin had walked through the Shadow Marketplace with his face fully exposed.
There might be someone who remembered ‘Jack’ rather than Corbin.
“I’ll take the commoners. You handle the nobles.”
“Very well.”
Now that they had obtained the name Servalin, Leon would have a slight advantage over Corbin when approaching the nobility.
Scanning through the list with his eyes, Corbin asked.
“Which direction are you thinking?”
“I’m planning to head north first.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to make for the west.”
The north.
A harsh land of merciless cold.
And at the same time, the region where the Vanisher’s headquarters stood.
* * *
News that the Shadow Marketplace had fallen spread through the Imperial Capital faster than wildfire.
The report that the Shadow Marketplace had collapsed due to the ruthless intrusion of Wolfram Hagen—precisely, the Vanisher doctrine itself—shattered the peace of the entire Imperial Capital in a single night.
Since the collapse of the Shadow Marketplace meant the shameful secrets of the nobles who frequented it would be laid bare before the world, many nobles with clear guilt trembled at the thought of their leashes falling into the hands of the Vanisher, plunging into extreme chaos.
“The Ledger? What became of the Ledger!”
Members of the Vanisher Execution Knights ransacked every corner of the Auction House in desperate frenzy, but the confidential records they sought had already vanished.
Around the time the night of the Imperial Capital burned with an unseasonably cold and eerie heat that consumed the lamplight, Leon and Corbin stood before Aila.
Still bearing traces of blood and dust.
“So you lost the Tears of Advena?”
“I apologize.”
Aila’s gaze as she regarded the two men was cold, yet she pursued the matter no further.
As if what was lost was regrettable, but already beyond her grasp.
After all, Leon and Corbin had not returned empty-handed from the Shadow Marketplace.
Instead of needless recrimination, Aila’s eyes turned to a small pouch lying on the desk.
“Is this the ‘candy’?”
“Yes. Two pieces for one gold coin, or so they say. Quite the price for ordinary sweets.”
“It looks like plain candy on the surface, but the contents are apparently otherwise.”
Corbin laughed bitterly and opened the pouch on the desk, picking out one of the ‘candies’ inside.
He rolled it back and forth in his palm as he spoke.
“It wasn’t always such an insane price—two pieces for one gold coin. This started circulating in the Back Alleys about a year ago, and at first it was only four or five times the price of ordinary candy.”
“Four or five times ordinary candy prices still seems expensive enough for a food item in the Back Alleys, doesn’t it?”
At Aila’s observation, Corbin smiled bitterly and continued.
“True as that may be, it’s been an open secret since early distribution that this isn’t ordinary candy. The taste is sweet, they say, and it sharpens the mind and instills vitality.”
“Isn’t that just a stimulant?”
“If you only consider the benefits, yes.”
“Only the benefits? Are there side effects?”
“Yes. Quite severe ones, actually. The addiction is extremely high.”
Corbin set the candy back down on the desk.
At the same moment, his bitter smile deepened.
“A proper stimulant—stopping its use wouldn’t make the addiction fatally severe, would it? But this is different. It tastes honey-sweet, yet anyone who samples it even once cannot stop. The gulf between the vitality the candy provides and the crash when its effects wear off is so extreme that daily life becomes impossible, or so I’ve heard.”
Leon and Aila both furrowed their brows in unison.
In Corbin’s explanation, there lay a vicious malice—as if the substance had been deliberately engineered to corrode a user’s mind and collapse their entire existence.
Corbin ran a hand through the back of his hair and added to his account.
“Moreover, since this ‘candy’ appeared and addicts have multiplied considerably, the price has skyrocketed. What once sold for a handful of coppers now costs a gold coin for two pieces. At this rate, even the nobility are beginning to find it burdensome.”
“Did you uncover why the price spiked so suddenly? Could it be intentional—the supplier controlling distribution to create a monopoly?”
Cornering the market to create a monopoly, then raising prices in one sudden push, was a common ploy for destabilizing commerce.
But to Aila’s sharp question, Corbin shook his head.
“No. It seems to be simply a matter of material scarcity. That realization also revealed something else—that this candy’s composition is highly suspect. The material shortage began right after Tristan and Leon resolved the Eastern Disappearance Incident.”
At Corbin’s words, both Aila’s and Leon’s faces froze simultaneously.
They grasped what his statement implied.
“Are you suggesting the Eastern crisis and this candy’s materials are connected?”
“That is my suspicion, yes.”
Only then did Leon understand why Corbin had so readily agreed to investigate the Shadow Marketplace together.
He’d come forward to help far too easily—he must have had a separate investigation of his own.
After a heavy silence, Aila turned to Leon and asked.
“You said multiple traces of missing items were discovered in the Red Corridor? And signs of some unidentified experimentation as well?”
“Yes.”
“Could those missing items possibly be materials for the candy?”
Leon paused to think before answering.
“I believe it’s a possibility.”
…….
At Leon’s affirmation, both of them sank into thought again, their expressions hardening.
If this suspicion held truth, the matter became incomprehensibly grave.
It would mean heretical, profane substances manufactured in the Imperial Capital’s heart were corrupting the nobility.
【Do you truly believe that?】
‘Materials? Yes, I really do think so.’
Though Leon’s view on what precisely they were materials for differed from the other two.
Leon suspected that whatever had vanished during the Eastern crisis lay not in the candy itself, but mixed into Princess Lisaveta’s wine.
‘If what Corbin says is true, this candy might be connected to them as well.’
The ‘candy’ had merely been a pretext to draw Corbin into the Shadow Marketplace investigation, but the results showed he’d caught something far more substantial than intended.
After a prolonged silence, Aila shifted the conversation.
“I heard the Vanisher interfered. Were you discovered?”
“No. I crossed blades with a few of them, but they wouldn’t have recognized me.”
“And Leon?”
“I was wearing a mask, so they certainly couldn’t have identified me.”
Following Corbin’s assurance, Aila’s gaze swept across Leon’s face before falling away.
“Was Wolfram Hagen commanding the scene? As long as you didn’t encounter that madman, we’re clear.”
When Aila mentioned Wolfram Hagen, the Vice-Commander of the Vanisher Execution Knights, her tone carried a distinct note of displeasure.
They seemed to know each other personally, though their relationship was clearly far from amicable.
Leon spoke to Aila, who made no effort to conceal her negative feelings.
“What happened between you? I haven’t heard the reason.”
“A report was filed.”
“A report?”
“I don’t know the exact details either. But if the Vice-Commander of the Vanisher Execution Knights arrived at the scene leading his own forces, it must be something significant. I suspect with high probability that their target was this ledger.”
Saying this, Aila reached toward the ledger placed at one corner of the desk.
It was the ledger Leon and Corbin had smuggled out from the Auction House.
Though unintentional, by removing this ledger, Leon had punched a gaping hole in the Vanisher’s investigation.
Satisfied by this, a crooked smile played across Aila’s lips.
“And it contains not just the Auction House’s transactions, but detailed records of dealings throughout the Marketplace. This isn’t merely an auctioneer’s ledger—it’s a complete record of the entire Shadow Marketplace. It should make for excellent evidence.”
“Ah, speaking of which.”
“What is it?”
“I think it would be worth investigating the nobility who purchased the candy based on this ledger.”
“But for the time being, most of the nobility will likely be rattled. With the Marketplace overturned, all their supply routes for candy will have dried up.”
“Yes, so I’m thinking of investigating regions outside the Imperial Capital first.”
At Corbin’s words, Aila scanned the ledger and looked between the two of them alternately.
“Looking at the ledger, aside from the Imperial Capital, most purchasers are concentrated in the Northern and Western Regions. Who will go where?”
“Leon will head to the Northern Region, and I’ll go to the Western Region. It’s been a long time since I’ve visited home.”
With those words, Corbin glanced at Leon, and Leon nodded in agreement.
The moment the decision solidified, a wry smile crossed Aila’s lips.
“The Northern Region, then. Leon, you’ll travel with the Vanisher.”
“But the Vanisher Execution Knights turned the Shadow Marketplace inside out. Won’t they have plenty to do in the Imperial Capital?”
At Leon’s confused objection, Aila’s smile grew even more crooked.
“It was the Execution Knights who overturned the Shadow Marketplace. Eckhardt Eisen, the High Priest who accompanied you for your adoption registration, will need to return to the Vanisher’s main headquarters. Tag along with them and find out what they know.”
“Is that even possible?”
“It’s possible. I’ll send a cooperation request. They won’t be able to refuse.”
This was an opportunity.
A chance to learn about the Vanisher and the Execution Knights—the organization that cursed bastard Kaius belonged to.
“Understood.”
Leon replied with a cold satisfaction playing at the corner of his mouth.
The opportunity had arrived sooner than expected, and in a form more perfect than he’d dared hope.
Continued in the next chapter ▶
A Holy Knight Who Made a Contract with an Evil God
Author
Ram Dat
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
March 27, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227066
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※ Pentagram welcomes your precious manuscripts.

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