I’m a Holy Knight, but I Contracted with an Evil God - Chapter 6

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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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Episode 6.
Before departing for the Church of Light Headquarters, Leon stopped by the village at Raphio’s behest to gather his belongings, but as someone who had lived off the charity of the entire town, the only thing Leon had to collect was an Old Sword that Ecrijae inhabited.
Fortunately, Raphio seemed not to have noticed anything about Ecrijae.
‘Fortunately, Father seems to believe that the sword you inhabit is just a worn-out heirloom.’
【I told you, it won’t be discovered.】
‘Apparently the Evil God’s credibility leaves much to be desired.’
【Credibility? If you don’t trust this body, then whom do you trust?】
‘Isn’t it less persuasive for a Holy Knight to take an Evil God’s words at face value?’
【It seems you are in need of cultivating reverence toward the divine.】
‘It’s hard to speak of reverence when you look this pathetic right now.’
【Insolent! Whose fault do you think my current state is?】
‘Mine, wasn’t it?’
From Elderit to the center of the Arsera Mountain Range where the Church of Light’s stronghold stood took a full week, and while Leon navigated Raphio’s scrutiny and bickered endlessly with Ecrijae, those seven days passed swiftly.
Exactly one week later, Leon and Raphio arrived at the Church of Light Headquarters.
“This is where you’ll be living from now on.”
Before a building that stood for more than a century, twenty years felt like yesterday, so Leon found himself feeling a familiar ease as he gazed upon the headquarters rising before him.
A knight guarding the gate recognized Raphio and bowed his head.
“May the Light guide you to peace.”
“May the Light be with you.”
After the customary greeting passed between them, the knight spoke.
Curiosity was evident in his tone.
“Father, is that boy…….”
“Indeed.”
It was a brief exchange, but unlike in his previous life, Leon understood its meaning at once.
The knight was asking Raphio whether Leon was the subject of the Oracle.
And Raphio had affirmed it.
“Please, come inside. Everyone is waiting.”
Beyond the gate stood a young, apprentice priest waiting for both Raphio and Leon.
Following the apprentice priest’s guidance, the two arrived at the Sanctuary.
As if anticipating their arrival, the Sanctuary was quite crowded despite the early hour.
“Ah! Father Raphio. Welcome.”
Stepping forward with considerable fanfare was the High Priest Elmuer.
Behind him stood the Holy Knight Barcel, as still as a statue at his side.
The gazes of the priests lined up in the back were a mixture of curiosity, reverence, and suspicion.
“This child is precisely…….”
Just as the High Priest Elmuer’s admiring gaze began to drift toward Leon, Barcel stepped in front of him.
“I do not mean to doubt Father Raphio’s ability, but we must observe the prescribed procedure. If this child is indeed the subject of the Oracle, he ought to demonstrate proof before Arseriel.”
“But, Commander Barcel!”
“Protocol is protocol.”
Barcel spoke thus and cast a displeased look over Leon once more.
Seeing that lukewarm reaction, Leon himself found it difficult to hide his disdain.
【What’s this man’s problem, stirring up trouble like that?】
‘He’s not exactly wrong, but I don’t like that it has to be Barcel.’
【What do you mean, not wrong?】
‘He’s just confirming whether my Stigmata is genuine. It’s a necessary check.’
No matter that Leon was a Stigmata manifestor brought directly by Raphio, the Oracle’s custodian, some minimum verification was required.
Especially from a stickler for rules like Barcel.
The High Priest Elmuer cleared his throat awkwardly, but Barcel’s expression remained as unyielding as stone.
In the end, the High Priest Elmuer had no choice but to nod.
“Commander Barcel is right. Protocol is indeed important.”
The moment Elmuer’s words fell, a purification priest who had been waiting beside the altar approached carefully, bearing a golden tiara on a velvet cushion.
Leon recognized this tiara as well—he had seen it in his previous life.
The Golden Glory, one of the Sacred Artifacts of Arseriel directly managed by the Church of Light.
As Leon moved toward the tiara, Barcel’s sharp gaze fixed on the bundle of cloth Leon was clutching.
“You should set down your baggage.”
His intent to find fault at any cost was transparent, but this time too, his words held merit.
However, this time Leon could not comply with Barcel’s suggestion.
The bundle of cloth Barcel indicated was the cloth wrapping the Old Sword that Ecrijae inhabited.
‘All the better.’
【What are you planning to do now?】
‘Before your formal promotion to Holy Knight within the Church, you cannot carry personal weapons. I need a pretext for you.’
He already had one prepared.
The excuse he’d given to Raphio.
Leon deliberately bit his lip and lowered his head.
“It’s difficult, sir. It’s a keepsake from my father.”
Through Raphio, he’d confirmed that no one within the Church could see through Ecrijae’s true nature.
So the remaining problem was the premise that ‘Ecrijae must be carried everywhere.’
Though Leon was on the taller side for his age, no fourteen-year-old boy carrying a blade nearly his own height at all times would strike anyone as ordinary.
The excuse of a family keepsake would serve remarkably well.
【You intend to establish me as a family heirloom?】
‘It’s cleaner this way. To avoid needless scrutiny, this much is necessary.’
【You’re accustomed to deception—your earlier performance showed it. Not a single blink.】
‘What do you mean by that?’
【That you’re nothing like a proper Holy Knight.】
‘Is that praise or an insult?’
【Obviously an insult. What else would it be?】
Leon kept his face impassive despite Ecrijae’s barb.
Barcel had not taken his eyes off Leon.
“……A keepsake, then.”
“After all, a blade with so many chips can barely be called a weapon at all, sir. I humbly ask your permission.”
Leon bowed with even greater deference.
Rigid men like Barcel always lost their words when courtesy was sufficiently shown.
“Hmm.”
As expected, Barcel’s expression remained disapproving, but he stopped lecturing.
Even someone as strict as Barcel found it uncomfortable to press further when a Stigmata bearer claimed family sentiment as reason.
Especially before Elmuer the High Priest, known for his emotional sensitivity.
【A surprisingly weak excuse that works nonetheless.】
‘Because I’m not the first.’
He knew of several others who claimed family keepsakes as justification for personal possessions.
Though Leon’s claimed heirloom was unusually large, it wasn’t as though no other believers had carried weapons under the same pretext.
【How many carry swords?】
‘Two, from what I recall.’
With Leon added, that made three.
Not a large number, yet not so small as to be exceptional.
“A keepsake from family, then. Well, what can be done? So it is.”
Beside him, High Priest Elmuer nodded in agreement, adding his voice.
Elmuer Laitel—the High Priest known for his weakness toward sentiment, doubly so for matters of family.
Though he had a reputation for being somewhat simple-minded, he was remarkably susceptible to appeals to emotion.
“……At minimum, lay it at your feet.”
Barcel added this with a distinctly unhappy expression.
Instead of complying at once, Leon turned to Ecrijae with a question.
‘For me to draw your power through the Stigmata, do we need to be touching?’
【It depends. How much do you need?】
‘Enough to provoke a reaction in the Sacred Artifact.’
【That much requires only proximity.】
After receiving confirmation, Leon laid Ecrijae at his feet.
Elmuer, who had been waiting for Leon to adjust his posture, spoke.
“Bow your head a bit lower.”
Leon obediently inclined his head.
Under the scrutiny of three observing priests and Barcel, the golden tiara was lowered onto Leon’s head.
In the moment the tiara’s cool, sacred aura spread through his body from the crown of his head, Leon felt a pressure as though his breath had stopped.
‘Is this how it always felt?’
Despite having experienced this before, the aura emanating from the sacred tiara felt distinctly different from his memory.
Was it Ecrijae’s presence?
The instant Leon perceived the dissonance, his heart froze with a chill he’d never known.
But—
【Did you grow nervous?】
‘There’s no reason. You said you were confident, didn’t you?’
【Of course I was.】
‘……All right, then…….’
There was no other choice.
Leon swallowed hard, steeling his resolve one final time.
The moment Ecrijae finished speaking, a familiar sensation rose from the ground beneath Leon’s feet, climbing upward through his body.
And then, the next instant.
Burst!
From the tiara, which bore no adornment whatsoever, a brilliance so dazzling it was hard to open one’s eyes erupted skyward.
The light filled the entire Sanctuary with warmth and sacred pressure.
Thus far, the process resembled what Leon remembered from his previous life.
‘The reaction is stronger than intended.’
But that was better, actually.
The more violently the tiara responded, the more it demonstrated the excellence of Leon’s innate Holy Power.
In truth, during the Stigma manifestation ceremony before his return, Leon had drawn forth only the faintest glimmer from the tiara.
A light so pathetically dim for someone bearing the mark of a Stigmata bearer.
‘Perfect—’
It was precisely as Leon was about to withdraw his Holy Power that the anomaly occurred.
“Ah, ah, no!”
“How is this possible?”
“My goodness….”
“The Sacred Artifact is responding….”
After the light that had streamed from the tiara dimmed, golden petals rained down from the heavens—appearing as if from nowhere.
Golden petals.
A phenomenon that manifested only when a Sacred Artifact produced a proper response.
‘…Ecrijae, was that you?’
【What?】
‘The petals. All I wanted was to trigger a response from the Sacred Artifact.’
【No. I merely granted you the power you desired, nothing more.】
During this same ceremony in his previous life, Leon had managed only to make the tiara glow faintly.
That feeble response had served only to prove the Stigmata was genuine—it had not drawn forth the “true” reaction of the Sacred Artifact.
But this time, the tiara had shown a “proper response.”
Why?
What Leon had wanted was deception.
True, he had no intention of ending with such a pathetic display as before, but neither had he meant to attract this degree of attention.
Yet this was a miracle that had far transcended the scope of the “display” he’d intended.
‘…Was this the source of that discomfort I felt earlier?’
【Discomfort?】
‘The tiara’s impression felt different from what I remembered. I didn’t expect the Sacred Artifact to produce such a genuine response.’
Like other gods, Arseriel was not a deity who maintained frequent communion with her believers.
Arseriel’s will was conveyed only through Oracles, and only by way of the Oracle’s administrator.
Even those Oracles were so steeped in metaphor that Leon had been confident he could deceive only Raphio’s eyes, remaining hidden from everyone else in the Church.
But this was unexpected.
【Is this not how it typically responds?】
‘No. A response this spectacular comes once every hundred years or so.’
The last time the tiara had produced such a reaction during a Stigmata verification ceremony was a hundred years ago, when the Holy Saint Ilya Lihardt appeared.
In other words, for those around him to witness such a response was, perhaps, entirely natural.
“…Oh….”
“My goodness….”
“How can this be….”
Gasps of amazement and wonder erupted from all corners of the chamber.
The three observing priests documented the scene with eyes filled with reverence, and even Barcel, whose face had been set in displeasure, widened his eyes in astonishment.
Elmuer, whose sensibilities ran deep, was on the verge of fainting.
‘…I cannot explain it.’
Yet the situation was not unfavorable.
It appeared he had presented a far more impressive display than he’d intended.
More than that—it was excellent.
For High Priest Elmuer spoke to Leon as if he were about to kneel before him.
“Oh, Arseriel, your grace flows as boundless as the sea.”
The already emotional man could not contain his overwhelming feelings and was nearly weeping.
Leon, burdened by a grave sense of pressure, helped High Priest Elmuer to his feet, yet he could not prevent Elmuer from suddenly pulling him into an embrace.
“See! Arseriel has not abandoned us! The Oracle…, the Oracle spoke true!”
Still holding Leon in his arms, Elmuer cried out toward Raphio.
“Raphio, your faith was vindicated. This child is…, this child is proof that Arseriel has not abandoned us, and the answer to our most fervent prayers!”
The man, already emotional by nature, could barely contain the surge of feeling—he was nearly wailing.
It seemed he might lose consciousness altogether.
Unable to watch further, Raphio stepped forward to restrain Elmuer.
“You’ll exhaust yourself. Please, compose yourself.”
“Ah, forgive me. I was overcome and spoke recklessly.”
“Is there anything else needed? The child has traveled far and must be exhausted in body and spirit.”
Raphio smiled gently at Elmuer, who was still trembling, and spoke with measured kindness.
It was a good intervention.
“Ah yes, quite right. Is there anything else?”
At Raphio’s prompt, Elmuer seemed to recall himself and looked around, addressing the observing priests.
The observing priests confirmed that all essential procedures had been completed, and the entire ceremony appeared to be concluding smoothly without incident.
Elmuer, the High Priest, and all the other priests still gazed at Leon with faces alight with reverence, unable to tear their eyes away.
Yet Leon detected something else among those stares—a single discordant gaze.
Barcel, the commander of the Holy Knights, alone made no effort to conceal his skeptical expression amid this festive commotion, his eyes fixed unwavering upon Leon.
Leon met that scrutinizing gaze—the look of one appraising the authenticity of a precious jewel—with a satisfied smile of his own.
He found himself genuinely curious to see how Barcel’s suspicious eyes would change after this.
To be continued ▶
A Holy Knight who made a contract with an Evil God
Author
Ram Dat
Publishers
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 under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited, and violations may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes precious manuscripts from authors.

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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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