The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 10

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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 10
Fortunately for me, Priest Lupus opened his mouth willingly before I could demonstrate the Confession technique that had been hammered into me through years of Heresy Inquisition work.
“As you can see, the people of this village become Demons each night, and most of the priests dispatched here have been killed by those who transformed into Demons.”
I pressed my questions upon Priest Lupus, who could not meet my gaze and instead stared endlessly at the chaotic Demon footprints scattered across the ground.
“When did they first begin transforming into Demons each night?”
“It was exactly one month from the day I was dispatched after hearing reports of a plague spreading. The plague symptoms were mild at first, so I, sent alongside minor Healing Holy Artifacts, spent that month with the villagers attempting to cure the plague. Though of course, it was all futile…….”
The priest’s eyes, clouded with regret, traced back into the past.
“So you were the only priest here in this village for that entire month?”
“No, there were priests who were dispatched after I requested reinforcements, but they returned when there was no improvement.”
Arden, standing silently beside me as he listened to Priest Lupus’s reminiscence, suddenly interjected.
“Were those priests perhaps Dorean, Seville, and Marcello?”
“Oh, Caritas. Dorean and Seville, you’re right. Did something happen to them?”
“These three returned from Delheim village, were quarantined after contracting the plague, and subsequently died…….”
At Arden’s heavy words, a wretched sob burst from Priest Lupus’s lips.
Plague, my foot. It was obvious those two had been transformed by Demonic Corruption and isolated in the Temple. So what about Priest Marcello?
“So the Temple continued to send only Healing Holy Artifacts or priests with healing abilities even after the transformation was underway? When did Priest Marcello arrive?”
Priest Lupus, wiping his eyes constantly with his sleeve, answered weakly.
“Probably the ninth time. He wandered about the village during the day as if inspecting it, begging for meals, but then left the village at night—a pattern he repeated. It seems he knew the transformation only occurs at night.”
He must have seen what happened to Priest Dorean and Priest Seville at the Temple.
But the fact that he returned to the Main Cathedral and was quarantined under the public pretext of plague—did Priest Marcello also show signs of Demonic Corruption?
“In the end, the Main Cathedral dispatched Cardinal Norman to Delheim village. But no matter how much the villagers were Purified, within days they showed signs of Demonic Corruption again and transformed into Demons. The Cardinal gradually lost his Holy Power for some reason, and on a night when he couldn’t perform Purification…….”
Priest Lupus couldn’t continue, but the Cardinal’s final fate was easy enough to imagine.
A Demonic Corruption problem that even a Cardinal-rank couldn’t resolve…….
Then everything made sense—why they sent me here specifically, why there was a Holy Stone embedded at the village entrance, and why the old woman and Priest Lupus had despaired when they heard a Saint Candidate had arrived.
If a Saint Candidate who received Divine Revelation were to die in this village, the Religious Order could seal it off under the pretext of “daring to defy God’s will” and erase the village entirely.
A way to kill people, to erase an entire village, without facing condemnation from anyone.
That was the rationalization the Religious Order gained from “the Saint Candidate’s martyrdom.”
Eliminate me, an unexpected stone rolling in, and also dispose of this village that might otherwise expose the Temple’s incompetence and God’s indifferent fairness to the world.
From the Religious Order’s perspective, there was no better scenario for dealing with both headaches at once.
Moreover, even if you considered it merely a Saint Candidate trial, there was no fairness in the difficulty from the start.
Some candidates get to cure a handful of plague patients and be done, while another is told to cleanse demon-transformed people without killing them and track down the source of Demonic Corruption to eliminate it?
Oh, Caritas. Is this what those bastards who serve God and claim to execute His mercy on this earth actually think?
It seems it will take a fair amount of time before I get to smash the skulls of whoever schemed up this vicious plot with a Mace, so please, just strike down some lightning above their heads before then.
I looked up at the heavens with earnest prayer, then lowered my gaze again, and that’s when I spotted the old woman who had guided us to this inn running toward the inn at a frantic pace.
The moment she spotted me and Arden, a stream of prayers poured from her lips so rapidly they were nearly unintelligible.
After offering thanks to the heavens for some time, the old woman unfolded for us a more detailed account of the village’s tale.
“At first, it was small animals. Chicks, chickens, dogs, cats……. We thought we were cursed by God, so in the bright daylight we returned them to His embrace.”
Even the animals had been corrupted by Demonic Corruption…….
‘There wasn’t a single animal among what I purified last night?’
As if reading my expression, the old woman added an explanation that all the livestock had been slaughtered.
“After that, it was babies and children. We were afraid, so afraid, Holy One…….”
The old woman’s tone, which had been so composed until she showed us to the inn, shifted to a rambling, disjointed cadence.
“As time passed, larger livestock and then most of the villagers began to transform into Demons, and only then did we understand……. The curse had not fallen on small animals and children alone…….”
The moment her words of repentance—no different from Confession itself—left her lips, the guilt she had been holding back came pouring out of her eyes.
The old woman, grasping my hand tightly with both of hers, wept as if gasping for breath for some time, and once she had composed herself a little, she continued.
When the sun set, the villagers one by one lost their minds and transformed into Demons, killing their families, their neighbors, their livestock, outsiders who had briefly visited the village, and the priests dispatched to help them.
In an instant, an entire village became a Demon’s den each night, for reasons no one understood.
“Before the Demonic Corruption symptoms—that is, what was mistaken for a plague—appeared, was there anything unusual or new in the village?”
“Nothing at all. No suspicious outsiders came, we didn’t break any taboos, and we always paid our tithes to the Temple faithfully, so how could this…….”
I comforted the old woman’s hands as she began weeping again in search of God, and took a moment to survey the village, which seemed as serene as if nothing had happened the night before.
The reason the people of Delheim were corrupted by Demonic Corruption had to lie within this village itself. I had to find that cause.
I tapped Arden lightly and spoke.
“Let’s take a walk around the village and purify all the villagers we couldn’t purify last night.”
Following Cardinal Norman’s example, it felt like pouring water into a bottomless vessel, but it would be enough to buy a day’s reprieve at least.
And as we walked around, we might find clues by hearing the villagers’ stories.
“If you act as bait and keep getting caught by Demons until today, you really will collapse. You should get some proper rest today.”
“I’m not so weak as to collapse from just that much. But since you’re so concerned about my condition, well…….”
Arden, his words trailing off, broke into a brazen smile and extended his hand courteously, as if to escort me.
“I’m happy to follow your wishes, my lady.”
Just as I was about to raise my hand, the inn door swung open violently and someone rushed out urgently.
That person rushed straight toward me, but Lord Arden stepped forward and blocked their path. The one who grabbed at Lord Arden instead of me let out a desperate cry.
“Please save my daughter……! Please turn my daughter back into a human again, I’m begging you……!”
The tear-streaked face was quite familiar. It was a face I couldn’t forget, for more reasons than one.
Toward the woman who finally bore the face befitting the name of mother, I extended my hand once more—the same hand that had been turned away at our first meeting.
“Of course.”
It was a bit tedious, perhaps, but caring for the weak was the duty of a Saint Candidate, a proxy of the Divine.
***
“Hello, we meet again.”
Bending my knees to meet her at eye level, I offered the familiar young girl a warm greeting.
After all, children untouched by the world’s grime still spoke more truthfully than adults who had endured everything.
Cross-verification, as it were.

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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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