The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 46

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

Chapter 46
Since I’d long since passed whatever age limit they required, there was only one answer available.
“It’s not for me—I’m looking to buy them for our children.”
I spoke casually while linking my arm through Arden’s. His body stiffened for just an instant at the sudden contact, but he recovered quickly, his keen instincts adjusting to match my rhythm without hesitation.
I tilted my head deliberately upward to look at him, asking with a carefree smile that betrayed not a care in the world.
“Don’t you think they’d love them, dear?”
Arden didn’t hesitate for even a second, answering with an almost detached air—yet maintaining just enough distance to appear convincingly married.
“They’d both love them, I’m sure.”
Two.
The moment that number left his lips, the robed man’s eyes flared with undisguised hunger—a gaze that gleamed like a merchant spotting a precious jewel, except far more viscous, far more desperate in its wanting.
“How old are the children?”
“Twins. Born last year, and I think they’re finally at the age where they can enjoy playing with toys.”
I spoke even more softly and smiled—like a mother with children of her own, like a woman with nothing to hide, simply out to buy good things for her family.
The robed man showed not the slightest suspicion. If anything, his expression hardened with certainty as he nodded.
His eyes gleamed brighter still—whether because younger souls were purer and thus better sacrifices, or for some other reason altogether, I couldn’t say.
The robed man curved his lips into a smile and held out two wooden dolls. I took them and shook them gently. A rustling sound came from inside.
Okay, these are the ones. I exchanged a glance with Arden.
“How much?”
“Consider them a gift.”
The robed man spoke as though granting charity.
“And if you smear your children’s blood on the doll’s chest, it will shield them from misfortune in their stead.”
This bastard was spouting lies without so much as licking his lips between sentences.
If parents who actually had children knew that pricking their own children’s hands and smearing their blood on dolls—done in the belief that the doll would protect them from calamity—actually led them down the road to their own murder, would they ever live a sane life again? These damnable creatures.
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly accept such a wonderful gift for free.”
I smiled broadly as I spoke—a sincere, radiant smile that came from deep within.
“Just give me a moment. Let me gather a little gift to give you in return. Dear, I’ll be right back.”
I left Arden at the stall and turned to run. I cut through the heart of the market toward where Wilson Junior was positioned. The moment a familiar weight filled my hand again, my heart became curiously light.
It took only seconds to return.
“Here’s a gift for you bastards.”
I swung Wilson Junior without hesitation.
With a dull, heavy crash of metal, the stall shattered into pieces. Wooden dolls flew through the air and scattered across the ground.
The market descended into chaos in an instant. Screams erupted from the crowd, and the robed figures reflexively stumbled backward, unleashing Dark Magic.
Crimson demonic energy tore through the air toward me.
“Lord!”
Before the word was even finished, Arden moved. His consecrated blade cut through the whip-like malevolence like lightning, and I met the incoming attacks head-on, deflecting them with Wilson Junior.
Holy Power and Dark Magic collided again and again, explosions thundering through the air.
Their magic crumbled before me, while Arden’s blade struck with precision and cruelty, driving straight for vital points. After several exchanges, we took both of them alive.
Once we’d dragged them beyond the city gates, I pointed toward the Red-roofed House.
“Which one of you two tortured the child in that house over there?”
Both remained silent.
I sighed and cracked my knuckles lightly. I hadn’t expected to dust off my Inquisitor role again, but since these creatures wouldn’t talk, I had no choice.
It wasn’t as though I wanted to bother with interrogation. They’d brought this on themselves entirely.
As I invoked the Holy Power of Judgment, golden scales appeared outlined in the air above us. The scales lifted the creatures forcibly into the air.
“You going to keep your mouths shut?”
The ones who’d initially clenched their teeth in resistance soon began to writhe on the scales.
Holy Power wasn’t used only for healing.
One of them broke first under the agony of Judgment. As my fingers lifted again, his lips trembled, and he finally surrendered, throwing his hands up in submission.
I nodded and withdrew the Holy Power.
“See, one punch is always faster than a hundred words of persuasion.”
I cracked my knuckles lightly, and the Ecclesia Cult members flinched repeatedly.
“But here’s what I’m curious about—under Lebon Earldom, there should only be Procubus, right? So why are you trying to awaken something like the Shadow of the Great Demon? Not even the Great Demon itself?”
“How did you even know—”
The Ecclesia Cult member asked, shocked.
“It was all written in the Biography of the Third Saint.”
At my words, Arden murmured low under his breath.
“Just how detailed did she write that biography?”
What lurked beneath Lebon Earldom was primarily the Shadow of the Great Demon and Demon Beasts. So five hundred years ago, when the Shadow of the Great Demon awakened from beneath the Earldom, the Demon Beasts swarmed upward and blotted out the sky over the territory.
There was no merit in awakening the Shadow of the Great Demon with the lives of a hundred children. Not that Human Sacrifices should ever be performed in the first place, but still.
“The Lebon Earldom’s corruption is quite advanced, but from what I can see, the Demon Beasts aren’t ready to emerge yet. Is there some reason you need to draw attention and resources to this place?”
In that instant, the other creature bit down on his own tongue and attempted suicide.
Of course not. I cast Heal immediately to revive him, and Arden tore the hood from the man’s head and shoved a gag into his mouth.
“Now then, guide us.”
I stared down at them, eyes wide.
“If you lead us astray, it’s straight to the Inquisition chambers. If you want to die cleanly, cooperate.”
They knew well enough how notorious the Inquisitors of the Caritas Church were. Trembling, they guided us to their headquarters.
Just before we arrived, Arden’s blade flashed, and they were silently disposed of.
Once we donned the hoods again and stepped inside, the space was filled with stacks of wooden dolls.
“The Word of Caritas is blessing itself, and its will is miracle itself.”
I fully deployed Sacred Domain. To prevent the dolls from being used as hostages, I began Purification all at once. I felt my Holy Power draining away steadily, but this much I could manage without difficulty.
Those who charged at us cloaked in Dark Magic fell cleanly beneath Wilson Junior, and for the first time in ages, I unleashed the Judgment skill without restraint.
“No mere human escapes the wheel of Karma. One day, you shall reap the weight of your sins returned.”
Judgment was a Holy Power skill that inflicted pain upon the target proportional to their accumulated Karma.
I’d given the Ecclesia cult a taste of it before, but to be administering it five centuries later—it wasn’t as though the Judgment skill was some storied, multi-generational delicacy.
Weighed down by the burden of their sins, they all wept and gasped, their noses running, spittle streaming, clutching at their throats as they thrashed across the floor.
Arden worked through the enemies with remarkable efficiency. I found myself wondering why someone of such skill had been left to rot in the Temple.
Less than half a day after arriving in this territory, and we’d already swept out the psychotic heretics.
As I finished Purification, I smashed each wooden doll to pieces with my mace, severing the Synchronization with the children and completely cleansing every last Demonic Crystal.
“The main Temple folk won’t budge—their backsides are too heavy.”
I caught my breath and spoke.
“Where’s the nearest Temple branch in this territory?”
I turned to Arden and asked. Without a word between us, we both understood this wasn’t over. We couldn’t know how many dolls remained uncollected, and with the children already Synchronized to those demon-infused figures, every passing moment would only worsen the situation.
“Contact the nearest Temple branch immediately.”
Arden nodded without hesitation at my command.
The SOS reached the Temple branch, and their response was swift—far swifter than I’d anticipated. Priests and junior holy knights were dispatched with remarkable speed, and I briefed them on the situation.
Wooden dolls contaminated with the remnants of demon-summoning rituals, the method of inducing Synchronization through the children’s blood as a conduit, and the fact that several children had already suffered physical and psychological harm.
The branch understood the gravity of the crisis at once. That very day, a proclamation went out across the entire Earldom, and they began visiting every household, orphanage, and home with nursemaids to inspect the children’s condition and confiscate any suspicious dolls.
I took charge of Purifying the dolls and Demonic Crystals, then smashing them to pieces with my mace. No one else could perform that purification.
Thanks to all of us working without rest, within just a few days, every suspicious doll had vanished from the hands of every child in the Lebon Earldom.
But it wasn’t over.

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