As the Demon King, I have married a slave elf. How should I express my love?

"Shestia, go back to church. I'll take care of the person who wants to get rid of you first. Anyway, I should be able to live a little longer."

"—Do you already know the culprit's identity?"

"I was just about to ask, haven't you noticed yet?"

It seems that Shess wasn't entirely clueless; when he countered her question, her face grew even paler.

—There are indeed few people in the church besides Raphael who would do such a thing.

Although Shesty did not know much about the inner workings of the church, through elimination, only one person remained.

Before leaving, Raphael glanced at Farah.

"I promised to give you my head. Could you please wait a little longer?"

Fa'er didn't answer, but instead asked a question:

"...Answer me one thing. In your mind, what kind of dragon is Orobas?"

Raphael nodded calmly.

"A magnificent dragon. The moment I rode on his back and fought alongside him was the most wonderful moment of my life."

"Is that so..."

Watching Raphael leave, Far didn't stop him, nor did he attack him.

"Don't you regret it?"

"...I don't know. But whether killing him was right or wrong, I can no longer tell."

Sagan gently patted the little girl's head.

"Otherwise, it's not so bad, is it?"

Then, Sagan stretched his hand out to Far.

"Let's go home. Neferpitou is still waiting for us."

"……Um!"

In truth, Sagan didn't know whether giving up revenge was the right or wrong thing to do.

It is certain that Fa'er no longer harbors resentment towards the Paladin.

So this is fine, right?

Perhaps one day she will feel hatred again, or perhaps she will become confused because of it.

But no matter what choice she makes, Sagan and Neferpitou will stand by the girl's side.

Just then, Shestie asked:

"Uh, what about me?"

"Go back to your church, tadpole."

The still intense hostility from Fael brought Shisty to the brink of tears.

Barbaros had long since disappeared. By the time everyone returned to their city, it was already dawn.

But even at this moment, Neferpitou, who came to greet them, said to everyone:

"—Welcome back, Mr. Sagan, Far, and Miss Shestia."

That morning, Sagan and the others learned of further news about Raphael.

◇

"Is that so? Shestie is still missing..."

After listening to the report from Shester's subordinates, the Three Knights of the Azure Sky, the elderly Cardinal murmured with heartache.

"I'm so sorry, it's all because of our negligence."

"This isn't your fault. I'm just as worried about Shestie's safety as you are. You should go and rest."

"yes!"

After exchanging greetings, the three knights left Graves's office.

As soon as the door closed, Griffith covered his face and said with heart-wrenching sorrow:

"Ah... Shestie, my knight..."

"Why won't you just obediently die for me?"

Beneath his hands was a twisted, ugly face.

"Magicians are synonymous with evil, and those who associate with them are also evil. Once the wielder of the Holy Sword is tainted by evil, he must pass the baton to a new wielder; otherwise, how can justice be upheld?"

Once Shessty is killed, the Holy Sword will choose a new, pure and spotless wielder.

This time, he will thoroughly educate him to be the embodiment of justice.

This is not the first time Glewell has attempted to assassinate the wielder of the Holy Sword, and to this day, his deeds have never been exposed.

Those who were unwilling to uphold the power of justice, those who disagreed with Graves, and those who hesitated when attacking magicians... all those unworthy of wielding the Holy Sword were mercilessly discarded by him.

Since the church was located in Chinnoind, the territory of the former Demon King Magasiah, and the paladins had opposed the demon, no one questioned the cause of their deaths.

This is not a failure of the Holy Sword.

They died because they were unworthy to be wielders, and the Holy Sword was unwilling to unleash its true power.

This phenomenon could perhaps be called the will of the holy sword.

This time, however, the situation is a little different.

"If it weren't for Raphael's meddling...!"

Shessty actually said that she did not want to fight the Demon King.

He had already confiscated the holy sword and was making grand preparations to carry out the criminal proceedings, but due to the opposition of other cardinals, he had to spend more time on it.

Yes, Shirley was never under Grylls' protection; she only survived because other cardinals stopped Grylls.

Shestie, who narrowly escaped death, disappeared without a trace, taking the holy sword with her.

--Damn it... How could such a poison not kill her?

It was a secret, extremely deadly poison developed to torture and capture magicians.

Once she drank that poison that could kill even a magician, there was no way Shesty could have survived. But now, not only her body, but even the Holy Sword is missing.

Things wouldn't have gotten so complicated if Raphael hadn't demanded the return of the Holy Sword.

"Those three knights are useless too."

They were always blindly loyal to Shesty. They thought they could help find Shesty and sent people to monitor her, but instead they just wandered around aimlessly without finding a clue.

—Or did they actually discover that someone was monitoring them all along?

Despite their appearance, those three knights were still among the top ten strongest warriors in Kionnoind.

The incident on the day Sagan ascended to the throne as the Demon King was only successfully rescued by the Three Knights arriving at Shestie's side.

The reason they were so negligent this time might be that they knew they were leading the way for the assassins who were trying to kill Shess.

We need to think of other solutions.

Just as he was deep in thought, there was a knock on the door.

"...Excuse me, I need to be alone right now. Can we talk later?"

He is now furious and feels unable to have a calm conversation with anyone.

But the people outside ignored his response and kicked the door open.

"Excuse me, Grylls."

The person who appeared from outside was none other than the burly paladin Raphael.

"You, you rude scoundrel, what are you doing here...?"

Griffith cried out in terror, then discovered that Raphael was covered in blood, missing an arm, and so badly injured that it was unbelievable that he was still alive.

"Lord Raphael, what exactly is wrong with your injury... no, we should heal your wounds first!"

The poison jar slid nimbly into his hand.

Although it's unclear what happened to him, this man is one of the "evil" that Griffith wants to eliminate.

For reasons unknown, he sought to sow discord within the church and establish his own new power.

If Gréviel had known that the force was actually the "Symbiotic Faction," which he hated most, he would have stopped it by any means necessary. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, no one in the church could connect Raphael's appearance to his thinking.

Raphael settled comfortably into the chair in front of Griffith.

"No need for you to trouble yourself. I'm just here to take care of a small matter and will leave as soon as I'm done."

"But...but..."

His gloves were coated with poison. He stealthily reached out towards Raphael, about to apply it to the wound.

"Huh...?"

With a thud, his arm fell to the ground the next moment.

"Excuse me, I have no interest in being touched by that poisoned hand."

With lightning speed, Raphael severed Gréville's right hand.

"Ughhhhhh—humph?"

Graves knelt down in agony, howling, and his open mouth was then struck by a leg armored foot. Several broken teeth fell to the ground.

"Don't be so loud. This is the first time I've ever killed a human with my own hands, so I'm still a little nervous."

Why did you want to kill me?

Unable to speak, he asked with his eyes, and Raphael said lazily:

"We're both getting old, and we shouldn't keep interfering with the younger generation. As for pruning promising new shoots, that goes without saying."

Having said that, Raphael drew his holy sword.

"You're about to die by your most beloved holy sword, how about showing a happier expression?"