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-Huh?
-Isn’t that Holy Nation clothing?
-They’re involved in this too?
-Remarkably diligent
-But why is there no name?
-Just a passing NPC maybe?
-Could be incredibly important.
The Holy Nation forces appearing again sent the chat rushing upward.
With them showing up in every episode, it was a natural reaction.
[Unnamed Holy Nation Devotee]
An NPC not even given a name.
The face that had turned toward them was hidden behind a silver veil.
Thinking it was a girl had been from the small frame and appearance, but the clothing in particular was somehow off.
‘…Was there something like this?’
Embroidery that was distinctive and charming, unlike what normal devotees wore.
It was far from the Holy Nation’s usual character of preferring clean and neat things.
On top of that, the shoes were colorfully dyed boots — which planted a large question mark in his mind.
“D — don’t come closer!”
As Hanbit took one step forward, the girl quickly fled backward.
Then she hid behind a stone pillar and peeked out with just her head.
“You’re demon adventurers from the wicked Raven Kingdom, aren’t you? Right? How did you get in here? I had my sturdy barrier up!”
The voice, mixing wariness and curiosity, carried a slight artificial distortion.
An inexplicable sense of dissonance persisted in Hanbit as he faced the girl.
“You seem to be a Holy Nation devotee — why are you here alone?”
“I’m here because I was told to be here and so I just… Ah!”
The unnamed devotee, about to honestly spill the truth, tucked herself back a little further.
“Since I’m alone you’re going to kill me! I’m not alone! I’m not a monster either, and I don’t give experience points!”
“…What?”
-?
-Experience points?
-Is she not an NPC?
-She is one.
-??
A strange word had crept into the explanation.
Experience points — a concept only players knew about.
A word no NPC had ever spoken.
“How do you know what experience points are?”
“Because I have a status window too! It’s not something only special adventurers have! You demon!”
The girl still hidden behind the pillar, busily pouring out words.
Now the phrase status window had come out as well — it was surprising to the point of being almost absurd.
“…What is she?”
“Can an NPC do that?”
“Something does seem off.”
“Might she be some kind of hidden NPC?”
The others were just as puzzled.
Hanbit shifted his gaze to the adventurer standing at the back.
“Bolt, have you ever seen this devotee before?”
“Never. And I can’t make heads or tails of this conversation either. In any case, a devotee has appeared — the right move is to hold her here.”
Bolt focused entirely on the situation, as though genuinely unable to make sense of it.
What mattered to him was the appearance of a Holy Nation devotee — a dangerous entity.
That was already his default impression, but the incidents in Edelen and Ifrit having spread widely had only amplified his wariness.
‘Can’t get a read on this.’
An NPC with some of the permissions belonging to a player.
Whether this was a being created by the goddess’s design was unknown.
Without the sense of dissonance pressing in, he might have shrugged it off as an unusual NPC placed there for a reason and moved on.
But since he couldn’t shake that feeling, he had no intention of letting this go.
For now, it was best to keep her nearby until the question was resolved.
“She may have some bearing on the episode, so I’ll hold onto her.”
“Y — you’re going to take me? That’s not going to happen! I won’t lose to a demon!”
The unnamed devotee, who had been following the conversation, stepped back.
Then she clasped both hands together as though in prayer.
Slide—
A transparent wall formed directly ahead at the same time.
The same white-light-particle barrier as the one outside, glimmering.
Whoosh—!
Hanbit gathered the wind around the pale blue blade.
A barrier constructed that weakly, weaker even than the one outside, could be cut through without difficulty.
But that wasn’t what he was going for right now.
Tat—!
Hanbit kicked off and charged straight at the barrier.
The barrier filled with white light particles offered not the slightest resistance.
“Huh?”
The unnamed devotee, startled at Hanbit passing through far too easily.
Whoosh—!
Closing in in an instant, he grabbed the girl’s slender arm right before her.
“Eep!”
Pulled by the force, the devotee’s body leaned forward and was moved behind Hanbit’s back.
In that instant—
Clang—!
Two swords crossed precisely where the girl’s head had been.
“…Huh?”
The unnamed devotee, who had turned her head to look at what had happened, let out a dazed sound without comprehending the situation.
The one thought that hit her mind a moment later was simple.
If she had stayed where she was, she would certainly have died.
‘Now what is this situation.’
Hanbit looked at the enemy that had appeared before him and thought.
Black-and-white fabric, a mask, and a thin, sharp sword.
The same appearance as the Holy Nation assassin he had faced in Edelen.
-An assassin?
-Is that the same one from before?
-Can’t tell with the mask
-But why are they attacking the devotee?
-Wrong target?
-As if.
The viewers were also divided in their opinions at the far too strange situation.
A moment ago, that figure had clearly aimed for the unnamed devotee and driven the sword forward.
Hanbit had sensed the killing intent and blocked it, but it was not something that made sense by any reasonable understanding.
Tat—!
The assassin, ambush blocked, quickly stepped back.
“Pointless interference.”
A voice of indeterminate gender made no effort to conceal its displeasure.
Whatever faction they were from, this was clearly a Holy Nation assassin.
“The Holy Nation…?”
The girl, still in a state of confusion, was taken aback.
The one who had grabbed her arm and saved her: a demon adventurer from the Raven Kingdom.
The one stepping back and clicking their tongue: a Holy Nation assassin.
Who had tried to kill her.
The answer to that question surfaced with clarity, yet she still posed it as a question.
“Just now.. were you aiming at me?”
“You dared use the sacred power again. This is not a power that may be permitted to one without faith. Whatever means you used to steal the Holy Nation’s power — we will not look away any longer. Filthy heretic.”
“…”
Words delivered in a voice full of anger and hatred.
But the girl gave no reply.
-Heretic?
-What is this
-Factional dispute? Something like that maybe?
-So they call each other heretics and fight?
-Explanation please!
[Mr. Explanation has donated 1,000 won.]
[Info)?]
-lolololol
-Mr. Explanation Season 1 F.
-Study up before you show up~
No one in the chat could provide an answer to the situation.
Factional strife was commonplace in the Holy Nation, but it wasn’t something that could be connected to the assassin’s words.
“Haneul, you have something to tie people up with?”
“Of course!”
He asked while keeping his gaze fixed on the assassin, and a voice came from behind.
What needed to be done now was simple.
“Then let’s restrain them first.”
“Yes!”
Tat—!
With the reply, a gust of wind passed by his side.
The sky-blue-haired girl was already standing behind the assassin.
“…!”
The assassin, a beat late in reacting, swung their sword and turned around.
Tat—!
At the same time, Hanbit surged in and leapt high.
And his leg, raised upward, came hammering straight down.
Crack—!
“Gugh!”
Hanbit’s foot, striking the top of the head with precision.
Kwa-boom—!
The assassin, driven into the ground, lost consciousness from the single blow.
“Tie them up.”
“Yes!”
Whorl—!
Haneul drew rope from her inventory and quickly bound the assassin.
She had only received brief instruction, yet she remembered it precisely.
“All done!”
Haneul, having finished the binding, came over with a proud expression.
The perfectly bound assassin was unconscious, back against the wall.
“Well done. Not a single mistake.”
“Thank you!”
Praised, Haneul returned to the group in a cheerful voice.
Through it all, the unnamed devotee hadn’t said a word.
She seemed to be in shock — but Hanbit found the situation just as puzzling.
“Why is a Holy Nation assassin attacking you?”
“I don’t know. There have been many people who dislike me, but something like this… is the first time.”
The girl dropped her head in a subdued voice.
Between the gaps of her disheveled veil, her eyes were faintly visible.
Black eyes, matching her hair.
“People who dislike you?”
“It’s just that… I don’t believe in the deity. Well, everyone is so insistent about it that I do want to believe! But something keeps bothering me… And yet I can use the sacred power, so the others have been very angry with me, it seems.”
The voice explaining things grew smaller and smaller, as though shrinking into itself.
The barrier the girl used was a technique that drew on sacred power.
And among the Holy Nation, there were not many beings who could wield this power.
Even if this devotee’s sacred power was weak, the fact that she could use it at all was a significant asset in itself.
-Summary) Tried to kill her out of jealousy.
-How furious do you have to be
-You can do something I can’t? Then die!
-Pathetic. Truly pathetic.
-This is the Holy Nation.
‘The outline is becoming clear.’
The reason the unnamed devotee was being persecuted could be guessed.
Even among those who had risen to the rank of bishop, there were some who couldn’t use sacred power.
So a girl with no faith possessing such power — it wasn’t strange that it would make people see red.
“What about the Pope and the cardinals? They must have said something.”
“His Holiness the Pope told me I was doing well. The cardinal… just clicked his tongue once and left. I haven’t been able to see either of them after that.”
The unnamed devotee added that over the past two years she had been called to various places and helped with tasks using sacred power.
This time as well, she had apparently been summoned with a support order and dragged along.
‘The Pope doesn’t seem particularly interested, it seems.’
As for the cardinal — he was transparent as a person, so his actions and intentions aligned.
But the Pope was different.
A man who always had a gap between his outward appearance and inner thoughts, who would pour everything into obtaining a useful talent the moment he spotted one.
Even if that meant using brainwashing as the means.
‘So in the end, he couldn’t care less.’
Even the smallest piece of information reached the Pope as a report.
He would have known from the planning stage about the scheme to drag the unnamed devotee to Raven land and have her assassinated.
Not stopping it meant he considered her someone it was fine to lose. No more than that.
Understanding that, Hanbit looked at the girl and said:
“What will you do? Will you come with me?”
“..”
The unnamed devotee’s head swiveled back and forth between the assassin and Hanbit.
Then she took one step forward and said:
“…Take me with you.”
* * *
“Momo?”
The top floor of Nio Group headquarters.
Kenji, the chairman who had been staring at his monitor in the chairman’s office, went wide-eyed.
“This is… no, could it be…”
Having reached out to the head of DD Studio, he had decided to watch Black Dragon’s stream as a way of gathering information.
But the first thing he saw when the feed came up was a black-haired girl from the Holy Nation.
Her face was covered by a veil — but that was no obstacle whatsoever.
There was no way he would fail to recognize his own daughter.
Even if every bit of her outfit was something he had never seen before, Momo’s characteristics were unmistakably present.
The clear voice mixed beneath the distorted audio.
The faintly visible black eyes and hair through the gaps in the veil.
The habit of curling her little finger first when startled.
The tendency to hide her body behind something when feeling uneasy.
The spirit of trying to push through a difficult situation despite being timid.
Not a single detail failed to project his daughter’s image exactly.
“Chairman, this is…”
The secretary general, who had come back to the office and was watching the situation unfold, went completely pale.
Having observed Momo for a long time himself, he could guess why the chairman was reacting this way.
“Something… something is wrong.”
Kenji thought of the name tag floating above his daughter’s head.
[Unnamed Holy Nation Devotee]
Black Dragon had concluded that Momo was an NPC.
Kenji, being a vanguard himself, was not someone who couldn’t tell the difference between a player and an NPC.
But why his daughter had become an NPC.
Why, if she was an NPC, she knew what a status window and experience points were.
And why ‘Momo’s’ memories seemed to have disappeared in the first place.
None of it gave him anything to go on.
Black Dragon had also seemed taken aback, but by the end of the conversation it appeared something had been sorted out.
This man really was different.
“I’ll reach out to the head of DD Studio again.”
The secretary general hurriedly moved to pull out his phone.
But that attempt was stopped by the chairman’s hand.
“No, wait.”
Kenji shook his head and removed his suit jacket.
He turned around and walked toward the capsule resting in the corner.
“I need to go meet him in person.”
