On the third day of moving by carriage, we finally reached the entrance of the forgotten village.

For three days, Jordi and Monua did not show any unnatural signs. Among the other paladins under the age of 5, they have yet to find a suspicious person.

If it was a vampire himself, or a ghoul who was a perfect vampire servant, it would have been possible to find it only with the energy of dark magic.

The intermediate form, the Undead, was more difficult because it could not be found in that way.

Instead of swearing allegiance to a vampire and becoming his limbs, he achieves explosive growth without losing anything he has.

Like vampires, they are not weak to holy water, not vulnerable to sunlight, and even those who have been consecrated can use divine power.

The only thing to offer is the right to die. And to swear eternal allegiance to one’s master.

In return, the Undead receive physical abilities that exceed their limits and a strong body that can move until the last moment when the head is attached.

‘The Undeads I faced in my previous life were so difficult to deal with… .’

The only way to kill them is to defeat their master, the vampire.

Conversely, it was fortunate that even the undead who were ordinarily mixed in society could be disposed of at once just by disposing of the vampires.

“From here on, we have to move on foot.”

When I rode a little further in from the entrance, Vice-captain Allen stopped all the carriages and said,

It was because the horses couldn’t wake up, probably because of the dark magic power that was thickening, so it was impossible to move the wagon any further.

“Dividing the number of people, two wait here with the coachmen, and the rest enter the village on foot.”

Captain Douglas was right in judging that the wagon and horse were waiting at this point since no one wanted to wander on the road for days and days on the way back.

The problem is how to find a paladin who will stay with the coachmen… .

Of course, I couldn’t stay. Because I had to intervene until the end to finish the cleanup of the forgotten village.

Since Saint Clare, who was originally recruited for this task, couldn’t be left out, it would have been strange for me to remain as her escort knight.

Needless to say, when it came to Captain Douglas and Vice-captain Allen, it would be someone from the ranks who would fall out in the end.

Vice-captain Allen seemed to be a little worried before calling out two people.

One is Dustin Brimstone, a paladin who has been a member for 4 years.

The other was the paladin Monua Rell, who had traveled with us until this point.

The selection criterion is the amount of divine power that one can use. It seemed that they had decided to leave the least two paladins.

Since it was a purification task, the more holy power an individual possessed, the easier the task would be.

Although Jordy was a new paladin, he was not selected because he had a lot of natural holy power.

“… I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you until the end, Prince Conrad.”

“You don’t have to worry about it. It will be over soon anyway.”

I gave appropriate comfort to Monua, who apologized to me with a bitter expression.

It only lasted for two days, but even if it was that long, it was enough to comfort me.

And, with this, Monua could be excluded from the line of the dragon for the time being.

If she really was a vampire’s minion, she would somehow refute this situation in which she was left.

In the absence of betrayal within the Holy Knights, the chances of Count Bryne Paula defeating Captain Douglas were pretty slim.

In addition, the unexpected military force of Saint Clare and me was added.

If he was an immortal who would die the moment the vampire died, he would have refuted the situation in which he was left behind in some way.

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Judging by Monua’s attitude of calmly following her superior’s orders, she was clearly not related to vampires.

On top of that, since Dustin, a paladin with less seniority, was also excluded from the line of dragons, the place my gaze naturally focused on was Jordy Sellin.

It was because he was the most likely candidate for the Undead among the remaining members of the Holy Knights.

It could have been considered unreasonable to doubt it just because of their low age, but since they were dealing with the Dark Church, they couldn’t ignore the highest possibility because of their affection.

So I deliberately approached him and pretended to talk to him, narrowing the distance.

“Sir Jordi, it’s my first time observing such a large-scale cleanup, so I’m not used to it, but can I work with Sir Jordi for this cleanup?”

Of course, I thought it would be wary, but the answer that came back was quite unexpected.

“Very well, Prince Conrad. I will do my best to assist you.”

Unexpectedly, he gave a positive answer as if he liked it even after hearing my words that he would monitor himself.

It was a completely different reaction from what I expected, so I was a little embarrassed on my side.

Could it be that she thinks that Saint Clare and I are more threatening figures than Captain Douglas, and rather narrows the distance to me, or is there something else I don’t know about?

With such doubts in mind, we crossed the barrier of the forgotten village.

It was the beginning of a full-scale cleanup.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The village cleanup activity was simpler than expected.

First of all, the cleanup itself wasn’t that difficult. At least for the paladins who reached the level of sword expert.

There are three main actions to be taken in the purification work.

One is to always be vigilant of the surroundings and watch out for monsters that may appear from nowhere.

The second is to spit out dark magic or kill and stop monsters contaminated by it.

Lastly, use divine power to purify the area where the energy of dark magic has disappeared.

In fact, these three things were all that had to be done in the cleanup.

The members of the Order of the Holy Knights, who each formed a group of three or four, divided their roles and proceeded with the purification work smoothly.

The same goes for the group consisting of me, Saint Clare, and Jordi.

First of all, the paladin Jordi searches for the area to be purified, and when a ghoul or monster pops up, I deal with it with a broadsword or magic.

And the way Saint Claire purifies the area that has been cleared of monsters that emit dark magic.

While going through this series of processes, the Eurem Paladins continued to clean up the village.

The purification work itself was proceeding smoothly without any obstructions.

Not only us, but the members of the other Holy Knights were also able to use the Holy Law to the extent of slashing ghoul-level monsters or purifying contaminated areas, so there was no reason to delay the cleanup work involving more than 20 people.

At this rate, it seemed that he would be able to finish all the cleaning work in the village within half a day, as well as the cleaning work of the lord’s castle after half a day had passed.

Of course, that was when I didn’t assume Count Bryne Paula, who would be hiding somewhere in this town, and his minions still hiding their fangs among the Order of the Holy Knights.

Still, as the purification work progressed, one thing became clear.

The fact that the members of the Eurem Holy Knights weren’t as geeky as they thought.

To be honest, it’s a little disappointing compared to Stella, the same sword expert, but comparing it to her who will become a hero in the future is probably too harsh.

Of course, there was more time to focus on purifying than swinging the sword to deal with the beasts, but at least I didn’t feel like they were being careless while they were on the mission.

Rather, a rather serious spirit was felt around several members, including vice-captain Allen.

Perhaps because of the effect of concentration, divine power was constantly leaking from each body.

So, as time went by, my doubts grew deeper and deeper.

Almost half of the members were working hard to clean up this forgotten village without letting go of their tension.

Even if there was a traitor, it never occurred to me that there would be a traitor who could break through them and stab Douglas in this stern atmosphere.

It was probably impossible even for me. To break through the boundaries of all these people and kill him with my own power.

Even the most likely suspect, Jordi Gelin, still only showed an attitude of unknown intent.

“Prince Conrad was also a student at Alexandros Academy. When you were a freshman, I would have just passed my graduation year, so if I had luck, I might have been able to connect from then on.”

Because of his attitude of casually talking about his days at the academy and sharing sad stories, he almost softened his guard.

I had to be as alert as possible and watch his actions even more.

“… Once the 9 o’clock and 2 o’clock directions are finished, the purification of the residential area will be over.”

As the purification work was nearing completion, Vice-captain Allen reported that to Captain Douglas.

“Then let’s finish that part, enter the lord’s castle and finish it.”

“I understand, Captain. Sir Jordi, I ask you to purify the 9 o’clock direction with Saint Clare and Prince Conrad.”

“I understand, vice-captain!”

“And the purifier at 2 o’clock… .”

Seeing Jordy diligently following the instructions of Vice-Captain Allen and Captain Douglas, it was to the point of delusion that he had nothing to do with the current incident.

… Really, could it be that I was misjudged?

I thought that there must be a traitor in the Holy Knights if it was enough to annihilate a Holy Knights of this size.

Seeing his seldom acted out, it was to the point where I felt stuffy on my side.

“Mr. Conrad, why are you looking so serious?”

“… no. It’s because there’s something I just don’t understand.”

“Ah, did Mr. Conrad think so too?”

“… … Yeah?”

I couldn’t imagine that Saint Clare would return an expression of consent, so I couldn’t help but be a little taken aback by her answer.

“I wonder if the saintess felt that you asked if I thought so too?”

“That’s natural. When I see everyone so nervous, I notice even if I don’t want to know.”

“Tension… ? Ah, it means that you thought it was strange that the paladins were nervous.”

Unfortunately or fortunately, the elements she felt were strange seemed to go in a slightly different direction than I had thought.

“That’s natural. It’s amazing that so many paladins have been in a state of tension for so long. Paladins who usually use holy power get tired after concentrating their mental power for an hour or two.”

“… … Is that so?”

“Release that level of divine power means that you are ready to fight at any time. It also means that he is preparing to wield his sword against a really strong enemy, not just a monster like the ghouls he’s caught so far. As expected, even if the members of the Eurem Paladins are sword experts, their skills are at a high level.”

Isn’t it just the divine power that leaked out in the aftermath of simply focusing?

After hearing St. Clair’s explanation, it was interpreted as a story that the knights on the side where divine power did not leak out were skillfully stocking up on their strength.

If not, it also means that she is ready to wield her sword at any time, as Saint Clare said… .

“… … ah.”

As if a stuffy fog is being lifted, what I had been thinking wrong until now is finally beginning to be released.

Why the hell have you been thinking so stupidly until now?

Why did you think that only a new paladin could gain the power of an undead and reach a new level?

And, why did I only think there would be one traitor?

It was only now that I could realize that I had made a mistake in all those areas.

“Sir Jordy! saintess! We need to get back to Captain Douglas right now!”

“… Prince Conrad?”

“What do you mean… .”

right after I finished speaking. The sudden scream of a middle-aged man came from the location we had left.

There was even a sudden clash of swords against swords.

At least it was a sound enough to be sure that it wasn’t a battle targeting monsters.

At the end of his gaze, Captain Douglas was urgently sharing his sword with five or six paladins.

… Including Vice-Captain Allen, who recently gained new powers and reached the level of a sword master.