Saint Clare and her escort knight needed to hurriedly show their faces, even if forced.

Unlike Stella or Xian-senpai, I was already in a situation where I didn’t have enough time to build a friendly relationship and get closer little by little.

If she couldn’t prevent Willia’s death in a few days, the saintess would become a vengeful demon for the Dark Church, just like in her previous life.

Not to mention losing a significant amount of strength and vitality.

First of all, they were two people who rarely appeared outside except during official class hours.

The only way to take a look at his face at least once was to make up his mind and wait in front of the theology department dormitory.

What was fortunate was that the dormitory of the theology department and the academy correctional facility were attached to each other.

That’s why even though I was in front of the dormitory, aiming only for the appearance of Saint Claire.

In the eyes of others, he would have seemed nothing more than a person waiting for treatment for a colleague who had been injured in front of a church.

This is especially true for our party, which goes hunting with the guild in the direction of the Demon Forest almost every week.

Large and small injuries in hunting activities were like essential medals.

If you only want to deal with enemies that can be safely killed without getting hurt, then of course there is no room for individual skills to improve.

As I continued to train to bring out my senses as much as possible, even in slightly dangerous situations, I naturally came to owe a lot to the academy church.

I am just grateful that everyone is following me without complaint.

In that sense, preserving Saint Clare’s power intact was a very important matter considering the future.

There would have been no person at the party who had a direct impact on the lives of other colleagues as much as the priest.

And if I could make a kite with her early on and put her in our party, it would have been possible to organize the whole body of the Demon Subjugation Corps much faster.

It was a natural fact that a party that had been together for at least a year was stronger than a party that had never been together.

As he was thinking of an opportunity to build a relationship with Saint Claire from an early age, he was able to confirm her returning to the dormitory with the escort knight, Willia.

“Saint Claire, how are you?”

“hello~.”

Like Saint Clare, who always acts with kindness, she kindly responded to my greetings even when she was unfamiliar with me.

“Excuse me, but I have something to say to the saintess. Would it be all right from now on?”

“… sorry. I’m a bit busy today, so can you tell me next time?”

“This is the story I have to tell you today.”

“That, is it? But I’m really busy… .”

“Saint Claire is a precious body. I’m sorry, but this can only be regarded as disrespect to the saintess.”

“okay? It’s really urgent.”

Well, I didn’t even think that I would listen to it from the beginning.

Behind the two of them, who equated my words with the other students shouting, I muttered something so low that only they could hear it.

“Do you have dinner plans with the professor this Friday?”

“… Yeah?”

“Is the meeting place under the Ministry of Pensions building? Or would it be better to meet in a secret place?”

“… What do you mean?”

“You have dinner plans with one of the Pensions Department professors this Friday afternoon. I wanted to be there at the same time, but I came here to ask permission in advance for that.”

Even if I said this far, it should have been enough to convey what I was talking about.

Are you going to pretend you don’t know what’s left and go in?

Or, the only choice left is whether to try to remove the variable called me.

“Can we talk in my dormitory?”

Fortunately, Saint Clare was, as expected, someone who knew how to make a wise choice.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Being invited to the room of a member of the opposite sex, not her sister, was the first experience in her previous life and this one.

If it was natural, it was natural.

In my previous life, the only beings of reason I knew were the four members of the demon subjugation party.

There were so few that they could be counted on one hand, and even senior Xian and Saint Clair had never even spoken to each other before graduating from the academy.

If you look at it well, it might have been the peak of popularity now.

If it weren’t for this blade pointed at my neck as soon as I entered the saintess’s room, it would have been possible to fall into such an illusion for a moment.

“You will have to choose your answers well.”

Of course, I didn’t expect a favorable attitude from the start, but I never thought I’d be treated as a subordinate of Professor Hemes from the start.

Before persuading them to include me in the operation, the first step would be to clear up any misunderstandings the two had with me.

“Please don’t be surprised, Miss Willia. I’m only here to help you two.”

“Help? He suddenly appeared and told a story that no one but me and Saint Clare could understand, and then came to help?”

But what do you mean it’s true?

“Calm down, Willia. That’s why I called you here to ask.”

“That’s right, saintess.”

“Of course, if you’re really someone with ties to slave-related offenders, you’re never going to get over it.”

Even thinking about it, it seemed that I would think that he was a very suspicious guy.

Even so, if you wait for a slow, natural meeting, there won’t be an opportunity to prevent the tragedy that will happen in the future.

“First of all, I will ask you the first question.”

“How many questions do you have?”

“I never said I could ask questions over there.”

“all right.”

Anyway, to be strict.

At least, there was no doubt that she was the same Saint Clare I knew.

“How on earth do you know that I am suspicious of Professor Heims Stephen?”

“It is a mere coincidence.”

As if she didn’t like my first answer, the blade in Miss Willia’s hand began to touch the edge of her skin.

“Mere coincidence? Do you think that makes sense now?”

“… You know that an apostle of the Dark Church appeared in Waddle Village a while ago, right?”

It wasn’t an incident that was publicly announced so as not to cause confusion to the children or villagers, but it was an incident that had to be reported to the Orthodox Church as it was the Dark Church.

Claire, who wears the title of a saint, was also a major member of the church, and there was no way she was unaware of the incident.

“Yes, I know.”

“Do you know that the person who killed the apostle of the Dark Church was a student at the academy?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what I heard. Surely the name is Corn Salad? I guess that was the name.”

“… This is Conrad Perdalos.”

“Ah, that’s right. such a name… .”

Having said that, Saint Clare suddenly changed her gaze as she was looking at me, as if she noticed something.

“Could it be you?”

“That’s right.”

“… … .”

There would be no need to determine whether it was a lie or a truth.

Since the incident that happened in the first place was closed in secret, the fact that he was a student who knew about the incident was the same as proof that it was true.

“Contrary to appearances, it seems to be true that you are a great person.”

“I appreciate your compliment.”

“But I don’t know if that answers my question.”

“Didn’t I just say it was a mere coincidence?”

From here on, it was important to mix in some lies to create a believable scenario.

“I’m sure the Orthodox Church is already investigating the Dark Church, but I was also investigating the Dark Church that killed my colleague’s benefactor.”

“So what does that matter… .”

“In the process of confirming that Professor Haymes is related to the Dark Church, I also found out that Miss Willia is investigating someone like me.”

“… … .”

“But what do you mean by slave criminal? I thought that Saint Clare and Miss William were tracking down the subordination of the Dark Church.”

At the same time as mentioning that there are clearly other reasons for pursuing Professor Hemes.

It was important to show an attitude of not knowing anything about the slave criminal Saint Clare casually mentioned.

Only in this way will it appear as if I had been aiming for Professor Hemes from the beginning, rather than aiming for her.

“Professor Heims, an apostle of the Dark Church… ?”

On top of that, it was good to bring Saint Claire a little sense of crisis so that she would feel uneasy about entering with only Willia like before.

People tend to have fears, big or small, about things they don’t know well.

“Would that have been the answer?”

“Now, wait a minute. The questions are not over yet.”

“Can you please take away at least the knife that was put at my throat? The nape of my neck is chilly, so even though it is March, my body feels chilly.”

“… Willia.”

“all right.”

After hearing Saint Clare’s words, Miss Willia managed to remove the blade that had stuck to her neck.

Now we can start a more casual conversation.

“How did you know I was going to be working on Friday evening?”

“It was stabbed once. If I were in the same position as the saintess, of course I would carry out the operation on Friday evening.”

“Yeah?”

“If you try to kill a professor in broad daylight on a weekday in front of other students, there’s no way it’ll end up being sent to the disciplinary committee.

Even if it’s done on a weeknight, everyone will notice the professor is gone the next day, so either the Academy or the Dark Cult will try to find the missing professor before cleaning up.

So it’s Friday evening. If you can secure two free hours on the weekend, it will be enough to clean up.”

“… But it could be next Friday.”

“Did you really intend to keep the Dark Church Apostle alive for another week without taking advantage of the opportunity to get rid of it, even if you noticed the existence?”

“… Oh, no, that’s not it.”

It was a stupid question.

They were the ones who hastened the destruction of the world just by being alive.

For the first time, the values of the saintess and I coincided in that we must kill at the opportunity to kill.

“Has the misunderstanding been cleared up now?”

“… One last question for you.”

“Tell me anything.”

After moving her eyes once to her escort knight, Saint Clare immediately turned her eyes back to me and said,

“Is there any reason for me to cooperate with you, whom I have never met today?”

“Yeah?”

“I have a strong escort knight named Willia, but I don’t need help from you, who I don’t even know well.”

Apparently, just saying that the other person was an apostle of the Dark Church was not enough to weaken the trust the saintess had in the escort knight.

Conversely, William, the escort knight, responded as if he alone would be enough.

If I explained how dangerous the Dark Church was here, it wouldn’t have resonated with the two of them.

Rather, the fact that he was a student at the academy who caught the apostle of the dark church that had recently been revealed to the surface could have been a bad factor.

They must have thought that they had far more practical experience dealing with humans than me, so they must be delusional about being able to easily subdue them without my help.

So it might seem a bit arrogant, but here it was time to push a rather simple logic.

“Of course there is only one reason, right?”

“What is it?”

“That I am stronger than your escort knight. I think that alone would be reason enough.”

“… … Yeah?”

Saint Clare’s eyes widened as if she didn’t really know what was going on.

Of course, her absurd reaction was nothing compared to the murder she felt right next to her.

“What did you just say?”

As expected, for her as an escort knight, my remarks seemed to have scratched her self-esteem considerably.

It was a time when proper ‘persuasion’ was needed even for those who were still not convinced.