Archbishop Selena vi Lusbeck walked calmly with her comrades as they entered the town of Leifwall, which was only a few miles south of Pinkerton.

  As expected though, the pesky guards of the town dared to greet her not with lovely boys and girls offering equally lovely flowers to her—but with ugly middle-aged guards.

  “My, have none of you learned at all?” She asked accusatorily. “What is with this hostility? This fear? This suspicion? Why, I arrived here peacefully, yet you all dare treat me so coldly?!”

  The town unfortunately didn’t have a wall to protect them, so all that stood between her and her contingent of cultists were a few dozen guardsmen. All of them stood stiffly behind their shields, many only a few inches away from aiming their halberds at her group.

  How preposterous!

  She offered them an olive branch, yet she was being refused, just like her beloved boys at Esterton, who had been cruelly slaughtered after attempting to do the same thing.

  “Shit, she’s crazy.”

  “Why didn’t they send reinforcements?”

  “You two, shut it. She might hear you!”

  The words exchanged by those lowly bastards made Selena’s eyes twitch. Did they just call her ‘crazy’? She, who was so enlightened in the ways of love?!

  Her fingers snapped, and in an instant, four soldiers in the ranks of Leifwall’s guards fell, the flash of pink light slicing them in an instant. Immediately, the guardsmen raised their shields and aimed their halberds at her, ready to fight.

  That was when a single horse arrived, carrying a man in heavy plate armor on top.

  “Lady Selena!” The man on horseback shouted nervously. “Please don't harm my men. I am the captain of this town’s guards, and I apologize for this unjustified display of disrespect. You have been granted the privilege of safe passage already!”

  The soldiers began shouting their disapproval at their captain’s words, but a single glance from him silenced the soldiers. They were all so ready to charge in and cut Selena and her beloved boys, and they were only tamed by a man stronger than them. It worried her.

  How violent. How cruel. Who knows what these vicious souls will do if they grow stronger?

  Will they hurt people? What about people I love?

  How troublesome.

  Truly troublesome.

  “You should all learn your lessons,” Selena huffed. “Now, if you will, we shall pass through this town now. I shall overlook your men’s transgression if no incident arises.”

  “There will be no further incident. I swear on my honor.”

  “~Good, how lovely.”

  The nervous officer then ordered his men to make way, and Selena and her group finally managed to advance without incident. She led them on horseback when they exited the town later, and she ordered everyone to keep pressing onward to Pinkerton.

  That was when she was stopped by two figures in white cloaks, both of them riding horses shrouded in a strange misty shadow. No, in fact, the night grew darker, so dark that she could barely see them in the darkness, even when they wore pure white clothing.

  She was about to prepare for something when she caught a whiff of something.

  Is that…?

  Her master’s love! It was his very essence. It wafted off from one of the figures on horseback. It was so much love that it was overflowing. Just smelling it alone made her tingle all over. Was this fate?

  She squealed.

  “How fragrant!” Her eyes widened in amazement. She immediately dismounted her horse, rushing to them in a show of affection and reverence. “~My, my, my! You must be an Envoy of Death! Oh, righteous and blessed one, I am so glad to meet you—!”

  Huh?

  Before she could even react, one of the figures jumped off his horse, pulling out two rapiers, and as if he teleported in the blink of an eye, he swung them both at her. She barely blocked his blades with her defense saber when she was sent tumbling to the ground.

  She tried to pull out her wand, but a swing from his sword cut it in half. It was followed by another strike from the man. The downward swing nearly lopped her head, but she managed to block it just in time.

  She gritted her teeth.

  “E-envoy of Death, why are you—?”

  A look of horror appeared on her face. That mask. That cloak. It must be…

  The White Watch.

  They were the same monsters she saw through the eyes of one of her beloved, the same monsters who were capable of wiping out an entire company of her boys.

  Selena gasped.

  That dark, strange shadow, alongside her master’s fragrant essence, managed to confuse her, making her think that this man was a blessed one. How unfair. She made an embarrassing blunder because of this monster!

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “You know, you’re the second moron who called me an ‘Envoy of Death’.” A psychotic chuckle came from him as he tried to pin her down with his blades. “Then again, just like him, you’re going to die because of me, so, I guess, it’s time for me to hand you your death warrant like an 'Envoy of Death' would, no?”

  “You violent, insolent, barbaric monster! You’re the one who killed my dear Hector!” She screamed. Using her saber, she began swinging it wildly to force the white-cloaked figure into a retreat. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I'll kill you!!!”

  The rest of her men then charged forward as well, all of them throwing themselves at the second member of the group. Her most powerful underlings, her ‘Reservoirs’, rapidly gained ground as a result. Unfortunately, many of the lower-ranked members of the Ministry of Wholesome Love fell to the glowing sword held by the second member of the White Watch.

  It was a deeply horrifying thing to watch, especially when she learned that the second member was a woman. She was someone who ought to be gentle and peaceful, like a lovely harmless flower. Yet here she was, slicing Selena's boys like minced meat!

  “How infuriating!” She pointed her sword at the white-cloaked man. “How dare you steal my master’s essence and coat yourself with it while slaughtering my faithful family?!”

  “...Are you crazy?”

  “What?”

  “You don’t make any sense, so you sound crazy to me.” He shook his head. “Unlike the last guy, you actually aren’t ugly, but your soul must be a shriveled, dry piece of dog crap.”

  She turned fully red.

  “You dare insult my beauty?! I, Selena vi Lusbeck, am the epitome of beauty! I can make any man and boy fall to their knees and make them love me so passionately! You can't do the same to anyone. That's why you hide behind that ugly mask!”

  “Make me ‘fall on my knees’ then, shitface.”

  “Tsk, you dare?!”

  She quickly tried to make him fall to his knees, accepting his challenge by attacking him. Her eyes glowed madly pink, and a thousand pink shards of light surrounded her. Then, all of them rained down on the heathen fool.

  She charged in boldly, readying her saber to slice him. He would be nothing but an ugly red stain on the green meadows—

  “Urgk!”

  “...Is pink your favorite color?”

  Warm, sizzling heat pierced her core. The pain was so extreme, she couldn’t even speak. All of the shards of light she sent at him flew straight into a patch of green grass where nobody stood. He wasn't harmed at all.

  Instead, he was here, in front of her, one of his rapiers dug deeply into her chest.

  “I somewhat prefer red blood,” the white-cloaked man lamented. “But this will do. Let’s try decorating these fields with your lovely blood, pretty elf lady.”

  [Swift Blade].

  In seconds, he used his rapier to cut chunk after chunk after chunk off her body indiscriminately. So brutal was he that he even sliced her head like a watermelon when it flew up high in the sky.

  Total darkness soon followed, until one of her ‘Reservoirs’ in the base of the Ministry of Wholesome Love screamed while his body melted into pink goo. Once her soul was fully transferred, the pink goo reformed itself into recreating her original body.

  She gasped on the floor of her parish as she fell on her knees.

  What the hell is he?

  What the hell are they?!

  Mother warned me about women like you. Didn’t know you actually existed.

  Marcus looked down at his filthy rapier, which was coated in pink blood. He felt a tingle of disgust course through his veins. Quite frankly, it was scary how her seductive looks nearly got through to him for a brief second.

  Thank goodness he sliced her into a bunch of meat chunks. Now she looked very ugly.

  Sometimes, I question if these cretins are worse than the demon horde.

  Best to wipe them all out, really.

  “S-sir Marcus!” Stella’s voice shrieked out. Immediately, he turned to run in her direction. “I just…killed a child?”

  Stella was nervously pointing her finger at a dead cultist. It was one of the extra powerful ones who bled with the same pink blood Selena let out. However, it seemed like Stella made the mistake of inspecting the corpse, removing his black mask.

  As a result, the two were now staring at the face of a ten-year-old boy.

  “I…I thought they were just short,” Stella teared up.

  “I’ve noticed this too.” Marcus took a knee to inspect the body. “The last guy we captured and interrogated was fifteen years old. Even the previous group at Esterton seemed to be made of teenage boys.”

  “...W-why?”

  “She’s a weirdo. The worst kind, to be specific,” Marcus exhaled deeply. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s dead yet.”

  “...How do you know?”

  “While it was faint, I felt a powerful link of mana between her and these pink-blooded boys,” Marcus said. “They must be her vessels, or something.”

  “Vessels? As in, she can possess their bodies?”

  “Quite likely. I’ve seen a few high-ranking demons do this. It’s an extreme form of death magic, demonic in nature.”

  Marcus stood up.

  “In any case, she shouldn’t be a threat for now. We just killed a good number of her cannon fodder. We should be golden to proceed to Pinkerton.”

  “Marcus,” Stella’s face was now dark. “Is she…?”

  “Quite frankly, I don’t want to imagine or figure out how she applies those demonic spells on those boys. And I’d bet you won’t want to know either.”

  “...I want to kill her. The goddess needs to judge her.”

  “Same. Now, let’s go; we can’t stay here for too long.”

  After checking their belongings and equipment, Marcus mounted their horses before riding away, leaving the bodies of the cultists to rot in their wake.

  Early in the morning, after changing back to their normal clothes, the two returned to Pinkerton. The city was noticeably stiffer by the time they arrived.

  Powerful enchanted ballistas were ready on the bastions and battlements of the walls. Checkpoints were placed on the major roads outside, and they were asking everyone entering and exiting to present identification. Even the streets were now being lightly patrolled by guardsmen and militiamen.

  ‘Severe bandit activity’—that was the official reasoning that Marcus heard from the lips of the citizens of Pinkerton as a reason for the city's raised alert level. While the tightened security was clearly inconveniencing them, many believed that the city’s walls would defeat any foolish brigand planning to take Pinkerton.

  Of course, Marcus knew the truth. Marquis Hansa was preparing to negotiate with the Death God Cult, and should it fail, he would use the walls of Pinkerton to hold out until aid arrived.

  Unfortunately for him, there wouldn’t be anyone to negotiate with, and he would be attacked by a different force instead. After placing their horses in a private stable, Marcus and Stella retired to sleep in a nearby hotel to take a brief rest. By afternoon they began discussing the finer details of his incursion plan in his room.

  Tomorrow, just like Almarche, this city would be utterly shaken.