Intermission - Annette

—The Holy Kingdom— YEAR 1515

Somewhere near the Holy Kingdom's sanctuary.

An arc of golden light struck off the head of an Immortal believer. The headless body collapsed next to the countless other corpses.

After seeing the might of the Immortals, many chose to become their followers. Rumour has it that some of the members of the church were also involved with this evil god. They even managed to make contact with them.

Naturally, this angered those of the church. Their people dared to go against Sol's religion and chose side with an enemy of the continent.

"Disgusting scum."

The woman responsible for the slaughter shook the blood off her silver sword. She took off her white cloak's hoodie and wiped the sweat from her brows.

She had light brown hair and ocean blue eyes. Her body was covered with only a white cloak and under-armour. Many might not believe that the cloak was actually a very durable and powerful armour made by the dwarves' excellent craftsmanship.

She was cut multiple times since the enemies numbered over two hundred but none of them managed to even scratch her.

She looked up at the bright blue sky that didn't have a single cloud. It was already noon since the sun was at its highest.

"This took longer than expected."

Her comrades threw the bodies together after they finished with the other enemies.

All of them gathered around the corpses in a circle.

"With this prayer to the almighty Varian Goddess of Life and the light goddess Sol, we cast 『Holy Fire』to purify their vengeful souls."

All of them chanted the same incantation. A light descended from the sky after a barrier formed around them. The golden fire burned the corpses to a crisp.

The Holy Paladin who led the holy knights looked at the burning cloak which belonged to their church.

"How could they worship evil." It wasn't a question that needed an answer. Whichever reason they had to do it; the Holy Paladin would still eliminate them.

There was nothing but ashes after a few minutes. She could still vividly remember how they slaughtered innocents with the pretext of offers to their new god.

"Lady Annette. Her Majesty called for you."

"Ah, thank you."

She took the communication orb from the priest and cleared her throat.

"Your Majesty?"

-Annette. Have you finished with your job?

"I have. We didn't manage to find their main base but we could save the innocents at least. Their villages were burned down so we'll set up temporary shelters until it gets rebuilt."

-Good work. Pope Rondart will be very pleased to hear that you eradicated one of the enemies of the church. I'll give you a few weeks off.

"But my duty–"

-No buts. I do not want my daughter to overburden herself.

"..."

Annette smiled.

"Thank you, mother. I can spend time with Lionel and my son."

Lionel was her husband that she met during her time at the knight training camp. The two had been together for ten years by now.

He was the son of a Baron household. Since he wasn't suitable to become head, he had to leave the house at 12 years old to become a knight. That was the norm for many boys that were excluded from succession.

-How is my little prince doing?

Rosalinda's gentle voice flowed through the orb. Since it was revealed that Lionel was infertile, the two of them couldn't conceive a child together. They decided to adopt a boy from the orphanage Annette grew up in.

He will also one day become the king of the Holy Kingdom. Of course, this isn't revealed to the public. Rosalinda had two other children but she decided to make her adopted grandchild the king instead.

Since he was a very talented young boy, she felt like she wouldn't regret it if she left the kingdom in his hands.

"Lionel told me that Jack has been visiting the church's new nun nearly every day. I wonder if there's something between those two?"

Rosalinda laughed.

-He's nine years old. Isn't it about time that he finds his first love?

"I guess you're right. Jack does get excited whenever he mentions her."

'He even asks me for pocket money to buy her gifts on her birthdays. So cute.'

Annette climbed onto her horse as the orb floated next to her. Everyone took that as a signal to move out.

-The boy is growing so keep an eye on their relationship. I don't want him to have a distorted view on love.

Annette laughed softly.

"I'll remember that."

-I must attend to my duties. Enjoy your off time, my dear.

"I'll see you in a week, mother."

The orb's surface darkened signalling the end of the call. Annette's soft smile vanished and was replaced with a stern expression. She gave the orb back to the priest. She tightened her hold on the reins of her white stallion and flicked it.

The horse neighed and began running faster. Her comrades followed her lead.

They rode through the burnt down village of the Evil God followers. It was a village near the Holy Kingdom.

Since that was the case it didn't take long for them to arrive back at their base which was the HQ of the Sol Church.

"Have you finished your task, Paladin Annette?"

A voice called out to her as she entered the church's prayer hall. The benches were filled with believers with their heads lowered. White cloaks were over their heads as they prayed.

"Am I disturbing Your Holiness in any way?" Annette remained standing by the doors as she asked.

Pope Rondart gestured for her to come closer.

"Do not mind them. No outside distractions can disrupt a sincere prayer to the great goddess. If something disrupts the mind during prayer then the goddess will listen to the prayer in one's heart."

The Pope smiled gently and adjusted his glasses. He was a largely build man with a wide and big chin. He finished drawing a cross on the head of a believer.

Annette bowed respectively.

"Pope Rondart. We have finished the task given to us."

"Excellent! Now that we have slain the followers of the evil god, our nation will be peaceful from now on."

"I fear that day isn't here yet. I am certain that there are more of them out there. We must remain vigilant."

"Hm..." The Pope looked down at Annette from his seat. "You are absolutely correct. We must rid this continent of evil."

He made a strange smile as he said that.

"How goes the search for the leader of this cult?"

"Ah, we managed to find a lead."

Annette took something out of her bag.

It was a letter.

"We cannot read its contents but this X should give us an idea of their location? Hmmm...Judging by the geography and the rock formations, I think this is a dungeon but I'm not sure where. This terrain itself is foreign to me."

Rondart's eyes twitched but Annette didn't see it. She proudly showed the letter to the pope.

"H-Hmm... Interesting. I will keep this in my hands as it could contain the filth of evil. Only those with the purest of hearts may handle it. The priests will need to cast the highest rank of divine spells to purify this item."

Those who knew of his true nature scoffed in their minds.

This bastard was the one who helped Olivia become the queen. He had done many heinous things to become the pope. Calling something like the cult evil and filth was contradicting his own actions thus far. It was hypocrisy at its highest.

"...Then please let me know what it says once the High Priests manage to decipher it. It might hold the location of the evil god."

"Very well. You have served the church blessed by goddess Sol well, my child. The future we wished for our church is nigh. I will request for you again. May the mother of Sol bless your future."

'Dammit... How could the soldier sent especially by Lord Atrius be defeated? Shit. He said the clones should attack any day now. She'll be a big hindrance in the future.'

The only reason he sent her there was so that she could be discarded of. He heard before that she was known as one of the strongest Holy Knights but he didn't think she would be this strong.

At the young age of 23, she was already classified as a powerhouse of the Holy Kingdom.

'If we continue to let her and that man grow then things might get troublesome.'

There was another person who they should've been wary of. That was the man who protected the one who sat on the throne. He was probably as strong if not stronger than Annette. No, he was definitely stronger than Annette.

'We must find a way to deal with them as soon as possible.'

"Thank you for requesting my services. I will gladly assist the church in the future if you need it."

Annette stood up and bowed before turning around to leave. Her brown hair fluttered with each step. The believers also left one after another before only the pope remained. If any of them looked back then they'd see his face distort heavily.

Annette looked up at the sky and noticed how late it was.

'Lionel is probably already making dinner. I should hurry, I don't want to miss out on his cooking tonight.'

"Annette."

When Annette was about to fly off towards her residence, a sharp voice called out to her.

"Wilhelm."

A tall man with sharp facial features was standing next to her. She didn't know when he snuck up on her like that.

He had flaming red hair and blood red eyes.

Wilhelm Gregory, the one who guards the Holy Queen along with her. The two had been colleagues for seven years by now after the previous paladin gave his position to Annette. She was only 16 at the time but extremely talented. She was not only the youngest to be accepted but it was also the first time in history that a woman was ever selected as a paladin. This naturally caused a lot of people to look down on her. The man standing next to her was one of those people.

In fact, he hated her the most. She was viewed as incompetent, weak and untrustworthy in his eyes.

"You've lost them again?"

"...."

Annette's expression distorted. It was like he was already aware but sought confirmation from her anyway.

"...I have."

"Tch."

Wilhelm's face looked annoyed when he heard her reply.

"You should know that if we let this enemy run loose, this nation's queen herself will be in danger. I hope you're ready to face reality when that time comes. She gave you the mission of exterminating them after all. The blame will fall upon you and you alone."

He poked her armour. Specifically the crest which represented the goddess Sol.

"Do not forget why you're still a Holy Paladin. It is on the whim of Her Majesty. It has nothing to do with your strength. If strength was the answer then I would've been more than enough to handle her protection. "

"...."

Annette nodded obediently.

"Charles should've given the seat to someone else instead. Tch."

With one last annoyed click of the tongue, he left. He walked down the stairs of the Holy Temple. The Holy Kingdom's prosperous capital city appeared in Annette's view.

Annette gave no heed to Wilhelm's words. He was like this anyway so she had gotten used to it after all these years.

"Ah...It should be in a week, right?"

She muttered with a small smile while clutching the letters in her hand that she took out of her storage bag. All of them were from the same person.

Clyde Astley.

Her little brother.