Chapter 4: Are You Even a Proper Evil God?

Under the night sky, the monastery was quiet and peaceful; a gauze-like moonlight spilled between the stars, carrying away the last traces of daytime clamor.

Only solitude remained.

Silence and stillness were the monastery's usual state.

But right now, in one of its rooms, a fierce exchange was taking place—utterly out of sync with the surrounding atmosphere.

Click, click, click…

The silent room was so still a pin could be heard falling; the faint sounds of gears grinding, turning, and colliding inside the mechanical clock were clearly audible.

And the sound of a pen swiftly scraping across paper.

Swish-swish-swish!

"…"

Herbert stared blankly as his left hand gripped a quill, rapidly dancing across the paper, leaving behind a string of ornate, sinister characters.

When his left hand stopped, he flipped through the thick dictionary beside him, laboriously translating the words he himself had written.

"What."

"Afraid."

"You… tch!"

【What are you afraid of?】

Looking at the translation he had painstakingly deciphered, Herbert felt the mocking tone in the words; his mouth twitched involuntarily, and, irritated, he wrote a retort with his right hand.

"Afraid of what? Don't you know? Don't you know???"

Hmph.

The way you ask that—zero technical skill.

I'm staying up all night alone, playing with a spirit pen and a Ouija board just to chat with you.

You ask me what I'm afraid of?

Obviously, I'm afraid of you!

After several rounds of testing, Herbert's lingering hope finally died; he had no choice but to accept reality—he wasn't suffering from schizophrenia, he had genuinely encountered a ghost.

Fine, his left hand's ornate cursive was one thing, but he couldn't possibly have spontaneously mastered six or seven alien languages.

Admit it!

I'm possessed by something unclean, I'm no longer pure, waaah…

Swish-swish-swish!

Once the writing reverted to the common tongue, it became even faster.

【You're not afraid of me, are you?】

The other party not only completely ignored Herbert's sarcastic tone, but seemed even more delighted—their joy nearly burst from the words.

【No way? No way? No way?】

【You're a Holy Knight! How could you possibly fear me?】

Damn, this ghost is a little brat.

For several rounds, the two had passionately exchanged blows with the same pen, filling multiple sheets of white paper with aggressive, artistic script.

Not long ago, when the Holy Mark alerted Herbert and he realized his own thoughts were being silently influenced, he understood something terrible had happened—the sealed entity beneath the monastery had broken loose!

This world is not safe; demons, evil spirits, devils, malevolent creatures… abound with dangerous entities.

The original purpose of every monastery was to seal and suppress those special beings that could not be destroyed or killed.

Herbert did not know what exactly lay sealed beneath the Mist Monastery, but he was certain it was far beyond his current capacity to handle.

There was no point in bravely facing it alone; with clear self-awareness, Herbert immediately sought to Must Reach the Outside World for help.

Joke's on you.

This is the Mist Monastery, guarded by several legendary powerhouses; even if the sealed entity escaped, it wouldn't be up to a newbie Holy Knight like him to act.

With the big shots here, all evil shall be brought to justice!

I'm lucky if I get to leech some XP.

Too bad, the idea was good—but useless.

He wanted to call for help, but his throat produced no sound; even breathing was painfully difficult.

He wanted to bang on the door to make noise, but his hand grew weak before it could even touch the wood, finally collapsing into a limp caress.

After all attempts failed, Herbert's "wild left hand" led him to the desk, where he had been conversing with the unseen presence ever since.

Eventually, Herbert was the first to surrender, raising a white flag, and wearily wrote:

"So, what exactly do you want?"

After half a day of shouting insults back and forth, Herbert still knew nothing of the other's identity—but he had learned one thing for sure.

At least from the tone revealed in its writing, malice was uncertain, but the entity seemed to harbor no intent to kill him.

Don't let him call for help.

Don't let him die.

Even don't let him beg!

What the hell, you're forcing me to write back and forth with you?!

Are you insane?!

【Oh? You finally believe I'm not just a figment of your mind?】

"Fine, fine, I believe you, okay? So then, great being, what exactly do you want me to do?"

In his past life, Herbert had seen too many tragedies caused by trusting others too easily.

He naturally didn't believe the excuse that it was "just lonely at midnight and wanted someone to chat with~"—that was clearly a five-day-old lie.

Apart from one's closest kin, whenever anyone else is unusually warm toward you, there must be an ulterior motive behind it — be it power, money, or looks… without exception.

【What I want to do isn't important. You'll understand sooner or later.】

【Heh heh, but you, young Holy Knight… have you truly thought through the meaning of trading with Miss Xie Shen?】

【Are you truly prepared?】

Miss Xie Shen.

Herbert squinted instinctively at this rather jarring word, and his expression turned solemn.

Gods of the evil faction, the true enemies of righteousness — They spread blood and fire across the mortal world, bringing endless death and suffering, and are the very existences that every Holy Knight would spare no cost to destroy.

After a long silence, he finally, with a face full of solemnity, picked up his pen and slowly wrote down the greatest question in his heart at this moment—

"You Miss Xie Shen… are you for real?"

Swoosh!

【?】

Looking at the oversized question mark that took up half the page, Herbert curled his lip.

See, there you go again — so impatient.

Not the least bit composed.

You Miss Xie Shen — afraid you're a Comedic God instead?

Let's not even mention anything else, just tell me — what decent Miss Xie Shen would refuse to let people sleep in the middle of the night, dragging someone into a passionate mutual roast?

Perhaps the killing power of this line was too great, for Miss Xie Shen, the little one, actually fell silent for a full minute.

【I understand. You still don't believe me.】

【Fine.】

They said:

【I'll let you experience firsthand the terror of a Miss Xie Shen!】

Hmm?

Hmm???

A very ominous premonition suddenly flashed through Herbert's heart. Unable to bother writing with his pen, he hurriedly opened his mouth:

"Wait a moment! What are you going to do to me…"

Thud.

Before Herbert could finish speaking, his consciousness abruptly cut off, and he crashed face-first onto the desk.

He had fallen asleep.

That night, Herbert — who since arriving at the Misty Cloister had never once slept well — fell into a deep, sound slumber.

Moreover, he had a dream.

An extremely lewd and absurd dream.

In the dream, he was surrounded and clustered by dozens of enchantingly beautiful young ladies of various races, engaging in round after round of in-depth academic research.

But just as the discussion reached its climax, those monster girls suddenly transformed into an entirely different appearance!

"W-wait a moment!?"

"No no no no!"

"Don't come near me—"

"Don't come any closer!"

"At least, not goblins!"

"Not even the females—"

(End of chapter)