Chapter 6: You Smell So Good!

“No, no…”

The next morning, when Herbert painfully escaped from his dream, his mouth still uttered words filled with sorrow and emptiness.

“Even a minotaur won’t do! There’s a bull, there’s a bull!”

“No, no… ha!”

Herbert finally woke up, jerking his eyes open and quickly covering his mouth.

“Gag—”

He leaned over the desk, vomiting for a long while, trying to expel those horrifying memories along with yesterday’s dry bread.

Scary?

Yes, this was terrifying.

Herbert took a long while to recover, sealing those forbidden images deep within the darkest recesses of his memory.

This demon god… is way too damn dark!?!

As Herbert, eyes brimming with tears, relentlessly cursed the demon god’s malice, a color that shouldn’t exist here flashed in his peripheral vision.

Hm?

“What’s this?”

Herbert looked down and saw pink lines woven with his holy scar, forming a bizarre heart shape on the back of his hand—his head filled with a giant question mark.

?

Hey, you know what? This little thing actually looks familiar!

I think I’ve seen plenty of these… in my hard drive.

Gulp.

"...Porn, uh, silver streaks?"

No, that can’t be right!

This shouldn’t appear on a man’s body!!?

A man can’t—shouldn’t!

Ciallo～(∠ω<)⌒☆

I’m going underwater as a succubus today!

Ta-da!

Succubus Holy Knight!

The kind who eats all four slashes~

Please support me, spam more—

“...Tch!”

After indulging in self-destructive madness in his mind for a long while, Herbert’s consciousness finally returned to normal.

He squinted, silently staring at the back of his hand—those pink lines had long vanished, and no matter how he stimulated it, they never reappeared.

But he knew, with absolute certainty—that scene had not been a sleepy morning hallucination; those things were still there!

Not on his flesh, but deeply engraved upon his soul.

Why was Herbert so certain?

Because he had experienced this exact sensation just yesterday.

Yes.

The feeling of receiving a blessing after taking an oath!

Good news: he received a new blessing.

Bad news: it wasn’t granted by a true deity.

He had been generously blessed by an unknown demon god, marked upon his body—let’s call it a demonic rune for now.

Huh!

That demon god knocked me to my knees—intending for me to become a Star Fury!

Less than half a day after becoming a Holy Knight, Herbert had, regretfully, become a demon god’s lackey, achieving a full half-day performance in the Faithful Challenge.

“What is this? Coercive love…?”

Herbert rubbed his temples, head throbbing.

Dude, you’re ruining me!

No one heard Herbert’s cry—because he dared not sob aloud, silently shedding tiny pearls inside his heart.

A gentleman is cautious when alone; walls have ears.

Upon realizing he might become a demon god’s servant, Herbert immediately redefined himself as a criminal suspect, prioritizing adaptive caution.

Herbert sniffed hard, holding back the hot tears at his eyes.

Being tormented by a pure blessing wasn’t enough—now he had a demon god’s blessing too… what the hell?

So bitter.

My life is so bitter!

After sighing again at the cruelty of his fate, Herbert regained his composure.

He had spent his past life cursed from birth; his spirit had long grown accustomed to sudden hardships.

No matter what happened, as long as he wasn’t dead, life had to go on.

“Next, there are only two paths.”

Continue down the Holy Knight path and report himself to his superiors?

As a Holy Knight, what he should do now is seek help from the monastery’s higher-ups, asking them to handle everything happening to him.

But honestly, Herbert hesitated.

Reporting himself might clear his suspicion, but it would also completely surrender his life and death to others.

Moreover, could he truly trust these ascetics?

The cases of the mighty predecessors in the scriptures were glaringly vivid, constantly reminding Herbert of the outcome he’d face if he acted.

These ascetics appeared peaceful and detached in daily life, but when confronting evil, they were never gentle souls—they strictly followed the principle: “Eradicate evil completely; better to kill ten thousand by mistake than let one slip away!”

Even the extremists thought they were too extreme.

If the demon god’s blessing could be removed, that would be best—everyone would be happy.

But what if… it couldn’t?

At that point, what awaited him would be neither death nor endless imprisonment.

Herbert turned his head, gazing into the mirror, seeing the haggard face worn down by a night of nightmares.

And the deep, unyielding resentment hidden within his pale gray eyes.

Death or imprisonment—neither outcome was what he wanted.

He was not a true Holy Knight.

At least not yet—not at this moment—did he possess the willingness to sacrifice himself for order and justice.

Now that his thoughts were clear, his choice was obvious.

“Go underwater!”

Herbert picked up his pen and swiftly wrote, offering his respect to the unknown entity.

“I’ve drifted half my life, regretting never meeting a worthy lord. If you’ll have me, I beg to become your adopted son!”

The demon god gave no response.

No matter what Herbert wrote on the paper, it received no reply.

He didn’t know if the god was pretending to be aloof—or simply unable to respond.

“...Is he only online after midnight?” Herbert speculated, helplessly accepting the god’s unreliable disappearance.

To avoid drawing attention and evade others’ gazes, after burning his chat logs, Herbert went nowhere—returning straight to his post early that morning.

Though he really didn’t want to go back so soon.

As expected, the instant he pushed open the prison door, a thunderous roar erupted like a tidal wave, stirring up a gust of air.

“***! ***! *****!”

The crazy bitch who’d been kicked yesterday had been waiting long enough—she launched a zero-frame barrage without hesitation.

Valentina had intended to let it go after being teased, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she became, her blood rage fully maxed out.

All the words she’d rehearsed overnight poured out in one furious rush.

“***!”

So cathartic! So unfiltered!

Herbert, the target of her rage, said nothing—just smiled and waited patiently for a long while.

When she finally finished, he calmly removed the simple earplugs he’d already inserted.

“Are you done?”

Go ahead, scream—I can’t hear you.

As long as I can’t hear you, my family won’t be hurt.

Valentina: ?

“Are you fucking with me?! You actually… hmm?”

Valentina, burning with rage, drew a deep breath to launch round two—when her nose twitched involuntarily, and her furious expression froze.

Huh?

Her eyes slowly widened, her vertical pupils gradually spreading into round shapes, looking oddly innocent.

Herbert blinked, unsure what strange mood she was in now, ready to slip his earplugs back in.

“You, you how…”

She stared at Herbert for a long time, sniffing again and again, before finally exclaiming in shock:

“You smell so good!”

Herbert: Huh?

(End of Chapter)