A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight - Chapter 3

The eastern border region of Frangia was the borderland between the Holy Griffon Empire to the east and the Kingdom of Rotharingia to the south.

As the intersection of three nations, the local lords in this area tended to be powerful and independent, with little reach from the central authorities. With complex intermarriages between them, the lords often held fiefs and titles of mixed nationalities.

For example, a marquis of Frangia’s Roden region might also be a vassal serving the Duke of Passau in Rotharingia, or named the heir of a count in the Holy Griffon Empire.

As a result, in this region the council of ministers tended to wield more influence than the lords’ authority. With their complicated titles, the lords frequently struggled to properly govern and develop their lands.

However, as the council naturally represented local interests, the cities in this borderland thrived more through commercial ties than military tensions befitting a border region.

Conveniently, the Rhine River, the lifeline of the western continent, ran straight through this area. It was only natural for a web-like trade network to form around the riverside cities.

“But it doesn’t seem to be the case lately.”

While riding towards the largest fortress city in the east, Strasbourg, Sophia suddenly spat out the grass stem she had been chewing and grumbled.

What met her eyes was a merchant caravan being assailed by armed bandits.

“With the recent succession disputes around Aargau and Baden-Baden, are these deserters from there?”

As busy as she was, if she ignored this, she would surely be scolded later by her fellow Paladins. Sophia herself also disliked leaving people’s lives unattended – it would leave a bad aftertaste.

“But I really don’t want to waste time here either?”

After a moment’s contemplation, Sophia nodded as if having made a decision. Conveniently, she knew a skill optimized for civilian massacres. She began taking deep breaths, expanding her chest.

In an instant, her densely woven astral muscles reinforced by reverse breathing aided her actual abdominal and chest muscles. Her inner qi rose from the dantians as kundalini intermingled with prana from the chakras.

Then, through reverse brain cultivation, a sound amplification spell was woven in the spell socket of her astral brain and manifested before her vocal cords.

Timed with this, the volume of air in Sophia’s lungs gradually reached the critical point. As she was about to unleash a great shout, the “Mark of the Anointed One” engraved on her forehead and the traces of “Knighthood” and “Tribulation” carved into her meridians also lent their power for the invocation of the “Sound that Shakes Heaven and Earth” lineage.

[Wahhhh—!!!]

In an instant, a deafening shockwave burst forth from six directions toward the bandits attacking the merchants. Sophia’s amplified lung capacity and vocal power erupted with her cultivation base, boosted by the sound amplification spell and the invocation of the “Sound that Shakes Heaven and Earth” lineage in the Six-Harmonies Unison Method.

The thunderous roar was precisely focused on the bandits targeting the merchant caravan. Exposed to the violent, beast-like growling sound for an instant, the bandits’ bodies froze as blood ran from their ears. The faint-hearted died on the spot from cardiac arrest or fainted outright.

The merchant caravaners clashing with the bandits and their mercenary escorts stood dumbfounded by the sudden situation. Although they too had momentarily spaced out from the chilling roar, it was understandable.

After slowly riding over, Sophia asked the merchants, “Over there! Is everyone unharmed?”

The dazed merchants and mercenaries, having lost their sense of reality upon the beautiful knight maiden’s appearance, simply stared blankly.

“Hmm, no answer? Is there a leader among this group?”

“Ah, yes! I’m the caravan’s chief! And this man here…”

“Yes, I’m the captain of the mercenary escort.”

Belatedly regaining their senses at Sophia’s question, the caravan chief and mercenary captain stepped forward.

“Well, you seemed to be in trouble so I took immediate action, but I’m a bit busy so I can’t help with the cleanup. Will that be alright?”

“Ah, yes. But, about the reward distribution…”

“Just split it amongst yourselves.”

Leaving those words, Sophia rushed off as if taking flight. Erzsebet was a dangerous demon. That vile woman created demon followers and lesser demons everywhere she went, like a cicada molting. Using her innate charm to enthrall humans, she sublimated their inner desires into the realm of sin, turning them into demons.

The worst part was that the demons born this way blended seamlessly into human society, growing their forces like a hidden cancer.

Sophia intended to apprehend Erzsebet before she could enact any schemes in Strasbourg. If she were too late, the aftermath would undoubtedly become quite troublesome. She had no desire to take on additional unnecessary work.

This was also why she brushed off the caravan chief and mercenary captain, who seemed to want to accompany her, without a second thought.

It would have been a good deal to gain extra income as well as a share of the reward for capturing the bandits by promising to escort them. But that would only delay her. For Sophia, it was far easier to forgo some profits than take on additional work.

As Sophia abruptly departed, the caravan chief and mercenary captain could only awkwardly see her off. The horse she rode was so swift that before long, only a trailing cloud of dust kicked up by its hooves remained in sight.

“She’s gone.”

“Indeed, she has gone.”

The mercenary captain replied to the caravan chief’s statement. They both felt a sense of bewilderment.

Having faced the worst-case scenario when their caravan was attacked by bandit gangs formed from deserters of the Aargau-Baden succession dispute along the recently rapidly deteriorating trade routes of the Rhine basin, these two men had been prepared. The bandits outnumbered the combined merchants and mercenaries, with an average skill level slightly higher thanks to their wartime experience.

Amidst that, a tremendously overwhelming and terrifying thunderous roar had suddenly resounded, effortlessly subduing the bandits before their eyes like clay figurines. The appearance of the beautiful maiden knight that followed was enough to rob them of their sense of reality.

But then that knight had simply said she was too busy for chitchat before abruptly departing. It was a situation where anyone would struggle to regain their wits.

“Just a brief encounter, but she seems like a whirlwind of a person.”

“Indeed, most certainly. But more importantly, did you see it?”

“See what?”

“The black veil she wore on her head.”

At the mercenary captain’s words, the caravan chief recalled the appearance of the knight they had just encountered. Certainly, she had been wearing some sort of nun-like veil on her head. Now that he thought about it, in the middle of the veil covering her forehead, there seemed to be a white part with…the official seal of the Order, wasn’t there?

“A Paladin.”

“A Paladin, you say? Surely you don’t mean that Paladin?”

“Yes. Undoubtedly one of those known as the Order’s ultimate weapons who specialize in the Great Demon War, as well as acting as the military arm of the Church.”

“Well, that monstrous feat we just witnessed could hardly be explained otherwise.”

The caravan chief and mercenary captain exchanged such meaningless banter for a moment, trying to regain their dwindling sense of reality.

However, they were the ones responsible for the group in their charge. Soon acknowledging the situation, the two who had found their sense of reality again urged the still-dazed merchants and mercenaries to clean up the scene ransacked by the passing nun knight.

Regardless, it was half a day later when Sophia, continuing to spur her horse onward leaving the caravan behind, arrived at Strasbourg.

Strasbourg was an exceptionally prosperous fortress city among those of the Rhine basin.

This venerable city adeptly walked a tightrope between the Kingdom of Frangia, Holy Griffon Empire, and Kingdom of Rotharingia, while also defiantly contending with the formidable powers of the Briconewi Principalities to the north and the Duchy of Viazen to the northeast as the head of the Rhine Alliance.

As such a city, the crowds gathered to pass through Strasbourg’s city walls were substantial. The gate guards were carefully screening the crowds, lining them up to check for any vicious criminals or unidentified infiltrators attempting entry.

Faced with this long line…, Sophia rode her horse straight to the very front.