A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight - Chapter 6

It was the fourth day after Sophia’s arrival in Strasbourg when Paul Hiltmann came to see her. Informed of the commissioner’s visit through a monastery worker handling church errands, Sophia gave a satisfied smile.

“Indeed, quite capable.”

At least limited to an individual city, he was better than most of the Order’s direct intelligence assets. That very capability was the main reason Sophia could not stop using commissioners in each city.

When Sophia entered the monastery’s reception room, Commissioner Paul Hiltmann was already waiting on the sofa. On the table was a clay cup of steaming herbal tea, presumably served by a nun. Beside it were stacks of documents he seemed to have brought.

The commissioner chewed on his thumbnail with an anxious expression, his right leg shaking uncontrollably, not even thinking about drinking the tea.

“You came quickly.”
“It’s that urgent of a matter. Mainly for my own safety’s sake.”
“Hahaha, if one could become capable just by having their life at stake, then I would be a more than capable man. There are plenty of people in this world who cannot manage that.”

Sophia heartily laughed like an elderly man, praising the commissioner. But the more she did, the more Paul Hiltmann’s expression withered like a rotten apple. He didn’t seem to want to show off his capability at all. Frankly, he disliked this very situation that required him to demonstrate his competence.

Living a low-profile life was Paul Hiltmann’s life motto. Until now, he had aimed for transparent fair dealings as much as possible, building trust with clients while adhering to business policies focused solely on security and peace of mind without excessive greed.

Even if profits were in sight, he would never take them without at least three rounds of self-questioning:

Is this profit small enough to be swallowed in one bite without being noticed by others?
If swallowing this profit is exposed, are there truly no worrisome repercussions to consider?

If the profit was too big to swallow in one bite, he wouldn’t even look at it. Such large profits undoubtedly could not be taken alone, and in most cases, it would inevitably lead to forming unnecessary enmity with competitors over it.

And if there were any potential repercussions, no matter how small the cost of swallowing that profit, Paul would not even glance at it. For beyond that small repercussion, there was always the possibility of some greater consequence he could not foresee.

For Paul Hiltmann, who had lived this way, the situation of the demon Erzsebet infiltrating Strasbourg was practically hellish. Wherever he sat felt like sitting on a bed of nails, food lost its taste, nothing seemed to digest properly, and even on the toilet he suffered from constipation. Unable to sleep, his worsening condition was taking its toll.

This was more than enough to make Paul keenly feel the need to actively cooperate with the Paladin nun knight and get the demon out of Strasbourg as soon as possible, lest his quality of life never recover.

“As you said, knight. There is certainly a demon lurking in Strasbourg.”

Through collecting and organizing information on suspected demonic individuals, Paul Hiltmann had undoubtedly caught a whiff of something suspicious.

The suspects were all wandering prostitutes who had recently flowed into Strasbourg’s red-light district. This was the conclusion he intuitively drew the moment he heard from Sophia that the demon Erzsebet’s power involved sexual enticement and bewitchment.

Paul Hiltmann analyzed various trivial information he had gathered by investigating the activities and movements of clients who had dealings with those wandering prostitutes. Soon, he could trace a dangerous undercurrent linking them all.

‘This is an emergency!’

Among those who had relations with the wandering prostitutes, Paul confirmed there were individuals of considerable military, economic, and political influence in Strasbourg. As he then identified those exhibiting potentially problematic behavior compared to before, he had to resist the urge to scream inwardly.

‘A sinister undercurrent that could engulf all of Strasbourg has formed. If left unchecked, it could truly lead to disaster!’

In a situation that made him seriously consider closing up shop and moving elsewhere, Paul Hiltmann promptly brought the stack of documents tucked under his arm to see Sophia. His plan was to cooperate first, and if the situation stabilized, good – but if not, he would flee. That was his mindset.

“Indeed. And were you also able to find out where that woman is hiding?”
“I’ve compiled a rough list. I was also able to procure maps and guides. I’ve had them waiting at my office, so we can move out anytime.”
“Your work is quite efficient. I can distinguish the actual culprit myself once I see them directly. Then let’s depart immediately.”
“Those are the words I’ve been waiting for. Please get that demon away from my business premises as soon as possible. I’ve been so anxious these past few days, I thought I was going insane. At this rate, I won’t die a natural death.”

In response to the commissioner’s sincere plea, Sophia gave a hearty reply:

“After tonight, you’ll be able to sleep soundly with your feet up at home.”

+++++

Business in the red-light district began at dusk. Paul Hiltmann and Sophia de Chazelle hired a street urchin as their guide and set out to find the individuals on their list.

It was the dimming hours when shops selling alcohol, seductive wares, and somewhat lewd merchandise began hanging out their red lanterns to open for business. The combination of a young urchin guide, a rugged middle-aged man, and a fully armed beautiful maiden knight passing through these streets reeking of alcohol, perfume, and tobacco smoke was undoubtedly an odd sight invoking a sense of dissonance.

Paul Hiltmann marveled at the nun knight striding through the red-light district streets without the slightest change in expression.

‘So this is the Order’s ultimate weapon, the bane of demons – a Paladin operative. What kind of woman can wander places like this without the slightest disturbance? She even looked around with interest at first, but now has this jaded expression like she’s seen it all.’

It was such a bizarre sight that the young urchin guiding them initially kept glancing back at the nun knight, but later simply walked ahead with an exasperated look.

They had already visited five prostitutes to confirm their identities. Since they couldn’t meet the prostitutes for free, they had to pay the fee, or “hwa-dae”…but the problem was that Sophia was the one paying it.

Paul broke out in a cold sweat, thinking there might even be legends spreading through Strasbourg’s back alleys about the “nun knight paying hwa-dae in the red-light district” after this incident was resolved.

“So far they’ve all been proper humans at least. I can’t say if they’re innocent, but how many more are left?”
“Seven more to go.”
“Hopefully she’s among them.”
“I agree. Dragging this out longer to gather more information would be too risky.”

Paul and Sophia exchanged words as they hurried toward their next target.

The young urchin guide leading the way was curious about just who these customers were, conversing so casually with the commissioner who was at least kind to the street urchins. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask, since this was a rare, lucrative guiding job. If he misspoke and botched the job, he would deeply regret it.

Eventually, they arrived at a more secluded area of the red-light district. The scenery here was quite different from before. Unlike the earlier shabby yet still building-like brothels, the ones before them were all shoddy tents.

“Strange. No matter how I think about it, it seems unlikely the city’s influential figures would visit such rundown places.”
“And yet the records clearly show they’ve been coming and going here.”
“Precisely. For some reason, my intuition is screaming that we’ll find something this time. Look, I’m even getting goosebumps on my arms.”
“Hmm. I see.”

Suddenly, as Sophia abruptly stopped walking, Paul and the urchin halted as well.

“Huh? Why did you stop?”
“It seems your intuition was right on the mark.”

Erasing her previously relaxed expression, Sophia drew the longsword at her waist, gripping it with both hands. At that moment, a rippling distortion seemed to spread through the space, and the surrounding scenery transformed.

The shabby, foul-smelling tents vanished, replaced by colorful, brightly-lit luxurious tents surrounding them. The feeble, seductive laughter of impoverished prostitutes was no longer audible, instead replaced by seductive music and alluring giggles emanating from all around.

“…Just what is this spectacle?”

As the dumbfounded Paul Hiltmann unconsciously asked, Sophia answered:

“It’s a demon’s realm. Look up at the sky.”

Following Sophia’s words, Paul and the urchin looked up and jolted in shock.

“The stars…?”
“Are gone. All that remains is the moon.”
“…That’s not the moon. It’s the blood cursestone maintaining this realm. I’ve never seen such a massive blood cursestone before. Just how many followers did she create to make something that immense?”
“What is that?”
“There’s no time to explain! Oh no, that vile whore has noticed us. You two, quickly retreat! If we run out of this realm immediately, we can still escape!”

No sooner had she finished speaking, Sophia raised her longsword horizontally in a defensive stance. Then alluring whistling calls rang out from the colorful surrounding tents. The bewildered Paul suddenly hardened his expression, roughly grabbing the still-confused urchin under his arm as he broke into a run backward.

“Wah, what are you doing?!”
“Shut up and keep your mouth shut! You’ll bite your tongue!”

With a genuinely terrified look, Paul ran with all his might. As he ran pushing the colorful tents out of his field of view, he suddenly felt the whistling calls fading from his ears. And shortly after…

Right as Paul and the urchin exited the tent district and the laughter faded, a loud popping sound erupted from the colorful tents arrayed before Sophia as a swarm of countless nightingales burst forth.