"No, no..."
The next morning, when Herbert struggled to escape his dreams, his mouth still uttered words filled with sadness and emptiness.
"Even Minotaur is no good, there are cattle, there are cattle!"
"No, no... ha!"
Herbert finally woke up, eyes snapping open, quickly covering his mouth.
"Blegh—"
Leaning over the table, he dry heaved for quite a while, trying to vomit out those terrifying memories along with last night's dry bread.
Scary?
Yes, it's very scary.
It took Herbert quite a while to catch his breath, sealing those forbidden images deep in his memory.
This Evil God... is unbelievably dark, isn't it!?
Just as Herbert was tearfully cursing the Evil God's wickedness, he caught a glimpse of a color that shouldn't be here.
Hmm?
"What's this?"
Herbert looked down, seeing on the back of his hand, intertwined with the Holy Mark, a heart-shaped pink line that drew a huge question mark above his head.
?
Ah hey, you know, this little thing actually looks familiar!
Like I've seen it plenty... on my hard drive.
Gulp.
"...Ahem, silver pattern?"
No, that's not right!
This thing shouldn't appear on a man, should it!!?
Humans can't, at least shouldn't!
.
.
Ciallo~ (∠・ω<)⌒☆
I'm going to sea as an Enchanting Demon today!
Ta-da!
Enchanting Demon Paladin!
The kind that devours all four cuts~
Please support me more, swipe more—
"...Tsk!"
After going wild in despair within his mind for quite a while, Herbert's consciousness finally returned to normal.
He squinted his eyes, silently stared at the back of his hand, where those pink lines had long since disappeared, and no matter how he tried to stimulate them, they did not reappear.
But he clearly understood, was utterly certain—what happened just now was no early morning illusion, those things were still there!
Not on the flesh, but deeply etched into his soul.
Why could Herbert be so sure?
Because he had just experienced that feeling yesterday.
Yes.
The feeling of receiving a blessing after swearing an oath!
Good news, he received a new blessing.
Bad news, it's not from the True God.
He was generously blessed by an unknown Evil God, and had been marked by them—let's call it a Demon Pattern for now.
Yuck!
The Evil God knocked me to my knees, surely wanting me to become Star Fury Power!
Less than half a day after Herbert was officially made a Paladin, he regrettably became a stooge of the Evil God, achieving a solid half-day record in the steadfast challenges of faith.
"What is this? Forced love..."
Herbert scratched his head, somewhat troubled.
No way, brother, you're messing me up here!
No one heard Herbert's lamentations—since he didn't dare to cry out loud, he was silently shedding tiny pearls in his heart.
A gentleman is cautious when alone, walls have ears.
Upon realizing he might become a stooge of the Evil God, Herbert immediately redefined himself as a suspect, emphasizing adaptive caution.
Herbert sniffed hard, preventing the warm tears in his eyes from falling.
Being tormented by a Purity Protection wasn't enough, now there's an added blessing from an Evil God... What's going on here?
Woe is me.
My fate is tragic!
After once again lamenting the tumultuousness of his fate, Herbert returned to calm.
Living a life of bad luck his entire past life had trained his spirit to be accustomed to all sorts of sudden hardships.
No matter what happens, as long as you're not dead, life must go on.
"Next, there are only two paths ahead."
Continue insisting on the Paladin route to report himself to the superiors?
As a Paladin, the most appropriate action at this moment is to seek help from the monastery's high levels, letting them handle everything happening to him.
But honestly, Herbert was hesitant.
Reporting himself might indeed clear his own suspicion, but it would also completely relinquish control over his own life and death to others.
Moreover, could he really trust this group of Ascetics?
The cases of macho predecessors in the Scripture were glaring, constantly reminding Herbert of the consequences that would follow his actions.
This group of Ascetics usually appears to lead a life independent of worldly matters, but when combating evil, they are far from gentle, adhering to the radical stance of "exterminate evil completely, rather kill ten thousand wrongly than let one go!"
Even extremists find them too aggressive.
Being able to remove the Evil God's blessing on him would be best, everyone would rejoice.
But what if... they can't?
At that point, what's waiting for him is probably either death or endless imprisonment.
Herbert turned his head, looking into the mirror at himself, seeing the weary face after a night tormented by nightmares.
Also seeing the deep-seated defiance in his pale gray eyes.
Whether it's death or imprisonment, neither result is what he wants.
He is not a true Paladin.
At least at this moment, he is yet to have the sacrificial awareness of dedicating himself for order and justice.
Since all thoughts have been clarified, the choice to be made is very clear.
"Set sail!"
Herbert lifted his pen, quickly writing, offering his respects to that nameless and forbidden existence.
"A drifter half of life, only regrets not meeting a bright lord, if you do not abandon, I wish to bow as a godfather!"
.
.
The Evil God did not respond.
No matter what Herbert wrote on the paper, there was no reply.
Not sure if pretending to be indifferent or unable to respond.
"...Can only come online after midnight?" Herbert speculated in his heart, having no choice but to reluctantly accept the unreliable disappearance.
To avoid drawing attention and evading others' gaze, after burning the chat logs, Herbert didn't go anywhere, directly returning to his workstation early in the morning.
Even though he didn't really want to go back so soon.
Sure enough, the moment he pushed open the prison door, a robustly angry curse came flooding out like a tidal wave, stirring up a gust.
"***! ***! *****!"
The mad dog lady who got kicked yesterday had been waiting for a long time, unleashing right from the start at zero frames.
Valentina, after being teased, originally wanted to let it go, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got, fury maxed out.
She thought up phrases all night, now letting them all out in one go.
"***!"
What an exhilarating release, what a direct expression.
And the insulted Herbert didn't reply to her curses, just smiling silently and waiting for quite a while.
Seeing her finally finished venting, he unhurriedly removed the simple earplugs already stuffed in his ears.
"Are you satisfied now?"
You can curse all you want, I can't hear you.
As long as I can't hear, my family won't be harmed.
Valentina: ?
"You tricked me!? You actually... huh?"
The seething Valentina took a deep breath, preparing to continue into the second round of output, but at this moment her nose instinctively twitch, and then her fierce expression froze.
Eh?
Her eyes gradually widened, her vertical pupils slowly spreading out into round ones, looking somewhat adorable.
Herbert blinked, wondering what wind was blowing her way now, ready at any moment to put the earplugs back in.
"You, why do you..."
She stared intently at Herbert for a long time, sniffing again and again, finally speaking in shock:
"You smell so good!"
Herbert: Huh?