only natural that their swords would find their way into his face. Kaito could appreciate how they felt. He even sympathized. On the other hand, he found it exasperating. Their insubordination is too half-assed. If the sheep think the shepherd's making the wrong decisions, then they shouldn't have started following him in the first place. If everyone had just taken a minute to think and act on their own, then the world wouldn't be ending right now. Kaito shrugged. Unfortunately, though, they clearly took that as instigation. Perhaps it had touched a nerve, as one of the paladins wrung a deep voice from his throat. "Sir Kaito Sena. You didn't inform us in advance that you'd be visiting at this late hour. What business do you have?" "So is it a good thing that you're asking me, or is this even more half-assed?" "Answer the question, if you would!" An angry shout tore through the air. The wording was one thing, but its tone sounded pretty close to an order. Kaito was about to answer truthfully, but then at the last minute, he closed his mouth. He gazed off into the distance. The buildings had been engulfed by a demon, rendering the earth strangely smooth, and he could see a silver light approaching. As it drew closer, it left faint glitters in its wake, like a shooting star. However, the paladins still hadn't noticed it yet. "What, giving us the silentâ€”?" As another paladin was about to angrily cry out, all their weapons suddenly went flying. Someone had carefully knocked them into the air by kneeing their hilts. The swords, unbroken, plunged blade-first into the deserted patches of earth. The sharp, insectoid legs left silver afterimages in the air as the newcomer moved about. Whoever it was, they'd arced to an abrupt stop. "What do you all think you're doing?!" "Cap...Captain!" The woman was leveling a sharp glare at the paladins. She was down on all fours with her back arched, her stance that of a menacing beast. Her mismatched blue and purple eyes and long, silver hair gleamed in the pale light. Her face still had the vestiges of its former beauty. Now, though, her entire body was so distorted, it would make one hesitate to even describe her as human. More than half her body was completely devoid of flesh. Moving in its place were strange mechanical parts, the likes of which would have been out of place even in Kaito's world. Gears were spinning in sections of her cheek, and screws were rising and falling within the parts of her wrists and ankles that were peeking out from her uniform. They clearly differed from normal artificial limbs and body enhancements. Not even Kaito's world would have been able to manufacture such a thing. The fact that technology wasn't nearly as developed in this world made it seem all the more out of place. Yet at the same time, she had a strange beauty about her. That was likely thanks to her strong will, which glimmered in her eyes. It was a powerful light, one that only existed in the eyes of the living. And her voice had pride in it befitting that light. "That man you were pointing your swords atâ€”Sir Kaito Senaâ€”saved my life! And he's fighting alongside us to prevent the world from ending! How many times do I have to tell you that before it gets through those heads of yours?!" "B-but Captain Vicker, ma'am! With all due respect, as paladins, placing our unconditional faith in the Kaiser's contractor, not to mention the man with the Torture Princess's heart, is tooâ€”" "Fools! The reluctance you're feeling is baseless and emotional! If that's the only reason you have for your actions, then cast it aside! Perhaps you've forgotten they're the ones who rescued us in the battle at the Capital!" "We haven't forgotten, I swear! But Captain, surely you understand how we feel. His powers are far too perverse. Even some of the Church leadership was saying he's our enemy. Why, then, would you have us believe in him?!" The paladin gave a pained appeal. Despite the fact that he himself was the subject of their mistrust, Kaito nodded in sympathy. The first demon had been stored away in the Capital's underground tomb. The paladins' reality had been shattered in the cruelest way possible. He could hardly blame them for having their doubts. At the moment, they probably felt like they were adrift in the darkness. However, the woman's clear words cleaved through their hesitation. "Our faith is justâ€”never let yourself doubt that! No matter what truths the Church may have been hiding, the nobility shown in acting with purity, doing good deeds for the sake of our neighbors, and conducting our lives with prayer on our lips will never change! Thus, it is our duty to be examples of that justice! And in order to do that, we need to devote our full efforts to protecting the innocent!" "Captain Vicker... Even after having your body changed like that, you still..." Several of the paladins clenched their fists. They cast their gazes down. When they looked back up, though, some of their hesitation had cleared up, and their stagnant moods had started to shift. Noticing that, the woman pressed on. "I have nothing more to say. Ian, Leauvas, what happened to keeping watch? Dan, weren't you supposed to relieve the people guarding the ration line? Bran, did you intend on sending the bishops back without an escort? All of you, return to your posts!" "Yes, ma'am. My apologies. It won't happen again!" The paladins placed their arms over their chests and bowed. Then they hurried back to their posts. None of them turned to look back. The doubts they'd been seized by just a moment ago seemed to have vanished without a trace. Their decisive retreating made fully clear just how much trust and respect they put in their captain. Before long, they were all gone. The woman gave her head a small shake. Her silver hair fluttered as the tension drained from her body. "Well then. My apologies for the discourtesy of my men." The woman slowly stood up and straightened her back. The parts in her ankles she'd been using when she traveled wound down with a loud noise and stowed themselves. After giving her back a firm thump, she turned back to look at Kaito again. "You did well to make it to the Capital, Sir Kaito." "Yeah. I'm glad to see you're doing all right, Izabella." Kaito answered her familiar greeting in kind. She nodded. Just a few days ago, the very Church she'd put her faith in had forced her to consume demon flesh. As a result, she'd fallen into a state that had been harder to undo than even death. However, the golden Torture Princess, Jeanne de Rais, had reinforced her body with Deus Ex Machina and saved her life. She tried frantically to raise the corners of her mouth. The gears in her left cheek whirred loudly, and her metal parts moved in accordance with her will. However, it was undeniable how artificial her bare, mechanical smile looked. *** Yet even so, Izabella Vicker was beautiful. "As for your wife, she was aiding in the defense efforts earlier, and she's currently making the rounds. When the fourth wave attacked what used to be Mage's Row, she exterminated them practically on her own. It was quite the splendid display." "Oh yeah, I already knew about that thing with Hina. That was some sick fighting." "You knew? Well, be that as it may, are you not worried that the two of you are fighting separately?" Izabella's voice sounded concerned. Its gentle tone echoed through the darkness. As he climbed the ladder, Kaito answered her question, which had come from overhead. "All I can do is throw around magic. Of the two of us, Hina's way better in battle. There's no way some underlings from the fourth wave are gonna be able to hold her up. Man, my wife's the coolest, isn't she?" "Fine words of praise. Cuteness is far from the only appeal women can have." "Oh, don't get me wrong, she's cute, too! Really cute!" "Quite. Even I can tell how unmistakably charming she is. Later, you should make sure you tell that to her directly. I'm sure she'd be pleasedâ€” Hmm? Wasn't it around here?" At the moment, the two of them were lined up vertically in a cramped space. Stretching out her arm, Izabella fumbled around overhead. Eventually, her metal fingers brushed against the wooden door, and she pushed it open. A square section of the night sky appeared amid the darkness. Izabella then went up through the door. Kaito, too, made his way to the top of the ladder and stuck his head out into the night. His cheeks were met by a chilly wind. He placed his hands on the stone floor, then lifted himself to his feet. When he looked up at the sky again, he realized the stars were closer than they had been earlier. However, the moon wasn't visible. Faint, dark clouds were covering patches of the sky. Because of that, it was difficult to look around. The two of them were standing atop a watchtower beside the castle ramparts. It had suffered serious damages, so it was currently sitting unused. Alongside Izabella, Kaito approached the tower's edge. As he gazed out over the Capital, which was blanketed in night, he frowned. "...Man, that's grim." "You can see it without binoculars, even in this darkness?" "Hmm? Oh yeah. I had to teach myself how, but I fiddled with my eyes a bit." "...I suppose we've both made sacrifices." "Sure, but you've had it way rougher than me, haven't you? Hmm... When you consider how long it's gonna take to clear away all the rubble, restoring the Capital's gonna be rough. Most of the buildings you'd want to restore are completely leveled. It might just be easier to construct everything from the ground up. Although, I guess compared with the last disaster, even this looks salvageable." Kaito let out a heavy sigh. The Capital still bore the cruel scars from the destruction the three demons had wreaked. Now even more damage had been piled atop it. A fire had broken out in the chaos of the underlings' attack, and the mages in charge of extinguishing such fires hadn't been able to stop it in time. In order to keep it from spreading, they'd had to knock down a huge number of buildings. But even though they'd resorted to such drastic measures, the area that had gotten scorched was considerable. Conversely, because some aqueducts had ruptured and several bridges had also collapsed, parts of the Capital had been submerged. No matter where he looked, he saw figures that were undoubtedly corpses. Frighteningly, even some of the buildings that seemed to have been knocked down on purpose had human arms sticking out from underneath. ...Man, just how long is it gonna take to recover all those corpses and identify them? Even if they decide to just burn them all because it's an emergency, there's a good chance that an epidemic will break out before they finish. Next, Kaito turned his gaze toward the large-scale shelter. This time, it wasn't scattered throughout the various plazas. Instead, the people were all gathered together in a vacant lot left over from the three demons' attack. Thanks to that, the paladins and priests were able to mount a much firmer defense. Because the saints were all absent, some mages had called forth summoned beasts, and their massive figures could be seen patrolling the area. Furthermore, one of the Church's undamaged buildings had been opened up to the public as an infirmary. At the moment, they were hard at work passing out rations. After his verifying all that, Kaito raised an eyebrow. ...What's that? Here and there amid the collapsed