The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

That day.

Donier, leader of the Blade Mercenary Corps, came to the camp’s commission hall as usual, ready to pick up today’s jobs.

On the way over he ran into a mercenary friend he knew, and couldn’t help joking: "Hey, Big Paolo, here to snatch up the cleanup commissions again today?"

The Holy Court’s commissions are divided into three types: scouting, extermination, and cleanup. Cleanup means going to strongholds where extermination is already finished and helping the Law Enforcement Knight Order clear them out—everyone calls it "picking up trash."

Anything the mercenaries get can be handed in for money; of course, they can also not hand it in, at their own risk.

Considering the special environment of the Golden Apple Stone Forest, very few people keep what they find—who knows whether that thing that looks like a treasure is actually a ticking time bomb.

The mercenary called Big Paolo said: "We’ve already gotten the details. Today we’re here to take an extermination commission!"

"You lot, taking extermination commissions? I say the commission hall’s probably closing today." Donier burst out laughing.

"Don’t look down on us. I’ll show you later what ’strong’ really means!"

The two of them went together to the commission hall, only to find a lot of people gathered there.

And the commission windows weren’t open.

This situation made the two of them freeze for a moment.

They exchanged a glance, then went to ask a nearby mercenary.

The other replied: "No idea. I heard the commissions aren’t opening today, seems like something big happened."

Donier was startled: "No way. Don’t tell me it’s already over? But I saw the scouting mercenaries bring back loads of information on small strongholds, they haven’t been exterminated yet."

Big Paolo complained: "See that? I really did come here to take an extermination commission. This is all your fault."

Donier scratched his hair, slipping into self‑doubt: "Don’t tell me I’m a prophet?"

It hadn’t been long since the mercenaries started talking when they saw a captain of the Law Enforcement Knight Order walk in, the pressure of a fourth‑tier instantly making everyone present stop talking.

The entire commission hall gradually fell quiet.

The captain swept his gaze around and said: "Starting today, the Holy Court will begin preparations for resolving the pollution of the Golden Apple Stone Forest. Preparation time: three days, exact time to be determined. Until the pollution is completely resolved, entry into the Golden Apple Stone Forest is temporarily forbidden. For your safety, during the preparation period the commission hall will suspend issuing commissions."

His voice carried through the entire hall, letting everyone know.

The mercenaries immediately started talking all at once.

"They’re actually getting ready to resolve the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s pollution?"

"That’s a huge move. The pollution there’s been shrouding the place for five hundred years—can they really fix it?"

"Who knows. Let’s see how the Holy Court plans to do it."

"I’ve got a feeling that when they do it, it’s going to be spectacular."

"Three days is three days. Three days isn’t even enough to go somewhere else for jobs. The commissions here pay so well—waiting three days is worth it."

"Yeah, we can treat it like giving ourselves a vacation."

"..."

After making the announcement, the captain ordered his men to paste the notice at the commission windows, then left.

Donier and Big Paolo followed the crowd out to the outside.

Donier asked: "Three days. You leaving, or staying here to wait?"

Big Paolo said: "I’ve decided to wait and see. The Holy Court’s going to fix the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s pollution—whether it works or not, it’s definitely going to be spectacular. I want to record it; this’ll be prime boasting material later!"

"That’s what I was thinking too. Come on, let’s go take a look."

"..."

Donier quickly notified his teammates. When they heard something big was about to happen, they all got excited.

Mercenaries are a profession that licks blood off the blade; by nature they’re free and unruly. Resting for three days is nothing to them.

By contrast, they all had one thought: if they could record the moment when the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s pollution was purified and sell it to newspapers and minstrels, that would be a huge payday.

Even if the newspapers got wind of it and came to record it themselves, seeing it with their own eyes would still be worth it.

With that thought, large numbers of mercenaries slowly packed the high platforms and cliffs around the Golden Apple Stone Forest, making them shoulder‑to‑shoulder.

Seeing this, the Law Enforcement Knight Order had no choice but to send people over to warn them that it was dangerous there and that if they died, it was on them.

Mercenaries are different from commoners; there’s no need to forcibly drive them off like commoners.

They all have considerable strength, and with their free‑and‑easy style, conflict is very easy to spark.

Better to just give them a casual warning, then let them do whatever they want. If they die, they can’t blame anyone else.

Meanwhile, deep within the Golden Apple Stone Forest, at the former base of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association, the Law Enforcement Knight Order was cooperating with Hilia to set up a large number of Advanced Magic Crystals.

On top of the Deep Sea Fortress, Hilia was arranging a special Abyss Gate Summoning Array according to Rose’s instructions.

A group of Array Masters were gathered around watching, and the more they looked, the stranger they felt it was.

One Array Master couldn’t help asking: "Miss Xilia, why is this array so bizarre? It doesn’t follow the patterns of normal arrays at all. It looks more like..."

"An evil array, right." Hilia cut him off.

The man nodded.

Hilia said: "Arrays are dead things. Why do we need to divide them into righteous and evil?"

"But..."

"Just because a tool has the word ’evil’ stuck on it, you refuse to study or use it. No wonder you’ve spent decades learning and still can’t beat me."

All the Array Masters: "..."

Those words had way too much bite.

Many people were instantly ashamed and started wondering if they’d been wrong all along.

Hilia said: "This array’s classification is called a ’bizarre array’, or an ’abyssal array’. It comes from ancient ruins and is inspired by ancient research into the Abyss."

Another Array Master asked: "Do we have to use an evil array? We’re the Holy Court, and you’re the Holy Daughter..."

"Then go find me a ’holy array’ that can resolve the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s pollution, and I’ll stop immediately." Hilia said irritably.

It’s one thing to divide people into righteous and evil; after all, some people really do end up killing countless others.

But dividing tools into righteous and evil? That’s just messed up.

Ever since dealing with those self‑proclaimed righteous High Priests, Hilia realized that what’s evil has never been the profession or the tools—it’s people.

A Holy Mage who casually uses healing Magic and enters wreathed in Holy Light might secretly be cultivating poisons and colluding with heretics.

Seeing the Array Masters fall silent, Hilia said: "If there’s no other questions, I’d like to ask you all for help. Help me lay out the array. You’re Array Masters; you know array layout better than Knights. I need your assistance."

"Miss Xilia is right—tools really shouldn’t be divided into holy and evil. Tools are just tools. We’ll help right away!"

With the first person stepping forward, the rest threw themselves into building the array.

They’d just wiped out a heretic cult, so the Holy Court’s cohesion was exceedingly high. The Law Enforcement Knight Order on site followed orders with absolutely no dithering.

Two days later, the array was complete.