A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

When a woman of a certain level of attractiveness drinks alone at a tavern, something tends to happen.
“Hey there, pretty lady. Isn’t it lonely drinking alone?”
Butterflies are drawn to pretty flowers. It goes without saying that this would happen in a tavern, where the blending of light and darkness dulls one’s senses and loosens human reason to some degree.
“Instead of drinking properly by yourself, why don’t you have some fun with us?”
“Hoho, are you trying to flirt with me now?”
Three men approached Hildegard, who had come to drink in casual attire, making their intentions clear.
Even as they openly showed signs of flirting as they approached, Hildegard did not seem the least bit offended. Rather, she gave them an interested smile, narrowing her eyes as she looked over the men who had made their moves on her.
While not particularly fluent in Andalusian, Hildegard knew that in such situations, communication often relied on nuance. Confirming her flirtatious gaze, the men laughed crudely and naturally took seats beside her.
Without stopping them, Hildegard let out a chuckle as she set down the glass she had been drinking from.
“Since you’ve gone so far as to sit next to me, I take it you’ll accept a drink? Here, take a glass!”
“Oh, ho! Offering drinks as soon as we sit down? What a generous lady. Sure, pour us each one!”
With the drink-loving Hildegard and the men who had approached to flirt with her seated together, the atmosphere quickly heated up.
Taking advantage of the mood, some tried to make subtle advances, engage in lewd banter, or initiate physical contact bordering on sexual harassment, but Hildegard skillfully defused such attempts while incorporating them as entertaining elements to liven up the drinking atmosphere.
Naturally, the flirtatious men could only realize one thing:
‘This woman is a professional.’
For a moment, they wavered over whether to continue this “pursuit” or put an end to it. But that hesitation was short-lived, for Hildegard’s beauty caught their eyes. Her cool, imperial demeanor, distinct features rarely seen in the Hiberian region, and lithe, martial arts-toned figure were not common sights even in the heavily trafficked port of Cadiz.
That alone was enough to dissuade them from giving up.
“Say, miss. After we finish here, why don’t you let us treat you to a second round somewhere else?”
“Hah, what kind of silly question is that? You think I’ll just drink your booze and then leave?”
Though they didn’t understand each other’s words, they soon got up once all the bottles on the table were emptied, having exchanged opinions through nuances.
As the men rose to offer a second round elsewhere, Hildegard stood as well, quietly thinking, ‘These fellows reek faintly of demonic taint, don’t they?’
While an alcohol-loving, heavy-drinking woman herself, Hildegard was still a nun knight affiliated with the holy Paladin Order. Having detected traces of demons, she could not simply ignore it.
‘Well, I suppose I’ll mingle with them for now and try to determine the source of this demonic presence.’
Of course, they could not linger in Cadiz for long, so if circumstances did not permit, she planned to simply confirm the demonic traces and report it to the Cadiz church. Then, the monk knights or nun knights active in Hiberia would handle it. That was her thought process.
However, her judgment changed the moment they neared what appeared to be the men’s hideout.
The location of the hideout was cunning. The building itself was near the slums, so it would not seem out of place for shady characters to come and go. Yet it was also far enough from the slums to avoid detection by priests who frequently visited the area for charitable food and medical services.
From that very hideout, Hildegard detected an overtly malevolent demonic aura, unconsciously furrowing her brow.
‘Was it because the presence was concentrated in a localized area that it escaped the notice of the priests here? Additionally, unless they were an eccentric like me, clergy would not frequent places like taverns. Regardless, this is a vile presence. It seems I can no longer leave it to others and depart.’
The area where the presence began to be felt and the location of the hideout itself were all situated with the daily movements of the church’s priests in mind.
‘A coincidence? Hah, hardly likely.’
The distinct sense of deliberate malice. This was undoubtedly the work of demons.
‘It was fortunate that I did not wear attire reminiscent of a priest or nun.’
While there are various theories about the foresight of divine spirits, what both divine spirits and clergy acknowledge is that their foresight is not infallible. If this location had been left unchecked, Hildegard recalled, there was no guarantee the monk knights or nun knights active in Hiberia would easily detect and locate it.
Even Ariel by her side seemed oblivious until directly witnessing the demonic aura.
‘The cunning manner in which the presence is contained within a limited range… it’s likely the work of one capable of evading such foresight and detection.’
Thinking it had become troublesome, Hildegard began loosening her body.
“Huh? What are you doing all of a sudden, pretty lady?”
One of the men accompanying her asked, puzzled by Hildegard’s sudden actions. Hildegard slowly curled the corners of her lips and replied, “Just recalling something I need to take care of.”
“Ah?”
Pwak.
A snakelike whipping strike. Its tip precisely struck the man’s cervical vertebrae and associated nerves, disrupting his blood flow, respiration, neural signals, and sense of balance and direction with pinpoint precision.
Without even a chance to cry out, the man crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The other men accompanying him were momentarily dumbfounded by her sudden actions and the resulting situation, their faces frozen in shock.
“What the hell…is this!?”
“Marco’s been attacked!”
Before they could recover from their bewilderment, Hildegard’s figure, knuckles clenched, had already closed the distance to within an arm’s length.
A succession of impact sounds followed. Her whip-like strikes at point-blank range pummeled the vital points of the two remaining men. In the next instant, Hildegard’s backfist naturally followed, striking their jaws as they staggered from the vital point strikes.
Like the first, the other two men lost consciousness and collapsed. With all three of her companions felled, Hildegard retrieved her disassembled halberd, concealed at her waist, and began reassembling it.
Once the triple-sectioned shaft, axe blade, spearhead, and beak were combined, it had regained the form of her regular halberd.
Giving it a practice swing to ensure proper assembly, Hildegard began checking her own condition – her physical state, her weapon’s condition, all without issue. While the effects of alcohol lingered in her body, it had instead left her feeling pleasantly warmed up. If there was one thing bothering her, it was:
“Not having my armor on is a bit of a concern.”
But she was at least wearing an inner armor beneath her tunic, so it would have to suffice. With that thought, Hildegard gripped her halberd and prepared to charge into the building before her.
Befitting a hideout for thugs, the building did have guards. Upon spotting the weapon-wielding Hildegard charging, they moved to intercept her.

However, mere armed thugs were no match for Hildegard. Instantly flooring them all, she entered the source of the demonic presence without pause.
It was a three-story building. The demonic aura, the demonic presence, seeped from the third floor. When Hildegard finally reached the third floor and smashed through the entrance, she found herself in a rather spacious hall.
Upon first witnessing the scene inside, Hildegard could not help but swallow the rising revulsion.
A strange, permeating mist and even stranger scent filled the room. And strewn about in lewd postures, with glazed expressions as if intoxicated by something, were men and women.
‘Did these fellows hold some kind of drug party?’
With a disgusted expression, Hildegard surveyed her surroundings before unhesitatingly swinging her halberd. With a crackling sound, large holes opened in the hall’s walls, allowing fresh outside air to flow in and the drug-laced atmosphere to be swept out.
After all, the body of a nun knight, highly refined to the point of sanctity and further consecrated with luminous power, could never be invaded by mere drugs. But her actions also prepared for any unforeseen circumstances beyond the physiological unpleasantness.
“Tch.”
Clicking her tongue, Hildegard knocked out and laid down each of the intoxicated one by one before advancing straight toward the source of the demonic presence.
There, she found an unidentified statue sculpted into the strange shape of a beast’s head.
“Judging by the antler shape, a deer? No, but the head shape resembles a canine…”
After briefly examining the statue’s appearance, Hildegard abandoned trying to identify it. It mattered not. While well-versed in the ancient gods of the Old World, she was fundamentally a nun knight focused on frontline combat duties. Interpreting and determining how to dispose of such objects fell to those of other vocations within the Church.
And among the monk knights and nun knights of the Paladin Order, there were official, universal protocols for dealing with such discoveries.
Sealing.
Having made her decision, Hildegard’s body became enveloped in a rippling, silver-white luminous power. The luminous power, further concentrated through her travels with Sophia, brimmed with a resolute spirit that seemed to tolerate not a hint of wickedness.
The radiant cluster emanating from the nun knight extended its leading edge toward the statue, undulating as Hildegard guided it. She inwardly considered that perhaps the task could be completed without major incident, by simply enveloping the statue in luminous power and sealing it with her sealing arts, resolving the immediate crisis.
It was at that moment.

In an instant, a booming impact repelled Hildegard’s physical and spiritual forms. Despite shielding her body with luminous power, she was forced back five steps before dispersing the shock. Regaining her composure and regarding the front, the statue had vanished without a trace.
Instead, amid a shrieking wail, swirling currents of jet-black miasma and countless quivering shadows flickered in the wavering light. And amid those shadows, pinpricks of light—no, bestial pupils—began to flicker and glow.
Soon, the wails and shrieks became intermingled with the growling, barking, and deer-like cries of hounds. And when the shrieking finally ceased, only the growling breaths of hounds remained.
Upon witnessing the enemy that had finally revealed itself, Hildegard’s expression was one of disbelief.
“You… what have you done? No, what are you?”
The form that had manifested was like this: branching antlers reminiscent of tree branches, jet-black fur, and eyes flickering a bloody crimson. Astonishingly, the demonic figure that emerged from the hall’s shadows resembled the antlered death spirits, the Cernunnos Tibicena, which had caused the earlier disturbance at the magic tower.

+++++

It was at that very moment when Sophia’s group had begun to wonder about Hildegard’s continued absence that luminous power coalesced before them, forming a figure. The figure that emerged was none other than Ariel, the divine spirit accompanying Hildegard, wearing an unprecedented expression of urgency.
Sensing the ominous nature, Ezio asked, “Are you not Ariel, Lady Wolfstein’s divine spirit? Where is she now?”
In response to Ezio’s question, the divine spirit Ariel finally opened her mouth and began pleading something. And soon, upon hearing the grave content, the group rose from their seats in alarm.
[…! …!!!]
“What! A demon? And Lady Wolfstein is in danger?”
Ezio cried out in shock. Though she did not speak, even Sophia could not help but swallow a sigh at the urgency of the situation.
Hildegard Ritter von Wolfstein, the nun knight, was now in peril.