Chapter 45
Chapter 45: The Saint (4)
"My first memory is of tearing through my mother's amniotic fluid and being born."
A heavy baritone settled over the dark basement.
It was Erik's past, a weighty conversation.
"Right after being born into this world, my adoptive parents became sacrifices for a Black Mage."
The scar that had been writhing with anger on Janson's face stopped. That's how serious Erik's words were.
"With the body of a newborn, right after birth, watching my guardian dissolve into black magic—it was absolutely horrifying."
He had lost consciousness while playing the game.
When he opened his eyes, he was born as a newborn baby...
But right after being born, everyone around him had died from Black Magic.
"I thought I was going to die like that too."
That's when a Status Window appeared in Erik's eyes.
[0-Tier Divine Power – 10,000 Gold]
"It was an incomplete Status Window."
There was no level, no stats, and no skills to invest in, but.
"I could tell for certain that I had become a Possessor. Well, it could be reincarnation, but..."
He forcibly moved that small body and barely managed to retrieve a money pouch from his parents' dissolved corpses.
"It was ridiculous."
A slum in a stateless region.
His parents' pouch contained only 20 gold.
"The buildings melted in the Black Magic, and with a body that wouldn't move properly, I waited for death."
That's when a voice rang out across the world.
Come to this location!!!
"So then... you met Riferoze at that time?"
"Yes."
Riferoze, who had come searching for signs of life, saved young Erik.
"My condition was extremely poor. My teacher was reciting a funeral prayer, anticipating my death, and I desperately reached out my hand toward my teacher."
The money pouch visible on Riferoze's chest—Erik grabbed it.
And immediately stored it in his Inventory, obtaining 0-Tier Divine Power.
"My teacher didn't realize I was a Possessor until I spoke. It must be because I met you first, Janson."
This was something he was hearing for the first time.
A Possessor who uses Divine Power?
"That's..."
"The first Knight class, Janson Samuel. I am the first Paladin class, Erik."
Hearing that much, Janson understood.
Anyone who reached Max Level and opened a new character was a Possessor.
And the last Possessor to open a new character was Erik.
"I don't think the existence of Possessors is divine like my teacher does, but there's one thing I'm certain of."
"What's that..."
"There's a reason every Possessor was drawn to this world."
[Warrior], [Archer], [Knight], [Mage], [Black Mage], [Necromancer], [Paladin].
The major classifications of classes.
While 2nd Job Changes and 3rd Job Changes and more were added after this, the core identity was ultimately the Basic Class.
"Now there are over 500,000 Possessors. There's no need to kill all of them and make them disappear."
Janson understood what Erik meant.
There was no need to kill every Possessor.
That was Riferoze's will, the one who had made him a Sword Master.
This was a part Janson didn't agree with, but.
"Seeing how you live with the old man, doesn't it change you a little?"
"...Yes, it seems so."
Thanks to three beings who had stuck together for nearly a decade, Janson's anger was able to find its proper direction.
"Not all Possessors, but arrest and strike down the Black Mages and Possessors who harm people. That's what the boss meant, isn't it?"
The twin daughters of the extremely vicious Possessor Lucifer.
To Janson, they were no different from the daughters of his enemy.
The same was true for the old Black Mage.
"It's been worth it for the four of us to stay together."
The conversation came to a pause, but Janson still had doubts remaining.
"Boss, you said you don't have a level, so why are you so... about that Elixir..."
Only then did Erik broach the main topic.
"You don't see a path to go higher from Sword Master, right?"
"...Yes."
"By my assumption, the wall for Possessors is level."
The stat Erik had obtained, Divine Body, and Janson frozen at level 99.
"To break through the wall, you need a corresponding level."
"...Then, the seal on my Status Window..."
"Janson, your teacher made it so you could unseal it yourself once you reached Sword Master. You know that too, don't you?"
Janson hesitated.
His wavering pupils straightened.
"I am Erik. My name before becoming a Possessor doesn't matter. I just handle a peculiar power in this world."
Janson had not protected his family.
That's why he resented Possessors, and he didn't want to acknowledge that he was the same kind of being.
"Now accept your identity."
Saying so, Erik climbed the basement stairs.
An empty bottle rolled on the vacant table, and a complete Level Up Elixir sat before Janson's eyes.
Thud! Thud!
Watching the back of the towering Erik disappear up the stairs, Janson gathered his confused heart.
"My love... my children."
Shlunk.
Janson drew his sword.
A blue aura bloomed above the blade.
Clang!
Janson's sword swung toward the golden Divine Power that covered his Status Window.
After that, Janson drained the Elixir.
"Ugh."
[You are now eligible for 3rd Job Change.]
***
"Out, outing?!"
Possessor Park Chang-ho was thoroughly excited.
More than a year had passed since he was locked in the detention camp...
He had been given outing time for the first time.
"I thought I'd die of frustration being stuck in the Labyrinth and prison...!"
Standing next to him, Kang Pung-ho grinned brightly and linked arms with Park Chang-ho.
"Isn't it thanks to Chang-ho that we're all safe?!"
From behind, Nishida Ryo patted Park Chang-ho's back.
'Killing the mood.'
Park Chang-ho was slightly displeased, but he endured it for the joy of his first outing.
Even though there was a monster—the Royal Guard—attached as a supervisor on his back, wasn't this a freedom to be savored?
"This is the location permitted to you."
They toured the shopping district in District 2.
It was their first time exploring this world with safety guaranteed.
"Ooh!"
"Even in a primitive Medieval Age, there are display windows!"
The three people were thoroughly thrilled.
It felt like sightseeing.
Possessors who had been hiding for months to years after being Possessed, living by safety guidelines posted in communities.
However.
"Should we take a verification shot?"
Weren't they sightseeing the Imperial Capital Arman while being guided by the Royal Guard?
It was a literal meteoric rise.
Any Possessor who saw them would surely be envious.
"Nishida, take a picture of me and brother Chang-ho together!"
Thanks to everyone having surpassed level 20, they were now able to post in the community.
When posting in the community, you could upload your point of view in the form of a photograph.
"I was in the photography club in high school."
Nishida Ryo confidently captured Park Chang-ho and Kang Pung-ho in his eyes.
After that.
[Possessor Management Bureau is a jackpot]
[Flexing while being escorted by the Royal Guard!]
[Photo]
The photo was uploaded to the community.
Of course, they had received Erik's permission before posting to the community.
—??? Is that really the Imperial Capital?
—Why is there an East Asian there?
—Who's the beauty next to him?
Comments poured in immediately.
—Author: Jealous? I returned to my original form using the Possessor Appearance Change Ticket?
—Was that for real?
—Author: If you use the appearance change ticket, you become an Earthling. Like me.
—Who's the woman next to you?
—Author: Ran into her by chance and found her pretty, so I'm keeping her around Something like a girlfriend.
As Nishida Ryo was grinning.
"Hey, why are you..."
Park Chang-ho looked at him with a displeased face.
Kang Pung-ho also puffed out her cheeks as if sulking, glaring at Nishida Ryo...
"We're not dating yet!"
The words that came out were a bit odd.
'These crazy bastards.'
Park Chang-ho pressed his temples hard. Hoping to get some relief, but this was no different from the Labyrinth.
Now he was sharing the detention camp with these two people too...
Then Nishida Ryo, laughing to his heart's content, made an excuse.
"Park Chang-ho, you don't know about information distortion? Director Erik told us not to take his information at face value."
'This idiot...'
That doesn't mean you get to impersonate me.
Park Chang-ho's blood rushed upward, but he held back while watching the RoyalGuard's expression.
Click! Click!
The Royal Guard was touching the hilt of his sword while looking at the three people.
Should I draw it or not?
‘Is this thing actually useful?’
That was the look.
"Ahem, anyway... write your posts carefully so they don't look too viral."
Now the three people began shopping.
For the essence of sightseeing is surely shopping, is it not?
Taking verification shots.
They even purchased a few decent items with money the imperial family had given them.
"Wow... Fairy Wing Tempura?"
"Why is the price more expensive than armor?"
"One wing costs 500,000 gold... In won, that'd be... fifty million? Insane."
In District 2 of the Imperial Capital.
True to the upscale shopping district, the items for sale were quite unique.
The prices were overwhelming.
[Delicious 500,000 Gold Fairy Wing Tempura]
They didn't purchase the expensive items, being cautious, but Nishida Ryo boasted as if he had eaten his fill.
"It really feels like I'm on a sightseeing tour to another world."
Of course, they hadn't been able to enter every shop, only a few designated by the Royal Guard.
Still, it was plenty entertaining.
The feeling of freely exploring the world without self-consciousness.
"Oh, it's the Astia Religious Order symbol."
The three's tour continued and soon they arrived at [Jean's Magical Tool Shop].
The massive cross placed in front of the magical tool shop, and the six wings wrapped around it.
"I heard Director Erik became some kind of Saint..."
"Supposedly wings are attached to his back."
Naturally, the three began conversing with Erik as their topic.
The Possessor feared by all—the disaster of Possessors, Riferoze's disciple no less.
Moreover, he was a famous figure in the community.
'I'll have to go into the Labyrinth again this week.'
Thinking of Erik, Park Chang-ho's head throbbed.
Soon they'd be entering the Labyrinth again, so what kind of monstrous thing would he pull off next?
"Phew, let's not talk about work today."
The three Possessors came to an implicit agreement and opened the door to the magical tool shop.
Ding!
The bell above the door rang.
"Hey, wife. Why do you keep rubbing my head?"
"...W-wife?"
Jang Du-sik was holding a club and a beautiful woman seemingly crafted from the very concept of glamour appeared.
The woman's fan was swinging frantically.
"Huh...?"
Before the three bewildered Possessors, the Royal Guard stepped forward.
And said.
"We respectfully greet the Imperial Princess."
***
'My body aches.'
Having visited the imperial palace, Erik felt profound fatigue.
It seemed the Emperor was deeply displeased that his daughter was involved with Jang Du-sik, for the whole time, the Emperor's oppressive power had squeezed Erik's body.
"Phew, feels like I can breathe a little."
Erik laid his body in one corner of the newly constructed chapel.
The 3rd-floor seating of the chapel resembling the Palais Garnier was extremely luxurious.
'They said it was for the imperial family and high nobility?'
It was fitting for Janson's meticulous character.
With such comfort, if one observed Ruelle's prayer from here...
It felt like one's heart would naturally melt away.
Feeling such comfort, Erik gazed at his Status Window.
[Divine Body 69/100]
He had filled 50 with Sacred Water, and with the Level Up Elixir from the HiddenPieces that Nishida Ryo had found, he increased it by another 19.
He invested the remaining one in Janson's 3rd Job Change.
'Ban-gyeon.'
This was the position Erik had decided for Janson.
The power of a Possessor utilizing the Status Window and the realm of a SwordMaster achieved through pure training.
If these two powers harmonized, it would be enough to protect the church.
'And with the old man's resurrection completed too.'
Circumstances where he would have to be away for several days from the church.
Erik felt somewhat uneasy.
To the Magic Tower of Duke Raffin, located in the southeastern Arman Empire, Erik had arranged a meeting.
[1,145,605,000 Gold]
He had received 1 billion gold from the Emperor, which he planned to save for 4thTier.
The money from selling the Duke's jewels had all been spent rebuilding Ruelle's church.
'The magical tool shop is now in a bind.'
It would be difficult to expect profits from the magical tool shop until it was remodeled into a sacred artifact shop.
Basic items from the System Shop.
Erik had been buying out everything and reselling whenever the shop reset...
'With 500,000 Possessors competing, I'm lucky to salvage a couple items.'
With hundreds of thousands competing to purchase, obtaining goods was far from easy.
It was at such a time that Duke Raffin offered a good proposal.
"I'll provide 30% of the sacred magical tool sales revenue."
"5 to 5 or I'm not interested."
"...You're having Jang Du-sik dispatched to provide only the principles of DivinePower, yet you want half?"
"I'm giving you half."
Originally, if it weren't for him, Sacred Magical Tools couldn't even be manufactured.
"Fine. In exchange, I hope you'd do me a favor."
Duke Raffin understood the flow and agreed to an unprecedented 5:5 ratio.
Moreover, the annoying parts were all handled by Duke Raffin.
'Manufacturing, distribution, sales—all of it.'
All Erik had to do was inspect the Magic Tower's facilities and then dispatch the consecrated Jang Du-sik.
'And I need to fulfill the Duke's favor too.'
While it was called a favor, it could be seen as compensation for conceding 5:5.
However, that favor was also quite simple.
"Take a look at the Elves' Autonomous Territory in the south and the Grand Granary region."
In the Elves' AutonomousTerritory was the world's second Possessor.
Erik was acquainted with her.
'I should at least greet her.'
Of course, she didn't know that Erik was a Possessor.
But still...
It would be right to instill some discipline after so long.
While thinking such thoughts, a sweet fragrance wafted over.
A scent like a luxurious sweetness transformed into aroma.
'It's Ruelle.'
Erik turned his head following the thick fragrance.
"Priestess Ruelle, I can tell just from the scent."
"Hehe. I know. That's why I wear it!"
Ruelle revealed her presence from behind Erik.
"You're going to the southeastern Arman Empire?"
"Yes, to create Sacred Magical Tools. It seems like a business that will make money."
Normally when Erik was about to make big money, he would break into a big smile.
But today his expression was unusual.
"Hehe, why is our Saint in such a foul mood?"
Ruelle said this, placed her hand on her waist, and looked at Erik with confidence.
At that, Erik's face contorted greatly.
"What kind of bastard made that outfit?"
"Isn't it pretty?"
It was pretty.
But Erik couldn't bring himself to answer.
It was a long one-piece dress that clung very tightly to her body, accentuating her figure line.
A thin material in ivory color, with the skirt slit open along the thighs on the side.
'That...'
Was incredibly popular on Earth—.
"It's called a high slit look. It was a gift from a Duke who came to make a donation to the church."
These crazy bastards.
Erik grabbed the back of his neck.