Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Flag of Ark (3)
Exactly one week had passed since we arrived at the Sanctuary. During that time, we each spent it in our own way.
Winter, who had a particular interest in religion, frequently sought out Aira to talk and learn from her.
“Any progress?”
Through proper guidance, Aira helped Winter properly understand divine magic. She said offensive magic didn’t suit her at all, and that she particularly excelled in defense and buffs, so she taught her related divine magic.
“It’s going smoothly.”
At my question, Winter answered with a bright expression. Now, Winter could use most of the buffs that an ordinary priest could use.
Even so, they only boosted morale and slightly increased combat power, but the status of a buff-specialized class remained the same.
“Did you pack everything?”
And now, we began packing our things.
“It’s a shame.”
Winter showed her disappointment. It was about time for us to head back. I hadn’t been idling either. The Blood Magic Aro taught me manifested without magic power.
Like Anaye’s skills, it consumed my stamina, but the amount wasn’t large enough to be burdensome.
“Whitey can just come again.”
“…….”
At Aro’s words telling her to come again, Winter tightly shut her mouth. It seemed she didn’t want to feel that sense of loss again—the one she felt when her Divine Power disappeared.
“Sunbae-nim. Is your Blood Magic going well?”
“To be precise, it’s Blood Sorcery.”
Winter, who had been adjusting her backpack, asked. I answered and activated Blood Magic. A sword made of blood rose from my hand.
“I’ll have to think about how to use it.”
I had been happy to gain a new weapon. The only weapon I had before was a blunt weapon that looked like a goblin’s club.
I was glad to have a blade now, but its durability was seriously lacking, which was disappointing. Recently, I had been experimenting with combining it with Chill of Paillet.
“Looks like you got something pretty good too.”
I had strengthened my Blood Magic and Anaye’s skills. Aro had only improved the quality of her Divine Power through meditation.
Winter had gained something just as impressive. At my words, she lightly waved the flag draped over her shoulder.
—Jingle.
For some reason, Anaye’s Silent Bell was hanging from the flag. Feeling the comfort brought by its clear chime, Winter scratched her cheek.
“You remember the Nuckle I bought when you got the Astral Gauntlet, right?”
If it was when I got the Astral Gauntlet, then it was during that time we confidently went to the workshop to get weapons.
Back when we were dejected after being rejected by Anaye’s pickiness. Back then, Winter obtained a Nuckle that created a massive, heavy axe.
“It turns out that wasn’t its original purpose.”
“……No matter how I look at it, it looks like a Nuckle.”
I stared suspiciously at Winter’s flag. It was just under 2 meters long. The body was an elongated Holy Brush, and at the end were Anaye’s Silent Bell and the Nuckle attached.
The curious thing was that the fluttering flag itself was made of Divine Power from the Nuckle. It had been created in place of the axe blade.
“When Lady Aira just slotted the Nuckle into the Holy Brush like this, it turned out like this.”
Winter was quite pleased with this change. To begin with, she had disliked the massive axe blade, which was far larger than her own body.
She seemed fairly satisfied that it had become a flag instead.
“She said it’s a final gift.”
“You really milked it.”
“M-milk. Th-that’s… uh.”
Caught off guard by the unexpected expression, Winter became flustered. Aro and I snickered at her reaction.
“Alright. Let’s head down.”
If I had to guess, Winter’s flag was probably an artifact assembled from components. I had seen equipment like that in the game before.
It probably had new abilities, but going down the Sanctuary was more important for now. It wouldn’t be too late to check in Nineprio City.
“It’s been a while.”
Aira didn’t come to see us off. According to her, it was better for her not to leave the clock tower much.
I considered going to say goodbye, but she told Winter that it wasn’t necessary, so we departed straight from the inn.
When we reached the entrance of the Sanctuary, the Gatekeeper we met before was waiting.
“It’s been a while, Gatekeeper-nim.”
“I hope it was a meaningful journey.”
We exchanged calm farewells and parted ways. The path down the Sanctuary was easier than the climb up.
Just the absence of that sense of loss allowed us to descend the sacred mountain range at an incredible speed.
“We’re already at the first rest stop.”
It was roughly three times faster than when we climbed up. Literally unstoppable momentum.
Normally, more accidents happen when descending a mountain, so caution is the rule—but we had none of that.
“S-somehow, I feel like I’m getting braver.”
Something was definitely making us more daring. We easily ignored our original plan of resting at each shelter.
And after about six hours like that, we were able to arrive at Nineprio City.
“Ugh.”
It wasn’t completely without incident—Winter, who was following behind, tripped and nearly caused a disaster. The slope wasn’t gentle, so she could’ve rolled all the way down.
I quickly grabbed her and hurried forward while carrying her. Thanks to that, Winter ended up feeling motion sick.
“It took three days, and we made it in one.”
Even Aro, who had been shouting things like Charge forward! while getting swept up in the mood, only came to her senses after we reached Nineprio City.
Only then did it sink in just how insane what we’d just done was. Aro checked her body.
“Looking for something?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong. It just feels like I was possessed by something.”
I fully agreed with Aro. It really did feel similar to that. The likely causes were the Mark of Pilgrimage and Winter’s flag.
“Excuse me~ Are you Mr. Davide?”
“?”
I set down my heavy backpack and rolled my shoulders. Winter’s motion sickness had worsened, and she was dry heaving, so we ended up taking a break.
As I was staring at the sacred mountain range, a man called out my name. He wore a beige and red vest, with a matching cap on top.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Here. A delivery.”
I looked at him suspiciously, but the man suddenly handed me a neatly packaged box.
I took it with a confused expression. On his shoulder was an emblem symbolizing the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Please sign here.”
This time, he casually handed me a pen and paper. I signed as requested.
“Who sent it?”
“Soloven Rahorakti sent it. Thank you for the signature. I’ll be on my way.”
With that, the adventurer disappeared in an instant. Aro looked baffled at the strange sight.
“Soloven? I’ve heard that name. What kind of woman is she? Is she pretty? What about her family?”
Ignoring Aro, who was asking with sparkling eyes, I opened the box. It was about the size of a human fist.
Inside was a crystal orb about the size of a fist.
“That’s a communication magic orb. Why would Soloven send that to you? Are you two that kind of relationship? Or does she like you?”
I completely erased Aro’s nonsense, spoken with crazed eyes, from my mind. At the mention of a communication orb, I frowned.
“Ah. I don’t like this.”
“What don’t you like? Is it that Soloven girl you don’t like after all?”
Thinking she had gone too far, I grabbed Aro’s tail. She instantly went limp, and I asked how to use it.
“You just~ put in~ magic power~”
“I don’t have any, so do it for me.”
As Aro’s magic power flowed in, a soft light began to emit from the crystal orb.
—Ah, ah. Can you hear me?
“Soloven?”
—That’s Davide’s voice. It was delivered properly.
Soloven’s voice came through. Her firm and resolute tone greeted me without any particular emotion.
“What is it?”
—Have you finished your pilgrimage to the Sanctuary?
For some reason, news that I was going on a pilgrimage had spread to quite a few people.
Since I didn’t particularly care, I replied that I had just finished and returned.
—I am currently in the Ulla Desert.
“The Ulla Desert? It’s not far from your territory, but it’s not exactly close either. Why are you there?”
Now fully back to her senses, Winter frowned at the mention of the Ulla Desert.
Remembering how she had run wild in the Giant’s Tomb, she shuddered.
—I originally invited you to my territory, but an unexpected situation occurred.
“An unexpected situation?”
—Yes. A Fiendbeast appeared at one of the Kargula Family’s villas in the Ulla Desert.
I briefly asked Soloven for her understanding and started picking at my ear.
Maybe because I was tired, I thought I was hearing nonsense. After doing that for a while, I asked Soloven again.
—A Fiendbeast appeared at one of the Kargula Family’s villas in the Ulla Desert.
“…….”
What a load of crap. If it was a Kargula villa, then this was the after quest of Episode 3—the episode where the eldest son of the Kargula Family and Rama fought.
But Magus didn’t appear in that episode. Naturally, there was no way a Fiendbeast created by Magus—the organization behind the scenes—would show up either.
—Currently, the Rahorakti forces, Rama’s forces, and the desert tribe’s forces have formed an alliance and are surrounding the villa.
“And?”
—However, an attack is difficult. The opponent’s combat endurance is high, so in a war of attrition, we are completely losing instead.
I let out a deep sigh. The sudden appearance of Magus was giving me a headache.
—So, we are thinking of hiring you as a mercenary. So consider it carefu—
“Send the location. I’ll go right away.”
I didn’t even wait for Soloven to finish and handed it to Winter.
Caught off guard, Winter took the crystal orb and looked at me in confusion, but I had already started moving.
It was far too early for Magus to be acting in earnest. Whatever the reason, all we had to do was kill those disgusting creatures.
‘The second Fiendbeast….’
As far as I knew, the second Fiendbeast was actually weaker in combat power than the first.
Unlike the one that endured several strikes of Bereninche’s Water Spear, the second Fiendbeast was focused on different abilities.
‘Contamination is a bit troublesome, though.’
A phenomenon called contamination—passing part of its own abilities to other living beings. Naturally, it granted the Fiendbeast’s own abilities.
Since Fiendbeasts themselves weren’t exactly stable lifeforms, most creatures that were contaminated either went mad or had their bodies collapse and self-destruct.
“You’re heading out right away?”
“Yes.”
Aro reacted skeptically. I patted her back.
“You probably have something you want to test too, Sunbae-nim.”
Originally, Divine Power and magic power couldn’t coexist. If a mage obtained Divine Power, their magic power would gradually disappear.
But not in Aro’s case. The source of her magic power was the Fox Bead. As long as the Fox Bead remained intact, her magic power stayed firm.
“Hmm. True. I’ve been researching the coexistence of Divine Power and magic power. I do want to test its power.”
Before we knew it, Aro had become a character possessing both Divine Power and magic power.
“You can test it on them.”
“That works too.”
Nodding in agreement, Aro suddenly shoved her hand into the fur on her chest.
I silently watched her bizarre behavior. Soon, a pair of black tights popped out of her hand.
“Time to return to human form. Hold onto this. Give it to me when it’s time to transform.”
“……Where did that even come from?”
At best, Aro was about the size of an average fox. Her fur was particularly long and fluffy, but there was no way something that big could fit inside it.
“This is the essence of the Shaman of the Far East.”
“Impressive.”
I shook my head as I looked at Aro proudly puffing out her chest.