An Utterly Ordinary Journey (2)
Morgina stroked the Champion's emblem once, then spun around with a flourish and stretched her arms out wide. She took a step as if to head back to the Gabi family mansion, but let out a sudden "Ah!" and turned to look at Kriel. Something—a pouch from her pocket whose contents were impossible to guess—flew toward him.
Kriel snatched the pouch out of the air at its alarming speed. It landed with considerable heft, accompanied by a clinking rattle.
"That's maintenance funds to uphold a Champion's dignity. And this—"
The second pouch was far lighter than the first. Inside were small, compact pills like dan medicine.
"Emergency rations for marching. Eve Kaha brand combat rations. One pill... well, ten days is pushing it, but it'll get you through a full day on the move."
"Your church makes stuff like this?"
"You know how many warriors die from not eating properly? In war, supplies going according to plan is a miracle in itself."
Kriel accepted the pouches and approached Morgina.
"Is it really okay to hand out dignity funds to someone who only pulls out the Champion title when it's absolutely necessary?"
"It's fine. Just take it."
"If you're cool with it..."
Kriel drew even closer to Morgina and whispered.
"If you need to use my name as Champion in negotiations with the Gabi family, go right ahead. Just square it with Armed first."
Morgina, tense as she peered into his eyes from so close, pursed her lips.
"Honor is a consumable—you stockpile it when you can and save it when you should, right? There are plenty of ways for the church to flex its influence without tarnishing your reputation. I'll leave the worldly stuff to the pink-haired lady."
"Fair enough."
Kriel scratched his head, his expression blank as he asked, "How do the rations taste?"
"Even if they're made with divine power, rations are still rations. For tasty ones, you'd have to go beg the goddess of abundance for a miracle."
Kriel, who had secretly hoped for something divine, silently tucked the pouch into his armor without a word. Ever since becoming a Dark Knight, he had a simple way to stave off hunger: kill another living being and absorb its blood qi. But for his plan to live with a healthy body and sound mind, that method was worse than useless. Emergency rations like these were all upside.
"Thanks. I'll take 'em gratefully. Catch you later."
"Sure thing~."
Her voice purred soft like a cat's. Kriel left the Gabi family mansion's back gate without hesitation.
A good while after walking along the path behind the mansion, Orishin suddenly spoke up.
[Hey.]
"Yeah?"
[Sword, armor, and now money too? You're basically a full-on sugar baby...]
Kriel chuckled and spread open the inside of his clothes with both hands. All that was visible was the pouch of Eve Kaha ration pills—no sign of the heavy money pouch meant for a Champion's upkeep.
[Huh?!]
"You didn't seriously think I'd take the money, did you? Someone who only selectively uses the Champion title when needed can't just pocket that."
[Wait, where'd you stash the money pouch?!]
"You think I got close to Morgina for no reason? A little misdirection and some quick fingers, and it went right back to its owner."
[You know pickpocketing tricks too?]
[How dare you! My noble master would never stoop to such shady deeds!]
[Hey, pickpocketing's way healthier than ascending as the Demon King, y'know?]
Kriel didn't bother replying and just smirked. It was a magician's sleight-of-hand trick, the kind he'd learned back on Earth as a little hobby to show off to others. With his superhuman physique now, he mostly used it to secretly return money to people insisting on shoving it at him.
"Morgina's got some serious stubbornness under that. Pretending to take it and bolting seemed like the quickest way to wrap things up."
[Even against non-abyss foes, is it okay for a knight to lie like that, sir?]
"Oh, my dear horse-head friend. I never lied once. I said I'd take it gratefully—but I never specified if that was for the money or the rations, did I?"
Exchanging lighthearted banter, Kriel quickened his pace. Morgina had church business left in the empire, so she wouldn't chase after him even if she noticed the money pouch's disappearance—but just in case.
[This the right way?]
The headless horse-head ghost grumbled out of the blue. Tuon lectured with dignified poise.
[A true knight never turns away from those in peril.]
[There's peril everywhere!]
Orishin lamented the absurd contents of this ridiculous journey. He'd agreed with consulting a priestess, then a mage, and now a spiritist. But finding one was the issue. Spiritists were even rarer talents than mages—damn near impossible to track down under normal circumstances.
Orishin's suggestion to head back to Argentlam Duchy and post a job listing at the mercenary guild or similar got shot down. Thanks to Kriel's experience. Not all self-proclaimed spirit-handling mercenaries were frauds, but ones "intellectual" enough to analyze Orishin's condition academically and find a way to lift the curse? Few and far between.
"Maybe a high-up in some 'Ten Knights Mercenary Band' or whatever. But Argentlam Duchy's been peaceful for years straight. No reason for conflict-chasing merc bands to swing by."
[So where to, then?]
"Think of the race that comes to mind with spiritists."
[Elves? You think they'd welcome an outsider with open arms? They barely let visitors in as it is. The ones bunking with dwarves in the Great Mountains lost their tempers to all the noise ages ago. And the world tree zealots are kinda weird...]
"Relax. I have a plan."
Kriel shook his head as he spoke. Recall who they met at the gateway city.
[Rwein Lir. The advisor mage of the gateway city? He was definitely a branch family descendant of the ancient fairy nobles.]
Rare for Tuon to chime in without some knightly excuse. Kriel nodded.
"Couldn't properly use Rwein Lir's letter of proxy at the Abyss Prevention Society. But he's capable enough to hold a border advisor mage position, branch or not. Having his proxy letter means the main family will at least hear out who I am."
Show the Abyss Prevention Society invitation and Rwein Lir's proxy letter, politely inquire if they have time and knowledge to introduce a spiritist for consulting on abyss purification. That was Kriel's plan.
Pretty persuasive stuff—Orishin was practically dancing his lone head in excitement.
[Lir family's pretty tucked away in the hills, but it won't take too long. Not with your stride.]
"No rush this time, so I'm taking it slow. Been sprinting too much lately."
After that chat, Kriel moved at a pace that made his previous travels look frantic by comparison. Speed-wise, it really looked like leisurely sightseeing. But the content? Different story.
[How does every damn village we pass have some crisis?!]
Like a curse, every village Kriel stopped at to rest had its own pile of troubles. Monsters slaughtering livestock that had started showing up recently. Shadow-stealing freaks. Poison spreading through a mountain village's water source.
Kriel replied calmly. "Could happen."
[What?!]
"Aftereffects of the Demon King War haven't fully faded yet."
Orishin fell silent. Kriel calmly recounted the journey so far. Sliced up the monster. Gave a scolding to the shadow-pranking local spirit—apparently a generational gap, since it fled with a hilariously fed-up look. The poison-spewing thing in the tainted water source? Obviously a cursed item touched by the abyss.
Sometimes swinging his sword himself, sometimes calling the lord or steward afterward to handle cleanup—and so they headed to the Lir family. In a fortnight's travel, Kriel earned four coppers and two silvers.
[You vulgar curved blade. Dissatisfied with your master's exercise of knightly virtue? How could you? Has your curved form bent your honor too?]
[Not that. I just mean, everywhere we go shit hits the fan, so I'd like some peace for once...]
Orishin muttered this while Kriel was off hunting the poison source last night—using his unicorn purification powers to the max to treat the villagers' poisoning and cleanse their drinking water.
"Relax. Won't be any commotion for a while."
Kriel pointed off into the distance. Hidden in the woods below the ridge, but faintly visible: buildings in a distinctive style. Homes hollowed out from massive trees whole. The ancient fairy architecture unique to territories of bloodlines descended from the old fey.
'Get the spiritist's assessment, rest up a bit, then head to Armed's festival.'
Kriel dreamed of a vacation in these scenic mountains and descended the ridge like the wind.