Sir Grant's Sacred Relic

James ground his teeth as he took the report in his office. Things that simply should not have been possible were unfolding one after another.

"What did you just say? They know?"

"Yes. Fully half of our faithful have already deserted us!"

"Give me the details!"

"I—it's just that they left. No word, no warning — they simply vanished. We only just now realized…"

James was on the verge of losing his mind. He had been this close.

All he had needed to do was bury the death of Lao, the former cult leader — or dress it up as a hero's righteous kill — then claim a divine revelation and step into the vacant throne. That should have been the end of it.

But Limani's people had struck first. A sharpness they had never shown before.

"Does that even make any goddamn sense? Does it?!"

"What… should we do?"

Click. BANG. BANG!

James opened fire on the pastor delivering the report, flying into a blind rage.

"Since when does anything in this world just happen out of nowhere? God-fucking-dammit!"

He roared. Until now, everything had been going exactly according to plan.

Seize every visible dungeon in the country first, stall the growth of any heroes who might get in his way. Then spin a tidy little story around the cult leader's death and tailor the narrative to himself.

It should have been easy. It was what he had always done.

And now every last piece of it had come apart.

Creak!

Another pastor burst through the door with a fresh report.

"It's a disaster! The faithful have taken to the streets — they're calling Cardinal James a… a…!"

"A what? Spit it out!"

"They're calling Cardinal James a heretic and trying to drive him out!"

James's mouth hung open. He had gone past fury into something closer to disbelief; his lips trembled, and a low, ragged panting began to build in his chest.

The pastor stared at him, dazed.

"What do we do?"

"Fuck."

BANG. BANG!

He shot the newly arrived pastor dead as well and slammed his fist down on the desk. Of course, the only thing that hurt was his own hand.

"Fuck, you think you're the only ones with a problem? You think this is just about you? You half-witted bastards. Not a single useful one among you!"

James raged on, utterly unaware that this was his own karma coming due. In the end, he was nothing more than a pathetic vessel play-acting as a cult leader.

He did, at least, have the instinct to recognize that he was in genuine danger. But what was he supposed to do about it?

The intel said something happened to Xia Jinping. What the hell do I do?

A rustle. A slither.

One of the corpses rose like a snake uncoiling. James recoiled in horror.

"Wh-what?!"

The corpse opened its eyes. Both irises had already been steeped in a deep rose-crimson.

"Heh heh. You insects do put on such an entertaining little show."

"What the— you're not dead?"

James leveled the gun again. The corpse remained perfectly calm, and a voice spilled from its mouth like dawn fog — cold, damp, and faintly amused.

"Don't be alarmed. I have merely borrowed this one's flesh. Once his last breath leaves him, I will no longer be able to interfere."

"Who the hell are you?!"

The corpse snorted, as if the question itself were an insult.

"Insolent. How dare a believer fail to recognize the god he worships? Pathetic."

James's jaw dropped. Those Who Recite Sins were a cult, yes — but on the surface, they did believe in a god. A god who, to be fair, was little more than a manufactured figure from legend.

"C-could it be… Lord? Has the Lord manifested before me?"

Tris Narg finished his answer with a look of deep satisfaction. James, for his part, was sliding rapidly toward a complete breakdown.

That's impossible! He actually existed? Wait — why now? Why the hell did he have to show up NOW?

The situation he was already in was complicated enough to kill him.

"O Lord!"

James sank to his knees. Tris snorted.

"Hmph. You spent all this time hawking my name to do filthy things, and now you call me that?"

"I—I am sorry! O Lord, I have committed sins worthy of death!"

"Sins worthy of death? Hardly. Is that not precisely what it means to be human?"

James stared, thrown completely off balance. He had never imagined his track record would be affirmed.

"I have descended here to reward you — you who have practiced your humanity so thoroughly."

"M-me, Lord?"

"Yes. You are in quite a crisis, are you not? A fine opportunity, I should think."

Tris was right. At this rate, James was finished. Xia Jinping had already been taken down, and half the faithful had turned. He needed to flip the entire board, here and now.

James smashed his forehead against the floor.

"Lord, watch over this wretched lamb! Watch over me!"

"Rise. And take this."

A clear, crystalline chime rang out.

What Tris held out was a ring, glowing with a deep rose-crimson light. James swallowed hard and accepted it. Tris slowly sank back down.

"It is one of Grant's sacred relics. It will wield power equal to the measure of your desire…"

The moment James slipped the ring onto his finger, a rose-crimson aura coiled around his body. A rapture he had never felt in his life crashed over him, and he cried out in shock.

"Power — I can feel the power rising. What is this? What is this? Ahahahahaha!"

And so James received a terrible choosing — the first, and the last.

James seemed like a completely different person. In that one brief glance I had caught of him, the bastard had been using some kind of unusual power.

What the hell was that just now? And what was that ring?

Questions kept crowding in. Then the Goddess spoke.

Lashu. Are you familiar with Sir Grant's Three Sacred Relics? I believe they are called Hawkdia.

Huh? Sir Grant's Three Sacred Relics are called Hawkdia? I learned them as Sir Grant's Three Sacred Relics in the history books. They're famous historically and mythologically. Nobody knows what the actual pieces are, though.

Could that be one of them?

Come on, that thing? Even if it was impressive, it didn't exactly look sacred-relic-tier, did it?

The ring had definitely radiated an overwhelming energy. It had even transmuted a huge crowd of people into flower petals in a single instant. Powerful, sure. But wasn't that just what high-grade artifacts did? Or maybe the cult had actually managed to make contact with their so-called god?

I hope it is only my imagination. But I felt a pressure from it.

Don't worry, Goddess. Let's keep watching for now.

Rather than stopping that man?

This is the capital. There are plenty of people who'll stop him without me. I'd rather use the opening to take care of my own business.

Growth, for one. Managing the Sky Island, for another.

The people who had been charging at James before I came to the Sky Island had all been late-stage Experts in their own right. Nothing to worry about for a while.

Is there a dungeon near the capital, by any chance? Were you planning to go there?

No. I took a rough look around when I entered the capital — almost all of them were already empty.

Courtesy of James's Nationwide Dungeon-Clearing Project. That son of a bitch.

Which meant growing by picking off existing dungeons was off the table.

Then what will you do?

If I can't do it in the real world, I'll just have to do it here!

I pointed toward the surroundings of the Sky Island and looked across at the isle on the other side.

It was the one I had newly discovered last time. What if this unfathomable world had more Sky Islands still waiting out there?

Those islands were unpredictable by nature. There was no telling what they held — what hardships, what traps, or what windfalls.

And if something happened that was significant enough to trigger a quest?

Then that would essentially be a dungeon. That was what I was aiming for.

After all, the moment I first arrived on the Sky Island, I had spent points right from the start to build a hot spring hall. That had been an investment of sorts — a quest, in a way.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Do something. Accomplish something.

It was not even a difficult concept to grasp. That was the deduction I had made.

As I looked at the island, a transparent bridge suddenly took shape. It glittered in the sunlight, then faded, then glittered again. I tilted my head and started toward it.

Does that mean I can cross?

I set one foot lightly on the invisible span.

A soft tap.

Strangely enough, I did not fall. Normally, any attempt to float out here got forcibly cancelled — but this transparent bridge was solid. I swallowed dryly and walked forward.

A cool wind brushed past. Clouds drifted by. Clear sunlight caught the invisible path and seemed to lay out the way ahead, just for me.

I finished crossing and set foot on the island. The climate was different here. The scenery, too.

A long hiss of surf. A crash of waves. The creak and cry of unfamiliar birds.

It was half beach, half jungle — hot, but the pleasant kind of hot, like Hawaii. Fresh, even.

Thank god. If this had been Korean summer, it would've been complete ass.

And if you ran along the shoreline, you could even see white cliffs overlooking the sea. Everything looked as if it had been painted — deliberately, artfully composed.

Huh. So it really was like that. This was going to be fun.

The moment I accepted, my field of vision expanded in an instant. The island suddenly ballooned outward until it felt like a world unto itself; waves began to crash in earnest, and the birdsong rang out sharp and clear.

Whoa. That's actually amazing.

I reviewed the mission contents and headed into the jungle first. Five steampunk goblins and one stranded kraken.

Okay, but what the hell is a steampunk goblin supposed to be? And a kraken — those things have a massive body, overwhelming strength, and intelligence. They're a pain.

I turned over possible strategies as I scanned the jungle. It was quiet, at least for the moment.

Pssht! Shhick!

Something came flying through the undergrowth. I threw myself sideways, dodged it, and looked toward the source.

Nothing there.

Oh, so that's how you want to play it?

Pssht! Shhick!

This time it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came from the opposite direction. Except that wasn't the sound of spit flying.

I looked up. Goblins hung in the air with boosters strapped to their backs, each one aiming a compact, scoped musket.

"Intruder! Intruder!"

"Everyone, form up!"

They fought with genuine intelligence. They couldn't fly very high, but the moment I tried to close the distance they fanned out in an arc and poured poison darts at me. And if I committed to one of them, another would toss a smoke bomb or a flashbang to cut me off.

"Alright. How about this, then?"

I decided to settle it with speed.

A rush of air — tat-tat-tat-tat!

I kicked on my aura and sprinted, and the ground suddenly dropped out from under my feet. I floated up on instinct, using magnetic force, and looked down to find a pit trap waiting below.

So much for a speed blitz. The traps made that approach a nightmare.

Pretty sharp for a bunch of goblins. But at the end of the day, goblins are still goblins.

Crack. Zzzt-zzzt!

I fired up a lightning aura on top of everything else and drifted slowly upward. From there, I drove a kick into a thick palm tree.

WHAM!

The recoil launched me straight into the nearest goblin.

SLASH!

WHAM! A hiss of escaping air — SLASH!

I cleaned them up the same way, one after another. I did deliberately leave one of them only half-crippled.

The organized play had been impressive. The specs, unfortunately, were not.

"Kieek — kill me, human!"

"I'm not the one who'll kill you. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'll just make sure you die."

"What?!"

The goblin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glared at me like I had lost my mind. I grabbed it, hauled it to the shore, and hurled it into the sea.

SPLASH!

Then I gathered energy into my sword and waited. A shadow rose from the water.

A wet, sucking roar. A towering spray. A tremendous crash.

Tentacles lined with suckers erupted from the waves and engulfed the goblin in a single motion. Good. So that was where it had been hiding.

I fired Dawn Caliber in the gap while the kraken was busy claiming its goblin. The seawater parted to either side for a brief, blinding instant — and the kraken screamed as it disintegrated.

"Hell yeahhhh!"

I jumped in place, whooping. New island: claimed.

Hmm. But what building should I put up?

Once the high faded, the real question settled in. What exactly was I supposed to build here?