The Chosen One (2)

Kenis's little explosion had kicked up quite a ruckus, but Demonic and the holy knights managed to get a handle on the situation quickly enough that things settled down before long.

While Demonic and the holy knights ran around cleaning up the mess, Kenis sat crumpled in a corner of the temple.

It was not until dusk that Demonic and the holy knights finally returned.

"Have you completely lost your mind?!"

Demonic's roar shook the temple to its foundations. Kenis flinched, shrinking into her shoulders as tears welled in her eyes.

"Hiek! I'm sorry!!"

"Even if a god handed it to you, you don't just swing around a weapon you haven't even properly inspected!! It exploded in the sky, so we got lucky ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— what if civilians had been hurt?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Trainee Holy Knight Kenis — are you crying right now? Crying?! What exactly have you done that earns you the right to tear up?!"

"I'm not! I'm sorry!"

Kenis bowed at a perfect ninety degrees, then straightened, then bowed again — apologizing over and over like a jointed doll. Demonic quite literally shook her down to her soul.

Only after the other holy knights finally stepped in to calm him did Kenis manage to escape Demonic's wrath.

"Haa..."

She fled the scene and finally caught her breath. Her back was soaked through with cold sweat.

The incident had earned her a six-month pay cut... but given how serious it had been, the punishment was remarkably light.

Honestly, I was bracing myself for a demotion and house arrest...

Accident or not, she had effectively set off a bomb over the city. Even Kenis herself was stunned by how soft the slap on the wrist had been.

Still trying to settle her racing heart, she looked down at the sword in her hands.

That beam earlier...

She had gathered holy power into the blade, condensed it, compressed it, and fired it as a ray of light. Instinctively, Kenis knew that beam was an ability unique to the divine sword itself.

A one-month cooldown from now on? What even is a cooldown?

Unfamiliar words and knowledge were gradually etching themselves into her mind. She couldn't grasp their precise meaning, but they were surely some higher-dimensional knowledge no ordinary human could fully comprehend.

"If I can make use of this power and this divine sword..."

She could take revenge on the Lich of the Silver Twilight Order. More than that — she could protect the weak from suffering helplessly. She had not forgotten the mission given to her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠along with this blade.

"Destroy evil, and safeguard the good..."

Kenis quietly repeated the god's final words, carving them into her heart.

And so the night passed in silence — the night a single girl took the Hero's burden upon her shoulders.

After causing such a stir, Kenis spent the next several days quietly confined to her quarters, reflecting on her actions. Demonic's temper seemed to have cooled somewhat as well, for he eventually summoned her in person.

"Trainee Holy Knight Kenis. You're looking well. Have you been managing?"

"Yes, sir!"

Demonic smirked as he looked at her.

"Good enough. This is a letter from the Pantheon. I've already read it, but... well. I thought you ought to read it yourself."

"Ah — me, sir?"

Kenis asked, puzzled. A letter from the Pantheon would almost certainly be a reply concerning Cale and Hans.

Do I really need to read that myself?

She took the letter Demonic held out and skimmed it quickly.

The contents were concise.

The joyful news that the two of them could be saved made Kenis hurry through the rest of the letter.

Something felt off. A creeping unease climbed up her spine.

The further down the page her eyes traveled, the more her pupils began to tremble as if an earthquake had struck. And the more Kenis's eyes shook, the broader Demonic's grin grew.

"D-Demonic Paladin, sir? I-I don't... I don't quite understand?"

Demonic beamed as if he had never been more delighted in his life.

"Haha! It's exactly what you read! Looks like you're heading north again, Trainee Holy Knight Kenis! Hahahaha!"

"W-why...?? Why...?"

Demonic grinned from ear to ear at the sight of Kenis, her face gone pale and her pupils slack with despair. He had not forgotten that he had spent three straight days pulling all-nighters cleaning up the mess she had made.

Looking at her expression now, every bit of that bottled-up frustration finally cleared out.

Th-the North...!! He wants me to go back to that hellhole?

Horrific memories of the North flashed through Kenis's mind. Snowfields that were cold by day and colder still by night. Magical beasts that attacked around the clock. Locals who smashed beast skulls with bread harder than rock and bowls of soup.

A brutal climate and insane magical beasts. And northerners rougher and madder than either of those.

N-no... absolutely not!

Kenis spoke to Demonic with desperate urgency.

"D-Demonic Paladin, sir? Would a trainee holy knight like me even be of any help? The letter may have specifically requested me, but I doubt one person like me would make much difference..."

"Not so, Kenis. Remember — you are no longer a mere trainee holy knight. You are a Hero. One appointed by a god in person. So carry yourself with some confidence."

"Th-that's..."

Invoking the title of Hero left Kenis speechless. Demonic looked at her expression and wore a face of pure, vindictive satisfaction.

"In any case, there will soon be an official Hero appointment ceremony at the Pantheon in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Civitas. Immediately afterward, we head north. Keep that in mind."

"Y-yes... understood..."

Demonic's smile would not stop as he watched Kenis answer with a vacant, soul-departed look on her face.

"Good. Go rest for now. Once the schedule is set, I'll let you know."

"Yes, sir..."

Hero Kenis dragged her feet all the way back to her quarters. Every step felt impossibly heavy.

I am high.

High on the gold that a hero-tier adventurer named Kenis just raked in for me.

"Insane... is this even legal?"

I ran Kenis through a single Monster Subjugation, and the gold reward was absurd. Is this... a government-approved narcotic?

"Unbelievable. So the dwarves were basically earning pocket change this whole time."

Just a moment ago they had been adorable little guys scurrying around on their short legs, bringing home the gold. Now they just looked ugly and broke.

"Are you cuter than Kenis? Do you bring in more money than she does?"

My body had already adapted to a standard of living that dwarf pocket change could no longer satisfy. Once this much gold came in all at once... there was no going back to their tiny hauls!

"You dwarves can just stay in that loser forge of yours."

I had my answer. This game started with hero-tier adventurers and ended with monster subjugations. The solution was an inn upgrade.

I immediately pulled up the inn upgrade screen from the building list.

"Inn upgrade... I need to upgrade the inn so more adventurers show up..."

It cost a fair chunk of gold, but I upgraded without a second thought. Investments in the future always had to be bold.

"I just need one more hero-tier adventurer... just one more, and then I run monster subjugations...!! Hehehe."

Life was about the big score. A real man's life was thick and short.

Ba-bam—!

A fanfare rang out as if celebrating my bold investment. I grinned from ear to ear. I could already see the gold glittering before my eyes.

"Ah — I should unlock some weapons in advance, too."

If I wanted to sell to hero-tier adventurers, the gear had to be at least A-Grade to make any real money.

I opened the weapon list and scrolled through everything I could buy.

Swoosh—

Swipe—

"Hmm, way too expensive..."

Kenis had brought in a big haul, but it was nowhere near enough to unlock A-Grade weapons. Even without the inn upgrade, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠probably would have come up short.

"Maybe I should lower the grade a bit...?"

For a second, the miracle of swiping my card for more gold crossed my mind — and then the memory of mixing bean sprouts with ketchup flooded back in.

"Nope... not twice."

I shook my head and brushed off the temptation of real-money spending. I had to hold out at least until payday.

"So in the end, I have to pick something a bit lower-grade..."

Tsk... Still, I needed to give hero-tier adventurers good weapons if I wanted them bringing home serious gold from monster subjugations.

I thought it over for a moment, then decided.

"Right. Let's dig out the mine first."

Rather than A-Grade weapons I couldn't even buy yet, I needed to open up the mine and farm some decent materials.

"Even if I craft an A-Grade weapon later, making it out of copper would be pointless."

A Greatsword of the Faithful made of copper? That would be a pearl necklace on a pig. The absolute foundation of this game was mineral farming.

Swipe—

I switched the screen over to the mine. It only went down to the second floor. I poured every last bit of gold into digging deeper.

"Third floor? Unlock it. Fourth floor? Unlock it. Fifth, sixth — unlock them all!"

Gold burned away at a terrifying rate. By the time I'd spent every coin I had, the mine had been dug all the way down to the sixth floor.

The dwarves started bustling up and down the mine shafts.

They might have been relegated to the loser forge after getting outclassed by Kenis, but like it or not, these little guys were the workers of this game.

"I'll do you a favor and watch an ad."

Out of pure generosity, I sat through a thirty-second ad and received a worker speed boost buff. With the buff active, the dwarves moved even faster.

Short legs and high speed — it was like watching one of those ant farm kits from childhood.

"That's it, you loser dwarves!"

Before long, fanfares started ringing out one after another.

Ba-bam—!

Ba-bam—!

Ba-bam—!

Ba-bam—!

Opening several mine floors at once meant the fanfares never stopped. Looking at the mineral list — now nicely diversified — I couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

"This is why you play idle games."

I dropped one of each new mineral into the smelter and closed the game.

"Ugh~ Time to work out."

Sitting at a desk all day, then coming home and doing nothing but play games — I could feel my stamina draining day by day. I'd decided just yesterday that I needed to exercise for survival purposes.

"Gotta hit the gym..."

Today was only day two of my workout journey, but every step toward the gym felt impossibly heavy.

"I don't wanna exercise..."