46. Port City Lorelei (1)
46. Port City Lorelei (1)
"Wh-What's going on?"
"They seem to think we're suspicious."
"What?"
Karina stared at me, visibly startled. Apparently, being mistaken for suspicious people had shocked her...
"Why are you nodding?"
"Uh... aren't we suspicious people?"
I froze and stared at her. Karina met my gaze as if wondering what was wrong. Her smile was lovely, but what mattered more was what she'd just said.
Now that she'd said it, she wasn't exactly wrong.
A castaway, a Dullahan, a Saintess, and one Escort Knight. It was a bizarre combination, suspicious beyond belief.
Even a half-decent fantasy novel would get cursed out for putting together a dogshit combination like this, and a game would get mocked for offering such a train-wreck party. Then again, it might have been a pretty viable party in a deep, dark dungeon. Thank god I hadn't transmigrated into that one. I didn't want to become family with a ruin—or get sucked dry by an ancestor.
"If we can't convince the guards, I don't think we'll be able to dock the ship."
"That's a problem..."
Why was she watching my reaction? I puzzled over Karina's sidelong glances until I belatedly remembered something and understood.
Come to think of it, she had been hiding her identity as the Saintess, hadn't she?
Her pink hair and mismatched eyes were marks of the Saintess, so the guards would change their tune the moment she stepped forward. But she seemed reluctant to reveal her identity to Millia and me. I understood.
The gap in status between an ordinary priest and the Saintess was roughly the difference between keeping your head raised and bowing it.
She didn't want us bowing to her once we found out she was the Saintess.
"Karina. Whatever you've been hiding won't change how I treat you, so feel free to reveal it."
"Huh? What was I hiding?"
"Uh, well..."
"Were you hiding food from us?"
At Millia's off-the-wall remark, Karina smiled.
"No. Um... the truth is..."
Karina told us who she really was: the Saintess of the Church of Kalon. She apologized for deceiving us and said that if she stepped forward, we could enter the port without trouble.
Since I already knew it, it wasn't particularly surprising, but I pretended to be shocked out of courtesy.
"I-I see. So you were a very im-por-tant person."
"Captain, you're so awk-ward!"
I knew damn well I couldn't act for shit, so Millia didn't need to copy me. Even Reni, standing behind Karina, had the corners of her mouth twitching and looked ready to burst out laughing.
"You lot! Show yourselves! If you don't, we'll burn everything to ashes!"
"Karina."
"...Yes!"
No sooner had I finished speaking than Karina revealed herself to the people.
I supposed a Saintess really was a Saintess. The moment she showed herself, the atmosphere at the port changed completely.
Shock, surprise, relief, joy.
The people at the port were so shaken that even I could see all of them standing there with their mouths agape.
The Saintess really was an incredible figure.
If every last one of them reacted like that... Then again, unlike the world I'd lived in, religion was so powerful here that most nations couldn't even compete, so their reaction made sense.
Not that it was powerful enough for something like the Avignon Papacy to happen.
"Captain, what's a Saintess?"
"A very important person."
"Can she fly too?"
"She's basically a princess."
"Ah! I get it!"
Did she really?
I looked away from Millia, who was giving Karina's back a strange look, and gazed out at the still-blue sea.
The sea sure was blue.
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"Saintess Karina! Thank goodness you're safe!"
That was a face made for selling indulgences.
"Pardon?"
Ah.
"It was noth...ing."
Damn it, I'd run my mouth again. Fortunately, the fat priest who looked ready to shout 'Make Kalon Great Again' at any moment didn't seem to have understood me.
Guess they didn't have indulgences here. Then again, this was a world where a god could descend in person. If anyone tried that shit and got caught, the god would personally fuck up the bastard who suggested it.
...For all that, the Church of Kalon still got torn apart in all sorts of ways in every route.
The half-bald, fat priest studied me curiously, then looked back at Karina with adoration and spoke.
"Heh heh, Saintess Karina. And this gentleman is?"
"It's a long story... but he's the one who saved me."
"Ah, so you're the one who saved Saintess Karina!"
Maybe he was a good-natured priest despite his ill-tempered face. I smiled awkwardly as the priest pumped my hand up and down. He answered with an evil-looking grin.
Uh, that was just a smile, right?
He wasn't plotting some evil scheme, was he?
"I apologize if you found my handshake unpleasant."
"...No, not at all."
What? I hadn't even done anything.
Why was Reni poking me in the side and telling me to soften my expression? I couldn't understand it at all.
I wasn't handsome, but giving me shit over my smile was a little much.
"Archbishop Pierre, we've been at sea for a long time and we're quite hungry. Might we have a meal?"
"Heh heh, of course! Lize! Show Saintess Karina and our guests to the dining hall—no, to the bathhouse first!"
"Thank you for your hospitality, Archbishop Pierre."
"Heh heh, not at all."
Pierre stroked his long beard and smiled good-naturedly. He was a good person... right?
Priests with faces like his usually had something up their sleeves. He wasn't like that, was he? Honestly, I just wanted to make it to the academy peacefully.
"Understood, Archbishop Pierre. Saintess Karina. Everyone, please follow me."
We quietly followed Lize.
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As expected of the largest religion in the Survival Academy world, even the bathhouse was incredible.
Having the huge bathhouse all to myself made me think I needed to make a lot of money. Having a huge tub built at home and soaking in it at my leisure was a quiet little dream of mine. Back in Korea, I'd been just a college student, so I couldn't even dream of it, but here it would be possible if I had the money.
...Though before that, surviving in this absolute clusterfuck of a world came first.
"Status Window."
I opened my Status Window and checked the Mission section. The word clear had appeared beside the mission.
And the reward was...
"1 Trait Point?"
Couldn't it have given me a bunch while it was at it? What the hell was I supposed to do with 1 point? I didn't know who had transmigrated me, but they clearly didn't want me coasting through life. Still, I supposed I should be grateful it had given me something useful. At least it hadn't thrown some weird crap at me and called it a reward. This was the same asshole who'd dumped me on an uninhabited island without warning, after all.
But where was I supposed to invest it?
Would it be better to save it for now?
Since it used ranks, I had no idea what a single point actually did.
Would it raise something by one whole rank? Half a rank? This damn Status Window didn't explain anything. These days, a game with shitty explanations got called a shitty game, and
it'd immediately get a 'Mixed' rating. If it was even more fucked, it'd get 'Mostly Negative.' I wanted it to spoon-feed me everything from one to ten so I could give it 'Overwhelmingly Positive.'
"I'll leave it unused for now..."
I still wasn't sure which Trait to invest in, so I decided to check the next mission.
Arrive at Kalon Academy.
Distance: 1700 km
Reward: 1 Trait Point
Another 1 point? Hah.
The Status Window was being pretty stingy with rewards.
After pouring out complaints in my head, I closed the Status Window and got up. If I was too late, they'd complain, so I needed to hurry and get something to eat.
My first proper civilized dinner in ten years.
I couldn't wait to see what they would serve.
Full of anticipation, I put on the clothes the priest had brought me one piece at a time, from the underwear to the shirt. Honestly, putting on a shirt felt a little strange, but I couldn't keep going around bare-chested even here. I suppressed the awkward feeling and rejoined the others.
"Captain! Over here, over here!"
"All right, slow down."
Where was she trying to rush off to when she didn't even know the way?
I caught Millia as she tried to hurry ahead and carefully adjusted the angle of her head. It was only slightly askew, so no one would likely notice, but better safe than sorry. Even if the Saintess had brought her, a Dullahan appearing in a place like this would obviously cause an uproar. Come to think of it, had there been a Dullahan in Survival Academy?
I couldn't remember.
I didn't think there were any.
"Oh, Yohan, keep dressing like that from now on. You could go around naked on the island, but not here."
"I know that."
Why was she looking at me like she didn't believe me? I had basic common sense too.
"Right. You could get arrested here if you're not careful, so please watch yourself."
It was too much trouble to even reply, so I just gave a rough nod.
Chatting as we went, we followed Lize to the dining hall and chose seats. The long table looked like something out of a movie, with enough room to lay five or six people on it and still have space left.
Dinner was already laid out on the table.
A spread so green it looked healthy just to look at. Whoever had planned the menu had to be a vegan.
"You must all be very hungry, so we prepared plenty."
"Thanks, Lize!"
"Hehe, you're welcome. Enjoy your meal."
Reroll—no, Lize smiled gracefully and left the dining hall.
The dining hall fell silent in an instant.
As if signaling the start of the meal, I picked up my fork and spoke.
"Let's eat."