70. Witch Hunt (1)
70. Witch Hunt (1)
"This is uncomfortable."
"Suck it up. You know perfectly well you can't run around in nothing but pants like you did on the uninhabited island, right?"
Reni patted my shoulder and whispered in a gentle voice.
I did know.
The whole Escort Knight gig, all of it, would go straight to hell if I took off my armor here because it was uncomfortable.
So I was desperately biting back the sensation of bugs crawling all over my body.
Still, I'd been hoping for some gorgeously ornate armor that made your jaw drop on its own, but was I carrying the blood of those ancient Irish warriors who supposedly fought naked? Why did I feel like I was breaking out in hives all over the moment I put on armor? Did I actually have an allergy to steel or something?
Ah, forget it. I just wanted this over with.
"...Do you hate it that much?"
"Not that much. I'm just uncomfortable."
"It's ceremonial armor, so it's inherently a little uncomfortable. Just hang in there for now. You can wear light gear when you're on duty. I wear light stuff every day, right?"
"...Well, yeah."
"See? So let's just tough it out a bit. I want to get out of this tin can armor fast too. Wearing this in warm weather like this means I end up drenched in sweat all over."
Reni soaked in sweat. I wouldn't mind seeing that. I'd never really gotten a good look back on the uninhabited island. Come to think of it, I'd hardly ever seen Reni work up a sweat fighting. Did that mean wearing thick armor was harder for her than combat?
So we chatted idly as we waited for the door to open.
This was a simplified knight investiture, so it wasn't especially grand, but even a shortened ceremony had to observe the minimum formalities.
Having to stand for over fifteen minutes in this disgustingly heavy armor was a bit much, though—
"Please enter."
"Let's go. Don't forget what you memorized."
"R...right."
The door opened.
I looked ahead through the eye slit and spotted an old man in pure white priest robes at the far end of the room.
The face was unexpectedly welcome. He was an NPC anyone who chose the Priest class would grow sick of seeing. Department Head Crispi—no, Bishop Crispi—had repeatedly taught priest characters their Skills in the game. He cleared his throat and regarded me with gentle eyes.
The faint curiosity in his eyes suggested that I intrigued him. Then again, I'd also have stared at someone who arrived with double-digit licenses and effectively demanded, “Knight me.” I was apparently the first person since Kalon Academy was founded to obtain both Warrior Guild and Wizard Guild licenses, giving him all the more reason to be curious.
...It was originally a title the main protagonist was supposed to earn, though.
At least this proved that the protagonist wasn't someone capable of veteran-player nonsense like dual-classing. Whether that protagonist actually existed was another matter.
"Now, come forward."
We approached Bishop Crispi with the disciplined strides we'd practiced. Once we stopped within arm's reach, we carefully knelt. A strange scent drifted through the eye slit of my helmet. Was it from the incense candles arranged around the room, or from Bishop Crispi himself? The smell made me drowsy, so I lightly bit my tongue.
"From this moment, I shall begin the investiture. Mary, bring the sword."
The instant he finished speaking, precise footsteps approached. When they stopped, a sharp sound brushed my ears. Had the sword been drawn? As I wondered, a voice came from above my head.
"Yohan. Do you swear to respect and protect the weak as a knight?"
"I do swear."
"Yohan, do you swear to serve your lord with valor and faith?"
"I do swear."
"Yohan, do you swear never to turn your back on the enemy?"
"I do swear."
"Yohan, do you..."
Questions and answers repeated. How many oaths had I recited by then? The questions suddenly stopped. Was it over? I waited a moment just in case, until Bishop Crispi spoke again.
"Rise."
I rose and met the bishop's eyes. They were clear and immaculate, almost too pure to belong to a human being. Did he have such eyes because he was one of the finest people in the game?
"You are now a knight. I ask that you conduct yourself with the dignity befitting the station. And... please look after Saintess Karina."
Bishop Crispi's voice was thick with unmistakable sincerity. He was genuinely worried about Karina. I stared blankly at my hand in his grasp, then recited the line I had prepared.
"Even if it costs me my life, I will protect her."
The second the words ended, my Status Window popped open without being called.
[Mission Clear]
Reward: 1 Trait Point
--------------------------------
"Your ID is pretty impressive..."
I fiddled with the small golden pendant that proved my knighthood. Naturally, it contained nothing. People usually placed portraits of their families inside, but I had no family and therefore nothing to put there.
...Should I find a portrait of Karina and put it inside, like an Escort Knight should?
"Don't lose it. Getting a replacement issued is an absolute pain."
"Got it."
"I'm about to go see Saintess Karina. Come with me. You're an Escort Knight now too, so you've got to work."
"It's been, what, almost half a month?"
"Until now, only Professor Lennon and I could visit her, but you'll be coming with us from now on."
"I'm worried about Millia."
Millia didn't like being alone. Lately, she'd wandered by herself with a gloomy expression because she didn't want to interrupt my studies for the investiture, and the sight still bothered me. She seemed to hate solitude.
Was it because of her past?
At first glance, she sometimes looked like a puppy sulking because its owner wouldn't play with her. The thought had crossed my mind more than once as I saw her expression change each time I met her in the spare bits of time I could spend with her.
"Still, we've got to do our jobs. Millia's not a child, right?"
"...Right."
She followed me like a baby bird, but by age alone, she was the oldest among us. Multiplying my current age by about ten would put me near hers.
I rose and followed Reni. It had been a long time since I'd seen Karina. How was her condition?
There was no way she could be well after being cursed.
We left Dawn Hall right away and headed for the lab where Karina was being treated. The path to the lab was quiet. No surprise there—it was the weekend. I did spot a few students enjoying their day off here and there.
...Given how drenched in fatigue they looked, were they slaves—no, graduate students?
I was hardly one to talk. I had become Karina's loyal slave—no, Escort Knight. As Reni had warned, the position had benefits, but actually using them would be difficult. That was working life for you. Things might improve once Karina woke, at least.
"Saintess Karina really needs to wake up quickly..."
"Didn't they say the curse removal was almost complete?"
"Well, yes, but... apparently it's a tenacious curse, so they're having trouble extracting the curse's core."
The curse's core? Did she mean some kind of medium? I knew nothing about curses, so it was difficult to understand. In the game, a curse was merely a status condition, and one cast of a priest's purification magic solved it. How curses worked and how they were removed were questions beyond what even my hazy knowledge of the original game could answer.
In the end, I had to rely on the skill of a professor who looked like he could carry a tune.
The problem was, if my memory was right, the incident that came after the Hellhound appearance was...
"Yohan?"
"Ah, sorry. I had something on my mind."
"Something bothering you? If it's not something you can't talk about, try getting it off your chest to me. Your big sis here will hear you out."
Reni prodded me in the ribs playfully. Spending time together over the knight investiture stuff had made us closer than before, and the frequency of these familiar jokes had gone up. I didn't dislike it, but I was terrified that she'd accidentally snap some part of my body like a dry reed one of these days.
"I was just thinking about the bastards who cursed Karina."
"Ah, those pieces of trash... The Holy Knight Order went to the Cult of Halphas's headquarters, but they'd already fled. If I could leave my post, I'd hunt them down myself and snap every last neck."
They'd all escaped? I hadn't expected people determined enough to kill Karina to be caught easily, but had they seriously failed to catch even one? Was that not far too incompetent?
Then again, if they had been competent, the world wouldn't have been destroyed so often in the original game.
As expected of a shitty game, the difficulty was fucking awful.
And it handed out such troublesome missions.
"...Status Window."
I summoned the Status Window in a whisper. A new mission had appeared after yesterday's Mission Clear.
[New Mission]
-Become friends with the witch.
Reward: 2 Trait Points
A subtly larger reward and a puzzling mission.
And a witch.
My memory might have faded and developed plenty of holes, but I knew about the witch.
The story arc that followed the Hellhound Incident.
Demon Summoning.
The final boss of the Demon Summoning episode.
That was the witch.
But I had to become friends with the witch? What the hell was the True Ending supposed to be if it required befriending a villain?
"Hey, hey! Are you listening?"
My unending train of thought vanished with Reni's shout.
"...Sorry."
"I'm not gonna criticize you for thinking too much, but zoning out in the middle of a conversation is awkward for the other person, so watch it. Come on, let's go in."
We entered the research building containing Professor Lennon's laboratory. Because Curse Removal Studies often involved cursed objects, the small department occupied an entire separate building. I'd been too exhausted to notice before, but the air clearly felt different the moment we entered.
"It always gives me the creeps in here."
"Not the kind of place I'd visit often."
"Once Saintess Karina wakes up, we've got to move her straight to Dawn Hall..."
And it was still this bad despite having a holy relic. How many cursed objects had they collected?
If it felt this bad even with one of the most powerful holy relics present, entering without it would probably make you pick up a curse like a character in an old horror movie and spend a thrilling night with a ghost.
Not that I knew whether ghosts truly existed. Wait, no—there were demons, monsters, and even a Dullahan. There was no way ghosts didn't exi—
"Ah."
The impact against my chest snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked down at the person I'd collided with.
...Something felt familiar?
"...Are you all right?"
"Are you okay?"
Reni and I approached the female student slumped on the floor and spoke to her. She only trembled in response. Then I noticed the puddle that had formed beneath her.
Why would a puddle be in a place like this? Though the smell and the color...
"...A m-m-monster..."
Ah. She had fainted.
"...What the? Why'd she faint?"
"I don't know."
We looked at each other and shrugged.