The Meeting (2)
Fortunately, he hadn’t been found out.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about them.”
“Is that so. A pity.”
Felix wore a look of genuine disappointment.
Evan was left speechless.
How am I supposed to know where that is?
Glory.
A new heretical group.
To this day, almost nothing about Glory had come to light.
I did hear they’d recently wiped out some heretic remnants…
A force that cleaned up criminal organizations and leftover cultists.
Beyond that, nothing was known.
Some called them a righteous order; others branded them a criminal syndicate.
Some claimed they were an elite unit of maybe ten people; others insisted thousands belonged to a massive organization.
It would almost be easier to believe just one of the stories.
Even the phrase they left behind at the end—For the Glory—defied interpretation.
Evan simply treated it like a symbol.
In a short span they had already swept away two drug fields and a nest of heretic remnants.
According to the duke, even the imperial court was watching them carefully.
Their range of activity is the Empire, so their base has to be inside the Empire too.
Crossing the border to operate?
Low probability.
Once or twice might be possible, but repeated crossings would be difficult.
Communicating from afar?
Impossible.
They were hostile nations, after all.
In the future, maybe—but right now it was nearly unthinkable.
The group hadn’t even existed in the original story, so Evan knew nothing about them either.
He cast a faintly suspicious glance at Felix.
How did this guy even hear about them?
Felix.
Son of Elim, a wandering knight walking a pilgrimage in search of true strength.
For the record, Evan had no idea who Elim was. The game never explained it.
Probably his father, or maybe his lord?
His personality wasn’t bad. He wouldn’t look the other way at injustice.
But he wouldn’t go out of his way to chase it down either.
He had left on his pilgrimage for strength, not justice.
In the end he gives up on becoming a Sword Master.
Until then he would keep agonizing and losing his way—the directionally challenged wandering knight Felix.
That was the character Evan remembered.
And yes, the man really was that bad with directions.
Evan had never seen anyone get lost so thoroughly.
Looks like he still is.
Two and a half years remained until the main story began.
If he hadn’t fixed it by then, he was obviously still hopeless now.
Felix smacked his lips in regret.
“Even in the Empire no one knows anything about that organization. So I thought they might be abroad and was heading for the Demicia Kingdom.”
“I see.”
“I paid the information guild a rather large sum. Disappointing.”
“……What kind of large sum?”
It was useless chatter, yet it piqued Evan’s interest.
Did Felix even have money?
As a wandering knight he ought to be broke.
“I paid a sum large enough to spare my life.”
“…….”
This lunatic.
Evan edged back a little.
Aegis nodded.
“You got off cheap.”
“……….”
Evan took two more steps back.
They were inside a carriage, so it didn’t mean much.
“In that sense, I have a request for you.”
“?”
“I will pay a proper price. Allow me to travel with you for a short while—on the road to the Demicia Kingdom.”
“Payment in lives is not acceptable.”
“What kind of madman would do that?”
You would.
“I may be a poor wandering knight, but I do carry a few things I can offer as payment.”
Felix started to rummage through his clothes, then realized he was still tightly bound by Lapis’s magic threads and looked up.
“Could you untie me for a moment?”
“I’ll take them out myself.”
Lapis flicked a finger.
Threads slithered into his clothes and searched on their own.
Felix, watching with his head bowed, offered a review.
“Hmm. A curious sensation. I can feel killing intent. Do you hold a grudge against me?”
“No.”
Lapis answered coldly.
She pulled out the payment with her threads.
Not one item—several.
A number of worn bundles appeared.
Felix blinked.
“Those aren’t what I meant to give.”
“Think of them as the price of your life.”
Lapis undid the bundles with her threads.
“What guarantee do we have that you won’t harm Evan?”
“That’s……”
“And earlier you said the information guild spared your life as payment for information, didn’t you?”
A razor-sharp thread tightened around his throat, ready to cut if she wished.
Whoa, terrifying.
“We’ll do something similar.”
“Hmm.”
To Evan’s surprise, Felix accepted it at once.
“Generous of you. Take everything. Just spare me.”
A quick decision.
Lapis smiled in satisfaction.
Evan felt complicated.
……Did I raise this kid completely wrong?
He made her read a morals textbook every day, didn’t he?
Maybe he should switch her to the Bible now?
He seriously considered it.
Though teaching her assassination techniques might already have been past the point of no return.
“Let’s see…… anything useful?”
Aegis rummaged through the bundles.
She looked practiced at it.
She’s a former princess—should she really be doing that?
“Oh!”
Aegis’s eyes lit up as she found something.
“A sand golem’s heart! These are pretty hard to come by!”
“Ah, I got lost and accidentally wandered into a natural dungeon.”
Felix kindly added an explanation.
“There was a boss, so I just pulled out the heart.”
“Oh, the condition’s good…… not bad. You’ve got skill, huh?”
“You think I walk the pilgrimage path for nothing?”
His tone carried proud self-assurance.
Lapis, clearly displeased, tossed in a remark.
“And yet you still got subdued by me.”
“Differences in talent can’t be helped.”
Felix answered in an even voice.
“Rather than despair over that, I intend to work one more day.”
His mindset was healthier than expected.
Not just healthy—impressive enough to earn genuine admiration.
How did someone like this ever break?
Evan was dying of curiosity.
Did it have something to do with that Elim person?
“The other items…… all things you can find in the desert, huh?”
A giant cactus root, a sand golem’s heart, sandworm fangs.
Every one of them useful.
They would fetch high prices in the Empire, and in Demicia as well.
“I’ve been staying here a while.”
“When did you arrive?”
“About a week ago, I think.”
“So, since leaving the Empire?”
“That’s right.”
This time Aegis looked dumbfounded.
Evan understood.
Just how directionally challenged was this man?
Even if they all ran together, one wrong turn on a curve and he would vanish without a trace.
His sense of direction defied imagination.
“Still, his combat ability seems decent…… Evan. What do you want to do?”
Aegis’s question.
Evan thought for a moment.
Combat power wasn’t lacking.
The miniaturized Unit 3.
With that alone he could probably beat Felix.
But—
If I want to stay low-key, a person is better than a golem.
The Knight Kingdom of Demicia.
A nation that worshipped strength.
Whether you were human or not mattered a great deal.
Artificial life-forms like golems would face discrimination.
Originally he had planned to hire someone with money once they arrived.
That would have been cleanest.
But if he could hire Felix for free right now?
Not a bad deal.
He’s not the type to betray anyone either.
Any player knew that.
Felix was not the sort to stab you in the back.
Helping him reach the end of his pilgrimage—
that was the Act 1 quest.
Evan was doing this because of that trust.
Absolutely not because it was free.
“……Very well.”
Evan spoke while looking out of the carriage.
“We’ll travel together, even if only for a short while.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“In return, I’d like you to help me a little once we reach the Demicia Kingdom.”
“I’ll help however I can. First, allow me to thank you for sparing my life.”
Truly the ultimate positive thinker.
Evan gave Lapis a look.
She silently released the threads and opened the carriage door.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Felix stepped in, brushing sand from his clothes.
Up close he was quite tall.
“Even if only for a short time, I look forward to working with you. Ivan.”
“It’s Evan.”
“Ah. Forgive me. I never learned properly.”
“It’s fine.”
Some people had outright called him “Johan,” a completely different name.
This was mild by comparison.
“May I ask one thing?”
Please don’t get found out!
Why was he acting like this?
As if he himself were somehow involved in the whole affair.
In a small eastern territory—so tiny the baron only held the rights and never actually governed it—a single orphanage had been built.
An orphanage raised under the name of House Alcarte.
No one knew why it had been established, but the name alone was enough to make even the baron bow and scrape in terror.
The one managing that orphanage was, astonishingly, a child who looked barely twelve.
“Hmm…….”
Frey let out a satisfied hum.
The orphanage had been built far larger than necessary.
Whether the extra space was for children to play or for some other purpose, even a small annex had been included.
All by the duke’s order.
Frey had happily decorated the place.
At the front stood a raised platform for a cult leader—or a pastor—and before it rows of seats for the future congregation.
The interior had been arranged exactly like a cathedral.
There was still no statue, and no worshippers yet, but it was more than enough to satisfy her.
Especially the black cloak embroidered with a magnificent golden eye.
She had paid a considerable sum for it, and the way it evoked Evan’s hair and that golden color pleased her greatly.
She almost wanted to dye her own blue hair to match.
This should be enough to make Evan happy.
It had to make him happy.
Only then could the will he sought to achieve be fulfilled.
Frey sat quietly with her eyes closed.
A bird fluttered down.
A bird of ill omen that should have died from a broken leg, yet had been saved by Frey.
It suited her perfectly.
After all, she could bring about disasters far greater than any mere bird of ill omen.
Frey took the imperial newspaper the bird offered and twisted the corner of her mouth.
“……Lately the rumors have been spreading.”
Glory.
An organization created solely for Evan’s glory.
Frey had begun operating it in secret, yet for some reason—or simply bad luck—it had immediately drawn attention.
Even though she had only cleared out drug fields and heretics that might have interfered with Evan’s work.
“There’s no need to go quiet just yet.”
Being discovered didn’t matter.
At least no one would ever learn that Frey stood behind it.
She examined the report of Evan’s movements.
“The Demicia Kingdom…….”
Conveniently, she had just obtained a piece of information as well.
Remaining heretic remnants.
Several groups had slipped into the Demicia Kingdom.
Would Evan not know?
Of course he would.
“Heh heh.”
He had clearly gone there with that very goal in mind.
Or perhaps…… had he gone because of her?
Ah.
How merciful a god he was.
Creak—
Just then the cathedral doors opened.
Ragged children, clearly starving.
“Welcome.”
Frey greeted them with a kindly expression befitting the Sin of Pride.
“Um…… the grown-ups said if we come here…… they’ll give us bread…… and, and I don’t have a mom or dad either……!”
“That’s right. Come this way, please.”
An orphanage.
She couldn’t leave it empty until Evan sent the Sins.
This was an opportunity.
Blades for Evan, and future believers.
A chance to raise them.
She would have to be extremely careful and secretive so they wouldn’t be branded heretics.
“There is one condition, however.”
“A condition……?”
“Yes. You simply repeat after me. Then you may eat warm soup and bread with me.”
“I-I’ll do it!”