Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 25
The interior of the abandoned mine was dark.
It couldn't be helped since no one was maintaining it anymore.
And it was late at night besides. Tripping over something in the twisting tunnels was inevitable.
...Which meant Asher needed to get used to Lubena shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"Kyaaah!!!"
"Hyaaah!!!"
"Mooom!!!"
"......"
"......"
Asher's suspicions had finally turned into certainty.
Indeed, Lubena Pradeirithis woman everyone called a tyrantwas actually a hopeless scaredy-cat.
That tendency was especially pronounced in the current pitch-black situation.
She'd scream every time her foot caught on a rock, or jump and cling to him at the sound of dripping water.
Now, her stamina apparently spent, she was sobbing pitifully while clutching his waist tightly from behind.
There was no trace left of her earlier attempt to act tough and fearless.
Asher was frozen too, feeling her chest pressing against his back.
His head was spinning. It was a relief this was a dark tunnel.
But realizing even he needed to keep his wits about him, he groped for words.
"L-Lubena. Enough now..."
"Nooo... Don't leave me...!"
Lubena's voice was trembling.
Just then, Versia spoke up.
"Saintess Lubena, why don't you stay with Sir Hyzenberg instead? It'd be easier for you if he carried you."
Her voice dripped with obvious irritation.
Asher felt a pang of alarm.
Come to think of it, these saintesses already didn't like each other much.
And Versia, in particular, wasn't the type to be generous with others.
If she kept talking like that, suggesting they leave Lubena behind, it might wear her down even more.
That was the moment.
"Saintess, if the darkness is the issue, may I step in?"
"I don't knooow...!!!"
Satern spoke, and Lubena replied like that.
Satern seemed to take it as assent.
Right after, something bizarre happened.
Saaah
"Huh?"
"Is this light enough to see ahead?"
Light appeared.
To be precise, Satern Hyzenberg's scalp was emitting a hazy glow.
Asher gaped blankly at the grotesque sight.
Lubena froze too, staring at Satern's scalp with a dumbstruck look.
A person's head glowing like a lightbulb...
Even Asher, who knew about Satern's ability, found this application utterly outlandish.
In the midst of it, Lubena muttered in a dazed voice.
"Y-You..."
"Yes, Saintess."
"You knew how to do that and just... stood there all this time...?"
"......"
Satern shut his mouth.
His face was so expressionless that it was nearly impossible to read his emotions.
Moments later, he spoke.
"...You said not to make my scalp glow because it's blinding normally."
The words could be taken as steadfast or resentful, depending on how you heard them.
Lubena's expression shifted by the second.
First blankness, then exasperation, and gradually furrowing her brow with veins bulging on her foreheadrage.
"You crazy bastard!!!"
Looking nothing like her sniveling self from moments ago, Lubena shrieked and kicked at Satern with renewed ferocity.
Of course, his sturdy frame was unscathed by her delicate one.
"Ouch!"
"Are you alright, Saintess?"
"Ouch! Aaaah!!!"
Lubena clutched her ankle and screamed.
Asher let out a hollow chuckle as he watched the farce unfold.
Meanwhile, Versia sidled up and slyly slipped into Asher's arms before whispering.
"Now we can move like this."
"Pardon?"
"I was scared too, but she kept me from being with you, Knight."
Asher shot Versia a side-eye.
Her face showed not a hint of fear.
She looked like she was spouting nonsense, which made Versia giggle.
"Kidding. I just didn't like her clinging to you."
"Haha... You two really don't get along."
"It's not necessarily that."
Versia's expression turned meaningful.
Asher narrowed his eyes.
"...Don't get any weird ideas."
"I wasn't thinking anything."
As if. She definitely would've said something silly if they were alone.
As their staring contest intensified...
"...Here they go again."
Lubena's mutter reached them.
Turning, Asher saw herno longer hobblinglooking at him and Versia with exasperation.
Asher flinched belatedly.
Fortunately, she hadn't overheard their conversation.
"...It's not like that."
He added the line to clear up the misunderstanding, but who knows.
How his sulky expression came across was beyond him.
* * *
There had been a brief hiccup, but all in all, things had worked out fine.
Asher and the group pressed deeper into the tunnels.
Luckily, they hadn't lost their way yet.
Following the map, they reached the depths and soon arrived at the edge of the area marked on it.
"This is where the disappearances started, from what I heard."
Asher eyed the three branching paths ahead.
It matched the map. As Deron had said, these were remnants from long ago, when they'd dug without proper partitioning.
"They say it's so convoluted that mapping it is pointless. Unless you have the experience of that first missing miner team, no one goes near it."
"It's understandable why they'd avoid it."
"Smells suspicious, doesn't it."
But there was no trace of the sticky, unpleasant mana signature unique to heretics.
Puzzled by that, Asher furrowed his brow.
Was he the only one not sensing it? Glancing around, the others seemed the same.
Versia shrugged.
"Nothing stands out to me."
"M-Me too... Ahem."
Lubena added from behind.
Was it really not heretics, but ghosts or something? As that thought crossed his mind...
"They might be hiding it."
Satern said.
"Heretics are secretive. Long before they formed large groups like this, they'd mastered various spells to conceal their auras. I remember the Corrupted Entity attack in Kutan."
"Ah, when twenty Corrupted Entities appeared at once..."
"Yes, I was on the extermination squad then, so it comes to mind."
That was true enough.
He'd never experienced it himself, but he'd heard about such spells.
Satern fell silent for a moment, then added,
"Sir Terbion wouldn't know. He's specialized for sweeping the front lines in battle, not special missions."
Asher felt an odd mix of embarrassment and gratitude.
He'd probably added that to spare his feelings.
What a cool senior.
It would've been even more touching if not for that glowing scalp quirk.
...Anyway, they needed to go deeper.
Of the three paths, the leftmost one was their destination.
Versia said,
"Left-hand rule, huh."
"Easier to sweep the outer edges first."
"I'll mark the path with divine power. Let's go."
She was mindful that Asher couldn't use divine power freely.
They set off again, the path growing narrower and rougher.
As remnants of haphazard early mining, the terrain felt unstable everywhere.
Is this really the way?
Doubts crept in now and then, but soon Asher spotted something that banished them instantly.
"...Blood."
"W-What? Something's really here?"
"Yes, and it's fresh."
While feeling along the wall, he'd spotted congealed blood caught between rocks.
It wasn't the blackened stuff from ages ago.
If it were, he might not have even recognized it as blood.
"Sir Hyzenberg."
"Yes."
Satern pressed his scalp to the wall.
The traces glowed brighter.
Asher's voice hardened.
"They were dragged away. Probably clawed at the wall struggling."
The wall showed blood split into five streaks in a straight line.
Fingernails torn off, leaving those marks.
Definite proof.
Something with a physical form was inside, and high odds it was heretics.
That added a new wrinkle to their investigation.
"There might still be living missing people."
The disappearances had been steady.
Recent ones too, relatively speaking.
If heretics were behind it, they'd surely kept some alive for their purposes.
No time to hesitate.
"Can't go back for reinforcements now."
They had to save as many as possible.
As a cleric of the Church, and as the Parent God's sword, he couldn't let this slide.
Asher checked on the group.
Satern looked resolute as ever, Versia troubled, Lubena pale.
They all seemed aware they had to proceed.
"...We'll move more stealthily. Figuring out what's inside comes first."
Versia said.
Asher nodded, and Satern's light faded.
They crept along the wall, holding their breath.
Lubena was a concern, but her terror seemed to have peaked; now she clung to Satern without a peep.
How far did they delve?
How many turns did they take?
Even distinguishing became hazy.
At some point, they finally arrived.
"...Who are you?"
A cracked, raspy voice, barely recognizable as humanexhausted mumbling.
The missing people.
They'd found them deep in the tunnels.