Chapter 591: Boss Run (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 591: Boss Run (4)
As soon as we crossed the portal, Sven Parav asked, "So...why me?"
It was a pretty odd question. Not the content of the question, but the timing of it.
"Why are you asking me that after you've already crossed the portal?"
"...I thought that maybe it would be a difficult question for you to answer in front of everyone else."
Hmm, so that really was the reason. The more I saw him, the more I realized he had a bit of a sensitive side, and he seemed quite loyal as well.
"Anyway, why me?" he repeated. "If you needed a paladin, there were other people as well..."
I gave him my honest answer. "I didn't pick you because you're a paladin."
"...Pardon?"
"I picked you because you're you."
Parav's eyes went wide.
I expected as much. It wasn't any ordinary statement. It was a powerful and moving reason, something that resonated with the heart whenever it was said—
That should've been the case, at least. But for some reason, Parav went pale and took a few steps back as if he was distancing himself from something.
"...What is it?"
As I made my confusion known and took a step towards him, he took an equal step back before covering his upper body with his arms.
Seeing the look of alertness in his eyes, I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh. I could guess what this fool was thinking. I mean, I had experienced something similar not long ago.
"Don't misunderstand," I warned. "Before I break your head in."
"Then...are you saying the rumor isn't true?"
"Rumor?"
"That...you like men—"
"Stop," I cut him off. And then, I said the same thing I said before to exonerate myself. "I love women. I love women a lot."
"...I-is that so?" My sincerity seemed to have reached him as the alertness in his eyes faded a little, but he seemed to have one last question. "Then what did you mean by what you said just then...?"
Not because he was a paladin, but because he was Sven Parav.
The meaning of these words was simple: it was just as it sounded. What I needed to defeat the Guardian wasn't a paladin, but this guy.
I think it went well.
I could consider my plan half-successful already because this guy stepped through the portal without any resistance.
"Did you sense anything as you walked into this place? Anything that made you uneasy or uncomfortable?"
He denied it, then seemed to realize what my intentions were. "Ah, was it because of that...?"
I just shrugged once and didn't give him any verbal confirmation.
With that, that topic was taken care of.
We went on to talk about how to deal with the boss, and although this was practically cheating, since he was someone who had played this game before coming here, he was well-informed of the initial states of the boss fight. He was also quick on the uptake of everything I told him as well.
"So...how do you know all this, Lord Baron?"
He was curious about my level of knowledge as well, but it wasn't difficult for me to procure a decent excuse. I mean, I wasn't any ordinary barbarian.
"When you become a noble, you gain access to information most normal people can't access."
"The other nobles didn't seem like they knew either..."
"They aren't adventurers. They don't even care about the labyrinth unless it can make them money."
"Ah...that is true." Parav willingly accepted my reasoning and left his questioning there.
After we finished going over the official plan, I thought about getting to the fight immediately, but I ended up deciding to take some more time talking to him. Thinking about it, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to talk privately with him like this.
I began with an easy topic.
"Sven Parav, how is your life in the temple?"
"It's honestly not that bad. After I put in the request to leave the clergy, I was shunned a little...but honestly, this might be easier for me."
Leaving the clergy meant that he would stop his life in the temple and return to being an ordinary citizen. After the ceremony was over, the person no longer had any obligation to obey the words of the temple.
"So what's the specific process for leaving the clergy?" As a person distanced from faith, I was a bit curious about this. I did hear that he wouldn't need to cut off his pinky finger to leave, but I didn't think the Three Gods Church would let go of a paladin they had nurtured too easily.
"It's nothing much. I just need to let go of the blessing I received from the goddess and everything I received from the temple."
"Everything you received from the temple?"
"Haha, it means I won't have even a single thing in my pockets. Everything I have right now was obtained while I was a part of the temple. Ah, and I'll need to start paying taxes starting from next year."
To put it simply, he could leave after giving up everything he had. In a sense, this could seem much worse than just having his pinky cut off.
"But I'm not afraid," he added. "Ms. Gowland promised she would support me for the... Wait, Lord Baron, did you not know about this?"
Parav suddenly looked to go into a panic in the middle of talking. I just smirked and tapped him on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I will take responsibility for you until the end."
"Phew...that nearly surprised me."
"But you're pretty calm about all this. Doesn't it mean you won't be able to grow after you leave the clergy?"
Paladins were different from ordinary adventurers. Like priests and wizards, they couldn't eat essences. However, they could obtain new authority by accruing Contribution. Oh, and there were many ways to obtain Contribution. They could hunt monsters in the labyrinth, pay with cash, or complete missions given by the church. After accruing Contributions in those ways, the Grand Archbishop would periodically come by and pray for them, and they would gain a skill after taking a night's sleep. It was why the authority of the Grand Archbishop was so powerful as well.
"Well...it's not like I can help it, right? If I stay there, I'll end up dead at some point. And it's not like the goddess never gives new authorities after I leave, so I'm hoping."
"You'll need to kill more monsters."
"I feel that if I continue to stay with you, I'll naturally hunt more monsters..."
He seemed like a light and easy character usually, but talking with him now, I could tell that he was also doing his best to live a diligent life. Perhaps because of that, I became curious about something new.
"When you become a noble, you gain access to information most normal people can't access."
"The other nobles didn't seem like they knew either..."
"They aren't adventurers. They don't even care about the labyrinth unless it can make them money."
"Ah...that is true." Parav willingly accepted my reasoning and left his questioning there.
After we finished going over the official plan, I thought about getting to the fight immediately, but I ended up deciding to take some more time talking to him. Thinking about it, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to talk privately with him like this.
I began with an easy topic.
"Sven Parav, how is your life in the temple?"
"It's honestly not that bad. After I put in the request to leave the clergy, I was shunned a little...but honestly, this might be easier for me."
Leaving the clergy meant that he would stop his life in the temple and return to being an ordinary citizen. After the ceremony was over, the person no longer had any obligation to obey the words of the temple.
"So what's the specific process for leaving the clergy?" As a person distanced from faith, I was a bit curious about this. I did hear that he wouldn't need to cut off his pinky finger to leave, but I didn't think the Three Gods Church would let go of a paladin they had nurtured too easily.
"It's nothing much. I just need to let go of the blessing I received from the goddess and everything I received from the temple."
"Everything you received from the temple?"
"Haha, it means I won't have even a single thing in my pockets. Everything I have right now was obtained while I was a part of the temple. Ah, and I'll need to start paying taxes starting from next year."
To put it simply, he could leave after giving up everything he had. In a sense, this could seem much worse than just having his pinky cut off.
"But I'm not afraid," he added. "Ms. Gowland promised she would support me for the... Wait, Lord Baron, did you not know about this?"
Parav suddenly looked to go into a panic in the middle of talking. I just smirked and tapped him on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I will take responsibility for you until the end."
"Phew...that nearly surprised me."
"But you're pretty calm about all this. Doesn't it mean you won't be able to grow after you leave the clergy?"
Paladins were different from ordinary adventurers. Like priests and wizards, they couldn't eat essences. However, they could obtain new authority by accruing Contribution. Oh, and there were many ways to obtain Contribution. They could hunt monsters in the labyrinth, pay with cash, or complete missions given by the church. After accruing Contributions in those ways, the Grand Archbishop would periodically come by and pray for them, and they would gain a skill after taking a night's sleep. It was why the authority of the Grand Archbishop was so powerful as well.
"Well...it's not like I can help it, right? If I stay there, I'll end up dead at some point. And it's not like the goddess never gives new authorities after I leave, so I'm hoping."
"You'll need to kill more monsters."
"I feel that if I continue to stay with you, I'll naturally hunt more monsters..."
He seemed like a light and easy character usually, but talking with him now, I could tell that he was also doing his best to live a diligent life. Perhaps because of that, I became curious about something new.
If this guy could return, would he?
He had joined the quiz when Auril Gavis had put the escape ticket as the grand prize, but he had dropped out of it not long into it. Also, after the Ice Rock Expedition, he had openly displayed his anger and said that he would seek vengeance with us.
But...how can I ask him that?
After taking a moment to think, I carefully asked him a roundabout question.
"Sven Parav, I want to ask you something."
"Please, Lord Baron."
"Are you...seeing anyone right now?"
"Pardon?"
He looked surprised as if he heard the question wrong, but it was a pretty serious question from me. Depending on how he answered this question, I could tell how he viewed this world.
"I'm asking if you are in a relationship with a woman right now."
"I, um... I don't..."
"Hmm, is that so...?" Then I could only ask a different question.
As I thought that and was about to ask him...
"B-but!" he quickly continued. "I have a person... No, I have a woman in my heart!"
For some reason, he stepped a few more paces away from me.
Who was the woman who was holding Sven Parav's heart?
I peppered him with questions about it, but he only lowered his head and didn't answer. It confirmed to me that he truly did hold someone in his heart.
"I-it really isn't Ms. Gowland. She's something more of, uh, a t-teacher..."
"Meaning, you like someone naive and weak?"
"I-I don't mean that!"
"I know. I'm joking."
This guy was really fun to mess with.
I gave him a tap on the back before getting up. Maybe it was because we'd just shared a personal conversation, but I felt we'd gotten a level closer and I could understand what kind of person he was a little better.
"Then since we've talked quite a bit, let's get going."
"Yes."
With that, I walked out of the starting point and through the corridor with him.
Creak!
Without us having to do anything, the door to the boss room opened as soon as we neared it. After we entered, the door immediately shut behind us with a harsh sound.
Fwoosh!
It was dark inside, but thanks to me going candle-barbarian mode, we were able to see without much problem.
Left, right, forward—these three paths were revealed to us, but the Guardian of the Rift was nowhere to be seen, as expected. The Guardian we were trying to hunt this time was more special than any other creature.
Step, step.
The maze we were walking through—this entire maze was the boss we needed to fight. More specifically, it could be considered the first phase of the boss.
[Soul Keeper Hauciel has cast Defense System.]
The moment we began to move in, the smooth wall that showed no imperfections suddenly opened up as a mana cannon appeared.
Boom! Boom!
It didn't hurt me that much, but the damage was enough that it could kill those glass-body wizards in one shot. It was another reason I took Sven Parav here with me. Paladins could act as sub-tanks, and they were capable of healing themselves as well.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Ah...yes. I was just a little surprised. I'm fine."
Well, that seemed true enough. If he could get hurt from something like that, I wouldn't have brought him here in the first place.
"Then let's keep moving."
After that, mana cannons, monsters from picture frames, and other such attacks continued to appear periodically, and after wandering through the maze for a bit, the space we designated as our destination appeared.
A square stone room, and at the center of it, a mana stone the size of a watermelon. Destroying that would end phase one.
Crunch!
The moment I swung down on it with my hammer, an odd howling reminiscent of a banshee's echoed throughout the entire space as the world was dyed pitch-black.
When I opened my eyes, the space around us had changed. We were in a hallway of an old-school mansion. However, the hallway seemed to mirror itself and seemed to stretch out forever as if we were in a dream.
"You said that we needed to go through the rooms and look for the second mana stone," Parav mused.
"To be precise, it's not 'we'. You need to do it."
"Ah...yes..."
Afterward, we moved together to search each room one by one. Honestly, it was embarrassing to call this a search. But in any case...
"Well...I don't feel any particular danger."
After opening the closed door, we would walk in, and Parav would then walk up to the closed box in the center of the room and open it.
Bang!
Everything else was left to luck. The activated trap would poison him, summon monsters to fight us for a while, or even give him an annoying curse.
"That one... I don't think we should open it."
If he felt even just a little off, we marked the room before leaving it. If we couldn't find the mana stone in the end, we could come back to those and open them one by one.
This is definitely taking a while since I'm making him open them by himself.
If I searched the rooms with him, we could cut down the time needed by quite a bit, but it couldn't be helped.
[Soul Keeper Hauciel's Defense System becomes stronger.]
Even if this guy was a boss who got stronger with time.
...We could both die, so how can I risk opening one?
There was a trap here that should not even exist. The probability of it was one in ten thousand. No, it was closer to an event that would happen once in a hundred thousand boxes.
I'm not going to even touch one.
Luck.
When in front of misfortune, talking numbers were meaningless. I knew that better than anyone else.
I mean, there is an event that would be positive for us as well.
There was only one of either of these events, and the probability for either of them was pretty similar. That was why when I was playing this game, I believed that the creator of the game had sprinkled both of these in on purpose so that players couldn't just recklessly open all the chests.
To make them rely only and purely on luck.
Anyway, I realistically shouldn't even be expecting the golden box—
"Um...Lord Baron...?"
When Parav called to me with a slightly stunned voice, I turned to look at him before freezing.
"...Huh?"
The box opened wide like a dead mimic.
Shine!
And from within it, bright light flowed out from it.
If this guy could return, would he?
He had joined the quiz when Auril Gavis had put the escape ticket as the grand prize, but he had dropped out of it not long into it. Also, after the Ice Rock Expedition, he had openly displayed his anger and said that he would seek vengeance with us.
But...how can I ask him that?
After taking a moment to think, I carefully asked him a roundabout question.
"Sven Parav, I want to ask you something."
"Please, Lord Baron."
"Are you...seeing anyone right now?"
"Pardon?"
He looked surprised as if he heard the question wrong, but it was a pretty serious question from me. Depending on how he answered this question, I could tell how he viewed this world.
"I'm asking if you are in a relationship with a woman right now."
"I, um... I don't..."
"Hmm, is that so...?" Then I could only ask a different question.
As I thought that and was about to ask him...
"B-but!" he quickly continued. "I have a person... No, I have a woman in my heart!"
For some reason, he stepped a few more paces away from me.
Who was the woman who was holding Sven Parav's heart?
I peppered him with questions about it, but he only lowered his head and didn't answer. It confirmed to me that he truly did hold someone in his heart.
"I-it really isn't Ms. Gowland. She's something more of, uh, a t-teacher..."
"Meaning, you like someone naive and weak?"
"I-I don't mean that!"
"I know. I'm joking."
This guy was really fun to mess with.
I gave him a tap on the back before getting up. Maybe it was because we'd just shared a personal conversation, but I felt we'd gotten a level closer and I could understand what kind of person he was a little better.
"Then since we've talked quite a bit, let's get going."
"Yes."
With that, I walked out of the starting point and through the corridor with him.
Creak!
Without us having to do anything, the door to the boss room opened as soon as we neared it. After we entered, the door immediately shut behind us with a harsh sound.
Fwoosh!
It was dark inside, but thanks to me going candle-barbarian mode, we were able to see without much problem.
Left, right, forward—these three paths were revealed to us, but the Guardian of the Rift was nowhere to be seen, as expected. The Guardian we were trying to hunt this time was more special than any other creature.
Step, step.
The maze we were walking through—this entire maze was the boss we needed to fight. More specifically, it could be considered the first phase of the boss.
[Soul Keeper Hauciel has cast Defense System.]
The moment we began to move in, the smooth wall that showed no imperfections suddenly opened up as a mana cannon appeared.
Boom! Boom!
It didn't hurt me that much, but the damage was enough that it could kill those glass-body wizards in one shot. It was another reason I took Sven Parav here with me. Paladins could act as sub-tanks, and they were capable of healing themselves as well.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Ah...yes. I was just a little surprised. I'm fine."
Well, that seemed true enough. If he could get hurt from something like that, I wouldn't have brought him here in the first place.
"Then let's keep moving."
After that, mana cannons, monsters from picture frames, and other such attacks continued to appear periodically, and after wandering through the maze for a bit, the space we designated as our destination appeared.
A square stone room, and at the center of it, a mana stone the size of a watermelon. Destroying that would end phase one.
Crunch!
The moment I swung down on it with my hammer, an odd howling reminiscent of a banshee's echoed throughout the entire space as the world was dyed pitch-black.
When I opened my eyes, the space around us had changed. We were in a hallway of an old-school mansion. However, the hallway seemed to mirror itself and seemed to stretch out forever as if we were in a dream.
"You said that we needed to go through the rooms and look for the second mana stone," Parav mused.
"To be precise, it's not 'we'. You need to do it."
"Ah...yes..."
Afterward, we moved together to search each room one by one. Honestly, it was embarrassing to call this a search. But in any case...
"Well...I don't feel any particular danger."
After opening the closed door, we would walk in, and Parav would then walk up to the closed box in the center of the room and open it.
Bang!
Everything else was left to luck. The activated trap would poison him, summon monsters to fight us for a while, or even give him an annoying curse.
"That one... I don't think we should open it."
If he felt even just a little off, we marked the room before leaving it. If we couldn't find the mana stone in the end, we could come back to those and open them one by one.
This is definitely taking a while since I'm making him open them by himself.
If I searched the rooms with him, we could cut down the time needed by quite a bit, but it couldn't be helped.
[Soul Keeper Hauciel's Defense System becomes stronger.]
Even if this guy was a boss who got stronger with time.
...We could both die, so how can I risk opening one?
There was a trap here that should not even exist. The probability of it was one in ten thousand. No, it was closer to an event that would happen once in a hundred thousand boxes.
I'm not going to even touch one.
Luck.
When in front of misfortune, talking numbers were meaningless. I knew that better than anyone else.
I mean, there is an event that would be positive for us as well.
There was only one of either of these events, and the probability for either of them was pretty similar. That was why when I was playing this game, I believed that the creator of the game had sprinkled both of these in on purpose so that players couldn't just recklessly open all the chests.
To make them rely only and purely on luck.
Anyway, I realistically shouldn't even be expecting the golden box—
"Um...Lord Baron...?"
When Parav called to me with a slightly stunned voice, I turned to look at him before freezing.
"...Huh?"
The box opened wide like a dead mimic.
Shine!
And from within it, bright light flowed out from it.