76
My Villains Chapter 76
20. City of Chaos (5)
Ellen and I' next destination was the church. This was for Ellen's treatment and to report about the necromancer Luke.
We headed toward the Salt Castle, passing through the market cluttered with vendor tents and stalls. The church was attached to the back of the Salt Castle.
As we saw earlier, the Salt Castle was half-destroyed.
Two of the four corner towers had collapsed, and the entire building looked slightly tilted.
This isn't the Leaning Tower of Pisa - the lord's family is trapped in such a dangerous-looking place? Prince Ulkar must be quite ruthless.
As I was thinking this, the lord's workshop came into view.
The lord's workshop originally consisted of three buildings surrounding a large courtyard. But now, whether due to the earthquake, one building had completely collapsed, and another was half-tilted with scattered roof tiles.
"Ah, right."
I had placed an order at the workshop. Even paid two gold coins in advance.
I asked Ellen's permission and headed to the workshop.
Despite the tragedy that befell the workshop, the craftsmen appeared busy inside and outside the buildings, sharpening dull blade edges and straightening dented helmets.
Ilton, the apprentice in charge of receiving customers, was also limping while rolling a wooden barrel filled with sand.
"Ilton!"
"Oh, Sir Phoenix?"
The young-faced apprentice's eyes widened when he saw me.
After exchanging stories about how he thought I had died since he hadn't seen me for days, and how the earthquake had caused unprecedented chaos, I got to the main point.
"Can I get the items I ordered?"
"Ah, about that.... Just a moment please."
Ilton disappeared into the relatively intact building, dragging his injured leg. About five minutes passed before he reappeared, struggling with a heavy armor on his shoulders.
"Is this it?"
"Yes. It's quite heavy but... Should be fine for you, Sir Phoenix."
I immediately tried on the armor with Ilton's help.
The newly ordered armor was a combination of 'Gambeson', 'Hauberk', and 'Coat of Plates' layered together.
To explain in detail.......
Think of it as wearing a quilted armor filled with multiple layers of linen, covered by a long chainmail reaching down to the thighs, and then a coat reinforced with steel plates.
"Oh, this is quite heavy indeed."
It was naturally much heavier than my previous armor, but it felt correspondingly more reliable.
All the armors I had worn until now were plate armors imitating relics from the ancient empire era. The iron quality wasn't particularly good, so they often got dented or torn.
In contrast, the armor I bought this time was of much better quality.
The steel plates fixed with rivets were forged and tempered steel, and the hooded chain mail was tightly woven with large and small rings leaving no gaps.
Inside the quilted armor, there was a wide belt reminiscent of a waist band, with ring mechanisms that distributed the shoulder weight to the waist.
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, completely. I love it."
The finish, color, and material clearly showed it was carefully crafted armor. I pulled out my money pouch from the belt I had taken off to try on the armor.
"How much do I owe?"
"Four gold coins, excluding the advance payment."
"Four gold coins?"
Oh, I'm short on money.
I glanced at Ellen and asked.
"Hey Ellen, can I use public funds for buying armor?"
"Go ahead."
"...What, so readily?" When I showed a surprised expression, she gave a small snort.
"A guard needs to be well-protected for the mage to be safe too. Did you think I'd complain about something like that?"
"Wow, it seems like just yesterday you were foaming at the mouth when I tried to buy gloves with public funds..."
"...What did you say?"
"Ah, nothing."
As I was taking out gold coins from the public funds pouch, I suddenly became curious and asked Ilton.
"But is this all? What about the helmet and shield? I ordered quite a few things."
"Ah, about that..."
Ilton bit his lower lip hard and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Sir Phoenix. We couldn't protect the items."
"What?"
Hearing the situation, apparently the prince who imprisoned the lord had raided the workshop a few days ago. They took all the equipment to arm the conscripted militia.
In the process, all the items I had ordered were also requisitioned. They said they secretly hid the armor because they couldn't bear to waste the effort put into it.
"What about the shield? That's not something civilians would use."
In response to my question, Ilton pointed to the ruins of the collapsed building.
"It's buried there. It was a drying room and storage, but it collapsed in the blink of an eye, killing several craftsmen... We couldn't salvage the items."
"Oh..." I clicked my tongue softly and nodded.
"Well, can't be helped then. Just give me whatever's left."
"We don't have any good items left, would that be okay?"
"I'm grateful you protected the armor, asking for more would be greedy. Ah, give me a scabbard too."
Ilton walked around the workshop and brought me a dented helmet, worn-out boots, and an old round shield. I gave up on the gloves and greaves since there were none left.
Still, when I changed into the boots with holes and put on the helmet with a nose guard over the chain hood, I felt a sense of security I hadn't had before. It was exactly the security I had desperately wanted while walking around exposed.
When I handed over four gold coins and two silver coins, Ilton took only the gold coins and returned the silver.
"Except for the armor, everything else is practically scrap, so just take them."
"Is that okay?"
"Yes. You've been conscripted too, right Sir Phoenix? Go and wipe out those thieves for us."
For a moment, a murderous glint flickered in the young apprentice's eyes.
"...Right."
I gave a bitter smile and patted his shoulder. Then suddenly remembering something, I pointed to Ellen and asked, "Ah, do you have any armor that would fit her?"
"Lady Ellen?"
When Ilton's gaze turned toward her, Ellen frowned and said, "You're not seriously suggesting I wear armor?"
"Yeah. Even if not full armor, I'd like to have at least some vital spots protected."
Ellen shook her head and spoke in a firm tone.
"I absolutely won't wear it. How can I cast magic while wearing heavy, cumbersome pieces of metal?"
"Oh really?"
I turned to look at Ilton and shrugged my shoulders.
"Isn't there armor that's light and not cumbersome? Like leather or cloth?"
"Well... I'm not sure if we have anything that would fit Lady Ellen... We do have some training armor that the servants use,"
"I don't want anything that smells of sweat!"
"Ah... What should we do?"
"Don't worry about it, just show me."
Despite some fussing, we eventually bought a set of armor for Ellen.
It was a dark leather vest, essentially closer to durable everyday clothing.
It was the kind of thing you'd use for hunting, but since Ellen would throw a fit if anything was even slightly heavy, there weren't many options.
For reference, the vest cost one gold coin. It was supposedly made from the hide of 'Tenebr Tarandus', a rare monster from the north.
First the crossbow, and now this.... I suspect Ellen might be deliberately choosing expensive and luxurious items.
As for the remaining money, let's see, the public funds are four gold coins and two silver coins, and personal money is three gold coins and five copper coins.
Our purse has gotten quite thin. Meanwhile, Ellen lost her money pouch and doesn't have a single coin to her name.
If we don't have enough for the church healing fees... Ah well, we can always sell the jewelry box then.
"Wait, wait a minute. How much did you say?"
"One thousand gold coins, I said."
At the impatient middle-aged priest's words, Ellen and I gaped in shock.
"What? A thousand gold coins just for one healing session?"
"Just for healing, you say? This is a recovery prayer performed by the Bishop himself. It's truly worth a thousand gold."
"Even so..."
I muttered in disbelief, but the priest just kept his stern expression and remained silent.
After visiting the workshop, Ellen and I headed straight to the church.
South Harbor's church had high ceilings with long corridors intersecting in a cross shape.
The interior, with its whitewashed walls and pillars, was impressive and filled with groaning injured patients and busy clergy moving about.
Normally we would have had to wait a long time, but using the prince's orders as an excuse, we were able to meet with a priest right away.
After we offered four silver coins, the priest immediately performed prayers of purification and healing. The experience of white light flashing and the body feeling refreshed made even the mind feel more devout.
The problem came afterward. Despite the priest's repeated healing prayers, Ellen's condition didn't improve.
The priest tilted his head and called over an elderly nun wearing a white armband. The nun kneaded various parts of Ellen's body several times, then diagnosed: "The meridian in her waist is severed. This isn't a simple wound, but a kind of disability."
The priest clicked his tongue and said that curing disabilities was only possible for clergy of Bishop rank or higher.
Of course, I understand that curing disabilities is almost miraculous, but...
"How can it be a thousand gold coins just for one prayer from the Bishop? That doesn't make sense. Other priests do it for two silver coins..."
"That's because the church reduced prices due to the dangerous situation in the city. As for the Bishop, it's according to church law, so nothing can be done."
"Church law?"
According to the priest's explanation, clergy of Bishop rank or higher were very rare even in all of Middle World. Being rare, their powers were also mighty - high-ranking clergy were truly miracle workers.
Of course, these miracles couldn't be performed frivolously. Therefore, high-ranking clergy always had to reserve their divine power for important matters of the kingdom or church.
Without orders from the king or archbishop (seems like a pope-like figure), they couldn't even perform simple healing prayers.
There was an exception to this strict law - they could specially bestow mercy when someone truly 'desperately' needed God's help.
And the evidence required to prove this 'desperation' was precisely a thousand - no, one thousand gold coins.
...What the hell, what kind of bullshit law is this?
I was cursing inside, but I couldn't dare make a scene in church. And we couldn't leave Ellen's legs as they were...
With trembling hands, I took out the jewelry box from my chest.
"I don't have a thousand gold coins right now, but would this suffice instead?"
"Hmm? What's that?"
Instead of answering, I opened the ivory lid, and the priest's eyes grew wide.
Perhaps due to the yellow lamplight, the priest's pupils were tinged with a deep green. The color of greed, unbecoming of a clergy member.
"T-This is... Remarkable."
"These are ancient ornaments."
"Indeed."
The priest, who had unconsciously reached out to receive the box, examined the ornaments for a moment. Then he sent a worker to summon someone.
How many minutes passed? An elderly man appeared carrying a leather bag.
"You called for me, Father?"
"Come look at this."
At the priest's words, the man took out a magnifying glass, glass lamp, and metal rod from his leather bag. Then he took out a ruby-studded pendant from the jewelry box and held up the magnifying glass to it.
This guy, could he be a jewelry appraiser?
Even as I wondered, the appraiser was carefully examining the ornaments.
He looked through the magnifying glass, changed colored glass in the lamp to examine under different lights, and lightly scratched the surface with the metal rod. Even to an outsider like me, these seemed like expert techniques.
...Really now. Is this a church or a pawnshop?