The Cross of Memories #2
The Cross of Memories #2
"Over here, Mongma-nim—!!"
A familiar high-pitched voice rang through the guild building. Near the entrance, a familiar blonde nun was waving her hand at me.
The shout was so loud it made me—the one being called—feel embarrassed.
Yet the adventurers around me were looking at the noisy nun with warm smiles instead.
"A nun with a loud voice, I see."
"She'd do great at briefings. I'd love to have her in our party."
A bizarre world where a nun causing a commotion gets complimented.
This being the reality of the adventurer industry, it wasn't particularly surprising. Nuns in charge of briefings were generally rated higher the louder their voices were. Of course, that didn't mean I rated this blonde nun highly.
"Calling out to people and making a scene. For a mere tool."
"L-Luke? Sister Kate is a tool?"
"Wendy, please stay out of this for a moment. This is a matter of my pride."
I crooked my finger toward Kate, who was calling me from the entrance. It was a gesture telling her to come over herself if she wanted to talk.
"Wow."
At my finger-wagging, Kate's body began to tremble.
"Damn it, Luke! What are you making a nun do! I couldn't have raised you to be like this!"
"Watch and learn, Wendy. This is the proper way to handle a tool."
*Sniffle.*
Wendy buried her face on the reception desk and sobbed quietly.
She looked exactly like a mother watching her child commit an act of disrespect.
But the moment Wendy lifted her head again, her expression slowly began to change. From sorrow, it started shifting into astonishment.
Because, in time with my crooked finger,
Kate was walking toward me.
"Grk."
Kate stepped forward, grinding her teeth with a face full of humiliation.
Every time Kate moved, the adventurers gathered around parted like the Red Sea.
"A nun... obeying the orders of a mere adventurer?"
Wendy, seated at the reception desk, exclaimed with a stunned look.
Even Wendy, a veteran receptionist of ten years, couldn't hide her bewilderment.
That's how frequently nuns threw their weight around in the adventurer industry, I suppose.
A society ruled by tools.
A place where washed-up dealers form all-dealer parties and venture out into the world.
That was the adventurer industry for you.
"Now I get it! You've completed your very own 'My Little Nun'! The ultimate spec for any adventurer, an MLN!"
"Well, you could say that."
My Little Nun!
Abbreviated as 'MLN'.
A term for nuns who have sworn loyalty to a single dealer.
They're usually born when a dealer's favorability work reaches its peak, and a dealer who completes an MLN has essentially obtained the ultimate spec.
Because a dealer with a nun sworn to his service is aristocracy in his own right.
A dealer who possesses an MLN is superior to an adventurer decked out in high-grade gear.
"This is incredible! What's your secret to winning over a nun?"
"Luck."
It was while I was talking with Wendy.
Behind me, Kate seized my shoulder tightly.
Kate was glaring at me with her back teeth clenched.
"Hey, Mongma-nim. I'm your client. Didn't you hear from the receptionist in charge? That I specifically requested you."
"I heard."
"Then why are you treating me like this? What kind of adventurer makes his client come to him on her own two feet? I'm not a tool right now! I'm the boss!"
"Your reason for requesting me is way too suspicious. Don't tell me you're planning to use a quest as an excuse to vent all that pent-up resentment? Like officially hiring me just to work me to the bone?"
"No—!!"
Kate yelled out loud.
Hearing that loud ringing shout, I was able to relax my guard a little. It wasn't unheard of for adventurers to show up at the Adventurer's Guild in the capacity of a client. They were entrusting quests to resolve personal troubles.
"Though it's not that I have absolutely no intention of working you to the bone."
"Showing your true colors, you wicked tool."
"But I do intend to entrust you with a proper quest! Right now, I'm not moving as an adventurer, but in my capacity as a nun of the Luminous Church. The church issued the quest, and the church is paying the commission. That means it's absolutely not some weird quest like shoveling dirt on bare ground."
You mean she's stepping forward as the person in charge of a quest commissioned by the church?
Recalling Lili, who had been in charge of the Magic Tower's investigation quest, I could understand Kate's words right away. Kate was, before being an adventurer, a nun of the church. She could be moving under orders given by the church side.
"What's in it for you if we clear the quest?"
"A promotion. I can build the practical experience I need to advance to Intermediate Nun. Since I'm lacking in Divine Power, I have to work out in the field."
It was the moment I nodded to show I understood.
"But of course, I don't necessarily have to work with my own two feet!"
"What?"
"I can just hire an adventurer and work them, right? They're people who'll do anything for money. There's no need for me, the client, to move around earnestly."
Before I knew it, Kate was looking at me with a sly grin.
A grin loaded with the grudge from all the insults she'd received from me up until now.
"I'll show you this time. What a nun truly freeloading a quest really means."
"Ha?"
What was this blonde saying?
I hadn't even decided whether to accept the quest yet.
"I'm going to take a stroll right behind you, Mongma-nim. I even brought a book to read while I walk. Make sure you get a good look at the taste of a leisurely stroll with reading on the side."
Was this tool of a woman provoking me right now?
Her tone was shitty, but there was no particular reason for me to get angry. It was natural for a client to freeload a quest. Wasn't that the whole point of paying money to hire adventurers in the first place?
I let out a sigh and opened my mouth.
I decided to chalk it up as my karmic retribution for hassling Kate all the time.
"So what's the job? Start by explaining what kind of quest it is."
"There are too many eyes watching here, so let's move somewhere else first. It's not the kind of thing that's good for rumors to spread."
"Hmm."
Kate pointed to a table in the guild lobby. Normally a table where adventurers sat and chatted idly, but luckily it was empty today. I said goodbye to Wendy and moved toward the table, following Kate.
While we were walking, Kate kept glancing at me and shouting bizarre things.
"I bought Mongma-nim with money!!"
"I can dominate Mongma-nim!!"
In that moment, I was genuinely conflicted.
Should I just flat-out refuse the quest? That was my dilemma.
*
A short while later.
In the end, I followed Kate and sat down at the lobby table. We'd be seeing a lot of each other going forward, and it felt a bit off to dismiss her without even hearing the explanation. As long as she kept filling my Holy Water bottles and paying me, Kate was something like my piggy bank. There was plenty of room to exercise patience.
After seating me at the table,
Kate brought a cup from somewhere.
Then she carefully held out the empty cup to me.
"What's this cup?"
"Mongma-nim! Water!"
"What?"
"I-I'm your client. At least provide a beverage as a service."
Kate was watching my reaction intently as she spoke. If she was just asking for drinking water, I could simply give it to her. So why was she stammering like that?
As I pondered the reason, I noticed my own hand, clenched in a fist.
A fist that had entered combat readiness due to her earlier provocation.
"Since you're my client, I can at least provide water."
"R-Right? Hehehehe."
"I'm holding back the urge to fucking smash you in the solar plexus."
"H-Hehe."
Along with a light warning, I filled Kate's cup with water.
By weaving a hand seal and dropping water droplets, I could fill a small cup in no time.
Kate, despite everything, drank the water I'd filled in one go.
Seeing her drink without hesitation, I thought she was truly a hardcore bitch.
"......That's refreshing. This refreshing taste of victory is really good."
"Are you thinking you've subjugated me just by making you some water?"
"Hmph. I don't think you're a man who would submit that easily."
Kate put down the empty cup and gave a short commentary. Now that she'd even been given water, Kate seemed to have no further thoughts of provocation. I hurriedly prompted Kate to explain the quest. I needed to hear what kind of quest it was so I could cut ties quickly if needed. A long-term quest that took a lot of time was impossible for me right now.
"Tell me. What's the task you're entrusting to me?"
"Destroying a certain object."
"An object?"
"It's a wicked totem left behind by pagans. I heard it was discovered deep in the underground waterways of Yoen-su."
A pagan totem.
Hearing Kate's words, I couldn't help but question it. In this otherworld where all sorts of cults ran rampant, Yoen-su was a region called a clean zone. Because the Luminous Church held sway in Yoen-su, other religious types couldn't exert any power here. In the two years I'd been in the city, pagans had hardly ever caused a disturbance.
"Why is there a totem in the underground waterway?"
"An incident occurred in the waterway half a month ago. Apparently, pagans who'd sneaked into the city held a gathering deep in the waterways. While we were away on the expedition to subjugate the giants, that is."
"Half a month ago... I see. Exactly when we were carrying out the subjugation quest."
It made sense that I didn't know about it.
Half a month ago, I was fighting a death match against those giant bastards in the coastal cave. While I was gone, the pagans had held their gathering. In the underground waterway I could call my home ground.
"Fortunately, thanks to tips from citizens, the gathering was discovered quickly. I heard our church side dispatched paladins to exterminate the pagans."
"Paladins? Wasn't violence forbidden by your doctrine?"
"Pagans are an exception to the doctrine. Our Lord Baldur does not tolerate pagans either. That means we can chop their heads off as we please. Shall I call it the only violence permitted by our god?"
"Chop their heads off, huh."
The image of those simple believers hunting pagans...
I couldn't quite picture it. But if they were paladins, they were the core fighting force of the church. They'd be able to grind up some measly pagans easily.
"The pagans were all exterminated half a month ago. However, the totems they left behind are still inside the waterway. The paladins also tried to destroy the totems, but as you know, the underground waterways aren't just your average complicated."
It was understandable that the paladins couldn't destroy all the totems. Yoen-su's underground waterway had a labyrinthine structure with complex tangles of passages. In my newbie days, I'd taken on waterway reconnaissance quests many times, and it was more than once or twice I almost got lost and ended up a missing person. Though by now I could find my way blindfolded.
"I heard there's exactly one totem left that they couldn't destroy. The church side gave me the mission to destroy that totem."
"The totem's location?"
"Don't worry about that. Adventurers who took on the scouting quest gave us the info. All you have to do, Mongma-nim, is destroy the totem and come back."
"Not bad."
Normally adventurers balk at anything related to the underground waterways, but at least I'm not one of them. Thanks to having my ass run ragged during my newbie days, I'm familiar with the geography and ecology of the waterways. That's because I went around clearing nothing but waterway-related quests that others avoided. If all I had to do was destroy a totem and return, I could probably finish it as a day trip.
"How much is the commission?"
"7 silver."
"You're paying 7 silver per day? That's pretty generous."
"The totem the pagans set up is imbued with wicked power. I heard it has the power to summon low-grade undead. Meaning undead are guarding the totem's surroundings."
"Undead!"
Undead are bizarre monsters that move while dead. Skeletons with nothing but bones left, or rotting zombies.
Doing adventurer work up until now, I had never faced undead before. Since pagans had rarely ever caused a disturbance in Yoen-su.
Seeing my grave expression, Kate quickly opened her mouth.
"They're only low-grade undead at best! Just bones that shatter with a single hit! You can sweep them all away with a single swing of your whip, Mongma-nim. And I have Holy Water supplied by the church too. If worst comes to worst, we can just throw Holy Water and run."
Holy Water!
Hearing about the Holy Water, I was finally able to feel at ease. I'd heard that to undead monsters, Holy Water was as good as a bomb. If she was supplying Holy Water on top of that, it was definitely a quest worth trying.
"Mongma-nim. So are you accepting the quest?"
"Yeah. I'll beat down the undead bastards in your place."
"Good. But there's one condition."
Kate looked at me with a smile.
"Only you may come to the underground waterway, Mongma-nim. Rebecca cannot join this quest."
"What did you say?"
"We have to move together, just the two of us! At least this once!"
