If They Don't Seek, They Won't Find
“You said you were heading to Booktoria, right? Then I’ll come along too.”
“Pardon?”
Before leaving White Stone Village, I had planned to cast a buff on the Holy Knight Yoheim, but he announced he would depart with us.
“There were a few merchants who couldn’t leave yesterday, so I suggested we travel together. They all agreed. The Shabel Tiger may be gone, but wouldn’t it be safer to move as a group?”
“That… makes sense. Then let’s set out right away.”
Yanne’s old horse—whom she had named Uncle—carried Sezanne, while the horse left behind by the mercenary band hauled a mountain of their abandoned gear. I had intended to stash everything in my inventory once we entered the forest and ride freely, but with the extra company, that plan was no longer feasible.
Coal led the way, nose to the ground, tail swinging happily from side to side. Nothing worth worrying about seemed to be nearby.
“There’s a fork in the road. The path to Booktoria is on the right, according to what I heard.”
Yanne strode ahead, brimming with the information she had gathered in White Stone Village. Yet Coal, who had been walking beside her, suddenly stopped and stared down the other path.
“Master! Someone in a robe is coming from that direction. What should we do?”
Normally we would have passed by without a second thought, but a lone traveler approaching from the side path was unusual enough that everyone waited.
As the figure drew closer, the brown robe revealed geometric blue patterns. Someone recognized the emblem at once.
“Oh? That crest belongs to the god Lecherot.”
“So the priest of Lecherot we requested because of the Shabel Tiger is finally arriving.”
He was a day and a half late. Two days earlier, a priest of Lecherot would have received a grand welcome. Now he was merely another traveler passing through.
“I am Lepe, servant of Lecherot. May the diversity of the Hundred Beasts bring you good fortune.”
The priest looked barely twenty, still carrying the air of youth. Yet the two long staves in his hands, the worn backpack, and the tattered shoes spoke of long experience on the road.
“You never show up when people are waiting, and only appear after everything’s already finished,” Yoheim said, his tone edged with irritation—partly from the loss of his arm, partly from the delay.
“Brother, it seems you lost your arm quite recently. Was it the work of the forest’s sacred beast?”
“It was. We managed to slay the creature yesterday thanks to many sacrifices.”
“Ah—so it really was the Shabel Tiger. A heavy price must have been paid.”
Lepe offered a prayer for the fallen, then let out a quiet sigh of relief. When he had first heard that a sacred beast blackened by divine punishment had become a Shabel Tiger, he had come prepared to die. Dispelling the curse of punishment was no small feat.
“Could you guide me to where the sacred beast was slain?”
“We’ve already passed it. Just keep going down this road. Do you need proof it was killed?”
“Proof is unnecessary. I wish to go there to perform a purification.”
“Purification? If you mean the black water, it’s already been dealt with. The merchants took the hide, and the body was torn apart and carried off. Nothing remains at the site.”
“Ah, I am not here to purify the Shabel Tiger’s corpse. After it was slain, the black curse likely seeped into the ground. That is what must be cleansed.”
“Is that so? I was unconscious at the time, so I wouldn’t know. Jinwoo, did you see it?”
“Yes. Just as Priest Lepe described—a black shadow-like substance sank into the earth. Once the Shabel Tiger died, the blackness that had stained the forest drained away like water.”
“Unfortunately, it did not vanish. It merely hid beneath the soil. The black energy must be purified, or the forest’s wildlife and monsters will be consumed by the curse and become afflicted.”
“Then we must help. But our group consists of merchants who need to keep moving. Jinwoo, would you assist Priest Lepe?”
Though the request annoyed me, I agreed. I was curious about the purification, and traveling with Yoheim and the merchants any longer felt tedious.
“In that case, I’ll accompany you and show you the location.”
“Good. But before we go, could you cast that healing magic on me once more? Hahaha.”
***
When we reached the place where the Shabel Tiger had fallen, Priest Lepe took small stone towers from his pack and set them into the ground at various points.
“You who were drawn by the call of Rank, you who rage because the summoner was unworthy of your station, and you who would reclaim that rage—by the name of Lecherot who created the existence of Rank, I command you: release your fury and return to the world of Rank!”
The black energy writhed across the ground as though resisting the spell, yet it could not escape the influence of the stone towers. It gathered and rose in thick, billowing clouds.
I tensed, half-expecting it to form another monster, but the darkness simply evaporated and disappeared.
“Phew. It seems the task ended more easily than expected. We were fortunate.”
“Priest Lepe, does that mean the black energy has been destroyed?”
“No. The existence of Rank has returned to the world of Rank created by the god.”
The explanation felt off. In the end, the curse known as the Punishment of Rank was also something the animal god Lecherot had created.
“Priest Lepe, I have a question. I heard that sacred beasts challenge Rank in order to become subordinate gods of Lord Lecherot.”
“Yes, that is correct. A sacred beast that matches the Rank becomes a god.”
“And if it fails to meet that Rank, it receives the curse called the Punishment of Rank?”
“Correct.”
“Then why not simply have Lord Lecherot observe the animals living as sacred beasts and appoint those worthy of becoming subordinate gods directly? That way, sacred beasts wouldn’t suffer the curse at all.”
“That is…”
“It seems pointless for sacred beasts to challenge godhood, fail, and cause harm. Wouldn’t it be cleaner if Lord Lecherot simply chose subordinate gods himself?”
“Hmm. You view the god’s actions from a rather novel perspective.”
Lepe frowned, as though he had never considered the matter before. His already small eyes nearly closed.
“As a servant of the god, I should answer your question, yet I find myself unsure what to say. Lord Lecherot must have a reason for establishing the process of challenging Rank. But someone as lacking as I cannot fathom it.”
I could only nod at the priest’s reply that the god surely had profound intentions. Ordinary people like us could hardly understand divine motives, so his answer was the most proper one possible.
“I think I know the reason!”
It was Yanne, standing beside us.
“You believe you know the reason?”
Lepe turned to listen attentively even to the young girl’s words.
“Yes. The god is creating work. So that the priests can make a living.”
Lepe smiled gently at Yanne’s childlike explanation. But the words that followed wiped the smile from his face.
“When we were coming here, you mentioned that many priests are dispatched to various places because of sacred beasts that received the divine punishment. So many that the order is short on priests.”
“Yes. I had to come alone because there are so many places to go. That shows how many people seek Lord Lecherot. Still, the idea that such calls exist merely to provide a livelihood feels… off.”
“No, it’s true. Most people offer money to the God of Wealth, Rush, or the God of Abundance, Freya. The Holy Knight we met earlier serves Malian, the mountain god, and receives offerings when people pray for safe passage through the mountains.”
“Indeed. Our Lord Lecherot is revered by all who raise animals.”
“That’s exactly it. A poor shepherd might pray to Lord Lecherot, but the wealthy owner of those sheep would ask the God of Wealth, Rush, for blessings instead—or perhaps pray to Lady Freya of Abundance.”
Lepe fell silent, struck by the accuracy of Yanne’s observation.
“We were the same. Only after the cursed sacred beast rampaged did anyone seek Lord Lecherot. Without the Punishment of Rank, would people still have sought him? Probably only the poor shepherds would have.”
“That may be true, but to deliberately cause harm just to feed the priests… Yanne, was it? Your thinking is quite unusual.”
Even as he spoke, Lepe found himself wondering how many people would seek the animal god Lecherot without the Punishment of Rank. Just as Yanne said, perhaps only those who directly raised animals—poor shepherds and herders—would turn to him.
The girl’s claim that the god had deliberately created Rank and its challenges to generate work and draw followers struck him as disturbingly plausible. He could not refute it. The thought that the god might allow harm simply to ensure people sought him left Lepe’s mind in turmoil.
He felt confused. Because Lecherot was the god of all animals, Lepe had included humans among them and believed his deity was equal to the Chief Gods. Yet the idea that the god would tolerate wrongdoing just to be sought gnawed at him.
Of course, the god might have other intentions and arrangements. It was the divine will, after all…
Normally he would have accepted it as the god’s design and moved on. But today, having heard the words of a young girl, he could not simply cover it with blind faith.
A tiny crack had appeared in Lepe’s belief that everything was part of the god’s intention.
Absorbed in thought, Lepe stood motionless, lost in contemplation.
‘Could this be the enlightenment cliché?’
When it seemed Lepe had realized something, I quietly told the others to stay silent and moved away. It looked as though the enlightenment cliché from novels and games—where one’s insight suddenly grows—had come to the priest.
‘If it’s the cliché, light should burst out and he should ascend to a higher level. I wonder if that’ll happen.’
“Yanne, you’ve said something unnecessary and confused the priest. We’ll have to wait here until he recovers, so as punishment, you’ll cook.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yanne didn’t think she had said anything wrong, but since her words had delayed our schedule, she obediently began preparing the meal.
Because the outsider Priest Lepe and Sezanne—who had yet to see the gas burner—were present, Yanne gathered branches and lit a small fire, then placed flour in the frying pan.
“Making a roux?”
“Yes. We gathered mushrooms in the forest, so I thought I’d make mushroom stew with some jerky.”
Having watched me enough times, Yanne browned the flour properly before adding water and bringing it to a boil. While it simmered she added sliced mushrooms. She even grilled the jerky first to mask any gamey smell with a smoky aroma, then cut it into tiny pieces—small enough for Sezanne to eat comfortably.
The resulting stew was a thin white stew. Served in bowls with two slices of whole-wheat bread, it made a simple yet satisfying meal.
The savory aroma drifting from the pot also roused Priest Lepe.
“Phew. I seem to have shown you quite an unseemly sight.”
“Hahaha, not at all. Have you resolved your concerns?”
I asked, wondering if he had achieved some kind of enlightenment.
“I’m not sure. It was the first time I considered the god’s actions from a different perspective.”
“Hahaha. Contemplating the god’s actions rarely leads to answers. Just as a mountain is a mountain and water is water, only the god knows the reason behind divine deeds. Even if that reason seems absurd, we mortals could never comprehend it. For now, let’s fill our stomachs.”
“A mountain is a mountain and water is water—only the god knows the reason for divine acts!?”
Lepe accepted his bowl and muttered the words over and over, as though another realization had struck him.
‘Oh no.’
Seeing that another incident might occur mid-meal, I quietly took my bowl and moved aside.
‘Is the enlightenment cliché going to trigger this time?’
I ate at a distance, half-expecting it, but when Lepe finally stirred after a long while, nothing of the sort had happened. The lack of payoff left me oddly disappointed.
“Meeting all of you here seems to have been a truly significant encounter for me.”
Only after we finished eating and began cleaning up did Priest Lepe regain his composure. He quickly finished the stew in his bowl, then handed it back and produced a small bead from his robes.
“This is called the Bead of the Hundred Beasts. It allows one to understand the intentions of animals. Of course, it can also convey your own words to them.”
“A bead that lets you communicate with animals?”
I felt a surge of delight, as though I had obtained a unique item. Meeting Priest Lepe at the crossroads must have been a quest after all.
“Yes. Yanne’s words today made me see the world from a new perspective. I’m not certain if it counts as enlightenment, but I feel I have gained something significant. I look forward to seeing what Yanne becomes in a few years.”
“In a few years I’ll probably be a very famous chef.”
“A chef, not a theologian? You mentioned honoring another god before the meal, didn’t you?”
“Ah, I believe in the god Sadalla as a follower. But I’d rather become a chef than a theologian.”
“The god Sadalla…”
Lepe searched his memory but could recall no such deity. It was likely either an ancient god or a local folk deity whose name had not spread.
“Well then, this is where we part. I must return to White Stone Village to report the purification, then head back to headquarters. I have realized how lacking my training is. I hope our paths cross again someday…”
Priest Lepe hurried away, as though he suddenly had urgent matters to attend to.
Once we set out again and it was finally just our group, I called Sezanne over and had her sit beside me.
“Sezanne, which magic tower are you from?”