Chapter 73: Dungeon (1)
Chapter 73: Dungeon (1)
Eugene was pondering the unit's next move.
They had achieved a crushing victory against the pirates and disposed of the spoils at a decent price. The army's morale was soaring thanks to Baron Est's utmost hospitality.
"Already thinking of the next battlefield?"
Marbas smiled as he watched the young knight burning with ambition.
"An army spends money just by breathing. It's a waste to leave them idle."
"Whatever enemy you lead them against will turn into sacks of silver. I suppose all that remains is choosing where to go."
"Thank you for the kind words, but aren't you cold dressed like that?"
Winter was nearly over, but the air was still chilly. Marbas wore nothing but a single simple robe.
"What can I do when even the cold feels cozy? Every sensation touching my skin is simply a joy."
"Well, you don't seem like the type to catch a cold from this much."
Eugene had noticed it when pouring the consecrated water over him: despite his age, Marbas had a thick, sturdy build.
"That aside, Baron Est is as fortunate as you are."
The two men looked down from the balcony at the newly arrived guests.
Dozens of battle priests led by a Relief Knight entered the castle and formed ranks.
They were stalwart warriors who dedicated soul and body to God and trained day and night.
Their swordsmanship was every bit as good as what knightly houses taught, and their morale would not break until their last breath.
The monastics had little interest in power struggles between nobles, but they charged at monsters and bandits like moths to a flame.
"To think so many noble people answered the request of someone as humble as me."
Baron Est, who had come out to greet them, was moved by God's love but also beginning to feel the burden. Far more people had arrived than he had expected to host.
But starving those who had come to aid his territory in its crisis would be the worst disgrace for a noble.
"I have little to offer, but I will do everything I can to make you comfortable."
"We are grateful for your lordship's kindness, but we have come only to procure supplies. We will depart shortly."
Fortunately, the monastics showed no intention of staying at the castle.
"We heard from the residents that Sir Eugene is staying here. Is that correct?"
"Yes! He crushed the pirates who had gathered here in a single stroke. Thanks to him, the surrounding area is safe again."
The monastics marveled at the victory, which had exceeded their imagination. No wonder the villages here were intact, unlike other regions.
"I wish to see him on an urgent matter. I request that you arrange a meeting."
"Of course."
The commanding Relief Knight came up with the baron as his guide. Eugene knew him.
"Sir Andrew?"
"It is good to see you. I had hoped we would meet again; this truly is God's guidance."
He was the one who had purified the battlefield where the Emperor Faction and the Noble Faction had clashed in bloody war.
'He was a higher-ranking figure than I thought.'
Judging by how he always led so many battle priests, he could not be an ordinary monastic knight.
"I regret not recognizing you properly then, Sir Eugene. To think you were the one who struck down that vile heretic mage and the magical beast."
Andrew had inquired about Eugene after his return. The deeds he learned of as a result were astonishing.
Andrew's gaze overflowed with goodwill. A knight who had struck down the worst of evils was like a brother fighting in the same holy war.
"There is something I wish to ask of you, Sir Eugene."
"So you did not come because of Baron Est's request."
From buying supplies the moment they entered the castle to seeking Eugene out and asking for his help, every move was quick and coordinated. They had clearly come with a firm objective from the start.
"Protecting the suffering people is certainly important. But we have come for a more urgent mission."
"?"
It was curious to hear such words from those who looked only to God and made charity their calling.
"Not far from here lies Lasta Monastery."
"It has a long history. I saw it on the map."
The first thing Eugene had done after his appointment as lord was to assess the surrounding powers.
Lasta Monastery was an extremely closed-off place, cut off from external contact. Eugene also knew little beyond it being a very old monastery.
"Pirates are not interested only in villages. Monasteries are prime targets they hunt eagerly."
A monastery accumulated far more wealth than an ordinary village. It could not compare with a city or a noble's castle, but it was much easier to assault.
"Once the villages are picked clean, they'll turn to the monastery."
"Yes. Duke Ismar sent us to reinforce Lasta Monastery. However, the anticipated scale of the pirates is beyond imagination, so your aid is desperately needed."
Not all pirates had come because they were lured by the title the Emperor offered.
Many simply wanted to plunder, seizing on the chaos of the civil war. These pirates would pillage anything, monasteries or otherwise, without a care.
"Let's hope the monks have kept careful watch, if only so they can evacuate in an emergency."
Andrew shook his head at Eugene's suggestion that they might already be too late.
"The people of Lasta Monastery would die before abandoning their post. That place is no ordinary monastery."
"Are they guarding a sacred relic?"
A sacred relic was an object a great saint had used for many years in life, a memento bound to them by an exceptionally strong connection.
In the world Eugene had known, venerating a mere object was considered a form of idol worship and thus taboo.
But here, where God's miracles truly existed, the status of relics was different. They contained the power of miracles and saved people, and so were treated with reverence.
"In a sense, they guard something even more important than a relic."
After a brief silence, Andrew spoke.
"Beneath Lasta Monastery, an entrance to hell has been sealed."
His expression was utterly grave.
"A dungeon."
Marbas said this to Eugene when he returned after telling Andrew he would consult his advisors.
"Andrew called it an entrance to hell."
"It depends on what one calls it. Just as summoners call it a spiritual tide and priests call it the evil god's cycle."
"I've only heard rumors about dungeons."
It did not merely mean a den of monsters or a laboratory left behind by a mage. A dungeon was a place far more dangerous and malevolent than that.
"Parts of the mortal world overlap with other realms. Rarely, there are places that connect directly to them. Every one of them is dangerous."
Sometimes it became a dense forest, sometimes an abandoned castle, and sometimes a hole that burrowed endlessly into the earth.
Isolating these dungeons from the secular world was also one of the orders' critical tasks.
"In this case, the monastery itself must have been built from the start to seal and monitor the dungeon."
"Precisely."
Eugene drew a letter from inside his coat.
"Andrew lent it to me. It is a letter that the abbot of Lasta Monastery sent to Duke Ismar."
"He let you see something like that? Well, when help is urgent, the one in need has to reveal more of their secrets."
Varda was surprised, but also looked proud. It showed how highly Eugene had come to be regarded.
"The matter of striking down the heretic mage and the demonic beast seems to have held great significance for them. When I said I needed to consult my advisors, he handed it over for my reference."
Eugene unfolded the letter and laid it on the table, and the two mages drew near to read it.
I deeply regret Roman's civil war.
With the evil god's cycle upon us, the world will grow even more dangerous, yet men spill one another's blood and pour out hatred. It is truly heartbreaking.
But that is not the only peril we must heed.
The monastery's seal is too old, and its holy power is waning.
Moreover, the pirates who colluded with the Emperor have been drawing ever nearer of late.
I fear those wretches, blinded by wealth, may enter this place and do something foolish.
More than ever, we need strong brothers here—and a new seal.
Please understand our concern, Your Grace. This concerns the peace of the north as well.
Abbot Benedict.>
"Barring any problem, I think it would be best to accept their request for help."
The monastics had ample military strength and devoted themselves to helping ordinary people, while Duke Ismar was the greatest power in the north.
Earning gratitude from both sides could never be a bad thing.
"I was of a mind to accept as well. However..."
Eugene looked at Marbas.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to remain at the castle, Marbas-nim?"
"Why is that?"
"I thought being a summoner might put you at odds with the monastics."
Mages generally were not on good terms with monastics. And among them, were summoners not once called necromancers in the past?
Darkness, death, ghosts, suspicion—summoners seemed to embody everything sinister about magic.
"That is not the case at all. Of all mages, it is summoners like myself who get along best with monastics."
Marbas chuckled heartily, as if the worry were unfounded.
When Eugene said he would join them, Andrew clasped his hand with an emotional expression.
"Thank you. God shall surely bless this great devotion."
The battle priests behind him also drew the sign of the cross and prayed.
Baron Yones remained in the territory. There were many wounded and many conscripts, so both their marching speed and combat power were reduced.
"This is Marbas-nim, a summoner."
"I once read one of your books during my theology studies."
"A monster slayer and a renowned summoner joining us together. This must surely be God's providence!"
At Eugene's introduction, the monastics greeted Marbas with glad faces.
They were all so excited that Andrew had to calm them and guide them elsewhere.
"I never imagined you had once joined a religious order and studied the faith."
"For the past thirty years, the world around me was nothing but pain and heat."
It was common to lean on faith in order to endure unbearable suffering.
"When you suffer like that, sometimes... there are moments when you feel something that seems to pierce through the agony and reach you. A presence both merciful and powerful. I came to think that the divine salvation the priests speak of might be something like that."
"My master once said something similar."
Marbas's eyes widened with surprise and curiosity.
"Sir Goffrey did?"
The fact that a sword-wielding knight, rather than a seeker of magic, had experienced something similar fascinated him.
"He said that he heard God's voice while concentrating on all the sounds of the world."
"So that was the reason the Knight of Prophecy devoted himself to the faith. A fascinating story."
"Though my master is no mage, his hearing has reached the domain of magic."
"Indeed. Magic isn't as special as people think."
Marbas nodded readily.
It was entirely possible for someone who had devoted a lifetime to a single sense to perceive a fragment of Mystery.
"To return to the original topic, I am one who has experienced hell more deeply than anyone. When I recorded that experience and my hypotheses in a book, the orders showed tremendous interest."
The book Marbas wrote about hell was considered required reading among monastics.
"I am hardly the first. Any famous religious order is bound to have at least one or two books written by summoners on its shelves."
Summoners devoted their lives to peering into other worlds. In the course of that exploration, some became aware of vast, transcendent beings.
History held no shortage of people who were shocked into faith by such experiences and went knocking on monastery doors.
Even those who did not go that far still showed deep respect for the divine. It was only natural that monastics and summoners got along.
"Still, I'm surprised the orders are so willing to accept a mage's knowledge. I thought they would be much more rigid."
"Because there is already an excellent cautionary tale. Does the Orthodox Church you grew up in not provide the answer on its own?"
This world was filled with countless dangers and mysteries. No matter how powerful a group became, acting dogmatically could lead only to decline.
The powers that led the present world never forgot the lessons of that past.
"I trust your martial prowess, but do not let your guard down."
"You're not talking about the pirates, so is the dungeon what worries you?"
"The part of the abbot's letter about the weakening seal bothers me."
Marbas fell into thought, stroking his rough chin.
Though he had wished to grow a beard, the flames that scorched his soul and body had always left his chin smooth.
Now his beard grew normally. Even as he considered the serious problem, the corner of Marbas's mouth curled upward.
"During a spiritual tide, all sorts of strange events are bound to happen."
"I'd like to say, 'What are the odds something happens right when I arrive?' But... I can't."
As Eugene's understanding of magic deepened, he too had come to realize something. That powerful mysteries became intertwined with other mysteries as if by fate.
"You are practically a walking vortex of Mystery."
Marbas recalled the dream Eugene had spoken of.
Perhaps even the colossal Mystery known as the Wandering Castle was being drawn to this strange knight.
A ship lost in fog was naturally drawn to a brilliant lighthouse.
It was the reason Marbas stayed with Eugene, apart from repaying his debt.
"In any case, don't worry too much. I'm here this time."
"Oh?"
"Spiritual seals are one of a summoner's specialties. That is another reason summoners get along so well with the orders. If anything goes wrong, I will step in."
Pirates to subdue and a dangerous dungeon.
They held the best possible hand for both tasks. No wonder the monastics had rejoiced and called it God's providence.