Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Third Condition - 2
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Even though the expected personnel and some unexpected ones had joined, the strategy itself hadn't changed.
The important thing was that Veronica had stepped in.
"So, Sage. What now?"
To clear the Pale Moon Event, I was ultimately crucial, and General Leoden knew that well.
That's why he planned to leave this matter entirely to me without interference.
Fine by me.
If anyone got in the way of achievements, they'd have to be sidelined.
Anyway, all the effort I'd put into building relationships was paying off here.
I scanned the people watching me intently. With the third stage fulfilled, it was time for the fourth.
The fourth stage for progressing the Pale Moon Event was battle with the Pale Moon Cultists.
Having realized their rituals were being disrupted as we took down the Pale Beasts, they'd move in earnest now.
We had to fight them and clear a path to the temple.
"The Pale Moon Cultists will come out."
Before I could speak, Veronica said coldly. Hearing that, General Leoden gripped the sword at his waist tightly.
"Then the kingdom's army will have to stop them."
From General Leoden's perspective, they were traitors aiming to overthrow the state and scum who deserved to be torn apart for attacking his lord, so he'd want to deal with them personally.
That's why he was glancing at me so awkwardly.
Of course, that didn't matter to me.
"No. The kingdom's army should keep doing what it's doing... I'd like the church to handle the fight with them. Veronica, that's okay with you, right?"
"Fighting heretics is always welcome."
She was truly reliable. I clapped for her as she gripped her massive mace, steeling her resolve, and Veronica smiled faintly.
"Then next?"
"Next..."
Once we captured some Pale Moon Cultists and pinpointed the temple's location, we'd begin the final stage: assaulting the Moon Temple.
In the game, the Moon Temple was treated as a kind of dungeon with limited entry slots, so we'd need to decide who went in.
Well, that could wait. The battle with the Pale Moon Cultists was priority now.
"The Moon Temple is a pretty dangerous dungeon."
"I've always wondered, Sage. How do you know all this stuff?"
The Lizardman Musician asked, combing his cockatoo crest with his spear. I smiled.
"Why do you think I'm the Sage?"
"Ah, saying it like that leaves me with nothing to say."
"Just accept it. Not everything in the world makes sense."
As the Sage supporting the hero party, I'd built some fame, and by handling quests and events on the side, I'd boosted my reputation.
Thanks to that, my words carried weight, so no one, not him or the others, pressed further.
"As expected of the Sage! You're amazing, Sage! Oh! Sage! There's a little problem in our village—do you know what it is?"
"No idea. Anyway, you adventurers join up with the church side. Oh, Lark and Wilkers, you two stick with me."
These guys were special among the adventurers who'd shown up.
Very special trolls, so it was better for me to manage them in the party.
Of course, it'd build up stress in the process.
"The kingdom's army doesn't need to fight when capturing the Pale Moon Cult scum?"
"They're heretics using evil techniques, for starters."
Priests and holy knights were best for blocking that.
Adventurers often dealt with evil sorcery in dungeons, so if these guys were competent, they'd handle it fine.
"I see. Got it."
That wrapped up preparations for the Pale Moon Cultist battle.
"Hold on!"
"Huh?"
Claire, who'd been listening silently, shot her hand up.
"Hyunwoo. Is there... nothing for me? For us to do? I mean, it's not that Cardinal Veronica or that adventurer are weak, but..."
Even so, judging by overall combat power, weren't they—the ones who'd hugely impacted defeating the Demon King—better? Claire said weakly.
I looked back and forth between her and Leventia, who stood beside her gazing at me desperately, then thought.
What they could do.
Hmm...
No matter how I racked my brain, nothing came to mind.
I assigned tasks to everyone and, as usual, started overtime. Tonight's was cooking.
While preparing meals for the masses and serving them, I noticed Claire had appeared before me.
She'd lined up properly without cutting, staring at me intently.
"Something to say?"
"...Is there really nothing we can do for you? I know it's dangerous for them..."
"Your job is just to stay here and hunt monsters with the kingdom's army."
The Pale Moon Event had some difficulty, and its final boss in the Moon Temple was pretty strong.
Normal players would naturally include their well-leveled hero in the party for it.
But I was more than just stale—I was rotten water.
Unlike my early days when I was unfamiliar with this world, now I was seasoned.
No need to pull the hero party out and increase the kingdom army's casualties here.
Monsters would still linger even during the Pale Moon Event.
"I-I see...? Okay..."
Claire slouched off with drooping shoulders and a dejected look. Watching her go, I served sausage veggie stir-fry to the next knight's tray and looked at the following person.
"Huh?"
It was Veronica.
The new church folks were supposed to eat elsewhere?
As I looked, she gave a soft smile.
"Being served by you like this brings back old memories."
This had happened before. After protecting Baek Eun Village during the Pale Moon Event and preparing breakfast come morning, I'd served her.
Veronica had taken her tray directly from me then too.
And quite a while ago, yet a cardinal remembered it.
"No way I'd forget."
"Really?"
"That battle was so grueling, so despairing, and yet we found the light. It was the first of its kind in my life. I'll probably never forget it till I go to the light."
I gave a casual smile back to her grinning one and piled sausage veggie stir-fry on her tray.
Veronica gazed at it and smiled again.
Had she always been such a good smiler? She barely had smiling scenes in the game.
"Looks like you remember."
Her tray was loaded with peppers and veggies.
Others might call it bullying, but Veronica's face was full of satisfaction.
"I remember you like veggies over meat. I'm the Sage, after all. Good memory."
"Haha, yeah."
She nodded lightly and said no more. She seemed to have a lot on her mind, but there were people waiting behind.
With a slight bow, she left, and next was Lark.
"Hey! Sage! The cardinal didn't take sausage, right? Can't I take that much? We're tight!"
"Ahh! Take it off! Sage! You'll give me more, right?! Yeah?! We're close! You know I like sausage over veggies! Right?! More sausage! I won't eat veggies, so a few more sausages instead!"
Good lord!
Trying to hog just the sausages from sausage veggie stir-fry?!
No, more than that, what do you mean we're close...
After dinner, I joined the leatherworking in the spare time.
Had to do this whenever possible for achievements.
The soldiers protested it wasn't necessary, but I bulldozed in, and they eventually yielded.
"Skinnning monsters isn't easy. You sure you're okay, Sage?"
"No big deal."
I skinned the cyclops horse monster with a whetstone-sharpened knife. Not as skilled as a pro tanner, but most laborers here were soldiers.
My skill level was higher.
As I finished faster than them and set aside the hide, reaching for the second monster—
"You were here."
Veronica. I'd thought she'd be praying with the holy knights by now. As she approached, I gripped my knife and plunged it into the neck of the five-horned deer monster.
-Squelch!
Black blood remaining spilled, staining my leather apron. Watching, Veronica lifted the Divine Mark around her neck.
"Light, purify the darkness."
With gentle holy power, the evil aura in the monster blood was cleansed, and the stress from it eased.
As the laborers' expressions improved, Veronica said bitterly,
"The camp's conditions are pretty rough. The church sent priests and holy knights as best it could."
"Not enough to cover here."
"I see? Then why not you? You can use holy power too."
"True. That's why I do it in my spare time."
"You're still the same. Just like in Baek Eun Village."
A smile played on Veronica's lips, and some laborers stared blankly at her. It didn't last; when I glanced, they hurried back to work.
"So? Something to say?"
"Something to say..."
Fiddling with her Divine Mark, Veronica shrugged.
"You're still on bad terms with the hero party, huh."
"Yeah. So? Got a problem?"
"They haven't been harassing you or anything?"
"Nope."
They annoyed me sometimes, and while hunting Pale Beasts here, they'd approach to talk.
Except Claire, I thoroughly ignored Leventia and Evangeline since I didn't want to chat.
Veronica knew our history, so she was worried, but it was unnecessary.
"Do I look like someone who gets bullied?"
"You seem too soft-hearted. If you joined the Inquisition, you'd be thoroughly toughened up."
"Pass."
I turned my gaze from her back to the monster corpses. As I started skinning the third, Veronica sighed softly.
"My previous offer still stands. No thoughts on becoming an inquisitor?"
"Nope."
"Ah, okay."
A hint of disappointment, but I focused on skinning the crocodile-headed, lion-bodied monster. Feeling her piercing gaze, I looked up. Veronica chewed her lip before blurting,
"...Any chance you're thinking of rejoining the hero party?"
With them?
"No plans there either."
"...That's a relief."
"Why's it a relief? Church and hero party got beef? Power struggle?"
No such events, quests, or achievements.
At my question, Veronica smiled.
"Nothing like that. Just..."
She stepped back slowly, staring straight at me.
Her serious demeanor, like she had something important to say, made me tilt my head.
"Just... Ah, this isn't the place. If you're okay, how about tea in my tent?"
"Hm? Sure. Let me finish this and I'll come."
No more after this monster. While Veronica waited, I finished up and, after fully processing the hide, removed my apron.
"Making a cardinal wait like this. You're... something else."
"If it bugs you, you should've gone ahead."
"Still got that attitude? Come on, let's..."
It was then, as Veronica rose from squatting in the leather-and-blood-scented workshop.
-KABOOM!!
An explosion rocked the camp's edge, followed by screams.
Hearing it, I ditched my apron, and Veronica gripped her mace tight.
Pale Moon Event.
Fourth stage.
The Pale Moon Cult invasion had begun.
"Tea'll have to wait... Gasp."
Holy crap.
Rushing out apronless, I was startled to see Veronica beside me.
Her pretty face was horribly distorted.
Author's Note
Huge thanks to LLDDJJ for the support!
See you tomorrow. Have a great weekend~