༺ Preparations (1)༻
A look into the life of the freshman Gerrmain Luther of Merkarva Academy couldn’t be complete without having a look at his early life in the monastery.
One day, a baby in a basket was left at the entrance of Mikaela Monastery. Picked up by a devout believer and father. Germain was raised under the care of the sisters there, along with other boys and girls who were there for similar reasons.
His impressive singing skills allowed him to volunteer for the choir despite being so young, and after showing talents as a knight, he was promoted to Youth Chargers of the Cross.
Due to the outdated education system of the Old Faith, their fundamentalistic analysis of the Goidel Bible, their prejudice towards the New Faith, and seeing the protestants as heretics… the young boy grew up into a marvelous racist.
Because of his attitude, it became difficult for him to receive positive reception when he was with atheists and people from the New Faith. Even when he was with other brothers and sisters of the same religion, his extremist mindset made it hard for him to merge into groups. It was even harder because he was an elitist on top of that.
“Uhh… G, go to the chapel together? I, I’m already going to a different one!”
“Hmm… I don’t follow any religion. Sorry.”
“Old Faith? I only go to the chapel with Saintess Estelle.”
“Old Faith…? I’m okay.”
As a result, Germain voluntarily became a loner who ostracized everyone else.
“Haah… It is so hard to find a true colleague in faith in a city as corrupt as Merkarva.”
His attempt to propagate his religion, which was the duty of every believer, was proving to be challenging yet again. Carrying the brass rosary that was given by the order, he was dejectedly carrying his feet when someone spoke to him.
“Yo, newcomer. What are you doing by yourself?”
Said the boy, while amiably throwing his arm around his shoulder from the back. It was a senior of the Academy who was a grade above him.
“S, senior Korin?”
“Are you going to the chapel?”
“Ah, yes…”
“Zeon? Or Xeruem?”
Zeon and Xeruem – they were the official names of the New and the Old Faith.
The public tended to call them the New and Old Faith to make things easy for themselves, but many believers of the Old Faith were extremely discontent with this name.
‘Old’ Faith? They weren’t old. They were simply sticking to the fundamentals and old principles.
Germain’s internal evaluation of Korin went up, just from the fact that he referred to them as Zeon and Xeruem.
“Xeruem.”
“Okay. Oh~ I see, you do have a brass rosario. I guess I didn’t even need to ask.”
People from the New Faith did not hide their fanciness and provided their followers with rosaries made of gold and silver. In contrast, the Old Faith provided cheaper brass rosaries to correspond to their public image of being frugal and modest.
It seemed that Korin had enough knowledge of religions to tell the rosaries apart.
“I’m heading to Zeon right now.”
“Do you have no plans of coming to the Chapel of Xeruem?”
Germain saw the man in front of him in a good light. He was a rare Grade 1 Knight, which was a hard find throughout all the grades and was also the master of a new Guardians Guild full of strong guardians.
Even aside from his competence as a knight, he had wide connections within the Academy and there was no reason not to befriend him. Plus, he was someone who gave off a positive aura.
The only bad thing about such an amazing talent was that…
“I can’t do that. One of my friends is a sister from the Chapel of Zeon, right? Even though I’m not really a devout believer, it doesn’t feel right to take her to Xeruem.”
“Mhmm…”
He made bad friends.
The sister from the Chapel of Zeon that he just referred to was a living jiangshi – the end result of an evil research experiment that turned a living human into a jiangshi.
One of the biggest differences between the Old and New Faith was in whether they accepted demi-humans as humans or not.
According to the doctrines of the Old Faith, demi-humans were not acceptable existences.
Hua Ran… that jiangshi wasn’t the only one. Vampire Marie, wolf beastmen Ren and Ron. The young man had an intimate relationship with existences that the Old Faith could not accept as humans.
It truly was a shame.
“How about going on a mission when you’re back from the chapel? We got a mission for the Guardians and we might need a hand or two.”
“I…”
“I know, I know. You can only do part-time. Freshmen lessons are jam-packed, aren’t they? But did you know; if you provide some good results with a Guardians Guild, you can write off a few of the lessons.”
“Hmm…”
Germain had infiltrated Merkarva as a spy. For him, the fact that he could be exempted from some of the lessons and assignments by working as a guardian was like a golden apple that he couldn’t resist.
More importantly, Korin’s guild was one that was on the cusp of rising to a Grade 1 Guardians guild with its prominent members. Working at a big guild like that would give him more opportunities to gather information…
“Umm… what is it about?”
“Apparently they found a den of demonic beasts next to a village that’s around 70 kilometers away from here. They want us to remove it as soon as possible.”
“…That’s quite far. Doesn’t the Alliance usually deal with long-distance missions like that?”
“It’s alright. We have a secret weapon.”
“???”
………
……
…
-Kaaaaahh…!
“Uahhhk…!”
The beast let out a thunderous roar as it soared through the sky; mixed into the roar was the scream of a person.
Although Germain was a Grade 2 Knight himself, he had trouble keeping himself conscious in the face of the violent and merciless flight of the winged beast.
“Uaaahk…!”
His inexperience with flying on a wyvern almost cost him his life – he almost fell from the seat that was on top of the wyvern.
“Oopsies!”
Just before he fell, Korin grabbed onto his hand and helped him back up.
“Be careful. Did you fasten your seatbelt properly?”
“Ughh… Yes. B, but I can’t see what’s ahead.”
A strong gust of wind had been seeping in through his goggles for a while. The cold gust made his eyes tear up and cover his line of sight.
“Oh, there’s a crack on your goggles. It must be from the time when we dropped it. Hua Ran.”
“Nn.”
The girl wearing nun clothes, who was sitting at the front, replied to Korin’s voice. Germain was quite uncomfortable with the demi-human Hua Ran, but was conscious of Korin and didn’t bother voicing out his discomfort.
“Hold onto the reins for a bit. I’m going to grab some spare goggles.”
After saying that, he quickly ravaged through one of the bags that were being carried by the wyvern and took out another pair of goggles.
“Put this on.”
“T, thank… Ughh…”
Germain tried to take the goggles that Korin was giving him, but couldn’t see what was ahead because of his tears and threw his arms around in vain. The wind had been too strong, to the point that it affected his sight even after he wiped his tears.
“Phew. Junior. Stay still for a bit.”
Grabbing onto his face, Korin wiped his flowing tears with his sleeves before gently putting the goggles on for him.
At last, after regaining his sense of sight, what Germain first saw was the smile on his senior’s face.
“We are going to continue riding wyverns to travel long distances, so make sure to get used to them. We haven’t used them that much either, but there’s a flight instructor in the wyvern shed so learn from them.”
“O, okay.”
“Good man.”
The bangs that he had forced down were in a mess because of the flight, and Korin contributed to its messiness with a rustle.
“Fasten your belt, and make sure the goggle straps don’t press down on your ears.”
Like a parent, he helped Germain fasten his seatbelt and pressed a button that was on the goggles. After that, he even gave him a sweet chocolate bar.
“Flying actually uses up a lot of calories. We need to stay sharp so have this.”
“T, thank you.”
Something Germain felt while seeing him these past few days was that this boy… was very good at taking care of people. It was like his calling.
It was no wonder that he was famous even among the freshmen students for being a kind and generous Big Bro.
Germain would have wholeheartedly agreed with that notion if not for the fact that he went around with demi-humans.
………
……
…
It was a close call.
When they were going after a horde of beasts in a cave, a massive worm suddenly popped out of nowhere and tried to kill him. He was confident that he wouldn’t lose to it in a fair fight, but the Giant Worm was unexpectedly a very dangerous demonic beast in a cave as small as this.
“…Are you okay?”
The sister of a silver rosary reached out to him. Knowing that she was a filthy demi-human, Germain almost instinctively flicked her hand away but hesitated upon seeing the tear in her clothes.
It was because the moment the monster appeared, she jumped into the wide teeth of the Giant Worm after pushing him to the side. If not for Hua Ran, Germain himself would have been chomped.
“T, thank you. Senior.”
“Nn.”
Germain was way too ethical to slap away the hand of the one who saved his life.
“I thought it was a cave of goblins. Why is there a Giant Worm…?”
“Seems that it’s not just a normal cave of goblins.”
After seemingly noticing something, Korin lowered his head and slowly advanced forward. He appeared to be vigilant of something.
“Senior?”
“Don’t let your guard down. There’s… something in here.”
“What do you mean… something?”
“Predators and prey don’t share the same nest. A Giant Worm living in the same place as goblins? That’s very suspicious, isn’t it?”
Certainly, he was right. Usually, demonic beasts… did not allow each other to trespass on their territory, even if they were of the same kind in some cases. That was just how things were in the wild – anyone and anything intruding on your territory was nothing but an enemy.
“But it’s a different story if both the goblins and the Giant Worm are ‘familiars’.”
“Familiars…”
That was the name given to beasts who had enslaving seals engraved on them by mages. Perfectly obedient familiars were just puppets that stayed faithful to the commands of their owner.
“You mean… there’s a mage here?”
“Exactly. There are in fact quite a few mages that research wicked sorcery after making a laboratory next to rural villages like this.”
Those filthy wicked mages. Unlike the noble people of faith, mages who were crazy about their personal benefits and experiments tended to be unafraid of doing horrible things. That was one of the reasons why the religious judges of both the New and Old Faiths detested mages the most.
Germain also started to proceed with care while observing the cave. Suddenly, Korin raised his hand and halted their feet.
“Hua Ran.”
“Nn.”
“Destroy everything. Capture the mages.”
“Okay.”
Immediately, Hua Ran started dashing through the cave.
Kwang!
Kajik!
‘B, bastard! Who do you think I’m… Kuaahkk!’
As Korin expected, this indeed was the laboratory of a mage who was conducting horrible experiments.
“What the…”
It was a horrifying scene.
There was a big array of large test tubes full of fluids, and incubating inside them were various beasts that each gave off a dark aura.
Even though Germain couldn’t tell what it was, it was nonetheless very clear that some evil experiments had been taking place here.
“Look around. We can’t take everything with us, so let’s just grab the important documents and hand them over to the Alliance.”
Korin and Hua Ran started carrying the neutralized mages and the incubating monsters, while Germain was assigned to finding the experiment logs of the mages here.
People conducting such evil experiments had to be punished by the Inquisitors of the order. As a devout man of faith, Germain could not leave aside such wicked conduct.
“Hnn?”
That was when a document entered his eyes.
“This…”
It was a secret letter that was sent to the mage conducting the experiment. For Germain to just put it aside, the emblem carved on the letter… meant way too much.
A brass seal with no emblem.
Germain knew what this was. It was the same seal used by the secret ops like Chargers of the Cross that carried out secret missions.
When you inject divine power into this emblem-less seal, it would reveal a brass-colored reverse cross… Exactly as it was doing now.
“Why… is this here?”
Upon opening the letter and reading what was inside, Germain couldn’t help but shiver.
Dear Mage Geruam of the Tower… For your experiment… Do not kidnap anyone. We will soon send boys under the age of 13.
– From R
This emblem; this handwriting… and the signature at the end.
They were all things that he knew very well.
***
“Is he gone?”
“Un. He… hid something.”
After attacking the secret laboratory of the black mage, I intentionally told Germain to search through the lab. Even in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, this was a quest where you could find the secret letter of Bishop Renault Lusignan of the Old Faith.
In the game, it was just a slab of text that explained the background story of the quest, but in the real world, it was conclusive evidence that could be used to open a religious trial.
“What will he do?”
“Well… There’s only one way to find out.”
Germain Luther was a villain yet different at the same time.
During the game, he was a relatively strong mid-boss who would appear with Renault Lusignan and the knights of the Old Faith after discovering his identity as a spy but in truth, he was the prime example of a good-natured person raised with terrible education.
Regardless, since he was half a step into the realm of being a religious fanatic, whether he would try to conceal the hideous side of his order or denounce Renault Lusignan was something that only time could tell.
Since the game had now become the real world, everyone moved and thought for themselves so it was hard to say anything with certainty.
“Hua Ran. Stay here and continue bringing out the evidence with Germain. Don’t let him go deeper inside.”
“What if he asks where you went?”
“Tell him I’m off to take a dump.”
-Bam!
She kicked me on the bum. These days, Hua Ran… or rather, Hua, didn’t seem amused by my jokes anymore. Was she in puberty?
“Anyway. Stay here.”
Leaving behind Hua, who was acting cold all of a sudden, I headed deeper into the secret laboratory.
『You have stopped the wicked experiments of the Black Mage, Geruam. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.』 『Randolf』
※ Difficulty: D+
※ Reward: Even distribution of 10 points
Randolf.
That was the name of a soldier guarding the Grand Chapel of Xeruem, and the main character of the side quest, [Father and his missing Son].
Renault Lusignan had been kidnapping and sending a few children to support the secret experiments of the Black Mage Geruam, and one of them was Randolf’s young boy.
The reason I came here was also because I wanted to deal with it before that quest showed up. And plus… beating up some of the mages of the Tower was going to clear the Precept quite a few times.
I recalled the system messages that popped up on the way here.
『Dorron Warsky has defeated the Blue Mage, Fyrenee. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.』 『Kranel Lunder has defeated the Golem Engineer, Draven. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.』 『Yuel has defeated the Twisted Druid, Jana. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.』
That was the proof that the members of the guild were working hard. Using the information I gave them, they were dealing with the side quests that were supposed to be available after the end of the 5th Arc, beforehand.
Most of them were related to the mages of the Tower, and these evil actions from all around the world were going to be revealed again and again.
‘There’s still a big one left. Just you wait.’
Thanks to that, I was receiving a lot of rewards through my Precept, but that wasn’t the end. These were originally ‘side quests’ that were supposed to be cleared by the player.
In other words, there was going to be a reward for the player.
Black Mage Geruam, who we defeated here, was a part of the group that longed for the Advent of Paradise and was conducting fairly important research. He himself was on the level of a semi-Grade 1 mage, so it was easy to tell how significant of research this would have been for them.
What were they experimenting with here?
As a player of the game, I knew exactly what the answer to that question was.
Deeper inside the cave, echoing from behind a wall that blocked both sight and sound was the entry.
Kicking the wall, I crushed it down. As expected of an ‘intelligent’ mage; the camouflage was very coarsely done. Breaking through, I could feel a slithery feeling flowing from the inside.
This was one of the things I had also seen in the last iteration.
It was a trace of paradise that no longer existed on this continent, left behind by the Danann before their fall.
“Found it.”
『Head of Mata. Then hundred-legged and four-headed monster.』
