“What is that?”
Igor, not immediately understanding Ruon’s words, looked at the pommel adorned beneath the sword’s handle and spoke with a trembling voice.
“A silverwood stag. Goodness, it’s Tibella’s relic.”
With an expression of awe, he gazed at the Holy Sword, but his expression soon stiffened, and he cautiously asked Ruon.
“Is it really yours?”
Ruon nodded as if it was obvious.
“What, you think I stole it or something?”
As Ruon said that, gripping the handle of the Holy Sword, the sword quivered slightly in his hands.
Of course, it was only felt by Ruon, who was connected to the sword, so Becky showed no change in expression, but Igor was different.
As a priest of Tibella, perhaps sensing something, he widened his eyes and immediately knelt down.
“I bow before Tibella’s champion, the owner of the Holy Sword.”
Seeing his solemn attitude, Ruon let out a faint sigh and set the sword down beside him.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t act so ceremonious. While it’s true that I’m the owner of this sword, I’m not the kind of person you seem to think I am.”
“Ah…”
Recalling the incident on Pilgrim’s Path, Igor trailed off, but he still looked at Ruon with eyes full of admiration, indicating that he didn’t mind.
Becky seemed equally surprised by Igor’s sudden title.
Since Igor had mentioned ‘Tibella’s champion,’ she had been staring intently at Ruon’s face.
Becky said, “That day, I prayed earnestly. ‘O Goddess, please help me.’ I prayed over and over again. Is it possible that Tibella answered my prayer by sending you to me?”
‘Why is she acting like this?’
Ruon cut her off bluntly.
“No, it’s a coincidence.”
“But…”
“It’s a coincidence.”
Igor continued to alternate glances between Ruon and Becky, as if curious about what might have happened, but neither of them said anything more and he scratched his head.
“So, may I assume that the reason both of you are heading to Nook is to visit the Grand Church?”
Ruon nodded silently, and Igor hesitated.
“It would be an honor to accompany you.”
Before Ruon could respond, Igor moved to the corner and began to lower his voice as he knelt.
“Mother, today I met your sword…”
‘Should I have just left him behind?’
Shaking his head, Ruon looked at Becky next to him.
Lost in deep thought, she seemed like she was absorbed in contemplation.
Ruon had no intention of interrupting her thoughts and instead found a comfortable seat on the ledge behind him, stroking the hilt of the Holy Sword.
Then, Becky’s words came to mind.
‘Is it possible that Tibella answered my prayer by sending you to me?’
‘Did you send me?’
Ruon winced, as if hearing an unpleasant joke. Since obtaining the sword, he had occasionally heard and even spoken the words “Tibella’s champion”, but he had never considered himself Tibella’s representative.
To Ruon, the Holy Sword was simply a powerful, demonic-energy-absorbing magic sword, nothing more or less.
‘If you’re thinking of using me as a tool in exchange for this sword, I would advise against it.’
At the thoughts of the faithless warrior, who didn’t care if the gods were real and wasn’t going to be led by them, the Holy Sword hummed lowly.
And so the night fell.
***
The party, which had grown to three overnight, walked along an old, overgrown road.
After hearing Becky’s story, Igor’s eyes welled up with tears, and he tightly held her small hands.
“Goodness, you went through such terrible things… Such dreadful events are occurring in places where the light of Tibella doesn’t yet shine. You’ve truly suffered a lot.”
Becky shook her head.
“No, it’s all thanks to Ruon’s help that I’m safe now.”
“Ah, truly, noble actions befitting a champion…”
As Ruon, who had been walking a step ahead, turned his head at the intense gaze pouring from behind, he asked, “Not all of Tibella’s priests are like you, right?”
“What do you mean by ‘like you’?”
“If you don’t understand, forget about it.”
As if he didn’t want to end the conversation with Ruon, Igor hurriedly added, “At least at the church I belonged to, no one loved the Lady more than I did. Thanks to that, I received a recommendation to come all the way to the Grand Church.”
Ruon became curious and asked, “What’s the Grand Church like?”
Seeming to hesitate for a moment, Igor blinked his eyes before answering slowly.
“I’m not sure exactly what you’re curious about, but it’s the first building established to follow the Lady’s will, so it holds an indescribable level of symbolism…”
Clouds began to darken the sky as the group concluded their brief conversation. Looking at the approaching gloomy clouds that seemed to swallow the sunlight, Igor said, “Looks like it’s going to rain.”
As if waiting for his words, a single water droplet landed on his forehead and scattered. Ruon, Becky, and Igor looked at each other.
“Let’s hurry,” Ruon said to them.
However, the sudden downpour was not something they could overcome just by hurrying.
The old road, with no proper pavement, quickly became engulfed by the flowing water.
The heavy raindrops pelted their bodies like arrows, making it quite bothersome even for Ruon. He squinted his eyes and turned back to see if the other two were following closely.
Igor seemed to be following quite well, but Becky, despite wearing the cloak Ruon had given her, looked quite uneasy as she staggered along.
‘This won’t do.’
Intentionally heightening his vision to find shelter from the rain, Ruon looked in all directions until he spotted a hut in the distance.
“Follow me, come on.”
After deliberately shouting out each sentence to avoid being drowned out by the rain, he began moving swiftly.
The cabin’s door was not closed. Through the gap, about the width of a finger, a familiar scent seeped out, and without hesitation, Ruon opened the door.
There, he found a man and a woman lying on the floor, soaked in blood.
They seemed to be embracing each other, and judging by their wide-open eyes, they were obviously dead.
At that moment, a man sitting on a rocking chair by the fireplace, wiping his blood-stained sword, spoke in a leisurely tone.
“So, you’ve come to seek shelter from the rain.”
Igor and Becky, following Ruon hesitantly, were taken aback by the sight in front of them.
“What is this… Are you responsible for this?”
Igor’s voice trembled.
The man nodded nonchalantly.
“You see correctly. By the way, you all look terrible. Come closer and dry your bodies.”
The man who had so casually admitted to his murders stretched out his hand to the side of the hearth as if to welcome a guest, and Igor stiffened.
“Is that all you have to say!?”
“Why are you getting angry? Oh, is it because of these two?”
The man nodded, as if in belated understanding, and nudged the dead man with his index finger.
“This man abandoned his wife and fled far away with a young lover.”
Then he gestured towards the woman.
“This woman, when the man hesitated to run away because of his three young children, resorted to using poison to kill them.”
The man shrugged after briefly explaining the backgrounds of the dead man and woman.
“The poor wife, who lost her children and was abandoned by her husband, desired the death of both of them, and I fulfilled that wish. That’s all.”
“So you’re an assassin?”
The man nodded again at Ruon’s blunt question.
“That’s the simplest way to put it.”
While Igor and Becky appeared dumbfounded, Ruon calmly gazed at the man without any change in expression.
Seeing the look in Ruon’s eyes, the man raised both palms. His meaning was clear – he didn’t want any trouble.
‘What a headache.’
Ruon sighed inwardly. If the man had tried to attack or provoke them, he would have retaliated, but since the man was sitting there peacefully, there was no real reason to be the first to attack.
“Ruon-sama!”
Ruon turned his head at the tense voice coming from beside him. Igor, his face flushed with anger, spoke.
“Are you just going to sit there?”
“What should I do then?” Ruon asked calmly, and Igor shook his head in a bewildered manner.
“I mean, this man… he killed ordinary people…”
“Not ordinary people, but a woman who killed three young children and a man who fell in love with such a woman and abandoned his wife.”
As the man interjected, Igor fell silent. Then Ruon spoke.
“I’m not here to hold you morally accountable for what you’ve done. If that were the case, I’d be no better than a common murderer myself. However, that aside, I don’t particularly feel like sharing the same space with you.”
He extended his finger towards the pouring rain outside and continued.
“Being in here with you is a bit suffocating. Can you just leave?”
While saying this, Ruon took out a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it towards the man.
The man caught the silver coin lightly and smiled slightly.
“Well, sure. A suffocating atmosphere isn’t my cup of tea either.”
Standing up and wrapping himself in the black cloak that was lying on the floor, the man flipped the hood over his head.
“Well then, I’ll be on my way. I hope you have a comfortable rest.”
With those final words, the man passed by the group and moved out into the pouring rain.
Or, that’s what it seemed like he was going to do.
Suddenly, the man came to a sudden stop in his tracks, slowly turning his head and squinting his eyes.
His gaze settled not on Igor, who had his eyes wide open, but on Ruon and his expressionless face.
“Why aren’t you leaving? Is one silver coin not enough?”
Looking at Ruon, who asked bluntly, the man slowly opened his mouth.
“—It was such a distant memory that I almost missed it.”
Before Ruon could respond, the man spun his body with incredible speed and extended his hand.
Ruon caught the black object flying towards his forehead with his right hand.
Snap!
The terrifying sound of sizzling flesh could be heard.
As the searing pain in his palm made Ruon drop whatever he had grabbed, the man who had rushed towards him forcefully rammed his shoulder into Ruon’s chest.
Staggering back a few steps from the substantial impact, Ruon immediately drew his sword to retaliate. However, noticing that Becky and Igor were obstructing his range of movement, he swiftly swung his sword to push back the man’s chest.
“Ugh!”
The man grit his teeth and tried to steady himself. Unsuccessful, he ended up doing a mid-air somersault to regain his footing.
Chasing after the man who was thrown outside, Ruon stepped out into the pouring rain and tilted his head as he asked, “What’s with the sudden attack?”
Facing Ruon’s stern gaze, the man replied.
“You’re the one who killed Vilto and Delmiel.”
