Ruon, never one to postpone a request, immediately stood up from his seat.
Seeing the table filled with beer glasses, Markus looked concerned and spoke.
“You seem to have had quite a lot to drink. Are you alright?”
Ruon smirked.
“Wasn’t it you who said we needed to meet the deadline? Do you have time to relax?”
“No, I don’t.”
Taking a sigh, Markus shook his head, and Ruon responded with a wry smile.
“Then let’s go.”
Promptly leaving the inn, the two of them headed towards the pebbled shoreline, away from the docks.
Walking along the uneven and poorly maintained path, Markus spoke.
“This is an additional request, but could you help me find my ring?”
“Your ring?”
“Remembering that harpies love shiny things, I threw the ring I was wearing in the opposite direction and ran away. I’m ashamed to say it now, but that ring…It was an heirloom from my father.”
Embarrassed about abandoning his father’s heirloom and running away, Markus sniffled as Ruon replied.
“As long as the harpies’ nest isn’t situated on a cliff or something, I’ll take a look.”
“Thank you.”
Amidst the crashing waves of the angry gray sea, the two men continued walking forward.
Markus, despite having run away in a panic before, was quite adept at guiding them. Though, they really only needed to walk along the coastline, so it wasn’t a difficult task.
After a while, they could see a small ship anchored in the distance.
Markus suddenly looked pale, perhaps remembering the moment he ran away.
“I… I can’t go any further…”
“I’ll call for you once the job is done.”
Ruon replied curtly and strode towards the ship.
With his senses heightened, Ruon noticed some monsters on a rocky hill behind the ship.
‘They look grotesque.’
Ruon frowned at the sight of the creature with the face of an adult woman and the body of an eagle, grabbing his bow from behind his back.
Placing his hand into the quiver attached to his thigh, he chuckled, finding only a few arrows left inside.
Come to think of it, he had been resolving almost everything with the Holy Sword lately.
He cleared his mind after deciding that he needed to head to the blacksmith. Then, stopping at a spot where he judged the harpies would be within range, he quickly nocked an arrow.
A moment of focus.
As his fingertips loosened, the arrow, which had been tightly drawn, cut through the air in an instant.
The arrow, arcing down, pierced through the torso of the harpy in the middle.
Ki-ee-ee-eek!
The harpies’ companions let out screams and flapped their wings, retreating in fear.
In the meantime, arrows flew at regular intervals, claiming the lives of four more harpies.
Ki-ee-eek!
The harpies, noticing Ruon’s presence, spread their wings and took to the air.
Perhaps wary of the arrows, they didn’t immediately charge, choosing instead to circle over Ruon’s head and let out a series of deafening screeches.
“That’s all the arrows I’ve got, monsters.”
Ruon confidently placed his bow on the ground and raised his index finger towards the sky.
A harpy screeched and swooped down, razor-sharp claws outstretched.
It was a quick attack from the winged monster, but Ruon’s fists were even quicker.
Thwack!
With a fierce punch, the harpy’s face shattered and it crashed to the ground, blood splattering in the air.
Ki-ee-eek!
Even with their human-like faces, the harpies seemed to possess intelligence no higher than that of scavenging birds. Driven by the excitement of the scent of blood, they forgot their fear and charged towards Ruon.
‘Come on, then.’
Ruon drew the Holy Sword without hesitation and swung his arm.
With each sweep of the Holy Sword through the air, several harpies fell to the ground like autumn leaves.
‘Why are they so weak?’
Apart from their sharp claws, the harpies were nothing more than birds of prey in Ruon’s eyes.
Unbeknownst to him, the collective wails of the harpies created a faint curse that could confuse listeners.
However, it had no effect on Ruon, who could shrug off even a banshee’s scream.
The massacre-like carnage only came to an end when harpy corpses covered the ground.
As Ruon deeply embedded the Holy Sword into the final harpy’s torso, a sense of fulfillment spread throughout his body.
It had been a while since he’d killed the troll that blocked the Coleman Bridge and last leveled up.
“What’s this?”
Ruon, as per usual, was about to allocate bonus stats when he noticed a new option.
‘Holy Power?’
Over the past few years, he’d leveled up dozens of times, but this was the first time he had encountered such a change, so he paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.
Holy Power, conceptually, was a kind of miracle that manifests through genuine belief in a deity, and it is fundamentally different from magic, even if they may appear similar in their brilliance.
This was the limited understanding Ruon had of Holy Power, and as a man of little to no faith, it was far more alien to him than a monster with a bird’s body and human head.
‘Was it because he carried the Holy Sword?’
With no other possibilities coming to mind, he invested his bonus stats into Holy Power, thinking it was worth a try.
At that moment, a tingling sensation surged through Ruon’s mind. He sensed that he could utilize the power of the Holy Sword in a new way, rather than simply using it as he had before.
Without hesitation, he gently gripped the hilt of the Holy Sword. Then, a faint light emerged from the pommel, and in an instant, it formed a shimmering, translucent energy field that enveloped his body.
‘Finally.’
Acquiring a worthwhile shield for the first time since arriving in this game world, a faint smile appeared on Ruon’s face. He raised his voice loudly towards the rocks where Markus was hiding.
“You can come out now!”
***
Luckily, the harpy’s nest was located behind a rocky hill, not on a cliff.
Ruon unexpectedly found some profit there, as the nest was filled with all kinds of shiny trinkets, seemingly proving Markus’s words.
Although most of them were useless, there were some valuable items, like ruby and emerald gems the size of fingernails and pendants with exquisite patterns, which Ruon didn’t fail to collect.
During the process, Ruon discovered a smooth gold ring and handed it to Markus.
“Is this it?”
Markus nodded vigorously, his face flushed with emotion.
“Oh, that’s right. Oh, my God…I’m sorry, dad.”
After ransacking the nest and with no reason to linger further, the two men headed back to the coast with the chests they salvaged.
Thanks to Ruon’s extraordinary strength, carrying two chests on each shoulder like it was nothing, Markus was saved having to make several round trips. When they arrived at their destination, Markus handed over a substantial leather pouch.
“Until yesterday, I thought I was the unluckiest person in the world, but meeting a mercenary like you makes me have to rethink that.”
Feeling pleased with the hefty pouch, Ruon smiled lightly.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Markus clapped his hands and said, “Oh, my goodness. I haven’t even asked for your name. It’s not really the kind of question to pose when parting ways, but may I ask for it?”
“Ruon.”
Turning away from the brief conversation, Ruon headed straight to the forge to order arrows and have his leather armor inspected, then headed back to the inn.
By then, the sun was setting beyond the horizon.
***
It had been two days since the turbulent sea calmed down.
The bustling dock was now filled with ships preparing to set sail.
Among them was a ship whose bow was decorated with a statue of a woman with a benevolent look on her face, a cargo ship bound for Redini, home of the Grand Church of Tibella.
As the sails unfurled and the ship, with its back to the wind, slowly moved forward, Igor raised his voice.
“Finally, we’re setting sail!”
Turning his head slightly, Ruon scanned the faces of the people on deck.
Most of them appeared ordinary, but he noticed some knights armed with maces and clad in plate armor, as well as several priests like Igor.
‘Are they paladins and priests?’
Ruon’s curiosity was evident on his face.
Reading the curiosity on Ruon’s face, Igor replied.
“They’re likely individuals who went on missions and are now returning. They’re usually handling incidents in the church or confronting demons.”
As Luon nodded in agreement, a knight strode up to them, clattering to a halt.
The well-built knight stood in front of Luon and raised his helmet.
“I can sense the power of the Mother in your sword.”
He added, “If you don’t mind, could you share the story behind that sword and your connection to it?”
The knight’s voice was polite but forceful.
‘This is a bit bothersome.’
Ruon let out a small sigh.
As he thought about it, he realized that quite a few people had recognized the power of the Holy Sword: Belducias’s minions, the Master of the Tower, Igor, and now the knight in front of him.
Until now, those individuals he’d encountered had either turned out to be enemies and killed or had little interest in the Holy Sword, so there had been no need for a lengthy explanation. However, Igor and the knight seemed curious, especially because they could sense the divine power in the sword.
Ruon spoke.
“I got it after killing a demon’s minion.”
“A demon, you say?”
“Belducias.”
The knight’s gaze turned heavy at the brief response.
“You’ve become entangled with a dreadful existence.”
Though the knight seemed like he wanted to inquire further, he noticed Ruon’s resolute expression and slowly nodded.
“I beg your pardon. As a warrior who has devoted myself to my Mother’s will for a long time, I shouldn’t harbor inappropriate emotions.”
‘What was that about?’
As Ruon watched the knight return to where his comrades were with a slight bow of his head, Igor whispered to him.
“It seems hard to believe that you obtained a relic just by killing a demon’s minion. To be honest, I’ve had similar questions. I don’t know if I should say this, but, Ruon, you seem to have… little faith?”
“So, you don’t think I’m faithful in the slightest?”
Seeing Igor cough repeatedly as if he had been hit, Ruon shrugged his shoulders.
“There’s no need to be surprised. It’s true.”
“Ru-Ruon-sama!”
Ignoring Igor’s startled exclamation, Ruon mumbled softly to himself.
“We’ll find out soon enough. Just what Tibella wants.”
