Chapter 21

“If what Belita said is true, picking Option 3 is an instant Bad Ending.”

-Exactly. If Hereis thinks people died because of his mistake, his mental state is 100% gone.

-Ugh, the protagonist is such a sensitive soul.

-Still, he’s the protagonist, we gotta embrace him.

-To play it safe, should we go with Option 2?

-Option 1 seems okay too?

“Ah~ but I’m actually curious about how Belita would respond if I picked Option 3.”

-LOL this is the right call.

-What a wise young man.

It didn’t take long for Mo Je-won to make his decision.

“Okay! Then we’re going with the safe route! I have no choice since everyone wants it.”

-Making us the excuse, typical.

Knight Commander Frederick, whom the protagonist is crying out for, has actually already left this village. He left without informing anyone, so even the protagonist is unaware. Therefore, that third option earlier was indeed a trap.

‘In the game, he was mocked for being a professional no-show.’

It was a nickname given to him because he always disappeared with some excuse whenever he was needed. I can’t say I don’t understand the developers’ perspective, though. If you put a balance-breaking character into every episode, the story would never progress. Still, they maintained some plausibility by setting Frederick’s character as someone whose natural talent led to a default state of overconfidence, arrogance, and complacency.

“I need to go to the Commander immediately. Dammit.”

The protagonist irritably sheathed his sword and vanished from my sight in an instant.

‘Now then…’

“U-Uwaaaaaah… M-Mommy!”

Left all alone with me in the middle of the forest, the child burst into a wail that seemed loud enough to leave the forest itself.

“I’ll find your mom for you, so stop crying.”

“R-Really?”

“Of course.”

Actually, I had been planning to go steal the Holy Relic right now.

‘I can’t exactly commit a robbery while dragging a kid along.’

I couldn’t just abandon him here, either. Even if it delayed me a bit, I had to take him back.

It was a good thing I checked her name earlier. Following the navigation, I soon spotted a woman pacing anxiously at the path leading to the mountainside.

“Mommy!”

“Roy!”

It was a touching reunion. The woman, holding the child’s hand tightly, bowed repeatedly to express her gratitude. I waved back at the child, who kept looking back to wave even as they left, and just as I was about to head back toward my original goal, several pop-ups appeared at once.

‘Oh…’

Earlier, the protagonist’s reputation went up, but this time it was mine. Whether it’s Shop Points or anything else, more is always better. Feeling much more at ease, I purchased one more location tracker.

Ilian Ruthi. He was the figure mentioned in Kalat and Emily’s conversation yesterday, and also the commander of the Berha Knights. That meant if I used the tracker on Ilian Ruthi, I could find the location of their barracks.

I climbed higher, passing burning houses set ablaze by magic beasts knocking over torches. As I neared the summit, I saw the flags of the Berha Knights. There were no sentries standing guard. It made sense; with magic beasts running wild, they wouldn’t have the luxury. Entering the Knights’ barracks without interference, I sensed a presence.

“…I heard something happened…”

I quickly hid behind a tree and focused on the voices.

“It’s mostly settled, but there’s a report that a few magic beasts were missed…”

“What? Then does that mean the beasts went down into the village?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I have no excuse…”

Judging by the white robes covering their bodies, they seemed to be priests. Based on the information I was hearing, it seemed they were only just now grasping the situation.

‘Even though everyone who was meant to die would have died by now.’

Due to the Knights’ blunder, there would normally have been many casualties. If I hadn’t evacuated them, the woodcutters would have all been sacrificed to the beasts the Knights missed.

“What about the Holy Relic?”

“I’m told it was entrusted to the Vice-Commander.”

“Dammit, where is the Vice-Commander?”

“In his tent. His chronic illness must have flared up again…”

Muttering something, the priests hurried off somewhere.

‘So the Holy Relic is in the Vice-Commander’s tent?’

I had luckily obtained the necessary information, but without knowing the Vice-Commander’s name, it was only half-useful. I couldn’t use the location tracker.

‘In times like these, there’s nothing like a bit of manual labor.’

It would be a hassle, but I’d have to check them one by one. If it was the Vice-Commander’s tent, it would stand out significantly from the regular ones, just as the protagonist’s had. Keeping that in mind, I moved deeper into the barracks.

‘Is it this one?’

There were two tents larger than the others, excessively decorated with gold patterns, standing side by side. They were undoubtedly the quarters of high-ranking officials. Likely one belonged to the Commander and the other to the Vice-Commander. Holding my breath, I stepped into a tent as stealthily as possible.

Wheeze— wheeze—

A steady, heavy sound of breathing could be heard.

‘This must be it.’

Since they said Ilian was out, this breathing must belong to the Vice-Commander. I had taken a fifty-fifty shot and hit the jackpot on the first try.

‘They said his chronic illness flared up.’

If he was that sick, he wouldn’t wake up easily. I lowered my guard slightly and began searching the interior.

‘Where is it?’

The name of the Holy Relic I was looking for was the Sacred Armor of Bamea. Likely, the Church only thought of this armor as an item that simply prevented magic beasts from approaching.

‘Because they don’t know how to use it correctly.’

It was understandable. Even if I were in the Church’s shoes, I wouldn’t dare experiment recklessly with a precious Holy Relic. But the Sacred Armor wasn’t such a simple object. The in-game description was as follows:

A relic that manipulates the aggression of magic beasts. Even among the Holy Relics appearing in the game, it possessed undoubtedly the most absurd performance.

‘Fitting for an item that can only be used in the later stages of the game.’

The Church, needing to cover up the details of the tragedy caused by the relic, eventually chose to seal it away. Later, in the end-game content, there’s an event where you search the place where it was sealed. The Sacred Armor of Bamea is recovered there by the protagonist and the Saintess, and it’s put to great use afterward.

‘With the Sacred Armor, faking being a Saintess won’t be hard.’

When people are in danger from a magic beast attack, if I manipulate this to make it look like I forced the beasts to retreat…

‘I’ll look like a savior.’

Reaching that conclusion, I clenched my fists and began to scour the tent.

‘Please let it be here…!’

If I can’t find it here, I’ll have to insist I’m the Saintess based solely on the fact that I can see the future…

‘And that won’t be easy.’

The reason was clear. The fact that I was gritting my teeth to stay on this route and save every single person was tied to this. It was the prophecy regarding the Saintess. It’s an ancient prophecy that anyone associated with the Church knows.

When the blood-stained Empire pays its price,
The continent shall be dyed in darkness.
Yet do not yield even as the darkness encroaches.
For a noble savior, inheriting the will of the heavens, shall appear to thwart that foul tragedy.

I didn’t remember it exactly, but it was something along those lines. The point was, to claim “I am the person in this prophecy!”, I absolutely had to show an act of “thwarting a tragedy.”

‘Would merely telling them “There’s an attack coming, so prepare” count as thwarting a tragedy?’

Broadly speaking, it might, but imagine the difficulty of execution. If some ordinary maid says something like that, would the people and the Knights actually believe her and move? I’d just be called a crazy woman. Even if they realized I was right later, it would be after everyone was already dead. Even Ivanke was ultimately recognized as the Saintess not because of her prophetic abilities, but because of her Divine Power.

‘When light erupts from your hands and turns magic beasts into a handful of ash, how could anyone say you’re not the Saintess?’

In other words, I had to show them something visible. The Sacred Armor’s ability wasn’t visible to the naked eye either, but if I staged the situation well, I could produce an effect equal to Divine Power.

‘It looked like a pocket watch…’

Despite its name, the Sacred Armor of Bamea wasn’t actual holy armor. It was named that in the sense that it “protects” one from magic beasts. In reality, it was small enough to fit in one hand. Being small made it easy to steal, but conversely, hard to find.

‘It’s not here.’

I checked the items one by one, but it was nowhere to be seen. The only place left was… where the Vice-Commander was sleeping.

‘Don’t tell me he’s holding it while he sleeps…?’

That “don’t tell me” turned out to be the truth. Two hands were resting peacefully on his stomach. And between them was a single round object. I ended up squeezing my eyes shut.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Like picking up an item in a horror game without waking the monster, I extracted the Sacred Armor with an incredibly cautious touch.

“Mmm…”

…!

Th-thankfully, he didn’t wake up. Though my heart nearly stopped. Having successfully brought the relic out of the tent, I evaded the eyes of the knights and priests and escaped into the forest. Only after carefully checking my surroundings several times did I cautiously pull out the Sacred Armor.

‘First, open the lid…’

I pressed the side button once, and the glass cover opened with a click. With two needles, one long and one short, it looked like a watch, yet the 16-point compass rose made it look like a compass as well. Since I had operated it directly in the game, my hands remembered how to use it.

‘Back then, I wondered why they put a useless mini-game in a text-based game.’

To think it would serve as practice for the real thing… Life truly is unpredictable.

‘Anyway.’

Let’s get it working. I positioned the long needle to the north and long-pressed the button…

Kieeee—

The needles began to spin with a metallic scraping sound.

‘Oh.’

The long needle stopped, pointing southwest.

‘Does this mean the nearest magic beast is over there?’

Usually, the closer a beast was, the more frantically the needle would tremble, but since it was calm, it seemed none were nearby. This time, I touched the short needle.

‘This must be the function the Church messed up.’

I tried turning the short needle clockwise.

‘As I thought, it won’t budge.’

The needle wouldn’t turn any further. It was already turned all the way.

‘No wonder the magic beasts were going wild.’

The ferocity level had been at maximum. I was about to turn it counter-clockwise but then hesitated.

‘To pretend to save people during the second raid, it’s better not to touch this right now.’

Even if it meant putting my own life at risk.

‘I’ll just have to avoid them.’

Since I could see the beasts’ locations, it wasn’t impossible. Moreover, while it’s true magic beasts target the Holy Relic first, fundamentally, highly feral beasts prefer places with many people. If there’s a densely populated area near the relic, the aggro will be drawn there first. Therefore, wandering around alone with the relic wasn’t as dangerous as it sounded. Besides…

-The reputation farming is sweet lol

-Arianne’s affection is rising so fast

-Honestly, is this just the Arianne route?

Looking at the screen, I saw the protagonist’s subordinate reporting that almost all the magic beasts had been dealt with.

‘That means I’m safe at least until the second raid begins.’

Tucking the Holy Relic safely into my shirt, I successfully slipped away from the Berha Knights’ barracks and arrived at the ruined streets.

‘What a mess.’

Carcasses of magic beasts were scattered everywhere across the streets. A dark purple, disgusting, sticky fluid was splattered wherever I stepped. It was the blood of magic beasts.

‘On the other hand, there are no human bloodstains.’

It seemed the protagonist’s group had defended well. Just as I was feeling relieved, a familiar voice called out from the distance.

“Why are you still here? I believe I told everyone to gather at the center?”

That’s what I wanted to say. Why was Arianne here…?