Chapter 31

I knew why Arianne was so obsessed with becoming a Swordmaster.

‘Was it a late-game affection event? I’ve seen it there before.’

For generations, the head of Arianne’s family—the House of Blair—had been a Swordmaster. However, that prestigious streak had been broken starting with the current head, Arianne’s father.

“The Blair family being a prestigious house of swordsmanship is a thing of the past now.”

“Didn’t they say there was an excellent successor? To think they haven’t produced a Swordmaster yet, that’s truly…”

“I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the next generation.”

“Usually, once a line like that is broken, it’s over. Didn’t the Petra family ruin themselves the same way?”

Those were the insulting mocks she had overheard by chance at some party. The young Arianne had been deeply shocked to see her father’s face, resigned and unable to utter a single word in rebuttal. After that, it was only natural that she made it her goal to become a Swordmaster and proudly restore her family’s honor. However…

‘When a goal remains unfulfilled, it eventually turns into a curse.’

From her childhood to her adult years, Arianne had been crushed under that pressure. She wasn’t even aware that it was slowly eating away at her mind.

‘The point is, this is the kind of story you’re only supposed to hear after sharing a certain level of emotional connection with the protagonist and overcoming various incidents.’

At this stage, trying to pry into her reasons for wanting to be a Swordmaster would only trigger her defensiveness.

‘Advice or whatever won’t even reach her ears.’

So, for now, comfort was the right move.

“I haven’t known you for long, Sir Arianne, but I find your dedication to your goal quite admirable.”

“Is that so…?”

“Of course. However, giving yourself a little breathing room might actually help you reach that goal, so it would be wise to keep that in mind.”

“I will take your words to heart.”

Arianne replied with a faint smile, but she pointedly avoided the protagonist’s gaze.

-She’s totally sulking, isn’t she?

-Look at her face; she’s not going to talk to him for a while.

-Oh boy.

-It’s fine, it’s not like we’re going for the Arianne route anyway.

Well, if the relationship between the protagonist and the heroine soured, it was usually big news for me. However, with only five people, we had to resolve this demonic energy contamination. The protagonist and Arianne were essentially our core combatants; if they started clashing, we might end up dying miserable deaths in the County. I had to make them reconcile just enough without letting the affection level rise too high.

‘Teamwork is a serious matter.’

To break the awkward atmosphere, I intentionally raised my voice to a brighter tone.

“Sir Hereis was likely just worried about you, Sir Arianne, which is why his words came out a bit sharp. Right?”

“Yes, Sir Arianne. I’m sorry. I spoke too harshly.”

The protagonist took the opening to offer an apology, and fortunately, Arianne accepted it, looking a bit embarrassed as she twirled a lock of hair over her shoulder.

“It’s alright. My reaction was unnecessarily intense. It was nothing, really.”

“No, I was the one who went too far.”

“No, it was me…”

-What are these two doing?

Tell me about it. I interrupted their back-and-forth with a dry cough.

“Ahem! Well, if I see anything regarding the future, I’ll be sure to tell you.”

“Ah, thank you!”

Oh… This was the first time I’d received so many Shop Points at once.

‘Registering people for affection might be pretty important.’

Whether it ends in success or a mess, I should work hard on bewitching(?) people. Come to think of it, the matter of me stealing the knight’s uniform and impersonating one just sort of fizzled out. I suppose they figured none of that mattered if I was going to be hailed as a Saintess anyway.

“Now it really is just us.”

The porters who had helped us on our journey and the innkeeper who took us as their last guests had all fled. No one was left in the village but us. While a strange sense of emptiness washed over me in the middle of the deserted street, the protagonist spoke as he tightly secured the luggage onto the horses’ backs.

“I’m sorry, but we’ll have to travel on horseback from here. A carriage lacks mobility, and it would be difficult to respond to any potential threats.”

Up until now, I had ridden in the carriage alone. The reason was simple.

‘Do you think I know how to ride one?’

I’d tried it once at a tourist spot during a trip to Jeju Island, but that was it. How many modern people actually know how to ride a horse? I never had any interest in expensive hobbies like equestrianism. Therefore, since I couldn’t ride, I had to double up with someone from this point on…

“So, whose horse will you ride?”

Kalat was the first to shoot his hand up.

“Saintess! I am an incredible rider! I can escort you safely and comfortably!”

“Surely not as well as a knight. I’ve spent my entire life on horseback. A knight’s sense of balance is…”

“Sir Arianne! Knights train in swordsmanship; why are you training in riding?”

“Priest Kalat. Horsemanship is also one of a knight’s duties. One must be skilled enough to fire a bow and swing a sword from atop a horse.”

“Sir Ilian, stay out of this!”

“And why should I?”

“Considering the weight the horse has to bear, it would be better if the Saintess and I rode together—”

It was a total mess. Thinking efficiently, I wanted to side with Arianne. For the sake of the poor horse, wouldn’t it be better if the two lightest people rode together? However, in reality, I didn’t have a choice.

-It’s obviously going to be the protagonist, right?

-Duh, otherwise he’s not the main character lol.

-Is it finally time for a heart-pounding event with the Saintess?

‘Sigh… Can’t you guys just teach me how to ride a horse…?’

Right. Fat chance of that. I gave up and pointed at the protagonist.

“Ah. With Sir Hereis…”

Kalat’s shoulders slumped, his disappointment visible for all to see. Not that you were ever actually in the running, buddy.

…Of course Kalat is the one who loses 3 points.

‘Did you really want to ride together that badly?’

“To think I missed the chance to serve the Saintess from such close proximity…”

Maybe Kalat is the one who needs the most affection management. If his fanatical side keeps growing stronger, there’s no telling what kind of variables he might introduce.

‘At this rate, the day might come where he causes a disaster while claiming it’s “for my sake.”’

“You can hold my shoulder for balance as you climb up.”

I hadn’t noticed because I was distracted, but the protagonist was already waiting by the horse, down on one knee to make it easier for me to mount. I managed to get up and was just about to settle into the saddle when…

Snort!

“Whoa!”

“Oh my, Saintess!”

The horse suddenly shook its body as if rejecting me! Instinctively, I threw my arms around the horse’s neck, narrowly avoiding a fall. I stroked it a few times, pleading for it to calm down, and the animal eventually settled as if it hadn’t been agitated at all.

-She actually held on.

-I think the protagonist was trying to catch her lol.

-Man, if he’d caught her while falling, it would’ve been the perfect event. What a waste.

‘No, that was pure survival.’

I don’t care who you are—once you’re up on a horse that big, thoughts of romance or whatever go right out the window! You’re too busy clinging on for dear life.

‘If you fall, you’re looking at a fracture at best.’

Besides, there was no such affection event in the Saintess route.

“Saintess, is this truly your first time riding?”

I barely swallowed the urge to ask Kalat if he was being serious.

“You have a talent for horsemanship.”

…I wondered if it was just lip service, but since the one saying it was Arianne, it probably wasn’t. She wasn’t the type to say things she didn’t mean.

“Indeed. Especially since Sir Hereis’s horse is a warhorse with a rough temperament. Usually, such horses are fiercely loyal and won’t allow anyone but their master to mount them. To tame it in one go like that…”

No wonder the horse looked like it was in a bad mood before I even got on.

‘Then you should have warned me beforehand!’

“Even the horse recognized the Saintess! Though it is a shame—I was prepared to catch you!”

…For the sake of my own safety, it might actually be better to intentionally lower Kalat’s affection level.

“Ha… I had my suspicions, but this really is the worst-case scenario.”

After galloping for a while, we had reached the border of the County. Beyond the boundary, a faint, ominous purple energy surged like waves. If the outskirts were like this, the interior was obvious without even looking.

“It’s just as in the Saintess’s dream. The further in we go, the thicker the demonic energy will become.”

A sensation that entering would mean certain death dominated my entire body. The knights might endure for a bit, but Kalat and I? We’d probably last… maybe three seconds?

“This is definitely not Grade 7; it’s at least Grade 10 or higher. Plus, I can already smell the stench of death from here…”

Ilian spoke with a deep grimace. Arianne and the protagonist, feeling the same thing, nodded in agreement.

“There may be far more residents who failed to evacuate than we thought.”

“There have been cases where the corpses of those killed by demonic energy rot and trigger plagues, so let’s be cautious as we enter. Ah, Saintess and Priest Kalat, please wait here. With demonic energy at this concentration, it will be difficult for the two of you to endure.”

“That sounds great! Hehe, just the two of us… how exciting! Everyone, have a safe trip!”

“Wait a moment.”

As the three knights, having reached a swift conclusion, prepared to head into the fog of demonic energy, I hurriedly stopped them.

“You knights won’t last long in there either. You absolutely must come with me.”

“Excuse me? It will be dangerous for us as well, but we should be fine for about an hour.”

“No, that won’t do. And besides, I have a way.”

Arianne and the protagonist frowned, their expressions demanding an explanation.

“I can protect you from the demonic energy.”

“Wow~ The Saintess can even do something like that.”

Ilian, knowing I wasn’t a real Saintess, spoke sarcastically, but I pressed on regardless.

“In exchange, you must follow one rule.”

“A rule…?”

“Don’t stray too far. Just stay close to me as we walk.”

“Is that all…?”

-Hey, Saintess, what happens if they move away?

-It’s probably better if we don’t hear the answer lol.

“Oh, marvelous! As long as I am with the Saintess, I can go anywhere!”

The protagonist and Arianne still looked suspicious. Naturally. It was hard to believe just based on words.

The Holy Relic Ilian had brought me, Ludvican’s Full Moon, was in the form of a necklace, which I wore beneath my cloak. I reached inside, pretending to adjust my clothes, and manipulated the relic. With a mechanical click, a blue semicircular shield expanded around me.

“Ooh! Did you create this blue barrier, Saintess?”

The protagonist, Arianne, and Kalat stared at the shield with wide eyes.

“Haha, something like that.”

“Truly, I can’t feel the demonic energy inside here at all. With this, we can move around safely even inside.”

“It’s incredible. To completely block it out…”

“I’m not sure how I did it either, but I just had a feeling I could, so I tried. I’m glad it worked.”

“As expected of the Saintess!”

Not for the first time, I realized having a hype-man like Kalat makes things easier. He shuts down everyone else’s doubts from the start using the miraculous logic of “because she’s the Saintess.”

‘He’ll be quite useful moving forward.’

“If we have to stay within this area, we can’t use three horses. Since there are five of us, we’ll ride in pairs, and one person will walk.”

“Running will be out of the question then.”

And so, paired up—the protagonist and I, Kalat and Arianne—we rode the horses while Ilian walked beside us as we stepped into the thick fog.

“Can you even see anything?”

Kalat asked, trembling as he clung to Arianne’s back.

“As long as we don’t lose our sense of direction, we should be able to make it somehow.”

Arianne unfolded a map and said she would lead us to the nearest village first. She showed confidence, mentioning she had been to the County before, so we followed her without complaint. After walking for about thirty minutes, we successfully reached our destination.

Only, it was served with a side of a massive number of rotting corpses…

-Ugh…

-I think we need a mosaic filter.

“Urgh!”

“Are you alright, Priest Kalat?”

“I’m sorry. I expected it, but for it to be this gruesome…”

Since even foul odors were treated as “impure” and blocked by the Holy Relic’s function, we couldn’t actually smell the horrific stench of death, but Kalat’s reaction wasn’t an exaggeration at all. Even when I’d seen this in the game illustrations, it was gross enough to make me spam the skip button.

I tried to turn my head away, but it wasn’t easy when the entire area was a field of bodies.