episode_0007

Two months passed by quicker than expected.

Most of the time was spent traveling between cities, but with my mind preoccupied with various thoughts, I would arrive at my destination in no time.

Upon reaching the final destination, Bolle, I immediately spotted a wild boy running around.

Since all the people were faithful followers of the Eupora Church, he must have been diligently attending church as well.

I waved my hand to call him over and asked, “Are you a child who attends the church?”

“Yes.”

“Good timing. Can you tell me what has been happening at the church for the past two months?”

“Um… do you want me to speak honestly?”

The boy hesitated for a moment, then quickly nodded. It seemed like he already knew a lot for his age.

But he was a good conversationalist. I handed him a piece of jerky.

At first, he was weighing his pride against the jerky, but eventually, after offering him another piece, he knelt down and started sharing what he knew.

After filtering out his verbose and somewhat biased content, the story went something like this:

Bolle, a city on the outskirts, had a laid-back charm to it. In reality, it lacked any notable features, being squeezed out of the region in its own way. If one were to choose a landmark building for the city, the tall spire of the church stood out as a prominent choice.

The interior murals were impressive, the church bells rang melodiously, and it was a place I frequented, or so I thought. These were some of the reasons I mentioned, but they were all feeble justifications. The truth was, I couldn’t find anything substantial to promote about the city.

However, one day, a special girl entered the church.

A wandering knight—whose name was unknown, so the children of the church casually named him—brought a girl with him. Curious as children often are, they flocked to see this mysterious girl and were left speechless.

The incessant chatter of the children abruptly ceased as they gazed at her in awe. While the other girls cooed over her cuteness and wanted to pinch her chubby cheeks, the boys encountered unfamiliar emotions for the first time.

As days passed, the situation changed slightly.

If she had only been cute on the surface, it might have ended there. But the girl was not only adorable but also intelligent, earning praises from the priests and deacons of the church.

Picking up on the compliments from the church officials, the children couldn’t help but envy and admire her, as she excelled in the various tasks and duties assigned to them, and her behavior was impeccable. She even had a clear voice, which added to her popularity.

Envy and admiration. With these mixed feelings, Lycia quickly rose to stardom at the center of the church.

However, as a superstar, there was something inevitable that came along with it.

“Hey, can you wait a moment?”

“Huh?”

“I have something to tell you.”

It was the emergence of a toxic fandom.

While the jealous ones could get away with throwing a few punches at the pillow, receiving attention from adults and basking in their beauty, the other side was different.

There was a child who had seen it somewhere, picking flowers and scattering them around Lycia.

And there was another child who borrowed a horse from the stable and tried to attract attention by saying that he would let them pet it nicely.

For now… I decided to think that it was all in the pure hearts of the children.

For boys, a flower that can be obtained without any financial burden was a sufficient sign of kindness, and in a world where cars were sports cars, a horse was like a fancy imported car.

Just as things that resonate with boys like transforming robots or fluorescent dinosaurs usually do, it was not unreasonable to think that attracting attention by using such cool things was possible.

But the other party was not good.

It would have been more likely to confess to Father Pippin, unfortunately.

“Want to have stew in our room?”

“Sorry, I still have a lot of work to do.”

“You can take a day off, right? Besides, this stew has twice as much meat in it.”

“Yeah, but still, I’m sorry.”

Making medieval-style remarks that wouldn’t even work, turning sullenly. Almost every boy went through this process at least once in the past two months.

And so, the boys of the church reached their current state.

“Things like that can happen. Cheer up.”

“Things don’t always go as we want. Let’s have a cool drink together after work. We need to vent.”

In the end, the boys confirmed their tearful friendship with each other, felt the bitterness of life, and had to comfort themselves by drinking water or alcohol.

So far, this is the story of Lycia’s current situation that I came back to see and hear.

Even after the content I wanted to know was over, the boy started his defense, saying that the grapes were probably seedless anyway, but I just brushed it off and moved on.

Anyway, I found out that things were going well until the part where I left.

That’s enough, I guess.

Two months ago.

I was able to safely arrive in the northern city that was calling for reinforcements from all directions.

I wasn’t worried about being late because my horse was fast, but fortunately, I was able to arrive on time. If I had been a little late, there would have been nowhere to go.

A few days later, barbarians were swarming all around because of the commotion.

I couldn’t help but admire the sight from the city walls.

“Kyung, what do you think?”

“Ah, the whole world is barbaric…”

“I’m not asking for personal opinions, I’m asking about the chances of winning.”

That’s what the story was about.

A while ago, there was a warrior among the barbarians who had been respected and held a high position among them, who had been driven out of the city.

They retreated, saying ‘let’s see next time’, and in reality, unlike in boys’ comics, ‘let’s see’ didn’t mean becoming a star in the sky and disappearing, but it meant that we would really see each other again. Promises are precious.

To make matters worse, most of the city’s soldiers were temporarily out of town.

They were called back, but they couldn’t teleport to the city in an instant, so they had to quickly gather people around by sprinkling gold.

The barbarians surrounded the city. Before the actual conflict, there was a chance to talk them out of it.

I am a noble knight and a free man. The noble lord who fainted from high blood pressure wouldn’t fit in this situation, so it was time for me, a knight with a proud name, to step forward.

“Is there a representative here?”

“I’m here!”

As the unanimous negotiator, the true knight of this era, aka Bolle, appeared.

I climbed the city wall to have the best conversation possible to send the barbarians back. And after some time, the result of the negotiation came out.

“What do you want?”

“We want land and gold. We also want valuable items.”

“Go eat dirt!”

“You guys don’t even seem worth talking to. You seem like uncultured swine.”

“There’s nothing you barbarians can’t say. I’ll personally put all of you in your place.”

In the end, despite a valiant effort, everyone here knew that the task was impossible from the start.

With revenge as the primary goal, there was no end to the insults and cursing exchanged between us. I definitely didn’t do anything wrong.

Now that things had come to this, it was time to prepare for battle. I said to the young cleric beside me,

“…Subtitle. The sacred dew of Actium.”

“Yes, here it is.”

The power of explosion entered my grasp. With just this, I felt confident that I could overcome anything.

However, the process of battling the barbarians was far from smooth.

“Listen! The Europa god watches over us. He will grant us victory!”

“Indeed, losing faith means death. Raise the weapons of our faith, warriors!”

Until the battle began, there was an unwarranted confidence building within me. The exhilaration created by the countless cries was intoxicating.

But that illusion shattered in less than half a day.

“Europa, you mad charlatan- Ugh!”

“Uwaaah, aaaaahhh!!!”

The soldiers stumbled on the meadow, and those who fell to the ground weakly could not rise again.

While the battle could have ended in victory, not everyone could stand on both feet as they did at the beginning.

Nevertheless, victory was victory.

As the soldiers summoned by the viscount arrived late, the enemies fled like a swarm of bees.

“Reinforcements? Why now?!”

“This time, consider yourself lucky. Hah!”

“Look! They’re retreating. We have won!”

The faith that had been plummeting like a stock graph miraculously rebounded and landed on a triumphant rise.

Finally, the battle ended, and the time for the victors’ privilege, the enjoyable settlement, arrived.

The scattered weapons and ownerless equipment on the ground had magically disappeared into their respective pockets.

After collecting the promised rewards from the viscount who had desperately called for our help, this incident would come to an end.

Hearing the jingling sound of the heavy purse that had been silent for a long time, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Greed may be taught as a bad thing in the church, but I believe that moderate greed can breathe vitality into life and is good for health.

Anyway, as I joyfully imagined pouring a drink and enjoying delicious food, it was time to unfold the wings of imagination for a toast.

“After returning from the north, can I stop by this church once more?”

Yes, I made that promise.

Suddenly remembering the promise I made with Lycia, I stood up again and headed south, where I had originally planned to take a break for a while.

A promise is a promise. It wasn’t a particularly difficult request.

And at the end of the short journey, when I arrived in Bolle, what I saw was the chaos created by the little rascals.

It was truly a good time.

“Lycia won’t be liked by anyone anyway! Hmph!”

“That’s enough. There’s somewhere I need to go, so I’ll be on my way.”

“You’re leaving? Oh, thank you!”

After giving the little one an extra piece of jerky as a gesture of appreciation for their hard work, I stood up from my seat.

It was time to return to the church as promised.