Ch.81Chapter 81. The Papal States is a Place of Only Good People

After dinner with Airan, a rather uneventful day passed, and by the time evening turned to night, the Hero’s party gathered one by one in the teleport room of the Imperial Palace.

“Why are you sticking to our porter?”

“I just happened to stand next to him by chance.”

“If it’s by chance, that’s not very pleasant. Move away.”

“No, it’s a delightfully fortunate coincidence.”

Lucy found Lin who was standing behind the magic circle.

After pushing aside Arsil and Naidrian to find Lin, she was about to smile brightly when she spotted Tigria already attached to his left side and growled again.

“The spot next to the porter is mine.”

“Yes, that’s why I left the right side open. I’m satisfied with the left.”

The Hero was momentarily speechless at the mage’s seemingly generous words.

Since Tigria wasn’t giving up her position next to Lin but was making it look like she was yielding to Lucy, the Hero couldn’t argue and ended up standing where the mage suggested.

“Hero, Saint, Archer, Mage, Porter… Hmm, one person is missing.”

Airan, checking the Hero’s party members, tilted her head while looking at her list.

Naidrian raised her hand to explain.

“Commander-in-Chief. The Shield Knight is not participating in this trip to the Holy Nation due to injuries from the last Imperial Palace attack.”

“I know that much. I’m talking about another party member, not that reckless Shield Knight.”

“What? Who…”

Naidrian’s voice trailed off, immediately becoming timid at Airan’s irritated response.

Busy reading the room, she fingered the letter from Investor Lee in her pocket, trying to boost her confidence.

While everyone looked puzzled, only Porter Lin calmly waited for the last party member.

The one who absolutely could not be left out of this journey.

“I was already here?”

The voice came from the ceiling.

While others looked up with a start, Lin and Airan kept their eyes on the front of the magic circle.

Ravin, who had quietly descended from the ceiling, stood there brushing her bangs aside.

Though it had only been about four days since they’d last seen her, her hair had grown quite long.

As the thief tucked her hair behind her ear, she caught the porter’s gaze and grinned, waving her hand.

“Hey!”

“Ravin!”

Arsil, standing in front of the porter, called out happily, but Ravin ignored her and approached Lin.

“Truth be told, I’ve been waiting for a man like you for a long time.”

That was a secret code only Lin and Ravin knew.

Even in Sewage Alley, it was something Ravin constantly said to Lin when they were alone, something even Arsil didn’t know about.

Ravin smiled triumphantly, and Lin also chuckled softly behind his mask.

“Move.”

Lucy and Tigria, who had faintly heard his laughter, couldn’t refuse Ravin’s arrogant command.

After they stepped back, Ravin immediately stood beside Lin and began writing on his palm.

‘Confirmed what you asked for last time.’

Lin continued the written conversation on Ravin’s hand.

‘Please reconfirm what it was.’

‘Confirmed priests with deep faith and learning. Not many. Just 5. Good character too.’

Five people. Only five who truly serve and worship the Goddess.

With the Holy Nation having close to a thousand priests, it was a bitter reality.

‘First try to buy with money, then appeal to sense of duty for those who refuse.’

‘Understood.’

Lucy, thinking they were just playing with each other’s fingers, sighed impatiently, but an urgent conversation was actually taking place between them.

‘When do we share with Arsil?’

Lin felt a headache coming at Ravin’s question.

During their time in Sewage Alley, the Saint’s straightforwardness had been a reliable support, but now it was more of an obstacle.

If Arsil were like an ordinary person, they could simply stay behind as a trio and tell her everything.

But no matter how they thought about it, both Lin and Ravin could only envision a scene where she would fly into a rage and directly ask the Holy Nation people about the truth.

‘When the opportunity arises.’

‘…Alright.’

As the written conversation ended and Lin and Ravin nodded slightly in unison, Airan, confirming their signal, solemnly proclaimed:

“Although this is a journey for reorganization, we don’t know what dangers and variables may be lurking. Please remain vigilant and complete your mission!”

Tzzzzzzzzz

The Imperial Palace mages infused magic power, and the teleport magic circle began to glow.

Flash!

Through the dimming vision in the light, Airan opened her fan.

And placed the tip of it near her throat, just below her chin.

Another signal from the Commander-in-Chief.

The conclusion she had reached after a sleepless night of deep contemplation following dinner.

‘Eliminate the Pope for purification.’

Airan had chosen elimination over capture.

Since there was a very small chance in the DLC that a “capture” option would appear, Lin, confirming the signal, squeezed Ravin’s hand tightly.

Ravin also felt his rough hand and hardened her expression.

“Teleport!”

With a flash of light, the journey of vengeance began.

—

Why did they teleport in the middle of the night?

Arsil couldn’t understand.

Yesterday morning, Airan had told the Saint that they would depart for the Holy Nation a day after the mage and porter arrived.

Naturally expecting to spend the entire day and leave sometime the next day, she was flustered by the sudden order to prepare.

What’s more, a messenger came when she was alone, away from the cardinals, and kept rushing her, so she couldn’t even properly contact the Holy Nation.

On top of that, Ravin’s unexpected joining.

The Holy Nation was supposed to be a base for reorganization, but everything was proceeding as secretly and swiftly as if they were launching a surprise attack.

“Let’s move stealthily to the border like this.”

Therefore, the porter’s suggestion was very displeasing to Arsil.

The Holy Nation, a city-state serving the Goddess, considered magic a convenient heretical tool, so teleport magic circles were practically abandoned outside the border.

It was strange enough that they had arrived early without keeping to the time agreement, but now the mere porter was insisting on stealth, creating an atmosphere as if they were infiltrating an enemy country—naturally, she couldn’t be pleased.

“Why do we need to do that? If I just fire a flare with my holy power, the Holy Nation will come to get us.”

“Arsil is right. We’re not a special unit here to conquer the Holy Nation. The time we were supposed to arrive is different, and I don’t understand what this is all about.”

Though the Saint and Archer each had their say, their objections were drowned out by Ravin and Tigria.

“Strictly speaking, this isn’t the Holy Nation. It’s the outskirts. With magic beasts popping up everywhere we go, it can’t hurt to be careful like the porter says.”

“I agree. We even encountered them at Gillesman during the emergency evacuation, so I think it’s better to be careful.”

When magic beasts were mentioned, Lin tensed up along with the others.

According to the DLC content, party-scale battles would begin from this journey.

And on quite a large scale.

That meant demons, not just magic beasts, would appear.

Considering how much Lin had struggled to kill just one lower demon, a succubus, in Efaltherga before becoming an Item Master, he couldn’t help but be tense.

“Arsil, what kind of place is the Holy Nation?”

“…Are you talking to me?”

“I even called you by name, dummy.”

As they began moving with a silence full of discontent, Ravin deliberately spoke to the Saint.

Though Arsil was angry that Ravin was acting so casually after openly rejecting and annoying her all this time, she didn’t want to let go of this nostalgic feeling.

“As the name suggests, it’s a place with good people. You don’t even need to lock your doors at night. Even if thieves occasionally break in, people worry about how desperate they must have been rather than scolding them, and everyone pitches in to help.”

Behind his mask, Lin’s face contorted.

“But the higher-ups are a bit, no, extremely narrow-minded. They emphasize every day that not a single coin or grain of rice should be used for personal gain, so private armies are of course forbidden, but they even prevent people like me from paying for information about the outside world. Thanks to that, even now, when I’m in the Holy Nation, I have no way of hearing about what’s happening beyond the border.”

Ravin’s face also contorted in the darkness.

“Fool, the Holy Nation officially has no army. The Holy Knights of the Nation are the Pope’s private military group. Is it because you’re a Saint that you see the world so beautifully?”

When Ravin sneered, Arsil didn’t take it lightly this time.

“No matter how much you want to criticize me, don’t insult the Holy Nation. This is the place that showed me how to change my homeland.”

“…Are you serious?”

Both Lin and Ravin were taken aback by Arsil’s words.

Change it together with the Holy Nation?

Along with talk of bestowing Rinascien’s grace, it could be counted among the worst statements ever made.

But the two quickly deflated.

Whether it changed or not, the target was already gone.

Lin recognized two things from the conversation just now.

This simple-minded Saint had been completely cut off from information, playing along with superficial talk without proper investigation.

And judging by her careless mention of his alley, which was classified information, telling her the truth early would likely create an unfavorable variable.

It seemed best to create an opportunity right before the final battle to tell her, stimulating her anger to at least increase her combat power.

Arsil, displeased with Ravin’s serious tone, was about to flare up again.

“What is it about me that you’re so dissatisfied with…”

“D-don’t move!”

But before the Saint could finish her irritation, a group surrounded the Hero’s party.

“F-food! Hand over whatever food you have! If you don’t, we won’t hurt you!”

It was the most powerless threat he’d ever heard in his life.

Arsil, who was about to summon her holy power to punish those who interrupted her, opened her mouth when she saw the people surrounding the Hero’s party.

“Huh…?”

People with skin stretched over bones.

Clumsy expressions that couldn’t hide their innocence despite trying to look fierce.

Crude farming tools and makeshift torches burning with black smoke.

Under that light, the Goddess’s emblem sewn onto dirty, gray clothes stained with grime.

They were clearly Holy Nation citizens driven by three years of severe famine to take up farming tools.

“Hand over the food!”

This feeble threat was just a desperate plea from hunger.

Strange?

Even if tight, the Holy Nation should be implementing a rationing system?

Ravin’s bitter mockery painfully pierced Arsil’s ears as she stood dumbfounded.

“It seems… there are some nasty thieves in the Holy Nation? Even worse than me.”