episode_0048

“Run!!”

“Up! Watch out for the sky above!”

Warnings pouring in from all sides.

It was difficult to deal with monsters that jumped from the ground, but it was even harder to deal with monsters that jumped high and rushed at you.

“Damn, I can’t see very well, I’m going crazy.”

I checked the condition of the struggling party members and gave them buffs.

A round magic circle with white runes written on it appears on the floor.

It didn’t brightly illuminate the surroundings, but it created a soft light that allowed one to see the surroundings.

“Good!”

“This much brightness is enough!”

Even just the soft light made it clear that there was something around.

Usually when a battle starts, I light fires around me to secure visibility.

But that wasn’t the case in this battle.

Because our opponent was a monster that grew in strength by eating light.

If it’s too dark, you can’t see the enemy’s attacks, which is embarrassing, but if you create too much light, you end up increasing the enemy’s power, which is an absurd situation.

In the meantime, when I allowed them to check their surroundings through the buff, my teammates became satisfied and began to focus on the battle in earnest.

“I think that might be a good way to lure them?”

Plus, someone on my team figured out that monsters were attracted to my buff.

I realized that it wasn’t just that I liked eating light, but that I was ecstatic.

And there.

Keek!!

The light I created with the buff couldn’t be destroyed by them because they ate it.

It seemed like it couldn’t be absorbed because it was an energy that was completely opposite to the monster’s.

In addition, the team members who were recovering health little by little every second with the buffs placed on the ground began to push forward with their attacks again.

When I discovered the way down to the lower floor, I thought I would find it right away, but instead of finding my missing comrades, I only encountered monsters.

Even though they knew that it was a light they could not eat, they continued to crave light.

Thanks to this, the battle group was able to catch the monsters so quickly that the hardships they had gone through were insignificant.

“It’s smaller than I thought. It looked really big when I saw it in the dark.”

Only after all the monsters were killed did the fire begin to burn again.

Only when the surroundings became completely bright did people begin to see the monster that had been invisible.

“It was probably actually bigger in the dark.”

“Do they have a separate name? Like Seol-in.”

The creature I encountered the most on the upper floor was the ‘Snowman’, a white bear-sized creature.

“This guy’s name is Shadow Goblin.”

“Oh.”

“They mainly live in caves, and as you just saw, they become stronger when they eat light.”

Princess Rasiel made several preparations before entering the labyrinth.

One of them was to gather information about monsters.

It was only natural that the team members would feel more comfortable if they knew more information about the monsters they would encounter in the labyrinth.

So after much searching, I managed to obtain a monster encyclopedia that was supposedly a compilation of monsters that appeared in old dungeons.

The monster encyclopedia that I bought at a high price was doing a great job and it was worth the money.

“It says that this monster has a large risk difference depending on how much light it has consumed. We caught it very easily. The priest’s buff played a big role.”

“It would have been more dangerous if we had just kept turning on the lights because it got dark, but the most important thing was that you immediately figured out what kind of monster it was and told me.”

When we first encountered the monster, the lights suddenly started to disappear one by one, so the whole group tried to turn the lights back on.

However, thanks to someone who had read the Monster Encyclopedia, who told me that it was a creature that fed on light and grew in strength, I was able to catch it using as little light as possible.

‘It must have taken a long time for them to figure out not to turn on the lights.’

Although the Shadow Goblin was successfully killed, not everyone’s expressions were entirely bright.

Since I couldn’t figure out why the group had such expressions, I checked to see where Princess Rasiel was.

She happened to be talking to the leader.

As I got closer, I could hear their conversation.

“How much food is left?”

“This is one week’s worth.”

“If you save?”

“I can hold out for 5 more days.”

“… Even if I go back right now, it’ll be precarious.”

It took more than 20 days to get here.

It took longer because we had to pave the way and walk, so it won’t take more than 20 days to get back.

However, since it was a labyrinth where you never knew when something unexpected would happen, you had to plan your travel with plenty of time.

“Now you have to make a decision.”

If we go back like this, it will be impossible to find our missing comrades.

There’s no way they’d be alive in the first place.

“… Go back.”

It would have been impossible to choose to put the entire party at risk by searching for a missing comrade.

“Good idea. I will pass it on to my group.”

“Good work.”

Princess Rasiel’s expression was not good after finishing her conversation with the leader.

I tried to pretend not to see and pass by, but the princess’s expression kept catching my eye and I couldn’t pass by.

“Princess.”

“… Arthur Priest.”

“Are you okay?”

“I promised my sister, so I have to overcome it.”

The weight of death seemed to be weighing heavily on Princess Rasiel’s heart.

It wasn’t good to see Princess Rasiel, who was supposed to be the center, looking so depressed.

Still, it was fortunate that he seemed to know that he had to overcome it.

‘It seems like Princess Cannabi is holding up better than I was worried about.’

It seemed obvious that if left alone, it would take a long time to recover.

‘At times like this, I really feel like I’m a priest… .’

I couldn’t turn away from someone who needed help.

What does a priest do?

The job of a priest is to listen to people’s worries and comfort them when they are having a hard time mentally.

‘How can you proudly walk around as a priest if you ignore the work you have to do?’

Instead of cursing corrupt priests, I needed to reflect on whether I myself was doing the job that a priest should do.

“How about trying prayer?”

“Prayer?”

The idea was to pray for the souls of the missing people, as there was a very high chance that they were dead.

“I will help you.”

“Pray with you?”

“I think prayer will be a comfort to you.”

The princess, who was taken aback by my suggestion, said after a while that she understood and promised to visit me later that night.

I thought that if I prayed with her and prayed for the souls of the missing, it would help the princess feel better.

◎ ◎ ◎

I prepared a makeshift prayer room more diligently than usual and waited for the princess to come at night.

Originally, I didn’t pay much attention to my clothes, but today I dressed up in proper priestly attire.

“Welcome, Princess.”

“… Did you really call me to pray?”

As soon as she came inside, the princess checked my appearance and asked.

“Yes! I have it ready, so come this way.”

I don’t understand why you are panicking when of course you were called to pray.

Princess Rasiel guided us to the prepared prayer room and began to pray.

“What should I pray for?”

“Please feel free to tell me about the things that are bothering you right now, things you have been keeping secret from someone. It is surprisingly helpful to be honest.”

Even if you were to confide in an invisible being called God, there was a big difference between doing it and not doing it.

Isn’t it because it is effective that many people come to the temple to confess?

It wasn’t the first time Princess Rasiel had tried praying, so she awkwardly asked how to do it, probably because she couldn’t decide what to pray about.

Princess Rasiel knelt on the cushion.

She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, and I sat down next to her and clasped my hands together.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Princess Rasiel, who had been hesitating awkwardly, showed concentration as if nothing had happened when she started praying.

I, too, forgot about Princess Rasiel’s existence during the moment of prayer and focused on praying.

What I pray for is the repose of the souls of the missing.

The most unsettling thing is that we don’t know whether those who die in the labyrinth will be able to return to the embrace of the sun god.

‘Please don’t get lost and return safely to your father.’

As I was concentrating on prayer, it became late at night before I knew it.

When half of the candles in the prayer room melted away.

Princess Rasiel opened her eyes that had been closed for a long time.

Although I had encouraged her to pray, I had not expected her to be so focused on prayer, so I felt a sense of admiration for Princess Rasiel.

“Wow~ My legs are sore.”

“Would you like some support?”

“Yes. Please.”

It was inevitable that my legs would go numb after being on my knees for so long.

Princess Rasiel, who got up with my support, sat down on the chair.

Although he was tired from praying for a long time, his expression was much better than before he prayed.

“My heart is still heavy, but it feels better than before. In fact, I have never prayed this focused before. I think I was thinking about other things inside. It’s not something I should say in front of a priest.”

“That could be possible. It’s okay.”

It was natural for a child to have difficulty concentrating during prayer time.

How can you explain why you pray to a child who doesn’t even know what God is?

In most cases, people would come to the temple with their parents without even knowing what was going on.

If you go to the temple like it’s natural from a young age, you learn things one by one.

“I feel like I’ve prayed properly for the first time. My head is clear and my spirit is sharp. My heart is also calm and settled.”

It seems like the prayer worked better than I expected.

“If this is what prayer is like, I should have started doing it properly a long time ago. If I had known this was what prayer was like before, it would have helped me a lot.”

Although it was different from what I had expected, just seeing Princess Rasiel’s expression improve was enough to say that I had almost accomplished what I had set out to do.

Actually, I didn’t know that prayer would work this well, so I tried to have a calm conversation after the prayer and encourage him to bring out what was on his mind.

But looking at the current situation, it seems like there is no need to do that.

Princess Rasiel seemed to have already finished organizing her thoughts through prayer and had steeled her heart.