episode_0176

The Tarun mountain range, standing tall in the center of the Central Continent.

The towering Tarun mountain, piercing the heavens, with medium-sized mountains lined up in a T-shape around it.

The Kingdom of Nifrantz to the left, the Ubiet Empire to the right.

And the Sacred Kingdom of Luminos sits at the very top of the continent.

While not a common sight, the view of the Sacred Kingdom from the skies above the northern sea is truly breathtaking.

One such scene was even used as a promotional image for Acastos’s Sacred Kingdom update, so that speaks for itself.

From the Grand Temple nestled in the high altitudes of the Tarun mountain range, down to the coastal houses at lower altitudes.

The buildings, densely packed along the slopes like terraced rice paddies, naturally caught the eye.

Cramming buildings into a plain only creates a cramped and cluttered feeling.

The landscaping of the Sacred Kingdom is highly praised, as the roads wind along the hills, with residential and commercial areas intricately interwoven, creating a breathtaking panoramic view.

Having created such a scenic landscape in such a steep and difficult-to-build terrain, the landscape designer must be a Sims grandmaster.

In any case, we weren’t flying, we were taking a humble carriage ride on the ground, so we didn’t get to see such a sight.

As we ascended the increasingly steep incline, the horses began to tire, and the carriage shook more violently than before.

And surprisingly, my motion sickness wasn’t too bad.

“…”

Rather than not bad, it was nonexistent.

My stomach wasn’t churning, my head wasn’t dizzy, and I could clearly see the interior of the carriage.

It was just that the view was from a slightly higher vantage point.

“W-wait… that person fainted…!!”

“Sir- my lord…!! Snap out of it, are you alright-?!”

Ah.

Looking down, I saw my own body slumping to the ground.

“Quickly, help them up…!! Use healing magic immediately—”

“Wait a moment, we need to check their condition first-!!”

“It looks like something white is wafting up from their body… what on earth…”

The carriage shook so violently that my body and soul separated.

…

…

…

“Ahh… I feel alive again.”

“So nonchalant, now…? I really thought something terrible had happened…”

Generally, motion sickness stems from a disconnect between sight and senses.

Inside the carriage, the visual information received by the eyes isn’t drastically affected, but the vestibular system in the inner ear senses a lot of movement.

This conflicting sensory information confuses the brain.

That’s why looking out the window or closing your eyes usually reduces motion sickness.

Either make the visual information equally volatile, or block it entirely.

I have a peculiar ability called [Universal Perception].

This is because the ether extending from my physical body rapidly absorbs all kinds of information from the surroundings, making my senses tens, even hundreds of times more sensitive than those of a normal person.

So… my motion sickness was bound to be worse.

“I have to do something about this… really.”

As I tapped my forehead, Tier grabbed my wrist.

“D-don’t do that… you look exhausted enough…”

She stared intently at my face, checking my complexion, then turned her face red, noticing my gaze and quickly averting her eyes.

“Thank you for your concern, Sister Tier. Hehehe-”

“I-I understood, so let’s move on…!!”

Then, she turned and swiftly walked towards the other priests.

“Phew…”

I’ll discuss countermeasures for motion sickness with Nix later. Until then, I’ll just close my eyes.

In fact, my body had received sufficient sleep due to fainting during the journey, and my stiff muscles had relaxed, leaving me refreshed.

I swung my arms and legs in the air, carefully checking for any lingering discomfort, before joining Tier and the group of priests.

“Let’s move now.”

The point where we got off the carriage was the First Parish of the Sacred Kingdom of Luminos.

Functionally, it was the place to greet visitors, while geographically it was located on the middle slopes of the high Tarun mountain range.

After passing by houses commonly found in the Kingdom, we began to see the characteristics of a distinctly religious state.

From the Temple Knights in helmets obscuring their faces, to the halberdiers wielding halberds twice their height.

Priests wielding maces so thick they were hard to distinguish from clubs, and the radiant Paladin leading them all.

Clang- clang-

The sound of their armor echoed, deafening as we passed their patrolling unit.

A quick scan revealed that most were novice knights of subpar skill, but a few stood out, skilled enough to match our team.

Walking down the street with a feeling like I was at a zoo, the moment I noticed the thinning air.

We arrived at the outer walls of the Grand Temple.

“Please wait here. I will go inside, complete the handover procedure, and fetch a guide.”

Only after Alex went inside did most of the priests relax and let out a long sigh.

“Whew… Brother, did you see that…?”

“Did you feel it too…? Especially the Paladin at the front, his aura was amazing…”

“My legs were trembling…”

For me, it felt like being an animal in a cage, but for ordinary people, it must have felt like walking through the Serengeti, with predators wandering nearby.

They slumped over, their faces drained of color, their bodies lifeless.

After putting down their luggage, they leaned against the ground, catching their breath.

I had put all my underwear and uniforms in my subspace storage, so I was relaxed, with both hands free, as I looked down at them.

“You’re too tense, aren’t you?”

“Hoo, don’t even start… I might not know about Philbrogue, but we can’t really compare to them in terms of combat, we’re more on the healing and rear support side of things.”

This was the priest who had shed tears when shaking my hand earlier, overwhelmed with emotion.

He wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead, offering a smile that wasn’t really a smile.

I took out a handkerchief and offered it to him.

“Oh, thank you.”

“You can relax your shoulders. We’re not criminals, are we?”

“Still, the atmosphere was so intense… is this the true face of the Luminos Holy Church… Whew-”

The priest bowed, accepting the handkerchief.

I felt a strong gaze from somewhere, but ignored it and continued the conversation.

“As long as we don’t do anything to draw attention, they won’t provoke us. And if things get rough, you can lean on me.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Maybe he misunderstood, but he smiled brightly and offered his shoulder.

I immediately extended my index finger to support him.

“I meant rely on me emotionally!”

“Oh- yes, yes, I’m sorry…”

Male, physical contact, troublesome.

A female priest would have been fine, but I’m not interested in a sweaty man.

Anyhow.

Suddenly, realizing I didn’t even know his name, I offered my hand to break the ice.

“Your name is?”

“Just call me Jay, Sister.”

Thump-

Jay grabbed my hand, stood up forcefully, and brushed the dirt off his bottom.

“Tomorrow when we go hunting, I’ll be sure to protect you. If you try to back out… you know what?”

“H-Heek…!! I always work hard-!! I don’t want to get stuck with a playful image…”

His nonchalant scratching of his head made the other priests laugh.

In places as stiff and serious as a temple, such silly jokes often lighten the mood.

Besides his skill, he was an indispensable part of the Aither Temple’s personnel.

“That’s your sin, Brother.”

“Ugh… If you say that, I’ll really relax-?!”

As we waited for Alex, letting go of our tiredness from the long journey…

A wind of pure mana, chilling to the bone, blew in out of nowhere.

Whoosh—

It was from so far away that we couldn’t even hear the ‘their’ footsteps clearly.

Perhaps it was because it first registered within my [Universal Perception].

The hairs on my arms stood on end as I glanced down.

The heavy sense of oppression soon became strong enough to be felt by other priests around.

One by one, they looked around at the others, then at me.

Tier looked just as anxious.

Her hands were clasped together, her usual playful demeanor gone, replaced with a quiet gaze at me.

Her was more reliable actually.

Unlike the others, Tier was originally from the Sacred Kingdom, and she must have felt such anomalous phenomena since birth.

“Tier, this is…”

“Yes… it’s true…!!”

Clang- Clang-

As the presence of ‘them’ drew closer, the sound of the knights’ armor began to resound again.

With my heightened senses, I was beginning to grasp their identity.

A high-ranking individual who would need this much military force simply to make an appearance.

Someone who, at the same time, doesn’t need such military force because they possess a strong, pure light mana.

Clang- Clang!!

The escort knights appeared from the bottom of the hill.

The sound of the armor was already a deafening roar, that might even give someone a neurosis.

The outer walls of the Grand Temple.

It wasn’t a significant breach of etiquette, because we were still outside of the Temple itself, but everyone was so tense about the overwhelming pressure, that it was unsettling that we were huddled together without having arranged it beforehand.

Even without prior agreement, they moved quickly and silently to form ranks.

As for me standing in the middle, I was about to faint.

I very frequently felt such an intense mana surge, and I was feeling it several times more intensely.

“Ugh…”

Hiss-

Instinctively, I activated [Shadow Armor] to reduce the burden on my body.

When the procession finally reached us, I finally understood.

This was an excessive welcome.

And an unpleasant one too.

‘They’ appear to disapprove of us.

Emitting such powerful oppressive energy, they seemed to mean to assert dominance over their uncouth guests who have dared to arrive on foot.

The wait was long.

The light mana emanating from the center of the procession finally came within sight.

As if they were the highest in the heavens, their arrogance was far too intense and touched with madness.

A golden palanquin, golden robes, golden scepter.

And golden eyes.

Swallowing my disgust at them looking down on us like insects, ‘he’ descended from the palanquin.

The priests all bowed their heads.

Tier, standing next to me, trembled slightly and lowered her gaze.

I reluctantly gave a perfunctory nod.

Surrounded by countless knights, ‘he’ strode towards us.

The very embodiment of the will that had summoned us to the Sacred Kingdom, and the head of the Luminos Central Church.

In Acastos, he always played the role of an antagonist in every scenario, the troublesome figure.

“The return of the Daughter of to the Holy Land is a joyous occasion…”

His real name, Pietro Aurelius Luminosa.

“…but the ‘color’ mixed in is… truly regrettable.”

He is commonly known as Pope Gregorio.