Raphaella Holy Kingdom – 7

Stella simply couldn’t believe what had just happened.

At first, she was sure she could win easily. She had heard about the Silver Dawn Knights and knew their skill, but since he was a new knight anyway, she thought he wouldn’t be very strong.

She also believed the reason he requested a spar with her was because a rookie, fresh into the knight order, couldn’t control his inflated confidence and was overestimating his own abilities.

So, after the spar, she had planned to give the dazed rookie knight, who would have suffered an overwhelming defeat, some light advice, telling him not to be too arrogant or reckless and to work harder.

But now, it was Stella herself who was dazed and bewildered.

None of Stella’s attacks landed. No matter where she attacked, how she swung, or how hard she struck. That man parried them effortlessly, as if he knew exactly what Stella was going to do.

Later, she even enveloped herself in Divine Power and swung her flail with all her might, but even that attack was completely repelled by a single ordinary sword that didn’t seem particularly special.

Moreover, unlike Stella, that man didn’t even seem to be putting in his full effort. There was no sign of his breathing quickening at all. He merely frowned slightly each time he blocked an attack.

One hit. Just one hit would have been enough to break through the Blessing of the Moon wrapped around his body and end the spar. It was possible with a single glancing blow, without even needing a direct hit.

However, until the very moment the Blessing of the Moon disappeared as its duration ran out, Stella couldn’t land a single successful attack.

It was the first time. The first time she had been so thoroughly toyed with and defeated. The first time she had felt such an insurmountable gap between herself and a man.

All of this situation.

‘Was the shock too great?’

I looked at Stella, who was sitting slumped on the floor, mouth agape and face blank, and rubbed my wrist.

My right arm was still tingling. It wasn’t that it didn’t hurt, just that I could endure the shock. Every time I parried the flail, my wrist vibrated as if some low-frequency wave was passing through it.

If I were to provoke her by saying it was nothing, it would be perfect revenge, but I didn’t want to stir up trouble unnecessarily. Who knew what kind of reaction Stella would show?

But the words themselves were half-sincere. In vanilla, perhaps not, but in Dark Mode, bosses wielding massive weapons classified as extra-large weapon class were relatively easy in terms of difficulty.

Whether you’re grazed by a casually swung dagger or directly hit by a full-power greatsword, it’s equally a one-shot kill. Therefore, bosses with many small attacks were bound to be tougher.

Bosses with disruptive attacks or combo attack patterns that relentlessly pressured you were the top priority to be wary of. The former would hit you if you weren’t careful, and the latter meant death if you slipped up even once.

The best example was Rije.

“So, Inquisitor-nim.”

“……”

Her eyes, which had been staring blankly up at me, shifted slightly to the side. Even without an answer, it meant she was at least listening to me.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me? Like something to tell me, or suddenly wanting to grant me entry permission?”

“……?”

A faint light returned to her eyes. But the emotion that surfaced in her green eyes was confusion. It was a sign that she didn’t understand what I was talking about.

Now it was my turn to be flustered.

If you win the spar, the Inquisitor laughs heartily, praises the player’s skill, and tells them the location of a certain Rune Dungeon. They say that with such skill, it might be possible to clear it.

It was in that very dungeon that you could obtain the rune absolutely necessary to fight the final boss of the DLC.

“I don’t… I don’t, know.”

Stella stammered. I frowned slightly. This was a bit troublesome. I roughly knew the location of the Rune Dungeon, but I needed the Inquisitor’s permission to enter.

Since it was a dungeon containing runes, it was a place directly managed by the Holy Kingdom, so even if I knew the location, I couldn’t just enter recklessly.

‘Should I just say it outright?’

The thought of directly asking if she could let me into the Rune Dungeon crossed my mind. The story was already wildly off track, so it probably wouldn’t matter if I got an answer that way.

It seemed the changed reaction after the spar had quite a significant impact. In the game, the Inquisitor would praise the player’s skill and laugh it off, but now, her expression was completely blank.

“Is there something you require?”

As I was contemplating how to get permission to enter the Rune Dungeon from Stella, Selene suddenly approached my side.

Her face was as stoic and cold as usual, but a hint of surprise towards me was subtly visible.

Something I need. Of course, there is. I need to quickly get the rune for entering the boss room from the Rune Dungeon and move on to the next part of the story. But whether I should tell Selene that was questionable.

“If it is something you cannot speak of in such an open place, then I understand.”

Selene seemed to interpret my silence in some way, as she glanced at the battle sisters surrounding us and nodded. It wasn’t that I couldn’t speak because of those sisters, though.

“Follow me.”

“Ah!”

Selene firmly grabbed my wrist and pulled. Seeing that, Stella let out an “Ah!” and reached out as if to stop us, then soon let her arm fall limply.

Selene, holding my wrist, strode off somewhere. I obediently followed behind her. I figured there would be no harm in following her for now.

“This way.”

Selene finally released my wrist only after entering an empty cathedral quite a distance from the sparring grounds. It was a cathedral made of gray marble and silver, giving it a very dark overall impression.

I had a rough idea of where this was. With the pale light coming through the stained glass and a painting on the ceiling that seemed to symbolize the moon, there was no way I couldn’t know.

It was clearly the chapel dedicated to the Pope of the Moon.

“It seemed you had something to say to the Inquisitor-nim. What were you going to request? If it is not related to the sun, then anything the Inquisitor-nim can do, I can do as well.”

Her purple eyes stared intently at me. It was an action born of a misunderstanding, but here, it was essentially a situation where I had nothing to lose. If telling Selene worked, great; if it failed, I wouldn’t lose anything.

Having finished my calculation, I opened my mouth.

“Can you grant me permission to enter the Rune Dungeon nearby?”

“If you mean the Rune Dungeon nearby… are you referring to ‘The Abyss’?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“……I trust you understand the meaning of requesting entry permission for a Rune Dungeon.”

I nodded. Saying I wanted to enter a Rune Dungeon also meant I intended to claim and absorb the rune within it as my own.

Although it was mostly a formality, as those who discovered them usually just gobbled them up, once a Rune Dungeon was discovered, it was treated as the property of the respective nation.

Because you never knew what useful effects that rune might possess. For example, if it were a simple and effective rune like magic power amplification, all mages would eagerly rush in.

But I was a person from the Empire, not the Holy Kingdom. In short, it was tantamount to saying that someone from another country would just snatch up the nation’s property.

“I know. But I don’t think there’ll be any problem. After all, isn’t it a place the Holy Kingdom failed to clear and just left abandoned?”

Selene flinched as if struck a nerve.

The reason why the rune inside was still perfectly intact, despite the dungeon being discovered a long time ago, was precisely because the Holy Kingdom had failed to subjugate that dungeon multiple times.

The reason the Inquisitor-nim so readily granted entry permission was closer to meaning, “If you have the skill to defeat me, why don’t you try challenging that place?” Of course, they would warn you that it was a dangerous place.

That’s why the player is incredibly surprised when they clear the Rune Dungeon and return.

“……”

Selene lowered her head deeply and fell into thought. A muttering sound was heard. She seemed so deeply engrossed in thought that she didn’t even realize her thoughts were spilling out of her mouth.

Of course, most of it was unintelligible. Even the few words I barely understood were terms that couldn’t be interpreted on their own.

“Very well, Honored Guest-isiyeo.”

Only after a long while was permission finally granted. Selene, while saying it was fine to go to the Rune Dungeon, emphasized it repeatedly, perhaps feeling uneasy.

“Though it is a matter that should never be permitted, I will trust in the skill with which you thoroughly overwhelmed the Inquisitor-nim in the spar.”

Power filled her purple eyes.

“But remember this. That place is no different from an abyss of unknown depth. The moment you descend to a place where outside light cannot reach, you never know what might happen. Furthermore, down there, even the Holy Kingdom cannot perfectly protect you. Even if it were I myself. Do you understand?”

“Of course. So you can put your worries aside.”

“You should worry. It is a dungeon where even after descending for a full twelve hours, we couldn’t reach the end. How can you tell me not to?”

I inwardly chuckled, looking at Selene’s hardened expression. Twelve hours and they couldn’t reach the end? Of course, if you descend floor by floor following the standard path.

With another method, it wouldn’t even take 20 minutes.