Beware of accidents (1)
I thought there would be some status, but I didn’t think that Miriam would be the high priest.
The high priest was a position immediately below the pope, and usually in such a large church, the number was not large because he was in charge of the general administration.
If you compare it to a mercenary, you could call it an S-class mercenary.
So, I thought that the high priest I met when I came to buy the holy water was the only high priest in the Church of Findel, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
It was even more surprising that such a high priest was in charge of Astel’s education.
“I’m sorry for saying this so suddenly.”
“No, more than that, I was a little surprised by the word High Priestess. I knew him as one person in the Findel branch.”
“As I said earlier, we place great importance on guiding the followers of the abandoned god. Of course, I am in charge of Astel Priest’s education.”
Instead of answering like that, Miriam glanced at Astel, and Astel, who had been secretly peeking at her, trembled when she met that gaze and combed her hair even harder.
Miriam opened her mouth again, turning her mild expression toward me.
“It’s a bit much to talk about here, so shall we take you inside?”
“If you go in, you won’t be able to refuse, right?”
“There are stories that shouldn’t be known to the outside world, but we don’t force you to accept them unconditionally.”
“If so… … Let me listen.”
I had no idea what kind of favor I was going to ask, but once I heard about it, there was nothing wrong with it.
In the long run, if you can have a good relationship with the Lunara Holy Church, it is always good to have one.
“Astel Fuse.”
“yes yes!”
“I will be away for a while because I have something to say with Irvin. Remember the training schedule after cleaning? Until I return, I believe that you will be faithfully training yourself.”
“Can I go with you too? If it’s Irvin’s job, it’s mine… … .”
“Where are you going when you still can’t control your body properly? It seems that the meditation to look back on oneself is still lacking… … .”
Miriam paused for a moment and her eyes glistened coldly, Astell startled and immediately turned her gaze back to brushing.
It seemed that he had been caught tightly within a few days as to what the hell had happened.
Then Miriam turned to me and smiled nice again.
“Then shall we go?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Answering like that, I followed behind Miriam, who led the way, and turned my head slightly to see Astel, who was looking at me as if asking for help.
I sent my eyes telling me to stay calm and then looked ahead again.
All of the priests I met on the way inside greeted Miriam first, and Miriam also accepted the greetings one by one.
Should I call it a substitute?
At this point, I was a little worried about what kind of favor I was going to ask.
I could count on my hands the number of times I had been friendly with the Holy Church, and even that was only a temporary cooperation to destroy the Dark Truth Church.
There were times when I was hostile, but I didn’t deal with the entire Holy Church, so I knew relatively little information compared to other groups.
Still, while continuing to speculate within the scope of what I know, I arrived at a guest room.
It was a simple room with a table with sofas on both sides, a small chest of drawers and tools for making tea.
“Let me serve you some tea.”
Miriam, who led me to the sofa, prepared to brew the tea by boiling water in a kettle as if she was about to make tea herself.
After waiting for a while, Miriam put a teacup in front of me and sat across from me.
“I don’t know if it will suit your taste buds, but it is a fragrant tea.”
“thank you.”
Hearing that, I lifted the teacup and smelled it, and it was definitely not bad.
I felt like I was at ease, but when I took a sip, I didn’t really feel the taste.
I held the teacup near my mouth for a while, then put it down and opened my mouth.
“I will ask straight forward. Does the fact that you didn’t put in a request to the mercenary guild mean that you don’t want the public to know that much?”
It was common to put a nomination request through the guild if you really wanted to ask me.
But it didn’t, and Miriam was also pointing at me, not anyone else.
It was wrapped up as a request, but it was surely not an easy task, and it would be related to the Lu Nera Church as well.
At my words, Miriam calmly nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. This is something we have to resolve within our church.”
“then… … Even people of the same church shouldn’t reveal the fact that they entrusted the work to a mercenary. Am I wrong?”
“You are quite quick-witted. I tried to speak a little slower… … .”
“Do you have to do that? I think it would be much better to talk openly with each other.”
As worn-out players talked about not doing this, Miriam smiled and slowly took a sip of the tea.
Miriam set the teacup down on the table and opened her mouth again.
“The request I want to ask is to retrieve the holy relic.”
“A relic?”
If it was a holy object, it was something like Dijenna’s stake that had been recovered just before.
Basically, it contained divine power, and depending on which god’s power it was, it also had different abilities.
Just like you can create a barrier with Dijenna’s stake.
However, most of the sacred objects were symbols of the church’s history and faith rather than being used as useful tools.
That’s why it had to be never taken out or taken away.
“That’s why you couldn’t put in a request to the guild. If you were entrusting the holy relic to a mere mercenary, you must have been worried that it might be stolen. In addition, there may be some who think that the Church lacks the ability to hand over that role to an outsider. Well, I understand.”
“Of course, I am speaking with faith in Irvin.”
When I said it sarcastically, Miriam laughed and added that.
Although he said this, it was very surprising that the church entrusted the work related to the holy relics to an outsider.
It is information that is treated as top secret by all churches.
Because of this, I had never actually seen the holy relics of the Runera Church.
Oh, there was once.
I experienced it with my whole body while confronting the Holy Church in the middle of the day.
As she recalled the dizzying memories, Miriam gently put her hands together and continued talking.
“You discovered numerous artifacts in the Majeriol Hero Cemetery, recovered the treasures you thought you had longed for in the Mage’s Tower, and even protected Di Zena’s followers, recovered the artifacts, and even purged the ruins of the Jisat Kingdom. .”
Having said that, I felt like I had done something great.
I just did what I learned with my body while dying dozens, no, hundreds of times.
It was a coincidence that Astel was saved.
“Since such a follower of Irvin led Priest Astel to us, it can be said that this is what Lunara-nim meant. I think the Irvine follower is perfect for the role of retrieving the holy relic.”
“There must be some people who don’t like it among the ministers.”
“If His Holiness permits it, their claims will become empty echoes.”
“Is it that important a sacred object?”
At my question, Miriam smiled bitterly and remained silent for a moment as if choosing her words before opening her mouth.
“The loss of the holy relic was due to a mistake made by our church. It cannot be left hidden forever.”
Apparently, there was something he wanted to hide about the relic itself.
It took me a while to say it was a mistake, so I tried to ask more questions, but Miriam kept her eyes closed with the teacup to her mouth as if she had finished talking.
It must be that he will tell you more after accepting the request.
“I can understand why you chose me. I knew roughly what kind of request it was.”
But I didn’t just take it lightly.
“As you know, I am a mercenary. You must know that a fair price is required to request a mercenary.”
I didn’t know if I could build a good relationship with the church, learn information I didn’t know, and get something about the holy relics.
However, that alone was not enough to accept the request.
Crucially, don’t you know the risk of work yet? Even the priests and paladins possessed by the Lu Nera Church could not retrieve the holy relic.
It was said that the risk was very high, or that it was a nuisance.
“High Priest Miriam must be well aware that it is not something to discuss with just money. If you pay a fair price… … I will also carefully review it.”
I said that and put my clasped hands on the table.
To be honest, it was an unappealing story. It was only at the Wizard’s Tower that Rize was able to get a magic tutor, but… … .
All that could be obtained from the church was holy water.
But it was also funny to ask Rize to awaken her divine power and learn magic.
Having said that, I left room for refusal.
It would do me no harm to refuse, even after hearing a little more.
Now, without permission from the pope, it was just an unofficial request, and it wasn’t announced publicly, so it was easy to make it something that didn’t exist.
After waiting for a while, Miriam’s lips slowly opened.
“By the way, you have a daughter. He is so excellent, I heard that he won the previous swordsmanship competition.”
Could it be that he is trying to do something for Rize?
It was a good approach, but like I said before, I didn’t seem to know that I couldn’t be shaken by anything.
As I looked at her, as if asking her to continue speaking, Miriam smiled and added.
“I promise in my name that in the future, I will give my daughter the blessing of purification every year, treat her free of charge at any time, and appoint her as an honorary paladin.”
“I believed in the high priest! You will never regret choosing me.”
It was a reward too great to refuse.
* * *
After the discussion of compensation, Miriam began to explain the circumstances in detail.
“About 10 years ago, our denomination followed a long record and found the holy relic. However, the schedule slowed down due to discussions on how to move it. and… … It was an unfortunate accident.”
Saying that, Miriam spread her palms and made two layers.
“There was another ruin under the ruins where the holy relic was found. It was hidden with very powerful concealment magic, so even the previous priests couldn’t find it. Whether it was the excavation of the ruins, whether it was the problem of people coming in or out, whether there was something in the ruins below it, or whether it was because of the earthquake, even if you look at the records at the time, opinions are divided… … The ruins where the holy relic was located collapsed and were buried along with the ruins beneath it.”
The two palms slowly overlapped on the table, and Miriam continued with a wry smile as she spoke in a self-deprecating voice.
“If we had moved it outside during the time for such useless discussions, we could have retrieved it to the church… … . What a stupid mistake.”
“So, I guess the scale buried there was significant? Looking at what I haven’t found even after 10 years.”
“Yes, the size of the ruins is not very large, but the entire area has collapsed, making it impossible to even find the entrance.”
“I don’t know if I will be able to resolve such a request even if I do.”
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I said that because I thought that if I made a mistake, my nose would be pierced for a long time.
After all, it seemed better to hire a lot of people and dig up the whole area.
Then Miriam smiled lightly and opened her mouth again.
“Everybody said it was impossible, and you also found the ‘Sage’s Green Branch’, which even the Wizard’s Tower couldn’t retrieve for 100 years.
“Now you’re burdening me without hesitation. I just tell you not to expect too much.”
I said that, but in fact there was one place I guessed.
However, there was one thing that I had to point out first.
“I want to ask just in case, but what kind of holy object are you talking about…? … .”
After a moment of silence, I asked Miriam with confidence.
“Is it a holy relic?”
“… … !”