8. Magdalen Abbey (1)
“… … .”
Penny narrowed her brows and glared at the desk.
The office given by Baron Ludwig of Badenberg was spacious, high, and luxurious.
Penny was so serious that she didn’t even have time to rejoice at the extravagant scenery.
All the papers from Philip’s collection were neatly arranged on the desk.
There were many other papers from the 1st party, but they were all piled up on the floor.
Report reminders from the Imperial Family and Seonghwagyo, information on where to use donations and tax benefits, material toll tax invoices for the supply unit, and scouting team’s request for instructions.
Penny couldn’t afford to take care of that.
‘Philip… .’
His biography begins with Sylvia, a beggar girl.
Bad boy Aria.
Prodigal Beatrice.
Playboy Kylie.
The brightest light of mankind, completed by gathering the four.
1st warrior party.
Ian, who was the manager there.
‘… Ian.’
Kylie said.
It was Ian who brought them in and raised them.
Other warriors agreed.
He testified that it was Ian who provided the information about the dungeon.
But Penny knows otherwise.
It is common knowledge that Ian is the scarecrow of the first party and Philip is the actual manager.
Regardless of whether Philip exists or not, everyone knows that.
Of course, Penny found out the truth after persistent pursuit.
‘Philip is real.’
All the documents in the collection in front of me are proof of that.
Recently, Penny had to add new information to that fact.
‘Philip is real and is the same person as Ian.’
Even if you think so, Philip’s steps are not twisted.
It is a reasonable inference to assume that Ian gave the public the false name of Philip.
If he really is the owner of the name Philip, he must have the ability to do so.
Philip, Ian.
Ian, Philip.
The two names crossed quickly in my head and soon began to mix.
‘That would explain everything… .’
Is this true?
Is this Ian Phillips?
Was Philip the Ian?
Then, then… .
‘What the hell am I doing… . what am i for… .’
Was he right in front of you?
It was difficult to understand.
Maybe it’s just that my belated mind doesn’t want to accept reality.
However, such an empty ending… .
‘No, there’s no way you’re only this much… .’
-smart.
Someone knocked on the door.
Penny answered as she gathered up and hid her collection.
“Come on in.”
It was one of the messengers he had recently hired.
He handed out two letters and went back.
One from the Managers Guild.
The other was from the imperial family.
Penny first checked the letter from the manager’s guild, which seemed trivial.
Regularly receive reports on what’s going on in the guild and what to watch out for.
‘Felix… ? Oh, there was a guy like that.’
Penny herself knows about Penny’s disease.
Among them, Felix is seriously ill.
Usually he doesn’t do that in front of Penny, the culprit, but Felix showed off the symptoms of Penny’s disease without regret even in front of Penny.
‘It was one of the cornerstones for Philip’s gift, but it fell off beforehand… . Even the military police showed up, so it seems that the accident that has been piled up so far has exploded.’
Penny clicked her tongue and read the following.
‘Nothing else… . huh? King slime?’
The news was that a huge and strong boss monster had appeared at the test site.
Even the name Big Slime wasn’t enough, so it was said that it was nicknamed ‘King Slime’, which surprised Penny a little.
‘I don’t know, but it must be much stronger than Big Slime. Vivian, an aspiring wizard, caught it alone… ?’
overlap
A certain person and a certain incident began to overlap layer by layer with the ‘Vivian’ now coming in front of my eyes.
‘The wannabe that Felix taught before. After failing 10 times, he appeared in two years and made a splendid resurrection by catching King Slime.’
Sylvia the beggar girl.
A girl who drank rainwater and whose talents were not even known made a spectacular appearance after overcoming the ‘Big Slime’, which appeared for the first time in the history of the temporary hero test.
‘Vivian’s manager… .’
The manager who found Sylvia is the one.
‘Ian… .’
Philip.
“… … .”
Penny’s hand holding the letter trembled.
The force was so strong that it was about to tear it apart, so she hurriedly let go.
“Haaa… .”
She let out an ecstatic breath and wiped her face with both hands.
“okay… .”
everything fits
Ian and Philip.
A heroic narrative that is equally creepy.
It is impossible to do without him.
‘okay… . It’s like you… .’
Penny sighed and made up her mind.
Philip is still alive.
‘You shouldn’t be the one who ends up just like that, right… . This is how I break… .’
As soon as I smiled and opened the envelope from the imperial family, the pleasant thoughts disappeared.
The sender’s name was written at the top of the letter.
[Philip]
“… uh?”
Ian is Philip.
Philip is Ian.
That connection was broken with a single letter.
Penny hastily read the entire letter.
It was the distribution of A-class or higher dungeons centered on Badenberg.
‘So many?’
At first, I was surprised by it, and I doubted that the imperial family was aware of all this.
‘This is information that only Philip-sama can know… I guess?’
If the royal family had a connection with Philip, there was a chance that they would know it separately, so I couldn’t be sure.
No, is it rather natural for the imperial family, which has eyes and ears all over the continent, to know this much information?
Then why name Philip in the imperial family?
‘for a moment… . what is this… .’
I thought I knew it all, but then again I didn’t know it all.
My brain is jumbled up.
‘how?’
What Philip uses is a magic seal, not an imperial seal.
However, there was no law that Philip wouldn’t send a letter through the imperial family.
In fact, it was written in the letter that he was busy sorting out Ian.
However, there was something that only Penny, who had been analyzing Philip’s correspondence for a long time, could know.
‘Handwriting.’
There are only two types of handwriting used in Philip’s correspondence.
One is Ian’s assistant, Mercy.
‘When Philip conveyed the words to Ian, Mercy wrote them down.’
The other one I hadn’t figured out was probably Philip, I guessed.
I know Ian’s handwriting, but I’ve never seen it in Philip’s correspondence.
I had never seen the handwriting of this letter.
‘Who is the owner of this letter?’
is it philip?
Or did the imperial family impersonate Philip?
What is the relationship between Ian and Philip?
If Ian is Phillip, he has no reason to help the 1st party and Penny who kicked him out.
So, are Ian and Philip separate objects?
In the middle of the pain as if my head would break, someone burst open the door and came in.
They were Kylie, Aria, Beatrice, and Sylvia.
Sylvia, who had approached with great strides, placed a red magic stone on top of the scattered letters! put it up
“It’s an A-class magic stone.”
“… … .”
Penny didn’t have time to answer.
I was stunned.
Like it or not, Sylvia had an important business.
“Ian. Do you know where it is?”
“… Ian. Ian?”
Are you looking for Ian?
Why?
No, Penny herself wants to meet Ian and ask.
But what if you ask… .
Penny’s consciousness snapped.
While glaring at her without an answer, Sylvia’s gaze reached the letter below.
It was a report from the manager guild.
“… Vivian?”
He muttered the name written there and lifted it up.
[An aspiring wizard who was resurrected by defeating King Slime. Person of interest Vivian.]
The story was similar to Silvia herself.
[Her manager is the former manager of the 1st party, Ian.]
That Vivian’s manager was the same person as Sylvia’s own manager.
Sylvia frowned and muttered as if growling.
“… Who is this year?”
While checking the other three heroes from behind, Sylvia was staring at the floor.
“Ian, when I went somewhere and did something… .”
“You can’t even apologize to us, it’s ridiculous.”
Kylie and Beatrice burst out laughing.
The last aria I saw also frowned.
“Ian… .”
Sylvia glared at Penny, but couldn’t see past Penny’s narrow eyes.
The gaping mouth just blankly signaled that her condition was not normal.
“Aria, follow me.”
Sylvia turned around wildly.
“I’m going to Superbia.”
The place where Sylvia and Ian’s relationship began.
And, the place where Vivian and Ian would have passed their latest test.
“… yes. Go.”
Sylvia and Aria set off for Superbia.
The remaining Kylie had something to say to Penny.
“Hey. Since you brought the magic stone, deal with it properly. Don’t forget to pay your bills properly.”
Beatrice also helped.
“Get to know the next dungeon quickly.”
Penny nodded blankly.
Kylie and Beatrice will enjoy a banquet today to forget the fatigue of battle.
It’s not that I’m not anxious.
They also wanted to follow Sylvia and Arya.
But shallow pride.
And the fear of not wanting to face the truth held them back.
They just wanted to get drunk and lose consciousness.
Penny, left alone, was recalling information indiscriminately.
The information that comes to mind quickly sinks into the unconscious.
Among them, there was one word that did not sink.
‘Felix… .’
Ian and Vivian.
Vivian and Felix.
Felix, who had endured unpunished until now, was dragged away by the military police after meeting Ian and Vivian.
‘Ian, Philip, Felix… .’
Penny jumped up as if realizing it.
‘I need to meet Felix.’
***
[Memory Correction]
All you see is a road with thick forests on both sides.
I’m walking leisurely through the rain.
It’s not what I heard somewhere, it’s directly showing my past memories.
Does that mean I’ve been near Magdalen Abbey?
A scream comes from somewhere in the middle of the road.
I cautiously approach the epicenter.
A wave of yellow light can be seen in the distance.
i know what that is
It is a protection system miracle used by priests.
The light extracted by miracle spreads like a barrier and is used as a shield.
At first glance, it was a protective shield of enormous size and density.
An arrow that touched the spreading yellow light bounced off.
However, it gradually collapsed according to repeated shocks.
Blood flowed from the body of a woman who opened the protection.
Too much blood must have been shed, and the protection was broken.
She was exposed to the arrow.
Several arrows killed her.
The face of the fallen woman is hard to see.
Only, I could tell that it was a combat-type priestly uniform partially covered with heavy armor.
Around her collapsed, she could see other people trembling.
I ran forward past her who had fallen and fought the enemy.
The subject was a human.
Not demons or demons, but a group of armed humans.
It is a world where thieves are not uncommon.
[Memory Correction 2]
This time, it’s an overheard rumor.
A future point of view rather than the memory correction seen earlier.
‘Did you hear that there was a public fundraiser at McDerline Abbey?’
‘Everyone knows. They were fearless and how noisy they were.’
‘Because I knew it would be like that before me. Didn’t they say that half of them were robbed by the thieves who were targeting those wealthy people?’
‘You mean those rich bastards went there without enlisted men?’
‘Of course I would have accompanied you. But the thieves alone numbered over 60, so how could they tell?’
… … .
I remember that was the end of it.
what is… .
What happened at Magdalen Abbey before?
In the second round, I only listened to the news of the world, and I’ve never been close to it, so I don’t know.
Memory correction reminds me of useful things by connecting them to the present.
First of all, it must mean that the priest is in the Magdalen Abbey I am going to.
Even at first glance, it was a powerful protection system miracle.
That’s very important.
There are three major miracles that priests deal with.
Heal, Ignite, and Shield.
Healing literally heals a wound or neutralizes a poison.
Scorching uses holy light to burn enemies.
The last protection is the miracle of forming a barrier embodied in light.
Of course, healing was the number one priority until the beginning of the war.
Next was the fever.
However, after the war intensified, the protection system miracle became ridiculously important.
The powerful enemies in the second half killed the warriors and soldiers in one blow without even having time to heal their wounds.
There were only monsters in the meaning.
The miracle of the protection system that could block that one shot was itself a lifeline.
Even now, it is said that protection system miracles are important in B-class or higher dungeons, but it is not as important as the future.
It’s probably a miracle that’s ignored at the level of an aspirant or temporary hero.
At least the priest’s potential in memory seems to have been clearly proven.
The veil seen in the memory correction was at a level that could only be seen after the war began.
The timing of memory correction also overlaps with the McDerlin Abbey open exam.
The next public fundraiser… .
Are you saying there was an event similar to the current open exam that attracted people during the second round?
I heard the rumor from a point in the future past near Magdalen Abbey.
If so, I know of the ‘Public Fundraiser’ at Magdalen Abbey and have not passed near it.
It was just a crazy coincidence.
And a thief… .
It’s hard to know how the priest and the rogue in my memory are connected, so I’ll put it off for now.
One question remains.
The priest’s heart.
This is not something that can be known now.
Now, is it just a matter of finding out for yourself at Magdalen Abbey?
“Ian, Ian.”
Since she has just departed, Vivian is still fainting.
Kati is sitting next to him.
On my lap, Mercy, who had turned into a fairy, took a sugar bar and was eating it.
That Mercy called me.
“why.”
“I have something I want to do.”
“What?”
“It’s about hitting your back in front of Kati’s eyes someday.”
Cheer.
Kati’s head turned to Mercy.
“How about it, isn’t it something worth trying?”
“You must be very bored.”
Hmm.
I don’t know how long I’ll do it, but it seems like there’s something I can do.
“Mercy.”
“yes?”
My pronunciation was muffled as I mumbled sugar while answering.
“Would you like to cook?”
“… Cooking?”
I’ve never been in charge of cooking myself, but when I was at the first party, I was assigned the role of inspector for me.
So, to some extent, it means that I know the recipe I want.
I won’t have time to cook when I’m really busy, but I think there’s nothing wrong with ordering a little.
“Hmm… . Don’t think about it.”
*
Vivian, who woke up in the middle, felt ashamed of the fact that she had been upset and was ready to run away.
I managed to calm him down by giving him 1 gold again, and this time he didn’t pass out and just rejoiced.
Even so, the carriage continued to run until it reached Magdalen Abbey.
Nestled in the middle of the woods, it was a rather gloomy and closed monastery with dark gray walls.
And there was a welcome person in the monastery.
“Oh, Ian?”
Unlike her small stature, the sharp expression on her face made it hard to get close to. She recognized me and smiled slightly.
“number of animals. Long time no see.”