The pain that felt like my whole body was going to break apart. Then Vera’s eyes were opened.
“ah… .”
What came out of his mouth was a cracked, dry sound that looked like it was going to dry out at any moment.
My head rang with a ‘jing’. A ‘crackling’ noise penetrated my ears. Moisture was dripping down on the skin, adding to the discomfort, and every time he took a breath there was a chest pain that turned inside out.
Unpleasant sensations, and a body in the worst state.
What is the situation? With that thought in mind, Vera then turned his head, which was moving slightly, and looked around.
‘Here… .’
dark space.
In a pile of planks that literally have only patterns, where water seeps through because it can’t block the wind and rain properly.
When it comes to the equipment inside, a few layers of worn out pieces of cloth and a couple of brass bowls with rust flowing through them.
The walls were crawling with dark bugs, and the roof was dripping with mud.
The stuffy air and the crunching noise seemed to be due to them.
As he looked around, Vera immediately realized where this place was.
… couldn’t know
‘Gutter.’
The place where he opened his eyes was the gutter called the imperial pus, where he was born and raised.
As Vera looked around, a question popped into his head.
Why are you here?
Vera recalled the thought and reflected on the situation before he lost consciousness.
certainly… .
‘I must have been dying under the curse.’
It was a curse due to the karma he had built up in the past.
Even after the demon king was subjugated, three years had passed, and the heroes who had been wearing the scars of a long and long war were aiming for themselves by cleaning up the interior of the continent.
He tried to avoid it, but in the end he was cursed and died.
However, strangely enough, I did not feel the energy of the curse that had been eating me the whole time in my body.
All I can feel is the injuries and pain from the long, long battle.
Vera tried to remember why he was lying here, who had collapsed at the entrance to the gutter, but couldn’t think of a good reason, so he shook his head and closed his eyes.
Whether it was saved by someone, or the work of another person who was aiming for him. There was nothing he could do now, so there was no reason to think deeply.
It was a really shabby space, but still, traces of life were felt everywhere in this space.
It was not too late to ask, as I will soon be able to meet someone who lives here.
So, as Vera finished his judgment and closed his eyes to kill time, the door of the shack opened with a sound of ‘Cheap-.’
Vera opened his eyes to the noise and looked at the door.
what comes in.
‘… Woman?’
She was an ugly, shabby woman with her entire exposed skin melted from burns, wearing a shabby robe.
The white hair that protruded through the hood of the robe was stained with dirt, and his feet were soaked in muddy water as if he had no shoes.
It looked like he couldn’t see. I could recognize him through his blue eyes that had lost the light and the way he walked crookedly while pointing at the wall.
what is the essence
Vera pondered for a moment, then listened to the jingle she heard as she moved.
‘Sound.’
It was the sound of metal hitting.
‘Memorization? money? Accessories?’
Vera, who had been listing everything that immediately came to his mind, was only able to figure out what the sound was when she sat down with her buttocks on the floor.
From https://noblemtl.com
On the nape of the neck that had melted from the burn, a platinum-colored necklace shone.
‘Is it an accessory?’
Vera’s eyes narrowed.
Precious metal accessories that a human living in such a shabby house would never have.
Vera then raised his suspicions that the woman had sold him in exchange for the necklace.
That was a very plausible reasoning. Of those who want my life, there are plenty of people who have the ability to pay for such precious metals.
As she looked at her with tension inside her, Vera took a deep breath as she bowed her head and took a deep breath at the more explicit form of the necklace.
This is because the exposed necklace was something Vera knew well.
What hangs around the woman’s neck.
‘Rosario of the Holy Kingdom.’
A platinum-colored rosary that can only be possessed by those with the highest status in the Holy Kingdom. That was it.
‘The counterfeit… not.’
I was able to tell him apart at once with the insight I had accumulated over the years.
‘It’s not even a deal.’
It is because the platinum rosary should not be valued. Just by trading that Rosario, the whole kingdom will be pursued.
The reasoning that came to mind was that that woman was a character from Seongguk.
As he continued his thoughts, a figure flashed through Vera’s mind.
‘White hair. blind. A platinum rosary.’
It is not that there is no one with similar characteristics to look for, but for some reason Vera, unable to ignore the reasoning that came to his head, looked at her with a tense expression for a moment, then slightly moved his lips.
“… saint.”
A cracked voice rang out.
Startle.
Vera’s voice shook her body.
Vera’s whole body trembled, her fingertips twitching, reminding her that my reasoning was correct.
Let Vera look at the woman, the saint, with a more tense face than before. The saint turned to Vera and spoke.
“Are you awake?”
A voice that is unmistakably clear. It was Vera’s first thought as he heard the saint’s voice.
The saint, who shed words, immediately looked at Vera and began to move her facial muscles.
The burn marks were bizarrely distorted as the muscles moved, but Vera could sense that the expression meant a smile.
It was because of her mood.
The calm tone he hears, the blue eyes that point straight in the direction they are in, even in the dark because they are out of focus. And the facial muscles that seem to be trying to lift somehow.
All of that, for some reason, felt like a smile to Vera.
Vera questioned as he gazed at the ghastly melted face revealed through his shabby robes with perforations.
“… I heard he was dead.”
The saint died in the final battle with the Demon King. It was such a popular issue that Vera knew about it.
By the way, why is she, who was known to be dead, here with such ignorance?
When Vera asked a question in a tone full of questions, the Saint answered it playfully with a smirk.
“If it’s a saint, it’s right to be dead.”
“Then what about it?”
“He’s a wild hunter in the city gate.”
It was a twisted word, but Vera was able to grasp what she meant in it.
“… It was a fake funeral that took place in the Holy Land.”
“You can’t say it’s fake. Whatever the case, it is true that the saint of the Holy Kingdom is dead.”
Saying so, she fumbled and reached out and stroked Vera’s chest.
Shortly thereafter, a moan escaped Vera’s mouth. This is because the saint’s hand passed through the rib that was hit with a blunt weapon.
“Big… !”
“Are you very sick?”
Vera clenched his teeth and glared at the saint.
“… .”
Don’t show your weakness too soon. Vera, who had come up with such a thought, remained silent, and the saint tilted her head to him, and patted Vera’s body again and again.
“The rough measures have been completed, but… Still, you’ll have to chill here for a while. It may be uncomfortable, but please be patient.”
A voice with an aura of puck or worry. At him Vera was filled with vigilance.
‘What do you mean?’
It didn’t seem like he was aiming for himself.
However, looking at the saint right now, there were so many questions that came to mind that I could not give a proper answer.
Why is the saint alive? Why are you here like this? And how did you discover it, and do you know your true identity?
Countless questions passed by, Vera looked at the saint, thinking that he had to solve them one by one.
“Is the curse done by a saint?”
“Fortunately, I could afford it.”
It was a vaguely positive answer.
“Power?”
“There was God’s care.”
Wrinkles form over the melted face. A smiling face that Vera understood.
Vera looked at that smile and expanded his thinking at the word ‘energy’ he heard.
As for the saint’s abilities, Vera knew something.
Although the curse on him was on the heinous side, if it was a saint’s ability, he should have cast the curse and felt no fatigue.
That said, there is no reason to include the word ‘power’.
Vera, who kept his mouth shut and looked at the saint, was able to infer the meaning of the saint’s words only after pondering for a long time.
“… Have you been deprived of power?”
“To say it was stolen is wrong. It wasn’t mine in the first place.”
The saint continued to speak with a smile in a calm tone.
“I just gave back what you lent me.”
“Have you given up on yourself?”
“There’s no reason to have it now, so it’s natural.”
A laugh escaped Vera’s mouth at the answer.
It was because I felt that some of the questions I had in those words were being answered.
‘I disguised death by my own will.’
There was no question of ‘why?’.
If it was a saint that she knew, it was because she could easily recognize her by looking at her calm face now.
“War must have been boring.”
At this point in time when the demon king disappeared, if the saint had been in her original position, the countries of the continent would have waged another war over the saint.
why not The saint’s abilities were worthy enough.
The person that the saint was listening to would have wanted to avoid the situation, and the way that came to mind would have been to erase my existence.
As she continued her thoughts, the saint opened her mouth.
The tone was a little subdued.
“… You know a lot.”
“So, are you going to kill me?”
Vera said so and looked at the saint.
The body is the worst. Even if that saint strangled me right now, I couldn’t resist even the slightest bit of resistance.
… To be honest, I had no regrets even if I died here. It was true that he lived a life deserving of death, and such a miserable end was within the expected range.
Vera closed his eyes, remembering that the saint would reach out to his neck.
That moment.
“There is no reason to kill.”
The lady’s mouth opened.
Vera frowned at the words and opened his eyes. The saint at the end of her gaze still had a calm face.
“why?”
“Why do you think I will kill you?”
“Isn’t it difficult to have someone who knows who you are?”
“I just want you to keep your mouth shut.”
“What if I’m going to spread rumors?”
“It’s unfortunate.”
An answer that flows like water. Vera then looked at her expression again to understand the saint’s intentions, but he could not read any sign from the face that had completely melted from the burn.
The silence continued, and when Vera did not respond after a long time, the saint took a short breath and continued.
“For now, take it easy. You are very unwell.”
“Do you know who I am and treat you?”
“Should I know?”
“Things like that happen, too. Could it be that the person the saint healed may be a murderer who cuts people to pieces?”
“Then it is very unfortunate, but I do not have the courage to turn away from the sick. All I can do is pray that you are not a murderer.”
Saying so, Vera felt the laughter erupting again as she leaned her back against the side of the shack.
The saint leaned back so much, took the rosary out of her arms, squeezed him tightly, and closed her eyes.
It looks like a prayer.
Vera felt a twist in his stomach for no reason at the sight, and spoke in a sarcastic tone.
“You are very faithful to the saint.”
“… Renee.”
“What?”
“It’s not a saint, it’s Renee.”
The rebuttal of agreeing all the time and at best is correcting the name.
Vera closed his eyes, remembering that the saint was indeed a strange person.