With firm steps, Lubella walked through the Grand Temple’s halls. Her shoulders were squared, and there was no hesitation in her footsteps. It was hard to find any trace of her past timid self in her movements. Weig followed behind Lubella silently. It was only after Lubella put sufficient distance between herself and Windne that she let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew~!”
Lubella let her shoulders down and loosened her body. Then, she turned around with a spin.
“How was I? I tried to act according to Mr. Zich’s advice.”
“It was perfect.”
It was so perfect that Weig became worried that Zich might have influenced her too much.
“Those two won’t be able to bother you anymore.”
They weren’t on the same footing as Lubella in the first place; even though they were both Saint Candidates, not all Saint Candidates were equal.
With firm determination, Lubella said, “That would be great. But it won’t matter to me either way. I plan to fight back now, especially if they continue to insult me like they did today.”
“But I still can’t believe you actually slapped her. That was Mr. Zich’s advice, right?”
“Yes.”
When Lubella confided in Zich about Windne’s attitude towards her, he told her to try slapping Windne. Zich told her that while it was important to always consider the situation, person, and condition in a conflict, she should slap people who treated her unfairly.
Seeing the uncertainty on her face in response to his advice, Zich told her that it would also be a good idea for her to reconsider multiple times before resorting to violence; but if there was no other way to settle the conflict after pondering for a long time, Lubella should take this as a sign to use violence and slap her opponents. Lubella clicked her tongue at Zich for repeating her advice back to her in his own creative way. However, since it was from Zich, Lubella engraved his words into her heart.
“If I must say, wasn’t this your first time using violence? How are you feeling?”
Lubella looked down at the hand that had slapped Windne.
“I feel a lot of different emotions. I feel guilty about hurting someone, I regret how I was not able to find a different solution, and I fear that I might become a person who easily resorts to violence.”
It was natural that Lubella felt this way. All her life, violence was kept far away from her, and she felt guilty for inflicting the slightest amount of violence.
However, despite all these complicated emotions inside her, Lubella said, “But it definitely was gratifying.”
Weig burst out in laughter.
“I think you are ready to go to battle as Karuwiman’s Saint.”
“I’m not a Saint yet.”
“It’s only a matter of time. But please be careful. In order to protect people and justice, we are forced to use our powers, but we cannot be swallowed by the power. If that happens, you will not only lose your qualifications as Karuwiman’s Saint, but as a human being.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Well, it’s about time for the Pope’s meeting to end, so let’s go report to him.”
The two of them headed to meet the Pope.
* * *
After making a lengthy report to the Pope, Lubella separated from Weig. Lubella’s footsteps were light as she finally headed towards her room after a long and arduous journey.
“Hello, good afternoon.”
A handsome, tall man with a well-balanced body stood in front of her. He was not a Karuwiman—the broach on his chest indicated that he was an Honorary Holy Knight.
“I see that you are an Honorary Holy Knight. As a Karuwiman, I express my thanks to you.”
It was the broach Lubella had offered to Zich before.
“No, it is my honor to be able to serve Karuwiman as an outsider.”
The man smiled and revealed his identity, “I am Glen Zenard. Through Priest Luce’s recommendation, I was fortunate enough to gain the title of Honorary Holy Knight.”
“Oh, Priest Luce recommended you.”
Uruwon Luce. He was not a High Priest yet, but he was famous for his merit and faith; there were even talks that he would become the next High Priest. As someone who was recommended by Luce, Lubella thought that he must be a trustworthy person.
“If you do not mind me asking, are you Lady Aine Lubella, one of the few chosen to be a Saint Candidate?”
“Yes. Even though I am lacking in many ways, I am fortunate to have been chosen as a Saint Candidate.”
“I see.”
Lubella was not sure, but Zenard seemed a bit conflicted while looking at her. However, when she tried to peer closer, there was no such emotion on his face.
‘I must have been mistaken.’
There was no reason for Lubella to continue her conversation with Zenard. She was about to say her farewells to Zenard and go back to her room when he stopped her by saying, “Didn’t you have to go through a painful experience this time?”
“Yes?”
“It’s because you seem very troubled.”
‘What? I do?’
Lubella touched her face. She was not good at controlling her expressions, and there wasn’t anything she was particularly worried about.
‘Am I still anxious about what happened to the Holy Knights who tried to protect me?’
But that situation had already been dealt with. She was going to lead the memorial service for them and pray for their passing. Moreover, she was going to honor their sacrifice by remembering them in her heart forever. That was the resolution Lubella came up with.
“If possible, would you be able to tell me about your concerns? I might be able to be of some help.”
His face was pure and completely devoid of all self-interest, but she shook her head.
“No, it’s fine. I’m thankful for your offer, but I have no concerns.”
“…Is that so?”
As if he was sorry, Zenard withdrew his body back.
“Lady Lubella, I apologize. I must have been wrong. But my desire to help you is sincere, so if you have any concerns later, please come and find me.”
“You are a very kind and thoughtful person. I can see why Priest Luce recommended you. I will keep your words in mind.”
After giving a small bow to Zenard, Lubella kept on moving towards her room. Even as she was walking away, Zenard did not erase the smile from his face. However, as soon as Lubella
completely disappeared from his sight, his expression immediately turned stiff.
“…There’s been a change.”
As if his kind and gentle demeanor had all been an act, his face looked very twisted and cold. After looking in the direction Lubella disappeared off to for a long time, Zenard turned back and vanished into the darkness.
* * *
As the largest mining city, Suol produced more than 50% of the iron consumed by the Kingdom. The miners added vitality to the city as they moved towards the mining area at the crack of dawn. With a single lantern and a pickaxe, the miners had to dig in a dirty and dark cave. It was a dangerous situation for the miners, but because of the harsh conditions, there were many excellent and fierce veteran miners.
Most people in Suol did work related to mining, but not everyone was a miner. One job unrelated to mining was being a Monster Exterminator. It was not an exaggeration to say that in this world, every place was threatened by monsters in one way or another. There were differences in severity between different areas, but even the capital city of the Kingdom had to deal with monsters.
However, it was also crucial for the Kingdom to have a stable supply of iron. For this reason, the Kingdom made it their top priority to carry out large-scale monster sweeps around Suol at least twice a year. Therefore, Suol was safer than most villages and towns from monsters.
However, this was all in relative terms; even Suol was not completely safe from monster attacks. As long as monsters existed in this world, no city or village was completely safe.
To make up for this gap in protection, the Kingdom set up a complementary system, which was to find monster exterminators. It was a straightforward system that gave a set amount of money to those who caught monsters. Despite its simplicity, it was a somewhat effective solution. It was nowhere near the effectiveness of the Kingdom’s large-scale monster sweeps, but it helped curb the number of monsters till the next monster sweeping season. Moreover, this system was much cheaper than mobilizing an entire army. It was also a good way for skilled fighters to make money.
Thus, many different types of people became monster exterminators. Some people were retired mercenary soldiers, some were adventurers seeking to raise money for their journeys, and some were farmers looking for ways to pay their debts. As long as they could fight monsters, there were no limitations to becoming a monster exterminator.
While leaning against a tree and sitting on a thick tree root, Zich said, “So it’s really the best possible job for us.”
But Hans, the only one who could hear him, did not have the leisure to even reply.
Kweckkkkk!
The orc screamed and swung his rusty ax around. The awful smell coming from the orc assaulted Hans’ nose. However, Hans did not lose his focus on the orc’s movements. If Hans got hit even once by the orc’s ax, which was moving around with no sense of direction or logic but by pure brute force, he would be fatally injured.
Orghhhh!
The orc jumped towards Hans. While holding a half-rotten handle, the orc swung his ax with all his strength to split Hans into two.
“Hup!”
Hans had been quietly observing the orc before he jumped into action. He moved his feet widely and raised his sword.
‘No matter how much strength and mana training I’ve been doing, I’m still just a beginner. I won’t be able to block an orc via brute strength. Instead, I have to block their attacks by softly deflecting and letting the rest of the force flow out.’
Hans remembered Zich’s advice. The harsh training he went through and all his past experiences allowed his body to move according to Zich’s words.
Zing!
A rusty ax and a short sword met in the air.
“Ugh!” Hans cried in pain from the force of the orc’s powerful swing. But even then, he did not drop his sword.
Screeeech!
The orc’s ax began to slide past the tilted sword, and the orc’s body began to fall forward.
“Huuuuup!”
Hans made a loud yell and flexed his forearms. He put his foot forward and moved one step next to the orc’s side. Then, as if the sword was brushing past the ax, he slid the sword to the side and pushed the ax away.
Whish!
With nothing blocking his path anymore, Hans made an excellent half-circle and pierced the orc’s neck.
Puck!
Hans was only able to cut half of the orc’s hard neck, but he was now used to these types of situations. He quickly moved his body to the side and moved his sword back.
Swing!
The orc swung where he was just a moment ago.
“These tough bastards!”
A human being would have fallen into a state of panic after having their neck sliced halfway, but these orcs swung their axes nonstop without a care in the world. Before he knew what they were like, there were a few times Hans almost died. But he was able to use those experiences to become better at handling orcs.
Glurg!
Blood spurted out of the orc’s neck. Anyone could see that Hans had just landed a critical hit, but even with this injury, the orc kept on fighting.
Hans almost peed his pants seeing how the orc held his half flapping, severely bleeding neck with one hand and an ax with the other hand; but even the toughest orc could not go for long in this condition.
Plop!
The orc collapsed on the floor after a few steps. Hans carefully moved towards the fallen orc.
Pierce!
To make sure, Hans pierced the orc’s head. The orc’s body did not move at all.
It was finally over. Hans finally let himself relax.
“Are you finally done?”
As if he was bored, Zich let out a yawn. Even though Zich’s behavior was beyond annoying, Hans could not say anything. Zich was the scariest of them all.
“Yes,” Hans replied with no strength in his voice.
Zich got up and walked lazily towards the orc’s dead body. Then he lifted the corpse as if the orc’s two-meter-long body was as light as a cotton ball. Then he moved towards a sled next to them. There were already five orc corpses neatly piled on top of each other.
Thud!
With Zich’s throw, there were now six.
“This is good enough for now. Let’s head back.”
The words that Hans had been waiting for finally came out of Zich’s mouth.
“Yes, sir!”
Hans replied with more energy than anything he said so far.