Before I knew it, Callan and I were going into the forest. Suddenly, Callan started talking to me.
“By the way, how old are you?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Because you look quite young.”
“I am not that young. I am about thirty years old.
I told him honestly. My body age was twenty but I actually had lived for thirty years.
“Really? You have a baby face.”
“I have heard that often. I have a baby face by nature and since I became a Master, my skin’s got even whiter.”
“But your heart might be much older because you’re a Master in your thirties. Probably no one in history became a Master at that early age.”
“No, that’s not true. There’s the Grand Duke Cloud. Although they’re not humans, Grolmogg and Elpane Cydes became Masters at an early age.”
Callan shook his hand.
“They are exceptions because they shouldn’t be considered as humans.”
“Well… Oh! There’s a bald old guy. Fabius, the Single Eye. You also know him, right?”
Fabius, the Single Eye, was the highest rank Master Swordsman who was a knight of the Robros Kingdom. Currently, he’s holding the title of Marquis. And he had a very weird character. He’s so proud of his eye lost during the battle but he had an inferiority complex over his baldhead which was resulted from many hardships in battles.
“Oh, you’re right. He became a Master at an early age too.”
“And uncle Zenbe as well.”
“Yeah. Zenbe, the Holy Oil as well.”
“Also Wayne, the Dark Hero, who died recently was one of them. Right?”
Wayne was a Master-level Holy Knight belonging to the Church of Flame. He was known to be strong-willed, righteous, and very stubborn. Also, he was respected by people because he slaughtered mercenary guilds and atrocious evildoers raiding other people on the Road of Asceticism. But I had a bad memory of him.
Around the time when I was in the second grade of middle school at Imperial Aristocrat School, I sent him a letter to suggest an offer to conquer the whole world together. And he didn’t even send me a reply.
Callan stared at distant mountains.
“Wayne… Yeah, he’s one of them.”
“See? There are so many of them.”
After getting out of the dense forest, I could see Lake Kara. Then we headed to the bridge which led to the island where the Saint Euroa Temple was located.
I looked inside the lake as I crossed the bridge. Under the clear water, I saw a colorful sandy gravel field and a flock of various kinds of fish swimming in small groups.
Perhaps I should bring a fish trap next time. Those palm-sized fish would be perfect ingredients for a hot pot.
‘It is quite large since it’s one of the most famous holy lands of the Church of Water.’
As I arrived at the island, I saw a magnificent temple showing off its splendidness. There were not many high-rise buildings but the entire area of the temple was as big as any temples I ever saw.
Callan and I walked through the crowded plaza and stone statues gushing out water. Those statues were called the Baptism Statues of Water by which pilgrims and believers visiting the temple washed away the sins they committed in this world.
I looked around with furtive eyes and Callan gave me a suspicious look.
“What are you looking for?”
“A hot chick who’s getting baptized.”
“People are baptized only at dawn when the lake is the cleanest.”
“Dammit. Can they just be baptized anytime they want? Why do they care about which hour they get baptized?”
Callan narrowed his eyes.
“You should be careful. You seem like a guy whose life will be ruined because of women.”
I snorted.
“I don’t mind my life being ruined. My only wish is to be surrounded by a bunch of beautiful women. Hehehe.”
Shortly after, we arrived in front of a giant stone statue in the center of the plaza. It was the stone statue of Saint Euroa although its color had faded significantly. The reason might be the fact that it was struck by fountain water for a very long time.
Yet, it seemed like quite a good source of income for the temple. I could see a lot of coins under the fountain water as well as a long line of people who’re making their wishes in front of the statue.
Callan said goodbye to me in front of the stone statue of Saint Euroa.
“Hey White Mask, I should go my way from here. You go your way too.”
“Are you heading somewhere?”
“I have an urgent business to attend to. Actually, I’m already a little bit late.”
I made a sheepish face. Since he got some business to attend to, I couldn’t keep following him.
“Well, I also got some business to attend to.”
“What business?”
“I am gonna hit on a pretty local woman. Today is the perfect day.”
“You’ve got no worries in your life. Well, good luck and goodbye.”
Callan made a hollow smile and left. Like a lonely hunter seeking prey, I looked around with my hawk eyes. But I couldn’t find women of my standard. Some girls looked pretty but had small boobs. Some girl had a slim body but also an ugly face.
‘Is my standard too high?’
Reflecting from the sunlight, sprays of water in rainbow colors scattered around the surrounding area. Pilgrims were throwing coins in the fountain. The stone statue of Saint Euroa gazed graciously down upon those who were praying.
I sat on a banister of the fountain and glanced at coins on the fountain floor. I always felt tempted in this kind of situation. It’s not a lot of money yet I wanted to pick up those coins in secret. I looked at the pilgrims around me. At that moment, I heard my stomach growling.
I felt hungry. Like always, my stomach growled at noon. So, it’s time to eat.
I put off hitting on a girl and walked towards street vendors gathered under the shade of trees outside the plaza.
* * *
‘What the…?’
When I arrived near the street vendors, I saw a huge guy and then I made a happy smile. Uncle Zenbe was selling food here. What a nice surprise.
“Hey, uncle Zenbe. Nice to see you again.”
Once he saw me coming in short and quick steps, Zenbe twitched his nose. Unlike me, he didn’t seem very happy.
“Hey human, why are you here at the temple?”
“To enjoy festivals. What about you?”
“During festivals, a lot of people come to the temple so I can have many customers here.”
“Oh, I see.”
I walked closer to a long chair in front of the street vendor and looked around. I couldn’t see them. Those Orc mercenary soldiers who were always nearby Zenbe after our Fraker hunt.
“Where are those Orc mercenary soldiers? They take a day off on holiday?”
“They’re gone. They’re probably working as mercenary soldiers somewhere in Kara right now.”
Hearing his indifferent reply, I narrowed my eyes.
“No way~ Are you sure?”
“Yes. They’re really gone.”
“That’s weird. They didn’t seem to give up that easy. How did you kick them out?”
After a long silence, he gave an honest answer.
“I beat them up. Orcs listen to other Orcs well once they see a huge difference in power.”
“What the hell? You beat up all of them?”
“I only beat up a few of their leaders. After I took care of their leaders, they just left.”
“But other Orcs will keep coming. All of the Orcs in the Great Desert will hear the news about you and come here, right?”
“So, I beat up every one of them and they just leave.”
“Oh, I see.”
As if he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, he frowned.
“Stop talking about stupid things. Why did you come here today?”
I sat on a chair.
“Of course, I came here to eat. Give me some food.”
He grumbled and scowled at me.
“I can give you food. But you know what?”
“What?”
“You never paid for the food you ate here.”
Actually, that was true. I never paid for the food I ate here. When I first came here, I was busy going to hunt Frakers as soon as I finished my meal. The second time, I gave him 300 riffs of gold for his help during the Fraker hunt so I ate my meal for free.
“Oh, really?”
“You will pay for your food today, right?”
“Alright. Don’t worry. Just give me food. The same one l had before.”
“Okay. Just wait.”
Soon, he put ground meat on a grill and started cooking. As the meat was getting cooked, Zenbe stared at me because I kept looking around.
“Why do you keep looking around? Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yeah.”
“Who?”
“A beautiful woman whom I will meet by chance.”
He twitched his nose.
“What a fruitless life.”
“No, you’re wrong. My life is fruitful. If a man doesn’t have a desire for women, it means he would die soon.”
“You have such a way with words like always.”
At that moment, a palanquin and guards in a long line entered the Saint Euroa Temple. The palanquin was carried by twelve people and covered with white silk curtain so I couldn’t see inside.
There were around a hundred armed guards on both sides of the palanquin. They were Kara’s soldiers. Apparently, the person inside the palanquin seemed to have an elevated status.
“Who is that person?”
“Probably She’s the Emir of Kara. She’s here to deliver a ceremonial message to people of Kara today.”
The Emir of Kara was Sharif Kara, the woman called Pearl of the Great Desert. In fact, two great plagues hit Kara 22 years ago and 14 years ago. Her predecessors, brothers, and sisters all died during the plagues so she became the Emir at the age of six.
“Oh, I’ve heard that she’s a beautiful woman.”
“The beauty of a woman in high social status is often exaggerated.”
“Well, that’s true…”
“Just eat your food.”
Zenbe was handing me over the cooked bread but he stopped. Then he looked up at the sky because a huge shadow quickly flew over us.
We both kept looking at that shadow.
Soon the giant creature flying over the sky rapidly came down and struck the small sanctum tent in the plaza, dragging a young priest who was standing in front of the tent. And then it flew away over the sky again.
“What the hell was that?”
The giant creature twisted the priest’s head to 180 degrees with its long, pointed beak and threw the priest away.
“Well, he’s dead.”
All the spectators in the festivals screamed and scattered right away as they saw the dead priest falling to the ground.
Shortly after, I could hear a shout from the Emir’s palanquin.
“It is the demon! Everyone, make the defensive formation!”
With one accord, the guard troops pulled out and pointed their bows at the flying demon.
Also, uncle Zenbe hurriedly grabbed his sacred weapon, Titania which was in his storage.
I took a bite of bread and told Zenbe as if scolding.
“Uncle, what the hell are you doing?”
“Can’t you see that? It’s the demon.”
I looked blankly at the flying demon circling over the sky.
It had wide and nearly 7m-long wings like those of bats. Its body was shorter than 3m including its long beak. Also, there’s a nose bridge sticking out over the beak and its rough feet had claws of about 20cm.
It’s Belboke whose danger level was over 50. It’s a quite dangerous demon but not the one I should be worried about much. Its danger level was a little bit high since it could fly. Yet this demon was not strong due to the limitation of its body structure.
“Let those soldiers kill that demon. Why the hell do we have to kill? And seriously, even if you’re stupid, how can you kill a flying creature with a sword?”
“But…”
“Or just run away like other people. It will be worth seeing for sure.”
With a sheepish face, Zenbe stared at Belboke flying over the sky. As he was a very strong and honorable man, he could not run away because of one demon.
Of course, I had kept watching the whole situation. Kara’s soldiers were busy shooting arrows at Belboke and armed Holy Knights and Soldiers in the Saint Euroa Temple came out at once as soon as they heard the demon had appeared.
I chuckled while watching Kara’s soldiers and Holy Soldiers shooting a ton of arrows at Belboke because hundreds of soldiers were having a very hard time killing one demon.
“Phew~ idiots. They’re trying to kill it by shooting arrows. What are they thinking?”
“Then how do you kill it?”
“Magic grenade launcher.”
The magic grenade launcher was a 1-Term level magic weapon that could launch magic grenades. It was invented a long time ago but had been rarely used by rich aristocrats whose hobby was hunting. The reason was simple. Its efficiency was extremely poor.
For instance, a lowest-grade magic grenade launcher with ‘Lock-On Magic’ and ‘Location Tracking Magic’ could be used only three times in three days. But its manufacturing cost was the same amount of money spent on training two or three people to become 1-Term level magicians. Moreover, it had a crucial shortcoming. A magic grenade launcher was almost useless when attacking mana swordsmen or magicians who had high magic resistance.
Zenbe stared at me as if I said something ludicrous.
“Do you think a 1-Term level magic grenade can kill that giant creature?”
“When it comes closer, you can use an electric shock type magic grenade. Then it will be stunned for a moment, right?”
“Yeah, it’s possible.”
I raised my unfolded palm and put it all the way down to the ground.
“A flying creature is moving so fast? Then once it gets stunned at that speed, it will head into the ground and become incapable of combatting if not dead.”
“Oh, that’s a good plan.”
In the early days of the Era of Destruction, humans had the most difficult time in fighting against these flying demons. Since they could fly, even the Polkin Fortress and the rough Ipozium Mountains could not stop them.
So, many people were killed by these flying demons. But once magic grenade launchers came into wide use, humans could defend against them because it was quite easy to kill them with electric shock type magic grenades.
The only problem was the Essences used in magic grenade launchers were very expensive. However, it didn’t matter anymore after the Era of Destruction came because Chaos Pieces and Essences were everywhere at that time.
Out of sudden, Zenbe made an urgent face and grabbed his Titania.
“Hey human!”
“What’s up?”
“Look over there!”