LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 28 - Preparation (1)
Chapter 28. Preparation (1)
*Drip… Drip…*
Albeka had grown accustomed to the sound of dripping blood.
Although it was the same liquid, the sound of blood dripping had a different kind of stickiness compared to the sound of rainwater falling.
“Brother Albeka, the permission has been granted.”
Albeka smiled faintly.
Unless one held a rank of a military commander or higher, special permission was required to use enchanted items in the Stigmata.
This was true for other orders and cults as well, but the process took particularly long for the Stigmata because they were not trusted.
“Finally, the permission has been granted.”
However, this time, it wasn’t just permission to use an enchanted item. It was approval to use a sacred relic of the Church of Hayat, and a mid-level relic at that.
“Now, I can capture him.”
Without wiping off the blood smeared on his gloves, Albeka took the parchment handed over by his subordinate and began reading it.
“But Brother Albeka… Do you really need to go after him?”
The subordinate found it hard to understand him.
Of course, all heretical priests were a significant threat. However, the one who had conducted large-scale ritual experiments multiple times and even caused the deaths of nobles was on a different level of danger.
“If you, brother Albeka, also leave when Luminaries is already understaffed…”
“This one escaped from me. It is a trial given to me.”
Albeka knew well which way the scale should tilt. In terms of danger and the amount of harm caused, the red-haired Outer God priest he was chasing ranked lower in priority.
“But I must catch what I missed.”
The subordinate knight couldn’t understand this obsession. The current mission had already wasted time due to unnecessary pursuit.
“Is that so? But still…”
“Are you anxious?”
Albeka had no intention of listening to any superficial reasons. The subordinate in front of him was concerned about priorities, but as a superior, Albeka was not one to worry about such things.
“Do not fear the Stigmata’s chance to atone for sins.”
“Well, I don’t want to die fighting monsters just because I committed a few robberies.”
The subordinate’s reaction was not unusual. Eight out of ten members of the Stigmata were human scum—evildoers, non-believers, and heretics who had committed unforgivable sins that simple imprisonment or punishment couldn’t atone for. However, Albeka belonged to the remaining two out of ten.
“Are you heading to the Valley of Corpses?”
“Yes. There are a lot of undead there, as well as hidden mages and bizarre monsters. Investigating such a wretched place… Please, come with me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll head there immediately after dealing with the red-haired one.”
“Fine…”
Leaving the room, the subordinate glanced at the blood-soaked bodies strewn around and shuddered. The Stigmata had many members who relished such vicious acts.
‘There’s no humanity, no humanity at all.’
It would have been easier to understand if Albeka had such “morbid tastes”. But Albeka was not that kind of human. He was someone who could calmly commit atrocious acts purely because of religious conviction. The subordinate couldn’t understand him.
‘… Fanatic.’
Feeling disgusted by the teeth and jaw underfoot, which he couldn’t tell whether they belonged to a child or an old woman, he muttered to himself. Eight parts scum and two parts fanatic—this was the Stigmata.
* * *
“Can I touch it?”
“No, it might be poisonous.”
『Do I look like a jellyfish? Poisonous or something? Still, don’t touch me.』
Talia stared at Eldritch with curiosity. Admittedly, I found it fascinating as well. A jelly-octopus reading a scripture on a desk was not an everyday sight.
“Are you really a servant of an Outer God? You look quite… harmless. Definitely peculiar, but harmless.”
It seemed like Talia found Eldritch even more intriguing because she didn’t know much about jelly-octopuses.
『From a human perspective, I am said to be somewhat less repulsive.』
“Honestly, you look a bit cute.”
『Miss, you should learn to cultivate inner charm rather than blunt honesty.』
Eldritch grumbled, seemingly displeased with being called cute.
‘I told you to stay in human form…’
Eldritch, despite having adapted to human society, disliked disguising as a human more than expected.
It felt to him like enduring something extremely uncomfortable.
Therefore, even though he had shrunk in size, he seemed quite pleased to roam around in his original form.
“But if you take him around in that form, won’t people get suspicious?”
“They just see him as a peculiar familiar. Eldritch hardly exudes any of the aura of the Outer Gods.”
If anyone could immediately identify Eldritch as a servant of the Outer Gods, they deserved applause. Even Cernun had merely found him curious, saying he was a monster he had never seen before.
“I only take him along when acting as a mage; at other times, I hide him in something like a hat.”
“And inside the cloak?”
『Heavens. You’re telling me to go inside there? Just kill me instead.』
“You dislike it that much?”
When Talia expressed her curiosity, Eldritch glanced at my cloak and shuddered.
『I thought it was impressive how you could wear such a horrible thing. To humans, it would be like wearing a scarf made of a human’s intestines with a snake’s head attached.』
That sort of comment wasn’t necessary.
Talia also shifted slightly away from me.
“Mister, you really have a strong heart.”
“Is it any worse than you, who hit the chef on the head with a cup while working at the restaurant?”
“What’s a… chef’s head?”
“… his head.”
A soft sigh escaped me. Talia, of course, also had things to say.
“But that chef!”
“I know. He hurled insults and treated you like an orphan, provoking your anger.”
The chef seemed to have a rough mouth and a fiery temper, and it appeared he had infuriated Talia by asking if she had no parents.
“These people here are really the problem. Why is everyone so rude and mean?”
“That’s just how it is everywhere you go.”
It had been a while since I heard a young person complain about their job. Of course, the unfairness Talia faced was on a different level.
『Then why don’t you consider becoming a mercenary, miss?』
“Should I?”
“What do you mean ‘Should I?’ Of course not.”
No matter what, I couldn’t let her choose such a risky and poorly regarded profession as a mercenary.
“But still…”
*Flap.*
Our gazes turned to the window. Lyla’s familiar, an owl, perched on the window sill, looking at Eldritch like it couldn’t make sense of him.
“Did you ask Lyla for something?”
“No, I didn’t.”
I checked the letter the owl brought and found the content quite unexpected.
“Lyla says she’s coming to the port city. She needs to visit other countries on her master’s errand.”
“Other countries?”
Talia’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. Watching her, I brought up something I had been considering.
“Wanna go together?”
“Me? With Lyla?”
I nodded. I sent her to an inn to work, but she ended up fighting with the owner. I sent her to a restaurant, and she hit the chef on the head. Mischievous as ever, no matter where she went, I was worried.
‘It’s time for her to be away from me.’
With so many things to deal with, even I no longer had the luxury to keep her close.
Albeka was targeting me, and I was preparing for the inevitable clash with him.
‘I had originally planned to lure them and flee.’
It wasn’t like I had carelessly revealed my identity as Ethnos in the port town. The plan was to lure enemies like mercenaries or Luminaries to this place with news of Ethnos’s activities.
‘Then, I intended to delay their pursuit by escaping.’
However, I had decided to gear up for a real clash.
The reason was none other than a book that was first given to me when I fell into this world.
『Awakening Ritual of the White Night』
Empty pages meant for scribbling were filled with unknown content. This text held information I had long sought—how to level up.
‘The act of leveling up is called “Open Light,” and those levels are referred to as ranks…’
I had encountered the term “Open Light” in scriptures several times before, but I never had a chance to ask anyone. Thanks to Eldritch, I finally gained this long-awaited knowledge.
“And this written here is the Awakening Ritual.”
The Awakening Ritual was how priests leveled up.
“7th Rank is the final stage of Awakening. Level 7 is the max level, just the same. It was quite shocking that my level was 0.”
The Initiation Ritual and Awakening were separate.
In other words, one could only achieve Level 1 through this Awakening Ritual. Actually, one could infer from the scripture that Awakening was a reinforcement element, but it wasn’t particularly noted.
“Because of those damned rituals.”
The first Awakening Ritual detailed in the Scripture of Defilement involved grinding the bones of five girls and five boys into a meat porridge and then immersing oneself in it for a day.
“The spiders were no different.”
This was challenging in another sense. One had to weave silk to create a tribute, but if a different race other than Leng Spiders attempted this, complex preparations were needed.
“If I perform this ‘Awakening Ritual of the White Night’, it should solve the problem…”
Suddenly, this ritual appeared in the blank book. It could replace those other rituals. It was unclear why this ritual existed or why it had appeared in this book, but the conditions were clear.
One had to kill five heretical priests or paladins of higher than 1st Rank in a single attempt or offer a relic of the heresy.
“Actually, this isn’t an easy condition either. I have to hunt down someone stronger than me, not just some riffraff.”
Obtaining a heretical relic was even more difficult. But if one grew stronger through the Awakening Ritual, they could uncover more truths and also the secrets related to Dowol.
“This ritual has been granted to me, so I must use it. There’s no reason to doubt it.”
Yes, I would perform this ritual. The conditions could be easily met.
“If I fight properly this time and gather what I need, I can perform the Awakening Ritual. The problem is how much the enemy would exploit me.”
Albeka was already aware of the 〈Forbidden Transformation〉, which had the most potent recovery and counter-attack capabilities. He must have prepared for any miracles related to the Scripture of Defilement.
“I have my cloak…and it wouldn’t be too bad if I summoned the Leng Spiders.”
However, this still felt inadequate for a fight. Obtaining a new scripture was difficult under the current circumstances.
As I pondered, Talia subtly called out to me.
“Mister, I…”
“We need to go to the black market. You too, Talia.”
Knowing what she was going to say, I deliberately cut her off.
“What? Last time you said we couldn’t go.”
“Not that one. We’re going to a quieter black market where they buy and sell enchanted items or relics of the Ancient Gods.”
I didn’t have the ability to analyze whether the items I bought were genuine or had hidden flaws or problems. It was a place where I was likely to be scammed.
“Mr. Eldritch, you’ll assist us, right?”
『Of course.』
With Lyla coming and Eldritch present, things would go smoothly. More precisely, Eldritch’s monocle would help. Though I tried to use it myself, it heavily drained the mental energy of humans, so I had to return it reluctantly.
『But, Lord Ethnos.』
… It felt quite awkward to be addressed like that.
『You don’t need to address me formally. Among beings like us, hierarchical relationships are important; it’s actually more fitting to address me informally.』
Since I had been role-playing as the ‘peculiar Outer God priest’ character with Eldritch, I had been using formal speech on purpose. The formal character suited the purpose of appearing suspicious and mysterious.
“Well…now that we’re allies, it wouldn’t hurt to drop the act.”
After pondering for a moment, I nodded, thinking it would be better to break down this barrier.
“Alright. I got it, Eldritch.”
Eldritch bowed, mimicking a greeting with what seemed to be its neck or torso. As our conversation ended, Talia, who had been listening quietly, voiced her curiosity.
“But why should I go to the black market? Those items must be really expensive…”
“I have to make sure you’re equipped to take care of yourself and protect your body.”
As a parting gift.
Realizing the meaning, Talia’s previously excited expression darkened slightly. Sadly, our relationship couldn’t last forever, and it shouldn’t.
“I now have to tread an even more dangerous path.”
To uncover the truth, I had to dive deeper into the abyss and the unknown. In an awkward silence, we headed to the secret black market Eldritch knew.