Chapter 47 – Prestige (4)
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 47 – Prestige (4)
“Hmm? Why is that?”
Ketal was puzzled by her reaction.
Even the thief and the paladin were amused.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Never mind.”
Heize tried to suppress her racing heart.
She was the only one who knew this fact.
Others were unaware.
So, she must not let it show.
Otherwise, she could be removed by Ketal.
That fear suppressed her emotions.
She spoke as calmly as possible.
“I haven’t changed. I always serve Lady Kalosia. I only follow her will.”
It was a reasonable statement as a believer.
Ketal nodded briefly and then seemed to recall something.
“Oh, by the way, I heard something from Aquaz?”
Ketal said after a moment of recollection.
“That’s right. They said that those who serve Lady Kalosia are currently in a period of rest and are not moving except for high-ranking positions.”
“Yes, yes?”
Heize’s face showed noticeable confusion.
Ketal looked away.
“Are you unaware?”
“I am.”
“Well… Usually, such matters within the church don’t come out to the public.”
The more persecuted the Church, the more closed its laws were.
And Kalosia’s church belonged to the representatives among the persecuted churches. Ordinary members had no way of knowing.
“Oh, Aquaz must have misunderstood something. Our church is in a very ordinary state.”
Heize forced a smile.
“I’m just an ordinary priest.”
“Is that so? Well, if you say so, then it must be true.”
Ketal didn’t pay much attention.
Aquaz was the inquisitor of the sun god, not a believer of Kalosia.
She might not know the details of other churches.
It must be a misunderstanding.
Ketal sorted out his thoughts like that.
And Heize became even more anxious at that reaction.
‘…Doesn’t he know everything?’
Is he waiting for her to say it herself?
Or is he just teasing her?
[You dared to deceive me. As a consequence, I’ll crush your head.]
With those words, Ketal grabbed her head.
Heize trembled.
It wasn’t long before the drinking session ended.
They all parted ways with satisfied faces. Except for one, Heize.
“That went well.”
Ketal lay on his bed in the lodging with a very satisfied expression.
He finally felt like he was part of this fantasy world.
He could achieve more and fulfill what he desired.
He closed his eyes happily.
* * *
The end of the cave.
The damp smell settled in the air.
In the vast cavern, there was a giant monster.
Thick brown skin.
Muscular physique.
Scratching its belly with its huge hands, it emitted a snoring sound that reverberated through the cavern.
“Grrrrr.”
It was an ogre.
The ogre’s snoring stopped.
Its large eyes blinked open.
The ogre, awakened from its sleep, stared blankly at the cave ceiling.
Drip. Drip.
One drop, then another, fell.
The ogre stared blankly at it.
Then, at some point, it fell asleep again.
That was the ogre’s life.
How long had the ogre been in this cave?
And how long was it supposed to stay?
The ogre couldn’t know.
It just continued to live here.
It was more like a single-celled amoeba living and dying than a creature taking proactive actions in life.
Whether it was a pitiful thing or a satisfying one, the ogre had no intelligence to judge.
As usual, time would pass like this.
Sleeping, waking up, staring blankly at the ceiling, then falling asleep again, living a life like a hamster wheel.
But today was different.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps echoed.
The ogre, who was sleeping, reflexively sat up.
“Uwoah.”
And the ogre could see it.
The human who had come for it.
“Wow. You’re huge.”
The human smiled, waving as if genuinely pleased to meet the ogre.
“Nice to meet you, Ogre.”
The ogre was momentarily confused.
The ogre had never seen a human in person.
But all the information about humans was stored in its mind.
But the human in front of the ogre was much larger than the humans in its knowledge.
In height and width alike, it was momentarily confusing if it was even human.
But eventually, it was human.
In the dense and stupid mind of the ogre, only one goal was firmly engraved.
Kill every approaching human.
The ogre’s eyes, showing signs of confusion, instantly turned fierce with determination.
The ogre opened its mouth.
“Uwoooooo!”
A roar burst out.
It was a monster’s cry.
Just hearing it would make most humans collapse with fear.
The ogre charged forward.
The sound of its giant footsteps echoed through the cave.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As the ogre approached, the human didn’t flee.
It stayed there as if rooted to the spot.
Must be frightened.
The ogre sneered.
It clenched its fist.
The human would surely be crushed.
Its form would distort and stick to the ground.
“Uwooooo!”
Believing in such a future, the ogre swung its fist down.
And the human raised its arm.
Kwaaaaang!
A loud noise rang out.
The shockwave reverberated through the cave.
The ogre was taken aback.
“Uw, uwo!”
Its fist was blocked by the human’s hand.
“Oh.”
The human chuckled.
“You sure pack a punch.”
What, what’s this?
It’s strong.
A mere human can’t block his attacks.
That must have been the case.
“Uw, uwooooo!”
The ogre raised its other hand in opposition.
The human casually raised its opposite hand.
With a thud.
The ogre’s arm was seized and halted.
And then it was twisted.
Crack!
“Uwooooo!”
The ogre groaned in agony.
The human continued to hold onto its arm and pulled.
The ogre’s body slammed against the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Uwooo!”
The ogre screamed in pain.
To break free, it pulled its arm as much as it could.
Its muscles swelled momentarily in an attempt.
The human, with a look of fascination, released its grip.
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Crack!
The ogre barely managed to break free and staggered backward.
“It’s sturdy too!”
“Uw, uwooooo!”
The ogre roared and charged again.
The human’s face blossomed with what seemed like genuine joy.
The ogre swung its arm again, only to have it caught once more by the human.
But this time was different.
The human held onto the ogre’s arm and pulled.
The ogre’s body was slammed against the ground again.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Uwoooo!”
The ogre screamed in pain.
It tried to pull its arm to break free.
For a moment, its arm muscles swelled up.
The human, with an expression of amazement, let go of its hand.
Crack!
Struggling, the ogre staggered backward.
“Is it because its arms suddenly grew like that? Is the structure of its muscles different? To be so strong purely by strength alone, fascinating.”
Don’t say that!
The ogre couldn’t understand the human’s words, but instinctively, it wanted to shout that.
It felt like it had become a toy.
Terrifying.
The human in front of it was frightening.
For the first time in its life, the ogre felt fear.
But it couldn’t run away.
It wasn’t because this cave was a dead end.
There was only one goal engraved in its mind.
Kill the human.
Kill every being that enters this cave.
The pressure to do so pressed on the ogre like an obsession. Eventually, the ogre screamed and charged forward.
The human laughed and spread its arms.
* * *
“So, this is an ogre.”
The human.
Ketal murmured.
There was undeniable joy in his voice.
It was natural.
An ogre.
One of the powerful monsters representing fantasy.
It was a monster that appeared in almost all works of the fantasy genre.
To get to fight such a monster directly and even bring it down was undoubtedly satisfying.
Very satisfying indeed.
“It’s certainly fascinating.”
The ogre’s strength was tremendous.
It was a physical force that couldn’t come from the mass of its body.
It didn’t seem like it had used any mysterious power like Ashetiar did.
It was fascinating.
‘I’d like to study it.’
Ketal, thinking to himself, passed by the ogre’s corpse and reached the end of the cave.
There, a reward awaited the warrior who had defeated the ogre.
Ketal’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“Oh?”
There was a plant glowing with a blue light.
It sprouted on the hard ground as if claiming to be the owner of the vast cave.
Ketal touched the plant as if intrigued.
“Is this the reward?”
Until now, rewards had been simple goods, but a glowing plant like this was something else. It was unusual, probably because it was a high-level dungeon.
Ketal took the plant and exited the dungeon.
Upon entering the guild hall, Rosa greeted him with a smile.
“Welcome back, Mr. Ketal. How was the dungeon?”
“I cleared it without any issues. The ogre was quite fun.”
“Fun, you say.”
Rosa chuckled wryly.
Ogres.
They ranked high even among monsters.
Their skin could repel arrows and swords, and their strength could easily topple trees.
To describe it as merely “fun” was absurd.
Nevertheless, she was starting to get used to such situations.
Rosa held up some documents.
“The clearance of the C-rank dungeon has been confirmed. Shall I proceed with the reward?”
“Please. I’m not even sure what this is.”
Ketal handed Rosa the glowing plant.
Upon seeing it, Rosa was taken aback.
“Is this the reward?”
“Seems like it.”
“Hmm… Hold on a moment.”
Rosa carefully examined the plant.
She let out a small sigh.
“…I’m not sure either. It seems like a herb related to alchemy or magic.”
“Really? Can such things be rewards from dungeons?”
“Dungeons don’t just give out simple goods. In fact, the higher the grade, the less likely they are to contain gold or silver. Magical items and artifacts are more common.”
“I see.”
“For now, I’ll return it to you. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
Ketal received the herb.
It faintly glowed in his hand.
“How can we verify this?”
“Usually, you would go to an alchemist or wizard, but…”
Rosa chuckled softly.
“This is a small territory. We don’t have such advanced resources here, so it might be difficult to confirm it locally.”
“Is that so?”
“Still, if it’s a reward from a C-rank dungeon, it should be quite valuable, so you might as well keep it for now.”
“Understood.”
Ketal pocketed the herb.
Rosa took out another request form.
“Would you like to take on another request?”
“Let’s check first.”
Ketal received the request form.
As he skimmed through each one, he eventually set the request form back down.
“There are too few.”
“That’s to be expected.”
Rosa chuckled as if to say something.
“You handle two or three a day. There’s no way there would be any left.”
It had been two months since he established himself in Barkan Territory.
And during that time, he had taken on requests almost every day without fail.
Since becoming a C-rank mercenary, he had solved various requests that seemed interesting to him.
And the result.
He had completed most of the requests in Barkan Territory.
“This is a small territory, after all. There aren’t many grand requests here. Honestly, clearing the C-rank dungeon this time was quite exceptional. Most of the time, it’s not higher than D-rank.”
Dungeons appear where people gather.
And the more people, the more dungeons of higher grades appear.
In other words, there were limits to the dungeons that could appear in remote territories like Barkan Territory.
The ogre dungeon this time and the maze dungeon that appeared before were quite unusual.
“Even living a modest life can be enjoyable. You have plenty of leisure time now, so why not live leisurely?”
“I won’t deny that.”
Ketal stroked his chin.
He loved fantasy.
This territory had truly delighted him for the past month.
But all he could do here was deal with the basic elements of fantasy.
Did someone say this?
They say familiarity soon leads to boredom.
To truly learn magic and mystery, he eventually had to move.
Didn’t Rosa say that there were no people here who could identify such herbs?
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen proper magic yet.
Karthos?
The lich had been forgotten in his memory for a long time.
To Ketal, magic was still an unknown force.
“…For now, as you said, perhaps I’ll enjoy a bit of leisure.”
But what next?
“It’s troubling.”
It would be nice if something changed.
Ketal muttered to himself.
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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