Ch 96: Descending the mountain

‘- My Holy God Solus… She really is a Saint! How unlucky am I to meet a Saint right in the middle of the mountains!’

The captain looks incredibly surprised, as if he is cursing himself for his bad luck. The other knights were also surprised, but to a different degree. Plus, their faces show a certain degree of relief, as if they were thinking, ‘It’s a good thing I didn’t open my mouth.’

“My sincerest apologies, renowned Saint” The captain quickly bowed to show his sincerest respect and said, “But you must understand me… an archer like the man beside you will be able to lessen the casualties on our side. I couldn’t help but try to take with me such a great talent!”

Delia looked confused, not knowing how to respond. While the captain, taking advantage of his inclination, hid his face to prevent us from being able to read his expression, but… 

‘He is most likely lying!’

Seeing that the black cloud service wasn’t working, he quickly took advantage of the bug to blatantly lie to a Saint.

‘My foot itches from kicking him in the face.’

“It’s okay; don’t worry about it. More importantly, I must cure that badly wounded man.”

“Yes, yes. Go ahead.”

From one second to the next, a great captain of the knights turned into the bootlicker of a Saint. But when Delia turned her back on him, he glared at me with hatred, as if waiting for the opportunity to stab me in the back.

Emir: “…”

Emir: “Delia, this man is looking at me ugly.”

Captain: “!!!!”

‘- Aren’t you a man?! Solve your problems by yourself!’

‘Pride? I am sorry, but I lost it in the knight’s test along with my chivalry.’

“Mm?” Delia looked at the captain for a second, and then her gaze turned serious “Lying to a Saint is a great sin. You won’t die, but slowly, misfortunes will begin to befall you.”

Captain: “!!!!”

Emir: “!!!!”

‘- Why is Emir surprised too?’

‘Then… What will happen to me now that I not only lied to a Saint but also diverted her from the right path? Shall I make an altar to God Solus and light little candles for his forgiveness? No, no. I came up with a better idea. I’ll repair the Solitary temple! That way, I’ll score points with Delia and with God. Two birds with one stone!’

Unlike me, who already figured out how to counteract the karma, the Captain is still in shock, not knowing how to solve the dilemma.

Sometime later, gritting his teeth, the captain goes to the large backpack where they carry all their belongings and pulls out a blank scroll.

“May I have a drop of your blood?”

The captain approached me and asked me that… 

‘Normally, I would turn him down, but this guy is also trying to counter karma, so he must not be planning something bad for either me or Delia.’ 

“Okay.”

After agreeing, I pricked my finger with a needle, and with the resulting drop of blood, I put my fingerprint on the parchment. At that very moment, a part of the parchment automatically filled in with words. One, in particular, caught my attention… [Emir], my name.

Then he had Delia also put a drop of her blood on the parchment, resulting in a second sheet filled with words. It was only now that the scroll was complete that I understood the captain’s intention.

“Emir, if you head off to war with this paper, I assure you that you will be in no danger. You may even be assigned to the rear, resulting in you not having to do anything at all. With this… will you come with me to war?”

The keywords on the paper that made my opinion change completely are…

[…the Holy Delia has under her protection Emir…]

“Well, I will follow you.”

I kept the paper in my inventory by flashing my ring so that they thought it was a storage ring.

“Emir!” Delia shouted. Setting aside the knight that she had been healing, Delia walked over to me and took my hands. “You don’t have to go.”

This is an action she has never done until now. Since we have been a couple, Delia has always treated me as a free man who can do whatever he wants. But this time, for the first time, she is reacting like a woman and not like a religious person.

The biggest proof of this is…

‘- Hey! what about my healing?’

She left halfway through the Knight’s healing, and from his expression, I know he is suffering a lot from the injustice.

Smiling, I stroked her head.

Without holding back, I touched her long fox ears and then stroked her head again. When I first met her, she looked very uncomfortable at these caresses, but now her tails have begun to wag happily.

‘- H- He’s stroking a Saint’s head! This guy is looking for death!’

Although the captain looked completely incredulous, I didn’t think anything of it.

Approaching her beautiful fox ears, I whispered, “Remember, I’m a [Traveler]” 

Delia: “!!!!”

From her expression, I know she understood the meaning as she turned away from me and went back to reciting the healing spell for the knight.

“Why were those monsters following you? Hyenas don’t belong on this mountain.”

To change the subject, I mentioned one of the most important questions in all of this. Since, depending on their answer, I will be able to deduce why they were near here.

“The horses in our carriage were killed by hyenas because of the supplies the carriage was carrying. The vast majority of the monsters were left fighting over food. So, we only brought back our important belongings and fled, heading for the mountains. We hoped to travel in a straight line to Denir city without any mishaps, but…”

“Their scent attracted the hyenas.”

I still remember in the labyrinth how one of the hyenas laughed at me and Alessia. But, after I killed one, these became more aggressive. Apparently, they have a great nose when it comes to the blood of their kind.

I kept looking at the knight, waiting for him to continue with his story.

The latter snorted and, reluctantly, continued speaking.

“Our destination is Denir city. There we will gather the knights and adventurers who, for various reasons, could not leave with the others to the war on the borders.”

“I see.”

Just like Yair, who first cleared the trap rooms of the labyrinth before leaving for the war, there should be other knights and adventurers who must also have some sort of circumstance.

As to why they did not ask a Traveler to take them directly to war, I will not ask since I can deduce it. So few are the Travelers and so expensive are their journeys that it is unthinkable for them to be able to supply such a large army. It is to be expected that some will have to gather in one place to make their work easier.

… 

After accompanying Delia to the Solitary Temple, they decided to leave before dark. Having made my decision, I accompanied them.

“With your permission, renowned Saint, we take our leave here.”

“Goodbye, Delia. We’ll keep in touch.”

While the captain said goodbye with great respect, I did it casually. To the point that I feel the gazes of the other knight’s glare at my back, and this is because… none of them spoke in all this time!

Talking to a Saint is not easy, especially since they are the pinnacle of religion. They are the closest thing to God.

“Farewell. I wish that your journey will bring you what you are looking for.”

At Delia’s words, all the knights were moved ‘The blessing of a Saint? I was blessed by one!’ At least I feel that they will say that kind of phrase to their grandchildren in the future.

… 

While descending the mountain, I took out a mask from the inventory and put it on. I also withdrew four scrolls, and then…

“Activate!”

As I activated the scrolls, they disappeared as if they had been consumed by fire.

“Forget my face, forget Delia, forget the Solitary Temple, forget the mountain, forget the whole situation concerning Saint Delia!”

Of course, the scrolls are [Hypnosis Scroll].

“Replace all your lost memories with the image of me being your hero. I am the one who saved your ass from the fangs of the fierce hyenas. The Saint accompanying me had guards from the Solus Temple accompanying her. After the battle, she teleported with a [Traveler] and disappeared from the scene. Did you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” they replied without a twinkle in their eyes.

“Good, now… Wake up!”

At that very moment, their eyes regained their characteristic glow, and they started walking as if nothing had happened.

All this time, I’ve been thinking about how to use the Hypnosis scrolls. And the conclusion I came to is that, if I’m going to erase someone’s memories, then I have to replace them with something plausible. Otherwise, people will ask, ‘What was I doing here? Why don’t I remember’. Such questions will make them suspicious. So, the best way to avoid this is to replace the memories with something else.

And so, if they were asked in the future, they would all tell a similar story, and their minds wouldn’t be in conflict with what really happened to them.

We descended the mountain without any problems, and one thing I noticed is that… 

‘They didn’t turn around to look at the mountain.’

One of my orders was to forget the mountain. So, even if they remembered coming down from a mountain, they wouldn’t know which one.

After all, at our back are dozens of mountains.

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