Chapter 83 – The Cross of Memories #2

“Here, Mongma-!!”

A familiar high-pitched voice echoed through the guild building. At the entrance, a familiar blond-haired nun was waving at me.
A loud cry that made me feel ashamed to be called.
However, the adventurers around her were rather smiling warmly at the noisy nun.

“You must be a nun with a loud voice.”
“You’ll do a good briefing. I’d love to have you at our party.”

A strange world where nuns are praised even when they make a fuss.
This was not particularly surprising since this was the reality of the adventurer industry. Usually, the louder the nun in charge of the briefing, the better her rating is. Of course, I didn’t mean that I had a good opinion of the blonde nun.

“Calling people and making a fuss. About tools.”
“Lou, Luke? Sister Kate is a tool?”
“Wendy, please stay out of here for a while. This is a matter of my pride.”

I snapped her finger at Kate calling me from the building entrance. If you wanted to talk to her, she gestured to come directly from there.

“Come.”

At my fingertips, Kate began to tremble in her body.

“Fuck Luke! What are you asking the nun to do! I wouldn’t have raised Luke like this!”
“Watch out, Mr. Wendy. This is the proper handling of tools.”
“Heukheuk.”

Wendy put her head on her reception desk and sobbed softly.
She is like a mother who sees her child committing filial piety.
But the moment Wendy raised her head again, her expression slowly changed. Her sorrow began to change to amazement.
In line with my twitching fingers.
Because Kate was coming this way.

“Aww.”

Kate took her stride, gnashing her teeth with a look of shame on her face.
Whenever Kate moved, the adventurers gathered around her split apart like her Moses miracle.

“The nun… Obeys the orders of an adventurer?”

Wendy, who was sitting at the reception desk, exclaimed with her astonished expression.
Even Wendy, the ten-year receptionist, couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
That’s probably because nuns’ abuse of power often occurs in the adventurer industry.

A society dominated by tools.
A place where culled dealers organize an all-dealer party and go on an adventure.
Because this was the adventure industry.

“Now I understand! Luke-sama has completed ‘my own little nun’! Najaksu is treated as the ultimate spec by adventurers!”
“Well, you can say that.”

My very own little nun!
Beings called ‘Najaksu’ for short.
A term used to refer to nuns who have sworn allegiance to one dealer.
Usually, it is born when the dealer’s favorability work reaches its peak, but the dealer who completed the Najaksu was as if he had obtained the ultimate specification.

Because the dealer the nun swore allegiance to was an aristocrat in itself.
The dealers who owned the handguns were superior to the adventurers who were covered with high-end equipment.

“It’s amazing! What’s the secret to attacking the nun?”
“Good luck.”

It was while I was having a conversation with Wendy.
From behind, Kate grabbed my shoulder tightly.
Kate was staring at me with her molars clenched.

“Hey, Mongma-nim. I’m Mongma-nim’s client. Didn’t you hear from the receptionist? That I nominated Mongma-nim.”
“I heard everything.”
“But why is the handling so persecuted? What the hell is an adventurer who makes his clients come to their feet? I’m not a tool right now! I’m my boss!”
“The reason you nominated me is very questionable. You don’t mean to use quest excuses to solve things you’ve always piled up, right?
“No-!!”

Kate screamed.
Hearing the loud reverberation, I was able to relax my guard to some extent. It was not uncommon for adventurers to appear as clients in the adventurer’s guild. It was entrusted with a quest to resolve personal grievances.

“Actually, it’s not that I don’t have the heart to pamper the dreamer.”
“You’ve revealed your true colors. It’s an evil tool.”
“Still, I’m thinking of entrusting you with a proper quest! Right now, I’m not an adventurer, but I’m moving as a nun of the Gwangmyeongseong Church. The church ordered the quest, and the church paid for the request. A strange quest that shovels into the bare ground. That never is.”

Are you saying that you are in charge of a quest ordered by the church?
When I remembered Lily, who was in charge of the Mage Tower investigation quest, I immediately understood Kate’s words. Kate was also a nun before she was an adventurer. She may be able to move after receiving a mission from the Church.

“What’s good for you if you beat the quest?”
“It’s a promotion. It’s to be able to build up the practical experience needed to be promoted to an intermediate level nun. As much as I lack divine power, I have to run on my feet in the field.”

It was the moment when I nodded as if I knew.

“But you don’t have to run on your own feet!”
“What?”
“You can hire an adventurer and pamper them, right? They’ll do anything for you if you give them money. As a client, I don’t have to work hard.”

Kate was looking at me with a sinister smile.
Her smile was filled with resentment for the insults she had received from me.

“I’ll show you this opportunity. What it means for a nun to eat quests raw with all her heart.”
“Under?”

What is this blonde woman talking about?
I haven’t made up my mind to accept the quest yet, have I?

“I’m going to take a walk behind Mongma-nim. I brought a book to read while walking. Please take a good look at the taste of the walk along with reading.”

Is this tool bitch provoking me?
The way he spoke was fucked up, but there was no reason for me to be angry. It was natural for the client to eat the quest raw. Wasn’t it paying money and hiring adventurers to eat raw in the first place?

I sighed and opened my mouth.
I decided to think of it as my karma, which I usually used to crush on Kate.

“So what’s going on? Please explain what kind of quest it is.”
“There are a lot of eyes here, so we’ll move places first. It’s not a good thing even if rumors spread.”
“Hmm.”

Kate pointed to a table in the guild’s lobby. It’s usually a table where adventurers sit and chat, but today it was luckily empty. I said hello to Wendy and followed Kate to the table.
As we walked, Kate glanced at me and gave a grotesque scream.

“I bought Mongma-nim with money!!”

“I can rule over the dreamer!!”

At that moment, I was really worried.
Should I just turn down the quest? The worry.

*

After a while.
I finally followed Kate to a table in the lobby. We were going to see each other often, but it was kind of like throwing them away without even hearing an explanation. Since she filled the holy water bottle and received money, Kate was like my piggy bank. She had plenty of room for patience.

After sitting me down at the table.
Kate came with her cup from somewhere.
Then she carefully held out the empty cup to me.

“What is this cup?”
“Mongma-sama! Water!”
“What?”
“Of course, you’re a client. Serve me a drink.”

Kate was watching me intently as she spoke. If you ask for water to drink, I can just give it to you, so why are you stuttering like that?
After thinking about the reason, I found my hand clenched into a fist.
It was a fist that had entered a combat stance due to the previous provocation.

“Since it’s a client, I can give you water.”
“That’s right, right? Huhuhuhu.”
“I want to hit my client’s stomach really hard, but I’ll hold it in.”
“Whoop, whoop.”

With a slight warning, I poured water into Kate’s cup.
When water droplets were formed by hand signs, a small cup could be filled in no time.
Kate gulped down the water I filled.
Seeing her drink without hesitation, I thought she was a really strong bitch.

“…It’s refreshing. The taste of this quick victory is very good.”
“You think you subdued me just by making me water?”
“Hmph. I don’t think he’s a man who would give in so easily.”

Kate set down the empty glass of water and gave a brief commentary.
As she brought water, Kate didn’t seem to want to provoke her any further.

I hurried to Kate to explain her quest.
You have to listen to what kind of quest it is so you can lose money quickly. If it was a long-term quest that took a long time, it was impossible for me now.

“Tell me. What do you want me to do?”
“It’s about breaking something.”
“Thing?”
“An evil totem left by the cultists. I heard it was found deep in the waters of Yoensuu.”

Pagan totem.
Hearing Kate’s words, I couldn’t help but wonder. In a different world dominated by all sorts of pseudo-religions, Yoensuu was an area called a clean zone.
This is because other religious fighters cannot use their strength in Yoensu, where the Kwangmyeongseong Church is dominant.
For two years, the cultists rarely made a fuss in the city.

“Why is there a totem in the canal?”
“There was an accident in the underground waterway 15 days ago. It seems that the pagans hiding in the city held a meeting deep in the underground waterway. When we went on an expedition to subdue the giant.”
“If it was 15 days ago… I see. Is it just when the subjugation quest is in progress?”

No wonder I didn’t know about it.
Fortnight ago, I was fighting the giants in the seaside cave. The pagans held a meeting while I was away.
In the underground canal that can be called my home ground.

“Fortunately, thanks to the information from the citizens, the gathering was quickly discovered. They said that our church dispatched paladins to exterminate the infidels.”
“Paladin? Wasn’t violence not allowed because of your doctrine?”
“Paganism is an exception to the doctrine. Even Baldur, whom we serve, does not tolerate heathenism as much as he does. You can pick off the heads as you please. Shall we say that this is the only violence God allows?”
“It will be a price.”

To see those naive church members hunting pagans.
I didn’t have a good idea. But if it’s a paladin, you can say it’s the core force of the church. A mundane cultist could easily be replaced.

“The pagans were all exterminated 15 days ago. However, the totems they left behind are still in the aqueduct. Paladins also tried to destroy the totems, but as you know, the road to the aqueduct isn’t very complicated.”

It was only because the paladins couldn’t destroy all the totems.
The underground aqueduct of Yoensu was a labyrinth-like structure with the roads twisting intricately. When I was a newbie, I also took on reconnaissance quests with underground water several times, but it wasn’t once or twice that I almost got lost because I got lost. Although now I can find my way even with my eyes closed.

“They said that there was only one totem left that couldn’t be broken. The church commissioned me to destroy that totem.”
“Where is the totem located?”
“Don’t worry about that. The adventurers in charge of the scouting quest gave us a tip. The dreamer just needs to break the totem and come back.”
“It’s fine.”

If it’s a quest related to an underground waterway, adventurers usually take off the crane.
At least not me
I’m familiar with the geography and ecology of underground waterways thanks to hitting a hit and run in my newbie days.
It was because he had solved a lot of quests related to the underground water that others avoided.
If it was only to destroy the totem and return, it seemed like it could be done in a day trip.

“How much is the commission?”
“Seven silver.”
“Giving 7 silver per day? Pretty generous, right?”
“Because the totems built by the cultists contain evil powers. They say they have the power to summon the lesser undead. The undead are guarding the totem.”
“Undead!”

Undead are grotesque monsters that move while they are dead. Skeletons or rotting zombies with only bones remaining.
Until now, I had never dealt with the undead while working as an adventurer. The pagans rarely made a fuss in Joensuu.
Seeing my unusual expression, Kate quickly opened her mouth.

“At least they’re low-level undead! They’re bones that can be shattered if you hit them! Nightma-nim can wipe them out with just one whip. And I also have holy water supplied by the church. If necessary, just throw the holy water and bounce.”

Holy water!
When I heard the story of Seongsu, I was relieved. I heard that holy water is a weapon that is no different from a bomb to undead monsters. If they supplied holy water, it was definitely a quest worth doing.

“Demon-sama. Is that why you accept the quest?”
“Yes. I’ll beat the undead in your place.”
“It’s nice. But there is one condition.”

Kate looked at me with a smile.

“Only Dreamma-nim must come to the underground canal. Rebecca-nim cannot join this quest.”
“What are you doing?”
“You and I have to move alone! Just this time!”