Chapter 185 – The Temple

She told Sister Nella that she would accept her request. She gave us the date of our departure from Kalita without losing her elation.

It is the morning exactly one week after accepting her request.

It’s a temple, so is it okay to move so quickly?

‘Come to think of it, I said that the parish couldn’t get the troops out.’

What the hell is Ma Gyeong-hwa, shouting for holy war and rushing out? Even Sister Nella couldn’t answer the question, saying she didn’t know.

So all I could do was prepare as much as possible.

I looked at my backpack, which was about to explode at any moment. Inside were food and water for several days, rope, flint, clean cloth, and other items. I checked that my backpack was properly locked and turned to the other three.

“Did you pack everything?”

“I did everything.”

“I’m almost done.”

“I’m almost done… Ugh… What? Why don’t you go in like this!”

It looks like they’ve got everything except for Ariel, who pucks the water bottle in. Just in case, I checked Seris and Kara’s backpacks. Water, food, rope, cloth and so on. I took good care of everything.

“A little! Listen! Go!”

“Hey, you say you put it in with force, does that go in? It’s already weak.”

I pulled out the water bottle Ariel had been putting in and looked inside the backpack. As expected, it is not piled up one by one, but just put in randomly, making it a mess.

I took the items out of my backpack and put them back one by one.

“Look. Instead of squeezing them in like before, insert them one by one like this… Hey, what are you doing?”

“…Tsk.”

Ariel, who had been walking stealthily to her room, came back, clicking her tongue.
Look at this
I strongly pinched Ariel’s cheek.

“Is it really natural for me to lose myself? Am I your servant? Ok?”

“Oh, it hurts! Okay, let this go!”

“Shut up. Learn as it is.”

I started packing my backpack while pinching Ariel’s cheek.

Naturally, it took longer as it was done with one arm, and Ariel, her cheeks flushed, swore that she would never run away again.

If I run away one more time, I’ll have to pinch her nipples like Celis did before.

* * *

The morning of the promised day was fortunately sunny.

“All of this is for Yurmia-nim to bless us ahead of the crusade.”

Next to me, Sister Nella is chattering. She’s been like that ever since she came out of Kalita, isn’t she tired? She had been walking for hours already.

‘Are you excited because it’s a holy war?’

Maybe so. If Sister Nella doesn’t know anything else, she has one great religion. She marveled when she saw her praying all night in front of the sanctuary.
Maybe she’s feeling her temple like her elementary school picnic.
You’ll be disappointed later.

I sighed and turned my head.
I see Seris, Kara, and Ariel walking around me. Seris and Kara were enduring the march steadfastly. Ariel, on the other hand, was already tired and his shoulders were drooping.

‘What’s so hard about not carrying a bag?’

Ariel’s backpack was being floated by a wind spirit. It’s a bit odd at first glance, but it was unavoidable because Ariel couldn’t carry the backpack itself.

I exercised so much, but it looks like that, so I want it…

I really want to know how he would survive if he wasn’t a spirit.

“Sister Nella, are you not too excited?”

While I was staring at Ariel in amazement, a blue long-haired nun approached me.
Was her name definitely Catherine?
At the time she was commissioned to escort the sanctuary, she was a nun who had a clique fight with the ferocious Sister Yuri over there.

In a village she stopped by on her way back, she encountered a group of cultists, and as they dealt with her crisis together, she became friendly with Sister Nella.

“Oh, do you see that? I’m ashamed of this. It seems that he was a little excited as it was the first time he had been honoring Yurmia-sama’s will. I will restrain myself.”

“Please. Rather, did you really bring it?”

Sister Catherine’s eyes turned to me. A slightly surprised expression. Sister Nella smiled shyly and scratched her cheek.

“Yes, fortunately they accepted.”

“I really envy you. Same with Sister Nella and Sister Yuri. I’m the only one who doesn’t have a relationship with people in the same rank.”

Catherine smiled bitterly.
Beside her were three adventurers of the same rank. These were the faces I saw a few times while going to and from the adventurer’s guild.
On the other hand, next to Sister Yuri was an adventurer with a large body, and she was a face I knew well.
Berserk Warrior Varian.
A silver-ranked adventurer who previously worked with bandits.

It was natural for Catherine to feel bitter at this situation. I don’t know about the other nuns, but Sister Yuri and Sister Nella are close to her. She must have felt left behind.

“Don’t worry. If something dangerous happens, will I be able to run away alone? If something dangerous happens to Sister Catherine, Brother Yuseong Han will help her.”

Perhaps not guessing Sister Catherine’s mood, Sister Nella spat out an absurd sound.

Rather than that, why are you suddenly carrying me?
Shouldn’t he usually have to offer to help?

Bewildered, Sister Catherine must have been the same. She opened her eyes round.
Then he smiled and turned his blue eyes to me.

“Is it true what Sister Nella said? Will you help me if I am in danger?”

There was a weak but anticipation in his mischievous eyes.
I pretended to be worried for a while, then she replied with a smile.

“It’s just like that.”

A little lip service is good for a relationship.

We continued our march while talking nonsense like that, and we had to walk for three days without rest before we could rejoin the main unit.

* * *

“What is the number of new members joining this time?”

“Six nuns, two paladins, and thirty-three adventurers. All together forty one.”

The Holy Knight, who had just returned, answered the question of the saintess, Loria.

41 more people came to the original 178 people, so 229 people.
The current number of members of the sanctuary.

Loria sighed.
219 people.
Not a small number. However, compared to the grandiose name of the temple, it was terribly shabby.

‘This isn’t what I was thinking…’

What Loria thought was to gather all the powers of the temple in one place and destroy evil with overwhelming power.

The most ideal and neat way.

But the reality was grim.

Her local parishes located in the Kingdom of Fromm were not cooperative with her. On the pretext that she couldn’t afford it, she slammed the door. She locked it and refused her application.
Even her request for support, written by the archbishop herself, was useless to them. It wasn’t until she brought out her cause of being a crusade that she pretended not to win and sent her support.
Even that wasn’t the best.

‘I never thought a dispute between the main parish and the local parish would appear like this…’

Now, 500 years after the first crusade, the status of God is not as good as it used to be.
God’s servants, who should do good deeds and self-training in the name of God, divided into factions and fought, blinded by gold.
The church, which should be pure, is tainted by the secular world.

The most representative example was the dispute between the main dioceses located in the empire and the local dioceses existing in other countries.

The reason for this dispute was the arrogance of the parishioners.

They viewed and treated the members of the local parish as inferior to themselves. Of course, there was a backlash from the local dioceses, and a big sediment was created between the main parish and the local dioceses.

And now, after 100 years of that sediment, the local parishes have turned their eyes and ears to the words of her saintess.

‘It would be nice if support came from other denominations…’

She knew best that it couldn’t be. Eurmia Bridge is one of the largest and oldest bridges on the continent. If you were checked, you would receive it, but there would be no help.

‘Really. The bad news overlaps too much.’

On the way back to the main parish, I bumped into Ma Gyeong-hwa.
There was no time to bring in troops from the main parish because of the rapid progress of the horse warfare.
I urgently asked for help from local dioceses, but none of them were uncooperative.
You cannot expect support from other temples.

Loria sighed at her devastating reality.

It is said that all humans fought together in the first holy war 500 years ago.

“Saint? Why are you sighing like that?”

“Balm…”

She turned around at the sound of her name and saw Melissa chewing on her jerky.
It looks like she just ate five apples.
Loria almost involuntarily sighed again.

“Are you worried about anything?”

Melissa asked, pulling out her new jerky and chewing it.

Looking at her like that, Loria wondered if she could talk about her troubles. But she soon decided to speak up.
Melissa is her old friend and also the leader of the Holy Knights of the Church of Eurmia.
She reveals a little bit about what she eats, so she’s a good friend to do otherwise.

“That’s it…”

Lauria confided her concerns. Melissa’s reaction to him was lukewarm.

“What, did you do something because you looked serious alone? You care about everything.”

“It’s just that. This is serious in its own way…”

“It just seems right to me, but what? I sometimes feel it, but it seems that the saintess is ignoring us too much.”

“Ignore you. I swear to Yurmia-sama, I’ve never been like that.”

“You didn’t ignore it… Then you don’t know. She is, after all, a saint, and since she shuts herself up and prays every day, she must have had very little to see.”

“Balm.”

Loria narrowed her eyes, her feelings hurt by her sarcasm.
Melissa said her saintess would or not.

“To become a paladin. Except for meal time and prayer time, almost all of the time is devoted to training. Rain or shine, keep going. Even after such arduous training, few can be appointed as Yurmia-sama’s knights. Such is our paladin. You’re a free knight, not just a bunch of scumbags roaming around picking up bean curd.”

“Fuck food…”

“Ugh, how are you going to live in this harsh world just being surprised by such a word?”

Tsk tsk. Melissa shook her head and pointed her thumb behind her.

“The same goes for the adventurers behind me. Not quite as much as our Paladins, but each of them survived their own ordeal. The ability to take care of one’s own body must have already exceeded that. There are 200 people like that.”

“…”

“At this level, you can exaggerate a little bit and just pluck most castles. So don’t worry too much. I don’t know what the cultists are trying to wake up to, but I’ll be able to deal with it without a problem.”

Melissa grinned and put her arm around her Loria’s shoulder. Considering her position, it was rude, but Loria was more than happy to do so. Melissa’s demeanor put her at ease.

“You look dignified today. You look like the commander of the Holy Knights.”

“Yes? So please raise my salary.”

Melissa, who had been grinning, suddenly put on a serious expression.

“Honestly, do you think it makes sense that a person named the Commander of the Holy Knights only earns 5 gold a month? The other articles…”

Melissa’s complaints and dissatisfaction that followed, Lori Ann let go in one ear.

* * *

Cromore’s Inner Balcony.
There was a man there.
Dark circles that came down black on the skin that looked like it was white because it was not white.
The limbs are as thin as tree branches.
There is no such thing as white in black eyes.

He looked out

Will arrive soon
Disgusting hypocrites who do business with fakes like Yurumiani.
Dirty pigs blinded by yellow gold.

You trash that wouldn’t even be worth tearing to death.
He who is noble and holy is giving you a chance.
So come on.
Come, be his nourishment, and announce the beginning of his holy temple.