41
Luke’s goal was very clear: head to the Dark Cathedral in Layton City and snatch something back from the Dark God.
I asked him, “How do you plan to get to Layton City? By horse or carriage? The main road is safer but longer, while cutting through the wilderness is shorter, though we’d need to buy a map to avoid getting lost. It would be best to hire a guide familiar with the terrain who can keep secrets… And when we get to Layton City, how do you plan to enter the Dark Cathedral? Through a formal visit arranged by Hiller, gathering the Holy Knights for a declaration of war, or sneaking in disguised?”
Luke just stared blankly at me.
I waited for a while but didn’t get an answer, so I had to repeat the question. “What’s your plan?”
Luke hesitated. “…Find Sith, punch Him, and take back my stuff?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“I understand.” I took a deep breath. “Please wait a moment. I need to write a letter to Hiller.”
Luke’s cowlick drooped down. “Oh…”
—Luke’s cowlick seemed to express more emotion than his face. Since his movements had become sluggish, his animated cowlick was much more noticeable. I’d observed this for a while and finally couldn’t help but ask, “That thing on your head… uh, can you control it?”
“Yes!” Luke nodded eagerly, and to prove it, his cowlick wobbled back and forth.
“…”
This really isn’t right.
While I didn’t fully understand the differences between players and NPCs, I always assumed we were similar since NPCs are based on player appearances. But I had never seen an NPC able to control their hair, not even someone as lively as Lily.
So… is hair actually part of a player’s body?!
Suppressing my curiosity, I finished writing the letter and asked Luke to deliver it to a priest of the Church of Light, using his authority to send it back to Kaelia City. Watching his figure disappear into the Church, I felt a bit more at ease—no matter what the outcome of this journey, at least Hiller would be prepared.
Now it was time to figure out how to get to the Dark Cathedral.
Between Trad City and Layton City, there were three major cities, with countless towns and villages in between. Considering the level difference between us and the beasts and monsters in the wild, taking the main road seemed like the better option. The only problem was…
I asked Luke when he returned from the Church, “Can you ride a horse?”
He shook his head.
While I was thinking about where to hire a carriage, he suddenly asked, “Can you ride a dragon?”
I was puzzled but answered honestly, “No.”
This world used to have dragon knights, and supposedly, there was once a Holy Knight commander who was a dragon knight a thousand years ago. But the profession had died out nearly a century ago, for many reasons. The most popular explanation among the public was that keeping a dragon was simply too expensive.
Half an hour later, I found myself staring silently at the massive dragon in front of me.
—While it’s said that you can buy anything in Trad City if you have the money, I hadn’t realized that included renting a dragon until Luke poured out an insane amount of gold coins from his small bag.
“No, the owner’s dragon isn’t actually for rent,” the guild manager from the Merchant Guild coughed awkwardly as he handed me the reins. “But the amount this gentleman offered was… too generous. The owner specifically said that if you plan to use the dragon to attack Layton City, that would be an additional charge.”
“….” I numbly took the reins and asked Luke, “Do you want to leave now?”
Luke shook his head, took a camera out of his small bag, and firmly asked, “Can I take a picture of you with the dragon?”
“…”
The guild manager politely smiled from the side. “Sir, photos with the dragon also come at a price.”
Luke simply nodded, raised his camera, and started snapping away. *Click, click, click, click.*
The dragon, which had been curiously extending its neck toward the camera, was suddenly startled by the continuous flashing lights and backed up several steps. It panicked and swung its tail at Luke!
Reacting quickly, I moved in front of Luke and blocked the tail, which was thicker than my own body.
—Thankfully, my no-knockback bug was still active, though I had begun to suspect that, like the other “bugs” I had, it wasn’t really a bug.
Even though I didn’t counterattack, the dragon lost its balance when its tail was caught and crashed down with an almost comical flop.
The guild manager stared at me in shock.
I apologized awkwardly. “Sorry for… startling your owner’s dragon.”
The guild manager jolted upright and screeched, “…No charge! No charge!! Take as many photos as you like!!!”
“…”
42
Without considering the price, riding a dragon was indeed the fastest way to reach Layton City.
This particular dragon belonged to the Merchant Guild’s president. Its wide back was equipped not only with protective magic formations to shield against wind and rain but also with a semicircular handrail for passengers to grip. During the day, it would be pleasant to lean against and enjoy the scenery. However, we set off at dusk, and now, looking down from the dragon’s back, I could only see waves of black silhouettes stretching endlessly below.
The dragon’s back was broad, and with the protection of the magic formations, there was no risk of falling off. I glanced at Luke, who was standing there blankly without reacting, and confirmed he wasn’t in any danger. Only then did I decide to check the newly unlocked card storyline—I had a feeling that this memory held the key piece of the puzzle I needed to understand before returning to the Dark Cathedral.
The memory was strange, shrouded in darkness.
In the void, a hollow voice, neither male nor female, spoke. At first, the voice seemed far away, and I couldn’t make out the words. Slowly, it became clearer until I heard a dissatisfied question: “…I’ve tried, so why doesn’t he taste as good as before?”
Another, more familiar voice chuckled. “My Lord, Holy Knights are tough-skinned creatures. Torture won’t make them suffer.”
Several faint lights appeared in the darkness, gradually revealing themselves as candle holders attached to stone pillars. The light was weak, just enough to see that this was a dungeon. A prisoner sat on straw against the wall, while closer to the cell door stood two figures cloaked in black hoods—or perhaps three—their forms were so indistinct in the dimness that they seemed like illusions.
The strange hollow voice spoke again. “That’s why I hate Holy Knights. Each one is tougher to digest than the last, only that fool likes them!” The voice lowered in pitch, almost a whisper, “But this one is special… so intriguing. I haven’t had a human this delicious in a long time…”
The prisoner suddenly moved. He looked up toward the most indistinct figure, as if trying to recognize their identity.
The second shadow crouched in front of the prisoner, grinning cheerfully. “Ah, isn’t it an honor for the esteemed leader of the Holy Knights to meet a god for the ‘first’ time?”
Alvin withdrew his gaze and looked at Asa, who was cloaked entirely in black. After a moment of silence, he hoarsely asked, “Where is Saye?”
“Saye? Who’s that?” Asa tilted his head, then seemed to remember, “Ah, the slave who escaped with you? Dead. His body was probably fed to the demon wolves.”
“…”
Behind Asa, the indistinct shadow suddenly expanded, black mist seeming to spread in all directions, dimming the candlelight until almost nothing was visible. A dark shape briefly flitted past the Holy Knight Commander, then reformed behind Asa. The candle flames flickered back to life, casting light on a monstrous silhouette—an indescribable mass, like something out of a nightmare.
Several tendrils extended from the thick black mass, poking Asa’s back excitedly. “He’s tasty again! Say something more!”
Asa stumbled forward from the force and had to steady himself by placing a hand on the ground. He glanced at Alvin, then turned back, pouting. “…My Lord, am I not tastier?”
“You haven’t been tasty for a long time!” the Dark God stated matter-of-factly. “Even at your tastiest, you weren’t even one-seventh as delicious as him!”
“…”
“You aren’t tasty either!” The tendrils turned to poke the back of the other hooded figure who hadn’t moved the entire time. “You used to be so delicious! Now I can only nibble on you during the winter!”
The Dark Pope, who had been floating in the air, was nearly sent crashing into the wall.
The Holy Knight Commander quietly watched this absurd scene. After a moment of thought, he asked, “Do you feed on ‘pain’?”
The Dark God seemed friendlier toward “tasty” humans, at least refraining from poking him. The God casually responded, “Didn’t that fool tell you? …Oh right, He ‘died’!”
Alvin’s jaw tightened, and he stared directly into the black mist before quickly lowering his gaze.
“…Are you angry?” The Dark God’s tendrils waved through the air as if sensing something. The God muttered in confusion, “You know He feeds on souls just like I do, and yet you still worship Him? What do you even believe in? Do you think He cares about you? Or that you’ll be rewarded?”
“Humans are nothing more than food to us,” the Dark God declared confidently. “Your only value is being useful!”
“Ah, hearing you say that makes me so sad~” Asa said in mock disappointment.
“You’re not sad at all! I didn’t get to eat anything!” The Dark God angrily jabbed a tendril into the back of his head, the sound making my head throb. “Look at him! He’s sad! You should learn from him and worship that fool!”
The Dark Pope glanced between Asa, who was holding his head, and Alvin, who was sitting with his head bowed. Then, unexpectedly, he pulled out a wine flask and offered it to Alvin—a gesture that left the Holy Knight Commander bewildered. He looked at the Pope, accepted the flask with his left hand, and calmly said, “Thank you, but if I drink, it’ll just spill out.”
—A curved black horn had pierced through his abdomen, pinning him to the wall, rendering him immobile. The horn seemed alive, and as soon as he moved his hand, it wriggled deeper into the wound. It was hard to read the Commander’s expression, but after a second, he pressed his hand back against the horn, stopping it from expanding the wound further.
The Dark Pope instinctively floated closer.
The Dark God, seemingly able to sense everyone’s thoughts, suddenly spoke. “Don’t touch him!”
The Pope froze, his hood tilting toward God.
The Dark God had given up on chasing Asa around, and its tendrils rubbed together as if in anticipation. With a hollow tone, it remarked, “Are you going to tell him? In my experience, if you tell him, he’ll taste even better!”
The hood shook rapidly from side to side.
The Dark God let out a long exhale, attempting to mimic a human sigh but not quite succeeding. The tendrils hovered over the two, disdainfully commenting, “You two call yourselves humans, yet you don’t even know how to make a human tastier. Useless! I have to do everything myself!”
“Yes, yes, how could we compare to the great Lord~” Asa grabbed a tendril and patted it ingratiatingly. “My Lord, this Holy Knight is more useful alive than dead. Your loyal and humble servant begs you not to play him to death~”
The Dark God waved a tendril in response.
Asa cast a final glance at Alvin, then bowed and left the dungeon with the Pope.
The dungeon was left silent once more, with only the Dark God occupying most of the space and the Holy Knight Commander still pinned in place, unable to move. The latter raised his head, staring at the black mist above, his eyes unfocused, lost in thought.
“I’m curious… You’ve never seen a ‘god’ with your own eyes, so what do you imagine a ‘god’ to be like?” The Dark God suddenly asked.
Alvin blinked, silently staring at Him.
The Dark God didn’t need to hear him speak; it could see his thoughts directly. The answer seemed to infuriate God slightly. “We’ve always been like this! …Do you really believe that fool is different from me?”
“Your ‘prayers’ were never answered by Him, your so-called faith is worthless, and your ‘sacrifices’ are equally meaningless!”
“You don’t even know what He really looks like!”
“That ‘Day of Miracles’? …You sheep actually thought He did it to protect you? No, He just wanted to kill His rival and become the only ‘shepherd’!”
A tendril pressed against Alvin’s forehead, slamming his head back against the wall. The Dark God stared into his unwavering blue eyes and huffed. “Let me tell you a secret that a fool would never share…”
“We and the ‘Demon Lords’ are the same species. The only difference is that we know how to herd humans, while they only know how to hunt!”
“…”
The Dark God waited and waited but didn’t receive the delicious feedback it was expecting from the Holy Knight. Huffing, it floated higher and pressed the tendril deeper into Alvin’s head.
Alvin’s breath stopped for a few seconds, his brow and eyes twitching slightly. He reached out, trying to grab the tendril, but his fingers passed through it like air. Breathing shallowly, he gritted his teeth and focused all his attention, reaching out again—this time, he grasped the tendril that was digging into his memory and tried to pull it out.
The Dark God made a surprised noise, intrigued that he could hold onto its essence. It wasn’t angry at Alvin’s resistance; rather, it seemed curious. After feeling out the force opposing it, the God muttered, “He allows you to use the power of ‘will’…”
Just a few seconds of contact was enough for the Dark God to find what it wanted. Its tendrils slipped out of Alvin’s forehead, and the tips of the tendrils touched together, as if in contemplation. Then, the God rattled off a string of names: “Hiller, Cooper, Daniel, Selina, Yuria, Miller…”
Alvin’s head shot up.
“Hmph, all sheep from that fool’s church.” The Dark God muttered, raising its voice. “I hate that fool’s church because all of you are so tough to eat! But…” The tendrils waved in the air, disgusted yet pleased as they concluded, “…once I break your ridiculous faith, you’ll become delicious!”
“But you’re the opposite. Your faith makes you tasty, so you can keep it!” The God announced benevolently. “He’s right; you’re more useful alive than dead… Now, entertain me with your disgusting and tough emotions!”
The Holy Knight watched Him with confusion and wariness.
“I don’t need to control you.” The Dark God easily saw through his thoughts, the tendrils wriggling excitedly. “Next month is that fool church’s Day of the Fool, isn’t it? Hmm… If you’re rejected by ‘Light,’ do you think they’ll abandon you, or abandon their faith?”
“…”
Alvin clenched his fist, his voice remaining calm. “You don’t have to wait until next month. You can devour my soul now; I won’t resist.”
The Dark God lazily replied, “That would be a waste. The benefit of keeping you alive is that as long as a human lives, they’ll keep producing tasty emotions. And you…”
The God’s tendrils cupped the Holy Knight’s face, inspecting the expression that hid all emotion, as if savoring a delicious piece of cake. With satisfaction, the God laughed:
“…You’ll bring me plenty more delicacies!”
…
With the Dark God’s departure, the dungeon fell quiet once more.
Alvin’s head slumped as he sat against the wall, his right hand clenched tightly over his abdomen as he tried to pull the curved black horn from his body. But it wouldn’t budge, just as it hadn’t countless times before. He thought for a moment, then suddenly removed his hand from his abdomen—freed from restraint, the horn immediately twisted deeper into the wound. This time, he didn’t stop it. After a few moments of watching, he suddenly pressed down on the base of the horn.
“Ugh…”
After several attempts, he gasped quietly, giving up on the futile effort. His gaze drifted to the wine flask the Dark Pope had handed him. He pulled out the cork, staring at the clear liquid inside, then tilted his wrist, letting it evenly soak the straw around him.
A faint spark flickered at the tips of the Holy Knight’s blood-stained fingers. As the tiny flame slowly began to gather into a small, bright glow, he calmly pressed his hand to the straw, dampened with alcohol.
In the next instant, the wine flask rolled to the ground, consumed by the sudden blaze.
Be my Patron ~ Buy me Ko-Fi
✨Be a part of the story – support my translations✨
✨Buy me some Ko-FI | Paypal to support my effort✨
✨✨Advance chapter at Patreon✨✨
