Childhood Friend - Encounter
"Goodbye."
As soon as the arrow was pulled out from his buttocks, Woody, startled by the pain, dashed across the plain.
Leo tasted bitterness in his mouth.
They had barely managed to break through the border. It was a rough process.
They encountered soldiers several times and were chased by rangers.
If it weren't for their efforts to speed up their movement at the border, they would have been killed in a sword fight. But Woody ran like a pedigreed warhorse, clanking along.
Thanks to that, they were able to shake off the pursuit.
However, Leo still couldn't completely relax, so he decided to avoid the conspicuous field and head back into the mountains.
The fact that Woody was hit by an arrow while being chased also influenced their decision.
Since the horse couldn't climb the mountain anyway, Woody removed the arrow and let it go.
Leo waved his arms above his head. The faintly glowing mark dissipated with his agitated gesture.
It was unfortunate. Why was the paladin out for inspection?
"Darn it. Am I getting unlucky because of that?"
There was a message that appeared after killing Hans.
[Achievement: Civilian Murder - You have killed '1' civilian. You become slightly more unlucky.]
It was an incident that occurred because the Holy Cross Church blocked the border, but Leo blamed his own luck.
That darn mark!
The scattered mark had regained its shape by now.
If he hadn't killed Hans, the mark of the divine wouldn't have appeared at all. The only misdeed committed in this scenario was that. Did killing several bandits... count as a misdeed too?
Anyway, he couldn't go to Lutetia with this mark on him.
"When will it disappear?"
It had already been a week, but there was no sign of the mark disappearing.
It would eventually disappear.
Just like priests, paladins also depleted their divine power when using it. This kind of mark wouldn't consume much divine power, but it wouldn't make sense for them to have used a lot of divine power on mere thugs. He used little power, so the mark should disappear quickly.
He thought he would meet Lena soon, but he was wrong. He had to hide until this mark disappeared.
He couldn't enter the area ruled by the Jerom Holy Kingdom. Anyone who saw this mark would report it. It was evidence directly designated by the paladin and also evidence of past misdeeds.
"They say there are many barbarians in the Holy Kingdom..."
Leo knew quite a bit about the Jerom Holy Kingdom thanks to Lena, who had passed on the stories she heard from Sister Lesley. He also knew about the paladin and the mark from her.
He rode towards the north.
The Jerom Holy Kingdom was lenient towards barbarians and was the only country on the continent that did not allow slavery. While allowing barbarian tribes autonomy, many tribes remained intact, unlike the northern kingdoms that accepted barbarians as citizens.
The Jerom Holy Kingdom did not care how barbarians lived as long as they accepted the teachings of the Holy Cross Church and did not harm the villagers.
Leo planned to live near a barbarian tribe until the mark disappeared. He could survive by hunting, but he needed minimal trade.
Fortunately, it was summer. It wasn't cold, and there was plenty to eat in the mountains.
He had learned a lot from Lena. The more he knew, the more bountiful the mountains were with food.
He filled his hunger with foraging alone and continued to cross the mountains, avoiding the villages of the Jerom Holy Kingdom.
During his journey over the mountains, he found traces of demons several times.
There were few threatening animals in the southern region, but as he went north, there were more demons.
There was a reason why the Einar tribe was organizing a large hunting team in the engagement scenario. It was to hunt the rare demons they encountered.
The creatures were essentially the same despite being called demons. The problem was that creatures like the Noguhwaho demon were simply large foxes, but the issue lay in their unusually agile and mysterious bodies.
Whenever Leo saw traces of demons, he would draw his sword in readiness. Thanks to this, his journey in search of barbarian tribes seemed endless, but he eventually discovered a small village in the forest.
In the village surrounded by thick wooden fences, symbols of the Holy Cross Church and the tribe's unique insignia hung high.
***
"...will be covered. In the next class, we will learn about the achievements of Lord Udean, the sixth adult."
After the 'History of Ancient Theology' class ended, Lena grabbed her books and headed to the library.
Among the theology subjects, 'History of Ancient Theology' was the weakest subject for Lena. Since there were no books available in the village church, all Lena had learned was through oral tradition from Sister Lesley and the priests. She chose to prioritize subjects she was not familiar with.
With some time left until the next class, Lena hurried her steps to review what she had learned today. But she didn't forget to briefly pray in front of the 'chalice' on her way.
This small bronze chalice was placed on the first-floor staircase, and besides Lena occasionally offering prayers, it was a rather useless decoration.
"Happiness."
Since coming to the monastery church, every day had been moving for her.
Indeed, the teachings at the monastery church were of high quality.
Despite Lena having diligently studied theology since she was young, there was still much to contemplate even in basic theology classes.
"Oh! Sir Daniel! Hello."
Approaching a novice admiring the newly painted mural, she greeted him warmly, and he nodded in response, showing respect.
Daniel was a novice of higher rank than Lena. The number of knots on the novice's robe indicated their rank, and Daniel's robe had five knots. He was a top student who seemed to live in the library, so he often crossed paths with Lena, who frequented the library.
Contrary to his somewhat sullen appearance, Daniel was quite naive.
Nevertheless, he was very kind and even meticulously explained the class curriculum to Lena. He also recommended his study routine, which was very helpful.
"Is this... the scene where Azura defeats evil for the third time?"
Daniel looked somewhat surprised as he glanced at Lena.
"Wow, you recognized it at a glance. I've known for a while, but you seem to have a deep knowledge of theology. It seems to me that the scene where Azura fights the demon by the riverbank in Lodran is correct."
"How did Azura defeat temptation? That was a time when there was no church or divine power."
"I read a book about 'Azura's Twelve Feats' and there..."
Lena and Daniel exchanged theological stories in front of the mural for a while before parting ways.
Daniel watched Lena leave and inwardly admired her. The mural was not easily recognizable at first glance. It was easy to mistake it for depicting a different story, so even the senior student Daniel hesitated in front of the mural for a moment.
"Although she's a woman, she truly is knowledgeable."
He harbored biases against female priests. Just like most high-ranking positions of this era were held by men, the vast majority of priests were also men. Even those revered as saints were all men, and except for a few select holy women chosen by God, there were hardly any women who left a mark.
Daniel was somewhat negative even towards holy women. Holy women seemed to appear out of nowhere. Even the current head of the Holy Cross Church, Saint Mariel, was once just a noblewoman from a humble family.
He believed that the immense struggles endured by saints and holy women should not be compared. But Lena seemed special. Surprisingly, his prejudices were somewhat shattered by her deep and studious demeanor.
"Did I misjudge her? Well, although female priests are rare, they do exist."
Daniel blamed himself for judging her with prejudice and went to the relic placed in the center of the building. After waiting for others to fall away for a moment, he knelt down, prayed, and confessed his sin of harboring prejudice to God.