Chapter 15: From Regroup To Revelation - Part 2

A hero candidate and a duke's daughter. Those were already more than enough revelations to leave Arezu speechless. Then, Hannah turned out to be a saint candidate. I've gotten myself into something troublesome, Arezu thought. Still, he knew that being involved with Lynn—who was mysteriously aware of all three true identities—was far more terrifying. "You're being rude again, Mr. Arezu." "I've been wondering... Do you happen to have a spell that lets you read minds, Lynn?" "As if a convenient spell like that could exist." Before they could delve further into their discussion about Alex's divine gift, the strange goblin flashers, and what had caused Alex to lose his mind, Lynn served their meal—Burger Queen, the infamous food she had forced Arezu to prepare before dawn for both breakfast and lunch. Seeing her pull their food from a small bag strapped to her belt made Arezu question how everything could possibly fit in there. "It's because this is an enchanted item," Lynn answered, as if reading his thoughts. "Its enchantments expand the bag's capacity and preserve food and materials for longer periods," she explained. "Since you're quite ignorant when it comes to magic, Mr. Arezu, how about I give you a lesson after this quest?" Setting aside the insult—or the fact that he had no idea how their current quest would continue—Arezu hadn't expected to be involved with Lynn again after their quest. With her invitation, however, he was somewhat glad at the idea of seeing them again—or so he thought. "If you worship me, that's it." Watching Lynn's playful act and Arezu's dumbfounded reaction, Liz and Hannah exchanged looks. "Do you two seriously not know each other?" "You seem pretty close, after all." Around noon, the party have lunch while continuing their discussion, starting with the fact that Alex was a hero candidate. Lynn explained what a hero candidate actually was—especially for Arezu, who clearly didn't understand the implications. In the central kingdom of Eileen, individuals born with divine gifts, whether noble or commoner, are gathered at the Eileen Academy to be nurtured for the benefit of the kingdom and its people. Those gifted individuals can compete for the title of "Hero," which is equivalent to a kingdom's commander. "Though hero candidates can act independently to earn recognition, some—like Alex—choose to accept support from nobles or other organizations." Lynn ended her explanation once Arezu grasped the basics. She then turned to Liz, prompting her to reveal the nature of Alex's divine gift. "Alex's gift is called Takeover," Liz said, "according to Alex, it allows him to temporarily take control of others' abilities, as long as he had seen them—skills, spells, blessings, even other divine gifts." "Tsk!... What an idiot." "Eh?!" Lynn's blunt and honest reaction stunned everyone. "Can't you be a little more compassionate?" Arezu asked, feeling sorry for Alex, who had lost control of himself, been left behind, and was now being insulted. "Would doofus hurt less, Mr. Arezu?" Annoyed by her sarcasm, Arezu sighed, but Lynn wasn't done. "If he had only listened to everything I said, he could've avoided that fate." As if anyone could do that, Arezu wanted to say—until he suddenly realized that he had probably been listening to Lynn all along. Noticing his lack of a retort, Lynn smiled knowingly, pleased that Arezu had been paying attention to her from the start. "And what exactly was he supposed to listen to?" Arezu asked, trying to shift focus from his own realization. To answer, Lynn pulled the monster core of the fake hobgoblin from her bag and placed it on the ground for everyone to see. Then, she asked Hannah to inspect it. "Can you tell us what's wrong with this monster core, Hannah?" While Hannah examined it, Lynn turned to Arezu, who looked confused, and explained why she had asked Hannah to take a look. Monster cores are typically used as power sources for enchanted items, thanks to their ability to store mana. Mages also attach them to enchanted staffs to serve as mana reserves and enhance spell attributes. However, because monster cores are originally corrupted by cursed miasma, they need to be purified by a priest or priestess before humans can safely use them. "That's the general connection between the Church of Isleen and the Adventurers' Guild. In fact, every guild has a resident priest or priestess for purification work." "Can you purify monster cores, Lynn?" "Obviously, Mr. Arezu. Aren't you paying attention to how amazing I am?" Before Arezu could argue back, Hannah interjected. "Lynn... This monster core—why is it corrupted by so much cursed miasma?" "As expected of a saintess candidate. Can you estimate how much more than normal?" "Ten... no, twelve times the usual amount. Especially the curse of lust." "So that should explain everything, right?" "Of course not!" Setting aside her usual mischief, Lynn began her full explanation. First, the heavy corruption by the curse of lust indicated that the goblin flashers were deeply influenced by it—explaining their aroused behavior both before and after death. Second, the nature of Alex's gift, Takeover, creates a two-way link between him and the target. In the previous incident, this allowed a connection between him and the corrupted monster core. Since Alex had used his gift on the orc mage without becoming corrupted, it suggested his gift includes resistance to normal levels of curse exposure. But that clearly wasn't the case with the giant goblin. Lynn's explanation left everyone visibly disturbed. "So you all understand now, right? I said back then that the fake hobgoblin's monster core had unusual amount of cursed miasma. If that idiot had listened to my warning, he wouldn't have been corrupted by the curses within that giant goblin flasher." "But how is that even possible?" Liz asked, knowing that curses corrupting monster cores had never been known to affect humans so drastically. Understanding her concern, Lynn concluded: "It's impossible for monsters to increase the cursed miasma in their cores under normal circumstances... unless that cave is starting to turn into a dungeon." That was the most shocking thing Arezu had heard while chewing on half of his lunch. Even someone ignorant about magic like Arezu knew that dungeons didn't just randomly appear. Though Arezu's expression wasn't as serious as Liz's or Hannah's, the worry behind it was the same. Breaking the silence, Lynn added: "The curse of lust has increased significantly in this monster core, but... something about its influence feels... How do I say this...? Wrong, perhaps?" Seeing Lynn deep in thought, hand on chin and eyes closed, the others grew even more anxious. There might be something more dangerous than just a new dungeon. "To make it clear, why don't you tell us, Mr. Arezu?" Lynn asked, her trademark mischievous grin in place. Liz and Hannah turned their eyes to him, confused. Arezu looked away, trying to ignore their stares. "Come on, Mr. Arezu, there's no need to be embarrassed. Even if you can't be married anymore, I'll still accept you as my follower." "So you were watching back then!..."