The White Order was the sole and most authoritative religious order on the continent of Eldorad.
Thanks to this, it received the support of many people and was able to spread its influence far and wide.
However, as several misfortunes had recently overlapped, the atmosphere within the order had grown gloomy.
And currently, a secret meeting was underway in the upper floors of the main building.
“You mean there’s still been no contact all this time?”
“Yes, that is correct, Your Eminence.”
One priest spoke with an uneasy expression.
An apprentice priest whom the order had been keeping an eye on had gone missing. The holy knight who had accompanied him had also lost contact.
Had he been an ordinary apprentice priest, the order would not have paid such close attention to him.
However, the missing person was no simple apprentice priest.
Because of this, the upper echelons of the order were in a state of emergency.
It was because Yuel, an apprentice priest said to rival a saint, had disappeared.
“I told him to stay put, yet this mess has happened in the end.”
The Archbishop slammed his desk and expressed his rage.
I told him that if he just stayed still, he could become a full priest.
Who knows what kind of hero complex possessed him, but he headed for the Seil Kingdom and then lost contact.
The problem was that the Seil Kingdom bordered the demon realm.
‘Please, let nothing serious have happened….’
But the Archbishop’s hopes were cruelly shattered.
“We have confirmed that the holy relic possessed by Apprentice Priest Yuel was activated. We tried to locate the site, but…….”
The relic had been activated.
Yet they could not find the location where the relic had been activated at all.
This meant one thing.
Yuel was dead.
And even though the relic had been activated.
It was a powerful relic capable of easily vanquishing even a 5-Star demon.
And yet he had been helplessly defeated?
This was no simple matter.
‘A space beyond the reach of holy power?’
Using the relic would generate tremendous holy power.
He had expected to determine the location of the relic’s activation based on that, at the very least, but that was not the case either.
The Archbishop’s mind raced.
Yuel was dead.
Most likely, Yuel had crossed the mountain range of the Seil Kingdom and headed for the demon realm.
He did not know what kind of end Yuel had met, but going to the demon realm with only one holy knight was a foolish act.
“Huu….”
It was already in the past, regardless.
Even if they continued to discuss this matter, the dead Yuel would not come back to life.
It was a painful matter from the order’s perspective, but they had to create a new opportunity from this incident.
“Your Eminence, if it is about that, I have already informed His Holiness the Pope.”
The Archbishop turned his head and looked toward the owner of the voice.
Helisa, the Saintess of the White Order.
A saintess who had appeared for the first time in over a hundred years was nothing short of a savior to the order.
The Archbishop wore a warm smile as he looked at the Saintess, as if gazing upon his own granddaughter.
“It is regarding the disappearance of the order’s priest in the Seil Kingdom. As this is a serious matter, I have requested the dispatch of Inquisitors.”
The Archbishop was as delighted as if watching his granddaughter’s recital.
“For you to pay attention even to such matters, Saintess, is truly a blessing to the order.”
Geographically, the Seil Kingdom was the nation farthest from the White Order.
Naturally, the order’s influence in the Seil Kingdom could not help but be weaker compared to other nations.
Here, influence meant the royal family and the nobles.
If they alone could be brought into the order’s fold, the Seil Kingdom could be made into a puppet of the White Order.
The problem was that until now, there had been no particular excuse to build influence.
But now, things were different.
It didn’t matter whether Yuel had crossed over to the demon realm and died or not.
The only truth was that he had last headed toward the Seil Kingdom.
Since a priest of the order had gone missing, they planned to use this as a pretext to dispatch Inquisitors.
The Seil Kingdom could absolutely not refuse.
If they approved the request to dispatch Inquisitors, it would only serve to expand the order’s influence within the kingdom.
But if they refused, they might needlessly create the impression that they were turning a blind eye to the priest’s death.
If they displayed such an attitude, it would obviously only serve to enhance the order’s justification for dispatching Inquisitors.
The Archbishop smiled slyly, then opened his mouth as if remembering something.
“By the way, Father, what is the status of the seal stone?”
The Archbishop’s voice was icy.
The underground of the order had been broken into.
The break-in itself was a grave matter, but a demon imprisoned in the seal stone had escaped as well.
“Many priests have thrown themselves into resolving the matter, but we have yet to catch a single clue.”
The order’s underground was by no means a vulnerable place.
With all manner of holy power, magic or intrusion was absolutely impossible, and above all, it was a space where Inquisitors took turns residing.
Someone had infiltrated such a space without anyone’s knowledge.
“We interrogated the Inquisitors who were on duty at the time, but it was no use.”
In the end, no one knew.
The Archbishop’s head ached.
He couldn’t grasp what to do about this.
With the Yuel incident, he had at least gained justification to meddle with the Seil Kingdom, but this matter was on a different level.
While the Archbishop was worrying, Saintess Helisa cautiously raised her hand.
“Um… Your Eminence?”
“Yes, Saintess. What is it?”
“I understand that the one whose seal was broken this time is a 3-Star Succubus. Is it truly such a dangerous being? I was thinking that perhaps we could simply ignore it at this point.”
A 3-Star Succubus could not pose any threat to the order’s priests, even if it might to ordinary people.
It was not a greatly threatening existence from the order’s perspective, so she could not understand why they were so concerned.
“Hehe, you are right, Saintess. However, the demon that escaped this time is no ordinary succubus, which is the problem.”
The Archbishop coughed once before continuing.
“Have you perhaps heard of Ishahar?”
“Ishahar? That is the first time I have heard of it.”
Helisa tilted her head.
“Yes, in the beginning, the Goddess created the continent of Eldorad.”
It was a story that anyone on the continent knew.
Why was he telling such a story now?
“But did you know that there existed a being who was with the Goddess in the beginning?”
“Yes?”
Helisa was startled.
What the Archbishop had just said was something befitting a heretic.
However, those in the meeting room said nothing.
As if they had already known.
“It was an exceedingly evil being. That is why the Goddess destroyed that being and protected the continent. But one problem arose. Demons mixed with his blood came into being. Those who carry that being’s blood bear a single name. It is as natural as the very laws of the world.”
That name is Ishahar.
“However, it is not something you need worry about greatly. The name Ishahar is ultimately no different from a shackle. Those who bear that name are fated to meet their end at the hands of the order.”
The Archbishop spoke thus, still smiling.
“For now, it is enough that you know this much.”
The moment he finished his explanation, he immediately changed the subject.
Helisa fell into thought at the Archbishop’s words.
Many things had been happening in the order lately.
‘Ever since that guy left, incidents haven’t stopped.’
That guy the Saintess spoke of was I Ganghyeon.
The Saintess had exerted herself to send I Ganghyeon back to Earth.
The order, which had initially opposed it, had agreed after realizing that I Ganghyeon was useless.
‘And here I thought we could make a second Suho.’
Before I Ganghyeon, another person had come to the order.
That name was Gim Suho.
Suho was diligent and had built merit, so the order had bestowed upon him the position of holy knight.
She had thought I Ganghyeon would be the same, but he was so incompetent….
Helisa soon shook her head and began to focus on the meeting.
She had too much to do to concern herself with someone who had already returned to Earth.
The title of Saintess was by no means a light one.
* * *
- Purchase successful.
- 5,000 gems will be delivered by mail.
- Purchase successful.
- 5,000 gems will be delivered by mail.
I dropped 10,000 gems at the shop window.
It cost a whopping 110,000 won, but I didn’t particularly care.
The dungeon I had thought was fairly strong turned out to be Bronze-grade.
‘So one 6-Star monster isn’t enough?’
I play games to relieve stress, yet I’m getting more stressed instead?
I cannot tolerate such a situation.
If it was to protect my mental state, I could gladly spend this much real money.
Above all, I now had a status window.
Thanks to that, my work as a porter had been going relatively smoothly.
With nothing but growth ahead of me, this level of expense was bearable.
I received the gems from the mailbox.
The total gem count was 14,300.
It might look like a lot, but it was only enough for two summons.
The first thing I did with the gems was not summoning.
- [Urgent Mission] : Purchase and use the item [Name Change Ticket].
- Reward: 1,000 gems
This was because an urgent mission had suddenly popped up.
“Oh, this is the first time I’ve seen this.”
I had thought it was a simple idle game, but an urgent mission had appeared.
I immediately entered the shop and found the item in question.
The price was 500 gems.
And if I bought and used it, I would get 1,000 gems as a reward.
In the end, it was a 500-gem profit for me.
“This needs to be done right away.”
Well, it’s a trivial mission, but if they’re going to give away this much, it’s good for me.
- Purchased [Name Change Ticket].
- Consumes 500 gems.
Amazingly, this item could change a monster’s name.
“But who should I use it on?”
I poked one of the monsters at random.
- Skeleton Soldier(★) has no name and cannot be used.
- Please designate a monster with a name.
A name, huh….
It seemed “Skeleton Soldier” didn’t count as a name. It was just referring to the monster’s species.
To use the Name Change Ticket, I needed to find a monster with a name.
“Ah, you were here, weren’t you?”
It was my aide.
My aide was a 6-Star succubus.
At the same time, she was a monster bearing the name “Celia Ishahar.”
“From now on, your name is ‘Celia.’”
I had been calling her Celia all this time, so removing just the last part wouldn’t feel out of place.
- Used [Name Change Ticket].
- “Celia Ishahar’s” name will be changed to “Celia.”
- [Urgent Mission] Complete!
- Awarding 1,000 gems.
“Excellent.”
With this, my gem count became 14,800.
“Shall I try summoning now?”
It was time to summon monsters in earnest.
The gacha always made my heart pound with excitement.
* * *
Three adventurers had accepted an Iron-grade dungeon request from the guild.
The dungeon in question was not far from here.
It was the first dungeon any of the three had entered since becoming adventurers.
“Finally, we can show our strength!”
The first to show enthusiasm was Denver.
Having played the role of neighborhood boss since childhood, he was overflowing with confidence.
His dream was to be an adventurer.
So much so that he applied to be an adventurer the moment he came of age.
He was in an extremely excited state at the thought of entering a dungeon for the first time in his life.
Fear?
That emotion did not exist.
Because the ones accompanying him now were people he had been with since childhood.
Denver casually looked back.
Ronnie and Jane.
Those two were siblings.
As expected, neither of their expressions showed any fear.
If they all combined their strength, they could easily resolve their first request.
Denver’s eyes turned toward Jane.
At some point, Denver had come to see Jane not just as a friend, but as a woman.
‘…….’
If they could conquer this dungeon splendidly and successfully establish themselves as adventurers….
When that day came, he would confess to Jane.
Denver walked forward energetically once more.