CH 136

[Breaking Into the Cathedral]

After spending a few days to make preparations, the appointed day for capturing the ‘Elf Territory Cathedral’ eventually arrives.

Ethel and I first send Iris to Cordelia-san’s room, before heading to the meet up place where we will be picking up Ayako.

The things we’ve prepared for the capture are placed on the wagon drawn by my trusty horse, Freon. His hooves make crisp clip-clopping sounds as he walks down the road.

Whether I look to the right or to the left, not even a single pedestrian can be seen. The usually lively main street is completely deserted save for some food stalls that have been abandoned by their owners.

The citizens have already evacuated to the suburbs under the order of the knights, while the knights themselves are staying in the city to secure the perimeter of the cathedral.

As a result, most parts of the city have become empty shells. Which is why I hold great admiration for the landlady who still runs the inn where we are staying in spite of the bleak situation.

For the sake of people who are still staying in the city, I have to turn the monsters infesting the cathedral into experience points!

“And yet, what’s up with those knights? What did they mean ‘we can’t let unauthorized parties carelessly intrude upon this matter’? We’ve received the Saintess’ approval, so that should make us authorized party, right?”

“To start with, while the cathedral does have knights under it, they are treated as civilians in military employ and their duty is to protect the cathedral and people related to it. Hence, in case of emergency, they still have to obey the instructions of the knight order. My mother, their target of escort, has no authority to tell them otherwise, either.”

I kinda get where it’s coming from. On one hand, the rule will restrict the cathedral, which has already possessed religious influence, from holding clear military power, on the other hand, it’ll give the nation a free additional force which they can deploy at times of emergency.

“Also, you were the one who released the monsters, Tōru. They obviously wouldn’t let you get involved.”

“Well, they can’t blame me for breaking in, then.”

“The fact that you thought that way and is able to act on it is so strange…”

Making immediate decision and execution is my good point, you know? You can praise me.

I guffaw to blow away Ethel’s anxiety, but the thing I get in respond is a sigh.

After picking up Ayako at the meet up place, we move on to our next destination.

Freon takes to the air using the power of the Three Sky Series.

It’s gonna take us some time to reach our destination because we have to take the long way around to avoid the knights guarding the perimeter of the cathedral, however… for some reason, the atmosphere in the wagon is awful.

“…………”

“…………”

Ayako, who can’t speak in the first place, and Ethel, whose mother she attacked and hurt.

Ayako isn’t interested in Ethel, and Ethel is glaring daggers at Ayako without uttering a single a word. As such, not only the inside of the wagon is completely silent, the atmosphere is unpleasant, too.

The reason why I brought Ethel is because her ability will be very useful in fighting against the released monsters.

Adding Ayako into the mix, we’ll be forming a quite balanced party, the formation of which goes something like this: me as the vanguard, Ayako the middle guard, and Ethel the rearguard.

Those monsters are all troublesome bunches. Therefore, if there’s someone who can cover the middle position between me and Ethel when fighting them, the dungeon capture will be way easier.

We’d been keeping in contact with each other and agreed to this arrangement beforehand, but… Ethel seems to be unable to suppress her emotions.

It’ll be a problem if this situation adversely affects our capture effort after we enter the cathedral, so for the time being, “If you really want it, just break her arm, why don’t you?” I try to give a suggestion to Ethel.

“It’s true that I was unable to hold back my emotions and was behaving childishly. I’m sorry for that. However, that’s not a good suggestion to start our cooperation with, you know.”

“……?”

“I never thought of breaking her arm either, idiot. I was just pissed off with that indifferent attitude of hers! There’s a limit to how much you can make light of people!”

After the short outburst, Ethel says, “I want to calm down for a bit, so don’t talk to me,” and closes her eyes with her hands folded in prayere.

Ayako, on the other hand, looks away from Ethel and begins to look at the cathedral in silence. It seems that the ‘Deadly Sins Holy Staff’ is still the top priority for her, and she has little to no interest in us.

(I was just trying to lighten the mood, but I ended up stirring the hornet’s nest instead, huh.)

If it would bring benefit to me, I’d unhesitantly forget about past grudges and join hands with the enemy. But Ethel isn’t as sensible as me, apparently.

I thought the current situation was the best, as it’d let me pursue my own gains as well as keep my promise. But I didn’t expect it’d have a hole like this. People sure are troublesome.

That said, the negotiation’s already done and all that’s left to do is to fulfill the agreements, so the only thing I can say to Ethel is just to believe in me.

“Brrr?”

“Don’t worry, Freon. Everything will work out somehow.”

“Hiiin!”

As a human, having a horse reading the room and worrying about me gave me an inexplicable feeling, but Freon is smart, and I’m sure something like this is normal for him.

Anyways, I need to get Ayako’s cooperation to take down Joseph later, but how can I talk with her without being known by Joseph?

Joseph can’t catch on Ayako’s betrayal, that condition is a must. Which is why, the little bird perching on her shoulder is a complete obstacle. First, I need to get rid of it somehow.

(Joseph should still be able to confirm Ayako’s safety even if I eliminate the bird with a surprise attack. Considering his personality, he most likely won’t suspect her. But if I do it before we get the ‘staff’, he definitely won’t give me the information.)

The information will be handed over after the ‘staff’ is successfully retrieved, that’s what we’ve agreed upon during the negotiation.

After we get the ‘staff’, Joseph is supposed to give me the information, but in all likelihood, he’d do so through the little bird on Ayako’s shoulder.

It is as an insurance so that I’ll fulfill our agreement. Hence, I can’t get rid of it at the moment.

(Hmm, looks like in the end I have no choice but to do it the hard way…)

After taking various things into consideration, I eventually come to the decision to take drastic measures, that is to wait until the moment I get the information from Joseph, before getting rid of the little bird and negotiating with Ayako.

Even if the little bird gets eliminated, Joseph can still ascertain Ayako’s safety through the connection of ‘Puppetry’ skill, but he won’t get any other information.

The problem is, in the time between the bird gets eliminated and Joseph notices that a problem has occurred and takes the next action, can I win over Ayako? Well… I’ll just leave that to the future me.

I mean, we’re about to start the main event. If I get tired from thinking about things I don’t want to think about, I’m not gonna be able to enjoy grinding experience points to my heart’s content.

(The present me will enjoy the present (leveling), and the future me will take care of the future (troubles)!)

I get a feeling like I’m gonna be resented by the future me, but it’ll be meaningless because he can’t go back to the past. That is to say, I’ll get to hog all the fun.

To the future me—who will probably have a hard time—if you want to resent someone, please resent the fact that time only flows one-way.

Incidentally, although Joseph can share the perception of the puppets he created, he dares not do it with Ayako as he’s afraid of getting hated by her.

Which is why, I’m sure even if I get rid of the small bird, Joseph will only pick up info about Ayako’s safety, and the content of my negotiation with her won’t leak.

How did I know that? From the game of course. In the game, after Ayako got killed by the protagonist, Joseph flew into a rage, wanting to avenge her. However, he only got to know the identity of her killer from Ayako herself after he rebuilt her.

He is a father, and his daughter, Ayako, is her own person.

What she sees and hears is hers and hers alone, and he’s not going to invade her privacy—that’s Joseph’s principle.

That’s apparently why Joseph didn’t salvage information from Ayako’s backup in spite of what had happened to her.

Geez, what a splendid mindset!

As long as you close your eyes to the fact that Ayako herself is a product of his fantasy—a child he had with his first love—and that he can ‘throw away’ his beloved daughter depending on the situation, that is!

In spite of the fact that he whispers words such as ‘you’re my precious’ and ‘I love you’ to her day after day, he has no hesitation to throw her away when it’s necessary for him.

He does nothing to hide such nature of his, so it’s no wonder his daughter turned rebel.

Tut-tut, this is why selfish people are no good.

“Well, as long as it works in my favor.”

Ayako has no way to breach the barrier of the forbidden book section.

She therefore has no choice but to cooperate with us until she gets there.

She understands that, which is why she’s here. Though, at the end of the day, her main target is still Joseph, no doubt about it.

Having reaffirmed that in my mind, I quickly regain my focus and start re-inspecting the items we’ve brought, and as we get closer to the infiltration point, I wonder to myself, “I wonder how much experience points will I get if I kill all the monsters in the cathedral,” and start humming.

Then, we arrived right above the cathedral.

Alright, let’s jump off.

“Haa!?”

“Uo, what’s with you all of a sudden, Ethel?”

“That’s my line! What do you mean ‘let’s jump off’!?”

“I have to explain that too…?”

I get off the wagon and down onto the barrier.

My position is right above the cathedral, and a huge spire is visible below me.

The height of the spire should be a hundred and several tens of meters, but the top part of the barrier… or in other words, the position where I am at is higher.

The reason why the barrier is this big is because it not only encloses the cathedral but also the whole area around it.

Okay, let’s get back to the main task at hand.

I pick up ‘Yellow Spring Nodachi’—one of the weapons I got in ‘Netherworld’— and swing it down on the barrier.

I cut out the barrier the same way as I did the barrier of the forbidden book section, but because the weapon I use this time has longer reach than the ‘Knight’s Steel Sword’, the resulting hole is larger than I expected.

Then, I answer Ethel’s question, pointing to the hole.

“The knights’ encirclement on the ground is very tight, it’d be difficult to get pass them. So, I decided to go in from above. I mean, we conveniently have a horse that can fly at our disposal.”

“Hihiiin!”

I had a rough time sneaking past the knights the last time I was trying to see if I could slash open this barrier with ‘Sword Saint’s Slash’.

And possibly because I knocked out some knights unconscious, they’re now employing even stronger alert system than back then.

As such, it led me to the decision that it would be easier to break in from the sky where no one would pay attention to.

“We’re definitely gonna die if we jump down from this height, you know!”

“That’s where the chains we’ve prepared come in. As you drop down, you can hook the chains to the spire down there and make an impromptu lifeline”.

“Have you tried it!?”

I haven’t, but… we just have to succeed in first try, right?

More importantly, down below, it seems that Joseph has begun attracting the monsters inside the cathedral by using the puppets that he has left behind in front of the great library.

When I take a closer look, I can see the puppet knights are running around the cathedral, luring the monsters outside.

As such, we can now safely enter inside of the cathedral by breaking through the window.

From midair to the spire, from the spire to the inside, and from there to the great library by land. Such is the basic route that I’ve thought of.

But anyways, the plan is already underway.

The only choice Ethel can make is either to jump down with me or with Ayako.

The barrier has automatic repair function, and the hole I’ve made is already starting to shrink, so we don’t have much time to loiter around. If she can’t make the choice, she can just do a coin toss to decide.

“…………”

“Look, Ayako-san is making a face that says ‘hurry up, you money grubbing elf’. Make up your mind already.”

“No, that’s what you have in mind, isn’t it!? Ahh, alright, fine! I’ll go with you, Tōru!”

Saying that, Ethel, “Make sure you don’t drop me, okay!?” comes to front of me, put her arms around my back, and entrusts herself to me.

To be frank, in terms of success rate, I think that Ayako—who nodded without a question when I did the explanation—will have a higher chance. But well, I can’t exactly leave Ethel here. So as to reassure her, I hand her some gold coins instead of charm.

After I did, she asks for another one, so I judge that her heart is ready and jump down the hole without a word.

“Gimmeeeeeee moooooooorrrreee!?!?”

“Close your mouth, or you’ll bite your tongue!”

Embracing Ethel, I fall straight down head-first.

I don’t know how strong the gravitational force in this world is, but it’s clear that at the speed we’re falling, we’ll hit the ground after a few seconds.

The threat to our lives (ground) is quickly approaching. In spite of the spine-chilling situation, my heart is pounding.

Am I getting excited from the thrill of risking my life?

No. This excitement must’ve come about because I’ll soon be able to earn (kill) experience points (monsters).

“Woooooooohoooooooooooooooo!!”

I swing my arm while screaming in joy.

The flung thread flies in the air and hooks itself to the top of the spire.

Tug, our bodies are pulled, and we begin to swing like a pendulum, but—

“Wow, this is fun as fu—bube!”

“!?”

―I made a mistake in my calculation. I slammed against the wall right next to the window I was planning to break into and dropped Ethel.