The Medieval-Modern Man with a Gamer Mindset

29. The Blind Spot

Sometimes, even if a story is annoying and unpleasant, there are times when you have to listen to it.

For example, there was a class where the only remaining seats were in the front, so I had to make eye contact with the professor and answer all sorts of questions. Other than that, there was also someone who would get upset and pout if I didn’t listen to them properly, or someone who would complain to me after fighting with their girlfriend.

Terver was one of them.

“I admit that the protection of the Holy See is valuable enough. However, before going to Ilenifuth, the current situation surrounding us…”

Why do I, who have such great talent, have to become a knight? He began a long explanation on this topic. I had a feeling that he was going to get upset if I didn’t listen and just ignored him, seeing as he was bringing up stories from a long time ago.

So I nodded my head and listened to what he had to say.

This place, where the five duchies of Powys and Yubas are located, is called the Dawn Archipelago. As the name suggests, it was a place made up of a large island and relatively small islands.

It was also the last place to respond when Lux Stella descended and gathered many humans. It was said that it was only 500 years ago that the people here fully accepted the Lux Stella faith.

Naturally, as a region that had converted relatively recently, there were many people who were hostile to the Lux Stella faith. They worshiped the indigenous faith and tried to drive out the Lux Stella faith by uniting with other pagans far away.

Eventually, after hundreds of years of fighting, the five duchies were established and the Lux Stella faith became the dominant belief.

“However, the pagan raiders are growing stronger day by day. While the five duchies are hostile and divided, they are crossing the lush forests and oceans to attack.”

“Do they wear horned helmets by any chance?”

“?”

“Never mind. I was just wondering.”

They were just barbarians who followed fantasy rules, more primitive than the barbarians I see now. However, their fighting skills seemed to be great.

Terver, the human weapon, scolded me with a serious face, as if he sensed that I was taking them lightly.

“Narba, don’t make fun of them. The demons they serve are still powerful. Moreover, they are battle-hardened. Even a swordsman of moderate skill is likely to be killed in an instant.”

And he added, pointing to the raiders crawling on the floor with his right index finger.

“Unlike these fakes.”

“They’re pretty skilled too. The discipline to form a shield wall and counterattack is not ordinary.”

“Huh. It’s just that the scum of Yubas have imitated it clumsily.”

I couldn’t help but nod at that. After all, if the barbarian brats can’t even fight, they’re just cripples. There’s a reason for the rules of the game. Then Terver watched my reaction carefully and pounded his chest with his fist.

“It’s a tough battlefield. Narva, we desperately need one more excellent seed or knight like you. Instead of going to Ilenifuth to receive protection, just come with me…”

“Then I will argue now.”

It was a hollow argument, as Terver would not eat anything unless it was a sword callus. At least I could clearly feel his desire to take me with him.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, looking at Terver.

“Ilenifuth is the territory of Yubas, but it has the special status of being directly under the Holy See. If something happens there, naturally.”

“Stop!”

Terver raised both arms and screamed before I could finish speaking. As if that wasn’t enough, he even squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. I couldn’t help but know what he was thinking when I saw this.

“I give up. Let’s go to Ilenifuth.”

Terver… is really bad at arguing.

***

There were three main reasons why I wanted to go to Ilenifuth.

First, the dominance of King Athelston, who ruled Powys, was greatly shaken. If Yubas and his allies are trying to kill me by attacking the monastery, that’s enough.

In this situation, it is difficult to expect a proper response even if I stay here. Even Terver refrained from urging me to stay by King Athelston’s side. Even if 80% of it was selfishness, 20% of it would have been because of this judgment.

Second, it is safer because it is within the territory of Yubas. If something happens here, the responsibility is clear. No matter how much Yubas suppresses it with his authority, he cannot eliminate suspicion.

This will inevitably further accelerate the division between the Church and Yubas. It could create an opportunity for the Holy See to completely turn its back on Yubas. Yubas also knows this, so he won’t be able to make any more noticeable super moves like the recent attack on the monastery.

Third, the Holy See knew best about the Stigmata and the miracles of Lux Stella. I was able to feel and confirm the power of the Stigmata through this inquisition.

It’s overwhelmingly profitable to believe in God. I don’t know about good intentions, evil spirits, or contradictions. The miracles that were bestowed upon me were simply overwhelming. Despite doing all sorts of crazy things with my underdeveloped body at a young age, I didn’t feel any fatigue in my body.

If the miracle of the 2nd stage of devotion is this great, how great will the next stage be?

I felt my faith burning and was filled with the determination to completely eradicate the pagans. I think that I’m quite benevolent, especially when there are those who kill their own kin for food.

Anyway, for the mentioned reasons, my next destination was Illenfoot. However, just because I had decided on my destination, it didn’t mean that I packed my bags and left right away. I couldn’t help but do the bare minimum of cleaning up.

Even if it was a hopeless task. Terver, the knights, John, and I went around the monastery looking for any survivors.

Of course, the results were as you can see.

“Those cruel bastards.”

“…There’s no one else here.”

It ended with a clean thud.

Come to think of it, the attack led by Surtel and his group was a huge success. They must have been so secretive and deadly that it was hard to find any surviving monks. It wasn’t a complete failure, as we found some hiding behind a small statue, but they weren’t in good shape.

Two of them. Even they were either bleeding to death or dying from infections that had developed in their wounds.

“Sir Terver.”

“I know. …It would be better to just cut them down.”

“Brother, please wait a moment.”

“Narva?”

Sometimes, death is better than life. In this hopeless, medieval-esque world, euthanasia is rampant. In this situation, there was only one thing I could do.

I placed my left hand over the dying man’s face and held the dying man’s hand with my right.

“I cannot save you, for I am not God.”

“…”

“However, you will die in the arms of a man, not on a cold stone floor.”

Surtel had his men distinguish themselves by wearing their swords at their waists, with the pommels facing inward. And unlike these men were not sword wearings. Those who had turned on their comrades for money or status, they were different.

I don’t know how they lived their lives. But the fact that they weren’t part of Surtel’s men was enough for me to comfort them.

Perhaps those who were dying huddled behind the statue had been waiting for these words. The face of the man who had been groaning in pain relaxed instantly. He tried to say something but breathed his last.

I did the same for the other man, and he too relaxed his expression and breathed his last. After confirming that they were dead, I stood up and saw that the gazes directed at me had completely changed.

Terver even asked in a serious tone.

“Did you know them?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

Terver seemed to have developed a deep prejudice against the monks because of this incident. I shrugged my shoulders and answered Terver’s somewhat sharp question leisurely.

“Strictly speaking, they are the ones who came here and suffered. Although I don’t know how much of a son of a b*tch they were when they were alive.”

I rolled my eyes and saw the faces of the men who had just died. The two men who had closed their eyes peacefully looked out of place in the monastery, which was filled with faces contorted in pain and horror.

“Maybe they were just good guys who needed a little more time.”

If you only see the good in people, you become naive. If you only see the bad, you become a psychopath. I decided to believe that this monastery was not a place where only lunatics gathered with swords in their hands, but a place where people of all kinds lived together.

Terver didn’t say anything after hearing this. Instead, we changed the subject. We had finished searching for any survivors, so now it was time to look for any clues.

This time, we searched the group of attackers that Yubas had sent.

However, Yubas, as dirty and slimy as his actions were, never gave us any reason to hold him accountable. There was plenty of circumstantial evidence, and it was obvious to anyone that this bastard was the culprit, but there was no physical evidence whatsoever .

Terver, who was an expert in this field, confirmed this.

“This armor does not belong to those who worship Lux Stella. It’s clearly pagan, and from a pagan group that lives across the sea. The swords they brought are all narrow and have round decorations.”

“Is there nothing from Yubas?”

“No. There’s no sign of the lion holding a sword, which is Yubas’s emblem, or the blue cross, which is the idol of Lux Stella. If I hadn’t seen these bastards in action myself, I would have guessed that they were a pagan raiding party.”

Now that I think about it, these brats could have died from brushing their teeth while claiming to serve Lux Stella. I don’t understand what they believed in or why they called themselves followers of Lux Stella when they were decorated like pagans but didn’t t have a single statue symbolizing Lux Stella.

After several hours of searching without any results, Terver also had a change of heart.

“In that case, would it be better if we broke into the sanctuary located in this monastery and took the relics?”

“Brother, what’s breaking in?”

“Hmm. Is it too much to ask?”

I almost clicked my tongue in disappointment.

No matter how bad Terver’s communication skills were, I didn’t know he would use such inappropriate words.

“It’s not breaking in. It’s protecting the relics on behalf of the monastery that has lost its ability to defend itself from the pagans’ invasion.”

***

In this cruel and savage era, monasteries also served as outposts protecting valuable knowledge and relics.

Storing relics in one place would allow a madman to sweep them all away at once, so it was a preemptive investment to disperse them. It could also be a way to shrug and say, “Oh, by the way, we have relics in our monastery.”

Of course, I didn’t expect much from a monastery filled with empty-headed fools who didn’t have a single holy relic. No matter how miraculous the relics were, their spirituality would have been sucked away if they had been with these fools .

Still, relics are relics.

Items containing the power of Lux Stella would be tempting treasures even for a group of pagans who worshiped the ancient gods of the Otherworld. I don’t know what they would use them for, but I guess they could be considered luxury items that you buy just because.

People buy useless virtual currencies that they don’t know what to do with. Maybe it’s the same mindset: they might have thought that the relics of Lux Stella were valuable, so they would just take them and see what happened.

Who knows, they might have had a long-term plan to put them in a museum and generate income from tourists later on. The future plans of the impious pagans are not important here.

Relics are very valuable treasures. Even if they are of low rank.

That’s why we were rummaging through the main hall, touching everything that looked like a reliquary.

“John, we must not let the relics fall into the hands of the unbelievers. Search diligently, knowing that only those who are faithful and honest to Lux Stella, like us, are qualified to protect the precious relics.”

“Master, you’re taking the silver candlesticks too. Are they relics?”

“Of course. They’re the relics that will become your salary.”

“Master, even with my lack of insight, the sacred energy in the underground storage was extraordinary.”

“We don’t have time. Let’s just search… and finish the main hall.”

John was the most enthusiastic about the search.

As I watched John, who was unknowingly doing well in various fields, I smiled with satisfaction. Suddenly, there was a cheer so loud that even Simmani would have folded behind us.

I turned my head in a hurry to see a knight holding up a golden box.

“I found it! I found it, Sir Terver!”

“Where? Where is it? Where was it?!”

“The tiles in front of the altar felt strangely loose, so I poked them with my sword, and this came out!”

Everyone was dancing and celebrating the discovery of the relics. One of the knights, his eyes sparkling, carefully opened his mouth.

“Well, shouldn’t we open it and check the contents? Hmm? We need to see if the relics are, are safe.”

“….”

At that moment, silence fell.

Not only me and John, but Terver and the knights were all checking each other’s eyes.

And we all realized that we were thinking the same thing.