Chapter 41
|3rd POV|
It was already a common sight of a lone man walking toward their city holding a massive drum full of water. They have already gotten used to Jacob coming to their town and bringing water and food for them.
They even threw a small party for him not too long ago when he brought a lot of food after he overhunts them in the dungeon.
So when Jacob arrives in front of Lordlake, the people start to greet them. The first one is Talgeyl. He is the current leader of Lordlake city and someone who always greets Jacob when he comes back.
"Welcome back, Jacob."
"I'm back Talgeyl and I'm bringing good news."
"Hahahahaha. You bringing us food and water is already the greatest news we ever heard in years."
And Talgeyl is telling the truth. At first, they hesitate to accept the water and food Jacob brings to them, but as time goes on, they start to notice that Jacob is doing all this because he really cares for them.
He keeps giving them more food and water so that they do not need to think about water and food for another month if they are careful.
"No. This one is different."
"Oh?"
"Can I go to the well?"
"Of course. You are always welcome in this place, Jacob. However, what do you want with the well? After the Sun Rune put a curse on the land, no water came out of the ground."
"I know and that is why I bring good news."
Jacob took out an Onusa from his inventory. Onusa is a wand Shrine Priest, and Maiden used to do their cleansing ritual. It was a wooden wand filled with paper tied around it. This tool is used for the cleansing ceremony that he is about to do.
Jacob takes a deep breath before starting to twirl the Onusa.
"O Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun."
Jacob already asks Lizzy about it and says that he can call the miracle of the ritual through him. As the embodiment of chaos, Lizzy takes many forms, even the sun on Earth. Make the sun hotter? Well, there will be chaos all over the earth.
There is a reason why there is a saying that says Chaos takes many forms.
Because of this, he can pray to Lizzy and have the same effect as the shrine priest doing the same ritual on earth.
"Let your light bless this land! Let your warmth cover this land!"
Jacob continues to chant while walking around the well with his Onusa in hand. He can feel his mana get sucked out of him from the chant as the ritual continues.
"Let your light shine to the four corners of the world!"
After he finishes his last chant, four magic circles appear around the well, and golden light comes out from the well. A second later, the light disappears, and the other can see water spurting out from the well.
The people start to cheer at the sight of the water coming out from the well. However, their cheer turns into screams when they see Jacob fall to the ground. He is still conscious but panting heavily.
Goesch is the first one to get near him and turn him up.
"Jacob! Are you okay?"
"Haaa… Haaa… Haaa… It was more powerful than I thought."
"What?"
"The curse. As expected from the Sun Rune. The curse is powerful enough to take almost all of my mana even though only small places get cleansed by the ritual."
"Y-You remove the curse?"
"Haaa… Not all of it. Only the curse around the well. I'm not strong enough to overpower the curse in Lordlake."
He expects the people in Lordlake to shout in anger or at least sigh in disappointment. However, he did not expect them to cheer again; some even cried their eyes out with happiness.
"Y-You are stupid bastard."
"What? What did I do?"
"Do you know what you have done?"
"Helping you?"
"Yes and if the others know about this, they will hunt you and kill you!"
"Hah! As I said before, you did not need to worry about me. I can take care of myself."
"Y-You are a crazy bastard."
Goesch smiles at Jacob and laughs a little. Goesch and Jacob have become friends after they hunt many monsters around Lordlake for the past three days and after Goesch sees how Jacob helps doctor Silvana heal his people.
Even the children were already enamored of him. So they ask him to show them a magic trick, and Jacob takes out his wand and creates many kinds of creatures using his magic.
It was the first time in a long time that the people of Lordlake had a smile on their faces.
"Hahahaha. I guess I'm a crazy person."
"So, what happened to you?"
"Like I said. I don't know that the curse will be this powerful and use most of my mana to cast this ritual."
"Do you need to rest?"
"Please. That would be appreciated."
Goesch nods and places Jacob inside the infirmary, with doctor Silvana sitting next to him, checking his condition.
"Hmmm, you did not do anything wrong. Just some wound that starts to heal on its own. I will use some paste to heal it completely."
"Thank you, doc."
"Hah! I should be the one thanking you, boy."
Silvana looks out the window and sees the people dancing around the well. She can see them bathing their entire body with the water coming out of the well. In her opinion, they should not waste that water like that, but she will let it slide for now.
They are the people who are celebrating getting their water back.
"You bring back hope to this place."
"It was nothing."
"Hah! To you maybe but to us? It was a miracle. Do you know how long since we have a clean water source?"
"A year or two?"
"Three years. That is how long we carve for a clean water source. We scavenge any water we can get from around us. Some of them are killed in their journey to get water for their family from the monster around us."
Silvana looks at Jacob as she continues to tell her tale.
"We already know that this year will be our last if there is no miracle happening. Some of us already lose hope and are just waiting for their time to die. However, some hope finally came."
Silvana points her finger at Jacob.
"That hope is you. You come here with the prince and instead of being afraid to help us like the Prince and his royal aunt, you decide to help us. You ignore the threat of the Queen's punishment and decide to help us. You heal the people who are on the brink of death with your magic and then you decide to disobey the Queen's order once more by giving us food and water. Then you do this… Hah! I don't believe in Guardian Angels but the children in this town believe that you are their guardian angel who comes to help them."
Jacob blushes a little at Silvana's praise before saying.
"You are exaggerating it."
"Hah! Don't downplay your deeds, boy. You are doing us a favor, and we will repay you for it. Lordlake always remembers their debts and we will always pay triple the amount. If you told us to go and rebel against the Queen we will go with you."
"Woah. Hold it right there, lady. I don't want to start a war. I want to change things from the inside first by winning the Sacred Games."
"Oh? You join those games?"
"Aye. I came here to train and get stronger for the Sacred Games."
"Hmmm… I hope you win the competition. There is not a single person more deserving than you."
"Thank you for your praise."
"Hah! It was not praise, boy. It was a fact. Anyway, you should rest for now. Take a nap for a few hours. I will prepare some food for you to help you regenerate your mana."
For the rest of the day, the people of Lordlake make a party to celebrate their water coming back.