The Priest of Corruption

Dachia Irmel.

“Is that true? That’s a tragic story.”

I focused on cooking my share of horse meat as I responded. I couldn’t taste it, but it was better for it to be chewy when cooked properly than dry. Dachia, grilling her share, slowly moved her golden eyes to look at me.

“Why don’t you react with a little more sincerity? So that I don’t notice that you’re not interested at all.”

I took a bite. It was hot and moist. Dachia asked.

“Isn’t that undercooked?”

“I like it soft even if it’s undercooked, Princess,”

Carmen said.

“Why don’t you finish the story you were talking about? Was that part of your speculation that he was trying to sell you to the Dragon Kingdom under the pretext of getting married?”

Dachia glanced at Carmen.

“That’s right. But aren’t both of you not interested in my story?”

I answered, taking one more piece of meat.

“The first time we heard it, we listened intently. But since this is the third time you’re telling us, shouldn’t you also understand to some extent why we cannot focus on it?”

Princess Dachia’s argument was simple. The main point was that her brother, who thought of her as an eyesore, tried to give her, who had the right to be the head of the Irmel family, to the Dragon Kingdom.

I took another bite as I regarded her. Silver hair as fine as silk and two eyes filled with gold. We offered to cook for her, but the princess was stubborn even though she couldn’t cook. In the end, the outer part of her meat was charred black, but she couldn’t help it.

“Eat this and give that to me.”

I picked the cooked parts of my meat and gave them to her. I took her burnt meat, cut off the burnt parts, and ate the rest.

‘Kill!’

I pressed Mother, who was wriggling, telling me to leave her alone. Dachia took the plate I offered and said in a low voice.

“Thank you…”

“You’ll cook it better next time if you cut down on talking a little bit.”

The princess glanced at me, then started eating.

A wizard princess. It seemed that she was personally interested in the head of the House of Irmel, but it was clear that it wouldn’t be easy for her to take it as long as she was a wizard. Unless she killed her brother.

The nobles were reluctant to accept wizards. To be precise, they were reluctant to have a wizard in their families. There were two main reasons for this. First, of course, it was difficult to teach wizards basic etiquette due to their general disposition, and their unique egocentric attitude combined with the status of aristocrats made it difficult for them to deal with others.

And the second was because of the old superstition that wizards should not have power. This superstition was a belief passed down from the age of wizards before the ancient empire. Looking at the average personality of a wizard, it wasn’t a false belief.

Of course, it wasn’t that there weren’t any wizards who’d risen to the position of a lord, but she had no choice but to face greater resistance.

Dachia, now eagerly eating, looked between Carmen and me.

“Can I make an offer?”

It was obvious what the offer would be.

“Please take me to Beatus, the territory of the Irmel family.”

But the reward she offered was more than I imagined.

“If you do that, I will reward you with gold equal to your weight.”

As expected, the great lord’s family was big. It was very big. It was tempting.

‘Kill!!!’

Hearing Mother’s advice to gain the weight immediately, I looked into Carmen’s eyes. Regardless of my acceptance, the leader of this trip was Carmen, and his mother was in the west. Since Beatus, the domain of the Irmel family was in the southwest, the journey to find his mother would inevitably be delayed.

If Carmen chose to keep going west, I would, of course, give up the gold. For me, his request was the priority, especially since Carmen even saved Mother’s hand from being cremated once. Carmen clutched the artifact necklace and closed his eyes. After a while, he smiled and said to the princess.

“Okay. Since we’ve already decided to get involved in this, taking responsibility until the end is the only way Baltas’ name won’t be ashamed.”

Princess Dachia Irmel smiled, satisfied.

“Good.”

***

We walked through the constant snow. It’d been five days since Dachia joined the party. In the meantime, there had already been one attack. Unfortunately for them, it was when I stood vigil, so I just harvested the handful of divinity they had.

[Divinity: 1741]

Carmen squinted and shouted.

“If the map is correct, there will probably be a village soon!”

Dachia exclaimed, wiping away the snow piled up on her shoulders.

“That’s real, right?! We can dip our body in hot water, right?!”

I was at the forefront and responded, looking ahead.

“I see a fire over there!”

We cheered and ran through the blizzard into the village. We arrived at a large village, so, fortunately, there was an inn for travelers. As we entered the inn, the chatter stopped as everyone turned to stare at me. I was now covered with our assailants’ weapons, so more than ten swords were hanging next to my bag. Dachia, who followed after me, glanced over.

“I feel it every time I see it, but isn’t that heavy?”

“Not that much.”

“You’re really strong.”

Carmen went quickly to the innkeeper and paid for our rooms.

“I got three rooms at the end of the hallway on the third floor. I also asked for bath water. Let’s go up quickly and wash up and have dinner together.”

We silently went up to the third floor, warmed ourselves, and gathered again for dinner. Dachia, wearing a black robe, said with a tired expression.

“Walking in the snow is more tiring than I thought.”

Carmen answered lightly.

“Still, I’m really glad that Princess has good stamina. To be honest, I thought you would’ve passed out before reaching the village.”

Carmen’s words weren’t empty. The princess really had much better stamina than most. Dachia looked into my eyes and said.

“I haven’t skipped training since I was little. Besides, Priest Marnak carried most of the heavy things. The really amazing one is him.”

Carmen nodded.

“Marnak has the strength of a horse.”

I replied with a smile.

“It’s not a big deal.”

After chatting like that for a while, a lot of food, including well-baked sausages and bread, came out. After all, trips required a pocketful of money. I couldn’t taste the food, so I started eating slowly and savored the smell.

While we were eating, a shrill voice shouted in the background.

“Kyaah! Don’t do that!”

“Hehehe. It feels really firm.”

One of the four drunken men at a table rubbed the waitress’ backside. The men looked like mercenaries, and they were drinking with plenty of armaments at their sides. Carmen and I turned our attention away from what was a common sight in any inn and focused on our meal.

Soon the innkeeper would come out and take care of them anyway.

“I have to go take orders from other customers.”

“Just sit down for a moment. Huh? Just sit with that pretty butt for a moment.”

“Dad!”

A middle-aged man jumped out of the kitchen at the maiden’s call. The man, presumed to be the innkeeper, separated the waitress from the mercenary and crossed his thick arms.

“I’m sorry, but our inn is not a brothel. If you need a prostitute, please be patient. I can call one for you.”

He was very polite, but unfortunately for the four drunken men, the polite words were very displeasing. Their faces went red as if they were about to explode. One man jumped up from his seat and shouted at the innkeeper.

“Fuck! Did I ask her to sleep with me? Huh? I just asked her to sit here, drink a little, and listen to a story, but you’re making a fuss with just that? Is your daughter’s ass made of gold?”

Another man jumped up and shouted at the innkeeper.

“Khahaha! Let’s take a look at that girl’s golden ass today!”

As the atmosphere heated up, Carmen asked me.

“I think there’s going to be a fight, so I guess it would be better for us to help, right?”

I munched on the tasteless sausage and pointed forward. The seat in front of me was already empty.

“She has already gone. Let’s go help.”

The princess’ fist dug into the jaw of the man standing in front. The man flew off and crashed into the wall.

“W-What the hell is this now…?”

Pow.

Dachia silently swung her sword with the sheath still on and hit the next in the temple. She slammed her free hand into the face of one of those still sitting before the other hit the ground.

“Son of a…! Who is this bitch now?!”

The remaining man drew his sword and swung it at Dachia’s back. I grabbed the man’s head and threw him down. The wooden floor was shattered and blood-spattered. With a calm expression, Dachia bowed her head to me.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Carmen, who walked up afterward, spoke softly.

“You should at least talk to us before attacking. We’re a party.”

Dachia hesitated and said in a low voice.

“I get angry when I see things that are not fair. I couldn’t help myself…”

She shyly confessed that she had a justice disorder. This was bad. Really bad.

“Thank you so much for helping.”

The innkeeper and his daughter bowed to express their gratitude. I smiled softly, hiding my confusion.

“If there is a problem, we should help each other.”

“Marnak, take it.”

Carmen, who found money on the bodies of the fainted men, threw them at me. I lightly took the bags and handed them over to the innkeeper.

“You’ll be able to repair the broken items with this. Is it okay if I ask you to take care of the clean-up?”

The innkeeper answered with a bright smile.

“Yes, yes! I’ll call the village vigilantes to clean up so there is no problem.”

I nodded to the innkeeper and turned to Carmen and Dachia.

“Let’s finish having dinner.”

***

Knock, knock.

It was late into the night when I left my room and knocked on Dachia’s door.

“Who…?”

“Princess. It’s me.”

“Oh, right.”

The moment she opened the door, I scrambled inside and shut her mouth to prevent her from chanting a spell. Dachia’s golden eyes were tinged with astonishment.

“Mmp?! Mmmmmp!”

I shut the door and shoved the Froststeel Sword next to her struggling head. When the princess saw the blade pass by her ear, she went silent. Her eyes were full of questions.

I explained with a smile.

“I want the princess to quietly listen to me. I don’t want Carmen to wake up. Do you understand?”

As I slowly pushed the Froststeel Sword closer, Dachia swallowed hard and nodded.

“I’m sure you’re aware since you’re smart, but we’re being pursued now. But if you intervene in other people’s affairs without consulting us as you did before, wouldn’t it put Carmen and me in trouble? To be honest, I’m not blaming you for intervening. It’s just wrong to go running off without consulting us. Do you understand?”

Dachia quickly blinked her eyes to convey that she understood.

“Before, you said that you can’t stand it because you get angry when you see injustice, right? But next time, you’ll have to put up with it really hard.”

I slowly moved the Froststeel Sword, brought it to the princess’s throat, and whispered.

“If you draw attention to us without warning, I have no choice but to hold back my tears, cut through the princess’s tendons, and then hand you over to our pursuers. Isn’t that a tragic tale?”

Dachia’s body stiffened. I tucked the Froststeel Sword into my waist and brightly smiled.

“I believe the Princess will be more careful and act wisely with us from now on. If you understand, please nod.”

The princess’s head slowly moved up and down. I removed my hand from her mouth, fully prepared to cut her throat if she chanted a spell. Fortunately, Dachia didn’t say anything.

“Then, have a good night.”

Leaving Dachia blankly behind me, I left her room and returned to mine.

‘Kill!’

“Mother’s question about whether I was too hasty or not is perfectly reasonable. But this was something that had to be said before we face a bigger problem.”

I patted Mother’s hand and smiled.

“And now we can see if Dachia has a justice control disorder.”

Would she be able to act as she pleased, swept away by a sense of justice at the moment, even though she felt that her life was threatened?

‘Kill!’

I chuckled at Mother’s words that she would bet on, ‘Next time, she won’t be able to go running off.’

“I’m thinking of betting on the same thing as Mother, so, unfortunately, this bet won’t work.”