The Priest of Corruption

Fellow Traveler.

[Enjoy yourselves! It’s all purely my treat for listening to everything I said!]

Aurelius shouted, stretched out his golden hand, picked up the nearest haunch of meat, and munched down. Even on the whole bone.

It was created by the Golden People, who ate all kinds of fuels, even oil and coal, but unlike their appearance, they preferred to cook things just like normal humans. Actually, they had an even larger food range than ordinary creatures.

The food the Golden Man chewed was converted into the energy that moved their body, and the rest went to their core. Absorbing that energy, the core would gradually increase its size. As the size of the core grew, the total amount of metal that the Gold People could handle increased.

Precious metals and time. In other words, a race became stronger with only money and time. That was the Golden People.

I picked up the food in front of me and observed Aurelius. Could I trust this guy? The Golden People were pretty innocent in front of their passion for precious metals, but in other situations, they were snake-like.

It was wrong to expect innocence from a merchant in the first place. Let’s focus on eating first.

‘Kill!’

At Mother’s request to try the boiled meat I had never seen before, I took a small amount, and it also had no taste. I wanted to feed Mother directly, but since there were too many eyes watching, it was impossible.

[Saviors of Eradico! So, that was you!]

Aurelius, who was talking with Carmen, exclaimed. He glanced at us, furiously smirking with his unblinking metal eyes. Soon, they focused on me.

[It isn’t that woman, or the one not wearing armor, so it must be you, the Priest Marnak, the Demon Slayer of Guise, the Great Enemy of Kelton’s evil god, and the Savior of Eradico!]

I put down the spoon and lightly bowed my head in reply.

“They’re undeserved titles.”

[Hahahaha! The hero who saved the three cities has humility! If people like you do not have such a title, who else would dare hold it…]

The metal eyes were fixed on the Butcher tied to my waist. He tapped his chin and yelled.

[I-Immortalium!!!]

He jumped up from his seat and approached me, his colorful red clothes flapping behind him. He reached toward my Butcher, and I backed away slightly and distanced myself from Aurelius. He looked on, his voice trembling.

[The thing on your waist, can you show it to me just once?]

I thought he might run away with it, but even the Golden People needed at least a day to synchronize with new metal. So even if he took it and ran, I was confident I could get it back. When I put the Butcher into his hand, Aurelius screamed.

[Whoaaaaaaaaa! Whoooaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!]

By the way, the Butcher’s blade was too hard. Maybe it was because the material used to forge it was Immortalium. Aurelius stroked the Butcher’s blade with great care, almost as if stroking a lover’s cheek.

[Beautiful. So beautiful! What a beautiful metal! The title of an immortal alloy that contains the essence of the ancient empire’s technology is fully worth it!]

He rubbed his face against the blade, not minding how it scraped against his skin.

[Ha…Ha…Ha…]

I just wanted him to return it now. I spoke as politely as possible.

“Um…”

Before I could even finish the thought, Aurelius returned to his senses. His hands trembled as he returned the Butcher to my grasp, and it was clear he didn’t want it to go too far. But as a merchant, he skillfully controlled his emotions and nodded.

[I-It’s my first time seeing this whole of an Immortalium sword, so I lost my mind for a second. I’ve shown you an ugly side of me.]

“It’s okay. The desire for Immortalium from the Golden People is natural, isn’t it?”

[Thank you for your understanding. By the way, by any chance…]

“I have no intention of selling it.”

At my firm answer, Aurelius shrugged.

[O-Of course. If it were me, I would never sell it…]

He moved helplessly back to his seat and slumped down. After a short deep breath, he suppressed his instincts and returned to being a merchant again. He gulped down the honey wine and spoke in a loud voice.

[I sincerely apologize for showing such ugliness to the Saviors of Eradico.]

Aurelius held out his hand made of gold toward us. His palm split open, and a metal sphere the size of a human heart protruded. He showed us the metal sphere and said.

[This is the Immortalium I have been collecting for 120 years.]

He stretched out his finger and pointed to my Butcher.

[And that sword contains more than twice as much Immortalium as I have gathered in 120 years. It’s really a precious thing.]

Immortalium wasn’t something that could be obtained with money. Since it was a metal that could no longer be produced with modern technology, all of it roaming the world today was obtained from the ruins of the ancient empire. Countries had always sought out Immortalium to stockpile, of course, and greedily held onto it.

In other words, if someone actively purchased Immortalium as a merchant, the entire country might go against them to obtain it.

After that, Aurelius continued to praise the Immortalium throughout the meal, and it was only toward the end that he brought out his proposal.

[We are heading to the capital of the northern kingdom. I will reward you greatly if you choose to accompany us. Since you are all skillful saviors, I promise to treat you differently from other mercenaries.]

Carmen, who was sitting quietly, politely answered Aurelius.

“Could you give us a moment to discuss it?”

Aurelius replied with a soft smile.

[Do whatever you feel comfortable with. I’m expecting a good answer.]

We put our heads together in Aurelius’s barracks and seriously discussed his proposal. Carmen spoke first.

“We’ll have to listen to the detailed conditions first, but his offer doesn’t seem to hurt any of us since we were originally planning to stop by the capital. And even if we reject his offer, we’d be following right behind them since we’re going in the same direction, at least until the next city. Since this is the case, it wouldn’t be too bad to accompany them while being treated like this.”

Sajita, silently listening to Carmen, spoke next.

“I agree with Carmen’s opinion.”

Dachia, deep in thought, glanced at the entrance to Aurelius’s tent and said.

“But is it necessary to hire us for such a large company? That guy, Aurelius, sent someone to offer to hire us, even though he didn’t know we were Eradico’s saviors. The reason merchants need more and more escorts regardless of who they are is that they know that someone is after them.”

Dachia’s concerns were well-founded. I touched the Butcher’s handle.

“I think the same as the Princess. Besides, when I came here and carefully inspected the guards’ equipment, I noticed several vivid traces of battle.

The princess’s eyes widened at me.

“Really?!”

“Yes. We’ll likely have to go through at least one battle if we accompany him.”

Sajita and Carmen’s expressions grew more serious. I looked at them and said.

“But I think it would be better to accept this quest, as Carmen said. Since our paths are the same anyway, even if we refuse and follow them separately, if they have a pursuer strong enough to attack such a large group, I don’t think they’re going to leave us alone.”

After talking a little more, we agreed to accept. When we told Aurelius, he smiled happily and signed a contract saying he would give us ten gold coins each when we arrived in the capital, and our meals would be provided as a bonus.

He asked me again if I would sell the Butcher, but I refused.

And that night, the group was attacked.

*

Whaaaaaaaang!

Vigorously spinning metal blades slashed through the snow bat’s head. The beast’s brains poured out as I jumped from the corpse and swung at the next wave of snow bats flapping at me.

Their bodies boasted a size more than twice that of an adult male, and they sailed through the sky at a blinding speed.

Kyeeeeeeeeh!

The Butcher cut another in half, but from a short distance away, one of the merchant guards was caught by a bat’s claws. I quickly measured the distance, took out my bone sword, and threw it. The blade flew through the air, pierced the bat’s wing, and sent it crashing to the ground.

Kyeeeeeeh!

While the snow bat struggled to get back up, I crunched through the snow and swung the Butcher.

Whaaaaaaaaaang!

The giant snow bat was torn apart. Blood showered me while I quickly cut off the snow bat’s leg and placed my hand on the neck of the captured guard. No pulse. I retrieved the bone sword stuck in the dirt and examined the situation.

Kyeeeeeeeeh!!!

A bony arrow pierced a snow bat’s eye. As the blinded snow bat descended, Sajita stepped forward, dodging the monster’s claws and spearing it.

“Haap!”

And Dachia, who jumped out from her spot nearby, cut off the head another. After confirming that the party was fighting well, I turned on the Butcher’s engine again and rushed to save the other guards.

Kyeeeeeeeh!

The intense fight continued for a while, but eventually, the snow bats flew up all at once and left when the tides started to turn. While everyone sat down to rest, I headed to Aurelius’s barracks. His personal guards blocked my way.

“Please move away.”

“Clean your clothes and come back.”

As the guards said, my clothes were covered in steaming gore that hadn’t yet cooled. Before I responded, a voice came from within.

[Let him in.]

I strode into Aurelius’s barracks. With every step I took, the blood and flesh of the monsters coating my body flowed down to the ground. Aurelius looked at me with his golden metallic eyes and smiled.

[Aren’t you going to put back that awesome Immortalium weapon?]

I glanced at the Butcher in my grasp and answered.

“I am willing to put it away according to the lord’s answer.”

[I must answer this very carefully then.]

“Yes. You’ll have to answer it very, very carefully.”

I smiled and asked him.

“Why are the worshipers of the evil god attacking this group?”