The Runesmith

“So, how about the two of us grab some brew after we are finished here?”

“Some brew? Do you want to discuss the scripture of the radiant lady with me? How about you come to the sermon and pray with me then, Mr. Armand?”

“I uh… sermon?”

‘I didn’t think that I'd see Armand ever be dejected when talking to a woman…’

Roland along with a few other people were looking at Armand’s facade crumbling. They had come here to get checked up but he could not hold himself back from courting someone as beautiful as Sister Kassia. Regretfully for him, this woman was already in a relationship with the sun goddess, Solaria. The moment he tried his one-liner on the cat lady priest, she mistook it for a call for preaching.

‘At least he seems normal enough, he isn’t infected and Lobelia is next after her will be those two…’

The plan was to get Elodia’s two siblings here for a proper examination, but they weren’t the only ones here. Besides these two another duo followed them inside of the church. They were half-beastmen that belonged to the thieves guild and liked to hang around their leader Lobelia.

In the past, the two of them along with Lobelia tried to rob him of his possessions. They took him for a defenseless merchant that was new to the guild and wanted to teach him a lesson. Luckily for them, Roland was able to control his impulses and didn’t harm them too much. Ever since then he could tell that the two weren’t fond of him too much.

Perhaps it was due to the beatdown in the past or his relation to Lobelia, he did not truly know or care. Just as usual they were giving him that passive-aggressive treatment while not talking much but there was a slight difference. Jasper the one with the fox years and the louder of the two was acting strange.

‘Could he have it?’

“Oh, my skin feels a lot smoother!”

“That’s one of the gifts of the radiant lady, her light is capable of revitalizing a maiden's skin.”

There were after-effects of the divine-based healing magic. From what he could tell there were variants of healing spells. One boosted the body's natural mending capacity to rapidly seal any wound. The downside was that it would leave a scar, then there was divine healing which apparently turned the body back to a state in which it was healthier.

The drawback with those spells was time, the longer a person remained wounded the harder it would be to heal them with a divine spell. This could be countered by more powerful spells or higher levels. Thus if there weren’t that many wounds it would only de-age the skin cells.

“Jasper, you’re up!”

Lobelia with a smile on her face moved over to the young man with fox ears and gave him a smack on the shoulder. The response wasn’t what she expected as instead of going forward with a puffed-out chest he just took a step back. His forehead was full of sweat and it seemed that he was close to losing it.

“What’s wrong with you Jasper? Are you afraid of priests or something?”

“No, I just… Can we just get out of here? I don’t see a reason why we have to do this, will we have to pay that nun after she is done? Doesn’t this look a bit fishy?”

He turned to his friend Renny whose dog ears were flopping around while listening.

“Wait, we need to pay for this?”

Renny asked with concern in his voice but was quickly interrupted.

“No, you don’t, I will cover any expenses now, move and get checked, it won’t take long.”

Roland was quick to reply while taking a harsher tone with Jasper who for some reason was fidgeting around.

“No, I don’t really…”

“Why don’t you listen to the man, my small friend?”

While Jasper was backing away he bumped into something hard. When looking up he saw a large grinning barbarian woman that was strategically placed in the doorway. Before everyone entered the church Roland asked her a small favor. He had already realized that Jasper was acting strange. Grisalde was much taller and stronger, even when he tried he could not wrestle out of her grip.

“Bring him over.”

“Wayland, is this really necessary?”

Lobelia along with Renny tried moving closer but were unsure what to do. Quickly Roland answered the question with a raised voice while also quickly moving to grab the young man’s forearm.

“Yes, he could be compromised, Sister Kassia.”

While caught by the large barbarian from one side and Roland from the other Jasper was dragged before the Priest. After pushing him down to his knees he was held in place by two people with superior strength.

“Stop with your squirming, this is for your own good.”

He tried to reason with the fox beastman but he was like an unruly dog at a veterinary appointment. There was clearly something wrong here, luckily with the two of them combining their strength, there was no escape. Sister Kassia quickly started focusing her divine energy on the man’s head.

“Wait… what is that black smoke?”

Lobelia shouted out while pointing towards Jasper. The moment the golden light surrounded his face, pitch-black smoke started escaping from his orifices.

“N-no s-stop… i-it hurts…”

“Hold him, he is infected.”

The moment Roland saw the change he could tell that this person had a parasite. The whole scene was similar to the one he saw back in the village. There the gold order member treated the afflicted people with her divine aura blade instead. It was slightly different here as Kassia was not a tier 3 class holder but thanks to being a priest her healing spell was able to perform at a similar capacity.

During the first stage of the treatment, Jasper’s body started convulsing. It was as if he was going through an epilepsy attack. Soon after dark smoke started rising from his nose, ears, and even eye sockets. His eyes started bleeding as if they were about to pop but before that could happen the healing spell took over.

“... he passed out…”

“What happened to him? Is he going to live?”

“I…”

In all honesty, Roland didn’t truly know what would happen to this person now. Back in the village, Loreena insisted on having the people with the abyssal larvae taken by the church. This wouldn’t be different, Jasper needed to be watched by people from the church and observed for any kind of relapse.

“I think we need to move him to a bed first, Sister Kassia do you have a room where you keep the sick?”

“We have a small infirmary, please follow me.”

The priestess was fast on the uptake, after seeing the dark smoke her smile was gone. Roland wasn’t sure but he assumed that clerics could feel corruption from evil deities like this. This was quickly confirmed as they left the room to go towards the infirmary. Before they could get there, an old man in full priest garb appeared before them.

“Sister Kassia, what is the meaning of this? Why do I feel the influence of a primordial evil in the house of the radiant mother?”

“Head Priest, this person…”

It was the Head Priest of this church that was able to feel the miasma arising from the previous treatment. Without thinking much of it Roland decided to use his identification skill to confirm something.

Name:

Stanwyck L 141

Classes:

T2 Sun Devout L41

T2 Sun Priest L50

T1 Cleric L25

T1 Acolyte L25

The man looked to be in his older years and lacked a tier 3 class. Not everyone that was old possessed a high level. This priest probably gave up on hunting monsters in a party and focused on spreading the word of god which would hinder any progress. A priest was a battle class, it required experience points from killing monsters to progress. It was not like a crafting class that could still continue by fashioning items.

Most priests had no lust for things like strength or power. They had a comfortable life at the church and everything was provided for them as long as they could cast healing spells. Usually the younger tier 2 priests would be sent to the dungeons but after going past the hundredth level they would have an option of quitting.

This was his first time seeing the leading figure of this church, Kassia was also a tier 2 priest but her level was inferior. After seeing the knocked-out Jasper for a moment he could see him scrunching his nose.

“This young man… Very well, bring him but Sister, you will explain yourself to me.”

Kassia bowed in an apologetic fashion before they carried Jasper to the infirmary. The room wasn’t very large, it only had about ten small beds that weren’t even divided by anything. Some of them were occupied but there was enough free room for the new patient to lie down.

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“I’m not sure, I think the larva should have been killed by the healing spell…”

“You think?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about these creatures…”

Lobelia raised her voice at Roland as she demanded some answers. He really didn’t know what the long-term effects of these monsters on a person’s mind were. The creature should have been dead and Jasper didn’t turn into a tentacle monster either. His complexion also looked better now.

“I… Renny, you need to get examined this instant, what if you have the same thing?”

“What? I could be sick too?”

“He's probably fine, didn’t you notice how your other friend started acting after we stepped inside the church?”

“Now that you say it…”

Everyone started thinking back to the moment they stepped through the church. Even though there was no holy barrier inside of this building, healing spells were cast constantly and holy water was being made as well. These Abyssal Larvae couldn’t stomach even the faintest of the divine arts. Now Roland was sure about it, if someone afflicted entered this area they would start feeling some side effects.

“But to be on the safe side, he should be examined by a priest. ”

Lobelia nodded before grabbing Renny by his hand and dragging him towards Jasper. He was being examined by the head priest along with Kassia that would probably have a long talk with him afterward. Roland had already explained everything regarding the abyssal parasite problem.

‘I’m not sure I can trust these people with this issue’

Yet this wasn’t quite over, there was one important person in this city that needed to know the full story, this was the city lord. His brother was the city lord of Reeka and the fiasco would probably be pushed on him. Perhaps the citizens would blame him for allowing the cult to sneak into their midst.

‘That is if they actually tell them the truth, he could try to pass it off as a conflict between cultists and religious zealots that the city was caught between…’

“There you are, where are Armand and Lobelia?”

“They are in the church, we had a problem…”

“You don’t mean that one of them…”

“Calm down and let me explain, both of them are fine but one of Lobelia’s friends…”

Roland was done with the church for now so he decided to go outside. There he parted ways with the four-man adventurer party that needed to find an inn for the day. They all agreed to meet up on another day after the commotion died down. The four also needed to decide if they actually wanted to stay here, after seeing another infected person it wouldn’t be odd to leave.

After they were gone Lobelia showed up along with Agni. Due to the accident with Jasper, he had spent a lot more time than he intended on the inside. He was quick to give her an explanation that her siblings were just keeping their friends company.

“T-this is horrible, so it really reached our city… what will we do?”

Elodia was shocked by the revelation, it was one thing to hear about a troubling fact and then another to be involved in it. If one person was afflicted by the parasite then more of them could be there.

“I think there are things that we could do, but I’ll need to get some high-quality potions…”

“You need to buy potions?”

“Yes, for now, you better return to the orphanage, I don’t think that any of them will be afflicted, but it's better to make sure, right? The idiot is inside with Lobelia, it'll be safer if you wait for the two first, before going back.”

Elodia nodded and didn’t argue the fact. Roland knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t be able to sleep through the night knowing that one of her family members could turn into a strange creature. She was soon gone and he was left with a confused ruby wolf that just wanted to go home.

The day was slowly coming to a close as the sun inched down the horizon. There wasn’t much time left for him to go to the shops to buy proper stock for what he was planning. This problem with the cult wasn’t an easy issue to handle but it needed to be prioritized. While the church fought with the cult they would probably funnel their forces to that forest which gave him and others time to prepare.

‘I wonder where that kid got that larva from, even though he is part of the thieves guild it wouldn’t be surprising if all of them moonlight as adventurers. They could have gotten it from the same village…’

He had a tiny theory when it came to that village and the parasites. They could have a limited number of the evil creatures and even if people passed through that area, they couldn't infect everyone. Instead, those people would be held up by an illusion of the village and just pass through without being harmed. Perhaps the cult went through their possessions to gather information to sell it off as a side job.

“The number of infected might be lower than I initially thought…”

“Infected?”

“Hm?”

Just as he was going through a few potential strategies a familiar voice called out to him. When he turned his face he saw a woman in a maid uniform. Her cat ears were pointed towards him as if she was interested in what he was mumbling about. For people from beast tribes like her, it wasn’t hard to hear what he was whispering, all thanks to their enhanced senses.

‘I need to stop muttering to myself…’

“Good day, Mr. Wayland, the Lord would like to have a word with you.”

“Oh?”

Not that much time had passed since he entered the city. Only after coming along with Agni and the rest did he actually go through a proper checkpoint. Perhaps the guards had sent word to Arthur that he had returned.

‘Did he order them to inform him if I got back to the city or something?’

“Is there something that Lord Arthur requires of me that can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“You really like to joke around Mr. Wayland, I’m sure that you know why the lord would like to see you.”

Roland just shrugged while showing a weak smile, he wanted to see if it was really about the incident in Reeka or just some business meeting. It wasn’t strange for Arthur to be interested in what happened in the city but it was surprising that he knew that Roland was there to begin with.

‘Did he put some informants into the guild?’

Arthur Valerian didn’t possess much power in the city but as a noble, he did have some money. It wouldn’t be hard to bribe some of the officials that had already been selling themselves to the merchants. It seemed that while Roland was trying to gain some levels to progress, Arthur was expanding his net of influence inside the city.

“I was meaning to visit him, I do think that we have a lot to talk about. It won’t be a problem if I bring him along, right?”

He pointed to Agni that was looking at Mary with perked-up ears. The moment the cat girl saw the ruby wolf she just smiled and gave a nod. Soon the two and one large wolf were walking towards the city lord's mansion. There Roland would need to explain the situation that the island they were on had found itself in.