Chapter 81 Story

Kalanfor, the church.

Sacred beams of light poured down from the vaulted ceiling, illuminating countless motes of dust drifting through the air. Magnificent stained-glass windows depicting a sage scattered patches of brilliant color across the hall.

Sacred.

Silent.

A priest in judge-like robes stood before the altar.

His eyes were lowered, his lips moving soundlessly in prayer.

At his chest, a golden sun-shaped holy symbol hung from a strip of crimson satin, glimmering faintly beneath the sunlight.

“Sir, the negative energy inside that merchant’s body has dissipated.”

At the foot of the steps, a nun dressed with the same solemn severity delivered her report in a low voice.

The priest slowly opened his eyes.

Not the slightest ripple disturbed his kindly, aged face.

He raised his head. In those old, tranquil eyes was reflected the figure of the Lord he worshiped so devoutly, depicted upon the stained glass overhead.

“Let him go.”

His calm, even voice echoed through the vast hall.

“Yes.”

The nun’s soft footsteps faded down the side corridor.

Silence settled over the church once more.

“Cough, cough…”

A decaying cough suddenly broke the stillness.

At the boundary where the towering columns met the brilliant light, beneath the only patch of shadow in the entire hall, a thin, elderly figure struggled up from a cold pew.

His face was covered in wrinkles and age spots, rough as old tree bark.

A strange smile tugged at his lips.

“You failed?”

His bloodless lips, crusted with dead skin, moved slightly. A hoarse, low voice drifted through the air.

“The merciful and great Lord spreads His radiance across the world. Sacred rules must not be violated, and order must be obeyed.”

“Heh.”

The grating laugh carried no clear meaning.

The old man opened his one remaining clouded eye and looked toward the kindly priest standing in holy light before the altar.

There was nothing but mockery in his gaze.

…

Three days later, Rivervale Town.

The White Chickadee Tavern.

A roaring fireplace. Raised mugs crashing together. Shouting patrons surrounded by the rich smell of food…

Everything seemed exactly the same as before.

“Friends!”

Jeff, the caravan leader, cleared his throat. In his right hand was a wooden mug filled with shimmering liquor.

“When I first came to Rivervale Town, I was still some green kid who’d never even held a woman’s hand. I dreamed of becoming a famous adventurer, then going home with enough gold to fill an entire warehouse. White bread every day, meat soup every now and then.”

“Then, on my very first mission, three Goblins that weren’t even as big as stray dogs scared me so badly I pissed my pants.”

The tavern erupted with good-natured laughter.

Jeff leaned on a wooden crutch with his other hand. His alcohol-scented face had gone bright red.

“I’ve traveled all over with my caravan these past years. The dangers I’ve seen certainly can’t compare to what you adventurers run into, but there have still been plenty. A few trips nearly cost me my life.”

“Every time I came back and sat here, I’d tell myself, ‘This is the last one. One more haul, then I’m retiring.'”

“But every time, I couldn’t help myself. One trip, then another…”

He grinned.

“After all, who can say no to sweet-smelling gold?”

Laughter broke out again.

Then Jeff’s smile softened.

“But this time is different.”

Perhaps he had already drunk too much. His body swayed.

Beneath his left leg, severed cleanly at the knee, the crude temporary prosthetic struck the floor with a hollow wooden knock.

“Your good old Jeff is officially retiring after tonight!”

The tavern went quiet for half a beat.

“We’re all poor bastards who make a living with our lives hanging from our belts, so I won’t say anything depressing.”

Jeff raised his mug.

“May every last one of you earn enough gold to fill an entire warehouse!”

“Cheers!”

The tavern exploded.

Mugs slammed together. Shouts rose to the rafters. Someone even started pounding a table hard enough to rattle the plates.

Jeff was not an adventurer, but he was an honest man who frequently hired adventurers from the association as guards.

Over the years, he had built up a decent reputation among lower-level adventurers.

Seeing him manage to retire safely, even in his current condition, some people might have had their own private thoughts, but everyone at least maintained basic courtesy.

Nothing unpleasant happened.

Xia Nan sat in a corner of the tavern.

Before him was a half-finished bowl of cream of mushroom soup, with an empty plate that had once held stewed meat beside it.

His thoughts, however, had drifted back to what had happened several days ago.

After nailing Ingram to that tree, Xia Nan had originally planned to avoid Kalanfor entirely and make a run for it.

The sheriff had been close to the priest in the Church of the Sun God, and that priest was suspected of being a class holder.

If Ingram’s actions had been carried out on the priest’s orders, then returning to town would have been no different from walking into his own grave.

Yet somehow, the death of a sheriff had not caused so much as a ripple in little Kalanfor.

Everything had continued according to the same old order.

Regular.

Quiet.

As if nothing had happened.

Even Jeff, who had been recuperating inside the church, returned to the inn and reunited with the caravan without incident.

And now, three days later, Xia Nan still had not heard a single word about the matter.

[Could it really have been Ingram acting on his own, completely unrelated to the church?]

[But how does an important sheriff suddenly disappear without anyone making a fuss?]

The whole thing felt wrong.

It was as though Xia Nan had brushed against the tip of an iceberg. He had barely glimpsed the enormous shape hidden below the surface before instinctively pulling his hand back.

With his current strength, getting involved any further would be asking for trouble.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

The light knocking of wood against the floor approached.

Jeff staggered over, reeking of alcohol.

He did not even wait for Xia Nan to speak. The moment their eyes met, Jeff tipped his head back and drained the rest of his mug.

“I know I’ve said it plenty of times already… hic.”

His drunken gaze suddenly sharpened.

“But if it hadn’t been for you two that night, forget retirement. I probably wouldn’t have made it back to Rivervale Town.”

He leaned on his crutch.

“I’m not much use when it comes to adventurer business.”

“But if you ever come to Neum, find me.”

Since Jeff had decided to retire, the caravan he had spent half his life building naturally went up for sale as well.

He had already found a buyer.

Perhaps Jeff’s reputation had helped, because the price was quite good.

It would be enough for him to return to Neum and open a small tailor shop with his family.

The income would certainly be lower than before, but it would be safe and stable.

Add in the savings he had accumulated over the years, and as long as Jeff did not spend recklessly, he should be able to live out a respectable old age.

“You’re not planning to get that leg healed?”

Xia Nan glanced at the crude prosthetic beneath Jeff’s left knee.

“Where would I get the money? It’s too expensive!”

Jeff laughed, entirely unconcerned, and swirled his empty mug out of habit.

“I’m done running around with caravans anyway. I’ll be living in the city from now on. Whether I fix it or not doesn’t really matter.”

Xia Nan gave a small nod.

It was Jeff’s choice.

He did not say anything more.

Still, a thought quietly surfaced in his mind.

[Come to think of it, if I didn’t have the attribute panel, and if I didn’t have decent enough talent to see a path upward…]

[Saving money for a few years, finding somewhere safe, and opening a little shop like Jeff… that wouldn’t be a bad life.]

[No.]

The thought had barely formed before Xia Nan crushed it.

His eyes fell on Jeff’s severed leg.

The skin around the wound looked like dead wood, a lifeless ash gray with no trace of blood.

Just looking at the place where bone and flesh had been cut apart was enough to make him imagine the phantom pain.

Then another image surfaced.

That night, only a few days ago.

The undead Tim standing over a sleeping Jeff, brutally pulling the bones of his lower leg out through the flesh.

Xia Nan’s expression slowly hardened.

This world was not like the technologically advanced society of his previous life.

It might possess supernatural power far beyond anything modern civilization could imagine, but it did not have an official institution powerful enough to broadly keep high-level class holders in check.

To certain powerful beings from evil alignments, “law” was little more than wastepaper.

Under those circumstances, if Xia Nan were merely an ordinary person, or even an adventurer just a little above the bottom rung, perhaps he could live a peaceful life.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps one day, some passing high-level class holder would be in a bad mood, lash out, and kill him with nothing more than the aftermath.

And if Xia Nan were ever dragged into a conspiracy like the one Ingram had planned, he might die without ever learning why.

Even if he truly achieved the life he had once imagined…

A large fortune.

A quiet retirement in the countryside.

A peaceful, happy life with his family.

He could never accept the idea that some random nobody passing through could casually threaten his life or the lives of the people he cared about.

The peaceful life he wanted.

The wealth that could last him a lifetime.

Everything he might ever pursue…

All of it rested on the same foundation.

Strength.

Only strength would let him stand firm in this world.

Xia Nan watched Jeff limp away.

The man still had not fully adapted to the prosthetic. Each step was awkward, his body swaying from side to side.

And as Xia Nan watched him go, the worldview formed over more than thirty years in a modern society quietly began to shift.

He reached into his clothes and pulled out the brass coin engraved with the profile of a goddess.

His thumb rubbed across its surface, feeling the chill of the metal.

He focused.

Translucent characters appeared before his eyes.

…

[Coin of Fate]

Type: Consumable/Item

Rank: Epic (Pink)

Uses Remaining: 3

Description:

A specially made copper coin wreathed in divine fortune. A trigger for a “miracle.”

Note:

“This is the hand! I’m! Going! All! In!”

• Fatebound Gambler, Blacklisted by All 126 Casinos in the Barracuda Isles, Tymora’s Brow, Arlene

…

Alton had left the group two days ago and continued his journey alone.

For a Lightfoot Halfling in the middle of his travels, staying in one place for long was practically impossible.

Asking him to turn around and retrace a road he had already traveled was even less realistic.

Xia Nan was not worried about him in the slightest.

Alton was short, looked like the type who could easily be tricked, and did not seem particularly impressive in a fight.

But…

[Come on!]

[This guy can chat with a deity about everyday life in his dreams!]

With the protection of the Smiling Lady, Xia Nan genuinely suspected that if someone ever tried to harm the Halfling, the attacker might trip and break their neck before getting the chance.

Maybe because they stepped out the door with their left foot first.

Someone capable of communicating directly with a deity was definitely not the ordinary believer Xia Nan had once assumed Alton to be.

At the very least, he had to be on the level of someone who was god-touched.

[I wonder if I’ll ever run into him again.]

Xia Nan turned the thought over in his mind.

Meanwhile, almost by instinct, he flicked the coin high into the air with one hand, imitating the smooth little trick Alton had often performed.

The instant the copper coin left his fingers, Xia Nan’s stomach dropped.

A powerful sense of insecurity hit him.

He hurriedly threw both hands up and caught the falling coin between his palms in a clumsy grab.

This was a genuine Epic (Pink) item!

Losing it because of some pointless flourish?

Absolutely not.

Forget losing it. Even scratching or denting the thing would be unacceptable.

He carefully tucked it back into his clothes, pressed close against his body.

Perhaps the [Coin of Fate] was simply too high in rank.

Perhaps it involved divine power beyond what his current level could properly understand.

Whatever the reason, the normally reliable attribute panel had not provided a detailed explanation of its effects.

It only called the coin a trigger for a “miracle.”

That did not tell Xia Nan much.

His best guess was that the coin somehow increased the probability of certain events occurring.

Something like winning the grand prize in a lottery.

Or blindly guessing every multiple-choice answer on a test correctly.

The exact range of its effects?

No idea.

How powerful the influence was?

Also no idea.

And with only three uses left, Xia Nan certainly was not about to waste one just to satisfy his curiosity.

At least one thing had already been confirmed through actual experience.

The [Coin of Fate] could trigger the physical-damage immunity effect of [Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones] with absolute certainty.

That alone was absurd.

As long as Xia Nan kept the coin on him, he effectively had three extra lives.

Three.

It was a trump card in the truest sense.

And there was more.

Strictly speaking, the [Light-Bathed One] feat he had gained during the previous battle had also come from the divine power of fate released when the coin was used.

[Maybe…]

Xia Nan licked his slightly dry lips.

His thoughts ran wild.

The celebration continued deep into the night.

Only after the thoroughly drunk Jeff was carried off to a guest room by several old friends did the tavern’s boiling atmosphere finally begin to cool.

Interestingly enough, several familiar-looking adventurers even approached Xia Nan on their own to strike up conversations.

Clearly, the strength he had shown during the caravan mission had earned their recognition.

At one point, Xia Nan even overheard a drunken adventurer boasting to several equally drunk companions about how Xia Nan had cut down four Goblins with a single swing.

It was tavern talk.

Most people did not take it seriously.

By the next morning, the majority would probably have forgotten Xia Nan’s name entirely.

At best, they would vaguely remember some drunkard bragging about meeting a vicious swordsman who hacked through Goblins like piglets.

But there was no denying one thing.

More than a month after arriving in this world…

For the first time…

Among the lower-level adventurers of Rivervale Town, Xia Nan had a story of his own.