Fun Dungeon Exploration! (5)

Leovald stared at the long line stretched before him.

In front of him, small groups of people had gathered, hands clasped, waiting for their turn to be blessed. At least it wasn't Sunday—that much was a relief.

Rituals like blessings, ordinations, and baptisms, both large and small, were all performed using holy water drawn from the divine well. Therefore, the area in front of the fountain was never without a crowd. However, for someone like Leovald, whose patience wasn't exactly infinite, he'd prefer to avoid the bustling crowd that gathered on Sundays.

It had been a while since he found himself wasting time like this. The man who had come with him had wandered off, saying he needed to check something, leaving Leovald standing in the blessing line with the child, looking around at his surroundings.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of novelty in all of this.

Before he had taken on this "Leonardo" form, time spent idly waiting like this had been rare for him. For people like him, the meticulous blessings performed by the priests were seen as a luxury.

In his past life, he would have preferred to immerse his entire body in holy water quickly and rush into battle, trying to take down as many enemies as possible.

He was accustomed to inserting his subordinates into the line of duty and pulling them out when necessary; it was one of the responsibilities of a commander. Even something as mundane as dishwashing, he thought, was likely preferable to the tediousness of the task at hand. Many of his subordinates would have agreed with that assessment.

To be fair, for someone like Leovald, getting his head wet and dripping with water was routine. It was a small price to pay for the blood he often wore like a second skin in battle. No one made much of a fuss about it, either.

But now, in this moment, things were different.

Leovald blinked. For a brief moment, the memory of the battlefield, with its harsh realities, faded. In its place was the soft sound of birds chirping under the warm sunlight.

Before him stood a young couple, their hands clasped together. They had just exchanged vows, and the bride whispered sweet nothings to her new husband. The newlyweds, full of excitement, stood before the priest, asking for a baptism for their newborn child. The young priest, still learning the ropes, made a clumsy mistake, accidentally dropping a scroll as he hurried to attend to his duties.

The peaceful scene felt so far removed from the battlefields Leovald had known, and for a moment, he couldn't help but feel a strange disconnect.

'… …'

Leovald imagined himself completely removed from this scene. Yes, perhaps then the landscape would become a bit cleaner.

It felt like wearing clothes that didn't fit the body, or like a bear trying to squeeze its body into a mouse hole—maybe that's how it would feel.

The fact that he could blend into this peaceful scene was something that would have been impossible if he hadn't entered the body of 'Leonardo Ertinez.'

He now realized what he was saying. It was an indulgent complaint that the suddenly encroaching peaceful life felt awkward and unfamiliar.

Those who had been marked as heroes during a time of turmoil, or had been dragged into a struggle, could be broadly divided into two groups. Those who longed to blend back into ordinary peace, and those who, conversely, didn't want it. Among his acquaintances, it was undeniably the latter group that was more common.

After spending years tossing and turning, fighting monsters that mimicked humans, there were times when one might even point a weapon at a normal person. Some of those who had laid down their weapons returned to their families and neighbours, but their outcomes were rarely good.

A few years ago, a knight who had returned to his hometown killed his entire family in the middle of the night.

This knight had once been part of Leovald's unit, fighting on the battlefield. Leovald visited him the day before his execution.

The knight looked at Leovald and said:

[It wasn't my family.]

However, the investigation revealed that the one the knight had killed wasn't a monster, but his own family. Despite being clearly informed of this fact, the soldier stubbornly denied it.

The knight clutched the iron bars and kept insisting.

[It was a monster, a monster! My family was eaten a long time ago. That's why I sent them to hell. I avenged my family. Look, Commander! I am innocent. I am innocent! I am innocent…]

The knight was hanged at dawn the next day on charges of murdering his own family.

Leovald watched the execution until the end, then returned to the battlefield.

It wasn't just that knight. The longer the knights were caught in the battlefield, facing those creatures, the more they began to lose something.

In fact, more and more of them found the battlefield to be more peaceful. On the frontlines, there was no distinction between humans and monsters. They were all monsters. If you make that judgment and kill them all without being caught in suspicion, that's it.

Suspicion grew among the knights, and they often tried to kill each other, but if they fought among themselves, they would end up splitting each other's skin and spilling out some of their intestines. When they thought it wasn't a monster, they tied up the affected part without saying a word and went to cut down the monster again.

The ones who faced the monsters gradually became monsters themselves.

Therefore, Leovald felt that this peace was suffocating in some way. Perhaps, for a moment, he might have even mistaken himself for a regular, insignificant innkeeper. But he sensed that the moment to face those creatures again was rapidly approaching.

As Leovald stared ahead with a grim expression, a whispered voice from afar reached his ears.

"I heard that Eunha has fallen ill again?"

"Yes. After finishing his morning prayers, he suddenly felt unwell."

He didn't bother to turn his head, but the whispers of the priests clearly reached his ears.

Though his clumsy body couldn't handle a sword properly, the noble bloodline of the Count of Ertinez ran through "Leonardo," and he had unusually keen hearing. Leovald processed the information he heard without much interest.

In the context of the Sinistra Church, "Eunha" referred to the Archbishop, Butier. About ten years ago, during the time Leovald was heavily involved in heresy and conflict in Sinistra, he had received help from Butier.

At that time, Butier was a middle-aged man with greying hair. However, priests affiliated with the church age much faster than ordinary people, so by now, he would likely be bedridden with illness.

To Leovald, this wasn't particularly surprising news. Still, he paid attention to what the priests were whispering to each other.

No matter how trivial the conversation, he had a habit of listening attentively, ensuring that even the most mundane gossip didn't slip by unnoticed. He was indebted to those who shared such information.

"Maybe he'll be pleased if I pick up something useful," he thought.

The man he knew might already have this information due to his wide-reaching network, but Leovald believed that with the arrival of something, there would also be a departure. He defined his actions in this way.

Even during his youth, when he lived a pitiful existence as a mercenary, there was a clear rule: to get a piece of bread, one had to kill either a person or a beast.

Even after being honoured with cumbersome titles like "field commander" or "hero," there was always the duty to stand on the battlefield without rest.

That was the life in a band of mercenaries that Leovald knew. So, naturally, it was impossible not to pay attention to the smallest of details in return for whatever little gestures or actions were done.

Although he had been with the mercenaries, Leovald hadn't learned basic common sense, having grown up like a wild beast. It was the royal etiquette teacher who first taught him the concept of "manners" in human society. This had happened after he was summoned to the royal court as a poster boy, called a "hero" or "divine being."

The royal etiquette teacher taught him the basics of manners and common sense. After that, it seemed like he was treated less like an animal.

The teacher even tried to teach Leovald about the intricacies of politics and the complex relationships within the noble society. However, he gave up after only a brief attempt, saying:

[Treat others as they treat you. Reflect their attitude like the surface of a lake. If you do that, you might avoid getting stabbed by a vengeful knife in the middle of the night. I can't guarantee it, though.]

Ultimately, Leovald was killed by the schemes of a traitor, but aside from that, the teachings of the etiquette teacher had been quite useful. Afterward, Leovald had developed a system for handling interpersonal relations.

Hostile greetings were subdued and handled roughly, while subordinates who bowed down and came forward were met with trust in the battlefield and the payment of their loyalty.

To those who feared him, he gave reasons to fear, and to the citizens who admired and revered him, he provided protection in the form they desired.

His relationship with King Godric had been based on mutual benefit, a kind of employment contract, but once the king had thrust the sword of betrayal, Leovald felt it was only right to repay with his life.

But the man Leovald had recently been spending time with was quite unusual. He seemed to act out of pure self-interest, yet he would scatter small bits of kindness.

'I can't figure him out.'

Leovald had never been good at dealing with people, and once again, he followed the pattern he had learned. Since the man was open and close to him, Leovald responded in kind. He tried to be warm, just as the man seemed to be.

Up until now, that kindness had been mostly given in the form of "Leonardo Ertinez," the outward shell, and so he had simply reciprocated with a soft attitude. But now, because of his own body, things had become entangled with his true self.

When asked why he helped "Leonardo Ertinez," the man had no reason to give. When asked why he cared about "Leovald," he said there was no reason. He always dodged the question, offering vague explanations, saying he just felt like it, no other reason, simply because his heart was moved.

If that is unconditional kindness and goodwill, then he too must return the same with kindness and goodwill.

The man often acted in a mysterious, almost teasing manner, which sparked Leovald's impulses, but as long as he didn't inflame those impulses, perhaps they could continue with kindness meeting kindness in a consistent manner.

Ever since Leovald had visited Baron Roald's mansion, he had been torn between the urge to pry deeply into the man and the principle of treating him gently and with care.

'Being apart makes it more bothersome.'

When the man was by his side, Leovald could at least suppress the rising curiosity as he was swept along by him.

Once again, he stifled the urge to subtly lift his head and turned his attention to the priests' conversation. He had to distract himself somehow. This subject was quite fitting for that purpose.

The Archbishop Butier's illness and deteriorating health. The whisper he had overheard last night felt too significant to be dismissed as trivial.

He had felt the presence of heresy last night.

Once they take on a human appearance, it becomes difficult to distinguish what is a monster and what is a true human. These creatures, which mimic humans— their appearance, memories, even their behaviour— were so precise that they could deceive even families who had lived together for a lifetime.

Countless people had been killed, either thinking the other was a monster or believing they were human, only to perish.

The unmistakable sign of something that is not human, something incomplete and wrong.

The shapeless creatures that infiltrated human groups to hunt through mimicry were known as formless beings (不定形). However, only a very few humans, like Leovald, were able to sense their presence. These rare individuals were called "discerners."

Even then, the ability only worked when these creatures were in their formless or mimicking state. Once they had completely transformed, it was impossible to detect them. Nevertheless, just being able to sense where they were beginning to emerge, and knowing roughly where they were approaching, proved immensely useful.

Leovald never imagined that his heightened senses, still functioning within the body of "Leonardo Ertinez," would be able to detect such things.

The presence of heresy he had felt last night, deep within the underground of Sinistra, was unmistakable.

'Has a fissure formed in the seal?'

This was not the frontlines. The reason he was now feeling the presence of the same heretics he had purged ten years ago was clear.

During the process of containment, the church had driven heretics deep into the underground, below the divine stream of holy water, and sealed them away. In this way, all churches served as a kind of weight, keeping the heretics at bay.

However, maintaining the seal was no easy task. Priests had sacrificed their own lives to tighten the seal, and the upkeep of it had also been draining their lifeforce. Over time, the rapid aging of priests became a normal sight in everyday life.

'Perhaps Archbishop Butier's worsening health is also due to the seal…'

Leovald once again listened closely to the priests' conversation.

"Recently, His Excellency has been sleeping longer."

"And his food intake has decreased. He seems to be growing thinner with each passing day."

The thought that the fissure in the seal beneath Sinistra might be related to Archbishop Butier's illness naturally crossed Leovald's mind. Perhaps Butier had fallen ill while trying to repair the loosened seal.

'This is troublesome.'

Even without the additional issue of Butier, the situation was already precarious. How could the seal be fixed now? More importantly, Leovald was soon heading underground. Whether or not the situation could be resolved, he would undoubtedly go underground before anything else.

Leovald fell into deep thought.

Before the chaotic battle, where suspicion and paranoia might cause people to kill each other, he knew he had to confide in at least one person. 

In his days as Leovald, he could handle things alone without much trouble, but now… now, he had nothing. No one to follow him, no strength to rely on.

It was like those childhood days when he had been nothing more than a scrawny stray dog.

The good-for-nothing second son of the Ertinez family suddenly blabs that there are formless beings, and claims that a fissure has appeared in the seal, which has been stable for the past ten years. It's not something that would be easily believed, is it?

Well, it seems like that guy would act calmly, as if he knew everything all along. 

Nevertheless, hesitation continued to hold him back until the end.

***

The information I gathered from what Leonardo said after being thoroughly interrogated can be summarized as follows.

First. Some creatures are sealed beneath the church.

Second. A very small number of people can sense their existence. However, it's not something that can be clearly distinguished from humans—it's more of a vague detection. Leonardo is one of them.

Third. Recently, he sensed their presence underground, and it is suspected that a fissure has formed in the seal.

Fourth. As evidence to support this claim, he heard a rumour that the Archbishop had fallen ill at the church. It's possible he got sick during the restoration work.

Fifth. At any rate, it's a given that we will encounter a few of them underground, so we should prepare ourselves mentally.

"It might be hard to believe—"

"No, I believe it."

If I can't trust you, the protagonist, who can I trust? I waved my hand dismissively at Leonardo's additional comments and wrapped my head in my hands.

This is insane. This is really turning into a horror story!