Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 159

159. The Master of the North (3)

Deep inside the dark, winding dungeon.

The party members, having finished their long hunt, hung up torches and took a rest.

“Um… is Aile going to be alright?”

Lia asked, looking worried.

It had been quite some time since Aile had left for the north alone due to the new quest, but even she had heard of the infamy of the north.

From what she heard, it was more than just a difficult terrain.

A place where even top-tier users could lose their lives in an instant.

However, Roden simply let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha, you don’t need to worry, especially not about him. Besides, I have connections in the north, so I asked them to take care of him.”

“Connections, you say…?”

“I’m from Armenia Online, after all.”

“Ah…!”

Alisa nodded, understanding his words.

Roden and the Iron Cross Guild, which was advancing into the north, were from the same game.

“So, you know the Iron Cross Guild Leader…?”

“Of course. The first person I ever lost a duel to was that sister.”

Sir and Roden of the Iron Cross were already well acquainted.

Although they weren’t in the same guild, Roden, who was active as a personal ranker, took on various tasks outside the guild and had interactions with them.

He had even met Sir in person once in reality.

“That’s amazing. I’ve never seen her before. She’s really famous among Armenia users.”

Alisa said, looking curious.

It went without saying that being the leader of one of the Six Great Guilds [referring to the top guilds in the game] was enough to explain it, but from what she heard, she was an incredibly amazing player.

She not only ranked first in Armenia but also led the Iron Cross Guild to the top, even surpassing their rival, Cerberus, another of the current Six Great Guilds.

When Warlord first started, most people thought she would be a strong contender to take the number one ranking.

“She is amazing. I was surprised when she didn’t take the number one ranking. I never expected some unknown guy to suddenly appear and take that spot.”

The unexpected appearance of the Apollon Guild and Kruger.

No one had anticipated that a guild and player with no previous game experience would come closest to becoming the strongest in Warlord.

Alisa’s expression changed subtly as their story came up.

“Well, enough about that. I told them directly, so they’ll take good care of him.”

Roden shrugged his shoulders and said.

Even if it was impossible to directly help him find the relics, they would have taken care of him to some extent.

Although she was known to be cold to people, she showed a completely different side to her own people.

Roden predicted that Aile would have been pleasing to her.

“That’s a relief then.”

Lia smiled, looking relieved.

It was something she had been worried about, but now that Roden had said this much, she was able to put her worries aside.

“And who knows? Aile might even turn the north into another Eltris.”

“Haha… I doubt it.”

* * *

The frigid cold of the north was certainly more treacherous than other places.

But that didn’t mean it was uninhabited.

Even outside the northern snowfields, there were those who had adapted and survived in extreme environments in various remote areas.

Of course, their numbers were very small compared to the inner regions of the kingdom, but Aile was able to meet several strong warrior tribes as he went deeper, following the coordinates.

As it became increasingly difficult to obtain even drinking water and supplies, he had to get resources from them.

However, gold coins and jewels were useless to them.

That’s when he showed them the inextinguishable flame, the Sacred Fire.

It was a power mediated by divine power, so it was a flame that remained unfazed by any cold or strong winds.

In the north, most weather conditions made it difficult to even maintain a fire, so there were many inconveniences, and what Aile showed was more amazing than they had imagined.

A white flame they had never seen before.

To the tribesmen who were always fighting the cold, it was like a miracle from God.

‘I thought the reaction would be good, but things are going much better than expected.’

Aile himself had been using the Sacred Fire to his advantage while enduring the cold of the north.

He persuaded the tribes who wanted the Sacred Fire to have faith.

Of course, only inquisitors could use the Sacred Fire, and he handed over the scriptures he had with the intention of training the tribe’s warriors as inquisitors.

Of course, it would take a lot of time to guide them all directly, so he focused on proselytizing only one tribe, and he succeeded admirably.

However, other tribes who had interacted with them also discovered the Sacred Fire and were slowly spreading it.

It would be impossible to build infrastructure or use it as the power of the Order in such a place, but missionary work in such unexplored territories brought about a great increase in influence.

“It’s nice to get some fresh air once in a while. It’s quite stuffy to be cooped up in heaven all the time.”

The white cat on Aile’s shoulder wagged its tail as if it felt good.

The cat’s identity was none other than the incarnation of the Goddess of Light, Lugh.

“Are you really here without any business?”

“It’s thanks to you doing such a good job. This much doesn’t even make a dent in my power.”

“By the way, I remember the goddess’s symbol being a white wolf…”

“I took this form to reduce the influence being consumed, so what good would it do to take the form of a large wolf?”

Lugh replied with a haughty expression.

The Ruler of the Volcano, Razagal, was also a divine being famous for the symbol and appearance of the Fire Dragon, but when indirectly revealing himself like Lugh now, he would take the form of a small lizard.

Aside from their symbolic animals, each of them seemed to have different preferred forms.

‘Hmm, well, anyway…’

Aile, recalling his original purpose, shifted his gaze.

The map spread out before him.

Aile, who had been searching for traces of the relics based on the coordinates from Way Stone, was still crossing the rugged snow mountains.

Fortunately, the weather wasn’t a blizzard right now, so there were no major obstacles to movement.

‘It’s definitely getting faster thanks to the map.’

Aile looked at the map with a satisfied expression.

Thanks to the coordinates and detailed map information provided by the Iron Cross Guild, the time was being shortened much more than expected.

There was a big difference between knowing the terrain and passing through it and blindly following the coordinates without knowing it.

However, Lugh, seeing Aile’s faint smile, slipped out a word.

“Don’t get too close to that woman.”

“Are you talking about Sir?”

“Yes.”

“Is there something suspicious about her…?”

“No, I just don’t like her.”

“…….”

It seemed she still held her remarks in her heart.

Since she openly called it a strange religion, it was understandable from the standpoint of a divine being.

“By the way, what are you going to do about the Earth Goddess?”

“The Earth Goddess… are you talking about Freya?”

“Yes. She must know the importance of the relics. No matter how foolish she is, once she obtains this relic, she will no longer wait for your decision. She will give you the choice of either converting with the relic or turning against her altogether.”

“That’s…!”

Aile, startled by Lugh’s blunt words, looked around.

Freya would be watching this place closely, so if they talked about this topic, they would be caught.

“I’ve already blocked the sight of other divine beings, so don’t worry.”

“Ah, I see…”

Aile nodded, relieved at her words.

If there were no eyes watching, there was nothing to hesitate about, even on this topic.

“I’ll have to deal with it when the time comes. I can’t hand over the core fragments of the relic.”

“The future is obvious… can you handle it later?”

“Well, what does it matter? They’re competitors anyway.”

Openly antagonizing a divine being was never a welcome thing.

However, since he had made a deep contract with one side and taken sides, it was something that would happen anyway.

Furthermore, Aile had already settled things with Bahamut in the far west, so he wasn’t too afraid.

“Wait.”

Lugh, sensing something, paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uninvited guests have arrived. I’ll leave this place to you then.”

Whoosh!

With those last words, a pure white light flashed.

Her figure, which had been on Aile’s shoulder, completely disappeared.

And before he could even react.

Kwaaaang!

A huge explosion erupted from under the floor.

Aile, who had been helplessly thrown out, rolled for a long time and was buried in the snow.

There were no projectiles flying, nor did anyone approach from a blind spot.

A trap-type magic circle secretly drawn in the snow.

Someone had prepared a trap in advance, knowing that players would come and go.

“So, this is the beginning…”

Aile brushed off the snow and drew the longsword from his waist.

Fortunately, thanks to the magic resistance passive, he was able to avoid taking significant damage.

“Someone’s been caught!”

“Contact them right away!”

The voices of people could be heard from across the way.

A group of mages who had been resting under a small cave to avoid the cold appeared.

They were all mages wearing robes, and judging from the unique snake pattern drawn on them, he could tell that they were followers of Lenox, the God of Knowledge.

[‘The Secret Seeker’ is looking at you with expectant eyes!]

Just in time, Lenox’s message flashed.

Even though Aile was about to fight his own followers who had set out to find the relics in the north, he was showing a strange sense of anticipation.

It was hard to guess exactly what he was thinking.

‘They even have companions, so I need to finish this quickly.’

Judging from the words to contact them, he could guess the existence of companions, and it wasn’t good to drag out the time long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Pachink!

The brand of heresy flashed above their heads.

“I can warm up a bit before heading to the next destination.”