Chapter 23
“Kuhuhu, I knew it was you, believer!”
The man recognized me—what?
And upon listening closely again, I realized I’d heard this voice before.
I quickly lifted my head, and sure enough, a familiar face appeared in my line of sight.
“Ke… Kerak?!”
It was him.
The man who called out to me was none other than Priest Kerak, the greedy, gluttonous offering priest!
“Fancy meeting you here. But what’s with that attire…?” he asked with a sly grin.
“Ah, I, I came to enjoy the festival, but… I just didn’t want to stand out too much…” I laughed awkwardly, trying to brush it off.
“Heh. Well, I suppose that’s understandable,” Kerak nodded, still grinning.
‘Is he letting this slide?’
But just as I began to feel relieved, the greedy priest squinted at me and spoke again.
“By the way, it seems like your robe is a little… heavy.” He chuckled sinisterly. “Hahahaha.”
“…”
“Forgive me, but we are currently checking for heretics attempting to disrupt the festival with ill intentions, believer.”
For a moment, I thought I heard a hallucination of the “Temple Sucker Detector” giving me a congratulatory speech.
“Hahaha, thank you, believer, for donating such an exquisite mana crystal mine to the temple…”
Is this the ‘Mana Crystal Donation’ ending?
I wanted to shout out that I was the one who dug up the mana crystals, but the words never left my throat.
I took a deep breath, and then… I gave in.
‘Well, at least it’s him and not someone worse.’
I was a bit frustrated, but this guy was one of the greediest in the Ark world. No matter when or where, if I got caught by him, I was going to lose something.
…Though I tried to reassure myself, the sting of the situation didn’t go away.
“Ah… ho, hoho.”
I managed to control my breath and forced an awkward laugh. I then decided to release the fireball from under my robe and took out one of the smaller mana crystals— the one I was least attached to.
‘Damn it… Damn it!!!’
Even after unlocking the mana crystal mines, I was still restricted by my lack of core strength. I could only gather about two crystals a day. The mana crystal I had now was truly the result of all my blood, sweat, and tears.
That’s why it hurt to part with it… ugh.
“Actually, I was on my way to donate this to the temple.”
I barely managed to stop my face from contorting with reluctance as I handed the mana crystal to Kerak.
“Oh? This is…” Kerak said, eyeing the crystal with obvious interest.
“I wanted to show my devotion to the goddess, since it’s a good day…” I added, my voice strained. “Surely the goddess will accept this, right?”
“Oh, how noble of you! Of course, the goddess will be pleased!” he replied, his voice overly enthusiastic.
The goddess wasn’t the one he was really pleased with—Kerak’s back pocket would benefit most, but he continued to lie smoothly.
Then, with a sly smile, he tucked the precious mana crystal into his robe.
“There’s no need to take it all the way to the temple. I’ll offer it on your behalf. Hahahaha.”
“Th-thank you… ho… hoho. How kind of you.”
“However, believer, if you continue this way, it seems there may be some trouble ahead. The goddess seems to want you to take a different path today.”
With that, he subtly blocked my path, suggesting that if I continued the way I was going, I’d be caught by the knights. Of course, I could tell he was doing this not out of kindness, but because he wanted to keep me out of their radar so he could keep swindling me in the future.
“Well, see you next time.”
Thanks to Kerak, or rather, because I handed him one of my precious mana crystals, I was able to slip out of the knight’s radar and avoid a search.
Now, would I go home? Could I no longer get into the palace? Was my plan to infiltrate the Spring Ball a failure?
Wouldn’t that be the obvious question?
‘Not a chance.’
[SYSTEM] New area unlocked! You have entered the ‘Palace Sewers.’
I never wanted to come here, but I had a hidden plan B for situations like this.
“Ugh, I didn’t plan for this…”
When I infiltrated the palace in the game, there was never any unexpected search like this.
But since the system hadn’t thrown up any new quests, it seemed like the goal of “Palace Infiltration” hadn’t changed.
I grumbled, but the system remained silent.
Sigh, it’s always quiet when I need it to answer. Was it purposely staying quiet on me?
Anyway, the palace sewers had been my backup plan in case things went wrong.
And backup plans are…
“Ugh, it stinks.”
Sometimes, they meant I had to resort to something I’d rather avoid.
I didn’t want to get my expensive dress soaked in sewage, especially since I had carefully chosen my attire for the Spring Ball, but the sewer was too cramped and dark to move comfortably.
Despite the fact that outside the palace, the festival was brightly lit, the sewers were pitch black. I could barely see my feet.
The only sounds were the squelching noises of my footsteps, and the occasional feeling of circular curves beneath my feet reminded me I was in a round sewer passage.
“Hah…”
The winding maze of tunnels was easy to get lost in, and anyone unfamiliar with this place would probably starve to death.
But for me, aside from the smell, it was bearable.
Why? Because I’d been through these tunnels more than 500 times in the game.
Sure, it felt a little different being in person, but I had no problem navigating it.
The only thing that concerned me…
‘Please, nothing happens now.’
The palace sewers were originally classified as a “Magic Dungeon” in the game.
While I used these tunnels for palace infiltration routes, for combat-focused players, this was a second home due to the powerful monsters that lurked beneath.
Thankfully, the upper floors leading to the palace had mostly weak monsters like slimes.
‘But I must stay alert.’
Right now, I was as weak as a slime myself.
So, while I would never have considered coming down here at the start of the game, now, I had no choice but to use it as my plan B.
Why?
[SYSTEM] The effect of ‘Tereza Ulmer’s Relic: Amulet of Affection’ has activated!
Temporarily nullifies hostility from hostile entities.
‘Thanks, fake ancestor.’
I lightly caressed the amulet around my neck with a sarcastic thought.
I had found it among the items I collected in the graveyard.
It had been an accidental find—Zeke Califer had actually picked it up—but I had recognized it for what it was: a perfect dungeon item.
The amulet’s ability was to nullify aggression from hostile monsters, meaning I wouldn’t get attacked first in a dungeon.
Because of it, I could confidently proceed through the sewer.
‘Thankfully, the palace isn’t too far now!’
I wouldn’t be attacked by slimes, thanks to the Amulet.
“Whatever challenges or hardships come…”
I muttered under my breath, as if reciting a cursed mantra.
“I won’t give up.”
But just as I reaffirmed my resolve, something happened that would break my determination.
