Chapter: 370
In the game called Soul Academy, the island was a kind of downloadable content.
The 14 dungeons existing on each island in the downloadable content had no relation to the main storyline, but they were of excellent quality, and those who finished all the dungeons in the main game visited here in search of more dungeons, feeling a bit sad.
The level of the dungeons was so good that some even mentioned it would have been better to hide them a bit longer and release them as DLC at a larger scale.
At first, I thought, seeing those people, if this was the level shown in the main game, wouldn’t the DLC be even more amazing? But it didn’t take long for me to realize how foolish I was.
Who would have thought that no DLC would come out for several years?
How was I supposed to know that was when the Soul Academy team had burned their last spark? I thought they had made a lot of money and would invest more!
How could I have known back then that the kid writing consistently on the Soul Academy bulletin board would disappear before any news came out!
At that time, there were various rumors, like the owner ran off with the money, or the staff collectively quit because they were overworked, or that the company caught fire. But now that I step into this world, it seems pretty significant.
It wasn’t an ordinary game, and thus, the creator of that game wasn’t an ordinary person either.
Maybe they exist in this world somewhere. If I ever meet the creator, I’d definitely ask that guy.
Why didn’t you release the DLC? Why didn’t you ever give an update while I was busy making all the contents after consuming all the game contents?
“Do you have a moment, Young Lady Allen?”
While I was lost in fantasies about locking up developers and feeding them dumplings to create a new project, I shrugged my shoulders upon seeing Isabel Arteia walking in with the sea breeze.
As the name ‘Gundo’ suggests, this place is not accessible by land. Also, the soil has some strange magical resistance, making it difficult to use teleportation magic.
Unless you’re a great wizard like Ducal Lord Partlan, it’s a place one cannot even dare to approach, so to head to Gundo, you must take a ship.
There are countless routes for this, but the one I chose was the Arteia family’s ship.
Why? Because there was no other boat to take!
With the notoriously infamous Young Lady of the Allen family, along with the Young Lady of Ducal Lord Partlan’s family and the Third Prince of the kingdom, who would be willing to take on such a burden?
If anything went wrong, not only my life but also my whole family would be in danger. Who would want to take on such responsibilities!
Of course, it would be a different story for those wanting to build connections with us, but we don’t accept those riffraff.
In the end, after filtering out people, the only choice left was Isabel. Just asking her for prayers would surely get the ship on the move.
“I’d like to ask for your blessing before we set sail. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, please.”
‘A blessing on this ship…’
“Blessing this rickety old ship that could sink at any moment? Sounds pointless, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to do it.”
Thanks to praying to the Shoddy God every day, I had no aversion to such requests anymore.
Standing at the bow, I received the eager gazes of several crew members and closed my eyes with my hands clasped together. Then, divine energy naturally spread from within me.
‘Oh great Lord Jushin.’
“Peeping Tom Shoddy God.”
The moment I uttered the first words, murmuring noises reached my ears, but I just smiled and let it slide.
No point in trying to explain that it isn’t weird; claiming it would only deepen the misunderstanding due to the Mesugaki Skill. Anyway, by the time the prayer ends, I’d naturally know the blessing succeeded. Why bother with excuses?
‘May peace dwell upon the path we tread today.’
“Don’t let the cowards on this gloriously flamboyant ship piss themselves. Keep this rickety boat safe from the sloppy sailors!”
…Ugh. Should I have gone to the captain’s cabin and prayed there without anyone noticing? The murmurs around grew louder, and after taking a deep breath, I continued my prayer.
Hoping that by the end of this prayer, the atmosphere would change.
*
Lucy Allen announced the departure to Gundo the day after she returned to her family.
There was nothing to prepare separately. Except for the luggage the party had brought, everything else had been readied by Lucy beforehand.
They woke up in the morning after sleeping for over three hours for the first time in nearly two weeks and followed Lucy toward the Arteia territory.
Up until then, Arthur had no idea that Lucy had a connection to the Arteia family. He merely thought they would just grab a decent ship from the thriving harbor filled with capable sailors.
So when he witnessed Isabel Arteia personally welcoming Lucy, he was genuinely surprised.
Her behavior towards Lucy, as if in admiration, couldn’t be seen as mere friendship.
What on earth had happened for the owner of the Arteia family to be so flustered by Lucy Allen?
While glancing at Isabel’s respectful demeanor towards Lucy, Arthur subtly shifted his gaze sideways, thinking that Joy, who knew about the power dynamics among nobles, might have some insight.
“Eh. E? Ex?”
Upon seeing Joy who had forgotten her words, Arthur shook his head. If even Joy was oblivious, something must have happened recently.
Well, it wasn’t a bad thing. If Isabel Arteia personally lent her ship, the journey to Gundo would be much smoother.
Once they arrived at Gundo, following Lucy Allen, they’d have to dive into two medium dungeons a day, but if they could rest leisurely until then, anything would be welcomed.
Thus, aboard the Arteia family’s ship, Arthur watched Frey, who was glancing around in wonder since it was her first time on a ship, with a warm gaze, then turned his head.
There, he saw Joy, who was visibly suffering from seasickness.
“Did you get seasick?”
“…Yes, I did. Very severely.”
“That’s a big problem. Once we reach Gundo, there won’t be a moment’s rest.”
“Is the Young Lady truly planning to conquer all the dungeons in a week?”
“Joy, more than anyone, you know that Lucy Allen doesn’t speak of the impossible.”
“That’s true…”
The fact that two dungeons a day was likely a consideration for their sake. Lucy Allen’s reasoning diverged significantly from that of others.
Though Arthur thought this, he didn’t share it with Joy. If she found out while struggling to escape hell only to roll into another hell, she’d probably burst into tears.
As Arthur was about to suggest entering the cabin to sleep before feeling sick, he stopped at the warmth sensed from the deck and turned his gaze.
This aura was similar to what he felt when the Saintess bestowed blessings.
But different. It felt even warmer and cozier. As if bewitched, before he knew it, Arthur stood up, and the other two followed suit.
What they saw when they stepped onto the deck were people blankly staring at the bow, forgetting they had to clean up after sailing.
They were those who joined in the gazes of the subordinates instead of scolding them.
At the bow, kneeling with tears flowing down was the head of the Arteia family.
And amidst all those gazes, Lucy Allen continued her prayers unwaveringly.
“…Huh.”
Arthur looked up and let out a laughing-on-one’s-own sound. It wasn’t that there weren’t words to say. There were too many words, too many to sum up into one.
The warm divine energy spreading out. The strong yet humble demeanor. Even the Apostle of the Arts Church looking mesmerized. The small lips moving ceaselessly and emitting a voice like spring breeze.
“May the trash of this place continue to wail while preserving their lives.”
And the tone not at all befitting such a holy sight.
As he stepped back from admiration, Arthur chuckled, looking up at Lucy Allen. If it weren’t for that damned tone, Lucy Allen could have become the symbol of the Church succeeding the Saintess.
Just as Arthur was making such thoughts and curling his lips, Lucy Allen closed her mouth.
Then the divinity that had spread throughout the ship permeated into the woodwork, transmitting warmth. The blessing delivered by Lucy Allen had settled onto the ship.
How can such a blasphemous prayer have genuine effects? The great Lord Jushin must be extraordinarily merciful to embrace such a cheeky girl.
Or perhaps he even enjoys such blasphemy. Chuckling at the thought of having to face numerous reproaches, Arthur suddenly recalled the countless discomforts he had felt from Lucy Allen in the past and froze.
What if, just what if, the tone coming from Lucy Allen wasn’t of her own volition?
What if the Lord Jushin, knowing this, still lent her his power despite hearing her rudeness?
The sudden idea was quite ridiculous, but Arthur kept mulling it over in his mind.
If her tone comes out without relation to her temperament, that explains a lot.
Like how she speaks snooty regardless of who’s in front of her. Or acts playfully, contrary to her dignified steps that befit divinity.
All those various extraordinary behaviors of Lucy Allen could be explained with this term of compulsion.
Realizing this, Arthur stared blankly at Lucy, surrounded by the head of the Arteia family and sailors, receiving their gratitude.
“Just a moment.”
Startled by the voice from behind, he turned his head in a hurry. He hadn’t sensed any presence at all.
Even with his senses sharpened from the hellish training in the Allen Knights, he still couldn’t catch it.
“Excuse me. Your Highness the Third Prince.”
The person who spoke to him was a man with a fierce demeanor. No one could doubt he was a sailor with his brutish figure, but the voice that came from him was low and polite.
While Arthur was trying to find words amidst the difficulty of accepting such a disparity, the man spoke with formality.
“Please don’t mention what you just realized yet. The Young Lady has yet to reach an understanding of it.”
“…What?”
“It shouldn’t take long, so please just endure until this matter is resolved.”
“What are you babbling…”
Arthur began, but his words never reached the sailor. The man collapsed as if losing all Strength in his body.
When the sailor awoke again, Arthur interrogated him, but the sailor truly knew nothing. Not even the fact that Lucy Allen had blessed the ship.
As the ship blessed by Lucy Allen sailed toward Gundo, Arthur chewed his lips inside the swaying cabin.
It seemed the days spent on the islands wouldn’t be easy.
