Chapter 12
Charlotte suddenly drew her sword.
Crackle-!
A streak of light leaped up along the blade, then fizzled out.
The light that had gathered on the sword quickly vanished without maintaining its form, but there was no mistaking what she had been trying to do.
‘Weapon enhancement?’
It had been clumsy, but that light had unquestionably been a sign of weapon enhancement.
It seemed Charlotte, too, had advanced by a level thanks to the reward just now.
“Looks like you got the hang of it from that experience.”
Charlotte gazed at her sword and smiled faintly.
She seemed to regard her battle with the orc as an opportunity for growth.
It had clearly been thanks to the experience points, but since she had no way of knowing that, it was understandable for her to misunderstand.
“Congratulations. You’ve grown.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Priest.”
She really was saying it thanks to me.
‘About D+-rank, I suppose.’
She was still a long way from achieving complete weapon enhancement.
But she seemed to have grasped the clue, so if she got even a small push, reaching C-rank shouldn’t be far off.
While Charlotte swung her sword a few more times, I looked around.
‘Is the entrance not opening?’
If this had been the Tower, a path to the next area would have opened after obtaining the reward, but there wasn’t even a hint of that happening now.
That seemed to be the difference between the Tower and a dungeon.
But now that I knew they were connected and had even obtained a clue, there was no reason to feel disappointed.
“Let’s head back.”
Since there was nothing left to check, I turned around and made my way back to the exit.
We had been walking for quite some time when Charlotte finally spoke, as though something had occurred to her.
“But what exactly were you checking? I saw the magic stone float up, though.”
“..I don’t know either. Perhaps it might be a secret concerning the dungeon.”
Unable to tell her about the Tower, I gave her a suitably vague answer.
Fortunately, Charlotte seemed convinced; perhaps she couldn’t imagine a priest lying.
…
“It’s gotten rather late. I’m sorry, but I think we’ll have to return tomorrow.”
Immediately after leaving the dungeon, Charlotte looked up at the sky and spoke.
It was already well past noon.
It was indeed an awkward time to return to the city, so I nodded in agreement.
“There’s no need to apologize. We needed time to collect the spoils anyway, didn’t we? Let’s set out leisurely tomorrow.”
Removing the tusks and skinning every orc would take quite a while, no matter how many soldiers there were.
Even if we had had a few more hours to spare, we would have ended up leaving tomorrow anyway.
“Thank you for understanding.”
I nodded and watched the soldiers process the orcs.
I was only watching out of curiosity about the skinning, but perhaps because the soldier noticed my gaze, they scratched their head and offered an excuse.
“Um, Priest, I’m sorry. The orcs’ hides were so badly damaged that I don’t think we’ll be able to get their full value.”
“? It’s no concern, so there’s no need to worry.”
I hadn’t intended to ask for anything in the first place.
If they offered me something, I might have thought about it for a moment, but I would surely have refused in the end for the sake of maintaining my image.
“On the contrary, I feel boundlessly joyful that none of you soldiers were seriously injured. Besides, material possessions have no value whatsoever to me, so there’s no need for you to apologize.”
For the record, it was a lie from beginning to end.
But the soldier seemed moved, perhaps because they believed this bald-faced lie.
“I promise! I’ll process them as intact as possible!”
…
‘Is it because this world hasn’t been tainted by the internet? They’re so pure that I feel guilty.’
It didn’t even end there.
“The hides may be damaged, but the tusks and the iron weapons the orcs used are intact, so they should fetch a decent price.”
“..Lady Charlotte?”
“Even if you have no greed, you’ll need money to run a church, so I’ll sell them as soon as possible and donate the proceeds to you. Please accept them instead of refusing.”
Charlotte had fallen for the lie as well.
But when Charlotte said she would donate the proceeds, even giving it a proper justification, I didn’t refuse this time and bowed gratefully.
“..In that case, I won’t refuse.”
‘Excellent.’
Regardless of the prick to my conscience, I couldn’t help liking anything that benefited me.
Pretending to be devout while concealing those thoughts, I returned to the tent.
As I did, I clasped my hands and prayed.
“As expected, he’s a devout man.”
“Our city must have been blessed.”
Of course, contrary to the soldiers’ misunderstanding, I wasn’t really praying.
I was only opening the Gallery to kill time.
[I sent my kid to the academy with the new feature]
[It still pisses me off that sub-mods don’t have to pay a fee]
[Is the head mod not accepting any more sub-mod applications..]
[This item-transfer thing has been dragging on fucking forever, damn it]
‘Has the Gallery that was on fire finally been brought under control?’
The strange posts that had nearly spammed the place for a while no longer appeared.
It seemed the newly appointed sub-mods were doing their jobs properly.
‘Looks like picking them was worth it.’
I suppose this was why people kept subordinate employees.
It was while I was browsing the Gallery to kill time that one post caught my eye.
It had just risen to the featured posts, which was why it stood out.
[Head mod, check out this featured post]
Besides, the title openly called for me, so I couldn’t help being curious.
Title : Head mod, check out this featured post
Author : IWantKimchiStew
Thanks, head mod.
I haven’t had hope for the future even once since coming here.
But thanks to the item-transfer feature you added last time, I saved up a lump sum, quit being an herb gatherer, and opened a shop.
Even after that, I had enough money left to send my daughter to the academy.
I’m sorry for cursing you last time when you said you’d quit after a few months as head mod.
I’d be sad if the Gallery disappeared, but at least I’ll live the rest of my life grateful to you.
May you be blessed.
The Gallery as I knew it had never been fond of long posts, so it was unusual to see this one make it onto the featured list.
The comments soon revealed why.
[You too? Me too!]
[The transfer feature really is fucking useful. Lots of broke Gallery users have gotten back on their feet with it]
ㄴ[This is 100% true]
Apparently, it had gained sympathy and risen because there were surprisingly many similar cases.
Of course, not every comment was sympathetic.
[Can someone give me the three-line summary]
ㄴ[The author says he’ll suck off the head mod once]
ㄴ[Oh..]
‘Tsk.’
Since I had no interest in doing that with a man, I banned the anonymous user who had posted the offensive summary for a year.
‘In any case, was this a message of thanks?’
On the other hand, I had a strange feeling about it.
After all, I had only added that feature to give the sub-mods a certain perk.
Of course, that was the full extent of my reaction.
[If I were the head mod, I’d read this, bawl my eyes out, and stay a mod for life, for real]
ㄴ[I’m the head mod, and this is true]
ㄴ[For real]
‘Surely not.’
Unpaid labor was more than enough while I was pretending to be a priest.
I would remain in charge of the Gallery only until I memorized the theology and texts I hadn’t learned.
That was it.
It was when I turned off the Gallery and rose, pretending to have finished praying.
“Um, Priest.”
A cautious voice came from the entrance of the tent.
It was Charlotte’s voice.
“Please, speak.”
Since Charlotte, who should have finished her business in our previous conversation, had called for me, I waited for her answer, puzzled.
“Um, about that dungeon.”
“The dungeon, you say?”
Charlotte hesitated for a moment.
Then she brought up something I hadn’t expected.
“Could it perhaps be kept open?”
“..?”
It was a question I couldn’t make heads or tails of.
Seeing my expression of total incomprehension, Charlotte hurriedly offered an excuse.
“It’s not for any strange purpose! Please listen first and don’t be surprised, Priest.”
“? Yes, go ahead.”
“You really mustn’t be surprised.”
“I understand.”
What on earth was she taking so long to say?
Charlotte even glanced around them.
She looked worried someone might overhear.
“..There was an uninhabited island and a sea inside that dungeon, remember?”
“You saw it yourself, didn’t you?”
Just as my frustration was starting to make my voice rise, Charlotte finally blurted out the main point.
“Apparently, some of the soldiers who like fishing secretly went into the dungeon and fished.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see it, so please feel free to discipline them.”
“No, that’s not the important part. The soldiers actually caught fish.”
“..?”
Well, I mean.
It was the seaside. Of course they’d catch some.
She was talking about something obvious as though it were an incredible secret.
At my reaction, Charlotte thumped her chest in exasperation.
“It means that here in our territory, the most landlocked place imaginable, we can eat fish from the sea instead of freshwater fish!”
…
It still didn’t really sink in.
If anything, since I didn’t particularly like seafood, I couldn’t understand Charlotte getting so excited over a little seafood.
But after hearing Charlotte’s next words, I finally understood.
“It means we can distribute fresh seafood to the inland regions!”
‘That would explain it.’
Moreover, since the territory didn’t even have a proper local specialty, it was no wonder Charlotte, the lord’s daughter, was making such a fuss.
The problem was that Charlotte had asked me because she thought priests were fairly knowledgeable, while I knew almost nothing about dungeons.
No matter how desperately she asked, there was no way I could come up with a solution.
‘..No, maybe there is a way.’
I remembered that the dungeon hadn’t immediately recognized the boss’s death.
If I could deceive the dungeon as I had then, what Charlotte wanted might not be impossible.
“I have one method worth trying.”
“Oh!”