assistirfilmes Chapter 66: Stress Relief
Chapter 66: Stress Relief
Chapter 66: Stress Relief
After Leon finished eating, he prayed at the altar.
For Leon, prayer is not just a time to recite his wishes and give thanks. He communicates with the gods, speaking directly to them and acting as their agent of will.
His prayers are always answered by the gods.
[Leon, my knight, your goddess has waited for your prayer.]
‘Arianna.’
Leon posted his report for the day.
‘Goddess. How are Lord Georgic and his men?
The souls of the knights and soldiers Leon had retrieved by remaining at the gate until the very end. The gods had welcomed them.
If they were delivered safely to paradise, he would not be too worried, but.......
[Their souls were tainted by the evil things, and the gods themselves are purifying them and leading them to Paradise one by one.]
‘That’s good.’
Leon sighed in relief, and the goddess said.
[My knight, you’ve been looking a little down lately.]
‘Nothing to worry about, I’m just a little tired.’
[Your goddess is very worried about you, Leon. You have served too long and fought too long.]
‘I did what I had to do.’
[There is nothing in the world that makes such a fight worthwhile, and your goddess is weighed down with debt.]
Leon was pleased with Arianna’s concern, but he asked lightly, hoping to ease the goddess’ worries.
‘Are the other gods like that?’
[Hmm...they’re the same but lately they got involved with Iron in spreading our faith.]
‘I’m relieved to see they have something to do.’
[Come to think of it, Dream has something in store for you, and it must be conveyed through its priestess.]
Leon seemed to know how Fle, the Goddess of Dreams and Death, would deliver the message.
If Fle was merely delivering a message, she could deliver it directly to Leon. But if it’s a prophecy, it’s a different story.
Fle is the goddess of death and the afterlife, but she also intervenes in dreams, making prophecies and showing fragments of the future.
Such prophecies are not taken lightly by the Lionheart King, as they are usually relayed through her priests.
‘Something big is going to happen soon.’
[My knight’s fatigue has reached its peak, and your goddess’s heart is heavy with the thought of carrying an even heavier burden.]
For a time the goddess spoke on behalf of the gods of the pantheon. Then Arianna said.
[My knight, your service is pleasing to the gods, but even as a watcher, I have many concerns.]
‘I apologize for causing you concern.’
[Rest from your fatigue and enjoy some entertainment. You have been fighting for two hundred years without a break, and it is time for you to rest a little.]
‘Entertainment...that’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time.’
[Yes, there are many entertainments in this age, but I am not sure that my knight will find them enjoyable, however, there are some things that are immutable and supreme throughout the ages and the world.]
‘Is there such a thing?’
[Embracing a woman.]
‘.......’
Leon did not respond to the goddess’s words. Not exactly.
[The queen is a fine mate, in your goddess’s opinion, and her beauty is admirable even for Love.]
‘......Goddess.’
[Or how about that redheaded girl, the one War has his eye on. If she keeps it up, she’ll be worthy of the Lionhearted King’s silver.]
‘She is a young maiden. How can you say such a thing?’
[By nature, humans are meant to embrace reason and resolve their misery. We must reestablish the royal family as soon as possible in order to honor the glorious name of the Lionheart King even here.]
Leon shook his head and, for the first time in his life, ignored the goddess’ words. And then──
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have something for you──Uh-oh!”
Ha-ri stumbled on the threshold as he ran to Leon. What a disgraceful thing for a kid to do with superhuman physical abilities.
“What is it?”
“I have prepared something for your Majesty, with the advice and assistance of Lord Yappy.”
“.......”
Ha-ri had conferred with Yappy and prepared something but Leon suddenly remembered the Big Data No. 1 maid’s outfit she had worn earlier as a maid’s outfit.
“If you wear such a scandalous outfit again, I will make you do a handstand and spin around the whole neighborhood naked.”
“What about my-my dignity?”
“Have you prepared such clothes for me again?”
“No, no, no!”
Ha-ri shook her head in denial.
* * * *
Ha-ri said she had something for him, and they arrived at a Gate where staff from the Hunter’s Association was waiting for them.
“Welcome, Your Majesty.”
The Hunter’s assault team, including Chief Kim Jin-soo, stood heavily armed, waiting for Leon.
“What a surprise.”
“Yes! Actually, we’ve gathered here as a reward for your Majesty from the Association, in support of Deputy Han Ha-ri, who organized this event!”
“Hmm?”
Organized? What does that even mean? Leon didn’t know much about it, since Ha-ri had brought him here as a surprise.
To be honest, he’d only come because he thought it wouldn’t be a sham if Yappy cooperated as well.......
“Let’s enter the gate!”
Ha-ri walked through the gate, which opened onto a vast forest.
“What is this place?”
“This is a training gate managed by the Association.”
Knights, especially those who travel a lot, must provide for themselves in the wilderness so they had no choice but to become masters of hunting, and of course they shot bows and arrows.
“The bow is a weak weapon for killing monsters, but it’s good enough for killing prey.”
“You... have a point, but this... you’re a really good marksman.”
Leon chuckled at Ha-ri’s honest admiration.
“This king was famous for being the greatest tournament champion of all time, but he was also the second-best hunter of his time, and he won the occasional hunting contest.”
“Your Majesty was the second, so the first was another Holy Knight?”
“Hmm, it is ambiguous to call him a Holy Knight. He was favored by the Moon and the Goddess of the Hunt, but he was more of a hunter than a knight.”
Leon remembered a memory from the past. When the kingdom was still at peace, before the demons invaded.
The kingdom’s greatest knights and nobles had traveled to a tournament to showcase their prowess.
“The High Priestess of the Moon and the Hunt was a saint, and her bow was like a meteor, which, when drawn to its fullest, would have cleared a mountain ridge.”
“...”
It was an outrageous thing to say but Ha-ri knew well what those favored by the gods were capable of.
Splitting a giant bear over fifty meters long or wiping out hundreds of demons in a single strike. And it was clear from the Jeju Island Gate that someone with this much power was classified as a ‘Holy Knight’, not even a peak level.
“But... did you really have to hunt only orcs like this?”
“I apologize for that. But how can we hunt rabbits when there are bears in the forest, and if we want to win first place in the tournament, we have to go after the big game.”
He looked at the orcs like they were his prey and Ha-ri smiled bitterly.
“There’s the chieftain’s corpse, and judging by the witchcraft, he must have some good stuff.”
“Ah, indeed. It’s a shaman’s totem. It’s not a common drop.”
“Sell it and give it to one of the employees who acted as a peddler.”
“Eh? What, you don’t mind? It’s a pretty good one, it’ll cost around 100 million.”
“It’ll be a small price to pay for all those people who came here on their off days.”
“Ugh!”
Ha-ri coughed at the bluntness of the expression since she just asked the Association for a gate to serve as a hunting ground for Leon, nothing more.
The mobilization of workers in the middle of their workday was a mandate from higher ups in the Association to look good for Leon.
It’s easy to mobilize subordinates anywhere and for their organization to look good to Leon, but it’s a sin to have salaried workers sweating and struggling at the gate.
“By the way, the footprints of the fleeing orcs lead here.”
“More hunting? According to the mapped information, you’ve crushed a bunch of orcs.......”
“Yes. The beasts pollute the forest with their breath, and I cannot allow that to continue. Orcs must be slain, even if they are fake.”
“Hah.......”
Leon handed the orc’s bow and quiver to Ha-ri, who sighed.
“You’re going to have to be good at everything if you want to be a knight. Today, practice your bow.”
“Uhm...I’ve only used a bow in the academy, on the aptitude test.”
Ha-ri feels awkward about her lack of skill but Leon patted her on the shoulder and laughed.
“I can teach you the basics.”
“Is that so?”
Ha-ri smiled weakly at Leon’s words.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better, though.”
“.......”
Anyone who sat on a throne would receive offerings of jesters and treasures to have his mood checked.
It was a routine that he remembers always treating mechanically but Ha-ri did this purely to cheer himself up. There was no aspiration or desire in it.
“Well, that’s nice.”
“What, I didn’t hear you right?”
“I want you to kill at least three orcs, and if you don’t, I’ll show you the old ways.”
“Old ways?! I haven’t shot that bow many times, lord!”
Leon reined in his horse and Ha-ri hurried after him.
* * * *
A few days later, Ha-ri strolled the grounds of the Ten Thousand Gods Guild, smiling from ear to ear.
After that day’s hunt, Leon was in good spirits and Ha-ri’s plan had been quite successful.
“Deputy.”
“Ah, Chief!”
On her way to the warehouse to pick up her training wooden sword, Ha-ri spotted Chief Kim Jin-soo, an employee of the Association.
“What are you doing here, I thought you went to collect the harvested rice from the rice warehouse.”
“My tractor broke down. I came to pick up some supplies.”
“It breaks down often. Is it because it’s an old machine?”
“Well, it hasn’t been taken out since the Naju plains were contaminated with miasma, so it must be poorly maintained.”
“If this is the case, wouldn’t it be better to use horses or cows like in the old days?” Ha-ri blurted out her thoughts.
“......might be right.”
“What?”
“No, when the king blesses them, they’re almost like new horses, right? I heard that the horses we bought from Jeju Island ran much better than before after the blessing ceremony.”
Indeed. The horses purchased at the Jeju Gate were reinforced with the Sun King’s reins and the gap between the two became so huge that even one horse is enough to take over the world horse racing market.
“It’s made them a little unruly too...”
“Well, the hunters are superhuman, so I guess that balances out.”
They arrived at the warehouse, chatting away. Every time Ha-ri stopped here, she cleared her mind and said a prayer.
This is where the hammer left by the Grail Knight, Sir Georgic, is stored.
“Holy Fire.......”
“According to the doctrine of the Ten Thousand Gods, wouldn’t your Buddhist and Christian prayers be blasphemy?”
Kim Jin-soo draws a holy symbol and scolds Ha-ri. The two opened the warehouse door and──
“......?”
“Huh?”
There was no sign of Sir Georgic’s hammer anywhere in the warehouse.