The dazzling blue sky and the cool breeze coming through the open window of the carriage.
After deciding on Birren as our next destination yesterday, we are currently heading toward Birren, riding along with the refreshing wind that tickles our ears.
I was really surprised yesterday when I heard the religion mentioned by the goblins come out of Bliss’s mouth.
I inadvertently acted like I knew about it, and because of that, I was interrogated by the other four.
I just managed to skillfully brush it off and pass it off as a mere incident.
By the way, wasn’t that Church of the End a religion of the demon races?
Why are they conducting missionary activities in human territories?
Moreover, according to Bliss, unlike their activities among the goblins, they seem to be conducting very peaceful and humanitarian missionary work in Birren.
The missionary activities described by the goblins and those described by Bliss were like night and day.
When I heard it from the goblins, it was definitely a vibe of “If you don’t believe in our religion, you’ll die!”
But according to Bliss, in Birren, they are doing relief activities like free medical services and free food distribution as part of their missionary work.
While the goblins painted them as a cult of crazy fanatics, Bliss made them sound like a compassionate and truly good people’s religion.
With such contrasting narratives, I began to question what exactly this Church of the End is.
How can the evaluations be so contradictory?
Could it be that they’re just the same in name but different in essence?
What’s more, it’s a religion conducting missionary activities among both humans and demon races… What could their purpose possibly be?
I’m puzzled.
Hmm… Well, I’ll find out what they’re like once I get there.
Since they’re still conducting missionary activities in Birren, I should be able to see it with my own eyes.
‘I’m so bored…’
Putting that aside, I’m really looking forward to the scenery of Birren more than this strange religion.
What kind of scenery comes to mind when you think of autumn?
A blue sky, a cool breeze, and fields of golden grains below, right?
One of the sceneries I missed the most since coming to this world was the golden fields.
The reason for this goes back a long time.
In my previous world, I had a relative who farmed.
He lived in a quiet, rural area with good air, so our family would always go to his place to relax during holidays.
To get a little break from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Whenever I went there, I would always walk through the vast fields, feeling the autumn breeze.
It felt like all my worries and troubles were blown away.
Walking around made me feel like a child again.
Ah, it was so nice.
For this reason, the golden fields are one of the places that evoke good memories for me.
The agricultural landscape in this world is similar to that of my previous world, which makes me miss it even more.
This place is only for me.
I have no place to return to and no family to rely on; I’m the only Earthling here.
A blood-soaked battlefield, cold ground, barren land, dirty back alleys.
These are all places I’ve spent time in since coming here.
Just looking at them, they are all places devoid of warmth.
Isn’t this what they call homesickness?
Of course, golden fields exist in the demon realm too.
But I haven’t had the opportunity to go there. I’ve been too busy trying to survive to have time to visit such a peaceful place.
Even if I wanted to go, I couldn’t.
So, my heart races with excitement now.
If I walk through the golden fields in Birren, will I be able to feel that feeling again?
Even if I can’t feel that same feeling, I think it could provide some healing to my desolate heart.
Of course, I did hear that Birren had poor harvests.
But… no matter how poor the harvest, the crops in those vast agricultural fields can’t all be dead, right?
A blue sky, a cool breeze, and below that, golden fields.
And me walking through them.
Isn’t that the ‘romance’ of autumn?
Then, a week later, my expectations were brutally shattered.
Damn.
I withdraw my statement from a week ago.
Birren is in ruins. It’s a complete disaster.
Now I can say with certainty that if this continues, Birren will definitely be gone.
The scenery before me supports this.
A week! I spent a whole week in anticipation.
But after a week of waiting, what welcomed me in Birren was…
A blue sky, a cool breeze, and golden fields below?
What a joke!
The golden fields are nothing but a joke.
After waiting for a week, what welcomed me was not golden fields but dry, cracked ground resembling turtle skin.
I thought Bliss’s words about the land being parched were a metaphor, but they were not.
The ground is truly dry.
The wide fields that should have been embroidered with gold are currently desolate, evoking images of wasteland.
When I look around, all I see are cracked wasteland. There isn’t even a trace of the golden color; I can’t find a single green plant; it seems all the plants around here are dead.
I had to keep questioning.
Am I in a desert?
Is this really the sight of Birren, known for its fertile lands?
“This is… more serious than I thought.”
From beside me, I heard Bliss’s voice, tinged with astonishment.
Seeing her surprised expression, it seemed that even Bliss didn’t expect Birren to be in this state.
She wasn’t the only one surprised.
“How could this happen?
Birren is supposed to be a land where mana flows, right?”
In front of me, Olivia, who usually showed little change in expression, was surprisingly displaying significant surprise.
The other two, although they didn’t speak, I could tell from their expressions that they were also quite taken aback.
“Ruina, what’s wrong?”
Maybe it was because everyone suddenly had serious expressions, but Reina whispered in my ear in a small voice.
“It’s worse than I thought.”
I stroked Reina’s head as I replied.
“First, let’s find out what’s happening after we arrive in Birren. The lord should know best why it has become this way.”
The hero spoke while looking out the window.
After his words, no further conversation occurred inside the carriage.
Everyone was too shocked by the scene outside to tear their eyes away from the view.
Since the hero’s words, no conversation took place inside the carriage.
In the suddenly fallen silence, we kept looking out at the scenery until we arrived in Viln.
Time continued to flow even in the meantime.
We arrived in Viln.
Upon arriving in Viln, we headed straight to the lord’s castle.
The sky was glowing with sunset, and we needed to find a place to stay, primarily because we needed to understand why the tragedy we saw earlier had occurred.
When we reached the lord’s castle, it seemed the steward already knew we would come, as he guided us to the rooms we would use.
We were assigned a total of five rooms, so it seemed we could each use one room.
Of course, Reina and I would share.
As we unpacked and lay on the soft beds…
“The lord wishes to have dinner with you all.”
Soon, the steward came to guide us to the lord.
With the steward’s guidance, we were finally able to see the lord of this place, and a quiet dinner began.
After dinner, we could finally have a conversation with the lord.
After hearing others converse with the lord about various topics, I returned to my room.
“Wow~ It’s so soft~”
Reina was bouncing on the bed, clearly enjoying how soft it was.
Her face was filled with a big smile, and she looked so happy.
A child jumping on a bed… Normally, my inherent Korean Confucian spirit would awaken, making Reina stop jumping on the bed.
“Look at this, Ruina~”
She was looking at me and smiling brightly.
How could I possibly tell her to stop when I saw that smile?
And besides, it didn’t matter if Reina jumped or ran on the bed; it had nothing to do with me.
After all, the room was spacious.
And most importantly, this was someone else’s house, not mine.
With such a large room, would it really matter if she jumped a little on the bed?
Alright then, since Reina was happily playing by herself, I should organize the information I gathered from the earlier conversation with the lord.
After dinner, we finally had the chance to ask the lord a few questions about Viln.
Our first question was about why the farmland had turned out like that.
At that point, I thought I could immediately understand why Viln had come to be like this.
But the answer we received was…
‘Did he say he didn’t know…?’
He didn’t know.
He said that no one, including himself, knew why the land had turned out like that.
All he knew was that crops had started to die off little by little a few years ago.
He added that it hadn’t been like this at first.
One day, suddenly, a small area of land began to dry up, and as time passed, the area grew larger until finally the land was completely dried up.
So, when I asked if there were any countermeasures, he replied that he had tried everything he could.
Listening to the story, it was clear he hadn’t done nothing.
He had called high priests and high mages to solve this strange phenomenon and seemed to have tried all sorts of superstitions.
But the result was… well, if things had improved, we wouldn’t need to call the hero.
Anyway, he ended his explanation by saying that while he discovered that mana wasn’t coming from the farmland anymore, he didn’t know the cause of it.
It seems that he had made some efforts on his part.
The results weren’t good, though.
After finishing the answer to the first question, we immediately asked him a second question.
The second question was about the Church of Finality.
His answer to this was…
“The Church of Finality? This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
He didn’t know that such a religion existed.
He claimed to be a devout follower of the Origin Church or something like that?
He answered with a look of disbelief, as if he didn’t know that such a religion was spreading among the local people.
Hearing his answer, we couldn’t help but stop asking questions.
How could we ask more when he didn’t know?
Ultimately, the lord’s answer to our second question didn’t help us at all.
It would have been nice if the bad luck ended there.
But in life, things don’t go as one wishes, and from that point on, we were unable to ask him any more questions.
The reason for this was…
‘He suddenly collapsed earlier.’
The lord had collapsed, vomiting blood.
As everyone was in shock seeing the suddenly collapsed lord, the steward called for maids and servants to carry him away and then apologized to us.
“I am truly sorry. Due to the continuous misfortunes lately, the lord’s condition has deteriorated significantly.”
“He had been trying to maintain stability in managing the territory, but when he heard you were coming today, he finally got up after a long time.”
“However, it seems this is his limit.”
“So, it would be best if we ended things here for today.”
“Then who is governing the territory now?”
“The young lord is managing it.”
“Then where is he…?”
“He went to ask for help from a neighboring territory. He asked me to convey his apologies for not being able to welcome you.”
Thus, the conversation came to an end, and we had to return to our rooms without having gained anything.
It was disappointing, but the person had already collapsed, and there was nothing we could do.
After returning to the room, I was waiting for Bliss, who had gone to check on the lord’s condition with the servants.
As soon as the lord collapsed, Bliss revealed that he was a high priest and moved with them to treat the lord.
I wondered if the lord had never received help from a priest before, but still, since Bliss was supposedly a high priest of the Origin Church, couldn’t he do something?
Perhaps he could drive away the illness with healing.
“It should be about time he comes back…”
While waiting for Bliss, I watched Reina bouncing around.
~Knock, knock
I heard someone knock on the door.
I approached the door and opened it.
Standing at the door was indeed Bliss.
“What happened? Were you able to treat him?”
In response to my question, Bliss shook his head.
“No. I tried my best, but… there was no sign of improvement at all. It seems like he’s been struck by a disease.”
“A disease?”
“Yes, healing can only treat external wounds, but it can’t cure diseases. It’s frustrating that I can’t help the patient right in front of me!”
Bliss said this with a hint of frustration.
“Did you tell the hero?”
“No. I was just about to go see the hero now; would you like to come with me?”
“Sure. Well, I need to set some plans for tomorrow anyway.”
Having said that, I turned my head to Reina and shouted.
“Reina! Come here!”
“Hmm? Just a second.”
As soon as I called her name, Reina stopped jumping on the bed and quickly ran over to me.
“What is it?”
She looked up at me and asked.
“We’re going to see the hero now. Is it okay if you’re alone?”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
I guess that won’t work.
I gently stroked Reina’s head and subtly asked if it would be alright to leave her alone, but she quickly shook her head in refusal.
Well, I hadn’t planned to leave her anyway.
So, Reina and I, along with Bliss, headed towards the hero’s room, and soon we arrived in front of the room where he was.
Before entering the room, I raised my hand to knock.
That’s when it happened.
“No, this doesn’t make any sense!”
A loud voice came from inside the room.
I flinched at the sound.
Olivia’s agitated voice was coming from inside.
I had no choice but to stop my hand from knocking.
Olivia’s tone didn’t sound normal.
‘Could they be fighting? Should I come back later?’
I hesitated for a moment and carefully put my ear to the door.
Listening to the sounds from inside, fortunately, it didn’t seem to be that.
Having made up my mind to enter the room again, I raised my hand and knocked gently.
~Knock, knock
I cautiously tapped on the door.