Chapter 27 : Guild (4)

“Father.”

“Yes?”

I had left the guild and was on my way to buy dinner for the knight who had helped me.

As we walked to the restaurant, he suddenly whispered to me, revealing an unexpected truth.

“Someone is following us. Don’t turn your head, just keep walking as if nothing is wrong.”

“!!”

Someone is following us?

“Why?”

“Yes?”

“Why are they following us?”

“…It’s probably not for anything good.”

It seemed he meant that I should just keep walking quietly and follow him.

I, too, had no intention of dying on the street, so I closely followed the knight’s steps.

“Is there going to be a fight?”

“We’ll find out shortly. Let’s see what their purpose is in following us.”

The knight said that he would be speeding up from here on and advised me to keep up with him, then plunged into the crowd.

I felt I had to follow him closely or I might lose him, so I made sure to keep up.

Not wanting me to get lost, the knight grabbed the collar of my coat and cleared a path ahead for me.

We soon emerged from the crowd.

“Looks like they are following us after all.”

The knight carefully checked behind us and spoke.

Someone had started following us back at the guild.

I couldn’t help but feel worried.

I tried not to have any biases against mercenaries, but it was common knowledge that they were rough around the edges.

“They must be following me for some reason, right?”

“You don’t need to worry. Whatever it is, it’s probably something lowly and disgraceful.”

It seemed that if a priest failed to maintain dignity, they were penalized in some way, but apparently, knights didn’t have to worry about such things.

As I was about to get a little irritated at the unfairness of the priesthood…

Srrring—

Before I knew it, the crowd had disappeared, and an open space, perfect for a fight, had appeared.

The knight, having sent me behind him, drew his sword.

“Come out.”

“…….”

Even though I wasn’t the one threatened, my heart started racing, and I felt a little tense.

If I weren’t the one being threatened, I’d probably enjoy watching this unfold!

Just after the knight’s words, a shadow of a person appeared.

Not long after, the person who had been following us caught up and spoke without fully revealing themselves.

“You don’t need to be so on edge. I didn’t come here to fight.”

A woman?

“It doesn’t matter why you’re following. You followed the priest, so you’ll pay the price for it.”

Seeing the knight ready to kill someone just for following us made me feel both reassured and a little concerned if he was actually insane.

Of course, he could have just said that, and maybe he’d just lecture and send her off.

But the knight’s words were so excessively hostile for someone in his position.

‘Is it really nonexistent? The dignity assessment?’

Did our priests just suffer through it alone?

“I don’t have anything to say to you. It’s the priest I have a request for.”

“……”

I didn’t want to know what was going on.

Wouldn’t listening to that just get us tangled up in something really complicated?

The person who had been lurking in the shadows finally stepped into the sunlight.

Even after hearing the voice, I was unsure, but the female mercenary I had seen earlier at the guild was now standing before us.

“Why are you…?”

I remember she was the one who spoke to me first at the mercenary guild.

“I came to speak with you.”

“You don’t need to say anything to me.”

The knight stepped forward, blocking her from speaking to me.

Panicking, the mercenary spoke up.

“I’m not here to harm the priest. I have a request.”

To save her?

Maybe she wanted to prove her innocence, because she suddenly knelt down on the ground.

“No, why are you…?”

“My younger sibling needs treatment.”

Her family member was sick?

“Bring them to the temple. We will treat them.”

It seemed like a simple matter of just bringing them to the temple, so I couldn’t understand why she was acting like this.

The mercenary bit her lip tightly, hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“…I can’t go into the temple because of what I’ve done. That’s why if I go to the temple, I won’t be able to receive treatment.”

“Excuse me? You can’t enter the temple?”

Anyone who believes in the Sun God can enter the temple, regardless of their nationality.

However, there was one exception — a being who was not allowed to enter.

“Yes, I did something insane. That’s why I got blacklisted.”

What could someone have done to end up on the blacklist of the temple?

‘It’s not something just anyone can do.’

Hearing this from the knight, I thought maybe it would have been better to just ignore it.

But still, it was sad to hear that the mercenary couldn’t enter the temple because her sibling was sick. I thought that it might be understandable if the person involved couldn’t receive treatment, but for the family to be denied care as well seemed too harsh.

‘And it’s not even like there’s a rule that says the family can’t receive treatment just because someone is blacklisted.’

The issue was that the blacklist was real, and no priest would accept anyone on it — not even their family.

If you helped the wrong person, you might get targeted by the higher-ups, and that could be disastrous.

So, it made sense why the mercenary was desperately pleading.

“Can’t you make an exception, just this once? I’m not asking for treatment for myself, but for my sibling who’s sick. Our Ena hasn’t done anything wrong! She just made the mistake of having a bad older sister!!”

Seeing the mercenary cry out in desperation because her sibling couldn’t receive treatment was truly heartbreaking.

But the temple’s rules were strict.

And that was no different for me.

When I didn’t respond, the mercenary, now anxious, spoke again.

“I’m sorry for being rude at the guild. I thought all priests were the same, but you’re not, are you? Even though you saw those idiots fighting and collapsing, you still tried to treat them. The compassion you showed them, can’t you show it to our Ena?”

The change in her attitude made sense now. It seemed that seeing me try to treat a mercenary who had collapsed after a fight was the reason she decided to approach me.

“This… I’ve worked so hard to gather this. I’ll give it all to you. Just, please, let me have this one favor.”

“……”

She pulled out a heavy purse from her sleeve.

Sadly, I had received far more than that purse in the past, so I wasn’t moved by it.

I turned to the knight with a glance, and it seemed like he understood, as he spoke.

“It’s the responsibility for what she’s done. If I see her approaching you personally again, I’ll kill her and make an example of her.”

“Please, Priest! I’ve sinned, but I swear by the Sun God that I follow Him! Why can’t I get treatment? What’s wrong with that?”

“Don’t come any closer!”

The knight finally drew his sword and swung it.

The mercenary didn’t avoid the blade.

“Ugh!”

Screech—!

Instead, she pressed her body against the sword.

Her right arm was slashed across the shoulder, her clothes torn, and blood poured down.

But the mercenary, despite the pain, didn’t seem scared of the sword. She kept glaring at me with burning eyes.

“Just kill me. If I die, my blacklisted family will be gone, and Ena can receive treatment, right? I’ll swear on the Sun God, and I won’t regret dying here.”

“Please value your life. If your sibling heard those words, it would break their heart. And no priest would offer treatment in exchange for a life. So, leave. I can’t grant your request.”

“If you won’t even take my life, then what am I supposed to do?! Ena is dying! She hasn’t received treatment because of me!”

“I’m sorry.”

I told the knight it was time to leave.

“Your wound is serious. At least apply some medicine. Don’t leave it untreated.”

I said what I could to the mercenary and turned away.

“Let’s go, Knight.”

“Yes.”

The knight didn’t threaten her any further, perhaps because we had already rejected her request.

“Please… I’m begging you. I’m trying to save a life! How can you still call yourself a priest?!!! Aaargh!!”

The mercenary’s screams echoed in my ears.

I turned to the knight and asked.

“Do you know that woman?”

“…She once tried to sneak into the temple to treat her sibling. She stole someone else’s identity.”

“She must have been desperate, trying every means she could think of.”

“It seems she tried to get treatment using similar methods at other temples as well. She’s not someone of good character, so stay away from her. The things she said today, don’t take them to heart. She’s not someone you want to get involved with.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

If the knight said so, then that was likely the case.

I nodded quietly, agreeing, and hurried my steps.

In the dark of night, the mercenary would head to the guild in the morning to find work and then end her day at the tavern drinking until the night came to an end.

Foul language, laughs, burps, and the sour smell of vomit.

The tavern was a scene the mercenary was used to.

But for her, it was also a sight she hadn’t seen in a long time, as she had been taking care of her sick sibling.

She used to spend her time after work caring for her sibling.

“Dammit.”

But tonight, she couldn’t go see her sibling.

How could she face the child who was suffering because of her?

She drank until she could barely hold herself up.

Drinking strong liquor, her throat burned.

Thud—

This time, the empty seat beside her was taken by someone.

“You were here.”

“…If you’re going to talk, go away.”

Mercenaries were typically a profession dominated by men, so even though there were few female mercenaries, the ones who were pretty often attracted attention. During her drinking, several men had approached her and tried to flirt, but they were quickly rejected and left.

For those who didn’t understand, she showed them the sharp edge of her dagger around their necks, threatening them as she continued to drink.

“Have you had enough to drink? I couldn’t find you for a while. They say mercenaries come here at night, and I see it’s true. I would have been in trouble if you weren’t here.”