Chapter 57: Assigning Dorms!
Misha felt that the Hero was about to get angry again.
This was obviously the most common routine in the Hero’s behavior. He disliked the Church, and seemed to dislike anyone living too decadently.
The elves were actually lacking in ambition, making no effort. Despite having plenty of free time, they never thought about making money, merely staying outside the Holy Land and mooching off the subsidies given by the Church. No matter how Misha thought about it, they would receive the Hero’s sanction, right?
But Misha hadn’t expected Lance to just pause for a moment, then quickly nod and ask, “Does the Church give a lot of money?”
Elf Priest: “…A little.”
Lance: “Not enough to sustain a living?”
Elf Priest: “Barely.”
Lance: “Then haven’t you thought about doing other things to improve your lives?”
Elf Priest: “Too big. Can’t leave.”
Misha: “?”
Misha struggled to decipher what the Elf Priest said, trying to judge the meaning from these overly brief words.
The money the Church gave them… didn’t seem to be much. They could only barely survive.
Misha couldn’t help looking at the elven town beside him. Hmm… the houses looked somewhat dilapidated. Anyway, they didn’t look rich. The Elf Priest’s clothes were also very simple. Compared to the luxurious robes of the Sky City Bishop, these clothes were simply inconspicuous, even slightly worn and white at the edges.
But what did that last sentence, “Too big, can’t leave,” mean?
Misha subconsciously looked at Lance.
As soon as he met Lance’s gaze, he immediately remembered Lance’s feelings for him. He felt he should avoid contact with Lance to prevent the situation from developing in a worse direction. So he hurriedly looked away, pretending not to be curious about this matter.
But Lance had obviously noticed Misha’s gaze.
He seemed to know very well what Misha was thinking. So, in his questioning, he added a sentence that seemed like a supplement to what the taciturn Elf Priest had said. He asked, “Is it because the Holy Land is too big and requires a lot of manpower to patrol, so you can’t spare more people to do other things?”
The Elf Priest nodded.
Misha: “…”
Usually, Lance rarely spoke such long sentences unless absolutely necessary.
He was obviously explaining for Misha on purpose. Such situations seemed to have happened a few times before, but Misha had never noticed or thought much about it then, even finding it all very normal.
But now he thought, if the person looking at Lance just now had been Arlo or Samuel, Lance might… have simply ignored their curious, inquiring gazes.
Lance continued to ask the Elf Priest the next question.
“How many elves patrol nearby usually?” Lance’s questions seemed to become more specific. “This Holy Land… how long does one patrol take?”
The Elf Priest’s answer remained brief. “More than half. All day.”
Lance: “Walking all day without rest?”
The Elf Priest nodded.
Misha took the opportunity while Lance focused on the Priest to secretly glance at Lance’s expression.
The Hero was frowning slightly. This familiar, scary look obviously meant he wasn’t satisfied with the Priest’s answer.
“More than half the manpower, walking for a whole day to complete the patrol.” Lance raised an eyebrow slightly. “Then even with shifts, some people would need to patrol for two consecutive days, right?”
The Elf Priest slowly nodded.
He seemed to think this was only natural and didn’t feel anything was wrong. After all, this was the holy duty bestowed upon them by the gods, and they received financial support from the Holy See for it. It seemed like an extremely reasonable transaction; surely there couldn’t be any problem.
But Lance felt there was a problem.
Not only that, the problem was huge.
If each patrol required more than half the manpower, then excluding the children, sick, and elderly in the town who couldn’t perform this task, among the remaining elves, there would always be a portion who needed to continue this overburdened work for multiple days.
“Don’t you feel,” Lance frowned and asked, “that they give too much work and too little money?”
The Elf Priest was stunned.
Misha: “…”
Here it comes. The Hero is going to get angry.
However, his anger today didn’t seem directed at the elves. What he targeted seemed to be the Holy See that commissioned the elves to guard the Holy Land.
“Patrolling the Holy Land is tiring.” Lance raised an eyebrow slightly. “But the remuneration you receive doesn’t seem reasonable.”
He had already noticed.
The elven town didn’t look prosperous, and even the Priest’s clothes looked worn out.
In this world that revered gods immensely, a priest fulfilling a holy duty should be an object of respect for everyone. If even a priest’s life was impoverished and difficult, the ordinary elves in this town definitely weren’t living well.
The Elf Priest was trying hard to think about Lance’s words.
He vaguely felt that Lance seemed to make some sense, but he always felt… they were fulfilling a holy duty. Since that was the case, a little less pay didn’t seem to be a problem.
Lance saw through what these overly “devout” believers were thinking at a glance.
“Faith is one thing,” Lance said. “But reality is another.”
The Elf Priest couldn’t help saying, “But…”
Lance: “Would the God you believe in want you to live like this?”
Elf Priest: “…”
Lance: “Giving the most devout believers the lowest treatment?”
Elf Priest: “…”
Lance: “Do you really not think there’s a problem?”
Elf Priest: “…”
After a long while, the Elf Priest barely managed to squeeze out a few words.
“Need to argue,” he whispered. “Don’t want to with Church…”
Lance: “I’ll talk to them.”
The Elf Priest was stunned again.
Lance: “The one commissioning you to do this should be the Holy See in the Royal Capital, right?”
Elf Priest: “Mm…”
“But you should also think carefully,” Lance said. “Your own rights must be fought for by yourself. You can’t always rely on others for this kind of thing.”
The Elf Priest nodded obediently.
Lance didn’t pursue the matter further. Misha noticed another point… the Hero, who usually loved making money, didn’t ask the elves for payment.
He just curiously asked the Elf Priest about other situations in the town, from resources and land to daily life. He seemed to want to know every detail. If not for the fact that the Priest didn’t understand what he meant by “annual report,” he might have demanded the Priest show him all the reports from the past year, just like in Sky City.
Misha had no interest in what followed.
Seeing that Lance even wanted to instruct the Priest on how to write monthly and annual reports, and likely wouldn’t be distracted by other things for a while, Misha told Arlo and Samuel, made up an excuse, and temporarily left the group.
He was indeed very concerned about the matters related to Lance’s identity.
Arlo had said that if monsters appeared near the Holy Land, they might be greatly affected. So Misha deliberately avoided everyone, circled out of the elven town, flew a distance away on his own, and tried to summon Ashby and Zebrun to his side again.
He had used this power—which shouldn’t be used too often—frequently of late, so every time he summoned them, he felt a little nervous.
For the summoned, the Demon Lord’s call was indeed too much of a disturbance. So when the two figures appeared before him, Misha’s first words were subconsciously an apology.
“Sorry,” Misha said. “I made you come over again.”
Zebrun was the same as always. He was still reading that overly thick ancient book. Even realizing he had been forcibly summoned to Misha’s side, he just nodded slightly. Because he was lazy, he didn’t want to speak at all.
But Ashby today looked even more abnormal.
He had changed into the excessively revealing outfit he wore before meeting the Hero.
He was covered in clinking gold ornaments and chains. The only fabric on his body barely covered some private parts. If his movements were slightly large, he would inevitably expose himself. And Ashby obviously didn’t care about exposure.
Misha was shocked. He had gotten used to a clothed Ashby over the past few days, so when this exhibitionist Ashby appeared before him…
He really wasn’t used to it.
Ashby was startled too. Inevitably embarrassed, he tried hard to find a reasonable excuse for himself. “Sk… Sky City is too hot.”
Misha: “…”
Ashby: “Pri… private hobby…”
Misha: “It’s okay, wear it…”
Ashby finally heaved a long sigh.
“It’s rare that the Hero isn’t around,” he said aggrievedly. “I just wanted to celebrate.”
Misha: “…”
Misha nodded stiffly.
He knew this was a succubus’s personal hobby. Although he didn’t like seeing people without clothes in front of him, he couldn’t condemn a succubus for it.
Misha just didn’t know where to look.
He didn’t want people to think he was being lewd. Fortunately, Zebrun was beside him. He could only fix his gaze on Zebrun and ask Ashby, “The results of the last investigation…”
Zebrun: “…”
Ashby was stunned for a long time before realizing Misha was asking him.
“I should have already reported the progress to you,” Ashby thought for a moment and said. “If you need more detailed results, I need more time.”
Misha: “…”
Misha shook his head.
“No need,” Misha said. “The results you told me last time are enough.”
After saying this, Misha looked up at Ashby’s face.
He tried hard to keep his gaze on Ashby’s face, never drifting to any part Ashby hadn’t covered. The next moment, he saw Ashby sigh in relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted, a relaxed expression appearing on his face. “That’s good. Lord Demon Lord, digging up these things is really too difficult.”
Misha also breathed a slight sigh of relief in his heart.
Good. It seemed Ashby hadn’t discovered anything.
Ever since discovering the potential secret about Lance, Misha had been very worried.
He felt his deduction wasn’t complete. The Hero came from another world, disrupting the Divine Realm’s Hero System plan, yet the Divine Realm hadn’t noticed at all. They hadn’t corrected this strange “anomaly.” A large part of the reason was that after the previous Hero died and Lance became the new Hero, he had acted very normally.
But if the person in Ashby’s investigation report was Lance, how could he have avoided human towns and monster gatherings at just the “right” moments, becoming a Hero whose movements seemed normal?
Misha couldn’t figure this out. He only knew that if the Divine Realm hadn’t detected Lance’s abnormality, it was better not to let them find out.
He always worried that once the Divine Realm noticed, they would erase Lance from this world. So to be safe, he had to stop Ashby’s investigation. It was enough for him alone to know this matter for now.
Ashby raised his hand again, and a thick stack of documents appeared out of thin air. He handed them to Misha, saying, “But I still feel those people… were likely the Hero in disguise.”
Misha wasn’t good at lying. “Haha, how is that possible.”
But Ashby didn’t get suspicious. He just nodded: “You’re right. Even that terrifying Hero couldn’t have done so many big things.”
Misha vaguely sensed something wrong.
“Done so many big things?” Misha looked down at the extremely thick stack of documents in his hand. “Don’t tell me these… are all…”
Ashby: “I tried to write as briefly as possible.”
Misha: “…”
Ashby: “I even used the smallest font.”
Misha: “…”
“If you have time, you really can take a look,” Ashby thought for a moment and couldn’t help praising, “It’s really exciting.”
Misha didn’t want to continue this topic.
He dared not imagine what the Hero had done over the years. Anyway, the stuff was in his hands; he could go back and read it slowly. He couldn’t leave the elven town for too long to avoid arousing the elves’ suspicion. He could only quickly ask Zebrun the remaining question.
“You talked about stargazing with Lance.” Misha put on a serious expression. “What did your words mean back then?”
Zebrun: “…”
Misha hadn’t cared much about this before.
Lance always said things he didn’t understand and cared about things he didn’t comprehend. He couldn’t possibly care about every single thing. But at the Tree of Life, that line from the hymn Lance inexplicably mentioned made Misha focus on the so-called “True Light.”
Mentioning these two words, the first thing Misha thought of was the light brought to the world by the sun, moon, and stars, and that strange conversation Lance once had with Zebrun, who was obsessed with stargazing.
But Zebrun maintained his silence, seemingly unsure if he should mention this to Misha. He avoided Misha’s gaze; looking like that, he was obviously hiding something.
Of course Misha had to press on.
Misha: “Zebrun?”
Zebrun: “Mm…”
Misha: “Explanation?”
Zebrun: “…I think it’s best not to mention it casually.”
But Misha had always been persistent.
He wanted to know the answer and would naturally strive to find it. Even if Zebrun wouldn’t explain, he would eventually find a way to get the answer.
Since Zebrun didn’t want to talk, Misha felt there was no need to keep pressing. He sighed softly, but Zebrun suddenly added a sentence.
Zebrun: “Go to the Dragon Clan and take a look. You might understand.”
Misha looked up at Zebrun.
“That should be where the illusion is thinnest.” His words were obscure, clearly intentional. “There, you might catch a glimpse of the truth.”
Misha not only failed to resolve his doubts but felt he had even more questions.
With a heavy heart, he walked carefully outside the elven town. After checking the surroundings carefully to confirm he hadn’t been caught by the Hero this time, he returned to the town with relief.
Everything was no different from before he left.
He asked a nearby elf where everyone was and learned that the Priest had cleared a place for them to rest tonight in the sanctuary’s clergy dormitories.
Those were a few dilapidated wooden cabins. As Misha walked over, he couldn’t stop lamenting that the elves really looked poor; even the place where the clergy lived looked so shabby.
He didn’t see Arlo or Samuel, nor could he find the Hero. He walked to the only cabin with an open door, cleared his throat, and asked, “Is anyone here—”
He paused, meeting the Hero’s eyes inside the room.
Lance: “Yes.”
Misha: “…”
Misha didn’t want to be alone with Lance.
He took a step back, nervously finding an excuse. “Um… where is Arlo?”
Lance: “With Samuel.”
Misha took another step back. “…Then I’ll go find them.”
But Lance frowned slightly. “Their room only has two beds.”
Misha stopped, feeling something was wrong.
He suddenly remembered what the elf had just said. This was the place the Priest prepared for them to rest tonight. If Arlo and Samuel were in one room, did that mean he had to… share a room with the Hero?!
Misha slowly turned his head to look at the Hero.
Sure enough, he saw the Hero reveal that familiar expression he only had when scamming people.
“This room,” Lance paused slightly, speaking slowly, “also only has two beds.”
Misha: “…”
Recommended Reads
