Part 3
「You guys, are you Adventurers?」
The young Grasswalker boy from before called out to them.
Because of his somewhat quirky and rather short hair, his high-pitched voice, and his energy filled countenance, he looked very cheerful. His rabbit ears swayed left and right. Going by his appearance, he was the exploratory type.
Surprisingly, it seemed that he didn’t have a timid personality.
Diablo folded his arms and responded.
「What is it?」
Sensing that things might immediately turn into trouble, Rem got in between them.
「......We are Adventurers that came from Faltra City, but what about it?」
「Faltra? What, are you out shopping?」
「......We are escorting a certain person. Though that will be ending today.」
「Oh, is that so! Would you like to go a dungeon then? Since you’ve gone through the trouble of coming out as far as Zircon Tower, I don’t think it’ll be a loss for you to challenge a new dungeon, you know?」
「......A new dungeon, is it?」
「Yeah, an amazing one was discovered recently! Going by the entrance, it isn’t a normal one. The treasures inside, all of them are special!」
「......That does sound interesting.」
「How about it? I’ll introduce you to an experienced dungeon guide and expert lock picker, you know? To be precise, me!」
He turned his thumb towards himself.
──Capturing a dungeon, huh.
Certainly, returning empty-handed would be absurd.
Diablo thought that might also be fine once they were done escorting Lumachina.
Rem enquired about it.
「......That abnormal entrance, what do you mean by that?」
「That’s something to look forward to when we form a party......is what I would like to say, but alright. I’ll tell you as a special offer.」
Putting on an air of importance, the young Grasswalker boy talked.
「The lion statue that appears in front of the gate, it moves and attacks you.」
Diablo gulped from those words.
──What was that!?
「T, tell me about that in detail!」
He reflexively grabbed both of the Grasswalker’s shoulders.
「Wawa!?」
「Oi, you, that dungeon, does it go down as far as thirteen floors!?」
「There’s no way I would know that, no one’s gone past the third floor after all......」
「If it’s the third floor......Once you defeat the slimes in the order of green, black, red, blue, dark green, and dark yellow, the key to the next floor should appear, right!?」
「Ehh, is that true!? Certainly, there are various colored slimes aimlessly wandering about......」
「Was 『Ｆ43』 written on the floor’s door!?」
「If I remember correctly......it, might have......!?」
「ッ!!」
──That’s, totally my dungeon, isn’t it!?
Since the retro game that was the inspiration for it didn’t exist in this world, it probably became a bit too difficult for them.
The young Grasswalker boy conversely started asking questions.
「Hey, you, who are you!? Was that just now true!? Do you also know about the fourth floor!?」
「About that......」
Talking about everything here, would be foolish.
If it was Diablo’s dungeon, the 《Warehouse》──the treasure room that stored the items that he gathered was on the lowest floor.
He had no intention of handing those over to other people.
He let go of the Grasswalker’s shoulders.
「You should forget about this.」
「Wai......Don’t be like that -ssu yo! Danna (Boss), you’re an amazing Adventurer, ain’t cha -ssu ka!? Hey, hey, let’s go to the dungeon, the dungeon!. I, I’ll be useful, you know -ssu yo?」
Probably sensing something──Rem shifted the topic. She truly was a smart girl.
「......I’m sorry but do you know about the Holy Knight Baduta? We have come here to meet with him.」
「Eh, a big-wig of the Church? Uーn......He lives on the west side of the town but......」
The Grasswalker frowned.
Was there something up?
As they were standing around talking, Shera came rushing over.
「Diablo, that!」
「Mu?」
Lumachina was in the middle of the street, and glaring at an armored man for some reason.
──She’s causing troubleー!?
So he got too engrossed with the talk of the dungeon!
Rem panicked and flew to her.
「D, did something happen!?」
While saying that, she wedged herself in between the armored man and Lumachina.
The Human man talked sounding irritated.
「This woman, she came picking a fight!」
The pointed at Lumachina didn’t take a single step back from the towering giant, and glared at him.
「Kicking a woman that was seeking help, that is something I cannot overlook!」
Beside the two of them, there was a woman.
She was a Pantherian whose age was around 30. She had fallen on the ground, and was preciously holding a baby that was wrapped in cloth. With Lumachina and the man’s quarrelling happening in front of her, she completely flustered.
The man talked sounding displeased.
「If she requires Priest-sama’s aid, then she should get in line, and pay a contribution! Even if she brings something like a crying baby to a place to eat food, it’s just a bother! It’s inevitable for guys that bothers others to be kicked, right!?」
「Do you believe yourself to be sinless? If those that have faults are forgiven no matter what they do, then you also should have your sins deeply censured.」
「Keh! There’s no way I would have something like sin! After all, I am part of the Holy Knight Unit!」
Lumachina made a puzzled face.
「Eh? What is the, Holy Knight “Unit”?」
Now that he mentioned it, the crest of the Church was engraved on the man’s armor.
It wasn’t elegant armor on the level of the Holy Knights, and was something cheap similar to what the other Adventurers wore, but the crest couldn’t be attached to people that weren’t authorized.
Diablo’s mantle was pulled on.
When he looked, it was the Grasswalker from earlier.
「So you were still here.」
「So mean!? This is bad -ssu yo, Danna! That guy’s part of the Holy Knight Unit.」
「What is that? I do know about the Holy Knights though.」
「An imitation, I guess? They are the Church’s soldiers, and at any rate, are pretty rough. They’re a bunch that are like bandits. Although I don’t know how they are in other towns, in this town, they throw their weight around and are a huge bother.」
「Hou.」
They had come to rely on the Head of the Holy Knights Baduta but......
──This might have been a mistake. If the subordinates are like that.
According to Lumachina and the man’s conversation──
It seemed that Pantherian mother came seeking medical treatment for the baby with God’s miracle. Finding that to be a bother, the Holy Knight Unit kicked her away.
Having seen that series of events, it seemed that Lumachina got mad and sermoned him.
Since you’re in a position where your life is being targeted, don’t cause trouble, is what he thought. However, if she had a personality that would pretend to not see an assault on a weak person, her life wouldn’t be targeted by the Cardinal Institute in the first place.
Lumachina sermoned him saying that “anyone has sin”.
「It is written even in the third chapter of the Scriptures of the Beginning......As all people are born, they harbor sin......」
It seemed that she had completely memorized the scriptures.
Since the other party claimed to be an authorized person of the Church, he has probably heard that verse before.
Lumachina’s body was faintly shining.
As she was reciting the scripture from memory, magical power overflowed from her. Since it was a phenomenon caused through prayer, to be accurate, it might be something different from magic power.
The wind became stronger, and sand fluttered about.
Birds flew away from the lake due to the abnormal event happening, and dogs were barking in the distance.
In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, the Church’s dogma wasn’t divulged in detail. He thought that usual religion was most likely used as the base, as standard of European-style fantasy, but......
Not going too deeply into religion and politics was part of the basics of works for amusement.
And then, the Holy Knight Unit man that was being overpowered──He snapped.
「Acting so self-important, you’re so annoying!」
「Listen to me!」
「A mere Adventurer shouldn’t go making a sermon to my great self, a person of the Holy Knight Unit!!」
He tightly gripped a fist, and pushed it out.
Diablo’s 《Staff of Tenma》 hit the man’s face hard.
He was flashily blown away.
Flying about five meters, and even after landing, about five meters of the ground was gouged out, and he stopped with about half of his body buried in the sand.
Diablo shrugged his shoulders.
「Hmph......It was going one ear and whatever it was, for him. For those like him, it’s no good no matter what you say.」
No one cared if it was a quarrel as it seemed like those happened often but──Since a man of the Holy Knight Unit was blown ten meters away, as expected, it gathered attention.
They talked about it and caused an uproar.
Surprisingly, the man stood up.
Sand fell from the armor. And then, blood was dripping from the corners of his mouth.
「Ugugoh......Y, you bastards......ッ!!」
「Hou, you’re quite sturdy, aren’t you.」
──His level might be higher than Emil’s. As expected of a town of the former Demon King territory that was made into a base.
「You’ve gone and opposed the Church, haven’t you!?」
「That again, huh. Small fry cling onto their distinct organizations really quickly. No......since they class themselves with large organizations, do they act haughty on a regular basis?」
「It’s too late for you! I’ll purify you right here!」
The man drew his sword.
The people that were watching in the vicinity quickly took their distance.
As the worry that people would get dragged in disappeared, things became a lot easier.
Since they knew of Diablo’s way of fighting──Rem and the others went behind him and went back a bit. They also took care of the mother and child who were the cause of the turmoil.
──Good grief, now how should I go easy on him?
Should he use the 《Trial-Made Great War Scythe》?
No, with an opponent that was stronger than a level 50 Warrior, there was the fear that it would become a close fight with that weapon.
Since there was a target to protect, he couldn’t allow that possible chance.
The basics of an Escort Quest is “don’t let the enemy get close”.
Diablo pointed the 《Staff of Tenma》.
「Get blown away! 《Explosion》!!」
It was a magic that is learned at level 50, but since Diablo’s parameters were high, it had abnormal power.
He fired that at the ground.
The Holy Knight Unit man that had readied his sword was once again blown away by the explosion──’s after-effect.
Even the citizens of the town that properly took their distance went into an uproar from the unexpected hot winds.
The black smoke cleared up.
A large hole opened up in the ground.
The people of the town......looked fine.
──Phew, thank goodness. I want to make as little trouble for them as possible.
The Holy Knight Unit man was half way buried in the sand once again.
Going *gahah!*, he got up.
「Ah, ga, gagah!?」
「Hmph......To still be alive, you are quite a lucky one.」
「Wha......!? Was that......Chemical Elemental Magic!?」
「So you still haven’t had enough of it. Very well, I will turn you into ash with the next one without fail!」
Of course, that was just a threat.
When he pointed his staff──The Holy Knight Unit man’s face went pale, and he threw his sword down and ran away.
「Hii～～～～～～～～～～!!」
「Kukuku......What a dull small fry.」
While Diablo took a haughty attitude, on the inside, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that the guy had ran away, he thought about what they should do now.
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