Charlotte abruptly drew her sword.
Shing—!
A single line of light flickered up along the blade and faded just as quickly.
The light that had gathered on the sword couldn’t hold its form and vanished in an instant, but there was no mistaking what she had attempted.
‘Weapon enhancement?’
It was crude, to be sure, but that light was undoubtedly the precursor to weapon enhancement.
It seemed the rewards from earlier had allowed Charlotte to grow a step as well.
“It appears the experience from earlier gave me a feel for it.”
Charlotte looked at her sword with a faint smile.
She seemed to have taken the battle with the Orc as an opportunity for growth.
It was clearly thanks to the Experience Points, but since she couldn’t know that, her misunderstanding wasn’t unreasonable.
“Congratulations. You’ve grown.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Priest.”
It really was thanks to me, to be fair.
‘Around D+ Rank, I’d say.’
She was still far from full weapon enhancement.
But she seemed to have found a thread, so if a small opportunity arose, climbing to C Rank wouldn’t be far off.
While Charlotte swung her sword a few more times, I looked around.
‘The entrance isn’t opening, is it.’
If this were a Tower, a path to the next section would have opened after obtaining the reward, but now there wasn’t even a hint of that.
Seemed to be the difference between a Tower and a Dungeon.
But knowing they were connected, and having gained a clue, there was nothing to regret.
“Let’s head back.”
With nothing more to check, I turned and made my way back toward the exit.
We must have been walking for a while when Charlotte, as if something had piqued her curiosity, spoke up.
“By the way, what was it you were checking? I saw the Mana Stone floating up.”
“…I’m not entirely sure myself. It could be a secret about the Dungeon, perhaps.”
I couldn’t very well tell her about the Tower, so I gave a vague, evasive answer.
Fortunately, Charlotte, unable to suspect that a Priest would lie, seemed to accept it.
***
…
***
“It’s gotten quite late. I’m sorry, but it seems we’ll have to return tomorrow.”
Immediately after leaving the Dungeon, Charlotte looked up at the sky and said.
The time had already passed noon by a wide margin.
It was certainly an awkward time to head back to the city, so I nodded in agreement.
“No need to apologize. We’d need time to collect the spoils anyway, wouldn’t we? Let’s take it easy and leave tomorrow.”
To pull out all the Orcs’ fangs and skin them would take considerable time, no matter how many Soldiers were helping.
Even with a few more hours of leeway, we’d still have ended up leaving tomorrow.
“Thank you for understanding.”
I nodded and watched the soldiers working on the Orcs.
I was merely looking out of curiosity at the leatherwork, but perhaps sensing my gaze, a nearby Soldier scratched his head and made an excuse.
“Ah, Priest, I’m sorry. Unfortunately, the Orc’s hide is too damaged to fetch a fair price.”
“? No need to worry about that. It doesn’t matter to me.”
I had no intention of demanding anything anyway.
If they offered, I’d hesitate for a moment, but in the end, I’d refuse for the sake of my image.
“Rather, I’m immensely glad that none of the Soldiers were seriously injured. And wealth holds no value to me, so there’s no need to apologize.”
For the record, that was a lie from start to finish.
But the Soldier seemed to believe the bold-faced lie, reacting with visible emotion.
“I promise! I’ll process it as best I can!”
“…”
‘Is it because this world hasn’t been tainted by the internet? People are so pure it’s pricking my conscience.’
And it didn’t end there.
“The hide is ruined, but the fangs and the iron weapons the Orcs used are in good shape, so they should fetch a decent price.”
“..Lady Charlotte?”
“Even if you have no greed for possessions, running a Church requires money. I’ll sell them quickly and make a donation. Please don’t refuse it.”
Charlotte had been hooked by the lie as well.
But with Charlotte offering a proper justification for the donation, this time I didn’t refuse and gratefully bowed my head.
“..Then I won’t decline.”
‘Good.’
Setting aside the guilt, good was good.
Pretending to hide those true feelings, I acted out piety and returned to my tent.
As I did, I brought my hands together in prayer.
“What a truly devout person.”
“Our city has been blessed.”
Of course, contrary to the Soldiers’ assumptions, I wasn’t actually praying.
I was just passing the time by browsing the Gallery.
[New feature let me send my brat to the Academy]
[Still salty that Assistant Moderator fees don’t apply, even now when I think about it]
[Is the Main Admin not accepting more Assistant Moderator applications…]
[The item transfer bait is lasting forever ffs]
‘The Gallery that was on fire seems to have calmed down.’
The strange posts that had been flooding it were no longer visible.
The newly appointed Assistant Moderators seemed to be doing their jobs properly.
‘Glad I picked them.’
This must be why people keep subordinates.
While browsing the Gallery to kill time, a post caught my eye.
It had just been pinned as a featured post, drawing my attention.
[Main Admin, check out the featured post]
And the title was directed right at me, so curiosity was inevitable.
Title: Main Admin, check out the featured post
Author: KimchiStewCraving
Main Admin, thanks.
Since I came here, I’ve never had any hope for the future.
But thanks to the item transfer feature you added last time, I saved up enough to quit the Herbalist life and open a shop.
And after that, there was even money left over, so it looks like I can send my daughter to the Academy.
Sorry for cursing you out when you said you’d quit in a few months last time.
It’ll be a shame if the Gallery disappears, but at least I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life.
Bless you.
The Gallery I’d known didn’t like long posts, as far as I remembered, but this one made an exception and got featured.
Looking at the replies, I could see why.
[Hey, you too? Me too!]
[The transfer feature is legit great. A lot of broke gallery users got saved by this feature]
ã„´[This is the real deal]
Seems there were more similar cases than expected, so it gained traction and got featured.
Of course, not every reply was sympathetic.
[Summary in three lines please]
ã„´[The author says he’ll suck up to the Main Admin once]
ã„´[Oh..]
‘Tsk.’
Having no interest in that sort of thing with another man, I blocked the Anonymous User who made that unpleasant summary for a year.
‘Anyway, a thank-you letter, huh.’
At the same time, I felt a strange emotion.
After all, that feature was only added to give the Assistant Moderators some merit.
Of course, that was the extent of my sentiment.
[If I were the Main Admin, I’d see this and sob emotionally while wearing the armband forever, fr]
ã„´[I’m the Main Admin, and this is true]
ã„´[Fr]
‘Surely not.’
I’d had enough of unpaid free labor just from playing the Priest.
My time as the Gallery’s Administrator lasted only until I memorized the theology texts I hadn’t learned.
That was it.
As I closed the Gallery and rose, pretending to have finished praying, a voice came from the tent entrance.
“Um, Priest.”
It was Charlotte’s voice, cautious as she called.
“Please, speak.”
Having already finished our business in our previous conversation, I was curious why she was calling me and waited for her answer.
“Um, about that Dungeon.”
“The Dungeon?”
Charlotte hesitated for a moment.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Is there any way to keep it?”
“..?”
It was a baffling question.
Seeing my expression of complete incomprehension, Charlotte hurriedly explained.
“It’s not for any strange purpose! Just hear me out before you’re surprised, Priest.”
“? Yes, go ahead.”
“You must not be surprised, really.”
“I understand.”
What on earth was she building up to say with all this suspense?
Charlotte even glanced around her surroundings.
She looked as if she were worried someone might overhear.
“..There was an uninhabited island and an ocean in that Dungeon, wasn’t there?”
“You saw it yourself, didn’t you?”
Just as my voice was starting to rise with impatience, Charlotte finally spat out the main point.
“Some of the Soldiers who enjoy Fishing apparently sneaked into the Dungeon to fish.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, so feel free to discipline them as you see fit.”
“No, that’s not what’s important. The Soldiers actually caught fish. Sea fish.”
“..?”
So what?
It’s a beach. Fish would bite.
She was talking about something obvious as if it were some huge secret.
At my reaction, Charlotte, as if frustrated, slapped her chest.
“It means we can eat sea fish, not freshwater fish, in our territory—the very heart of the inland!”
“…”
It still didn’t land for me.
If anything, since I never particularly liked seafood, Charlotte’s excitement over something as trivial as seafood was beyond my understanding.
But her next words finally made it click.
“It means we can distribute fresh seafood to the inland!”
‘Makes sense.’
Especially for a territory with no notable local products, Charlotte, as the Lord’s daughter, couldn’t help but make a fuss.
The problem was that Charlotte, in her own way, asked the Priest as a scholar, but I knew almost nothing about Dungeons.
No matter how desperately she asked, there was no way I’d come up with a solution.
‘..No, wait. Maybe there is a way.’
I recalled that the Dungeon hadn’t immediately registered the Boss’s death.
If we could deceive the Dungeon like we did back then, what Charlotte wanted might not be impossible.
“There might be one method worth trying.”
“Oh!“