chapter 30
heinrich (3)
the sword flies
I stretched out the shield in my left hand to let the sword flow, but…
Kaga!
‘Shallow!’
Lightly scratching the shield, the sword that passed by broke and cut through the lower body.
He hurriedly swung his long sword in his right hand to repel the attack, but the opponent’s attack did not stop there.
visor! Chachaeng! chan-
Block the continuous attacks with the sword and shield in both hands.
With the help of a sharply forged intuition, countless trainings, and an extremely hardened body, he was able to barely respond.
Then at some point.
‘It’s a chance!’
A gap that was momentarily revealed to the opponent wielding the sword.
It wasn’t a complete gap. If you aim for that place, this one will have to take more damage.
But if you’re willing to give your bones, this is your chance to cut the flesh!
I swung my sword without hesitation…
puruk—
I was pushed back by the shock coming from the shield.
“Ugh…”
“Huh, huh, huh… I was surprised. Are you crazy?”
The opponent, who staggered back, shook one of his legs and shook his head.
I must have stopped swinging my sword at the last minute and kicked my shield to widen the distance.
In the process, he frowned and shook his body.
“Hey, let’s go over here. What kind of Dalian do you rush to die like that? No matter how fearful we are of getting hurt.”
The senior Crusader at the instructor’s station, who was the opponent of Dalian, grumbled.
Then, those who watched from the vicinity approached and replayed the battle and chattered as if discussing it.
“Heinrich’s one resilience is amazing, isn’t it? Considering that, isn’t it a good way to fight?”
“Even so. What’s the use of your resilience if you get hit by mistake and die in one shot?”
“If you can control that well, it looks pretty good, doesn’t it? Takes some damage and recovers after quickly defeating the enemy…”
“Well, as long as you have enough divine power, it might be okay. And that guy’s divine power is what…, because everyone recognizes it. Later, it will rise so high that we cannot even see our faces.”
Literally, a couple of months after my baptism, my divine power was close to that of a high priest.
As the high priest was in charge of a temple located in a small city, it was by no means a low position.
‘Because the high priest is the bishop who is in charge of this Italian temple. Of course, the gap is large.’
The higher you go, the wider the gap is in any field.
Rather, I was worried because the growth of divine power seems to be slowing down these days.
‘I feel like I’ve reached my limit. In order to grow further here, we must overcome this limit. I mean, I haven’t figured it out yet.’
That must be the standard that separates the Crusaders from the Paladins.
For now, I had no choice but to focus more on training.
“The entity has attained enlightenment through repeated training. Acquire the skill 「Crusade Combat Skills」.」
Because there were some results.
<object information>
-Object Name: Heinrich
-Common Attributes: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Super Recovery」, 「Myeonggyeong Index」
-Individual characteristics: 「Sacred Baptism」, 「Mugol」, 「Crusader Combat Skills」
-Speciality: The spirit vein of Auterica is connected, and the mana in the body has been replaced with divine power. You can use your divine power to create a number of beneficial effects. Through training beyond the limits, his physical ability is growing significantly.
I approached the senior Crusader, who had been my matchmaker, and bowed my head in greeting.
“Thank you Dalian!”
“Oh, yes. Good work. But it really has grown a lot. At first, he was a guy who only believed in his physical abilities and ran wild, but I wonder how many months have passed since then that he has grown so much. Is this talent?”
“That’s it. Hell, the guy who had superior physical abilities has even mastered his combat skills, so now most of them are no match for him, so he’s training with instructors.”
A baptism of countless praises pouring out.
I smiled shyly and just repeated my thanks.
“By the way, did you say you wanted to be a paladin?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Yeah, it seems that the Paladins who occasionally come to the training ground are looking at you. If we continue as we are now, we will have good news soon.”
“hahahaha, I really hope so.”
There was a separate training ground for the Paladins, but there were times when they did joint training to match their hands and feet in preparation for actual battle.
I drew attention from the baptismal ceremony, and I received a lot of attention in training, and I was able to get quite a bit of attention from the so-called ‘high people’.
To become a paladin, I had to show an outstanding appearance among the Crusaders, so it was a pleasure for me.
And after a few days, it was quickly recognized that the senior’s words were not empty words.
“yes? To the Great War of Roselia?”
The Great Battle of Roselia.
Located in the heart of the ‘Aeon Continent’ where we are now, the sacred site of the Shinto Church, especially the Great Hall of Fame.
It was the largest of the few great temples in Auterica, and was the heart of the denomination where the Pope and Saints resided.
I got an offer to go to such a place with you.
“Yeah, if you try to take me to the main board, it seems that the superiors really liked you. Are you sure you want to raise them?”
The priest who came to deliver the message scratched the back of his head.
As he said, this was a great opportunity.
An opportunity to step out of the Thalia Kingdom on the outskirts and move on to a bigger stage.
“First of all, you told me to ask your doctor. It’s probably because you’re out of town. The distance between the main office and this place is not close, and it will be difficult to return to my hometown for some time.”
In the first place, this was not my hometown, so it didn’t really matter to me.
Of course, it is impossible to tell the truth from the position of deceiving the place of origin.
“it’s okay. After all, there is no family left here. There’s a holy place! From the standpoint of serving God, isn’t it like a dream? I really want to visit!”
“Yeah, well thought. Because this is a really good opportunity. Then report it like that. Make sure you have it ready too.”
Then, the temple president complained that he was envious of going to the Holy Land and that it was difficult because of his family, which he must visit someday, and then disappeared to report.
‘The Holy Land, and the Great Hall of Roselia….’
A place far from here, on the western edge of the continent.
My heart was pounding in anticipation of seeing the wider world of Auterica.
***
The Immortal King subjugation team was disbanded.
In fact, they fought more vampires and warlocks than the descendants of the Immortal King, but their hard work for several months could not be ignored.
After a brief farewell party, they went back to their respective seats.
Archbishop Latius, the general manager, and Paladin Tuskin, his assistant.
Seven high priest-level combat priests led by one bishop.
Ten members of the Silverwing Paladins under Tuskin.
One of the crusaders there.
It was the personnel who had to leave the Kingdom of Thalia.
“Hey, are you that Heinrich Crusader? Truly, he is a faithful young man.”
“You want to be a paladin? Do you have any intention of walking the path of a priest?”
“What are you talking about! The divine power is also divine power, but the musculature is very good. With a little more dedication, I can become a great paladin.”
“I heard at the training ground that he has tenacity and excellent talent. Maybe it’s the paladin’s timber.”
I waited in the depths of the temple with more than twenty people, and politely responded to those who showed interest in me.
Because the priests and paladins here were no different from high-ranking positions.
Divine power was given according to belief in God, and only when it was strong was it possible to rise to a high rank.
Since high-ranking officials have no choice but to have strong faith, there can be no corruption, so the denomination does not have to worry about spies.
It was also the reason Heinrich was able to easily join the denomination.
If you have other plans or if your faith is weakened due to corruption, your divine power will be affected that much.
This was the reason why the Shinto denomination became a de facto single religion.
‘I am an extremely exceptional situation. Well, it seems that Ju-Jin knew it and left it alone, so can it be regarded as permission?’
So, a certain degree of freedom is given to those who wish to be either a paladin or a combat priest.
In the sense of going around the world and spreading the will of God.
This was also one of the reasons I wanted to become a paladin.
While they were talking, one door opened and Archbishop Latius and Sir Tuskin entered.
“Are you all ready? Now that the transfer is ready, let’s just move on.”
With Tuskin’s words, we moved further into the temple.
As I was told in advance, I packed my light weight and just followed the lead.
And the place we arrived at was to some extent expected.
‘From the western end of the continent to the center… Considering the traffic conditions here, it might take several months to get there by land. It was expected from the time that only a small number of personnel were dispatched.’
An arched stone gate made of white marble in a huge space.
The white stone gate was decorated with beautiful gold, and the golden wave that started at the gate spread all the way to the bottom, and subtly illuminated the surroundings.
-········ So the shepherd said, “Let the servants who believe in the Lord become strength in preaching His word.” And he gave them grace. Cross the mountain in one step, cross the sea in two steps…
-······· As he told him to spread his will to all nations, the earth was folded and he was able to go wherever he wanted. Eyes looking at ten thousand li, feet walking a thousand li…
No, when I looked closely, it was a prayer written in gold leaf.
All about miracles that ignore the limitations of distance and space.
“Then let’s get started.”
Immediately after the party entered and greeted the priests who were guarding the place, they immediately surrounded the door and began to chant prayers.
And the golden prayer, which started to shine from the outside where the priests were, continued to flow to the central stone gate.
‘What a minister….’
A golden dawn that shines beautifully around the stone gate, and a blue vortex that swirls from the center.
It was a phenomenon that could not be understood with the knowledge of Heinrich, who was still low in the Holy Law.
A new power that neither Hans’s “black magic” knowledge nor Heinz’s “blood magic” could grasp.
woo woo-
With a small vibrating sound, the blue vortex in the center gradually grew and filled the inside of the stone gate.
And the golden light that had been illuminating the surroundings slowly faded away.
A quietly vibrating blue gate.
“Then let’s go.”
With the archbishop’s words, everyone moved to the door in a natural way as if they were familiar with it.
‘Well, it must have been like this when you came. Am I the only one seeing it for the first time?’
One by one, the party that had said goodbye to Bishop Cromville, who was in charge of the Temple of Thalia, disappeared through the gate.
Eventually, my turn came…
Without hesitation, I threw myself into the blue vortex.
‘Goodbye. Thalia Kingdom! I’m off to find a new land!’
If you cross this gate, the holy land, the center of the continent, will be waiting for me!
***
Even though my aspirations were proudly crossing the door, the place waiting for me was not a holy land.
The temple of the Charlotte Kingdom located in the northeast of the Talia Kingdom.
From what I heard, crossing half of the continent at a time was quite unreasonable.
“There is no reason to go back quickly now. We plan to move in a stable way.”
“Aha, that’s right.”
Thanks to this, I was able to take a day off and look around the stopovers, so I was sightseeing the city with the youngest paladin in the party.
Perhaps he was considerate of me as it was the first time I saw him outside of Thalia, so he volunteered to be my guide.
so a few days.
“This is the last time. Let everyone get in shape before entering the Holy Land.”
“”yes!””
woo woo-
Crossing blue swirls.
Finally, we arrived at the Great Hall of Roselia in the Holy Land.
The first thing I saw was a transmission space that was no different from other temples.
And it was a group of priests gathered in one side.
“welcome. Everyone has been through a lot.”
A girl standing in the middle of the priests stepped forward and greeted them with a smile.
Bright silver hair and sparkling gold eyes that scatter the light around them.
It felt like the surroundings were getting brighter just by appearing.
‘No, it’s not your fault?! Is that a halo?’
It was the first meeting with the saint of the Orthodox Church, ‘Riesta Saint Hattianus’.
***
“Heinrich has laid the groundwork for stable growth, now all he needs is time.”
Looking back, I was fortunate enough to go to the Holy Land.
Thanks to this, I was able to move to the city through which I passed.
After they have grown to a certain extent, they will be able to travel freely on the continent using the pretext of missionary work.
‘As a paladin respected by everyone!’
How sad was Hans, who could not even appear in front of people, and Heinz II, who had to hide in fear.
Now that kind of life was goodbye.
“It’s over, so we have to dispose of these soon.”
I looked proudly into the warehouse room.
Precious metals including gold bars piled up in the corner.
It was the price of hard work and blood sweat.
Slowly—
Heinz, who suddenly appeared without a trace, took some of the precious metal in the bracelet-type subspace magic tool.
The bracelet was found among the treasures he had taken from the vampire mansion, and although the capacity was only about one bag, he came to use it habitually because of its convenience.
‘A space magic tool is precious.’
Heinz with his precious metal headed towards the window.
It was evening after 10 pm. It was a great time to be active.
Heinz opened the window and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
How to dispose of it had already been decided.
Because Heinrich wasn’t the only one playing while Heinrich was struggling.