Chapter 47: A Softie Inside

After dealing with the Blue Flames and their leader, Wipera, Mayer gathered the elites of the Dark Knights to discuss the incident. Only three of them were available, though: Axion, August, and the tanker Robur. The other two were out on duty with their respective teams to clear dungeons.

Robur listened to a brief recount of the incident with a grave expression. “Who knew Wipera would do such a thing…” she murmured.

A shield keeper in her early thirties with very attractive dark skin, Robur was the third tallest among the elites. Considering how giant Mayer and August were, her physique was nothing short of formidable, even more so when compared to the standards of an ordinary person like me. Even Axion, who was shorter than her, was quite tall but slim. I felt like the odd one out in the conference room, like a dwarf in a country of giants.

“No wonder,” muttered Axion. “I thought it was strange how Wipera had been showing such dramatic improvement in skill lately. Why would Saint Marianne grant such talent to such a man…?” He clucked his tongue unhappily.

The mere mention of the saint riled up August, who had been apathetic so far. “I am certain Saint Marianne has it all thought out,” he snapped. “If God granted mana according to one’s personality, do you think you could have possessed the same power you do now, Brother Axion?”

And thus, the two began bickering back and forth.

“Well, of course! I think I’m well deserving of it. It’s an outstanding talent worthy of my fantastic character, don’t you think?” Axion bragged.

“That very attitude of yours—the inability to feel gratitude to Marianne—is the problem.”

Axion aside, it was odd to see August, a man of few words, acting like that. Despite my confusion, the others seemed used to it. “Men, I tell you! They only know how to make noise all the time!” Robur exclaimed, annoyed. “Why don’t you both fight it out, instead? Prove your conviction with your fist, yeah?”

“Big sis, you telling me to fight that zombie?”

“Saint Marianne rejects needless violence.”

Robur clucked her tongue, sneering. “All talk and no action.”

I thought Robur’s reproach would knock some sense into them, but no… It only spurred them further.

“I do not know why a person as devout as His Excellency would place faith in someone like you, brother.” The priest stared at the mage as he continued, “While you do indeed possess powerful mana, there are limits to what you can achieve if you do not appreciate what you are given.”

“His Excellency has faith in me because I’m strong. Fill a party based on piety, however, and next thing you know, you’ll have nothing but corpses left.”

For a brief moment, I tried to imagine a party of seven composed of nothing but priests. If balanced right, and considering how the fellspawn were of the dark element, it could perhaps be the strongest composition in many ways. “That might be worth trying, too…” I muttered to myself subconsciously.

Axion jumped up in shock. “Hang on now… Are you serious, Jun? Really? No jokes?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “If there were seven priests of Reverend August’s Caliber, the advantage in element would make them undefeatable.” With a physique like August’s, plus a little bit of training, there’d be no problems in either offense or defense. Since a priest’s specialty was healing, there’d be no worries in the survival department either.

Imagining seven of August made Axion twist his face. “There’s no way there’d be six more priests like him,” he blurted.

“But there might be at least one. Hmm… It’s something to think about.”

It didn’t seem like a bad idea to have another priest whose main strength wasn’t healing. Robur, who had been listening with her arms crossed, raised a brow as she remarked, “You talk like you can make a second August.”

“It’d be difficult, but not impossible.”

“Well, I’ll say… Is support magic something that capable?”

“You’ve heard of how drastically Wipera’s skills have improved recently. It’s possible to become stronger even faster,” I answered calmly. I had a skill called ‘Rich Experience’ that increased acquired experience. For those who needed every dungeon and battle experience they could get, it was an invaluable skill. After all, experience could only be gained by defeating monsters in dungeons.

When I mentioned growing stronger faster, Axion’s face turned bright. “I knew you were a gem, but… Jun, please include me in the special unit as well. I’m pretty useful, aren’t I?” he boasted, clinging to me and singing all sorts of praises, which wasn’t strange coming from him. It was in his nature to place importance on talent and power.