Chapter 225 – Looming threat.

“Hey, nah bad… haven’t I seen ye somewhere afore?”

“No, it must be your imagination…”

Roland shifted himself to the side while trying to hide his face. His decision to not wear his helmet caused an old acquaintance to ask some questions. It turned out that the woman that was this ship’s captain was someone that he had a run in a few years ago. She was looking at him in a funny way while licking her lips and this was not the only problem.

“Ey big sis, can I ‘ave this one, he be kind o’ me type~”

In the past, the woman had tried luring him into his cabin which he refused. Then there was an even greater problem of her having multiplied. Previously he only had to deal with only one strange pirate lady now there were three of them.

They were clearly sisters that weren’t that much apart from each other in age. Perhaps after the oldest became the captain she lured her siblings into the trade. One of these sisters was now leaning against his shoulder and grinning like some pervy old man. Even without asking he knew where this was going and if he took the ship then the trip would probably be somewhat uncomfortable.

“Nah fair, ye looted the last one, it’s me turn now.”

For some reason no one was asking for his opinion, it was as if it was a given that he would consent to whatever they were feeling. Roland decided to leave the two pirate-like ladies to their fight while focusing on the ship’s captain. She was still the decision-maker and it was still safer to go by ship.

“Excuse me…”

“See, he likes me more, can nah compete wit’ yer cap’n”

“No…, I just… When is the ship leaving?”

The captain seemed somewhat happy that he came over to her. It seemed that these three sisters liked to compete for the attention of the male passengers. For some reason, they weren’t that interested in the sailors around them. Besides these three all the other people here were rugged men. Roland’s frame wasn’t that much different than of the sailors but his face wasn’t as rugged and his skin was more fair compared to the tanned men of the sea.

“We be leavin’ in about a week but I wouldna mind if ye join me in me cabin tonight…”

“Uh, I’ll have to pass on that…”

“Well, ye be no fun. If ye change yer mind ye know where t’ find me, ’til then ye’ll ‘ave t’ wait. The shipment that we needs t’ grab won’t be dockin’ fer a few days.”

“Thank you, I’ll be back then.”

Roland already knew that only when the ship was about to leave would he be able to pay for the trip. Until that day came he would need to remain here in this city. While the cult problem was unresolved this was the safest place to be. Solaria’s church was here along with a prominent noble house. With so many soldiers, knights, and adventurers even the cult would not be able to storm the city.

‘This doesn’t mean that I can just relax…’

“Where are ye goin’ handsome, why don’t we grab some rum at the tavern?”

“Ah thank you but I have something else to do, I’ll have to excuse myself.”

While walking away one of the younger sisters tried yanking him towards the city. After shaking her off he backed away and headed back. The women seemed maddened by the fact that they were rejected but soon they turned towards some other men that were going down from the stationed ships, it seemed that they were just itching to get drunk and party.

Having fun was not on his mind, he needed to stay here for almost an entire week if he wanted to take the ship towards Vita. Before leaving the docks though he paid another visit to the information booth. Perhaps some other ships were leaving sooner and if a problem arose he could take them instead.

‘Nothing is going towards Albrook, I’m really unlucky to come at this time…’

It seemed that all the ships were unloading cargo at this time and the earliest he could leave was in four days. Even then the ship was leaving to the other side of the island and the one after it was going towards the mainland. Apparently, there was some angry sea creature spotted lately which was blocking the way. A group of ships was forming to clear it out but it would also take a few days for them to complete the mission.

‘What should I do for an entire week?’

There was not much for him to do here but twiddling his thumbs was not something he wanted to do. For someone that didn’t need that much sleep spending a whole week doing nothing would be mind-numbing. He had repaired his armor’s runes already and the rest of his equipment didn’t suffer that much damage, even his runic rod only needed to get bent back to shape.

‘Maybe I should go to the church and get some elixirs, wish I could get my hands on an empyrean crystal…’

The cult was still on his mind and the best way to counter their corruption was divine energy. He had witnessed firsthand how a divine blade made from aura could cause the strange parasitic creatures to turn to vapor. Regretfully he was not someone that could mimic divine energy, it was a skill locked behind worshiping classes.

Yet there were ways of storing this energy, one of such items was called an empyrean crystal. It had various shapes and sizes, depending on the divinity it could even turn black to produce evil energies that demons craved. This crystal was able to store the energy that he required to counter the dark ritual, with its help he might even be able to use divine skills if he managed to decode them with his Runic Eyes.

From the literature that he read it was stated that these crystals formed by absorbing holy energies from their surroundings. This could be achieved in many ways, one of them was actually a secret of the church that was able to produce these items. People theorized that after performing healing miracles the divine mana that was released was being absorbed by something that would later become an empyrean crystal. These would then be used in the production of various holy items, even weapons like swords.

‘Would be nice if I could just emulate the divine energy with only my runes, going to the church every time will drain my coffers quickly.’

Roland gave out a sigh while looking into his purse. He needed to get some supplies like mana potions and health potions. Then he needed enough for food and the ship fare. This didn’t leave much for him to buy an elixir that could cure curses on the fly. They were one-time use items that could put a person in-dept quite fast.

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Back in Albrook, the church was not advanced enough to produce any but here in Reeka, he should be able to get one vial for the road. Thus for the time being he decided to go through the city. While he had gotten some supplies for his trip he was hasty. Now with more time on his hands, he could go through the list slower.

First, he visited the church of Solaria, while he was interested in getting his hands on some elixirs this was not his only reason to go there. With the cultists buzzing around there could be some information that he could receive there.

‘So this is the church, it makes the Albrook one look like a little shrine…’

This temple created for worshiping the sun goddess could be seen from outside the city gates. It stood at the same height as the castle that belonged to the lord and was probably founded by the noble himself. People took religion very seriously in this world and nobles liked to be in good graces with the high priests from the church. With deathly curses being a reality, they could assure themselves a quick checkup from a high-level priest if a need ever arose.

It looked more like a large cathedral than a church, in the front there were two large towers and between them was the entrance. The large stairs led up to it and the circular window with stained glass above it was fashioned to look like the sun. Above this window, he could see a statue of a woman that resembled what the people here believed Solaria to look like.

Roland wasn’t sure if these gods really existed or were just a representation of some skills. To his knowledge, this representation of solaria was created after some pope used some powerful skill that apparently summoned the god to aid them against some demon in the past. Was it an actual god or was it just some summoned creature similar to the ones summoners could call down was the question.

No one was stupid enough to call the believers out on their gods. The worshipers were lunatics in Roland’s eyes but even he could not deny the existence of supernatural creatures. He was proof of something outside his understanding existing as he came to this world from another world and was now able to produce magical arts that went against everything he had learned there.