Chapter 105: Childhood Friend – Fascination
“Hey, Lev. You just got here. Are you also going to the big town this time?”
A young man at the entrance of Demos Village warmly waved to Lev.
The young man, called Dino, who liked to hum songs, whistled when he saw the jerky Lev was carrying.
“Yes, are you going, too?”
“Yeah, gotta go. But more importantly, you should have seen it too. Mr. Leslie last night… Hahaha. It was a mess.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Well…”
Lev, thinking that something he didn’t know had happened, listened attentively, but it turned out to be nothing important.
It was a story about Monk Leslie getting drunk and causing a ruckus and commotion.
He usually didn’t drink except during village festivals, but it seemed like a minor incident that arose when Lena refused to take the money he had collected so far. Lena took the initial funds and left.
Lev calmed down his surprise and chatted with Dino briefly before parting ways. As he headed home, he thought about seeing each other in the morning.
But there was a more serious change than the Monk Leslie commotion.
Just now, Dino referred to me as ‘Lev.’
“Indeed, my name has changed.”
Since learning my true name, even my father called me Lev. It was as if his name had always been Lev from the beginning.
Unless the conversation with Barbatos had been broadcast live, there was only one thing to consider.
Leo’s name was originally Lev. There was no doubt that the Leos, the protagonists of this game [Raising Lena], each had their own names. They had lost their names when they became playable characters in the game.
“But what use is the true name?”
Even though I had learned my true name, no message popped up. It seemed to be a hidden element of the game that had quite a strong effect whether you knew it or not.
Of course, Lev was happy.
He had always doubted his identity since losing his memories and blending in with Minseo, but learning his true name had brought peace to his heart.
And it was a feeling of being freed from some constraint. It was difficult to express, but Cassia’s words came to mind.
– “You can call me Sister now too. Your Highness. My heart feels relieved. Somehow… I feel freer.”
Lev felt a similar sentiment.
A sense of liberation as if the shackles on his arms and legs had been broken. He didn’t even realize he had such discomfort before.
He hummed a tune as he entered his house, threw the jerky wherever, and flopped onto the bed.
“Now what to do…”
The traces of Oriax must have vanished, he thought. He considered going to the Conrad Kingdom to find the beggar siblings, but there was still plenty of time.
It was currently autumn, and the point when the siblings would encounter a crisis would be next winter.
Considering the time it would take to move back and forth, he had about six months left.
“Should I stop by Nevis first? I need to look into that direction too… And honestly, the beggar siblings scenario has already gone awry.”
Gilbert Forte, the aftermath of killing that guy, was beyond imagination.
To clear the beggar siblings scenario, it seemed necessary to seek the help of Bishop Berg, who seemed closely related to that, as Gustav Monarch Baron was in Orvil.
A prince who had killed nobles.
And the fact that Gustav Peter Count didn’t seem likely to help Leo de Yeriel made it even more difficult to seek help after causing such a big incident.
So the only thing Lev could do was to persuade the siblings to avoid tragedy…
[Achievement: Barbatos Apostle – You can borrow Barbatos’s power as much as you offer homage. You cannot serve other Asins.]
It was about gathering Barbatos’s power to deal with Prince Eric in return.
Resting his head on a pillow, Lev recalled the information about ‘History of Asin.’ It seemed that some information had been released as the ‘Barbatos Apostle’ achievement was created, pouring out additional details.
This world was a world where disputes over divine power were widespread.
The vast majority of humans were ignorant of the fact that a struggle between Asins existed behind the scenes against the Lord.
Strictly speaking, it was hard to call it a dispute.
This world belonged to the Lord. Describing it as a dispute was an excessive overestimation of the Asins as they were nothing more than beings stealing power from the world where the Lord reigned.
However, the absolute and sole Lord showed indifference to the world of creations.
It was a fairly recent event in the Achaean Empire when a Saint was born and spread the Lord’s power.
With it, the Age of Asin’s tribulation arrived. The Achaean Empire, together with the Cross Church established around the Saint, swept away the various races across the continent.
As the other races were wiped out and the empire proclaimed the ‘Age of Man,’ countless Asins hid their traces.
But they didn’t completely disappear.
At that time, barbarians often believed in the gods of other races, and due to the initial Cross Church that prioritized humans, many Asins were treated leniently by them.
It was only very recent, not even thirty years old, that the Cross Church began to eliminate non-converting barbarians, leaving many Asins still around.
Furthermore, humans themselves gave birth to Asin, and Barbatos was one of them. He was a quite young deity born from the desires of hunters. Lev leaned forward and got lost in his thoughts. “But how to gather Barbatos’s power?” Asins received anything that was considered valuable. Fortunately, what was valuable to them was not very different from what humans considered valuable.
Anything precious. Anything imbued with the emotions of creations. For example, the trophies that fathers dedicated, the head and heart of their prey, bore their hard work and gratitude. And the prey also must have regretted losing their head and heart… Those were tempting to Asins. There were some preferences, of course. Oriax, being a violent deity sensitive to his own domain, preferred the corpses of defeated enemies, while Barbatos, as a hunting deity, would naturally prefer the corpses of prey.
“Hunting… So even if you catch a demon, it should be beneficial, right? However good the offerings made by the clergy are, you gain power by hunting down the small things.” Lev clicked his tongue in disappointment. Unfortunately, there were hardly any demons in the southern part of the continent. It was a headache, but it was not the end.
“How do you harness Barbatos’s power?”
Prince Eric summoned Oriax, summoned monsters, and used power to push knights away. Despite becoming a disciple, Lev still did not know anything.
“No, is this something that should be told? Shouldn’t there be a skill window or information coming in as soon as you become a disciple, no matter what?” This game annoyed him with even the smallest things.
Now he didn’t even expect much, but wasn’t it too much? So what now?
“Should I ask Barbatos? Or is it because I haven’t acquired his power yet that I don’t know?”
Pondering over the unanswered question, Lev muttered, “Ah, I don’t know,” before falling asleep.
Later, thinking that he should offer another rite, he covered his exhaustion from a day spent in the mountains with a blanket.
The next morning, Lev headed towards the big town with the young men from the village. They pushed the wagon with all their might, sweating profusely. Hans was missing among them.
“Where did Hans go?”
“I don’t know. Haven’t seen him around lately?”
“He must be fooling around somewhere again. Just for a day or two, right?”
With casual gossip and banter, the youths arrived at Torito. It was time for the sun to set, so they set up tents in a circle around the wagon and fell asleep.
The next day, they washed in the nearby stream and headed to the market to sell the goods they had brought on the wagons. Lev also entered the market with dried meat in hand…
“Please. I really want to go this time.”
“It’s not allowed. We can’t take a greenhorn with no experience.”
“But how much have I done until now…”
“No. I’ll send you next time. Next time.” Hans was seen arguing with a merchant. He seemed to be pleading for something, but then he yelled out of frustration.
“Hey, you ignorant jerk…”
The merchant clucked his tongue, and Hans turned around, stomping his foot in anger.
Lev tried to pass by ignoring them, but Hans approached and sneered.
“Hmph! Looks good. Acting friendly with Lena and then…”
“…Move aside. What’s the beef?”
“I’m just telling the truth. Lena wasn’t interested in guys like us. You saw it too, right? She’ll wave goodbye to you like she did to me.”
Lev furrowed his brow but tried to walk away, yet Hans continued his verbal assault as he pleased.
“She won’t come back to this backward town again. Ruteia is the capital of the sacred kingdom? The priests are just nonsense. She probably just wanted to leave this village. What kind of priest is a woman.”
Ugh, how annoying. Lev’s blood pressure rose. He thought, ‘Should I just hit him and knock him out?’ but then took a deep breath and let out his frustration through his fist.
He had knocked this guy down once before. But once the scenario restarted, everything returned to its original state, making it meaningless. ‘Ugh, why would I hit him? He’ll leave soon anyway… I’ll ignore him. Ignoring is the answer.’
Since he had already hit him and seen him die, he resolved to cover up the guy’s past wrongs. He had one punch left, except he couldn’t exclude silencing him. Keep calm. Ignoring is the key.
And what he said was all nonsense. It wasn’t worth paying attention to. Lev buried his anger and kept walking. But his pace slowed down when he heard what Hans said.
“And what would Lena study there? There are many dandies in the city, she’d probably fall for one of them and flirt away. Ugh! St.”
Lev continued to walk despite the irritation welling up within him. The thought of Lena not being interested in him and leaving didn’t bother him much. Since that guy didn’t know anything and was just babbling.
However, the idea of her falling for a dandy and flirting with them bothered him.
Gilbert Forte’s exquisite techniques came to mind because Lena was duped and deceived.
Of course, the rascal was already dead, so there was nothing to worry about… But it was irritating. It was one thing for people to curse at me, but I couldn’t stand it when Lena was cursed at.
Lev approached a merchant, grabbing his bulging muscles and haggling over jerky.
However, that young merchant also confused Lev’s mind.
“You messed up. I don’t know who taught you but it’s terrible.” He looked up and down at the clearly inexperienced young man and said.
“It’ll go bad soon like this. Hmm, let’s see. Although it looks okay for now… How about this? It’ll be difficult to sell if the storage period is short, so I’m giving you a good deal.”
The tales weighed in Lev’s hands. Despite having a considerable amount of jerky on his shoulders, the price offered by the merchant was disappointing.
It was not the first time he had experienced this.
Having been treated in this way before, Lev nonchalantly put the money he received on the table as if nothing had happened. As he picked up the jerky and prepared to leave…
“Look into my eyes.” He glared at the merchant.
Lev’s eyes glowed crimson, and the merchant’s attitude changed suddenly.
“Oh, can’t you take a joke? I thought you were a new friend selling something for the first time. Sorry about that.”
With a friendly look in his eyes, he patted Lev’s shoulder and handed over silver coins. He asked, offering slightly more than the market price, barely enough to avoid a loss.
“What’s your name? Your full name or surname. Somehow, I feel like trading with you for a long time.”
Lev wrapped up the conversation appropriately and left the marketplace. He returned to the cart and collapsed in exhaustion.
[ Enchanting Eyes ]
Barbatos’s abilities were unleashed.
