Chapter 119: The Holy City
The Adventurer's Guild, The Holy Capital.
"Bruce! Look! Behold the Holy City! The starting point of our legend!"
Nick stood with his chin held high, staring at the quest board with stars in his eyes. "I can feel it, Bruce! The gears of fate have finally begun to turn for me!"
Bruce the Kobold used a paw to cover his snout, his dog-ears drooping as he fought back a wave of nausea from the crowded hall. "The only thing I feel is fifty different varieties of advanced foot rot."
"Nick, can we please just find a job and get out of here? I'm worried my sense of smell is going to be permanently decommissioned if we stay another minute."
"You dreamless mutt! This is the scent of the strong!" Nick slapped Bruce on the shoulder with righteous fervor before turning his attention back to the board. He stood on his tiptoes, straining to read the bottom rows.
"Cleaning giant rats out of the sewers? Fifty coppers? An insult! A direct violation of an adventurer's dignity!"
"Finding a lost house cat... reward is one voucher for a free BBQ platter? Hmm... well, that's actually a tempting proposition."
Bruce grabbed Nick's head and physically craned it away from the BBQ voucher. "Nick, we spent almost everything getting to the Capital. We have thirty-seven coppers left. Total. I think the 'sewer rat' job sounds like a magnificent career move right now."
"Absolutely not!" Nick declared, striking a heroic pose. "My blade was forged to slay Great Dragons and topple Demon Kings! It was not meant to perform emergency abdominal surgery on rodents! Remember, Bruce: we are future heroes. We do not bow for a mere five pecks of rice!"
"We don't even have a single peck of rice, Nick."
As the man and the dog-man bickered over their impending starvation, Nick's gaze was suddenly snagged by a commission at the very top of the board. It was pinned so high that most people didn't even bother to look up.
Client: The Holy Church.
Objective: To be discussed in person.
Requirements: Tier 1 to Tier 2. Pure heart. No criminal record.
Remuneration: 1,000 Gold Crowns.
"One... thousand... gold?"
Nick read the number aloud, syllable by agonizing syllable. He rubbed his eyes and checked again. Yes. A one, followed by three glorious, beautiful zeros. Nick's breathing hitched, his face flushing a violent shade of crimson. It was as if he had just seen the most beautiful goddess in the world undressing before him.
"BRUCE! BRUCE! LOOK! WE'RE RICH!" He shook the Kobold's shoulders with manic intensity. "FATE! THIS IS THE GUIDANCE OF DESTINY!"
Bruce followed Nick's pointing finger. When he saw the reward and the absurdly low requirements, his fur stood on end. He grabbed Nick by the collar and dragged him into a quiet corner, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper.
"Are you insane, Nick?! Look at those requirements! Tier 1 or 2... for a thousand gold! That's not a 'commission'! That's a donation! That's 'shut-up-and-take-care-of-your-family' money for a man about to die!"
"What do you know?!" Nick replied with a fanatical glint in his eye. "This only proves the sanctity and grandeur of the mission! Only those chosen by fate, like us, are worthy of such a challenge!"
Bruce tried to be the voice of reason. "Think about it! What kind of job requires a pair of bottom-tier rookies but pays enough to buy a castle? It means the people who go are dead men walking, and the Church doesn't want to waste high-ranking assets on a suicide run!"
Nick's voice rang with infectious bravado. "An adventurer who fears risk is no adventurer at all! Bruce, do you really want to spend the rest of your life wrestling rats in a sewer?"
The two wrestled in the corner for a while. Eventually, driven by the promise of daily BBQ and double-servings of high-end ale—and the cold reality that this was their only escape from poverty—Bruce buckled.
Under the judgmental stares of the surrounding veterans who looked at them like they were lambs walking into a butcher shop, the two approached the counter and tore off the form.
The guild receptionist stared at the paper in their hands. "Are you two... quite certain you wish to accept this?"
"Absolutely!" Nick puffed out his chest. "We were born for this!"
The receptionist let out a weary sigh and slammed the confirmation seal onto the parchment. "Proceed to the side chapel of the Grand Cathedral. Someone will receive you there. May the Holy Spirit have mercy on your souls."
When Nick and Bruce stood before the doors of the side chapel, Bruce's resolve faltered once more. The place was too quiet, too clean. Even the air smelled of a sanctified incense that felt entirely at odds with their travel-stained clothes and lingering "sewer" aroma.
"Nick, maybe we should just go back and scrub the drains..."
"Shut it! We're about to meet the client! Manifest some dignity befitting a partner of a Great Hero!"
Nick adjusted his stained tunic, straightened his back, and marched inside.
Waiting for them wasn't a mere priest or a deacon. It was an elderly man clad in flowing white robes with gold trim.
A Cardinal.
The moment Bruce recognized the rank, his only thought was: My life is forfeit.
However, the Cardinal was surprisingly affable. He wore a warm, grandfatherly smile that put them at ease. "Children, please, sit. Do not be restrained."
He personally poured them tea. The fragrance of the leaves was the most exquisite thing Bruce had ever smelled. "To accept such a daunting burden... on behalf of the Church and all the subjects of the Holy Spirit, I thank you."
Nick's ego inflated instantly. He lifted the teacup, mimicking the refined way he remembered Reinhard drinking. "The Bishop is too kind! Fighting for justice is a duty no adventurer should shirk!"
The Cardinal nodded with satisfaction, his eyes scanning the pair. One possessed eyes full of unrealistic fantasies—a pure fool. The other looked cautious, but was clearly just as easily led. Perfect.
The Cardinal began with small talk, asking about their origins and their journey. When he heard they were orphans who had reached the Capital through "wit and bravery," his smile grew even more sincere.
"Two truly pitiful yet honorable souls." He let out a sigh and placed a heavy leather pouch on the table. "Here are one hundred gold crowns. Consider it an advance. Regardless of the outcome, this belongs to you."
Nick's eyes glazed over at the sight of the gold. Bruce, however, felt as if that bag were a red-hot iron.
"Lord Cardinal..." Bruce summoned his courage. "Could you tell us... exactly what the mission entails?"
The Cardinal's expression turned somber. "Children, have you heard of the Evernight Empire?"
Nick nodded. "Of course! A vile kingdom of the dead!"
"Precisely." The Cardinal's voice dropped to a low resonance. "This empire is expanding at a rate the world cannot sustain. Its monarch—the monster who styles himself the Sovereign of Evernight—possesses an Authority beyond our comprehension."
He paused, weighing his next words. "We have utilized a Forbidden Relic to capture a sliver of Temporal Mana. This power is sufficient to send two souls back into the past."
"Send us... to the past?" Nick blinked.
Bruce nearly slid off his chair. "Time travel?!"
Nick's face exploded with radiant light. "Just like the heroes of legend?!"
"Yes," the Cardinal confirmed. "Your mission is to return to the era before the Sovereign ascended. Find him when he is at his most vulnerable, and then..."
The Cardinal's eyes went sharp and cold. "Terminate him."
A suffocating silence filled the room. Bruce felt his heart stop. Was this a joke? To travel back in time and assassinate a future Demon King? Why would they entrust this to two Iron Rank nobodies?
"Why us?" Bruce asked, his voice trembling.
The Cardinal looked at him with profound intensity. "Because you are pure. This task does not require overwhelming force; it requires the kind of courage and luck that only the 'unmarked' possess. If a high-ranking powerhouse were to travel back, the ripple in causality would be catastrophic. But you? You are ripples in a pond. The timeline will barely notice you."
He turned back to Nick, his voice dripping with sincerity. "We know nothing of the Sovereign's past, only that he is likely an Undead Lord—a skeleton with a mind of its own. The era you will land in is uncertain; it could be ten years ago, or a hundred. Your task is to find the skeleton that is different from the rest, and end it."
The Cardinal stood up, spreading his arms wide. "This is your chance to save the world, children. Your names will be carved into the eternal murals of this Cathedral, revered for ten thousand years."
Nick was completely sold. Saving the world! Names on a mural! It was the life he had always dreamed of.
"I'll do it!" Nick roared, leaping to his feet and slamming a fist into his chest. "For justice! For the world! Lord Cardinal, entrust this glorious burden to me!"
Bruce squeezed his eyes shut in despair. At this moment, he really just wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into, or perhaps run back out and beg for the sewer rat job.
The Cardinal offered a smile of profound relief. He stepped forward and patted Nick on the shoulder. "Good boy. I knew the flame of sanctity burned within you. Fear not; the Church would not send its heroes into battle empty-handed. We shall provide you with equipment and certain... 'safeguards' for your journey."
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