My Villains Episode 076
20. City of Confusion (5)
The next destination for Ellen and me was the church. It was because of Ellen’s treatment and the report about the necromancer Luke.
We headed towards the salt castle after passing through the market with tents and stalls for stalls. This is because the church was attached to the back of the salt castle.
As we saw earlier, the salt castle looked like it was half destroyed.
Two of the four corner towers had collapsed, and the whole building looked a bit lopsided.
Isn’t the Leaning Tower of Pisa imprisoned in a dangerous looking place like that? Prince Ulkar is also quite a toxic man.
As he thought so, what came into his sight was the workshop of the castle lord.
The workshop of the lord of the castle originally had the shape of three buildings surrounding a large yard. But now, perhaps because of the earthquake, one building was completely collapsed, and the other was half tilted, with roof tiles scattered throughout.
“Oh right.”
I placed a request in the workshop. I paid two gold coins in advance.
I apologized to Ellen and headed to the workshop.
Despite the tragedy that befell the studio, the artisans seemed busy both inside and outside the building sharpening dull spear blades and straightening dented helmets.
Ilton, the apprentice in charge of serving customers, was also limping and rolling a wooden bucket filled with sand.
“Ilton!”
“Oh, Mr. Phoenix?”
The young apprentice looked at me and widened his eyes.
After talking about how he thought he was dead because he hadn’t been seen for a few days, or whether it wasn’t normal or a riot because of the earthquake, he brought up the main topic.
“Can you get the item I requested?”
“Ah, that’s it… Wait a minute.”
Ilton dragged his injured leg and disappeared into the otherwise intact building. Had it been like that for five minutes? The guy appeared whimpering while carrying the heavy armor on his shoulders.
“Is this it?”
“yes. It’s a bit heavy… but Phoenix-ssi will be fine.”
I immediately tried on the armor with Ilton’s help.
The newly ordered armor was a stack of ‘Gambison’, ‘Ho Berk’ and ‘Coat of Plate’.
To explain it loosely…
You can think of it as wearing a long chain armor that goes down to the thighs over a quilted armor filled with several layers of linen, and wearing a coat with iron plates.
“Oh, it’s really quite heavy.”
Of course, it was much heavier than the armor he had worn before, but it felt as reliable as that.
All the armor I’ve worn so far has been plate armor that mimics the relics of the ancient empire. The condition of the iron was not very good, so it was often warped or torn.
On the other hand, the armor I bought this time was of much better quality.
The iron plates fixed with rivets were forged and tempered steel, and the hooded chain mail had large rings and small rings tightly woven together, so there were no gaps.
Inside the quilted armor, a wide belt reminiscent of a belly band was added, and the loop device attached to it distributed the load from the shoulders to the waist.
“Do you like it?”
“Oh totally. i love it.”
Just looking at the finish, color and material, it was an armor that was made with great effort. I pulled the purse from my belt that I had taken off to put on my armor.
“How much can I give you?”
“Four gold coins minus the down payment.”
“Four gold coins?”
oh i’m short of money
I glanced back at Ellen and asked.
“Hey Ellen. Am I spending public money on armor?”
“That’s it.”
“…What are you so willing to do?” When I made a surprised face, he snorted a small snort.
“A strong escort is essential for a wizard to be safe. What do you think they will say about that?”
“Hey, since you said you were buying gloves with public funds, it seems like it was only yesterday that you had a bubble and a seizure…” “
…What?”
“Oh no.”
I took a gold coin out of my pocketbook and asked Ilton out of curiosity.
“But is this the end? What about the helmet and shield? Did you order a lot of things?”
“Oh, that’s it…”
Ilton bit his lower lip and let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Phoenix. I couldn’t keep things.”
“what?”
After hearing the circumstances, it is said that the prince who imprisoned the lord of the castle a few days ago robbed the workshop once. It was to arm the conscripted militia by robbing all the equipment.
In the process, all the items I ordered were also requisitioned. The amount of effort he put into the armor was so precious that he secretly hid it.
“A shield? It wouldn’t be something common people would use.”
At my question, Ilton pointed to the remains of a collapsed building.
“It is buried there. It was a drying room and warehouse, but it collapsed in the blink of an eye, and several craftsmen died… There was no time to get things out.” “Oh…” I clicked my tongue and nodded.
“Well then, there is nothing you can do. Then just give me what’s left over.”
“There won’t be any good stuff, will you be okay?”
“Thank you for protecting my armor, but wanting more is greedy. Oh, give me a scabbard too.”
Ilton wandered around the studio, bringing dented helmets, worn-out boots, and old shields. I gave up the gloves and leggings because there were no left.
Still, as I changed my boots with holes and put on a helmet with a nose pad on top of the chain hood, I felt a sense of stability that I had never seen before. It was exactly the sense of security that I desperately wanted while walking bare skin.
I handed over four gold coins and two silver coins, and Ilton took only the gold coins and returned the silver ones.
“Everything except the armor is junk, so just take it.”
“Is that okay?”
“yes. Mr. Phoenix was also drafted, right? Go and wipe out all the thieves.”
At first glance, the young apprentice’s eyes flashed with life.
“…okay.”
I smiled bitterly and patted him on the shoulder. Then I suddenly remembered something, so I pointed to Ellen and asked a question.
“Ah, is there any armor he can wear?” “Are you Ellen?”
Ellen frowned as Ilton’s gaze turned to her.
“You’re asking me to wear armor’?”
“uh. Even if it’s not fully armed, it would be nice to have some vital points covered.”
Ellen sighed and spoke in a determined tone.
“Never wear it. How do you use magic while wearing a heavy, obstructive piece of iron?”
“okay?”
I turned to Ilton and shrugged.
“Isn’t there an armor that is light and doesn’t get in the way? In leather or cloth.”
“Oh well. I don’t know if there’s anything suitable for Ellen…. There are some armor that attendants wear for training
.”
“Uh… what should I do?”
“Never mind, show me.”
There was some noise, but in the end I also bought a pair of Ellen’s armor.
It was a dark leather vest, but in fact it was more like tough everyday wear.
It was something that could only be used in the hunting grounds, but if it was even a little heavy, Ellen would give off a color development light, so there weren’t many options.
For reference, there was one gold coin per vest. It was made from the skin of ‘Teneb Tarandus’, a rare monster from the north.
Same with the crossbow last time… I wonder if Ellen is deliberately choosing an expensive and luxurious item.
The remaining money is um, the public money is four gold coins and two silver coins, and the money is three gold coins and five pennies.
The pockets are very slim. In the meantime, Ellen has lost her purse and has no money on hand.
If you don’t have enough money for treatment at the church… Hey, at that time, I’ll sell you a jewelry box.
“Wait a minute. how much?”
“They said it was one thousand gold coins.”
At the words of the impatient middle-aged priest, Ellen and I opened our mouths.
“No, only one treatment, but a thousand gold coins?”
“Is it just therapy? It is a recovery prayer that the bishop himself offers. It is literally worth a thousand gold.”
“That’s true…”
I muttered as if I was dumbfounded, but the priest kept his mouth shut with a stern face.
After stopping by the studio, Ellen and I headed to the Jang Church.
The South Harbor church had a high ceiling and long corridors criss-crossed.
The interior, with impressive whitewashed walls and pillars, was filled with wounded soldiers groaning in pain and priests moving around busily.
Originally, we should have waited a long time, but we were able to face the priest right away using the prince’s order as an excuse.
After offering four silver coins to him, the priest immediately offered a prayer for purification and healing. It seemed that even the mind became reverent at the experience of refreshing the body as the white light flashed.
The problem was then. Even though the priest prayed for healing, Ellen’s condition did not improve.
The priest tilted his head and called an old nun wearing white armbands. The nun rubbed Ellen’s body here and there several times – and the pulse in her lower back was cut off. It’s not just a wound, it’s a kind of disability.
diagnosed.
The priest clicked his tongue and said that fixing the handicap was only possible for priests at the bishop level or higher.
Of course, I fully understand that fixing a disability is close to a miracle, but…
“It doesn’t make sense that the bishop prays for a thousand gold coins. The other priests would do everything for two silver coins…”
“That’s because the city is in a dangerous situation, so the church reduced the price. Regarding the bishop, it is according to church law, so there is nothing we can do about it.”
“Church law?”
Listening to the priest’s explanation, even in the whole of Middle World, clergy with a bishop level or higher were very rare. As rare as they were, the powers they possessed were so powerful that high-ranking officials were truly miracle workers.
Of course, these miracles could not be overused. For this reason, high-ranking clergymen always had to keep their sacred powers in case something important happened to the kingdom or church.
Even simple prayers of healing could not be prayed for unless ordered by the king or the patriarch – the pope seems to be an unreasonable being.
Even in this strict law, there were exceptions, and when there was a person who truly ‘desperately’ needed God’s help, he said that he could show mercy especially.
And the evidence to be shown to prove that ‘eagerness’ was a thousand gold coins, not a thousand gold coins.
…X-arms, what kind of dog-like laws are there?
He cursed at him inwardly, but he did not dare to flirt in church. I can’t leave Ellen’s legs as they are…
I took the jewelry box out of my bosom with trembling hands.
“I don’t have a thousand gold coins right now, can I replace them with these?” “hmm? What is it?” Instead of answering, I opened the ivory lid and the priest’s eyes widened.
right . n Perhaps because of the yellow lantern, the priest’s eyes were stained with deep green. It is the color of greed that does not suit a priest.
“This is… great.”
“These are ancient treasures.”
“indeed.”
The priest, who unconsciously reached out and received the box, looked at the jewelry for a while. Then he ordered a worker to call someone.
How many minutes have passed? An elderly man appeared with a leather bag.
“Did you call, Father?”
“Come and look at this.”
At the priest’s words, the man took out an iron rod, such as a magnifying glass, from his leather bag. Then, he took out a pendant with a ruby from the treasure chest and held up a magnifying glass.
Could this man be a gem appraiser?
Even while I was puzzled, the appraiser was carefully examining the jewelry.
It was like peering through a magnifying glass, replacing colored glass with a glass lamp, and scratching the surface lightly with an iron rod. Even to me, an outsider, it seems like an expert’s hand.
…what the. Is this a church or a pawnshop?
