Episode 210
After passing through the forest and going up along the river, the cave in Paladin’s memory came out.
A small cave in front of the river.
In front of him, an old man with white hair, who seemed to be one with the secluded scenery, was casting a fishing rod on the riverside.
Naruto was made of shabby but sturdy ropes.
The old man, wearing a straw hat, stared at the fishing pole by the river.
Even if you know that a mysterious man is approaching you.
He only slightly raised his dark eyebrows, which had turned pure white. There was no sign of restraint.
“Are you here to fish too?”
Seruk Fondant.
The old man’s voice rang in my ears with a ripple that spread gently.
“I’m tall, so I sit down because I can’t catch fish if I stand.”
After thinking about it for a while, Carlyas sat down and grabbed a fishing rod as recommended.
“Have you ever been fishing?”
“I tried.”
Callius’ hand stopped as he tried to get the worm out of the old man’s bait box.
There was no bait in the bait box.
“I don’t have any bait.”
“What do you want to catch?”
“hmm.”
There was no way I wanted to grab it.
Because he didn’t come to fish.
But for some reason, I couldn’t answer easily. It seemed that the old man’s question was not simply about catching fish.
“Fishing is not always easy. Be sure to catch the guy you want to catch and use the bait he likes to catch you. Is that all? They are also very affected by the weather. Also, no matter how delicious something is, you only bite the bait when you are hungry.”
Even though fishing looks easy, the old man muttered that it’s not that easy.
“If you put on anything roughly, any bastard will get caught. So, is it fishing? Since ancient times, fishing is the aesthetics of careful preparation and waiting.”
“….”
At the words that sounded like he was scooping, Callius fiddled with the hook on the fishing line.
“Why are you not talking?”
In response to the old man’s question, Callius threw it into the river without even putting a bait in it.
Fondant.
The pleasant sound of water was heard on the lake shore.
“There is nothing I want to grab yet.”
“is it? There’s nothing bad about that either. Originally, life is half sleep and half wandering, so won’t a goal come naturally as time passes?”
Callius nodded at the old man’s words as if it was no big deal.
There was a strange power in the old man’s tone.
He spoke effortlessly, but strangely, it seemed that Callius was being healed.
Like being comforted that it’s okay.
‘It’s peaceful.’
The sound of splashing water.
Birds chirping in the nearby forest.
The sounds of life, the fluttering sounds of the occasional bouncing fish, benefit your ears.
It is a nice and quiet place.
Callius closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed Naruto’s solitude.
“Are you a pilgrim?”
“yes.”
“Which god?”
“First of all, it is a sword.”
“Hehe, first of all, it’s a sword. I guess your faith isn’t that deep.”
I didn’t deny it.
Although Balterus is said to be a god, he has never truly had faith.
It couldn’t have been.
Besides, wasn’t he in a position where he couldn’t be called a pure sword pilgrim now? Thinking about it makes me laugh out loud.
“Nothing bad. Religion is not necessarily a good thing.”
“Is that so.”
“Isn’t ignorant belief bound to do many things sometimes? They wield it arbitrarily, claiming that stealing and hurting others is also in the name of God.”
The old man’s eyes were towards the river.
However, those eyes were wet with melancholy, as if recalling a distant past rather than a river.
“A pilgrim of the sword… A rare nobleman in this town came to visit. Is Carpe still fighting against the Empire?”
“yes. They should probably be blocking the invasion of the principality by now.”
“is it? Then it will soon perish.”
“Maybe.”
This time, the old man turned his head away as if he was quite surprised by his calm attitude.
“You don’t know religious beliefs, but you don’t have patriotism?”
“doesn’t exist. I almost died there dozens of times… I have no attachment to the country.”
There is no attachment to Carpe itself.
It’s enough to ruin it now.
In the meantime, the reason I tried to protect Carpe was for the sake of personal prosperity.
Now that I have enough strength to protect my body, it doesn’t matter.
“But there seems to be something else.”
“…there are things I want to protect.”
However, Carpe is another place that cannot be left unattended.
Because it is a land where many people who have a relationship are risking their lives to protect it.
furthermore.
“It is also a place to return to.”
“That’s right. Patriotism is originally like that. Even if you’re tired of jingling, it’s a bad feeling when others try to break through.”
Callius pondered at the old man’s attitude when he spoke as if he fully understood.
He came here for two reasons.
First, he had to wander intentionally because of those who were targeting him, and second, because Naruto’s old man was the purpose of this poem.
His name is Demetri.
He was no ordinary old man.
“What did the old man come out to catch?”
“I’m here to catch the bad guy.”
The old man swallowed his saliva as he looked up at the clear sky.
“But he never bites whether it’s the weather or his belly button.”
The old man picked up his fishing pole and looked at the needle.
There was nothing on the hook on which the bait should be hung. However, as if he didn’t care, he threw the needle into the river again. Fondant.
“I have two fishing rods in my hand, but there is no bait, and my eyes are looking at the riverside, but my heart is elsewhere, so there is no way I can catch it.”
After memorizing a verse as if reciting it, the old man shook his head as if he had no choice.
“This is why bait is so important. If the bait is halfway, the odd one will be caught.”
You won’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse until you try it.
“The gray renegade. Why did you come to me?”
The old man’s prayer was always the same.
Shichiu was leisurely like a river flowing like the wind.
But his eyes were sharp, like a beast hiding in the reeds, hiding himself and aiming for prey.
“I have a request.”
Callius pulled out his armor from his bosom.
It was a main armor made of a paladin who used a hook.
“They told me to give it to you.”
“…It’s a main glove.”
Demetri, who was handed the armor, touched it bitterly, hooked it on a fishing hook, and threw it into the river.
with a plop!
His mouth opened with a sound.
“Derrin must have died at your hands.”
It was to say the name of the paladin who used the hook.
“Derrin’s idiot. I warned you that you would die if you went, but you managed to find the place to die.”
“He missed you before he died. Former Pope Demetrius.”
Dim, the god of hooks.
Demetrius, the former pope there.
A person who rises to the ranks of adults and gradually disappears and chooses to live in seclusion.
He was the true identity of an old man fishing.
I didn’t recognize him at first, but when I saw him fishing and the cave, I couldn’t help but know.
Adults have a choice.
Will you create your own sanctuary?
whether to make a holy object.
Or go to God.
Retiring to contemplate choices has long been a common feature of adults.
“The oracle descends even on an old and useless body. He said to purify the gray renegade.”
And Demetrius, one of the few saints on the continent.
“It’s annoying.”
He was quite skeptical of what God was.
It was then.
pop! boom!!
Something gushed out of the river near Naruto.
Several people dressed in black and wrapped in hoods came out, hiding near the reeds by the water’s edge.
“Protect the Pope!”
They charged at Colius with hooks with only slightly curved ends in their hands.
“Don’t do anything stupid. these guys.”
“The Pope?!”
The paladins, who stood tall, responded with glaring death-like glares at Colius.
“But he is the one God said.”
“Even if the oracle is like that, it’s an opponent that you can’t do anything about even if you attack them in droves. It’s a dog’s death, stop it.”
“But he killed Darrin!”
“Derrin tried to kill him too. I couldn’t kill it, so I just died. It is natural.”
Then he got up from his seat and patted Paladin on the shoulder.
“It suits you well. It’s what Derin left behind, so cherish it.”
“…All right.”
I did something by hanging the armor on a fishing hook, and it seemed that I was trying to tell it to the guy in the water.
Leaving Paladin behind, Demitri tilted her head as she looked at the sword in Colius’ hand.
“Who is this sword you got from killing?”
“This sword was obtained after defeating a dragon that lost its children.”
“A dragon that has lost a child… Interesting.”
A sword obtained by killing the Fire Dragon, Erbiwe.
It was Erbiwe.
Devouring Sword – Loas is broken.
Now that the heartbreak is completely shattered.
Except for the Iron Lord and the Light Dragon Sword, there were no other useful swords, so it was a sword that he had been using frequently lately.
His unique ability is frozen fire.
A sword that emits cold blue fire.
“It must be a lie, Pope. The word of a renegade cannot be trusted.”
“Why would he lie? They said Lumpad was weird, so it seems like a dragon appeared.”
“Please. Lumpard is a country that is the main axis of the National Federation. If the dragon had appeared, we would have immediately asked for help from our allies.”
Demetri shook her head.
“The place where the sky opened was Lumpad. And he has a main glove. He’s an old man, so he’s deaf, but he’s not busy enough to turn his back on rumors.”
Perhaps the armor he is wearing is the symbol of Lumpard.
“Isn’t it Lumpard’s Holy Grail?”
There was no need to hide.
“Lumpard’s holy grail was a symbol of benevolence and bravery. The first armor that made Lumpard what he is today! But now that it’s lost, Lumpard must be finished. I can guess why the gods were angry.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Isn’t that natural? They are busy competing with each other, but they probably don’t want to witness the birth of another god.”
birth of god. He was hinting that now Colius would become the new god.
Something so absurd that even the person himself would think it was nonsense.
But why? There was a pretty big echo in the word of God’s birth.
“Would you like to go to my place for a while?”
“His Holiness!”
“Go away. What are these guys with a bright future doing to protect an old man who is about to leave?”
“But God…”
“Enough. Even God knows what kind of guy this old man is. So, there is nothing to say now.”
A person who does not properly serve God despite rising to the position of pope.
Nonetheless, those who have reached adulthood.
At Demetri’s words, the paladins bit their lips and retreated in unison.
“Would you like to go?”
A small cave in front of Naruto.
His abode was talking about that place.
Callius pondered for a moment and followed him.
“You want Dim’s hook? There’s nothing I can’t give you. It’s not that great.”
As if it had dyed Lumpad’s Holy Grail.
He knew at once that the Relic of the Hook was meant to do the same.
I felt it from a while ago, but whether an adult is an adult, his insight was great.
“however…. Have you decided who to catch?”
He’s a needle hanging on a fishing line. No, I grabbed the small hook and grinned.
“How far do you know?”
“Isn’t there a saying that neither spring nor summer is mine? It is convenient to know that it is the result of searching for the truth and the questions I had while doing the right thing in my short life.”
As soon as I entered the cave, I glanced at the paladin following me and asked.
Even if they were told to step back, they would keep their distance and follow them.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Sympathy. Old people are naturally weak when they see young people wandering around. Besides, water is clearer and cleaner when it is freshly poured than when it is stagnant.”
And there’s something I want to ask of you.
“What is it?”
“I want to make a holy relic.”
“…why is my help there?”
Creating a holy relic requires a price.
Like Vera who made Vera’s rings.
It is to make a sacred relic, just as a saint burns the last part of himself to make a jugu.
A sacred act performed in a place where no one interferes or enlists people of the same denomination as Bondi.
But to do so requires the help of Colius and no one else?
“I am convinced after seeing the renegade who made the god angry. I must make a holy relic.”
“Which holy relic?”
“A holy relic that no one in this world has ever made. An arrogant holy object that tries to embrace everything in the world.”
If you put a sword, it’s a scabbard. If you put a spear, it’s a spear case.
A house to be used as a container for all weapons.
“That’s this old man’s last wish.”
