RD | Chapter 18

Ian managed to jump in front of Keith, stopping him just in time. Keith, who had been about to strike down Louise with a single blow, halted his sword when someone else intervened.

Stopping a drawn sword mid-motion was no easy feat. Keith was both surprised and furious.

“What are you doing!”

That was exactly what Ian wanted to say.

“Were you about to attack my party member?”

“That man is not your party member. He hid his face with cloth, so you must have been deceived. Didn’t you see? The cursed black hair and black eyes?”

Keith didn’t sheathe his sword, trying to persuade Ian.

Ian realized that this zealot had gone into fanatic mode.

‘Ah, this bastard…’

“I also have black hair and black eyes.” Ian reflexively tried to defend himself.

“The traitor clan has a grayish skin tone. It’s proof of betrayal. Don’t you know this? Remove that cloth. You are being deceived. I will show you. Now, step aside.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I will cut him down and show you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Ian’s tone was starting to regain its edge.

He was supposed to lose a precious 4-star character to this guy? How hard had he worked to get him? Moreover, Keith, by any rational assessment, was not a character who could join Ian’s party. Wasn’t he affiliated with the Papacy?

“Lord Ian, I…” Louise spoke in a trembling voice.

“Shut up. Don’t move an inch from behind me.”

Ian spread his arms, blocking Louise. Keith understood his intent. His previously polite tone was lost.

The holy knight, favored by the divine, spoke. “Do you truly intend to protect the traitor clan?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are also an apostate.” The tip of the sword touched Ian’s chin.

The 5-star hero, Holy Knight Keith, glared at Ian with eyes full of hostility.

Ian’s temper flared to his head. He knew why Keith initially showed favor to him.

‘It must be because of the purification ability.’

Because Ian used a special ability that only a high priest would have, Keith must have judged him to be a priest.

Keith’s title was ‘Divine Representative’. He was a fervent apostle. To him, those who served the divine were brothers. He was an absolute protector to believers who followed and sought salvation from the divine.

And he was just as hostile to those he judged to be the opposite.

He had judged Ian as an apostate. Now, even if Ian stepped aside and let Keith kill Louise, Keith would still hunt Ian down.

‘Am I going to die here because of this bastard?’

He almost died because of this guy triggering the event, and now this guy would end up killing him?

The thought made Ian unable to suppress his anger.

From the moment he got here, everything had been crap, but this kind of crap death?

“Kill! Kill everyone who blocks your way, monsters or people, kill all the three hundred people I protect, and survive alone! You damn bastard, that’s what your god wants, isn’t it?!”

“…Three hundred?”

‘I knew he would react to that.’ Ian bit his lip.

Keith valued human life.

‘Yet there’s probably no character that has killed as many people as this guy.’

But he was considered a ‘good’ character because, by his standards, those he killed deserved to die.

Keith’s mission was to save this world and turn it into the ‘world of the divine’… in other words, a kind of heaven. For that, humans who would praise the divine in this heaven were necessary. Therefore, priests who closely follow the will of the divine received special treatment from him.

‘Even with <Purification>, he would hesitate if it meant killing three hundred.’

Because in this messed-up world, there weren’t many humans left to survive.

‘Even if most of those three hundred are from the traitor clan.’

Then, suddenly, a large hand reached out and grabbed Ian’s neck. The hand, encased in armor, held a metallic chill.

‘Ah, shit.’

His grip was so tight that Ian couldn’t breathe. He thought he was going to die. His mind went blank.

His pulse was racing. Ian instinctively struggled to survive. A faint voice reached his ears.

“Lord Ian!”

“Move!”

Keith caught an arrow flying towards him with his other hand and broke it. Even in this situation, Ian found it oddly impressive.

‘Crazy bastard…’

“…It wasn’t a lie.”

After looking at Ian for a moment, Keith threw him to the ground.

“…Keuk, cough! Cough!” Ian writhed, coughing.

‘What did that bastard do?’

He seemed to be checking something… like a pulse…

‘…A human lie detector?’

Ian was flabbergasted. Meanwhile, he coughed violently, tasting blood in his throat, which might lead to him vomiting blood if he was unlucky.

Keith looked down at Ian with cold eyes.

“Leave. …And never let me see you again. I’m not sure if it’s right to spare you. If we meet again, I might kill you.” He even kindly warned.

‘Thanks, you bastard.’ Ian ended up vomiting blood.

“Cough!”

“Lord Ian!”

“…?”

It turned out that while his neck was being held, his HP had been draining. That meant Keith’s action was judged as an ‘attack’. This mad man seemed to have genuinely considered whether to kill him or not.

“You…!”

“Stop. Let’s go.” Ian, stopping Louise from drawing his bow, ordered a retreat.

Keith watched until their figures disappeared behind a pillar.

Ian thought Keith might suddenly change his mind and attack, but that didn’t happen.

After walking a long way into the forest, Ian sighed.

‘Lived…’

“Ha…”

Crazy bastard.

It seemed like he would have to give up on recruiting Keith.

The one who stepped up to bandage Ian’s neck was Louise. He had experience treating injuries, having dealt with hunting dangerous creatures in the village.

He treated Ian in silence, his mouth tightly shut. If he opened it, he might cry.

But when Ian’s collar moved aside, revealing a dark bruise on his neck, he couldn’t help but speak.

“If it wasn’t for me…”

“Keith is a zealot. If it wasn’t for you, he might have attacked us for trying to enter a heretic’s temple.”

“…”

Louise was silent, so Ian warned him. It would be troublesome if he harbored unnecessary hostility. Louise had a nature to attack anyone he decided to take revenge on.

“We really can’t let that bastard see us again. He’ll kill us without hesitation. Next time, he truly won’t spare us.”

“Ah…”

Suddenly, Louise burst into tears. Ian was surprised to see him act like a boy his age.

‘What, what’s this?’

“I will swear eternal loyalty! You can kill me anytime, Lord Ian! No, please kill me! Use me however you wish! I’ll do anything for you!”

“No, I won’t kill you…”

‘What’s this all of a sudden?’

Ian was dumbfounded. Then, the system window beeped.

Ding!

[‘Poison Hunter’ Louise’s loyalty has reached its maximum.]
[Loyalty: 100%]

‘Ah, I see…’

Ian didn’t understand the situation, but it didn’t matter. Loyalty at 100% meant that even if you sent him to his death, he would say ‘Understood’ without hesitation.

‘I’ve completely secured the 4-star character.’

It seemed the boy was shocked by the injury, but…

The price of getting his neck choked wasn’t too bad.

Looking in the mirror, it was indeed a sigh-worthy wound, but does your face feed you in this game?

Ian grunted through the treatment.

‘But Keith… Can I really not get him?’

He probably couldn’t…

Ian felt regretful.

Keith watched the group of apostate priests disappear into the forest.

‘Apostate priest.’

If there was any adjective to describe the black-haired, black-eyed man who looked innocent, it would be that.

Keith had come here under orders from the Pope to clean up the heretic temple. He was a bit surprised when surrounded by the skeleton army, but they were no match for him.

The problem was elsewhere. There were others besides Keith in this area.

‘How?’

It was deep in the forest, where there wasn’t even a path, making it hard to imagine someone would stumble upon it by chance, yet they had arrived precisely at the heretic temple.

But they were human.

Keith didn’t think long before rescuing them. Above all, he saw the arrow shot by the black-haired man among them. It had flown to where Keith was, scattering the sacred energy of <Purification>.

The man was blessed by the divine.

‘He’s a high priest.’

Keith had to save him.

However, among the man’s party, there was a traitor clan member. That cursed race.