293: How to Beco a Priest
“Yes, Rev. It’s been a while.”
“Huh!”
Rev, who had just let out a single cry, fell silent for a mont. The fog in his eyes cleared as he woke up, but he seed bewildered, not expecting to wake up now.
The beggar siblings scenario was cleared.
Only the childhood friends and engagent scenario was left to be cleared, and Rev, having beco the king of the Right Kingdom and made Lena a princess, was planning to pass the baton to Leo for the engagent scenario and crown Lena Ainar as a princess.
Thus, [Raising Lena] was supposed to reach its grand finale…
‘The beggar siblings are done.’
It wouldn’t make sense for the scenario to revert to the beggar siblings even though the engagent scenario was pending. However, Rev soon realized that the nas of Leo Dexter and Lena Einar had changed.
To Ray and Rera Ainar.
Even the surna Dexter had disappeared, and history had changed. Rev, forgetting that Lena was beside him, asked softly.
“What round is this?”
What on earth had happened? Lean de Yeriel shrugged and answered simply.
“It's twenty-second.”
...I’m the ‘nineteenth Leo.’ Rev chose to remain silent, and Lean, having taken over the conversation, greeted her.
“Nice to et you. It’s been a while, Lady Lena. I’m Lean.”
“Do... Do you know ?”
“You’ve heard of , haven’t you?”
Yes, she had. A few weeks ago. Lena scratched her head in confusion.
So everything Rev said was true. Then the dream I had was also sothing from the past... hic. Lena looked at Rev in bewildernt. Rev said nothing.
Lean decided to clarify the situation.
“Making Lenas princesses wasn’t the clear condition. We were mistaken. We need to fulfill the dreams of the Lenas.”
“Dreams... you say?”
He’d heard it many tis before, but Rev seed shocked once again. He squeezed his eyes shut and kept looking back and forth between Lena and Lean.
So many scenes must be flashing before his eyes.
Even the childhood friend had suffered nurous terrible endings. Rev had gone through an especially hard ti.
Playing the role of a general, which didn’t suit him, and finally deciding to beco king.
While Ray had vented his anger at Minseo, Rev, who was relatively obedient, struggled and rotted inside.
‘Who are the Lenas?’ Lena wondered, while Lean continued.
“And that wasn’t the end of it. We need to defeat Oriax and Astroth. Minseo has been trapped again.”
He explained the events of the last two rounds of the engagent scenario.
After killing Count Herman Forte, Astroth descended and massacred everyone, and Minseo was thrown back into her world but returned. Ray, with the help of Rera, Baron Arpen Albacete, and Count Jacob Mordred, defeated Malhas.
At so point, Lena could no longer understand Lean and Rev’s conversation.
Astin? Aster? They ntioned kingdoms she had never heard of.
And three Sword Masters? There was only one Sword Master in the whole continent—Count Herman Forte.
Ignoring Lena’s confusion, Lean pointed out a crucial fact that Minseo had discovered.
“Sir Bart was supposed to be the Sword Master to counter Oriax. We can’t leave him alone.”
“...I see. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
Lean shrugged again and accepted the apology without much concern. It was sothing that had already passed, but Rev had not yet even suggested leaving Sir Bart alone. In the tangled threads of ti, Lean spoke.
“It’s okay! Although it might not be compensation, you have sothing you need to do now. You have to catch Oriax. I’m not going to leave Orville.”
“...? Can I take him down even though I’m not a player?”
“Probably? It wasn’t intentional, but you took down Barbatos, didn’t you? That… in Taamoon Village.”
Yes, it was the last ti... no, during the 18th beggar siblings round, when Rev was running to Orville and t Lean along the way. He killed a drunkard who was about to assault Lerialia and Jenia.
He was angry at what the man was about to do, but more importantly, there was a ‘trumpet symbol’ engraved on the man’s chest.
Not long after Rev dragged him away, the world shook, and the ‘Apostle of Barbatos’ achievent disappeared. It was clear that the drunken man was the last follower of Barbatos.
And since Barbatos was already included when the Guardian (守護者) achievent was unlocked, it seed that Ashin didn’t care who among the Leos took him down.
Lean concluded.
“You’re the only one who can take down Oriax now. Listen carefully. I’ll explain my plan to you. You need to head straight to Marquis Harvey’s territory. It would’ve been easier if you could summon a mount… but you don’t have that achievent yet, do you?”
“What? But I thought fulfilling the dreams of the Lenas was the true ending condition. There’s no need to convince the marquis to start a rebellion…”
“Just listen. A rebellion isn’t the goal. Go and wake up the marquis’s wife. What you need is money. Get travel expenses and a gate pass in exchange for curing her, then go et ‘Marisa.’”
...Ah! Rev realized what he was trying to say. Lean was drawing up a plan to stop Bart from attacking Harie and Philas Tertan at the Irotashi River.
“Do you rember who Marisa is? She’s Sir Bart’s wife. She’s working as a maid in the Marquis’s territory… Use her to et the marquis’s wife or whatever. You decide the order. The important thing is to take her if possible, and if you can’t persuade her, take their second son. That way, you can stop Sir Bart.”
“I understand.”
Rev nodded, and Lean continued.
“If everything goes well, you’ll be able to arrive at the Irotashi River in ti. But just stopping Sir Bart from killing Philas isn’t enough. You need to get the necklace from Harie, but she probably won’t give it up easily, so you’ll need to stage sothing. Similarly, to persuade Sir Bart to follow you, you’ll need to show him the necklace…”
“So I should let Sir Bart attack Philas’s group until I intervene in the middle?”
“Exactly. As long as Philas doesn’t die. Sir Bart will be extrely anxious when he sees the necklace. Use that well. Take Sir Bart with you and catch Oriax.”
It sounded simple, but it would be a difficult journey. Rev guessed that Lean couldn’t handle this himself because of
[Debuff: Footsteps of Oriax – Taunt, cannot escape. Fixed at 11 years, 11 months, 11 days, 11 hours, 11 minutes, and 11 seconds.]
He assud it was because of the ‘Footsteps of Oriax’ mark. In reality, the brand had been erased.
Rev voiced his concerns.
“But can I really catch Oriax? I’m not like you. You could easily convince the knights… no one will listen to .”
“Probably not.”
“And I’ll need Cardinal Verke to help take down Oriax. As you know, Cardinal Verke is…”
“He’s Jenia’s grandfather. Don’t worry. I’ll get in touch with him. Although there’s a problem on this side as well…”
“What problem?”
“I’m not in a relationship with Jenia. I confessed to her this morning, but Katrina is causing trouble.”
“...?”
A question mark popped up over Rev’s head. What on earth was he talking about? But Lean just shrugged and changed the subject.
You lied to too, didn’t you?
This ti, Rev’s task wasn’t related to the matter, so Lean withheld the information to avoid unnecessary confusion. Just as the Lord had done with us.
“Don’t worry about it. If there’s a problem, I’ll let you know through the mirror. I still have my mirror left. If necessary, I can talk to Sir Bart or use it to persuade Cardinal Verke. You already know how to hunt Oriax. What you told about—it worked.”
“...What did I say?”
“You suggested using the saliva of Valaina. Oh, and make sure not to break Harie’s necklace right away. Minseo thought of this: break the necklace in front of Eric de Yeriel. That will make Oriax reveal himself.”
“...Got it.”
With this, the important conversation ca to an end.
Lean got up from the stairs where he had been sitting and began strolling leisurely back and forth in the hallway. He brought up a minor topic.
“And you’ll hear from Ray this winter.”
“What’s happening on that side? History’s changed, right? Oh, you wouldn’t know either.”
“Yeah. It’s probably going well. Since there was no civil war, Ray’s mother should still be alive... Ah, and just in case, tell Ray not to throw away the mirror. In the last round, he threw the mirror into the fireplace.”
“What? That idiot...”
The mirror, a bound item, was a keepsake from Rev’s mother. Or rather, it used to be, and in any case, it was sothing related to her, so Rev frowned. Lean explained.
“Don’t misunderstand. He wasn’t in his right mind back then. When you hear from him, tell Ray to live happily for once. He had a really hard ti in the last two rounds.”
“What about ?”
“You lived well during that ti.”
“...How?”
At the words “you lived well,” Rev’s lips tightened, as if he was desperate to hear more.
This Rev didn’t know how he had lived or what kind of happy ending he had achieved after discovering the true ending conditions.
Since this round was imdiately after the beggar siblings round, which had been ‘cleared,’ Rev only rembered a series of terrible failures. It was only natural that he was curious about how his future had turned out and what his and Rea’s happy ending would be.
Feeling pity for Rev, Lean told him.
“You and Lena ended up getting married. Lena worked hard to marry you. Congratulations in advance. It’ll be the sa this ti too.”
Whoosh. Rev’s face turned bright red. He quickly tried to deny it.
“W-wait a minute. You said we need to fulfill Lena’s dream. Lena wanted to beco a priest...”
“Yup, and she still got married. Lena is sothing else, really. To marry you, she even reford the churChapter You, on the other hand, were planning to burn down the entire Holy Kingdom of Jero and the Cross Church just to marry Lena. Both of you are really...”
“S-stop!”
anwhile, Lena’s face also turned red beside him. She felt even more embarrassed as she recalled the dream she had a mont ago.
In the dream, as a priest, I wandered the entire continent looking for Rev.
As a wandering priest, I road desperately and finally arrived in the Kingdom of Conrad, where I lanted in front of Rev’s grave, offering a pointless blessing.
I realized that both my dream and my love were precious to .
, marrying Rev... Lena curled up, pulling her knees close.
In the shining mirror, the handso prince smirked, and Rev, who seed to have gone through so incredible experiences, was flustered, waving his hands in denial. It was hard to believe what she was seeing. She gently grabbed Rev’s hand.
“W-why are you acting like this too?”
Rev’s ears turned red enough to be visible even in the dark.
Lena, holding on to his hand as he tried to pull away, declared firmly.
“I’m not going to the central churChapter Rev, take with you. I want to be of help too. Yes… I’ll enter Lady Harie Guidan’s service as a maid.”
“W-what?!”
“...Oh! Lena, you’re really smart.”
Two weeks ago, Rev had told her everything that had happened so far.
In the repeating cycles of ti, Rev, Leo Dexter, and Prince Lean de Yeriel had gone through countless experiences, and although it was hard to believe, they rembered everything. Lena quickly found the answer.
“You said it’s not your turn right now, right? Then it doesn’t matter what I do, right? I’m going to marry you. I’ve decided that now.”
“S-stop lying. What about being a priest? You wanted to beco a priest.”
Just as Lena was about to reply, Lean interrupted.
“Rev, listen to Lena. Co to think of it, she’s really smart… The Cross Church isn’t the only place you can beco a priest, right? I didn’t realize this until now, but it’s impressive.”
Rev didn’t understand.
Are they all trying to fool together? You have to go to the central church to beco a priest. What other way is there?
But what Lena said next was shocking.
“I heard that Cardinal Verke trains priests. Can’t I join him?”
Speechless, Rev was at a loss for words.
At that mont, with a crack, the mirror Lean was holding shattered, and the light faded from it. Although mine’s fine, it looks like Rev’s broke because we talked for too long.
‘That side’s taken care of now.’ ─ Holding the mirror close to his chest, Lean thought.
He had conveyed everything he needed to Rev, and with smart Lena by his side, there was nothing to worry about.
Now I just need to do well.
Having freed himself from concerns about the other Leos, Lean returned to the room where his sister was.
He lay down beside Lerialia, who was fast asleep, gently stroked her hair, and slowly drifted off to sleep while thinking about Jenia, Katrina, and Cassia.
The bright moon peeped out. It was a night when the lonely warehouse warmly embraced the siblings sleeping within.
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