William stayed behind to help in the library for a while. Not like he had anywhere else to be.
Besides, for him, it was better than being put to work sowhere that required physical labor. His priority was recovering his body completely and getting the hell out of this place.
During his ti in the library, several people ca by to read. A few even glanced at the necromancy tos on the shelves with visible curiosity. Still, no one touched them.
Nilse, who normally drifted through the monastery helping wherever she was needed, found herself "stuck" in the library.
"I’d better stay here and make sure no one opens those books. Curiosity is a dangerous thing, you know?" She offered a warm smile. "If you want to go do sothing else, feel free. You’ve already helped plenty today."
William was starting to get bored just hanging around the library, so the idea of wandering sowhere else was becoming pretty appealing.
"You’re sure you’re okay with this?" he pressed. "I don’t want to leave you hanging."
"Go ahead," Nilse insisted. "I’m fine. Actually, can you do one last favor?"
"Na it."
"Swing by the kitchen and grab sothing to eat? I can’t leave here until nightfall."
"On it."
William headed to the kitchen to pick up sothing for Nilse to eat and drink. The kitchen operated almost the entire day.
Between the people being sheltered here, the holy guards, and all the other monastery staff, everyone needed food. So the cooks were always working.
When he arrived, William explained the situation. After collecting Nilse’s food, he returned to the library and handed it over.
Nilse was grateful for all the help William had given her that day. William thought it was the least he could do, considering she’d saved his life.
As he walked through the monastery gardens, the priest appeared and approached him. He still looked exhausted from the fight against those beasts, but that hadn’t stopped him from coming over.
"We need to talk about sothing serious," he said. "Can you co to my office?"
William had no idea what this was about. For a mont, fear gripped him—he thought maybe he’d finally been discovered as soone carrying demonic energy in his body.
He grew restless during the walk, his mind racing a mile a minute, calculating escape routes if things went south.
"Actually, this would be the perfect mont," William thought. "The priest is weak, so I’ve got the best chance."
Once they were alone in the office, the priest said, "I need you to leave the monastery for a day or two."
Hiding his relief, William asked, feigning frustration, "But why? What did I do wrong?"
The priest shook his head.
"You didn’t do anything wrong—we did. I don’t know if Nilse told you, but we weren’t supposed to take in anyone else. That’s why I was reluctant to help when we found you on the street. If the undead see you here, it’s going to cause problems for all of us..."
The monastery had a certain limit on how many people it could shelter. Theoretically, it could hold many more—there were plenty of spare rooms and enough food—but the Lich didn’t allow it.
Everything was now under his tighter control, especially the monasteries—places that housed people with divine magic.
"Where would I even go?" William asked. "Everything out there is so dangerous, and I have no idea where to go."
The priest understood his perspective. Being outside, away from the protection of the barriers, was dangerous. There were magical beasts around every corner, and undead that could cause him trouble.
He pulled out a map drawn on paper that looked ancient, slightly yellowed with age.
"This is a map of the region. I marked our monastery with a red circle, and so circles at points where you might be able to find help if you need it."
William accepted the map and examined it. It was a complete map showing the entire kingdom. There were several points marked by hand by the priest.
These points varied between safe locations where William could find help, and dangerous places he should avoid.
Sothing interesting caught his attention. There were certain locations marked as revolution.
"Revolution?" William asked. "They’re trying to remove the Lich from power?"
The priest’s expression grew serious. "Yes, they are. The resistance is very weak... Our monastery is part of the revolution. Actually, all the monasteries are."
William saw sothing interesting unfolding before his eyes. Maybe he could turn this situation to his advantage.
The kingdom was in complete chaos under the Lich’s rule, and the surrounding kingdoms hadn’t sent help. They were more concerned with building up their own forces to defend against the Lich than helping the kingdom recover.
This was perfect for one thing: seizing power. William saw the chance to beco an important figure in the revolution, and with that, secure benefits like money, influence, and more importantly—levels and better items.
"I can’t leave this kingdom, because that’s where my class is," he thought.
The system had told him when he first set foot in that kingdom—in the past, before the Lich took over—that his class, or rather, a clue to acquiring his class, was nearby.
That probably hadn’t changed over the years. That was exactly why he had to stay in this kingdom.
"Do you think the revolution has a chance of removing the Lich from power?" William asked.
The priest didn’t seem very optimistic. "Do you know about the summoned heroes?"
That made William freeze. The summoned heroes—his forr classmates back on Earth—were a complete unknown. He’d only encountered one of them during his ti in this new world.
"Yeah, I’ve heard of them. What about it?" William asked.
"A long ti ago, the last summoning of heroes happened. Over the years, each hero chose their own path, and now they belong to different kingdoms. The Lich currently has a summoned hero on his side, and the revolution has none. That’s the problem..."
"These heroes are incredibly powerful, all of them above level 100 with very special abilities. The revolution, despite trying very hard, doesn’t have the ans to win this war. If only the wandering hero would appear again..."
William frowned. "Wandering hero?"
"Yes. They say one of the summoned heroes was cast out for being too weak, but actually his potential was remarkable. They say he has the power to travel through ages, and even infiltrated that necromancer’s cult about eighty years ago. But he vanished without a trace. No one knows his whereabouts. He’s like a legend here."
William was genuinely pleased inside. He’d beco a legend—sothing he never saw coming.
"Actually, it makes sense... Everyone knew about the heroes across the entire world, and I just vanished, then reappeared at different points throughout history. I guess that’s what created this whole legend..."
William said nothing about his identity, nor did he ntion that he was considering helping the revolutionaries take back the kingdom. That was sothing he needed to do in secret.
After all, he was weak. To go toe-to-toe with the Lich—and a summoned hero—he needed to recover, raise his level, and obtain his special class.
All of that would take ti. The priest couldn’t know any of it. If he did, he’d definitely think William was lying, or worse, might even imprison him for spreading falsehoods.
"But don’t go too far," the priest said. "This map might be great for you in the future, but first, before you go off adventuring, you need to recover. Stay hidden in the region for a few days, then co back here."
That wasn’t what William planned to do. This mont was perfect for getting the hell out. Why would he stay at the monastery? His strength was practically back, and if he actually wanted to train and kill monsters to get stronger, that wouldn’t be possible inside these walls.
Staying there would just be a waste of ti.
"Got it, don’t worry," William replied. "Thanks for all the help."
"It’s nothing. Take this coin pouch, and rember—stay hidden. If possible, leave imdiately. The undead sotis show up at unexpected hours. Those bastards never sleep."
After gathering everything he needed for his journey, William went back to let Nilse know.
It stung a little to tell her he’d only be gone for a few days, when in reality he planned to leave for good.
"Ah, that makes sense for the priest to ask that," she said. "I’d forgotten the monastery was at capacity. But be careful out there—besides monsters, there are sotis undead patrols roaming around. Of course, you haven’t done anything illegal, but they might decide to give you trouble anyway for whatever reason."
"I’ll be careful. Thanks for worrying about ."
Nilse appeared to have so words she wanted to say, but she said nothing. She looked at William’s back as he walked out of the library, her right hand reaching her heart...
*
William then left the monastery through the front gate. The guards who’d worked alongside him unloading the carriages watched him pass and leave.
No one stopped him. But they were visibly curious to see him walking away alone, heading straight for the forest that everyone knew was incredibly dangerous.
This was the beginning of William’s new adventure. The future was uncertain.
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