"You’re still young, sister. I spent many years in the village learning all this. What was that saying again? ’Ten short stubbles make a good priest.’"
After speaking, Father John gently rubbed his knees, then pushed himself up with his hands on them.
"Alright, this Old Guy should be getting to bed. Good night, everyone."
Father John spoke as he pushed the door open and left the room.
Colin looked at the small notebook in his hand by the lamplight.
He’d actually been wanting to find time to study herbs ever since they went gathering, but no matter how much of a grinder he was, there was just too much to learn every day. And none of it was easy, so the matter had been put on hold.
"I’ll study this, Mr. Colin," Orelia said.
Colin teased, "I thought you didn’t like to read?"
"I just don’t like reading with *you*. You’re too intense, Mr. Colin. I can’t handle it."
Orelia said as she took the small notebook from his hand and began flipping through it. "I actually studied herbalism at the Monastery, I just haven’t had a chance to show it off with you guys."
"I recall that security around the Holy City is supposed to be pretty good. We probably won’t get any commissions. Why don’t we take a detour through some more remote areas? Maybe we can find some valuable herbs along the way."
"You sure the security is good here?" Kase asked, lying on his bed with his hands clasped behind his head. "We just ran into a swarm of flying red goblins today."
"There will definitely be fewer Ordinary monsters; this is the area around the Holy City, after all. But there will be more of the kinds of Evil Demons and monsters that are good at hiding. In other words, you usually won’t run into them, but if you do..."
"Then it’s the real deal," Kase added.
Orelia read her book off to the side while the others chatted for a bit before going to sleep.
The next morning, Colin was woken by the sound of someone chopping wood outside his room.
"You always sleep in the most," Kase said, sitting on the edge of his bed and inspecting his equipment.
Orelia was also packing her things. "Mr. Colin uses his brain a lot, after all."
"Alright, time to get ready," Colin yawned. With a thought, a Magic Radiance emanated from the Armor placed by his bed.
He raised his hands, and the Armed Clothing descended from above, fitting itself onto him. The Chain Armor, Chest Armor, and Wrist Guards floated up one by one and flew onto his body, their straps dancing for a moment before tying themselves.
Colin glanced at Kase’s expression and smiled faintly.
’This was the part of his morning he enjoyed most these days.’
"I’d really love to learn how to do that. Why can’t my Heroic Spirits help me pack my stuff?" Kase complained.
Colin chuckled and said, "Yeah, why is that?"
After packing up, they left the room.
Father John was chopping wood in the Church courtyard. When he saw them come out, he waved.
The group had a simple breakfast and then set off on their journey once more.
Father John drove the carriage, taking them eastward, and they finally parted ways at the next major village.
There, Colin also collected the reward for killing the Imps from the local lord’s steward. It was only about forty Gold Coins in total, which meant ten Gold Coins for each of them.
And with that, the simple quest was complete.
-----------------
[Commission: Escort the Priest]
[Rating: 2]
[Reward: 100 Skill Level]
-----------------
The quest to kill the Imps had been quite simple. Colin even felt the commission’s difficulty was probably only a one.
With so much more Skill Level, he had trouble deciding how to allocate it.
’In terms of cost-effectiveness, putting it all into the [Casting] Skill would be best, since he was only about three hundred points away from the next Specialty.’
’But the [Casting] Skill had the most ways to improve it. Besides directly adding Skill Level, he could also buy materials to research Magic and raise it that way. The rate of increase for its Skill Level was much faster than the other two Skills.’
’Besides, this Skill was the weakest of the three.’
’After all, the other two were combat techniques developed through systematic study.’
After a moment of hesitation, Colin added all the Skill Level to [Casting], which already had the higher level, bringing it to 1782/2000 points.
’No matter what, getting the Specialty was the priority.’
Having put that matter to rest, the group followed a small path, heading northeast.
「A few days later.」
During this time, the dirt road under their feet grew narrower and narrower.
The main road became a small path, which then turned into a narrow dirt track that might have been a game trail. The common thatched huts gradually disappeared from view, a sign that they had reached a more remote area.
Because Orelia was a Tiefling, the group decided to bypass the Holy City, taking a side path that led directly to the White Dove Monastery north of the city.
The discrimination against Tieflings in the Holy City was far worse than the prejudice against Orcs in Thousand Masts City.
After all, the biggest trouble around the Holy City was the constant invasion of Demons.
It was somewhat understandable that Tieflings, who carry Demon blood, were discriminated against.
At the same time, however, this discrimination made it difficult for Tieflings to find legitimate work, and most were unable to receive any formal education.
Most Tieflings could only survive through petty theft. Some even strayed onto the wrong path and became Cultists, attempting to summon Demons from the Lower Realm, which in turn caused the residents to discriminate against them even more severely.
More ironically, the very existence of Tieflings stemmed from the corruption of the Mortal World by Demons—the more frequent the Demon activity around the Holy City, the more likely newborns in the area would be Tieflings.
Thinking about it this way, the situation formed a perfect, vicious cycle.
Demon activity led to an increase in the Tiefling population, which led to discrimination. This discrimination forced Tieflings to survive through theft or by worshipping Evil Deities. In the end, these Tiefling worshippers would try to summon Demons back to the Mortal World.
The thought left Colin with complicated feelings.
’Still, the Holy City’s problems weren’t his concern. It was enough to just watch from the sidelines.’
Fortunately, they had encountered almost nothing related to Demons on their journey.
One morning, the group was walking along a small path.
Partway along, Colin pointed to a small plant by the roadside and asked, "This should be Plantain, right?"
The plant had wide, large leaves growing close to the ground, with a stalk rising high from the center, topped by something that resembled a head of wheat.
"Yes, that’s it. This, along with Calendula, lard, and beeswax, can be used to make a salve," Orelia said. She pulled up the Plantain, shook the dirt from its roots, and put it in her herb pouch.
Colin asked, "What’s our haul so far?"