章 9: Chapter 10 : 'A Man That Keeps His Word'
Arthur continued to read books all night and stopped early in the morning, he didn't get much information than he already had, he finished reading all the books he bought yesterday, some of them were about great battles that occurred in the past, others described the continents and certain events but the books weren't as detailed as the books he got from the tomb, he didn't know why but he just shrugged it off as it didn't matter anyway.
The girl stayed on the bed but didn't sleep she just sat obediently and didn't do anything special, she seemed lost in thought and kept staring in front of her.
Arthur didn't know why she hasn't slept, he had read that demons had inborn magic but their physical body was more or less like Humans, they needed a sufficient amount of food and rest to live albeit having a slightly better constitution thanks to the magic. He also noticed that she didn't even move from her spot, despite that, he didn't say anything as he let her do whatever she wanted, after all, even if he was 'supposedly' her master, he didn't dare think like that or have any strange thoughts about her, because such desires were gone since a long time ago. He just wanted to live his new life as he wished, unobstructed by 'desires'.
He stood up from the chair after a long night of reading then looked towards the girl sitting at the bad and asked:
"I'm preparing to go out, do you want to come with me or stay here"
The girl who was lost in thought looked at Arthur before nodding her head and getting up from the bed.
Arthur didn't understand what she meant by her nod but when he saw her getting up he knew she was going to come with him.
Soon, both of them left the room and headed downstairs, Arthur didn't go outside right away, instead, he sat at a table in the restaurant and waited for the landlady to come take his orders, he was going to order food for the girl who was sitting at the table with him as fruits aren't enough to satisfy the hunger of anyone, and he couldn't bear let her eat just that. Yesterday, after thoroughly checking the fruits, she wolved them pretty fast and it was as apparent as the sun itself that she had been starving, he thought about this matter and finally decided that even if there were people gazing at them when they were at the restaurant, it doesn't matter, he wasn't going to let a girl starve because of such trivial matter.
After a couple of minutes, the landlady came into Arthur's table with a smile on her face and said "So you finally decided to eat in my restaurant huh? Breakfast will be served in 5 minutes and it costs 1 silver coin per person."
Arthur just nodded toward the landlady and passed her 3 silver coins replied
"Bring me 3 servings."
The women accepted the money from Arthur and nodded her head back at him, she didn't seem bothered by his way of speaking as she knew he rarely talked.
Just as the landlady said, 5 minutes later, the food came and soon, all the table was filled with various kinds of delicacies. Lucy, the girl beside Arthur, although she was covered from head to toe with a cloth, he could sense she was intensely looking at the food, so he just casually said
"Feel free to eat all the food, it's for you, after all."
As though she was waiting for him to say this, the girl began eating like a hungry wolf, but after finishing a couple of dishes, she looked at Arthur and then at the food in front of him, so he just pushed the dishes to her and shook his head as if meaning he was not eating it.
The girl just grabbed the remaining dishes and gulped them down.
Seeing the girl eat that much and remembering her petite frame, Arthur guessed that she didn't eat much before he 'bought' her because even though she was insanely beautiful she seemed a little skinny, seeing her like that and remembering the terrible thing that happened to the women and little girls in the camp of the bandits, Arthur's loathe towards this lawless increased.
'For young girls like this to be sold as slaves just because they are from a different race, even calling those nobles and slave traders inhuman is still a compliment... tch!'
After noticing that she finished all the dishes and seemed full, Arthur got up from the chair and headed outside, the girl noticed his actions and followed him quickly after.
Arthur was thinking about heading to the Holy Church as the books about it mentioned that the only way to break the seal restricting the power of a demon is by visiting the Holy Church and asking the help of a Holy Priest or seeking the aid of an extremely skilled water mage as the [Water Attribute] had good purification effect, albeit lesser than the Holy/Light Attribute. Arthur himself could be considered a powerful mage, however, he was new to this world and he didn't know how to break the seal, so the only way left was to take her to a Holy Priest.
It didn't take them long to arrive in the front of the church, after all, Arthur remembered every single thing he saw and when he was touring the town on the first day he came here, he saw a building which was very similar to the church in his previous world, so he just assumed it is the Holy Church .
The Holy Church was not that big, but it seemed majestic, it was a white building with some beautiful gold lines painted on it. While he was proceeding toward the entrance of the church, he noticed that the girl who was following stopped walking and stood there.
Arthur frowned for a split second but quickly remembered that demons were hunted by the Holy Church on this continent, so logically, they wouldn't let her live if they discovered she was a demon which led him into saying
"We came here only to lift your seal, do not worry about them as they can do nothing to you".
The girl lifted her covered head to look at Arthur but she still didn't budge. She seemed to not trust Arthur's word at all, so he didn't know what to do, after all, he can't force her to come with him, nevertheless, he still wanted to help her but it seems she was distrustful of him and there was no way she would come with him to the Holy Church on her own free will. Seeing her stubbornness, he let out a helpless sigh and gave up on that idea.
'I would never force her to come, if she's unwilling then I guess I'll try finding another solution.'
Just as he was going to leave with the girl, some guard who was wearing white armor shouted toward the girl
"It's a demon, that person is surely a demon, quickly call over the lord!"
Just as he finished speaking, everyone who was nearby heard his shout and looked where he was pointing with his hand. It ended up with every person who was present looking fearfully at the girl who was covered with gray cloth. Their eyes held disdain, fear, disgust and extreme hate, some even contained bloodlust.
Not even a minute has passed and the Holy Church soldiers were coming out of the building armed with all kinds of weapons, they were looking to the girl as if she was a monster, they glanced at the black-robed figure standing beside the 'demon' but they didn't pay him much importance as they could tell he wasn't a demon, in fact, any Holy Church soldier could distinguish a demon even with sealed powers as they emanated some kind of dark aura. Furthermore, they got the Holy blessing, so, the dark aura related to demon could easily be sensed by whoever got the blessing.
To begin with, Holy Attribute and Darkness Attribute were opposed, just like Yin and Yang. To make matters worse, Holy Attribute is usually able to purify darkness, but the opposite could not be said to be totally true. Plus, all demons were born with a good affinity to Darkness attribute, which made them naturally vulnerable to Holy Magic.
Soon, an old man came out of the building, he was wearing a white, long sleeved robe, which seemed like an expensive magical item. He was also holding a golden cane which had some flickering light around it.
The old man observed the crowd calm, unperturbed eyes. He didn't utter a single word, neither did his expression change until his pupils shifted to the girl's figure. The old man knew that she was not a threat but he deeply frowned as he glanced at the black robbed person next to the girl, he lived for a fairly long time and could distinguish between weak and strong. Just one look was able to make him ascertain that this person is not to be messed with.
Even though he seemed to notice that Arthur was particularly strong, he believed that he could finish him easily so he ordered his men
"Faithful warriors of the Holy Church, hear my commands and erase this filthy existence! Demons have no right to live amongst us, purified and blessed Humans!"
Just as he finished speaking, all the soldiers who were looking at him with admiration roared and charged toward the enemy.
Even in a situation like this, Arthur was very calm, when he appraised the LVLS of soldiers he saw that they were strong in comparison to normal people but they were a weakling in front of him.
their LVLS ranged from LVL16 to the maximum being LVL19, indeed the Holy Church lived up to its name when it was said they were the true ruler of the Human continent. He also appraised the old man who seemed to be their commander and got "ting"
Theodor (Old priest) : LVL41
Arthur was a little surprised too that this old man had a high Lv so he was a little excited, as this was the first strong opponent that he encountered in a while.
The old man didn't say anything and ordered his soldiers to attack. There was about 50 of them running toward him but he noticed that they were aiming for the girl near him, there were also some mages who started chanting to execute their attacks.
Arthur didn't move, he just waved his hand and a dark spheric barrier surrounded him, protecting him and the girl.
Truthfully, he wanted to check how much this barrier could hold as he didn't get the chance to test it yet.The soldiers were fast as they closed the distance fast but once they arrived near the barrier they couldn't pass through as if there is some kind of wall so they started attacking it with their swords, spears, and maces but none of them did work as the barrier didn't as much shake from their bombarding attacks.
They realized that their attacks were not doing any damage so they backed off and waited for their mages to launch their attacks as normally, a single mage attack power was many times more powerful than a normal attack from a sword, so there's no need to mention an attack from a dozen or so mages.
Arthur didn't do anything and just watched the scene as he waited for these mages to attack.
After 20 seconds of chanting, the attack was finally launched and a large blinding wave of Holy Magic struck the barrier, a loud sound echoed and the Holy Church mages were looking at their powerful attacks proudly with smug faces but that didn't last long as their faces turned from proud to surprised and fearful and that's because the spherical black barrier didn't even crack and seemed impenetrable even when it was struck by such an overwhelming attack. Even the crowd of people watching this scene were dumbfounded and couldn't react in time, which left them even more speechless.
The old man was also surprised and furrowed his brows as he didn't expect the barrier to hold to such a powerful attack, nevertheless, he still maintained his calmness for he was confident of his triumph over this small battle.
Arthur was joyful to see his that his Dark Barrier can hold this much and not break. He noticed that the girl beside him was anxious and even shaking a bit so he gave up on the idea of testing other things and decided to end this. Slowly, Arthur started walking towards the old man whilst speaking with a chilling tone
"You should stop attacking, this is indeed a demon but 'it' is also my 'slave' so there is no need to be so aggressive towards it."
He intentionally called her his slave so they could understand that hurting his 'belonging' is like offending him.
The soldiers didn't seem affected by what he said and acted as if they would attack at any given moment. The old man stared at Arthur then replied with a calm voice
"Hohoh, so it is like this... how about you give the demon to us? We will compensate you for it with generous things, we have gold, skill books, treasures, everything you like, you just have to let us kill this filthy being."
When Arthur heard the answer of the white-robed priest, he was angered, this Holy Church seemed to be persistent about killing the girl in broad daylight and didn't even consider her as an equal but treated like an animal, if not worse!
They didn't seem to care about their actions as they were all 'justified' which made him feel more disgusted with their way of doing things, and this added to the many reasons he had to help the demon girl, Lucy.
Arthur could always kill slaughter his way out of here but he didn't want to as killing a priest of the church would bring nothing but troubles so he searched for another way to get out of this mess.
As he was thinking of a solution, he noticed the girl next become even more anxious so he guessed that she must've thought as he would accept the offer of the old man and give her away as he had known her for only a day and there was no need to go through such trouble for her, which was a logical thinking from her part, howver, he didn't know why, but a strange feeling surged in his heart as he looked at her being scared of the Holy Church which made unconsciously pat her head, even though she was short in height, her head still reached his neck so he awkwardly patted her head and said
"I am a person who keeps his word, you do not have to worry about them."
Just as he said, he used [Faster Than Death] and instantaneously appeared in front of the old man, the distance between them was less than 50 meters so Arthur just teleported next to the priest and, without even letting him have the time to react to his sudden movement, he quickly created a long sword with his dark magic and just chopped off the arm which was holding the golden-cane. He quickly grabbed it with the cane and teleported back using [faster than death] to where he was previously.
It took this long to explain but it all happened too fast as not even 4 seconds passed since Arthur used his first teleportation.
The old man had shocked eyes as all he could see was Arthur disappearing then just reappearing in the same position holding his chopped arm.
Blood poured non-stop from his shoulder as he felt an immense pain but he didn't dare scream. He felt fear from the black-robed man, he knew that this man was by no means someone to provoke but nevertheless he ended up provoking him by attacking his slave.
The old man felt relief as he knew the man didn't kill him on purpose, nonetheless, he cut his arm off to warn him about what will happen if he dared to attack his slave again. There were no words in such situation, a person of his age immediately understood the intention of the other party.
Theodor could be considered a strong priest, but he knew that there were people stronger than him as he saw that his superiors in headquarters where much stronger than him and in their eyes he was just an ant, be once he came to this town he was considered a god and all people worshipped him, he liked this feeling and stayed here to supervise this town.
There was an absolute rule in the holy church and that is 'kill every demons you come by' and whoever didn't follow this rule would be punished or in worst cases executed, so when he heard there is a demon outside of the church, of course, he had to kill it, but after the turn of events and seeing the power of the opponent he decided to stop being so reckless and warn his superiors about this black-robed man.
He couldn't just ignore his existence as he may become an enemy of the church. The old man grimaced because of the pain but soon many mages who were good at healing magic rushed at him and cast their magic to heal him.
He soon stabilized himself then looked toward Arthur who was still standing in the same place and holding his arm and said
"Thank you for showing mercy to this old man, we will immediately stop the attack, I'm sorry if we had offended you."
After having finished talking, Theodor stared at Arthur waiting for his reply, and after a couple of seconds, he saw the black-robed men Turn around and leave without saying another word.
The old man hesitated as for whether to ask for his arm and cane back or not but he soon gave up on this idea as he saw Arthur use some kind of magic to just devour his whole arm until nothing but emptiness remained. He also waved his hand and the white-cane seemed to have disappeared but Theodor knew he had put it in a storage ring.
After having erased the torn off arm with [Void Magic], Arthur turned around to leave, the girl which saw what happened was amazed as she looked at Arthur, she was so close to him so he could see her face from within the Grey cloth.
Her eyes were stunned and she gave him a complex look but nevertheless, she still followed him when he turned around to leave. Unsurprisingly, no one blocked their way as all the people were amazed and fearful of Arthur because of what he just did, not even a single person dared to follow him as they were afraid he would discover them and the consequences would be tragic.
******
After seeing the black-robed man and the demon going away, Theodor hurried over to his private office in the church, he soon retrieved a blue crystal and used holy magic on it to activate it, after a couple of seconds, the crystal lit up and a voice came out of it.
"Theodor, what do you want? hurry up and say it we are busier than someone like you who sits on their ass all day long "
Theodor didn't seem bothered by the rude way the person from the crystal spoke as he seemed used to it so he hurriedly said
"Lord Erik, today we encountered a demon..."
"Did you just call me to tell me this? if you encountered a demon then just kill it, don't you dare waste my time brat"
"N-nononono, we indeed encountered a demon but as we tried to kill it, it's proclaimed 'Master' defended it, and the master was very powerful"
"And? If he is powerful just kill him, last time I checked with the appraisal stone your LVL was 40, so someone with your strength should be able to deal with him, right?"
"I'm sorry Lord Erik, but this man was not weak, in fact, he chopped my arm off without me realizing it, so I couldn't do anything about it, and I just let him go with the demon, I request some reinforcement to deal with this man"
"Hooooo, this is interesting, we just sent 'Rein' to your town to investigate about 'her' as she seemed to have appeared in your town but I will send someone else, just in case. However, I'm sure 'Rein' could handle it for he is a tamed monster hehe..... in the meantime, keep an eye on this man."
"Yes Lord Erik, thank you thank you..."
When the conversation ended, the blue crystal seemed to return to normal, Theodor breathed a sigh of relief but he was still somewhat scared of the power of the black-robed man as he just couldn't react in time, if he wanted to the enemy could have beheaded him easily and he would have died without even knowing how thinking about this he couldn't stop his body from shaking , he provoked someone he shouldn't have .
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