Elden Clergyman

"No, that's my lid!"

boom--

"Oh, my waist!"

After a while.

Alexander raised his head, looked at Lord with an unknown organ, and said seriously.

"Why don't you just stop fighting? I suddenly feel like it's fine to just stay in the pit like this."

Lord was a little embarrassed.

It wasn't that he intended to torture Alexander, but the problem was that Alexander's entire body was like a pot, a 360-degree ellipse with no dead angles. He really couldn't tell which side was right and which was wrong, and he didn't even know what organ the other party was using to speak.

Of course, it finally came out.

Because Lord suddenly realized that this was reality, not a game, and he didn't necessarily have to beat him. After helping to dig the soil next to him, Alexander crawled out by himself.

"Phew—I thought I was going to burst."

After crawling out, Alexander did not intend to blame Lord. Instead, he took out a piece of brave meat and gave it to him as a thank you for helping him out.

"Reintroduce yourself again. I am Alexander the Iron Fist, the warrior pot. I am currently heading east to train myself."

East?

Lord looked at the map.

"Are you planning to go to Galeed?"

"Yes."

Alexander nodded and sighed.

"I heard there's a battle festival being held in Red Lion City, south of the wilderness. I've only heard of it in stories before. Don't you think it's quite enticing?"

After a pause, it seemed to realize something and turned to look at Lord.

"Oh, you probably want to go there too, right? After all, from the way you hit me just now, I can tell you're a brave warrior. It's only natural that you'd yearn for that kind of celebration."

After Lord nodded in agreement, Alexander laughed heartily a few times and then shook his head.

"I long to journey with a brave warrior like you, but to become a hero, you must learn to overcome loneliness—I think the warriors within me would say the same."

"So, although I appreciate your help, I still have to embark on this journey alone, and then we'll meet at the battle festival later—"

boom.

Because he was concentrating on saying goodbye to Lord, Alexander accidentally fell into the same trap again.

And this time, it's even more stuck.

Alexander looked up at Lord awkwardly, then looked at him as he took out the small wooden stick with a serious expression.

"Don't worry, I will definitely hit the right position this time."

"Really?" Alexander had a bad feeling.

"Really." Lord nodded.

Then--

boom.

Looking at Lord in front of him, who was embarrassed and kept apologizing to him but still holding the stick and eager to try, Alexander was silent for a moment and said sincerely.

"Or, you should dig me out again."

This is Alexander, a warrior who aspires to be a hero.

For the first time in my life, I felt fear.

And chose to surrender.

......

After separating from Alexander, Lord was still a little confused when he recalled his chubby appearance.

So how does that thing distinguish between front and back? He clearly felt like he was hitting the back...

While thinking, he hurried on his way. After crossing a bridge and walking a little further, Lord met an acquaintance.

Hunting Death, D.

When Lord saw him, he was standing in front of a corpse that had obviously just been killed, muttering something to himself.

"Well, that's why death is spreading again..."

"I'm so sorry, I can't take care of your affairs now."

"But since it hasn't experienced a 'death birth', its soul will eventually return to the tree."

"Gold, take control of this man's soul."

As he spoke, he noticed the sound of horse hooves coming from behind him, turned around, and saw Lord.

"Oh, it's you. Nice to see you again."

Lord walked over, looked down at the body on the ground, and then looked at D.

"What happened?"

D shook his head and then looked towards the village in the distance.

"Death has spread to the village ahead, and the 'ship' is probably there too. If you don't want to die in vain, don't get close."

Lord thought for a moment.

"What's a ship?"

"The ship is a call ship, a ferry ship that spreads death. It is extremely dangerous and must be destroyed..."

Oh, boss, right?

Lord nodded and was about to go over to the spirit horse whistle to see what was going on, but suddenly he remembered something and looked at the corpse on the ground.

"Well, isn't there something wrong with Guishu? He probably can't go back for the time being."

D was stunned, then shook his head.

"There's nothing wrong with the Return Tree itself. It's just that the Ring is broken and the Golden Rule can't function properly."

"Once a Faded One obtains two Great Runes and completes the restoration of the Ring, the golden light will reappear. Then, both the Returning Tree and the Golden Law will become complete again, and there will be no problems..."

"what?"

Lord blinked.

"But isn't the Golden Rule flawed from the start?"

D: "......?"

Without waiting for D to respond further, Lord continued speaking.

"You said I already have two Great Runes, and I just spoke with Two-Fingers at the Round Table. It said it also acknowledges the problems with the Golden Rule."

D: “???”

After a pause, Lord added a final sentence.

"And I don't know why. I just wanted to say hello and chat about the Golden Rule..."

"But when it got to them, it became a bunch of dirty talk and suspected harassment..."

"The language of fingers, isn't it magical?"

After saying this, Lord rode on Torret and ran away.

D was left standing there blankly, not moving for a long time.

What did that person say just now?

......

the other side.

After a brief conversation with D, Lord arrived at the village that D had previously warned him not to approach.

He originally wanted to come here to fight the boss, but unexpectedly he met an acquaintance.

No, it can’t be said to be an acquaintance, but rather the corpse of an acquaintance.

No, it doesn't make sense to say it was an acquaintance's corpse, because the corpse of this acquaintance was alive.

At once......

"Brother Roger?"

Looking at the humanoid skeleton in front of him wearing Roger's suit, Lord blinked.

"How did you become like this?"

"Ah, it's you..."

Seeing that it was Lord and that he did not attack him directly, Roger smiled bitterly.

"As you can see, I became a Deadborn. As for the reason..."

"Have you heard of 'Deathborn Knight' Fia?"

Because he was familiar with Lord, had been helped by him before, and because he didn't seem to discriminate against the Dead Born, Roger simply described his situation to him.

"I'm sorry, I concealed my identity from you before. I was once a companion of the 'Deathborn Knight' Fia. When I went to Stonewell, I was also looking for an important item related to the Deathborn..."

"Oh, by the way, you probably don't know what a Deadborn is yet?"

"Simply put, a deadborn is someone who is excluded from the Golden Rule and born out of death."

"To paraphrase D, those people are defilers who must not exist in this world. The reason I went to Stonevale to search for tools was to save them."

"You must think I'm talking about fantasy?"

"But during my investigation of the Night of the Conspiracy, I realized one thing—the Deadborn weren't harming anything. They were simply trying to survive, and thus, they violated the law."

"I couldn't just turn a blind eye to something like this, so when I met Fia and learned about her desire to protect the Deadborn, I chose to help her."

"But recently, I've discovered that what we understand by 'protection' is very different."

"I want to protect the Deadborn because they are innocent beings, and I want to find a way for them to survive."

"But Fia believes that if the Deadborn want to survive, they must strengthen themselves, even if it means harming others."

"I think that's wrong."

"But I can't refute Fia, because the current situation is just as she said. Even if the Deadborn do nothing, they will be hunted by the Golden Law. Without power, without resistance, and without harming others, they can't even survive."

"But then, what is the essential difference between the Deadborn and those who persecute them?"

"If this continues, once the Deathborn grow stronger, it will just be another Golden Rule, or maybe even worse."

"I didn't want things to turn out that way, so I took the initiative to ask Fia to transform me into a Deadborn."

"I want to use this method to find a way to keep the Deadborn alive without harming others."

"but......"

Roger looked around and smiled bitterly.

"Now it looks like I can't even leave this place."

"D is outside. He used to be my friend, but because of this, I know that if he saw me now, he would show no mercy."

"I betrayed Fia and the Round Table. This is the only small place I have left. But the Deadborn inside don't seem to like me very much."

"Perhaps, from the very beginning, my idea was wrong."

After listening to Roger's words, Lord thought for a moment and shook his head.

"What you said is too complicated, and I don't quite understand it."

After a pause, and without waiting for Roger's response, he spoke again.

"But if you need a place to stay, I might be able to provide one for you."

"It's full of hybrids and subhumans now. A while ago, they sent in a Platinum Child. I think a Deadborn shouldn't be a problem either."

Roger was stunned.