MarcTempest

Editor: Himanshu02As Eurius was lost in thought, he heard the voice of Karim, who was waiting outside.

He looked somewhat anxious, unlike his usual calm demeanor.

“Is my father’s treatment completely done?”

“Yes, this time we have completely driven out the poison, so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“Thank you very much!”

Karim looked at him with a complicated expression that was hard to describe, then bowed his head deeply on his knees.

It was the highest form of gratitude to a benefactor in the desert.

It was completely different from his cold attitude at their first meeting, so Eurius momentarily put aside his thoughts and looked at him with curiosity.

‘I thought he was a cold-hearted person, but he must have been very filial. Well, that’s why he accepted my offer.’

Eurius smiled and grabbed Karim’s shoulder to lift him up.

“You don’t have to thank me so much. I also gained a lot from this.”

“…”

Karim did not say anything else.

He remained silent with his head bowed towards him even after he stood up. But such a stubborn person would not make a fuss about repaying his debt.

Eurius looked at him with a gentle gaze for a while, then opened his mouth.

“Let’s rest for a few days and talk more later. You also need to wait until the king recovers before we can have a proper conversation, right?”

Eurius, who came out like that, was very tired, but he had something to do quickly. Outside, it was already pitch-black midnight.

Swoosh.

He started to sprint through the desert at night, hiding his presence. What he had to do was!

‘I worked so hard for this, I have to get some loot!’

The place where he stopped was the Mirage Temple.

He couldn’t come here right away when he killed Ismail because he had too many things to worry about.

Ding!

[You have killed the Archbishop of the Heimdall Cult.]

[Additional information about the quest ‘The Forgotten God’s Cult’ is unlocked.]

[Unlocked items: Archbishop, Authority, 13 Branches]

[Your achievement increases greatly.]

This was the notification that popped up when he killed Ismail.

If he searched the temple, he would be able to get more information.

***

Inside the temple, those who did not participate in the raid were talking with nervous expressions.

“Is there still no news from the Archbishop?”

“All the elites went out, but there is still no news. Could it be…”

Slash

“…!?”

The one who was talking had his neck severed from his body.

“Who are you?”

‘It seems that they mobilized most of their forces for this raid. Judging by the presence I feel, there are hardly any skilled ones left.’

What Eurius was doing now was looting an empty house!

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t empty, but the result would be no different.

Swoosh

He disappeared like a ghost and moved his sword in an instant towards the next target. He was also quite exhausted, but this level was enough for him to handle alone.

“Aaargh!”“Is the Archbishop still not back? Could it be?”

The temple at night was suddenly swept by a bloody wind.

‘My force recovery is much faster than I thought. I’m reaping the benefits of getting injected with true energy by Jegal Unhyeon.’

In fact, if he hadn’t received true energy from Jegal Unhyeon, even Eurius would have hesitated to attack right away. But his current state was that his force was not exhausted, but rather replenished like a spring that never dried up.

‘Is it because I inherited the trait of Azure Dragon’s Breath? I’ll have to find out why he gave me inner energy later.’

It didn’t take long for him to clear out the inside of the temple.

It wasn’t a very big building in the first place, and there weren’t many people left.

Besides, there was no point in sparing them and interrogating them since they weren’t the type to answer anyway.

Crash!

‘Is this the last one? Now it’s time to investigate the temple.’

Eurius, who had easily chopped off the last assassin who rushed at him, carefully walked into the temple.

The first room he investigated was where Ismail and Jamir had their conversation.

It seemed to be a place for office work as there were various documents lying around. Eurius checked the contents and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk! I’ll have to give this to Karim. It will be a great help for him to take over the desert kingdom.”

The documents were reports on the assassination sect’s contracts.

The only client from the empire side was Wallace, but there was clear evidence that many power holders in the desert had secretly requested them.

If this secret was revealed, it would be obvious what would happen. Eurius could hold the leash of the clients through Karim.

The second room was not very related to the cult, but it was not without income.

“They must have ripped off a lot of money. I didn’t expect them to have this much wealth.”

The second room was a vault. He broke the locked door and entered, and the inside was shining with gold and jewels.

‘Come to think of it, Marius said that the northern development fund was running low.’

Money was always scarce no matter how much you expand your power.

He would move it later through the Azure Dragon Company.

There were also many large rooms, but they were mostly used as dormitories or training grounds, and there was not much income.

‘Hmm… Is there no clue related to the quest?’

Eurius was slightly disappointed when he searched all the rooms and there was no notification. But there had to be some clue in the place where the cult leader was.

He walked along the corridor and finally found the place he was looking for.

Ding!

[You have found the relic ‘Heimdall’s Statue’.]

[Destroy the statue. Your achievement will increase.]

‘As expected, there was something to gain.’

Eurius was overcome with joy and drew his sword again.

The deepest part of the temple had a huge pit, and in the middle of the pit was a statue of a snake that radiated a sinister aura at a glance.

Crash!

Without saying anything, the statue was shattered by a single slash of his sword, and at that moment, numerous notifications appeared before Eurius’s eyes.

[The destruction of the artifact containing the last holy power caused the seventh branch of Heimdall, Pluto, to be completely annihilated.]

[Your achievements have increased significantly.]

[Due to the huge increase in achievement, your achievement progress will be displayed from now on. Current achievement progress: 30%]

[Additional functions of your status are unlocked by the increase of your achievements.]

‘A branch, huh? That means there are still others out there.’

Eurius decided to sort out his thoughts carefully after seeing the many notifications that suddenly popped up.

[Help – View Heimdall’s 13 branches.]

[It refers to the 13 branches that inherited Heimdall’s power. Current number of remaining branches: 6]

‘There were 13, but some of them are already gone?’

He opened up more help.

[Each branch has a unique power that is only given to the archbishop. When the succession of this power is cut off, destroying the relic of that branch will cause the holy power of that branch to completely disappear from the continent.]

‘This is crazy. That means there are at least six more monsters like that Archbishop…’

Eurius couldn’t help but make a bitter expression. To be honest, killing Ismail this time was partly due to luck.

But there were six more places like that.

He had such a hard time clearing one place, how was he supposed to complete the quest?

‘First of all, I need to expand my power and gather talents. That’s the only way I can make a chance.’

As he thought so, Eurius realized something he had forgotten for a while.

‘By the way, they said I got an additional function for my status. What did I get?’

***

Time passed quickly.

King Saladin III of Parthia, who had been poisoned by formless poison, was finally able to get up and do his job properly after a week.

After that, it was time to discuss the alliance in earnest.

Saladin III was very gloomy because of Jamir’s incident.

“I never thought my foolish son would collude with Kalihara and do such a thing.”

“It’s because they are so cunning. It’s fortunate that it was resolved well.”

It was rather a good thing for Eurius.

Kalihara picked a fight with Parthia on their own.

“I accept your proposal for an alliance. But I’m too old to handle such big things like war. Instead, I’ll entrust it to my second son Karim.”

Eurius’s eyes sparkled.

It meant that he delegated full authority to Karim.

“Karim is someone I can trust too. Then let’s discuss the details after I report back to the empire.”

There was no reason to stay longer after achieving his goal of forming an alliance with Parthia.

“Then I’ll go back to the empire as soon as I’m ready in a few days.”

“Hmm… It’s a shame that you’re leaving so soon. I feel like I haven’t repaid you enough…”

Karim answered bluntly as usual, but he and Eurius had become quite close over the past few days.

It was natural since Eurius had solved all the problems he had been worrying about for years in just a few weeks.

But Eurius felt rather uncomfortable with his gaze.

‘He seems to be clear about cutting and tying things up, but it’s awkward when he treats me differently.’

Whatever he thought, Karim seemed to be really sorry.

“Then I’ll throw a banquet for you as a last treat. I’d appreciate it if you could attend.”

“I’m grateful that you’re throwing me a farewell party.”

He answered cheerfully, but Eurius was actually nervous.

He had a rough idea of his intentions.

And at the banquet that night, what he feared finally happened.

“Ahem, ahem.”

After a few rounds of drinks at the banquet, Karim finally coughed and revealed his true feelings.

“Actually, I owe you a debt of gratitude that I can’t repay even in my lifetime.”

“Haha! You’re too flattering.”

Alcohol usually opens up even the most taciturn person’s mouth. Karim’s tone was still blunt, but from Eurius’s point of view, words that made him sweat came out.

“No. I was in awe of you in every aspect, from the strategy to drive out Jamir to your military prowess. I would like to have you as my [Mentor] if you don’t mind. Would you please grant me that?”

“…”

Eurius was speechless for a moment.

Mentor was a word that meant a teacher among the desert tribes. But the problem was that he and Karim were more than ten years apart in age.

‘Even if I add up my previous life, I’m only a little older, but isn’t this a bit too much?’

Karim was so blunt in his personality that he didn’t act very friendly until then. But Eurius knew his inner thoughts very well, and the reason was as follows.

[Al Karim]

Job: Prince, Senior Warrior

Strength: A Agility: A Intelligence: A Mental Power: B+ Force Aptitude: B+ Force: A

Disposition: Ambitious, Brave, Stubborn

Current State: Grateful, Respectful

‘Even though I just pushed through the other problems with brute force, is this something to respect?’

The additional function of his status was the ability to see the current psychology of the other person!

He couldn’t see the details, but it was still an amazing ability to see the mind of the person he observed.

‘This ability will make my future moves much easier.’

At first, he was happy to get a new ability, but now he was in trouble because of it.

If he didn’t know that Karim was sincere, he would have taken it as a joke, but it was hard to refuse because he knew.

“It’s hard to be a mentor when I’m so young…”

“Age doesn’t matter when it comes to learning. Please, I beg you.”

Karim even tried to bow his head again.

‘No, why do I have to be a mentor? Why can’t we just be brothers or friends?’

Eurius couldn’t help but scream inwardly.