Chapter 58: Evan D. Sherden. Hunting For Treasure (8)

Evan D. Sherden. Hunting For Treasure (8)

Raihan left, saying that he would let the Church know of his will to join Evan. He seemed confident that he could get out of the Church whenever he wanted, but Evan, of course, didn't think it was that easy.

Even if he was a Paladin, he still had to perform his duties as a priest. The Church would protest and would not let him go easily.

"So, are you really asking for him? You want him?"

The Marquis of Sherden, who was more interested in the fact, asked Evan. Evan wanted to bring a new person aboard again. His purple eyes were twinkling the same as Evan's.

Evan nodded firmly.

"I want to bring him to the dungeon city under the name of our family. If possible, please get rid of his relations and his label from the Church completely. Can I request you of this, father?"

"Of course it is possible. It only requires your strong will. All you need to do is give a few suitable artifacts to the whole Church, in return. Even though I think that the reward to be given to you was sufficient, in helping us all during the plague, I will supplement your request anyway."

"Thank you, father!"

"I have already decided to make you the Dungeon Knight Commander, but I hadn't expected that you would start looking for potential knights right away. That is so much like you, Evan."

The Marquis laughed and patted Evan. Meanwhile, in his head, Evan was checking off the list of artifacts to be given to the Church.

From his pocket. Evan poured out all the designated artifacts. There was a sword, another sword, an invisibility cloak, a shining armor, leather boots... Most of the artifacts were from the second day of the treasure hunt.

"...Are these all artifacts?"

"Yes, these are the artifacts that I was lucky to get in the Royal City. You can give them to the whole Church!"

"You have already prepared the payment for the Church, yourself. I mean, it's really true that no one here completely understands you."

Evan had been fortunate enough to get all of these artifacts in the Royal City, but he didn't know how to handle the relations with the Church.

The Marquis sighed and received the artifacts. They were enough for the price of one priest who was going against the will of the Church.

"Butler. Did you hear everything we discussed?"

"I heard everything, Master."

"Then, carry out these tasks in the name of the Marquis. And carry them out tacitly and neatly, such that no one is able to question the origin or any information about Raihan Drukas."

"Yes, Master!"

The next day was the last day of the treasure hunt. The most important things were already taken care of in the previous two days, so there was really little left on the last day.

"Wow, I was bored, so I bought a ruined house, but there were five boxes full of gold and silver treasures!"

"Master, let's be honest here. Didn't you bury them in advance? Yes?"

"Hey, look! A secret space under the fountain... Wow, there's a box full of jewels here too!"

"It was hidden for treasure hunting on purpose! Hurry and answer my question, yes?!"

Due to its geographic characteristics, the Royal City had a lot of bonus elements for the players. Among them, the most exciting was the treasure hunt quest, which conveyed the feeling as in the question, 'Haven't you got enough money at this point?'

This quest, which usually started with rumors from a backstreet bar or a mischievous tip from a bread-house child, led to several chore quests. These sometimes included monster hunt quests, escort quests, etc., and ended up hustling the player around so much that they fell due to exhaustion. But in the end, you were rewarded generously after finding the hidden treasure on the royal road.

It had been a tradition that continued steadily from Yo-Ma Great War 1 to 4, but Evan ignored everything else and only robbed the four places, which included the final destination where the treasure was hidden... All four of them had been found!

"Well, the protagonists never do treasure hunting quests. Such kinds of chores are up to the extras. It feels like I'm going to start crying now."

"A chore? Is this a chore for you? Hey, Master! Do these brilliant jewels look so ugly to you!? Aren't these more expensive than my own body!?"

"You are a fool Shine. Do not shout so rudely and shut up."

"Wow, there are so many old imperial gold coins..."

On the last day of the expedition, Evan and party had secured an enormous amount of goods that remained enough to replenish the money Evan had spent so on the royal road, three times over.

Evan said that the third day was just a bonus in their treasure hunt, but Shine and the others thought today was actually the real treasure hunt for which they had been waiting all along.

"Okay, let's save this for our Knights' funds."

"Young Master, you can just become independent with so much gold."

"No, the authority of a Marquis cannot be bought with money."

"It sounds scary as you already have enough to become a Marquis yourself..."

"This was so much fun! I'm so excited!"

The last expedition was over when the night fell, and the party went back home with piles of gold coins and jewels.

Playing around all day and finding sparkling jewels was a very enjoyable experience for Serena too, and her pink eyes were shining brighter than the jewelry they had dug up.

"It would be nice if you live with me. If I was with my Oppa, Dad would let me out of the Palace more often."

"I would absolutely hate it."

"It would be fun for us to play alone. We can talk for hours on end, privately. Of course, I haven't even got to know half of the instructions you've got to give me."

"I would rather die."

Serena was aware of the fact that Evan had to leave the Royal City tomorrow.

Although she didn't like it, Evan had erected something like an iron wall (figuratively) between himself and her, which served as his guardian wall. The real iron wall was said to rise above the northern boundary of the country and prevent the invasion of enemies and monsters.

"I will return to the dungeon city tomorrow, Princess. And perhaps I won't come back to the Royal City. I really enjoyed the three days I spent with the King. I will make it a lifetime memory and not forget it."

"Then, I'll never see you again, Oppa."

Serena's cheeks were thick and swollen, but Evan only laughed at her. As Evan was finally relieved of the burden of a bunch of death signals, he couldn't help but laugh,

It was a great pleasure to hear that the Marquis had finally succeeded in declining the engagement offer from the King.

"...No, I will definitely see Evan Oppa again."

"Don't say such scary things. You are a very precious person that cannot come out of the house. It's dangerous outside. The escort knights had to be on their guard for three days consecutively for your protection."

"Yes, the escort knights look tired... So what do I have to do to come meet you by myself?"

"You have to be strong! To live in this tough world, you must be bold and brave. You need to have the strength to protect yourself. The only thing that can protect yourself at the last minute is your own strength... Your own toughness!"

Evan thought he had spoken too much and wanted to stop speaking, but it was too late. Serena heard him and nodded seriously.

"Okay, I understand now. In this world, the weak are eaten by the strong, so I have to be strong in order to not get eaten."

"... Who taught the Princess such things?"

"If I get stronger, I can live longer, and I can come out of the Palace. Yes, I understand. You always teach me good things."

Evan had slight anxiety when he saw Serena nodding her head while muttering 'we must be strong', but it didn't matter how hard the Princess did self-training, the Princess was not allowed to go out of the Palace unless the King had gone crazy. Evan believed there was no way to tell her that.

Evan had done everything in his power to make the Princess realize her strength and situation. It would be a risk for her if she decided to come to meet him by herself. And Evan did not wish to meet her again anyways, anytime soon.

Evan looked at the Princess's escorts. They nodded with an ambiguous smile as if they understood what he was trying to say.

"You don't have to worry about her because we will keep the Princess under high protection in the future."

"Please, please do."

They exchanged some last greetings as they neared a crossroads. One carriage was waiting to go to the Royal Palace, and the other was destined to go to the Marquis' villa.

Serena didn't speak much as the farewell drew near, but when they reached the forked road, she jumped out of the wagon.

"Princess?"

Serena ran towards Evan, her eyes filled with tears.

Evan saw the Princess crying for the first time. He then realized that Serena was still only ten years old.

She closed her lips as if trying to resist crying, but finally spoke, her voice cracking.

"Evan Oppa, I'll definitely come to see you."

"No, it's dangerous."

"I'm going to see you because I'll become strong."

It was a rough estimate, but Evan thought a deep misunderstanding had arisen. When Evan wasn't sure what to answer, he shut his mouth, and the Princess declared in a stronger tone.

"I'm getting stronger too, so I want to join the Dungeon Knights squad with my Oppa."

No way, she had heard Evan talk with Raihan yesterday.

Evan didn't know what to think! He pondered for a moment and then shrugged. There was no way it could be according to her will anyway or that she controlled her destiny in any sense.

"If you can really become strong enough to be able to carry out your life according to your desires, then do it."

"Yes, I will."

The Princess nodded firmly, then put both her arms around Evan's shoulder and pulled him into an embrace.

She opened her lips as if to say something. Evan heard a small whisper in his ear.

"The next time we meet, call me by my nickname. It's Ray."

"... When we meet again. I get it."

It was only after Evan nodded that Serena, who was barely satisfied with his response, let go of him.

The escort knights were looking at them as if the whole scene had moved them deeply. Maybe if they knew about Evan's feelings, they wouldn't make those expressions.

Evan thought his plans were somewhat ruined. Because of the Princess's tragic fate, Evan empathized with her so much that she had intervened in his life more deeply than necessary, leaving room for a connection with her in the future.

Moreover, if Evan wanted to live longer, he shouldn't even flirt with women.

No matter how Evan looked at it, the Princess seemed to favor him above all!

'Of course I am just a child now.'

Love in childhood usually ended quickly and left only good memories.

Even if Evan ever meet her again in the future, or if he saw her again after a few years, Evan would have moved on by then and would say something like, "it was good then."

Evan believed so.

"Then I will go, Oppa."

"Goodbye, Princess."

[No!]

"You too, take care of the Princess."

Ruby nodded as if tense at Evan's words. Evan smiled and turned around.

The escorts who had been with guarding them for the past three days settled the Princess in a carriage, politely bowing their heads.

Evan nodded to them too, and returned to his carriage. Shine was smiling.

"You are also good with women, Master. You got a kiss from a Princess, a Princess's kiss!"

"Shine, do you know that I can slap your cheeks with the power I have gained?"

"... If Her Highness wants to force you, please let me know. I'll help you."

"Oh, thank you. Lua."

Unlike Shine, Belois, on the other hand, was completely frozen.

They both had these expressions for some time. It was a very reliable statement, but if that kind of situation ever come up, Evan feared what would Belois do.

"Evan! What are all these treasures!?"

"I acquired them because I was lucky on the way, father. I'm going to use it to fund the Dungeon Knights."

Only

'... At this point, I'm afraid how much stranger would it be for everyone when I become an adult and actually become the Dungeon Knights Commander.'

Returning to the villa, the Marquis was astonished. There was a young man standing next to Evan. He was dressed in casual clothes, who was taking off his uniform and armor, but his roughly fluttering blonde and green eyes were definitely those of Raihan Drukas.

"Master Evan met me and I'm ready to leave the Church."

"You can just comfortably call me Evan. Anyway welcome, brother."

All the treasures that Evan could get his hands upon were recovered, the limit of artifacts he could carry had increased, Raihan Drukas was also obtained, and soon there would be a branch office of the Brotherhood Pharmacy in the royal province.

'I made a relation with the Princess as a bonus, but... Since I got everything else more than I had expected, should I say it was all for the better?'

If possible, Evan hoped the Princess would be engaged to another nice guy before she really ran out of the Palace to come for him! Evan prayed earnestly and packed up.

The next day, the party of the Marquis, in addition to Raihan Drukas, left the Royal City and went home without any regrets.