Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 90
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 90
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“Your Eminence!”
Lionel urgently sought out Giuseppe.
Giuseppe looked up at the shattering barrier with an unusually grim expression, devoid of any trace of humor.
Despite reinforcing the divine barrier with the relic, it seemed the seal had weakened more than he had anticipated.
Giuseppe quietly searched his memory, recalling what demon the White-Robed Saint had last fought against in her lifetime.
If she had sealed it in a mountain rich with earth’s essence, it must have been a fire-wielding demon.
Among fire-wielding demons, a large species, and one that had taken the White-Robed Saint’s life.
“Cerberus.”
The three-headed canine demon was notorious for its ferocity, capable of destroying several cities once it went on a rampage.
If they failed to stop the demon here, it would cause even greater casualties.
“Sir Lionel, evacuate the villagers.”
“I’ll help you too, Your Eminence.”
“There are things each person can do well and things they cannot. What I can do well is slay demons, and what Sir Lionel can do is evacuate and guide people to safety.”
“But…”
To his subordinate who was reluctant to give up, Giuseppe spoke gently but firmly.
“You would only be in the way, Sir Lionel.”
At those words, Lionel had no choice but to step back.
She knew that her superior boasted unparalleled martial prowess in the Holy Empire.
Moreover, he was the chosen one who could freely wield the Meteor Spear, a sacred relic.
So there was no need to worry.
…Under ‘normal’ circumstances.
Currently, Giuseppe’s eyesight had severely deteriorated as the price for seeing too far and too much of the future with his divine insight.
Fortunately, it wasn’t permanent damage and could be healed with time and prayer, but there was no time for that now.
Though she couldn’t even tell how bad his vision was or whether he could fight at all, Lionel had to turn away.
Because she painfully realized that she would only hinder Giuseppe rather than help him.
* * *
The first thing Giuseppe ever ‘foresaw’ was his parents’ death.
Young and naive, he was convinced he could change the future he had seen.
There was a time when he truly believed that such foolish hope was divine and God’s blessing.
Now an adult, Giuseppe still glimpsed the future through divine power.
The future of the village before his eyes, which he had missed while looking only at the distant future.
As always, God showed him the most tragic future.
In the village that had been caught in a landslide and left no trace behind, only the chilling silence of death lingered.
‘Always showing me such bloody futures while telling me to praise You.’
The god who created this world must surely be a monster.
Thinking this, Giuseppe recited the same short prayer as always.
“So please save even one more life.”
Though he had become an adult, he still couldn’t escape the foolish thoughts he had harbored in childhood.
* * *
Lionel was leading the priests who had joined the pilgrimage toward the village.
“Sir Lionel!”
Turning her head at the voice calling her, she saw Belinda’s group climbing up the mountainside.
She hurriedly grabbed Lionel and asked.
“Are you going to evacuate the villagers?”
“Yes, Lady Blanche, you should also quickly get outside the village…”
“No, don’t do that.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t flee outside the village. Evacuate everyone to the temple.”
“But if a battle with the demon breaks out, there’s a risk of landslides from the aftermath. Surely the temple won’t be safe either…”
“Sir Lionel.”
Belinda called Lionel in a heavily subdued voice.
Sensing something unsettling in her serious and desperate attitude, Lionel listened to Belinda’s voice despite the urgent situation.
“Can you believe and follow Cardinal Giuseppe no matter what nonsensical thing he might say?”
“Of course. If he were to point to hell and call it heaven, that place would be heaven to me.”
At the words filled with strong faith, Belinda continued with a serious attitude.
“That Cardinal has decided to trust me regarding this matter. So I’ll say this clearly. Evacuate the villagers to the temple. Only that place is safe.”
The reason Lionel couldn’t dismiss those words and hesitated was because she saw the shadow of someone very familiar in Belinda as she spoke.
Firm eyes filled with conviction and certainty about the future.
Though they didn’t hold the golden light that was evidence of divinity, her eyes were exactly like Giuseppe’s.
However, there was no time to detain her and interrogate her about the circumstances.
Belinda stubbornly said only that and headed to the temple with the northern knight and the boy who always stayed by her side.
Lionel was conflicted even as she entered the village.
Whether she should evacuate the villagers to the temple as Belinda said, or evacuate them outside the village as much as possible.
Soon she reached a conclusion.
“Everyone follow me! You must go to the temple! God will protect you!”
She didn’t make that decision because of Belinda’s character or any speculation about what circumstances she might have.
Lionel simply knew well how fiercely those with the same eyes as Belinda lived their lives.
Because Giuseppe, whom she believed in and respected, was like that.
So what she trusted was her own eye for people.
* * *
When receiving the ‘White-Robed Saint’s Relic’ quest in 【Hirome】, the priest guarding the temple said the village had been caught in a landslide.
But only the temple was perfectly intact without a single damaged spot. Ironically, the temple on the mountainside had been unharmed.
It seemed as if God’s miracle had occurred, but God had not looked after the villagers.
I had asked Sir Lionel, whom I met on the way, to evacuate to the temple, but it was uncertain whether she would follow my words.
I brought Leo to the empty temple and spoke as nonchalantly as possible so the child wouldn’t be frightened.
“Jui-bam-tol, wait here. Don’t look out the window under any circumstances.”
I intended to help Giuseppe, who had gone to deal with the demon with Sir Penandel. Taking along one more reliable reinforcement.
As I tried to break the necklace I had kept hidden in my clothes, Leo grabbed my sleeve and said.
“C-can’t I come with you?”
“Don’t say such nonsense.”
Though I didn’t want to, a cold voice came out due to my startled feelings.
Leo, who had never once begged for anything, continued speaking without letting go of my sleeve.
“I’ll make sure not to get in the way. I just… want to see you and the knight return safely.”
“We’ll return safely, so don’t worry about such unnecessary things.”
Despite my cold words, I gently patted the child’s back.
Even so, Leo persistently held onto me. As if he had experienced something like this before.
“What if you don’t come back? What if you never return? You said we’d go home together. You said Blanche Estate was home, but… without you, that place isn’t home.”
“…”
“By your side is my home.”
I bit my lips tightly and swallowed the surge of emotion.
And I took out a pair of ribbons I had been keeping all along. They were the ‘Location Tracking Magic Ribbons’ I had received as a synchronization reward.
This magical tool, consisting of two pairs as one set, was a magic item prepared for cases where a guardian might lose a child.
When the guardian wore the red ribbon, they could track the real-time location of the protagonist wearing the blue ribbon.
Unlike in 【Hirome】, I tied the red ribbon around Leo’s wrist and said,
“It’s a magical tool that shows my location. If I don’t return even after the sun rises, Jui-bam-tol, like a proper servant, you must come to fetch your master. I’ll be waiting.”
Leo, who had been staring at the red ribbon tied to his hand, roughly wiped his tear-filled eyes with his sleeve.
Then he clumsily but carefully tied the blue ribbon around my wrist.
“Yes, Lady Belinda. I’ll definitely come find you.”
I gently ruffled Leo’s hair as he tried to put on a brave expression, then turned away.
After that, I unfastened the necklace I was wearing around my neck. At the end of the chain hung a crudely shaped silver key.
I gripped it and inserted it into the door of any temple that was visible.
Even though it couldn’t possibly fit, the key was smoothly drawn into the keyhole.
From afar, the village bell rang to announce the hour.
Listening to that sound, I turned the key, and an incomprehensibly complex magic circle appeared and disappeared on the temple’s crude wooden door.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
The room from which dim light was seeping was, surprisingly, Chaser’s dormitory.
“Master, I was quite hurt thinking you had forgotten me because your journey was too enjoyable.”
As if he had been waiting for this very moment, Chaser’s face as he stepped over the threshold was sparkling with faint anticipation and vitality.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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