The Runesmith

“Roland, is this really necessary? I don’t feel that anything is out of place and is Agni coming too?”

“Awooo?”

“Yes, I’ve already explained, it’s better if we do it now before word reaches this place. Bernir and Dyana need to come with us too.”

“If you say so…”

Roland was now back home but this was not quite over yet. After getting a big hug from Elodia and a lot of slobber from Agni he didn’t just relax. The Cult was still fresh in his mind and the creatures that turned people into abominations could be among them. The only cure that he knew were elixirs and holy energies thus the best place for a checkup would be the church of Solaria that was in the city.

His assistant Bernir along with his wife needed to be brought over as well. He would not be able to relax if anyone around him was infected, probably from this point onward all of them would need to periodically go get checkups at the church if that was a possibility. There was no official announcement yet and without things like the internet, information traveled slowly.

While nobles could use magic to get informed most of the common folk were usually left out in the dark. Everyone had their own little circle they cared about and just like him they would probably prioritize them. What the people knew about was that there was an attack in the city of Reeka but they didn’t have the details. Not many knew about the abyssal larvae that could transform people into monstrosities. If they did, they would probably all be pushing towards the churches.

“What got ye knickers in a twist, boss? Shouldn’t we have a drink first? Ye managed to get ye golden adventurer card!”

“Now is not the time, is Dyana with you?”

“I’m here, I’ve got some gauntlets for your magical touch bossman, and we also managed to finish that thing you were asking about, it was hard to do the measurements with him moving around so much though.”

“Good but that will have to wait, we need to get to the church so we’ll close the shop for today.”

“To the church?”

Both Bernir and Dyana looked at each other with confused expressions. They didn’t know what was going through Roland’s head but he had an unusual expression on his face. Luckily they didn’t argue too much or ask any unnecessary questions before nodding.

“Aye, let me turn the forge off before we go then.”

It took them a moment to make sure that no magical tools were turned on, not having his home burned down after his return would be appreciated. Elodia finished up in the shop while having to apologize to a few people that were glancing through the wares. The hired guard there would remain to keep watch for the time being while all of them headed to the city.

“Do you mind explaining why we are going to the church, does it have anything to do with the current rumors about Reeka?”

“Yes…”

Roland didn’t want to directly announce that all of them could potentially have brain-eating parasites in them. So he needed to make it seem at least a bit less lethal.

“So you all know that I’ve taken the mission towards that city and that it was attacked by cultists, right?”

“Yes.”

Replied Elodia while the other two nodded.

“During that trip I directly encountered the people from the Abyssal Cult, they have been, how should I put this… inflicting people with an ailment that could be deadly if not checked by the church.”

“An ailment? D-do you think that it could have happened to us?”

“There is a slight possibility but you all should probably be fine… still we need to see, it can be cured so don’t worry.”

All three of them started looking at each other and then quickly onto their own bodies. In their minds, they tried to remember if there were any symptoms of getting cured or poisoned. None of them could recall such an event occurring, their own statuses weren’t showing anything but not like they would, and Roland was aware of this.

“Wait… was this ailment responsible for what happened in Reeka?”

“Don’t think too much about it, let’s just get to the church, Sister Kassia should be able to get rid of it.”

This was also an unconfirmed statement. He had seen a high-ranking member of the church destroy the parasites but she was a tier 3 class holder. Loreena was not a priest that specializes in healing magic. The abyssal larvae were quite weak, in theory, a tier 2 priest like Kassia should have been able to cleanse them but this was still only a theory.

After the little talk, his friends started walking at a quicker pace. They all knew that Roland wasn’t someone that would lie to them. If he was kicking up a fuss about a strange disease then they needed to get to the church and do it fast.

“Stop!”

With a rapid pace, they finally arrived at the city gate. There the first problem arose which was a huge Dire Wolf with rubies on it. The moment the people waiting in line saw the oversized wolf they started backing away. The guards grabbed their spears and pointed them toward the dangerous beast which made Agni growl slightly.

“He is my tamed beast, there shouldn’t be a problem, here.”

Before the situation could get out of hand Roland presented the people with some papers. There Agni was stated to be his tamed monster and along with his golden adventurer card, he would theoretically have permission to bring it inside of the city.

“These documents are outdated Mr. Wayland but the card is real…”

“I know, I recently went through my ranking test, as you can see he is wearing a muzzle to update those papers I need to get him to the guild.”

Even though he didn’t update the documents he wasn’t in the wrong. Agni needed to be taken to the adventurer guild for an assessment of his stats. With the gold rank card, he would be also taken more seriously and be allowed to keep a tier 2 monster. It wasn’t forbidden for adventurers to take weapons into the city and a tamed beast was just another part of their repertoire.

“You are correct… Please have the new documents the next time you bring him here or you will pay a fine, next.”

Everything went rather smoothly. The guards had the power to keep him from entering the city but as he had a relation with the city lord they could not. He wouldn’t be surprised that they would have let him in even if he didn’t show any of those documents to them.

“Hah, it’s good to be famous!”

Dyana chuckled along with the rest of them after they managed to get through the checkpoint.

“Let’s go to the church first, I’ll sort things out with the guild later.”

Everyone nodded before going towards their destination. Roland took some time to examine Albrook, it didn’t seem that anyone was taking the infection in Reeka seriously. The news of the parasitic creatures that could be inserted through the eye socket certainly didn’t spread yet.

‘The nobles and church wouldn’t want to cause panic…’

If the people in power announced to the world about this potential plague the kingdom could come to a halt. Every person would clamor to get themselves in the church to get cleansed. This could have various ripple effects on the kingdom’s economy and even potentially invite outside nations to attack. It wouldn’t be surprising if they spread some counter rumors to keep everything hidden.

‘They will probably only mention that the cult attacked the city but now how people started turning by themselves… not many people witnessed everything like me…’

At first, he thought that the only reason the inquisitor let him go was due to his noble heritage. But there was another reason, no one would believe a group of adventurers about the parasite problem if it wasn’t confirmed by the church. Yet at that point in time, no one expected the cult to retaliate this swiftly and make a giant spectacle of everything. He and the adventurers were loose ends that could complicate things.

‘Will they try to…’

“Hey, Boss we are here.”

“Was he in his own world again?”

“Aye, that he was.”

“Hey…”

Roland frowned as Elodia along with Bernir started laughing at him. Everyone was already used to him spacing out in his own thoughts for a long time so they learned not to interrupt him. Only when they arrived at the church did they raise their voices to get him out of the trance.

“Before we go in…”

He looked towards Agni who just plopped his rump on the ground. The muzzle that he was wearing did make him look a lot less energetic, his tail which was usually a propeller was just hanging down without moving.

“I’ll stay with him.”

“Awoo…”

“Thank you Dyana.”

Agni replied with a weak howl, luckily after receiving some ear scratches from the large lady his tail started wagging once again.

“After I clear things up, we’ll probably have to get Agni in through the back door so just wait for a moment. It shouldn't take long.”

“It’s fine, take your time.”

“Let’s go in then.”

Thuss everyone besides Agni and Dyana made their way inside through the large gate-like door.

“Hm, for something called the Sun Church it’s awfully chilly in here.”

Elodia shivered slightly after going into the building with a high ceiling. The drop in temperature was noticeable to everyone but nothing too extreme. Luckily Sister Kassia wasn’t far from the entrance.

“We were lucky, think they just finished with the sermon, I could never stay awake through those, just sounds like gibberish to me.”

Bernir smiled as he saw Kassia walking down from the slightly raised platform. There was a large circular stained glass window behind it that concentrated light there during certain hours. When it wasn’t mid-day, the light would focus down from a side window while the priests performed prayers.

“Mr. Wayland, what brings you to the church, have you finally decided to devote yourself to the radiant lady? It would be a pleasure to praise the sun with you and your companions.”

Sister Kassia spotted Roland the moment he entered the church. For some reason, she was obsessed with trying to convert him to her religion. He wasn’t sure why but perhaps she was just thick-headed and unable to accept that he wasn’t interested. Luckily this would only allow him to ask about the favor.

“Sister Kassia, It’s nice to see you… I require some help but I’m not sure that this is the best place to speak about it…”

After arriving here he noticed that the church was filled out with believers. They were kneeling on the ground and praying with their hands together. They did it in a very similar fashion to the religion he was part of in his original world.

“Not the best place to speak? There is nothing that needs to remain a secret under her watchful eyes!”

“Ah yeah, I thought you would say that… What if I tell you that I know what really happened in Reeka and the problem is a lot more serious than the church wants us to believe.”

Roland was not sure if every person in the church was informed about the Abyssal Cult. It could just be something that the inquisitors were involved with while the priests were left out of the picture. People like Kassia were here to offer comfort and heal people, they were not meant to interact with the cult forces outside the church.

“What is this truth you speak of…”

“Yes, it involves the Abys…”

“Don’t speak their name here!”

Before he could continue Kassia raised her voice slightly while placing her hand over his mouth. It seemed that talking about the cult from the Abyss was not something welcomed here. With the problem it caused in Reeka he knew why.

“You must excuse me, I’ve acted out of line.”

Kassia pulled her hand away while quickly bowing. Soon she turned her face to the side where a door was.

“Please follow me.”

Roland nodded while turning towards Elodia and Bernir. The two did some nodding as well before all going towards the new location. The door led to a narrow corridor that was connected to some rooms. Some of them were open, there he saw Solarian nuns performing prayers. There was even one producing holy water, indicated by the sparkly glow coming from the bottle it was in.

“This is my bed-chamber, please come in.”

“I didn’t think I would be ever going into a nun’s bed-chamber…”

Bernir had a strange smirk on his face while going in. Before he could peek his head inside he was smacked by Elodia.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“Don’t think I didn’t see where those eyes were looking, I’m going to tell your wife everything if you don’t stop.”

“P-please anything but that!”

He could only roll his eyes at the panicked half-dwarf. His assistant liked to boast about how he was the man of the house but whenever his wife was brought up he started behaving like a puppy.

“Please don’t cause a scene, let's just go in.”

There was no time for this so he decided to place his hand on Elodia’s shoulder. Thankfully she was quick to let this matter rest while they were inside the church. Bernir was clearly touched and a bit smug when looking at Roland that seemingly had his back in this situation. Though after one stern look from Elodia he quickly turned his face to the side.

“Would you like something to drink, we do have the best water that her radiance gifts us!”

“Hm… holy water could perhaps do the trick?”

While Kassia offered Roland a drink he contemplated the validity of holy water working on the parasites. This blessed water was one of the most praised products of the church, it could be sold in bulk and was cheap to produce.

It was nowhere near the potency of an elixir but could help out against low-level undead and demonic creatures. When ingested by such a monster it would act similarly to a poison effect just like the elixir that he fed to the abyssal monster when he was escaping from Reeka.

“Holy water? That’s not something I expected Mr. Wayland to drink…”

“No I mean… It’s better if you just sit down, this might take a while, how much do you know about the Reeka incident?”

Kassia didn’t seem well informed, she was a tier 2 class holder and a priest but not really someone in a leadership position. Even in this church, there were others on the same level and all of them would need to answer to any tier 3 priest if they met them.

“I must admit that I don’t know anything specific, but I’m sure there is a good reason for it.”

“I guess that’s one way to put it.”

Finally, after the door was closed and everyone was seated Roland started to explain everything. He glossed over most of his battles to not worry Elodia but he did mention the parasite problem. The moment he started to describe the monstrosities that people turned into if the little monsters weren’t killed he could see everyone’s faces change.

‘W-wait Boss, are you telling me that I could have one of those worms inside my head and I’ll turn into some monstrosity if I don't get it out?”

“Well… yes but there is an easy way to get rid of them.”

“T-there is?”

Bernir started to panic but soon let out a sigh of relief after Roland mentioned that there was a cure. Elodia along with Kassia became silent but he could see them also thinking hard to figure out if they could have been infected in any way.

“These monsters can’t stand divine spells, if they are exposed to them they should easily die.”

“Should?”

Asked Elodia as she didn’t like the sound of those words.

“Yes, I don’t know how time affects this…”

He didn’t want to worry them but he had no idea if those larvae could be killed after living in a host for a long period of time. It could have already been too late for the people that lived in Reeka. If he didn’t see Loreena remove the abyssal creatures with her holy energy in the village, he would not be so sure about a cure even existing.

“So, this is why I have come here to you today Sister, I would like you to use your magic to examine my companions…”

The cat lady was shocked by the revelation, her hand covered her mouth but he could clearly tell that she was shaken. Yet without missing a beat she just nodded when Roland posed his request of healing his friends. With proper guidance from him, she would be able to focus those divine energies on the spots that the parasites resided in and hopefully remove them if they were there.