CH 29

Chapter 29 – The Priest of the Ice Temple (1)

“The priest of the ice temple?”

The man nodded slowly at my question.

“Yes. You guessed probably from my attire, am I correct?”

The clothes that the man was wearing was the uniform for the ice temple priests. Therefore, he should know about the priest who we were looking for.

“Great, then. We are currently looking for a man named Andrew. He is one of your priests, right?”

The blonde priest shrugged.

“Oh, you were my guests? I cannot believe that such a pretty bunny was looking for me. I am honored.”

“Heh?”

I was taken back for a moment.

“You are Andrew as well? Where’s the other one?”

“I am the only one.”

I was speechless.

“Aris, is he the one?”

“Well, I guess so, but..”

I was taken back because he appeared starkly different from the one described in the original novel.

“That’s okay. I have been marked as a troublemaker. As you can see, I’m not very priestly.”

Andrew laughed nonchalantly.

“Anyway, why did you come find me? From my memory, I don’t think I have been associated with such a pretty bunny. Did a bunny that I saved in the past come in human form? To repay back for the kindness?”

Andrew chuckled while he talked nonsense.

“Not really.”

Andrew laughed even louder.

“Then did news about me spread to the bunnies? That there is a manly priest at the temple?”

He was full of himself just like Banu, but the difference of Andrew from Banu who was really proud of his looks was that he was trying really hard to piss you off.

“Aris knows everything already.”

Arje cut off Andrew, as if she didn’t like his attitude.

“What? Are you the maid of the bunny? To be a human maid to a bunny. Aren’t you a little ashamed of yourself?”

Arje became interested in Arje, but not in a good way.

“How dare you!”

Arje was about to tell him off.

“Woah, Miss, I am just joking. I can tell by the way you called her by her first name, Aris.”

The Andrew who Jarrod met in the novel was a nerd of a kind temper and devoted beliefs. I guess because we met him earlier than expected in the novel? He was the complete opposite.

“Both of you, stop. We are not here to fight.”

Anyways, if he was Andrew, we had to cooperate. There was no use in hurting each others’ feelings.

“Yes, if you were ordinary believers, you wouldn’t have made it this far. Or, the  pirates would have taken all your donations to god.”

Andrew already seemed to be aware of everything.

“Why did you just let us be, if you already knew everything?”

Then the blonde priest spat on the ground. Very un-priestley.

“The stupid old man said that priests shouldn’t be involved in such petty things.”

Stupid old man? Was he talking about the head priest?

“Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. Just pretend as if you didn’t hear anything.”

But from the looks of his silly face, it seemed that he said it out loud on purpose.

“Okay, but most importantly…”

I was going to start talking about our motives in meeting him.

“Wait, are we gonna talk here? Follow me, I know a good place to talk.”

And Andrew just started going downhill.

“Why aren’t you coming along?”

“We are not going inside?”

Andrew shrugged.

“There’s nothing good to come out of there. Unless you want to study inside, just follow me.”

Andrew strudded downwards, as if he didn’t want more questions.

“We have to go back down after coming up all the way here?”

Arje plopped down after letting out a scream-like sound of despair.

“Going down is easier than climbing up. Come on, get up.”

When I let out my hand, Arje sighed and grabbed it reluctantly.

“If it’s hard to breathe, why don’t you take off the mask? Nobody knows your face around here.”

“No way, being careless leads to trouble later.”

Arje was determined about her mask philosophy.

“By the way Aris, why is that rude man so important that we have to take him with us?”

Arje started to ask questions, as if she had the capacity to hold a conversation downhill.

“Yeah, we need him to go to that island.”

“Is he a sacrifice?”

Arje asked with a nervous tone. 

“A key, not sacrifice.”

“A key? What in the..”

Arje was going to ask what I was saying, but she closed her mouth again when she noticed Andrew frozen.

“Andrew, what’s wrong?”

Then Andrew pointed in front of him.

“What the hell are those?”

We didn’t have to ask to find out what was going on.

“Bunny, you came down earlier than expected.”

The elves who I beat up earlier were waiting for us with their weapons. I knew that they wouldn’t just let me off easily.

“Just move out, if you don’t want to get hurt.”

I just looked at them pathetically and told them to get out. We would win anyways, even if we fought.

“You must be quite confident about your fighting skills, but you are definitely outnumbered.”

The number of the crowd was even larger than last time.

“What’s the use of numbers? Just move if you don’t want to be hurt by my magic.”

Arje also just tried to brush them off from annoyance. Still, they wouldn’t have come all the way here if they were planning to back off so easily.

“Arje, I think some are hiding in between the trees.”

“Huh? Where?”

Arje looked around, but of course couldn’t see them. Still, it was certain that they were waiting with long-distance weapons from a far, and would shoot arrows as soon as Arje started using her magic.

“How dare you attack and shame our pirate crew? We will sell you at the lowest price and make you suffer for the rest of your lives.”

They must be the Bonnie Pirates. I didn’t expect to meet them here. Were Mary’s crew doing all right?

“Wait, slaves? Did you trade slaves as well?

I recalled a name from the mentioning of slaves.

“Yeah, now you understand the gravity of the situation?”

I looked at Arje.

“Slaves….they should definitely be connected with Pucci.”

Arje seemed to have noticed as well. Now, the solution was clear.

“Yes, I think I know our future. We will bury you in this snow, and also kill Bonnie, your captain.”

I took out my sword, and Arje got into position.

“Fine, you can still be sold as slaves even without a limb or two.”

The elves got ready to fight as well.

“Woah, calm down both of you.”

Andrew, who was quiet all this time, stepped in suddenly.

“What, priest? Didn’t the old man tell you not to get involved?”

The pirates know about his situation? Was he related to these folks?

“I do know. That is why I am talking, not fighting you. I don’t want you to mess with this bunny and this lady, because they are my guests.”

Andrew was trying to solve it peacefully, as a priest would.

“A guest? Do you know that bunny and the sorceress?”

Andrew shook his head.

“Not really, I just met them.”

He was brutally honest.

“Then move. This has nothing to do with you.”

The pirates just said shortly, then made an evil laugh.

“Well actually, if you take our side, I will let you borrow them for a night before we go sell them. How about it?”

The pirate made a weird suggestion to Andrew. Of course he wouldn’t buy it.

“Really? For taking your side?”

But Andrew seemed very interested.

“Aris, he’s a piece of garbage!”

Arje screamed on the top of her lungs.

“He shouldn’t be like that…”

I was also confused. He was so different from the description.

“You priests know what’s good.”

Andrew joined the pirates.

“Now what will you do? We have a sorcerer on our side. Just surrender already.”

The elves laughed.

“Aris! I will take care of that trashy bastard, you take care of the rest!”

I had never seen Arje so mad before.

“The answer is still the same. Bring it on.”

I pulled out my rapier and got into position. I was a little nervous from the fact that Andrew joined them, but there was no other way. 

“Get them!”

The elves tried to attack us.

“Huh?”

“Why can’t we move?”

The elves couldn’t budge.

“My arms! My legs!”

The elves who were in the trees also screamed.

“What is it?”

The elves then looked at their feet and screamed.

“What the!”

“They are frozen! My legs!”

The feet of the elves were all frozen solid.

“You should have worn boots, dummies.”

Andrew just smirked among the elves.

“How dare you lie as a priest!”

The elves were furious, but Andrew remained unaffected.

“You guys had mentioned that you would let me borrow those beauties for a night, but then I thought about it.”

Andrew tapped on one of the elves’ shoulders, then approached us.

“If I were to take their side, I would be able to spend quite a time with them, instead of just a night.”

Andrew smiled as he said this.

“Let’s go, ladies. The trashy bastard has taken care of it.”

Andrew spoke formally for the first time while looking at Arje, then stepped forward. The elves were still frozen, of course. They were trying their best to get out of the spell, but they would end up dying like that if no one was to find them. They deserved it, though.

“Aris, what was that just now?”

Arje was spaced out.

“Hmm, I guess he is a nice person as I had predicted?”

Although he acts that way, he still had a kind heart as described in the novel. That was assuring.