CH 30

When we followed Andrew to the village, he surprisingly brought us to a bar.

“Why is a priest going to the bar?”

“Why not? Is there a rule against priests drinking?”

I could not refute. I was not the priest here, and 

“Yeah, a priest can drink if he wants.”

The priests of the catholic church from my previous life also drank, too. I guess it’s the same in this world as well.

“Right? You are better than this lady over here.”

I think he had a grudge against Arje who called him trash earlier.

“Hey, but anyone would have called what you did a betrayal just then!”

Arje noticed and got mad. If she weren’t wearing her mask, her red blushing face would show.

“Is that how it seemed? But if it weren’t for me, you would have been beaten by those guys.”

Still, we had to go over the facts.

“No, we would have won without you.”

When I stepped in, Andrew laughed.

“Oh, really? Then I helped for nothing. I shouldn’t have.”

Was he sulking?

“No, that’s that and this is this. Thanks for helping out.”

I was not trying to scold him for helping, so I still thanked him. Also, it seemed like what he wanted to hear.

“Woah, I don’t know how many years it has been since I got a ‘thank you’.”

Andrew said this, but his face didn’t seem sincere about his gratitude. It just sounded like he was twisting the words.

“Still I am glad that you have more shame than the lady here.”

Then Andrew looked towards Arje again.

“I am grateful, too!”

Arje protested, as she felt that he was being unfair.

“Is that so? Well, at least I’m glad that you don’t regard me as a piece of trash anymore.”

As Andrew laughed, Arje looked at me and pleaded for help.

Well…even though she was out of it, it was still true that she called him a piece of garbage. There was only one thing I could think of to say.

“Andrew, you must not be aware of this, but Arje is not someone you can just keep fooling around with.”

Andrew changed his expression to a surprised face, and Arje ran over and shook my shoulders.

“Aris, no! That doesn’t mean that you should just let everyone know!”

I could barely grasp my mind from her shaking my brain, but I still was going to tell him.

“Arje is actually a …. Stunning beauty.”

As I unfolded the shocking truth, Arje froze into place.

“That’s all you are gonna say?”

“Yes. Should I say more?”

I pinned my hair behind my ears and looked with the most innocent face I could make.

“You have a skill for scaring people.”

Arje sighed and then backed off. Still, she did not deny it. Did she think so herself? Was that the esteem of a royalty?

“A stunner?”

Andrew’s gaze changed.

“Then, please take off your mask.”

Arje flinched at his gaze and got behind me.

“I would never take off my mask in front of you, dream on.”

“How unfortunate. It wouldn’t hurt to just reveal it once.”

Andrew smiled as he grabbed the door handles to the bar.

“Well, things might change if we start drinking. Let’s head inside.”

And so Andrew tried to open the door. But I just sensed something odd in the atmosphere.

“Don’t open it.”

“Why?”

Instead of a reply, I focused my attention to my ears. While we were chatting outside, I couldn’t hear a single noise from the inside. For a bar with so many pirates, it didn’t make sense that it was so quiet.

“Aris. You felt something weird, right?”

Arje took a hint from seeing how I was while being with me and lowered her volume.

“Yes, it’s weird. I can’t hear anything coming from the inside.”

Andrew also let go of the handle from what I said.

“I have no idea what’s going on, but never in my life have I heard this bar so quiet.”

Andrew got serious as well.

“Since there are windows on the side, let’s check out the inside from there.”

We followed Andrew to see inside.

“I guess there was quite a fight, huh?”

Inside was a mess. Not a single chair or table was intact.

“Is that wine, or blood?”

And the red liquid all over the place…was it wine?

“Let’s head inside, since I don’t think there’s anyone there.”

We went inside after checking.

“Who…who are you?”

Then we heard a frightened voice of a middle-aged man from under the counter.

“Sir, it’s me, Andrew.”

After hearing his voice, the man who was hiding stood up and approached us.

“I knew that the pirates would end up wrecking this place!”

Then he started to badmouth the pirates.

“Sir, stay calm and tell us what happened. What did the pirates do?”

“It was fine when the human pirates came. But as soon as the elf pirates came last time, they started growling at each other and then fought like crazy dogs! All of them were taken out by the soldiers.”

This was the worst coincidence possible.

“What happens after that?”

I needed to figure out what happens after the soldiers take them.

“What do you mean what happens? Of course death penalty if their identity as pirates gets discovered.”

Andrew talked of death sentences easily like the title of a book. Did that mean that all the elf pirates so far were never caught? Something sounded off.

“Then what about our ship?”

Arje was shocked at the word of the death sentence and even called the pirate ship ‘our ship.’

“Our ship? Andrew, are you hanging out with pirates now?”

Bob shouted from getting shocked, but Andrew just shrugged.

“I don’t know about pirates, but for now they are my guests.”

“Andrew, I have no idea what you are thinking. I would pour you a glass, but as you can see…”

Andrew spoke as he put back the fallen chairs and tables.

“Aris, we should immediately go rescue the Mary lady.”

Arje was thinking about getting them. I felt the same, since there was no method of getting out of Profin, which was surrounded by water.

“One moment, let me talk with Andrew first.”

I knew that, but I didn’t even get a chance to mention the treasure to Andrew.

“Are you asking me to help the pirates escape? To a priest?”

Andrew looked at me dumbfoundedly.

“Although I get called a rebel, do you really think that I would help you for something like that?”

It was easy to talk after he had mentioned it himself.

“The island of lost souls. Its treasures. Aren’t you curious?”

As I mentioned the island as I sat on the chair across from him, Andrew laughed as he received a glass of water from Bob.

“No, not at all. I don’t even know what’s there.”

But I already knew what he knew.

“The heart of the Ice Queen. Am I wrong?”

Andrew stopped his hands with the cup.

“Where did you hear about it?”

When he heard those words, the expression on his face became quite serious.

“You don’t need to know, but to get to the heart, I need your help.”

“You want me to retrieve that?”

Andrew didn’t seem to understand why I needed it.

“No, I don’t really need the heart to be honest. I want something that lies underneath it.”

Then I looked at Andrew.

“And you should need it more than I do.”

Then Andrew laughed again.

“Of course, the heart thing is a phenomenal treasure. If you find that, you won’t have to work for the rest of your life. If you can have a life afterwards, that is.”

But the heart of the Ice Queen had a value that could not be valued. The reason was quite a shocker in the novel.

“More than that, it’s your mother’s heart.”

Crack!

Andrew immediately threw the glass next to him then made ice shards from his hands and placed it close to my neck.

“Aris!”

Arje tried to use magic after getting surprised, but I waved my hands to show her I was fine. I was expecting such a reaction.

“Where did you hear about that? Who are you? Who sent you?”

Andrew looked at me with the most terrifying face, unlike all the relaxed ones he had earlier.

“I have no interest in that. I only want the things regular humans do not have interest in. I won’t touch the rest.”

“How can I trust you? I no longer trust humans.”

I smiled from his words.

“Then that’s good. You can trust me. Although I appear human, I am first a bunny.”

I flapped my ears after concentrating on them.

“Are you in your right mind to be making jokes right now?”

Andrew was dumbfounded. Still, to be asking these questions instead of stabbing me right away, I almost had him.

“Would any sane person go to the island of lost souls?”

From my question, Andrew unclenched his jaws and put away the shards.

“Fine. But promise one thing. If you plan on lying when we get there, I will rip you apart into pieces. That includes you, Miss.”

Andrew was trying to confirm one last time.

“Yes. You can see from my ears, right? My ears fold when I lie.”

As I showed him my upright ears, he laughed out loud.

“Ah, I didn’t know that there would exist a greater troublemaker than I.”

As Andrew finished his sentence, Arje finally released her nervous breath and started to inhale and exhale out loud.

“As I have said before, you silly bunny.”

I succeeded in bringing Andrew into our mission.