Chapter 116: Embracing the Light of Ambition Part 2 Part 2

「B, But still, I’m getting tired of all the enemies running away from me.」

「That’s right…… Sanraku-san, are you considering lifting the curse from your body?」

「Hmm…… Part of me really wants to do that, but part of me is also afraid at the same time.」

This is the truth.

I was more or less getting used to it at this point, but not being able to equip any armor on the “cursed” parts of my body was starting to become a problem. It’s also true that the curse’s merits helped me more than demerits did me harm, but…… At least I want to be able to wear boots.

「I would like to get rid of the curse on at least one part of my body…… But at the current moment that might be easy to say and hard to actually pull off.」

「Not to mention that even without the curse, meeting Saint Iristelia is already hard enough……」

「Saint Iristelia?」

I don’t know anyone named “Iristelia”, but that Saint part made me believe that we weren’t talking about a player here.

「This game…… Religion is not all that important here, or at least it’s not a determining world view factor. Instead of one supreme God there are “Three Deities”, and each one of them has their saints. When it comes to Iristelia, I believe her NPC name is “Iristelia, Saint of Benevolence”……」

Iristelia, Saint of Benevolence…… It seems that in the whole of ShanFro people with this title are the only ones who can cure all kinds of curses. It is said that their power is so great that they can even break curses placed upon anyone by the Unique Monsters.

But of course, when you are surrounded by a whole bunch of Church officials and high-level players, it is difficult to meet someone like that in person.

「If you really want to meet her…… I’m afraid that you’ll have to first go to the Church and organize the meeting through them. And there are also “Saint’s Guard” to consider……」

Going through the Church required a lot of money to donate. The latter you needed to satisfy a whole bunch of other conditions.

And now that I think about it, at the time of the meeting Saiga-100 said something about being able to arrange a meeting with a Saint for me if I really wanted to get rid of the curse.

「Hmm…… W, well, for now it’s not that big of a problem, so I think I might as well stick with it for a while longer.」

But putting into perspective the incoming battles against the Unique Monsters in the future, an upgrade in armor is more than necessary.

In other words, unless I get rid of the curse I might not be able to wear that Power armor and my defense will still be paper thin if nothing else.

「It won’t be much longer before the sun will start to set…… If possible, I would like to get through this area soon……」

「The area boss is a little bit further ahead.」

This area was way larger than I expected it to be. Without Rei’s guidance, I don’t know if I could get through it on my own without losing my way at least a couple of times.

「Well, we still have a lot of time before tomorrow morning. So we can push forward without having to worry too much for now.」

「I guess you’re right. Let’s proceed forward with caution…… Yes, caution is best……」

Sanraku didn’t know.

That Saiga-0 knows him in real life.

He also couldn’t possibly know that right now Saiga-0 was guiding him towards his goal via the longest possible route.

(Just a little bit more…… Just a little bit longer……)

Since she was given this chance, she didn’t want it to end right away. With that little bit of selfishness, Saiga-0 and Sanraku kept on going forward via the longest route possible.

Saiga-0 didn’t know.

She wanted to talk to him longer. She wanted to be together with him just a little bit longer. She wanted to smile just for him and laugh just together with him.

It was a trivial thing. A trivial thing and a trivial lie born out of her love for Sanraku. A lie that almost resulted in failing to fulfil her promise to him.

Their relationship…… It was no longer something that would affect only them, but it would influence the whole of ShangriLa Frontier.

But it was something that neither of the two could know at that point.

And one more thing. Unknown to either Sanraku or Saiga-0, there was a certain event that was proceeding further ahead slowly but surely.

「If you’re in trouble, run! Most of the time that solution tends to solve the problem!」

「W, wait, pyaaaahhhh!?」

「Better give it a rest already! That’s just how those guys are!」

There was a person who was running away. There was a person that was letting out a deep sigh. And there was a person that despaired over the failure of his mission.

But this is a tale for another time, perhaps.