Chapter Twenty-Six: Honor and Humility

After admiring the reassembled troll corpse with the air of a victor and dealing with a few villagers who came to inquire about the situation, Eric finally returned to the camp from the mine as night fell completely.

"I told you the results would be quite impressive, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely." The captain of the guard nodded like a rhythmic pounding pestle, though it was unclear whether he truly agreed or was simply flattering his young master.

More and more villagers had come to the camp to help. After the group returned, they didn't have to lift a finger; there was always someone ready to help remove their armor, take their weapons for maintenance and repair, or serve up steaming hot food.

Refusing the advances of several village women who had sidled up to him, Eric took off his chainmail and gave it a few casual shakes, treating it as a simple cleaning. Proper maintenance required throwing it into a sandbox and scrubbing it with fine sand, but he had to wear it again tomorrow, so there was no need to be overly meticulous.

Compared to a few days ago, when he had almost fallen off his horse because he couldn't handle the weight of the chainmail, Eric could now lift it easily with one hand. His strength had undergone a qualitative leap.

Leslie watched from the side. He was one of the people most keenly aware of this change, and considering the young master's astonishing ability to learn combat techniques, he could only sigh that Eric was truly a natural-born warrior, needing only a little tempering to reveal his edge.

Crawling out of his tent and sitting down by the campfire, Eric tugged at his clothes, feeling a persistent sense of discomfort. He soon realized there was nothing actually wrong; he simply felt the urge to bathe again. As the pressure of combat subsided, the need for cleanliness returned to the forefront of his attention—it was just habit.

He wasn't smelling yet. Eric lifted his arm and sniffed—he could make do for another day or two.

"Does the young master wish to bathe?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow." Taking the roasted meat handed to him by the captain, Eric decided to fill his stomach first.

"It would be nice if there were some wine," Leslie remarked with a sigh.

"Even if we had wine, we couldn't drink it," Eric glanced at him. "The fighting isn't over yet."

"I understand... I meant after it's over." Leslie scooted closer. "Just now, a villager said they want to hold a grand banquet tomorrow to celebrate the end of this calamity."

"They already know?" Eric took a bite of the roast.

"Yes."

"And what if we haven't finished clearing them out by tomorrow?"

The captain’s eyes widened. "Er..."

"I'm joking." Eric waved his hand. It was his own declaration that all the undead would be cleared out by tomorrow anyway. Since taking down that rot-corpse troll, they had pushed significantly further into the depths during the afternoon; based on his memory of the layout, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were already at the doorstep of the boss room.

"If they want to hold it, let them. Make it lively—let every villager participate," Eric said.

Leslie nodded. "I will let them know."

Before long, Alaina and Sophie came over to sit nearby, and the captain tactfully moved to another campfire. Eric thought it was an unnecessary gesture—surely he wouldn't make a move on a nun from the Saintly Convent—but he didn't stop him. The feeling of being alone with them was, indeed, somewhat unique.

The campfire burned bright but wasn't too scorching, the wood popping from time to time. Eric tilted his head back; the night sky was clear, and the light from the fire below couldn't reach the heavens, where the stars remained brilliant.

Once the two women had finished eating, the Mother Superior brought up the matter of crafting a divine medium for him.

"What kind of medium would Mr. Eric like?"

"Oh, I can choose it myself?"

Alaina nodded. "Though it is best to use an item that is ready-made and easy to carry."

The first thought that crossed Eric's mind was to turn his sword into a medium. Where the blade pointed, divine flames would ignite. *Come on, that would be incredibly cool, wouldn't it?*

Immersed in his elementary-school aesthetic for a moment, he came back to his senses and temporarily set the idea aside. The Mother Superior was right; it needed to be something easy to carry. Even though a warrior never leaves his sword, there were occasions where weapons were forbidden—and for a member of the clergy, those occasions were actually quite frequent.

A pendant or similar jewelry would be more appropriate. Eric patted his pockets and discovered a new problem.

"I don't have anything on me that could be turned into a medium."

He had plenty of items—pure gold pendants and rings set with large gems—but they were all left at home, and he wasn't fond of wearing such trinkets.

"Does Mother Superior Alaina or Miss Sophie have any extra accessories they could lend me? I will return a better one to you later."

Sophie immediately rummaged through her belongings, only to be frustrated to find nothing suitable to lend. She assumed the Mother Superior was in the same position, but the latter searched for a moment and surprisingly produced a silver ring.

Alaina herself seemed somewhat surprised. "Where did this ring come from... Ah, right. It was given to me by a lady after the funeral that day."

Eric didn't care about the origin of the ring. "Can this ring be made into a medium?"

Alaina held it up to observe it for a while, her brow furrowing, but she nodded slightly. "Yes."

"Then I must trouble you, Mother Superior."

Alaina flipped her hand, and a dagger appeared in her palm. She held the ring with one hand and the blade with the other, beginning to etch patterns into the surface.

This was clearly no easy task. Eric held his breath, and Sophie didn't dare make a sound, fearing she might disturb the Mother Superior. The dagger was hardly a good choice for carving, especially on a tiny ring. Alaina turned the ring, focusing intently and carving with extreme caution until the entire surface was covered in fine, intricate lines.

The web of her thumb had already been sliced by the blade, and beads of blood were beginning to well up. The Mother Superior, however, seemed entirely unaware, instead showing a rare look of embarrassment.

"Crafting a medium is a delicate matter. It requires not only patience and skill but also the support of divine arts. My abilities are limited; I can only achieve this much..."

Eric had initially thought all that was needed was to carve some patterns. Hearing her mention the need for divine arts, he immediately associated it with a unique sub-class in the *Thorned Crown* profession tree: the Sacred Carver.

"Is this a skill of the 'Sacred Carver' profession?"

Alaina looked at him immediately and then nodded. "That is correct."

*This nun sister has a truly unique career path,* Eric sighed inwardly. In *Thorned Crown*, the Sacred Carver was a pure support class that could carve statues of goddesses to provide various buffs to nearby allies. In the game, the statues would decay and disappear after a while, but in this world, crafting divine media seemed to have become the work of the Sacred Carver. The resulting media probably wouldn't just stop working, would they?

Just as Eric was thinking this, Alaina handed the ring over.

"As long as the carvings on the ring are not worn away, it can be used as a medium for divine arts. Try it."

Eric took the ring.

[Alaina's Divine Ring]
*A silver ring with sacred carvings engraved on the inside, used to connect with the power of the gods.*
*Can be used as a medium for casting low-level divine arts.*
*A work of Alaina, Mother Superior of the Seventh Convent of the Lesiel Saintly Convent. The technique is amateurish, but the sincerity is perhaps not.*

Rubbing the fine, newly-carved lines, Eric slipped the ring on. "I haven't learned any divine arts that require a medium yet."

Sophie looked over, her lips moving, but the Mother Superior had already spoken: "I will teach you 'Wound Healing' first."

"Alright."

Being a primary divine art, Eric received the prompt that he had learned the skill by the second time the Mother Superior explained it.

While Alaina was still teaching, the student listening suddenly turned the ring on his finger and then took her right hand.

"..."

Eric prayed in a low voice: "May Yela grant me the power to heal wounds."

A familiar fluctuation emanated from his palm, covering the area of her thumb. The small cut made by the dagger healed rapidly, leaving only a patch of blood that hadn't yet dried.

*He learned it so quickly...*

Catching the look cast from beside her, Alaina calmly withdrew her hand. "It seems Mr. Eric has already mastered it."

Eric nodded and then asked her to teach him a few more low-level divine arts that required a medium, such as Holy Punishment and Purification.

When the pale green ring of purification rotated around his body and then vanished, Sophie opened her eyes wide, having long since abandoned her earlier petty grievances.

"So amazing! I haven't even learned this divine art, and Mr. Eric has mastered it so quickly!"

Eric, of course, knew his actual situation—he was cheating, and the cheat hadn't been turned off—but he felt a bit embarrassed by her praise. He offered a few modest words, to which Sophie replied, "Before honor, there must be humility."

He didn't catch it at first. "What?"

"'Before honor, there must be humility.' It's a verse from the scripture *Book of Proverbs*," Sophie explained. "The Holy Prophet Raphael taught his disciple Abi that one must always be humble to enjoy the glory of God."

[Interpreting scripture, gained 1 point of Faith.]

Watching the prompt that suddenly appeared before him, Eric was stunned. He opened his attribute panel and saw that his Faith had indeed increased by one point.

*Can I gain attributes just by listening to someone interpret scripture?*

He quickly realized that this was a variation of the [Professional Quests] from his previous life's game. There was no experience points, no equipment; the only reward was main attribute points for that profession. The content of clerical quests usually consisted of re-skinned versions of little stories from the scriptures—the *Scripture.txt* had become *Scripture.avi*.

In this world, the way to obtain this reward had, in a sense, returned to its primitive form.

"Tell me more."

"Huh?" Sophie was taken aback.

"The verse you just interpreted," Eric gestured. "I find it quite interesting... quite moving. I want to hear more content like that."

"By 'more,' do you mean..." Sophie looked at him, then at the Mother Superior between them. "Content from the scriptures?"

"Yes," Eric nodded.

"Mr. Eric—"

Alaina finally couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Are you implying that you, who intend to become the successor of the Saint, have not even read through the scriptures once?"