So bright!

It must be around noon. The strong sunlight pierced our eyes as soon as we came out of the Demon Cave. Even though my light affinity was 100, it was still hard to open my eyes.

Since it was this bad for me, how bad must it be for everyone else? As I barely managed to open my eyes and look around, all of them could not see in front of them at all.

We could hear the voices of people.

"Oh, s.h.i.+one!"

"s.h.i.+one is back!"

The priest's name must be s.h.i.+one.

"They succeeded! The Demon Cave clearing squad succeeded! Hurry up and let the bishop-nim know."

"Take care of s.h.i.+one."

Bustling movement.

The priest named s.h.i.+one seemed like she was being moved somewhere else.

The majority of the people were guiding the living clearing squad members who were still suffering from the bright light.

"Please come this way."

The Hansen posse did not seem to be doing anything special, nor did they seem like they were planning something. They all seem to be relaxing as if they achieved their goal.

As a bit more time pa.s.sed by, the Demon Cave Clearing Squad's sights came back to normal. They all patted each other's backs as they shared their joy from surviving.

"You worked hard."

"Leader-nim worked hard as well."

"I am especially thankful to Kang Hwi Ram-nim. We were able to be successful thanks to you."

"It was only because everybody worked for the same goal."

They also gave us refreshments. I sat down on a chair and crossed my legs as I drank some hot tea and ate some cookies. I finally felt like I safely got out of the Demon Cave.

After a long time went by, the bishop came into the barracks.

"Amazing. You all completed a marvelous feat. But where are the other members……?"

"They all died. We are the only ones left."

Hansen explained the situation pretty clearly. Even the part where the prisoners went out of control at the end.

No, he made sure to emphasize that part. Almost as if he was complaining.

The message Hansen wanted to send was clear. If they ever needed to create another Demon Cave Clearing Squad, do not include any prisoners.

That should mean that the Hansen posse is not the temple's special forces.

"He really must have a personal relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+one."

I wonder what kind of relations.h.i.+p it is.

After listening to everything, the bishop emphatically nodded his head.

"So something like that happened. We really didn't have many volunteers……so we thought that it would be helpful if the prisoners at least helped fill the void……"

Hansen also nodded his head. He was showing that he understood the bishop's situation as well.

Honestly speaking, the prisoners helped a lot.

We had spent over half a month in there. If the prisoners did not stand guard, we would not have been able to sleep peacefully.

Anyways, that's that.

Now it is my turn to ask. I still haven't gotten what I came for.

"Is our mission completed?"

In other words, are we qualified to receive the reward.

The bishop quickly caught on.

"Ah, of course. Each of you will be rewarded based on your merit. The person with the greatest merit will receive the Unicorn's Horn Flute from the lord as promised."

As soon as the bishop finished speaking, I heard a voice in my head.

Please return to the Ares Temple to receive additional Guard Points as reward.>

Intelli Points are basically the public ranking for the Athena Temple. You can consider it to be the same thing as the Ares Temple's Guard Points.

It is only at a low level right now, but it will be of great help to me if I gather enough.

But the thing I am more interested in.

'Unicorn's Horn Flute. Check information!"

[Unicorn's Horn Flute]
Durability: 1/1
You can summon an unicorn.

An extremely simple explanation.

The durability was only 1 as well. Which means, it is a single-use item.

But no matter when that one time is, it will save my life. It is a priceless and precious item.

"Thank you."

The other members received Intelli Points based on their contribution.

While that was going on, a priest came into the barracks and whispered to the bishop.

The bishop shared the message with us.

"They say that s.h.i.+one has regained her consciousness. She wishes to thank all of you, can you give us some of your time?"

No reason not to. It's not like it is going to take a long time.

Who knows? She might also give a special reward. Or a better continuation quest might pop up too.

The other members nodded their heads as well. Everyone's faces lit up hearing that s.h.i.+one regained consciousness.

"Of course."

A moment later, s.h.i.+one walked into the barracks.

My eyes became really round for an instant.

'That lady really is that lady from before?'

She must have taken a bath. She looked completely different from head to toe. The pure white priest's outfit was new as well.

Was that why? Or was she just really beautiful? It felt like her whole body was s.h.i.+ning.

I've dated tons of beautiful women since my Royal Roader life started, but s.h.i.+one's beauty seemed to transcend that level.

Tsk! Only if she wasn't a priest.

At the same time, I took a look at how Hansen's posse was reacting.

It wasn't much different than my reaction. They all were blankly staring at s.h.i.+one as if she was a G.o.ddess. All of their faces were full of joy.

"I wanted to sincerely thank all of you."

As s.h.i.+one bowed her head, everybody was so shocked and quickly started to be modest.

"It was nothing. We just did what anybody would have done."

"We are glad that you are fine."

s.h.i.+one made eye contact with each and every one of the Demon Cave Clearing Squad members.

She then stopped her eyes on me.

"You must be Kang Hwi Ram-nim. I heard that you played the biggest role. I wanted to thank you once more. This is a small reward I prepared for you."

Her voice is really beautiful as well. Should I say it is like a fog? Just hearing it makes you feel calm.

s.h.i.+one approached me and directly handed me a nicely wrapped gift.

When I took a look at what it was, it was a healing potion.

Of course it wasn't a normal healing potion. It is a potion specially made in the Athena Temple with divine power.

[Athena Temple's Healing Potion]

Fully restores your HP upon use.
Special ability: Raises your Max HP by 30% for 30 minutes.

"I am sorry I can only give you one."

Even one is a pretty expensive item.
No, this is not something you can buy with money. They don't make that many of it, to the point that the general magic stores do not even sell them.

It is only sold in the Athena Temple and you can only exchange it for Intelli Points.

s.h.i.+one gave the other members the same gift.

But something is odd. Both s.h.i.+one and the Hansen posse seem to be a bit awkward around each other. Almost like how a shy person would react to a stranger.

That should mean just one thing.

'The Hansen posse is hiding their relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+one from the Athena Temple.'

But why?

Does s.h.i.+one not know Hansen? Or is she pretending not to know him like Hansen is doing?

If it is the latter, s.h.i.+one is a really dangerous woman. She would be deceiving the bishop as well as the temple while being a priest.

But I pretended not to know anything. Since I had no proof, there was no reason to say something and end up in trouble.

It wasn't like it was related to me. I will step forward if this ends up being related to a quest.

Once s.h.i.+one finished thanking everyone, the bishop stepped in again.

"I wanted to thank you all once more as well. s.h.i.+one is known as the future of our Athena Temple. You have all saved the future of the Athena Temple."

Not only is s.h.i.+one beautiful, she must be pretty special as well.

I guess it makes sense, since the temple put a super reward like the, 'Unicorn's Horn Flute.'

Does she have some special power?

The bishop started to explain about s.h.i.+one, as if he had read my mind. But there was a hidden purpose for his sharing that information.

"s.h.i.+one's communication skills is extremely amazing. Even while she was captured by the monsters, she was able to communicate with the Cave Octopus. Thanks to that, she was able to get some information on the Church of the Sun."

Church of the Sun?

Sounds like some type of pseudo-religious group.

But it is a new name. I have never heard about it in the game either.

The bishop handed us a small piece of paper.

"This is a piece of a map that shows the location of the Church of the Sun."

Once I saw the map piece, I immediately thought of the reward I received for killing the Cave Octopus. We would need to put it all together to know for sure, but I feel like it was from the same map for some reason.

"Once we complete the map, we should be able to defeat the Church of the Sun. They are a common enemy for everyone in the continent. As a result, I will make a request to all of you."

They don't plan on asking us to go back into a Demon Cave, do they?

I don't have a good feeling about this.

"s.h.i.+one was able to find out from the Cave Octopus how to find other pieces of the map. Once we have created a Demon Cave Clearing Squad, we plan on opening a Demon Cave fitting their level.

I knew it.

It wasn't that good of a request.

Demon Caves are really dangerous. And it wasn't like they were giving another amazing reward like the Unicorn's Horn Flute.

But the bishop shared an even gloomier news.

"s.h.i.+one will go in with you. Will you help once more? There will of course be fitting rewards, and the person to earn the most merit will be given a Holy Ring as an extra reward."

A Holy Ring. If I remember clearly, all it does is negate poison and curses.

It's definitely useful, but not enough to put my life on the line. I can always use antidotes for poison, and curses can be lifted by priests traveling with me.

The most bothersome part is the fact that s.h.i.+one will be going with us.

A priest using divine power will be very helpful for the party, but it is impossible in Demon Caves  as divine power is not available in Demon Caves.

Which means, the Demon Cave is already dangerous on its own, and we will have extra baggage in s.h.i.+one.

She also won't be just a normal baggage. Even without any abilities, wouldn't she try to still be treated like a priest?

Is there any bigger baggage than that?

I still gave them an answer.

"I will think deeply about it."

It mean that I will think about it and then not do it. The quest was respectfully declined by saying I will have to think about it.

On the other hand, Hansen and the other members happily agreed.

"Please call us whenever."

"If it is with s.h.i.+one priest-nim, we will go anywhere."

'They really must have a special relations.h.i.+p.'

I should send Kang Sung Ho to research s.h.i.+one later.

Of course, right now, it has nothing to do with me.

"Then I will be on my way."

I said my goodbyes and started to leave the barracks.

The bishop, as well as the Hansen posse and s.h.i.+one, came out of the barracks as if to walk me out.

"I pray that our paths will cross again."

"Thank you very much. Until we meet again."

"Are you really leaving like this? Can't you come with us in a Demon Cave Clearing Squad one more time?"

Blasphemy.

"I have a promise to keep……"

"That is disappointing. Let us meet again."

I shook everyone's hand like that before I was finally able to leave the barracks.

Ares Temple.

Kaicher used his ident.i.ty as a priest to lead me to the bishop again.

The bishop happily gave me the Guard Point reward.

"You have done a great deed for the safety of the continent. As a messenger of the lord's command, I will give you a separate reward."

Just like that, my Guard Points instantly became 139.

The Guard Points I have now should be enough to buy decent equipment from the Ares Temple. If I was going with my original plan, I would have done that.

But if I can use Lord Ares's blessing with Guard Points, I can't trade it for equipment. I will not use it until I complete the blessing quest.

"Then do I now have the qualifications to receive the Blessing Quest?"

"Of course. I will give you the quest. Please kneel."

I followed Kaicher and kneeled on one knee and bowed my head.

I wonder what kind of quest it is.

It should be an almost impossible quest.

But I will definitely complete it. That is the only way to use Guard Points as blessing, and that is the only way to win in the next battle against the person that individual sends next time.

The bishop put his hand on my head. Once he did that, a voice rang in my head to let me know the quest had been created.

The Ares Temple was able to partic.i.p.ate in the brutal battle against the powers of the Demon World 1,000 years ago, but paid the cost of losing the Archbishop Kamal as well as the Warrior's Ring, which is the mark of the Archbishop.
Please head to the Southern District and find the Warrior's Ring.
Should you succeed, Lord Ares will bless you based on the Guard Points you possess.>

My eyes instantly opened widely.

'A Southern District quest!"

I've been busy this week so this update is late. I may not be able to do the 5 for the week, but I'll do my best to get as many as I can this week.

Sponsor chapters are now open for Royal Roader! If you would like to support my translation and want more chapters released quickly, please help out! Thank you all in advance