"Uh, where are we going to let the mermaids sleep?"

Sema was the first to recover his senses and ask.

That's what you're curious about?

Shouldn't the first question have been, "Since when did you become friends with mermaids too?"

Whatever Sema read from Ian's expression, he hurriedly offered an excuse.

"Ah, but rabbits are really sensitive. They don't like anyone entering their sea. If we tell them to live together with the mermaids, I think they'll become violent."

"I never planned to put them in the same place to begin with. How do you know rabbit mamool are sensitive?"

"I talked with them a little."

With mamool? 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Ian's expression turned dubious.

"I didn't ask anything weird."

Sema added quickly.

Then what did you ask?

Ian was certain he had asked something weird, but he chose not to press the issue.

What answer could a mamool possibly have given? Only something on the level of a demon could carry on anything that deserved to be called a conversation.

In the first place, Sema had always been impossible to understand. Ian had long since given up trying.

At that moment, a droplet suddenly formed in front of Ian's eyes and swelled until it was the size of a basketball.

Water Ball?

Ian stared at Sema in disbelief. Sema's eyes widened, and he shook both his head and hands frantically.

If it wasn't Sema, then who?

Jenea cried out urgently.

"It's a spirit, Ian!"

At the same moment, Keith sliced the water bomb apart.

Boom!

["Kyaaaah! Lord Spirit of the Well!"]

A familiar voice echoed through the air.

Ian frowned.

"Lily?"

["I-Ian! Please save Lord Spirit of the Well! No! Spirit!"]

Lily's sobbing was so pitiful that Ian turned to Keith.

"Did you kill it?"

"No, Ian. Spirits do not attack their summoners to begin with and are difficult opponents to eliminate."

"You didn't need to add that second part."

Unfortunately, Lily seemed to have already heard it.

["A-attacks? H-hurt me..."]

Ian decided to redirect her attention.

"Your spirit isn't dead. Lily, what's going on?"

Why had she suddenly sent a spirit to find him?

Don't tell me the village got attacked?

But that didn't make sense.

The village had some connection to Ian, certainly, but it wasn't a place anyone would consider a meaningful source of military strength.

Even if they wanted to dispatch a warrior, who could they send?

Lily?

That was about the extent of the help they could offer, and if Lily left, the village was finished.

Not figuratively.

Literally.

Without her, they'd all dry up and turn into mummies.

["Ah, Ian! I've been looking for you!"]

"Why?"

["I'm sorry. I heard from my father. He told me he committed a terrible wrong against you..."]

The scattered droplets merged into one and gradually took the shape of a spirit. The spirit drooped its shoulders and clasped its hands together.

["He wanted to apologize to you, but he couldn't find out where you were. Then the spirit said it would help me find you!"]

Her dejected voice suddenly brightened.

It was fortunate.

If only Ian had been a little less busy.

"Oh, I see. You came to apologize?"

["Yes!"]

"I forgive you. So can you go now?"

But the spirit began fidgeting with her fingers again.

["Um... actually, I thought you would forgive us."]

"...?"

["Father said you're a scary person, but you've never once been scary to me. You only hid your kind side from Father because he tried to do something bad to you first, right?"]

"That's right."

Ian nodded along.

You couldn't exactly tell a child, No. Could you leave already?

What ridiculous point was she building toward?

["Hehe. I knew it. So, I want to give you my treasure."]

...?

The conversation had abruptly veered into the kind of random direction unique to children.

More importantly...

Lily has an item?

Ian had never received anything like that as a reward before.

Hadn't he treated Lily exactly the same way he had during his previous playthrough?

...Could it be a bug?

If this turned out to be a quest item Ian should have legitimately received in the past, he was fully prepared to file a permanent complaint with the game company.

The spirit mimed rummaging through her clothes, then slowly pulled something out of her own body.

Ding!

[You have acquired "Lily's Treasure."]

[Lily's Treasure]

A seashell found by Lily.

A rare object in the desert, believed to have been brought there by an outsider.

Contains two incompatible powers simultaneously.

Demonic Energy: +100%

Divine Power: +100%

Anti Demon Power: +100%

Are you insane?

Who in the world had approved an item like this without the slightest concern for balance?

Ian wanted to kiss that person.

"Where did you find this?"

He was certain he had treated Lily exactly the same way he had during his old days playing the game.

But there had been subtle differences elsewhere.

Traveling with Keith and the merchant elf.

Ruining his relationship with the village chief instead of leaving things on good terms.

Small changes could create enormous consequences. Maybe Lily had gone somewhere she normally never would and stumbled across something.

Sure enough, Lily answered.

["In front of my house! Isn't it pretty?"]

"...?"

["Father said it came from the sea. He thinks it must have blown in with the wind. The spirit said it was a treasure!"]

"Wait. In front of your house?"

Ian nearly stood up.

["Yes! Well, our old house!"]

Where the hell did this come from?

The Caracus map?

The thieves' village—no, Lily's village—didn't receive many travelers.

As far as Ian knew, the only recent visitors had been his own group.

They had crossed the sea and gone directly into the desert.

The route matched.

Don't tell me this was originally supposed to be obtained in the Underwater Kingdom?

Ian couldn't believe he had been playing a bugged route all this time.

How much cumulative loss had he suffered?

["Father said that when you do something wrong, you should apologize. When I make mistakes, Father apologizes too, so I'll apologize for Father's mistake instead."]

"No, you don't need to apologize for him."

The words came out automatically.

Why should a child apologize for an adult's wrongdoing?

"But it wouldn't be right to reject an apology. I'll gratefully accept this."

At the same time, he couldn't exactly give up the item.

Before anyone could object, Ian had already stuffed Lily's Treasure into his robe.

"..."

"Ian..."

He ignored the dubious atmosphere around him.

Lily sounded delighted.

["Hehe. Ian... I'm sorry. And thank you. For giving us water and the spirit."]

"Right. Just don't apologize for other people from now on."

The communication ended on a warm note.

"You even took the treasure of a child who's still wet behind the ears...?"

Contacca looked genuinely shocked.

Ian pretended not to hear him.

In any case, he had gathered nearly every ally capable of helping defend the dungeon.

Only one remained.

The Vatican.

And for that place, there was someone far better suited to persuasion than Ian.

"Keith."

"Yes."

The tall knight rose to his feet.

A new bronze mirror rippled.

Within it appeared a magnificent white building.

At the very lowest level of the structure, deep within an underground prison, a man sat with his eyes closed in prayer.

The face that had once hovered between boyhood and adulthood had fully matured.

He now looked much closer to the man Ian remembered.

"Malveric."

[...! Sir Keith?]

Malveric opened his eyes.

Once Keith's squire and also a mid-boss of the Vatican, he appeared to have leveled up in the meantime.

His body looked nearly twice as large as before.

Does a growth spurt even work like that?

Louise growing taller every day was absurd enough.

This was no better.

Inside the bronze mirror, Malveric glanced around before lowering his head and dropping to one knee.

[Impossible. Perhaps I'm hearing things. My training is lacking. Heavenly Father...]

"I am here. I am watching you."

Keith spoke in a voice so calm it truly sounded like a hallucination.

[The whisper of a demon? Or have I gone mad...? Either way, I must inform those upstairs at once...!]

Ian finally cut in.

"I'm here too. It's not a hallucination. Open your eyes properly, would you? There's a spirit right in front of you."

[...?!]

The man who had barely dared open his eyes in the darkness immediately widened them and searched every corner of the room.

A towering knight like the one he had been seeking should have been impossible to miss.

But spirits were small and naturally blended into their surroundings, making them difficult to notice.

[There really is a spirit! Ian, Sir Keith, have you contracted with a spirit?]

"As if."

Ian had no desire to add Half Elf to his list of titles.

In any case, Malveric represented one of the Vatican's greatest sources of military power.

At the moment he was imprisoned as punishment, but he remained highly influential among the people.

He had once been the squire of Keith, Commander of the Holy Knights.

In other words, he was one of the Vatican's cherished rising stars.

Status Window.

Ian checked Malveric's current strength.

Ding!

[Character] "Repentant Sinner" Malveric (★★★★☆)

Repentant Sinner, Tempted by a Demon, Holy Knight

Healing: LV.7

Enhancement: LV.7

Swordsmanship: LV.8

⋮

(Expand)

Excellent.

Ian felt a surge of satisfaction as he admired the beautiful stat line.

Though the most beautiful part was his title.

Repentant Sinner.

Could there possibly be a title easier to exploit than that?

Ian found himself overwhelmingly eager to help Malveric achieve redemption.