The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 155

It was indeed a city of pleasure.

‘The High Priest is gambling with the priests…’

The enraged Priest Bali used his authority as an Inquisitor to drag the High Priest and all the other priests out.

“Everyone, get your heads straight! All of you, come outside!”

Then he personally provided them with ‘mental education.’

Aden found Priest Bali’s furious appearance, with his eyes blazing like an enraged ogre, quite daunting.

The priests’ terrible screams could be heard inside the building.

‘Well, it’s not entirely incomprehensible.’

They claimed they were just too bored and had nothing to do.

With the long absence of the Saintess, the divine power in the western main temple weakened, resulting in a rapid decline in believers and influence.

Eventually, with all their followers taken by the Lawsian Cult, the temple had nothing to do, and they succumbed to leisure out of sheer boredom.

But gambling inside the temple was, of course, a blasphemous act.

After several hours, Priest Bali’s ‘body education’ concluded, and they returned.

They came back utterly battered, staggering and humbly bowing in penance.

“This is Tarotman, the High Priest of the Western Main Temple, Saintess. I deeply apologize for the disgrace.”

“We’re sorry!”

“We’re sorry!”

Finally, the atmosphere of the temple became more appropriate, suggesting Priest Bali’s mental education was effective.

Elise smiled brightly at the High Priest.

“It’s okay. I would be bored too if I had nothing to do. Just be careful from now on! Stand up.”

When she healed their bruises and exhaustion with divine power, they shed tears of gratitude.

“Oh! How merciful!”

“Sob! Saintess!”

“Long live Saintess Elise!”

Afterwards, like the priests of the northern main temple, they became ‘120% Elise devotees,’ praising her.

Truly a funny order.

After some commotion had subsided, the Sacred Fire Ceremony was held to ignite the extinguished sacred fire on the western altar.

It was also the moment Aden had been waiting for.

‘When the Sacred Fire Ceremony was held at the northern main temple, I obtained the Eye of Fire.’

It resonated with the mana cultivation technique obtained from the main temple of the Sacred Fire Order in the east.

That was the arrangement hidden by the owner of the Sacred Fire for their successor.

‘And according to the system, there are a total of four such sacred relics.’

And there are four main temples of the Sacred Fire Order in the east, west, south, and north.

Although the talk of apostles and such didn’t appeal to him, the sacred relics were quite useful.

‘I hope I can obtain the rest of the relics as well.’

The northern sacred relic, ‘Eye of Fire,’ appeared when Elise ignited the sacred fire on the altar.

Surely, the western main temple would be similar.

Elise infused the sacred fire on the western altar with divine power.

Whoosh!

As the golden flames of the sacred fire blazed up, the High Priest and priests cheered with joy.

Just like the priests of the northern temple.

Aden didn’t feel the same peculiar attraction this time.

Instead, a slightly different phenomenon occurred.

‘What is it?’

Above the fiercely burning golden flames, a peculiar mirage shimmered.

It was subtly different from the usual mirage caused by flames.

‘Could it be…?’

Aden soon sensed something and instinctively used the Eye of Fire.

-Opening the Eye of Fire.

The eye of the owner of the Sacred Fire, the Eye of Fire, which sees through all phenomena.

He looked at the flames with that divine eye.

-You have met the conditions for the hidden piece.

Indeed, this was the answer.

The mirage flickering above the sacred fire gradually became clear.

-The proficiency of the Eye of Fire increases.

-Hidden Piece, ‘Incantation to the Hidden Door,’ found!

-By reading the incantation, the room containing the sacred fire owner’s treasure will be opened.

The incantation to the hidden door.

It was a short sentence.

‘Wait, what?’

And unconsciously, Aden read the meaning of the sentence.

“Open sesame…”

He inadvertently said it out loud.

Then.

Rumble!

The entire building of the western main temple of the Sacred Fire Order vibrated and shook violently.

“What’s happening!”

“I-Is it an earthquake!”

“Everyone, calm down!”

The priests were flustered by the tremors.

And as Aden watched the unfolding scene, he suddenly recalled the main temple in the east.

He remembered the mechanism that the Kertel cult leader activated to move up and down automatically.

Rumble!

The altar where the sacred fire was enshrined split open, revealing a hidden door to a secret room no one knew about.

“What on earth…”

“What is that door…?”

The priests and Elise’s party were bewildered by the situation, while Aden wore a bitter expression.

“No, what kind of incantation…”

It seemed that the gods were truly out of their minds.

* * *

Damn it.

That was Aden’s first thought.

Aden rubbed his head.

“Damn…”

And the next thought that followed was a stream of curses summed up in four letters.

“Shit…”

Indeed, it was just more swearing.

There was only one reason he was sitting alone, muttering curses in the room.

He had entered the secret space of the western main temple and obtained the sacred relic of the Sacred Fire’s owner, just as he had wanted.

The problem was the nature of that sacred relic.

Squirm.

A rather cute, green caterpillar was burying its face in a round apple, enjoying its meal.

Squirm?

“…”

The caterpillar noticed Aden’s gaze and tilted its head in confusion.

Seeing this, Aden sighed.

“…Just go ahead and finish eating.”

Nod, nod.

Understanding Aden’s words, the caterpillar nodded and continued squirming, deeply engrossed in savoring the sweet and sour fruit.

The system explained the identity of this strange, intelligent caterpillar.

[Hibernation Bug]

A long time ago, it ate the first leaf of the World Tree and transcended its status as a mere insect to become a spiritual creature. It was the familiar of the Sacred Fire’s owner.

-It sleeps well. When there’s no food, it can enter a state of hibernation and survive for hundreds of years.

-It emits a sleep-inducing fragrance that can make any being fall asleep. However, the higher the target’s level, the lower the success rate, and the shorter the sleep duration. From master level and above, it induces the status condition of ‘extreme drowsiness.’

-Although it is currently just a caterpillar, it dreams of becoming a beautiful butterfly someday.

“Just so you know, it’s not a butterfly caterpillar. It would cry if it knew the truth, so keep it a secret.”

“…”

Whether it was a butterfly caterpillar or a moth caterpillar, Aden didn’t care at all.

That’s right.

The second sacred relic of the Sacred Fire’s owner that Aden obtained was this small caterpillar.

Snore.

As per the description, it fell asleep again mid-meal.

-Ha. First a black lizard, then a plant, and now a caterpillar? I’m curious about what you’ll get next, Dragon Slayer.

“…Shut up.”

Aden, feeling a mix of absurdity and helplessness, shook his head.

‘Maybe I had too high expectations after obtaining the Eye of Fire.’

Although it seemed too trivial to be a sacred relic, it was undeniably the sacred relic and a spiritual creature of the Sacred Fire’s owner.

At the very least, the abilities it possessed were extraordinary.

‘A sleep-inducing fragrance that can even affect masters…’

Making an opponent fall asleep.

It might sound trivial, but depending on how it’s used, it could be a brilliant move.

‘Especially if the opponent is a master or higher.’

At the master level, it was generally difficult for anything to affect them unless it was something like the venom of a basilisk.

It was nearly impossible to put them to sleep with any strong sleeping pills or anesthetics.

However, if one could make an opponent fall asleep during a battle, or even induce drowsiness to disrupt their focus…

‘I could cut their throat ten, twenty times over.’

In that sense, the abilities of this Hibernation Bug were very useful.

This seemingly insignificant caterpillar could be quite helpful in the future.

-Dragon Slayer, to me, it sounds like mere escapism and self-justification.

‘I guess I should buy a box of Holy Potions from the shop up ahead. No, maybe ten boxes to bathe in.’

-Indeed, a spiritual creature capable of affecting even masters! You’ve obtained something truly remarkable, Dragon Slayer!

‘Right. You think so too, don’t you?’

-Quite so.

Curs was truly a trivial curse.

Aden stared at the Hibernation Bug, which had made a hole in the apple and was sleeping with its face peeking out, with a puzzled expression.

And just as Aden was about to speak, Curs already knew what he was going to say.

“Do you think it might have…”

-If you’re asking whether it has an inner core, drop it.

“Damn. But it’s a spiritual creature, right? Spiritual creatures have inner cores. And if it grew from eating the World Tree’s leaf…”

-Don’t drool. Coveting even a caterpillar’s inner core is like stripping fleas for their livers…

Shiver.

For some reason, the sleeping caterpillar shivered instinctively, as if sensing a chill.

That night, the caterpillar had a nightmare of being eaten by a giant bird.

* * *

The Lawsian Cult had sent an invitation, but there was no need to rush to meet them, and there was time before the date stated in the invitation.

‘I came here to see if there’s any clue about those Chaos guys.’

Thus, Aden decided to gather information by wandering around the bustling areas of the Holy Kingdom.

‘With Niketa’s help, it’s hard to gather information here, so I’ll have to catch clues myself.’

Over thirty percent of the population in the Holy Kingdom possessed divine power, which was antithetical to warlocks.

This made it a place she would avoid or approach cautiously, as warlocks had not yet revealed themselves to the world.

There wasn’t even a branch of the White Moon intelligence group here, so there was limited information to be found.

‘All I know is that the priests of the Lawsian Cult are corrupt, the current Holy King is oppressed by their growing power, and the Holy King’s child is incompetent and lazy.’

In short, the power of the king was weak, the ministers were corrupt, and the next successor was a troublemaker. That was the situation of this kingdom.

Yet the country was sustained by the military power wielded by the knights using divine power, the Holy Knights Order holding the military power firmly.

-Hoo, a scoundrel of the Holy Kingdom… It reminds me of the scoundrel from the Grand Duke’s family I know well.

“Shut up, damn it.”

Aden’s face twisted in response to Curs’s provocation.

Since it had been revealed that Aden Remes and he were the same person, Curs took every opportunity to taunt him.

Even knowing he would later be tortured by divine power by Aden, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

-How can one be called a true ruler if they retreat out of fear of future pain? Even if the path ahead is thorny, I will seize victory now, Dragon Slayer.

What a grandiose nonsense. Anyone hearing it might think he was a warrior facing a million-strong army.

‘I should get information through locals.’

Warlocks typically operated in the shadows, naturally connected to the underworld.

If he found such people, he might learn something.

Just as Aden was deep in thought, a small boy brushed past him, distancing himself naturally like other passersby.

Dash!

Once some distance was made, the boy quickly ran and turned.

Hiding in an alley, the boy giggled.

“Hehe, that was too easy. Earned some free money.”

The boy, appearing to be about thirteen or fourteen, was a pickpocket.

“Let’s see how much I got… Huh, what?”

The boy’s expression turned to panic as he reached for Aden’s wallet that he had pickpocketed.

“M-my bag! Where’s my bag!”

The bag he had filled with items stolen from passersby throughout the day.

The bag that had been securely fastened to his waist had suddenly disappeared.

At that moment, a voice called out.

“Hey, thief. Looking for this?”

“…Gasp!”

The boy flinched and turned around, his heart sinking.

There stood Aden, grinning wickedly and holding up the boy’s stolen bag as if showing off a trophy.