The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 155 Good Samaritan

Several debt collectors had been urging her downstairs for a long time before the female sorceress finally came down with a deathly pale face.

Two gold coins per person, Molly paid while simultaneously canceling the contract, her expression remaining impassive throughout the entire process.

When it was the last person's turn, she gave them two gold coins, but the person only took one from her hand.

"I want to buy another one of your insurance policies."

The others who hadn't left yet also stopped as if waking from a dream, indicating that they wanted to buy another one.

“The price has gone up.” Molly forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. “Fifty gold coins a share, we’re losing sixty gold coins.”

"This……"

Everyone hesitated.

Although they earned more, spending fifty gold coins at once was no different from going bankrupt for most people.

Moreover, due to the constraints of the magic contract, they could not intentionally injure themselves to commit insurance fraud, which greatly increased the risk of losing money. The group looked at each other, and in the end, none of them were willing to renew their insurance policy.

The last gold coin in her hand was also taken away. Molly sat down at the entrance of the hotel and looked up at the sky.

"Exploring the depths of the ancient battlefield fifty times... Are there any other insurance companies selling insurance? I'm even thinking of buying insurance for myself."

When Eric and Elise came downstairs, she was still sitting at the door, lost in thought.

"Have all the creditors left?" Eric stopped beside her.

"Um……"

"Is no one going to renew the contract?"

"Fifty gold coins a piece, who would buy that?"

“Then you can keep selling them for one gold coin each,” Eric said. “I’ll buy them all.”

"..."

Molly was speechless for a moment, then looked up and glared at him. "I don't think the previous losses can be entirely attributed to me. If the boss hadn't come up with this idea, I wouldn't have..."

She shut her mouth before Eric's hand reached for her waist.

"Get up, go check out Max's tavern."

"Oh, have you eaten?" Molly quickly got up.

"...What time is it now?" Eric glanced at her sideways. "Go find some teammates over there, and we'll start exploring the depths of the ancient battlefield tomorrow."

She tried to sit back down, but Eric grabbed her and dragged her to the front of Max's tavern, the largest tavern in Northtown.

Since he was going to be bringing along two girls who weren't particularly outstanding, he planned to find a few reliable teammates, preferably those he had worked with before.

After watching for a long time in the tavern, such a person actually appeared.

"Leonard—"

Leonard, who had just entered the tavern, paused, looked in the direction of the sound, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Eric!"

The fact that they are both here says a lot.

"Want to come along?" Eric extended the invitation directly.

"Okay."

Leonard readily agreed, as Eric had left a very good impression on him during their previous collaboration.

Although they ultimately failed to find the belongings of the other members of the adventure team, they made a fortune just by selling the equipment and items found on the mage, and they split the money among themselves.

Seeing that he was alone, Eric asked, "Where is your mage companion?"

“Didn’t we find a Star Origin Academy badge among that mage’s belongings last time? He sent that badge to Castelfel,” Leonard replied.

Eric frowned, not quite understanding. "What do you mean by sending the badge to Castelfel...returning it to the academy?"

Leonard nodded, then shrugged. "He said he was going to the academy to find out about her past... I don't understand either. Did he even exchange five sentences with that female mage?"

Eric didn't comment, but instead asked, "Are you in contact with anyone else? I'm planning to form a team to explore deeper into the area; with you, there will be four of us now."

Leonard then looked at the two women beside him.

“Molly, a third-tier mage, and Elise, an agility mage, also third-tier. They don’t have much experience; they’re mainly going in to broaden their horizons,” Eric introduced to Leonard. “Although their strength isn’t outstanding, they’re both quite reliable and won’t cause trouble.”

Leonard looked at the two of them for a while before slowly nodding, his gaze lingering longer on Molly's face.

"This Miss Molly..."

“It’s that insurance salesman who’s been selling insurance here recently,” Eric reminded him.

“Oh, I knew it, it looked familiar.” Leonard nodded quickly. “Unconventional, very interesting.”

"Giving money away to everyone for free, what a kind heart," Eric smiled.

Molly rolled her eyes so hard they were practically touching the sky.

"By the way, speaking of the others, I know which inn the wood elf is staying at, but he hasn't spent all the money he earned last time, so he might not be willing to go in. The tiger man seems to be free these days; I saw him last night. As for the dwarf, I don't know where he is."

Eric thought for a moment, "The four of us, plus the wood elf and the tiger man, that should be about right."

Leonard nodded. In terms of strength, Molly and Elise were not as good as the other two in the team during the last adventure, but their minimum strength was not low either. You know, there are many teams in the ancient battlefield that have just reached the third level and are already venturing into the deepest part.

"I'll contact the other two, if they're unwilling..."

Eric tapped the table. "I'll wait here this afternoon. If they don't come, we'll look for other teammates together. After all, you're more experienced and have a better eye for talent."

"Okay." The trust and importance he showed Leonard made him feel comfortable to the core, and he got up to go find someone.

Before leaving, he suddenly remembered something and casually asked, "What's your strength now?"

Eric smiled. "I haven't had much rest in the past two weeks, and I'm almost at level five."

Leonard took a deep breath.

He remembered that when the two first met half a month ago, Eric was not even at level four.

Even if hard work is rewarded by heaven, isn't this reward a bit too much?
He didn't say much and went to find someone.

Eric and his two companions waited at the tavern. Not long after, the Wood Elf, who had been lying dead in the inn, came over and said that Leonard had gone to find the Khajiit after finding him.

Most wood elves are the same; they spend money recklessly as soon as they have it, practically living paycheck to paycheck in this other world, until they run out and start earning more. His willingness to come here already shows his intentions; who knows if he's already squandered all his money in the past two weeks.

Leonard arrived at the tavern with the tiger-man at dusk.

"This guy is actually fixing the hotel owner's roof, and for free."

"Boss, you're a good person. Nobody's helping me."

Leonard sat down. "That old miser wasn't willing to pay, so of course no one helped you. Did he waive a few days' room rate or anything?"

The tiger-man silently shook his head.

"I'll go poke a few more holes in the middle of the night, and you can tell the owner to waive the room fee and fix the roof for him."

The tiger-man immediately placed his hairy paw on his arm. "No, that's not good."

Leonard laughed.

It was lunchtime, and over drinks and food, the newly formed team members got to know each other and agreed on a time and place to meet the next morning before parting ways.

Back at the hotel, Elise was more nervous than Molly, who was reluctant to take the risk.

"I won't hold anyone back, will I?"

"No, you won't," Eric reassured him. "To put it bluntly, there are three other very strong melee classes in the team besides you, so you won't be able to do much. The less capable you are, the less responsibility you have, so there's no need to worry about holding the team back."

His bluntness left Elise speechless for a moment, but it also eased her tension considerably.

She looked at him. "So I really went sightseeing?"

"If you can maintain this mindset."

“As the only mage, wouldn’t my role be very important?” Molly said. “Five gold coins don’t seem to reflect my importance. Let’s double it and make it ten gold coins.”

Eric looked at her for a while, "The fifth-tier mage I brought last time barely participated in the battle. That was just sightseeing. You won't be any more useful than him. Five gold coins is already cheap for you. Let's give you a 40% discount and call it three gold coins."

“Five gold coins, just five gold coins! No more, no less,” Molly said quickly. “Please pretend you didn’t hear what I said earlier.”

"Get some rest," Eric urged.

Molly and Elise left his room and went to their own rooms on the other side.

“Elise,” Molly suddenly called out to her.

Elise turned around, and Molly smiled a little shyly. "Do you want to sleep together tonight? I'm a little nervous."

Elise opened her mouth slightly, but quickly said, "Sure." So Molly also went into her room.

She spread her arms in front of the bed, "Actually, if you look closely, the beds in our room are quite big, enough for two people to sleep in, there's no need to book three rooms at all."

Elise glanced at her. "You'd better forget about saving money by living with me. I'd rather spend more money and live alone."

“…You’re too blunt.” Molly didn’t deny her intentions.

Elise's lips curved into a smile.

“I learned it from him.”

The next morning, the three of them went downstairs together and waited for the other three teammates in front of the church before heading deeper into the ancient battlefield.

Eric formed the team this time, and he also decided on the destination. They had already discussed this in the tavern yesterday. Eric revealed the location of a dungeon, saying that he had accidentally discovered it while adventuring alone before.

His main goal was to gain experience and improve his personal strength through exploration, but he also knew what others valued more.

As for combat, Leonard, who has more combat experience, will continue to be in command.

"Eric, do you remember the location of that place?"

"I only remember the general outline."

"It's foggy everywhere here. Just remember the general direction and search slowly."

It took almost a day just to get deep into the ruins of the ancient battlefield and reach the outer edge of the city.

"You ventured this deep alone?" Leonard asked in surprise.

"I accidentally ended up here." Eric couldn't admit that this was his first time here either, and he could only determine the location of the dungeon by looking at the location of the ruined city.

"Is it in the city?" Leonard looked at the abandoned city shrouded in fog.

This is the most dangerous place on the ancient battlefield, where countless high-level undead roam. But it is also the place with the most treasures on the ancient battlefield. The wealth of the city's inhabitants and the weapons and equipment left behind by the conquerors over the past few centuries are still buried here after the city was destroyed.

“Outside the city,” Eric said, glancing at the ruins of the abandoned city. Most of the ancient battlefield instances were inside the city, while he was going to a few instances located outside the city, which were relatively lower level.

"I remember it was in the southeast corner of the city of ruins."

Leonard nodded. "We're currently at the east gate of the ruined city, so we need to go this way..."

"Something is approaching this area!"

The wood elf suddenly reminded her, "They're very fast."

This was the core area, and Leonard dared not gamble on whether there were people or ghosts on the other side of the fog, so he quickly told several teammates to hide in a corner by the wall.

The group huddled together, facing a long section of collapsed city wall. Leonard, being bold, crept around the corner, looking in the direction from which the wood elf's voice had come.

Soon, a chaotic sound of horses' hooves approached.

The group was taken aback, because all the horses resisted entering the mist of the ancient battlefield, so the adventurers could only enter on foot each time they explored. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any horses here.

Leonard, who witnessed the sound of hooves coming from the horse, and Eric, who quickly made the connection, both turned pale.

The latter immediately covered Molly's mouth, who seemed about to ask something, and gestured for everyone to be quiet.

Leonard, leaning against the corner, slowly turned his head to look at his companions who were huddled together behind him, their faces full of regret and bitterness. But he dared not move, afraid that he would make any noise and let the monsters outside hear him.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves gradually faded into the distance.

Leonard plopped down on the ground, let out a long sigh, and leaned against the broken wall, only to find that his back was soaked with sweat.

“They are demon undead cavalry,” Eric said, nodding. “And it’s a squad, at least seven or eight of them.”

Those were the oldest and most ferocious monsters on the ancient battlefield. They should have died completely during the great war between humans and demons more than five hundred years ago, but they were reborn in the form of corpses, along with their horses, rampaging and roaming inside and outside the ruined city, invincible in all directions.

“It’s said that a single undead cavalryman is as strong as an eighth-tier human warrior.” Leonard said with lingering fear, “If we encounter them head-on, we’ll surely die. We’ve already run into undead cavalrymen as soon as we came in. I even suspect that the goddess Yela is reminding us that our luck has run out and it’s time to stop here.”

Elise glanced at Eric, who, as expected, said, "To survive an entire troop of undead cavalry, doesn't that just prove we're incredibly lucky?"

Leonard paused for a moment, then muttered, "Yeah... Anyway, we'll have to be more careful from now on."

Eric was about to say something when he felt a push in his chest. Looking down, he saw Molly, whose mouth he had been covering for a while, nudging him with her elbow, her eyes glazed over.

He quickly let go.

“…Are you trying to smother me?” She turned and glared at him.

"Didn't we leave you two nostrils to breathe?"

"Let's go quickly," Elise reminded him.

"It's getting dark." Leonard urged his teammates to move quickly. "It's too dangerous to stay here overnight. We need to find a secluded place."

“The area I’m talking about is just ruins; you could spend the night there,” Eric said.

"Okay, let's go there right away."

The group searched towards the southeast corner of the ruined city and, luckily, found the ruins outside the city that Eric had mentioned before nightfall.

This is a vast expanse of ruins, with broken walls and dilapidated stone pillars standing at varying heights, quite dilapidated. If a heavy rain were to fall, they would have nowhere to hide.

“Someone else has been here before…” Leonard quickly noticed the traces of a campfire on the ground.

“It’s right next to the ruined city, so it’s normal for it to have been discovered,” Eric said. “But only the surface has been discovered; the underground space is still perfectly preserved.”

"Where's the entrance?" Leonard asked hastily.

Eric jumped onto a section of broken wall, looked around, compared it with the map in his memory, and then pointed to a secluded corner, "There."

The group followed him, but all they could see were the same broken walls.

Eric searched the wall and his eyes settled on a small, inconspicuous piece of lampstand that was broken off. He grabbed the remaining piece and pulled it out with force.

buzz-

The ground trembled, and the group stared in surprise at it, but the tremor quickly subsided.

Looking up again, Eric was looking at them helplessly. "Move over, make way. You're all standing on top of me, I can't move you anymore."

The others then stepped back, and Leonard came over to help him drag the object.

With a buzzing vibration, a whole floor gradually sank down, revealing a stepped underground entrance.

"How did you find it when it was hidden so well?" the wood elf asked Eric.

“I was lucky.” Eric pointed to a pile of ashes next to him. “I was just wandering around here overnight and happened to find it.”

Leonard couldn't hide his excitement as he looked down. "It seems we're the first team to discover this place."

“That’s right.” Eric nodded. “Let’s spend the night above this entrance, get some rest, and go down tomorrow.”

"Tomorrow? Can't we just spend the night down there?"

Eric shook his head and glanced in the direction they had come from. "It's getting late. I'm worried that other adventure teams that are too afraid to stay overnight in the city might come here, and this mechanism can only be activated from the outside."

Leonard, having regained some composure, agreed. Conserving their energy, completing the exploration in one go, and then immediately relocating was the least risky option.

Eric then operated the mechanism to close the entrance to the underground passage again, and the group rested by making a fire above.

Not long after, another group of people set up camp in the ruins. They kept a distance from each other, greeting each other while remaining wary, and no one approached the other.

When it was time to rest, Molly and Elise, who were having trouble falling asleep due to nervousness, were assigned to the first and second night watch respectively, while Eric was assigned to the last watch before dawn.

Nothing happened all night.

Before dawn, Eric was woken by Leonard to take over his night watch.

"Is everything okay?"

"fine."

He sat down by the fire and glanced at the group of adventurers on the other side of the ruins.

The group deliberately chose to rest behind the wall, and naturally arranged for someone to keep watch at night. However, judging from the direction the watchman was staring at, it seemed more like they were on guard against them.

The one awake at this moment was a human archer, who raised his hand from a distance when he saw Eric looking over.

Eric raised his hand in response, but they didn't exchange any further words.

About an hour later, Eric noticed some movement over there. He turned his head and saw the archer waving his torch, seemingly trying to attract his attention.

He stood up and looked in that direction. When the archer saw him looking over, he turned and pointed his torch toward the ruined city in the darkness, his movements quite intense.

What does that mean...? Is there some powerful undead approaching from over there?
Eric couldn't help but tense up, turning his head to stare into the darkness. Just then, a whooshing sound suddenly came from behind him.

Ding!
Eric dodged quickly, and an arrow flew past where he had been standing and hit the wall.

The moment he stood still, the darkness suddenly brightened, and a huge fireball was condensing, reflecting the grinning mage below.

(End of this chapter)