The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 221 Do your best
When Eric opened his eyes, the sun had just risen, and a ray of morning light shone into the room. The ceiling above him felt unfamiliar.

When he regained consciousness, he remembered that this was the room he had slept in for more than ten years.

After waking up, Eric got out of bed, bathed in the fresh morning sun, and wandered around the city lord's mansion, receiving countless joyful greetings of "Good morning, young master" and "How are you, young master?"

No one here calls him Your Highness, unless they are from outside.

"Your Highness."

Eric turned his head and saw that the knights he had brought had borrowed a space to train.

He went over, responded to their greetings, and then asked for a sword.

"Let's warm up and have a friendly spar. Who wants to go?"

"Your Highness..."

"It's okay, relax. Just pretend I'm training with you guys."

"Ok."

A knight stepped forward, bowed to Eric, and then assumed a fighting stance.

Ding!
After a tentative exchange, the two quickly became entangled in combat.

"..."

Hearing the clanging and banging sounds outside, Natalia opened her eyes.

Her hazy consciousness traversed mountains and valleys, instantly transporting her from the city walls of Lutia to the manor in this remote little town.

Once she was fully awake, the sounds outside the window became clearer.

That wasn't a knocking sound; it sounded more like weapons clashing together.

Natalia went to the window and peeked out.

Not far below, on an open ground, the knights surrounded Eric and another knight, who were sparring. The sounds she heard were coming from them.

She stood by the window and watched them spar until they finished.

The knights dispersed and bowed to the saintess, who quickly disappeared out of her sight.

Natalia also looked away.

Nothing happened today.

Since all the nobles of the target group have been invited to the banquet, there are no extra arrangements for the day. As Eric suggested before they parted last night, she can wander around the city.

Natalia didn't know where she was going, nor did she intend to wander around alone.

During breakfast, she saw Eric again and asked him about his activities that day.

"I haven't been back for three years, let's look around first."

“Then I will go with Your Highness.”

Eric looked up, paused, and smiled. "Okay."

"..."

He hesitated.

Although it was only for a brief moment, Natalia still noticed. "If Your Highness is not comfortable here, then that's fine. I'm just not very familiar with this area, but this is Your Highness's family territory, so I don't think we'll encounter any danger."

Eric took a breath. "It's not inconvenient at all, Your Highness, just come with me. I was hesitant because I was planning to visit the mines outside the city, which are a bit far and require riding a horse."

Natalia didn't say anything more.

But when it was time to set off, she discovered that she wasn't the only one traveling with her.

Eileen, Elise, and Molly all came along, with Eileen sitting behind Eric and the other two riding together on one horse.

"Let's go over there."

"it is good."

The group left the city lord's manor and headed out of the city.

On the way, Eric told Natalia, and also Elise and Molly, about his experience at the mine three years ago.

Natalia frowned. "Plague-infected people trapped in the underground mine?"

"Hmm...but it has nothing to do with our Chiminno family. It was done by Governor Otwell two hundred years ago."

“So you started burrowing underground back then,” Molly said to Elise, supporting her waist.

Eric smiled. "The underground part of that mine is deeper than any of the ruins we've found on the ancient battlefield."

"Did you find any treasures inside?" Molly asked again.

Eric raised his chin, gesturing to Elise in front of him.

Molly paused, then glanced furtively at Natalia on the other horse. "Weren't you and Elise...?"

I was referring to the sword at her waist.

"Oh!"

“There are also a few spell skill books and notes,” Eileen added.

"Speaking of which, what use are those notebooks to you?" Eric asked, turning his head.

Eileen thought for a moment, "It doesn't seem to be of much use. I couldn't concentrate on it when I didn't understand magic, and now that I've started learning magic, I can't concentrate on it anymore. I don't even know where it's buried now."

Eric chuckled.

“I forgot, with your talent, you don’t need those things that ordinary people use.”

"That's not entirely true..."

Eileen wrapped her arms around his waist. "My teacher said that talent is also a kind of cover. It makes me unable to see certain problems that ordinary people can see at a glance, and even some magical achievements, because we can't see them, only humans can do them..."

“It’s us humans,” Eric corrected.

After riding horses for more than half an hour, they finally arrived at the town of Valais.

Three years later, the reopened mines have brought about tremendous changes to this place. The quiet rural town has disappeared, replaced by a bustling development zone.

Even the town was surrounded by a wall, with a team of fully armed guards standing watch at the entrance.

Eric revealed his identity, and the guards immediately let them through, allowing the group to enter the town.

He was the only one who had seen what this place looked like before, so it was difficult for him to share his feelings about seeing the changes. He just looked around.

Many of the migrants who had once lingered in the vicinity were absorbed by Edgar into the miners of this place. The rest, apart from being trained as militiamen, mostly settled here and became part of the town of Valais.

The mining industry has revitalized the area, taverns are everywhere, and even some service industries that were banned in Oren have been revived here.

Eric looked at the high slope north of the town, where thick black smoke billowed continuously. It was a smelting furnace built directly outside the mine, breaking and smelting the iron ore mined from the mine for preliminary processing to facilitate subsequent transportation.

After wandering around the small town below, the group went into a relatively clean-looking tavern to rest for the time being. The tavern owner was stunned when he saw Eileen approaching first.

"You, you..."

"you know me?"

"You are Young Master Eric!...?"

"..."

Eileen's face darkened, and she pointed behind her, "He's over there."

"I knew it! You're his sister, the eldest daughter of the City Lord's mansion!"

The tavern owner quickly came over to greet Eric.

Eric had no recollection of him, and even felt that the tavern hadn't existed three years ago, so he had no idea how the man knew him.

“It’s normal that you don’t recognize me, because you’ve never seen me before. I only came here two years ago,” the tavern owner quickly answered his question. “But I see your statue every day, so I can recognize you at a glance… as your sister.”

Eric frowned immediately. "What bronze statue?"

"Don't you know? The bronze statue in the town square was erected after you led your people to wipe out the undead here and announced the reopening of the mine."

"..."

He had already gone to the capital by then.

Eileen and the others followed Eric to the town square. Sure enough, in the center, there was a bronze statue standing on a high platform, about four or five meters tall, lifelike, which showed the exquisite skills of the statue's caster.

“If I put a headscarf on this, can I also call it my bronze statue?” Eileen asked him.

"...If you're willing."

Eric felt his face burning.

He suddenly remembered that two or three years ago, his uncle seemed to have mentioned in a letter that the residents of Valais planned to commemorate his saving of the town in some way.

Molly also discovered something else nearby: a stone tablet.

“'Eric Kimino, son of the former Lord Eleanor of Dante County, is a handsome and extraordinary young man…wow…cough cough, 'started at the age of five…'”

"Stop reading it!"

Eric glanced at the inscription on the stone tablet, but after seeing the second line, he awkwardly looked away, wanting nothing more than to have someone remove the thing immediately.

But Eileen and her friends were very interested.

"Is it true? Eric was already riding a horse and patrolling everywhere in place of his uncle when he was only eight years old. Even robbers would run away when they saw him?" "I don't know. I was still dizzy at the time."

"Wow, at eleven years old, he can already fight on par with the guards in the city lord's mansion..."

It was one thing to just watch, but to read it aloud with such malice was unacceptable to Eric, so he walked away alone.

He hadn't gone far when Natalia caught up with him.

The two exchanged a glance; Natalia smiled, while Eric turned his face away, and she said nothing.

"Let's go check out the mines up there."

"it is good."

The two continued upwards to the entrance of the mine. The surface area was a hive of activity, with a quarry on one side and smelting furnaces on the other. The passageways connecting to the underground sections had also been expanded considerably. Miners bustled about, and guards from the city lord's mansion stood around the mine.

“From what I understand, Your Highness, it seems that you were already planning for this situation three years ago?” Natalia asked, looking at him.

"More or less." Eric pointed to the sky. "Yera told me. Many people didn't believe it, but thankfully my uncle did, and he started preparing early. These iron ore ore will be transformed into weapons and armor, becoming part of the earliest force to resist the demons."

After a long silence, Natalia sighed and didn't say anything about what would have happened if she had contacted her sooner.

"Can I go down and take a look?" she asked, pointing into the mine.

"It might not be safe down there..."

“I should be safe with Your Highness,” she said, looking at him.

Eric smiled. "Okay."

The two entered the mine and looked around at various places on the surface, but they only looked and did not disturb the miners or smelters, even though many people recognized Eric.

As for the underground part, there was no need to go down there. Eric gave Natalia a brief explanation of the structure inside.

"A descending spiral?"

"At least that's what it looked like when I went down there. After three years of renewed mining, it may have changed quite a bit."

The two walked around and returned to the outskirts of the mine. Eric invited Natalia to go to the nearby high point to look down.

Reaching the top of the slope, the view encompasses the mines and most of the town below, making the changes over the past three years even more apparent.

Eric suddenly remembered Alena and Sophie, who had been there at the time. He turned his gaze to the town's church and found that it had been renovated and expanded.

Natalia followed his gaze to the church. "Your Highness would like to visit the church?"

"No. I just noticed that things are different over there now."

Although he didn't know who paid for it, Eric felt that there was a high chance that his own portrait was hanging inside, so he decided not to go and see it.

After gazing out from the high slope for a moment, Eileen and the others headed towards the mine above.

When they arrived, Eric said, "Never seen this place before, have you?"

Erin shook her head.

“Before returning to Lutia, you should spend more time in Dante County. After all, this is where you were born and raised, even though you don’t have many memories of it,” Eric said.

Equally crucial, the later she, Elise, and Molly returned to Lutia, the clearer the situation there would become.

Eileen nodded, then looked at him again, "Don't talk to me like an uncle."

"That's the tone of an elder brother."

After looking around for a while, there was no need to stay any longer.

The group left Valais and returned to the city. After entering the city, Eric also visited the local Ramallah Abbey.

The abbess of the monastery was still the same old nun he remembered. She was so excited to see him that she kept calling him "Your Highness."

Eric made neither a request nor an instruction; he simply took a stroll around the monastery and, before leaving, invited the abbot and several priests to a banquet at the city lord's mansion.

The group of church knights stationed here were all elderly knights, probably rotated out already. Eric didn't want to bother the old men, so he just greeted them and said nothing else.

It was morning when he left the city lord's mansion. He ran around the city and came back at noon. After returning, Eric stayed in his uncle's study.

The banquet wasn't scheduled to start until the evening, but people started arriving from the afternoon onwards.

Some wanted to see Eric, some wanted to see the royal princess who had never been to this small town, and some wanted to use Eric to make contact with Edgar, who was behind him.

"Come back? You'll be waiting a long time. Uncle won't come back until the demons are gone."

Eric sat behind his uncle's desk, looking at the old man sitting on the other side, "Unless the front lines can't hold out any longer, the battle lines will keep retreating all the way to Oren."

"That's not good news..."

The weather was hot, and the old nobleman kept wiping the sweat from his brow. Eric was afraid he would collapse in his study and become incoherent.

"Have Eileen or Molly come here," he said to the maid at the door. "And remember to bring your staff."

"Yes, Master."

The two continued their conversation, and Eric listened for a while longer before he understood that the old count had already heard about their purpose in heading south and the results they had achieved in Heath City. He had come today to take the initiative to make contact with them and provide some support to the front lines.

"Eric?" Eileen was called over by the maid.

"Quickly, give the old count some air conditioning." Eric pointed to his head.

"Ice mist?"

"You can, right?"

Eileen glared at him, complaining that he had asked an unnecessary question. With a wave of her staff, a large cloud of cold mist was generated and floated in the study, instantly lowering the temperature considerably.

"Thank you, Your Highness, and Miss Eileen. I feel much better now," the old count said gratefully.

"It's nothing." Eric waved his hand, sending his sister away, while Eileen went out and came back, sitting down next to him.

"Don't worry about me. I'm hot too, I'll rest for a while."

Eric ignored her and continued discussing the matter of providing support with the old count.

“My suggestion is that you find a trusted junior member of your family to escort supplies to the front lines in Lutia… Well, we still need to buy food from Guradia. The price of food there has gone up a bit, but it’s still the cheapest option, considering the transportation costs.”

Eileen sat to the side listening, occasionally waving her staff to replenish the icy mist above her head.

When Eric had finished talking with the old count, a maid came to the outside of the study: "Young master, someone outside wants to see you."

“Let him wait,” Eric replied casually.

“It’s about time I left.” The old count stood up and smiled at Eric. “I’ll come back for the dinner party this evening.”

Eric saw him outside and watched the old count get into the carriage before turning to the maid who had been following him. "Who wants to see me?"

“That young lady,” the maid said, pointing to the figure in the courtyard.

"Miss?" Eric looked over, not recognizing her at first glance. "Which family is she from?"

"She said her name was Kasha."

"..."

At this moment, the figure in the courtyard turned around, saw Eric, and ran over quickly. When he got to Eric, he fell silent and just stared at him with wide eyes.

More than a year has passed, and the forest ranger hasn't changed much. Her green eyes are still bright and clear, and her long black hair seems to have grown a bit longer.

“…I never expected to see you here, Miss Kasha, especially at this time.”

Eric looked at her attire. "You just came from Grandia?"

Kasha shook her head. "I've been here for over a month."

Eric was surprised, then said, "Come in, let's talk in the study."

He instructed the maid, "Do not disturb me for an hour. If anyone comes looking for me, say I am busy, unless it is very urgent."

"Yes, Master."

Eric led Kasha inside.

"Miss Kasha just said that you've been here for over a month?"

Kasha followed beside him, her gaze fixed on his face. "Because of the war, the owner of the forest I was guarding fled south. He advised me to leave Gradia as well... so I came to find you. It turns out you are a saint of the Church of Yela."

Eric turned to look at her, then smiled.

"Miss Kasha, now you understand why I can't join your Natural Cult, right?"

Kasha fell silent.

When I went upstairs to the study, Eileen was still there, but she had slumped into her chair, tilting her head back and crossing her legs. She was holding a staff in one hand and turning it around in front of the icy mist above her head, as if she were stirring a large vat.

"You're back... Huh?"

She soon spotted the young woman who had returned with Eric.

"Who is this?"

Kasha hugged Eric tightly.

"I've finally seen you again..."

With a thud, Eileen's staff fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)