Glenn looked at the rusty broken crown and pondered. What were "ghosts" exactly, and why did killing that lamprey one drop a crown? A broken one, sure, but a crown nonetheless. One thing was sure, Divinity hurt ghosts like hell. Thinking back to it, Glenn couldn't begin to guess which God Kevin asked for back when he used the crucifix. A satin god? That was weird. He'll have to ask Kevin once he is back.

'Maybe you could've asked him before he left for the Church,' Diamanes remarked with a cynical tone. Glenn shrugged it off and concentrated back on the crown, sticking the two broken parts together.

"Sun's Touch."

The young man made his finger glow powerfully, increasing the intensity of the Solar attribute spell and tried to weld the two parts together. He quickly gave up once he realized that he had forgotten that molten metal was very, very hot, and could very much burn through his finger. Perhaps he could try and make some kind of laser, to melt the metal from a distance?

Glenn was interrupted in the middle of his experimentations when Kevin tapped him on the shoulder to avert him of his presence. The assistant was more than happy to run off to the Church of Onnea when Glenn asked him to earlier and looked a little less pale now.

"I brought the Church of Onnea as requested, Sir. Is a clean-up team from the Workshop necessary?" He asked while ostentatiously keeping the mummified corpses out of sight. Glenn shook his head and smiled slightly when he recognized who the Church sent.

"Don't bother them, I'm pretty sure it's better to ask the Church for assistance in this situation," He grunted and stood up from his tree trunk, putting the crown parts away to investigate for later. A paladin in silver armor and a priestess in a white robe approached them with two dozen initiates following them.

"Astrid, Alabaster," Glenn saluted the two with a nod. Alabaster nodded back politely, while Astrid only sighed tiredly.

"Yes, yes, let's just get this over with, alright? This is already the fourth place today..." She mumbled with a hint of annoyance. Glenn looked at her and almost asked her what that was about, but Alabaster's frantic movements to warn him from doing so stopped him. The paladin was mouthing very clearly "Don't speak to her she's angry", a little despair on his face as he said so. Astrid frowned and looked back at the paladin, only to find his usual, professional expression.

Glenn sneered and shook his head, "Thanks for your help anyway, Astrid. I got rid of the ghost haunting the place, and also found all the victims." He glanced at the desiccated corpses lying here and there, counting more than fifty of them. All the statues in Van Virando's courtyard turned out to be corpses, victims of the ghost, encased in marble and slowly drying to death. A terrible spell, but Glenn was tempted to keep the method in mind in case he came across another asshole on the Eastern Town Mayor's level, a weak piece of shit who had more power than they deserved.

A few hundred days in a marble coffin would probably correct most of their flaws, wouldn't it? Glenn discarded the morbid thoughts as he watched the initiates from the Church of Onnea work around the corpses, praying for their souls and carefully picking them up to arrange their transports. Glenn dusted his hands off and turned to Astrid, who was watching over the operations with a tired eye.

"Do you need me to do anything, or can I go to the next—"

Astrid grunted and gestured dismissively at him, "Just get out of here. We'll investigate the reason for the ghost's appearance, now that the zone has been cleared." Her expression softened slightly and she gave him a small smile.

"It's nice to know that you're able to use Divinity too. Thank you for taking some stuff out of our plates, we'll be able to help more people this way."

Glenn smiled back at her, "It's my pleasure, Astrid. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, yeah, see you."

"See you around, Glenn!" Alabaster waved at him with a happy smile, making for a stark contrast with the corpses he was transporting. Glenn restrained a shudder and waved back at the paladin, before leaving the premises, Kevin trotting closely behind him. The assistant seemed relieved now that a good distance was separating him from the corpses.

"I thought someone from the Workshop would have more guts," Glenn remarked as he spoke to the scrawny man, "Do you have a problem with corpses or something?"

Kevin shook his head nervously, “As you've seen, I'm not much of a fighter, and corpses make me very, very uncomfortable. I can't get near them without...” He trailed off and shivered. Glenn didn't insist on this point and instead asked him about another subject that intrigued him.

"Which deity's help did you ask for back with the crucifix? I don't think I know a Satin God."

Kevin looked at Glenn for a second, blinking in a lack of comprehension.

"A Satin God—ah!" He shook his head with a rare smile as he realized.

"The God I worship isn't very well known, I doubt you'd know about Him."

Glenn shrugged off the obvious attempt at changing the subject and didn't push further. He took his Exan-Egg out of his dimensional pouch and checked the time. Ten and a half in the morning. He had enough time to deal with at least one more contract, perhaps two depending on them. Could he afford a break?

"Kevin, can I afford a break or do we have anything urgent?"

The assistant looked at his notepad and adjusted his glasses, frowning.

"You have four more contracts for today, Sir Glenn. Three are contained threats that require a simple clean-up, but one is indeed urgent."

Glenn rubbed the back of his head and sighed. So be it, then. If it was urgent, what could he do about it? Two hours and a few easily slayed monsters later, Glenn was sitting at a street restaurant, enjoying a bowl of cold tomato soup while studying the broken crown. Kevin was sitting at his table, enjoying his food as well. The assistant was the one who recommended the booth and had explained to Glenn that the tomato soup they served was the best in the Northern Town.

Indeed, it was a good soup.

'It's strange, I can't feel anything coming from the crown, but it still makes me a bit queasy...' Diamanes remarked with interest. Glenn rubbed his chin, echoing the entity's feeling. Indeed, looking at the crown made him feel like he had an itch in some unreachable part of his back, not painful but annoying enough to be noticeable. Was it the lack of jewels? The beat-up aspect of it, the rust? He couldn't tell.

But there had to be a reason why the ghost was attached to this item, and he was going to discover it.

'Why are you even interested in that?' Diamanes asked with a little irritation. Glenn looked at his left hand and sneered.

'The more I understand about this world, the more chances I have at survival. And, who knows, maybe I'll find a way to weaponize ghosts, right? I'm sure it has already been done before—ah, wait, wasn't that what that Abbot from the Thorn's Cult did back then, with his book?'

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Diamanes hummed for an instant, before replying.

'...No, if I remember well it was Divinity using souls as sacrifices. Or something like that. But it was nowhere like the ghosts you're talking about. What is even the definition of a ghost, anyway?'

Glenn froze, before laughing at the question. Indeed, what was a ghost?

"Kevin, what are ghosts exactly?" He looked at his assistant, who was already done with his soup. The scrawny man politely wiped his mouth, before rubbing his hands together.

"Well—" He emptied a glass of water and rattled his throat, "—The main definition for ghosts is an entity anchored to a specific point in space and time. That anchor can be an item, like in today's case," He motioned at the broken crown, "—but it can also be a living being or a specific place. In most cases, these entities are created due to a large amount of negative emotions and an influx of Mana, and linger on the living, leeching off them.”

Glenn laughed at the pun, thinking back to the lamprey, before quickly killing that laugh. Kevin had made no joke there, as his serious face proved.

"Cough," The young man cleared his throat, "Then, why is Divinity working so well on them?"

Kevin shook his head, at a loss. "We don't know exactly the reason, but there seems to be an incompatibility between evil beings created from Mana and Divinity. The latter is very efficient on the former, but the reasons for such efficiency are extremely varied and not very precise. It's still a subject of study with many different opinions."

Glenn nodded slowly, listening as he tried to stick the two broken parts together.

"...I see." He looked at the crown in its assembled shape, uneasy. Why...Why did it look so strange?

"I know!" Nelg suddenly exclaimed, coming out of his silence, "I know why you feel that way!"

Glenn's head tilted slightly to the side and he blinked.

'Well, I'm all ear, Nelg.'

The sword laughed and brought back the memory of one of the statues, a very realistic one if it wasn't for the lack of face and the circle of dots replacing it. A circle of dots...Ohhhh. Glenn looked at the crown and compared it to the memory he had of the statues. The points of the crown did seem to fit with the dots somehow. But what did that mean...? What was that crown, anyway? Some kind of branding thing?

"Kevin, you remember these dots on the statues' faces?" Glenn crossed his arms as he asked, the jigsaws of the puzzle piecing themselves together. Kevin paled slightly and nodded.

"Of course. It's Van Virando's trademark, after all—" The assistant interrupted himself and hid his mouth behind his hand, his eyes widening. Glenn groaned and rubbed his temples. It all made sense now. For some twisted reason, Van Virando encased living people in marble, marking them with this crown. The grudge the victims felt was certainly the source of the ghost's creation, a ghost who did its best to upkeep Virando's legacy by encasing more people in marble.

"...This is twisted..." Glenn muttered through his teeth. This was an issue he didn't want to add to his plate. He already had too much to do, why should he hunt after yet another madman for free? Well, the gratification of killing sick bastards was always great, but it didn't help him much in his quest.

'Just report it to the Workshop and Onnea's Church,' Diamanes suggested. Glenn moistened his lips, pondering for a second before shrugging. Diamanes was right, reporting the mad sculptor to the law-keeping organizations was the right thing to do. And if he happened to cross Virando's path, perhaps he could give him a taste of his own medicine.

Glenn looked at the broken crown and handed it to Kevin, who paled even further as he held the branding tool.

"Kevin, go report Virando to the Church and the Workshop, so they can put him on their hit list. Give me that notepad and take the day, I'll go get rid of the remaining targets."

The assistant carefully placed the two broken parts of the crown and shook his head, gulping down his horror.

"I—I apologize Sir Glenn, but I am supposed to monitor and confirm your bounties, so—"

Glenn laughed and patted the scrawny man on the shoulder, interrupting him.

"You didn't get it. It wasn't a request, Kevin." Glenn coldly stated, his smile disappearing like a mirage. Kevin blinked, before sighing and ripping a page off his notepad and handing it to him.

"H—Here you go, then. The remaining three targets are all on this page, but I'll need you to bring proof of the bounty to the Workshop once you're done."

Glenn shrugged, waving dismissively as he leaned back in his seat.

"Sure, sure, whatever. Come on, let me enjoy my tomato soup in peace~"

Kevin nodded and stood up, bowing politely before leaving. Glenn closed his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I guess we're not done with the day, then?" Nelg asked almost mockingly. Glenn sighed even deeper and shook his head.

"No, we're not. Food, and back to work..."

The sword laughed, before adding something, "By the way, once we're finished with the bounties, I'll have to show you something. Killing that ghost netted a lot more souls than expected, so..."

Glenn used both of his hands to support his bowl of soup and gulped it all down in one shot.

"I see. Let's talk about that once I'm done."

"Alright."

After a not-so-long day of not-so-hard work and a few more monstrosities put to the blade, Glenn went back to the Magi Brotherhood to experiment further on his spells. The first thing he did when arriving in the Savant Room was to take Pebble out of his breast pocket. The pebble, slightly jade-colored seemed as much as a pebble as ever, hiding its sentient nature. Glenn gulped and placed his left hand over the pebble.

"Alright, let's see if it does something."

Divine Blessing shot out of his purple hand and showered the pebble in golden light. Glenn waited for a few seconds, but besides a golden aura surrounding the pebble, nothing happened. It was still worth noting that the Blessing did take hold on the pebble, despite being not a living being. Perhaps he could try to use it on his sword for a "holy" attribute attack?

"Hey, are you sure it's not going to hurt me?" Nelg suddenly inquired, worried. Glenn looked at the sword for an instant, before shrugging.

"Well, we'll never know without testing." Without giving his sword a moment to refuse, Glenn used Divine Blessing on it. Nelg roared heroically in his host's mind.

"OHHH!! Allow me to aid thee in vanquishing all that stands in our way, for the glory of the holy crusade! Deus Vult!"

Glenn blinked and laughed, while Diamanes almost noticeably shivered.

'Ugh, thank Them for making me unable to suffer from this fate.'

The young man shook his head and dismissed the spell, returning Nelg to normal condition. The sword seemed a little flustered, before roaring in excitement once more.

"Wow, this was so great! I felt like I was about to embark on a victorious march to slay a vicious dragon or something!"

Glenn rubbed his chin, pondering. Using Divine Blessing boosted physical abilities, as had been proved with Sahro back against the Cult's Abbot, Hank. But, it also was able to hurt unholy creatures. What exactly was Divine Blessing? Oh, and let's not forget that using it presumably gave Pebble life, which was also something to keep in mind. Too bad he hadn't figured out a way to use it on himself.

"Oh, and I didn't get to try Milena's spell too..." Glenn suddenly regretted it. How could he forget when he had all these monsters to try it on? Oh well.

"What I need now are...small spells." The young man decided. Every spell he had was way too over the top and risked destroying whole neighborhoods when used. He needed to scale them down somehow.

'You already have Pebble as a component of Shooting Star for a bullet-type spell, perhaps you can center more spells around it?' Diamanes suggested knowingly. Glenn bit down on his lip, hesitating.

"I already considered that option, but what if Pebble just disappears or breaks one day?"

Diamanes grunted, 'Well, you can just make another one! Just shoot Divine Blessing at a rock or something.'

Glenn sighed and scratched the back of his head. For now, he was going to try and create more spells, and once he was done with that, he'd go get his new suits at the Armory. That seemed like a good plan.

"Wait!" Nelg yelled, stopping him before he was too deep in his concentration, "I need to show you the progress on the Black Sun!"

"Ah, yes, I forgot about that too."

He quickly sat himself in position and sank in Meditation. It didn't take long for him to arrive at Nelg's Mana Heart, the majestic Black Sun. Nelg, in his armored form, held his hand out and pulled in a silver circle the size of a crown.

"Killing that ghost netted us fifty-four souls, Glenn." The sword said, not wasting a second. Glenn blinked, before repeating.

"Fifty-four? Shit, that's a lot."

Nelg nodded, before throwing the circle back in the Black Sun.

"I don't think the ghost's soul could be worth that much, seeing how weak it was. Instead..." He frowned, "...I think that those are the victims' souls."

Glenn paused and looked for a long time at the Black Sun, processing what Nelg just said. A short silence passed.

"...So you ate up fifty-four innocent souls?" The young man demanded emotionlessly. Nelg slowly nodded.

"WE ate up fifty-four innocent souls, yes. But, from my point of view, it's better in my stomach than in that ghost's."

Glenn sighed and shook his head, "I can only agree."

The Black Sun hummed softly, vibrating with power, fueled with souls of monsters and innocents alike.