Interlude: The Night In Kalida

***

Night had fallen and Calvin had decided to have the expedition rest in town. It had been a long time since they had any proper rest since they were mostly either on the move or camping outdoors.

“This is a pretty nice place.”

Sun couldn’t help but admire the inn that they were staying at. Since the church in Kalida was relatively small compared to the churches in the larger cities, they had no choice but to pay for rooms in a number of inns. It was money that was more than well spent though. The furnishings of the inn was more than acceptable for the cost; the service and the food was superb as well.

“It’s still a bit before they serve the meals.”

Sun said as he was lying down on his bed. The moment his room was assigned he had immediately jumped onto the bed and started rolling around on the comfortable bedding. Compared to the hard ground of a tent or the wooden carriage that constantly hit bumps, the bed was infinitely more comfortable. After having rolled around for a few minutes, Sun was informed by a worker than dinner would be served in a few hours.

“I guess I should take a bath.”

Sun took a look over himself. Since the journey had began, he had not had the opportunity to properly take a bath. The dust that was kicked up from traveling coated him in thick layers. Even though wiped his body with a damp cloth, it was no substitution for a real bath. Since he was quite conscious of his overall appearance, he felt the need to clean up and get the smell of blood and sweat off of him.

When he asked a worker about their baths, he was pleased to find out that they had one available for use. He prepared a change of clothes and headed in.

“What a large bath.”

Sun had never used such a large bath before. He usually used one for his own personal use, and the rooms in the churches usually had their own baths.

Washing off the dirt from his body, he finally entered into the warm water. The fatigue that had built up since he had started on this trip began to wash away. Placing a towel onto his head, Sun submerged his upper body underneath the water as he soaked in the warmth of the bath.

“So relaxing.”

Sun drifted off into his own little world to be free of his worries and troubles. Quite a lot had happened since he arrived in this world. To think that going to meet Pink would result in him being attacked by an unknown force and then mysteriously transported into this strange world. Sun thought back at the events that had led up to his entry into this world.

‘Royal Road huh?’

The words of the light entity hung on his mind. That had certainly not been the God of Light. Then who could it have been? All sorts of questions plagued him but to which he received no answers.

“Haah.”

Sun sighed in frustration. He had gotten into the bath and was trying to relax but instead he was simply causing himself more stress. Then he remembered a very critical fact that he had forgotten all this time.

‘The Divine Sun Sword!’

Sun could not believe how he had forgotten about it. It was a priceless treasure of the church and the symbol of the Sun Knight. The problem was that he was the one that had been entrusted with it and thereby his responsibility. There was no way that he would be able to compensate its cost even if he worked his entire life.

“Why!?”

He could only lament his own fate. If the Divine Sun Sword was truly gone then there was no telling what would happen to him then. He could only hope that the Divine Sun Sword was still safe.

“What is it?”

A familiar voice called out to him amidst his thoughts. He looked over to see that Alveron had also gotten into the bath. The young priest had also wanted to wash up from the long trip.

“It’s nothing.”

Sun simply dismissed it since it was something he had to take care of on his own time. Alveron got into the bath as well and started soaking in the water.

The two of them sat there in the water.

“Wait a minute...”

In that moment, he suddenly came to a great realization.

“Why are you in here?”

“This is a shared bath isn’t it?”

Alveron answered his question as if it was the most normal thing there was.

“Shared...bath?”

Sun had not expected such a thing. From his long days of applying body masks, he had long forgotten such a thing existed. It was his first time that he had actually been in a shared bath.

“Yes...of course hahaha.”

Not wanting to seem strange, Sun just agreed with him awkwardly. Not knowing how to deal with the situation, he simply sat and soaked in the water some more. Then there came the sound of loud clanging as if a fight was going on.

Kwangkwangkwang!

'This metallic sound!'

The loud metallic ringing resounded throughout the area. Sun and Alveron were currently in the baths and at their most defenseless state.

Kwangkwangkwangkwangkwang!

The ringing finally stopped but that did not let Sun relax. The sound had come from relatively nearby. That meant whatever it had been, it was probably coming their way. The sound of heavy footsteps resounded as it drew closer and closer to the baths.

“Gaaaaah.”

A loud fiendish moan came from the entrance of the baths. Sun braced himself for a monster to appear.

‘What is it?’

Sun looked towards the entrance, waiting for the owner of the footsteps to appear.

Alveron floated over the water and went over to him.

~pooooo-ke~

Alveron jabbed his finger into his face, confused at what he was doing looking so serious.

“What are you looking at?”

Almost as if to answer Alveron’s question, the entrance to the baths opened up. A large number of their paladins that were also staying at the inn had come in to bath as well.

‘So that meant that sound was...’

Sun felt stupid once he realized that the sound of metallic scraping was the sound of the paladins removing their heavy armor.

“It’s nothing. I was just spacing out for a bit.”

Sun answered evasively in order to avoid getting himself embarrassed. The rest of the paladins began to wash the blood and monster guts off of their bodies as they got ready to enter into the baths.

Looking over at some of the paladins, Sun felt a little bit envious.

“It must be nice to be so muscular.”

The paladins of the order were quite physically built compared to the average warrior. Their level was quite high and their practical training was rigorous. They were far superior to the ordinary user in both skill, level, and stats.

Sun, despite being a holy knight, was not physically built at all. The fact that he was the Sun Knight, leader of the entire church of the God of Light, and was incapable of high levels of physical activity was a miracle in itself. The fact that he was often treated like a priest, and that he was actually a priest here, irritated him a little.

He looked down at his own body, devoid of any signs of past or present physical exertion.

“It’s not like you need any as a priest. Hahaha.”

The paladins said to him jokingly. It was true that there was no point in a priest having high quantities of strength and other combat related stats. However, he was originally a holy knight and not a priest!

“It’s not like it’s that important...”

Alveron tried comforting him. Sun felt glad that he had a friend like Alveron that knew how he felt. However, Alveron continued his sentence.

“At least you have fair skin and well kept hair. You are probably more beautiful than most of the female priests in the order.”

“It’s almost a shame that you’re not a woman.”

Their comments only made Sun feel worse. Even though they had no ill intent, the fact that it was true stung at him.

“Hey Sun, are you alright?”

Alveron asked worriedly. Sun did not look well, mostly attributed to his worsening mental state.

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“You’ve been in here for quite some time. Don’t you think that it’s time that you got out?”

Aside from feeling bad about himself, Sun was also getting dizzy from staying in the bath for too long. Heeding Alveron’s advice, the two of them got out of the baths and went to the dressing room to get their clothing.

Putting on his spare clerical robes, Sun gave some thought to their words and started to feel better about himself.

‘If I was any different then my life might have turned out differently. I’m more than content with my life back in the Holy Temple.’

If he had been more skilled with the sword instead of holy arts then he might not have made the friends that he currently had, such as Roland and Lesus. There was also no guarantee that he would have been the Sun Knight. His teacher had told him on several occasions that he was chosen because of his appearance, a choice that he himself still questioned. But it was that choice that had shaped his life to the way it was now.

Even if he was trapped in some strange world, he still had his friends from his past and the ones that he had made in this world. He felt that he would find a way back to his world somehow.

Walking down the hall, the two of them went to the dining area of the inn.

“I wonder if its time to eat yet?”

Sun felt hungry now that he was done with his serious thinking. When he asked a nearby worker about dinner, he was told that it was still being prepared and that it would be served shortly.

“Alveron, tell me something interesting.”

Sun didn’t have anything to do while he waited so he decided to talk to Alveron.

“Hm....”

Alveron tried to think of something, but nothing came to his mind. He had lived a sheltered life so he didn’t know much.

“There’s something that I want to ask you Sun.”

Alveron suddenly said after a moment of thought.

“What is it?”

Sun didn’t know what he was going to ask but he thought that he might as well answer.

“Who...no...what are you?”

Sun blinked at the question as if to figure out what he had meant.

“What do you mean?”

Since Alveron had high levels of intellect and wisdom, he had felt something strange about Sun.

“You don’t seem like a native born of the Continent of Versailles.”

“That’s right.”

Sun decided that it was probably better to just tell him. Just as he was about to explain his background, Alveron continued his thoughts aloud.

“However, you don’t behave like a freedman either.”

Sun took in what he was saying and then asked a little bit confused.

“What’s a freedman?”

He had never heard the term ever since he had arrived in this continent.

“Freedmen are the people that are not born on the Continent of Versailles. They are beings sent here by Gaea the Holy Seer.”

With another moment of thought, Alveron decided to add in.

“Most adventurers that you see are freedmen. Freedmen often act differently and speak differently. The man I told you about, Weed, is also a freedman.”

Sun tried to piece together Alveron’s words with his own situation.

‘Sent here by Gaea the Holy Seer?’

‘Not born on the Continent of Versailles.’

‘.....!’

After a moment of thought, Sun came to a great realization.

‘What if that light spirit I saw at the beginning was that so called Gaea?’

When Sun had first entered into Royal Road, he had encountered a being of light that he had originally mistaken for the God of Light in his pain induced stupor.

‘So why have I been sent here?’

There had been no reason why he would have come to this world and some of the pieces of the puzzle still did not line up properly. Even if he had met this so called Gaea and came to this world, what had been the darkness that had ripped apart his body before it?

There were many things that were still unanswered, but now he had confirmed a few things. Many of the people that he had met in his time here were freedmen. However, another thing still gnawed at his mind which was the words that Alveron had said earlier.

‘However, you don’t seem like a freedman either.’

If he wasn’t a native of this world and if he wasn’t a freedman, then what was he?

“What is it that sets me apart from the freedmen?”

Sun could not help but ask. He certainly was not a native of this world but he seemed to be closer to these freedmen that Alveron had mentioned.

“Freedmen are capable of leaving the continent and returning whenever they want.”

‘They’re able to come and go as they please?!’

Sun could not believe what he had heard.

“How do they do this?”

If what Alveron was saying was true, and if he really was a freedman, then he could return to his world quite simply.

“There are a number of ways that I have seen freedmen leave this continent.”

Alveron began to think back at what the other freedmen had done. Since Alveron was an NPC, he was capable of seeing the status and information windows that popped up for users.

“Some of them open up their options window and select the button that says ‘Log Out.’. Another one just said ALT + F4 to leave the continent. There are other methods but I’m not sure how they did it.”

“Options.”

Sun opened up his options window and looked around for the ‘Log Out’ button. At the very bottom of the option window was the button that he was looking for. He tried to press it several times but it would not work. The entire box had been greyed out to show that it was inaccessible.

“ALT + F4!”

Sun yelled out in hopes that it would work but all it did was startle the other people in the dining hall and make himself look stupid.

“...”

Sun looked over to Alveron with a sad look on his face.

“It only works for freedmen.”

Sun could not help but admit the fact that he was not a freedman.

“So who are you Sun?”

Alveron repeated his original question.

“Well...”

Sun didn’t knew where he was supposed to start explaining all of it.

“Dinner is now served.”

Just as he was about to start explaining, a worker came out of the kitchen and announce that it was time to eat. Their conversation got cut short as everyone started coming in to eat.

After dinner was over, Sun returned to his room to sleep. Then he remembered that the conversation was still not finished. Alveron entered into the room to sleep, since they were sharing rooms after all.

“Would you believe me if...”

He paused for a moment.

“... I said that I was from another world?”

Sun asked Alveron a little hesitantly. He had not fully explained everything to Calvin either so he tried to see if Alveron would believe his words.

“Yes. If that is the case, then I will believe what you say.”

Alveron looked him straight in his eyes to show his sincerity. Sun began to explain to him about the world that he had come from and how he had been transported to the Continent of Versailles.

“I see...”

Alveron was deep in thought.

“That explains a lot of things then.”

“So you believe me?”

“Of course. I had said that I did, did I not?”

Sun had a look of relief on his face since he thought that most people would think that he was insane to say such things.

“I’m thankful that you would tell me about this...and I’m sorry if I was insensitive before.”

Alveron apologized for his previous disrespect to him.

“In return, I’ll help you get back to your world in any way that I can, Knight nim.”

“Thank you, but isn’t that a little strange to use in this context?”

Sun couldn’t help but say. Even if he used to be a holy knight, he was still considered a priest here.

“Why don’t you just call me Grisia?”

“Okay then Grisia. Shall we go to sleep then?”

The two of them knew that the next day was going to be busy and that they needed all the rest that they could.