Chapter 87

"You're leaving? Alone?"

"Mm..."

Kira twisted her hair with her hands as her face turned hot.

"I've learned the principles of magic from you... I think I can manage on my own..."

Ian felt an old-man grumpiness stirring inside him for the first time in a while.

"Ha!"

To think you're getting ahead of yourself just because you luckily stumbled upon an opportunity and reached a new level! Kira Laventa!

True mastery, like a castle built on sand, cannot stand without diligent internal cultivation!

Are you already dreaming of your magical debut with just superficial enlightenment?

...Ian's thoughts were a bit odd, though.

The point is, Kira's skills are still severely lacking.

Indeed, Kira had enough talent to survive contact with the mystery of fire.

But relying on her shallow skills to perform fire magic could easily burn everything around her.

This is because she's ignorant of the language of fire, including that used by Archwizard Maronius.

Even if communication fails, friendship is still possible, like between humans and animals.

However, for a proper friendship, conversation is essential.

"So what about the language of Maronius? How will you learn the magic language?"

"I'll... gather the tuition..."

"How will you earn the money? By scamming again?"

"Why would you say that?"

"I thought you decided to stop pretending to be a fake wizard."

Kira avoided Ian's gaze, her head bowed.

In a subdued voice, Kira muttered, "I don't want to be in debt to you again."

"Debt?"

Ian asked incredulously.

If anyone should feel indebted, shouldn't it be Ian?

Kira was a great help when Ian fought with Larabel.

Gerard even said that Ian would have died without Kira.

But Kira didn't see it that way.

She only thought of repaying the debt for when Ian helped her against Baron Damon and the vampire.

In fact, Kira believed she owed more debt now that Ian had helped awaken her magic.

"Ian. Personally, I respect you. I mean it."

"..."

"You are certainly a great wizard. And you'll become even greater. You don't need to waste time on a fake wizard like me. It's a waste."

Tears welled up in Kira's eyes, perhaps overwhelmed by her emotions.

Ian slowly shook his head.

Kira was seriously mistaken.

She believed herself to be worthless.

In this medieval fantasy world, everything is biased.

Information and resources were skewed, making inequality the norm.

Kira lived a lower-class life even among the commoners.

Being a wandering jester, a life scorned and ridiculed among the lower classes, she couldn't properly recognize her own talent and abilities.

"So. You think you'll be a burden?"

"...Sorry."

Kira was born in the wrong era.

Had she been born in the modern era, she would have been a great actress, receiving everyone's attention.

Since no one ever affirmed her talent, she had long concluded herself to be a worthless human.

'I need to show her, her own value.'

But to Ian, Kira was a woman of tremendous talent.

Firstly, the fact that she caught the interest of the mysteries of fire was an incredible talent.

Apart from her magical talent, her acting skills and guts were admirable.

Yet, Kira herself was unaware of her talents.

'Capital therapy is indeed the best.'

Throughout the ages, financial therapy has been the best for those suffering from depression.

Doesn't feel better even after seeing money? Maybe the amount wasn't enough.

Ian wanted to demonstrate Kira's abilities numerically.

Money is best in such times.

"Okay. I'm not your master. If you want to leave, I can't stop you."

Ian responded briskly, and Kira smiled faintly.

"Thanks, Ian, for everything up till now."

"But what if I hire you as my companion?"

"?"

Kira looked confused, not understanding what he meant.

"Companion? Me? You want to hire me?"

"Yes. I'll pay you, so follow me."

"That's... what..."

"Why? You were going to work for money anyway. Is there a problem with me hiring you?"

Kira gaped.

There obviously was a problem.

As a child, Kira was a jester, and as she grew up, she became a scam artist.

Simply put, she didn't know how to do a proper job!

What could Ian possibly have in mind by hiring Kira, who can't really do anything?

Her only value was being a young woman...

"!!!"

If she hadn't become a con artist, she would have been a dancer.

And among the dancers, many also worked as prostitutes.

After all, selling beauty for money was common, and the mindset was to make the most of it while in their prime.

So why is Ian giving money to Kira...?

Thinking this far, Kira, her face turning bright red, stuttered out,

"I, I, I can't do... that kind of thing...!"

"??? I haven't even said anything yet?"

"But Lady Belenka is there too! How can I...!"

"Belenka?"

Ian was puzzled.

Belenka was a front-liner, and Kira was a back-liner.

Their positions were totally different, so why would that matter?

"Wouldn't three be better than two?"

Eek!

Kira clapped a hand over her mouth.

Does that mean one Lady Belenka isn't enough!

How depraved!

No, wait!

Was there something going on between Lady Belenka and him?!

"Indulging in lewd acts will send you straight to hell! Ian!"

"???"

Ian spent a while trying to figure out what Kira meant.

He then realized what kind of indecent fantasies she was imagining and was dumbfounded.

"That's what you think when money is involved? Crazy woman!"

"No! That's just common sense!"

Common sense be damned!

...or so he thought, but then he realized again that this really was a medieval fantasy world where common sense was dead.

It's Ian's fault for being reincarnated into such a world, right?

Afterward, Ian had to sweat fixing Kira's wrong notions of common sense. <center >---
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Ian's goal to cheer Kira up was perfectly achieved.

"So... please take care of me until I gather enough for my tuition!"

After receiving financial therapy, Kira returned to her room with a big smile.

Ian had made a contract to share a portion of the earnings from their travels with Kira.

Kira, the half-baked wizard, was happy to have a strong backer in magic, and Ian was pleased to freely utilize Kira's fire magic, acting, and sleight of hand.

If Ian was the boss, then Kira and Belenka would be the employees.

Actually, they were high-class manpower who could work for any noble without any problems, so in some sense, they could be called a mercenary group.

If they just filled up with some lower mercenaries for numbers, something worthy of being called Ian's army would be complete.

'Should I just go ahead and establish a country like this?'

Ian thought to himself and laughed.

Power-hungry wizards were quite common.

They all neglected their cultivation and focused on land grabbing and power struggles, becoming common lords.

If Ian decided to take land seriously, well, it wasn't impossible.

If he just returned to the Talian lands and married Lucy, he'd become Baron Talian just like that.

But he wasn't reincarnated into another world just to become some country baron, right?

He felt like seeing the face of God would be somewhat satisfying.

'For now, I want to explore the North.'

If he wanted to gather mysteries useful for strengthening Anor-lsil, he had to travel the world diligently.

It wasn't just because of the Space-Time Wizard Council; the North was filled with numerous mysteries.

For example, the existence of the Ice Phoenix that Longtail had told him about.

Ian roughly set his direction toward the colder North.

"It's time to leave."

Ian informed Baron Devosi of his departure and prepared to leave the castle.

The sooner he started, the better, as delaying would only make it harder to leave.

But just as Ian was about to leave, a strange visitor arrived.

"Ian, sir! Have you heard the news?"

"What is it?"

"Takarion has arrived!"

Who cares. That thought almost escaped his mouth.

But having become less patient while living as a wizard, Ian decided to let the words slip out.

"Who cares."

"No, I mean the 'Golden Finger' Takarion!"

For a moment, Ian thought of a gentleman whose name started with 'Shi' and ended with 'Miken,' but then he dismissed the thought.

[A/N: Shimiken. Japanese 'porn' actor 'credited with having s*x with over 10,000 women in the course of making 10,000 films.']

Golden Finger?

What kind of nickname is that?

In this place, influenced everywhere by the ancient Golden Empire, the Holy Empire had a tendency to randomly attach the adjective [golden] to things.

If you wanted to seem a bit fancy, you'd name something with a 'Golden' this or that.

Those who idolize the Golden Empire think anything with 'golden' in the name is 'Wow. Impressive!'

And Takarion was probably in the same vein.

"Who is that?"

"My God. You don't know the Golden Finger? Where did you practice your faith to not know this?"

"..."

For the record, Ian was a wizard. Not a religious person.

But the clergy treat him almost like one of their own.

It seems like a case of religious gaslighting, trying to make Ian one of them.

Ian didn't blink.

"Golden Finger my ass. Want to bet if it's real gold?"

"Ah, no. Such irreverent speech is..."

"Our merciful God doesn't punish you just for talking smack."

The clergy broke out in cold sweat and said,

"The Golden Finger is a monk who wrote the [Gospel of Marcus]."

"Gospel?"

Ian recalled hearing about such gospels when he was with the Santiago Knights.

The clergy often called it the [Codex], a book detailing the deeds of 13 saints.

'A monk who wrote a gospel must have really studied history.'

But the reaction of the other clergy indicated otherwise.

"Golden Finger? That charlatan?"

"Seriously. I don't get why people fall for that scammer's bullsh*t!"

Opinions about the Golden Finger Takarion were divided into extremes.

Those who liked Takarion praised the Gospel as 'opening a new horizon in faith.'

But those who disliked him wouldn't even utter his name.

"What on earth is so special about the Gospel of Marcus?"

Then a clergy quickly brought over the Gospel of Marcus.

"Read it now!"

Hey! Try it! Try it!

Seeing the clergy so enthusiastically promoting it, it seemed like it could be fun.

Ian decided to humor him and read the Gospel of Marcus.

And he realized.

Wow... damn...

This is damn interesting!!!

The Gospel of Marcus chronicles the life of [Saint Marcus], starting with his great birth, his growth, trials, and enlightenment.

But none of that crap caught Ian's eye.

The gospel continuously emphasized [Hero Marcus].

In the gospel, Marcus was the ultimate alpha male, toying with all sorts of women.

Kings tremble before him, and emperors envy Marcus's popularity.

Even in the latter part, Marcus shoots a 'Marcus-Death Beam' from his hand!

Wow! The Supreme Demon Lord!

"Is this really a gospel?"

Ian asked them in disbelief.

The clergy, nodding with a deep expression, resembling an otaku who had succeeded in proselytizing.

"Aah. You've realized... the greatness of the Gospel of Marcus..."

He wasn't wrong. The Gospel of Marcus was a brilliant book.

In the realm of pure entertainment.

In a world without Netflix or NovelPia, Ian felt a dopamine rush he hadn't experienced in a long time.

If a modern person like Ian could enjoy it so much, imagine the medieval people?

That's why extreme 'Golden Finger fanatics' exist.

God does exist, and He is currently serializing!

His name is the Golden Finger, Takarion!

Please release a sequel already! It makes no sense that there's only one gospel with 13 saints!

However, in Ian's view, the Gospel of Marcus was not a proper religious text.

It was plainly a web novel.

Seriously, how does it make sense for Marcus to shoot a death beam from his fingers and defeat a great demon?

Shooting demons with a death beam?

It's definitely entertaining. There's no doubt about the fun factor.

But it doesn't make sense.

"The Gospel of Marcus is filled with nonsense! It's a poorly made object cobbled together from rumors without any proper verification and is not worth reading!"

"Are you doubting the achievements of Saint Marcus? That's disappointing!"

"No, who said Saint Marcus is a fake? It's the Gospel that's...!"

The problematic part is that while it exaggerated Marcus's achievements, it didn't deviate much from the contents of the Bible.

To put it simply:

The Bible is a historical record.

It's accurate and could be compared to the [Annals of the Joseon Dynasty].

A saint is a great figure, like a king.

So, the Gospel of Marcus was like a biography of King Sejong.

But imagine a book about King Sejong where he wipes out barbarians with a beam saber.

There are actual records of him defeating barbarians, so that's okay, right? (Nope)

Obviously, it has no historical value.

That's why the orthodox treat it like kindling.

But... it's fun!

Many secretly hoped that the Gospel of Marcus was [true].

After all, it was set in the distant past, its authenticity couldn't be verified.

The logic was, why not just assume there was a beam saber during the Joseon era?

So, the followers of Takarion recognized the Gospel of Marcus as a valid gospel.

"Takarion! Takarion has arrived!"

The greatest light novel author of the era... rather, the monk Takarion who writes gospels, visited Devosi Castle.

Upon seeing Takarion, Ian was quietly amazed.

Wow.

Takarion was a man of impressive stature. Meaning, he was quite fat.

Monkss usually don't gain weight due to their hard physical labor and austere lifestyle.

But it seemed this man indulged in food to cope with the pains of creation.

"Shala! My brothers!"

"...?"

"Oops. My apologies. I keep forgetting that commoners don't know the ancient language. Ha ha! I just said hello!"

"Shala! Takarion! My brother!"

Followers of Takarion exchanged greetings in the language of the ancient empire.

Takarion happily accepted the greetings.

...All the while, Baron Devosi and his two wives were giving side glances.

'This guy, he's no ordinary one.'

Memories of Ian's past life subtly surfaced.

He felt like he had seen such a character before.

Was it in middle school? High school? Or was it in the military...

Anyway.

The first impression of monk Takarion was that he was a bastard you absolutely did not want to associate with.