Conquest Complete, So Why Is the Affection Dropping? - Chapter 7
‘A bonus roulette.’ They say obsessing over random rewards is a path to ruin, but this wasn’t obtained through real money purchases – it’s a quest reward, so it should be fine. I’m not sure what I’ll get, but even if it’s just a random item, it won’t be a loss. Still, it would be nice to get something useful.
“Hexion. How do I turn off my greed sensor?”
“Shin Joo. What is a greed sensor?”
“The desire to caress your chest.”
Your message has been deleted due to inappropriate content.
Fortunately, the filter worked properly this time. That’s what I was aiming for. It was to redirect my greed sensor from random rewards to desire for Hexion.
‘Come forth, sweet reward!’
Gathering all the universe’s power into my index finger, I pressed the center of the roulette. The spinning wheel stopped, and text appeared on the display board.
[Skill: Ancient Language Decoding] Acquired!
Ancient Language Decoding?
Ancient Language Decoding Lv.1 Allows the decoding of lost ancient languages to activate ancient relics using divine power. Can be used once per day. Additional uses consume 30 affection points from the character with the highest affection.
‘…So this was the setup for that.’
Thanks to this, I can fix the warp gate without consuming Hexion’s affection points. I should try fixing it when we return to the temple.
“Now that we’ve repaired the wall and set up the barrier, our role here is done. Let’s head back.”
“Yes, Shin Joo.”
Hexion led me toward where the white horse was tied. However, the other holy knights didn’t move.
“Wait a moment. What about the other knights?”
They were originally here for wall construction, but since I fixed everything, there shouldn’t be anything left to do.
“Shin Joo. If you permit, we would like to remain here a while longer.”
“What? Why?”
“We need to rebuild the collapsed dwellings.”
It seems I wasn’t the only one who felt troubled by the sight of the people here.
Just because the wall was restored doesn’t mean people’s homes came back. There are tents for the victims, but it would be difficult to stay long in such temporary shelters.
With so many injured, there’s an absolute shortage of able-bodied workers. Without the knights’ help, it would take much longer for these suffering people to return to their normal lives.
“Should I make them then?”
“Pardon? But Shin Joo, you need to return to the temple…”
The priests get anxious when I’m away from the temple for too long, so I should return quickly.
But ‘quickly’ is a relative concept.
“A short while should be fine, right?”
I brushed aside Hexion’s hand and walked back to where the knights had gathered.
While the tall walls retained some form even after collapsing, the houses built of wood and brick were so thoroughly destroyed that from their remains, one couldn’t even guess their original size, let alone appearance. Even if I’d majored in architecture, I probably wouldn’t know.
‘Divine power can’t create things like magic, but restoration is possible.’
When restoring the wall and setting up the barrier, the system window clearly said it was “recovering damaged data.”
When the demon beasts destroyed both the wall and residences, there’s no way only the wall was considered “damaged data.” Surely the “original data” of these collapsed buildings must be stored somewhere.
If I had to create something from scratch, it would be impossible for someone like me, who has never built a house and lacks sense, to construct livable homes or raise new buildings.
But restoring original data that must be stored somewhere should definitely be possible if I can just trace the storage path.
“I think I can find it.”
“Find what?”
“Um. A way to restore everything to its original state?”
I placed my hand on the collapsed debris and concentrated. As I focused, the debris became slightly transparent, and once again, I could see fragmented numbers floating up.
‘It’s like client manipulation.’
In the original game, users are prohibited from arbitrarily manipulating the client. Even I’ve only looked at the data out of curiosity, never manipulated it.
But perhaps because I’ve now witnessed people suffering here in person, if I left like this, I’d probably feel uneasy even after returning to the temple.
Data manipulation is inappropriate behavior that burdens the server, but surely that’s not more important than people’s lives.
‘Manipulating the client to ease the discomfort of NPCs made of zeros and ones – others would call me crazy if they heard this.’
But what can I do? Humans are creatures most influenced by what they see.
When there are people suffering before my eyes, and I recognize them as ‘real people.’
Even if they’re virtual beings, isn’t it human nature to want to do anything to help them?
‘Found it.’
As I connected to the path of the original data, the glowing zeros and ones began clustering together, forming chunks that started building up structures.
The sight of the collapsed ruins being restored to their original form looked just like sprouts growing.
How strange. That the creation of artificial structures could feel like witnessing the birth of life.
“Wow…”
Someone gasped in amazement at the buildings completely restored to their original form. Then came small cheers, followed by louder ones.
The voices that had been filled with relief when the wall was restored now clearly carried tones of joy.
“Divine Master has restored our village!”
A tingling sensation ran through my fingertips. It felt like even my hair was trembling.
This pleasure was incomparable to watching reputation numbers rise in a transparent status window. I shivered slightly.
Is this the satisfaction one feels when serving others?
Your reputation has increased by 57!
Current reputation: 776
Swoosh
─ BOOM!
Fireworks exploded grandly overhead.
I realized they weren’t system event effects but real fireworks when the crowd called out someone’s name in unison.
“It’s the Admiral!”
“The Admiral has fired victory fireworks!”
Admiral?
Come to think of it, two sides of the Holy City face the sea. Not only do they fight demon beasts coming over the walls, but they also battle against enemy forces allied with the demon race from across the sea.
I wondered how they fought wars when the temple had no ships, but apparently it’s not the temple’s holy knights but the navy led by the Admiral that fights at sea.
Since all the coastal lands except for the temple are the Admiral’s territory, in terms of actual area, the Admiral’s sphere of influence is even larger than the temple’s.
They say there’s no shortage of admirers for this young hero who has never lost a war, and particularly in the south where his castle is located, his popularity nearly rivals that of the divine.
‘Oh ho.’
Unlike reality, settings in games aren’t assigned carelessly.
Young Admiral. War Hero.
‘These keywords wouldn’t be attached unless he’s a romance option.’
It’s double cause for celebration – the wall being repaired and Divine Master completing the barrier on the same day the Admiral achieved victory against the enemy. Perhaps I’ll get to meet him soon.
“Hexion. Since the Admiral has announced victory, shouldn’t the temple do something too?”
“…There will be a victory celebration event soon.”
Hexion answered with a slightly dark expression.
“Um, Divine Master.”
“Yes?”
When I turned around, thin children were holding a large wagon wheel.
Different types of ribbons were tied to the wheel. Well, most looked more like torn pieces of cloth than ribbons.
“Thank you for helping us. We wanted to give you a gift… but this is all we have.”
It seems that amid the village’s destruction, they wanted to give me something in return, so they decorated a wagon wheel with their cleanest clothes.
If I were an ordinary person, I might wonder what this means, but they think of me as the divine’s representative.
The value of offerings to the divine lies not in material rarity but in sincerity.
So tying their cleanest cloth carefully, as if making a wish, would be their surest way of expressing gratitude to the divine.
I smiled brightly at the children.
“Thank you. I wasn’t expecting such a gift – I’m happy.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
It’s enough just to receive something in return for what I did. Moreover, this wheel of wish-bindings is a gift that these children, who currently have nothing, thought hard about and prepared together. How could I not be happy?
‘But being a wheel, it’s quite bulky. How am I going to carry this to the temple…’
As I scratched my cheek, Hexion approached and lifted the wheel instead.
“Shin Joo. Do you intend to take this to the temple?”
“Yes, that’s what I’d like to do…”
[Hexion] has shared inventory access permissions with you. Users with shared permissions can freely access the inventory. Do you accept? Yes / No
Oh my. I was told I didn’t have an inventory, but it seems Hexion has one. Is this like a cloud sharing feature?
‘Well, there’s no reason to refuse.’
Being a devout holy knight, Hexion probably doesn’t have anything in his inventory that I shouldn’t see, and he wouldn’t dispose of my belongings arbitrarily even if I store some items there.
When I clicked [Yes], a purple sword mark appeared next to the inventory window, and Hexion’s possessions were displayed as icons inside. As expected, there weren’t any particularly unusual items. There weren’t many items to begin with.
When Hexion put the wagon wheel into the inventory, a round icon was added to a corner of the inventory, and its background turned green. It seems items belonging to me are marked with a green background.
“Thank you, Hexion.”
“Not at all, Shin Joo. Shall we go then?”
