Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 185



Only Noblemtl

Episode 185: The Land of the Martyrs (4)

As I followed Lilia, who was driving a camel, slightly changing the direction of the village, I soon became visible to Galen.

Far away, the remains of an evil species that had blown up into pieces as if it had been hit by a bomb, but was so large that each piece was large.

Not only are there not many evil species living in the desert, but since Lilia had already shouted out the correct answer, it wasn’t difficult to tell that it was a trace of a sandworm.

“Sandworms are strong too, right?”

“Right? Because it’s more than gold.”

A level that is difficult to deal with with just gold. It is the highest level among evil species.

He was able to defeat that guy all by himself, and in the blink of an eye, so his skills must be top-notch.

If you recall the last report on the movement of the jewels that you received from the top of Kalia before entering the desert, you can easily guess their identity.

“At this point, there wouldn’t be two Gem Warriors coming down from the northern desert.”

“Just looking at their appearance, it seems like there shouldn’t be two people like that… … .”

Lilia muttered slightly in a trembling tone as she listened to Galen’s words.

As they got a little closer, Galen also felt similar to Lilia when he saw the appearance he had only seen in texts.

“Oh.”

First of all, he was an old man. He had white hair and a long beard.

But… how should I put it. It felt like a very wrong expression to call that person an ‘old man’ just because he was old.

Galen was taller than average, but the old man seemed at least a handful taller than him. He was the tallest person he had ever met, both in his past life and in his present life.

Moreover, he was not only tall, but also incredibly large. Even at the gym, a body like that wouldn’t be advertised. He had such strong muscles that he looked like a boxing king at the end of the century.

“I can never do that, so don’t expect anything from me.”

“I definitely wouldn’t want to go that far?! The muscles I like are around the level of my brother’s right now!”

As Galen leaned forward slightly and whispered, Lilia slapped Galen on the shoulder in surprise.

She preferred a strong man over a weak one, so she made Galen exercise diligently, but her tastes were strictly within the realm of common sense.

In fact, there is no one who dislikes a partner with a good body, whether male or female. Among them, Lilia prefers a slim body that is linked to actual athletic ability rather than a body that is just good to look at.

I had no intention of evolving Galen into a muscular monster that could be swept away by waves of muscle like that. It wasn’t even possible in the first place.

“It’s absolutely impossible to have a body like that through acquired effort alone. You have to be born with an innate physique and have perfect talent as a warrior. Of course, it must have taken a tremendous amount of effort… … .”

Anyway, as I said before, it’s scary if there are many people like that in this world.

Galen and Lilia approached the old man on their camel, whose identity had become increasingly clear.

The old man must have noticed it, but he didn’t seem to care and just continued walking straight towards the village.

However, if you walk normally without using any special effort, a camel is faster than a person.

The two men were able to meet just before the old man entered the village entrance.

Up close, it was much more imposing. It was clear that he was riding a camel, but the difference in eye level was not that much… The great sword on his back was so big that it was not enough to have just one large character. Considering the old man’s size, if he had used an ordinary weapon, he might have looked taller, but even so, that was a bit much.

“What is it?”

The old man frowned slightly as he spoke. Galen was suddenly brought out of his rut.

“Excuse me.”

Galen, realizing that something was blocking his path, quickly got off his camel. Lilia had already gotten off.

“Would you please lead our camels first?”

“Yes, yes! Come leisurely. I will find a place to rest.”

The guide, who had been feeling very intimidated by the sight of the old man, happily ran away into the village.

Galen, feeling relieved, bowed politely.

“Are you Sir Theodore?”

“There aren’t many people who don’t know my name. He asked what was going on.”

“Since we seem to have the same destination, I came to say hello while I was at it. My name is Galen.”

“Nice to meet you! My name is Lilia!”

“Galen? Lilia?”

The old man’s eyes, who had been making a grumpy expression, secretly thought of them as troublemakers, twitched.

“The only Galen and Lilia I know are a wizard who recently received the Gem rank and a newly ordained archbishop.”

“That’s us.”

“her?”

Only then did Theodore soften his tone as he took another look at the stigmata shining in Lilia’s eyes.

“Is that true?”

“Even so, isn’t it too risky to counterfeit the jewels? Aren’t you going to the ruins?”

“That’s right.”

“Even if you don’t believe it now, you will naturally believe it later. We are on our way there too.”

“Haha, hahahaha!”

Suddenly, Theodore burst into laughter. The air around him shook. It was a hearty laugh that hurt your ears.

As the two men nodded amicably, Theodore finally stopped laughing. A ferocious smile appeared on the old man’s lips.

“Yes, it is too big a thing to lie about. If you are really Duke Galen and Archbishop Lilia, then I am truly delighted. It is truly a pleasure to meet you.”

Galen immediately took Theodore’s hand as he offered to shake hands. It was the first time for Galen to feel that his own hand was so delicate and beautiful.

“It’s an honor to meet you, too. But it’s so nice to see you.”

“I can’t help but be happy. Oh, wait. If you came from the east… Are you from the central region?”

“Yes, I stopped by the Vatican.”

“Has that guy Julian been talking bad about me?”

“It’s not like I’m gossiping―”

“No, that’s not true. It’s obvious what he’s talking about. Don’t believe it. Most likely it’s a lie.”

Galen smiled bitterly. Lilia just smiled bashfully as usual.

I’m sorry to be so serious, but isn’t it natural that we would trust the Pope’s words a little more than that of Musclemon Grandpa?

If we were to grade the Jewels on how close they are to the Church, Galen would now be at the top, with Michael below him.

Theodore was once classified as a communist.

This was because he was a contemporary of the Pope and had a close relationship with him.

But from what I heard directly from Julian, if I had to define Theodore in one word, it would be ‘battle maniac’.

He has been traveling the world since he was young, longing to fight the strong, and even now, decades later, he is a natural-born fighter whose body still feels stiff when he is still.

That is, he had no particular likes or dislikes for the church itself.

I only occasionally performed some of the tasks requested by the church that gave me a taste of the task.

On the contrary, there was no crazy request to attack the church by force, so there was no conflict with the church.

In a way, he had a really easy-to-understand and simple personality, so it was easy to guess why he was happy to meet Galen and Lilia.

But in fact, if this was really Theodore’s personality, it would be nice if Galen was the same.

“It’s starting to get harder and harder, so why don’t you have some food and rest? I’ll treat you to something, even if it’s not much.”

“I won’t give up.”

Three people entered the village.

Although it was not a town prosperous enough to have a professional inn, there was a separate house that mainly took care of the occasional travelers who stopped by.

The guide, who still seemed to be having a hard time with Theodore, let him go and rest on his own, and the three of them sat down alone.

“Brother Theodore, don’t you have any companions?”

“You’re alone. Why do you ask that?”

“You look so light-hearted… … .”

“Do you really need it? If you need it, you can just get it when you need it.”

That’s not wrong. If only we weren’t crossing the desert.

Among the Jewel Warriors, Theodore was particularly sturdy and unaffected by the harsh days and nights of the desert, could withstand even a little water without difficulty, and could escape the desert at any time by running in any direction for several days if he was in a hurry.

So, he said that he was just crossing the desert in a hasty manner because the process of preparing this and that was annoying. A monster was a monster.

In theory, it could be possible for her… but Lilia didn’t really want to try. Even she, who usually kept her composure, was a little dumbfounded when Galen asked her.

“Does Sir Theodore have any special business at the ruins?”

“How could it be? When I heard the rumor, I happened to be nearby, and it doesn’t take long to get there, so I went to check it out out of curiosity.”

Theodore responded nonchalantly. It was an understandable reason, except that the distance he defined as ‘not too far’ was his own.

“I’m not so shameless as to invade an already owned ruin. But there are rumors going around that the ruins’ ownership has been lost and that they’re looking for someone to help them explore. They also say that other gems are moving around. So why can’t I go?”

“Yes. I was wondering if you were interested in relics.”

“Ha! If it were a ruin I discovered alone, then I wouldn’t know, but if I explored just one ruin that is so numerous that it’s impossible to calculate how many people would share it, I would only make a few thousand coins at most. It’s not a small amount of money, but it’s not a lot of money to risk getting scolded for putting your spoon in someone else’s party.”

Theodore snickered at Galen’s speculative remark. Looking at him, it was clear that he was not a man whose brain was made up of muscles. If he had been, he would have died a long time ago somewhere.

“I only wish for one thing. It would be a super difficult relic that would make even a jewel suffer. Then I would be able to enjoy it quite a bit. In fact, if it weren’t for this rumor, I would have come to you first.”

“yes?”

“Didn’t Julian tell you that? I went to the Vatican a few months ago.”

“I didn’t hear that.”

“Well, it wasn’t anything special since I used to stop by occasionally on my way to and from work. But I heard the rumor that a new archbishop had been born quite late. I went to check on him out of curiosity, but he had already finished the ordination ceremony and left.”

It seemed like their paths diverged. It was the time when Galen and Lilia were heading east. They were in the middle of grabbing Siren by the collar and beating up the evil spirits.

“I heard about you from Julian too late. You’re a water-type gem wizard and also a multi-type wizard. Where in the world can you find such a rare wizard?”

“haha…….”

“I couldn’t go to the ruins if I didn’t go now, and I thought I could meet you later, so I held back tears and postponed it for a while, but who would have thought we’d meet here like this! Did the donation I made last time I visited the Vatican have any effect?”

“If you had given me that money, I would have been able to meet you more easily. I am basically a mercenary.”

Galen shrugged. Theodore sighed, both impressed and amused.

“I didn’t think of that! Can I deposit it now?”

“Haven’t we already met?”

“Oh my, it’s fate that we met like this, so how can we end it by just seeing each other’s faces? Of course, men should have a heated fight!”

“You’re not suggesting that I risk my life to fight, are you?”

“If I do that, Julian will try to kill me. He cherishes you so much. Anyone who sees you will think you’re a priest.”

“Well, as for me, I don’t mind if it’s just a sparring match.”

“As expected! As expected of an unprecedented genius wizard, he is brave and enterprising. Very good attitude―”

“But not now.”

Galen cut off Theodore’s excited words. The old man blinked.

“Huh?”

“How many times does your Majesty need magic to reach the level you want?”

“No way!”

“That’s right. If we were to fight properly, both sides would have to expend a lot of effort, and we have to search the ruins in a few days.”

“yes.”

“The desert is not our front yard, and it’s more like an outsider barging in without permission. It’s definitely not a friendly atmosphere, and I don’t want to waste my energy before going into a place where I don’t know what might happen.”

“Umm… … .”

It was so orthodox that Theodore was speechless.

He really was a person who had muscles all the way to his brain, so he wasn’t the kind of person who could just shout, ‘Theodore doesn’t know that! Theodore is fighting!’

It was a rare sight to see that big guy slump a little in disappointment.

At that point Galen threw out another bait.

“It’s not that I won’t do it for you. I’ll definitely meet you after we finish exploring the ruins.”

“Thank you.”

“I know it may be a bit much to call it a substitute, but until then, how about spending your time sparring with Lilia?”

This was something that had been discussed with Lilia in advance.

It just so happens that the recent training has been focused on studying how to ‘counter the ultimate Jewel Warrior’.

But guess what, a jewel warrior shows up at that very moment? And a guy who loves fighting like crazy? I’m happy to use him.

“With Archbishop Lilia?”

Theodore tilted his head to the side.

“I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not… No, don’t misunderstand. I’m not disregarding the objective abilities of the Archbishop.”

Theodore continued, looking at Lilia with a worried expression.

“But I have competed with all the other archbishops at least once. The results were similar.”

In the first place, the fighting methods of priests are bound to be similar.

Because they learn a few martial arts that have been passed down within the church and use miracles that have the same effect no matter who uses them, their diversity is far lower than that of warriors who have gone through different development processes for each family.

“If it were Julian, who is one level above me, how would a duel with Archbishop Lilia be any different?”

“It’s different. Very different.”

As he said that, Galen looked at Lilia.

Lilia smiled. Unika poked her head out from her arms.

Wheeing!

A gust of wind suddenly blew through the closed window. Lilia’s hair fluttered softly.

Galen smirked at Theodore, who was frowning.

“Your Majesty, you have probably never met a spirit inspector before.”