Myra narrowed her eyes, closely observing Karamir.
There was a malevolent aura emanating from him, something she hadn't sensed before. It was eerily similar to the dark energy emitted by beasts.
Myra kept her head still while only her eyes darted around, taking in the scattered corpses of the beasts.
Perhaps he had acquired some spoils of war?
She had no intention of making a fuss over it. After all, selling off secondary materials was the primary income for adventurers.
But...
"I'll need to check it."
If the level of dark energy was this potent, it required investigation.
However, Karamir wasn't keen on handing over the magic tome.
"Why should I? Is this about revenge for last time?"
"You misunderstand. This has nothing to do with what happened at the tavern. When an artifact is obtained in a dungeon, and it contains dark energy, it's standard procedure for the Church to verify it. I'm here, so I'll handle it for you."
Karamir wasn't aware of such a rule.
He wasn't exactly aiming to make a career as an adventurer, so it wasn't as though he was expected to know every regulation.
"Will I get it back afterward?"
"If it can be purified, yes. But if it can't, we can't let you keep something dangerous. The Church will take care of it."
"And what about compensation?"
"There's no such thing. You should be grateful we're protecting you from danger. In fact, you should be paying for the examination."
These greedy bastards.
Karamir barely swallowed the curse building in his throat. Artifacts weren't just simple materials; their value could vary greatly.
Some were cheap, while others were priceless.
And now, just because it contained dark energy, they wanted to take it without even offering compensation. It was like finding an ancient relic on your property and then being forced to pay for its excavation.
If the magic tome was deemed harmless, that'd be ideal. But this was a tome that the goblin shaman had carried—one that contained soul-related magic.
There was no way to guarantee it wasn't dangerous. And if they took it away, Mirabel's complete liberation would be immediately out of reach.
"It's difficult to hand it over right now. Could you give us a grace period?"
If Mirabel could just learn the magic, the book would be useless. In the game, once you learned the skill, that was it. But here, things weren't so simple.
It was unclear how long it would take, but with Mirabel's talent, it shouldn't take more than a few days at most.
But Myra, unwilling to make any exceptions, shook her head firmly.
"No. Asking for a delay makes you even more suspicious. You know what you've got there, don't you?"
Myra started striding toward him with determined steps.
Karamir's mind raced.
'Do I have to fight?'
He'd need Mirabel's help for that, but her condition wasn't great. Victory wasn't guaranteed.
In that case...
"Oh, are there still some beasts left behind?"
Karamir pointed behind the priests. The moment they turned their heads, he scooped up Mirabel and reached out to the teleport stone that had appeared after defeating the shaman.
For a moment, he felt the same floating sensation as when they had first entered the dungeon, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished from the dungeon with a pop.
"What? That guy—!"
It all happened so quickly that the priests had no time to react. Julius, who had been standing by, asked,
"What do you want to do?"
Myra scratched the back of her head in frustration.
She had been willing to overlook things and maybe even let him off the hook if it wasn't anything too dangerous, especially after his apology from last time. But now that he had fled, it was a different story.
"Catch him. And make sure to check what he's carrying. But don't rough him up too much."
They teleported to the dungeon entrance.
The fresh, open field greeted them.
"Oh! It's that guy who pushed me earlier!"
"Haha, as much as I'd love that, we're still not strong enough to fight the Church just yet. For now, let's focus on escaping, and we can plot our revenge later... although..."
There was no way to escape.
At this rate, they'd be caught in less than a minute.
He had to make a choice.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Good. From now on, we're going to split up."
Karamir set Mirabel down and handed her the magic tome.
"What's this...?"
"It's your gift. I'll lead them away, and you find somewhere safe."
It was a diversion tactic.
What the clergy really wanted was the magic tome.
If they both got caught, and it was discovered that Mirabel was a witch, it would be disastrous. So Karamir entrusted the tome to her, ensuring that she could escape.
He himself would likely be caught, but as long as Mirabel had time to learn the magic, that would be enough. After that, he could surrender the book.
"Now, go on."
"But..."
"Don't worry about me. Just study the book and learn the magic. Once you've mastered it, come find me. You know where to look, right?"
Mirabel hesitated, her feet rooted to the spot. Myra was closing in fast.
If they delayed any longer, all their efforts so far would be wasted. Karamir decided he had no choice but to take a firmer approach.
"As your master, this is an order. Surely... you don't intend to disappoint me, do you?"
"N-no!"
Mirabel immediately rejected the thought and steeled herself, her expression resolute.
She couldn't afford to disappoint him.
She couldn't afford to devalue herself.
If she did, liberation would slip further out of reach.
With her staff and the magic tome clutched tightly, Mirabel darted into the alley. She glanced back briefly, but Karamir had already vanished in the opposite direction.
Gritting her teeth, she hurried her steps.
Gasping for breath, Karamir couldn't run any further. He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, feeling as though his lungs would burst.
Without enough oxygen reaching his brain, his head spun in dizziness.
'Why didn't I buy the Cloak of Invisibility?'
He suddenly remembered that he could've taken that approach. He had more than enough points, and it would've been better than worrying about being spotted.
'No, they still would've found me.'
But Karamir quickly dismissed the thought.
The Cloak of Invisibility only lasted for 30 minutes, with a 24-hour cooldown, and it wasn't like he could use it to secure a carriage.
If someone tried to exorcise him, that'd be a whole different problem.
Buying time for Mirabel to learn the magic was still the best plan. Karamir was sure of that.
"Well, well. You sure are good at running away. Looks like this isn't your first time, huh?"
A shadow loomed over Karamir's hunched form.
It was Myra, her lips curled into a smirk.
Despite having run fast enough to raise a dust storm, she showed no signs of fatigue.
The world sure was a tough place for a slave trader to survive in.
Karamir let out a sigh.