Azimuth: The Elden Throne

?The last few chapters were written with me outside of my home, so I apologize if they seem a bit rushed or out of the schedule, in other words, filler.

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/Shua!.../

Like a specter in the night, Dale flew into the Church through a broken window near the ceiling, riding Caladbolg before jumping straight before David, startling the Divine Artifact as a 'bead of sweat' fell from his forehead.

"Dale?... What's this about?"

'He came in so quickly I didn't even have the time to process his arrival… What got him so riled up?'

'Don't tell me it's another one of his 'adventures'? Come on, the sun hasn't even risen yet...'

To his question, Dale did not waste any time, going straight to the subject at hand:

"You see… I need your help for something, nothing too extreme…"

"... I've heard that before."

"I'll keep this short..."

…

"... No." David replied with a short and plain refusal

"Why not?!"

After hearing Dale's "story", or by his own words, excuse. David outright refused Dale's pleas, almost spitting on the ground as he looked at the boy with a disgruntled expression.

"I'm not a voucher you can redeem and use whenever you wish, you already dragged me to too many places today, leave me be for a while…"

David's voice seemed adamant as he turned his gaze to the side.

"Ah, come on, just bless me a bit and I'll leave…"

"Why would I bless you when the only thing you want to do is gamble?!"

There it was, the root cause of the problem...

"Who said I'm gambling?!"

'Shit.'

"Don't play dumb with me! Do you know how many priests used to rub their dirty and stinky hands on me just so they could get a little bit luckier?! A little let down to you but that doesn't work!"

"I'm tired of it! Get away from me!" David said in desperation as his pupils contracted

He seemed really upset about it, although Dale could tell he was exaggerating it quite a bit, the usual for this darned guy.

He didn't even plan to rub his head!... Only as a last resort...

"Look, you can stay here all you want, in fact, I don't even plan on touching you, just give me a little boost and I'll leave, and if it helps, I'm not gambling with anyone but myself!"

"What? That's even worse then, stop fooling around and go work, I mean, it's not even 6 in the morning you fatass! Erile isn't even up yet and you're here asking for a blessing!"

"I will go to work, but I need you to help me deal with my issue first, I swear I'll leave once that's over, come on…"

"You're insufferable… To waste my energy on such a thing… After everything we discussed with Qrubin! Don't you have any shame? I thought you were the desperate one here."

"I have and I am, but compared to my pride, the safety of Resko comes first."

"What does this have to do with the safety of the Village?!"

"Everything, this is everything… Maybe just a little less, come on, I'm getting tired of speaking, will you help?"

Dale's expression was genuine, much to the annoyance of David.

He couldn't quite figure out why this boy had such an idea and why he believed in it so much... Honestly, it made him curious, but as he made his stance firm before, he couldn't bend now, otherwise, Dale would just make use of this crack in the future.

It was rather ironic, given that the prideful one here was David.

"... Sigh, fine, what a pain."

As soon as he replied, David rolled his eyes, prompting Dale to pick him up.

"Move me to the basin on the side and do everything according to my directions, if you mess this up there's not much I can do to help so focus."

/Nod/

"First, I'll make this clear, I can't really bless you to be "lucky", but I can give you a pretty strong blessing to ward you from bad omens and impure forces. That's the best I can do right now without compromising much of our plans, don't ask for more because I won't give it to you!"

"This is mostly because I feel like you deserve it, saving those people and bringing them here, you've sped up my recovery process by a ton, I thank you for that."

"So let's get this over with… Don't make me regret it."

'I'll take this chance to remove some of my rust...'

"I'll show you the results of my actions once we're done here, I promise." Dale said as he patted his chest

"..."

/Rolls eyes…/

'I wonder if my ways of acting and speaking are rubbing off on him… What am I saying, my speech habits are the best!'

/Shine…/

Following that, David's skull shone with golden divine light, lighting up the dark hall...

Above Dale, golden mist condensed, and soon enough, rays of golden light cascaded down onto the water basin, with a few sparks of light scattering across his body.

Meanwhile, Dale performed a few hand signs across his chest before picking a little bit of water from the basin with a wooden cup and drinking it, ending the ritual.

"... I feel warm. It's nice."

/Burp!/

"..."

'Should I have cursed him instead?'

[DING]

[...

Blessing of Pathfinding -> Purifies malevolent forces while also guiding you towards more positive omens.

Increases the probability of beneficial encounters being triggered.

…]

'I feel great… Energized even. Strangely enough, I feel as if there's something I'm forgetting to do here… Did I forget something?' He thought as he touched his temples

While Dale tried to remember something deep inside his head, David said in a somewhat tired tone:

"... It's done, I've sanctified the water, turning it into Holy water, take everything with you and use it as you deem fit."

"There's quite a bit here, do I need to shower the place with it or something?" Dale asked as he placed David back in his altar

"No, just sprinkling a little in the area should do to bless it, the rest of the water is a byproduct, but take it with you since I can't explain this to the girl."

"Very well. I'll come meet you later."

"Don't… Just let me rest for a while, soon enough the Church will open and if I have to listen to you after somehow lasting through a hundred people's troubles I'll die."

"Rude… And exaggerated, you can't die from just that."

"Yeah… A blessing I've often wondered if it was actually a curse in disguise…"

"..."

'What a drama queen... Though it must be a form of torture, being forced to listen to the problems of people for all eternity without being able to move...'

'David often acts like a normal person, but his thought process is likely beyond that of one. Otherwise, he would've gone mad in the 100 years he was trapped.'

...

/Shine.../

Once they finished their conversation, Dale turned around, stepping onto Caladbolg and ready to fly through the open window when he suddenly saw something sparkle on the ground next to a door leading deeper into the Church.

'What's that?'

Curious, he went to inspect it, crouching and picking it among his fingers…

"Oh… It's just a coin... A wooden Zull no less, the lowest of the low..."

/Chuckle.../

'How odd… Why was it shining so much though…'

/Creak…/

Before he had the time to fully process the strangeness of the coin, the door beside him opened, and due to his awkward position and lack of a proper guard, Dale ended up being pushed aside for a moment, causing both him and the one who opened the door to stumble onto one another.

/Catch!/

Nonetheless, Dale was a very agile person, and with one quick movement, he spun to the side, putting his foot back to support his body, allowing him to catch onto the person who opened the door.

"Hm?"

"Heh?..."

Of course, it could only be one individual, Erile, still in her pajamas, now locked in a deep hug with Dale in the middle of the Church.

""...""

She raised her head to look at Dale, still sleepy and somewhat out of her body, she hadn't yet processed the situation and didn't seem aware of where she was.

Meanwhile, Dale looked back at her, only to politely look away when he saw her clothing.

Erile was wearing a rather simple gown that covered most of her body, but it left to be desired in the chest area…

It was at this point Dale realized Erile was, truly, a mature woman… Not something easy to realize given her meek and contained personality plus the clothes she tends to wear, hiding much of her physical traits.

But in truth, Erile was over 19 years of age, which was impressive given her Noble Status, someone like her would've been married already, which came to prove how much her father doted on her, letting her go as she wished for so long.

"... Good morning." He said awkwardly as he focused, looking at her eyes as he 'helped' her adjust her hair out of her face

"Hm… morning…" She replied weakly, still somewhat groggy as she looked back and forth from his face and chest

/Thud…/

"..."

Eventually, Erile just shoved her face into his chest, closing her eyes and momentarily dozing off once more without saying anything extra.

'What's going on here?'

Dale eagerly waited for David's help, but in the end, the little prick did not even move an inch, truly embracing her statue persona.

'She seems sleepy… Did my conversation with David wake her up? I did hear from her guard that Erile had terrible sleeping habits and couldn't wake up without great effort.'

'This isn't the first time something like this has happened, there was a time in the future when I had to wake her up to attend a meeting and she ended up rolling in bed for a few minutes until she realized I was the one trying to wake her up.'

'She got pretty upset that day, calling me a pervert for entering a lady's room, but it's not like I wished for that, it was her guard who asked me to wake her up…'

'She's the complete opposite of me, I'm very sensitive to my surroundings, I used to wake up to the sound of my mother's footsteps on the hallway outside of my room when I was younger... I still do sometimes.'

'Anyhow… This is great for me!'

'If I can rub some of that luck from the Saintess herself…'

Still somewhat embarrassed, Dale decided to just pat her head until she woke up naturally, stroking her hair until Erile felt somewhat tired on her legs…

"Mnn… Let me sleep… Father…?"

And then it came to her, as her hormones began to move across her bloodstream and her brain returned to function, she raised her head to look at Dale, blinking her gorgeous emerald eyes until her pupils suddenly dilated as she came to realize who was before her.

Realizing she had just woken up, for real this time, Dale repeated his previous lines, adding a few more because... He felt they needed to be said.

"... Good morning, slept well? I wouldn't mind staying like this for a little longer."

"?!"

[Erile's Intimacy has increased]

Her heart began to pump stronger and stronger, adrenaline coursed through her veins as blood surfaced on her skin, causing her body to turn a little red.

[Erile's Intimacy has increased]

"Ahh… Amn… G-Good… Morning…"

[Erile's Intimacy has increased]

At this moment, the crimson hearts atop her head were spinning at a crazy speed, like an engine inside a car!

The fourth crimson heart, the smallest of them quickly began to grow, reaching the same size as the other three as it 'exploded' with energy, settling down next to them.

But it did not calm down at all.

"... You're likely pretty confused… And I'm no different."

"I came here to check something and uh… Well… You opened the door and came to me… And I didn't quite want to wake you up either…"

"..."

'She's not replying, this is bad, what do I say? How do I explain myself to a girl in this situation?'

'Do I divert the subject? No, it's too late for that… Do I blame her? That won't work… Probably come back to me in the end...'

'What about a normal response? Can't go bad with the classics… The problem is… What is an appropriately normal response in this scenario?'

"... You still do seem a bit tired. If you wish, you can sleep a little more, I wouldn't mind. You've worked hard, take a rest…"

"..."

[Erile's Intimacy has greatly increased]

Just when he thought the hearts above her stopped changing, the fifth heart emerged, shining brightly as if mocking Dale.

Regardless of what he said now, Erile was already out of it.

"Erile?..."

"I… I'm so sorry!"

"?"

/Dash… CLACK!/

In the end, Erile ran away in fear, closing the door behind her violently as she hid inside the confines of the Church.

"What just…"

"Humph. Poor execution, left a lot to be desired but I'll give it to you with the novel idea, I liked the "Good morning" icebreaker." David suddenly said with some irony as he sprung to life

"... I… I'll just leave."

"Make sure not to mention this to her when you meet again, let her initiate the subject on her own, that way you can score more points." He advised as he saw Dale leave through the window

"... I'll keep that in mind."

/Shua…/

"... Ha, look at him, all embarrassed."

'At the end of the day, he's still just a young lad.'

After chuckling a little, David returned to his neutral expression, letting time roll by as the sun rose on the horizon.

…

/Meanwhile…/

"Phew… Enough wasting around!" Dale said with great enthusiasm as he carefully stored Caladbolg on the side against the wall

"Before my luck wears off!"

Dale took out a water bottle from his inventory, sprinkling quite a lot of it on his room before sitting on the table, moving his fingers around like a supervillain waiting for the Hero to fall onto his trap.

He raised his right hand, touching the golden box's dice lock:

/Shine.../

Inside a small glass dome atop the box, a single large, 100-

Faced dice began to spin.

Faster and faster until it hit one of the walls of its little dome, ricocheting around until it finally stopped at a number…

/Clack!... Stop.../

[96]

"Aha! Finally..."

[Ding]

/SHINE!/

"Urg!!"

Powerful light shone from within the box, almost blinding Dale as he squinted his eyes, covering them with his hands.

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Notes

Updated from frewebnovl