“So. Are you going to tell me what happened before or keep playing dumb?

How did you know what was going on there? And why did you insist on walking us there.”

“It was just a gut feeling, as I said before, hahaha. But this time, it proved to be wrong, unfortunately.”

“Did it? You seemed rather happy about that emblem. And how can you laugh like this? You’ve just killed four people.”

“Listen up, Clay, they were murderers. They would have slaughtered many more weak adventurers who believed they were rescuing that woman if I hadn’t killed them.”

“But what if my instincts were incorrect and she had picked up that sword for another reason. Why wouldn’t she have joined and tried to attack you earlier with the rest.”

“Stop second-guessing yourself. She didn’t join them because she knew they were doomed and sought to ambush us when our guards were down.”

“B-but why wouldn’t they call for her help before dying? Why keep her cover if they knew they were on death’s door.”

“He did call for help before he died. But that’s enough for now. I know you want to keep it to yourself wherever you’ve come from. However, you better get used to death quickly. It’s kill or be killed. We don’t always have time to think about everything. You will lose your life if you do,” Leif remarked with a grave expression.

Does Leif have multiple personalities? How does he switch from goofy clueless to cold killer in a split second?

But he is correct...

“O-okay, sorry, thank you again for saving my life earlier.”

“HAHAHA, IT’S NOTHING, LITTLE ONE. Oh, a fountain there. I can finally wash my cape and knives. Let’s go.”

There he goes again...

“By the way, I had a question for you before we started arguing. Why were you chanting in such hushed tones? And so was the guy too.”

“Why wouldn’t we? Why would we give it away to our foe? Chanting is just how we tap into the realm of the divines, but there’s no need to broadcast it to everyone.”

Oh obviously. That was a dumb question on my part. All of the isekais I’ve seen have probably rotted my reasoning.

“Well, how did they cast spells without chanting.”

“You have total control over the mana in your body when reciting a spell, so you should always do it if you have time. Otherwise, in a dire situation, you may just cast it without it by recreating the feeling you had while chanting, but it will take a toll on your body, and its might will weaker.”

“At what cost to my body?”

“Mana is the base of any life force. While casting, you’re using up that energy, it will slowly regenerate over time, but if you run out of it due to misjudging a spell, you could die.”

“Thank you, of course. You are surprisingly smart, Leif.”

“HAHAHA, That is only elementary schooling. You’re really stupid in the morning, aren’t you.”

Being called stupid by Leif wasn’t on my list today, but I can’t blame him.

“Can I ask one final question? Why did that water stop the man from using his mana? Shouldn’t he have died?”

“Huh? Ohhhh, it was just water from the river that flows into the Hvergelmir lake. The sacred lake from my land nullifies the effect of any obscure magic. That’s all.”

This world is so complex. This is way too much information all at once.

“Right, thanks again. Are you done washing your stuff yet?”

“Yeah, we can finally get started.”

---------

We had reached the church in a timely manner.

Oh great, it’s this weird anti-equality church from before. Should we really go to this in particular? Can we go somewhere more... welcoming?

“Can you tell me what’s with these buildings surrounding the church? Why are they so luxurious?”

“Oh, these? This one is a brothel, and that’s Ayla’s slave market.

Talking about it… Wanna hit the brothel, eh Clay hehe?”

“No thanks… I’ll take a rain check on that.

ALSO, YOU ALREADY LIVE OFF YOUR COUSIN’S ALLOWANCE. WE’RE GONNA RUN BROKE SOON IF YOU SPEND IT ALL LIKE THIS!

But isn’t it a bit odd that these buildings surround a sacred site?”

“Huh, why? “What’s the matter with them?”