He asked the raven what the matter was, and it began to cry, begging him for help.
Ian ordered the raven to answer him, but the bird did not seem to understand him at all. It looked as though Moronius was not working. Most likely it lacked mystery.
The raven went on roaring and begging for mercy, and Ian said that he would save it if it would just shut up for one second.
It went on roaring anyway, and Ian, fed up with it, yelled at it, ordering it to sit quietly, and then he would save it.
The raven fell silent, smiling contentedly. This one may not understand words, it thought, but he has an excellent sense of the situation.
The hunter asked delightedly whether he had just spoken with this raven.
He confirmed it. The raven had asked to be saved, so it would stay here for now.
"I told you so!" Lucy exclaimed proudly. She had known this raven was something special.
The old knight laughed and said that this young lady, like her brother, seemed to be able to see secrets, and she wiped her nose and agreed with him. She had never studied, but she had a talent for magic.
She's showing off again, Ian thought.
When everyone had left, the two of them set about healing the raven. He bandaged its wing.
Lucy said the wound would heal in no time, and then asked what they should do now. Would they give it back to the hunters?
Ian said nothing. He knew for certain that those men would simply eat it.
The raven apparently understood that its fate was being decided, and sat on his hand, begging him not to abandon it. The people here are so frightening, it said. And it began to cry again.
Ian could not resist. He felt sorry for it, and set it on his shoulder.
"Does this mean we're taking it with us?" Lucy asked.
He confirmed it — at least until it recovered — and she enthusiastically offered to give it a name. How about Obsidian? He had such beautiful black eyes.
The raven began to caw, and Ian looked at it in surprise. Does he actually like Lucy messing about with him?
He did not like the name. It was too long, and he suggested Oberon instead. She liked that very much, and then he stroked his pet's head and said that from now on his name would be Oberon.
The raven immediately became bolder, apparently very pleased with his new name, flapped his wings and ordered them to bring him gifts and to bask in the rays of his mercy.
Lucy said that she had come up with something. Maybe they should travel with the knights from now on. She thought it would be better that way than just the two of them.
Ian thought about it. These knights looked pretty tough, so it made sense, and bandits would not lightly mess with them. But if they were not going the same way, then most likely it would not work.
The old knight overheard their conversation. He came over and asked what was bothering him. No matter how capable a mage he was, travelling alone with a woman was quite dangerous. Therefore he wanted to offer him a deal, concerning a monster that had appeared on the lands of Count Katanat. They were just now heading out to hunt the monster that had appeared in his domain.
Ian became slightly worried and asked what he meant.
The old knight was talking about a monster called a manticore. It is a notoriously cruel magical beast that revels in killing people.
Ian asked whether he really meant that they should help him hunt the manticore.
The old man shook his head. They did not want to drag them into danger. Although, of course, if he offered to help of his own accord, he would not object.
After thinking about it a little, Ian stood up and said that he was passing.
Elder stopped him with a laugh. He had not finished yet. They were not asking them for a hunt. In fact they were a knightly order established by the church. But when they mentioned going after a manticore, the priests in the count's domain practically forced one mage to help them. He was sure that mage was deeply upset by this, which was why they wanted to ask him to help calm her down. She would take another mage's words differently than she would take theirs.
Ian thought it was a good deal. All he had to do was calm one grumpy mage, and an entire knightly order would accompany them. He exchanged a glance with Lucy and agreed to the deal.
Soon they set off, and the journey with the knights was surprisingly comfortable. All the members of the Order of the Knights of Santiago were worthy people, so the journey passed without any tension.
However, if there was something to complain about, it was their fanatical faith. Every time they stopped to rest, the knights tried to draw him into studying the Bible, begging him with pleading eyes, and he always refused them. Of course the journey was comfortable, but he had never expected that they would push their faith on him so aggressively.
The old knight sat down next to him. "What a pity. If only you could hear the voice of God, you could even become a cleric of the order."
Ian wondered: if he really could talk to God, would he ask them about his status window, and about why he had been reborn into this world? He became interested in the idea, and asked Sir Dietrich to share the Bible with him. They began to study it all together.
The knight explained everything to him in detail, and he listened attentively, while Lucy had long since fallen asleep.
At one point Dietrich praised his excellent mood, and he thanked him for the compliment.
Dietrich looked up at him in bewilderment and asked what he meant.
Ian was a little confused. He had just told him that he was in a great mood — but Dietrich had not said anything.
He jumped up and grabbed his head, asking in fear whose voice he had just heard. Ian looked around, swearing that someone had spoken to him just now. And then a thought occurred to him. Was that an inhuman voice?
The voice laughed and asked in return, Who knows?
Ian jumped up at once, frightening the poor knight even more, and the voice said, Perhaps I am a creature that cannot be called human.
Ian pointed at the sky and asked whether this was God speaking to him.
Probably, the voice answered vaguely.
Ian became very agitated and immediately began bombarding the god with questions. What is this status window? Why did you reincarnate me in this world?
The god laughed, and Ian ordered them to answer the question immediately — but instead a wind hit him in the face, and the voice died away.
Ian could not believe that they had simply left, and called out to God again, but no one answered. This angered him greatly, so he ordered God to return at once, and the knights began to calm him down.
After that he dived head first into studying the Bible, purely in order to talk to this God one more time.
As a result, he gained a new skill: holy arts. Now he was able to communicate with the graceful, noble, holy and beautiful absolute essence of this world.
Even the system praised him. This skill had opened up to him quite quickly. The system advised him to show interest in God, to study more, to understand more deeply. The more interest he showed, the happier God would be — the graceful, noble, holy and beautiful ruler of this world.
Ian slammed the book shut and shed a tear. And this was the same God who had given him this skill.
Had the author, who called himself God, thrown him into this world just to look down on it and snicker?
The mere thought of being a plaything in the hands of the gods made him very angry. He wanted to ask them directly, but his holy arts level was still too low for conversation. But he had no choice. He would have to seek out more secrets, collect more points, and level up his holy arts.