VRMMO: Am I The Strongest Yet?

"Holy Kingdom of Archlore…"

Her explanation started with the history of a kingdom that perished two decades ago.

"You know what 'Holy' energy means in this world, right?"

"Of course…"

Holy energy was the third prominent kind of power in this world, something that was used on a smaller scale in the eastern and northern continents of the world, however, in the west where the influence of religion, magic, and the influence of the powers that followed divinities was vast, the holy energy was seen as a special privilege by the big powers like the [Empire] and [Temple].

Holy energy was essentially the power of priests and believers, those who had faith and earned a unique power through that faith.

This power was stronger than Mana, was on par with Aura, but was practically a unique power from either of them.

"So, do you know about the fall of Arklore?"

Two decades ago, a kingdom was completely demolished by the Empire and Temple's combined efforts and almost all traces of them were erased from the continent.

The reason? The kingdom did not follow any particular god or divinity even though it was called a 'holy' kingdom.

It was a kingdom established by a Wise individual that though did not have great strength, was wise beyond their age.

They were a king, and they made a large inhabitable land into a completely new, functioning nation that had hundreds of thousands of citizens at its peak.

It did not have a long history, the king was a Half-elf and was only around a hundred and fifty years old when they established the kingdom with their friends and made it into the prosperous nation it became.

Under the great leadership of the king, they rose to a powerful position and made treaties with the surrounding powers.

They had power, the subjects and followers of the king gained Holy power through the worship of not some god, but their king that they followed.

They had faith in the abilities of their leader, so much so that they gained the power of the unique origin that only the faithful could have.

It was a worship of not a divine being but just the worship of a human, and yet since they gained this power, they were proving the point that any kind of belief, and sincere faith in anything was able to birth the the unique Holy power… however, the mainstream religion and the strongest power who also followed divinities of their own could not accept that some human had become what only those divine beings should be.

"The Holy kingdom was born on the blood, sweat and laughs of the kind people who only wanted a home, a paradise where anyone who wanted peace could escape to.

It was a unique place, governed by perhaps one of the smartest people ever born… yet, before the might of absolute power, even the smartest fail sometimes."

The war was waged and the war was lost. The remnants of the kingdom's army, the soldiers who had obtained the holy power of an 'impure' origin, were hunted down even to this day.

"The wise and kind king made sure that the most of his people survive at the end of his life, and so, there still remain many individuals who had once fought for that brave king and still owe their lives to him."

But Miss Rin was not one of them.

She was simply a mother that met someone that she loved, a wonderful man that she accompanied till his last breath, and when he was gone, she had no 'home' that she could stay in.

"She is being hunted, just like the rest of them, Elio."

She was constantly moving, not staying in one place for more than a year or two.

Moongold had somehow grown up on her, and she ended up staying here for long, making it a home that she thought she might rest in forever.

"But then… that dark mage came."

Traces of the Holy power that she used to defeat those minions must have been sensed by the head of the mage tower, the greedy person who, unlike the librarian, saw no profit in helping the town's people.

He was even more materialistic than the players, and unlike them, small things could not satisfy him.

"They would have had to leave the town anyway, so I asked them to come along with us."

She explained to him how the kingdom fell, what had happened, who were the Soldiers that fought in that war, and how the Empire was still offering huge rewards to the individuals who would bring these remnants to them.

"You know how much she likes us, don't you~? She was happy to come along with us when I told her we would protect Misha and make both of them stronger~."

Mages are greedy, especially the upper ranker of the mage towers who need expensive and some very specific materials and ingredients for their experiments.

Magic is not cheap. And research in any field requires tons of funds.

And, a simple weak wandering soldier could earn them much more than what they could earn by working their normal jobs.

"So, isn't this good? We will have one more proper party member with experience, and someone that Miu and Az like~."

She promised him she would take care of the matter regarding the two little creatures.

And, she did come up with the solution. But…

"Will Misha be okay?"

She had so many people in the town that she is close with.

Perhaps she doesn't have any friends and is shy, but will she be alright leaving her home?

Did they even tell her that they would be going with them?

"Miss Rin said it would be alright."

Even Alex did not know how she was going to tell the young girl.

But, since her mom said not to worry about it, Alex knew that there would be nothing to worry about for the two of them.

"Really?"

"Chirp??"

Yet, even if she understood that, she forgot that her unique bastard would not just sit still and let the mother handle her child.

As the big brother and the one at the center of this whole thing, he also needed to talk with the child, as well as the mother who was now in a difficult position.