Chapter 930. Gen (9)
The Sacred Democratic Country and the Vatican weren’t incompetent, so they reacted pretty fast.
It seemed that the note I left had caused chaos within the Vatican.
The chaos was so intense that the ongoing faction war within the Vatican looked pitiful in comparison to it.
Father Yohan and the heretics were having a fun time in the interrogation rooms.
Everyone involved was being interrogated, so even the priests working with the Templars were popping up as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Goddess Benigoa’s holy mace ended up smashing their heads in.
- Ahhh! Ack!
- Father Lee Ki-Young...
Naturally, they realized that the recent incident and the monsters capable of wielding holy power were related to my disappearance. With those clues in mind, they focused on the Templars, who were still hiding.
The honorary cardinal's note contained a heavy and cruel truth that I had decided to keep to myself. As expected, the note was pretty useful, and the stories I said only to Father Basel were being investigated as well.
I was talking about the scenes I had seen in my dreams where Goddess Benigoa was locked up in a dark space while being surrounded by demons who were busy drinking her blood.
It was a dark and dirty truth. The disgusting truth that was supposed to have been hidden forever was starting to come to light.
- That's what Father Lee Ki-Young said to me...
- No way... Is that really possible? O Benigoa... O Benigoa...
Father Basel’s words and my note weren’t the only things that supported their assumption.
‘Didn't we work hard on our investigation?’
Holy Sword Rafael and his party's investigation were pretty useful as well.
I was sure that if we revealed the information that the mini Outer Gods had uncovered from their investigation, the entire thing would become a bigger conspiracy. It could no longer stay as an ordinary kidnapping case.
Actually, it wasn't just a conspiracy. It was the truth, and it had already happened.
- According to Mr. Rafael's investigations, the strange monsters had evolved because they had consumed Goddess Benigoa’s holy blood...
- That’s the same for the Templars!
- They presume that a dungeon was made as a result of the anomaly. Miss Jo Hye-Jin of the Blue Guild had mentioned that this incident was caused by a dungeon that they have yet to clear. I also received documents from Mr. Rafael’s party. Father Lee Ki-Young's baby angels... have delivered those documents themselves.
- Where the heck is that dungeon?
- Are you sure... Father Lee Ki-Young is in that dungeon?
- We’re not sure yet... but we believe that Templar Gen has kidnapped Father Lee Ki-Young...
- So what's the point of this conversation, then?! We must figure out Father Lee Ki-Young's whereabouts before anything else!
They were bound to find out that Templar Gen was my kidnapper, as there was no such thing as secrets in this world.
They’d figure out that Templar Gen had been taking me out late at night.
Father Yohan’s priests and the Holy Knights had been overlooking our meeting, and the guys who were paid to spread rumors were having a field day at the moment.
The rumor was definitely about a heartwarming story—a heartwarming story about how I wanted to trust Templar Gen until the end and how I had given him a ton of my love.
Unfortunately, Templar Gen repaid my trust and love with a criminal act, so he deserved to die. He also deserved to become the continent's public enemy number one.
- The recent event is related to this. Just think about their actual goal. They had obtained the wrong power by drinking Goddess Benigoa’s holy blood. Why would they not want to drink the Saint of Light’s blood?
- How terrible... O Benigoa...
- What should we do about this?
They reexamined Gen’s motives for kidnapping me, and the public opinion changed in an instant. Thanks to the rumors that Ji-Hye noona had been spreading all this while, the evil guys and the good guys quickly became clear to everyone.
Moreover, the rumors justified the decisions of the good guys.
They had to move forward with their plan, and they couldn't waste any time being nitpicky.
- We can’t find any traces of the remaining Templars.
- They might be hiding somewhere inside the Vatican.
- In that case, the dungeon might be inside the Vatican as well. We must search the Vatican, even if it means getting outside help.
- The Templars... have been too secretive and independent. We must use this opportunity and completely get rid of all the corrupted beings in the Vatican.
Everyone was working together during this unprecedented crisis. The Holy Knights and the Inspection Bureau of the Sacred Democratic Country rushed to the Vatican in order to get rid of the corrupted heretics.
The winds of unprecedented change were bringing with it a brand-new order.
It probably wouldn't take long. The Vatican was big. It was as big as a small city, but I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before they found what they were looking for, especially if they investigated the places where the Templars were often spotted.
Ah! They could get more information from Father Yohan.
- I... I know nothing, Sister Helena.
- ...
- I really don’t know anything.
- ...
- Everything is Templar Simon’s fault. H-He's the reason behind all this! A-After receiving Goddess Benigoa’s new will and light... h-he used that sly tongue of his to deceive me—no, us. If I made any mistakes, it’s the mistake of loving Goddess Benigoa—AAAHHH!
- Where’s Father Lee Ki-Young, you dirty heretic?!
- I’m not... a heretic... I...
- You harmed him, so Goddess Benigoa will never love you. What you’re going to see upon closing your eyes isn’t Goddess Benigoa, but the dissection table that she had made for you.
- That’s not true. That’s not true...
Sister Helena was pretty scary.
It seemed that they wouldn't be able to extract that much information from Father Yohan. It was clear that Templar Simon was the one controlling him rather than the other way around.
The fact that there were many things happening at the Vatican at the same time made me feel relieved. It was like the puzzle pieces that I had been collecting were finally falling into place. I was proud of my friends, who were getting closer and closer to the truth thanks to the information that we had painstakingly gathered.
- Father Lee Ki-Young has instructed us not to let the continent know if something ends up happening to him. He warned us to be especially careful around Miss Jung Ha-Yan and Mr. Kim Hyun-Sung.
- I understand how he feels. He doesn’t want them to worry. Father Lee Ki-Young has always thought about others before himself. I just didn’t think that he'd still prioritize other people despite his current predicament.
- I’m sure he’s worried about the possibility that the denizens might get swayed.
- We have to take this. I contacted the nations nearby, but I’m not sure how helpful they are going to be.
- The rangers in the Sacred Democratic Country, the Blue Guild members, and our Holy Knights are tracking him, so I’m sure we’ll be able to save him.
- We just distributed Templar Gen's wanted posters.
- The Continental Protection Management Committee is moving along the border between Laios and the Union. We’ve been continuously deploying griffon units and with the help of the Black Swan Guild, we’ve been controlling the guild getting intel.
- Our command center believes that Templar Gen is moving around by flying. We’ve been keeping an eye on the nearby region using the surveillance orbs...
- We’ve dispatched rangers based on witness accounts. Apparently, some people saw them in specific locations.
They were even going at it systematically. It'd be annoying if Ha-Yan and Kim Hyun-Sung ended up getting involved. I also wanted to avoid the denizens finding out about this because those two would definitely end up hearing about this incident.
The Sacred Democratic Country and the Holy Knights were working together to close in on us, and the griffon units were either flying or were moving discreetly on the ground.
There wasn’t any problem—no, wait, there was one problem. I was getting tired.
“I think it’s best if we don’t stop by the closest city, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” Gen suggested.
“What? What about our supplies...” I asked.
‘And I need a shower.’
What about a hotel?
“Can we not meet the denizens of the small city?” I asked.
Was there really no way for us to escape from this homeless life?
“We still have food I brought with me... and I can make food myself...” Gen answered.
'Are you suggesting that we're going to eat nothing but ham from now on?'
“W-Why should we not stop by the closest city?” I asked, sounding doubtful.
“I believe they’re closing in on us, and I also think they’re focusing on this area for their search... We should just stay hidden here for a few days, and then we can leave once it's no longer so hot around here,” Gen suggested.
“D-Did I put you in a difficult spot...” I questioned.
“It’s nothing like that, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. It’s just—”
“So you expected this, Mr. Gen. W-Wouldn’t... it be better if we just returned?” I asked.
'Let’s go back, please. If you don’t have a plan, let’s just surrender instead of wasting time like this.'
“If something happens to you because of me...” I paused.
“It’s fine,” Gen said.
“I don’t think I can—”
“I’ll be fine,” Gen repeated, interrupting me.
'I won’t be fine, though.'
“I-I’ll be fine, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. I promised you that I'd show you a better world,” Gen said.
'This isn’t a better world. It's just going to be for a few days, but how can we live like this? How long do you think we can hold out... inside these ruins while eating nothing but pig porridge? We can’t resupply, and we have nothing. Is porridge all we’re going to have? Wait, can we even wash up?'
“We'll overcome every single hardship as long as we're together,” Gen reassured.
'No, I can’t endure this. The power of our bond and friendship can't sustain us. Now, it’s about capital and competence. I once said not to look at incompetent fools, but that’s exactly what you are—incompetent.'
“I agree. It’ll be hard... but with you, I can endure any hardships. However, I don’t want you to get hurt because of things like this, Mr. Gen,” I told him.
'So let’s just surrender...'
“There’s a lake nearby,” Gen informed me.
Stop changing the subject.
“I’ll go get some water,” Gen said.
'Get water? Are we that low on supplies? Is there hot water? What about a foaming cleansing cream? Shampoo?'
“I’ll prepare warm water for you, so please rest,” Gen told me.
“But Mr. Gen—”
“We can get through this together, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” Gen interrupted me.
'I can’t get through this, damn it. This trip was a bad idea.'
‘Is he planning on spending time like this until we get new identities?’
We could hunt down monsters, but there was no way for us to sell those carcasses. The small cities were under surveillance because they were investigating this region right now. In other words, we had to stay here for a few more days. We couldn't go back to the city to stock up on supplies.
'How much food do we have left?'
I searched his bag and found that...
‘He didn’t bring much food.’
Perhaps he couldn't prepare much, as we had left in such a hurry, or perhaps he thought that he could resolve everything by himself?
‘Three days?’
The pieces of jerky he had put into that disgusting pig porridge would only last for three days.
‘The coffee doesn’t taste good, either.’
And I wouldn't be able to drink coffee by tomorrow...
I believed he had a conscience, so he'd give the rest to me, right?
‘They’ll find us soon...’
'There’s no warm milk, no wine, no snacks, and no tea.'
Sixty gold coins were truly all he had, and I couldn't help but sigh when I thought about where he could even spend this money.
Unfortunately for him, the Sacred Democratic Country wasn’t incompetent. It was highly likely that they'd find and rescue us without asking for Lee Ji-Hye or Jung Ha-Yan's help.
If possible, I wanted to avoid any awkward situations.
‘I just need to hold out a bit longer.’
The Sacred Democratic Country was competent, so everything would surely be resolved in just a week. The wicked criminal would be judged by the law by then, and I'd be able to return to the arms of my beloved denizens.
And just like that, two weeks passed by in a flash...
'Damn it.'