He had no way of knowing what that meant. However, presumably, it meant they were closely related to Rick Gerssey, his past life.
‘Then, is the one mentioned earlier referring to the Queen?’
—Is that a question?
‘…Of course not.’
Yoon-seok quickly shook his head. It was a one-question-only opportunity, so he should ask something of importance. He should dig for other information first.
‘But you acted like you were never going to tell me anything. Why are you doing this all of a sudden?’
—Is that a question?
‘Are you going to keep doing this?’
—It would be more meaningful if you found out for yourself. That way, you, who have your destiny, will head down the right path.
Come to think of it, the Queen he met on the mission and the Disaster he encountered during the voyage said the same thing. Hurry and wake up, then he would know everything. All they did was speak gibberish and answer none of his questions. He had to break through the shell and walk on the right path himself… no, he thought he was moving just the way they wanted.
Instead of feeling unpleasant, his questions were more important.
‘If you didn’t want to interfere for that reason, why did you change your mind now? I don’t think it’s because of my threats.’
—Let’s say it’s a reward for your consideration earlier.
In return for his consideration… it means it wasn’t only because of his consideration that he’d done this. For some reason, he thought he should dig more into it, but unfortunately, Britzmann drew a firm line.
—That’s all I can tell you. So, do you want to ask the question now? As I said, it must be related to Rick Gerssey.
Yoon-seok closed his eyes for a moment and pondered. And finally, he concluded.
‘Tell me the location of Rick Gerssey’s items and stuff. It’s okay if it’s an area or person that meant a lot to him.’
—…This is unexpected. You won’t know how confusing and enjoyable it is to talk to you.
He was like a cooped-up old man who missed the warmth of people.
‘Forget it, just answer the question.’
—Before that, I wonder why you ask that question.
The reason was simple. It wasn’t a polite thing to say, but it was much more reliable to see in person than hear it from someone else. Yoon-seok had a definite means above all else: just as the memories of his past life flashed by when he encountered Disaster, if he found something related to Rick Gerssey, he could take a step closer to the secret.
‘Did that answer the question?’
—Very much.
‘Then tell me now.’
—After Rick Gerssey’s death, his acquaintances divided the few items he had. The sword containing his power was retrieved by her, the ring containing the pledge was taken by a friend, and the seal, which means faith, was returned to his peer.
If his guess were right, she would mean the Queen, and her friend referred to Disaster. However, who was this peer?
‘…Is that all?’
—Of course not. Anyway, as time passed, the whereabouts of the other items were lost except for one. It’s not a special treasure, but Rick Gerssey valued it more than anything else.
‘So who has it?’
—Geronian’s Duke Carpaine has it. I don’t know where he got it from, but he keeps it in a warehouse after receiving a prophecy to destroy it.
‘They follow evil, so is that why he’s acting the opposite way?’
—Well, we don’t know that either. Isn’t it something precious?
They followed an evil God, so the disrespect of ignoring prophecy seemed to be nothing to them. He received the information he wanted, but Yoon-seok wasn’t satisfied. Some details might be left out.
‘Enough about the items, can you tell me a meaningful area or person?’
—Is there a point in telling you? I’m sure you already know what we would tell you anyway.
Here we go again. Did he like to talk in that nonsensical way? His psyche was very difficult to understand. However, to understand…
—First, find the things we’ve told you about. Then you’ll find out naturally.
It was a linked quest, so it meant he should do it in chronological order.
Yoon-seok stayed in Saintrion for a while. It was good to visit neighboring countries, get Rick Gerssey’s stuff back, and earn WP as well… but there was still something left to gain here.
「You destroyed a precious item cherished by many.」
「Acquired 30,000 WP.」
「Acquired 15,000 WP.」
「Acquired 90,000 WP.」
「Acquired 60,000 WP.」
Yoon-seok traveled all over Saintrion with a person sent by the Pope. In the meantime, he destroyed their sacred objects of religious value and sanctified buildings relentlessly. Nothing was worth as much as the Miracle Stone, but even these were much more valuable than what he found on Earth.
“If the moment comes when you need to fulfill your promise, visit Ragna Hambledon. She will help you.”
Yoon-seok, who achieved his target of 1 million WP in three days, left the Vatican after saying that. Ragna would take charge of the troublesome things related to the migration to Earth, and Ashton would take care of them on Earth.
‘I didn’t lose anything, but it’s a bit disappointing.’
Yoon-seok couldn’t leave easily, as if he had lingering feelings. The moment he left the sanctuary, the vitality that made it seem like he could compete with God disappeared. He could no longer hear Britzmann’s voice, who had been talking to him about everything.
‘As expected, I want it…. how can I take it off?’
A glint settled in Yoon-seok’s eyes. It was such a waste to leave the church. So, he thought he would get quite a lot of points if he could break it. Well, not only did he earn a total of 2.5 million WP in three days, but he also received additional information from Britzmann. He decided to throw away his greed.
Maybe if he hadn’t made a promise, but once he did, he had to keep it. Furthermore, God’s wrath might come down upon him. Well, although he wasn’t afraid of anything.
‘It’s time to get going.’
Perhaps the news of the sanctuary’s destruction had already spread to the public, as the lively white city was suddenly filled with grief and gloom. Yoon-seok, who flew hundreds of meters above them, looked down at the city for a moment and left.
Continuing to move forward, that was the only reward Yoon-seok could give them.
‘…I think it’s around here.’
About an hour has passed since then.
Yoon-seok, stopping midair, took out the map. Looking at the red spots on the map, the black fortress city below appeared to be the capital of Geronian, Panthenium. Slowly descending, Yoon-seok lifted Invisibility and immediately frowned.
There was a thick smell of blood wafting over the city.
‘…Let’s confirm with my own eyes first.’
Everyone, as well as Lee Su-yeon, had told him one thing. This place was an opportunity for evil, and it should be gone for good. Everyone was giving nasty looks to Geronian’s envoy in their previous meeting. The Cardinal, who was the representative of Saintrion, also kept picking fights with him.
However, Yoon-seok wanted to see it in person and judge for himself.
‘…Wait, wasn’t that guy’s name Duke Carpaine?’
Yoon-seok belatedly realized that the name Britzmann told him and the name of the man he met at the meeting was the same. There wouldn’t be two dukes with the same surname in a country, so it must be the same person.
‘Well, it can be confirmed after meeting him in person.’
With that thought, Yoon-seok headed toward the center of the city. Looking down from above, the fortress city was divided into three barriers. The place he landed was the outermost part of the city.
Yoon-seok quickly looked around.
‘Is this place a slum…?’
The building was cracked, and the rotten smell of alcohol and manure permeated the streets. Even in broad daylight, those walking about were drunk and scattered through the streets and every alley, and malnourished children searched their pockets to see if they could find anything.
Thud, thud.
Yoon-seok put on his black robe and passed between them. Sometimes he received a few greedy glances, but no one approached him in haste, perhaps because of the two swords that could be seen through his robe. Yoon-seok viewed the karma of each person he made eye contact with.
[Good: 57]
[Evil: 3871]
[Good: 98]
[Evil: 2,744]
None of their good deeds exceeded the bad ones. Of course, he didn’t mean to judge them only by this. How could he throw stones at them now that he’d killed countless people to survive and achieve what he wanted?
“…”
Therefore, Yoon-seok continued walking, accepting everything he saw. And before he knew it, he arrived at the barrier. No guard was standing in front of the tightly closed gate. As if their side hated to breathe in the same air as them, the guard post was looking down from the top of the wall.
Yoon-seok hated that.
Boom-!
Yoon-seok smashed the gate open and entered. There was a commotion among the dozing guards, but Yoon-seok, having already passed the barrier, could not be found.
‘It must be a place where wealthier people live.’
A bell began to ring loudly at the barrier as Yoon-seok walked past. But did this happen often? The residents beyond the barrier reacted harshly.
“What? Did the scum cross over the fence again?”
“The guards will take care of it. Let’s drink. A new slave came into the bar.”
Yoon-seok smiled bitterly at them. Relatively clean buildings, facilities, clothes, and food. Everything was far superior to the residents in the slums, but the bad deeds that appeared were much higher, and it seemed common for people here to treat others like beasts.
“…Arghhhhhhhhhh!”
“Did you see that? How is my magic? Bahahaha!”
A wizard who was drinking and said he’d demonstrate his magic turned a slave into a rock.
“P-please stop…!”
“Fuck, stay still.”
Another merchant split a slave’s stomach and took out their organs over a failed transaction.
“Blegh, Blerghhhhhh!”
“Kyahahaha!”
Then, a woman bought and gave it to her slave to eat for fun.
There was only a difference in severity. Otherwise, it wasn’t much different from the 6th-floor plaza, where duel challengers were kept as slaves. Yoon-seok witnessed everything with cold eyes without looking away.
“…”
His rage did not boil down as it did before. It was a matter of course; his rookie days had passed a long time ago. However, what would happen when his cold anger touched his endless patience would also be completely different from then.
“Hello, brother!”
Yoon-seok paused when someone called out to him and turned his head. A man was smiling at him.
“If you have time, go to the plaza.”
“…?”
“The hunters who went to Ewin returned today. If you have a big pocket, you can have some fun.”
It seemed to be a regular tout.
Yoon-seok headed to the plaza he mentioned, where hundreds of people had already gathered in a circle. As he pushed through and walked past them, he saw dozens of young beast-people and fairies shaking in chains. They were the prizes the hunters took from Ewin.
“I’ll give you a gold coin. Sell it to me.”
“Just one gold coin? They are offering two.”
Were they rare? The eyes of the bidders participating in the auction showed great greed. On the contrary, the slaves, receiving such primitive desires with bare bodies, shrank away and trembled with fear.
‘There’s nothing more to see.’
Yoon-seok made his decision. The central area where nobles resided? There was no need to go there before Yoon-seok made up his mind. When he tried to draw his swords-
“…?”
Some stepped up a moment faster than Yoon-seok.
Slash-!
The sword energy flying through the crowd cut apart the slaves’ chains in one strike. The cut was pretty neat, even by Yoon-seok’s standards.
“W-who…!”
The merchant collapsed mid-shout. A dark red line was drawn across his neck. But instead of to the collapsing merchant, Yoon-seok looked to the culprits. Surrounding a man who wore a red mask, there were about ten more people, all in similar attire.
‘…Who are they?’
Yoon-seok watched with curiosity.
“Kyakkkkkkkkk!”
“The patrols will help the citizens evacuate, and the rest catch them after me!”
He was momentarily disconcerted by the sudden tragedy. As the crowd panicked at the merchant’s death, guards patrolling the area drew their weapons. However, the raiders’ goal was to rescue instead of fight.
“You guys take the children and run. I’ll see you there.”
“…Please be safe, Commander.”
When the man who appeared to be the head of the group blocked the path, his colleagues began to flee with the dozens of slaves. Naturally, the guards grew alert.
“You snatched the citizens’ precious property! Cut off the sinner’s head!”
“Kill the one who deserves to die and save the ones you can. We’re just following his will! How dare they call us sinners?”
“Damn it. Are they pagans? Kill them!”
The man who blocked the road and the guards trying to recover their property collided.
‘He must be around 15 floors in missions.’
His skills were outstanding, but there were too many to deal with. Yoon-seok suddenly froze as he watched, noticing one beast-child who had been left behind.
“God, God, please save me.”
In the middle of the plaza that fell into chaos. A roughly ten-year-old child from a cat family sat and trembled as they called out for help.
‘God…’
Yoon-seok smiled grimly, and he quietly recited a single word.
“Stop.”
He didn’t shout or use a particularly dignified voice. However, at that moment, silence descended upon the plaza.
“…!”
“…!”
The man blocking the road to buy time for escape, the guards sprinting like mad dogs to kill him, and even the citizens who tried to leave the plaza. Everyone stopped.
Whoooooosh-!
The magic emanating from one man’s body didn’t allow them to move. All they could do was watch. Naturally, hundreds of eyes gathered on Yoon-seok.
Thud, thud.
Yoon-seok was the only moving in the plaza where time seemed to have stopped. A small expectation appeared in the child’s eyes when they realized Yoon-seok was approaching them.
“Are you a god…?”
Yoon-seok shook his head. Although he didn’t want to break the child’s innocence…
Even so, was he God? Was that even possible? Whatever humans did on the ground, all God did was watch.
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