The Priest of Corruption - Chapter 25

conversation.

conversation.

The man slumped in his chair, frowning.

“What? You missed Dacia?”

Hilden, head of the eastern branch of ‘Ilech’, an organization that rules the underworld of the Northern Kingdom, bowed his head deeply. I didn’t want to bow my head to that filthy bastard, but he was a rich customer, and my job now was to please that moneyline.

“Yes. I have nothing to say. There was an unexpected variable…”

“Variable? Did you say variable now? Huh?”

The man jumped up from his seat and pushed Hilden on the shoulder. With just enough force to make you feel bad. Before Hilden could regain her balance, the man pushed Hilden’s shoulder again.

thud.

In the end, Hilden, who was rudely stamped on the floor, tried to straighten her face as much as possible without realizing it. Fortunately, his 43 years of experience on this floor did not betray him, and Hilden succeeded in creating a perfectly submissive expression.

The man cooled down when he saw Hilden’s expression. If you rebel, I tried to use that as an excuse to step on you a little more closely. The man buried himself in the chair again spat out the words.

“So? Why are you reporting it to me one by one? You guys have to deal with that level of variable yourself. I’m giving you money to do that. Oh, you’re not reporting it to me because I’m in a bad mood, right?”

Hilden slowly got up from her seat and bowed her head. Do you really want to say sorry for yourself? But the damage has already been too great. Having lost 15 of the elites that he had invested for quite a long time at once, he had to get additional support money from that client, even if he was humiliated by taking a few more hits on his ass.

“That’s… I think I’ll need additional money to continue the request…”

A thick wrinkle appeared on the man’s forehead.

“What?! Additional money? Did you say extra money now?! How much is the money I already gave you? Huh? Hey. Come here. Dae.”

Chasing after the twitching fingers, Hilden quickly went in front and put his face on it.

match!

Hilden’s head turned with a refreshing sound. The man didn’t seem to be offended by that, so he raised Hilden’s cheek several times before opening up his words again with a huff.

“Explain the exact reason why you need additional money. I don’t think the loss you guys lost is so great that if you say bullshit to make up for it, you’ll just fall into my hands today.”

Of course, it was right to make up for the damage, but Hilden had just prepared a plausible reason. The reason why that ironbuji is convincing.

“I couldn’t help it because the variable that intervened this time wasn’t an ordinary person.”

“Do you drag on? Huh? Why is your tongue so long? Do you want to hit it again?”

‘You dirty bastard! Get hit by lightning and die!’

Hilden, the head of a family, thought of her rabbit-like children and squeezed her heart into it.

“The ones who kidnapped Princess Irmel of Dacia were two men…”

“What? Man? Now, is Dakia hanging out with only three men and two men?”

The man reacted sensitively to the two words man.

‘Fuck. Can’t you just stop talking? really!’

Hilden continued to speak while gnashing his teeth in his heart.

“Yes. That’s right. And there are two variables involved this time, and one is Carmen Baltas, the illegitimate son of Ansis Baltas…”

“Anyway, he’s just an ordinary aristocrat after all.”

“Carmen Baltas is famous even in the capital for never neglecting his training since he was a child…”

“Oh, okay. Who’s the other one? If you’re an ordinary human being, then I’ll really be very disappointed in you. You’re going to go around the neighborhood saying that ‘Ilech’ just got punched by two normal people.”

There was still plenty left for that damn guy, so Hilden quickly pulled out information about the other one.

“The other is Marnak, a priest who serves the goddess of maintenance…”

“A priest? It’s only because of one priest and an ordinary human, right?”

“You must listen to the end. A man named Marnak is not an ordinary person.”

The man showed some interest.

“What’s out of the ordinary?”

“Marnac, it was from Gyth that he first revealed his fame, but he earned the reputation of ‘Demon Butcher’ by killing a demon that suddenly appeared in Gyth and turned into a gigantic monster with a single sword.”

“You caught a demon that turned into a huge monster with a single sword? Alone?”

“… not alone. It is said that there were three priests of the Reformation Church. They died during the battle with the devil.”

“You’re saying that Marnak could have just finished off what the Reformation Priest caught?”

Hilden brought up the second piece of information at the voice that had cooled down a bit.

“That’s not the end. Not long ago, the evil god’s worshipers single-handedly killed the monster created by giving all of Kelton’s living lives, earning him the nickname of the evil god’s antagonist. Besides, he didn’t want fame, so he only revealed the full story of the incident and quietly explored the city. I even left.”

Marnak’s escape at night was after rumors spread that he left the city because he felt burdened by being admired because the demon lord had packaged it nicely.

The man opened his mouth after pondering alone.

“But didn’t that come out of your own mouth anyway? Is it true that he caught it? You could lie that someone else caught it, but Ji caught it. And he ran away because he was afraid the truth would be revealed.”

Hilden closed her eyes tightly.

‘A petty bastard who won’t acknowledge what’s left even if he dies soon.’

The man leaned back in his chair and lay down.

“Well, if even half of the rumors are true, they won’t touch Dacia. Okay. I’ll give you some extra money.”

‘I did it!’

In Hilden’s head, the rabbit-like children and bear-like wife laughed brightly.

“But I can’t give it right away. I don’t have enough money to move right now because I’ve drawn so much money so far.”

“Didn’t you decide to hold a banquet tonight as well…?”

The man patted Hilden on the head and laughed.

“Should I have to cancel my play to pay you? Huh? That’s not even a thing if you think about it, right?”

‘Cancel it! Cancel immediately!’

Hilden’s silent clamor did not reach the man. He said, stretching slowly.

“By the way, I wonder what will happen to Ansis Baltas if Carmen dies. He usually treats Carmen like a son he rarely has.”

Hilden’s face hardened when he mentioned the name of Ansis, whom all men born in the north respected, as if calling a neighborhood friend. Because he also admired Ansis Baltas. Seeing Hilden’s face, the man smiled.

“Okay. When you’re done with your words, go away. It’s time for the girls to come soon.”

“yes.”

Hilden quietly withdrew. as he appeared.

***

Doesn’t everyone have times like that?

The time when I did something with great energy, but when time passed, I felt a bit of regret.

“Wouldn’t it have been okay if I had spoken more gently to Princess Dacia? She seemed like a pretty easygoing person.”

‘killing!’

My mother tugged at my arm, saying, “What are you doing to worry about her?” I cut a small piece of sausage from the plate and tossed it into my mother’s mouth as she sat on my lap.

‘killing!!!’

After exclaiming that it was so delicious, the mother chewed on the sausage pieces and kicked her feet happily. It was rewarding to go down and pay money to receive a plate of food separately from my mother who said she wanted to try it too.

As I cut the bread into bite-size pieces and put it in my mother’s mouth, I thought of Princess Dacia.

Wizard.

I hated wizards. Beyond being extremely self-centered, I really hated them for being selfish.

Because it was all ‘Wizard’ that broke my life, which I was trying to live by integrating into this world in the first place. Ever since ‘that incident’, I have always instinctively hated wizards.

Even though I knew that the wizard who broke my life and the wizards I encountered were different people, I couldn’t easily overcome my vague hatred for wizards. That’s how I always put on tinted glasses and consciously distanced myself from the wizards.

Besides, I thought it would be foolish to repeat the same mistake since I had already been kind to the wizard once and burned it badly.

However, because of the appearance of the princess of Dacia that she had experienced in the past few days, the instinctive question of ‘Wouldn’t the princess of Dacia be an exception?’ kept coming to my mind.

‘killing!’

When Mother said that her hands were playing, I quickly picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth.

‘ㅅ…a…r…’

Smart.

Before my mother could finish her sentence, someone knocked on my door. I said as I gripped the handle of my frost steel sword.

“who are you?”

The answer came after a while.

“It’s me. Dacia.”

I hugged my mother’s head, holding my hand on the frost steel sword. I put my mother, who quickly turned into a hand, into my breast pocket and said.

“You can come in.”

“yes.”

Surely you wouldn’t fire a spell while opening the door? Fortunately, Dacia came into my room unarmed and without uttering any spells.

She looked at the plate of food in my lap and asked me.

“Have you been eating late-night snacks?”

“Yes. I’m a little hungry.”

Without losing my guard, I picked up the plate and set it on the table. Dacia came towards me wearing only a light white cotton outfit.

“Can I sit next to you? I have something to tell you.”

“yes.”

With my consent, Dakia sat down on the bed with her hips on her back. It’s been less than an hour since I threatened her. I wondered what the hell he was talking about.

Dacia did not open her mouth easily. A heavy silence fell. By the time he got used to the weight of the silence, Dakia’s lips opened gently.

“The reason you warned me like that is because I’m a ‘wizard’?”

I couldn’t answer right away to the words that stabbed the point. I opened my mouth that could not be opened well and acknowledged my internal organs.

“yes.”

Dakia looked at the snow falling through the window and said.

“I knew it. The way Priest Marnak usually looked at me was something I was very familiar with. Usually people who have been hurt by wizards look at me that way.”

Her words revealing my insides made me a little uncomfortable. Because the sentence she uttered pointed precisely at the ugliest part of me that I didn’t want to face.

I was silent. Knowing that my silence would sound positive to her. Dacia looked at me with sparkling golden eyes.

“It was the first time though.”

Even if I didn’t answer, she continued talking to herself.

“Even though he looked at me so much that he hated me, what Priest Marnak said in the end was just do well in the future, right? Most of the people who looked at me that way were trying to do bad things to me.”

The brighter she spoke, the more I wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be able to tolerate injustice easily in the future. But.”

Dacia, who pursed her lips a few times, smiled.

“I’ll make sure to discuss it in advance, just as Priest Marnak warned me before. It was late at night and I came here because I wanted to tell you this.”

She lifted her ass off the bed and rose slowly.

“Then I’ll be on my way. Have a good night, Priest Marnak.”

“excuse me···.”

“yes?”

Admitting one’s mistakes has always been difficult. I barely got out the words I didn’t want to come out.

“I think I was in a hurry. I have offended the princess.”

Dacia looked straight at me with molten gold eyes and smiled broadly.

“You look at me properly for the first time. I’m very happy.”

I looked at her and smiled.

“Is that so?”

Dakia nodded once and spoke lively.

“Then we’ve completely reconciled over this, right? Without any resentment?”

“Yes. First of all, I have no sediment.”

“Me too, now both of us have no sediment! Then see you tomorrow morning with a smile.”

She murmured and left with a good night. I patted my mother’s hand and said.

“It seems that the sorcerer is also an individual. This foolish son faces the truth he has been avoiding until now.”

‘killing!’

I stopped talking about that woman, and I smiled quietly at my mother’s complaint to feed me.

“The food is cold, so I’ll go downstairs and warm it up before I feed it. I can’t feed my mother cold food.”

I fed my mother the warm food I had warmed up and then took a nap.

***

thump.

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. When I got up and opened the door, the grim face of the innkeeper greeted me. Trouble clung to his face.

“Priest!”

“Yes. Please tell me.”

The innkeeper hesitated and spoke in a voice that was really sorry.

“A group claiming to be the companions of the mercenary who was captured by the vigilantes yesterday has blocked the entrance to the village and demands the release of those who have turned their comrades to death.”

“Looks like you gave them the ones you caught yesterday.”

“yes···.”

It was obvious. It must have been unavoidable since a group of well-armed men came. Instead of attacking us while we were sleeping and giving it to the mercenary group, the hostess told us the truth. was

I grabbed my froststeel sword and butcher and chuckled.

“Tell them I’m leaving soon.”