Chapter 4
Chapter 4: The One Blessed by God (1)
“Vice-Commander, what exactly is this Erik fellow that you’re going all the way down to District 3 for him?”
The question came from inside a carriage heading toward Royal Road, permitted only to high nobles in District 2.
Erica looked across at the opposite seat and paused for a moment.
“Hmm, a crazy bastard?”
“My lady! Please don’t joke around!”
“Are you going to tell Father?”
The female knight sitting across from Erica was Merida, both a guardian knight of the ducal house and a personal attendant. She also served as Vice-Commander Erica’s aide at the Security Bureau. Roughly speaking, she was someone who juggled three jobs at once.
“Of course I would ask such an obvious thing! Do you know how much trouble I’ve had because of your accidents…”
“Curious?”
“Yes, naturally. He may have some looks… but it’s not like you’ve grown attached to some fifteen-year-old kid.”
At Merida’s words, Erica’s eyes curved like a bow.
“He’s a man with a large and magnificent pillar.”
What?
What is this crazy lady talking about?
Merida’s mind went blank. She was a loyal attendant of the ducal house and a guardian knight who had served Erica for life.
“P-pillar?”
“Haha, I’m talking about divine power. Were you surprised?”
“Haa, my lady, my heart drops at every word you say. How is it that nothing has changed since you were little…”
During her immature childhood days, Erica had been obsessed with her swordsmanship talent and caused all sorts of trouble. Generally, these involved inflicting indiscriminate violence on children of other noble families under the guise of sparring.
That was until she met Erik.
“He took my first.”
“Pardon?”
“This is for real.”
“Pardon me?”
Erik was the person who gave Erica her first defeat.
‘How is that kid fifteen?’
It still seemed unbelievable.
When Erica was seventeen, she once sparred with some small orphan on the orders of the Duke, the head of the family. Next to him stood a cleric that even her father struggled with, whose face, gender, and age were all unknowable. Her father still won’t tell her that person’s identity.
Anyway.
At that time, they suddenly made her, a seventeen-year-old, spar with a seven-year-old kid.
“I got beaten up miserably.”
“Ah, that. You mean the sparring match…”
Looking at Erica lost in reminiscence, Merida fell silent.
‘I didn’t know someone could beat a person up that thoroughly.’
Merida also knew about the sparring match that took place on the head of the family’s orders. But the result had been strange.
The entire family had been thrown into chaos seeing Erica carried back half-crippled after being beaten by a scrawny seven-year-old kid. Erica, defeated by a small, powerless commoner orphan, had lived in despair for a while. Thanks to that, she had learned humility, even if only slightly.
“My lady, is that bastard still that strong? Right now he just looks like someone who’s gotten a taste for money…”
“Would it be right to call that ‘strong’?”
She hadn’t crossed hands with Erik since then. But Erica was certain of his strength.
‘Now I can’t even see the gap.’
That bastard Erik is a monster.
Lost in such thoughts, she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.
“Ah, I forgot to give him this. I’m going to get an earful.”
“A subspace pouch? You already sent plenty of funds—”
“Ah, this is different. It contains items confiscated from wanted criminals.”
“Aren’t those supposed to be returned to the national treasury?”
“That crazy bastard sells items to wanted criminals, reports them to us to collect bounties, and then takes back the items he originally sold. He’s a wicked bastard.”
‘Ack!’ Looking at the speechless Merida, Erica felt a sense of kinship.
You think it’s strange too, don’t you?
‘Why does such a person receive such sublime divine favor?’
***
Thud! Crash!
“E-Erik?”
At the sound of the chapel being destroyed, Ruelle snapped to attention.
Thud! Crash!
“Erik!!!”
She had been intoxicated by the magnificent and powerful divine power, but before her dazed state could clear, she had to stop Erik first. She had wanted to cleanse her heart with prayer after hearing the voice of Goddess Astia, but she couldn’t just watch as the chapel chairs exploded every time Erik clenched his fist.
Rumble! Crack! Crash!
Her head spun at the increasingly destructive scene.
Smack!
“Eeerrriiiikkk!!!”
With an intense back smash, Ruelle was pushed backward.
This bastard’s ignorant body had no sense of impact either. Her hand was numb.
Still.
“Ah, Priestess Ruelle. You’ve come to your senses.”
She had succeeded in stopping Erik.
Erik looked around at the completely destroyed chapel interior and grinned widely. Then he shouted.
“Look at this!”
Thud! Crack!
When he clenched his fist, a candlestick on the chapel wall broke in half.
“Huh…?”
Ruelle had thought he was just wielding divine power as usual for indiscriminate destruction, but looking closely, she could clearly see what had changed.
“What, what is it?”
He clenched his fist and a distant candlestick exploded?
What is that.
Using divine power in such a way was something she had never heard of or seen. As someone who handled the same power, she felt an inexplicable fear.
To Ruelle, who had taken a step back, Erik took three steps forward and murmured.
“It seems 3rd Tier divine power is like a ranged attack. Being a Paladin must be an overpowered class that can do DPS, tanking, and healing all at once.”
His face showed extreme satisfaction.
“A-amazing… But could you please stop destroying the chapel?”
When Ruelle crossed her arms and spoke, Erik bent his massive body and began busily cleaning up the chapel floor. His face was full of smiles.
‘A Possessor who uses divine power.’
Ruelle found Erik strange for the first time in a while. It was because this was the first time in ages she was seeing him act like a Possessor.
If not for Pilgrim Riferoze’s guarantee, she wouldn’t have believed that Erik was a Possessor. She would have thought of him as a mentally broken child who mistakenly believed himself to be a Possessor.
‘Who would have believed the words of a kid who used divine power?’
She recalled Erik’s five-year-old days. A corner of her heart ached, so she asked.
“Is there… anything wrong with your body?”
Though Erik now was large enough to be called overwhelming, he had been small and fragile as a child. He had been a pitiful child who couldn’t control his overflowing divine power and could only wait for the day he would die.
Had he been about to burst and die?
If not for his master Riferoze, and without Ruelle’s sacrifice, Erik would already be a dead soul by now.
Knowing this gratitude, Erik answered in a respectful tone.
“Since finishing the body-building training with Master, there have been no problems at all. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
His voice was reverent.
“That’s a relief. Master Riferoze also said there would be no more problems going forward…”
“Don’t worry. I’m so sturdy now that I’d like to get even stronger.”
Thud! Crack!
Erik confidently clenched his fist with all his might. At the same time, the scripture stand on the chapel platform was destroyed.
Her mind was at ease, but…
‘Why does he keep destroying things?’
Ruelle recalled the divine revelation she had heard earlier.
[Whatever he does, accept and understand it. It will benefit your life.]
God is indeed right.
***
After stabilizing his 3rd Tier divine power for several days, Erik resumed his business. He couldn’t let his existing business ventures idle just because he collected tithes every week.
[Required Resources: 1,000,000,000]
The money he needed had now risen to astronomical figures.
At this point, it seemed like it would be more efficient to farm sacred objects or legendary items while conquering labyrinths.
‘Besides, labyrinth loot is tax-free.’
Erik had been operating businesses under borrowed names while thoroughly paying taxes like sales tax. The tax on businesses operated by non-nobles reached 50% of net profit. For nobles, the tax rate decreased as their titles got higher. It was a common harm of the class system.
“50%… hmm…”
Calculating the sales of the magical tool shop he had set up in District 2, he needed to pay about 10 million gold in taxes. The deadline was the end of this month.
Having spent all his money on ‘3rd Tier divine power’ before paying taxes, he had no spare funds.
‘Clerics and religious orders are tax-exempt businesses, though…’
Strictly speaking, Erik could be considered an unregistered Paladin. This meant that despite receiving teachings from his master, who belonged to a religious order, he hadn’t officially registered his name.
Now that he had opened the 3rd Tier, there was no reason to hesitate.
“Once you advance to the next stage, you’ll also be able to move freely. Until then, you must be careful with your body!”
With his master’s guarantee, it would be certain. He was confident he could hold his own anywhere.
The problem was timing. Given the current state of affairs…
‘There are too many Possessors now.’
He might suddenly be assigned an inquisitor and given the task of eliminating Possessors, which would be troublesome. Leaving Ruelle’s orphanage was not something Erik wanted.
While thinking such thoughts.
“B-boss, I reported all the guys suspected of being Possessors as soon as I found them.”
Jang Du-sik, whom he had sent on an errand, returned. He handed Erik a sack containing 200,000 gold in bounty money.
Swish. After roughly estimating the amount of money by eye, Erik stood up from his seat.
“Du-sik, is it true that you see ten Possessors a day?”
“Goodness, didn’t you see them lined up in front of the guillotine today? It’s like free money. Just grab any clueless bastard, beat them up a few times, and they confess everything.”
“Is that so? I should go see for myself. Keep the store well.”
“Yes sir!”
Erik left the District 2 shopping district, passed through the district gate, and entered District 3. The massive Labyrinth plaza appeared.
“In God’s presence with us, may they return safely.”
The Labyrinth opened every first day of the week, and from the second day onward, the Labyrinth entrance closed. On the third day, today, families of adventurers who had entered the Labyrinth gathered to pray for their safe return.
The crowds filling the vast plaza went to clerics of their respective religious orders and recited prayers. Voices calling out to God could be heard toward the crude underground stairs of the Labyrinth.
And behind that, a sharp guillotine could be seen.
‘They really are lined up.’
Possessors were strictly speaking, public enemies of the Empire. Recently, the term ‘Continental Enemy’ had become more commonly used.
In this world, there existed one Empire, three kingdoms, and three separate religious forces. What all these powers had defined as evil were the ‘Possessors.’
‘Game possession.’
They were people in similar circumstances to Erik, Park Ji-hun. However, he didn’t particularly feel sympathy, pity, or kinship toward Possessors.
‘There are just too many crazy bastards.’
Whether it was because there was a high proportion of game addicts among Possessors, or because they had lived little time in this barbaric age, the majority of Possessors were mentally ill.
‘Black magic with human sacrifice, team-killing in labyrinths to monopolize rewards…’
Their evil deeds were beyond description.
What were called honey builds in games mostly involved extreme murder in reality. Like sacrificing defenseless NPCs to gain powerful dark magic, or killing all companions immediately after conquering a Labyrinth boss to receive a solo conquest judgment and obtain incredibly good rewards.
‘This is reality.’
For Erik, who had lived in this world for fifteen years, the behavior of Possessors could never be welcome. Moreover, those bastards even used proper game systems.
There was definitely a part that made his stomach turn.
‘But the biggest reason is separate…’
Lost in such thoughts, a familiar presence approached from behind. Without turning around, Erik crossed his arms and watched people climbing the guillotine.
“Are all those Possessors?”
“There are too many, right? Are they fake?”
Like the reactions around him, Erik also thought the number was abnormally high.
“You know, our neighbor Melan was also a Possessor. Now we don’t know what will happen to us either.”
The number of Possessors lined up was roughly over a hundred. In an Empire of ten million people, discovering this many Possessors in the capital was a big problem.
Swish!
Thud!
The blade of the guillotine made from divine power fell, and the beheaded Possessor began burning in golden divine power.
“Even if we don’t want to believe it… seeing them burn in divine power, it’s true that all those things are Possessors.”
Possessors were beings that couldn’t coexist with divine power. As the crowd became noisy watching the burning Possessor.
“The dragon has been overturned.”
A man brushed past Erik from behind. His words were very brief.
‘I should go to District 5.’
Erik moved toward the final district of Imperial Capital Arman to hear the detailed circumstances.
***
Rumble!
When he wrapped himself in divine power, Erik’s appearance changed. His massive frame remained the same, but his muscles became even more bulky and his facial bones became broadly flat. His blonde hair and pupils also turned ordinary brown.
“Aah, cough, cough. Shit.”
With the same build, the feeling was completely different. With the added cursing, he looked like a boss from the back-alley underworld.
‘It’s been a while.’
After finishing preparations, Erik entered the damp back alleys inside the District 5 slums.
The slums, blocked from sunlight by the fortress walls, were dark. All the buildings were old and built from crude solid earth without even windows.
‘The Empire has plenty of money, so why don’t they redevelop? What’s that smell…’
Thanks to the city design where the elevation gradually decreased from the Imperial Palace in District 1 as the center, District 5 vibrated with foul odors from flowing sewage.
Erik walked through the smelly back alleys with a swaggering gait. Criminals hiding between buildings and beggars could be seen, but they all turned their heads when they saw Erik.
Erik stood in front of an old wooden door in the most secluded alley.
Crash!
Then he roughly kicked the door.
Creak! Thud!
Beyond the falling door, gang members who had been playing cards could be seen.
“Which crazy bastard… Hmm. Cough, the boss is here.”
The gang members who had each drawn their swords and tried to respond instantly stopped their actions when they saw the massive Erik.
“Bastard?”
When Erik tilted his head crookedly and asked.
“S-sorry.”
All the people in the room automatically lined up and bowed their heads.
Thud, thud, thud.
“Is there anyone else here besides me who would break down the door and enter?”
Erik muttered as he walked around the room. There was no answer, only the sound of swallowing saliva could be heard. Everyone was tense.
“So what exactly did the dragon overturn that you called me?”
“Older brother Marco. Please calm down.”
At Erik’s question, a man came dragging his legs from the inner room. A middle-aged man with half his face covered in burn scars. His arms were full of knife wounds.
“As older brother Marco said, we thoroughly searched the Imperial side. They’re also having headaches with the increasing number of Possessors.”
Erik was called Marco here and acted as the boss of a dark organization that ruled the back alleys.
“And then?”
Erik’s organization ostensibly operated a black market. However, its true identity was a group that collected information from all over the Imperial Capital.
“The Imperial family changed their policy.”
Erik gestured with his chin for him to continue.
“They’re abolishing the immediate execution law for Possessors.”
“What?”
Somewhat shocking words were heard.
“Seems they realized there’s a lot to use them for. Starting next month, they’ll put Possessors in separate detention camps to manage them.”
Just when he needed to register with a religious order after turning fifteen, things had become quite amusing.
“Thinking there might be uses for them, we caught one Possessor… Would you like to see him too, Older brother? This bastard is quite a pain in the ass.”
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