Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The One Blessed by God (2)
“This possessor bastard is talking absolute nonsense. Kkeolkeol.”
In the underground prison that had become a sea of laughter, Erik tilted his head in confusion.
They were laughing because of the nonsense spouted by the possessor trapped in the iron bars.
“Hey, say that again.”
“…I, it’s true! Feet are cleaner than hands!”
“Kkeolkeolkeolkeol!”
“This crazy bastard is spouting complete bullshit.”
Erik looked around at his chuckling subordinates, bewildered by the scene.
“What the hell did you ask him to make him say such things?”
His tone was somewhat irritated.
One of the gang members stepped forward and said to Erik.
“We… asked him to tell us something peculiar that only a possessor would know.”
“And?”
“Kkeueuk, keuheoheo. He’s spouting nonsense about feet being cleaner than hands!”
No matter how you thought about it, it was crazy talk.
Everyone was too busy laughing to manage their expressions in front of the boss.
Only Janson quietly kept his head down.
“Keuheuk. He says there are tiny bugs invisible even to knights on human hands, making hands dirtier. Keukkeuk, maybe we should gather possessors and start a clown business.”
“……Are you telling me you captured a possessor just to have him tell such stories?”
In the form of underworld boss Marco, Erik frowned.
His broad face contorted and became fierce like an evil god (凶神惡殺).
“Heuip. S-sorry!”
The atmosphere turned cold.
Though Erik was someone who could appreciate humor, he had no intention of giggling at a captured possessor.
‘Maybe hands really are cleaner here?’
The thought briefly crossed his mind as he recalled the filthy sewage floors of District 5’s slums…….
Erik forced himself to clear away such idle thoughts.
“Everyone out.”
Erik emptied the underground prison.
Only the captured possessor remained.
What would happen now was simple interrogation.
“Why were you captured?”
Erik asked.
“……L-leveling…… I was trying to take a b-bus…… suddenly got kidnapped……”
The possessor answered.
“Leveling? Bus?”
It was quite a simple exchange.
And he didn’t like the answer to the first question from the start.
Leveling up not in labyrinths, but on the land where people lived.
Taking a bus.
“……What were you killing to level up and who were you trying to take a bus from? There are no monsters in the Imperial Capital, are there?”
He asked with a thoroughly crumpled face.
“……”
There was no answer.
Perhaps because he was from Earth, he seemed to be exercising something called the right to remain silent.
“I thought you’d be a good guy from all that nonsense, but you’re a complete fucking bastard.”
Erik was thoroughly angry.
If this had been a savage native of this world, he would have immediately opened his mouth with cruel torture.
‘But I should act like a modern person.’
He had no intention of using tools like those barbaric medievals.
Erik showed his palm in front of the possessor’s eyes.
Woooooong.
Golden divine power bloomed from his hand.
The moment the possessor saw the divine power, he screamed in terror.
“……D-divine power? W-wait! I-I’ll talk!”
Erik knew the most painful way to deal with possessors.
Unlike him, other possessors couldn’t accept divine power. When divine power touched their bodies, they felt extreme pain and their minds wore away…….
‘Pain resistance stats don’t work either.’
It was a fact discovered through experiments with his master.
Possessors had various resistance stats and immunity-related abilities, but divine power completely ignored them.
“Who’s the bus driver?”
Erik asked again, slowly bringing the golden divine power closer.
“M-Mortin! A soldier living at the District 5 checkpoint!”
The possessor spilled everything.
There wasn’t even a second of hesitation.
“How long since you possessed someone?”
“I-it’s been a week now.”
Erik’s eyes became tinged with gold.
“Is that so?”
“Uh……? Uh uh? Why!”
Whooosh.
Erik ignited holy fire (聖火) at his fingertips.
“W-wait, I told you everything!”
It was a robust flame of divine power that only high priests could create.
Erik casually placed it on the possessor.
“Keuaaaaaak-!!! You fucking NPC bastards……”
There wasn’t a trace of hesitation despite the screams.
Erik left the prison.
It seemed like there would be a lot to do.
***
After leaving the underground prison, Erik sprawled lazily on the sofa in the center of the room.
Screams accompanied by golden smoke flowed out from the prison entrance Erik had emerged from, and Janson tactfully spread his aura to conceal their presence.
“Boss? Why did you burn the guy we went to the trouble of capturing alive……”
Right-hand man Janson limped toward Erik from behind.
“That bastard was the bus driver. Janson, your instincts must be completely dead.”
“Excuse me?”
“He wasn’t some pathetic guy who’d been possessed for only a week.”
Janson scratched the scar on his face and asked in confusion.
According to his investigation.
The guy they’d captured should have been possessed for only a short time.
It was the result confirmed through all kinds of torture.
“……Then what about those clown-like words?”
“You mean that bullshit about feet being cleaner than hands?”
“Yes……”
“He was deceiving us. That bastard has probably been captured quite a few times. He would have escaped by lowering our guard with such foolish acting and then backstabbing us.”
Golden waves rippled in Erik’s eyes that had turned rough brown.
“Did you see?”
Janson asked with a serious expression.
“Yes.”
Magic is power activated by storing mana in circles created in the heart or brain and using magic circles.
Aura is power that refines mana accumulated in the dantian and spreads it through the limbs and meridians to strengthen one’s body and weapons.
“W-what l-level was he?”
“Level 28. That’s what I saw with divine power.”
Divine power, however, is different.
Divine power is the force accumulated through faith and belief and manifested through miracles.
“Heoeo…… I can’t believe I made such a mistake.”
“Keep in mind that your mistake could lead to mass slaughter. The number of possessors has increased too much…… It looks like we’ll have to change our policy too. Gather the kids.”
After sending Janson away, Erik recalled the status window of the possessor he’d just burned.
[David Smith / Lv.28]
[Class: Black Mage]
The possessor, presumed to be American, was actually level 28.
Considering this was before the main story had even begun, he had quite a high level.
‘How many must he have killed……’
Black mage is a class with poor efficiency in labyrinth hunting.
This is true not only in games but also for real black mages. Black magic is clearly power optimized for mass slaughter.
Anyway.
Divine power is the force that can see through even such a possessor’s status window.
The power to materialize faith.
Of course, it requires training of body and mind to support the power, and on top of that, demands supreme faith.
Because of this, there are few beings who use divine power.
‘But I get it with money.’
Erik is an unreasonable being who obtains divine power with money under the system’s assistance.
However, having power doesn’t solve everything.
When he was young, his body and mind were weak compared to the divine power he possessed, so he needed help from his master and Ruelle.
Now he’s overcome it through harsh training.
As a result.
A monster paladin with no faith but overwhelming divine power was born.
Lost in such thoughts.
“I’ve gathered everyone.”
Janson called for Erik.
Through the open door, the organization’s executives stood in formation.
Erik cut through the aura barrier Janson had set up and stepped outside the room.
“Heoeo…… Aura isn’t tofu, you know.”
“Keuhi hi hi, Janson, your aura must be soft like tofu.”
As Janson muttered in bewilderment, a skinny old man picked up on it.
“What the hell is the boss’s identity?”
“But Janson is as strong as a Sword Master?”
Two women of identical build wearing white masks tilted their heads while looking at Erik.
Instead of answering, Erik scanned the executives and asked a question.
“Haven’t there been any possessors using forbidden words?”
There are several words Erik’s information organization prioritizes finding.
“There are so many forbidden words……”
“Hmm, just counting frequency, it’s 24 times.”
NPC sacrifice work – work to achieve goals by sacrificing people who aren’t possessors.
Field leveling – work to level up in reality rather than labyrinths, mainly accomplished through civilian massacres.
There were countless other words like PVP work, life absorption work, bus, etc…….
“I’m talking about the highest-grade forbidden words.”
There are separate words Erik pays the most attention to.
“Ah, the term ‘NPC favorability work’ was found once.”
“Besides that, we found a total of 23 high-risk forbidden words including sacrifice work, offline meetings, and methods to find hidden pieces after team kills.”
“Forget the rest. Favorability work? Which bastard was that?”
“He was already executed, so we omitted the report.”
Erik’s face contorted.
Since he had Marco’s appearance, it was a very frightening face.
“Boss is scary.”
“Like a demon.”
The masked women turned their heads sharply and stepped back.
“Keuhi hi, he’s a demon alright. A demon.”
The old man muttered sensually and laughed as if insane.
“Ah! The Empire and Imperial family might let favorability work slide.”
Only Janson grasped Erik’s intention.
Erik felt absolutely shitty.
“Right, they just had to abolish the immediate execution law at this time.”
In the game, there existed NPCs with whom ‘favorability work’ was possible.
Favorability work is the task of talking to NPCs and choosing dialogue options that appear to raise their favorability percentage.
If you get this to 100%, you can make the NPC your wife, companion, or servant. Some characters can even be made into slaves.
Ruelle, who raised Erik, was also an NPC with whom favorability work was possible.
‘It would have been good to know in advance……’
When Erik was young.
A possessor once targeted Ruelle.
The bastard suddenly came to find Ruelle and hit on her using in-game dialogue.
However, this isn’t a game.
He achieved nothing and disappeared, burned by divine power.
“Iiiik! This psycho!”
‘Ruelle was beating up the possessor when divine power leaked out and the bastard burned to death in the divine power.’
At that time, possessors weren’t widely known yet.
In his Park Ji-hun days, he was the type who had no interest in NPC settings or appearances.
That’s why he created such an information organization.
Having finished his thoughts, Erik made a decision.
“It’s about time to step forward.”
The reason for the illegal information organization’s existence, created in Marco’s form.
It was to protect his sanctuary.
***
“Heung heungheung.”
Humming, Ruelle looked at the church in District 3.
Her hands were full of cosmetic products bought from the District 2 shopping district.
Cream made from troll fat, shampoo made with holy water, and even massage tools with 1st circle vibration magic circles engraved on them.
Thanks to Erik’s introduction, she was able to easily and conveniently get what she wanted from ‘Jean’s Magical Tool Shop.’
The prices were very reasonable too.
“I raised him so well.”
Despite knowing about Erik’s past and present lives, she thinks of Erik like family.
‘His looks are too good too-.’
Except for being a little broken somewhere, Erik is a really warm person.
‘What did the possessors call it? Tsundere?’
Looking at the moderately-sized church with 200 seats and the huge orphanage attached to it, Ruelle thought so.
The church built with the Empire’s latest architectural methods, and the orphanage connected to it had classrooms and even individual spaces for each child – one room per person.
‘Who am I?’
Built with sculptures added to the pointed roof, it looked like something that would be found in District 2 where nobles live.
‘Latest-style church owner.’
She recalled a possessor-style joke she’d heard from Erik.
This church was Ruelle’s pride and a place that meant their bond.
As she was about to enter the church’s main gate in a good mood, she stopped in bewilderment at the scene unfolding before her eyes.
“Huh?”
Carriages lined up in front of the huge arch-shaped main gate.
It felt familiar somehow.
In front of the church, those who had gotten off the carriages were arguing with the security forces guarding the church.
“How dare mere soldiers! Does it make sense to prevent a high priest of the religious order from entering a church? Is this the Empire’s law?”
“We’re sorry. We’re from Security Bureau 2nd Knight Order, and we cannot move without a solemn imperial command.”
“Is that your will? Or the will of the entire Security Bureau?”
From Ruelle’s perspective, the situation looked very serious.
She’d expected this since the tithe, but for the religious order headquarters to come this early…….
‘Who is it?’
Flutter!
On the flag stuck on the carriage.
The emblem of six wings wrapped around a long cross was clear.
Judging by the height of the flag, it must be a carriage carrying at least a high priest or higher.
‘Archbishop?’
Since the old man making a fuss at the gate was a high priest, the one waiting in the carriage must be an archbishop.
“Whooo.”
Ruelle sighed.
Superficially, she was the one who created the tithe.
She intended to take responsibility.
It wasn’t time for Erik to spread his wings yet, and his master Riferoze Astia was also missing.
‘Erik, just how far ahead did you see……?’
Erik had prepared for such situations long ago.
With everything prepared, couldn’t she handle one responsibility?
She intended to protect it.
“What’s the matter?”
Ruelle approached the church’s main gate with confident steps, her long blonde hair fluttering.
“Hooo, is that Ruelle? Your divine power has grown beyond recognition.”
“Just how did you increase your divine power to that extent?”
The two old men who had set up camp in front of the gate muttered in admiration.
A moment later, the door of the carriage in the very center opened and a middle-aged man in white robes appeared.
“Stop the chatter. Didn’t we come here to execute?”
At his single word, the old men’s attitude changed.
Their eyes became sharp and their hunched backs straightened. The old men cleared their throats and adjusted their clothing.
They said.
“Lower Priestess Ruelle, you are suspected of colluding with possessors.”
“From the matter of tithes to the appearance of this illegally expanded church, you must explain everything in detail.”
In short.
“From this moment, we strip lower Priestess Ruelle of her position and refer her to the Inquisition.”
“Also, the same charges will apply to the children in the orphanage, and we confiscate the ownership and rights of the church that was expanded and relocated without the religious order’s permission.”
It was a bolt from the blue, saying they would eliminate all of Erik’s sanctuary.
Even so.
“A mere archbishop thinks he can decide that?”
Ruelle was confident.
She straightened her chest proudly and took out a golden plaque from the luxury bag at her waist.
“……Huh? Th-that. Don’t tell me!”
It was an item that made archbishops into mere nobodies.
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