Chapter 49: Holy Blood (3)

“Ah, ST! What about the favor I asked-“

Before I could even finish my sentence, she strode towards me and suddenly pulled me into a hug.

“Eh, ST?”

I was completely flustered by the unexpected embrace, but she didn’t answer.

Only the sound of her deep, quiet breathing echoed in my ear.

“……..”

After holding me like that for a while, ST, as if satisfied, slowly pulled away.

“Lady Eve.”

Her face, when we met eyes again, was as expressionless as usual, as if nothing had happened.

“As you commanded, I have brought Boss Chen. Let’s go.”

And then she turned and strode ahead.

Still feeling bewildered, I briefly watched her retreating back.

‘What… what was that?’

===========

The Black Tiger Gang.

The largest and most professional smuggling organization in all the suburban areas.

Compared to other violent gangs, smuggling might seem like a somewhat moderate business.

However, like all those who make a living from illegal activities, they were hardly a benevolent group.

Their dirty aspects were much the same as others.

It’s just that this meeting wasn’t intended to interrogate them about their crimes.

I had reminded myself countless times.

My sole goal was simply to return to my original world as quickly as possible.

To create a miracle of that magnitude—to cross dimensions and return to my original world—I needed the faith of far more believers than I currently had.

To gather such faith, I had to carry out more charitable works, and for that, vast amounts of funding were essential.

Ultimately, to return home even a moment sooner, I needed a source of money, no matter what.

I took a short, deep breath and steeled myself.

“Hoo….”

Finally, I opened the door to the reception room and stepped inside.

Inside, a middle-aged Asian man sat with his arms crossed.

The man had been waiting with a rather domineering posture.

At the sound of someone entering, he frowned deeply, looking as if he were about to voice a complaint.

“You….!”

Then, he saw something and his face turned pale.

His fierce expression softened into a gentle one.

He discreetly uncrossed his arms and placed his hands demurely on his knees.

“….?”

I inadvertently followed the man’s gaze and looked behind me.

But there was nothing particular there.

ST, who had followed me in, simply stood in a corner of the room with her usual calm demeanor.

Puzzled by the subtle atmosphere, I first offered him a polite greeting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Boss Chen. I asked for you to be escorted with particular courtesy; I hope your journey here was comfortable?”

Boss Chen, as if conscious of something, glanced around for a moment before reluctantly nodding his head.

Then, breaking out in a cold sweat, he asked in a voice full of caution.

“Who in the world are you? And why did you want to see me?”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Evinia, the leader of the ‘Church of Radiance’ here on 13th Street. Please feel free to call me Eve.”

Boss Chen muttered under his breath.

“A church…?”

He seemed to be searching his memory, then his eyes widened as he spoke.

“Don’t tell me… are you the ones who recently had a conflict with the Salvatore Family?”

“Are you referring to Godfather Moretti? Yes, things were settled amicably with him. He’s currently recuperating quietly at our church.”

Upon hearing that, Boss Chen’s already visibly tense face turned deathly pale.

A desperate, protesting voice began to emerge.

“L-Look here, young lady! Our Black Tiger Gang is a huge organization. Even if I’m the leader, you can’t control us as you wish just by doing something to me! Even now, other executives must have realized I’ve been kidnapped and are gathering forces. So… so if you release me now, I’ll overlook this incident. No, I’ll even consider a non-aggression pact with the eastern suburban area-“

I raised my hand slightly to calm him.

“One moment, please. It seems there’s a slight misunderstanding. I brought you here, Boss Chen, solely to propose a business venture.”

Boss Chen murmured with a dazed expression.

“A business venture, you say…?”

“Yes, isn’t the Black Tiger Gang the foremost expert in smuggling? That’s why I’d like to entrust you with a job, Boss Chen. I’d like you to take a certain item I’ll provide into the city and sell it.”

I took a glass bottle from a box I had prepared earlier and placed it on the table.

He still looked at me with eyes full of suspicion and caution, but soon turned his gaze to inspect the item.

A glass bottle with a shimmering crimson liquid.

There was no label, but Boss Chen, having guessed its identity, spoke.

“….. Is this synthetic wine? A new product? But synthetic wine is already mass-produced within the city and is a common item. Even with the alcohol tax, considering the smuggling costs, it wouldn’t be profitable at all.”

“No, Boss Chen. This item isn’t what you think. It’s ‘real’ wine.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t brewed in the traditional way….

But since it was made by a miracle, wouldn’t the quality be even better?

Even I couldn’t guarantee it for sure, but I had a certain confidence in it.

Hearing that explanation, Boss Chen fell into thought for a moment.

“Real wine, you say….”

Once he understood the precise value of the item before him, his gaze also subtly changed.

“To be honest, it’s hard to believe. Alcohol made from fresh produce, especially fruits like grapes where demand and supply are fixed and only extremely small quantities are produced according to plan… it’s not something one can easily obtain in a suburban area like this.”

At his skeptical tone, I conspicuously pushed the wine bottle closer to him.

“If you doubt its composition, you’re welcome to take it and have it analyzed.”

Then, I brought over a glass, opened the bottle, and poured the contents myself.

A clear pouring sound echoed as the beautiful ruby-colored liquid filled the transparent glass.

“To handle the product properly, it would be good to experience what kind of item it is firsthand, wouldn’t it?”

“……”

Boss Chen stared blankly at the wine glass placed before him.

After hesitating for a moment, he seemed to make up his mind and lifted the glass.

“……!”

The moment he took a sip of the wine, his eyes widened slightly.

I quietly asked.

“How is it?”

“Hmm…”

Chen Wei, who had been savoring the taste for a while, continued.

“To be honest… I’m not very knowledgeable about wine. I usually enjoy things like Baijiu or Huangjiu, and the main items I smuggle are rums to avoid alcohol tax. So, I don’t have much interest in wine, nor do I encounter it often… It’s difficult to say.”

He paused, choosing his words, then asked again.

“Do you perhaps have any information about this product? For example, what cultivation facility the grapes were harvested from and in which quarter. Or which company manufactured it.”

I smiled quietly and replied.

“That very part is the request I have for you, Boss Chen.”

The man, seemingly understanding the meaning of my words, slowly nodded his head.

“You mean, beyond simple smuggling, you want me to launder the origin of this item and secure sales channels within the city.”

Boss Chen, his flustered expression now gone, began to show the demeanor of a shrewd businessman as he savored another sip of the ‘product’ before him.

“Then, for now… I’ll have to show it to an expert to determine if it has adequate marketability. After all the trouble of bringing it into the city, if it doesn’t sell, that itself is a loss.”

Even as he said that, he unconsciously tried to take another sip, only to look surprised to find the glass already empty.

He seemed even more so because he had clearly seen me pour a rather generous amount.

Chen Wei looked down at the empty glass for a moment, then turned his gaze to me and asked.

“So, if I accept this job, what exactly is my cut?”

This was where it began.

To him, who was starting to take the deal seriously, I threw out the proposal I had prepared.

“Twenty percent of the sales price, how about that? Of course, if you handle the work consistently well, I’m willing to add an additional incentive on top of that.”

At those words, Boss Chen seemed to sink into deep thought once more.

Of course, for laundering an item of unknown origin, navigating a complex distribution network, and taking responsibility for sales, it wasn’t a particularly high commission rate.

However, if this wine was literally ‘real’ as I claimed, the story changed.

If it was a product of outstanding quality, the price of just one bottle could easily exceed the cost of a top-of-the-line imported sedan.

And yet, it was so small in volume.

This meant the smuggling efficiency itself would be excellent.

A tremendous profit could be made with little effort.

Such complex calculations seemed to be reflected in his wavering eyes.

Of course, it was a massive gain for me as well.

Even if I gave away 20 percent, the cost price itself was practically nothing.

It was a situation where both parties could profit if he just accepted.

What choice would he make?

Silence continued for a long while.

Then finally, Chen Wei, as if having made a decision, opened his mouth.

“Very well, I accept. If this business venture is successful, I will henceforth consider the Church of Radiance a good friend to our Black Tiger Gang.”

===========

“Boss! Are you alright! Are you injured anywhere?!”

“We’ve gathered all the men! Should we strike those cultist b*st*rds’ headquarters right now?”

Towards his men shouting with bloodshot eyes, Chen Wei, who had returned to the southern suburban area, casually waved his hand.

“No, everyone stand down and wait. However, don’t lower your guard.”

He tried hard to act nonchalant as he gave orders to his subordinates, but inwardly, it felt like his guts were twisting.

To think they’d cause such a commotion just to use him, Chen Wei, the boss of the Black Tiger Gang, as a mere errand boy for a liquor seller!

He hadn’t experienced such humiliation since he was a complete rookie, ages ago.

But… strangely, not even the slightest desire for revenge arose in him.

Because the scene he had just witnessed was still vivid in his mind.

The woman, no… the monster, who had turned the elite mercenary Yen twins into a bloody mess in an instant without batting an eye.

Her golden eyes still seemed to be glaring at him, making his knees weak with fear.

‘Why on earth is a monster like that running rampant in a suburban area like this….’

That was why he had ultimately accepted the proposal from the girl called a Saintess.

If he had refused, he had no idea what kind of fate he would have suffered there.

He had pretended to weigh whether there would be business benefits for him, but in reality, he had accepted purely to survive.

“Hoo-“

As he was calming his trembling heart, one of his nearby subordinates asked.

“By the way, Boss, what is that item?”

Chen Wei was now holding an unfamiliar box.

It was the wine they had given him as a promotional sample when he left the church just moments ago.

Inside, there were about five or six nicely packaged bottles.

With mixed feelings, he looked down at the wine bottles in his arms.

‘For now, I’ll have to at least pretend to sell this stuff…’

That way, that monster-like woman wouldn’t appear before him again.

Without showing the fear welling up inside him again, he handed the box to a nearby subordinate and gave instructions.

“Put labels from an Old Continent distribution company on these wine bottles, and look for sales outlets in the city. Smuggle in about four bottles for promotion, and send one to an expert for analysis. We need to check if there are any strange ingredients, and if this is really genuine wine. And the last bottle is…”

While speaking, Chen Wei unconsciously licked his lips.

It was definitely strange.

He had suffered terribly because of this, so it should have been something he couldn’t even bear to look at.

Somehow, the subtle and deep flavor he had tasted in the reception room earlier kept lingering on his tongue.

Even though he usually had no interest in wine, this particular item felt distinctly different.

‘One bottle… should be fine.’

Yes, he decided to consider it a small reward for himself after enduring a hard day’s work.

Chen Wei, as if possessed, slyly tucked the remaining bottle into his own possession.

And then he thought.

In truth, for high-end alcoholic beverages that cross a certain price point and become luxury items, popularity depends not only on their inherent quality but also significantly on the reputation and branding built up over time.

Especially, the purchasing psychology of consumers in this city wealthy enough to buy ‘real wine’ was quite conservative.

Therefore, he suspected that the remaining wines, unable to find buyers, would also end up returning here intact.

Boss Chen unconsciously licked his lips again and thought.

‘No matter how good the quality, a product entering the market completely new won’t sell so easily.’

So, if he just went along with what they wanted for a short while, it would all be over.

He judged it so.

Since he was already involved, he intended to follow their orders for the time being.

Because in his eyes, the Church of Radiance seemed like a den of monsters, completely different in nature from any organization that had existed in the suburbs until now, utterly incomprehensible and unpredictable.

Despite the humiliating experience just a while ago, he didn’t want to rashly cause friction.

‘But if no one in the city buys it, they can’t tell us to do anything more than that.’

So, this too would last a few weeks at most; if he endured a little trouble, they would tire of it and no longer bother the Black Tiger Gang.

That’s what Chen Wei thought at the time.

===========

A few weeks later.

“Yes? What did you say?”

I looked bewildered at the story of the middle-aged man, Boss Chen, who had come to the church with an urgent expression.

That is, until he opened the suitcase he brought and showed me a large pile of banknotes.

Chen Wei, with an agitated face, said to me.

“That wine from before, please provide more stock. Right now, in the city…!”

He was about to explain the long story, but then, as if frustrated with himself, he shook his head and shouted.

“No, there’s no time to explain. Just give me everything you have left!”