Ch.419Return

After a thorough interrogation, Hainz, who had transformed into something between human and insect, diligently answered all questions like an ant.

The organization and personnel of the Council of Dream Utopia, their headquarters, the identities of their executives and their whereabouts—everything.

“Lord… Kist left Holon temporarily… with the leader. The whereabouts of… the other two… I don’t know… but probably… down below…”

Overall, it was similar to what Dermont had told me, but several times more detailed.

The Council of Dream Utopia was originally an organization similar to a faction of the Church of Menes, but was designated as heretical and disbanded due to their independent doctrine.

Their core belief was that dreams and hallucinations are essentially the same thing, so one could receive Menes by inhaling drugs that induce hallucinations.

…Those addicted to LSD and gone mad seem to be seeing different deities. Mainly goddesses.

Anyway, their ultimate goal was to fill the world with drug addicts, which according to their doctrine was to create a foundation for Menes to descend by overlapping the world of dreams with reality.

They claimed that the god of dreams would finally descend and transform the mortal world into paradise.

…Anyone could see they were heretics who deserved to be killed.

In fact, it seems the Church of Menes had personally intervened and enthusiastically beaten them to death for blasphemy.

They complained it was brutal oppression by a large church, but considering the number of people they had turned into invalids, that’s quite the pot calling the kettle black.

—-

The headquarters of the Council of Dream Utopia was located in a truly surprising place.

[An underground facility? What an unexpected blind spot. Even the Archbishop didn’t seem to know about it.]

‘Either they dug it secretly… or they repurposed some undiscovered dungeon. Something only they knew about.’

A massive underground facility, much larger than the entire slum area.

That was the true headquarters of the Council of Dream Utopia, and the reason why the Paladins’ searches repeatedly ended in failure.

It seems the production facilities for the new drug, LSD, were also underground.

…Dermont didn’t seem to know anything about the underground facility.

Perhaps because he was more like hired help than a proper member.

Anyway, whenever the Paladins came searching, the true believers of the Council of Dream Utopia would hide in the underground facility and quietly wait until they left.

Finding out the search schedule wasn’t difficult, they said.

Thanks to the finance department bribing several priests with drug money, information from the church was leaking constantly.

Hainz, who had become a helpful informant, taught me the names of some of them.

Since they were from different departments, he didn’t know exactly how many priests had been bribed, but he recognized three or four faces.

This was news that would make Gwinel open a butcher shop with a bright smile if she found out.

—-

[So what will you do now? Go underground and search?]

‘How long would it take me to search that place alone? Why would I do that when there’s a much more efficient method?’

Since I caused quite a commotion, the Council of Dream Utopia members would have fled deep into the underground facility long ago.

Hunting down each of these hiding rats would be no small task, and what Gwinel asked me to do was just to catch their trail, not completely exterminate them.

Of course, if the leader or Kist were still around, I would have captured them first… but unfortunately they’ve left for another city, so I should wrap things up here.

I’ll report the information I obtained from interrogating them to Gwinel, and gift her this woman named Hush as well. Gwinel should be satisfied with that.

As for Hainz…

“Kuk, kekek…! Grrrk…!”

By the looks of it, he has less than a minute left to live.

Actually, it’s amazing he’s still breathing in this condition.

His heart and brain might be intact, but everything else is torn, twisted, broken, and protruding, transformed into something like a surrealist object.

Well, I’ve heard everything worth hearing.

I’ll leave his body here and just take what I need.

– Slash!

I cut off his head, then separately decapitated the corpses of his subordinates.

As trophies… no, what am I saying?

Taking human heads as trophies, what kind of crazy idea is that? I must be tired to have such strange thoughts.

I cut off their heads solely to use as evidence.

The Executioner Hainz and Kellogg of Peace.

Honestly, I’ve never heard of these nicknames before… but seeing how they boasted about them, they must have been somewhat notorious.

—-

‘Now that I’ve gathered them, it’s a bit…’

I collected them, but looking at them now, even I had to grimace at the horrific sight.

Hainz, whose eyes were merely burned out, looked relatively intact by comparison.

The rest of the heads looked like the collection of a deranged murderer who grew up with murderous home education and considered torturing and slaughtering people as a form of self-gratification.

Navis, whose vertically split skull was leaking its contents.

Kellogg, whose crushed face had brick fragments embedded in it, transforming him into something resembling a rock monster rather than a human.

And Radeli, with a hole the size of a child’s fist above his brow, looking in different directions with his two eyes while shedding tears of blood.

[My goodness, what kind of barbaric beast slaughtered people in such a manner…! It was done by a human, not a beast? Good heavens, the morality of civilized society has fallen to the ground!]

Hersella lamented in an exaggerated tone.

Your sarcasm skills are improving. Did you learn from Frider van Faelrun?

‘Indeed. To commit such barbaric acts, it must be the work of Ka’har demons!’

I played along as I removed Hainz’s cloak and carefully wrapped their heads in it.

While I was at it, I also stuffed Hush, who still hadn’t regained consciousness, into the cloak.

It might be uncomfortable to forcibly stuff a person in there, but wouldn’t she be happy to be with her comrades?

After completing this large bundle, I searched the scattered corpses for any other evidence.

I thoroughly examined them, even stripping off their clothes to check for any markings, but all I found were a few gold coins and a book that appeared to be their scripture.

I placed the examined corpses on the roof decorations as a warning.

This way, only Radeli’s corpse might quietly disappear… but that’s not my concern.

Considering the atrocities they committed in the name of evangelism, being used by the slum dwellers after death could be considered a form of divine punishment, couldn’t it?

—-

Afterward, I left the slums with Hush, leaving the corpses behind.

With a cloak containing four heads slung over my shoulder like a sack, jumping from roof to roof, I felt like a Santa Claus from hell.

Ah, Santa Claus is a judge who comes from hell to punish sinners, a monster wearing a robe stained with sinners’ blood and hiding his wolf-like snout with a long beard.

He descends from the sky riding a red beast near the end of the year, attacks the homes of sinners, and especially harvests the necks of sinful children, filling his sack with them before returning, considering it his mission.

After executing thousands of sinners in a single night, he hangs stockings containing the headless bodies on trees for the sinners’ parents to find, then returns to hell before the morning sun rises.

…Come to think of it, the name might have been Satan Claus rather than Santa Claus.

Anyway, the adults where I lived used to threaten misbehaving children, saying Satan Claus would take them away if they continued.

Looking back, it’s quite a nostalgic memory.

As a child, I thought it was real.

When the day Satan Claus was supposed to appear came, I would hide under the bed fearing he would harvest me.

And now I’m doing things no different from Satan Claus. How funny.

I laughed at the fresh sentiment, recalling my childhood days when I trembled under the bed all night.

—-

Thanks to the memories I recalled after a long time, I crossed the rooftops with a relaxed and warm heart as I left the slums.

It took about thirty minutes to completely leave the slums.

There were some delays as I had to cut down troublemakers I encountered along the way.

And finally, what awaited me as I left the slums was—

“Don’t move, you murderous fiend! You are completely surrounded! Drop your weapons and surrender!”

A siege of dozens of Paladins and what looked like hundreds of soldiers.

…What is this?