Ch.446Fairy’s Intuition

The last area was the training ground for paladins that Greta had described as suspicious.

Or rather, it should be called an area created under the pretext of being a training ground.

Sure enough, the training ground I directly encountered looked far from serving any training purpose.

“What is this place…”

I looked around, feeling my suspicions turning into certainty.

A space spread out like a plaza.

Leather blankets were laid out in rows on the floor like a crude field hospital, each one reeking with the distinctive stench of poverty.

At least I can be certain that the poor were lying here.

One corner was filled with rags that appeared to be the clothing of the poor, and next to them were dirty funnels and buckets scattered about.

Even thinking as positively as possible… these items looked like nothing more than tools for feed supply and waste disposal.

They said they would support the poor and make them members of society, but it was clearly a lie.

No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t resocialization but something more like livestock domestication.

From the looks of it, this wasn’t even the militarization of the poor that I had thought was the better scenario.

“…The Church of Grimnir isn’t much different from the Council of Dream Utopia. Actually, even we weren’t this bad…”

Hush muttered quietly with a somewhat disgusted expression.

Not this bad? More nonsense.

Your side was feeding people to monsters to extract drugs.

That was confidential information only known to researchers, so he probably didn’t know.

“…Don’t say such things in front of Lacy. Not if you don’t want to be burned to the bone while still alive.”

“Eek…!”

After advising Hush to watch his mouth, I approached the blankets to examine them more closely.

Judging by the holes and tattered condition, they seemed to be reused blankets that were about to be discarded.

Moreover, the brown leather had turned pitch black with sweat, filth, grime, and dust mixed together, as if they hadn’t been washed even once since being placed here.

“The smell is terrible…”

The stench was so bad that I didn’t even want to touch them with a fingertip, but Hush, perhaps feeling some chromatic kinship with the blackened blankets, unhesitatingly placed his hand on one to examine it.

“…It’s a bit damp. That means whoever was lying here was moved elsewhere not long ago. A day ago at most?”

Yes, yes, I understand, just make sure you wash that hand thoroughly.

—-

For now, just from what we’d discovered, I could be certain that the Church of Grimnir was up to something unethical.

Even those with extreme personality disorders who don’t treat people inferior to them as human would be appalled if someone suggested raising them like livestock.

And that’s exactly what was happening here.

Even the half-black half-demon drug dealer was saying they were much better than this.

If they had just left the poor alone, that would be one thing, but if they deliberately brought them here and treated them like this, they would have no excuse if they were classified as a heretical religion.

From the looks of it, the previous kidnapping incidents were likely their doing as well.

So, what should I do now…

My suspicions were confirmed, but the physical evidence still seemed a bit lacking.

Above all, I hadn’t yet confirmed the whereabouts of the poor or the fundamental reason why they were brought here.

“If it’s only been a day since the poor were moved, they’re likely still somewhere in this cathedral… up or down? What do you think?”

I stepped away from the trash-smelling blankets and asked Hush.

“Down… You’re not talking about the first floor, so you think there’s a space in the basement of the cathedral where the poor could be housed?”

“Of course there would be, wouldn’t there?”

The blueprints Greta showed didn’t include any basement structures, but from what I’d observed since coming here, the people in this place seemed to be part-mole hybrids or something, all of them fond of digging into the ground to make basements.

Especially those with something to hide.

Therefore, I was certain that this cathedral also had an underground space.

“Then it’s likely to be in the basement. That tower doesn’t seem like a suitable structure for accommodating many people. Besides, they wouldn’t bring smelly poor people into the place where the noble Cardinal and high priests reside.”

Yes, that’s right.

I thought the same. The tower was probably a space for personal experiments or document storage.

It looked too small for large-scale experiments involving hundreds of poor people.

So, the remaining question was whether to go down to find the poor or go up the tower to look for other clues…

“…To be honest, I think it’s time we leave. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Hush frowned uneasily, looking toward the window.

As if he wanted to get out of here right away.

“Leave? Well… this isn’t enough. It’s clear they’ve been abusing the poor, but we haven’t confirmed the reason yet. We should at least check the basement.”

“Don’t you find it strange? We’ve thoroughly searched two floors, but we haven’t found anyone except the sleeping priests. There was no one in the research area either. It’s clearly abnormal.”

…He wasn’t wrong.

The second floor might be understandable since it was like a bedroom area, but I expected at least a few priests on the third floor.

Yet when we entered, there wasn’t a single priest to be found.

They might be guarding the exterior of the cathedral building thoroughly… but not placing even one person in the research lab where important items like magic stones were stored?

As Hush said, it was clearly abnormal.

“In the end, it means there must be something in the basement or tower where most of the priests are gathered… and I can only sense foreboding about it.”

“The purpose of us sneaking in here was to find that ‘something.’ Stop complaining and follow me.”

Even if we leave, we should at least confirm the truth first.

That way Lacy can think of the next plan.

“…Ugh, this isn’t good… this is really ominous…”

Hush followed me with his pointed ears standing stiffly upright, hesitating and faltering.

—-

There were at least some priests on the first floor.

Perhaps they had come in to rest briefly while on patrol, as seven priests were sitting around the sofas in the lounge, chatting and smoking Mana Herbs.

We walked along the beams above to avoid their gaze, looking for an entrance to the basement.

“There, isn’t that it? The angle of the mural is slightly off.”

The mural Hush pointed to depicted an old man hanging upside down from a large tree, his face covered with a black mask like the other paintings.

“Let me see…”

I concentrated my senses to examine the mural carefully.

[Hmm, it’s definitely tilted inward a bit. I can also hear something like a faint wind sound. It’s not a mural but a door disguised as one.]

‘You’re right. Looking closely, it is noticeable.’

It was such a minor discrepancy that no one would notice if they just glanced at it, but the right side of the wall was definitely recessed more than the left.

This looks like an entrance.

I carefully descended from the beam and gently pushed the mural.

– Slide.

Just as I thought.

With just a little force, the entire wall began to slide open with a smooth friction sound.

Of course, what I consider “a little force” means that others would need to push with all their might or use magic to open this secret door.

Seeing the door open, Hush also jumped down from the beam and stuck close behind me.

“…Are we really going in? I think we’re making a big mistake here.”

“Keep that up and I might push you in first.”

I scolded Hush while examining the inside of the fully opened wall.

Beyond the secret door was as dark as the jaws of hell, and the flickering crimson light made it seem as if flames might erupt at any moment.

Additionally, the sound of wind coming up from below echoed and hummed like the roar of a large beast.

Below the secret door, a circular staircase extended downward, but the depth was impossible to gauge due to the strange, non-illuminating light.

…It definitely feels ominous.

Is it really okay to go in…?

This bastard Hush has made me anxious too.

I took a deep breath and stepped over the wall to walk down the stairs.

—-

Ten minutes later.

I finally understood why the poor had been brought to the church.

“You’re a little later than expected.”

A vast two-level underground cavern, rivaling the size of the entire cathedral.

Between the arched columns that ran along the walls stood enormous faceless statues, looking down at me, and on the second-floor railings, numerous priests were lined up showing hostility.

And.

At the innermost part of the cavern, in front of a magnificent altar where the sacred emblem of the Church of Grimnir was erected.

“Welcome to my, our sanctuary, Haschal Median Aishan-Gioro, the hound of Elmaine.”

A middle-aged man in crimson priestly robes greeted me with his arms wide open.

Wrapped in dazzling holy light and pulsating mana like a whirlpool.

“Didn’t I tell you we shouldn’t go in…?”

“…You did.”

I had no excuse.