Ch.67Raising a Hero – 1

Come to think of it, there was one more person at Bellium Academy who acted inappropriately for their age.

“I’ve returned after completing the task you assigned me.”

I looked down at Io Brante, who was fidgeting with her fingers—her small stature and timid impression making her look even younger than eighteen.

She was slightly shorter than Rosaria, with a kind and shy-looking face, but inside was a weathered 48-year-old mercenary who would handle anything for the right price.

Though her youthful appearance was supposedly due to the ancient artifact bracelet on her wrist, it was still a strikingly incongruous image.

“Yes. I heard the news. You disguised the accidents well.”

One fell down the stairs, slipped, and broke his neck. Another drank himself unconscious and happened to lie on his back, choking to death on his own vomit.

A third was caught in a landslide while riding a carriage on a rainy day—remarkably unfortunate. The fourth died of unexplained cardiac arrest. She probably used one of her own concoctions.

“At first I thought about bringing back their heads, but that would have caused too much commotion. It’s better to make things look like accidents when possible.”

Four nobles dying around the same time certainly became a topic of conversation, but conversely, it remained just that—conversation.

There was no reason to expect a formal investigation. After all, they were merely low-ranking nobles from the outskirts. None of them were connected to any prestigious families through marriage.

‘Quinn will have a headache over this.’

She might conduct a personal investigation, but she won’t find anything. This was the work of a mercenary whose skills both Priscilla and Rosaria had vouched for.

Unless they were planning to dispose of her anyway, they’d just be annoyed.

“That was the right call. Good work. Here’s your payment as promised.”

When the enormous sum of four platinum coins—the base payment of two platinum coins plus the additional fifty gold coins per head—was placed in her palm, tears welled up in Io’s eyes.

“Thank you…”

Io bowed her head after swallowing her tears.

Given that she had “siblings” to care for, she couldn’t take on long-distance jobs that would keep her away for days, and she always had to be careful not to reveal her identity. She probably had never received such a large sum at once.

“I’m just paying what you earned, so no need for thanks. You can go now.”

Despite being told she could leave, Io remained standing there.

“What is it? Do you have something else to say?”

Only after I prompted her a couple of times did Io hesitantly open her mouth.

“Um… I know I’m not in a position to ask this, but… if it’s not too presumptuous, would you perhaps have any other jobs for me?”

“Other jobs?”

“Yes. I can really do anything. Assassination is a given, of course. As long as it’s not too dangerous a location, I can handle missions to kill everyone and come back. Or I can do simple odd jobs. Also…”

I smiled slightly as I watched Io frantically explaining her strengths.

‘She must still remember what I said last time.’

There’s an enormous difference between going back and waiting indefinitely to be called again, versus returning with confirmation of another job.

‘But other jobs, huh.’

Nothing immediately came to mind.

Disguising assassinations as accidents couldn’t be used too frequently, or it might backfire by casting suspicion on all the previous “accidental deaths.”

‘Maybe I could have her clean the club room… wait a minute.’

I was about to suggest having her clean the room since she mentioned she could do that too, but then I changed my mind as a better idea occurred to me. We had just been discussing plans for Brunhild’s awakening.

“I do have something. Just out of curiosity, how do you feel about the Starlight Order—”

“I hate them. I hate them terribly. If I could, I’d round them all up and tear them limb from limb, one by one—that’s how much I hate them.”

“Perfect.”

I’d heard about Io’s background from Priscilla a few times.

Whenever her siblings fell seriously ill, she had no choice but to visit the temple, where they looked down on her for being an orphan and extorted enormous sums of money for their “divine healing.” No wonder she couldn’t stand them.

“The advance payment this time is three platinum coins. If things go well, another three. There will be bonuses too, but I’ll explain those later. However, it will be dangerous. Though I don’t think it will happen, if you get caught, we’ve never met. Understood?”

“Yes. Of course I understand. What do you want me to do, employer? I’ll do absolutely anything except die. Even if it violates imperial law or human ethics and morality.”

I took out the map we had discussed during yesterday’s planning session. Io naturally moved closer.

“This Friday, the Hero and I will be visiting this place. You know there’s a fairly large temple nearby, right?”

“Yes.”

“Infiltrate it and plant a forged document.”

The influence of the Starlight Order extended throughout the empire, and naturally, there were countless temples.

The number of temples where the Pope had directly dispatched high priests was already enormous, and if you included the smaller churches that had branched off from those temples, the scale was unimaginable.

The reason was obviously divine healing. Potions existed, but divine healing was the only recovery method that worked for all illnesses. Otherwise, one had to rely on natural human recovery.

As a result, their notoriety was extremely high. When the leadership was rotten beyond salvation, how could the lower ranks be any better?

‘That’s why I can use them without any guilt and discard them afterward.’

The place we were about to use was particularly corrupt. It was a place the Hero himself had punished in the original story, which said it all.

The rest of the Order had collapsed and disappeared before the Hero’s intervention.

“…Are you really going that far?”

“Why, don’t you want to?”

“No, I’m fine with it… I just don’t want to burden you.”

“It’s not just for you and Aria, right? Since we’re buying anyway, it’s good to get a variety, so think of it as killing two birds with one stone.”

Friday afternoon. Brunhild and I had skipped our liberal arts lecture under the pretext of club activities and were out to buy the promised desserts.

The original items we had bet on were limited to two per person anyway, so we decided to go line up together on Saturday, and instead changed the menu to equally famous desserts from another territory. Aria had gladly agreed, saying that lining up together would be a fun experience.

“…What are those?”

Brunhild’s excited expression, which had lasted throughout our journey from the dimensional gate to the carriage, suddenly fell. It was because of the priests and nuns gathered in front of the temple visible in the distance.

At the very front stood a high priest who was said to have been personally chosen by the Pope, with nuns positioned on either side of him. Behind them, priests and nuns were mixed together without any semblance of formation.

“Do they think we can’t see them?”

The high priest, flanked by nuns on both sides, was openly fondling their chests. Even as our carriage drew closer. The nuns clung to the priest, fawning over him.

It was an extremely blatant display, as if they were all bewitched by a succubus. They probably thought we wouldn’t be able to see from this distance, but how could we not? Brunhild let out a deep sigh.

The priest only removed his hands just before the carriage stopped. Coming out uninvited to wait for the Hero was completely presumptuous.

‘Though that part was somewhat planned.’

I had deliberately leaked information in front of Roxanna that we would be coming here to buy desserts on Saturday. The fact that they immediately showed up suggested that Roxanna was diligently playing her role as a spy.

One more reason not to accept her into the club.

“Welcome, Hero. And… whatever.”

As we got out of the carriage, the priest approached with an arrogant face and greeted Brunhild. He made a show of completely ignoring me.

Even for a priest of the Starlight Order, it was rare to disrespect the Crate family to this extent, so he must hold quite a high position within the Order.

The Pope and his inner circle were the kind of people who looked down even on dukes and marquises.

“What are you—”

“Calm down, Brunhild. I’m fine.”

Brunhild, who had seen his behavior, was about to step forward angrily, but I stopped her. Her golden eyes gave me a questioning look.

“He’s got as much fat on his neck as his belly. How difficult it must be for him to speak.”

Now it was the priest’s turn for his face to flush red. A small “pfft” of laughter could be heard. The source was, of course, Brunhild.

“…What brings you here?”

“Why should you know?”

The high priest’s eye twitched again. The nuns on either side also wore vicious expressions. Typical of women who clung to priests.

“…So that we can provide you with an escort.”

“When your boss was bewitched by a succubus and caused such a commotion, how could we possibly feel safe with your escort? Besides, judging by skill alone, shouldn’t we be the ones escorting you?”

As I deliberately provoked him, veins bulged on his fat face. Brunhild was quietly giggling beside me.

Dealing with the aftermath? No need to worry about that. They’ll all be hanging themselves after our plan is complete anyway, so why bother? The Order would choose to cut them loose rather than save them.

“P-Priest! We have an emergency!”

Just as the atmosphere was beginning to heat up due to my continued provocations, someone came running breathlessly.

“What is it?”

The priest, who had forcibly calmed his anger, changed his expression back to arrogance and asked. The messenger, gasping for breath, shouted:

“A dungeon has appeared! And it’s the type that spews monsters outward!”

The arrogant face instantly turned pale. The priests and nuns lined up behind him began to murmur among themselves.

This too was going according to plan. It seemed Elysiere was doing her job properly. I whispered to Brunhild, who was wearing a serious expression beside me.

“This works out perfectly. Let’s handle it. Who knows, maybe they’ll put extra care into making our desserts later as a thank you.”

“When you say it like that, it sounds like we’re helping just for the desserts. I was going to do it anyway, you know?”

Brunhild nodded playfully. My gaze turned to the priest, who seemed to be looking for an opportunity to escape. This wasn’t part of the original plan, but it would be best to remove anyone who might interfere.

“You’re going too, right? They say it’s a monster-spawning dungeon—wouldn’t it be more effective if the most devout high priest handled it personally?”

At my deliberately respectful words, the priest’s face grew even paler as his escape route was cut off.

‘I wonder how they’ll react when they have to cut him loose because of me.’

I was hoping he’d lose his temper and lash out at me soon.

That would give me the proper justification I needed.