Ch.9898. The Shepherd’s Corruption

A few days had passed since Amon and Sonia returned to America.

“Amon, Kathy, try these cookies. I baked them using my mother’s recipe.”

In Kathy’s office, a cookie tin familiar to any American was opened. The bitter scent of oatmeal wafted up.

Amon and Kathy each took a cookie and tossed it into their mouths.

“Mmm~ Delicious. It tastes exactly like what my mother-in-law used to make. We only got to eat these on birthdays or New Year’s.”

Amon stuffed his mouth full of cookies as if he was quite familiar with them.

In contrast, Kathy’s reaction wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.

“Umm… delicious…”

Unlike Amon, she wasn’t accustomed to synthetic oatmeal.

She couldn’t understand why anyone would eat something that resembled sawdust. But knowing Amon and Sonia’s background, she couldn’t bring herself to show her distaste.

Sonia, however, didn’t miss Kathy’s subtle change in expression.

“These are cookies made with my recipe.”

Sonia offered a new cookie tin.

These weren’t the crude cookies made with ingredients and methods from the orphanage, but cookies made with expensive ingredients and improved techniques.

Crunch.

“Mmm!”

This time Kathy was pleased.

Though it was questionable whether these should even be called oatmeal cookies, given the high sugar ratio and buttery flavor, what did it matter? Such thoughts were swallowed along with the delicious cookie.

Sonia smiled happily watching her.

A recipe she had initially learned for reconciliation. In just a few days, it had become a hobby, and she couldn’t help but think that blood doesn’t lie.

In the past, she would have denied this fact with a glare. But now, she could happily acknowledge it.

This hobby that had begun that way was now bringing happiness to precious relationships. It was a scene of recovered normalcy that she never wanted to let go of again.

Sonia smiled softly and asked,

“Is it good?”

Amon and Kathy nodded. Sonia’s expression brightened in response.

It was a happy moment of daily life. But that normalcy didn’t last long.

Sonia set aside her regret and unfolded a letter she had received that morning.

“I got an invitation from the Vatican.”

Sonia said with a bitter smile.

Now, it was time to depart for the eye of the storm.

Amon swallowed his snack, moistened his throat with milk, and spoke.

“Well, we did make quite a spectacle.”

Kathy nodded calmly, as if she had expected this.

A massive pillar of light had risen high enough to be seen from anywhere in the city, and blessing feathers had poured down like snow from the sky.

There was no way to hide something like that.

Even with Kathy using the power of her Megacorp, there were limits when something so spectacular happened.

The only consolation was that they could block the media. Only information agencies at the level of the Vatican or Megacorps knew the truth.

Still, just to be sure, Amon asked about the contents of the letter.

“What does it say?”

“They want to canonize me as a saint and want us to come.”

“Come on. You can’t even pretend otherwise.”

Busted.

Amon waved his hand with an incredibly casual attitude.

Kathy also maintained a detached demeanor as she enjoyed her snack, as if this was expected.

Having experienced so many surprising events, she now found it a waste of energy to be shocked by each one.

“So what are you going to do?”

Amon asked for Sonia’s thoughts.

Sonia briefly recalled the past.

When she had almost gone on a Higgjen Group field trip without Amon.

It wasn’t a particularly pleasant memory, but from her current happy perspective, it could be dismissed as a mere incident.

Recalling that time, she spoke.

“This time, let’s go together.”

This time.

Amon knew exactly what period that word referred to. His decision was quick.

“Of course.”

He had no intention of sending her alone to that den of vipers.

Refuse?

That wasn’t an option.

‘There’s no reason to avoid it anymore.’

In the past, both Amon and Sonia had to hide their identities or be careful with their behavior because they lacked power.

But now there was no need for that.

They had sufficient force and strong backing.

There was no reason to be concerned about others anymore.

Besides…

‘I was planning to visit them anyway.’

Amon had no intention of easily forgetting past grudges.

Of course, Sonia had awakened the virtue of forgiveness, but that was forgiveness toward them, not forgiveness for their sins.

Forgiving sins is the domain of the Goddess.

Amon’s role was to send them to her for judgment.

‘Send them all. The Goddess will judge.’

While Amon was having such dangerous thoughts, Sonia called out to Kathy.

“Kathy. What about you?”

“I think I’ll…”

“Why?”

“The Vatican has many prophets… I won’t be very useful there.”

I’m enough as a nest.

She repeated this to herself, effectively declining Sonia’s invitation.

But Amon rejected her rejection once more.

“You’re saying the President is useless? The President of Requetio Corporation? Really???”

Amon pointed at the tablet on the desk.

<Requetio Corporation’s aggressive acquisitions. Having acquired Neville Pharmaceuticals and Miller Pharmaceuticals…>

The news reported that Kathy’s company was rapidly increasing in size.

It wasn’t criticizing or condemning.

It was simply natural interest in a company that was monopolizing the global purified water market, threatening the beauty market with fat regulators, and causing a stir in the world with various new technologies including equipment.

For the president of such a hot topic company to call herself useless?

It would be more reasonable to redefine the word “useful” in this world first.

And…

“Regardless of usefulness, you’re a friend. Why does that matter?”

He simply wanted her to come along because she was Kathy.

Amon waited for her answer with bright, retriever-like eyes.

Kathy unconsciously turned her head away.

‘That’s unfair.’

It was always like this.

He would suddenly approach her when she let her guard down.

This ambush was successful too, and Kathy struggled to calm her racing heart.

Only after regaining her composure could she give a positive response.

“Alright. I’ll go.”

Kathy decided to come along.

But she pointed out one fact they had been overlooking.

“But wasn’t only Sonia invited?”

“Ah, that.”

As if he’d been waiting for this, Amon brightened and pulled something out.

It was a letter bearing the Vatican’s seal.

Kathy and Sonia tilted their heads, unable to guess what the letter was.

Amon playfully waved the letter as if it were a quiz.

Then Sonia recalled something and guessed the letter’s identity first.

“Aha! That’s the Sacred Tomb entry permit you got from trading with the Higgjen Group!”

“Bingo.”

Sonia clapped her hands in self-congratulation.

Only Kathy was unable to follow the conversation.

“Sacred Tomb? What’s that?”

Amon explained for her.

In the past, when transferring the Higgjen Group’s premium to the Vatican, Amon gave up a significant amount in exchange for certain rights from the Vatican.

One was the right to access Vatican secrets, which Kathy knew about.

And after discovering something through that right, Amon demanded one more right.

A hero who single-handedly saved the world when the Saint of Sin was summoned due to the Vatican’s blunder and the world nearly ended.

A saint who alone sent the Saint of Sin and her 72 demon followers back to hell.

The Nameless Saint.

“I learned the location of that saint’s tomb and gained the right to enter it.”

This right demanded a payment of a different dimension compared to the benefits Amon had received so far.

If the right to know all secrets took 30% of the total, the remaining 70% was spent on the right to enter this tomb.

As a result, the premium was reduced to a mere (?) 150,000 dollars per year, not even 0.1% of the total.

But even after hearing the explanation, Kathy couldn’t easily understand.

“Is that tomb so important?”

Amon nodded.

Because…

“Do you know why Divine Power holders suddenly awaken new abilities after passing through the Vatican?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“It’s the only dungeon managed by the Vatican. Does that give you a rough idea?”

Kathy had no choice but to nod in understanding.

Having convinced even Kathy, Amon stretched refreshingly and declared,

“Alright. Then let’s go right away.”

*

“Mmm~”

Taking a deep breath of Rome’s air, Amon stretched.

“Hnnng-“

“Yaaawn~”

Beside Amon, Sonia and Kathy also stretched their stiff bodies in their own ways.

And a little behind them, a squinting priest with a blue cat neck pillow straightened his back.

Crack!

“Urgh…”

The priest made a dying sound as he straightened his back.

He had come along partly out of concern for his beloved daughter, partly because he owed the Vatican in various ways, and partly because his position was needed.

The priest rubbed his eyelids and called out to Sonia.

“Miss Sonia.”

The priest was careful with his form of address because there were many watching eyes.

His voice sounded somewhat displeased.

But facing Sonia’s bright face, he couldn’t bring himself to say what had been on the tip of his tongue.

The priest replaced his intended sentence with another.

“Thanks to you, I got to enjoy the luxury of premium seats.”

“It’s only natural for you, Father~”

“Still, thank you.”

The priest bowed his head low in gratitude.

Sonia accepted this and turned her attention back to her friends.

The priest watched her back as she dragged her carrier with one hand and linked arms with Amon with the other as they walked through the airport.

“Haah…”

He couldn’t help but sigh.

The sentence he couldn’t say earlier kept circling in his mind.

‘Did you really have to drop out of seminary…’

Before boarding the plane, Sonia had cheerfully dropped out, saying she had no more Divine Magic to learn.

For Sonia, seminary had always been just a place to learn Divine Magic that was difficult to learn elsewhere, nothing more, nothing less.

The priest knew that was her purpose for entering seminary.

But her dropping out so abruptly made him feel disappointed.

And the priest had good reason for this.

‘My tuition fees… my time…’

There was actually one fact he hadn’t told Sonia.

He had told her that the Vatican was covering her tuition as an investment during her time at seminary.

But in reality, it was merely the priest’s own money disguised as a Vatican scholarship.

Even his position as a professor wasn’t solely due to the Vatican’s dispatch.

‘Haah…’

The priest’s heart was incredibly heavy.

He truly wanted his daughter’s happiness and respected her wishes, so he didn’t say anything.

However…

‘She could have at least gotten her certification before leaving…’

He thought it was unnecessary to leave when she only had one year left until graduation.

As a father, it was an unavoidable psychology to want his child to have good credentials.

While walking through the airport with such thoughts, the priest spotted a crowd waiting for them at the airport exit.

They were priests who had come to greet Amon’s party.

But either Amon’s group didn’t realize these priests were waiting for them, or they didn’t care,

as they headed to the restaurant instead of the exit.

‘Most likely the latter.’

With Kathy present, there was no way they hadn’t noticed.

Perhaps they were boycotting the Vatican from the start.

The priest approached the priests with a bitter smile in his heart.

He wanted to assess the priests in advance.

And the moment he confirmed the priests’ identities, the priest’s face briefly crumpled.

Because standing at the front of the group was the cardinal he disliked the most.

Cardinal Trimond Laplace.

A cardinal who accumulated all sorts of corruption behind a kind smile and brilliant achievements.

The priest’s expression soured for a moment.

It quickly disappeared because nothing good would come from being caught making such a face in front of that cardinal.

The priest shook hands with the cardinal, smiling as usual.

“Have you been well, brother?”

“Glory to the Vatican, Father.”

Their greetings crossed.

The priest clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Always a den of vipers.’

Translated, it meant:

– How have you been, bro?

– Don’t put yourself on my level, mere priest.

Additionally, the mention of the Vatican was meant to tell him to stop being defiant and submit.

The priest initially thought he might be over-interpreting, but seeing the cardinal’s momentary smile, he changed his mind.

‘No, I interpreted correctly.’

He was truly an insufferable cardinal.

The priest sighed deeply inside and responded to the cardinal.

The two naturally headed to the exhibition hall in the airport.

Thanks to the Templar Knights’ control, no one else could enter the exhibition hall.

But even in the exhibition hall where they were alone, the two chose polite expressions as if someone might hear.

However, the true meaning of their exchanges was far from harmonious.

“You set an example for all exorcist priests by performing good deeds around the world to fulfill the Word.”

– Stop pretending to be good on your own.

“No, no. The cardinal who leads so many lost sheep at the Vatican is a better example.”

– Your ass is too heavy. Crawl out of the Vatican sometimes.

Their words were polite, but their gazes were not.

Eventually, the content exchanged beneath the surface became increasingly aggressive, and the cardinal crossed a line.

“By the way, that saint Sonia looks familiar.”

The cardinal raised the corner of his mouth.

The Templar Knights standing nearby put their hands in their pockets.

As if they were ready to hunt heretics at any moment.

Seeing this, the priest’s expression hardened.

The cardinal probably had no concrete evidence, but he had his suspicions.

The cardinal’s sharp gaze turned to the priest’s left arm.

Whether it was Astaroth herself or someone related, since they came with the priest, he thought it would be either a weakness or a trigger button.

But the cardinal was mistaken about one thing.

Sonia was not the priest’s weakness. Nor was she a trigger button.

Rather, before departing from America, the priest had anticipated this situation.

– “If we go to the Vatican, many people will mistake Sonia. What should we do?”

The squinting priest had discussed several matters with Amon regarding this issue,

– “If it seems like things can’t be resolved through words, just call me.”

And received Amon’s reassuring answer.

The squinting priest sensed that now was exactly the time Amon had mentioned.

Therefore, the priest secretly manipulated his phone to call Amon.

And the cardinal raised the corner of his mouth demonstratively.

“If you’re going to be like that, I have no choice.”

No sooner had those words ended than the priest received a reply that his reliable son-in-law was leaving the restaurant.

And as the exhibition hall entrance became noisy, sensing that Amon had arrived,

“Then I’ll call my escort as well.”

Clap!

“Amon!”

The priest called out to Amon in a loud voice.

So that even if things went wrong, Amon, knowing the location, could come immediately.

But soon the priest regretted that choice.

“Child of man. Tell the shepherds. The Lord Mother speaks thus: The shepherd who fills only his own belly shall face wrath…”

Whatever was happening, Amon appeared at the entrance with crazed eyes.

Creating an atmosphere as if white breath might come out, he was dragging two Templar Knights with twisted jaws by the back of their necks.

Seeing this, the priest thought,

‘Oh, Lord.’

It seemed he had pressed the mutual assured destruction button.