Chapter 101: Did You Allow It?

It was a kind of madness.

“I offer myself.”

“I offer myself.”

It wasn’t just one or two people trying to die on their own.

Hundreds gathered in front of the sacrificial altar prepared in the flooded area, each wishing to die first.

“Move aside! Keep the order!”

“This is my first time. Me first. Please let me die first.”

The sight of people pushing and trampling others, rushing forward to volunteer for death, was something that couldn’t be watched with a sane mind.

‘Crazy bastards.’

These bastards can so easily throw away their lives because they think they can be resurrected. Would they still throw away their lives so easily if they knew this was permanent death? Probably not.

Worms who don’t know how precious life is. I cursed the heretic bastards in my mind as I put the corpses into my inventory.

“Here…”

Soon, Paramel came pulling a cart and dumped a pile of corpses in front of me.

The repetitive work begins again. For 5 hours now, I’ve been stuffing over hundreds of heretics into my inventory.

‘The smell of blood is hurting my nose.’

My nose was starting to go numb.

After looking at corpses for 5 hours straight without a break, nausea was welling up.

Should I say I’m reaching my mental limit? The deaths of the heretics no longer bothered me, but the blood scent and stench of death they emitted as they died was making me dizzy.

Perhaps this became the trigger.

Amidst the pervasive death, my Spirit Eye activated on its own.

-Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.

What the Spirit Eye illuminated was a swordsman who had lost his eyes.

He was rampaging among the heretics, swinging his sword.

Of course, being a spirit body, he couldn’t inflict any damage on the heretics, but he swung his sword vigorously. As if venting his anger. As if pouring out his resentment.

‘An adventurer who died here.’

I called out to him casually.

Soon, the swordsman, realizing my gaze, staggered over and thrust his face at me.

-You.. You can see me… You rotten heretic…

He swung his sword at me.

Of course, his attack, which had no physical force, passed through me in vain.

The swordsman’s sword slicing through empty air in vain. He didn’t give up and kept trying to attack me.

His movements revealed the swordsman’s obsession.

This guy might be quite useful. I whispered to the swordsman’s soul while putting corpses into my inventory.

“You. Don’t you want to get out of here?”

I asked him.

If he didn’t want to leave.

-You say… I can get out?

“You just need to make a contract with me. If you do what I tell you properly, I’ll let you attain Nirvana. If you want… you could even be resurrected.”

If I steal a heretic’s body and give it to him, wouldn’t that be essentially the same as resurrection?

It’s impossible without the soul chain. But I have the soul chain.

If I use my soul chain to extract the original owner of the body and then give that body to those who will become slaves?

‘It’s as good as resurrection. It’s like starting life’s second round.’

The warrior’s soul flinched at my proposal.

“I’ll steal one of the bodies here for you. In exchange, you have to follow my orders for the next 10 years. Will you make the contract?”

-Really.. Is it true.. Can I, can I live again.. My body.. is already destroyed..

“I’m not reviving you in your own body, you know. If you’re willing to steal someone else’s body and serve under me for 10 years. Then make the contract.”

The eyeless warrior smiled broadly.

He smiled widely as if facing extreme happiness, then went berserk, clawing at his face.

-Good. Good! Good!!! I’ll contract with you. 10 years. I can do it. If I can live again.. If I can see my mother…!!!! Good!!! Let’s make the contract!!!!

I swung the soul chain and bound the warrior’s soul.

My chain entwined with his soul once. Now he is my slave. The contract has been made.

What’s left is to find a body for the swordsman to enter.

I want to use the body of one of the heretics. Why? Because it’s free. Considering the price of slaves, using heretics is the best option.

But to do that, I need to get permission from the Saint.

I approached the Saint, who was smiling while busily beheading heretics.

“Excuse me. Executioner.”

“Hm? What is it, sub-priest?”

“Um, could you come over here for a moment? I have something urgent to tell you.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

The Saint switched places with Rosie and followed me behind the altar.

“Um, would it be okay if we pulled one more to our side?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I just made contact with an adventurer wandering in limbo. If we give him a heretic’s body, he’ll work for us. He’ll definitely be a great help.”

“Do we really have to choose one of them to give a body?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of making him guard the central district, but because of the vine beans we planted in the central district, we can’t give him a demon’s body. It would be perfect to give him a heretic’s body and make him guard the central district.”

“Huh. I wonder if this is right? To have to save a heretic. I already feel guilty enough with just one Apostle. The thought of having to save another heretic makes my hands and feet tremble. Look! They’re shaking!”

“No, Saint. It’ll be fine since we’ll extract the soul anyway. I can even torture the extracted soul separately. Originally, we’re extracting the soul to inflict pain, and using the remaining body for public good, so wouldn’t this also be one of the ways of saving people from the Goddess’s perspective? It’s one of the measures to minimize harm to good people.”

“Huh. Salvation, you say.”

“If you let me keep just one with a good body, I’ll use it well for the public good.”

“Wait a moment. What exactly happens to the extracted soul?”

“It’ll go to the Goddess’s side, of course. Why are you asking such an obvious thing?”

“….Hmm. The tainted soul goes to the Goddess.. and the remaining body is given to a good adventurer. This might not be so bad.”

“Right? We’ll be able to use them as efficiently as possible. Let’s call it heretic ‘recycling’. It’ll be a great thing for city development and labyrinth stability.”

“Wait, are you planning to gradually increase their numbers like this….”

“We should increase if necessary. No, Saint. This is a big public welfare project. We make the labyrinth more comfortable and easier, increasing the influx of adventurers. And if adventurers die unknowingly, we hand them over to the order for resurrection. We spread the Goddess’s will widely. It’s killing two birds with one stone, right? And if you properly allow this, I’ll even erect a statue of the Goddess in the central district.”

“A statue of the Goddess? Is that.. possible?”

“What’s impossible? I have this spatial pocket. We move all the materials. And we just need to make the workers made from heretic bodies build the statue. The souls of the good adventurers I contracted with my ability are surprisingly ready to serve for the public good according to the contract. They’ll stay in the labyrinth 24 hours a day to manage it.”

“That’s… essentially slavery, isn’t it?”

“Slavery? It’s fundamentally different from slaves who can’t escape their masters. Anyway, if they fulfill the contract well, we’ll let them go.”

“How long is the contract period?”

“10 years. Basically, we need to make them work for 10 years.”

“That’s… slavery…”

“Ah, Saint. Are you going to keep being so nitpicky? This is an underground city pioneering project. If we put your name on it, you might even have books written about you as a great person later? ‘The Great Saint Fria, Making the Underground City a Safe Zone.’ Something with a title like that.”

“…You. You were a merchant.”

“It’s for the public good. Why don’t you use your lie detection? You can check whether my words are lies or not.”

“Huh. I’ve been using lie detection since earlier.”

“I knew you were using it too. Now, is there any lie in my words? I’m working hard for the public good right now. Are you going to keep picking at me? This is the best method for the public interest.”

“….You are a madman. A madman trying to implement devilish ideas under the shield of public good.”

“So what? You’re crazy too. You smiled happily while killing people, didn’t you? Is there any fundamental difference between you and me, Saint? We’re both working for the public good. Don’t pretend you’re the only sane one.”

“Interesting. You’ve changed clearly from when I first saw you. Your eyes are full of murderous intent. Have you gone mad? The labyrinth is certainly a good place to go mad.”

“Even a saint would go mad watching what you people do.”

How happily they were killing people.

My mind is now extremely ravaged.

It’s all your fault. I’ve been tainted by the crazy inquisitors and the madwoman.

“Seeing your change, I feel some kind of. Some kind of inexplicable satisfaction. It’s like watching a child grow up. Huhuhuh. Is this what they call maternal love? It’s a very interesting feeling.”

“Please don’t feel maternal love towards me. It’s creepy.”

“Hahaha! Good. I like it. No one can say anything to me about diverting a few heretics for use. I’ll allow it. Use as many as you want. For the public good.”

“Really? No taking it back.”

“Yes, yes. Go ahead and do as you please. I don’t know how many you’re planning to take, though.”

Yes! Permission granted.

This isn’t going to work. I might as well go all out.

I took out the spirit body summoning scroll from my spatial pocket.

Let’s try recruiting slaves in full force.