Chapter 114: Caught in the Act of Infidelity

As soon as I was dragged to the Order, I received various purification rituals.

“Fortunately, there were no traces of demons.”

“See? I told you it wasn’t like that.”

“Then you’re saying you committed those acts in your right mind…?”

“….”

The Saint looked at me as if I were crazy.

I had no words to say, so I could only avert my eyes.

“Um, shall we take out the corpses for now…?”

“Ye, yes, let’s do that.”

In the end, Paramel and Rosie, unable to stand by any longer, barely managed to smooth over the situation.

The Saint heaved a deep sigh and patted my shoulder.

“If your performance hadn’t been good, I wouldn’t have trusted you this much.”

“I’m glad my performance was good, at least.”

“Indeed. Paramel and Rosie, you can go rest now. I’ll take care of the Porter.”

“Um, Saint. I’d like to go with you.”

“Is that so?”

“Um.. I’ll go submit the report.”

“Yes, good work.”

“See you next time, Paramel-ssi.”

“Yes.. Good work to you too, Porter-ssi.”

Paramel left to report to the higher-ups, while I, the Saint, and Rosie went down to the basement of the Order.

“May the Goddess’s grace be with you. Welcome, Saint.”

“Yes, yes. We have quite a lot of corpses this time.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And two inquisitors died in the labyrinth. Take out Raphael and Sasaro’s bodies, Porter.”

“Yes.”

I took out Sasaro’s bloodless corpse and Raphael’s body, which looked fine on the outside but was a mess inside, and placed them on the resurrection altar.

“Oh my. Raphael-nim’s internal organs are all twisted due to excessive healing magic.. Sasaro-nim has almost no blood left in his body. Did you encounter a vampire in the labyrinth?”

“No, it’s not that…”

I told the coroner about the pale pink lump of flesh I had seen below the floor division.

“It’s an unrecorded species.”

“I’m not sure if it was summoned from the depths or created by the heretics.”

After taking out all the remaining adventurers’ corpses, we went back up.

“We can’t keep the heretics’ corpses in the Order headquarters, so we’ll have to go outside.”

“Outside?”

“Yes. There’s a cemetery and burial ground owned by the Order near the labyrinth city. We’ll probably go there.”

In the end, we headed to the Order-owned burial ground with the priests to take out the heretics’ corpses.

We moved under the strict protection of combat priests, riding a carriage borrowed from the Order. This was because heretics outside the labyrinth might attack us.

Of course, there were no problems. The heretics’ forces had almost completely collapsed, and what few remained would have hidden in the darkness of the underground city.

“I didn’t know there was a place like this outside the city.”

“We don’t often come here. It’s also off-limits to outsiders.”

After leaving through the western gate of the labyrinth city and riding in the carriage for about 40 minutes.

A large tomb appeared along with buildings where undertakers and gravekeepers reside.

They say that when inquisitors or priests belonging to the Order die, they are guided here and interred.

Although they plan to burn all the heretic corpses, it seems we came here because there was no suitable place to keep the corpses within the labyrinth city.

“May the Goddess protect you. It’s been a while, Saint. You’re still beautiful.”

“It’s good to see you, Luke. You’ve aged considerably.”

“Time hasn’t been kind to me. Hoho.”

An old man with white hair and a beard.

The aura he gave off was equal to or greater than Rosie’s.

I could feel the aura of a strong person like Sasaro. He was probably a former inquisitor or a comparable Order hound.

“I’ve prepared an open space here. If you lay out the heretics’ bodies here, my gravekeepers and I will handle them.”

“Then I’ll start taking out the heretic corpses now.”

One, two, three….

“My goodness, just how many are there…”

“It’s a nauseating amount.”

The undertaker Luke and the gravekeepers couldn’t close their mouths.

This was because hundreds of heretic corpses popped out of my inventory.

“Move them to the side for now!”

“Damn… So many heretics…”

Well, I had killed a lot of heretics while disguised as the Blue Apostle.

I had completely exterminated the worker class, who had almost no combat ability but were the foundation of the heretic forces. So it was only natural that their numbers were so high.

“This is all for the heretics’ bodies. And this is the Blue Apostle’s corpse.”

“You even caught an Apostle!?”

“Huhu. That’s right. We caught it easily thanks to the Porter’s idea.”

“You’re overpraising me.”

The Saint was praising me for a change.

“We need to handle the Apostle’s body separately, so please wait a moment. Mike, bring the Heavenly Coffin.”

“Yes, Luke-nim.”

I’m not sure what the Heavenly Coffin is, but it seemed to be something that guides the souls of high-ranking heretics to the Goddess. The problem is that Paynel’s soul is already in my hands, so even if they use the Heavenly Coffin, it won’t ascend.

“Good work. It’s an enormous amount of corpses. It’ll probably take days to process them all.”

“Take care, Luke.”

The Saint patted the old undertaker’s shoulder and got on the carriage.

“Let’s go back. This concludes the first expedition. We’ll handle the demon corpses tomorrow.”

“Yes, Saint.”

With this, all the urgent matters were finished.

We’ve handed over the bodies that need to be resurrected. We’ve also given all the heretics’ corpses to the Order.

I’ve done everything I can. The rest is for the Order’s priests to handle.

“Phew. Let’s set the next expedition for about a week from now. Though Raphael and Sasaro won’t be able to join us.”

“I see…”

There’s something called resurrection aftereffects. Because of this, they probably won’t be able to move right away.

Someone with deep faith from among other inquisitors or adventurers will likely be drafted instead of Raphael and Sasaro.

“More importantly, Porter.”

“Yes?”

“Good work. I know you’re still a bronze badge, but you did quite well.”

“I just followed along, that’s all.”

“Following along is hard work too. By the way. Have you thought about joining the Order?”

“Uh.. that’s..”

“I’m not asking you to become a priest or anything. Just, it’s fine to just have your name on the Order’s register.”

The Saint is telling me to at least put my name on the Order’s register.

She meant for me to have at least the rank of a lay believer who believes in the Goddess, rather than being completely unrelated to the Order.

“That way I can give you benefits.”

“Benefits?”

“Yes. For example, meetings with me.”

“That’s a bit..”

“You. Do you think it’s easy to be able to talk with the Saint like this?”

“I know it’s not, but…”

Do I really need to talk with this crazy Saint?

“Never mind. Just put your name on the register. Understand?”

“Is this… mandatory..?”

“Yes. It’s mandatory. I’ll put your name on the register using my authority as the Saint.”

It’s hard to refuse when she’s being so forceful.

‘Well, it might not be bad.’

Since I don’t have to attend mass or have any other obligations, but can still enjoy benefits.

Might as well put my name on it.

But why is the Saint trying to give me benefits and special treatment like this? Did she like me that much?

-Hmm. Scheming woman.

‘Pardon?’

-That bitch is thinking of getting a foot in the door of the underground city development project by tying you to the Order.

‘Ah.’

Listening to Helena’s words, that seems to be the case.

I showed the Saint my abilities and ambitions. It seems that’s why the Saint is trying to tie me to the Order.

‘Even if the Order gets involved, it doesn’t matter to me. After all, my goal doesn’t end with conquering the underground city.’

-True.. Conquering the underground city is just one of the stepping stones towards a larger goal.

‘That’s right.’

It doesn’t matter if the Order gets involved. Rather, if the Order becomes my ally, it seems I could proceed with the underground city development project more easily and quickly.

“We’ve arrived.”

By the time I had organized my thoughts, the coachman dropped us off in front of the Order again.

The sun was setting.

“Well then, go in. I’ll send someone to the guild later, so we’ll discuss the rewards and demon processing costs then.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

“Yes, yes. Take care.”

The Saint left a light greeting and went into the Order.

Only Rosie and I were left.

“Um, Sion.”

“Yes?”

“Are you free the day after tomorrow?”

“Oh, the day after tomorrow, I think I should be free?”

“Then would you like to meet at the central plaza in the morning the day after tomorrow?”

“Central plaza in the morning. Got it. I’ll try my best to make time.”

“Thank you. Then..”

Just as she was about to leave, Rosie grabbed my wrist again and took two more steps towards me.

The distance between us suddenly shortened and we became very close. I can feel her breath. Our faces came close enough that our lips were about to touch.

“Thank you for being kind to me in the labyrinth. Um, can we continue this relationship going forward?”

My relationship with Rosie.

It’s too stiff to call it dating.

And too intense to call it just enjoying each other’s company.

How am I going to persuade Yuria and Young Lady Rea?

No, those two are impossible to persuade in the first place.

But at this point, it’s too late to draw a line with Rosie.. She’s come too close to me.

In the end, I could only give an ambiguous answer.

“…Yes. I think it should be fine?”

“I don’t need such a half-hearted answer. Please just tell me it’s definitely okay.”

The hand gripping my wrist tightens.

Rosie was forcing me to give an unconditional positive answer.

With her pushing so strongly, I had nowhere to run. In the end, I spilled my thoughts to her.

“Uh, no, actually, I wonder if my opinion even matters..”

That’s right. Was my opinion ever important?

“Is it because of Yuria-ssi and Rea-ssi?”

“Yes..”

“I don’t mind sharing you with those two. So they shouldn’t mind either.”

“…..”

It was truly dictatorial, but Rosie’s words carried weight as an inquisitor.

“I see this won’t do. I’ll just go to Yuria-ssi’s house tomorrow.”

“You’re coming tomorrow..?”

“Yes. If it’s difficult for Sion to say it, I’ll go and explain it well.”

“Uh, if you do that..”

“See you tomorrow, Sion.”

“Ah..”

After kissing my forehead, Rosie went into the Order.

“What should I do.”

If Rosie, Yuria, and Rea fight…

‘Rea will retire immediately, and it’ll be a good match between Yuria and Rosie.’

Rosie, who is closer to platinum badge level, will probably defeat Yuria in the end. But Yuria won’t go down easily either. She’ll definitely inflict a fatal wound on Rosie.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

-It’s the fate of a playboy, accept it.

‘I didn’t want to become a playboy…’

-Fate usually comes regardless of an individual’s wishes. It’s best to just go with the flow.

“Ah….”

Should I just go with the flow as Helena advised…

I don’t know. Let’s go home. Tomorrow’s problems are for tomorrow’s me…

“Hey, Sion. Who was that just now?”

“….Huh? Yu, Yuria…?”

The moment I turned around, Yuria popped out from the alley entrance.

She seemed to have seen everything that had just happened.

It felt like being caught by my wife in the act of infidelity.

“Another woman?”

“Th, that’s not it. Yuria.”

“……”

Yuria looking down at me silently.

Cold sweat poured down.

“Yuria. Yuria! Wait! Let me explain the situation! You see, what happened was..!”

“Forget it. Let’s go home.”

“Huh? Huuuh?”

Yuria, with an expressionless face, strode towards me and picked me up in a princess carry.

I’m scared.

“Yu, Yuria…”

“Shut up. We’ll talk at home.”

“Mmm…”

I had to be dragged away by Yuria, trembling in fear.