episode_0024

“Excuse me. This is the difference between the commission fee and the fee you entrusted.”

The receptionist lady took out a few silver coins from the pocket containing the compensation and returned the rest to Amy.

Amy divided it into three parts and handed it to us, then she elaborately explained to the receptionist lady the situation we had experienced inside the dungeon.

The wights occupying the third underground floor, the incredibly suspicious life-sustaining sacrificial altar, and even a sorcerer of command magic emerging from within.

“Look at this. Are these the corpses of those wights? Well, I did manage to chop off just their toes….”

“Wights…? Altar? Command magic…? Wait a moment. Did you explore the middle dungeon instead of the lower one?”

The receptionist lady’s expression turned flustered.

What was thought to be a routine iron-clad request turned out to be a challenging task that required not just one, but four adventurers to resolve… or perhaps even more.

If we had hesitated after grabbing the sorcerer, we might not have escaped unscathed, let alone if we had contemplated thoroughly conquering the place.

“No, it seems like it was indeed the lower level. The problem lies with what’s lurking inside.”

Amy replied, shaking her head.

Considering the circumstances, it was highly likely that it wasn’t an ordinary lower-level dungeon but rather a facility used as a hideout for abyssal priests, so we retreated without further exploration.

“Goodness….”

The receptionist lady, astonished by the mention of abyssal priests, glanced briefly in my direction and let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s such a relief that you all returned safely. An abyssal priest, hiding in there… I never would have imagined….”

Well, she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

She had only intended to give the troublesome benefactor some decent work, but we almost ended up sending her to her grave.

“I didn’t come face to face with it directly… but still, I’m pretty sure. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.”

“Yes. I will report it as you’ve described. Thank you for the information.”

With an official smile, the receptionist nodded and meticulously recorded the details on a piece of white paper.

The completed report, stamped with the adventurer guild’s emblem, was passed to another staff member and sent upstairs.

“Shall we head back now?”

“Oh… Wait a moment. Priest Bolton, could you stay for a bit? I have some questions for you. Others can go ahead.”

“Questions? To Priest Bolton?”

As if indicating the end of the business, Amy put the scroll back into her backpack and, in response to the receptionist’s statement, she slightly cocked her head and asked, “Oh, is this about Hilde’s heresy accusation?”

…What on earth is that supposed to mean?

I glanced at Bolton with a bewildered look.

Heresy accusation? Suddenly, what kind of talk is that? It doesn’t just sound ominous, it sounds excessively ominous.

“If that’s the issue, you can rest assured. We’ve completed the verification, so it will be concluded as groundless.”

Bolton replied with a sly smile.

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

The receptionist also smiled.

“No, what do you mean? Heresy accusation? Verification?”

I turned to the receptionist and suddenly demanded an explanation. She apologized for not explaining beforehand, then soothingly explained the details of this request in a gentle tone.

Well, you see…

◆◆

“You were suspected of being a cult worshipper? Me?”

“Yes. It was just a suspicion, but still.”

Surprisingly, incredibly, the Vestpian branch of the goddess religion here was suspecting me of being a cult worshipper.

With no records of past deeds and a woman who never showed her bare face in front of others, how suspicious must I have looked?

A woman who wasn’t particularly in need of money, yet engaged in adventurer activities, and on top of that, had allegedly massacred dozens of iron and bronze wielders. From the perspective of the church, how suspicious must that have appeared?

The story went around that the party members had used the excuse of turning an offender into a sacrifice, but in reality, it was said that they had offered them to an evil spirit.

“And on top of that, the ‘lower-class slaughterer,’ who was listed as a wanted criminal, ceased his activities right around this area. The timing coincides with when Miss Hilde was registered as an adventurer.”

“…Lower-class slaughterer? What on earth is that?”

It was truly a sinister name. The Butcher of the Lower Class, a serial killer who seemed to target only the poor and weak, in other words. Are there really such trash-like individuals out there?

“Don’t you know? From the borderlands of Burgunt to Herbor, this murderer has slaughtered over seven villages and nearby peddlers. Not a single person spared by their brutal hands. Everything about them, from their real identity and appearance to their motives and methods, all remains unknown, making them a heinous wanted criminal.”

…It feels like they’re talking about me.

“The Goddess Sect suspects the Butcher of the Lower Class to be a cult worshipper. A massacre with unclear meaning and purpose, resembling sacrilege. Clearly the work of a cultist serving some malevolent deity.”

“Yes, and since the traces of this criminal abruptly ceased around Vespian, the upper echelons of the sect presume that the individual must have taken refuge in Vespian.”

Bolton added further explanation.

“We considered Mr. Hilde as one of the prime suspects… but after accompanying him, I understand now. It was such an absurdly wrong answer.”

Wrong? No, it was the right one.

“Oh… I see. I’m glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up,” I said, awkwardly forcing a smile.

The Goddess Sect is competent, but isn’t this a bit too competent? How did they figure that out? There wouldn’t have been any witnesses left.

A cold sweat trickled down my spine.

◆◆

Anyway, Bolton apparently joined our party for that reason. To observe me closely and confirm whether I was a cult worshipper.

Not just me, but other suspects had priests or paladins sticking to them like glue, monitoring them one by one.

And after maintaining such close surveillance, Bolton seems to have become convinced that I am not the culprit.

“A dignified and considerate demeanor. Not excessively driven by material gain, nor intoxicated by the thrill of killing. Emotionally stable to the point of not being a typical cultist either.”

It was an astonishingly objective assessment.

Yes, with my character, I should belong to the top 1% even among adventurers.

In a world without compulsory education, it seems like there are so many people in this industry with terrible personalities.

“Ah, then, by any chance, when you had that fit in the dungeon – no, excessive behavior, was that some kind of test to check my emotional stability?”

I voiced the sudden question that came to mind. Every time I saw an undead or a product of the social circle, I couldn’t help but think of Bolton’s fit, growling and rolling his eyes.

Honestly, unless he’s insane, how could anyone behave like that? But if it was all just an act to gauge my reaction, then it made sense.

“……”

However, Bolton fell silent.

Instead of laughing it off, saying he got caught, he simply clenched his teeth, avoiding my gaze with just a quick flick of his eyes.

“……Mr. Bolton?”

…No. What’s with that reaction? Surely that wasn’t acting, it was real?

Foaming at the mouth, constricting his blood vessels, acting all erratic like that, was that for real?

*Cough, cough.*

Bolton let out a dry cough as if embarrassed.

“……”

It was a relief that I was wearing a helmet. If the visor hadn’t shielded my eyes, I might have been arrested for indecent exposure.

*Cough.* Anyway, um. And… your overly cautious demeanor… yes. If you’ve been constantly plagued by the threat of raiders, it’s only natural to be on high alert.

As I found myself at a loss for words, silently staring at Bolton, he completely turned away from me and briskly redirected the conversation.

“I was right, wasn’t I? Miss Hilde has many suspicious corners, but that doesn’t mean she’s a socialite or a raider, does it?”

The receptionist lady raised her chin slightly as if to say, “See, I told you so,” and smiled. She looked like a proud parent boasting about her child’s character and abilities.

“Yes. As you said, Miss Hilde seems like someone who can be excluded from the suspect list. She doesn’t seem to be that kind of person.”

Bolton readily agreed, speaking with sincere trust overflowing in his words.

That’s why I decided not to press further and just let Bolton’s guard stay where it was.

After all, thanks to his endorsement, the unjust suspicion hanging over me had been neatly resolved.

“As a priest serving Lady Elianel, I can vouch for her. Miss Hilde is not a butcher of the lower class.”

Ah, it’s not a false accusation, indeed.

◆◆

“A butcher of the lower class… There are all sorts of crazy people out there,” Amy, who was standing next to us with a blank expression, seemed to have taken an interest in our conversation and chimed in. Her face displayed a mix of disdain and curiosity.

“Who on earth would engage in such behavior?”

Well, that would be me.

Contrary to the rumors of indiscriminate slaughter of the weak, I had merely dealt with rapists and thieves.

“In my opinion… isn’t there a deep-seated priest rumored to be hiding in the dungeon we visited this time? If we consider that, everything falls perfectly into place.”

Bolton cautiously laid out his speculation.

He suggested that the massacre of the lower-class citizens was to procure bodies to raise as undead, and their disappearance was due to them hiding in the dungeon.

Listening to him, it made sense.

“Oh, that could be possible.”

“Indeed… It’s a highly plausible inference. If the deep-seated priest incident is true.”

It seemed like a convincing conjecture to both Amy and the receptionist, as they slightly parted their lips and nodded.

“That might very well be the case.”

I also expressed my agreement.

Bolton’s deduction was so flawless that there was hardly any room for rebuttal.

It was almost like he had been possessed by Sherlock Holmes’ deductive reasoning.

“A deep-seated priest…”

Could it be that the butcher of the lower class was a deep-seated priest…!

So wicked, so evil.

To mercilessly slaughter the helpless without even a hint of resistance, and then try to pin the blame on me. How could one be so malicious?

Such a person deserved nothing less than a brutal punishment, perhaps a savage beating from a group of outraged paladins with their eyes turned inside out.

An evildoer like that shouldn’t even dare to utter a word of injustice, but should be promptly beaten to a pulp and burned to ashes upon sight.

And so, the four of us concluded our lengthy conversation expressing anger and contempt towards the criminal activities of the deep-seated priest.

“Clang!”

By the way, Kikel, seemingly indifferent to being a butcher or anything else, sat by the fireplace, chuckling as if nothing concerned him at all.

Truly an indifferent attitude.