Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 463



Only Noblemtl

463. Congratulatory remarks (3)

“If you guys keep acting like this, I’m really in trouble.”

Abbot Mathieu stroked his large ruby ​​ring and began to laugh. He was an old senior priest who had been the abbot of Dunstan Abbey for over a dozen years.

“There is a limit to running an orphanage with a pittance of donations. Nevertheless, we have been accepting beggars who flock to us from all over the place with only a sense of mission. But since you have not been handling the promised amount of supplies, haven’t we been running a deficit for months already?”

Then the woman sitting across from him looked at Mathieu with cold eyes. More specifically, at the uselessly flashy ornaments he was wearing.

“Considering all the complaining, your circumstances don’t seem that dire. I heard that you make quite a bit of money by handing over orphans to the entertainment district.”

“There are only a few high-quality items that can be disposed of in that way. Last month, we only managed to get rid of four men and seven women. The world is still overflowing with trash, and it keeps pouring in here.”

Having said that, Mathieu leaned forward and stared at the woman’s face. She was a special guest, clad in black priestly garb, who was normally not allowed to set foot in this monastery.

“So shouldn’t you find a use for them, even in your ‘underground cult’? For those orphaned bastards who have no idea why they were born into this world?”

“… These are not words that a servant serving the Lord should speak.”

At his words and actions that naturally made her frown, a strong expression of contempt appeared on the woman’s face. However, Director Mathieu simply lightly tickled her ear without paying any attention to her reaction.

“Well, at least I don’t think the Lord will punish Mathieu for what he said just now. He himself discriminates against humans so terribly.”

“Nonsense! The Lord would never… …!”

“Oh, I don’t want to waste time on a useless theoretical discussion, Your Excellency. Isn’t that a truth that everyone learns through experience as they live in the world? It’s a fact that both you and I are convinced of deep down.”

The woman, who had been glaring at the abbot for a moment, soon sat back down on her chair and answered with a stern face.

“Anyway, our position will not change. The Ae-yeol Sect will no longer take the orphans here. Didn’t I tell you? The great [Ae-yeol] no longer wants the ‘devotion’ of the children.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Mathieu found it hard to believe her words.

“The [Ae-yeol] you serve demanded human sacrifices from dozens of people every year until last year-”

“Director Mathieu!”

“… Excuse me. Didn’t you ask for the ‘sacrifice’ of the orphans? Surely you aren’t secretly procuring sacrifices from somewhere else, Mathieu?”

Mathieu was also well aware that something big had changed in the [Ae-yeol] church recently.

The Archbishop of Ae-yeol was suddenly replaced, and completely new and unfamiliar rules that were completely different from before were handed down to each parish priest.

‘But even so, why are you suddenly stopping all transactions like this?’

He had been secretly offering human sacrifices to the Ayeol sect for almost ten years. So he could boast that he knew more about their physiology than anyone else.

On the surface, they claim to be brothers who serve the same god, but the underground cult’s behavior more closely resembles that of evil devil worshippers.

An evil group that cannot receive any grace from the ‘Archbishop’ they serve unless they pay a price by squeezing the flesh and soul of the people.

But now, a member of that gloomy group is saying this with a completely unconcerned expression on his face.

“Now we have finally welcomed the right ‘Archbishop’. He has finally conveyed to us the true meaning of [Ae-yeol].”

“under!”

A look of irritation appeared on Mathieu’s face.

“Then why on earth did you come here? If you said you wouldn’t do business with me anymore, why are you wasting my time?”

“To ask for your cooperation. We are looking for a boy right now.”

“…boy?”

Do you want a sacrifice with certain conditions? Mathieu thought so for a moment, but judging from the expression on the parish priest’s face, it didn’t seem to be that specific.

“Yes. A boy with black hair and gray eyes. He must be 14 years old this year. Does this orphanage have a boy like that?”

“If you’re 14, you’re a bit old to be here… … .”

“It’s possible that you look much younger than your age. I heard that you often skipped meals when you were young.”

“Huh! How many of those kinds of things can there be in this orphanage?”

Mathieu snorted, but the parish priest’s gaze remained firm.

“Ae-yeol said that I would show up here around this time. Do you really not know?”

“So, there must be a lot of kids here… … .”

“They say the boy has an exceptionally beautiful appearance. So you will never be able to miss him.”

… Well, if a guy like that had come here, wouldn’t he have been sold to the red-light district a long time ago?

Mathieu was extremely skeptical about finding the boy, but he didn’t bother to tell the parish priest about it, because she quickly took out a large jewel from her bosom.

“Please, use your strength. [Aeyeol] is desperately looking for that boy right now.”

“…What are you going to do when you find him?”

“He just wants to keep it safe. It’s not that I don’t understand. If you think about it, [Ae-yeol] is the very embodiment of all love in this world.”

“… … .”

Pestilence. Not long ago, he was sucking out the souls of orphans alive and eating them, and now he’s talking about love…

“I’ll give you this as a down payment. If I find him, I’ll pay you handsomely.”

“I will give it my all!”

There was no need for further words. Abbot Mathieu nodded vigorously and snatched the jewel from the woman’s hand.

* * *

Because the distance was quite far, Dasha could not fully understand their conversation. She could only guess a few words based on the occasional lip movements.

‘… Orphan… Trash… Deficit… Cat? No, offering… … .’

‘Ouch! Dasha, put your head down! The guest is about to get up. If you do something wrong, you’ll get caught!’

‘okay.’

At Ramira’s signal, Dasha quickly dodged and ran behind the monastery.

Meanwhile, I was trying to piece together the information by diligently repeating the words I had just learned in my head.

‘Passion, sacrifice, and the boy with the grey eyes… … .’

That was all the words she had found out. But even with that, Dasha could sufficiently guess the seriousness of the situation.

‘I thought they were simply selling the children out for money, but it turns out the abbot already had connections to the underground religious order?’

The situation is more serious than expected. Even though she is young, she is aware of how the underground religious groups are currently being treated on the continent.

[Passion], [Sowing], [Repentance], [Rest].

These four underground sects, with their long histories, were on the surface solid sects that served the god.

However, the things they did for their faith could not be called solid even in empty words.

Because of the indiscriminate practice of bizarre rituals and cruel human sacrifices, many regions are already considering them heretics and sending those involved to religious trials.

If this were to come to light, there would be a huge uproar in the Dunstan estate.

‘What should I do? This isn’t a problem I can solve on my own!’

Selling the orphans to the red-light district was no big deal. If they were unlucky, the entire orphanage, along with the abbot, might get dragged into the Inquisition.

‘What on earth should I do… … .’

Woof woof!

As if reflecting Dasha’s gloomy mood, the sky gradually darkened and thunder could be heard from afar.

* * *

While Dasha was wandering in her dream, another thunderstorm was ripping through the inn where Seongjin and his party were staying.

Growl!

“I’m sorry, Sir Marsain! It was my fault! I won’t do it again!”

“Don’t say things that are not in your heart! How many times has Your Majesty said something like that?”

Kwaaak!

In front of Prince Mores, Sir Marsain seemed to be breathing out a breath from his mouth.

“Please speak! Have I ever expected so much from you? Yes?”

“No, that’s… Kkuek?”

“Nothing else! I just wanted you to tell me in advance! Where are you going? By when will you be back? Was it so hard to leave such a simple message?”

“No, Sir Marsain. So I said it was all a misunderstanding? At first, I didn’t think it would go that far… Huh!”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Don’t make me laugh!”

When Room 21 opened the door because of the loud noise-

Taltaltal!

Prince Mores is being held captive by his escort knights and is being robbed from front to back.

Seeing them throw away all manner of etiquette and dignity as royalty, No. 21 stared blankly at them for a moment.

“Calm down. Let me put this aside for a moment… …!”

“Yes, I know! I know very well how inadequate I am to perform the lowering! But that doesn’t mean you can ignore my sincere loyalty like that!”

“No, Sir Marsain. You wouldn’t have to be so self-deprecating… … .”

“Am I belittling myself now? Or is it Your Majesty who treats me like that!”

“Oh, come on! Of course I trust and rely on you, Sir Marsain! I rely on you and trust you with all my heart! Really!”

“Don’t try to cover up the situation with such soulless words! It’s no use anymore!”

“I’m not saying that! Sir Masain is the swordsmanship master I respect the most in the world-”

“Tsk!”

Number 21 quietly closed the door. Their behavior was both comical and at the same time, he felt a sense of discomfort as if he had been deceived.

Why not? The person who is expressing his feelings of guilt and resentment so violently right now is the youngest commander of the Imperial Knights, and a man who is about to become Tekaron Knight at a young age.

What about Prince Mores, who was being held by the collar and tossed around by him? He was already a genius prosecutor, and was widely known throughout the capital. He was even more skilled than himself, an elite agent of the Monkey Watchtower.

“Senior No. 13 hasn’t opened his eyes yet, so if we’re going to fight, we should fight quietly from far away… … .”

Number 21 sat down on the chair and grumbled softly. But at the same time, his expression was gloomy, because he was aware that this feeling of discomfort that was twisting inside him was entirely due to his own sense of entitlement.

“Huh? Why do you look so hungry, Mr. 21?”

Just then, Edith came into the room carrying a steaming plate.

“What is that?”

“I brought you something light to eat. When your colleague wakes up, you’ll need to eat something light, right?”

Number 21 was a little touching.

Oh, that’s unusually considerate of Edith… Huh? Wait a minute.

“But Miss Edith, I don’t think that’s the kind of food they sell at this inn.”

“Yes? Of course. How could someone who just got out of bed digest the rich food in the hotel? So I borrowed the kitchen for a while and cooked up a little stew.”

… boil it?

Number 21 was very nervous.

“Excuse me, Miss Edith. Um, have you tried that?”

Then Edith straightened her back and answered in a refreshingly teasing manner.

“No? What if it tastes like gall bladder juice?”

“Hey, you… … !”

What kind of conscience is that?

They fought for a while, tossing and turning the bowl in the middle.

The dedicated maid, who was an Auror user, was not an easy opponent, but No. 21 was barely able to snatch her stew bowl away with the determination to save No. 13.

“Tch! Mr. 21, you don’t know anything. Food that is good for your health is supposed to taste bitter!”

Ignoring Edith’s useless grumbling, Number 21 turned around calmly.

“I will throw this poison away and come back, so please look after my colleagues instead.”

“Oh, yes, yes. I understand.”

Edith pulled up a chair and sat down obediently next to Dasha. She gazed at her smooth, tan skin for a moment.

“But I didn’t know that Mr. 21 was a colleague of Barsha. Maybe it’s because I’ve been hanging out with Mr. Bartoza a lot lately, but somehow his face feels very friendly.”

“… She is of imperial descent. Of course, I don’t know much about her parents’ origins.”

“is it so?”

“So don’t say anything inconsiderate in front of her, like saying I look like the savage from the barn. She’ll probably be really angry.”

“Oh, I’ll be careful.”

Despite giving Edith such warnings, No. 21 had a new realization.

‘Yes, by the way, that savage was here too. He was the one who ran off with His Majesty’s homunculus and caused all of us trouble!’

I’ve decided. I’ll just leave this stew by the barn.

“But Mr. 21. Father Bart must have treated him well, so why can’t he get up yet?”

“You’ll open your eyes soon. You’ll just need a little longer rest than usual due to the fatigue from the day.”

No. 21, who had responded like that, glanced at Dasha, who was furrowing her brows as if in agony, and added.

“Or maybe I’m dreaming.”