Chapter 426: Winner And Loser (2) |
‘I think this is my first time here.’
As far as I could remember, this was definitely my first time here. It wasn’t really appropriate for me to be in places the heretic inquisitors were managing because they were wet and dark, making them look like dungeons.
Nothing would happen, of course, but I couldn’t help but get nervous at the moans and screams I could hear coming from everywhere. There were even people begging to be killed, so I started to cower just a bit.
I had no idea what they went through that they were begging to be killed, but I could easily guess it without even looking at them.
‘How are they managing this place anyway?’
The Order of Benigoa was the one managing the heretic inquisitors from the start, but I guarantee this wasn’t what they had in mind.
Thanks to Father Basel, the heretic inquisitors started to have a bigger role, and they were revitalized because of the recent events. All religions had heretic inquisitors or demon hunters, but the Order of Benigoa had grown bigger than I thought.
I couldn’t help but get curious if this place, which was basically a factory of negative emotions, had contributed to Benigoa’s bankruptcy.
‘It’s possible...’
It would actually be understandable if a huge part of the reason why Benigoa went bankrupt were because of places like this. She gained a lot of holy power—yes, but her expenditure was huge as well.
“I’m sure it’s difficult up there as well,” I mumbled.
“Did you say something, Father Lee Ki-Young?” Helena asked.
“No, it’s nothing, Sister Helena,” I replied.
“...”
“...”
“If the location is uncomfortable for you, I can bring the demon summoner to a different—”
“It’s fine, Sister Helena. This isn’t exactly a great place, but places like this need to exist. It’s more like I admire the place rather than I’m feeling uncomfortable in it. I’m sure it’s difficult for people to work here, so you should be proud that you can. This isn’t dirty work, and it’s holier than anything else,” I explained.
“...”
“I’m sure the Goddess of Benigoa will be happy when she sees this place. Haha,” I laughed.
I was sure that Benigoa would frown and cry while telling us to stop doing this, but of course, I couldn’t tell Helene that. It was bad news for Benigoa, but this kind of place was necessary. It was a cruel place.
I honestly wanted to reduce the number of places like this so that Benigoa would receive more holy power, but I couldn’t do that. Even if Benigoa got tainted and her body started decaying, places like this had to remain, no matter what
Sister Helena definitely liked my opinion because she was slowly loosening up. I was honestly kind of scared of being alone with her, but she definitely started feeling better when I told her that the goddess was always watching us.
Helene lowered her head and muttered, “Father Lee Ki-Young.”
“Yes, Sister Helena?”
“I was… thinking about holding a prayer meeting with Sister Jayna…” she started.
“If you invite me, I’ll attend. It’ll be a bit difficult to do that right now, but it brings me great joy to attend a prayer meeting with you and Sister Jayna, so, of course, I’ll attend,” I told her.
“...”
“By the way… I think I can enter on my own from here,” I said.
“Will you really be okay?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied.
“Okay, but if something happens—”
“All right,” I interrupted her.
Sister Helena looked happy as she slowly walked away while bowing. This wasn’t my first time seeing her, but this was my first time talking to her alone like this. Her personality was the total opposite of Sister Jessica, so I couldn’t understand how they got along so well.
Anyway, she was done with her job, so it was about time for me to do my own job.
“Was it here?”
I stood in front of the door while mumbling, but I didn’t need to ask myself that. It seemed like Jin Cheong was receiving special treatment compared to other places because there were several holy barriers around the place. I quietly circulated my holy power, and the barriers disappeared. I did that a few more times, and the large iron door opened, revealing a face I was seeing for the first time in a while.
“It’s… not me…”
“...”
“I’m not a… demon summoner.”
“...”
‘I really pity him.’
It was ridiculous how he couldn’t even lift his head up. There were wounds all over him, and his limbs were chained with iron. To make things worse, he was hanging on a strange cross, and there were tools I couldn’t really describe located on one side of the room.
I didn’t know why they were here, but I couldn’t look at their grotesque shapes.
In some ways, Jin Cheong was amazing because he still managed to maintain his sanity despite the harsh torture.
If I were him, I would’ve confessed everything the moment they put those chains on me, but I expected no less from the shitty scum who turned an era into hell. I couldn’t help but think that I finally understood how he defeated Kim Hyun-Sung in his past life.
“I’m not a demon summoner. I’m Jin Cheong of the Republic…”
I was sure he felt really aggrieved because he kept mumbling while he was in a state of hypnagogia. He even thought that I was a heretic inquisitor. I honestly had no idea how I should greet him.
First of all, I checked his physical condition with Mind’s Eye. I nodded confidently after a while and released him from the strange cross. I thought he would be able to land on his feet, but he weakly crashed to the floor.
‘Has he become so weak that he can’t even communicate anymore?’
If that were the case, then this was going to be kind of annoying, but when I started talking, Jin Cheong looked at me immediately.
“It’s… been a while.”
I spoke warmly as if I was meeting a long-lost lover. I tried my best, so I could negotiate with him, but he immediately started seizing as if he couldn’t let go of his old personality.
“You…!” Jin Cheong started.
“It’s kind of scary when you look at me like that,” I commented.
“You…! You…! Lee Ki-Youuuuung!” he screamed.
“W-What the?! What’s wrong with you?!” I yelled.
This was probably why there was a saying that one should never bite the hand that was feeding them. I prepared so much food for him, but he immediately threw away the food that I prepared for him and charged at me. The sight reminded me of the monsters I encountered in the tutorial dungeon. He looked like a ruthless criminal right now.
“Bastard! I’ll kill you!!!” he yelled.
I wasn’t sure how he still had so much energy, but it was ridiculous how he stood on his feet and tried to punch me. His stats had regressed to the point that he could only be compared to monsters in the tutorial dungeons. Therefore, I know that he would never be able to hurt me.
I wanted to treat him with respect, but the unexpected attack made me release the untapped violence deep inside of me.
I managed to dodge his right hook because he was moving as slow as a turtle in my eyes, and in retaliation, I sent a left hook toward his left side. As a sign of respect for someone weaker than me, I didn’t use my mana.
However, Jin Cheong still staggered after taking my punch.
“Cough!”
I felt like a scumbag, but it had been a while since I felt like I was the stronger individual. I was sure Jin Cheong could feel the difference between us as well, but he still sent another hook using his left hand. I quickly retaliated and sent him flying with a kick. The kick wasn’t that strong, but Jin Cheong slammed into the wall.
‘Perhaps I have potential in hand-to-hand combat…’
I couldn’t help but tighten my fist. However, when I saw him coughing up blood on the floor, I realized that it wasn’t really that great to defeat the current him.
Despite receiving a punch and a powerful kick, Jin Cheong was still energetic. He kept on hurling abuse at me, but he didn’t come at me with his fists blazing anymore.
“I’ll kill… I’ll kill you! Cough,” Jin Cheong yelled.
“Why do you keep saying that, Commander Jin Cheong?” I asked.
“Lee Ki-Young, you bastard! Lee Ki-Young, you bastaaaaaard…!”
“I came here to talk to you, Commander. I didn’t come here to fight. By the way, the fight just now wasn’t my fault. Even I don’t like hitting people who can’t walk properly, so I hope that you’ll understand…”
”And it looks like your organs got injured just now, so I’ll use my holy power to ensure that you will be able to talk properly…”
”However, I will only heal you to the point that you won’t feel pain. If I heal you too much, you’ll just charge at me, right? I don’t like violence, so let’s talk it over,” I suggested.
“You… You…!” he screamed.
“I don’t feel too good to see you being so worked up like this, Commander Jin Cheong. I understand that you feel like it’s unfair, but there wasn’t really anything we could have done about it…”
”You and the Republic were the ones who started the war, and we just responded and won the war. We inflicted pain on each other, but the winners and losers have already been decided, so the losers should just applaud the winners,” I continued.
“Bastard… How could you say something like that? I’ll kill you no matter what! If not this time, then next time! I’ll curse you even in death…!”
“What’s the point of cursing me once you’re dead? Please have a seat first. As I said, I came here to talk. I didn’t come here to waste my time, and it could also be a good thing for you as well,” I told him.
“Talk…” he repeated.
“I just came to talk. If you want to talk about the past, that sounds like fun, too. Rivals usually become friends after talking about their past battles. To be honest, I really had a hard time fighting you, and I even thought about running away a few times during the war. I don’t know about you, but I’d say that it was a pretty good fight,” I continued.
“Shut up!”
“It’s… difficult to say that it was a perfect victory. I hope you don’t make weird remarks like you don’t talk to frauds. I turned you into a demon summoner—yes, but you tried to turn me into the scumbag who started the war…”
”If I lost the war, then I would have been in your shoes right now. Anyway, let’s just be understanding of each other,” I suggested.
“...”
“...”
“Don’t you think it’s funny how you’re acting like it’s unfair at this point? Please calm down a bit so that we can talk,” I said.
I was right. If I had lost to Jin Cheong, then I would have been in his shoes right now. I would have been labeled as the war criminal Lee Ki-Young, who brought chaos to the continent. I would have lost my head as well. I wasn’t sure if Jin Cheong agreed to my comment, but the demon summoner and masked scum looked at me quietly. He had to have somewhat organized his thoughts because he drank the water he threw aside.
“...”
“...”
“What do you want?” he asked.
The pathetic side of him disappeared. He looked confident, and he finally had the same mindset as the villain he had been in his past life.
“There’s something I want you to testify about,” I replied.
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