Chapter 26 - Pull Yourself Together!
Chapter 26 - Pull Yourself Together!
After the completion ceremony ended, I was lurking around the church with Jiren and the guards, dressed in Shadow Warrior outfits.
Jiren and the guards, who had wanted to drink heavily at the banquet following the ceremony, were naturally very dissatisfied.
"Edric-nim, do we really have to go this far?"
"We want to rest, too."
Hehehe, they've lost their discipline, these bastards.
But I was a sensible modern person.
I offered a reward that would sensibly make their motivation to work spring forth.
"50% overtime bonus, and when we get back to the Capital, I'm treating everyone at Venus."
Venus was a high-class bar in the Capital where, in modern terms, you'd easily drop 1 million won per person.
At my words, the eyes of Jiren and the guards began to regain their focus.
"For the Imperial Family, this much overtime is nothing!"
"I can even do it until tomorrow!"
Hehehe, as expected, reasonable compensation is the best way to get people to work.
After waiting in the darkness like that for an hour, the Princess appeared.
"Edric-nim... Her Highness the Princess is moving."
"Right, we're moving too."
We moved through the darkness, following the Princess.
After she followed the Cardinal into the church, we tried to follow them in.
But...
Click-!
"What the?"
"... It's locked, Edric-nim."
The church door was locked.
As I struggled with the door to open it quietly and looked for another entrance, grotesque sounds began to be heard from inside.
Pshook-!
"Argh!"
"Lu! Lumiel-nim, why!? Kuh-heok!!"
The sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing... Faint, but the unmistakable sound of slaughter drifted out of the church.
I hurriedly looked for a place to break in, but the doors and windows on the first floor of the church wouldn't budge.
"Advisor-nim, the first floor has been sealed with magic!"
"What the f*ck... isn't there another entrance!?"
"I don't feel any magical reaction on the second floor. If it's there..."
I looked where Jiren was looking.
There, I saw a stained-glass window depicting the One God, which looked incredibly expensive.
What should I do... Ah, screw it! I don't care!!
"There's no time! We're smashing the second-floor stained glass and going in!"
"Pardon? But that's blasphemy, and the artistic value...!"
"I'll take responsibility!"
Having made my decision, I smashed through the second-floor stained glass and entered.
I took the lead.
I was someone who had learned about people who take responsibility through a certain game in my past life.
Crash-!
And this was the current situation.
To describe the situation in front of me in one word, it was a total disaster.
It was already a disaster that the Cardinal was a Worshipper of the Dead King, but even Lumiel, the Princess's chief attendant, was a Worshipper of the Dead King!
It was truly news that would go down in Imperial history.
"My, there are a lot of guests in the middle of the night."
"This, too, is the grace of the Dead King, hehehe."
Seeing the two people with snake eyes in front of me, the atmosphere was absolutely chilling.
They had yellow snake eyes, some scales were visible on their bodies, and their bodies were twisted in bizarre ways, making it look like they were truly possessed by demons.
Is this the sight priests see when they perform exorcisms?
If it were me, I think I would've quit after a week.
Glance—
"Move to the first floor quickly! Hurry!"
"Lane, go immediately and call the priests!"
Looking up, it seemed like Jiren and the guards needed a bit more time to get in.
I spoke to them to buy some time.
"Cardinal-nim, Lumiel-nim. What are you trying to do to Her Highness the Princess?"
"What do you mean, 'what are we trying to do'?"
At my words, Lumiel twisted his neck bizarrely.
Do they really have to do a joint show just to answer a question?
"We were merely trying to deliver the gospel of eternal life to Her Highness."
Are those the eyes of someone delivering the gospel?
I was dumbfounded by Lumiel's answer, delivered with eyes even more grotesque than a snake's.
Beside him, the Cardinal also spoke with a bizarre wheezing sound.
"Sir Edric, your eyes are filled with intense greed. You're similar to us. How about it? Why not join us? With the Dead King's grace, you could enjoy whatever wealth and glory you desire for eternity."
It's fine that he said my eyes are filled with greed. Because it's true.
But I couldn't stand him saying I was similar to them!
Are your eyes broken? Where am I similar to you bastards!
I have a snake-like face, not snake eyes!
Just as I was about to refuse, Princess Camilla grabbed my sleeve tightly.
Clench-
"Your Highness the Princess?"
When I looked back, the Princess's face was filled with terror.
She looked up at me with a very haggard expression.
"Ed... Edric... You won't betray me. Right?"
It seemed she was in deep shock that the Cardinal was a Worshipper of the Dead King and that Lumiel had betrayed her.
Man... she was always so cold and snappy, but seeing her like this, she just looked like an ordinary beautiful girl.
Honestly, considering what I'd been through, I wanted to make a joke like, 'Do I still look like Edric to you?', but...
I thought of the Prince's words and the 72 billion mansion, and holding her hand, I said:
"Do not worry. I will not betray the Imperial Family."
"Ah..."
Only then did I feel the tension in Camilla's hand loosen.
Watching that, the Cardinal said as if it were a pity.
"My... what a waste. You could have been a truly excellent compatriot... It's such a shame."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'll decline. I may like snake wine, but I don't believe in snake gods. Why don't you go ask someone else?"
"... Pitiful. In the end, there will just be more corpses."
"Weren't you planning on turning us all into corpses anyway?"
Yes, this was also one of the reasons I refused.
Lane, one of the guards, had gone to call the priests.
So, in about 10 minutes, the priests would storm in here, but these guys were way too relaxed.
That meant... those bastards never had any intention of letting us live from the start.
At my words, the Cardinal and Lumiel let out an unpleasant laugh.
"Hehehe... What a waste, I thought you could have been a truly useful compatriot."
"This, too, is fate, is it not? It's unfortunate, but we have no choice but to make Sir Edric a victim of a massive fire as well."
These guys were planning to burn everything down!
If they burned everyone involved in a massive fire, in this world without things like CSI, it would effectively be the perfect destruction of evidence.
Before I even had time to be surprised by their plan, I saw something even more shocking in front of me.
"Then, let us begin."
"Yes, let's."
The Cardinal and Lumiel... both of their bodies began to twist bizarrely.
Their clothes tore and flesh burst out, and as their bodies tangled together, they transformed into a snake monster with a massive human torso, a snake's tail, and two heads.
Wow... I'm glad I didn't betray them. That would've been a horrific visual.
Seeing the grotesque monster with two heads and a human body, the guards faltered and said.
"It... It's the Dead King!"
"The Dead King has been resurrected."
Did the Dead King look like that?
Come to think of it, the symbol of the Dead King was a human body with a snake's head depicted on it.
If so, it might look like that.
"Shhhhh... Then everyone... die!"
The snake monster, born from the fusion of the Cardinal and Lumiel, began to hiss and emit killing intent.
They really turned into snake bastards.
Actually, I saw the snake monster, but I wasn't very scared.
Because I had seen the Cardinal's tentacles get cut by a dagger earlier.
I don't know much about the Dead King event, but if they're guys who get cut by a mere silver dagger, there's nothing to be afraid of!
Whoosh— Boom!!
"Kuh-heok!"
"D-dodge!"
"The pillar was blown away!?"
As if reading my thoughts, the snake monster swung its tail.
In that one strike, one guard was slammed into the wall and retired, and Jiren and the remaining guards were busy running away.
What the f*ck, they were terrifying bastards!?
I felt my life was in danger and tried to get out of the way quickly.
Then...
Clench-
"?"
No! I'm in mortal danger right now, what is this again!?
I hurriedly looked at Camilla, and she was still in a mentally broken state, looking at me like a puppy caught in the rain as she spoke.
Oh... I'm screwed.
"Edric... Don't abandon me. Please..."
"Your Highness the Princess, you can't do this here. We need to get out of here first."
Bang—!
"Kyaaaaaa!"
I thought Camilla had snapped out of it because of what I said earlier.
But she hadn't.
Camilla seemed completely mentally broken as she clung to me even more.
I hurriedly picked up Camilla and dove behind a pillar that was still intact.
And looking out from behind the pillar, the snake monster was still rampaging.
Pshoo-! Pshoo-!
"Shoot! Fire the silver crossbows!"
Jiren and the guards kept their distance from the snake monster and fired their silver crossbows wildly.
But the monster's scales must have been tough, because they all bounced off.
Ting-! Ting-!
"Shhhhh... Did you think you could catch us with mere weapons like that?"
"Foolish bastards..."
The snake monster sneered and slowly approached to finish them off.
If I left it like this, Jiren and the guards' lives would be in danger.
"Ed... Edric-nim! Please save us!"
"Don't worry, Jiren! I'm coming!"
I was about to rush in, do-or-die, to save them.
At that moment, the Princess pulled on my clothes again.
Clench-
"D-don't go! Edric! Please..."
Seriously, this Princess's mental state is completely shot.
I want to soothe her gently, but looking at the situation, if I leave it like this, everyone's going to die.
After agonizing over it, I decided to use shock therapy.
"Your Highness the Princess! Please forgive my rudeness."
"Pardon?"
Slap-!
I slapped Princess Camilla right across the face.
Camilla's face was filled with shock after being slapped.
"Snap out of it, Camilla! Have you forgotten your mother's teachings!"
I said, gripping the shoulders of Camilla, who was dazed from the shock.
It's time to inject some mental fortitude into the Princess.