Chapter 269
Chapter: 269
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 269
>Chapter Title: The Offering of Penance (1)
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After admiring the gift that wasn't quite a gift and returning to their lodgings together, Logan suddenly spoke up as Seongjin stepped through the entrance.
"Go on in and rest first, Lee Seongjin. I have somewhere to stop by right now."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"I've come to Regina after so long. Of course I should visit the church."
Logan added that he'd planned to visit the church and meet the diocese head from the start.
"What? Then why didn't you say so earlier? Isn't it completely the opposite direction? We came all the way out here, and now you have to head back into the city."
"Still, I had to see you safely into the lodgings. I promised Brother Masain I'd keep a proper eye on you and make sure you didn't get into any trouble."
"......"
Seongjin was dumbfounded.
No wonder. Even when he'd tried to slip away for an outing, Logan had let him go without protest. Was it all because of Logan?
But seriously, how long are they going to treat me like some irresponsible kid? Lord Masain. We're not even that far apart in age, so don't you think the favoritism between me and Logan is a bit much?
And mentally, I'm way more mature!
[That's some top-tier dementia-level nonsense. Maybe they're just treating you like an elder?]
'Shut up!'
Logan explained the church in detail to Seongjin.
The church in Regina was a must-stop for all exorcists and inquisitors patrolling the North.
In the North, where there were no proper dioceses and security was a mess, these holy knights often wandered alone without decent support. Only when they finally reached Regina did they recover their weary bodies and unpack the intelligence they'd gathered.
That made it the prime spot for getting reliable info first on the dark cults in the North, not to mention the latest on devil worshippers.
"Since we'll probably need to form another subjugation force soon, it seems like we should gather North intel in advance and plot a route."
At those words, Seongjin blinked.
"Hang on. Weren't you supposed to stick around the imperial capital this year?"
"That was the original plan, but......"
Logan's face darkened as he trailed off.
After joining up with Seongjin's group, Logan had heard the full details on the herbal tea, Milo Trading Company, and the demon tree's appearance. And it was all but certain that a dark cult was behind it.
He couldn't shake the thought that the dark cult's tentacles had sunk deeper into the North's corners far earlier than he'd imagined.
Above all, the demon's words back in Sigismund territory kept nagging at him.
-Your death had more riding on it than you think! If the guardian hadn't whisked you away, so much would be different now.
They were already coordinating with the Saint Aurelion Knights to dig into it bit by bit, but was that really enough?
Maybe it was time to organize a proper subjugation force for a full-scale, long-term investigation.
"You got a raise for helping with the monster task force in the capital, right? What if they cut it back? After investing in 'Bertran & Lee,' you won't have much left over."
Reading the worried look on Seongjin's sulky face, Logan smiled.
"You said you'd triple it if I just wait a bit, remember? So what's there to worry about?"
"Well, that's true, but......"
"And you're right. His Majesty is a good man, Lee Seongjin."
Meaning he knew the raise wouldn't get yanked back.
Logan's smile faded for a moment as he added that.
"Yeah. Thinking about it, I know that man pretty well. And here I was, awkwardly keeping my distance. Guess that's just me acting spoiled, too."
"......"
"Forget I said that. Don't mind it. See you back at the lodgings later."
* * *
After parting with Logan and finding himself with free time, Seongjin headed to the logistics relay station in the afternoon, accompanied by Lord Masain. He'd already contacted Branch Head Schmidt ahead of time to say he'd be visiting.
But as he climbed the building without a second thought, Seongjin suddenly felt an odd sense of unease.
'Why are there hardly any signs of people?'
It wasn't his imagination—the top floor of the logistics relay was completely empty.
The only one breathing there was Branch Head Schmidt, guarding the office with a face full of tension.
"With Prince Logan of Lilius gracing Regina with his presence, who would dare linger around here?"
Confirming that Seongjin had come without Logan, Schmidt finally let out a sigh of relief.
The demon contractors and demons at the logistics relay had all fled at Logan's approach. The branch head, who couldn't leave or stay upon hearing of Seongjin's visit, had been trembling in indecision. His eyes were already sunken with dark circles from the stress.
"But demon contractors don't usually emit demonic energy, do they? Don't they all attend the Incarnation Festival just fine?"
"Do you know how much effort we put into concealing our demonic energy just for that one day? We avoid even proper communication with our demons for a full month before heading to the capital."
Logan had once sniffed out a demon contractor from Ortona nobility like a ghost and executed them on the spot. Even though it was a low-rank demon contract with barely any trace of demonic energy.
His holy power was so immense that anyone who'd used demon power or summoned kin even once recently would inevitably ping his senses.
It was a blessing Logan had gone to the church instead of tagging along to the relay.
"...So, is that really true?"
Schmidt glanced at Lord Masain waiting outside the office, then lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Hm? What?"
"That Prince Logan is really a sword master?"
"...How did you know that?"
Seongjin gaped, and Schmidt let out a hollow chuckle.
"You shouldn't underestimate the Merchant Alliance's intelligence network."
Even if the margrave was hush-hush, rumors would spread eventually. And it was an achievement that shattered the continent's youngest sword master record multiple times over.
Anyway, getting confirmation from Seongjin, he tilted his head with a strange expression.
"I've heard he's a genius plenty of times. But a sword master before even thirty? Is that even possible for a human? He's not reborn or anything, and not a long-lived other race or demon......"
"Uh, well, yeah. Logan's a particularly exceptional genius."
Like father, like son.
Seongjin stammered, flustered, and Schmidt eyed him suspiciously. But as Seongjin kept dodging his gaze and pretending otherwise, Schmidt sighed and continued.
"Fine, let's say that's true. But with the penance tree popping up this time, and now the continent's youngest sword master out of nowhere—it's all too reminiscent of events from a dozen years ago. Eerily coincidental."
"A dozen years ago?"
"The Ortona civil war."
The pinnacle of human sword talent.
Schmidt said only one name came to mind.
"General Gael Bertran. He was infamous among demons from birth."
"I-infamous? Why?"
Schmidt gave Seongjin, who flinched and bit his tongue again, an odd look.
"Well, his soul was extraordinarily special."
"Special?"
"Yes. To demons' eyes, it was the most radiant soul imaginable. They wanted to contract anything, corrupt him, and claim him on the spot."
If even a mere demon saw it that way, how must the higher demon kings have viewed him?
Ironically, the higher demon kings' influence was huge in Gael Bertran safely growing up to sword master.
Once it became accepted fact he'd belong to a higher demon king, lesser demons weren't even allowed near him.
'These bastards, deciding the fate of someone else's soul like that......'
Seongjin scowled, and the demon king, noticing, quickly soothed him.
[Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Lee Seongjin. Your blood pressure's spiking. He got reborn safely, didn't he? In the end, no one claimed his soul.]
Meanwhile, Schmidt's explanation went on.
"And after a long preparation, the ritual was set."
"Ritual?"
Did demon kings need some special procedure to claim a soul?
Shaking his head at Seongjin's question, Schmidt replied.
"If they'd just wanted Gael Bertran's soul, they could've tricked him into a contract and taken it. But what happened back then was on a whole different level."
Even demons didn't know the full details. It had all been secretly handled by the Penance Cult, dominant in the North at the time.
Anyway, as the civil war neared its end, penance trees sprouted across the North's remote corners. It was like a massive offering sacrificing all of Ortona at once.
And Gael Bertran's soul was to be placed atop it all, like the ripest fruit decorating a giant cake's center.
"But I heard the exorcists' records don't mention any penance trees appearing separately? The last record was centuries ago, around the time of the fifth Holy Emperor, right?"
That would've been when Ortona fell, around his father's younger days.
"The penance trees swallowed five small villages at once. Remote spots, and with the whole continent in chaos from the civil war, everyone just overlooked it. Any witnesses would've been caught up in the demon trees and wiped out anyway."
And the aftermath was just as Seongjin and the demon king suspected.
"Despite years of meticulous prep, the ritual failed for some reason, and the trees were reverse-summoned to the demon realm. With only ruined villages left, nothing got properly recorded."
"......"
Listening to Schmidt, Seongjin was simultaneously thinking of something unrelated: the words of the founding Holy Emperor, Cadmos, who coveted Sisley's body.
-Why damage the child who's to become my new vessel on purpose? He'll offer everything to me!
Sisley had said it.
In the Delcros Chronicle, he'd been the key to a higher demon king's descent, the culprit behind the world's end.
'Of course, the Delcros Chronicle was just that jerk Sigurd Sigurson's nasty prank fabrication.'
But could this really be coincidence?
Failed prophecy or botched plan—why were both his father's sons targets of higher demon kings at the same time?
Lost in deep thought, Seongjin heard Schmidt rub his collar awkwardly.
"Ah. Anyway, it's got nothing to do with us now. The penance tree topic just got me rambling on about irrelevant stuff."
"......"
Seongjin wanted to hear more but didn't press Schmidt as he changed the subject.
He both wanted to hunt down every bastard involved and, for now, didn't want to dig too deep.
"Sorry for wasting your time. Your Highness, there's a lot I need to report now."
Since he wouldn't see Schmidt often, they had to cover everything now. Not just the salmon restaurant prep, but 'Bertran & Lee' operations too.
Mentioning the deal with Hendrick margrave made Schmidt raise an eyebrow slightly.
"I'm truly grateful for securing that near-monopoly chance. It should cover some of our early investment losses. But Hendrick margrave is no pushover."
"Definitely not someone who'd just take a loss."
"Yes. He was quite the cautionary figure for merchants passing through the North. Get caught in his talk, and before you know it, you're obsessed with undercutting other traders' prices—they were all impressed."
That was why no trading company had jumped at an exclusive deal with Sigismund before. The Milo monopoly was exceptional in many ways.
"Speaking of which, any word on Giacomo Milo? What happened to him?"
He'd assumed the guy headed for Regina after his company fell apart. That's why he'd ordered Schmidt to detain him on sight.
But Schmidt shook his head.
"Unfortunately, Giacomo Milo never showed here. Even if he did, he wouldn't show his face easily. Regina and nearby cities have massive wanted posters out."
"...So where the hell did he go?"
Did the guy have somewhere else to hole up?
Per Dasha's intel, Giacomo ran a company named after the Milo count family but had cut ties completely.
Schmidt cast a dry gaze out the window.
"Well, if he went underground, only one place comes to mind."
Seongjin got it immediately.
"...The Penance Cult?"
"Yes, probably."
Nodding back, Schmidt suddenly stared at Seongjin's face as if struck by a thought.
"Why?"
"Oh, nothing. I've thought it before, but Your Highness picks up on things and catches on so quickly than expected."
Talking with you is surprisingly easy, Schmidt muttered, staring into space before adding,
"But seriously, why couldn't you get it through your head that the salmon business wouldn't work......"
"...Hey!"