Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Those Plotting an Evil Conspiracy
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“...”
“...Sniff... Sob...”
After Polena finished her story, I sat in heavy silence for a moment. Beside me, Kazeros was once again overcome with emotion, tears streaming down her face as she looked at us.
And watching us like that, Polena spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.
“All this time... I kept holding back... and holding back more, trying somehow to forget it all. Telling myself it was unavoidable... that it was just the natural flow of events... But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. Just yesterday, someone I'd been laughing and talking with was found as a corpse, and another person I'd shared laughs and chatter with turned into a bloodstained murderer...”
“...”
Listening to Polena, I couldn't help but feel deep empathy for her.
As someone from foreign lands, Polena naturally had a very open-minded way of thinking in many ways.
From her perspective, she could never watch sanely as friends killed each other over something as trivial as religious differences.
And that went for me too—as someone who had possessed this body after coming from the modern world.
Of course, I acknowledged that religion had its own values and certainly positive aspects.
But I could never approve of people being so consumed by it that they lost the ability to judge right from wrong and went on mindless rampages.
'And if those crazed fools were my friends, there's no way I could just stand by and watch. I'd definitely try to stop it, no matter what it took.'
As I came to understand why Polena was staking her very life on resolving this, she looked at me and pleaded once more in a voice thick with desperation.
“I'm begging you one more time. If I'm not enough... if there's anything else you want, just tell me. I'll do anything to stop this. So please... please...”
“...Haa...”
Her earnest plea continued.
In response, I let out a deep sigh and turned my thoughts to the conclusion I'd already reached in my heart.
'In a situation like this... there's no way I could refuse anyway.'
Now that I knew her circumstances and could empathize with the mental anguish she'd endured, with her bowing her head repeatedly and begging for my help, it was more than enough to shake my resolve.
And on top of that, with Kazeros right beside me gazing at me with tear-filled eyes, I realized there was no escaping this.
'So... I guess I have no choice but to spend some time here? My schedule was already tight, and now it's going to be even more squeezed.'
By now, Sisyphus was probably holding his coronation as the next emperor.
Considering the chain of events tied to him, there wasn't much time left before the Holy Empire got swept up in the storm of civil war.
Aware of that fact...
I spoke to the two women looking at me with eyes brimming with desperate hope, my voice resigned.
“Haa... Alright... If you're asking like that... I'll help you.”
“Ah!”
“Th-thank you... Truly... thank you so much!”
Polena bowed repeatedly toward me the moment I answered, while Kazeros already showed profound relief even before we'd started.
Seeing them like this, I felt a slight weight of burden settle on me compared to before.
'Well, Polena makes sense, but... isn't Kazeros trusting me a bit too much? Her face says she already thinks it's all over.'
Of course, if our plan worked well, there'd be no issue. But regardless, the fact that someone placed this level of complete trust in me brought a wry smile to my lips.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After sealing the 'contract' with Polena, Kazeros, Polena, and I went upstairs to rent a room and discuss the details more thoroughly.
“Then... allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Santana Andreas. And this is...”
“Holy Knight Kazeros Sophia. Pleased to meet you.”
“Santana... and Ka...zeros?”
Polena made a slightly odd expression for a moment. But then she smiled again and looked at us.
“As I said earlier, my name is Polena. I don't have a family name.”
She spoke in a light tone.
Not having a surname was a bit unusual, but there was no need to dwell on it, so I just thought, Oh, okay, and let it go.
More importantly, we got right down to business seriously.
With time being short, we needed to move as quickly as possible here.
To that end, I began questioning Polena about the matters we'd discussed earlier.
“First, regarding the things I mentioned needing— the information I'm about to request, and connections to influential people in this city. Can you provide those?”
“Of course. Don't worry about the connections; I have quite a wide network despite appearances. From the city's street kids to the lord's closest aides. Since they all come here as customers, I have plenty of people I can ask for help or chat with.”
As the top server in the city's hottest tavern with a friendly personality, Polena's abilities in networking and gathering info here were quite reliable.
It was like how, in the Joseon era, the madam of a brothel was one of the best-connected people.
“Good. Next, the information part. Please answer my questions from now on as best you can. If there's anything you can't answer right away, mobilize that 'network' of yours to gather even basic intel.”
“Yes, understood.”
With enthusiastic resolve, she began answering my questions one by one.
But contrary to my slight worries, the things she knew were more varied and in-depth than I'd expected.
“So... this is the info on everyone who's been attacked so far?”
“Yes. Atol the salt merchant... Cheri the glassworker... They might be fading from people's memories now, but they were all hardworking folks who'd made good money.”
“I see... And they all showed interest in heretical doctrines during that time.”
“Yes, but... honestly, even I was a bit shocked about Ellen. I never saw any sign of it, but to think she was into heresy... She went to church regularly, so I thought she was devout. And many others who didn't seem particularly interested in church turned out to be heretics too...”
“Hmm...”
Based on Polena's testimony, I analyzed the situation and began piecing together a plan step by step.
We three—identifying the ringleader, learning their tendencies and authority, and building a strategy around that.
After about three days immersed in intel gathering here...
We finally completed the full blueprint connected to this incident.
“That went faster than expected.”
“Yes... Without your help, Polena, this timeline would have been impossible.”
“Hee-hee, thanks for the praise. So... shall we get started?”
Polena spoke with high energy once more.
Seeing her like that, Kazeros and I both smiled.