The Church's Bitter Broth
Kain knew that the study of mana was humanity's sole domain in this world, yet mana itself had never belonged to humans alone. Just as there existed those rare individuals called Ebon users who wielded mana from birth, certain animals possessed extraordinary abilities. Humanity had long called such creatures "monsters." Among them, a few individuals developed mana that pooled and hardened inside their bodies like blood clots or gallstones, forming solid masses. These were lumps of mana coalesced through a different principle and shape than mana stones—commonly known as "mana crystals." When properly processed, they became what people called "beast elixirs." However, because mana crystals formed within an animal's body, they inevitably contained large amounts of impurities. During the refining process into elixirs, those impurities were filtered out as residue. That residue was called "Monster Mana Stone Drug," or 3M for short.
The residual mana in the residue would seep into the brain and induce pleasant hallucinations. At the same time, the filthy mana that permeated the body clung to cells like gum, forcibly triggering mutations similar to cancer. Above all, because it acted directly on the brain, its addictiveness was on a level that made ordinary drugs seem tame once someone became truly hooked.
'So that's what's in this.'
Kain kept stirring the miso soup with his spoon. It was a typical thin broth, not the thick stew style he preferred. Wisps of steam rose alongside the faint trace of dirty mana that tickled his nose. Slurp. He took a light sip. The soup was mild and savory, without any stimulating flavor. Some might find it rather bland. Personally, he wished it had a bit more spicy pepper. But the taste of the miso soup wasn't what mattered right now.
'The concentration isn't that high.'
At most, it was only a few drops of 3M extract in that large pot. At this level, it wouldn't cause the severe addiction seen in the news. Still, that didn't mean it had no addictive properties at all. Once someone tasted it, they would instinctively crave more 3M.
'What if they interpreted that craving as faith in God and felt their heated bodies calm down every time they visited the church?'
The believers' faith toward the church would inevitably rise. Spreading faith through drugs. And once people fully believed in something, they found it difficult to abandon it. In other words, this was no different from breeding fanatics for the church.
'The attendees are just minor nobles and a few celebrities.'
At this dosage, it probably wouldn't affect those who had studied magic. So the targets were ordinary people rather than ability users? Kain already knew the truth. Though the church wrapped itself in the banner of good, it was ultimately an organization formed by humans and could never be absolute good. But this went beyond his imagination. Using drugs to increase followers? Was this the will of the entire church, or merely the personal deviation of one regional parish?
"Uncle?"
Kain stared at his food with a serious expression while eating the miso soup. Arina could only watch him blankly, unable to even touch her own meal.
"Does it not suit your taste?"
Layla looked at him with worried eyes for an entirely different reason. At her words, Kain lifted his head while still resting his chin on his hand and looked at Layla. Right. This level wouldn't work on someone with mana inside their body. In other words, Arina would be fine even if she ate it. The problem was the two people in front of him. Layla and Cheom were clearly ordinary people, and they would unknowingly develop an addiction to 3M.
'If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have cared whether they got addicted or not.'
Of all people, the woman in front of him was Arina's favorite celebrity. The very same one who could make her raise her tension several times higher than usual just by meeting her briefly.
'If something goes wrong, the kid will be sad.'
Of course, even if something went wrong, it would only result in her becoming an ardent church believer, so Arina wouldn't even know whether Layla was ruined or not. Still, now that he knew Layla's future would go wrong, he couldn't help but feel a fishbone stuck in his throat.
'It would've been better if I hadn't known at all.'
Did he really have to deal with this just because of the kid? It wasn't even the underworld, so why was the church getting involved with drugs? They really had gone too far. They hated dark mages so much and acted so noble, yet their actions were more outrageous than any dark mage. At least those guys committed terrorism openly. How could they pull something this petty and cowardly?
'So what should I do now……'
Revealing this fact wouldn't be difficult. He could report it to the police right away. If the authorities couldn't handle it, he could use the name of the Death King to summon the Magic Sovereign and bring in even greater power. But no matter what he did, he couldn't avoid causing a commotion. The church was scattering drugs among ordinary people. This was a massive incident comparable to the recent Mana Up incident.
"Tsk."
Kain didn't care what happened to the church. Whether they spread drugs instead of faith or created countless drug addicts because of it, it was honestly someone else's business, someone else's life, and it didn't harm him in any way. Therefore, what Kain was contemplating wasn't such trivial matters. What made him hesitate was that this time was meant to be "memory-making" with Arina. He didn't want to turn those memories into bad ones.
If he revealed this fact right now, given Layla's personality, this event would fall apart one way or another. And if it was widely reported in the news, it was obvious how this incident would be remembered in Arina's memories later.
"It's nothing."
That was why Kain chose to bury this incident. It was a choice that would have shocked Arina if she knew. But to Kain, it was only natural. He was a staunch individualist. No matter what happened to other people, the only thing that mattered to him was protecting Arina's memories.
"You shouldn't eat the miso soup."
His values and sense of justice were completely misaligned. It was truly a sociopathic way of thinking, and Kain himself was well aware of his own tendencies in an objective manner. That was why he cast aside any flimsy excuses and unilaterally expressed his opinion like a command. His way of speaking didn't seek the other party's understanding. And it didn't stop at words—it immediately led to action.
Kain collected all the soup bowls separately placed on the tray and dumped them into the leftover food bin without the slightest hesitation.
'The rice and meat seem fine.'
It was probably because it was easier to put it in the soup. The drug was only in the broth.
"I'm going to the restroom for a bit, so keep eating."
Then he lightly pressed down on Arina's head and walked off somewhere with his hands in his pockets. The series of actions happened so naturally that no one had time to stop him. It was his usual self-centered behavior, but those who didn't know his personality couldn't possibly understand it.
"What the hell? Seriously?"
Cheom belatedly showed a flustered expression and stared at Kain's retreating figure after having the miso soup taken away right before his eyes.
"……"
Layla felt just as displeased. Had it really tasted that bad? But that didn't mean he had to throw it away so openly. It wasn't polite to the person who made it, nor was it polite to them. Did he think only his own opinion mattered? Then he should have just not eaten it himself—why did he have to throw away everyone else's too? She had never met such a rude person in her life.
"I'm sorry."
Arina quickly bowed her head and apologized while alternating her gaze between Kain's retreating figure and the two people's faces.
'Why would Uncle do that?'
Having lived with Kain for the past two years, Arina knew that Kain would never do something like this without a reason. It couldn't have been because the food didn't suit his taste either. Wasn't Kain the type who would eat any food, no matter how bad, without being picky? In other words, there must be another reason this time, but he clearly had no intention of explaining what it was to Arina. When he wanted to hide something, he tended to avoid conversation altogether rather than lie.
'Was there something wrong with the miso soup?'
Maybe the ingredients had gone bad, or perhaps there were bugs in it. Arina couldn't even imagine that drugs might have been involved, so she could only keep bowing her head to soothe the two people's moods.
"……"
Kain had hidden the fact that there were drugs in the miso soup to protect Arina's memories, but he hadn't anticipated that his rude behavior would ruin the memory-making in a different way. He only stopped walking after leaving the walking path and reaching a place with few people.
"Come out."
Then, leaning his back against a large tree, he called out to someone. With those words, a man appeared before him at some point and knelt on one knee in prostration.
"You called for me."
It was Jealousy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the underworld. Normally, he extremely disliked it when his clothes or shoes got dirty, yet he bowed his head without caring at all about the dust on his pants or shoes in front of Kain. Kain looked down at him indifferently.
"You already know the situation, right?"
Previously, Jealousy had moved carefully only beside Arina for fear of being discovered by Kain, but after his identity was revealed, his actions became unrestrained. He had even disguised himself as a homeless person and eaten right next to them.
"Yes, of course."
The miso soup was so tasteless that it was understandable why the master had thrown it away. If he were to exaggerate, it was food waste that even made one's appetite disappear outright. To think there would be someone trying to feed drugs to the master. It was so absurd that even laughter wouldn't come out at an incident that would never occur even in the lawless underworld.
"Then you know what you have to do, right?"
Kain's eyes behind his thick glasses rippled with purple light. He might forget favors, but he never forgot grudges. No matter how trivial.
"Erase everything related to this incident."
Whether it was intentional or not wasn't important. How dare they try to feed drugs to the kid? He had no intention of making this public, but Kain had no plans to let this matter slide either.
"If it's not just the regional church but the entire church that's involved, tell Pride to negotiate with the Magic Sovereign again."
If necessary, he would erase the entire church from this world. Of course, the church's power wasn't to be underestimated either. Just as the underworld exerted its influence across the entire continent, the church also extended its influence throughout the continent. However, Kain, who had once waged war against the great nature of Yggdrasil simply because it displeased him, would never hesitate to bring down the church.
"Understood."
Jealousy accepted his will without the slightest doubt or defiance. After all, the Seven Deadly Sins were nothing more than tools to achieve whatever Kain desired. If he wanted something, they would accomplish it.
"……"
Kain quietly closed his eyes as if to calm his anger while watching Jealousy disappear along with his answer.
'The church, huh……'
They really had bad luck. Whether they rejected dark mages or not, he had honestly lived without caring because it was bothersome, yet they had to get involved with him in this way. The church truly had terrible luck.
"……"
Thinking that, Kain let out a small chuckle and opened his eyes, then adjusted his slightly slipped glasses. He then lifted his back from the tree and slowly walked back toward where Arina was.