Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: The Illegal Gambling Den of the Pleasure District and the Demon Race (2)
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Lucia spoke without thinking and then flinched.
It was a natural reaction. In the Holy Ramir Empire, any mention of the demon race was taboo. Depending on the content, it could even bring the inquisitors down on you.
"I misspoke. Please pretend you didn't hear that, Lord Julian."
"It's fine, Lucia May. You're not wrong."
At my words, Lucia turned her head sideways and stared at me intently. Her pink eyes awaited my next words.
"The demon race are just people, after all. Sometimes good, sometimes evil. But that professor's explanation is far too narrow-minded."
Lucia looked slightly surprised by my words. Her expression made it clear she hadn't expected that at all.
But she didn't say more and fell silent. The topic was too dangerous for anything beyond that.
I didn't press her either. Her reaction just now had confirmed she was definitely connected to the demon race.
'Lucia just said that professor knows nothing about the demon race.'
On the contrary, it meant she knew the true nature of the demon race, not the wicked image spread by the world. Of course, that didn't mean they were purely good.
Their leader, the Demon King, was a being who had contracted with high-ranking demon nobles under the Demon God. Still, if Lucia held any goodwill toward the demon race, it would certainly make things easier for me moving forward.
'And what was that sensation from earlier?'
When the professor insulted the demon race, killing intent had boiled up inside me unbidden. It felt like hearing someone viciously curse my parents.
If the demon transformation's influence was this strong, I'd need to prepare countermeasures. I couldn't let emotions interfere with what I had to do. A thought came to me right then.
'Wait. Don't I have the rosary? If it's my mother's... Agnes's item, maybe?'
According to what I knew from Demon King's Son Surviving in the Holy Empire, Agnes had known Riel's true identity as Demon King Lucifer. And as the Saintess, she possessed abilities close to future sight. There was every chance she'd prepared something in the rosary ahead of time.
Agnes's cross, the rosary—touching it lightly made the lingering embers of anger fade away. As expected of a unique item.
'Good thing it worked as I thought.'
This should let me control my emotions toward the demon race for the time being. Thanks to that, I could listen to the rest of the professor's lecture more calmly.
"...The sacred obelisk created by Marius, the great saint and former cardinal of old. Everyone should know of that sacred obelisk. By installing them across the entire empire, our Holy Empire simultaneously repelled invasions from wicked magical beasts and the demon race..."
This time, the lecture covered the sacred obelisks. They were structures that disrupted the demonic energy—mahon power—emitted by magical beasts from pooling in one place.
But as expected, the professor's explanation was nonsense. It was true that the sacred obelisks played a major role in preventing higher-grade magical beasts from entering the capital.
However, contrary to what he claimed, they had no effect on the demon race. Magical beasts and the demon race were entirely separate existences to begin with. As I'd said, the demon race were far closer to humans than magical beasts.
Moreover, sacred obelisks could only exist with the demon race. Lucia's expression soured, as she clearly knew that fact too.
'Some of the major sacred obelisks were definitely made by grinding up demon race members, according to the truth I know.'
They'd literally sacrificed demon race by pulverizing them inside the obelisks. Dragon hearts. Or world tree seeds planted in elf hearts.
Those powerful mana sources served as excellent power cores for the massive sacred obelisks.
For an empire that called itself holy, they'd done things more vicious than your average demon.
'Anyway, the fact that Lucia knows that far means she's definitely been in contact with those two.'
The human sacrifices for sacred obelisks were a forbidden secret that could never be revealed to the world. Because of the massive sacred obelisks in the capital, two important demon race figures were hiding there in secret.
If I could meet them, I could progress the demon transformation quest. So I absolutely had to make contact with those two.
The lecture ended. Lucia gave me a light nod and left the classroom. She seemed eager to talk more about me and the demon race, but...
Unfortunately, there were too many eyes in this lecture hall.
'Well, we'll meet again soon enough.'
I left the classroom too. There were no more lectures that afternoon, so I headed straight back to the mansion.
A few days later, I was preparing to head out in the late evening.
"Young master. You're going out again tonight?"
"Yes. Eirin, don't wait up for me even if I'm late. Get some sleep. That's an order."
Eirin looked worried. She must have thought the delinquent young master had changed a lot. But considering where I'd been going the past few days, she had every reason to be anxious again.
The place I was heading now was the pleasure district in the imperial capital.
I'd asked Coachman Hans to keep my visits there secret from Eirin.
'Eirin's been quite emotional lately. No need to give her more needless worries.'
Smart as she was, Eirin probably had a hunch where I was going anyway. But I headed to the pleasure district regardless.
The Daern River crossed the imperial capital. South of it lay the imperial palace, the nobles' residential districts, and major facilities like the Pantheon clustered together.
On the flip side, the commoners mostly lived north of the Daern River. The pleasure district sat along the northern riverbank.
Arriving there, it was like another world—even in the dead of night, lights blazed everywhere. Orange lamps twinkled amid the densely packed buildings and entertainment spots. Being Friday night, crowds overflowed the streets.
I stepped down from the carriage and entered alone. Uriel had wanted to follow me this far, but I'd told her it was fine.
Having already successfully hunted a rank-3 magical beast, and with my poison immunity besides, I was beyond needing an escort knight. Uriel could stick to being my swordsmanship instructor now.
I wandered the pleasure district alone. Fabian had given me a map of the building with the gambling den marked. Finding the illegal gambling hall wasn't hard.
I stopped in front of a very ordinary two-story building. To an outsider, it looked like a plain shop utterly out of place in the pleasure district.
But as I stood at the entrance, a building guard blocked my path.
"What business brings you here?"
Instead of words, I handed over my entry pass. The guard nodded and called over a separate attendant.
"Follow me, please. And kindly wear this."
The attendant handed me a mask that covered only my eyes. Being an illegal gambling den, they apparently kept entrants' identities secret. At the same time, a system alert appeared.
Maybe because it wasn't your average gambling den, I got a rather unique title. And with my GP running low at just the right time, it wasn't a bad reward.
'To frequent a place like this so casually... Fabian's got no fear.'
For the religiously fervent Holy Empire's capital to host an illegal gambling den like this was no small thing.
But contrary to Cardinal Griuus—the empire's real power holder—who always preached religious piety, Imperial Capital Teria had this thriving underworld.
Shady gangs backing it, corrupt elements in the capital guard... Even Cardinal Griuus was receiving hefty kickbacks from this place, so the scale was beyond imagination.
'The turf wars between those factions could get in the way of nest strategies later. I've done quests related to that before.'
Titles like the one above popping up meant for the future, I'd have to kill who needed killing and spare who needed sparing.
Anyway, if a Pantheon cadet got caught coming here, it'd be suspension at minimum. Golden Sun Fabian seemed to lack any such sense of danger.
I descended to basement level 2. The attendant opened a thick door there, revealing an underground space utterly unlike the exterior building.
The air buzzed with noise from all directions. It was like a medieval Las Vegas casino.
Amid thick tobacco smoke, masked people were lost in frenzied gambling. Having visited the past few days, I'd grown familiar with the place and naturally sat at one table.
Not particularly interested in gambling, I chose the baccarat table I'd tried with Chloe during the last mission.
"You look young, but impressive. This isn't a place you can enter without some serious coin."
The middle-aged man beside me spoke, sounding surprised as he eyed me.
As he said, entry required not just a membership but a minimum amount of money. I'd brought 1500 gold today—roughly 15 million won in value.
'Without much thought, that money would vanish in under 30 minutes.'
The Reinhardt family's wealth wasn't lacking, of course. Part of this sum came from selling mahon stones from the last mission to the Pantheon.
'They valued them higher than rank-3 beasts, so I made a tidy profit.'
I'd topped it off with some of my own pocket money. Anyway, it was all my money—no need to waste it on pointless gambling.
Baccarat odds were close to even. I bet the minimum to minimize losses and just killed time.
A short while later.
The gambling hall was spacious despite being underground. Guards responsible for handling trouble patrolled everywhere.
'The quest should be popping soon.'
Among those guards, I finally spotted a familiar head of pink hair. No doubt, it was Lucia.
The reason I'd been coming here these past few days? To meet Lucia in this gambling den. Looking at her triggered the expected system alert.
She wore a half-mask covering her eyes like me, but I recognized her instantly.
'So she was working as a guard here after all.'
Playing as Lucia meant always being short on cash unlike with Julian. Without taking any jobs, you'd hit a bad end fast.
Her adoptive father, Baron Joshua, covered tuition and allowance from the Pantheon. But shady affiliations meant Lucia had expenses everywhere.
'She must be spending a fair bit on those two demon race members too.'
One way she earned that money was as a guard in this illegal gambling den. If she'd clocked in as a guard today...
It meant her current D-rank danger level guaranteed some incident here tonight.
Just then, our eyes met. Surprise flashed across her puzzled expression. She'd recognized me too.
A moment later, the expected commotion erupted. At the table where I sat, another sleazy middle-aged man started causing a scene.
"This gambling den's a scam!! Fuck!! How the hell does this shit happen?!"
While I'd held even, he'd blown 3000 gold—nearly 30 million won—in moments. Losing that much would snap anyone's reason. The guards took notice.
A guard who wasn't Lucia approached and tried to calm him.
"You can't cause a ruckus here. Please calm down and come with us."
He spoke calmly. Being a secret membership den—even if illegal—the guards stayed polite. At least inside, they never laid hands on rowdy customers directly.
From watching the past few days, some patrons were worse than this guy. Guards always just quietly escorted them out.
But unexpectedly, the sparks flew my way.
"While I lost 3000 gold, this bastard hasn't dropped a single coin. Huh? He's a shill, isn't he? Suspicious as hell!!"
The middle-aged man grabbed my collar. He'd clearly lost his mind from the massive loss.
'But why pick on me?'
Just as I was about to act, a thwack rang out, and someone's fist slammed into the man's face.
"You crazy bastard, putting your filthy hands where they don't belong!"
Pink hair swayed before me. Unexpectedly, Lucia had rushed over and knocked flat the middle-aged man who'd hassled me.
I overheard her muttering under her breath in agitation.
"As if you know who the count is, daring to... lay a hand on his precious body... you pig bastard..."
Lucia seemed to have lost it over me.