Chapter 190
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 190
Mermaids were children of the sea.
The sea was a part of them, and they were a part of the sea. Among them, Aria and Iser possessed the authority to interact and communicate with the seas of other dimensions.
And through that sea, Iser caught a familiar scent—the trace of a small, fragile child who somehow reminded him of sunlight.
“…”
“Oh! Eun-ha!”
“…It is Iser.”
Cha Yi-sol greeted him brightly. Dumbfounded, Iser asked, “What on earth are you doing here?”
“We were doing our practical training… sir!”
“A practical training session for Sun Cult novice priests should involve a large group. Why are only the two of you left?”
“Everyone else bolted!”
“Sigh…”
Iruda, standing next to Cha Yi-sol, flinched at the deep sigh. Finding himself in the miserable position of having to cater to the whims of human fledglings, Iser spoke with a grim expression.
“From what I can see, your fellow novice priests abandoned you and fled. Since the scent of blood belongs only to you two, it seems they intentionally left you in harm’s way.”
“You talk too fancy.”
“I would appreciate it if you would decide whether we are speaking formally or informally. To put it simply, it appears the two of you are being ostracized. I believe the term used in Korea is wangtta.”
“Right? It’s super petty.”
“So you aren’t completely oblivious.”
Iser waved his hand, commanding the dungeon’s sea to recede. He had followed a familiar scent from the sea connected to Earth, only to find this mess. They could have been gravely injured if things had gone slightly worse.
If that happened, Teacher would have been sad.
He did not want that.
This child might become Giovanni’s first Apostle.
If it was something that could help Gio in any way, there was no reason not to do it. Iser scanned the now-calm beach of the dungeon. The space in this dimension was quite warped.
“Don’t novice priests usually have a supervising priest?”
“This training session was supposed to be just us.”
“Even so, given the nature of the Korean Sun Cult, there should be personnel monitoring you.”
“Th-that… is that so?”
As Cha Yi-sol stammered, Iruda spoke up instead.
“…Even if they aren’t actively guiding us, there should be a priest stationed nearby in case of a major accident. But because they had to develop an A-Rank Dungeon recently, there weren’t many priests left behind.”
“Are you saying that because of a labor shortage, fewer priests were assigned to monitor your dungeon training? In the Sun Cult, which is practically crawling with humans? Well, the scent of humans is indeed faint in this sea. There must not be many around.”
“It’s true the order has a lot of priests, but very few of them are instructors who look after novices. At most, only two of them probably came today. They were likely so busy managing the other novice priests scattered all over the place that they couldn’t spare a thought for us.”
Cha Yi-sol grumbled.
“It’s because we’re too good.”
“…That might be part of it.”
As a pair with talent that ranked among the very best in their entire Sun Cult class, Cha Yi-sol and Iruda were often evaluated as ‘low-maintenance.’ Consequently, the supervising priests who accompanied them would naturally focus on the novices with a higher risk of injury.
Iser thought to himself, How barbaric.
No matter the dimension, religious orders always had a blind, stubborn streak. They acted as if every problem in the world could be solved by faith alone. They were nothing but fools.
…Or perhaps something of a higher order has reshaped the threads of fate…
A brief doubt crossed his mind, but such matters were not his specialty. He reminded himself of the reason he had personally intervened.
“You’re being reckless. If you die, the Black Cloak will be saddened.”
“Ah, is Hyung doing well?”
“I am no messenger. If you wish to know, you had better contact him directly.”
Making his displeasure abundantly clear, Iser vanished back into the sea, just as he had arrived. Iruda, who had been holding her breath in the presence of the sudden humanoid monster, finally let out a long exhale.
“…Haaaaah…”
“What’s wrong? Were you scared?”
“You’d have to be insane not to be scared.”
“Wh-what about me? Am I insane?”
“Sometimes I do think you’ve lost your mind.”
“I’m a crazy guy?!”
“Shh, quiet.”
Iruda reflexively covered Cha Yi-sol’s mouth, then let go.
“Ah, never mind. Just explain what just happened.”
“Uh… a monster friend I know showed up and helped us out of a tight spot.”
“Do you honestly think that’s a perfect explanation?”
“If you have any more questions, feel free to ask anytime!”
“That is my biggest question.”
Iruda pressed, “Are you close with monsters? Are you a Tamer?”
“I Awakened as a priest, didn’t I?”
“Then with what kind of confidence are you acting all friendly and laughing with them?”
“Eun-ha doesn’t really like me, so I don’t think we’re that close.”
“I was asking why you act so familiar with them when it could be dangerous.”
“I figured we were close enough to at least have a conversation!”
“There goes Cha Yi-sol’s sociability again…”
It was a blindingly bright, headache-inducing level of social skill. To think a monster would appear just to save a human.
“…And there’s one more thing I’m curious about.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Are you really going to become the Apostle of the Black Cloak?”
“So suddenly…?”
“The mermaid who just showed up implied as much.”
The mermaid had definitely said, ‘If you die, the Black Cloak will be saddened.’
“I’m asking if he’s already marked you as his believer.”
“I don’t think it’s quite like that…” Cha Yi-sol tilted his head. “But it is what I want to do!”
“You… if you ever summon the Black Cloak, you have to call me. Got it?”
“Huh? Yeah, I promised you that before. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you.”
Iruda genuinely liked Cha Yi-sol’s bright nature, but it was a different story when his safety was on the line.
It’s not like Cha Yi-sol is the type to harbor hidden motives… but he often acts before he thinks, which always makes my heart stop.
Iruda had to protect Cha Yi-sol, who possessed a powerful talent for being a pushover.
“Ugh, my aching bones…”
“What does ‘aching bones’ mean?”
“It means the muscles and joints in my body.”
“Why are you saying it like that?”
“It’s an expression. It just means my whole body hurts.”
“Ohhh…”
“…”
Unlike Cha Yi-sol, who remained steadfastly himself, Iruda was on the verge of exploding with rage.
…Those bastards dared to do this.
They bolted and left me and Cha Yi-sol behind?
She never imagined she would be stabbed in the back by humans only to be saved by a monster.
I don’t know why that mermaid helped us, but if this is the result of Cha Yi-sol’s insane sociability… our survival is nothing short of a miracle.
Even the monster, who was clearly displeased about helping humans, had openly scoffed at the state of the Sun Cult.
I’d laugh too.
The Sun Cult wasn’t some run-of-the-mill organization; it was a massive religious order representing all of Seoul. No matter how busy they were with an A-Rank Dungeon, managing novice priests this poorly was pathetic.
“…”
No, even this could be part of their political games.
“…This is bullshit.”
“Why is it bullshit?”
“I’m the one who said it, so don’t you use that language.”
“You mean I shouldn’t swear? Got it. But seriously, why?”
“Because no matter how much I think about it, I was too naive.”
There was no guarantee that a religious order would be pure and innocent. If anything, modern priests, harboring blind and arrogant faith, cultivated their political maneuvers even more intensely within their closed environment.
My mother clearly warned me, yet I let things get this bad. How pathetic.
There were only two ways to secure power in a religious order: receive the absolute love of a divinity, or become a master of politics. Otherwise, it was difficult to even have a voice.
I’m not the only one who knows how to use their head.
A priest who had nothing but talent was bound to wither away under intense scrutiny. It was even worse during the novice priest days, when they were still green in many ways. She should have navigated this better.
“To try and break our spirits like this…”
“Who’s breaking spirits?”
“It seems our classmates are determined to break ours.”
Iruda let out a hollow laugh.
“No, to be precise, they were targeting me.”
Cha Yi-sol was a fundamentally likable person, and objectively speaking, he was highly cooperative. Since he even had the makings of a pushover, there was no reason for anyone to deliberately target him and breed ill will.
Yet, simply because he was paired with Iruda, he had been targeted alongside her.
“What kind of trick did they pull, exactly…? Did they bribe the priests? Or maybe they just worked together to distract the instructors. Since our pair is usually low-maintenance…”
“Could you summarize it for me?”
“Even I can’t summarize this easily.”
Although Iruda was quite mature for her age, she was still just a novice priest. She had heard and known a lot, but she lacked experience. She was aware that her classmates disliked her, but this was beyond anything she had expected.
They had truly crossed the line.
“…”
“…Should we get treated first?”
“Let’s do that.”
Iruda didn’t bother asking, ‘Do you regret pairing up with me?’ Cha Yi-sol was not the type to regret such things. Still, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her precious, one-of-a-kind partner.
If he hadn’t paired up with me, he wouldn’t have run into this trouble. No, if only I had paid more attention to my surroundings and behaved more carefully…
No matter how she looked at it, this was a calculated move. Taking advantage of the chaos in the order due to the dungeon development, a few clever classmates must have banded together to plot this. Or perhaps one of them had received backing from someone else.
Otherwise, there’s no way things would have gone this far.
The order was not one to leave precious novice priests neglected until they were gravely injured by monsters and unable to fight. At least, not the Sun Cult she knew. Yet, for things to turn out like this…
Sure enough, the priest who arrived late was utterly horrified.
“Wh-what on earth happened here?! Are you two all right?!”
“The other team members suddenly abandoned our pair and left. So…”
“No, I clearly set up countermeasures… Why was there no contact…?”
Before the training, the supervising priest had said, “You are going in on your own without our help,” but of course, that couldn’t be entirely true. They must have taken magical precautions so that the priests would be contacted if a problem arose.
Yet, if things still turned out like this, someone must have been bribed, or a massive amount of money was spent.
Among the novice priests, there were children from difficult backgrounds like the Carnation Child, but there were also many children with 1st-Grade Citizen status living in the city, like Iruda. Having grown up in environments closely connected to Hunters or the order, their reach for pulling off such schemes would be extensive.
Even so, this was going too far.
The culprit behind this probably wanted Iruda to suffer a critical blow and was willing to take a huge loss to make it happen. Still, it wasn’t something that could be easily brushed aside.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the supervising priest’s expression hardened.
“This incident is the fault of myself and the order. We wish to contact your guardians to offer our apologies and compensation, but… sigh… may we discuss this after the two of you have finished your treatment?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“I am truly ashamed. I apologize once again. Since this was a training session among novice priests, I should have paid closer attention. I was so busy watching the other children that I neglected our most precious talents… No, I am sorry. Let’s head to the infirmary immediately.”
Perhaps unwilling to keep spouting meaningless excuses in front of the children, the supervising priest quickly escorted them to the infirmary. And there, Iruda saw it.
“…”
“…”
One of her classmates was glaring at them with an extremely displeased expression.
…That bastard?
Iruda vowed revenge.
*
A hallway meeting after returning from Jeju Island.
“…Can things really go that far?”
At Ju-hyeon’s question, Yoo Seong-un laughed awkwardly.
“Politics in religious circles are quite fierce.”
“But they’re just novice priests.”
“The younger they are, the more people there are who try to exploit their naivety.”
While subtle power struggles among priests were always a thing, this incident was significant even by those standards. Kang Seo-dam, who had been swamped with the development of the A-Rank Dungeon, had only learned of the situation late before contacting Yoo Seong-un.
He spoke while looking at Gio.
“Priest Kang Seo-dam said he is truly sorry to you. He feels terrible for the parties involved in this incident, and he blames himself for letting this happen in the class he manages, using the excuse of being busy…”
Above all, Cha Yi-sol wanted to become the Apostle of the Black Cloak, and the Black Cloak also found Cha Yi-sol endearing. Prostrating oneself in advance to avoid incurring a divinity’s wrath was a wise decision.
“He said he would willingly accept any punishment.”
“Why would I punish him?”
“I’ll pass that along.”
At that point, Ju-hyeon asked once more.
“I asked earlier, but… does it usually go that far?”
“Hmm?”
“Doesn’t this mean someone broke the safety device meant to protect the novice priests’ lives? No matter how unguided the training was, there must have been plenty of personnel watching from the sidelines. For something of that scale, it feels like it would require an adult’s help rather than just a child’s prank…”
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
“The incident is too big to have been caused simply because a classmate disliked them.”
“That’s true, but…” Yoo Seong-un rubbed his neck. “Isn’t that just how the world is?”
People would trample on others, regardless of age or gender, for even a shred of power. It was a world where one had to live tenaciously and despicably to protect what was theirs, and where doing so was considered wise.
“Why act surprised now?”
“…I suppose I’m not one to talk, having been kicked out by those very politics myself.”
“But it’s true that it was a remarkably bold move for their age group.”
“I feel like there’s more to the story that we don’t know…”
“We can’t possibly know every conspiracy in the world.”
“So the word ‘conspiracy’ finally came out.”
“You could call it a scheme instead.”
Gio nodded.
“It is certain that she is disliked by her peers.”
“Who? Ah, the novice priest named Iruda?”
“Yes. I experienced similar situations several times when I was young.”
Giovanni knew all too well the blind fanaticism of priests. He had not only suffered simple injuries but had also drunk poison that burned his entrails, been pushed off cliffs, and been framed as a demon.
Their reasons for doing such things were diverse. Because they hated seeing him act superior. To break his spirit, make him docile, and exploit him. To eliminate Giovanni early, knowing he was destined to rise to a high position.
“This case likely shares a similar context.”
“For people who claim to serve a god, they really are…”
“Sometimes it was an internal squabble, and other times they joined hands with outsiders. I wonder which one it is this time.”
“Could there be some other massive conspiracy?”
“Well. Rather than a massive conspiracy…” Gio tilted his head. “It might just be a tantrum.”
“What kind of tantrum is this brutal?”
“Indeed.”
*
In the research lab, the red gem became sullen once more.
“Lord Sankalut…!”
“■…”
He wanted to go home, but it was truly not an easy task.