Chapter 281 : Come Here!

I had a dream.

I was walking down the street when a man with a red bathtub on his head walked towards me.

The bathtub was full of water, and the man was walking very carefully and slowly, as if he didn't want to spill a single drop of water.

I stared at him blankly and then asked the man.

"Excuse me. Why are you walking with a red bathtub on your head?"

Then the man answered.

"This is your..."

"My?"

"Your..."

"..."

Since he didn't answer, I kicked his leg and knocked him down.

I stared blankly at the bathtub from which water was pouring out, then I squatted down in front of the fallen man and asked.

"What is it?"

The man looked at me.

"This is your..."

"Agh."

I woke up from my dream while beating up the man.

I scratched my head and sat up in bed.

"...What a strange dream."

As if he had been watching, the Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue.

[You always have dreams like yourself.]

"What do you mean, dreams like me?"

[Strange dreams.]

"..."

I got up and left the room.

"Haaam..."

As I went down the stairs, yawning, I saw four men sitting at a table, having breakfast together.

Among them, a man who was covered in bandages and was a complete mess tried to get up from his seat, but he let out a groan of "Keuk!" and sat back down.

Despite being stopped by the person next to him, the man, with an indomitable will, finally stood up and bowed his head to me.

"I was not in my right mind last night, so I couldn't greet you."

He certainly hadn't been in his right mind.

Since he had been beaten up by them until he fainted.

"My name is Jacob. Thank you for your help...!"

I waved my hand.

"I get it, so sit down."

"Yes, sir."

I sat down at the next table and asked Neyman.

"How is he?"

Neyman, who was chewing on bread, answered.

"He won't die."

"Then that's fine."

I called the waiter and ordered a meal, and then said.

"Yesterday, I saw some guys chasing these guys like the sun. Can you get them out secretly?"

"It won't be easy."

"So it's possible."

"Probably."

"I'll have Shushuruta help you, so get out of this city as soon as possible. It'll get noisy if you stay any longer. If you need any funds, ask Shushuruta for more."

Neyman's face brightened, as if he had seen a ray of hope at the end of despair.

"Of course, I'm not saying you both should go. I need someone to guide me on the way back, so one person stays."

Neyman and Daryl looked at each other.

A suffocating tension enveloped the two.

"Daryl."

Flinch.

"You take him. Neyman, you stay."

"...!"

In a moment, joy and sorrow were divided.

Neyman's face turned ashen, while Daryl's rough face bloomed like a flower.

He chuckled and patted Neyman's shoulder.

"I'll go first. Let's see each other alive."

"..."

Jacob bowed his head again and again.

"How can I ever repay this kindness..."

"Of course, it's not for free. Did you say your name was Jacob?"

"Yes. That's right."

"Jacob, and the kid. This way."

When I beckoned with my finger, the kid named Johan stood up from his seat.

"Bring the stew you were eating. You have to finish it."

"Yes."

Jacob and Johan moved to the table across from me with the stew they were eating.

Just then, the meal I had ordered also arrived, and I said, eating my share of the stew.

"Listen while you eat. As you know, I came because this kid called me."

And then, I took out the crumpled letter and held it out in front of them.

Jacob took it and read it, then looked at me with surprised eyes.

"...You came all this way just because of this one letter?"

"Half right, half wrong. It's true that I came here after reading this letter, but I didn't come solely to save you. We're not that full of a sense of justice."

"Then...?"

"The Saint of Pure White. She's my younger sister."

"...!"

The two brothers' eyes widened.

"I was wondering where she was and what she was doing. To think she's stuck in a den of such holy believers. It's ridiculous, ridiculous."

I shook my head from side to side.

To think she would be in the Holy Empire.

I couldn't have imagined it.

It was an even more unexpected move, especially since she was a girl who didn't believe in any god.

What kind of wind had blown?

"I came to save my younger sister, so you don't have to be so grateful. Rather, thanks to you, I found out that Siri is here, so I should be the one to thank you."

"Ah, no, sir."

Jacob waved his hands.

"Then let's just say this is for saving your brother. How about it?"

When I held out my fist to the kid, he bumped his small fist against mine.

"Okay."

I grinned and ate the stew.

"Of course, getting you out of the cult's grasp. It's not completely free. I officially wrote up a commission contract yesterday."

Johan nodded, and Jacob, as if he had heard it for the first time, looked at his younger brother with a slightly surprised face.

"You must be happy to have such a smart younger brother. I'm worried because my younger sister is a bit dazed."

"...I've only had a lot of trouble because I have a useless older brother."

Jacob, who had been stroking the kid's head for a moment, looked at me.

"You wrote a commission contract with this kid?"

"Yes."

"By any chance... how much should we pay you as a reward? We don't have much money on us... ah, of course, I'm not saying we can't pay you right away, but we will definitely pay you back."

"The reward I want is not something like that. I'm not interested in money."

Jacob's face was filled with curiosity.

"Then...?"

"Everything you know about the Saint of Pure White, what you've heard, what you've witnessed, what you've seen yourself, what you've seen in your dreams. Tell me everything without leaving anything out."

* * *

"Mmm."

I skimmed through the paper on which I had recorded all the information that the brothers had spat out.

Most of it was not much different from the information that Shushuruta had told me.

In particular, since they had hidden Siri so well, it was hard to find any eyewitness accounts.

"The only valid thing is this."

Jacob said he had been seriously injured while fighting in the underground fighting arena, to the point where his life was in danger.

To the point where even potions couldn't heal him.

He thought he was going to die, but suddenly, he felt a warm light shining down on him, and the pain disappeared as if it had been washed away.

In a dazed state, he barely opened his eyes and saw the back of a saint with snow-white hair walking away.

He said she looked like an angel who had come down from heaven.

"That's what he said. What do you think?"

Lyle, who was eating stew across from me, blinked.

"It sounds like Siri only appears when you're beaten to the point of death."

"Exactly."

"...So you're saying I have to get beaten up like that?"

"Can't you do that much for our Siri?"

"No, but still, that's a bit."

The debauched knight, who really didn't want to get beaten up, racked his brain.

"Then how about this. What if we just win?"

"Win?"

"So, the reason they saved that guy who was dying was to extort money from him, right?"

"That's right."

"But if we win and are in danger of losing that huge prize money. Won't they be flustered? Like, what's coming has come."

"Hmm. Continue."

"Then we say this. Instead of the prize money, I want to see the face of the famous Saint of Pure White and receive a holy blessing directly."

"Mmm."

"They even treated a guy who was rolling on the street and dying, so can't they do that much? A blessing instead of the prize money. Wouldn't they think it's a huge bargain? If it were me, I'd welcome it with open arms."

I slowly nodded.

"That makes sense."

"Right?"

"But, there's one problem."

"What problem."

I glared at the greasy-looking debauched knight in front of me.

"Are you confident you can win?"

Lyle snorted.

"I, Lyle, the noble black knight of the midnight. Do you think I would lose to those guys?"

"The cult's one-man-army holy knight is participating in the match with Siri's blessing."

"...With Siri's blessing? That's a variable."

Siri's blessing was amazing.

A feeling of overflowing power and being able to do anything.

It was like that even when she hadn't accepted a god, so what would it be like now that she had accepted the midday sun god?

"Then let's do this. First, get to the finals."

"That's easy."

"Fight with all your might in the finals. If you win by any chance, do as you say."

"...By any chance?"

"Or you'll naturally get seriously injured and meet Siri. Hmm. A perfect plan. Let's do that."

"So if you don't want to get beaten to the point of death, you have to win somehow."

"That's right."

Lyle glared at me.

"What are you looking at?"

"Let's switch now."

"Ahem, how insolent. How dare you make a wrong suggestion to a holy knight of light. The underground fighting arena is for black-hearted guys like you. I am a body that befits the holy temple of light."

I pushed away the debauched knight who kept grabbing me and left the inn.

Lyle would go to the underground at night.

And I would go to the surface in the daytime.

We had to find Siri in our respective places.

[Do you have a plan?]

"I do."

[What is it.]

"It's not something so great and grand. I'm just going to do it my way."

[Hmm.]

I walked the streets where the midday sunlight was pouring down and observed the passing holy knights.

Most of them were walking around in pairs.

The pure white armor that sparkled in the sunlight looked very cool.

'Shushuruta said that the holy knights dispatched from the papacy wear capes.'

A cape could be made by just tearing off a suitable piece of cloth and wearing it.

'Now, the only thing left to prepare is the armor.'

I went into an alley and used the Black Immortal Steps to jump onto the roof of a building.

As I was walking around and observing the streets.

I spotted a holy knight who was walking around on patrol.

Everyone was walking around in pairs, but that guy was walking alone.

Was he someone special? Was he a high-ranking person?

It didn't really matter.

I quietly followed him from the roof, and when he was passing by a deserted alley, I dropped a coin.

Clink!

"Hmm?"

The guy tilted his head at the clear and beautiful sound that came from the alley, and then he slowly approached the source of the sound.

And soon, he picked up a sparkling silver coin in the slightly dark alley where a shadow was cast.

"...?"

As he was staring at the coin, the moment he looked up.

"Hello?"

I swung the scabbard and hit his head with all my might.

Clang—!

Thump.

The holy knight collapsed without even screaming.

"Hehe."

I stepped on the collapsed holy knight and gave him a piece of my mind.

"For a holy knight to be so greedy for money. Wasn't your sparkling armor enough? Greed brings disaster. I was your disaster. They say you get punished by heaven if you do bad things. Just think of it as a thunderbolt falling from the sky. It's a judgment that came from a high place."

[Stop talking nonsense and drag him away before someone sees.]

"Yes, sir."

I put my hands under the fainted holy knight's armpits and dragged him deep into the alley.

* * *

Perpetri, the capital of the Hilden Kingdom.

In front of the majestic royal palace that shone white under the midday sun.

Among the holy knights in pure white armor who were lined up.

"Come here!!"

A holy knight wrapped in a red cape appeared.

The blood-red eyes inside the slightly dented helmet were sparkling with an unreadable light.

(End of Chapter)