—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Amon decided to trust the priest.
Such a clear common interest was sufficient reason to trust.
The priest, realizing he had gained Amon’s trust, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Follow me. I’ll guide you to the others.”
The priest wiped his glasses and called a taxi.
Because his car had already departed to be with the Lord.
Amon offered a silent prayer for the priest’s car and got into the taxi.
Fortunately, the nuns and the children were safe.
Thanks to the Paladins, they were being safely protected at the cathedral.
“The Higzen Distribution won’t easily attack this place.”
Even though a virtuous cathedral didn’t have the robust defenses or perfect barriers of a corporation, it had the shield of religion.
This shield was actually much stronger than a mediocre defense system.
Even if the influence of religion wasn’t what it used to be, spitting in the face of the Vatican would make one an easy target for accusations of heresy.
Of course, one might wonder if a company ruthless enough to attack an orphanage would care about such things, but that was possible only because the orphanage was powerless.
For the Higzen Distribution, raiding an ordinary orphanage was something they could completely cover up with a little effort.
But not this cathedral.
Because this cathedral was an archdiocese.
In terms of the Goddess Church hierarchy, it was just below the Vatican, so it couldn’t be easily touched.
If the Higzen Distribution dared to touch this place, a cover-up would be impossible, and they would have to prepare for a direct confrontation with the Vatican.
Therefore, the priest was certain that they would be safe while inside.
“So, rest assured and recover from your trip today.”
The priest handed Amon and Sonia bedding and other necessities.
The two bowed to the priest and immediately ran to their siblings and the nuns.
‘Even though they’re not blood-related…’
The priest smiled warmly, watching them.
After seeing them off, the priest turned around.
He climbed the stairs and entered the room with his nameplate.
[Gregory]
Inside the room, he sat on the sofa, yawned, and rubbed his face.
The priest enjoyed the silence of the room alone.
He had nothing to do at home anyway, and since he had promised to watch over the orphans, he planned to be on duty tonight.
He brought two blankets to cover his upper and lower body and threw them on the sofa.
He took off his cumbersome priest’s robes and changed into casual clothes.
Without bothering with his phone or the internet, he sat at his desk and read the Bible.
A few hours later, he closed it and sat on the sofa.
The priest rubbed his tired eyelids.
He bent down and untied his boots.
He neatly placed his boots aside and started pressing the soles of his feet with his fingers.
Then, he sniffed his fingers and grimaced in disgust.
If anyone who knew him saw him, they would be astonished by his down-to-earth behavior.
But since there was no one else in the room besides the priest, he felt no hesitation in acting this way.
“My, my, such a down-to-earth appearance.”
…He should have been alone in the room.
The priest instinctively turned around, thinking it might be a ghost.
But the one who met his eyes wasn’t a ghost, but a living person.
And it was someone who knew him, no less.
“Fu—ck!!!!”
Was it surprise at Amon’s sudden appearance?
Or surprise that someone he knew had seen his embarrassing behavior?
Or both?
The priest rolled off the sofa, dramatically expressing his feelings.
Thud!
“Ouch, my aching body…”
Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt.
His tailbone ached, but not enough to be considered injured.
The priest patted his back and finally got up.
Instead of getting angry at Amon for startling him, he asked,
“What’s the matter?”
with a bright smile.
Was this professionalism, or was the priest’s true nature just too kind?
Amon pondered and decided to ask what he was curious about first.
“Do you swear, Father?”
Twitch.
The priest’s eyebrow twitched.
Of course, swearing wasn’t strictly forbidden for priests according to doctrine.
Even saints used curses like “son of Satan” or “son of a whore” when necessary, so there was no reason why a priest couldn’t.
But there was the matter of image.
It wouldn’t look good for a priest, who was supposed to preach good words to people, to have a foul mouth.
It was like a chef smoking. Even if they washed their hands, customers might feel uneasy. Cursing was like that for a priest.
The priest twitched his eyebrows and racked his brain.
But since he couldn’t come up with a decent excuse, he chose to change the subject.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Well, answering a question with another question…”
“What. Brings. You. Here?”
Amon, feeling awkward, responded to the blatant change of subject.
“I came to discuss something about the Higzen Distribution.”
As soon as those words left Amon’s mouth, the priest walked to his desk.
He reached under the desk.
Click.
A very faint click of a button was heard, so quiet that it would have been impossible to hear during a conversation.
Amon looked around.
But he couldn’t sense any change.
“You won’t feel it. It’s a soundproofing barrier designed for that purpose. Now you can speak freely.”
Amon looked around curiously, then, trusting the priest, got to the main point.
“Share information about the Higzen Distribution.”
“Don’t you know through your precognitive abilities?”
“I know the big things, like their long-cherished wish and beliefs. But I don’t know the details, like their security systems or employee profiles.”
Because those things couldn’t be known through past life settings.
Suppressing those words, Amon looked directly at the priest.
The priest understood the meaning of the information Amon was requesting.
Security systems, employee profiles, work schedules, and so on.
Usually, only certain groups within the Vatican requested such information.
‘Inquisitors…’
In other words, the Vatican’s secret swords.
If Paladins were knights who punished heretics openly and fairly, Inquisitors were assassins operating in the shadows.
But a request that they would make came from Amon’s mouth.
The priest couldn’t help but ask cautiously,
“Are you… planning to get your hands dirty?”
Amon quietly nodded.
The priest couldn’t help but facepalm.
He understood how Amon felt.
With the attacks on himself, Sonia, and the orphanage, Amon’s patience must have reached its limit.
Especially since Amon and Sonia were eventually going to leave for the Vatican.
They couldn’t protect this orphanage forever.
So, for the best defense, he must have chosen to go on the offensive.
However, ideals and reality were different.
In reality, Amon was a kid who couldn’t even properly kill one of the Higzen Distribution’s elite ninjas.
If he went to the company, far from assassinating anyone, he would only end up captured and turned into a lab rat.
‘I don’t think Amon is unaware of that…’
The problem was that the Amon the priest knew wasn’t that reckless.
He didn’t know Amon completely, but he knew that Amon wasn’t the type to rush in recklessly just because he was angry.
Rather, the Amon the priest knew was the type to coolly search for a way to take revenge, while keeping his boiling emotions in check.
Therefore, instead of rejecting Amon’s request, the priest decided to accept it conditionally.
“Tell me your plan. If I deem it reasonable after hearing it, I’ll give you all the information I have.”
Amon seemed momentarily flustered by the priest’s condition.
Then, he made up his mind and opened his mouth.
“Alright. I’ll tell you. But I need your guarantee that you’ll cooperate with the plan I tell you.”
The priest accepted Amon’s condition without much thought.
However, after hearing the specific plan from Amon’s mouth, he couldn’t help but regret his decision.
“How do you know that?”
Amon’s plan contained information he should never have known.
The priest couldn’t be sure because he didn’t know the information himself, but he was certain it wasn’t false.
“How do you know that erased history?”
There are things you inevitably learn when grappling with demons.
One of them is the contradictions of history.
Most veteran exorcists are aware that there are several inconsistencies in the history recorded in the Bible.
Not only exorcists, but also Paladins and priests of similar rank know this.
Nevertheless, they didn’t try to reveal the contradictions.
They simply labeled these inconsistencies as “erased history” and kept quiet about them.
The priest knew of the existence of erased history, but he didn’t grasp the specific details.
However, he never expected that erased history would suddenly come out of Amon’s mouth.
According to the history Amon told him, most of the contradictions fit together perfectly, so it couldn’t be called a lie.
“Who are you…?”
The priest couldn’t help but seriously ponder.
Just who was this person in front of him?
Was he an enemy or an ally?
Was it right to leave him be?
Shouldn’t he report this to the Vatican?
As if sensing the priest’s troubled heart, Amon said with a wry smile,
“Is that important now? I don’t know what erased history means to the Vatican, but don’t worry, I have no intention of fighting the authority of the Holy See.”
Hearing Amon’s words, the priest began to weigh his options.
The stability of the Vatican versus his loyalty to Amon.
Normally, the priest would have chosen stability.
But for some reason, he wanted to keep his loyalty to Amon.
If he reported this after Amon confided in him, what would that make him?
Above all, this was practically a confession.
The moment he revealed the confessor’s confession to the Vatican, he would lose his qualifications as a priest.
Therefore, the priest decided to keep this matter under the seal of confession.
“Alright. I’ll keep my promise.”
The priest stood up and handed Amon a USB drive.
Amon tossed the USB into his coat’s inner pocket and thanked the priest.
“Thank you.”
“Good luck.”
Having finished his business, Amon left the office.
Through the window, just as he had entered.
Only then did the priest realize how Amon had snuck in.
Amon threw himself out the window and disappeared into the darkness.
The priest looked in the direction Amon had disappeared, recalling the plan Amon had told him.
‘If we’re just looking at feasibility… it’s entirely possible.’
According to Amon’s plan, even with Amon’s physical abilities, it was possible to finish off the Higzen Distribution.
No, rather, because it was Amon, it might be possible to finish off the Higzen Distribution.
But feasibility aside, the plan itself was incredibly reckless.
‘Isn’t Amon afraid of death?’
The priest couldn’t help but recall the look in the eyes of a fanatic who believed without a doubt that God would protect him from death.
A plan that presupposed death could only be conceived by such a person.
The priest smiled wryly and spread out his bedding.
He began to devise a plan to keep Sonia at the cathedral, as Amon had requested.
And the next day.
“Sonia?”
“…”
“Sonia? Will you talk to me?”
“…Did you know?”
At Sonia’s sharp questioning, the priest couldn’t help but blurt out the truth.
“If you’re asking if I knew… I did know.”
“Then why didn’t you stop him?”
“Haha… well…”
The priest couldn’t bring himself to say that it was necessary.
Because Amon’s plan was still in progress, and if something went wrong here, Amon could be in danger.
But if he didn’t explain the current situation immediately, Amon would be in danger in a different sense.
‘But why did he leave the explaining to me!!’
The priest looked into Sonia’s eyes.
The light was gone, and if things went south, she looked like she might reach for a kitchen knife or an axe.
The priest then lowered his gaze to the screen Sonia was showing him on her phone.
On that screen was,
Amon, walking arm in arm with a madam at a brothel.
‘Hey! Why is he doing this to me!’
Today, the priest suffers once again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
