Chapter 39 – Bullshit

While trying to get information from the slums, Ed met an eye-catching boy and followed him, because he smelled something related to the demon.

The boy’s mom’s illness seems to be related to the demon.

His dad disappeared around the same time.

I was suspicious in many ways.

However, Ed does not know how to exactly identify demons. In order to find out, Arin has to come. Just in time, Arin had to come to treat Diego’s mother’s disease.

“I’ll go and bring someone to cure your mother’s illness, so you should also put some meat in your mother’s porridge. She has to eat meat to recover faster.”

Diego bowed his head.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

“It’s too early to thank me.”

Ed is unable to ignore the possibility that Diego’s dad might be a demon. They don’t know what’s going to happen.

Maybe he should have resentment, not gratitude.

Seeing Diego stuffing bread into his mouth and putting meat in a pot, Ed left the slum and walked away. Walking through the slums, he certainly couldn’t see people struggling like Diego’s mother.

Ed left the slum and kept walking. Passing through the fish market to the place where the nobles lived, there was a magnificent church of a size that had never been seen before.

As it is one of the defense provinces of the capital, the size of the church was much larger. When Ed was looking at the church, those standing in front of the church blocked the front.

They were the investigators of the Astron Church. Unlike priests who study and follow doctrines, they don’t. And unlike the holy knights, their weapon was not strong enough to kill a beast.

When Ed approached the church with weapons, he seemed to have been blocked.

Ed said, showing the token of Astron around his neck because he had no intention of setting up a blade with them.

“I’m here to meet Arin, a holy knight.”

When Ed showed the token, it was emitting a subtle blue light. When the investigators saw it, one person even guided it.

Ed, who was walking along with the investor, thought Diego was right. Slum people cannot come here. The purpose of the Astron Church in this world is not to relieve the poor.

The denomination itself is no different from the Middle Ages, so it is close to power. Among them, there are adults who want to save the poor, but the higher the rank, the more blinded they are by money.

Ed came straight from the slums and felt the contrast even more intense. He had a hunch that it would be difficult to get the help of the chief priest here.

The place where Ed went under the guidance of the investigator into the chief priest’s office, which had not been seen until now.

“Chief priest. There is a guest who came to see Miss Arin.”

“Come on in.”

When the investor opened the door, Arin, who was sitting facing a wide table, and a fat chief priest, who was sitting holding a cane with a platinum token, caught his eye.

Arin saw Ed and got up from her seat.

“Ed. What brings you here? I was going to leave soon.”

Ed simply answered the question.

“I was wondering if I could get your help because I found a boy whose mother is sick.”

“Really? I’m done with my business here. Let’s go.”

When Arin got up from her seat, the chief priest opened his mouth.

“Arin, are you leaving before dinner? Both the investigators and the priests want to see you, Arin.”

Arin replied with a smile.

“Priest Charlie. The priority is to help people in need. Both the investigators and the priests will understand.”

Priest Charlie’s expression slightly hardened. An undesirable light passed by the eyes buried in thick flesh, but she couldn’t pick it up.

“I’m Priest Charlie, who is in charge of the Astron Church in Kalim City. I haven’t even heard the guest’s name yet.”

“I’m Ed.”

Charlie tilted his head for a moment and replied as if he remembered the name.

“You’re a wild man who is called the demon hunter.”

Ed couldn’t resist the complaint. To be honest, Ed is not a nobleman, and he has been hunting demons and receiving rewards, so it is true that he appears to be a wild man in the eyes of a noble chief priest.

Still, he didn’t know he would be ignored so openly. He thought Aron would speak well to the church and now be called the church’s savior.

“Those who live in poor families always ask for help, and there are no people who want to stand under the glory of Astron. But do you really need a holy knight to go there and check?”

He couldn’t tell Arin openly, so he was turning around to Ed. Even before Ed could answer anything, Arin approached with a stiff expression.

“Ed is a savior recognized by the church. And he is also very helpful in the exorcism according to the prophecy. He is not someone for the chief priest to ignore.”

The priest Charlie flinched at her words. Arin’s charisma in her voice has been unusual, perhaps because she has sacred power through prayer.

Until now, she may not have heard what she was saying with a straight face because she had only read and heard the contents to be delivered to Master Paladine.

Arin approached him one more step and said.

“And the reason why a holy knight is considered noble is that we go wherever someone needs help. It is the work of the holy knight to go to a place where Astron’s glory cannot reach, and this is the path for priests to pursue!”

Arin was almost screaming at the end.

Before the priest Charlie opened his mouth, Arin looked straight into the eyes and said.

“This is what Master Paladine always says when the holy knights gathered.”

Priest Charlie looked at her for a while, then stepped back, took off his hat, and bowed his head.

“Sorry, I never thought about that.”

Arin looked at the top of Charlie’s peeled hair and said.

“You shouldn’t be apologizing to me.”

The priest Charlie smiled awkwardly and bowed his head to Ed.

“I didn’t think about that. Will you forgive me?”

Ed nodded slightly to the remark and replied.

“May Astron’s glory be with you.”

He didn’t speak up on purpose. The priest Charlie’s eyes sank coolly, but he did not dare to make a fuss in front of Arin.

“May Astron’s glory be with you.”

Leaving the priest Charlie behind, Ed looked back at Arin. She walked next to Ed and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t bother me much.”

The world’s nobles and priests are all the same. So he didn’t even care much.

“But what kind of help does he need?”

Ed lifted his index finger and covered his mouth. If they say anything in this church, it will flow into the ears of Priest Charlie, and if so, they won’t know what will happen to Diego’s mother.

Arin read Ed’s atmosphere and asked only when she came out of the church.

“What’s going on?”

“I think she’s exposed to magi. Her eyes were colored purple.”

“She must have been exposed to the demon’s maggie.”

“Yes.”

Arin asked, walking fast.

“Is it an infectious disease?”

“No. The others were fine.”

“If it was an infectious disease, no matter how much it happened in the slums, the church would have found out. Or Thane would’ve figured it out before we got here.”

“That’s right.”

Arin tilted her head.

“Does that mean she met the demon alone? You can’t be exposed to magi except when the demon reveals its real power. And I don’t think the demon will reveal his true power in the city.”

It was a question that Ed had asked. So he told her about what he suspected.

“When the boy’s father disappeared, his mother began to get sick.”

Arin stopped walking. And she looked back at Ed with her eyes wide open.

“No way…?”

“I’m still only suspicious. So first, let’s treat his mother and ask her. And look at the boy’s condition.”

Arin thought she was just called because she had someone to treat, but when she realized that things were much more complicated than she thought, she could not hide her tension.

Ed sighed briefly at her appearance.

He guessed this lady can’t lie very well. Even now, she was so nervous that her same arm and feet were shaking. She looks smart and cute like this.

Ed grabbed her shoulder from behind and said.

“Arin. You don’t have to be nervous. Diego was a filial son who took care of his mother’s food even if he starved. Everything can just be a misunderstanding.”

Arin looked at Ed’s hand. The warmth conveyed from the touch eased tension little by little.

“Are you calmed down?”

As Arin nodded, Ed walked ahead of her and said.

“And don’t take the lead. You don’t even know where he lives.”

As Ed took the lead, Arin was completely relaxed. His back was reliable just by looking at it. However, the problem was that his expectations were never wrong with regard to the demon.

But that was also a matter of meeting and deciding.

Arin walked behind Ed and looked back at the slums. The brighter the light, the darker the darkness.

In contrast to the church’s appearance, which was exceptionally rich compared to other churches, the appearance of the slum was disastrous. A place full of people’s moans with the smell that has been passed down.

A place where the drugged and the vagrants are prevalent. A boy lived in a place like this with his sick mother, hoping that nothing would happen.

Ed, who was taking the lead, made a strong impression and walked fast at the disturbance in front of Diego’s house seen in the distance.

There, the three boys who were beating Diego were kicking without hesitation again, and the two vagrants were standing behind them.

He didn’t even think about it when Diego was helping his mother. Usually, when you ask for information in the slums, you give coins, but not direct help.

Troublemakers and boys flocked as flies twisted by the smell of boiling meat spreading in the slums. And Diego kept what he had to give his mother as always.

Diego’s mother, who ran out of the house, caught Ed’s eyes. She pushed and approached the boys hitting Diego, and blocked them.

“No! What are you doing? You guys are Diego’s friends!”

The boys stepped back to Diego’s mother, but the other kid behind them were different.

“Sophia. That’s when your husband Juan was here.”

Then the kid smiled. Diego didn’t care, but he couldn’t stand them saying that to his mom.

When the kid screamed and pulled out a dagger, an arrow popped out of the kid’s forehead. Diego didn’t see because he was covering his mother.

“Huh?”

An arrow was also stuck in another boy’s forehead. When another kid collapsed, the boys freaked out and ran away.

Arrows flew into the calves of the boys.

“Ahhh!”

Ed appeared while the boys were rolling on the floor unable to run. Ed looked at the boys rolling on the floor, then bowed and looked at Diego.

“Mister.”

“Call me hyung. And come out. Let me see your mother’s condition.”

“Please be gentle with my mother.”

When Diego stepped out, Ed looked at Sophia. He was surprised because her body was too weak, and maybe because she moved my body suddenly, her muscles were having residual convulsions.

Arin, who ran late, saw her and asked Ed.

“Is there a place for her to lie down?”

Diego saw Arin and recognized that she was a holy knight.

“This is our home.”

When Arin took Sofia home with Diego, Ed finally turned to the boys. Perhaps they were quick-witted, but after Ed appeared, they screamed.

Well, they must have bothered Diego because they are so quick-witted.

As Ed approached, the boys shouted urgently.

“We are just kids!”

“We didn’t know what we were doing. Please spare our lives!”

Ed nodded at their words.

“Right, you’re just kids”.

Ed took the arrow out of his arms and continued to speak.

“But you don’t know what you were doing?”

Ed squatted slowly and made eye contact with the boys.

The boys’ eyes moved from side to side along the arrow in Ed’s hand. Ed spun the arrow in his hand while talking.

“That’s bullshit. You guys know exactly what you were doing.”