Chapter 145: Volunteering for the Golden Week (3)

Chapter 145: Volunteering for the Golden Week (3)

Guilty was fairly middle-aged.

His appearance, which resembles a famous theater actor who retired and disappeared a few years ago, is clearly visible even from a distance. Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

Vikir recognized him at a glance.

'Tenth or ninth time!'

The face is different, but the foul essence inside is the same.

The stench that assaulted his nose was unmistakably demonic, weaker than it had been before his regression, but still intimidating enough.

Moreover, there was one more factor that added to Vikir's confidence.

It was the four shadows walking in an escorted circle around Guilty.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

Walking directly behind Quilty was a large, burly man in a suit. He wore a black sack over his face.

He wears a golden nameplate with the word "Ephebo" engraved on his chest.

Walking on either side of Guilty are two lanky men, also dressed in suits, with black sacks over their faces.

The words "Pedo" and "Hebe" are emblazoned on their chest pads.

And finally, the shadows walking in front of Guilty.

The shadow in front of him was a woman.

She was lithe and athletic, with a black sack over her face.

The nameplate on her chest read 'Geronto'.

Three men and a woman.

Vikir's attention was drawn to the man walking behind Guilty.

'...epebo, that must be him.'

Vikir knew him well.

I'd been with him once before, on an assassination mission.

I'd gotten so close, only to lose it when one of the structures self-destructed.

I bent a steel beam and impaled it all the way through its torso, and it ripped it off and ran away.

'It was an undead of the Advanced Graduator class. It used the blunt techniques of the Quorvadis, so it was tricky to deal with.

Vikir held his breath and waited for Guilty to pass.

Finally, Guilty, leading the four shadows, passed the wall where Vikir was hiding.

Moment.

[....]

Ephebo's head tilted to one side for a moment.

As if sniffing something.

Vikir stiffened and stuck to the wall.

Hiding in the lonely gap between wall and wall, in the shadows cast by the cabinets.

[....]

Ephebo turned his head a little further, in the direction of Vikir's hiding place.

Just then.

"Well, well, well."

Guilty's voice from the front snapped Ephebo's head back to its original angle.

Guilty was holding the hand of the fat man who had appeared earlier with a humanized smile on his face.

The fat man smiled back at Guilty.

"You've been so busy with this, I can't even see your face."

"Oh, well, there are so many noblemen who want to meet with me these days to repent for their sins."

"Me too, hehehehe. Speaking of which...."

The fat man turned to Guilty and said in a low voice.

[The Faithful House in Danger, is it okay as it is!?]

-Meanwhile, within the Quovadis family, the Old and New Order factions are currently at odds...

Some have criticized the family for being slow to respond to the terrorist crisis due to internal strife...

[Old Order vs New Order, Quovadis squabbling over terrorists!?]

-The battle between the Old Order and the New Order is as old as time, and the two factions have been at odds over whether or not the sale of "immunity charms" and "indulgence charms" by the denomination is justified...

[Is the "Night Hound" a real villain?]

-Whether this is a travesty created by the Old and New Orders, or the manifestation of a truly rare evil, remains to be seen...

There are two factions within the Quovadis of the Faithful.

The Old Order faction, led by Cardinal Humbert, and the New Order faction, led by Cardinal Martin Luther.

The Old Order and New Order factions differed in many ways, but one of the biggest differences was the acceptance or rejection of indulgences.

An indulgence was a certificate that excused a person from a sin, a sort of talisman.

The idea was that you had to pay a ransom equal to the weight of your sin to offset it.

The Old Order Rune Religion sold indulgences and collected vast sums of money to build a powerful organization.

They were mostly older, high-ranking priests.

The New Order, on the other hand, criticized the Old Order system and sought to reform it.

The younger, lower-ranking clerics were the members of the New Order faction.

St. Dolores was a prominent figure of the New Order, known as the 'awakened young blood.'

She was on a very different path from her father, Cardinal Humbert, the godfather of the Old Order, and the father-daughter relationship was known to be somewhat rocky.

Meanwhile, Guilty, who had just passed through the hallway, was a typical Old Order figure.

His family, the Indulgentia, was also one of the strongest pillars of the Old Order.

It's easy to imagine, then, that St. Dolores and Guilty, the orphanage's director, don't get along very well.

In fact, just a few moments ago, Guilty had said some very ugly things to Dolores.

'You know, even if you're forced to insult a saint, you can still repent by paying an offering.'

In hindsight, Guilty might have thought Dolores was hiding between the walls.

No, he must have known.

Is that why?

Dolores is so angry that tears are forming in her eyes.

Her normally gentle and calm voice shook precariously with emotion.

"This kindness is only an inconvenience, and my family's affairs are my own! How dare you say you know what...!"

What's more, Dolores didn't like Vikir in the first place because of all the trouble at school.

To her, Vikir was a lazy, negligent tardy student with a lazy attitude towards life, and a rude brat who didn't know much about the Night Hounds.

Dolores exploded with all of her stress and frustration at once: the shame of having her family's inner affairs exposed to an outsider, the self-loathing for wanting to hide in fear at the sight of Guilty, even if only for a moment, the subtle feelings she harbored for the Night Hounds who antagonized her family, and everything else.

"You're the worst!"

She was holding it together, but she was still young and immature.

With that, Dolores turned her back on Vikir and disappeared down the hall.

"...."

With her gone, Vikir was left alone.

'What the hell.'

It didn't matter that the saintess was angry right now.

In fact, thanks to Dolores' distraction, Guilty and Ephebo walked past Vikir without a second glance.

In many ways, this is lucky.

Vikir immediately began to follow Guilty.

It was daylight, so he was unmasked, but his eyes were already glowing an eerie blood red.

The night hound bared his teeth.