御书房文学网

Chapter 224

"Feel free to leave. Just don’t come back."

"No, that\'s not what I mean. I just want to breathe some fresh air outside!"

I thought Soo-Yeong would go away if I firmly asked her to leave, but she was more persistent than I thought.

Apparently, she hadn’t gone outside ever since she arrived at the underground chapel. The reason for this was that Ji-Ah had told her to never leave the underground chapel alone. It seemed like she needed to get my permission first if she wanted to go outside.

"Nuna’s words are right. Don\'t go outside, just stay here."

"I\'ve been stuck underground for days. It\'s suffocating."

"Then maybe you shouldn\'t have run away from home in the first place. Anyway, you’re not allowed to go outside."

"Why?"

"Because it\'s dangerous."

Soo-Yeong came up to me and whined and complained, but I didn’t give her permission to go outside. At the very least, I couldn’t take her to the Paladin Order.

There would be many clergymen in the Paladin Order, and I might not be the only one who had received a call from the Eastern Paladin Order.

If I brought Soo-Yeong along and ran into Yu-Hyun, that would be a huge problem. The first problem would be that Yu-Hyun would be able to identify her and vice versa. To Soo-Yeong, Yu-Hyun was nothing less than an enemy that she needed to get revenge on for the sake of her mother and her older brother. If she encountered Yu-Hyun, there was no telling what she would do after getting consumed by rage.

"What\'s so dangerous? It’s not like I’ll get lost.”

“Ah, when I tell you nicely, you should...!”

[Kid.]

I was about to get angry and lose my temper, but suddenly I heard Damballa\'s voice and closed my mouth. At some point in time, Damballa had climbed up onto a shoe rack and was currently coiled up. She flicked her tongue and said, [What if we just take her with us?]

"...No, we can\'t."

[Seems like you\'re worried about the sharp-eyed kid.]

The sharp-eyed kid. I could tell that it was a term that referred to Yu-Hyun. He possessed a unique blessing that allowed him to draw a circle around his eyes by using divine power. I nodded.

Damballa climbed up my arm and said, [If you’re worried about that, then don’t worry. I already gave him a warning.]

"..."

[Trust me.]

I didn’t understand what she meant by ‘I already gave him a warning,’ but based on her words, it seemed like Damballa had taken some sort of preemptive action.

If Damballa was right and I really didn’t need to worry about Yu-Hyun, then it wouldn’t be a problem even if I brought along Soo-Yeong to the Paladin Order. If I encountered a situation where I had to introduce Soo-Yeong, I could simply say that she was my younger sister or cousin, and no one would suspect anything.

I hesitated for a moment as I looked at Soo-Yeong\'s face. She was looking at me so desperately that it felt pitiful.

"...Just this once," I said with a reluctant nod.

Soo-Yeong smiled brightly. Then, as if she had been waiting to go outside, she quickly took out her shoes from the shoe cabinet.

"Are we going right now? Why did you drag things out if you were going to allow me to go anyway? What a waste of time,” Soo-Yeong babbled excitedly.

"Wait, just one more thing."

I unleashed Voodoo magic in front of Soo-Yeong.

“Do you really think I don’t have a way to forcefully send you home? Don’t annoy me.”

"...Do-don’t misunderstand. What I’m trying to say is that I’m grateful that you’re letting me go outside.”

"Alright."

Reluctantly, I took Soo-Yeong along with me and went outside. As we stepped out, Soo-Yeong exhaled deeply and looked up at the sky with a grateful expression.

The chapel was located underground, and it had no windows, so staying there longer than a few days felt suffocating.

Although I had begrudgingly brought Soo-Yeong out with me, seeing how much happier she was after coming out made me think that I had made the right decision. Of course, I still didn\'t like the idea of Soo-Yeong staying in the underground chapel after she had run away from home. But as Legba and Damballa had mentioned, since it turned out like this, maybe it was best to think about this situation positively.

I watched her stretch. Soo-Yeong gazed up into the sky and enjoyed the blowing breeze, then briefly glanced at me.

"Yo, whatcha looking at?" she said.

"...No matter how I think about it, I don\'t think you should go with me."

As I unleashed Voodoo magic again, Soo-Yeong stumbled backward and said, "Huh, huh? No, I was just kidding!"

I sighed. We hadn\'t even started our journey, but I was already worried about what trouble would await us at the Paladin Order. If Damballa\'s words were true, it wouldn\'t be a big problem, but...

"But why are you going to the Paladin Order? Did you commit a crime or something?"

"I didn’t commit a crime, rather... No, never mind. Just be quiet. Don\'t do anything unnecessary when we get there."

I took Soo-Yeong with me and made my way to the Paladin Order. I couldn’t exactly enter the Paladin Order along with her, so I told her to go to a nearby cafe and pass the time.

When I arrived at the Paladin Order and showed them the message that I received and my student ID, the person who seemed to be the desk clerk suddenly stood up and led me somewhere.

"You can wait here for a moment. Would you like something to drink?" the staff who guided me to the waiting room asked.

I asked for green tea. Even after I sacrificed my taste due to the contract with Baron Samedi, I often drank green tea because it had a nice aroma. I accepted the green tea the staff brought me and sat in the waiting room.

"..."

I could guess why the Eastern Paladin Order suddenly requested my attendance. They must have wanted to ask about what happened at the museum during the mission trip.

If that were the case, they would have naturally requested attendance from the others as well, but strangely enough, there was no one in the waiting room. Jin-Seo, Ha-Yeon, Dae-Man, Su-Ryeon... Even Han Dae-Ho wasn’t here.

Had they not arrived yet? Or had they deliberately made it so that we wouldn’t be able to contact the others? It was impossible to tell. However, if they had deliberately made it so that we wouldn’t be able to contact each other, I figured that they wouldn’t just call me to ask about the situation that had occurred at the time.

Perhaps they had requested me to come in order to figure out if any of us were spies or accomplices of the Voodoo Cult and the Satanists. When I received guidance from the staff and moved from the waiting room to the office, such speculation solidified into certainty.

"Nice to see you, Sun-Woo."

Joseph was there, and it wasn’t just Joseph. There was a knight with a large physique and a person holding a pen and a notebook. They appeared to be his secretaries. However, Joseph\'s presence was so overwhelming that I could only see him in my eyes.

As I sat down, Joseph raised one of his hands which had been gathered together on his desk.

"You must have suspected I’d ask about this, but I called you over to ask about what happened during the mission trip, so... at the museum at around 18:00 local time."

"Ah, yes."

"I\'ll actually just be sitting here, and this friend next to me will ask the questions. So there\'s no need to be nervous."

"Are there any questions I should be nervous about?" I asked Joseph.

The words ‘no need to be nervous’ made it sound like it looked as if I was already nervous. Joseph seemed to be testing the waters with those words.

He looked at me, smiled slightly, and nodded.

"It’s just something I’m saying as a formality," he said.

I nodded in response to Joseph\'s words. Then I turned my head to the paladin sitting next to Joseph. He was holding some documents, which appeared to be a questionnaire. The paladin cleared his throat and began questioning me.

"Can you describe the situation at the time when the intruder entered the museum? Please be as detailed as possible."

"The intruder shot a gun towards the sky and broke a few lights and windows. Then we heard thunder and all the lights went out."

"What were you doing when the lights went out?"

"I crouched behind an exhibit and hid. I don\'t remember the exact name of the exhibit."

In reality, at the time, I had been contemplating whether I should use the intoxication spell or not, but I had decided not to use it, and then I used Ogun’s power to neutralize the men in black’s guns.

"I see. Were you there until Director Han Dae-Ho appeared?"

"No, after assessing the situation, I walked around to find the other children."

"Who did you encounter at that time?"

"I met Ha-Yeon."

"I see. Besides the Romanicans and Muslims, did you know that there were Cultists present at the scene? For example, Satanists."

"I didn\'t..."

I was about to say that I didn’t know. It was because I thought that they might find it strange if I knew. But just when I was about to say that, I felt that it wasn’t the right thing to say.

The paladin\'s last question contained a cleverly hidden intention that I hadn\'t grasped. I thought about what that intention could be.

I wasn\'t worried about being exposed as the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult with a question like this. However, if there were discrepancies between the testimonies of the other kids and my own testimony, there was a possibility of garnering unnecessary suspicion.

At the moment, I was in a situation where I couldn’t attract even the slightest suspicion.

"...I didn\'t know, but I thought it was possible. So I made some preparations just in case."

"What kind of preparations?"

"I instructed Ha-Yeon to prepare the Blessing of Purification."

"According to Ha-Yeon’s testimony, you stated that ‘there are Satanists.’"

"I lied because I thought she wouldn\'t listen to me if I said there might be Satanists. I feel sorry about doing such a thing.”

"Ah... I see."

Based on what he had said just now, I could tell that Ha-Yeon had arrived at the Paladin Order beforehand and had given her testimony. If that was the case, then it was possible that they had interrogated not only Ha-Yeon but also the other students beforehand.

Paladin Order had definitely taken measures to prevent us from contacting each other in advance. Ultimately, their purpose was to investigate if any of us were Voodoo Cult or Satanist collaborators.

Since I had figured out their exact motive, coming up with appropriate responses to their questions was no longer a challenge.

"I heard that you fought alongside Director Han Dae-Ho. That was very brave of you. How did you come up with the idea to fight together with him?"

“I thought it wouldn’t be okay if I didn’t fight.”

"I see... Well, then, finally..." the paladin said while tossing the questionnaire on the desk.

Then, he leaned forward and looked intently into my eyes. I stared back at him.

"Can you describe the scenery you saw right before the men in black left the museum?"

I imagined how a Romanican would describe the Crossroads and answered, "There was an old man with a cane in a strange space."

"Was there a Voodoo Cultist there?" I asked.

"..."

When I asked in return, the paladin dumbfoundedly blinked his eyes. Instead of answering, he glanced at Joseph sitting next to him. His gaze seemed to want to ask if it was okay to answer honestly.

Joseph closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again and turned his head toward me.

"Yeah. We suspect there was a Voodoo Cultist. Where did you hear about it?" he asked.

"I heard it from the other students. Ha-Yeon said that if it\'s the Crossroads, then it\'s probably related to the Voodoo Cult."

"You hit the nail on the head."

Tap, tap.

Joseph tapped the desk with his finger. The dry sound rang out rhythmically within the silence. As if contemplating, he lowered his gaze while keeping his mouth shut. He then took a deep breath and exhaled before looking at me. His eyes were terrifyingly empty.

He stared at me for a while with a frighteningly vacant gaze and then said, "The truth is, I suspect that there might have been an accomplice of the Voodoo Cult or the Satanists among the Romanicans in the museum. No, I believe without a doubt that there must be an accomplice from the Voodoo Cult."

"..."

Joseph was expressionless as he asked, "Who do you think it could be?"

I couldn’t understand the exact intention behind that question.

* * *

Soo-Yeong sat in a cafe and sipped on a sweet drink to pass the time. She played random videos on her phone or mindlessly surfed the web.

But even that had become tiresome, so she watched people passing by outside the window to kill time.

Sun-Woo said he would be back soon, but he had already been gone for an hour. As much as she wanted to leave Sun-Woo behind and wander around as she pleased, she felt like she would be forcibly brought back home if she did that.

It wasn’t because she was scared of Sun-Woo. No, well, technically, she was scared of him but...

Ring—!

At that moment, someone entered the cafe. Thinking it was Sun-Woo, Soo-Yeong turned her head around, but it wasn\'t him. However, she recognized the person.

"One Americano, and..."

It was Ha-Yeon.

One of the main culprits of the Holy War was Sung Yu-Da, and Sung Ha-Yeon was his only child. Soo-Yeong knew about Ha-Yeon to some extent.

She had been personally investigating the Holy War and the Romanican Church for a while. After hearing that Sun-Woo attended Florence Academy, she also researched the famous people attending Florence Academy.

After ordering a drink and a cake, Ha-Yeon took a seat and started reading a book. The title was in English, so Soo-Yeong didn’t know what kind of book it was. When her drink and cake arrived, Ha-Yeon closed the book and opened her laptop instead. Then, she started busily typing something on the keyboard.

Soo-Yeong wondered what she was doing. It was simple curiosity. However, due to the angle, she couldn\'t see the laptop screen. Soo-Yeong pretended to go to the bathroom and tried to sneak a peek at Ha-Yeon\'s laptop screen.

"..."

At that moment, she made eye contact with Ha-Yeon. Soo-Yeong quickly averted her gaze and hurriedly went into the bathroom. Her heart was beating fast.

Soo-Yeong stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes, then unnecessarily washed her hands and came back out. Making eye contact with her was not something she had anticipated, but she figured that nothing would happen if she naturally returned to her seat.

"Whoa, w-what the—!"

However, as soon as she opened the door, Soo-Yeong screamed and took a step back. She almost fell over.

Her heart, which had already been beating fast, was now pounding so hard that it felt like it would burst. It was because Ha-Yeon was standing in front of the bathroom while furrowing her eyebrows.

Ha-Yeon crossed her arms, looked Soo-Yeong up and down, and said, "What is it?"