Chapter 136
“Holy shit!!!”
A huge ball of light fell over my head like a celestial judgment rod.
Seeing it, I abandoned my motorcycle, fortified my body and fists with all the aura I had at my disposal, and slammed it upwards.
-Poof.
A bone-crunching sound from my fist as my muscles twisted under the immense weight.
“Ughhhhh…….”
Ouch. What is this…….?
If I let go, I’m sure I’ll become a rat, so I hold on with all my might.
At that moment, I hear a voice overhead.
“What filthy wolf dares to prey on the Lord’s lambs?”
With a snap, something is placed on top of the ball of light, weighing it down.
“Anyway, this is why I always told you to be careful, children. Are you alright?”
Meanwhile, the figure on top of them checks on them.
I felt like an alien training in high gravity, using every muscle in my body and holding on to the white aura that circled my entire body.
From the sounds of it, there must be a misunderstanding.
I need to talk to him somehow-───
“Bishop, he’s not a raider, he’s a guest!”
Fortunately, Sister Mary, who has opened the window, yells at the figure overhead.
In response, a voice from overhead.
“Huh? What do you mean, it was definitely the Raiders’ motorcycle that he was riding.”
Then there was a loud bang and the bus door opened, followed by a rush of people.
“Bishop, please help him!”
“He’s a good man! He’s not a Raider!”
“Ugh, the bishop killed him!”
……No. I’m not dead yet.
By the sound of the voices, the kids on the bus have all gotten off and are arguing with the bishop, who is still on top of my head.
“Huh? No, really. He’s a guest……?”
“That’s right, you’re going to kill him! Get that crucifix off him!”
“Huh? Huh.”
At that moment, the weight I was feeling from above disappeared in an instant, and I heard the sound of someone landing behind me.
“Mr. Cloud, are you okay? Your arm is…… arm is bloody…….”
She stares at my hand, which is already covered in blood, in disbelief.
Apparently, the condition of my arm was…… completely tattered.
Still, I’m glad I was able to block that technique.
Playing as a villain, I’ve been confronted and questioned many times, but this time I didn’t die in one hit, so my training must have paid off.
“I’m fine, but a golden cross falling from the sky, there’s the only person I can think of who has that ability.”
“I’m……sorry……guest…….”
I wonder if he heard my muttering.
The voice behind me sounds embarrassed and apologetic, a far cry from the high-pressure tone of earlier.
I feel sorry for him, but I’m the one who’s been wronged, so shouldn’t there be some sort of payment?
“U……I think we need to talk about this.”
I said, turning around and extending my crushed hand, forcing a smile.
The woman had been entrusted by the Catholic Church with full authority over Jeju Island and given the title of bishop, and was the head of the Halla Cathedral, Augustus.
One of the four major powers on Jeju Island and the most powerful at Halla Cathedral.
“Hitman from the Corleone family, Saber Cloud. Bishop Augustus, is that you?”
And…….
“Hiccup.”
She was the unilateral perpetrator of violence against someone who was innocent and could be called a benefactor.
Us. Let’s talk about a settlement, shall we?
* * *
On a moving bus.
From there, I had the luxury of being healed by several sisters as we made our way to the cathedral.
“Healing from this many nuns, sir. You are truly blessed, aren’t you?”
“It’s the bishop, be quiet!”
“Okay, okay, okay, I said I was sorry…….”
A moment ago, the Bishop cowered in the corner, unable to take a picture as the Sisters yelled at him.
(TLN: This is not a mistake, you’ll see later in the chapter.)
In real life, she looked like a woman who’d had enough of life…….
Dark circles under her eyes, disheveled hair, and a lethargic expression.
In the game, I called it decadence, but now I just see her as an overworked office worker… although I suppose her scruffy appearance helps with that image.
“By the way, being a Hitman for Corleone, I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, but…… you’ve been more supportive than I could have imagined.”
The Bishop looks at me with a cigarette in his mouth from whenever she took it out.
Sister Maria tries to snatch the cigarette away from him, but the bishop blocks it with his hand and exclaims in frustration.
“I won’t light it! I won’t light it! I was only biting because my mouth was bored!”
“Still, it’s not good for education in front of children!”
The bishop, who eventually has his cigarette taken away from him, looks at me again and continues.
“I wonder what’s up with Corleone, who’s never done anything like this before, not to mention stopping my attack.”
Still, a bishop is a bishop.
His eyes looked very sharp for a moment, as if he found me very suspicious.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to do anything bad, it’s just that I had business on the island and needed a place to stay in the meantime.”
“I don’t mind if you do ……, but don’t do anything to damage the church. You know what I mean?”
“I won’t.”
“Okay then, please make yourself at home.”
With that, he starts to move to the back of the bus.
“Huh? What?”
“No way, you’re just going to leave?”
“Huh?”
Look at this shameless face.
Naturally, he’s trying to get away with putting his rank above hers. It’s not like he’s a bishop of a diocese who hasn’t seen this kind of political maneuvering before. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not.
But I’m not one to fall for it.
“No way, that can’t be the end of it, you’ve just crushed my arm.”
“What? Come on. That’s how our nuns treat──.”
“Ugh! I still have my arm!”
“…… Bishop.”
The bishop, who flinched under the gaze of Maria, who was sitting next to me at the same time, shuddered and then sighed.
“……Don’t worry too much about that, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll get you some good quality holy water as soon as we get back to the church.”
“Holy water?”
He’s trying to play me for a sucker, isn’t he?
“Even if the Jeju diocese is in a bad economic situation, I don’t think it’s appropriate to bribe me with holy water.”
“But I don’t really have anything to give. What do you want?”
What do I want?
It wasn’t that hard to say, it was just the wrong place.
“We’ll have to talk about it back at the church, because I’m exhausted from being attacked by someone and I want to collapse right now.”
“…….”
The bishop who finally shuts up after being made to say what he did wrong.
Still, it was an unexpected harvest, as I never thought I’d be able to get the bishop to pay up in this way.
-Pfft.
The bus screeches to a halt, and the other vehicles behind it stop as well.
“Okay, everyone! Fasten your seatbelts and get off slowly. Don’t forget to wash your hands as soon as you get in.”
“””Yes!!!”””
One by one, people began to get off the buses and cars, carrying their luggage through the outside trunks.
Eventually the two of us were left alone inside the bus.
“Is this enough to talk about? For your information, my room is dirtier than this one.”
“Yeah. I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“So what is it that you want? You know, we’re poor here at the Cathedral, barely scraping by on the handouts we get from Corleone. I don’t know if there’s anything else in the church that would satisfy you besides holy water.”
“Oh, that’s fine, I came here knowing you had it, Ascalon. I’d like to borrow that for a while.”
At the same time, the air inside the bus begins to crush me from above.
“──You. Where did I hear that?”
“Judging by your reaction, it must be here after all.”
“I’m not answering, how do you know that?”
“Pfft! Pfft!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle as he glared at me like I was going to kill me.
“What’s so funny, you’ve gone crazy-”
“You didn’t ask what I was going to use it for, Augustus. No, Angelina.”
──Bam!
In an instant, the bus crashed, sending a giant cross of light crashing down where I was standing just moments ago.
“I can’t believe I’m getting hit twice.”
I knew she would react as soon as she heard the name, but I didn’t expect it to be this violent.
It was a good thing I had prepared in advance, just in case, or I would have been completely torn apart like the bus I am now.
“Bishop-──!!!”
“Everyone go into the church and don’t come out!!!”
Suddenly she heard voices outside calling for the bishop, but she shouted even louder.
In response, the priests and sisters entered the church with the children, looking judgmental.
“You. The name.”
“How did I know? I asked the town hall and they told me.”
“…… No kidding.”
My highbrow humor didn’t work and she’s obviously angry.
I didn’t know if she’d take me seriously if I angered her further, so I spoke in a calm voice.
“Don told me.”
Of course, he hadn’t but the simplest way to get out of this situation is to sell his name.
I’d explain later, and he’d be convinced.
I don’t take my eyes off her as she clenches her fists until they resound.
“……Him? There’s no way that’s true.”
“It is. There’s money and something you promised him.”
She pauses, listening to my words.
“……you’re the guy?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about me on the bus.”
CS’s Jeju Island story was pretty simple.
In the past, Jeju Island had become lawless due to constant dungeon breaks and the arrival of foreign criminals.
And there was only one way to completely restore it.
The main culprit of the dungeon breaks is a monster that resides in Baekrokdam, the main vein of Jeju Island.
And that monster is…….
“I assure you, if you’re thinking of killing Fafnir with only that much skill, you might as well give up and get lost. This is the last bit of advice I can give you because you’re a Corleone.”
There is one person who is essential to the slaying of that Fafnir: Augustus, Bishop of the Diocese of Jeju. Angelina.
She has a holy relic that acts as a counter to Fafnir, and the game requires you to invest a lot of time and effort to get her to join your party.
However, as a frequent player of the Gothic concept, I knew that she didn’t have to be there.
I knew she didn’t have to be there, because in the end, it wasn’t Angelina herself that you needed, it was the Ascalon she carried.
“You think you’re going to find out who I am?”
“What? That’s ridiculous…… So, what the hell are you?”
Finally answering the question I’d been waiting for, I smirked and recited my prepared line.
“I’m Saber Cloud, a Hitman from the Corleone family.”
And eventually.
“I’m a Hitman ordered to kill a dragon.”
She had no choice but to hand me Ascalon.
