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Chapter 306

Jin-Seo recalled the conversation she had unintentionally overheard at the sacred training ground.

At first, Sun-Woo\'s words upset her. It didn\'t matter if it was Yoon-Ah or someone else. Just the fact that Sun-Woo said he needed someone else made her feel bad. However, upon returning home and thinking it over, she began to doubt another aspect. It was what Yoon-Ah had said.

She had stated that she could use divine power and blessings and therefore it would be difficult for her to help.

It was natural for a student of Florence Academy who was not a formal clergyman to only be able to use divine power and blessings. However, she couldn\'t understand what she meant when she said that it would be difficult for her to be of help.

Did it mean that she had to know how to use something more advanced than divine power and blessings to be able to help Sun-Woo? What exactly was more advanced than that?

She was confused, so she began to wonder about Sun-Woo\'s true identity again. She had been curious in the past as well, but she had set aside her curiosity because she had believed in Sun-Woo.

"..."

She thought about contacting Sun-Woo and meeting him, but then she decided against it. Meeting him didn\'t seem like it would resolve her questions. Furthermore, she didn\'t want to pry to hear his answers.

She just had to wait until he told her everything. That was all Jin-Seo could do.

He had promised to provide answers. He would definitely give an answer in the near future. Jin-Seo decided to just wait until then.

***

Everything went according to our plan.

X mobilized all his connections, including his family, to prove his innocence, but Sung Yu-Da secured numerous false evidence to send X to the underground prison.

Similarly, X also created false evidence to prove his innocence. The trial continued with false evidence being used to prove that X was both guilty and innocent.

Thanks to the false evidence he presented, X was able to prove his innocence in the embezzlement and corruption charges. However, he was unable to prove his innocence in the charges involving collusion with cultists and treason.

The evidence that Sung Yu-Da had fabricated was more solid and powerful than X\'s false evidence. The strength of our lies had led us to victory. No, could it really be called a victory?

Anyway, X was going to be imprisoned in the underground prison. Not immediately, but in two weeks.

We celebrated the victory and began planning to rescue my mother from the underground prison.

"There will be a big protest before the conclave. It\'s a protest organized by the Romanican Church extremists, specifically the group that fanatically supported the deceased former Pope. I have set it up so that the protest will escalate into a violent one."

"How exactly did you do that? What exactly do you mean?"

"We planted a few of our people in the group of protesters. We’ll make the protesters attack the Romanican Church riot suppression troops first, thus aggravating the protests.”

“...”

“When that happens, the riot suppression troops will request support from various organizations, including the Central Paladin Order. When everyone’s attention is diverted toward that direction, that’s when we strike,” Sung Yu-Da said.

I began to wonder if perhaps the Holy War had also started in a similar way. The Holy War, which had resulted in numerous casualties, had actually begun from a protest by the Voodoo Church.

Voodoo Church members had gathered to protest, and Romanican Church clergymen had died during that protest. As a result, the relationship between the Romanican Church and the Voodoo Church became irreparably strained.

Perhaps back then, it was not a Voodoo Church member who had killed the Romanican Church clergymen...

Sung Yu-Da looked at me while I was lost in my thoughts and asked, "What’s wrong?"

I shook my head. Thinking about what had happened at that time would not be helpful. It was a waste of emotional and mental energy.

"I had something to think about for a moment. Please continue. I\'m listening," I said.

Sung Yu-Da nodded and continued, "Furthermore, Lee Seh-Hwa is publicly presumed dead. Even if she disappears from the underground prison, they cannot publicly issue a search or arrest warrant."

“But it’s not like they’re not going to investigate at all, right?”

"With the Pope dead and no successor elected yet, the investigation will likely only involve a few clergymen. They won\'t even bother with the underground prison issue due to the protests. If it\'s really urgent, they might even consider hiring a mercenary corps, but that\'s not really a problem to deal with..."

“It looks like you’ll be able to handle the issues involving the clergymen. I\'ll take care of any issues relating to any mercenary corps that get involved."

Sung Yu-Da nodded and said, "Understood."

Sung Yu-Da provided a more detailed explanation of our future plans. I already knew all the information, but it was reassuring to hear it again.

I would wear a tracking device before entering the underground prison. Sung Yu-Da would use that tracking device to locate the underground prison and secretly approach the vicinity.

Upon entering the underground prison, I would be accompanied by a senior paladin from the Central Paladin Order, and I would use a spell to make him unconscious.

Then, I would rescue my mother from the underground prison and deliver her to Sung Yu-Da, who would be waiting outside. Sung Yu-Da would give me a finely crafted doll that resembled a human, and I would place the doll in the spot where my mother had been imprisoned.

Although it was a bit of a stretch to hope that we would be able to deceive the guards and paladins from the Central Paladin Order with just a doll, it didn\'t really matter. Our goal was not to completely deceive them. It was just to make them realize that my mother had disappeared later.

"We will use Baal\'s Maw in the delivery process," Sung Yu-Da said and then suddenly tilted his head. "However, there is a possibility that you may be restricted from bringing in any holy artifacts. It could lead to unnecessary suspicion if it is revealed that you have a holy artifact."

"I will take care of that part. This is not the first time I’ve done something like this."

Sung Yu-Da nodded.,

"I’ll leave that to you then."

"Then... I will see you in two weeks. Let\'s pause communication until then. There are rumors that the Holy See is conducting random wiretaps due to the death of the Pope and the upcoming conclave. It\'s just baseless rumors from conspiracy theorists, but it\'s better to be cautious."

"Understood. See you then."

I left Sung Yu-Da\'s research lab. Although it had been bright when I had entered, the sky was now dark. The clouds hung heavily, as if it were about to rain.

I took a deep breath. I could smell the rain.

Suddenly, Baron Samedi\'s words came to mind.

\'The day will come when you must make a choice.\'

What did that ominous statement mean? And what day would I make the choice? Was it two weeks later, on the day that I would enter the underground prison? Or was it earlier than that? Or perhaps later?

It was impossible to know. I just felt a strange sense of unease as I returned to the dormitory.

Not long after I washed up and lay down on the bed, it began to rain.

***

I worked at the Central Paladin Order as usual. Nothing special happened. I simply handled the miscellaneous tasks like normal. Ever since the announcement of the Pope’s death, the frequency of demons and demonic beasts appearing had drastically decreased, so I didn’t need to go out on missions. There was no need for Central to intervene, as the local Paladin Order or Crusader Order branches took care of things on their own.

During lunchtime, the director of the Central Paladin Order called out to me.

“Paladin Sun-Woo. Let’s talk for a bit,” he said.

Normally, the director of the Central Paladin Order did not personally intervene in matters. No matter how urgent the matter was, he sat calmly in his seat and handled work at a leisurely pace.

However, he always produced excellent results. Any difficult or urgent matter that passed through the director\'s hands would be resolved instantly. So the fact that someone like him had directly called out to me, a mere junior paladin, was truly an exceptional occurrence.

The other paladins in the office looked back and forth between me and the director with tense expressions.

A senior paladin I had become close with while working at the Central Paladin Order patted my shoulder.

"I\'ll go first. Do what you have to do."

I nodded and said, "Yes, understood."

I then followed the director into the interrogation room used for questioning criminals. The director personally pulled out a chair, and I sat down.

The director sat across from me. I was sitting in the seat usually occupied by the paladin who would interrogate the criminal, and the director was sitting in the seat where the accused criminals would be interrogated.

"First, I should apologize for bringing you to the interrogation room. But there\'s really no other suitable place to talk about things that others shouldn\'t hear."

I smiled politely and replied, "It\'s okay."

It really was alright.

For a moment, the director had a vacant expression on his face as if lost in thought, but then suddenly turned his head toward me.

"I was really surprised by the incident that occurred last time. The director of the Northern Crusader Order... What was his name again? Anyway, I’m talking about how you were able to catch that guy."

"It was just luck."

"No, it wasn\'t just luck. In fact, everyone had a hunch. Anyone working in the Central Paladin Order would know that guy\'s shady background," the director said.

I simply nodded in response.

"I’m praising you for your initiative. It must not have been easy to take the lead. Moreover, it must have been even harder for you, a newly enlisted junior paladin."

"I believe it was because I was a newly enlisted junior that I was able to be ignorant, and that\'s why I was able to be brave."

The director smiled at me and said, "You speak well."

It was the first time I had seen the director smile since working at the Central Paladin Order. His smile was somewhat neutral.

"Shall we get to the point now?"

The director adjusted his seat and said, "Do you want to go into the underground prison and see the face of the director of the Northern Crusader Order yourself? If you do, please let me know when you would like to do it."

"..."

I was a little taken aback. I didn\'t expect him to bring up the subject so suddenly. Of course, I had a prepared answer. I wanted to see the face of the Northern Crusader Order leader myself, and I wanted to do it on the date planned with Sung Yu-Da.

However, if I answered right away, it might seem strange from the director\'s perspective. The director was a suspicious person, so he might suspect something.

I pretended to think for a moment before I said, "I heard that no one can enter the underground prison besides inquisitors."

"According to the rules, that\'s true. However, according to tradition, paladins affiliated with the Central Paladin Order are allowed to see the person they arrested personally. It\'s to confirm what kind of punishment and treatment the arrested criminal is receiving."

"I see."

"If a paladin went through the trouble of arresting someone and they were just lounging comfortably in prison, wouldn\'t it be unpleasant and disappointing for the paladin?”

I nodded. Everything was as Sung Yu-Da had said. The Central Paladin Order valued the rules, but there was something they valued even more than the rules: tradition.

"I want to see him in person. I don’t know the exact date yet, but I think it would be fine to see him around next week... No, maybe by Thursday."

"If you visit the underground prison, you might see something more terrible than expected. Are you okay with that? Seeing the faces of the criminals you arrested might make you feel unnecessary sympathy or guilt."

"They are criminals anyway. I don\'t think I will feel any sympathy or guilt. No matter how terrible of a sight I see, I don\'t think I will care much," I said calmly.

But that was actually a lie. I was afraid of what I would see in the underground prison, but I had to act like it didn\'t bother me at all.

The director stared at me in silence for a while. He occasionally tilted his head slightly and tapped his desk with his finger as if thinking about something.

There was a long silence. I swallowed my saliva.

The director broke the silence and said, "But there is one problem."

He awkwardly chuckled and continued, "Did you know that the news of Pope\'s death was revealed by accident? A clergyman from the Central Paladin Order leaked internal secrets."

"Ah... I didn\'t know."

"Anyway, that\'s why the Central Paladin Order is in a difficult situation in many ways. With the Ji Hye-Sung incident last time, as the director, I can\'t help but be cautious."

I nodded as I listened. The sense of anxiety that had been faintly present was gradually growing stronger.

"Normally, you can choose the paladin to accompany you. But this time, it seems a bit difficult."

"By that, you mean..."

"This time, I might have to go with you myself," the director said.

That was not part of the plan.