## Chapter 208 – Für Elise
Whatever Investigation Kim Kat and Elise’s investigation activities were, they were nothing short of smooth sailing. Reporting to Risha from time to time, and building friendships with the poor through violence, we were getting closer and closer to the truth.
Today, I was engrossed in gathering information, gleefully beating up the followers of the Eternal Life Society who had sneaked into the back alleys with Elise.
“I will take notes for a moment.”
“Okay.”
Elise had seemed very happy these past few days.
I, too, was very happy to be with her. I split the investigation fee I received from Risha in half, and we spent the money shopping or eating together, making for a very fulfilling time in many ways.
We had already attended the gathering twice more.
It felt like we would be able to uncover the reality of the Eternal Life Society, which was as dark as if shrouded in fog.
“Elise, shouldn’t we raid the gathering site soon?”
“That’s a very attractive suggestion, but that would only allow us to punish a small portion. What we truly need to crush is their leadership.”
Elise replied, closing her notebook.
“More investigation is needed. The followers who disappear after being baptized… Where do they go, and what happens to them? I can only think of ominous and wicked possibilities.”
“Yeah.”
That part was definitely strange.
At every gathering, the followers who volunteered for baptism were disappearing.
They never returned or showed themselves again. Only one person, chosen at the last gathering, briefly appeared as a starving mummy before disappearing forever.
It was like a demonstration.
Did the remaining nine followers also turn into that grotesque form?
Or did something even more terrible happen to them?
Dozens of people had already disappeared like that, but where they had vanished to was completely unknown. Even when we secretly infiltrated the gathering place on days when there were no gatherings, we couldn’t find any trace of them.
It was literally just a place for gatherings.
Therefore, our conclusion was that the disappeared followers were being ‘moved’ somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ was likely the location of their leadership. If so, it was highly likely that all sorts of wealth were piled up there.
We didn’t know what they were doing with the baptized followers, but it was certainly for a wicked purpose, and to achieve such a purpose, it was inevitable that they would need various magical tools.
If we could find that place, we could smash everything and steal all the valuables.
Elise’s goal might be to crush them, but my goal was to steal the heretics’ property in addition to that. Our understanding was 100% aligned. Let’s find out their base through deeper investigation.
“Then this guy…”
“Let’s just put him aside.”
Not many can withstand Elise’s violent interrogation. Here, the skinny heretic who had just been beaten to a pulp was no exception. Leaving him unconscious and breathing evenly in a corner, we moved on to find a new target.
“It seems certain that they are heretics who worship a monotheistic religion.”
After researching their doctrines using violent means for several days, it was finally revealed that the followers of the Eternal Life Society worshiped a single god.
The name of the god was not yet known, but the doctrine was that one could obtain immortal power through the blessing of that one and only god. Elise was extremely enraged by this fact.
She was furious that their god was being insulted, and that it was an act of disrespect to all the gods in the world. I barely managed to calm her down, as she was about to go mad with anger.
Moving to the next area, Elise said.
“The Iconoclasm War was ultimately a conflict between heretics who believed in a single god and modern religions that recognized many gods. It was truly a conflict between irrationality and reason. It was a very large war, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the world’s religious system was established in its current form at that time.”
“Sounds like a history teacher.”
It was a story about a great war in the past called the Iconoclasm War.
In Earth terms, it was like a world war. In an era when all sorts of faiths were rampant, countless heretics drew swords and spears to unify the world, claiming that only their religion was real, and righteous people with all sorts of faiths fought against them in a holy war.
That was Elise’s answer to my question about monotheism.
“The war with the heretics who claimed that only their god was the true god was like hell itself, and many ruins and kingdoms collapsed and disappeared as a result, but the magic and technology that exploded at the time were very helpful.”
This history lesson was knowledge that could not be learned from books. Honestly, I didn’t understand it very well, but I was intrigued, so I listened to Elise’s words for the time being.
It was a bit strange that Elise was explaining history, but to me, it just seemed like a fantasy setting. The Iconoclasm War… It seemed that fighting over religion was the same in Earth and this world.
“For example, the establishment of modern hygiene concepts and the development of medicine. The war with the heretics who worshiped the plague god caused many casualties, but it ultimately led to the establishment of hygiene concepts and the development of medicine, resulting in an increase in the average lifespan of many people.”
So that’s why the sewer and bathhouse culture developed so much.
Certainly, nothing has dramatically increased the average lifespan of humanity as much as hygiene. Why, wasn’t it said that soap saved more people than anyone else in the world?
The hygiene rules that the legendary nurse Florence Nightingale especially cared about also drastically increased the survival rate of soldiers wounded in the war.
According to Elise’s explanation, these relatively modern hygiene concepts were established after the war with the heretics who worshiped the plague god.
Do humans develop through war after all?
It felt like I could hear the Wright brothers and Alfred Nobel screaming in the afterlife. It was so sad that humans were humans, whether in this world or on Earth.
“Thus, humanity develops through pain and tragedy.”
“Is that the doctrine of the Holy Light Cross Society?”
“That is not the case. This is just my personal interpretation… Hehe, you are the first Saint to hear me talk about this.”
Elise said shyly, smiling.
“Hehe, I guess I am.”
I couldn’t lose either.
I also gave Elise an explanation of Confucianism, which emphasizes respecting parents and observing etiquette, and the indigenous beliefs that are ingrained in the emotions of modern Koreans, appropriately arranged in this world’s style.
Of course, I didn’t forget to mention the story of the legendary Philistine general Goliath and King David, as well as the Cheonma Shin-gyo, which worships the Cheonma who will someday come from the Central Plains.
Elise was delighted, saying it was an opportunity to broaden her horizons.
Somehow, I feel comfortable when I’m with Elise.
Is this what a healing younger sister is like?
Anyway, it was when we entered the alleyway again to search for the next prey.
ㅡTap tap tap.
I heard the sound of something running busily, so I turned around, and sure enough. Dust was rising from the other side.
“Saint?”
“Ah, looks like something’s coming.”
Looking closely, it was a small girl with black hair. Oh, I thought, maybe she’s from my hometown, so I looked at her carefully, and the girl’s identity was Lina.
What?
Lina?
ㅡTap tap tap tap!
“Kyaaaaah!!!”
Lina was screaming and running. As if something was chasing her from behind. She had changed her job to an adventurer, but had she been caught pickpocketing again, unable to break her old habits?
I quietly watched the scene.
“…O, Oppa?!”
Lina, who was running while looking back, saw me and said that.
The expression that had been distorted with shock instantly brightened.
…Could she possibly think I’ll help her?
Is this bitch out of her mind?
“Oppa!”
“Get lost, you thief!”
I dodged Lina, who was running towards me as if she was saved, like a matador avoiding a bull. I don’t know what she’s expecting, but I have no desire to get involved with this kid.
“Catch her!”
“Get out of the way!”
Looking over there, I saw two bizarre, ragged beggars who looked like bogeymen running madly. Judging from the situation, it seemed like those guys were running to catch Lina… Well, whatever the reason, I don’t care, and it’s not my business.
I didn’t want to see blood for no reason.
“H, Help me!”
Lina said to me pleadingly as she approached.
Unfortunately, my help is quite expensive.
I don’t think Lina has enough money for that right now.
It’s better not to get involved.
“Get lost, you little shit. Didn’t I tell you? There’s no such thing as free happiness in this world. If it’s your problem, don’t think about getting help from others and solve it yourself.”
I said to Lina, who was trying to hide behind me, as if scolding her. Then Lina looked up at me with an openly disappointed look.
“Ah…”
“Saint, who is this child?”
As I was doing that, Elise asked with a questioning look.
“Hmm.”
The relationship between me and Lina is quite complicated. She’s like a younger sister, but she’s not really a younger sister. A precarious tightrope walk between a real younger sister and a fake younger sister… A bizarre relationship in itself.
A connection of 10 silver.
“Well, you could say she’s like my younger sister… Ugh!”
ㅡWhoosh!
It was at that moment.
“Woah, fuck! Who is this bastard!”
The beggar who ran up swung a club at me.
It was a completely unexpected attack, and I almost fell over while dodging. If I hadn’t barely managed to avoid it with superhuman reflexes, I might have been bleeding from my head.
“This little bitch!”
I felt anger that seemed like my head would explode.
No, suddenly swinging a club at me?
It was beyond incomprehensible, it was astral. I took a step back to create distance and put my hand on the hilt of my sword.
“Get out of the way, you irrelevant bastard!”
The beggar who shouted that glared at me fiercely, brandishing his club… I’m going crazy. I drew my sword without hesitation and strode forward.
An irrelevant bastard.
Doesn’t he think that his attack just now made him relevant?
“Elise. These guys seem like heretics.”
“I agree. Robbing people on the street in this situation… They should atone with death. Evil one.”
It had nothing to do with Lina, but this guy attacked me first. If so, it became my own problem that I couldn’t exchange for anything.
Of course, I had to solve it.
“W, What is it! Are you that kid’s companion?”
As I advanced, spinning the drawn sword, the beggar waved his club in the air, trying to stop me from approaching. He had an expression as if he couldn’t even imagine that he had attacked first.
I gave Lina a look.
This bastard dares to drag me into his problem?
Prepare to die later.
“I’m not her companion.”
“Then what are you! Get out of the way!”
“Do you remember that you attacked me just now?”
“What…!”
ㅡSwoosh!
I swung my sword as it was.
“Ugh!”
The Extreme Training Sword Technique was not something that a beggar who grew up in the back alleys with nothing could ever block. In a single strike, the guy’s carotid artery was cut and blood poured out, and he struggled before collapsing.
“This little punk. You should know who to mess with.”
I searched his pockets and found 2 copper coins. He was as poor as he looked. I didn’t even make my money back.
“All that evil ones need is punishment.”
Elise had also smashed the head of another attacker. I don’t know for sure, but judging from the fact that they attacked first, they were definitely heretics. Elise also searched the corpse’s pockets for money.
“A, Ah…”
I looked back.
Lina was trembling and watching me.
“Hey, you little shit Lina. You made me kill someone. What are you going to do about this?”
“Th, That’s…”
“Our Lina needs to be punished. How dare you screw me over?”
“Oppa, it’s not like that… I mean, this is…”
I need to fix her habits today.
Why did she have to hide behind me? This can only be explained as a scheme to overcome the crisis by using me. I was thinking about how to deal with this bitch, but when I saw her trembling, Elise’s words came to mind.
You can give a kid a break once in a while.
So I decided to give her a chance.
“Lina.”
“Y, Yes?!”
“Do you know anything about the Eternal Life Society? If not, you’re dead.”
