## Chapter 202 – Für Elise
A commotion woke me up. It’s an old habit; any sound jolts me awake. The time was probably just before dawn ended. I sat up and saw Winia putting on her robe.
“Sleepyhead’s awake?”
Winia, who was adjusting the fabric over her chest, said, noticing me.
“…Ah, yeah. Where are you going?”
“Magic Tower. Got some business.”
Magic Tower?
I rubbed my eyes and asked.
“Will you be late?”
I felt a heavy fatigue, probably from brawling with the martial artist gang the day before. That would have been fine, but somehow we ended up having a celebration party and drinking, which was a bit much.
Everyone in the guild went crazy over the achievement of beating up the martial artists. I think it was a good opportunity to build new friendships with them.
“Hmm, might be a little late. Why? Does Sleepyhead want me to come back soon?”
“Yeah. I’d like you to come back soon. What are you going for?”
“Nothing much, I’ll tell you later. Is Unni still asleep?”
Cloudy was hugging my waist as she slept. I stroked her ear for a moment, and then Winia approached. “Sleepyhead, kiss,” she said, and kissed my face about twenty times at random before heading to the shoe rack.
“Sleepyhead, you have to be good today, okay?”
Am I a dog?
“See you later.”
“If you secretly do anything with Unni while I’m gone, you’re dead.”
“No, I’m not some horny dog…”
“Aren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“Then I’ll be back.”
With that, Winia left, and my sleep, which had been excited by the recent display of affection, was completely gone. I must have gone to bed early yesterday. My tent was standing a little too tall. But I couldn’t wake Cloudy who was sleeping, so I decided to get up and wash.
Judging by the traces of someone using the shower room, Winia seemed to have woken up earlier than I thought. What’s up with her? What kind of business? I’ll have to ask her when she comes back tonight.
Anyway, I have to start work today.
Didn’t I get a request from Risha yesterday to investigate the suspected emergence of cultists in the slums? I should wash up quickly and go out to do some reconnaissance. After washing up and getting dressed, Cloudy woke up, rubbing her eyes.
“Huu… Katt. You’re up early? Where’s Winia?”
“Did you sleep well? She woke up earlier than me and went out.”
“Yeah. I slept well… Are you going out too? Isn’t the guild training over?”
“Ah, different job. You know that black magician? I got a request while going to return the circlet.”
“Ah, that…”
Cloudy was a little uncomfortable with the black magician. Her expression proved it. I went over to comfort her, who was about to get upset.
“So I’m just going to do that for a bit.”
“…Should I go with you?”
“No. It’s okay. I’ll go alone today.”
“…Okay. See you later.”
After that, I kissed Cloudy passionately and went outside. It felt like we were about to get into the main event, but I shouldn’t do it if Winia tells me not to. I don’t want to get hit… I’m so scared because she seems to know everything just from the number of times we do it at night these days.
But how am I supposed to investigate?
I headed straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.
Honestly, I didn’t really have anything in mind, and I couldn’t imagine what I was supposed to be asking around about in the slums. I could just picture myself questioning a few homeless people, getting pissed off, throwing a punch, beating them up, and then cleaning up a bunch of corpses again.
“What the hell should I do?”
When I arrived at the guild, it was early, so it was crowded with people. From parties already taking on jobs and leaving, to people endlessly reading lines of text in front of the bulletin board.
I looked for a familiar face (mainly Copson), but I didn’t see any… Do I have to go alone? It doesn’t really matter, but…
Then something flashed in my mind, a brilliant idea.
Lina.
My little sister, Lina. That bastard who lived in the slums would definitely know a lot about the situation there, and I figured I could get enough help. Above all, he’s already changed his job to an adventurer.
I could probably ask him to guide me around for a few coppers… But, is finding people easy? Lina wasn’t visible either.
I headed straight for the slums.
I’m not planning to do a half-assed job, but you can’t get results on the first day anyway. Today, I’ll just do some reconnaissance alone, and if I come up with something, I’ll dig into it in detail.
Compared to the bustling morning, the slums were eerily quiet. Of course. How could those kids with no energy or motivation in their lives work diligently? They’d just collapse and sleep. That hellhole is a place only heroes with an iron will like me can escape from.
I couldn’t feel the macho energy of someone with such a burning heart in this depressing place. The only ones moving were thugs with fierce expressions.
Without hesitation, I entered the alleyway.
Going deeper, a familiar landscape unfolded.
A slum with a listless, ochre atmosphere. Houses made of mud or houses that were about to collapse. Or spaces where makeshift tents were lined up. It was during the festival, when I beat up the robbers with Lina, that I had come here once.
ㅡ…
ㅡ…
ㅡ…
Many people were staring at me with soulless eyes.
Come to think of it, I’m dressed too handsomely. It’s no wonder I stand out since I’m wearing all my equipment. Hmm… Do I need to change my clothes to investigate? I’m a little reluctant to investigate without equipment.
“Hey. You over there. Yeah, you, you. You looking at me.”
It’s better to try something, anyway.
I pointed out a gaunt young man who was looking at me and called out to him.
“…Me?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s up?”
As I approached using the Heavenly Demon’s Advent, the crowd disappeared as if sensing a threat. Except for the guy I called. Anyway, I stood in front of him and put my hand on his shoulder.
“Are you interested in religion? I know a good one.”
Are you interested in the Heavenly Demon Church?
“…”
“I can see that you’re a very kind person. It would be great if you could come to our meeting.”
I recalled my memories from Earth and my days as an F-class adventurer, imitating a pseudo-religious missionary and talking to him. Since it was said that a suspicious religious group had nested here, I thought something might come out if I poked around like this.
“Yeah, you’ve had a lot of bad things happen lately, right? A lot of hardships. You failed at what you were doing and you don’t have any money. Let’s see… This is your hometown, isn’t it? Let’s go over there and talk for a bit? If you don’t talk now, there’s no turning back. You’ve been cursed.”
As I said that, his eyes started to shake violently.
Is there something going on?
“…I’m, I’m not interested in the Eternal Life Society.”
ㅡHwaeack!
“Hey! Hey! Wait a minute!”
He disappeared as if running away into the distance of the alley.
…Is there something he’s guilty of?
And the Eternal Life Society?
“Hmm…”
I don’t know what it is, but the name itself was very suspicious. I thought of some of the religions I knew. None of them had the word ‘Eternal Life’ in them.
That’s for sure.
It’s a name I’ve never heard before.
It would be helpful to have Elise at times like this… It was a shame that Elise was living in Krasheim. Anyway, let’s gather some more clues. If I poke around a little more and the word Eternal Life Society keeps coming up, I’ll have to look into it.
Now that I have a keyword, it’ll be better than banging my head against the wall.
From there, I wandered around the slums, sometimes asking about the Eternal Life Society, sometimes asking if they were interested in the Eternal Life Society, sometimes talking about religion, or empathizing with the hard lives of the beggars. And I collected information by preaching about tragic love stories and the cruelty of imperialism.
This time, I asked a plump middle-aged woman who was selling old apples.
“Do you know where the meeting place is today?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Eternal Life Society’s meeting place, I mean.”
“…I don’t know. Get lost if you’re not going to buy anything.”
Pretending not to know.
“Shibal. Who the hell would buy those apples?”
And this time, I asked an old man.
“Old man. The weather’s nice, isn’t it?”
“…Weather?”
“You know there’s a meeting today, right?”
“I, I have nothing to say to you.”
Vigilance.
“…”
I repeated this until noon, and it seemed like I was getting results. Most of them didn’t seem to know about the Eternal Life Society, but an undeniable number of people were wary or pretending not to know, and issued eviction orders.
It was a clearly suspicious reaction.
Could there really be something going on?
No, Risha said there actually was, so there must be, but still, those ‘avoiding’ and ‘disliking’ reactions were hard to understand.
Caution.
I could feel it.
I wanted to just beat them up until they were on the verge of death or give them money and ask them, but even the things I’ve done so far were suspicious as hell. If I did something like that there and aroused suspicion, some action might be taken.
ㅡ…
ㅡ…
ㅡ…
Look.
The gazes were more suspicious than before. The hollow-eyed beggars were glaring at me. I suddenly ran towards them, but they all just ran away like woodlice when you lift a rock.
Tsk. Should I stop here for today?
My appearance is definitely eye-catching.
I feel like I’ll get targeted if I do anything more crazy.
Let’s withdraw for today.
I escaped from that ominous space.
“Thank you so much for investigating so diligently from the first day.”
Since Risha’s house was nearby, I decided to stop by on the way and give a situation report. She was already in her familiar see-through black negligee. I explained to Risha about the strange things I had experienced today.
She nodded after listening to my story.
“Well, I didn’t get much results on the first day. What I just explained is everything.”
I don’t know if I’m doing it right.
That’s why I need to get an evaluation on whether I’m doing it right.
“No. Even this much is really helpful. Keep investigating with that momentum. Investigation starts from things like that… And yeah, the Eternal Life Society…”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know anything at all.”
Risha crossed her legs. She was pretending not to know, but it seemed like she was enjoying the fact that I was paying attention.
“To do it right away from the day after I asked, you’re such a diligent child.”
If that’s the case, I wish she would at least grow her breasts and do that.
“…I’ll stop by and report like this from time to time. But please don’t expect too much, because I might stop in the middle if I’m completely stuck or if I think it’s impossible.”
“Hehe, I don’t think you’ll give up on a job first, will you?”
Honestly, Kim Katt is an icon of faith and trust. But this is the first time I’ve done something like this, so I’m not confident. I want to do it if possible.
“I’ll do it if possible, but honestly, I don’t have a good feeling about it either…”
“You can be confident. You caught a clue on the first day, didn’t you?”
“That’s true.”
She looked definitely happy when she smiled.
She put down her teacup and stroked her chest.
“Where… Then should I grow my breasts as you just thought?”
In a moment of darkness, Risha’s breasts had swollen to at least an H cup, and feeling sexual desire, I ran away from that place at full speed as if escaping.
What a dreamlike ability.
To be able to grow your breasts at will.
I even want to learn it.
There was still a lot of time left, but I decided that it was impossible to investigate the slums any further, so I immediately came out to the main street. I ate a 2-copper sandwich for a meal. Should I go back to the accommodation right now?
Cloudy would have gone out too, and then I wouldn’t have anything to do alone, so I stopped by the library for the first time in a while and picked out a book.
The theme was related to religion.
I wondered if there were any books about the Eternal Life Society, but there weren’t any or I couldn’t see them.
So I just picked one at random and devoured it on the spot. There was no problem with reading the text. It costs 1 copper per day to rent, but it’s free to read here. I learned as much as I could about the religious structure of this world until it got dark, and went back to the accommodation.
“Sleepyhead’s here?”
“What? You were here first?”
When I opened the door, Winia, who was looking at something that looked like a magic book while Cloudy was sleeping on her lap, closed the book and waved her hand.
“What was that about going to the Magic Tower?”
“…I was going to learn some new magic.”
“New magic?”
“Yeah. Sleepyhead is working so hard, so I should too. I’ve been thinking that lately when I see Sleepyhead.”
Hehe. Winia smiled.
Well, wouldn’t that be a good thing?
More than that, why is Cloudy sleeping so much?
If she wakes up like that, she’ll stick to me saying she can’t sleep.
