## Chapter 209 – Für Elise
“Hey, Yeongsaengdo!”
Lina answered with a start at my fierce question.
“Yeah. Lina, do you happen to know anything? I’ll forgive you if you do. Of course, if you don’t, you’re gonna die here. How dare you try to use this Oppa?”
“O-Oppa, just a moment! Why are you asking about Yeongsaengdo?!”
“Is this punk trying to change the subject?”
I raised my hand menacingly, and Lina screamed, cowering. At least she knows she did wrong. Let’s forgive her for just 1 silver, the fair price for a hitman job.
“Kyaaak!!! Please don’t hit me!!! I know something!!!”
“Really? You know something?”
Still, the flames of fury that had been rising subsided when she said she knew something. I immediately helped Lina up and brushed the dust off her shoulders. She’s pretty, but she’s so dirty that she doesn’t shine.
“Ugh… Yes. I, I know something.”
“Our Lina is the best! Tell me what you know!”
Lina, who is well-versed in the slums, must have some useful information. The riches piled up by the cultists. It seemed to flicker before my eyes. I immediately switched to friendly mode, gave her a nice smile, and grabbed her shoulders.
“So, um… well… what I know is…”
Lina, unable to keep up with my energy, hesitated and avoided answering.
To Lina, I gave a silent implication that if she was lying, she would end up like the corpses strewn over there, and she turned pale and began to tremble.
Ah.
“Ah, damn it. The story isn’t progressing. Calm down. I won’t hit you. I’m just personally curious about Yeongsaengdo. Tell me quickly if you know anything.”
“…Curious?”
“Yeah. Well, I’m not trying to join or anything. I’m just a little curious.”
“…”
Even though I removed all violence and spoke kindly, she just bit her lip and avoided eye contact. At this point, I was about to go crazy with frustration.
Damn it, just tell me already.
Should I just smack her one?
I couldn’t bring myself to hit a kid in front of Elise, so I exerted superhuman patience to suppress the urge to violence.
“Tell me before you die!”
“U-Ugh… Hngh! Huk!”
But suddenly, Lina burst into tears!
No!
Why!
“Hey, what’s wrong! Why are you crying!”
“Huk! Heueuk…!”
“You little shit! You think I’ll let you off because you’re crying! Huh! Stop it now!”
Around that time, Elise came up to me and asked me to explain what was going on. No, what is this… She did something wrong and now she’s crying, what am I supposed to do!
“H-Help me, Oppa!”
As I was about to explain to Elise, Lina cried out.
“What?”
Help?
“…It seems necessary to calm her down for a moment. Saint, please step aside for a moment.”
“Uh… O-Okay.”
Elise, holding the iron mace stained with viscous blood, stood in front of Lina. Elise calmly urged her to stop crying in an extremely calm tone, and Lina stopped wailing, perhaps calmed down a little by the red-haired girl of similar height speaking to her.
Anyway, since she was causing a ruckus in a place like this, it was attracting a lot of attention, so we moved to a less crowded place. Only then did Lina, who had calmed down, tremble and open her mouth.
“Okay, what do you need help with? Does it have anything to do with Yeongsaengdo?”
“…Yes.”
An answer that suggested she knew something.
Lina continued.
“Actually… in that place called Yeongsaengdo…”
“What, did they rip you off?”
“N-No, it’s not that…”
A gloomy and fearful tone. Lina, looking around anxiously, looked at my face again and began to cry.
Damn it, is she crying again!
“Huk, heuk… My, my grandma…!”
“Grandma?”
Suddenly, a memory from the festival came to mind.
Lina stole my money.
The resulting catastrophe.
I had even stormed into Lina’s house and collected 10 silver. Looking back, I feel like there was a sick grandma lying there. I feel sorry for her, but what can I do? I’m not well-off enough to get involved in other people’s lives.
I have to protect what I have to protect.
I have to get what I have to get.
“Hmm, grandma…”
Could it be that her grandma passed away?
I should keep my mouth shut about this.
…I was thinking, but the words that came out of Lina’s mouth were shocking and different from that.
“Heugeuk, Grandma… Huk! Her illness got worse, so she went to Yeongsaengdo… Huk! And there…! Hic!”
“…!”
I felt a sense of foreboding and looked at Elise. Elise also seemed to feel something similar, widening her eyes and looking at my face.
“…Saint.”
“Ah, yeah. Something’s up.”
Something clicked.
“Okay, Lina, stop crying now. If you cry, everyone will come to rip you off. So, what happened to your grandma after she went to Yeongsaengdo?”
“…Hic. Well… um…”
Lina began to tell her story in detail.
To summarize, in order to save her dying grandma, she had been asking around, and recently learned about something called Yeongsaengdo. When she asked about it, she was tempted by the words that it was a mysterious group that could cure incurable diseases, so she took her grandma to a meeting.
“I haven’t been able to see my grandma since then… They said that if she received baptism, she could live… Huk, if only I hadn’t told her to go… Hic!”
“So. She received baptism?”
“Yes…”
As soon as she heard the word baptism, Elise bared her teeth and let out a trembling breath. She seemed extremely pissed off after hearing the heretical story.
“So, so I tried to find my grandma myself…”
“Find her yourself… Did you get chased because of that?”
“Yes, yes! That’s right!”
“Hmm…”
She dug so deep that she got chased?
This might be easier than I thought.
“So, did you find your grandma?”
“Well… I don’t know, but.”
“But?”
“I have a feeling she’s there…”
“There…”
Lina, who was explaining, also seemed to have been wandering around the slums to find her grandma. Then, as she approached the truth, she was chased. But considering that the pursuers were just two slum dwellers, it would be right to say that Lina’s guess was wrong.
“Heuk, heuk… Grandma Susan… I miss you…!”
Hmm?
“What? Su, what?”
“Yes, yes? Su, Susan Grandma. My grandma’s name is Susan.”
A name I’ve heard somewhere… Ah!
“The meeting!”
That mummy-like grandma who came to the meeting!
I’m sure that person’s name was Susan!
“Elise! I think something’s clicking!”
“I am feeling something similar as well. Lina, was it? Please guide us to that place.”
“Wait a minute. If we’re going, we have to bring equipment!”
“That’s right…! Preparation for the holy war!”
Honestly, I don’t think it’s likely, but we’ve found the most valid clue for now. I had to put on my equipment in case something happened.
I immediately took Lina out of the slums.
Since there was not enough time, I quickly went to Elise’s accommodation and equipped her with her combat nun outfit, then went to my accommodation and put on a full set of equipment and came out. Claudia and Winia were not there. They both seemed to be out somewhere.
Anyway, I put on all the equipment and put a shabby rag over it. As I was doing that, a lot of time had passed.
“Lina! Let’s go! Let’s go find your grandma!”
“Yes, yes? Really?!”
“Of course!”
Grandma or whatever, let’s just go there and think about it. Let’s trust Lina’s investigation skills! I trust you for trying to find your grandma!
I followed Lina to the deepest part of the slums. As expected, she knew the geography of this place, so she was guiding us without hesitation. I wanted to check before the sun went down, so I literally sprinted along the shortcut.
The place we arrived at was an old and shabby building on the outskirts.
“T-That’s it… I was chased when I tried to check that place.”
“Why were you chased? Is there something in there? Is there any evidence that that place is related to Yeongsaengdo?”
I asked for a final confirmation.
“Yes… I’ve been trying to find my grandma all this time. I’ve been lurking and investigating… and I saw a priest from Yeongsaengdo going into that place.”
“Okay, well. Elise.”
“I am ready.”
Hiding in the shadows and looking at the building, I saw a few slum dwellers wandering around. They all looked skinny and emaciated, similar to the guys I had cut down earlier.
There are many questions in many ways.
Then, shall we try to invade?
“I’ll follow you too…”
“You’ll die and not even know it.”
“Yes.”
ㅡSreung. I drew my sword, and Elise also drew her iron mace.
“Elise. What do you think, should we just break through?”
“Hmm, that would cause a commotion. I think it would be better to take a look and infiltrate secretly.”
“Okay. Let’s try that first. If that doesn’t work, we can break through then.”
When we shared our opinions, Lina said that she knew a route that was relatively okay.
“No. You said you got chased while doing that. Then we can’t use that route.”
“Ah…”
“You stupid idiot. Think before you live.”
As we carefully circled the building so as not to be detected, we came to the conclusion that we could not enter without causing a commotion.
“This is something that can’t be helped but be detected…”
“Saint. How about we lie low until it gets completely dark?”
“Hmm, what should we do…”
I don’t want to go in at night… No. It might be better to go in at night. What we can’t see in the dark will be the same for each other.
“Oh. There…”
As we were putting our heads together, Lina pointed at the building and said.
The slum dwellers who had been wandering around all started walking in one direction. Soon, they all disappeared, leaving only the building behind.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like an opportunity. Let’s go!”
“Let’s go!”
Lowering our posture and silencing our footsteps, we approached the entrance of the building. I don’t know why, but all the slum dwellers who would have caused a commotion have disappeared.
“Let’s go in.”
We quickly entered the inside of the entrance.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything special.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Lina, are you sure this is the place?”
“I’m not sure. I just think this place is suspicious…”
The inside of the building was almost completely silent as if it were empty.
Could it be that there are no people at all? When I roughly looked around, the first floor seemed to be just abandoned, and the second floor was also nothing special. However, it was unique that there was no one.
The building itself seems to be empty…
Could there be a hidden basement?
“After all, the suspicious thing will be in the basement. Elise. Let’s look for the first floor.”
“I understand.”
“Lina. You stick close and look for something plausible.”
“…Yes.”
We went back down to the first floor and conducted a search.
There must be a passage to the basement. Checking the outside of the window from time to time to see if anything was approaching, I searched for the entrance that would be somewhere on the floor.
“Saint. This carpet…”
“Let’s lift it up.”
I noticed a carpet that I had ignored and passed by. As I and Lina guarded the surroundings, Elise pulled the carpet with a tense posture.
ㅡWhoosh!
“…It’s out.”
Under the carpet was what appeared to be the door to the underground passage. After looking outside for a moment, I grabbed the door with Elise, being careful not to make any noise.
ㅡSqueak.
“I can see the way down.”
“It’s dark.”
We went down the stairs as if we were possessed by something. Elise, holding the iron mace tightly, had a dazed look on her face for some reason. Drunk on violence…
“Lina. Stick close to me and follow me. You’ll die and not even know it.”
“Yes, yes, I understand…”
Slowly. I slowly stepped on the stairs. I completely smashed the hinges of the door and closed it. I only opened half of the door and somehow put the carpet on it… but it didn’t work as well as I thought.
Anyway.
Relying on Elise’s low-power holy light, we headed underground.
“…Saint. Whatever is in front of us, if we have the steadfast faith and devout belief of our Divine Friend, there is no trial that we cannot overcome.”
“You said it well. Let’s kill all the evil cultists and come out.”
“I can’t stand the anger anymore…!”
The stairs ended and a hallway appeared.
Orange light was emanating from the other side of the hallway.
