Chapter 199 – Chapter 51. The Demon Cult.
Team Ji-hyeok left the small city of Nilbach and waited for another month before finally arriving at the middle city of Cronon, the meeting place. The warrior cautioned his men before entering the city.
“This is the home of the real guys. Be careful thinking that your every move is being watched. Understand? I don’t know which one might be a devil cultist.”
“All right.”
Now that demons are being summoned even in the middle of the city, Jihyeok had to be very careful as he couldn’t be sure what would happen here.
Disguised as a mercenary team, they entered the middle city of Cronon. There were quite a lot of processions heading to Nigerson, a large city in the North Continent, through this place, so fortunately their identities were not discovered.
Although not as much as in small towns, there was still suspicion towards outsiders here. On the contrary, Jihyeok knew that the betrayal of an insider was much more dangerous than an outsider. In times of crisis like this, there is a strong tendency to mobilize more tightly inward, because then reason is usually hardened and emotions are strong.
Even the Demon Church would not know about such a nature unless they were idiots. Rather, I would actively use it. By spreading awareness in such a way that outsiders are unconditionally suspicious, making them watch on their own.
Of course, that didn’t always mean it was wrong. It was natural to be suspicious of outsiders. But that shouldn’t lead to the unconditional trust of insiders.
Anyway, there was about a week left until Catherine’s warrior team arrived. Until then, Jihyeok intended to secretly collect information about the church. Of course, if it’s difficult, I’ll just wait until Catherine’s hero comes.
Still, thanks to Gide and Kayak disguised as sun gods, suspicion was a little less. Some even approached them directly and asked for blessings. It was human nature to want to rely on the unknown even in this tough time.
If a man made such a request, Kayak would say a blessing, and if a woman, Gide would do it. When the pretty woman left, her bald head scratched the side of her crotch with a wistful look on her face.
“Cyperle, am I really becoming a eunuch by doing this?”
They settled down at the inn, unpacked, and gathered back into their rooms. Jihyeok gave permission to go out. Confined to a room at a time like this, it could have aroused even more suspicion. It’s better to walk around the city in moderation.
“Don’t do anything that stands out. The first thing to think about is camouflage. If they knew we were a team of warriors, they would be extremely wary. It means that everything that came this far could be in vain. You know what I mean?”
“Yes, chief.”
Thus, the camouflage life in the middle city of Cronon began in earnest.
They behaved like ordinary mercenaries. Gide was very tolerant of his abstinence from drinking. Still, I started a life of abstinence, which I had never experienced before, because of the captain’s suggestion that I would go back to the capital if I finished this job well.
He used to jerk when he was bored, but according to him, he easily surpassed the number of jerks he had when he was a boy.
While his comrades suffered so much, Ji-hyeok also wandered around the city trying to gather information about the Demon Church.
But the information was, at best, just rumors from the mouths of drunkards. Judging from Ji-hyeok, who already knew a little about Catherine’s hero, what they said wasn’t very reliable.
Still, if there’s one thing worth salvaging, it’s a group of heresy hunters created by Baron Cronon.
Of course, they were slickly named heresy hunters, but in fact they were nothing more than a group of knights. Still, the good news was that he was using his strength to punish the Demon Church.
These heresy hunters often patrolled the city accompanied by soldiers, and their prestige was quite impressive. In fact, I wondered if I could catch the janitor hiding in the back alley, let alone the Devil Church, in this way, but even so, just looking like that would act as a deterrent.
… However, the problem is that Ji-hyeok, who is both an outsider and a stranger at the same time, is quite annoying in their eyes.
Ji-hyeok, who passed the main road without any problems, was suddenly approached by private soldiers, and he ordered them to follow them somewhere. Jihyeok followed them nicely without any reason to refuse. There were heresy hunters patrolling there. The total number is four.
Their gaze looking down at Jihyeok while riding a horse was not very good. Of course, if he knew Jihyeok’s identity, even Baron Cronon wouldn’t dare to raise his head stiffly, but he was just a silver mercenary.
“Reveal your identity.”
The man who seemed to be their leader said so. Jihyeok politely bent his waist and took out his mercenary plaque.
“I am a silver mercenary, Kyle.”
Jihyeok’s camouflage status was roughly like that. The man received the handed card from the soldier, looked around for a moment, then tossed it at Ji-hyeok’s feet.
“What did the stranger come here for?”
“I’m here to find a job. If we can’t get it here, we’re going to Nigerson.”
“… Okay?”
There was nothing particularly suspicious about it. The man waved her hand as if to say goodbye. Jihyeok bowed his head again and picked up the mercenary plaque that had fallen at his feet. The group of heresy hunters soon followed the soldiers back down the main road.
Ji-hyeok’s eyes flashed sharply as he kept his mercenary plaque in his bosom. His gaze was fixed on the back of the man who had just given the order.
That bastard…
If there was a particularly noticeable change for Ji-hyeok after drinking the dragon’s blood, it was the sense of mana. His surprisingly developed sense far surpassed even that of a wizard. And that sense immediately caught the very feeble magic wriggling inside that man’s body. … He would have no idea if he hadn’t drunk dragon blood.
Even the group of heresy hunters created by the baron had spies from the Devil Church. That said, it was no different from the meaning that the entire city was already in the hands of the Demon Church.
Jihyeok thought he was good at disguising his identity. If he was a warrior and headed to the inner city, he wouldn’t have found the dung residue, let alone a demon cult member.
… The situation is more serious than I thought.
If this was the case, he had to judge that the castle had already been taken over, so he shouldn’t have thought about receiving help from the baron unless it was the worst.
Jihyeok returned to his room and told Kayak what he had just experienced. The Lizardmen were also at a loss for words when they found out that the group to catch the Devil Church was already in the hands of the Devil Church. It must be that their influence is too strong to be ignored.
“It certainly seems like you did well to come here.”
Kayak also wanted to root out this evil cult of demons. The sins they had already committed on the continent were so severe that even death could not wash them away.
And soon after, Catherine’s team also arrived here in the middle city of Cronon. Hero Catherine came to Ji-hyeok’s dorm room alone. Jihyeok asked while shaking hands with Catherine.
“Has anything happened while you’re here?”
“Fortunately. But there are a lot of dirty rumors.”
Jihyuk lightly nodded his head.
“I did a rough search, but I couldn’t come up with anything. It seems that the Demon Church has been well hidden.”
“Because if you betray, you will die.”
“It seems that they have a lot of eyes on me. No, it’s easy to think that the whole city is in their hands. So, if possible, we will have to solve this on our own line.”
“… Did you find out anything?”
“The leader of a group called Heresy Hunters seems to be a spy for the Devil Church.”
Catherine was quite surprised by that statement.
“… Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am sure.”
I was so sure I couldn’t believe it. There’s no way an S-class hero would say nonsense.
“If he’s the leader of the Heretic Hunters, isn’t he in a pretty high position?”
“It must be quite high. It’s a knight Even within the Demonic Church, he is not in a low position.”
Catherine’s warrior lightly nodded her head.
“… Well, anyway, now I need to find out the time and place of their meeting.”
“Is there any better way?”
“First of all, we have to look for gaps as much as possible with the information we have.”
Once there, the two broke up without much income. However, Jihyeok already had something in mind.
Since the leader of the heretic hunters was a member of the Demon Cult, he should be able to steal information from him.
Of course, it would be impossible in a simple way, so I thought of approaching it in a way that only Jihyeok could do.
… If you go looking for it like this, you’ll find out that you’re absolutely not.
And the moment Ji-hyeok’s identity is revealed, the Devil’s Church will hide in the mouse hole. So it was right to avoid direct contact with him.
… Then?
Jihyeok called the dream queen in his mind. As a spirit body, she was mentally connected to the hero.
– Hey.
– … Yes.
– Did you read my thoughts? … Get ready.
– All right.
If it is difficult to find out in reality,
Gotta go into his dreams.
