Chapter 86

Kim had lived diligently.

As compensation for his diligence, he’d been able to have many things. Working diligently, scouting diligently, stealing diligently.

And today, a major problem had arisen in his diligent life.

Kim looked at the two men with their hands and feet bound. In the room reeking of urine, Wolf and Jack stared only at the floor as if they’d resigned themselves.

“Sit.”

Quilbion said. The tone of his voice was no different from usual, which made it all the more chilling.

The Quilbion Kim had known was a somewhat deficient friend. He lived diligently, but he’d grab the direction wrong and waste his energy.

He’d been good prey, and Kim had guided the prey into the trap as he always had.

It had been a smooth start. He’d shaken out all the money he’d saved and finally made him take out loans using his body as collateral.

The value of a person’s life tended to change depending on where they died.

Dying collapsed at a construction site was a dog’s death, but dying writhing in a secret laboratory meant obtaining big money.

Quilbion’s fate had been to be sold as an experimental subject. Like all the others before him.

“I need to find someone.”

Quilbion said abruptly.

“S-someone?”

Kim answered while reading the atmosphere.

“An impossibly beautiful woman. There’s a very high probability she’s from a good family. She might even be one of the revered.”

Quilbion swung the knife in his hand left and right.

The technique of instantly choking the dealer’s neck to knock her out wasn’t that of an ordinary person.

Kim was certain. Quilbion had a past. And a dark past that shouldn’t be dug into at that.

If it was something he hadn’t discovered during the preliminary investigation, what on earth had he been doing?

His thoughts branched out in a bad direction.

“Nothing particularly comes to mind……”

The first to speak was Wolf. The mustache he was proud of looked pitiful today.

“What about you?”

Quilbion looked at Jack. He had a large build, but in truth, Jack was cowardly. He was trembling visibly the moment Quilbion gave him a glance.

“I-I don’t really know. The only women I know are the girls in the red-light district……”

Quilbion’s gaze returned to Kim.

“You?”

“If we’re talking beautiful women, there are many in this city. There’s a Nell magazine model, and there’s the star of the Boten theater troupe too.”

“Impossibly beautiful?”

“By my standards, they’re all beautiful. Ah! The Saint of Sop. They say that woman possesses inhuman beauty, but it’s just a rumor—I haven’t seen her directly myself.”

“This time it’s a saint. What a lucky fate.”

Quilbion rattled off incomprehensible words.

“Excuse me, should I go out and find out more?”

“It’s good that you’re calmly using your head. You’re not particularly close with these two guys here, and you’re thinking you just need to escape from here first.”

“That’s absolutely not it. I just genuinely want to help you.”

“Sincerity is nice.”

Ding-dong—someone rang the bell. Quilbion smiled and picked up the gag.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, but still, I have to do what needs to be done.”

His hands and feet were bound. His mouth was gagged too.

“Yes, just a moment.”

Quilbion closed the bedroom door and went out. Kim perked up his ears and focused on the conversation coming from outside.

And.

“……Mmph!”

The moment he realized who had come to visit the house, Kim had no choice but to struggle.

But the bonds were so firm that even when he twisted his body until his shoulder blade felt ready to dislocate and rubbed his arms until his skin scraped off, the tightly bound rope showed no sign of loosening.

Instead, the pressure intensified.

A moment later, Quilbion returned to the room.

Kim looked up at Quilbion with bloodshot eyes. The moment Quilbion removed the gag, Kim shouted in resentment.

“You bastard!”

“Calm down. What will you do if I get upset and end up killing your wife?”

His blood turned ice-cold at the mention of killing. Feeling mild anemia, Kim shook his head.

“Don’t do it.”

“I haven’t done it yet. I don’t plan to yet either. Yet.”

Quilbion untied Kim’s hands and feet.

“Family is precious. Even if you’re a cold-blooded person who stabs colleagues in the back, you’re warm to your own people. Everyone’s like that. I know it well too.”

Quilbion grabbed Kim’s shoulder.

“So listen carefully to what I say and help me. If my problem is resolved, there really won’t be any issues. But I’m warning you—if you ignore my words and dream of running away with your wife.”

Where and how had he pulled it out?

Quilbion moved the dagger in his hand swiftly. The string of the gag in his mouth was cleanly severed.

Kim touched his cheek with trembling hands. A shallow cut had formed. It was terrifying knife skills. If he wanted to, he could slice through a person’s neck with his eyes closed.

The options he’d been holding in his mind disappeared from his head entirely.

As if reading his mind, Quilbion smiled.

“Good. The distracting thoughts have disappeared. And I’m not trying to make you do anything tremendous. A bit of information gathering and errands? For the price of one person’s life, it’s quite easy.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do everything you tell me. So……”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You don’t need to ask me for things that won’t happen. If you do well, everything will normalize. And you guys.”

Quilbion looked at the two men sprawled in front of the wardrobe.

“I’ll think a bit more about my future life and decide. It won’t be long, so be patient.”

Quilbion extended his hand to Kim.

“Then shall we go meet the actress and model first?”

*

His nose tingled.

Quilbion lightly scratched his nose while looking around.

The feeling came clearly. Sheryl was in this world. The direction wasn’t discernible yet, but he’d know once he got close.

“Here.”

He received the ticket Kim handed over.

A ticket was needed to view the models at a magazine company called Nell.

When they entered the building, a long corridor appeared. The entire left wall was glass, and beyond it, he could see models in the middle of a photo shoot.

They were all beauties without exception.

But.

“This isn’t the place.”

“What?”

“Never mind. We don’t need to look here.”

His sixth sense told him. Sheryl wasn’t in this place.

Kim, who was well-connected, went around the city gathering information on ‘beauties.’ Quilbion followed behind Kim and visited the beauties.

Since it was just work that required checking from a distance, there was no difficulty.

They went all around the city for three days.

“Who exactly are you looking for?”

Kim asked while drinking flat beer.

Perhaps he’d gotten used to fear—he no longer trembled when their eyes met.

“A disgustingly beautiful woman. A woman captivating enough that men and women alike would be entranced once they saw her.”

“Then all that’s left is the Saint of Sop. We’ve already seen all the famous beauties in this city.”

He downed the flat beer in one gulp.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Where else? We have to go see that Saint of Sop.”

“Are you crazy? Sop is a viciously closed religion. People who aren’t believers can’t even set foot in their holy ground.”

“Won’t they let us in if we say we’re donating?”

“The donation office is separate on the outside.”

“Meticulous bastards. What kind of religion is selective about accepting people?”

“It’s just that kind of place. A religion centered on nobles. Viciously exclusive.”

“Can’t even capable Kim’s connections resolve this?”

Quilbion slung his arm around Kim’s shoulder. Kim flinched before immediately removing the arm.

“This time it absolutely won’t work. The moment a non-believer ordinary person enters the holy ground, the warriors will come charging.”

“Warriors?”

“The dogs guarding Sop’s courtyard. They call themselves holy knights, but there’s no difference from barbarians. Even a month ago, a kid who entered the holy ground by mistake got beaten to death. They’re insane.”

Hearing the word insane made it feel strangely endearing.

“What’s the method to become a believer?”

“It’s a recommendation system. There’s no method other than being taken by an existing believer.”

“Don’t you know any believers?”

“I do know one, but they absolutely won’t recommend you. If someone who was recommended and joined causes problems, they have to take joint responsibility. And you…… are definitely someone who’ll cause problems.”

“That’s not necessarily true. If the Saint of Sop isn’t the woman I’m looking for, I’ll just offer prayers and come out.”

“Really?”

Kim asked back while setting down his beer glass.

“But if she is the woman you’re looking for? What will you do then?”

“I’ll have to have a deep conversation. If she still hasn’t come to her senses, I’ll help her come to them.”

“Can I ask what specifically you mean by helping?”

“You already asked, so what.”

Quilbion raised his index finger and pressed Kim’s neck lightly.

“I’ll drive her to the brink of death, or if she still can’t open her eyes, I’ll have to kill her. That way I’ll have options too.”

“Fucking hell.”

“You’re the one who asked. And now you’ve heard everything I’m going to do. If I get caught or things go wrong, I’ll frame you as an accomplice. You know, right? That the two of us stuck together and went around everywhere.”

Kim’s face turned pale before darkening.

“Damn bastard.”

“If you don’t want to get caught and killed by fanatics, help me to the end. Then I’ll quietly die alone.”

Quilbion set the beer glass on the stand and turned around. Kim, who’d followed, asked urgently.

“What are we going to do?”

“This believer of Sop you know—what kind of person are they?”

“What kind of person.”

Kim spoke while scratching the back of his head hard.

“A good person.”

“Good to you, or generally good?”

“An ordinarily good person. Good reputation, goes on volunteer work too. It’s funny for me to say this, but don’t touch that person.”

“Let’s meet first.”

“What?”

“Let’s meet them first, I’m saying. You can arrange a meeting, right?”

Kim let out a deep sigh before turning in a different direction.

“You really want to meet?”

“Yes.”

“Damn it, follow me.”

The place Kim headed was the northern part of the city. In the north, the residences of nobles were concentrated.

There wouldn’t be a problem with non-nobles entering, but he’d said you’d get questioned if you wandered around suspiciously.

“It’s here.”

It was an art museum. An art museum open to the general public too.

Inside the building boasting high ceilings, all kinds of artworks were displayed, from sculptures to oil paintings.

Kim crossed through the art museum and entered deeper inside.

Children were gathered in front of a large plaster statue. A middle-aged man was smiling at the children while explaining about the plaster statue.

“Gelion.”

When Kim greeted him, the man called Gelion waved back warmly.

“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“Yes, I’ve always been doing well.”

“If you’d contacted me in advance, I would have arranged something. The pie your wife prepared last time—I really enjoyed it. My wife was satisfied too.”

After exchanging greetings, Gelion’s gaze shifted to Quilbion.

“Will you introduce us?”

“Yes, this is Quilbion, my work colleague and old friend.”

“Aha, I see. Someone working hard for the city. Pleased to meet you.”

Gelion was the first to offer a handshake.

“I’m Quilbion.”

Gelion asked to be excused for a moment and finished his explanation to the children. He checked the children’s clothing as they followed.

They were definitely children of the working class.

“There aren’t many people like that in noble society.”

“It seems so. I can roughly tell by looking, and like you said, he seems like a good person.”

“Then……”

Quilbion smiled.

“I have no intention of causing harm. But I do intend to receive help.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Just watch. If he’s a believer of Sop, he’ll show interest.”

Gelion returned. A courteous person who offered another apology.

Quilbion spoke to Gelion.

“I need heaven’s help.”