Chapter 12 – The Deal

Ugh!

As their swords crossed, Rashid’s shortsword targeted Heimdall’s heart.

Heimdall’s longsword also accurately targeted Rashid’s vital point, but the outcome was quite different.

Hup!

Unlike Rashid who accurately pierced the heart, Heimdall’s sword failed to pierce his magic armor.

Because it was so hard, even the blade coated with Sword Qi failed to leave a single scratch.

Even if he had coated it with Sword Force, it wouldn’t have been easy.

“Pl-Play…”

Sizeable eyes slowly closing.

He thought.

Although he had seen numerous mages, there was no one in this world who equipped magic armor in an instant.

Even if there was, that person would be a mage, not a warrior skilled in physical combat like that guy.

Those possessing such anomaly.

Only one thing came to mind in his head.

Existences rejected by everyone.

Players.

“Ugh…”

Heimdall’s consciousness was completely cut off, and although it was a short battle,

Rashid, who had practically crushed him thanks to the performance of the magic armor, got up and thought about this outcome.

‘As expected of Lucifer. A cheat item.’

The overall stats increased by the power of Armor Lucifer changed his movements to be sharper and more powerful, as if reinforcing his body with mana.

A level that pulled up his technique by several ranks.

Moreover, because the hardness of the armor was substantial, Heimdall, whose mana was originally weak, must have really craved the bloodstone to manifest Sword Force.

‘It is your defeat for underestimating your opponent, Sword Champion.’

In any case,

the winner was decided, and Rashid enjoyed the victory.

– You have completed the sub-quest ‘Assassin of Pizarro’.

– As a reward, you acquire the trait, ‘Swordsmanship Expert’.

Swordsmanship Expert.

A trait that raised the swordsmanship rank by a whopping two levels, allowing his swordsmanship, which was at the expert level, to rise to Heimdall’s level.

‘It is one of the advantages of a player. Because you can improve your technique rank by several levels through traits alone, without great enlightenment or effort.’

And there was still one more left.

The loser had now become a corpse, and there was a spoil of war he left behind.

Rashid, who had taken off his magic armor before long, saw the mana stone sword he left behind.

It was Heimdall’s artifact in the form of a longsword that manifested Sword Force on its own when equipped with bloodstones.

For him, whose use of mana was not free due to the seal, there was nothing as good as the mana stone sword Heimdall left behind.

‘I will put the sword you left behind to good use here.’

The inside of the building was a shambles.

To think they had made such a mess with that short clash.

In any case, Rashid, who packed Heimdall’s mana stone sword and stepped outside, encountered the people who had approached the front of the building and were watching the situation.

“Wh-what happened to Heimdall?”

Not all the onlookers had gathered.

Just a few who couldn’t contain their curiosity had approached the vicinity of the building.

They couldn’t see the situation inside, but they only harbored doubts about the fact that the one who walked out of the building alone was Rashid.

“Don’t tell me Heimdall lost?”

Heimdall had certainly chased after Rashid with great momentum.

So people naturally thought Heimdall had won.

However, the progression was strange.

The cleric who walked out alone actually packed the bloodstone pouch Heimdall had thrown down and was departing leisurely.

“Oh my god… Heimdall lost.”

Everyone found it hard to believe.

How Heimdall, who was called the Sword Champion, could lose.

No, it’s still too early to be certain.

Because Heimdall might possibly be alive.

However, that expectation was completely shattered by a certain brave person who had verified the inside of the building.

“Heimdall lost!”

Like a boy throwing newspapers, shouting,

“Extra, extra!”

Those who came out after verifying the inside of the building began to announce the news of the cleric’s victory to everyone.

Through the buzzing crowd,

the winner began to head somewhere.

To sever this ill fate as of today.

* * *

“What?”

Kain, who had naturally thought Heimdall would win, looked quite flustered by the unexpected news.

“There’s no way. Heimdall lost?”

“Yes, it seems Heimdall lost the duel.”

The entire knighthood that received the news was swept by shock and fear, unable to escape it easily.

Leaving aside the tarnishing of their honor, they seemed to find it completely hard to comprehend that Heimdall, who was called the Sword Champion, had lost the duel.

“Ugh! How? How could Heimdall lose?”

“That is…”

As the vampire knight related what had happened at the dueling ground, Kain rolled up the car window in a fit of rage and contorted his face ruthlessly.

Ultimately, unable to contain his anger, he slammed the seat in front of him with his fist several times.

‘Damn it!’

Heimdall.

That foolish bastard did something useless!

Holding back?

No, even so!

How could he lose to a mere cleric?

‘That guy completely gets under my skin even as he goes! I shouldn’t have trusted that damn bastard. There is no public humiliation worse than this! How am I supposed to hold my head up? There will surely be more than a few who will mock me with that fact.’

In truth, his connection with Heimdall was not a good one.

They were enemies from the start, and he was a fellow who turned his stomach inside out until the end before leaving.

‘Goddamn it. I should have just sent the knights instead. If I had, this disgrace…!’

At that moment,

there was a knight knocking on the car window.

Although he was so furious he didn’t even want to respond,

this damn knight kept knocking on the window.

“Ahem!”

As if nothing had happened.

Kain, checking the driver who didn’t even budge, adjusted his clothing.

Then, lightly sweeping up his disheveled hair, he opened the car window and asked.

“What is it?”

“That is… that cleric has come.”

“What?”

When Kain looked outside, far ahead,

he saw a cleric blocked by the knights.

It was the very cleric he had tried to kill.

“He says he must see the commander.”

Did he come to get under my skin?

Just when he was about to say he was worried,

the knight held out a document folder.

“He asked me to show this to you, Commander, without fail. In my view, it would be good to look at it.”

What on earth was it,

for them to tell him to look at a folder like this?

Kain barely held onto his snapping reason,

and accepted the document folder he handed over.

Then he scanned the folder lightly, and immediately wore a surprised expression.

‘This… how?’

Kain turned his head again and made eye contact with the vampire knight outside the window.

The knight asked.

“What will you do? Shall I just send him back?”

All sorts of thoughts flashed through Kain’s mind.

However, one clear fact was.

This data looked like the final lifeline that would save himself and the knighthood, who had suffered public humiliation today.

“No, I will meet him. Call him to the car. I will talk here.”

Once the meeting was arranged like that,

Rashid ended up riding in the seat next to Kain, thanks to Kain’s consideration.

With even the driver having dismounted,

Rashid, who was alone with the commander of Rosenkreuz, received a query from Kain, who was closely examining the document folder.

“How did you gather this?”

In the data Rashid handed over, all the corrupt and evil deeds Saintess Mariel Credo had committed in secret until now were recorded.

Of course, along with the evidence.

“It is data I had collected before setting out on the dungeon expedition with Her Highness the Saintess.”

“Is this true? Why haven’t we known such shocking facts until now? Surely it isn’t fabricated data, is it?”

“Impossible. It is data that only collected facts.”

Kain tilted his head in disbelief.

“Torture using holy relics and sleeping with barbarians… she even dragged virgins to bathe in their blood. Furthermore… she purchased the Echoes of Pain before the dungeon expedition?”

“All of it is true. The Saintess Mariel we knew was by no means a person suited for that position. Her soul was lost to a demon, leaving her emotions castrated. Desiring to feel something, she committed acts that crossed the line without hesitation. Nevertheless, when she felt nothing, her viciousness grew even worse.”

Facing such a shocking fact, Kain’s head was throbbing.

“But why are you only revealing this now? And what is your intention in showing it to me?”

“It is simple. It is to live.”

“To live?”

Rashid asked.

“You wouldn’t have just ended it with a duel, would you? Wasn’t the reason you targeted me entirely due to the Saintess’s assassination?”

“Ahem! A misunderstanding. Since you thought that way, I have nothing to say.”

“In any case, once that fact is publicized, you will no longer suffer from matters related to Her Highness the Saintess.”

Kain asked questioningly.

“Why aren’t you announcing this directly yourself instead of showing it to me? Don’t tell me you want me to publicize this?”

“Truth can be poison depending on the circumstances. Especially if a mere cleric like me reports the Saintess’s corruption. The Holy Order might dismiss it. Because the Holy Order would fear making the Saintess’s corruption known to the world, and wouldn’t welcome the collapse of the Holy Order’s prestige.”

“Ahem!”

The Holy Order, an extremely rigid and closed group.

There, the fall of the Saintess was equivalent to the fall of the Holy Order.

“I’m sorry, but I share that thought too?”

“I am merely offering an opportunity to you, Commander. Even if you do not publicize that fact.”

Rashid turned his gaze to Kain.

“Someone else will publicize it. It won’t be me. Because even if I publicize it, it won’t carry weight.”

“Then I am not the only one who knows this?”

“I am giving you the opportunity first. The materials have not yet been handed over to anyone else. However, there is no time. The data I dispatched will soon reach media outlets everywhere, including the Holy Order. It will also be delivered to the inquisitor assigned to watch me. Since that is also a connection of sorts.”

Announcing the Saintess’s corruption.

Seen in another way, it was an achievement.

However, since a mere cleric could not accomplish that task,

Rashid gave him the opportunity.

“If you publicize it first, that credit will belong solely to you, Commander, and the knighthood. The matter here will be buried quickly. However, the credit for uncovering the corruption of Her Highness the Saintess—no, that witch wearing the mask of a Saintess—will be monopolized solely by Rosenkreuz.”

Rashid’s words continued.

“Rather, you can even say that the person who assassinated the Saintess was someone from here. That person will no longer be the Saintess’s assassin, but a hero who killed the witch.”

Having finished his thoughts, Kain asked suggestively.

“Is there something you want?”

“If you mean what I want, of course there is. Please recommend me as an Honorary Cleric.”

“Honorary Cleric?”

“It is no ordinary pain due to the seal. If you recommend me, Commander, I believe I can be more free from the seal.”

“An Honorary Cleric…”

It was an honor given to the most prominent among the clerics.

It would probably be the only cleric who could be free from the seal.

Since it was an honor of that level.

“Only then will the matter here be naturally buried. I won’t deny that I won in the duel with the knighthood. If I remain as a simple ordinary cleric, it will be a huge scar on you and the knighthood.”

“Ahem! I will think about that.”

“I believe it will probably be fully possible for you, Commander. You are in a position to do so.”

Naturally, it had to be so.

“I will think about it as positively as possible. And this data. If it can be retrieved, retrieve it.”

As expected.

For him, it was a proposal he couldn’t help but accept.

“If you publicize it immediately, I will also put in my best efforts.”

“I will announce it immediately. I do not retract my words once spoken. I have also prepared my resolve. If someone is going to cause confusion, it is better for our side to cause it first.”

Rashid, wearing a broad grin, also said this.

Of course, it was lip service.

“A vampire Saintess. For a long time, I have wondered why a vampire cannot become Her Highness the Saintess of the Holy Order.”

“…”

“Soon a new Saintess will be sought out. I heard you have close relations with a certain candidate. Perhaps if you announce the Saintess’s corruption, weight will be added to recommending the next candidate. It will surely be so.”

Kain let out a chuckle.

More than he had thought,

he was a rather interesting fellow.

Rashid, who was about to get out of the car like that, temporarily held the car door at a sudden thought.

“Ah, and there is one more favor I’d like to ask.”

Kain expressed doubt.

“What is it?”

“The current Abbot. Somehow, he seems like someone who doesn’t suit that position.”

What that meant,

Kain also did not seem to be ignorant of.

“I will take measures. Do not worry. There are more than enough people who want to occupy that position.”

“Thank you.”

In this way, the one who had been a potential enemy

was integrated as Rashid’s ally.