Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 93

93. Connections Are a Skill

The incident involved Benaron, the Demon of Greed, reaching out to Ayle.

Although Ru intervened and completely drove him away, simply chasing him away wasn’t enough to quell her anger.

It explained a lot if she had mobilized the entire Order to hold him accountable for daring to tempt her Apostle.

“Of course, as long as the Demon of Greed, Benaron, exists, his demon-worshipping followers will never truly disappear. But we can crush them to the point where they won’t regain their original strength for at least several decades.”

Executor Eileen continued, walking forward.

She calmly passed through the dungeon where the massacre was taking place, with Ayle and Rhoden silently following behind.

Especially for Rhoden, who wasn’t affiliated with the Order of Light, the safest way to survive this scene of madness was to stick close to them.

“Kkyaaaak!”

The screams of the sinners echoed from afar.

The undead were summarily executed on the spot, but the fanatics and certain users who had survived the undead were captured by the Inquisitors and executed.

The heretics hung on either side of the corridor, impaled on stakes and attached to the walls, resembling taxidermied insects.

The only difference was that while taxidermied insects looked neat, these people were dying, splattering crimson blood everywhere.

“Ugh… Surely you won’t make me like that, claiming I’m an infidel, right?”

Rhoden whispered to Ayle, horrified.

Even in Armenia, where he had experienced all sorts of hardships over the years, he had never seen such a sight.

But before Ayle could reassure him,

Eileen, who had overheard Rhoden’s words, spoke first.

“You don’t have to worry about that. All those who uphold the world’s order and seek to do good are fellow followers of the Light, even if they don’t hold the scriptures, recite verses, or kneel. Even if they think otherwise, those who cannot hear the words of the Goddess in their hearts have already fallen into evil.”

She spoke with a gentle tone that made it hard to believe she was a fanatic, and Rhoden was able to temporarily quell his anxiety, though she kept her gaze fixed forward.

However, Ayle, a member of the same Order, couldn’t shake off a sense of unease.

“So, the Order has already started moving?”

“Of course. Now that the Goddess has revealed her will, we cannot delay even for a moment.”

With the Goddess’s direct will, most of the other tasks handled by the Inquisition were put on hold.

Tasks such as tracking down heretics or hunting demonkin were mostly relegated to the back burner, and the Order devoted almost all its resources to dismantling the Twilight Assembly, except for basic duties.

But that presented a problem.

‘What should I do…’

The emergence of the Covenant, which had completely turned the Order into an enemy.

Their hidden agenda had not yet been revealed, and this wouldn’t be the end of it.

They had meticulously aimed to annihilate the Order’s Inquisitors, even setting traps, so something had to be done to avoid being overwhelmed by their numbers.

When Ayle told her about the Covenant targeting the Order in as much detail as possible, Eileen nodded.

“Forbidden magic… We’ve always had some friction with heretical mages, but now that they’ve turned into enemies, they’re bound to be a serious threat. I’m fully aware of the danger. However, we cannot go against the Goddess’s will. We don’t have the resources to focus on tracking them down due to this all-out war.”

“But that’s…”

“Of course. That doesn’t mean we’ll stand idly by while they run rampant behind our backs.”

Eileen stopped walking in the corridor.

And she turned to Ayle, who met her gaze, and brought up an unexpected request.

“Brother, I ask you to investigate on our behalf.”

* * *

[Quest Completed!]

[Additional rewards are given due to better-than-expected results!]

[You have gained three times the additional experience!]

[Level Up!]

[Order of Light Contribution +2,000]

[Successfully completing an important quest greatly increases favor with the faction.]

[Accumulated Contribution has exceeded 10,000!]

.

.

.

“…….”

On the swaying carriage, Ayle, resting his chin on his hand, re-displayed the messages that had appeared upon completing the Order’s quest and carefully examined them.

Thanks to the additional rewards, he gained a lot of experience and even leveled up consecutively, and most of the contribution loss was made up.

But these were just additional matters.

The reason Ayle had been wearing a dazed expression since earlier was different.

‘I never expected the story to unfold like this.’

[Linked Quest, Covenant Tracking (In Progress)]

The quest was activated before his eyes.

In recognition of his excellent judgment in saving many comrades, he was assigned the task of taking charge of the response to the Covenant.

This was more of a jackpot than Ayle could have imagined.

To be entrusted with such an important mission alone within the Order of Light, it was possible because it was based on considerable trust.

That meant that this quest was undoubtedly a great success, and it was no different from solidifying his relationship with Eileen and gaining some recognition within the Order.

‘Besides, it seems to be exquisitely linked to the World Quest that Bloody Hands handed over… It’s truly an achievement beyond imagination.’

Ayle, having checked and turned off all the message windows, glanced at Rhoden, who was sitting in front of him.

He was nodding as if to say hello, dozing off.

Originally, they were planning to part ways after leaving the dungeon, but they were heading to the same city, so they decided to travel together.

Ayle turned his gaze away from Rhoden and began to look into his personal screen, falling into deep thought.

‘Definitely worth using…’

Ayle was watching the video he had recorded in this dungeon.

The video was satisfying enough that the worries he had when he first entered the dungeon felt futile.

There were many high-quality clips that could be extracted and used from the video.

If it was edited well, it would be a video that would once again cause a great stir in the Warlord community.

But the problem was the editing.

He didn’t want to entrust such material to his mediocre editing skills.

It was time for a more skilled expert to step in.

However, Ayle had been searching all sorts of sites to find an editor to take charge of the video since earlier, but there was no one suitable.

Warlord had been enjoying absolute popularity for over a year, and naturally, video production related to it was also booming.

If someone was skilled, there was a huge backlog of people waiting, and in other cases, the cost or production period was a problem.

Of course, the biggest problem was that Ayle’s standards for editing quality were too high, but he couldn’t help it if he didn’t like it.

‘Should I just do it myself…’

Ayle sighed softly.

If he stepped in, the quality of the video would be secondary, but the time he would have to spend on video editing would not be insignificant, which would be troublesome.

He didn’t want to do it himself as much as possible since he wasn’t going to produce videos just once or twice, but there was no other way that came to mind right now.

But at that very moment.

[‘Alyssa’ has requested a voice conversation! Do you accept? (Y/N)]

“Huh?”

With the notification, Alyssa’s call came.

Ayle gladly accepted the request, and a voice channel opened at the bottom of the screen, connecting their conversation.

– Ayle, how have you been?

“I’m doing well, thanks to you. I’m using the potions you sent me well.”

Ayle smiled lightly as he replied.

Even though it was a sudden call, they had been contacting each other like this, so there was nothing to think much about.

– That’s good. I just made some pretty good potions this time; do you need anything?

“No, I’m fine. I still have the potions I received before. More than anything, I can’t just keep receiving favors.”

– Is that so? That’s a shame.

“Haha, you don’t have to be so disappointed…”

– Oh, by the way, when is the next video coming out? Are you still preparing?

Alyssa’s question was subtly thrown.

Ayle’s face, who had been sitting lazily on the carriage, instantly stiffened.

It was clear that she knew about his video.

“Uh… How did you know?”

– The reaction was so explosive; did you think I wouldn’t know?

Alyssa said with a pleasant laugh.

Then Ayle sighed briefly and accepted the fact.

Even if it was someone else, a clumsy excuse would be useless since she had watched the video herself.

With Alyssa’s keen eye, she could easily recognize his identity just from the masked appearance in the video, and her tone seemed to be already convinced.

Perhaps she had grasped not only his identity but also the reason why Ayle had started working on this.

‘Hmm… This is a bit embarrassing.’

Ayle scratched his head, momentarily speechless.

Warlord itself has relatively free recognition of concept play [roleplaying a specific character or persona], but that was the case when it was within a certain range.

The reason Ayle first became a hot topic was also thanks to the unintentionally unconventional concept, and having such eccentric behavior exposed made him feel like a flaw had been revealed to an acquaintance he usually knew.

“I can’t help it. I thought it would be exposed someday…”

Since it had already been exposed, Ayle honestly told her about his situation.

From being chased by the Amaranth’s trackers to what intentions he had in gathering attention, and even to the editing problem he was facing now.

In fact, he didn’t intend to tell the story in detail when he first opened his mouth, but somehow, as he talked to her, he unknowingly revealed a lot.

And Alyssa listened to those stories seriously.

– Certainly… You’ll need an expert in the long run. Um, I know someone who works in video editing; would you like me to introduce you? He’s not very famous, but his skills are definitely solid.