Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 268

268

“Where’s the commander?”

“I’m going to the Demon God Temple.”

“Demon God Temple? Hmm, well, that’s where it all started, so it’s worth checking again.”

“Yeah, and there’s something bothering me.”

“Bothering you?”

“Surely, there was a rumor that the Archduke was gathering young children.”

“……!”

The faces that had been looking on with curiosity were now shaken. Everyone stared blankly at each other, expressions caught between surprise and dawning horror.

‘The Archduke takes away children with beautiful looks.’ Anyone with even a passing interest in current events had heard the rumor at least once. In fact, the Archduke’s soldiers had even tried to arbitrarily drag their group away once. Recalling the almost-forgotten memory, they felt a chill of dread.

“That’s right, it really happened! Why did I forget that?”

“This definitely smells fishy. A very bad stench.”

Iril took a breath and spoke with conviction, and Herol echoed her sentiment. Other possibilities couldn’t be ruled out, so the plan would proceed as is, but the atmosphere was already heavily leaning towards the Demon God Temple being the culprit. Then, Sherry, who had been listening quietly, spoke with a sulky face.

“Wait! But why am I moving with Mighty? Herol and Iril are going together! I want to go with Hussen too!”

Hussen looked momentarily embarrassed by the selfish request, then shook his head.

“No, that won’t work. Then Mighty will be alone. If only one of us has to move alone, it should be me.”

“Ah, come to think of it, there are five of us now, right? Geez, why did Matthew have to drop out? If there were six of us, we could have paired up two by two.”

“We can’t force him to participate, so it can’t be helped. Sorry, Sherry. Please stick to this arrangement until we finish this.”

“Haa, okay. But when it’s all over, I’m going to cling to you and act spoiled as much as the time we spent apart. Be prepared.”

“Haha, I’d like that.”

The eyes of the two people facing each other were filled with affection. They were so focused on each other that they had completely forgotten about their surroundings. Thanks to this, even the air around them seemed brighter, and Herol and Iril clung to each other as if they couldn’t be outdone.

“Iril, honey! I want to be spoiled right now!”

“Okay! Come here!”

The great power of love accepts even the spoiled behavior of a bandit-like man. Iril, who looked at Herol with so much love that she wanted to die, showered his face with pecking kisses.

“……Hey, you guys. Can’t you understand how I feel being stuck between couples? Well, I guess you can’t hear me even if I say this.”

Mighty muttered with a gloomy face.

* * *

Hussen and his party stayed overnight at a nearby inn, and the next day, as soon as dawn broke, they scattered to their respective missions. Sherry and Mighty headed towards the mountain range where the monsters lived, Herol and Iril headed to the outer area where the slums were located, and Hussen entered the inner castle to find the Demon God Temple.

The temple was located in the deepest part of the inner castle. It was quite far from the downtown area, and even then, it was separated by a lake, making it seem like a different world all by itself. It was a structure designed so that no one would visit the temple unless they had business there.

‘No one would know even if they were secretly dragged away.’

Given the situation, Hussen’s impressions naturally became bleak. He didn’t go straight into the temple, but instead, he peeked around the outside of the building. He went around each building, including the main chapel. He also checked the decorations that seemed to be designed to match the atmosphere of the temple, and the fairly large flower bed prepared in one area. The flower bed, which seemed to be directly cultivated by the temple, was full of flowers in full bloom. It was when Hussen’s gaze reached the flowers.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

An elderly priest walked out as the main building door opened. He was very wary of the strange man loitering around. Hussen smiled calmly without panicking.

“I’m sorry. Actually, I came to find someone, but I thought it was too early to visit, so I was killing time.”

“Someone?”

“Yes, the children who went to the temple haven’t returned for days. Perhaps, do you know anything about it, priest?”

“Ah, I see what you mean. You mean the missing children. The people from that village visited a few days ago. You don’t seem to be the one I met at that time, are you from that village too?”

“No, I’m just a mercenary. I happened to hear about the situation on the way, and they said they would pay well if I found the children. So I decided to take it on as a side job.”

“I see. The parents must be willing to pay a fortune since their precious children have disappeared. I also feel very sorry for them. But I’m very sorry to say that I can’t help you with that. As I said before, no children have ever come here.”

“Hmm, is that so? I heard that, but I still wanted to check just in case. Wow, by the way, this is actually my first time visiting the temple, but it’s very beautiful. Do you take care of the flower bed yourself? There are so many pretty flowers that it’s a feast for the eyes.”

Hussen had a naturally friendly demeanor and a gentle impression, so he generally gained people’s favor. When such a person praised him kindly, the priest also lowered his guard.

“Haha, is that so? Everyone who comes here praises it. It’s the pride of this temple.”

“It’s really worth it. Ah, um, priest. Since I’ve received a request, I think I should at least pretend to look for something. Would it be okay if I went inside the temple for a while without causing any trouble?”

“Hmm, you don’t believe that the children didn’t come here?”

“Ah, no! That’s not it. However, there is a procedural issue. Since they disappeared on the way to the temple, I have to tell them that I looked around again in detail, so I won’t lose face, right? Ahaha.”

“Well, I guess that’s true. Well, go ahead. Look around as much as you want.”

The priest, who nodded, gestured for him to follow. While walking with his guidance, Hussen slowly looked around the temple. The inside of the quiet chapel in the early morning was very simple, unlike its magnificent exterior. The only thing was a platform in the center, and there were no chairs, only cushions on the bare floor. It was a space where no one could hide or be hidden. The annex where the priests stayed also had only bedding and simple daily necessities. Everywhere he went, the empty space was desolate.

“The priests live very frugally.”

“Isn’t that the image of a faithful servant who follows the path of God?”

There were a total of three temple buildings, but there was nothing to see because there was nothing in them. The time it took to look around the entire interior was shorter than the time it took to drink a cup of tea. When the business was over, Hussen couldn’t find an excuse to stay any longer. He thanked the priest who had guided him and left the temple quietly.

* * *

It was almost the end of the afternoon when Hussen and his party gathered in one place again. A small bar operating in the downtown area of the inner castle was their designated meeting point. Hussen arrived first and took a seat, followed by Iril and Herol with a slight difference. Sherry and Mighty arrived with tired faces when they had emptied a glass of beer each that they had ordered. The party, who had not eaten properly all day while wandering around, focused on eating for a while even after gathering in one place. And after they had filled their stomachs to some extent, they began to report in earnest.

“How was your work?”

“Yeah, I don’t think it was the work of the dog-headed rabbits [a type of monster]. I looked around all the habitats, but there was nothing particularly suspicious. They’re not the type to store food, so if they had taken the children, they would have eaten them all that day, but there wasn’t even a piece of clothing left. I found quite a few pieces of animal carcasses though.”

“I see. Herol, what about you guys?”

“What we got is a bit ambiguous whether it’s a gain or not. We dug up rumors related to the disappearance of young children, but all we got were strange ghost stories.”

“Ghost stories?”

“A big fire broke out in an orphanage and it was completely destroyed, but even though no children escaped, not a single body was found. There was also a story that a child who suddenly fell ill died in half a day and was put in a grave, but the body disappeared the next day. These may be disappearances, but.”

“Hmm, and?”

“That’s all there is to the content related to children. Other than that, it’s all about drugs and moonshine, so it wasn’t anything significant.”

“Drugs, huh…….”

“Well, that kind of dirty story is quite common there. Commander, didn’t you get anything from the temple?”

“Hmm, well. Coincidentally, what I have to say is also a bit similar to that. It may not be a common story in ‘this’ place, though.”

“What does that mean?”

“The flower bed was full of Spiritbane Grass.”

“……!”

Herol, who was drinking beer at the time, froze in that position. Beer that he couldn’t swallow flowed out of his mouth, which was blankly open. It was a situation where everyone would have been horrified and made a fuss in normal times, but no one reacted to it now. It was because everyone was in a similar state.

“Spiritbane Grass? Really that Spiritbane Grass?”

Iril, who belatedly came to her senses, asked as if she was interrogating him, and Hussen slowly nodded. The party members took a simultaneous breath as if they had made a promise.

“Spiritbane Grass. Isn’t that a magical flower that causes hallucinations? It only grows in the Black Forest.”

Mighty muttered with a disgusted face.

The Black Forest, which exists in the Alponf Empire, was a notorious land of death along with the Barren Desert. It was originally a beautiful village, but it was cursed by the land and was submerged in thick evil energy. A demon who discovered this released things from the Demon World into it, completing its current form. That was the origin story.

As much as that origin story, the things in the Black Forest were all abnormal. Everything in that place, no matter how small, had a tendency to attack everything around it. Even the weeds that sprouted on the floor were all poisonous plants. The only better thing compared to the Barren Desert was that, on the premise that you were careful, you could look around the outskirts of the forest. Some pharmacists and scholars often packed their bags and visited because the plants that grew inside were very important research materials. Of course, even the outskirts were very dangerous areas to enter without hiring a mercenary.

Black Forest escort was a job that mercenaries quite favored because the risk was high, but the reward was also high. Hussen and his party had received requests out of curiosity after hearing about the reputation a few times. It was through that experience that they learned about the existence of Spiritbane Grass.

If you go a little further into the Black Forest, you can find colorful flowers in rare cases. That was Spiritbane Grass. When you cut the stem, a blue sap comes out, which itself has a very powerful hallucinogenic effect. If it were distributed on the continent, it would gain fame as a deadly drug, but not many people even knew of its existence because it was such a rare flower and not easy to obtain. But that Spiritbane Grass was being openly grown in the temple flower bed. And it was lush.

“Hmm, it’s completely absurd, but is there a possibility that it’s just for ornamental purposes? Spiritbane Grass flowers are pretty, though.”

“It would be nice if that were the case, but I don’t think so. First of all, the inside of the temple is all empty. Whether it’s the chapel or the annex.”

“Empty? There weren’t any chairs or decorations?”

“Yeah, there was only a platform. The lodging also had only a bed like a plank.”

At those words, everyone’s face hardened. Mercenaries, who always had to risk their lives, inevitably had deep ties with temples. Usually, they visited the Temple of Healing more often, but strong and experienced mercenaries often came into contact with the Demon God Temple as well. The more dangerous the request, the more likely it was to be related to curses or require auxiliary power, all of which were fields handled by the Demon God Temple. Of course, the Champagne Mercenary Group also visited often and knew the structure of the Demon God Temple well.

The Demon God Temple was as magnificent inside as it was on the outside. There were many chairs and statues. The lodging was also structured like a cozy room in an ordinary mansion. Since all temples of the same god were made in the same form, no one temple could be shabby. The fact that it was different alone meant that something else was at play.

“I’ve heard of it. Temples reflect the mentality of the priests who reside there. If there is no one in an area who can be called a true clergyman, the temple in that area loses its function. The building itself doesn’t disappear, but it loses its beauty, or so I’ve heard.”

“That’s right. In the end, the more empty the inside, the more corrupt the priests are.”

Hussen nodded again at Sherry’s muttering. That’s why he lied to the priest that he was visiting the temple for the first time. It was also intended to make himself look like a clumsy third-rate mercenary, and he had a feeling that he would show him the inside if he said that. In fact, the priest’s guard was lowered only after he said that. Looking at the priest’s relieved face, Hussen knew that he recognized him as someone who ‘wouldn’t have a problem showing the temple to.’ If he had known that Hussen had experience visiting, he would never have tried to guide him.

“Huh, if it’s completely empty, how corrupt are the priests here? They’ve managed to live without getting caught until now. Didn’t you say they proudly showed the inside to the residents of Ethan Village too?”

“Well, not many people know that fact. They must have made up something appropriate.”

“Well, they even openly grow Spiritbane Grass.”

Most people in the Empire were born in one village and rarely left the village until they died. The more rural the area, the stronger that tendency was, and even within that, villages in the corner rarely met outsiders. It was an environment where they could only accept the given information as the truth. Hussen and his party sighed lightly.

“Commander, I think it’s certain that the Demon God priests kidnapped the children. What do you think?”

“I think so too, Herol. Even if we only look at the Archduke’s rumors, the suspicion is strong, and there’s no reason to trust a suspicious group that can’t even be called priests anymore. Maybe the ghost stories that are floating around aren’t just simple ghost stories either. Especially the second ghost story.”

“The second one? The story that the body disappeared from the grave?”

“I heard that if you use drugs made from Spiritbane Grass strongly, your breath becomes temporarily blurred and you look like you’re dead.”

“……!”

Everyone drank their beer at the same time. As the cold liquid poured down, it felt like the inside that had been burning black was finally calming down. Iril and Herol, who had directly learned about the ghost stories, emptied two more glasses in a row.

No matter which village you go to, there are bound to be one or two ghost stories. They listened to them just in case, but they didn’t expect them to be really useful information. They even chuckled, saying that they would only get cursed if they brought this. But it would have been better to get cursed instead.