CH 7

After a very awkward dinner, I went back to my room and lay down on my bed.

I wished I didn’t have to have a dinner with almost no conversation.

As I was pondering about the special way of confirming on the pilgrimage, there was a knock at the door.

Before I could answer, the door opened and Kiara walked in.

I wondered how long it had been since she had come in before I answered.

Despite my thoughts, Kiara closed the door and sat down on the bed where I was lying.

She was silent for a few moments, not looking at me.

When Kiara is looking for words, it’s good to keep quiet.

I remembered that and kept silent too.

Eventually, Kiara took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“Do you know the pilgrimage site of the Fifth Apostle?”

“Oh, I believe it’s in the pilgrimage guide book.”

“It’s where the town used to be before it became an apostolic center.”

Hmm? There’s something tricky about the way she said that.

“Wasn’t there a base in the town?”

Kiara hesitated for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“It’s not been reported, but the base was established after the apostles destroyed the town.”

Hey, come on now, that’s not calm.

Was the fifth apostle such a dangerous person?

“Did they destroy the town and all its inhabitants?”

“Almost all of them, yes.”

It’s a bit of a stretch, but denying it out of the blue won’t get us anywhere.

I’ll have to hear the story first.

“Why did they destroy it?”

“The town was a mafia stronghold. When the apostle visited there, one of their lovers, Vasileos, was killed.”

Mafia, in other words, a criminal organization.

Somehow, they’re called as mafia.

I don’t know why, though.

I’m starting to see Kiara’s story, but when I jump on it, I usually don’t reach the truth.

“Vasileos is a man’s name, right? So the apostle is a woman?”

I’d rather not have an apostle BL.

“Yes, she’s the only female apostle.”

“Why was Vasileos killed?”

Kiara exhaled deeply and looked at me for the first time.

I was impressed by the relieved look on her face.

“Even though my story is so far-fetched, brother is still willing to listen to the reason, huh.”

I poked Kiara’s forehead lightly with my finger.

“Don’t underestimate your brother. And I’m sure you were expecting me to ask that.”

“I couldn’t be certain. When you hear that the Apostle’s lover was killed in the Mafia’s stronghold, people usually think that the Mafia’s evil deeds were exposed and they killed him out of desperation. Because absolute justice is the norm for apostles. And of course, his lover.”

“I’m not going to believe anything unconditionally that I haven’t seen with my own eyes and ears …… Even if it is God.”

Kiara’s eyes opened wide and froze, as if she couldn’t open them any further.

I couldn’t help but let out my pre-reincarnation atheism.

Now, intuitively, I am convinced that this is not the time to act and hide things.

It’s funny, but …… I’m a logical person, and I follow my intuition pretty well.

It’s a contradiction in terms, but …… it’s my nature and I can’t help it.

Kiara’s stiffness finally broke.

“It’s true that their evil deed was exposed, but it was the evil deed of a man named Armando. I’ve heard that Armando was about to be sanctioned for breaking the law a long time ago, but he offered a large amount of gold coins and was expelled from the family to end it.”

“Vasileos said he was following the case. He traced it back to Armando’s name, but he didn’t know that he had been expelled from the Mafia, so he jumped to the conclusion that he had done something wrong at the Mafia’s behest.”

“Members don’t do bad things on their own against orders. And banishment is something you have to live in the underworld to know about, so it’s no wonder Vasileos was so quick to judge.”

“What mistake did Vasileos make after his hasty decision?”

Kiara looked at me with a wary, suspicious look.

She looked very dark and mature, not the usual Kiara.

“Oh brother. Do you actually know what I’m about to tell you?”

“I was just guessing from the way you were talking.”

That’s unusual.

Normally, she would be able to see through this easily.

I feel like she’s strangely emotional and restless.

“I see. I’m sorry. Vasileos caught the first town girl he saw and pursued her for Armando’s misdeeds. She explained, ‘Armando was banished a long time ago, so he has nothing to do with this place”. But Vasileos did not listen to her. On the contrary, he became furious, shouting, “That’s just an excuse!! He broke the girl’s finger and threatened to take her to the boss.”

That sounds dangerous and can’t be good.

I shook my head.

I was disgusted, but silently urged her to continue.

“The girl was the daughter of the mafia boss. When she took Vasileos in front of her father, he must have thought that he would not be safe. He strongly rejected it.”

This is a bad pattern.

“Vasileos was so angry that he beat his daughter and then broke her arm.”

No matter what it is, he’s like a barbarian by breaking a woman’s arm.

No, not even a barbarian would do that.

“What caused him to be so angry?”

“Armando was colluding with a black marketeer to sell dangerous drugs. In order to improve the quality of the drugs, he used some orphanages as testing grounds.”

Ohhhh, that sounds like something that would happen in a foreign drama.

Kiara continued without regard for my thoughts.

“One of the test sites was the orphanage where Vasileos grew up. Vasileos was chosen as an apostle and left the orphanage. When Vasileos visited the orphanage after a long time, it had become an abandoned testing ground.”

The level of technology in this world is a mess.

The technology of this world is a mess, with some as advanced as the modern age and others not even reaching the medieval age.

Drugs have been around since the early modern era, but who the hell brought them here!

“What kind of drug is it?”

“When you become addicted, your skin rots, you swell, and you lose your limbs. Above all, it was cheap to make. The mafia had rules and regulations, and the drug was forbidden.”

I don’t think it was a humanitarian concern.

They judged that the damage and the profit would not be worth it if they were discovered.

The larger the organization, the more carefully they calculate the risk.

Otherwise, unless they are very lucky, the organization will be destroyed before it can make a profit.

I silently encouraged Kiara to continue.

“The people he grew up with had been experimented on and were already dead. They said that Vasileos was obsessed only with finding the culprits. When he finally got there, he found out that Armando was a member of the mafia. When he arrived in town, he assumed it was the mafia and beat and kicked the daughter who was trying to protect her father.”

Kiara shook her head weakly and continued.

“When that happened, the town’s inhabitants could no longer remain silent. It’s dangerous to mess with Vasileos. But I guess they thought that leaving him alone would not solve the problem. All the residents came together and attacked Vasileos, killing him.”

If the boss’s daughter was assaulted and left unattended, there would be no life for the residents.

I guess that …… they’re motivated by anger and fear.

“I’m sure they will.”

But still ……

It’s also a sanctuary for the apostle’s lover, and when you get used to it, it dulls your ability to make objective judgments.

When it becomes a sanctuary, no one wants to correct the mistakes.

If you make a mistake, you pretend it never happened.

There are absolutely no mistakes.

You can choose to do the right thing without having to think about it.

I don’t think that’s very good.

In fact, I detest it.

This is also the reason why I rejected levels and statuses.

You make decisions based on numbers without thinking about it.

It’s not your own judgment.

They mistake borrowed judgment for their own superior ability.

It would be nice if you could live like a cyborg with only numbers, but I’m sure you don’t want to do that.

You don’t identify your friends by their numbers.

However, you only see other people as NPCs.

If they are not friendly to you, you will treat them as an obstacle.

But they will never admit that they are committing such an abomination.

Kiara’s voice interrupted my thoughts that were about to plunge into the depths.

“What the late-arriving apostle saw was the corpse of Vasileos. Seeing this, Apostle Eleni became enraged and destroyed the town with all its inhabitants.”

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This is it.

When you have non-standard power, the only person who can control your outburst is you yourself.

And when you are constantly affirmed by those around you, you lose your objectivity and jump to conclusions.

It’s understandable that they lose their temper, but they have too little self-control.

“It’s too much. Did Eleni know that the mafia had nothing to do with Armando?”

Kiara nodded.

“It seems so. It seems that she came to stop Vasileos.”

No matter how you look at it, Vasileos is wrong.

He deserved to be killed.

Did he think that they were special because he had been confirmed for so long?

He must have felt omnipotent, had no judgment, and easily jumped to the conclusion since he was were dealing with the mafia.

In the end, he directs his anger at the people who are not involved.

Even if he realized his mistake, he was not wrong because he was dealing with the mafia.

That must be how he justified himself.

“It’s your fault for doing something that makes people suspect you.”

I’ve seen a lot of people before my reincarnation who say things like that to cover up their own mistakes.

And I hated them for it.

The church and the people who have been using the apostles will choose to kill them unless they are in danger.

I put my thoughts aside and listened to what Kiara had to say.

“You said at first that it was mostly …… was it because there were a few survivors?”

“Yes. There were a few children under the rubble. When they finally got out and were covered with scars and shaking with fear …… Eleni said coldly. “This is what happens when you hurt someone I care about. Tell them that. I’ll let you off the hook for that purpose”. After that, she carried Vasileos’ body and went away.”

“No way ……”

I felt dizzy and irritated, instinctively disgusted with Eleni.

It took me a while to realize this myself.

She’s the kind of person you sometimes hear about before you reincarnate, the kind of person who says it’s never her fault.

I’m trying to be as objective as possible, but I can’t help but support Kiara.

There is no way around it.

However, the power of the apostles is becoming more and more troublesome.

The more power they have, the harder it is to control them.

God …… do you really think that they can use such a dangerous thing as they please?

I’m also vaguely aware of the reason why Kiara talks about this massacre as if she saw it herself.

She must have a lot of determination to talk about it.

It’s a disgusting story, but I guess I’ll have to go along with it.

It must have been very hard for you to keep it all in.

I wanted to at least support her as her brother.