129 – The Executioner Sent by God
“Hmm, they say they gave two silver coins to one person…”
Inside a small but splendid temple, a middle-aged woman murmured with a small smile. Beside her, an elderly man with a kind face chuckled compassionately and spoke.
“Poor little lambs, they’ve come all this way in search of light.”
Despite the kind expression, the old man’s eyes were filled with deep greed. The captain of the guards sitting across from him stroked his long beard down to his chin and said.
“They definitely seem like country folks who’ve been lucky enough to make a solid profit… How about we show them mercy and let them take root here?”
“Ahh, that’s a good idea.”
“Hohoho, if we don’t help them, who will? Let’s think of this as God’s will and take good care of them with all our hearts.”
The iridescent light pouring through the stained glass beautifully illuminated the floor of the temple, but the conversations taking place there were filthy and repulsive.
The statue, representing the form of God barely created by humans, looked down on them with an inorganic gaze. While the wrath of God could be terrifying, they were not afraid.
Because they did not consider what they were doing as a sin.
It is necessary violence to strip the weak of their money, as part of it is used to maintain the temple.
The middle-aged female priestess kidnapping virgins and extracting blood from them every night is not driven by a desire for youth, but rather a necessary pain to ensure the longevity of the temple.
The temple official taking orphaned children to the underground basement under the pretext of sending them to the capital temple and feeding them a meal to fill their bellies is not for the pleasure of human flesh, but merely an act of mercy to prevent the orphaned children from suffering from hunger and allow them to return to the embrace of the gods.
They believed that not being punished was evidence that what they had done was not a sin, and that the faint trace of divinity left on their bodies was proof that they would go to heaven.
“Oh, is this the temple?”
Someone sent by the gods appeared before them.
With pure white hair shining with curiosity, golden eyes that flickered like pottery, and pale but fair skin like moonlight. With beautifully curved eyes and a gentle smile, the divine insignia engraved on the back of the hand gave the impression of bringing a character from a fairy tale into reality.
“The statue here won’t move, will it?”
However, considering the abilities he possessed, it would be more fitting to call him the “divine punishment” or the “executioner sent by the gods,” but no one here knew that.
“Well, then I’ll just go in…”
“Huh?!”
As the three of them were having an informative conversation for the temple, they ran into Lian as they walked out from the inside.
The security guard, seeing the unforgettable beauty of the stunning Lian, thought to himself, “She would fetch a high price,” and hesitated to speak, while the middle-aged woman twisted her body with a familiar face.
The temple official just chuckled and thought to himself, “With a face like that, you must have a lot of children.” But on the surface, he only appeared as a kind-hearted grandfather figure.
“Oh, hello!”
Due to the atmosphere of the temple, Lian naturally assumed that the three people she met were “good people.” Each for their own reasons, the three people who had a favorable impression of Lian smiled and engaged in a light conversation.
“Well then, I’ll go first.”
After some casual conversation, the security guard left the temple to extort money from the merchants. Then, the middle-aged woman spoke in a gentle voice.
“Since you’ve come all the way here, let me guide you through the temple.”
“Oh… no, it’s fine. I was just a little curious…”
Lian somehow sensed the scent of a cross-dressing man from the middle-aged woman in front of him. For some unknown reason, it gave him a creepy feeling, as if his hair stood on end.
The middle-aged woman’s age far surpassed what one could imagine, as she forcibly maintained her youth through dreadful acts. She was even older than the old man next to her.
Men in the comedy world instinctively rejected women who tried to hide their age with disguises or cross-dressing men who had no intention of hiding their true gender.
It was the power of the genes left by the ancestors who had witnessed such dreadful things, regardless of the laws of the comedy world, for the sake of their descendants.
For these reasons, Lian discreetly avoided the middle-aged woman.
“Oh, sweetheart, take a look around before you go.”
As the middle-aged woman clung stickily to Lian’s arm and spewed words that felt like her tongue had been ripped apart, Lian’s face turned pale as if a cockroach had fallen on his forearm.
“Oh, brother!”
“…! Uh, uh! Iris, I’ll be right there! I-I’m sorry, but my companions are waiting for me! Well then, goodbye!”
Lian quickly pushed the woman away and ran towards Iris, who was standing at the entrance of the shrine.
“What were you doing here?”
“Oh, I was just admiring the shrine, it’s fascinating.”
The middle-aged woman froze in a awkward posture, as if she had embraced the air due to the influence of the comedy filter. Then, her face turned beet red and she stumbled forward, emphasizing her femininity by flicking her hair behind her ears, trying to run towards Lian and Iris who were leaving the entrance. At that moment, unlike Lian’s warm gaze, she felt no warmth.
“…!”
With a lively gaze directed at the dirty fly that was stuck to her older brother, the middle-aged woman froze in place once again, unable to do anything but watch the two of them with a stumbling posture.
Due to the harshness of Iris’s gaze, she unknowingly lowered her eyes and trembled.
“But, brother… what were you doing with that… ah, lady?”
“…..!?”
Ah, ah, lady?!
The word “auntie” was practically forbidden to any woman who could strip a child’s skin for the sake of her appearance.
When Iris, who was blessed with exceptional looks since birth and was at the prime age where her beauty was flourishing, spat out those words, her sense of inferiority exploded.
“That damn girl!”
But she couldn’t curse out loud. Iris’s intensity was too terrifying. Instead, she secretly scanned Iris up and down, pursing her lips.
From Noble mtl dot com
“She looks like a virgin. If she’s a woman with such exceptional beauty, she could regain at least ten years of youth!”
With a sinister smile, she imagined Iris clinging to her legs, her pretty face stained with tears and mucus. If Iris had seen that, she would have had a dirty smile, so repulsive that she couldn’t help but swing her fist.
Iris quickly left the temple, trying to escape the gaze of the unpleasant auntie. As a result, the dirty woman’s smile lasted an extra minute.
The old man passed by the side of the middle-aged woman who was smiling unpleasantly and made his way to the entrance of the temple.
He saw children he had never seen before in the village, holding snacks and laughing as they walked. Without realizing it, the old man’s mouth watered.
“There seem to be quite a few of them. It wouldn’t hurt to taste one.”
If several children went missing, it would be understandable, but if just one disappeared, they would have to go to great lengths to find the child. That meant the group would have to stay in the village for a few more days.
It was necessary to tie the group down, so it was an unavoidable task to put one child on the dinner table.
“Tsk tsk, how much suffering they must have endured.”
The old man looked at the cheerful children and licked his lips. It tasted like a bitter scent and the soft, tender taste of meat.
“If you are chosen by the gods to be with me, you will all be able to go to heaven. So don’t worry.”
If my blood and flesh become theirs, those children will surely be able to go to heaven together!
When the old man bought his position as the head of the temple with money, he had at least some awareness that he was committing a sin. But now, he no longer had even that awareness, and he sincerely believed that this was a choice he made for the sake of the children.
Lian’s goal was to protect his precious group. In other words, the three people who wanted the children, virgins, and valuable slaves were recognized as Lian’s “enemies.”
Once someone was turned into an enemy, their fate was no different from being turned into an enemy.
***
“There are quite a few beautiful things here, more than I thought. Maybe I can take one for myself, heh…”
The head of security chuckled to himself as he watched the people outside walking in groups through the window. His gaze skimmed past Lily without much interest.
“…!”
Nero, with his keen senses, noticed the ominous gaze scanning his woman and quickly looked around, but he couldn’t find anything because the head of security had already averted his gaze.
“There’s someone skilled here. I need to be careful.”