116.
“hmm… ”
I tilted my head while looking at the Ingeom’s explanation window.
Leviathan.
To be precise, it was because the skill added to the human sword after cutting off the head of a beast born from Leviathan was somewhat unfamiliar.
* Current Engraved Monsters – Lycanthrope, Naga, Orgoi Horhoi, Chiu, Twisted Beast
-Traces of Twisted Tradition: Change a unique skill by blooming another tradition dwelling in one existence. Consumed upon use.
Could it be because the Goju forcibly manifested the legend derived from Leviathan?
The monster engraved on the human sword was not named Leviathan, but Twisted Beast.
The skill effect was also completely heterogeneous.
The flowering of another tradition.
In other words, is it possible to highlight another aspect other than the central tradition only for the oddities with various kinds of traditions?
“then… ”
As expected, the skill could also be used on Naga’s skill, Lycanthrope, and Chiu’s skill.
At this I thought for a while.
First of all, there was no need to use this for Naga’s skill.
Anyway, the Naga engraved on my sword is Cambodia’s chief-level Naga.
So even if the side of the naga in other traditions such as Indian mythology and Buddhism has blossomed.
That level would not reach that of the main god, rather the level of skill was falling.
And lycanthropes also have other traditions, such as Greek mythology and Norse mythology.
This also doesn’t attract much attention, such as appearing as a cursed object or a villain.
So, the only thing that can be said to be of high rank is Chiu’s succession.
but.
“The martial arts are not very useful.”
Chiu’s top-notch tradition, the transmission of the god of war, was not necessary to me.
In the end, it’s an ambiguous situation to use right now.
then… Would it be better to just save it for now?
I thought so and moved on.
Next was the reward for completing this main quest.
“What is this again?”
A small scroll was added to the item window once I completed the main quest.
The item’s name is Quest Scroll.
After reading the description, it gives a useful quest.
If you beat a quest, you get a quest as a reward?
I felt cheated.
However, I immediately used the item to check its contents.
Then, a new quest appeared in front of his eyes.
＜Sub Quest – Gathering Nine Tails＞
– Gather the tails of the auspicious white foxes of the Holy Mother of God and bring them to the top line.
– Additional abilities unlocked every time you collect 3 tails
– Currently, Yomulization is in progress. Progress (2/3)
It was a quest related to a nine-tailed fox, or Keng-Kengi.
Seondo Seongmo.
When I looked for data, the name was a goddess who was a mother goddess and a hermit of Silla, and there is a record that she was the mother of Park Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla.
But that Keng-Kengi is the divine beast of the Holy Mother of God.
Besides, when all the tails are gathered, they reach the topline.
For a moment, I wondered if a nine-tailed fox could become a freshman.
If you think about it, among the tales of the nine-tailed fox, there was also a legend in which the nine-tailed fox had a divine status, called Yoo Seong-shin.
If you grow well… The story that Keng Keng really becomes a freshman.
If I had known it would be like this, I would have taken good care of it.
“hmm… I was a bit negligent.”
It is none other than the human soul that stretches the tail of the nine-tailed fox.
In my case, I extract the souls of dead demons and feed them.
I haven’t killed many strong demons lately, so I haven’t been able to feed them for a while.
Is that why you gave me this quest?
Come to think of it, Keng Keng itself was a reward for the main quest.
It seems that it was quite frustrating to use Keng-Kengi, which could be a freshman, only for navigation.
Well, you can grow well from now on.
Thinking so, I closed the window.
And as I took a sip of the pre-made coffee, Seo In-na called me just in time.
“Captain River!”
“yes.”
At the alarm of a new incident, I got up from my seat.
* * *
about 2 weeks after that.
I met Monica at a cafe downtown after a few months.
It was because Monica, who had asked me to investigate the forbidden book, informed me that she had obtained new information.
“hi.”
Monica, who came earlier today, waved at me.
As a Westerner in a nun’s uniform, she was still attracting attention with her unmistakable appearance.
I nodded and sat down in front of her.
“Oh, long time no see.”
“It’s been a really long time. You don’t contact me first.”
Monica said with a disgruntled face.
I think we had a lot of conversations in the group chat room, but why do we need to contact each other?
I thought so, but I just made a familiar excuse.
“I was busy. You know roughly how much police work is.”
“… huh. I heard Didn’t you fight with the elder recently?”
Monica also said that, probably because she had heard the story of the monster.
“I heard it was dangerous.”
“what… It wasn’t too hard.”
“How exactly was it?”
In response to Monica’s question, I briefly told the story of the monster incident.
She listened with her eyes shining, as if it was very interesting.
“Awesome. It was the first time I knew that the beast of the end appeared.”
Like a child who has heard an old story, she said.
Since he belonged to the church, it seemed that he was interested in the succession of the Apocalypse.
But I immediately changed the topic of conversation.
“Is there a forbidden book?”
“huh. But the owner is not Mine.”
“then?”
“therefore… ”
Monica spoke slowly.
Originally, it was Mine who stayed in the Middle East who had the forbidden book.
However, the demon was repulsed by a local exorcist, and the forbidden book the demon possessed became the property of the exorcist.
After that, the exorcist of the Middle East disposed of the forbidden book at a reasonable price.
The company that bought it was in Korea.
“… It’s a pain in the ass.”
According to Monica, it was a foreign institution that purchased the forbidden book.
It is said that the book was purchased for research purposes, and there was no particular problem with the procedure.
I’m glad I didn’t do anything illegal.
It was not a very good situation for me, who had to obtain the forbidden book.
Banned books are basically noble.
And if the ghost is licensed by the government.
Research is legally possible under limited conditions, such as using it as an ingredient for witchcraft.
I don’t know how the research permission was granted to the forbidden book, but I couldn’t take it away at will.
“Here.”
Monica held out a business card to me.
The mission written there is ‘SC Tech’.
It was the first time I had heard the name of the company, which seemed appropriately named, and of course it was not affiliated with a large company.
That means… Is it a small foreign organization?
Among foreign institutions, there are also a number of small exorcist groups.
In the exorcism industry, it is literally like a small business.
The police work mostly with official agencies, so I’ve never encountered them before.
It seemed that formal agencies or foreign agencies belonging to large corporations often handed over difficult tasks to small foreign agencies.
in other words… In the exorcism industry, it feels like a subcontractor.
Looking at the purchase of forbidden books from such a company, it was clear that they probably thought of it as part of an investment.
“What kind of forbidden books?”
“Forbidden Books of Zoroastrianism.”
Saying so, Monica handed over the information compiled on Zoroastrianism to me.
Zoroastrianism was a very old religion, beginning in B.C. and continuing to the present day.
The main stage of religion is Central Asia.
Religiously, it was a monotheistic religion that worshiped Ahura Mazda, the main god.
In addition, it is characterized by a worldview that venerates fire and divides everything in the world into good and evil, and for this reason, summer is seen as good and winter as evil.
Also, the evil god of Zoroastrianism is the famous Angra Mainyu.
He was known as the source of all evil.
“What is the magic in the forbidden book?”
So I asked.
Monica shook her head.
“that… I don’t know. It’s such an old text, so the entire spell hasn’t been deciphered yet.”
I wondered how the banned book got permission from the government.
Wasn’t it clear what kind of magic there was at all?
If so, bringing it in for research purposes was understandable.
“Is there anything deciphered?”
“a little. It’s just that it has something to do with death.”
In Zoroastrianism, death itself is evil. So the corpse itself is considered unlucky, and the flies and maggots that gather on such a corpse are called demons.
In that worldview, it is a forbidden technique using death.
Like other forbidden books, a dangerous atmosphere prevailed.
“You want to go see yourself?”
I nodded my head at Monica’s words.
Negotiating or making a deal to obtain a forbidden book.
Anyway, I had to talk to the foreign agency that bought it.
“But it’s a while.”
The location of the foreign institution indicated on the business card was Busan.
It’s a distance that can consume a day just by talking.
“… I can’t help it.”
In the end, I decided to take a day off to visit other institutions.
That’s how the story about the forbidden book is organized.
“what are you going to do now?”
Monica asked with a strange look.
Actually, I was just going home, but when I looked at the time, it was lunch time.
Isn’t it Monica who asked for information about forbidden books at best?
After all, I will have to buy some rice.
“Would you like something to eat?”
At my question, Monica smiled and nodded.
and the next day.
“Is this it?”
I was standing in front of a small building in Busan.
The third floor of this building was the office of SC Tech.
I called in advance before coming, but to my surprise, there is an on-call at the company even though today is Sunday.
It’s not the police, it’s a private company on duty.
It seems that the working environment here is not easy.
“hello.”
I went up the building and opened the door to the SC Tech office.
Behind that common glass door, there was no lobby, and it was directly connected to the office.
A man looked up from one of the many desks in the office.
“Who are you?”
“This is Inspector Kang Jin-woo, whom I contacted earlier.”
“Oh, that cop.”
He immediately stood up and greeted me.
“Nice to meet you. I am Yang Woo-hyung, manager of SC Tech.”
After shaking hands with him, I went to a table in the corner of the office.
The man who introduced himself as Yangwoo hyung slurped a cup of mixed coffee and held it out in front of me.
“thank you.”
“no. however… What happened to the police all of a sudden… ”
Yang Woo-hyung strangely looked at me and said.
I never paid much attention, but it was inevitable.
These small and medium-sized foreign institutions receive and process work from regular institutions and foreign institutions belonging to large corporations, and make a living from it.
So, the structure between them is not very different from that between general conglomerates and subcontractors.
In other words, regular institutions and large corporations are strictly A, and these small and medium-sized foreign institutions are a complete B position.
But that wasn’t the end of the exorcism industry.
On top of a regular institution that was no different from such a power, there existed a super power called the police.
As well as the police assigning work to regular agencies.
It was an absolute national institution that could be involved in the entire exorcism case and even lead the enforcement of the law if the violation was confirmed.
So, it was only natural for such a small foreign institution to notice the police.
But I didn’t intend to come today at all, so I immediately waved my hand.
“Today, I came as an individual, not as a police officer. It’s not even public duty.”
“Ah, I see.”
He said that, but he didn’t seem to believe it at all.
Well, who would believe that this is the case with the police who came from Seoul to Busan in plain clothes on a holiday?
It was a suspicious situation even for me.
“Then can I listen to the business you came as an individual?”
“I heard that you recently purchased a forbidden book here.”
“Yes, that’s right. Could something be wrong? It was all licensed and officially entered. Can I show you the relevant permit?”
Yang Woo-hyung said so at the word banned.
I shook my head.
“no. I contacted you because I wanted to personally acquire the forbidden book.”
“Acquisition?”
“yes.”
“Are you telling us to sell the forbidden book back to the Inspector?”
“you’re right.”
At my words, he widened his eyes.
It didn’t seem like he was expecting to say something like this.
“uh… wait a minute.”
Then he went out and called somewhere.
Returning soon after, he cautiously opened his mouth.
“Any price… ?”
Unlike sacred treasures, treasures such as forbidden books do not have a high price.
It’s like a dangerous bomb, so it’s difficult to handle.
Even if it was used for research purposes, it was because the basics were to destroy or seal it after the purpose was achieved.
Because of that, the cost of purchasing the forbidden book by SC Tech was about 20 million won.
No matter how cheap it was, it was a burdensome amount for an individual.
Conversely, it was not money that could never be paid.
So I continued with a feeling of vomiting blood.
“I know how much you brought it. I’ll give you that much.”
“phew… You see.”
He said so, visibly relieved.
Did you think I would use the position of the police officer to take it by force?
Actually, it wasn’t that I didn’t consider such a plan, but I didn’t want to leave it as a problem for the future.
Rather than that, it would have been better to officially purchase the forbidden book, absorb it, and report the disposition.
Even though it costs money, it was a method with no end result.
“then… Is there anyone else who wants a forbidden book… ”
I felt like I was running errands for a high-ranking person in the police force.
At Yangwoo hyung’s words, I was about to shake my head right away.
“… … ”
He soon changed his expression.
Shouldn’t it be necessary to leave room for this person to change his or her mind, just in case?
That’s what I thought.
So I weakly hardened my face.
“Don’t ask me about that. ”
“Oh, sorry.”
Then he apologized and bowed his head.
That should be enough.
“Are you willing to trade?”
“yes. of course. but… We also have circumstances… ”
“What’s the matter?”
“There are a lot of people contracted for that research. Can’t you just wait for that contract period… ”
Well, it was only natural that the company would have money invested in research.
So I nodded.
Next, the period Yang Woo-hyung said was half a year.
6 months?
It was a bit long, but it was a time that could have been waited if he could definitely obtain a forbidden book.
After finishing the story by trading six months later, I went up to Seoul again.
But only one week later.
“… huh?”
Suddenly, while I was resting at home, a quest appeared in front of my eyes.
＜The Tenth Forbidden Book – Unclean Death＞
– Defeat the runaway demons and retrieve the forbidden book of Zoroastrianism.
“A runaway Mine?”
It seemed that something had happened.