Chapter 16
Even groups of considerable size, while they may have common denominators, couldn’t be defined by a single nature.
Just like how people who hang out together all have different jobs, personalities, and places they live.
Among those who shared the common denominator of belonging to the Church, there were good people, evil ones, and even those who were neutral, neither one nor the other.
It was difficult to evaluate the Church as either trash or a good place.
...Therefore, it was difficult to evaluate the Church itself.
But as the world faced threats, and people began to believe in unrealistic beings whose existence in reality was uncertain, the problem was that evil people used this faith as a weapon to commit cruel and evil acts.
I laughed hollowly as I recalled things about the Church.
Because the moment these thoughts came to mind, a hypothesis arose in my head.
Let's make an assumption. If the Church had made some kind of contract with black mages...
Just as heroes existed because there were demon lords, and light existed because there was darkness, they likely made a secret mutual cooperation plan.
I couldn't know exactly what the content was.
But it was likely a plan to maximize mutual benefits by giving and taking appropriately, like what was commonly called a rigged game of Go-Stop.
I suspected that when the Church and the Carsaril family clashed over interests, the Church side might have used this to try to bring down the Carsaril family.
And... if this assumption is correct.
It seemed highly likely that the Church tried to frame the Carsaril family with black magic to cause confusion.
As these thoughts reached my mind, I narrowed my eyes, thinking it would be good to gather more evidence and dig deeper.
***
Even if the culprit was the Church, the Church shouldn't be easily messed with.
The Church had high cohesion and valued its external image, even if there was a definite reason why they should be punished, they would attack the attacker regardless of the truth to protect their external image.
If the Church had been weak, I would have ignored it and proceeded.
But because the Church was the state religion and spiritual foundation of the country, touching it could cause a backlash.
So I had to “secretly” strike them if possible.
Making this judgment, I decided to start with exploration first and began to thoroughly look around the city with the spirit.
Even after looking around the city all day, I couldn't find even what was presumed to be the tail, let alone what was suspected to be the body (main base) of the black mages.
It was probably because one tail was destroyed yesterday, so they all hid.
And this meant that it was difficult to solve everything with just the Sun Spirit.
So I had to find a way to solve this.
I need someone to help.
Siren still needed time to grow.
While Loraine was fine for combat, she was quite lacking in terms of intelligence, so I needed someone who could gather information.
Liana is the only option, right?
She appeared as the top expert in this field in the original work, providing all information and direction to the protagonist's party.
It seemed it would be quite good to recruit that character, but the problem was that I didn't know where Liana was.
The method to find Liana in the original work is to hang around places where interesting rumors circulate, but the problem was that the standard of “interesting” was Liana's standard.
She wouldn't appear for highly important rumors like plans that could destroy the world.
She might appear for strange rumors like a statue that moved at 12 o'clock.
So I decided to look for another way to recruit her while keeping this in mind.
***
Just as my head was getting complicated, Aiden Carsaril, Damian's brother, approached me.
He came to me with a bright smile and gave me a big compliment.
"Damian! I heard you wiped out black mages. How on earth did you do it?"
Aiden seemed very happy that his brother had done something great, kept smiling and shaking my hand, then smiled gently and said to me, "Until you went to the North, I was worried because you only hung out with strange people. Seeing you grow up so wonderfully, it seems my worries were unnecessary."
Just as I was about to say thank you, I noticed something strange in what Aiden had said.
Strange people?
Realizing this might be related to the black mages, I immediately opened my mouth, "Brother, do you know where those strange guys I used to hang out with before going to the North are now?"
"...Huh? Why?"
Aiden showed a worried look, perhaps concerned that I might start hanging out with those guys again.
But deciding to trust me, he quickly shook off his reluctant expression and told me, "I'm not sure. Maybe... the butler might know? It was your personal butler who introduced those people to you."
"Do you know where that butler is?"
"I'm not sure. The head butler might know though."
He still showed signs of hesitation about whether it was right to give me this information.
I reassured him by saying, “I'm not trying to hang out with them,” and then turned my gaze.
Judging by the mention of a personal butler, there's a high probability that this plan was planned far longer ago than imagined.
Thinking that perhaps even the reason Damian left for the North might be related to this, I moved my feet.
***
The head butler Bern, who was the overall manager of all servants in the Carsaril family, and an indispensable figure in the Carsaril family, managing finances, personnel, and the operation of the mansion.
Unlike most servants who were afraid of me, he approached me with familiarity, as if dealing with a grandson, rather than showing fear.
"Young Master, what business does this old man have with you?"
"I need help."
"Hoho, the young master using polite speech, you've changed a lot."
Funnily enough, even though I was speaking and acting in a way completely opposite to Damian's personality, he didn't show any particular strangeness.
It seemed he was accepting me considering that I had suffered in the North for a year and even had my engagement broken off.
While thinking that these things weren't entirely meaningless, Bern asked me a question, "So, what help can this old man provide?"
"Please tell me where my personal butler is."
When I said this directly without beating around the bush, he showed signs of pondering for a moment before telling me information about my personal butler.
"If you mean Rusten, he quit immediately after you left for the North. He said he wanted to return to his hometown."
The fact that he quit immediately, as if he had been waiting for it, raised even stronger suspicions.
"His hometown?"
"He said it was a small village at the edge of the Carsaril territory... but judging by the rumors spreading among the servants that he was seen at a gambling den on the outskirts of the city, it seems likely he headed to the gambling den rather than his hometown."
At those words, Loraine behind me added in surprise, "Rusten gambling? Wasn't he an extremely diligent guy?"
"That's what I'm saying. I don't know the reason, but it's truly unfortunate."
A gambling den... The moment I heard this, I thought I could definitely get crucial information this time and decided to head to the gambling den.
***
A shabby slum in the outskirts.
I didn't know if they chose this place to avoid crackdowns or to be able to abandon it at any time in preparation for crackdowns, but it looked far from luxury and pleasure, so at first glance, it didn't even feel like a gambling den.
Seeing this, I told Loraine to prepare for any situation and was about to enter the gambling den when…
A large man silently blocked my way, preventing me from entering.
He seemed to be the doorkeeper of this place, so I briefly waved my hand and said, "Move."
"..."
There was no particular reaction even though I told him to move.
At this blatant disregard, I was about to grab my hammer with a hollow laugh when…
Bang!
Loraine kicked the doorkeeper, sending him flying backward, and said, "Let's go in."
Although it wasn’t something I should say as I was about to hit him on the head with a hammer, I looked at Loraine thinking, “Is this okay?”
Loraine smiled awkwardly and said to me, "I really hate gambling... and since unauthorized gambling dens are criminal, I thought I'd clean up while we're at it...?"
Nodding to mean there was no need to make excuses, I entered through the open door.
"Who are you?"
I saw many people grabbing various weapons and glaring at me.
Weapons in a gambling den...
It was common sense in gambling dens that weapons were absolutely prohibited from being brought in, even for attracting customers.
Seeing everyone holding weapons as if it was natural, this didn’t seem to be an ordinary gambling den.
Just as I was raising the corners of my mouth, realizing I had finally found a trace, Loraine lightly tapped my shoulder and said, "Young Master, Rusten is over there."
At those words, I looked at them with joy as I took out a small hammer from my chest.
The number was about ten or so.
It wasn't such a problematic number.