Chapter 14
I entered the slums again with people trailing behind me.
I thought that if we were talking about the most useless and trashy land in the capital, it would probably be in the slums.
As soon as I entered the slums, an enormous crowd of people started following me.
"Saint!! Saint! Please heal us!!"
"Bestow your grace upon us, Saint!!"
There were too many people following me. Wouldn't I get arrested by the police as the instigator of an illegal gathering at this rate?
Damn it.
I hurriedly looked around the slums and found the trashiest and most useless-looking land I was hoping for.
Dilapidated buildings falling apart and a gloomy abandoned factory.
A gloomy land that looked like no one would come even if paid, due to the industrial waste and garbage strewn about.
It looked like the kind of place where drug addicts should be snorting white powder somewhere.
I didn't know about feng shui, but would one live here?
It seemed like a non-existent fate of ruin would be self-generated.
It's perfect!!
If I caused a big loss to the Lilia Order, they'd run away while cursing at me!!
As I was about to enter the abandoned factory area with numerous people behind me, a man who looked like a security guard watching over the factory walked towards me.
"You can't go in any further! This is the Karma family's land!"
The old security guard's eyes seemed dim, as if he couldn't recognize who I was.
I slowly approached him and placed my hand on his head.
[Using the Body Modification skill!]
After normalizing the old man's eyesight, arthritis, and so on, he finally recognized me and froze.
"Can you see now?"
"I-I can see. I can see! Saint!!"
"Go and call the owner of this land."
"I-I will!! I will do that!!"
The security guard ran off somewhere as if he wasn't an old man at all, then soon reappeared with an old middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man looked exactly like...
Scrooge.
A gruff and stubborn middle-aged man who looked like gold coins would leak out instead of blood if one stabbed him with a knife.
He approached me with the security guard, wearing a crooked expression.
"I'm the owner of this factory. You asked to see me?"
"That's right."
"What's your business? If you're asking to let those beggars in here, I'll have to decline."
At those words, I shook my head.
"Please give me this factory site. I'll pay a proper price."
At my words, the factory owner burst into laughter.
"Alright. I'll admit it. You've heard the rumors, right? I built a doll factory, but it didn't go well. But even so, the factory site is this big, do you have the capital to buy all this?"
I shook my head.
I didn't.
The only money I had was what I earned from my part-time job at the restaurant.
Even if I added all that up, would it be enough to buy this factory site?
"The Lilia Order will purchase it."
Of course, the Order had to pay.
The Lilia Order was undoubtedly one of the major orders in the empire.
They should be able to pay even an exorbitant price and still have plenty left over.
I looked at the High Priest.
The High Priest looked at me.
His eyes seemed to say, "No matter how you look at it, you're not really going to build a temple on such trashy land, are you???"
Right.
That's exactly it.
What I wanted was to spend money on a place that seemed impossible to succeed no matter how one looked at it, causing losses to the Order, and on top of that, to live extravagantly and waste money so that they’d get sick of me and leave.
"Use all the money the Order has to purchase the site. This place is absolutely necessary to fulfill the Goddess' words."
I made up that excuse.
Of course, I didn't know anything about the Goddess' words or whatever.
I was just buying it because it looked like the most useless land even in the slums.
If I built a luxurious and extravagant temple here by pouring in all kinds of money and manpower and didn't do anything saint-like but live extravagantly every day, wouldn't they leave on their own?
"...Alright. If that is the will of the Goddess."
The High Priest stepped forward.
And approached Scrooge.
"I am Yodel, the High Priest of the Lilia Order."
"Jonathan Karma. I'm saying this because I built a factory here because it was cheap, but except for the fact that the land price is disgustingly cheap for the capital, this land has no advantages whatsoever. I don't know what you're trying to do by buying this, but it won't work out. I guarantee it."
"It is what the Goddess has instructed. We must purchase it without fail."
Scrooge. No.
Jonathan Karma looked at us with an expression that seemed to say, “What idiots…” then gestured.
"Follow me. We'll draw up the contract at my house. I'm actually glad to get rid of this land that was just incurring taxes and had no use!!"
We headed towards Jonathan's house like that.
***
I thought he would live in some grand house since he was a factory owner, but Jonathan Karma was living in a shabby house near the slums.
He wasn't in a state of sleeping on the streets like the poor, but looking at the state of his house, he seemed no different from a poor person who just had a house.
"Honey. You're home?"
As we entered Jonathan's house, a gaunt, thin woman who seemed to be his wife greeted Jonathan while coughing.
Jonathan looked at her and shouted, "What are you doing crawling out here when you can't even take medicine properly? Hurry up and go lie down in bed!!"
"I was trying to make a meal for you..."
"Where is there anything to eat in this house!! Hurry up and go lie down! You useless woman who only costs money for medicine!!"
His rough shouting made him look exactly like an abusive husband.
Looking at him, I could see the situation clearly.
He probably tried to start a business by building a factory, but it didn't go well.
That was why the family relationships have also soured.
Jonathan's wife carefully went into the room while coughing.
A sour moldy smell and a rotten stench from poor ventilation were emanating from the room.
It was so bad that even the High Priest slightly frowned at the intense smell that pierced his nose.
"Well. I need to receive at least 40,000 saleds. That's my condition!" Jonathan shouted.
At those words, the High Priest's eyes widened.
"You're saying you'll take 40,000 saleds for such a crumbling land?"
"That's right!"
"You're asking for that price even after seeing all the garbage and waste strewn about that factory site?"
"If you don't like it, don't buy it!! 40,000 saleds! That's my condition!!"
It was a gangster-like price that didn't match the trashy land.
But it didn't matter.
The Order would pay for it anyway.
My goal was to waste money by buying useless land at an unnecessarily high price and causing losses to the Order.
The High Priest seemed to be contemplating.
But after glancing at me, he soon had an expression full of faith and nodded.
"I'll contact the Lilia Order temples across the country. To pay such an amount, we need the agreement of temples from various regions, so please wait a moment."
"Tomorrow! Bring it all tomorrow!! If not, I won't make the deal!"
At those words, the High Priest's expression crumpled even more.
"Even for us, tomorrow is impossible. Please give us a little more grace period. Given the amount you're asking for, we need some time to prepare..."
"If you can't do it, there's no deal!! Get out!!"
His nagging tone was irritating even to me.
If it were me, I would have either cursed at him or left, but the High Priest didn't frown much, probably because he thought he was in front of me, the Saint.
"I'll discuss this for a moment."
The High Priest took me outside the house for a moment.
"Saint. These are unreasonable conditions. Not only is the land price excessively high, but we're also taking on the responsibility of disposing of the waste and various garbage. Moreover, that man is greedily demanding we bring the money tomorrow. It would be better not to make this deal."
"We still have to do it."
I’ve decided to cause losses to your Order, you know. That's how you'll leave while treating me like an idiot.
"...If that's the case, I'll follow your will, but according to our Order's rules, amounts over 10,000 saleds require the consent of regional temples to be used. No matter what, bringing the money tomorrow is impossible. We need a little more time, Saint."
High Priest Yodel looked extremely apologetic.
At those words, even a selfish person like me felt increasingly guilty.
Although I was doing this to survive, these were innocent people who just suddenly decided to revere me as a saint.
I was trying to cause losses to such people, and on top of that, I had to accommodate Scrooge's unreasonable demands.
"I'll try to resolve this."
Even someone like me whose conscience had long since worn away still had some sense of tact. Since I was the one who made the unreasonable request, it was right that I should resolve it.
"I'm sorry for disappointing you with my incompetence."
I'm really sorry.
Seeing High Priest Yodel bowing and apologizing to a con artist who was trying to openly cause losses to the Order and then run away because he was afraid of divine punishment from the Goddess, I felt an indescribable pang of conscience.
I couldn't look the High Priest in the eyes, so I quickly went back into the house.
I said I'd resolve it, but of course, I didn't have a way to change Scrooge's mind and buy more time to bring the money.
Should I just use Absolute Hypnosis to make him listen to me? Just like that?
No.
If Scrooge suddenly started being kind to me without proper build-up, that wouldn’t look holy, it would look extremely suspicious.
That would be tarnishing the Goddess' name, so it could result in divine punishment. Also, the Lilia Order might start to doubt me and possibly burn me at the stake on charges of heresy.
How...
How should I speak to make Scrooge give us more time to bring the money?
As I was thinking about this and going up the stairs to return to Jonathan Karma's house, suddenly I heard screams and the sound of someone struggling.
"Aaaaaaah!!"
At the desperate scream, I hurried towards the source of the sound.
When I entered, I saw people looking at the center of the room with shocked expressions.
"Oh, Rophus! O,h Sun!! It's the rotting disease!!"
"You kept a rotting disease patient in the capital? This is illegal!! Jonathan Karma!!" I could hear the holy knights of the Sun Order and police officers shouting in shock.
Pushing past them and entering the room, I saw Jonathan Karma and his wife blocking people with panicked expressions amidst the even stronger stench of rot and mold.
"Don't come near! Don't come near my daughter!!"
"Our daughter can, can get better!! Even if it's the rotting disease, she can get better!! We've suppressed the contagiousness with medicine! There's no problem with her being here! Please!"
Scrooge's expression, unlike just moments ago, looked completely broken.
Scrooge, who was flailing his hands and trying to protect his daughter, and his wife, who was hugging their daughter and wailing, looked utterly desperate.
And they had good reason to be.
The daughter they were trying to protect had her entire body rotting to a horrifying degree.
Is this what leprosy looks like?
Black pus was continuously flowing from her festering skin.
A miserable state where it was surprising she was even alive.
In that state, the daughter was writhing and thrashing in pain.
"It hurts! It hurts! Kill me!! Kill me!!" the daughter screamed while struggling.
The watching police officers, unable to bear it any longer, drew their guns.
"Jonathan Karma!! You're under arrest for hiding a contagious disease patient in the capital without permission!! Step away from your daughter right now... Saint! Saint! You can't!!"
I lowered the police officers' guns and slowly approached Jonathan Karma and his wife.
"D-don't come near!! Don't come near!! She's my daughter! I can't abandon my daughter!!"
Surprisingly, he didn't look threatening at all, unlike just moments ago.
He just looked like a pitiful middle-aged man who was old, sick, and worn down by reality.
"I don't believe in things like the Saint of Healing!! D-do you know how many con artists like you there have been? My property! My money! Do you know how much they all took from me under the pretext of curing my daughter? You must be the same!! Don't come near!! You con artist!! You bastard!!"
Jonathan Karma threw a punch at me.
My nose burst and bled from the punch.
"Saint!!"
"This bastard dared to hit the Saint!..."
The holy knights tried to draw their swords, but I stopped them.
I wiped the nosebleed and quietly looked at Jonathan Karma and his wife.
"Step aside."
I was planning to suck as much money as possible from the Lilia Order to cause them losses.....
But if the situation had turned out like this, it was a different story.
Look at that suffering girl.
Even if I was a selfish man, it was too trashy to leave someone I could heal in pain when they were right in front of me.
Moreover, if I healed his daughter, I thought it might incidentally buy us more time to bring the money.
Seeing me not change expression even while bleeding from the nose after being punched, the couple seemed to feel some pressure and trembled as they stepped back slightly.
I approached the struggling child.
"It hurts!! It hurts!! Kill me!! Aaaaaaah!"
I placed my hand on the head of the girl who was crying, struggling, and convulsing.
Just like the young girls selling matches in the back alleys.
And this girl too.
Putting aside my own circumstances, but above all else.
It's just too pitiful, isn't it?
"It's okay."
I activated the skill.
"You won't be in pain anymore."
With a crackling sound.
The girl's body started to change.