Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

80 – Huge waves, small waves

Before I left, I had an idea.

“Hey, rat.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll give you two sheets of data, answer the questions.”

Turk put on a puzzled expression at my sudden words, and his only remaining eye widened at the question that followed.

“Who is a higher-level intelligence dealer than you in this central region?”

“What…?”

From the moment I heard that, there was a bit of a stir.

“Stay still.”

Anyway, they were rats, so it was resolved with a slight wave of the sleeves.

With a slight rustle, I calmed the fuss about to explode and looked at Turk.

“Simple question. If you get angry like that, please don’t make me angry anymore.”

At the same time as the sound of something grinding in his mouth, a suppressed voice leaked out.

“…In the middle, I’m the best.”

As expected. Those who live and die in Gao always say that.

While laughing at him inwardly, I put two sheets of data on the desk and said.

“Yes. Best Information Award in the Middle East. Ask one Of course I will pay the price.”

“Anything.”

Thump, pound.

Suppressing the frantic beating of my heart, I opened my mouth.

“Do you have any information about how to cross the dimension or a new world?”

***

I had to continue my acting even after I came out of the lair of rats, no, the information guild.

That’s why my heart continued to beat, but the muscles on my face didn’t even move.

Because I couldn’t stand the low voice coming from behind me, so the sound of hitting the table and the stench of the sewage system that plagued my nose were still there.

That’s why my body stayed still for a while after I got out of the back alley and got on top of a waiting carriage nearby.

Talk.

I felt something warm on my forehead. It was someone’s finger.

“G-house mercenary. Breathe now.”

“Kakkakkak, bum.”

I barely caught my breath at the words of Priest Rien, who sat next to me and touched my forehead with his finger, and looked around.

It was dark all around. Instead of the soggy, shady air I had been sniffing before, it was full of the unique smell of grass in the countryside.

Feeling a tingle in my back, which I had been bending over and over again, I asked Priest Rien in his normal tone.

“Where is this place?”

I definitely remember the scene where the leader of the Prianian squad stood up while aiming a crossbow from the bottom of the wagon wearing camouflage, and how the guards prepared for an ‘accidental inspection’ in the distance.

“We are back to where we were staying, mercenary!”

Priest Rien pointed at the gate in front of him and said.

“Even after getting on the carriage, I just stared blankly into space for a long time, so I just let it go!”

“After.”

Only then, I was able to let out a sigh.

“Oh, and-“

“The brilliance I put on was turned off, and the guards entered at Mr. Prianian’s signal as planned, so don’t worry about anything else!”

“No, I didn’t give you anything important other than that.”

I handed out the real dark magic data to Priest Rien.

“It’s too much for me, I’m afraid to hold it any longer.”

“Oops.”

She carefully took care of it and said with a smile.

“Good work, mercenary!”

Then I heard the squad leader’s voice from the other side.

“Good job. Mr. Ghouse.”

The prianian squad leader was sitting in the corner across from me.

Turning her head slightly, she seemed to be trying to hide her flushed face, but it was clear that she had eaten the heat or had finally sobered up.

‘That’s why I should drink in moderation.’

“Thank you for your hard work, Prianian- Squad Leader. And Priest Rien.”

She tried to tease me some more, but she just called me by name, but she didn’t answer.

“Now, let’s go up!”

We nodded her head.

From now on, the story I had to tell wasn’t something that could be talked about outside.

Of course, the two people who entered my room moved the table on their own.

At such naturalness, I just stood and watched in a daze.

Squeeze.

She said at one point that she skillfully divided the wine she was carrying into three glasses, and pointed to a booklet in the middle of the table.

“Then, mercenary. What are you going to do with this book now?”

“We are putting our heads together and trying to find a way to make the upcoming investigation a little easier.”

With that said, I opened the book.

In the booklet, information including brief personal details of the investigators was written.

Seeing even the list of favorites about them, I re-evaluated Turk.

As an idiot who was deceived by counterfeit money and a dagger even though he had this level of skill.

“As you can see, the guys from the information guild even predicted when they would come. It should probably arrive tomorrow morning.”

“Then we’ll have to talk to ourselves.”

At the words of the squad leader, I nodded.

Then, he took out the envelope he had received from Turk earlier in his pocket and handed it to the squad leader.

“What is this?”

“I picked it up while I was coming. Squad leader. You will probably like it. Do not open it now, but later, when you are alone, open it then.”

After holding her back like that, I passed her a sip of wine.

“Let’s put our heads together and wander around to find a way.”

***

The next day, we headed to the military camp after hearing from the butler that the investigation team had arrived.

Hwaran was standing in front of the tent of the investigation team.

“Are you here, okay?”

While Hwar An crossed his arms and looked at us triumphantly, Vieri came out from beside him.

The guy with bloody bandages wrapped around his limbs was looking at me with an expression that I couldn’t tell if it was because he was in pain or he was frowning because he was in pain.

“It’s been a while. Anyway, this bastard saved the country in a previous life, where are only people like that gathering?”

“Take care of Mary, D-class mercenary. Don’t make that face.”

“Damn it.”

Ignoring Vieri’s grumbling and going forward, he tapped me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry and go in.”

There were only tables and chairs in the huge tent where all furniture was removed.

From noble mtl dot com

However, I never looked empty because I was filled with pressure as much as that void.

And three investigators were waiting for us, dressed in expensive and fancy clothes and shabby priestly clothes.

The inspector with a goatee in the middle said while touching his mouth. Among them, he was the most decorated person.

“You guys are the people who became the talk of the town this time.”

After introducing themselves, Priest Rien and the leader of the Prianian squad stepped forward.

Then the piggy-looking inspector on the left raised his hand and stopped me.

“Ah, I don’t think I need to hear your introduction.”

“Yes?”

“Because I already know.”

He continued, squirting out the broth.

“They said he was a mercenary who cut down the Death Knight, but looking at his appearance, he doesn’t look like that. I think something else would suit me better than a mercenary.”

I could feel the disdain in those eyes, but it wasn’t me.

“That’s too much praise.”

“Isn’t it possible that the pretty priest and gunner in the back fought instead?”

‘What is this bastard talking about?’

But I answered politely. Without bowing my head, I looked straight at him.

“How could that be? The people who fought alongside me are very reliable people, so even if the light may fade a little, I also did my best in my position.”

“…Hmmm.”

Perhaps seeing that the provocation didn’t work, the fat investigator stopped talking.

And, this is where personal connections started to emerge.

“Priest Rien, nice to see you after a long time.”

On her far right, dressed in a modest priestly robe, her inspector began pretending to know her when she saw her, apparently having burned many of her people in her youth.

Priest Rien reacted quite naturally to her sudden encounter with her.

“Oh my God, I didn’t expect to see Priest Michael here!”

Priest Michael greeted her with a friendly smile.

“I heard that an ugly necromancer appeared, so I came because I thought I needed my help.”

“This must all be arranged by the sun god! Nice to meet you!”

After asking each other how they were doing, the atmosphere calmed down, and Goatbeard opened his mouth again.

“Then, from now on, we will start investigating the necromancer that appeared during the territory war between the two territories, Berrington and Terien.”

Then, the atmosphere of going back and forth between cold and warm baths for a while began to completely subside.

Priest Michael spoke first. Unlike the friendly one from before, the voice now was stern.

“First of all, is it true that Priest Elisir Lien found traces of necromancy on the bodies of the victims while holding a memorial service at the request of the mercenary Golfian G-House?”

Priest Rien stood up.

“Yes. Exactly…”

With those words, a lot of jargon started to come and go, but I couldn’t understand all of them because I majored in Korean history on Earth and not involuntary death denyers in another world.

Those guys wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I said, ‘The easiest way to memorize the year of the outbreak of the Imjin War is +100 years from Columbus’s discovery of the new continent.’ Me too.

If you twist it, you can avoid national affairs and fight. World history or East Asian history doesn’t matter.

“-It is ideal.”

“…I see, thank you. Priest Elisir Lien.”

After Priest Rien finished his 5,700-word defense explaining why he was a priest, there was only a result that no one could understand except for the priest named Michael, but what about this and that?

It was in my heart to want to get out of this bed of thorns as quickly as possible.

This time, Goatbeard, who had the highest rank among investigators, opened his mouth.

“Next, I will ask Lorna Prianian, a C-class double mercenary.”

Then the prianian squad leader rose from his seat.

“Yes. Investigator.”

“Tell me a bit more about what happened inside the cave.”

She explained everything, as politely as possible.

“And he almost killed me.”

“…The evidence?”

Then Priest Rien took out the Necromancer’s diary from her chest,

Priest Michael, the only priest among the investigation team, opened his eyes and said.

“…I can feel the dark magic.”

“This is the necromancer’s diary. All the evil he did when he came to this land is written down.”

Priest Rien gave it to Priest Michael.

After looking over for a while, he put his hands together and began to thank God.

“The sun god finally made my wish come true.”

“What are you talking about?”

When the investigator, who had been making the broth for a while, asked, Priest Michael opened his mouth.

“Decades ago, in a village in Sacred Romanum, there was a guy who killed everyone and insulted the corpses. He called himself the artist of Servan, but to me he was just one of the parasites soon to be on the pyre.”

Then he suddenly looked to the side and took a sudden step.

“If it weren’t for a little trouble, it would have been.”

“Kuhm.”

Perhaps knowing what the ‘problem’ was, the fat investigator cleared his throat.

“I know nothing good will happen if I bring up the past here and now, High Priest Michael.”

“Yes. As the sun rises and the darkness that eats away everywhere disappears, so the old evil is finally burned by the sword of justice.”

After saying that, Priest Michael looked at me with satisfaction.

“F-class mercenary, Golfian G-House.”

Goatbeard opened his mouth again.

“Yes. Investigator.”

“Efforts to discover and stop the old evil that was dormant in the cave can be said to be good.”

You put gold on your face.

“By the way, wait.”

Suddenly, the fat investigator next to me started talking with a strange nuance.

“Perhaps, I think I could have passed without incident if I had been subdued in that cave.”

Then Priest Michael questioned him.

“Are you holding the hero responsible for killing the necromancer?”

“We are asking about negligence. High Priest Michael. Whether he caught the Death Knight or the Warlock, if he had caught it in the cave, many people would not have died.”

Fault?

“It’s fruit.”

Goatbeard said while stroking his undesirable beard. There was no emotion in his voice, as if he was trying to remain neutral.

Piggong barely hid his expression now.

“Yes, negligence. It is something that not everyone can avoid. Even if it’s a hero-“

“My squad did their job. Investigator!”

At that shady thing, the prianian squad leader protested.

“The one who risked his life to pierce the undead and subdue the necromancer who dealt with that terrible gore, and the one who stood alone until the end and subdued that death knight. They were all members of my squad, the Golfian G-House!”

“Truthfully, Miss Prianian. I’m just saying it could be.”

He lazily teased his tongue, which was as slippery as the sloshing fat, and looked the squad leader up and down.

“It is the basis of an investigation to reward him if he has merit and to ask him if he has made a mistake. Maybe it’s because he’s still young, but he seems to be overreacting.”

The squad leader, who shuddered slightly at that gaze, opened his mouth.

“…If the behavior of the Golfian G-House is a problem, it is right for me to take responsibility.”

The leader of the prianian squad, who spoke so tragically, looked straight at the fat investigator and said.

“Because I am his superior.”

“Hmm… I don’t know how to take responsibility, but you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly.”

Listening to the bullsh*t, I quietly raised my hand.

Goatbeard nodded.

“Yes. You should also listen to what the other party has to say. Tell me.”

I started my defense.

“The necromancer was in a state of dementia. That’s why I couldn’t react normally.”

“What did that mean? Did the warlock forget how to cast a spell?”

At that reaction, I looked at him and said.

“You must be a nobleman who loves his people. Don’t you?”

According to the booklet, he is a lord who has succeeded in directly realizing the Realm of the First Night, which has never been done before on Earth.

“Keuheum, that’s right.”

And he was a person who did not deny that.

“So, of course, I have no doubt that you care for people with dementia and know what they are like.”

“Big.”

The look on his face as he sat down and bowed, he didn’t know whether to like it or hate it.

Of course, it wasn’t my business.

“For those who don’t know, an old man suffering from dementia and drifting in memory is like a dandelion flower seed, once blown by the wind, no one knows where it will go. And he is also a high-ranking mage.”

To make a more understandable metaphor, it’s like a bouncing ball full of explosives.

“It’s true that we couldn’t completely stop him. However, we would like to say that we did our best with the 6th tier Warlock.”

“Hmm, but-“

“And I dare to ask the inspector a question.”

Before Hogong could speak, he said this time, looking at his goatee.

He nodded.

“Let’s try.”

“In a room full of precious papers on the floor, there is a jar full of water. And it was a small child who found it.”

I took a break from talking. Bricks that are too long can cause acute dyslexia.

“When suddenly the jar is wobbling to and fro, he tries to stop it and accidentally spills a few drops of water, should he be punished for soaking the paper? Or should he be rewarded, since he kept the other servants?”

“Of course I should get an award.”

Then he said as if the goatee was natural.

“Because without that child, his whole room would have been flooded.”

“That is what I want to say. And that’s what we did.”

I paused for a moment, then spoke again.

“Haven’t we just stopped a small wave from what could become a huge wave to sweep the world?”