Episode 268 Holy Body (1)
The face of a cute black puppy.
Bikir was now wearing a children’s mask sold by street vendors.
It’s a temporary mode for the hounds of the night.
And Dolores stood in front of Bikir.
With a blank face, as if he couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or reality.
“……Night Hound?”
Nod-
Bikir nodded at Dolores’ question.
Pound-Thump-Thump-
Dolores felt her heart pound at the sudden encounter.
He acted as if he had the psychic ability to peer into the hearts of others.
Didn’t it appear in front of you like a lie the moment you thought you’d miss it just now?
If it’s not because of superpowers. What then?
‘…Maybe it’s fate?’
A staple of popular classic romance novels.
But Dolores, precocious for her age, thought it all childish.
But when I’m in a situation like this, I can’t help but think about it.
opponent of fate. inevitable relationship. What kind of heartbreaking things.
‘Come to think of it, even then…’
Dolores recalled the moment when she briefly assimilated the spirit of the hound of the past night.
A cold, lonely and exhausting ascetic road. A pilgrim walking on a thorny path, carrying all his burdens alone.
The memory of that night when I was able to know even a little bit of his pain, pain and numbness of loneliness.
Even if you don’t know anything about the outer shell, there is something like an invisible string between you and yourself.
she thought so
at that time.
“Calm down.”
The voices of the hounds of the night brought her spirit back.
I hurriedly looked ahead and saw the palms of the night hound running back and forth in front of my eyes.
“Ah. I’m sorry. I was in a daze for a while. I was a little startled…”
Dolores excused herself, blushing.
Then she looked at the hound of the night with the face of a cute puppy and put on a bewildered expression.
“How to say. The atmosphere has changed a little. Same with the mask.”
“…”
Vikir didn’t answer, but the smart Dolores had already noticed. This meeting was not in the plan of the night hound.
So, isn’t it because you’ve been so busy that you can’t even prepare a mask?
“I think we met by chance.”
“…”
“Do you live around here?”
“…”
Vikir continued to remain silent, but Dolores understood and interpreted it as an affirmation.
‘The fact that we met while looking around in casual clothes on the weekend means that there is a residence nearby. Besides, considering that you know the geography inside the Colosseo Academy…’
I used to think that the Night Hound had an informant in the school.
However, looking at the current situation, the possibility that he was a person inside the school could not be ruled out.
‘……wait for a sec. But why did I say that earlier?’
Dolores had just casually mentioned the name ‘Bikir’.
Why? Just because of the hand covering his mouth?
Reminds me of the last time I almost ran into Qualty in the nursery school hallway?
Dolores felt a familiar sense of deja vu somewhere.
But I don’t know exactly what it is.
I just have a vague idea that I’m missing something important.
Meanwhile.
“…”
Bikir was still watching the back of the adjutant returning.
What emanated from him, albeit faintly, was the stench of demons.
‘Even though Dantalian was eliminated, the Quo Vadis family still smells like demons.’
The smell, as confirmed when buying indulgences, is present throughout the temples of the Old Testament sect.
And Humbert, whom I had seen earlier from afar, smelled strongly of it.
‘I didn’t smell anything from the New Testament priests of Quo Vadis. Then there must be a connection between the Old Testament and the sixth corpse.’
In particular, Humbert, the leader of the Old Testament faction, was a suspicious person in many ways.
The carriages they ride and the mansions they live in are plastered with all kinds of precious metals and artworks, and the expenditure is enormous.
It was revealed that he regularly received entertainment and gifts from Quilty of Indulgentia, but he was also a seasoned politician who survived by cutting his tail.
‘But he wasn’t the devil.’
It seems to be deeply intertwined with the devil, but it is not the devil.
No matter how carefully I looked, the conclusion was the same every time.
‘Then I’ll have to investigate his new funding line.’
Despite the extinction of the Indulgentia family, Humbert still boasts wealth.
If you knew where he was getting his money from, you might be able to find a sixth corpse who claims to be close friends with the ninth.
And Bikir found clues in Dolores’ words.
“Due to the conflict between the Old and New Testament factions, heretics and cults are said to be rampant all over the empire. So I’m trying to find a solution…”
Dolores revealed the reason she came to spy on the Old Testament temple.
And Bikir reacted to the words ‘heresy’ and ‘pseudo’.
‘Conflict between Old and New Testaments. Are they the ones who benefit the most from that?’
In an instant, the target he had assassinated a while ago came to mind in Vikir’s mind.
Name ‘Edward Bourbon Jr.’. aka ‘Saint Bourbon’.
Muwei is an intermediate grader. A high-ranking priest of the new religion “Ohmkyo”, which is gaining considerable prestige in the north.
He is a traitor who betrays the human union and joins the demon army in the war of destruction that will take place decades later.
If it was his original fate, he would have hurt Tudor and Bianca and run away, but Bikir killed him in advance and removed the aftereffects.
And ‘indulgence’ found as a keepsake of a dead pseudo-priest.
< Indulgence >
‘I forgive all the sins of this faithful church member.’
– This indulgence was issued and guaranteed by the Old Testament sect, and forgery can be
punished
.
‘Perhaps the Old Testament sect’s new source of funds is likely to be a pseudo-culture or heresy.’
There was a possibility that the Old Testament sect was sowing ‘religious autonomy’ in the form of indulgences in order to gain an advantage in competition with the New Testament sect.
Cardinal Martin Luther must have also visited this place today, probably because he noticed it to some extent.
Hearing Bikir’s words, Dolores was surprised and covered her mouth with her hand.
“…Oh my God! I didn’t expect Cardinal Luther to be watching that far! I really was a frog in the well.”
“It’s not the time to blame yourself.”
There was a high possibility that pseudo-cities and heresies were just tails.
They are, at best, ‘intermediate filters’ that distribute and launder funds.
……The ‘real’ is behind it.
The Old Testament of Quo Vadis, a religious chant. And the heretics and pseudo-cities rampant all over the empire. And the link of funds that leads to the unknown ‘black curtain’.
In order for Quo Vadis to be purified, this filthy flow of money must be cut off.
“First of all, it’s time to beat the middle rings.”
Dolores nodded at Vikir’s words.
What kind of external force is trying to corrupt and control Quo Vadis?
It is also silently and silently by using the worldly weapon called ‘money’.
“…When heresy and pseudo-culture run rampant, the people who suffer the most are the poor and suffering.”
Dolores continued with resentment.
“I don’t need people to believe in runes. As long as each person can achieve peace of mind by doing good to others in a way they are comfortable with, they can be saved without going through religion. But they are not. They are…” Ethan
and Bikir was also well aware of the evils of pseudoscience.
When the confrontation with the devil was in full swing, I had seen many pest-like things that roamed among the poor and sick and sucked their blood.
Money, food, body, blood, appetite, lust, pleasure, etc… Most of the things that cults and cults demand from believers are obvious.
“It was a similar case with the guy I killed yesterday.”
Dolores was taken aback for a moment at Bikir’s words.
As expected, the hounds of the night were fighting. It still hurts alone and lonely.
“……Let me help too.”
Dolores clenched the hand of the night hound.
It was like that before, but now it was stronger and more desperate.
…Fuck!
In Dolores’ eyes, which strongly demanded solidarity, there was a light of respect and affection that could not be hidden.
“I might be able to help.”
Seeing her strong conviction, Bikir asked just in case.
“The buff from the last match against Dantalian. Can we do it again?”
“…That’s it.”
Dolores quickly seemed to shrink.
At the time, it was only a temporary phenomenon, but it seemed that he could not control the power at will.
‘but. If that was the case, she would have already been called the Iron-Blooded Saint.’
Bikir nodded.
Dolores now is just a young girl. He still has a long way to go before he awakens and becomes a great hero who will save all mankind.
You shouldn’t expect too much.
“I understand. First of all, I’ll have to get rid of heretical cults who are presumed to be connected to the Old Testament sect.”
“How about it? Are you going to visit every single place in the empire?”
At that, Bikir shook his head.
“There’s no time for that. There’s a way to hit it off.”
It can root out all the heresies and pseudo-cultures that exist in the empire in one shot.
Dolores’s eyes widened when she heard that such a method existed.
A problem that the young priests of the New Testament sect could not solve even though they put their heads together and pondered countless times.
So, the answer everyone gave up.
The night hound said it quite firmly and in a tone full of conviction.
“What is that?”
Dolores asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
As expected of an honor student, he took out a ballpoint pen and a notebook and was ready to take notes.
yet.
Bikir opened his mouth in a dry voice without any hesitation.
“I need your body.”
