Chapter 141
This was what the old man revealed.
At the time, they had been staying in a village and helping the people there. Normally, the followers of the Sacred Flame Sect would gather together and travel from place to place, helping people as they went. They mainly engaged in what they called a “pilgrimage.” But unusually, this particular group wanted to remain in a certain village.
It was all because of the Pleasure Pavilion. There were an unusually large number of people in that village who were addicted to Pleasure Pills, and until they were completely detoxed, they needed the help of others.
After all, becoming addicted to a Pleasure Pill made it difficult to carry out everyday life. In severe cases, a person would become a helpless wreck, unable to properly eat or even speak, and if left that way, there was a risk they would die.
That was why they chose to remain there and help these people.
“There must be many followers like us among the believers. The people we’ve grown attached to while traveling around and volunteering suddenly became like that in an instant. How many people could simply leave them alone?”
“I understand.”
“Until then, we thought everything would be fine. Around that time, the Pleasure Pavilion began to disappear, and we thought they wouldn’t come looking for the people they’d already abandoned. But…”
“……”
The old man shook his head bitterly.
“One day, they invaded the village.”
It happened completely without warning. While they were asleep after finishing their day’s work as usual, the Pleasure Pavilion invaded the village in the middle of the night, set fire to it, and began killing people indiscriminately.
The followers of the Sacred Flame Sect resisted as much as they could. But there were limits to what they could do. In truth, most of the followers who had remained there had never learned martial arts, and there was no way they could defeat the Pleasure Pavilion, which vastly outnumbered them.
“Many people died. Not only the villagers who couldn’t move, but even our companions who tried to protect them… innocent lives were lost.”
“……”
“Although I had learned a few moves from the Sect Leader and knew a little about using a sword, it wasn’t enough to protect the others by myself. In the end, I couldn’t resist for long and was captured by them…”
I picked up where the old man left off.
“And you were imprisoned here.”
The old man nodded bitterly.
“That is correct. They captured us and dragged us all the way here. I don’t know exactly where this place is, but considering there’s even a prison here, this must be one of their hideouts.”
“I see.”
“At first, we tried to find a way to escape. But the prison was too sturdy, and even the guards barely paid any attention to us. More often than not, we couldn’t even get a proper meal, so as the days passed, we grew weaker and weaker.”
“……”
“Just as I was calling out for the guards, wondering if we had to give up like this, we happened to meet you…”
The old man seemed overcome with emotion and couldn’t continue speaking for a while. Then he gave me a deep bow.
“Thank you so very much for saying you would rescue us. We will never forget this kindness.”
At the old man’s greeting, the followers belatedly got to their feet one after another, and all bowed together.
Flustered by their earnest display, I hurriedly waved my hands.
“No, no. I haven’t even rescued you yet…”
As I said that, I thought.
‘Why didn’t they tell us about this?’
Honestly, I had never dreamed that followers of the Sacred Flame Sect would be imprisoned here.
Because Ayoung hadn’t told me.
The only thing Ayoung had said was that she wanted me to “obtain Pleasure Pills to make an antidote.” She hadn’t said a single word about this.
That made it even stranger.
There was no way the Sacred Flame Sect wouldn’t know about the serious matter of their followers being captured. In a way, rescuing their followers should have been just as important as making the antidote.
If it were me, wouldn’t I have asked for this before asking for the antidote?
Why hadn’t they told us?
“Perhaps…”
“Yes?”
I came to my senses at the words I heard again and looked ahead.
The old man was looking at me with an oddly hesitant expression.
“If it isn’t too rude, may I ask you one more thing?”
“Ah, yes. Please ask.”
“What request did you receive from our sect? Considering that you happened to discover this place as well, I don’t think the Sacred Flame Saintess would have asked you to do something unrelated to us.”
“That…”
For a moment, I was about to say, ‘It wasn’t the Sacred Flame Saintess who asked me. It was a woman named Ayoung,’ but decided it wasn’t important and stopped myself.
Instead, I wondered whether I should tell them about this matter. In the end, I concluded that they were members of the same Sacred Flame Sect anyway, so there was no harm in telling them.
“The request I received was…”
And so I carefully told them everything I had experienced up until now. At the same time, my anxiety gradually grew.
The old man’s face as he quietly listened to my story…
‘What’s with that expression?’
It had become strange.
The more the old man listened to my story, the more puzzled his expression became. Eventually, he tilted his head as though he couldn’t understand. He even looked as if he were wondering whether we had gotten something wrong.
After a while, he opened his mouth.
“…That’s strange.”
“What do you mean, strange?”
“The gambling den…”
The old man hesitated once more before continuing.
“Actually, there is no reason for our sect to go there.”
I froze.
No reason to go there?
“As you said, benefactor, it is true that our sect is making an antidote for the Pleasure Pill. And it is true that we need Pleasure Pills as well. But as far as I know, they cannot be obtained at a gambling den.”
“You knew? You… knew about that?”
“Yes. We also knew that the place was bait meant to lure us in.”
What…?
“At first, I believe a plan was made to infiltrate the gambling den, but it was soon called off. We heard that they had spread false information in order to lure our sect there.”
“……”
“We knew that genuine Pleasure Pills could only be obtained through recommendations, so I believe they sought another method. But you were told to go to that gambling den…”
“……”
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Suddenly, goosebumps rose along my arms.
Ayoung and the old man were both claiming to be followers of the Sacred Flame Sect, yet they were saying completely different things.
Which meant that someone was lying.
Had Ayoung lied?
Or was the old man lying?
Without thinking, I turned to Liyeon, only to meet his eyes.
Liyeon had apparently noticed that the situation was taking a very strange turn as well, because his face had hardened.
As our expressions grew increasingly grim, the old man seemed to sense that something was wrong and cautiously asked,
“By any chance, who from our sect was it that made the request…”
At that moment…
Rumble.
“……!”
Suddenly, the ground shook. I looked up in surprise.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be an earthquake, as the ground didn’t shake again. Even so, intermittent rumbling could still be heard from above.
What happened?
But I didn’t have time to think deeply about it.
“…Ah…”
“This… is…”
Human voices could be heard from beyond the door outside the prison. And those voices were steadily getting closer. It was obvious they were about to enter the prison.
I gestured to Liyeon to stay here. Then, before I even heard his response, I quickly ran toward the door outside.
The closer I got, the clearer their voices became.
“Damn it, how the hell did those Sacred Flame Sect bastards find this place and storm in?!”
My eyes widened involuntarily.
The Sacred Flame Sect?
“They even brought every guy who knows how to swing a sword. Looks like they’re seriously planning to wage an all-out battle. Those damn cultists haven’t left us alone since last time!”
“Haah, where the hell did the information leak from… Anyway, if we stay like this, we’re all going to die. We should at least try to do something with these guys.”
“With the hostages?”
“Yeah. If we put their own comrades in front of us as shields, they won’t be able to attack us so easily, right? And if things go south, we could even negotiate using them. That’s probably why the Boss told us to bring them.”
Click, click.
I heard the sound of a lock being opened.
I had already arrived and quietly positioned myself beside the door.
“By the way, we left these bastards alone because they were such a hassle, so I wonder if they’re even still alive. Well, it doesn’t matter as long as a few of them are left…”
Creak.
The door opened.
“Hurry up and get in… ugh!”
Bam!
I punched the face of the man who entered first.
Then, before the man beside him could shout for anyone else, I drove my left knee into his abdomen.
“Guh…!”
Thud.
The two men collapsed. I kicked them inside through the doorway and hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like anyone else had come with them.
I immediately tried to close the door again… But I couldn’t.
Whoosh!
I spotted a weapon thrusting toward a vital point. I quickly dodged the weapon and took two steps backward.
And then…
Huh?
‘Judge’s Brush?’
“Brother Dan?”
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