Chapter 179
At the mention of Birman’s name, Mariola’s face turned pale. The threat she had been feeling these days was strong enough to suppress even her religious fervor.
“How is this man named Jose Fuadigo related to Cardinal Birman or to the Celestial See?” Mariola was scared, but she clearly had no idea what he had meant.
Do-Jin inwardly clicked his tongue. He had expected her to pick up the implications when he laid out the pieces indirectly, yet she didn’t connect anything.
A lifetime spent inside the Celestial See as the Saintess had stripped her of any sense of the outside world. Her eyes didn’t even attempt to connect the four keywords: brothel, Jose, Birman, Celestial See. Explaining something this filthy in detail to a Saintess felt beneath him, but a person this naïve left him no choice.
“Jose Fuadigo is one of the fake identities Birman uses. He uses that name when he throws money around at brothels and buys women. I do not know the finer details, but if you dig from that end, you will find a whole chain linked to him. One fake identity never appears alone. It means he has a mountain of dirty secrets.”
At the time, the Celestial See barely even bothered trying to contain the scandal of a sitting Holy Emperor dying in the middle of sex. The reasons for that silence were complicated, but the simplest explanation was that they were too busy hiding his other crimes. One mess was easiest to bury under another. Across eras and even across worlds, nothing pulled attention away faster than something loud and obscene.
“What are you implying? Are you trying to disgrace the Celestial See?” Mariola shouted, her face burning red.
“That is impossible. I know perfectly well that one careless word can be interpreted as blasphemy. Do you think I would say something like that without certainty?” Do-Jin said, sounding more offended than she did.
“From my position, or rather from Elthomagia’s position, I could have gathered every scrap of evidence on Birman’s depravity and used it as a weapon. I did not. That alone should count as courtesy. From the Celestial See’s perspective, I even gave you the opportunity to examine the wound before it bursts. Save the outrage for after you figure out what’s true, Saintess. Not that you’ll have much reason to take it out on me.”
Mariola had no answer to his clear, calm logic. As she sat there in silence, Do-Jin glanced to the side to see the young priest lying on the floor.
Did he black out when I kicked him earlier? No, it can’t be. It’s not like he was a paper doll who’d drop from that alone. More likely, Sion put him to sleep because he wouldn’t shut up and kept getting in the way.
“There he goes,” Do-Jin said.
The moment the conversation wrapped up, the guy started flopping around like electrically stimulated bulgogi as his senses crept back.
“Well then, we have said everything that needed to be said. Let’s end the meeting here. Ah, before that. Could you stand next to me for a moment? Hold the other side of the relic like this.” Do-Jin lifted the startled Saintess to her feet, stood beside her, and smiled broadly.
***
The Saintess kept her promise to Do-Jin and stayed silent about the many truths tying him and Bella together. She reported to the Celestial See exactly according to the script Do-Jin had given her. She also passed along the whispered secrets he’d fed her to the Holy Faction.
The stone Do-Jin tossed sent ripples far beyond what anyone expected. As the Holy Faction investigated the connection between Birman and Jose beneath the surface, the deeper they dug, the more often they clicked their tongues.
He had three hidden children...? Oh, Star above. What kind of world is this turning into? Selling bodies wasn’t limited to women, but men too... And it was done by someone who called himself your servant. What kind of madness was this? How could someone wearing human skin commit acts so vile?
Birman’s crimes went far beyond their expectations, and the investigation pushed some of them past shock and into retching on the spot. Just as Do-Jin had predicted, the brothel VIP list was only a fraction of Birman’s sins. On the lighter end was drug distribution. On the darker end was human trafficking, with orphans treated as merchandise.
At first, the Holy Faction worried that corruption on a manageable scale wouldn’t be enough to bring down Birman, the head of the cardinal faction. Before long, they were seriously considering whether it might be better to stop digging entirely.
In the end, Birman was quietly purged. Officially, his death was recorded as the result of a chronic illness. Birman himself and the countless false identities he’d maintained were handled separately, with every thread neatly cut. The cardinal faction kept silent about the affair. Too many of their own people were tangled up in it, and even a hint of involvement would have left them with no way out.
What should have turned into a long and wasteful power struggle was brought to a swift end by Do-Jin’s hand.
***
During the time the Celestial See was cleaning up its own mess, Do-Jin remained in Elthomagia. Sion insisted that he stay by her side and keep her company, so he had no real choice in the matter.
“Are you there?” Sion spoke without turning away from the endless world beyond the barrier.
“Yes. I am here,” Do-Jin answered simply to show he hadn’t slipped away.
A faint curve appeared on her lips. “Having a disciple is quite entertaining.”
That was a ridiculous thing to say. He had been here for more than a week, and all she did was stare into the void and occasionally throw him a sentence to answer. That was the entire extent of their so-called master-disciple relationship.
Do-Jin looked at Sion’s back, which he had grown much too familiar with. Her robe was loose and oversized, but it couldn’t hide her small frame. That small body faced the infinite expanse outside the tower, searching stubbornly for one single person.
“I am fairly certain disciples are supposed to learn something.”
Sion’s shoulders moved slightly. It looked like she was laughing. “When the day comes that you understand my teachings, you may learn whatever you wish.”
“And when would that be?”
Sion didn’t answer. The smile on her lips only deepened. Throughout his stay in Elthomagia, Do-Jin had done nothing except respond to the half-hearted lines she threw out from time to time.
Any other mage would have cried tears of joy just watching her bend the world’s boundaries. To them, it would have been a priceless lesson. But Do-Jin felt no awe. He only hated the sight of Sion Grace standing alone at the edge of the world, searching for a friend who refused to come back.
“Won’t you get worn down doing that all the time?” The words slipped out before he could stop them.
“It wears me down, but stopping wears me down even more.”
Her answer was far more honest than he expected. The way she spoke made it sound like she’d finally put down a weight she’d been carrying for a long time. That alone told him how sincere she was.
Do-Jin couldn’t help feeling frustrated. He wanted to help with this too, but he had no idea where to start. In his past life, Sion had never managed to find her friend. In the end, that person found her instead.
“They are looking for you.” Sion cut straight through Do-Jin’s train of thought.
“Sorry?”
“It seems the Celestial See is looking for you.”
After saying that much, Sion waved her hand. All of a sudden, the space beneath him twisted like fabric being pulled through a ring. His balance lurched for a moment, similar to stepping onto a ride that suddenly dropped. A moment later, he was seated beside a startled Red Mage.
“Kyah!” Her scream was cut short as she slumped forward like a puppet with its strings cut, presumably by Sion.
Today’s duty mage was already overwhelmed because the Celestial See had contacted the tower. When someone suddenly materialized beside her out of nowhere, her soul probably tried to escape her body.
Do-Jin let out a sigh that seemed to scrape the floor. Sion’s “help” was always like this, sudden, chaotic, and absurdly disruptive. At least she handled the cleanup quickly.
—Sir Do-Jin, what happened? I heard a scream.
The Saintess’ voice came from a crystal sphere on the table. She sounded like she had nearly jumped in her seat.
“It is nothing serious, Saintess. It has been a while,” Do-Jin replied, his voice wavering.
—I heard someone screaming on your side.
“That was nothing important. The mages here barely sleep. She must have nodded off and had a nightmare.”
A long silence came through the crystal. Her breathing screamed disbelief.
“Anyway, why did you call for me?”
Do-Jin shifted the conversation before she could linger on it.
—I speak on behalf of the Celestial See. We are here to express our gratitude. You were right. We were very close to a disaster, and you prevented it.
“I am glad the cleanup went well.”
—And there is a favor I must ask.
“A favor...?”
—I will not ask how you, or Elthomagia, learned any of this. I will not ask how much you know either. However...
“You want it kept quiet. That is the point.”
The Saintess confirmed it with silence.
In all fairness, it was bound to make the Celestial See restless. Once they dug into it, even they could tell the situation was beyond saving. On top of that, the information had come from Elthomagia. It was only natural they’d feel like a critical weakness had been exposed.
—As you wished, I will keep everything we discussed hidden until the proper time arrives. Naturally, your supposed crime will be dismissed as if it never existed. If Elthomagia has further requests, we can arrange negotiations.
“I never intended to demand anything excessive. I gave you the information because I wanted the Celestial See to function properly again.”
—Is that truly so?
“Yes. You can tell them there is no need to worry about this matter creating problems later. Although... I would like to ask for one personal favor.”
—Of course.
She tensed up immediately. People always assumed mages would demand something outrageous. Sensing that, Do-Jin got straight to the point.
“You know that bastard who reported me? If you can confirm who it was, I would appreciate it if the Celestial See punished him for filing a false accusation. I want something simple, like banning him from entering the Holy Temple for a while or restricting his access to Celestial See potions.”
Of course, he wanted to deter any future trolls, but Do-Jin also enjoyed this act of petty revenge. He relaxed for the first time since the whole mess began. Then, he finally broke his silence and posted on his MeTube channel. It was a single screenshot of him standing side by side with Saintess Mariola, both of them smiling at the camera.
[Had a meaningful time with the Saintess ^^]