Chapter 63

Chapter 63.

Immediately after I wrung Yeriche’s soul out with a semi-forced confinement contract.

When I demanded the exclusive Holy Water supply rights without giving her any time to breathe, Yeriche fell into thought for a moment.

At first, I wondered if it was because of her relationship with Happy, but…

“That arrogant Happy. She strutted around so much when she became Numbers 2… Good riddance.”

Seeing her mutter that and willingly hand over the rights, it did not seem to be the case.

The matter was resolved more easily than expected. I went straight to the main point.

“Saintess, you are busy, are you not?”

“I am, yes?”

“You do have to return to the Order periodically, do you not?”

“…Says the person who knows that and still did this.”

“So… I will make you an offer that might tempt you.”

The Saintess nodded as if telling me to speak.

“Please lend me your laptop.”

“…What kind of nonsense is that, all of a sudden?”

“To be specific, I need the CPU inside the Saintess’s laptop.”

“Are you insane right now?”

The Saintess’s expression went blank, as if she had heard something utterly absurd. Then it twisted, and she glared sharply at me.

“Do you know how much that costs? No, even if you have money, it is something precious that cannot be obtained.”

“I do not know. I do know.”

“?”

“I do not know how much it costs, but I do know that it is precious.”

Well, I had not expected her to hand it over easily.

As if it were no big deal, I leisurely took another bottle of Nutritional Supplement from my pocket.

Yeriche’s head reflexively moved after the Nutritional Supplement.

“Ah, I am suddenly starting to feel hurt…”

Holding the Nutritional Supplement precariously on the tips of my fingers, I balanced it like an acrobatics act, as though it might topple at any moment.

“…W-what are you hurt about?”

“I did not say I would take it from you or buy it. I only asked you to lend it to me…”

Her hand twitched as though she wanted to snatch the Nutritional Supplement at any moment, and her pupils trembled anxiously. The Saintess’s entire body was dyed with impatience.

“Oops.”

As I said that and let the Nutritional Supplement slip from my fingers.

“Ah!”

The Saintess shot out like lightning and wrapped her arms around the Nutritional Supplement.

As though she absolutely could not bear to see it break.

While watching the Saintess let out a sigh of relief, I…

took another bottle of Nutritional Supplement from my pocket.

“I feel hurt…”

Then I began tilting the Nutritional Supplement this way and that again.

“You!!!”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea h-how precious that is…!!!”

“I do.”

I was the one who had made it.

And I was doing this because I knew.

I smiled and once again tilted the Nutritional Supplement precariously on my finger.

“Oh, it is falling.”

What if, by some chance, something went wrong and it fell to the floor and shattered?

I could simply make another one.

‘I told you, I already set up the entire production process.’

“How long do I have to lend it to you?!”

“How much time did you have in mind?”

“…A week?”

“Come now. Shall I just smash it?”

After several rounds of peaceful negotiation like that.

“In exchange, you may return to the Order from time to time. You are busy, after all.”

“…I will accept.”

With the final move of “sending her back often,” the Saintess eventually raised the white flag, and the “CPU loan” agreement was concluded as well.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“…Yes. If your business is finished, leave now. As quickly as possible.”

The Saintess, brazenly ordering me out as though this were her own bedroom, slumped over the sofa cushion like liquid.

“Why should I?”

“…This is my room from now on. So you are the one who has to leave.”

She adapted disgustingly fast.

To think she had already made this reception room “her room.”

But you have not paid the deposit yet.

“You need to bring the CPU first.”

Until then, I cannot hand the room over to you.

“…”

Grind!

The Saintess clenched her teeth and sprang to her feet.

Then she stomped toward the teleportation-only Portal inside the reception room.

Even then, because she had tightly tucked the Nutritional Supplements into her arms, her clothes bulged comically, and she walked in an awkward, stiff posture.

“You should leave the Nutritional Supplements behind.”

“…Damn it.”

Trying to cheat me, are you?

The Saintess bit her lip as though she had been caught red-handed, carefully placed the Nutritional Supplements she had somehow tucked into her pocket on the table, and disappeared through the Portal.

***

‘…He is no ordinary person.’

As Yeriche climbed the stairs leading to the Order, she was thrown into confusion.

She had thought he was merely a half-baked merchant who had been lucky enough to obtain an elixir, but the man she had faced in person was different.

There was an eerie sense of alienness about him, without any human desire or emotion.

Because of that pressure from a completely different dimension and the suffocating weight he gave off, she had lost her pace without realizing it and had been swept along.

‘Perhaps… he is connected to the superhuman who is saving the Republic of Korea, the Apostle… No, he may even be the same person.’

As she thought about him, her thoughts naturally turned to the elixir he had taken out, the “Nutritional Supplement.”

‘…The aura coming from that elixir was real. Other lower-grade people might not know, but I can recognize it. If I infuse my Divine Power into it, it will become an elixir that cannot even be compared to the Red Elixir.’

Her pocket suddenly felt empty for no reason.

‘Should I have secretly taken just one without getting greedy?’

After climbing the stairs and walking for a while, she arrived at the Order.

Because the Italian Black Market was located beneath the Order.

Yeriche kicked the Order’s front door open with a BANG! and shouted.

“Hey, Moneybag!”

“You have arrived.”

A small and shabby office.

In front of a cheap wooden table sat a benevolent-looking handsome middle-aged man who, for some reason, seemed worn down by the hardships of the world.

It was Francesco, the “Pope” of the Order.

“Hand over the money.”

“…Saintess, you are the one who earns it anyway. Why do you receive it from me and spend it? You are not a student getting an allowance.”

“If I hold onto it, I will spend it all.”

The Pope handed over a card.

It was a debit card containing approximately thirty thousand Coins.

“What will you use it for?”

“From now on… for as long as one hundred days, perhaps even longer. I will be away from the Order.”

“As long as one hundred days? Where on earth are you going…?”

Bewilderment rarely seen on the Pope’s normally calm face passed over it.

Instead of answering, Yeriche wrote a stylish signature on the back of the card she had just received and handed it back to the Pope.

Now this debit card had become a card containing the meaning of “Yeriche’s order.”

“Use that as operating funds while I am gone.”

“Understood. What will you do about income during your absence?”

The Pope familiarly placed down a glass of warm water and a terrifyingly thick stack of documents the Saintess had to process.

Yeriche mechanically skimmed the document titles.

[Case of Demonic Beast Appearances Near Milan], [Allegations of Collusion by the Rome Hunter Association], [Proposal to Change Food Supply Sources], [Inspection of Orphanage Combat Readiness]…

They were difficult problems, but the tip of her pen showed no hesitation.

She left signatures without pause and mercilessly tore up proposals with no value.

“I will definitely come during a Break. I will hand over the Points then. And…”

Flinch.

Yeriche, who had been handling documents with sweeping strokes, stopped.

“Perhaps… our income will increase by more than five times compared to now.”

“…Was temporarily cutting off the Holy Water supply helpful?”

“No, that was not it. I learned a method to turn Holy Water into a consumable Artifact. My absence this time is also to obtain that.”

The Pope slowly closed his eyes.

Hot emotion passed over the edges of his trembling eyes.

Turning Holy Water into an Artifact! Was that not the ultimate goal the Order had pursued for ten years?

“Congratulations, Saintess. Our long-cherished wish will finally be realized.”

“Mm.”

Yeriche, who had finished processing the documents in an instant, opened a drawer and took out a thick stack of papers.

[Italian Tower Strategy Plan]

“…Now I can attempt this.”

Yeriche stroked the cover and lightly bit her lip with a bitter expression.

This was the reason she had been so obsessed with earning Gold and Points, even while being cursed as a “money demon.”

Italy was withering to death right now.

This “Tower Strategy Plan” was the only means to save her homeland…

Yeriche sincerely believed that.

***

Italy’s tragedy began with that damned “safety-first doctrine.”

Even though they had started at the easiest difficulty, the 2nd Floor, they had taken their time and endured Breaks while climbing only one floor a year.

After clearing a floor of the Tower, there was roughly a month until the next Break arrived.

The Hunters gained the right to freely enter and exit the floors below that one.

However, the rules of the Tower were cruel.

If they stopped climbing and waited for a Break to erupt, that right was immediately blocked.

Do you want to keep mining resources from the Tower? Then climb the Tower!

The Tower was clearly shouting exactly that.

However, Italy closed its ears, and in the end, it fell behind miserably.

At the time when the entire country had begun slowly sinking into a swamp, her memories went back to the Italian Hunter Association conference room from several years ago.

“If we do not climb the Tower, even access to the lower floors will be restricted! Minerals, medicinal herbs, Artifacts… The country’s economy is withering to death because the supply of resources from the Tower has been cut off!”

However, the response from the Prime Minister and Hunter Association President was cold and frightened.

“Saintess. Have you forgotten the tragedy of the failed 9th Floor strategy? The elite climbing team Italy prided itself on was wiped out. Are you telling us to climb half-prepared and die like dogs again?”

“Then are you planning to spend the rest of your life falling behind while doing nothing but stopping 9th Floor Breaks?!”

“Safety comes first. Further climbing is completely prohibited at the Association level.”

Old men steeped in defeatism. The moment Yeriche faced the eyes of those cowards, she realized it.

This rotten Association could not save her homeland.

“…You cowardly bastards. Go fuck yourselves.”

“S-Saintess! What kind of language is that…!”

“If you will not do it, I will use my own money and make my own climbing team. If you do not want to die, then hide there for the rest of your lives and rot while blocking Breaks!”

The day she kicked the door open and stormed out, Yeriche gathered her followers and founded the Supreme God Order, another Hunter Association and guild aimed at climbing Italy’s Tower.

Then she began assembling a climbing team by investing all the Points she earned from selling Holy Water and all the Gold she earned through the Order’s activities.

But no matter how remarkable Holy Water was as a product, in the end, it was an imitation that could not become an Artifact.

Even if she controlled the supply through cooperation with Happy and walked a tightrope by building lines with high-ranking figures…

There was a limit to the Points Yeriche could earn by herself.

After struggling with financial difficulties for over two years and having her mental state worn down, Yeriche had witnessed the appearance of that damned “Red Elixir” at the Auction House only a few days earlier.

CRASH!

The empty glass bottle slipped from Yeriche’s hand and shattered.

“Ah, ah…”

When the overwhelming efficacy of that elixir placed the value of Holy Water at risk of being lost, her dream of “climbing Italy’s Tower” collapsed.

“Aaaah!!!”

Yeriche screamed and tore at her hair.

She threw countless documents and Holy Water bottles onto the floor and sobbed like a madwoman.

The despair that everything was over swallowed her whole.

“It is all over… Everything is ruined, you bastards…!”

BANG!

The door to her room was firmly locked.

That was the whole story behind the “Saintess Shut-in” incident.

***

“Give me more money.”

The Pope held out three more debit cards.

Yeriche scrawled her signature on all three.

“One is for the orphanage.”

“The children will be disappointed if you do not visit in person.”

The tip of Yeriche’s pen, which had been moving in sweeping strokes, flinched to a stop.

She forced her gaze to remain fixed on the documents and lightly bit her tightly closed lips.

“…Adults are busy. You handle it properly.”

Another card.

“This one is for the Academy.”

“I will cancel the student exhortation speech.”

“Yes. Those brats are so… They only joke around with me and try to act like they are my equals. Insolent little things.”

“…The students will all be sad that the Saintess is not coming.”

Yeriche’s brow furrowed faintly. A brief silence followed.

“…Hoo.”

As if enduring a surge of complicated emotions, she gave a short sigh, turned her head away, and used that in place of an answer.

Another card.

“This is…”

“…I know.”

The Pope took the other card without asking separately.

It was “consolation money” that Yeriche, in place of the corrupt and incompetent Italian Hunter Association, delivered every month to the bereaved families of the climbing team at her own expense.

Yeriche looked around the Order for a moment.

“Pfft.”

They called it an Order, but it was a tiny office.

The wallpaper was peeling completely, and there were cheap wooden tables and chairs that creaked as though they might collapse at any moment.

There were cheap dishes that looked as though they had been picked up from somewhere.

They had nothing proper to drink, so every time, all they could bring out was lukewarm plain water. It was a crude scene.

For a place that held the concessions of the Italian Market, it was a shabby state that suited it terribly poorly.

“We really are pathetic, are we not?”

“Yes, well.”

The Pope shrugged and smiled benevolently.

“That is who we are, is it not?”

***

First, Yeriche packed her combat equipment.

One mace, one small shield.

And… a pure white Saintess robe embroidered with gold thread.

After putting on a hat as well, that was the end of it.

Of course, all of it was just for appearances… In other words, ordinary equipment, not Artifacts.

‘What does it matter whether they are Artifacts? I am the masterpiece.’

Lastly, the Saintess firmly took her laptop and said goodbye to the Pope, who had followed her.

“Then I will come during the next Break.”

“Saintess.”

The Pope took a debit card from his arms and tossed it.

Yeriche reflexively caught the card.

‘Another signature? I should have given him all of them. What is this for?’

Curious, Yeriche flipped it over and saw that it was already signed.

It was the card she had first signed today, the one she had thrown to Pope Francesco for “operating funds.”

“Use that to buy yourself something delicious. And do not skip meals.”

“…”

For a moment, Yeriche’s eyes widened.

Then a deflating laugh slipped from between her lips.

“You cheeky Moneybag.”

Though she shook her head as if there was no stopping him, an unmistakably tender smile spread across Yeriche’s lips as she carefully tucked the card away.

Yeriche turned sharply and crossed the Portal again.

***

“Eek!”

As soon as she crossed the Portal, Yeriche was startled and nearly collapsed as the strength left her legs.

Because the cold, alien monster who had bound her just moments ago, Special One, was still sitting there.

“You have returned.”

On the table where he welcomed her with a languid smile…

Dozens of precious “Nutritional Supplements” were rolling around as though they were ordinary bottles of water.

Tee-hee! Tee-hee-hee!

On top of that, what on earth was this sublime Divine Power filling the room?

Clear and sacred energy seemed to float through the air.

Then it changed into the form of white fairies flashing with white light and playfully flew around the man.

“Mm…?”

Am I dreaming?

It was an unreal sight, enough to make her feel that way.