Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 467
Only Krnovel
467. Congratulatory remarks (7)
Urrrrrr… … .
Dark clouds roll in from afar, covering the sky.
Beneath that gloomy air, the gravedigger’s wife stood alone, as if she were a tombstone heralding the end of the world.
“Hey, you! Why are you here again?”
Just then, a large man came up to them, wielding an axe. He was a man named Braddock, who was the gatekeeper of the monastery and did various odd jobs. He seemed to have spotted the woman while he was chopping firewood and ran towards her in a hurry.
He still had a habit of carelessly hitting on orphans, so he pushed the gravedigger’s wife and shouted at her.
“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? Your little brat isn’t here! If you don’t get out of here right now, I’m going to show you a real lesson this time!”
But that ominous mood didn’t last long. Just as Braddock was about to grab the woman by the collar-
“Ugh… Ugh!”
On the contrary, I ended up hanging limply in her grasp.
“… … !”
The children looked on in horror at the man struggling helplessly with his neck slit. Where on earth did that skinny woman’s arms get such strength?
“… Every day, the corpses of children are brought into Dunstan Cemetery. Don’t you ever wonder where all those children die?”
The woman, holding the large Braddock in the air with one arm, spoke to him casually as if she was asking after his well-being as she passed by. Of course, there was no way he could answer, as his throat was completely blocked.
“Ugh… … .”
“Most of them are bodies washed up on the shores of Primrose, the pleasure quarters of the estate and the neighbouring town. Every day, as I bury these poor creatures in the ground, all sorts of unholy thoughts come to my mind.”
The gravedigger’s wife, who had spoken up to that point, glared at Braddock with eyes full of resentment.
“Those in the red-light district are clearly demons in human form. Otherwise, how could they do such terrible things to children? When I see demons walking around like that, I think that the Lord has already completely abandoned this world.”
“Keuh… … !”
“Yes. This world is already a hell ruled by demons. Anyone would think so. When you see the horrible traces of abuse and exploitation engraved on that small body.”
“… … !”
“So I thought, if this is hell, who can blame me if I become a devil too?”
Knock knock!
Braddock’s neck eventually broke completely, unable to withstand the woman’s power. His body collapsed to the floor helplessly, and soon began to turn black. This was a powerful erosion caused by the magic.
“Kaaaah! Mr. Braddock!”
At that moment, Priest Ellison came running from afar. She was startled by the sudden strong magical energy she felt, and she grabbed the already dead body of Braddock and began to pour out divine power frantically.
“Mr. Braddock? Oh, come to your senses, Mr. Braddock! What the heck is this all of a sudden… …!”
But that futile effort didn’t last long, because the woman’s arm, swung like lightning from behind, pierced Father Ellison’s torso as if it were a sharp spear.
Phew!
“Ugh… … !”
The gravedigger’s wife slowly raised her head toward the sky, carrying the limp and helpless priest Ellison on her arm.
“No, maybe I was one of the demons who made this world a hell. I knew the whole truth, but I kept my mouth shut until now. I realized a long time ago that those poor kids were actually just orphans who were sold cheaply to the red-light district!”
Gulp.
Blackened tears flowed from the woman’s eyes.
“And yet I couldn’t say a word about it until now. I couldn’t help but be afraid that bad rumors would spread about Abbot Mathieu! Why? Why do you think I did that? Huh?”
The gravedigger’s wife shook Father Ellison’s body as if urging him to answer. In response, red blood gushed out from Ellison’s mouth.
“Because I thought Mathieu might harm my child!”
“Curious… … .”
“I thought that if the village gravedigger found out that I had spread the rumor, he might actually hand my young over to the red-light district this time!”
The eyes of Priest Ellison, who was blankly staring at the black hand that had pierced through his chest, slowly lost their light. Then, her flesh also began to turn black and crumble as it was contaminated with magic.
Passs …
“Ah! What a foolish worry that was! The real Mathieu probably didn’t know anything! He probably didn’t even remember that the gravedigger of the estate had left the child in the orphanage!”
Knock knock. Knock knock.
Raindrops began to fall from the sky like tears. The cold rain soaked the bodies of the orphans frozen in fear, the bodies of the dead Braddock and Father Ellison, and the bodies of the poor mothers who had lost their children.
“… In the end, I will pay the price for my foolishness.”
How long had she been standing in the rain? The woman’s voice, slightly deflated, came out damply through the damp air.
But for some reason, her voice sounded even more desperate to Dasha than a blood-soaked scream.
“Peter… . The body of my child who died after being abused and insulted in the red-light district… .”
“… … .”
“My baby, whom I had to send away from my arms without even being able to feed him a single proper warm meal… … .”
Sssssss.
The black smoke surrounding the gravedigger’s wife is getting thicker.
‘… It’s dangerous!’
Dasha swallowed hard, for she instinctively sensed a terrible malice in the aura she exuded.
Yes, perhaps the gravedigger’s wife hates the children of the orphanage as much as she hates Director Mathieu. Those detestable orphans who could have been alive and breathing instead of her own son, Peter, being sold off to the red-light district.
Fortunately, the children were frozen in place, not even daring to think about running away. The scene unfolding before their eyes was so shocking that they couldn’t even feel it was real.
Perhaps it would be better than rashly provoking a woman, but this standoff, with its obvious balance of power, would not last long.
Dasha, who had made that judgment, unconsciously took a step closer to the gravedigger’s wife and opened her mouth.
“Abbot! Abbot Mathieu is in the oratory of the east wing right now! He has been locked up there every day these days, praying fervently.”
Then the woman’s eerie eyes turned around and stared at Dasha.
“…pray?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As Dasha spoke, the words of encouragement that Bart had whispered to her earlier were vividly coming to mind.
-Listen. Sooner or later, the price for your sins will come to you in the worst possible way.
It was clear. The price of sin he was talking about was probably that gravedigger’s wife. If that’s the case…
– So run away. Hide alone where no one can find you. Pray earnestly to God to forgive your sins.
Surely he could not have really ordered the director to seek salvation. Overcome by such a strong intuition, Dasha continued to tell the gravekeeper’s wife in a loud voice.
“Director Mathieu wants to be saved by God!”
“salvation…….”
“Yes, that’s right! I dare to pray to the Lord to forgive my sins, and finally I intend to go to heaven alone! I sold the poor orphans to the red-light district and left them to die-”
“Salvation? What are you talking about?!”
The gravedigger’s wife no longer listened to Dasha’s words. She raised her head with bloodshot eyes and immediately let out a long scream into the air, tears of blood streaming down her face like a waterfall.
“Mattieuuuuuuu!”
Swish-!
The new form of a woman wrapped in black magic shot out as if it were the wind. Her anger towards the abbot had reached its peak, and she no longer cared what happened to the other children.
-And when that day finally comes, you will suffer the consequences alone, in a place no one knows about.
Phew!
In the distance, you can see the horrific sight of the roof of the east wing of the monastery blowing away.
Black magic rose into the sky, and soon a black, long shape slowly rose from within it.
An ominous thing that should never exist in this world. It was the devil’s seed.
Dasha watched in amazement as it swung its long arms like a whip and tore apart the monastery buildings.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, a small groan was heard from the side. Dasha turned her head absentmindedly and was startled when she saw Ramira’s hand that had turned black.
“Ramira!”
It seemed that Ramira had happened to be standing right where the gravedigger’s wife had passed by. The girl let out a dumbfounded groan as she looked at her right hand, which was turning black from the magic.
“iced coffee……!”
‘You can’t leave it like that!’
Dasha realized intuitively. Didn’t she see with her own eyes what had happened to Father Braddock and Ellison? Their bodies had turned black and dried up, as if they had been burned.
If I let that black stuff spread through my body, Ramira will end up like them!
“… … !”
When she came to, Dasha was holding a large axe in her hand. It was the wood-chopping axe that had been thrown to the ground with Braddock when he died.
“Hold on a second, Ramira!”
Dasha gritted her teeth and raised the axe above her head.
“…uh?”
Ramira looked back at Dasha belatedly, but by then the axe had already been swung powerfully.
Kwajik!
Fortunately, the clumsily struck axe blade easily split the girl’s slender arm in two.
Ramira’s eyes widened and she looked down at her forearm, which was suddenly reduced to a stump.
“…What the f*ck?”
A ridiculous swear word came out of her mouth. She seemed too shocked and terrified to even feel the pain.
“You crazy? You Barsha bastard! You… You! You just chopped wood on my arm? You crazy… …?”
Ignoring her nonsense, Dasha tore the hem of her skirt and tied up her bleeding arm.
Meanwhile, the demon sect’s disaster was quickly encroaching upon the entire monastery.
Kikkigigigigigi!
Kyahahahahahaha!
The eerie laughter of lower-level demons spread from the East Wing and-
“Eww!”
“Gyaaaah!”
The desperate screams of priests as they flail about in terror.
And soon, the entire monastery was completely covered in thick darkness.
* * *
Chaeng! Chaeng!
Dasha fluttered her eyelids faintly, as the loud noises coming from around her pierced her ears.
The sound of weapons clashing.
The sound of people cursing.
“Stop it! A demon is flying out there!”
“Bart, you crazy kid! What the hell are you asking me? You never said anything about a demon cult appearing!”
“How would a new recruit know that a demon will suddenly be summoned? Shut up and concentrate, Captain Justin!”
“Profit! Don’t you know? Everyone is being fooled by him! Do you think Bart had a priest consecrate his weapons before coming here? That bastard must have known this would happen!”
“No, but isn’t that an excessive speculation?”
…Bart? Oh, yeah. Bart.
You said you’d bring people here. You really kept your promise.
Dasha felt relieved inside, but then she felt someone lift her body up.
“Children! Miss Paula! There are children alive here! The erosion response is still weak!”
“Really? What about the priests? Are there any priests who survived?”
“Damn it! All the priests who could have prevented the erosion are dead! What the hell is going on?”
“Then gather the children here quickly! Bring them to Father Gustav! Quickly!”
After hearing that, Dasha suddenly lost consciousness.
She faintly came to her senses again when someone’s warm hand touched her cheek. Then she felt cold drops of water falling down her face.
“… I’m sorry.”
Someone was crying and stroking her face.
“Hey, I’m so sorry. I… I should have listened to you a long time ago. If only I had… … !”
Dasha, who recognized his voice, smiled faintly even in her daze.
‘Ah, don’t cry, Father Gustav. I know. You have already done the best you could… … .’
Feeling a faint divine power flowing through her, Dasha fell into a much more relaxed sleep.
* * *
So when the Astros mercenary group was struggling against the demon species-
The boy who had brought the mercenary group here was facing an odd person in an odd place.
“Stop.”
A gentle hill with a clear view of the monastery.
The woman in the black priest’s robe slowly turned around at the sudden command from behind her. She then stared straight at the pale boy who had emerged from the bushes.
“…Who are you? Why are you suddenly threatening an innocent priest?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you? Summoning a demon is a serious crime that can be punished on the spot by anyone.”
“Huh! Summoning a demon species? What kind of nonsense is that? Don’t kill a living person without evidence.”
As the woman continued to ignore him, the boy’s eyes glaring at her took on a cold silver-gray hue.
“So, you’re going to claim that the illiterate gravedigger’s wife drew a complicated summoning circle to summon a high-ranking demon? Come up with a proper excuse before I behead you, you disgusting devil worshipper.”
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