Chapter 202: The Root of All Evil (1)

‘It is here.’

I went down the remaining stairs and stood in front of the iron door of the basement.

The faint sound of breathing felt from inside. It was the place where Roland was confined.

‘It’s locked.’

I grabbed the doorknob and turned it, but it only went halfway.

However, I did not care.

I immediately used the Thievery Art [Unlock].

Click!

The locking mechanism was futilely released, and the door opened.

I went inside.

A room filled with thick darkness. In the center of it, I saw Roland bound.

The one who spoke first was Roland, who had been waiting for me.

“You have come.”

“Oho. You must have known I would come?”

“Did you not borrow my sword? I knew from the start that you were not someone who would take it and ignore the rest.”

Smirking, I took out the Devil Slayer from the subspace.

And as I approached Roland, he spoke again.

“Be careful. Sir Martin has installed a trap to catch you…….”

Pachik!

“…….But. It is already too late.”

I stared down blankly.

A ring of light that suddenly surged from the floor was tightening around my arms and torso in the blink of an eye.

“You sure told me quickly.”

“I am sorry.”

It wasn’t an apologetic tone at all, but I didn’t care.

‘It is made of divinity.’

No wonder.

I used the Thievery Art [Detection] like a habit when entering an unfamiliar place now, but this time no energy was picked up.

Because it was a trap made of divinity, not mana.

“Huhu. As expected, you came.”

And, the ones who appeared to have installed it showed up from the back.

The three paladins who were in the chapel just a while ago.

It was Deputy Commander Martin and his escort knights.

“How is it? Roland. Can you still say that you have no contact or connection with Skull Mask even like this?”

“Yes? I cannot see anything, so I do not know well.”

Martin, who asked with high spirits, furrowed his brow at Roland’s absurd answer.

It was again.

Roland was feigning ignorance with the excuse that he couldn’t see, just like a moment ago.

He was extremely annoyed by that brazen yet slippery appearance, but soon Martin calmed his excitement.

Because nothing would change anyway.

In his bosom, he had the authority to make an impossible situation into a possible one.

Also, he wasn’t the only one here.

The escort knights who came down with Martin grasped the flowing context and were angry on his behalf.

“The Deputy Commander’s words were true, Sir Roland!”

“……To think you joined hands with a Villain. I am truly disappointed!”

The smile hovering around Martin’s lips deepened little by little.

‘Right. Get angrier. You guys are the witnesses. Hehe.’

With Roland’s disappearance, the position of the next Commander became perfectly his, but he hated the rumors that he became Commander through luck without ability.

Until now, there were many aspects he couldn’t show because he was overshadowed by Roland, and if he captured Skull Mask here, there would be no initiation ceremony more successful than that.

‘I wondered if maybe, but I didn’t know the real Skull Mask would come. This is truly a jackpot. An opportunity like no other.’

Martin also had eyes and ears, so he knew that various organizations and high-ranking officials of the Frey Empire were suffering headaches recently because of Skull Mask.

Skull Mask’s Villain Grade recognized by the Empire was a whopping World Public Enemy.

‘I will perfectly make my mark on His Holiness the Saint Emperor. Kukhuk. Even if I’m lucky, this is too good, isn’t it?’

Martin smiled broadly while looking at me bound by the ring.

From Martin’s perspective, I was already a caught fish.

It had to be so. The ring currently binding me was a Holy Magic called [Ring of Sin].

And [Ring of Sin] was a mechanism where the strength of the binding and power increased in proportion to the weight of the sins the target possessed.

Therefore, if it was Skull Mask, a World Public Enemy and a Villain who had committed numerous crimes until now, he should never be able to escape the binding of the ring with the weight of that price…… he should have…….

‘…..It’s strange. Why is he so relaxed?’

By now, his whole body should be tightening due to the ring and he should be writhing in pain.

Far from writhing, Skull Mask and Roland were having a conversation amongst themselves with a relaxed attitude.

“Are you alright?”

“Why? Are you worried?”

“To be honest, I am not that worried.”

“It looks like it.”

“I would have been disappointed if you were done in by merely that level of Holy Magic. Please dismantle it quickly and return my sword.”

An attitude as if they were not even in their consideration.

Martin held back his boiling anger and asked.

“Hey, Skull Mask. What trick did you use?”

“Mm? Trick?”

“Oho. Right. It’s an artifact. That’s why you were perfectly fine.”

I looked with a puzzled gaze at Martin, who was suddenly asking and answering by himself.

What is a trick, and what is he talking about regarding an artifact?

“Ah. Are you perhaps talking about this Holy Magic you planted on the floor?”

“That’s right.”

“I do have artifacts. But I didn’t particularly use one.”

As I said that, I put strength into spreading my arms.

The [Ring of Sin] that had been restraining me until now made a Pang! sound and scattered into powder in vain.

The paladins opened their mouths at that absurd sight.

The one who broke the silence was Martin, who quickly recovered from the shock.

He reached out toward the front and grasped a slender ray of light that soared from the ground.

Martin’s holy sword that revealed itself, ‘Annasil’.

“Hmph. Bluffing. You seem to have a pretty good artifact, but it won’t work on me, Martin. Haap!”

Martin, grasping Annasil with both hands, lunged straight at me.

And.

Clang.

Before 3 minutes had passed, he became empty-handed.

“Th, this kind of nonsense…….”

Martin, who suddenly lost his sword, looked at Annasil fallen on the floor with hollow eyes.

He couldn’t believe it.

‘Fuck. W, what just happened right now?’

He didn’t know.

The arms and movements were too fast, so he couldn’t even know what happened in front of his eyes.

Should he say he had cognitive dissonance?

Since he could only properly recognize that he had been defeated after hearing the sound of Annasil falling to the floor, it could be said that Martin’s shock was that great.

“I told you, didn’t I. He is much stronger than you think.”

“Shut up! You blind bastard! He’s just a thief anyway! What are you doing? Attack all at once!”

Martin, who silenced the sarcastic Roland by pouring out curses, immediately took out a sword he carried as a spare and then rushed in together with the escort knights.

“Haaat!”

“Receive the judgment of God!”

Those shouts were the last sounds Martin remembered.

After that, he lost consciousness.

***

I looked at the fallen Martin with blank eyes.

‘What’s up with this?’

I tried to suppress him as quickly as possible after inflating my stats using [Starlight]. This is the Cathedral. No matter if I entered secretly, there was no good in dragging out time against them.

But I didn’t know it would end this futilely.

“There is no need to be bewildered. It is because he underestimated you. The emotion a paladin must keep away, arrogance, is Sir Martin’s greatest weakness.”

Roland was right.

Considering the power felt when we first clashed, he wasn’t a guy without skill. It was just that his mindset couldn’t keep up with his skill.

‘So I should take this.’

I smiled proudly as I packed the holy sword the Deputy Commander dropped.

Traditionally, a good weapon reveals its true value only when it meets a good master.

To that bearded man, this sword is an undeserved weapon.

At that moment, Roland asked from behind.

“Are you trying to steal it?”

“…….”

……Is this bastard really unable to see?

Isn’t this a cosplay?

“It’s instead of a service fee. I can’t take yours, can I?”

“I see.”

Roland immediately switched his stance at my answer.

Subsequently, he even added a kind explanation about the sword in a salesperson’s tone.

“It is Annasil. It is said to be a sword born within holy water that appears at a moment of crisis to protect its master.”

“Ho-oh. Really?”

I knew it was a holy sword, but I didn’t know it had that kind of power.

Because Deputy Commander Martin and his weapon Annasil were not covered in the original work either.

‘Since the protagonist of the Max Paladins was Roland.’

But it’s strange.

‘Protects its master?’

I tilted my head looking at Martin who was still lying on the floor.

“He must not have been acknowledged as the master. More than that, was there one more person?”

“Ah.”

I raised my head and looked at the place where the battle was in full swing.

Before I knew it, Clatter, who had popped out of the subspace, was cooking the two escort knights.

“Yeah. He’s my colleague, but it probably won’t take long.”

As soon as I finished speaking, one person lost his sword as the back of his hand was pierced by a dagger thrown by Clatter.

I approached Roland and untied the ropes binding him.

“There are many outstanding people around you. As expected of the person chosen by Lady Uriel.”

Roland untied the bindings on his legs with his freed hands.

“You probably have many questions. I will answer everything within the lines of what I know.”

It was what I hoped for.

But before that, let’s move locations first.

I took out a hooded robe from the subspace and handed it to Roland.

Because his appearance, wearing a uniform with cloth wrapped around his eyes, would easily attract attention wherever he went.

Since it was late at night, there wouldn’t be pedestrians, but there was no harm in being careful.

I also took off the Skull Mask I was wearing and put on a Face Mask.

It was a completely new face, not Jack’s face that I received from Luis and used initially. Holding the center of the bridge of the nose which had become higher, I inserted and fixed the angular jawbone sculpture under my ears.

Clatter, who had finished cleaning up before I knew it, sees my face like that and gives a thumbs up.

Clack!

Having escaped the Cathedral like that, we moved as far away from the center as possible and entered an inn where the old architectural style remained intact.

“What kind of guests at this time…… Are you adventurers?”

The innkeeper asks while scanning our appearance with suspicious eyes. Instead of an answer, I took out 1 gold from my bosom and held it out.

His eyes, which were like buttonholes, opened wide.

“A quiet room.”

“F, follow me!”

The innkeeper guided us to a room extremely politely as if he had met a VIP.

“Now. Then what should I ask first.”

Confirming even the presence of the owner moving away after the door closed, I went straight to the main point.

“Right. It would be better to ask this first. What on earth are Minas Forest and the Dimensional Harmonization Device? Uriel. What on earth is her purpose?”

“Did Lady Uriel not tell you?”

“She said she didn’t have time. She said you would give the remaining explanation.”

“I see. Indeed, the time she could manifest here would not have been much.”

Roland, who burst into laughter, suddenly made a serious expression and opened his mouth without hesitation.

“Within the Varje Holy Kingdom, there exist a few districts considered sacred, and one of them is exactly Minas Forest. And the Dimensional Harmonization Device is a facility hidden inside there.”

“I already know that much. What I mean is, what kind of object is the Dimensional Harmonization Device on earth that Uriel wants to break it? From what I heard, it seems you were also caught and detained because of that.”

“That is correct. It was Lady Uriel’s instruction. However, to be precise, it is also a result due to my stubbornness. Lady Uriel told me to work with the Revelator from the beginning.”

……Revelator?

Don’t tell me.

“That is correct. I expressed it as Revelator, but Lady Uriel and the angels. And the administrators of the dimensions call them this. Stranger.”

“……!”

“The Dimensional Harmonization Device. You asked what kind of object it is. If I answer like this, you will understand immediately.”

At Roland’s next words, I had no choice but to open my eyes wide.

“The reason you are from another world is here right now. That is precisely because of the Dimensional Harmonization Device.”

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