The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations Chapter 657

Episode 657: Let’s stop being so gullible. (1)

“Eww!”

“what!”

The poor people who had been fighting among themselves were shocked when someone suddenly died next to them.

However, once they identified the culprit, they were soon forced to calm their anger. They were temple knights whom they could not even dare to look upon due to their status.

The fighting stopped, but the Temple Knights did not stop and continued to cut down the poor.

“Please, save me!”

The poor people scattered and fled as if they had never fought before in the face of such brutality. Those who were slow to act were cut down and fell.

Deneb was terrified at the sight and ran forward.

“Stop it!”

The poor people had already scattered. Only cold corpses lay before her.

“Oh, how did this happen… … .”

Deneb shed tears and radiated divine power. However, there was no way that the people who were already corpses would rise.

She radiated divine power to find those who were not yet dead. However, because the divine power was so crude, it did not easily heal serious wounds.

The wounds of the injured continued to heal and then burst again. Deneb, at a loss, continued to emit divine power without thinking.

The temple knights watched silently. Yulien and Kyle nervously placed their hands on their swords.

Kyle whispered to Julianne.

“Hey, what’s going on? What’s going on now?”

“I don’t know.”

There were more than ten knights in the temple. No matter how great the two of them were, there was no guarantee that they would win a fight with them.

Even if you win, you will be chased for the rest of your life. In this era, you should never fight against the religious order.

Deneb was still busy treating people, tears streaming down her face.

“Please, please wake up.”

Jiselle glanced at the temple knights and then watched Deneb closely.

‘also…….’

It was as expected. It was very slight and hard to notice, but there was definitely a change. Deneb’s divine power had increased, however slightly.

‘But I can’t be sure if it’s because of good deeds.’

Deneb had used up a lot of divine power over the past few days. She almost fell asleep as soon as she returned to the inn.

Since he had suffered so much, it was only natural that his divine power would increase. He had to keep that possibility in mind.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.’

I knew that Deneb’s divine power had increased slightly, whether due to good deeds or hardships.

That was the purpose of staying in the city, so I achieved my goal.

Giselle took her gaze away from Deneb and looked at the priest with a shallow expression.

The priest walked over slowly, raised his head haughtily and spoke.

“I heard someone was using their precious divine powers in a garbage den, so I came here to check… … and it turned out to be a lowly practitioner priest.”

Deneb raised her head at the priest’s words, which seemed to indicate disappointment.

“Oh, why would someone who serves the goddess do something like this?”

“What are you talking about?”

The priest looked genuinely ignorant. To him, killing the poor was no problem at all.

Deneb shouted, her face distorted with anger.

“You killed people! How can you, as a priest, act against the will of the Goddess?”

The priest looked dumbfounded for a moment at Deneb’s shouting. Then he smiled in amazement.

“You’re being presumptuous on the topic of a practicing priest. What’s wrong with killing insect-like creatures?”

“What, what did you say?”

“They are parasites of the city who don’t even pay their taxes properly. Killing them is for the good of the world. If left alone, they will commit crimes.”

“Wh, why are you saying something like that… … .”

Deneb trembled.

The crime rate among the poor is high, but not all poor people are criminals. If it were that much of a problem, the lord would have wiped it out long ago.

Even if they are poor, it is better for them to stay alive, because they can be mobilized for military service or hard work in times of war.

Crucially, priests have no authority to kill them.

But the priest still spoke with an arrogant smile.

“You blocked the path of a noble person who serves God. Isn’t that enough of a crime to deserve death?”

Deneb was shocked. He couldn’t believe that such words came from the mouth of a god.

She knew that priests were arrogant. But it was strange that a priest from a small city had so much power.

For her, who had grown up only in the countryside, it felt like coming to another world.

As Deneb glared at him with tears in her eyes, the priest asked in a cold voice.

“Where are you from?”

“I come from the Barondom of Vied.”

“You’re from the countryside. You seem to be completely ignorant of the ways of the world, so I’ll forgive your arrogance this time. You may be a practicing priest, but you’re still a priest of the same sect. Have fun and then go back to the temple.”

“… …Please heal them.”

“What?”

“There are still people alive. Please heal them. Wouldn’t divine power be better than mine?”

“ha.”

The priest shook his head and laughed in disbelief.

“Does the acolyte dare to give orders to me, the chief priest of this city?”

“This is not an order, this is a request. According to the word of the goddess, I will… … .”

“This is your final warning. Do not speak presumptuously. Before we proceed with the ritual of condemnation.”

The rite of condemnation was an act in which a priest of higher rank punished a priest of lower rank.

Since it was the law of the church, even a priest of low rank could never refuse it. It was a fearsome law that could even lead to excommunication and immediate execution depending on the severity of the crime.

The priest’s voice was suddenly filled with anger. He had come to see the scene with a light heart, but he had heard a scolding from a young priest.

But Deneb spoke without any fear.

“If I have sinned, I will accept it gladly. But… … .”

Deneb took a deep breath and exhaled decisively.

“Please help the wounded, as befits your duty as a priest.”

“Kill him. He is a heretic.”

The priest gave the order without hesitation. You can put any charges on him. It wouldn’t matter if you killed one of the priests anyway.

The author’s temple probably doesn’t even know he’s dead, and even if they do, they probably won’t care.

If he was an important person, he wouldn’t have been allowed to wander around like that.

A temple knight approached him casually and swung his sword. This was something he was used to.

Kaang!

However, Yulien stepped forward and blocked the temple knight’s sword. The temple knight frowned as he realized that his opponent was formidable.

“This guy!”

Kaang! Kaang!

Julian blocked the temple knight’s sword brilliantly. What’s worse, he was pushing it back.

Eventually, other temple knights also moved, and even Kyle joined in, and a fight broke out.

Kaang! Kaang! Kaang!

The two men, who had already reached the level of knights, fought on equal terms with several temple knights.

However, there were too few to deal with all the temple knights. Several temple knights that the two were unable to stop approached Deneb.

Deneb also grabbed her mace right away, but her skills were not enough to stop several temple knights.

At that moment, Jiselle, who had been just watching, finally moved. He sighed and muttered.

“I guess I should stop being such a coward. I feel like I’ve got a lump in my throat while eating a sweet potato.”

Phew!

“Huh?”

A temple knight who was hit in the back of the head while approaching Deneb collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

After that, Jiselle moved like the wind.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“omg!”

“What is this guy!”

The Temple Knights were startled when they saw Giselle suddenly appear. She was too fast and too strong.

Kwajik!

“Ugh!”

With each swing of the staff, the arms and legs of the temple knights broke. Some fell down immediately with their heads cracked.

Giselle did not kill the temple knights. She simply broke their arms and legs to immobilize them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In an instant, Giselle defeated all the temple knights. The priest trembled in disbelief as he spoke.

“What, what is it? What are you?”

“Ah, I am from the Kingdom of Rutania… … No, I am just an adventurer passing through.”

“Hey, do you think you can do something like this and get away with it? How dare you touch the temple knights of the sect… … .”

“What are you going to do?”

The priest flinched as Giselle held out her staff, but he soon realized that none of the temple knights were dead.

Perhaps he was afraid of the aftereffects and could not kill him. The priest said, thinking that the opponent was scared.

“Heh, heh heh… … You cheeky brat. Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, even now. Your skills seem quite useful, so I’ll use you as my bodyguard.”

“What are you saying?”

Phew!

“Ugh!”

The priest staggered, holding his arm. Judging by the way his arm dangled, it appeared to be broken.

“Eww! Yes, you dare!”

The priest raised his other arm in horror, intending to use his divine power to heal.

But even faster than that, Giselle’s staff moved.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The priest’s other arm and leg were both shattered. He fell to the ground screaming.

“Kwaaaaak!”

The priest, who had grown up preciously and always lived comfortably, had never felt such pain.

He lay down and screamed loudly.

“You! I will never let you off easy! The knights of the church and the lord’s army will pursue you! You devil! I will surely punish you!”

Giselle spoke to the three men, leaving the priest in a state of convulsion.

“Let’s just leave now.”

Deneb said, looking around with trembling eyes.

“Those people… …?”

There were already many dead people, people who had fallen with serious injuries. Even those who were still healthy were looking at the priest and Deneb alternately with empty eyes.

But Giselle said in a cold voice.

“This is enough. Don’t you really understand? You did as much as you could. There’s nothing more you can do.”

“Ha, but… … .”

“If you stay here any longer, you and those people will all die. Excessive good deeds will only cause trouble in the end.”

Deneb lowered her head at Giselle’s cold words. She couldn’t bring herself to refute him.

I tried to do my best, but people were busy fighting each other. Even the priest killed those people without any hesitation.

There was not a single person who respected or cared for others. They only cared about their own interests.

I knew the world was a dangerous place. But seeing and experiencing it firsthand was completely different from what I had heard through the grapevine.

The place they lived in was also a cold-hearted place, but it wasn’t this bad.

Julian grabbed Deneb’s hesitant arm.

“Let’s go. Jiselle is right.”

If we stay any longer, the soldiers of this city or other temple knights will come. If that happens, it is obvious that we will all be captured and killed.

While they were leaving, Kyle asked Jiselle.

“Can we keep going like this? They’ll definitely chase us.”

There was already a look of death in Kyle’s eyes.

The Temple Knights were incapacitated. It would have been better to just kill them and bury them.

Since it is a slum, it is good for disposing of corpses. If you share your belongings, the poor will help you right away.

Even if you open your mouth later, it will be quite some time later. If you dodge in the meantime, you can avoid pursuit.

Jiselle snickered. As expected, this guy made the most realistic judgment.

But now there was no need for them to take action. There were people who held a grudge against them.

Jiselle looked back briefly and said.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to bother me.”

So they packed their bags and left the city.

The priest, lying with broken limbs, screamed loudly.

“What are you guys doing! Why don’t you send someone to the temple? I’ll catch those guys and kill them right now!”

The priest somehow managed to raise his divine power. He continued to chant while gradually healing his broken arm.

“You piece of trash! Send someone to the temple and help the knights!”

But none of the poor moved. They just looked back and forth between the priests and the temple knights with dark eyes.

The poor who had lost their families at the hands of the Temple Knights were the first to take up arms. Others also took up arms with greedy eyes.

It was only when the poor people approached with weapons that the priest noticed something strange.

“What, what is it? What are you guys thinking right now… … .”

Phew!

A rusty knife dug into the priest’s neck. The poor stabbed the priest’s body without hesitation.

This is because they also knew very well that the one who uses divine power must be killed first.

“Krrrrr… … .”

The priest vomited out the foam. His eyes lost their light and became cloudy in an instant.

The temple knights who saw the priest being tortured tried to get up, but the poor people were quicker.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

They beat the heads of the temple knights indiscriminately. The temple knights who could not move their bodies all died with their heads smashed in.

“Hey, let’s clean this up quickly.”

“Let’s bury the bodies first and then divide them up.”

As several people spoke, the poor people took off the armor of the priests and temple knights as if they were used to it. They also took other valuable items.

The body was dragged somewhere by several people. After cleaning up the remains, the poor people started talking to each other and then started fighting again.

In addition to the items that Giselle and her party had left behind, they also obtained the knights’ armor and the priests’ accessories.

As valuable items came into their possession, they fought to get as many as possible.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Die, you little shit!”

“This is mine!”

The poor fought and shouted. The image of Deneb, who had done good deeds, had long since disappeared from their minds.

The wealth she shared and the divine power she used to care for the sick could all have been received if they had not fought among themselves.

But they lost it through greed and selfishness. They were ungrateful and didn’t even realize what they had lost.

Until now, Deneve thought that the world was turning into hell. She thought that people were acting tough because they were suffering from the long battle with the Demon Realm.

But she was mistaken.

The world was already hell.

* * *

Julian and Deneb didn’t say anything. They just walked silently.

Only Kyle continued to complain that the world was rotten, with Dark chattering away.

As we got a little further away from the city, Giselle opened her mouth.

“Let’s stop doing such pitiful good deeds. I won’t say anything if you help me out a little bit when you pass by. But please stop this kind of swindling behavior for the time being.”

“…….”

“Oh, I felt like my stomach was going to flip. I tried to just leave it alone, but it just wasn’t my taste.”

“…….”

Deneb bowed her head. She had nothing to say in rebuttal since many people had been injured and killed because she had stepped forward for no reason.

Jiselle continued speaking in a reassuring tone.

“If you really want to do something, do it after you become strong enough that no one can touch you.”

“…….”

Isn’t that why you’re training so hard and trying to become stronger? That’s because it’s not as easy as you think.

At that moment, Jiselle suddenly said something unexpected.

“Now we create a mercenary group.”

The three people’s eyes widened at the sudden declaration.