Novel Boss
Chapter 129: Uh??? (5)
Chapter 129: Uh??? (5)
Tomorrow was definitely going to be a pretty good day for Loton.
Not only would it be the day he could take over the Mercenary Guild that Mila had forcibly established, but it would also be the day he secured a contract to legally extort money from the Lord of Lartania.
Of course, even though he wouldn’t be able to take all the money made in Lartania after taking Mila’s position, the fact that his status within the Guild would rise significantly was almost certain, and that made Loton smile.
A high-ranking position in the Mercenary Guild on this Continent was valuable enough just by its title.
Therefore, after finishing his conversation with Kim Hyunwoo, Loton returned to the Mercenary Guild, looking forward to tomorrow, and soon saw a flickering white light.
And then he was summoned to this place.
…Summoned to this place.
Glug-glug-glug-!
He was submerged in water.
“Glub-! Glub-!”Loton flailed his entire body, desperately trying to escape from the water, but his efforts were futile.
His body was tightly bound with ropes in the first place.
“Gasp-! Grrrk!”
So, when Loton could do nothing but twist his body as his breath was running out, he was pulled out of the water.
“Cough! Haa-! Haa!”
Loton gasped for breath as soon as he emerged from the water.
Fear was evident in his eyes, and his gaze was fixed on the saintess with golden eyes staring at him.
“Why, why are you doing this to me! Why me!”
Loton’s face, filled with genuine injustice, questioned as if he truly didn’t understand.
A face that truly did not understand why he was suffering like this.
“I am not a demon or anything! You are mistaken! I am human!”
He desperately claimed his innocence.
Loton hadn’t heard a word during his torture, but he was a body that had rolled around in the Guild for decades.
Knowing who the beings in front of him were, he shouted to claim his innocence, but the girl with golden eyes who stared at him said,
“Yes, I know.”
“What…did you say?”
“I know. Marlan Loton. I know you are human. Sir Melan beside me is also well aware of it.”
“Then why…! I have never colluded with demons!”
“I know that too!”
“Then why!”
With a look filled with genuine anger and injustice, Loton stared at her, Amelin.
“I received an order.”
Amelin answered.
“What did you say?”
“It’s exactly as I said, Loton. We received an order from the Heavens. An order to purify your evil heart.”
“That’s nonsense…!”
Loton frowned, trying to speak against Amelin’s words.
But.
“…Did you just dismiss God’s command as nonsense?”
Flinch!
As she glared at Loton with eyes filled with anger, he couldn’t say anything and just shut his mouth.
Amelin, looking at Loton and smiling again, approached him and spoke.
“Don’t worry. You will not die.”
“God is very merciful.”
“If you can realize what you did wrong today and correct it, today’s repentance will be enough.”
“What, what exactly-”
“That’s something you have to think about, Loton. Don’t worry. I’ll help you remember.”
Splash!
With Amelin’s words, Loton was shoved into the stream.
Amelin, looking at him, spoke.
“The water knows the answer, so ask it.”
She said this with a smile.
The plan in Kim Hyunwoo’s mind wasn’t actually that great.
In the end, following his plan would inevitably make him somewhat hostile to the Mercenary Guild.
However, Kim Hyunwoo calculated that the plan was good enough to put Loton in a tough spot and leave Mila indebted, so he intended to execute it today.
He intended to execute it, but.
“…So, you came this morning and found this situation?”
“Yes…”
At Mila’s answer, Kim Hyunwoo looked at Loton.
His appearance didn’t seem particularly different.
The scars on his limbs were the same, and he didn’t look like he had been disheveled or tortured somewhere.
Likewise, there were no suspicious marks on his face.
But clearly.
“I was wrong… I thought about everything wrong. Everything!”
Kim Hyunwoo looked bewildered as Loton grabbed his pants and begged for forgiveness without any prelude.
“…No, what exactly did you do wrong all of a sudden?”
“I was wrong about everything. I am a sinner! I repented! I repented!”
“Hey, can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can…!”
“…Did anything happen yesterday?”
“Nothing happened, I swear to the Heavens, nothing happened!”
Loton, with a very firm expression, insisted that nothing had happened yesterday, further increasing Kim Hyunwoo’s doubts.
That was because the Loton he saw yesterday was not the type to speak like this, as he had fully realized from their conversation.
No, the very idea of anyone changing like this overnight was absurd, so with a confused expression, Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth to ask,
“Loria.”
[Yes, My Lord.]
“Did anything happen to Loton yesterday?”
[I didn’t check the Mercenary Guild, but nothing significant happened within the territory.]
“…I thought so.”
[Yes. If something had happened, I would have reported it immediately.]
At her words, Kim Hyunwoo nodded slightly, then looked at Mila with a questioning expression, but she too wore a confused expression.
‘What the hell is this.’
Kim Hyunwoo could only look at him with a strange expression.
And about 30 minutes later,
“I, I don’t need anything… Then, I’ll be going!”
Loton, who had come to entrench himself in the Mercenary Guild, fled from Lartania’s domain, rendering the plan Kim Hyunwoo had thought out useless in an instant.
‘Well, it was a plan where I would take a loss too, so not using it is much better.’
Kim Hyunwoo looked north, where Loton had hastily departed, with a slightly confused expression.
“Um, thank you.”
Mila, who had been with him until a moment ago, expressed her gratitude.
She bowed deeply, her eyes slightly red, seemingly quite moved by the situation.
She seemed to mistakenly believe that Kim Hyunwoo had done something, but he hadn’t done anything.
Before he could even act, Loton, who had been plotting to leech off Lartania until yesterday, had gone mad.
“……”
So, while contemplating this part, Kim Hyunwoo replied,
“…It’s nothing.”
Although he felt a slight pang of conscience, he thought that saying ‘Huh? I didn’t do anything’ in this situation would look odd, so he nodded naturally and answered Mila.
At that moment,
Amelin, who had been watching Loton leave Lartania, stretched with a refreshed expression and said,
“Hmm- This should be handled well, right? Sir Melan?”
“It seems to be well handled, Saintess.”
“Then let’s go back. The demons are still rampaging, causing trouble.”
Amelin immediately turned around.
Melan spoke.
“…Is it okay not to visit Lartania, Saintess?”
“Hmm- I’d love to visit, but…”
Amelin, who had turned around, looked at the distant Lartania territory and spoke with a smile.
“Well- It would be a bit odd to visit when he hasn’t even shown himself yet, right?”
“Indeed, that’s true. The Saintess is right.”
“So, we’ll see him later. We can visit after he’s revealed himself.”
With those words, Amelin smiled and turned away from Lartania.
“But I am a bit curious about when he will reveal himself.”
With that, Amelin and Melan started walking towards Norba again.
And as time passed, about three weeks later,
[The Red Merchant’s shop has opened!]
A notification window appeared in front of Kim Hyunwoo’s eyes.