Chapter 76 – Chaos (2)

On the way to the memorial hall where the Apostle was, Seo Eun told us what had happened during the day. Her words carried over the desolate street.

“People remained in front of the memorial hall even after you left.

They’d die if they went outside, so how could people accept that? They all kept holding out in front of the memorial hall, saying they wouldn’t leave even if they died.

Some apologized and begged while crying, some made excuses, and some lay down screaming in rage.”

I nodded at her gloomy words.

It was expected. That’s why we quickly left the scene too.

Unlike roads connected to the outside, the path to the memorial hall was empty.

The tents on the lawn were empty, and people hidden in buildings secretly watched us walking.

Whether sensing this or not, Seo Eun continued speaking with a hardened expression.

“The problem was that when they caused such a commotion for a long time, the Apostle’s people who couldn’t stand it anymore arrested them.

Not police, not civil servants, but ordinary people appointed by the Apostle this morning forcibly dragged people away.”

Though Seo Eun vented about the Apostle’s wrongdoing with an indignant face, unfortunately I couldn’t agree with her words.

In a world ruined by undead, the Apostle who built and maintained this safe zone was, ultimately, the lord of this land.

The believers he had this morning were his private soldiers, and the terrorists were ultimately people who tried to kill the lord, the owner of this land.

To me, who had seen lords beheading tenants for greeting too late, the Apostle’s actions were very normal and natural.

Of course, my previous self would have thought similarly to Seo Eun, but unfortunately medieval trash had already seeped deep into my bones.

Fortunately, Seo Eun didn’t see my ambiguous expression.

Instead, she continued speaking while glaring at the approaching memorial hall.

“Afterwards, the Apostle announced he would expel all imprisoned people after sunset. Hearing that, everyone including me was horrified.”

Her husband nodded at Seo Eun’s words.

But I could only tilt my head.

“Weren’t they people who would be expelled anyway? Though it’s a bit earlier, it doesn’t seem like a big difference.”

Though moved from the next morning to the previous night, they were people who would only make unreasonable demands if left longer.

Looking at it, their execution time was just moved up a bit.

At my words, Seo Eun glanced at me and sighed deeply.

“If that was all, I wouldn’t call it rampaging. Though I think expulsion is harsh, I wouldn’t have stepped up like this either.”

I knew best that Seo Eun was a practical person.

She was like that in my previous life too, and working with the Apostle known as a cult leader now was probably due to her practical mindset.

So I found it very strange that she was stepping up like this now.

“The problem is that among those imprisoned now are people who didn’t receive expulsion orders.”

The attention of companions listening silently turned to her.

“There were other people too?”

I asked her again, dumbfounded, and she nodded at my question.

“Yes. They weren’t the only ones in front of the memorial hall. Though most left, their families were there too, and some followers remained.”

“Oh my…”

Yerim gaped at Seo Eun’s words, and Hoffman quietly clicked his tongue.

“Don’t tell me they imprisoned everyone?”

“When people kept causing a commotion in front of the memorial hall, the Apostle’s people came out and imprisoned everyone there.

Not just those who received expulsion orders, but everyone who was with them too.

They imprisoned everyone except those watching from a distance.”

She spoke as if she had seen it herself. It seemed Seo Eun was there too.

“At the time, I thought they were just temporarily detained for causing a disturbance, but later when the Apostle came out to hold service, he declared to his followers…”

“Making an example, he said he would expel everyone who was detained.”

“That’s a bit excessive…”

At Hoffman’s tongue-clicking words, Seo Eun burst out angrily.

“A bit excessive?! Even if the world’s become like this, this isn’t something a person should do!”

“It’s not the first time seeing a lord do things they shouldn’t. Ah, maybe not even a lord. Well, it’s something a false cleric would do.”

Seo Eun glared at Hoffman speaking nonchalantly, but he just shrugged.

Seo Eun turned to look at me, but I avoided her gaze too.

Though sorry to Seo Eun, I thought similarly to Hoffman.

Everyone hadn’t noticed because he’d been hiding his true nature behind faith, but the Apostle was just another typically selfish person in this ruined world.

Like a bandit chief who kills and steals, like a lord who doesn’t see peasants as people, like elves who don’t treat humans as people,

The Apostle was just another ordinary landowner in a ruined world.

When I avoided her gaze, her expression darkened further.

“You won’t help me, help us.”

She seemed to have expected us to take her side.

But I had no such intention.

“We’re not people who live here. We’re not even people of this world. Besides, that’s not important anymore.”

At my answer, Seo Eun’s face went blank before smiling bitterly.

“Ah, right. I keep having trouble accepting it…”

We weren’t going to meet the Apostle now to protest the expulsion orders with Seo Eun.

As Seo Eun said, though we came with her, we couldn’t meet the Apostle right away.

The believers the Apostle had appointed this morning were standing guard in front of the memorial hall holding spears.

When we approached, they pointed spears at us and questioned why we came.

They said the Apostle couldn’t be met unless it was urgent, but unfortunately what I brought was very urgent.

“Urgent reconnaissance report. The Demon King’s army that went south has returned.”

Though some didn’t believe my words, among them were people who had seen us mowing down zombies outside.

They urgently sent someone to the Apostle, and soon guided us to him.

“What’s this suddenly? What Demon King’s army?”

The first to question me upon entering the room wasn’t the Apostle.

It was words from the young awakened one who had been beaten by me, looking at me with hostile eyes.

There were two others in the room besides the Apostle.

They were the young natural awakened one who just spoke to me and Jo Jin-su who came to the safe zone yesterday and became a devoted believer this morning.

Unlike the young awakened one stepping forward provocatively, the man who became the Apostle’s right hand overnight stood behind the Apostle watching us.

With Jin-su standing behind him, the Apostle sat at his desk staring steadily at us.

He looked over the party members, Yerim, Seo Eun, and her husband Jaeha in turn, then finally looked at me.

“You went scouting today too? I don’t think I received such a report.”

Before I could answer, Seo Eun spoke first.

“You wouldn’t meet with me.”

“Ah, was that so. I had many things to handle.”

Though Seo Eun spoke through gritted teeth, the Apostle dismissed her words indifferently.

As soon as the Apostle finished speaking, Jin-su standing behind whispered quietly in his ear.

The Apostle nodded and said to Seo Eun.

“Ms. Seo Eun, you’ve worked hard until now. It’s time for you to stop working so hard.

Hand over the management department work to someone else from tomorrow and rest a while. I’ll let you know your new work within a few days.”

As the Apostle finished speaking with an apologetic expression, Seo Eun who had been staring at him bowed her head deeply.

“Haa. I was going to question today’s events, but it was meaningless from the start. Seeing you take my position, I guess anything I say would be useless?”

When the Apostle gave no answer to her question as she raised her head, Seo Eun shook her head and stepped back leaving barbed words.

“Maybe this is for the better? But even if you won’t listen to me, listen to the knight.”

Seo Eun seemed to have given up on persuading the Apostle.

Though she probably meant for me to persuade him well, I had no intention of persuading the Apostle either.

When the Apostle looked at me, I repeated the reconnaissance report I’d given to Seo Eun.

About the lich and Demon King’s army discovered during southern reconnaissance, and about the army shooting guns.

Of course, I didn’t mention raiding the archery range or meeting my previous life’s president and getting gold bullion.

That was personal business unrelated to reconnaissance.

“All quite unbelievable.”

Those were the Apostle’s first words after I finished.

Since even Seo Eun found it hard to believe, the Apostle could say such things.

I kindly presented witnesses.

“My entire party and I saw it.”

Unfortunately, the witnesses I presented didn’t seem to please them.

Jin-su standing behind threw a sharp question at me.

“But you didn’t actually see the entire Demon King’s army, did you?”

“No, that’s right.”

Since it wasn’t wrong, I nodded.

“Then the Demon King’s army could be much smaller.”

“Well…”

But I tilted my head sideways, not wanting to agree with his following words.

“Plus, you didn’t directly confirm that a zombie shot the gun.”

“Hmm, that’s also correct.”

Though properly focusing mana in my eyes would let me identify a sniper from a kilometer away, it didn’t seem necessary to tell them that.

I casually nodded,

And they seemed displeased with that too.

The young awakened one who had been watching for an opportunity shouted at me.

“Did you properly scout? All you directly saw was one floating rag in the sky, zombie pigeons, and a shot from an unknown shooter, right?”

He continued talking excitedly.

“You ran away right after getting surprised by the shot, isn’t it all lies?”

“Such nonsense!”

Though Yerim glared at him angrily and Seo Eun and her husband looked at me worriedly, I just opened my mouth indifferently while looking at the Apostle.

“That’s all for the urgent reconnaissance report. If there’s nothing else, I plan to scout north tomorrow. We need to check on the octopus said to be coming down south too.”

When my words ended without rebuttal or persuasion, the room went quiet.

“This is troublesome. Speaking this way makes it hard to ignore.

Though we’ve already confirmed this sanctuary can’t be breached even by skeleton armies, we can’t completely ignore it.”

Jin-su bowed his head and answered the Apostle’s words.

“Understood. I’ll strengthen the defenses.”

That was the extent of preparations for my reconnaissance report.

Though saying they wouldn’t ignore it, this was worse than ignoring.

But I made no objections.

“Now that the skeleton army has returned, how about delaying the expulsion? If you show mercy, people will be grateful for your benevolence.”

“That sounds good. As the believer says, let’s delay the expulsion a few days. Tell everyone the expulsion will be delayed until the commotion settles.”

“Truly merciful words.”

Jin-su bowed to the Apostle, then smiled at Seo Eun.

Jin-su’s smile was one indicating he had advised the Apostle for her sake.

I laughed inwardly watching this whole scene.

Jin-su flirting with Seo Eun by using this situation was funny, but the Apostle following Jin-su’s words was funnier.

The Apostle no longer had God.

The Apostle was no longer God’s apostle, but God himself.

Since I hadn’t expected anything from the start, I could leave there laughing.

“Well, now we need to find our own way to survive?”

The safe zone would clearly become a mess now.

I had planned to wait here until the gate opened, but given this situation, it was time to slowly slip away.