Apostle of the Void

Chapter 19 - Short-Term Contract Worker (11)

Despite the chaos, the red dragon and the red pilgrim left the city in less than five minutes.

A sigh of relief swept through the area.

If the red dragon had seen them unfavorably, Arzen’s career as a civil servant would have certainly come to an end.

“...I heard the red dragon used to stay in every city. I can’t imagine how suffocating that must have been.”

“...If it were me, I wouldn’t have become a civil servant.”

“...You think you could?”

Hearing their murmurs, Arzen stepped outside the city hall.

He asked Milbiet about a dessert shop that women liked, and immediately headed there.

Looking through the shop window at the cakes, he felt a jolt at the prices.

‘Women actually spend money on this? With this much, I could eat at Olive You for a week and still have leftovers!’

But now wasn’t the time to think about value.

‘I need to extract information from the witches. Why did the dragon clan come here?’

Arzen opened his coin purse.

He had gathered about thirty silver coins over two months of work.

That hefty sum warmed Arzen’s heart just by gleaming.

‘Bribery is almost always the right choice.’

A typical worker earned one silver coin for a day’s labor.

So, after accounting for lodging and food expenses, Arzen still had money for thirty days.

That silver brought him courage. The strength to boldly push open the shop’s door.

“Do witches come here often?”

“Of course. But... they tend to eat something more expensive than others.”

“What do they get?”

The cakes were already expensive.

‘But among those cakes, they must be devouring the overwhelmingly pricey whipped cream cake every day!’

With tears of blood, Arzen paid for the cake and returned to the city hall.

He immediately dashed up the stairs to the third floor and knocked on the door of the witch association’s office.

“Y-Yes... come in.”

Inside the office, exhausted witches sprawled on the sofa like corpses.

However, upon seeing Arzen, their eyes lit up with curiosity.

“Oh, Arzen~ Did you come to see me?”

“Of course you’d want to see me. What else would your squid face want to look at?”

“Geez, how rude.”

No matter how much he succeeded in charming them, his heart raced like crazy in front of the witches.

The reason was likely the alien nature of the Void’s power.

‘But I’ve adapted quite a bit now.’

Arzen steadied his breath.

‘There won’t be a repeat of last time when my nerves were at MAX.’

When he was at the Divine Guillotine, he had often played the role of the pitiful one well.

Maybe he could twist it a bit to make it work.

“Um, well... since you witches must be tired from cleaning today, I brought some cake…”

Cute!

Life really is simple!

“OMG~ Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”

“For Arzen’s sake!”

“No, it’s for me!”

“I think I’ll be going now.”

“What are you talking about? The sisters will brew some coffee. You should eat too, Arzen!”

The operation was a success.

Glancing around, Arzen noticed that the archwitch and the highest-ranking witch were nowhere to be seen. Given the red dragon\'s earlier arrival, something serious must have happened.

‘Alright, let’s eavesdrop for some information.’

Arzen focused on the witches’ chatter.

“Phew… The majesty of the red dragon is incredible. This is my first time seeing one in person.”

“Of course! They’re all at the ends of the earth in Flame Myriad.”

“Aren’t there less than ten red dragons alive right now? Wow, so they really do exist.”

The witches were clearing the table to set up for tea time, arranging the cakes and teacups.

At that moment, a wanted poster caught Arzen’s eye.

As he tilted his head in curiosity, the youngest witch showed the poster to him, saying, “Our Arzen~ The people on this poster are all bad guys, so if you see them, you have to run away, okay? Just come back here and tell us, and we’ll take care of them.”

His heart froze.

‘The ones in the portrait…!’

It was just a picture, but the fear from the past gripped his heart with icy fingers.

‘Damn it.’

He felt a wave of nausea wash over him, nearly choking.

The witches scolded the youngest witch.

“Hey, why did you show Arzen their pictures? You scared him!”

“No, I just wanted to warn him since he’s precious to us…”

“Shut up! You don’t deserve any of Arzen’s cake. Go copy that, as the archwitch ordered.”

“Ugh… I want to eat the cake Arzen brought too.”

“I’ll leave you a slice, so go on!”

How could he possibly forget those faces?

‘The Healthy Assassination Team!’

Helshi was right under the upper echelons of Divine Guillotine, a candidate for the top position.

‘Helshi is an expert in human combat, not demon combat, and formed a team of assassins…’

The purpose of the assassination team was to maintain the chains of corruption.

First, they would blackmail bribed officials by using their secrets or by kidnapping their families.

Second, any humans making threats against Divine Guillotine would be eliminated, disguised as accidents.

These people could kill easier than slaughtering beasts, and their ruthlessness made them among the worst of Divine Guillotine’s thugs.

‘It’s easy to understand why Divine Guillotine evades the consequences of crime when you know about these guys…’

They were masters of disguising their identities using erased backgrounds.

‘If they encounter a dragon, their crimes will undoubtedly be exposed, so they must be hiding with new identities.’

The fact that these guys were alive and active was real.

‘I should have confronted them earlier. Why had I forgotten? Was I hoping to forget?’

A deep-rooted fear struck the back of Arzen\'s head.

‘If only I could say something about them…’

He felt the brand on his left chest throb painfully.

What would happen if he tried to say anything about them?

That brand would activate, causing him to bleed out and die.

He had seen plenty of those who were treated like slaves, just like him, meet such a fate.

- No dragon could sense this. It\'s the Dragonbound Barrier! What\'s the point? No one can save you. If you want to die, go ahead.

Even now, when he closed his eyes…

It felt like he could hear the laughter of those bastards from Divine Guillotine.

‘Maybe… the dragon race could have saved me.’

If he had begged that red dragon for help earlier, could it have saved him before he bled out in the seven circles?

‘Who knows.’

It was too late to dwell on what was already past.

And Arzen had no intention of gambling with his life.

‘Settling here? What a nonsensical delusion that was…’

What if they discovered that Arzen was still alive?

They would definitely come after him to eliminate the witness to their crimes.

‘I had hoped they would be dealt with. Or that Divine Guillotine would crumble and go its own way like the trash they are.’

But they were currently bound together by fate.

They would surely be looking for any way to survive.

‘For now, they don’t know my real name. But if my information were to slip out…’

Even that fragmentary detail would surely lead them to deduce that Arzen was still alive.

They were those kinds of people.

‘Damn it!’

There would be no peaceful days until he could deal with them personally.

The problem was that all of them were golden-ranked adventurers.

‘I need to get as far away from the Adrion continent as possible and hone the power of the Void…’

He couldn’t stay in this green city of Karshiko.

‘There are too many powerful monsters, too many opportunities for adventure, and most importantly, I need to move to a smaller town, not a big city.’

The Helshi assassination team were experts at gathering information, so staying in a big city would undoubtedly lead to trouble.

* * *

That very day, Arzen headed to the harbor district.

The green city of Karshiko was built in the center of a lagoon.

However, a canal had been dug toward the northern trade route, placing the harbor at the west center of the city.

“You want to buy passage?” the lighthouse keeper asked in response to Arzen\'s request.

“Yeah, old man. I need to book my passage in advance.”

To cross the ocean, he needed to use the Connected Fleet route.

In the golden age when dragons ruled, they protected all sea routes.

But now, with the drastic decline in the dragon population, there was no way to be safeguarded from the sea monsters.

Thus, the Republic had implemented a policy to bind ships crossing the ocean with magical chains, forming a single fleet.

‘The witches board those ships and use their spells to ensure the fleet reaches its destination safely.’

Since it was a large fleet, there were only two destinations available.

The green sanctuary, Tervenope.

The indigo city, Aristapo.

Both cities, like Karshiko, were among the seven great cities of the Republic.

Tervenope boasted the highest scale and served as the capital of the Northern Republic.

“The fleet heading to Tervenope sets sail tomorrow, but there aren’t many spots left. The fleet to Aristapo departs in ten days.”

Tomorrow? He couldn’t just disappear in a hurry.

For now, as a civil servant, he needed to formally say he was quitting to avoid future troubles.

He had always wanted to see the breathtaking scenery of Tervenope that he had read about in adventurer books, but… he would have to postpone such desires for now.

“What ship should I choose?”

“All the ships docked from section 11 onward are part of the fleet heading to Aristapo. Talk to the shipowners about the fare.”

Arzen used most of his savings to purchase a ticket for a private cabin on a medium-sized cargo ship.

He intended to focus on his training in the Void during the ocean crossing.

He had to bear this expense.

* * *

The next day, Arzen reported to the city hall.

“I think I’ll need to quit my contract a week early due to personal circumstances.”

Samson\'s reaction was dry and indifferent.

“Is that so? Well, it’s not like you had a tight schedule to begin with. Just make sure to clean the sewers properly before your last day.”

That was even better.

However, Milbiet and the youngest witch burst into tears when he told them.

“Why? Why are you quitting? Take the civil service exam and join us! We’ll give you a ton of extra points!”

“With what?”

“Cutness!”

“You crazy girl.”

Even if their tears were feigned, it felt good to think he had become someone precious to them, even for a moment.

From that day on, Arzen didn’t go to work.

His daily routine was divided into two time frames: one spent contemplating sewer slime hunting and settling in Karshiko while gazing at the sea.

He felt sorry for Sora, but Arzen began to transport the slime two or three times a day back and forth to the branch.

Crossing the ocean would nearly deplete his funds.

He would need quite a bit of money to settle somewhere new.

* * *

Three days passed like this.

The muscular receptionist, who had initially arranged the sewer job, asked, “Are you planning to leave for somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m getting a bit tired of it here. It feels a bit beneath me as an adventurer.”

He tucked away any mention of heading to Aristapo to avoid raising suspicion.

“Haha! It is a peaceful city. That’s an advantage, but I see. Wait just a moment.”

He didn’t know why he was being asked to wait, but he did.

Then, the muscular man handed him a sealed letter with the Karshiko Adventurer\'s Guild crest.

Unsure of what to do since he didn’t understand the letter or its significance, Arzen hesitated to accept it.

“That’s a recommendation letter from the guild,” the muscular man explained.

“?”

“I heard from Samson that you’ve been cleaning the sewers all by yourself.”

“!”

“But since that’s a direct contract, your contributions to the guild won’t be recognized, and there won’t be any record of it.”

“???”

“Samson must have lied and told you that everything would be acknowledged, but…”

That bastard Samson…

How trashy could he be…?

“The number of slime bags you’ve brought in every day is proof of your skill and diligence, right?”

“!”

“With your talent, I couldn’t let you go off chasing cats at another branch just like that, you know?”

“!!”

“So, I just wrote, ‘This steel-ranked adventurer is more skilled than he looks.’ No need to refuse it.”

“!!!”

“It’ll help you adapt at the new guild branch. Of course, the most important thing is your actions and expertise.”

What in the world… how was he supposed to respond?

This was different from the time when he felt like crying.

With the merchant family, it made sense that their goodwill returned because Arzen had first done them a favor.

But why was this man helping him?

‘I hardly even flattered him! Except for that time when I took on the cat-finding request at the beginning.’

As if he could read Arzen\'s trembling eyes, the muscular man smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t ask why. Getting involved in unnecessary things is the essence of being an adventurer, isn’t it? Just like the first five adventurers who helped the Lister Hero Party during the turmoil 400 years ago, pushing forward to the ends of the earth.”

“……!”

“Now… set forth on your adventure, boy! This vast world is unfolding before you.”

The guild members at the Karshiko branch watched the scene with warm smiles.

“It’s been a while since the branch chief took such care of someone.”

The branch chief of Karshiko had always been interested in every adventurer who came through.

That’s why he dressed as an ordinary member and carried out regular tasks.

“He must be reminded of the past. Whenever he sees junior members working hard like himself, he can’t help but want to assist them.”