Chapter 241 - Even in a Life Like This (4)

The Demon Knight would never have fled without a reason. Deathbringer pondered that statement, one anyone who knew the Demon Knight even a little would agree with.

Because saying he would never flee without a reason also meant that, given sufficient reason, he could flee.

But this was the Demon Knight, of all people. Just how compelling a justification would it take to make someone like him run?

What could anyone possibly tell him to make him choose to go into hiding?

"It was you, wasn't it?"

At the very least, it could not have been something he thought up while sitting in his cell. He was not the sort to rack his brains for ways to survive, and it would be strange for him to only now think of a reason strong enough to reverse his firm stance. If such a thing existed, the Demon Knight would have dealt with it long ago.

"Pardon?"

"The one who got to Boss."

So there had probably been outside intervention. A third party must have given the Demon Knight a new perspective.

"Let's not waste time beating around the bush. We both know we're in the same line of work."

Once he began asking around with that question in mind, the answer came easily.

An adventurer had caused a commotion outside the Demon Knight's prison before his escape. Meister, who happened to be talking to the Demon Knight at the time, had insisted on accepting a delivery right then, claiming it was something he had ordered.

As someone who had dealt in information for years, Deathbringer considered that more than enough cause for suspicion.

"Oh, for crying out loud. You show up out of nowhere and start saying..."

But finding out that much did not mean everything would go smoothly.

"Listen, rookie. In a situation like this, people in our line of work show each other respect and turn a blind eye."

The adventurer, who unfortunately belonged to the same information guild, seized his collar and brought their faces close together. To an outsider, they would look as though they were fighting, but it was really a trick to let them speak as quietly as possible.

With every syllable the man uttered, his breath brushed Deathbringer's cheek.

"I've got nothing to say to you. Now piss off."

Having a fellow information guild member as the person he needed information from was a double-edged sword. If negotiations succeeded, he could gain more than he would from an ordinary person. If they failed, he might find the scene scrubbed so clean there was not a single clue left.

At least this man had not had time to clean up and had left him a trail... but that was all. Given the commotion he had caused, the Temple must have grown suspicious and investigated too. The fact that he was walking around freely said it all.

He must have coordinated his story flawlessly with Meister. So perfectly that the Temple had no choice but to let him go, however reluctant it was.

"You might have nothing to say, but I do."

So Deathbringer grabbed his colleague's collar. The man, who had released Deathbringer's clothes in order to leave, was left looking foolish.

His unremarkable face contorted into a deep scowl as he glared at Deathbringer.

"Hey, Green Ears. I don't know what you're doing, but I've got business with that adventurer. Let go of him, would you?"

Just then, someone unexpected intervened. Meister.

"You...?"

"Oh, the clien—?"

Deathbringer briefly considered why he was here, then decided to be pleased for now. He had been planning to seek Meister out anyway about the story he had coordinated with this adventurer.

Having him come to them saved time.

"There you are."

But perhaps celebrating too soon was a mistake.

Another unexpected complication appeared. One he had never wanted, did not need, and certainly did not like. The feeling was probably mutual.

"... What, the Temple? What is it now?"

Apparently Meister felt the same way. With a look of utter distaste, he glared at the newcomer, Inquisitor Daniel.

There was no way Meister knew the man, so he was probably reacting purely to his Temple affiliation. For the first time, Deathbringer appreciated that damned obnoxious attitude.

"What is it this time, Inquisitor? Have you decided I'm a heretic?"

"... Pardon? No, I'm here on business with this gentleman."

'Good. Keep going. Give him more attitude!'

Still holding the other man's collar, Deathbringer watched their exchange with a crooked look. Unfortunately, their misunderstanding did not last long.

He had hoped it would escalate enough that they would forget all about him.

"What do you want now?"

But their attention had already shifted to him.

Deathbringer spoke curtly, keeping a firm grip on his colleague's collar so the disguised adventurer could not escape. Daniel's brow naturally furrowed.

"I came because I have something to ask you... but why are you holding someone by the collar? I don't know the circumstances, so I won't presume to interfere, but wouldn't it be better to let go and talk things out?"

He said he wouldn't interfere, and there he was interfering already.

Deathbringer stuck out his lips, inwardly mocking Daniel. He did so despite knowing that by not interfering, Daniel meant he would not rashly condemn him.

"That's how you see it. Stay out of my personal business and piss off."

He could not help it. That was how much he hated the man. Once Daniel learned the Demon Knight had fled, he would insult him again. And Deathbringer knew he would no longer be able to refute those insults, which made him hate Daniel all the more.

It was the absolute worst.

"As I just said, I came because I have something to ask you. And given the situation, I can hardly accept being told to stay out of your personal business..."

"Look, you two can talk all you want, but let the adventurer go first. You've got business with each other, and I've got business with him."

"Yes, exactly. Please leave me out of this and talk. I haven't done anything wrong, so there's no reason to keep me here like this, is there? Right, Father?"

At least Daniel seemed not to have heard the news about the Demon Knight yet... but meanwhile, Meister was desperate to take the adventurer away.

Whether he intended to coordinate their stories again or had some other reason, Deathbringer could not simply watch. If they deliberately kept their mouths shut, even he would have trouble.

"You haven't done anything wrong...?"

"I was just minding my own business, walking along, when this man picked a fight with me."

"Is that true?"

"No, look. There's a reason for this..."

He could lie and claim the other man had started it, but then this brick wall of a man might drag them somewhere full of priests to determine who was at fault. He had to avoid that at all costs.

Deathbringer ground his teeth at this damned predicament, with pressure coming from both sides.

"Please give me a clear answer. Regardless of your standing, threatening an innocent person is..."

"Damn it! I told you there's a reason!"

"Then if you would explain..."

"Oh, I try to be nice and all you do is waste my fucking time. Is this any way for a priest who claims to serve the people to behave? Is it all right to hold people up and inconvenience them?"

Surprisingly, it was Meister who saved him.

"Ah, I apologi—"

"Just words? Don't you think actions would make your apology more sincere?"

"... Well, what would you have me do?"

"It doesn't look like you made an appointment, so piss... please go away. We'll settle things between the adventurer and that idiot ourselves. You can meet him separately afterward and take care of your business."

"I don't mind doing that for my own business, but as for the altercation..."

"I said the people involved will reach an agreement themselves. So please leave. You're the reason this compromise is taking so long."

Strictly speaking, Meister seemed to have stepped in to save his own time rather than to rescue Deathbringer, but a good outcome was a good outcome.

Unable to get a word in edgewise under the one-sided barrage, Daniel scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Understood. Then I'll visit your quarters this evening."

He would have to stay away from his quarters tonight. Deathbringer made that resolution as Daniel departed.

"Now, shall we talk?"

All that remained were people with information to offer.

"We've wasted enough time. Let's be frank. You first. Why did you come looking for him?"

They moved elsewhere to reduce the chances of their conversation leaking. Meister had eased their worries about eavesdroppers with a tool he said absorbed sound, but three people standing idly in the street would still attract attention.

So they deliberately sought out work to draw fewer eyes. Fortunately, there was a house-repair job that required several people. With Meister among them, no one thought it strange for the three of them to work together.

"You two were involved in the Demon Knight's escape, weren't you?"

"Why? Do you want to start throwing around accusations of heresy too?"

"No. I want to know why Knight Boss left."

Still, to open with something so serious...

Meister fell silent for a moment at Deathbringer's words. The image of the man who had stood vigil over the Demon Knight until he woke flashed through his mind.

Surely that had not been an act.

"I didn't help directly."

"Then what prompted it?"

He made his decision quickly. There was a shrewd calculation behind it as well: Green Ears had spent a long time with the Demon Knight and might provide another clue.

"That's what I need to find out."

"...?"

"You, adventurer. Do you know what you delivered that day?"

"How would I know? The commission didn't include permission to look."

But as expected, things went wrong from the very first step. The man was merely a courier.

What could he base his conjectures on now? Meister sank into thought.

"... Wait, you don't know what was inside either? Didn't you take it from him and give it to Knight Boss?"

Or tried to.

"I did deliver it for him. But all I know is that it was a bundle of papers. I didn't see what was written on them. I didn't think it would be that important at the time."

When he had asked whether it was important, the Demon Knight had not even given a proper yes. Not with a suspicious pretense of ignorance, but with genuine indifference.

Under those circumstances, how could he have guessed its value? If he had known the knight would escape after receiving it, he would have asked what it was.

"A bundle of papers?"

"Yes. Quite a thick one."

But he had not known then, so he had assumed the knight was buying some academic paper to read. Though, since it had not been bound as a book, it probably was not a formal paper.

"What information did you sell him?"

At that, Green Ears turned his head to stare directly at the adventurer. To Meister, who had never doubted the man's identity as an adventurer, the accompanying question sounded rather out of the blue.

"As I just said, the commission didn't include that provision, so I don't know anyth—"

"We both know that's not going to fly."

"... Wait. How can you be so sure?"

"About what?"

"That this adventurer knows the contents. That the delivery was information."

"... Because he's an information broker, not an adventurer?"

"What?"

Meister stopped tightening the rope around a pole and looked at the adventurer. He had genuinely believed the man was one.

"If even he says it was thick, you must have sold him quite a haul. Just what did you sell?"

While Meister recovered from his surprise, Deathbringer pressed the adventurer, or rather, the information broker. The broker's face crumpled again.

"Look... now that you know, I won't bother denying I'm a broker. But adventurers aren't the only ones with confidentiality clauses, you know...?"

"Is this a secret even my clearance won't cover?"

"Your clearance... Fuck, you're Deathbringer?"

"Now that you know, talk."

"... Still no. I can't."

Given his rank in the information guild, Deathbringer had the right to obtain most information. Especially considering his special position as a companion of the Hero.

At the man's continued refusal, Deathbringer twitched a finger.

Was this really information above his clearance? Really?

"Then how did the Demon Knight buy it?"

How had the Demon Knight bought information that even he could not obtain? No matter how much he had contributed to the guild, that could hardly have been easy. How?

"... I'll report this to the guild."

"What?"

"For Knight Boss to buy information I can't access, there must have been something behind it. And I suspect that something was closer to corruption."

If even Deathbringer's rank did not grant access, it was probably information shared secretly only among the guild's highest officers. There were two reasons to hand that over to an unauthorized outsider. Regardless of what sort of person the Demon Knight was, he was not a guild member.

Either that outsider had pulled the right strings, through connections or favors owed, or a guild member blinded by money had sold it off.

And the guild would never tolerate the latter. Trivial information might be one thing, but information shared only among its highest officers was another matter entirely.

"Everyone at the local branch is dead, so it'll take a while to report it... but I think I'll be the one laughing in the end."

In that case, the guild would also express its displeasure with the Demon Knight for buying the information, but Deathbringer could somehow smooth that over. With that in mind, he met the broker's eyes squarely.

"It'll take a while? Then let's hand him over to the Temple."

It was then that Meister, having sorted through his thoughts, interjected.

"Pardon?"

"If he were just a courier, even torture wouldn't get us anything... but an information broker is a different story. It means he's got something to cough up if he's questioned."

"Well..."

"So let's send him to the Temple. Does he really think he can keep his mouth shut before their judgment?"

Even so, selling a member of the information guild to those religious fanatics was a bit much. Just as Deathbringer was about to say so, Meister looked straight at him.

His violet eyes shone with a distinctly colored transparency.

"... Wouldn't that put you in a difficult position?"

"So I'll turn myself in. With the skills I have, the Temple can't punish me too harshly. At most, they'd make me serve them for a dozen years or so. Besides, you said reporting it to the guild would take time. I can't stand that."

Now that was a punishment Meister would spend his entire life wanting to avoid. Knowing that, Deathbringer nevertheless pretended to agree. That left only the broker with nowhere to turn.

"Then that's perfect. That Inquisitor from earlier is famous for being quite good at his job. He also has a personal grudge against Knight Boss... against the Demon Knight, so he'll be sure to fuck you up thoroughly."

"... Wait, hold on. You're not serious, are you? You aren't really going to hand me over?"

"Not if you talk."

"Are you insane? That's a betrayal of the guild—!"

"If no one knows, it never happened. You know that perfectly well, don't you?"

Deathbringer lowered his voice.

"Bemurhen's information guild has been all but wiped out. In other words, even if I hand you over, there's no one left to notice."

Muddying ordinary people's impressions would be child's play. With his connection to the Hero, getting the Temple to keep quiet would not be difficult either.

He laid out each point as he intimidated the broker. This was only possible because the city was in such a sorry state.

"On the other hand, if the Temple takes you and you spill information above even my clearance... especially with a prior history of selling it to outsiders, what do you think the guild will do?"

Deathbringer did not know which branch the man belonged to, but it would not end well for him.

"Damn it!"

Finally realizing he was cornered on every side, the man swore. It was also a declaration of surrender.

"Fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise me something too."

"What?"

"You won't report to the information guild that I told you. And this stays between the two of you!"

At the broker's words, Deathbringer and Meister exchanged a look.

"Fine. We have a deal."

"Tell us now."

It was time to hear the truth.

Is It a Problem If the Protagonist Is a Roleplay Fanatic? (Serialized Edition)

Author │ Hae Inseol

Publisher │ Kim Juhyeong

Published by │ Jple Media Co., Ltd.

Marketing │ Han Jaehyeok

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