The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1197

 Chapter 1197

 

“As I thought.”

Raon returned a similar smile as he looked at Denning Rose, who was wearing a faint smile.

“So you already knew my plan, branch manager.”

When he asked Evelyn to investigate the missing persons, he expected that someone like Denning Rose would realize his intentions. Seeing that she had come all the way here, it seemed his thought was correct.

“If you look at the first and second investigations, it’s obvious.”

Denning Rose shook her head, saying it would have been harder not to notice.

“Honestly, it does look dangerous, but I don’t think there’s a better plan to strike at Derus’s vital point. And besides….”

She gazed steadily at Raon’s face and lightly covered her mouth.

“You wouldn’t listen even if someone tried to stop you.”

Since it was obvious he wouldn’t listen anyway, Denning Rose smiled with her eyes and said it would be better to investigate things thoroughly.

“It’s embarrassing, but you’re right.”

Raon scratched the back of his head and nodded.

“This plan has to go forward no matter what.”

Just as Denning Rose had said, this was a plan I absolutely could not abandon. Still, unlike before, I wouldn’t rush in blindly. I would refine countless plans and pieces of information until failure became impossible.

So what the hell is that plan!

Wrath charged forward like a raging bull.

At this point, you should tell the King of Essence too!

He frowned, demanding to know why Raon wouldn’t tell him when the information wouldn’t leak anyway.

‘At this point, you should have figured it out yourself.’

Raon let out a short sigh.

He doesn’t know, that’s why he’s asking!

Wrath shook his head, saying that no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure it out.

‘Then wait.’

Raon raised his hand and lightly patted Wrath on the head.

‘You’ll know soon enough.’

Now that Denning Rose had brought the information, it wouldn’t be strange to say that the execution of the plan was right around the corner. There was no longer any need to explain it.

“I thought so. That’s why I gathered proper information.”

Smiling, Denning Rose opened her subspace pocket. Considering he hadn’t even sensed she had a subspace pocket, it likely didn't hold a massive amount of items like Dorian’s, but it seemed better for concealing important objects.

“I organized it in coordination with the Shadow Agents, so you can look at it right away—”

She was just about to take out a thick booklet from the subspace pocket.

“Wait!”

Evelyn burst out of the annex building with a scream-like shout. She must have been in a hurry, because her hair, usually neatly combed, was in disarray, and she was panting for breath.

“That information shouldn’t have been finished until at least tomorrow!”

Evelyn bit her lip, seemingly having predicted the timing of when Denning Rose would compile the Black Market information.

“I stayed up all night to finish it.”

Denning Rose smiled lightly, saying that thanks to that, she was tired.

“You’ve never stayed up all night before!”

Evelyn furrowed her brows, asking why Denning Rose had suddenly skipped sleep, as if she even knew her personal habits.

“When something like this happens, I do put in the effort.”

Denning Rose smiled brightly, saying that since it was important to Raon, she wanted to deliver it quickly.

“Hah! So that was what you were after.”

Evelyn let out a short laugh as she looked at Denning Rose’s smile.

“No wonder you’re the one in charge of the Zieghart branch.”

She nodded, saying Denning Rose was worthy of becoming the Black Market master’s disciple.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Denning Rose nodded and handed the prepared booklet to Raon.

“Th-thank you.”

Startled by Evelyn’s sudden appearance, Raon still reached out and accepted the booklet Denning Rose had prepared.

“I wanted to be the one to bring it to you.”

Evelyn clicked her tongue in disappointment as she looked at the booklet in Raon’s hands.

“Evelyn. What were you doing?”

Raon blinked as he looked at her. She looked so different from usual that he wanted to know what was going on with her

“I went to check that forest. There might have been changes.”

She let out a sigh, saying she remembered his request and had gone to examine the forest where Derus was believed to be hiding.

“Whether Derus is really hiding there or not, the location of the barrier keeps changing.”

She nodded, saying that, just as Raon had said, it was worth continuing to monitor the forest.

“So it is as expected.”

Raon smacked his lips briefly and clenched his fist.

‘If that’s the case, then Derus still hasn’t noticed our movements.’

Because secrecy mattered more than anything in this matter, they had controlled the flow of information as tightly as possible. Fortunately, it seemed that their movements still hadn’t entered Derus’s sight.

“Thank you, Evelyn.”

Raon thanked her for moving around without even sleeping and took her hand.

“Eu-heung!”

Evelyn let out a strange sound, like a hungry puppy or cat, and shivered her shoulders.

“It’s nothing!”

She said it was nothing special and lightly flicked her eyebrows toward Denning Rose.

“Hmm.”

Despite Evelyn’s provocation, Denning Rose showed no change in expression and simply maintained her smile.

“Let’s see….”

Raon opened the book in which Denning Rose had compiled and organized the information.

‘The missing people aren’t anything special.’

The booklet contained information on all the people who had disappeared so far, but there didn’t seem to be any clear pattern or standard. There were civilians, warriors, and even mages.

However, the realms of the warriors and mages were mostly not very high. Since even the strongest among them were only Master, it seemed that those with greater might were not being abducted.

‘Is there some specific reason?’

Considering the power of Derus and the archangels, abducting even Grandmaster wouldn’t have been difficult, so I couldn’t understand why they had only taken people up to Master.

‘Men and women, young and old. No one is excluded.’

The professions varied as well, merchants, blacksmiths, bartenders, storytellers, guards, vagrants, but there was almost no common ground among the missing, regardless of gender or age.

‘The places they disappeared from are all different too.’

Some vanished from their homes while alone, others disappeared while traveling, and some even vanished from crowded taverns. There seemed to be no clue to grasp hold of.

‘Wait….’

As Raon read on, his eyes narrowed.

‘A small number of the missing said they’d found a way to go to heaven?’

Among the missing, there were records stating that a very small number had said they were going to heaven.

“What does this mean?”

Raon slightly narrowed his eyes and pointed to that part of the booklet.

“It means exactly what it says. Only a very few, but they say the missing people told their acquaintances that they were going to heaven.”

Denning Rose shook her head, saying that was all she had been able to find out.

“I met an acquaintance of a missing person who said something like that during my investigation too.”

Evelyn raised her hand high.

“They said the person disappeared not long after saying they’d found a way to go to heaven.”

She lifted her nose proudly, saying her information was included in that record as well.

“Heaven….”

Raon frowned as he examined all the contents of the booklet.

‘There’s nothing more than that.’

Even after reading it all, he hadn’t gained any particularly special information.

‘This is difficult. With just this, it’ll be hard to carry out the plan… huh?’

Raon smacked his lips briefly, then his eyes widened.

‘Wait. Could this be…?’

Swallowing his dry saliva, he went back and reread the earlier part of the booklet that listed the missing persons.

“I think that’s it.”

Raon nodded heavily, now holding a certain level of confidence.

“What is?”

“Did you find something?”

Evelyn and Denning Rose narrowed their eyes in curiosity.

“So far, there have been countless missing people of all ages and genders, but there’s exactly one profession that’s missing.”

Raon closed the booklet and looked up at the sky.

“What profession is that?”

Evelyn blinked, clearly not understanding.

“Priests. There isn’t a single person who believes in a god.”

Raon curled his lips as he read Derus’s plan through the book.

“It seems Derus Robert has created a new religion.”

“Priests… religion….”

Denning Rose let out a low murmur, as if she had only just realized it.

“That’s true! There are all kinds of professions, jewel cutters, blacksmiths, beggars, merchants, boxers, mages, but there isn’t a single profession related to religion, like priests or missionaries.”

She clapped loudly, saying Raon was exactly right.

“How did you even….”

Denning Rose let out a breathy laugh, wondering how he had managed to notice that from just a single look at the booklet.

“Heh! Isn’t he amazing?”

Evelyn shrugged with a proud expression, as if she herself had uncovered the secret.

“Derus Robert abducted people in secret. Given how little trace there is, it makes sense to assume the missing people moved of their own will. And the best way to do that is through religion.”

Raon nodded as he explained how he had reasoned it out.

“Especially since the White Blood Religion, which stood at the pinnacle of all heretical religions, was destroyed, taking its place wouldn’t have been difficult.”

Those who believe in heretical religions seek direct rewards from their god, so they never pursue ordinary religions. With the White Blood Religion, a heretical religion spread across the entire continent, collapsing in an instant, it would have been very easy to take advantage of the opening it left behind.

“Thinking about it that way, it’s certain.”

Denning lowered her brows, agreeing that it seemed certain.

“We should dig into that direction and investigate.”

She nodded, saying they needed to change the direction of the investigation.

Seriously, this guy’s head….

Wrath tilted his head as if at a loss for words.

He’s clueless in human relationships, but his instincts in things like this are absurdly sharp!

He frowned, unable to comprehend how someone could be built like that.

“The answer’s come out now.”

Raon let out a sinister smile and brushed back the blond hair that had fallen across his forehead.

“Where we need to go in.”

*   *   *

A dark night, as if the moon had been erased from the world.

Ssssh.

Two figures clad in pitch-black robes, as though darkness itself were flowing, passed through the alleys of the busy streets.

It wasn’t that there were no people around, yet strangely, no one paid the robed pair any attention. It was as if they were completely hidden behind a veil, utterly untouched by others’ gazes.

The short man walking in front moved without hesitation, weaving through the alleys as though familiar with every turn. Behind him, the tall man walked stiffly, his eyes constantly flicking left and right in nervous unease.

“There’s no need to be so tense.”

The short man glanced back slightly and smiled.

“You are one of the chosen. Everyone in heaven will welcome you.”

He waved his hand gently, his warm voice melting away tension.

“Ah, yes. I know.”

The tall man’s blue eyes trembled as he swallowed his dry saliva. His rigid movements and shaking voice made it clear that he was extremely nervous.

“We’re almost there now.”

Despite saying the destination was just ahead, the short man passed through five more alleys before finally stopping.

“This is it.”

He straightened his back in front of a small building whose walls were blackened and whose door looked so old it seemed ready to collapse.

“It looks shabby, but we chose this place on purpose. We have to avoid the jealous eyes of others.”

The short man softly curled his lips, saying that not just anyone could go to heaven.

“Y-yes… I guess so.”

Standing before the entrance, the tall man’s tension only grew, his face turning pale.

“Let’s go.”

The short man grasped the rusted doorknob and opened the door. Though it looked like it might fall apart at any moment, it opened smoothly without making a sound.

“Mmhh….”

The tall man let out a low murmur as he stepped inside. The interior was just as ruined as the exterior, leaving him unsure where to sit.

“Th-that person is….”

His eyes trembled when he saw a man who looked like a vagrant snoring in the corner.

“You don’t need to worry about him. He belongs to the same world as us.”

The short man waved his hand, saying the vagrant was like a gatekeeper of this land.

“You look disappointed.”

Seeing the tall man’s expression crease slightly, he drew a faint smile.

“N-no, that’s not it.”

“That’s understandable. You’re still only seeing reality.”

The short man extended his hand, as if to say that what came next was the real thing.

“From now on, you’ll see with the eyes of the heart.”

When he lightly tapped the wall with his finger, the floor opened without a sound, revealing a door leading underground.

Whoooosh!

Unlike the building above, the interior beyond the underground door was spotless, not a speck of dust in sight, and gleamed luxuriously as if made of white gold.

“Gasp!”

The tall man sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at the door and stairs, glowing with a holy light as though truly leading to heaven. His expression was one of pure shock.

“Shall we go? The first step toward heaven.”

The short man nodded for him to follow and descended the stairs first.

“Ah—yes!”

A flush rose to the tall man’s cheeks as he followed after him.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Though no one saw it, within his blue eyes flashed a red gleam, hotter than molten lava.

“The real heaven.”

That look was not excitement over a new world, but the ecstasy of having found what he had been seeking.

 

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