Chapter 268: Rich Friends (1)
" ...They were wicked people I'll never forgive."
Dolores spoke while sitting on a water tank on the rooftop of an abandoned building with no one around.
The sight of the heretics and cults dying in such large numbers was certainly horrifying.
However, they were people who committed evil deeds in various places on the outskirts of the empire, beyond the eyes of the church.
Scammers who took advantage of the hearts of sick patients and their families, or by scaring and intimidating them, used the wealth they had accumulated to lobby the central authority, and in return, they became more and more wealthy.
The only way to defeat them was simple, radical, and sure.
That's why Dolores collaborated with Night Hounds.
And the result.
Wearing the mask of Night Hound, Vikir was able to uncover the true identity of the Shadow figure.
A man who not only nurtured and nurtured local heresies and cults, but used them to launder and distribute money, eventually taking over half of the Faithful Quovadis.
The end of the long chain. There was the name of the 'Bourgeois' conglomerate.
Vikir handed Dolores the ledger he'd found at the scene of Miss Uroboros's carnage.
"See if you can handle it."
A voice without pitch, and a cold warning in it.
It was as if he was keeping a distance and drawing a line.
But Dolores had already made up her mind.
No matter how thorny the path, Dolores would follow wherever Night Hound led.
And then.
Flutter.
Without hesitation, Dolores opened the ledger.
"This, this!"
Dolores didn't need to look closely.
The word "bourgeois" was written on almost every page of the ledger, and the frequency of its appearance was overwhelming.
"... Unbelievable. Oh my God."
Dolores said, her voice shaking with disbelief.
It was clear what Bourgeois was after.
To weaken Quoadis by fostering cults and heresies through donations, to split it into Old and New Testament factions, and then to take over both groups simultaneously, ultimately taking control of the entire Faithful Quovadis.
In other words, it's a silent great war between the tycoons, the Faithful, and the seven great families of the Empire.
'Makes the Morg and Baskerville fight look childish.'
Although not a single drop of blood was shed, the viciousness and cruelty was beyond imagination.
Vikir recalled the testimony of Decarabia he had heard earlier.
" ... This painting is probably a collaboration between the 9th and 6th Corpses."
The 9th corpse, Dantalian, and the 6th corpse were said to be close friends.
And the 6th may have been planning to use this opportunity to finish the painting with his best friend.
"They support the Old Testament by making offerings to heretics and cults and using the money to buy vast amounts of indulgences. Cults and heresies are naturally secretive in their organization and often secretive in their accounting and taxation, so it would be easy to use them as minions."
"So the black money is laundered to buy indulgences, and then it goes to the Old Testament."
"Exactly. The sale of indulgences is a tax-free business sanctioned by the Emperor himself, so the Quovadis would have had no reason to be suspicious or wary in the first place."
"Accepting the free sweet treats without question turned me into a fat, lazy pig, and that's what Quovadis is now."
Dolores muttered to herself.
Vikir spoke briefly.
"Reminds me of a bourgeois family motto."
" ...huh?"
Dolores looked up, puzzled, and Vikir spoke briefly.
"There is no free lunch."
A phrase that best summarizes capitalist society.
Dolores swallowed hard.
The reason why the Bourgeois family interferes with the Quovadis family is a question that can be answered without much thought.
Trust. Faith. Faithfulness. Things that money can't buy.
A society that can afford even those things is a truly golden omnipotent world?
"The sword of an Iron Blood Swordsman Family, the spear of a Spearmaster Family, the bow of a Divine Archer Family, the poison of an Extreme Poisonous Family, the magic of a Mage Family. All can be bought with money, but I thought that only the faith of a religious hymns could not be bought with money...."
When Dolores looked downcast, Vikir said something else instead of consoling her.
"Now that we know the Bourgeois's intentions, we must find the real evil hiding among them."
The work is not yet done.
The individual in the group. The real enemy within the Bourgeois family must be found and eliminated.
'Perhaps he is the 6th Corpse.'
And then. Dolores said, sounding a little less confident.
"The last time I posted a 95-article rebuttal to the Old Testament, the Old Testament didn't even snort..., but this time we have to deal with the Bourgeois beyond them. Do you think it's possible...?"
"It is possible."
Dolores narrowed her eyes at Vikir, who answered her question before she could finish.
Vikir spoke strongly, his tone full of conviction.
"If you have the power."
How do you attack an enemy that is protected by society, armed with money, laws, and systems?
The answer is force.
Only violence, a quiet, stealthy, powerful, brutal force, can punish them.
'When the saint herself exposed the Indulgentia family's corruption in the past, it didn't even catch the tail of the Bourgeois family. It's not like we can win with the usual methods.'
Vikir thinks to himself.
And Dolores's expression was stiff with tension as she looked at Vikir's back.
"...Are you planning to assassinate key members of the Bourgeois family this time?"
"Yes."
For the first time, Vikir shared his assassination plans with others.
The memory of being forced to move up a level with the power of buffs against Dantalian was too strong.
'In a time of crisis, it's always helpful.'
Although Dolores was still unable to voluntarily control her awakening, who knows?
Then. Dolores opened her mouth with a look of concern.
"They say that members of the Bourgeois family take unusually high efforts to avoid assassination. I imagine it's quite difficult."
Vikir nodded.
A person with a lot to lose is bound to be fearful.
Even in the world before Vikir's regression, those in the Bourgeois spent vast sums of money on security to prevent assassinations.
They hire private soldiers and mercenaries to guard their residences, trading posts, and shops.
They traveled to work and back in secret, changing their routes each time and using multiple carriages for each trip.
In addition, the high-ranking members of the Bourgeois families were trained in various military skills and magic from childhood, spending huge amounts of money on tutoring, so each one of them had a high level of skill.
"Most of the members of the Bourgeois families live in luxurious mansions, and they have an incredibly tight security and guard system, and several layers of private soldiers and mercenaries around them, so how is it possible to sneak in?"
Dolores's question was a reasonable one.
But Vikir shook his head and gave a different answer.
"If they're hard to find, we can make them come to us."
"What? How?"
In response to the question Dolores expressed, Vikir stroked his chin once.
Then he asked the question in reverse.
"Assassins must be versatile. So what do you think are the virtues required of an assassin?"
It was a difficult question to answer for Dolores, who had never been an assassin in her life.
But she answered as best she could.
"Hmm. I don't know, murder, of course."
"Also."
"And... stamina. Agility. Discretion. Patience. Courage. Guts. And the judgment to make instant situational decisions. And the reticence to not spill information when caught?"
"There is one more."
Dolores shakes her head at Vikir's words.
Then Vikir added one last thing.
"You have to make good money."
...?
Dolores is stunned for a moment.
But Vikir continued nonchalantly.
"Sometimes you need money and a commission to get access to a target. It's one thing if you're funded by the government, but if you're not, or if something happens to your funder, you often have to raise the money privately."
So a surprising requirement for an assassin is the ability to make money.
The reality is different from the novels and comics, as very few assassinations are accompanied by generous military funding.
Even more so when dealing with an unspecified number of people with high social status.
Vikir said.
"The reason you need to make good money is simple. This is because a place to have lunch or dinner with a high-ranking member of the Bourgeois family is often put up for auction."
"Really? You have to pay to have lunch?"
"Yes, and a very large sum of money, money that the average office worker could never earn in a lifetime."
By sharing a meal, the buyer can gain information about investments, connections, and the future.
"For example, lunch with Demian, the second son of the Bourgeois family, costs a hundred kilograms of gold bars."
"Glup!"
Dolores swallowed hard.
That's enough money to build a few more temples in the slums!
It was a shocking amount for a saint of the New Testament who was always short on funds.
Vikir spoke as if to comfort Dolores, who for some reason was shaken.
"Don't worry. I have a lot of money. So much so that the Bourgeois family contacted me first."
"What? Really?"
Dolores looked stunned and looked away.
Without realizing it, she looked Night Hound up and down.
Then, Dolores cautiously expressed her opinion.
"But you look poor...."
Dolores said this because she had seen Night Hound take all the money in his pockets and give it to the poor during a plague called the Red Death.
Hearing Dolores' words, Vikir paused for a moment, then changed his tune.
"I must correct it, I have...."
After a few moments of silence, Vikir said something quite nice.
"I have a friend who has a lot of money."
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