IBPM 09

Chapter 09

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the system again.

But the contents had not changed.

Even after asking one more time, the answer I received was still the same.

Not 1%, not 0.1%, not even 0.01%…?

Then how much am I supposed to offer to obtain 100% divine power…?

【Since 1,000 gold is required to increase it by 1%, you have 95,000 gold remaining to reach 100%.】

I just earned 10 gold, and you’re telling me I have to earn another 95,000 gold?

How much is 1 gold worth in Korean won, anyway?

【1 gold is worth 100,000 won.】

So, if I calculate it, 95,000 gold is 9.5 billion won…

To put it bluntly, that means it costs 10 billion won to reach 100%.

“Ha, haha.”

10 billion. 10 billion, huh? I have to earn 10 billion?

“Gasp.”

The shocking amount sent a wave of heat rising from deep inside my body straight into my brain.

This feeling, this pain… I had definitely experienced it during my time as a detective.

It was stress-induced anger.

“This is driving me crazy…”

I lay spread-eagle on the bed, flailing my arms and legs as my anger overwhelmed me.

After collapsing in the kitchen while clutching the back of my neck because I couldn’t handle my rage, I was immediately carried to my bedroom by the startled Eirik and Dietrich.

Perhaps they judged my condition to be really bad because all I could do was make sounds like, “Ugh, uhhh!” So the two of them left after telling me to get plenty of rest without questioning me any further.

Left alone, I trembled with indignation.

“Hey, God. A hundred—one hundred billion, billion, uuuugh! Are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to get an amount of money I never even touched in my previous life?!”

In my previous life, saving even 100 million won was difficult, let alone 10 billion won. When am I supposed to save all that?

Even if I only aim for my target of 40%, that’s still 3.5 billion won!

“100 million won just to raise it by one percent. Heh-heh, hehehehe…”

Now all I could do was let out a hollow laugh like a madman.

The one good thing was that money wasn’t the only way to solve the problem.

The power of a god could also be restored by increasing the number of believers.

In other words, the more believers I gained, the less money I would have to offer, so I could work on both things at the same time, but…

Even then, I’d probably need at least 3 billion won.

“F***!”

I slammed my fist into the bed in frustration.

I sincerely hoped that this curse would reach even the sun in the sky.

After taking Ordel to her bedroom, Eirik and Dietrich were left half-dazed.

So many shocking things had happened one after another that they didn’t know what to say.

“…High Priest. What on earth just happened?”

Dietrich asked with a blank expression.

“Not only did she eat a meal in the dining hall, she also inspected the kitchen she had never even looked at before. Then she suddenly exposed the head chef’s embezzlement and even found the money hidden in a secret passage… Is this really something the Saintess did?”

Listing it all out made it even more absurd.

For two years, the only things the woman had done in the temple were being lazy, skipping temple events, living extravagantly, and causing trouble. And now she had accomplished something like this…?

“Then why did she suddenly collapse at the end?”

That was right. The most shocking thing was the Saintess fainting.

If Eirik hadn’t hurriedly caught her when she suddenly collapsed, she could have hit her head hard against the kitchen counter and seriously injured herself.

To be honest, at first he suspected that she might have pretended to faint to avoid explaining the situation…

But Ordel’s condition in Eirik’s arms had been quite serious.

She couldn’t even speak properly and was only letting out weak, breathless sounds. It definitely wasn’t an act.

“Ahem. Do you think she’ll be all right?”

Dietrich felt awkward worrying about the Saintess, something he had never done in his life, but he really was concerned.

He glanced toward the Saintess’s bedroom.

The firmly closed door had always been something he wanted to avoid, so how had things changed this much?

Was it because the Saintess really seemed to have changed?

“Her vital energy is only slightly disrupted. There is no serious problem, so she’ll be fine after getting some rest.”

“I suppose the Saintess can heal herself, too.”

Thud.

At that moment, Eirik suddenly stopped walking.

She had divine power, so she would be fine.

That was something Dietrich could say because he didn’t know that Ordel was a fake Saintess.

The divine power she possessed was pathetic, comparable to that of an apprentice priest, or even worse. Because of that, she had no healing ability either.

There was no way she could heal herself.

‘Should I go back?’

He was the only one who knew this fact, which meant he was also the only person who could help her.

Just as he made up his mind and was about to turn around—

“High Priest.”

A holy knight appeared at the end of the hallway.

“As you ordered, Kento has been locked in prison. We searched Kento’s room, but we didn’t find any other suspicious evidence.”

At the holy knight’s report, Eirik had no choice but to stop.

Ordel’s condition wasn’t serious enough for him to rush to her side immediately.

Therefore, as the High Priest, he needed to interrogate Kento, who had committed embezzlement, first.

His accomplice might still be walking around the Grand Temple.

But even knowing that, why couldn’t he bring himself to walk away?

“High Priest?”

“…No. Let’s go.”

Eirik began walking forward, toward the criminal who was waiting for him, rather than toward the Saintess behind him.

Yet all his attention remained focused behind him.

I should go see Ordel, even if it’s after the interrogation.

“Ah, and the Captain of the Holy Knights is expected to arrive sometime tomorrow after completing his mission.”

“That’s good to hear. Report to me as soon as he arrives.”

At the holy knight’s report, Eirik let out a relieved sigh.

The Captain of the Holy Knights, who led all the holy knights of the Grand Temple, had been away on an assignment for six months.

In a situation as chaotic as this, news of his return was more than welcome.

It was late at night, past midnight.

With not even moonlight entering the dark corner of the kitchen, someone was moving around busily.

The way he searched through every corner looked desperate, almost as if he were committing a burglary.

“Damn it, damn it! If it weren’t for that damn thing! I’ll never let this go!”

A dark figure searching underneath the kitchen counter spat out vicious curses.

His face was briefly revealed.

It was none other than Kento, who was supposed to be locked in prison.

The situation was extremely bad.

He had never imagined that he would be discovered so suddenly, without any warning.

And the person who had reported him was none other than Ordel.

He had to get out of here quickly and report this.

Kento clenched his teeth as he remembered Ordel’s face—the woman who had exposed his secret in front of the High Priest.

That damn bastard. He would never let her off.

“Ugh!”

At that moment, pain shot through his arm, twisting Kento’s face horribly.

His entire body ached from enduring the High Priest’s brutal interrogation.

Still, compared to the threats, the actual torture had not been that bad.

Thanks to that, he had managed to keep the other places where he had hidden his embezzled money secret, apart from the secret passage.

But he had to find everything and escape immediately before the holy knights searched the entire kitchen.

With that terrifying Captain of the Holy Knights still away, this was his last chance.

But…

“Damn it, why won’t this come out?! I can’t leave it behind!”

He had hidden most of the stolen money in the secret passage, but if he added up the money hidden in the other three places, it came to almost the same amount.

So he couldn’t leave even a single coin behind.

Since the money in the secret passage had been taken from him, he had to take everything else with him.

“F***!”

But the money pouch he had hidden seemed to be caught on something, because no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t come out.

In the end, Kento used even his injured arm to grab the pouch tightly.

Then, with a grunt, he pulled his entire body backward.

At last, the pouch came flying out.

“Got it! Damn thing, making me work this hard!”

Kento leaned his back against the cabinet opposite the kitchen counter and looked at the heavy money pouch with a delighted grin.

At that moment—

“Did you find the money?”

A gloomy voice came from behind him.