CHAPTER 40
After Madame Karuang finished scolding Horizon at length.
She finally stopped only after I explained that I had come as a Holy Mage.
“If that was the case, you should have said so sooner.”
Karuang said with a feigned smile, ignoring Horizon who was crumpled in a corner.
Horizon’s wounded heart wouldn’t recover, but there was nothing to be done.
She was the master of Monghwagol.
No one here could stop Karuang.
“I didn’t realize Horizon was your daughter.”
“All the children of Monghwagol are my children.”
Karuang smiled benevolently.
But I knew that behind that benevolent smile lay calculation.
From the moment she became the master of Monghwagol, she must have seen her share of blood.
There was no need to form a deep relationship with the master of Monghwagol.
I came here to be employed.
A good employee who does their job well is sufficient for an employer.
“I heard from Horizon-ssi that a Holy Mage is needed within Monghwagol.”
“You’ve come at the right time. The Holy Mage friend who was working here recently quit due to personal reasons.”
At Karuang’s gesture, a woman appeared. Dressed in simple attire, she seemed to be a maid.
Come to think of it, there were no men in Monghwagol except for the customers.
This was a space composed solely of women.
“Ring, please guide him.”
“Yes, Madame.”
As the maid was about to lead the way, I raised my hand to stop her.
“I haven’t heard anything about the payment yet.”
Just as expected of a crafty snake who has survived in Monghwagol.
She was subtly trying to make me work without even discussing the fee.
Karuang fanned herself, covering her mouth and giving an eye-smile.
“Oh dear, I forgot.”
How cunning.
“For the payment, how about room and board for the next week, plus one hundred gold? That includes a little extra for hush money, to ensure you don’t speak of this outside.”
100 gold for a week?
Considering room and board, that was a very large sum.
But I needed to gather a thousand gold within a month.
One hundred gold a week wasn't enough.
And from our brief conversation, I noticed one important fact.
“If there’s hush money involved, doesn’t that mean a disease is spreading that shouldn’t be known to the outside world?”
“……What could you mean?”
She was smiling, but the atmosphere had clearly changed.
The specific mention of hush money.
And the fact that the Holy Mage who had been working at Monghwagol recently quit.
Karuang tried to gloss over it, but my intuition was telling me.
Something was happening inside Monghwagol.
Perhaps it was because I’d recently been seeing the signs of incidents and then rolling right into them.
My senses for this kind of thing had become sharp.
“Due to the nature of our business, syphilis is a serious disease. I’d simply prefer you not to talk about it.”
Is she trying to deny it?
I turned my gaze from Karuang to the maid.
She had a guilty conscience and was averting her eyes.
Karuang might be good at hiding things, but the maid wasn’t.
I was a pro at reading the flow of the atmosphere.
“Madame, I came here as a Holy Mage.”
I didn’t come here to buy a woman, but to heal.
“If something is spreading, you have to tell me exactly what it is so I can treat it.”
So give me more money in the form of hush money.
At my sincere words, Karuang fell silent behind her fan.
“M-Madame.”
Just then, Horizon, who had been scolded for so long, staggered to her feet.
“Harua is a trustworthy person.”
Horizon vouched for my credibility.
It seemed we had developed a sense of camaraderie from that incident.
“For you to trust someone… you’ve changed a lot since going outside.”
Karuang looked at Horizon with surprised eyes.
Horizon then twisted a lock of her hair, looking slightly embarrassed.
“B-because I’ve become an adult.”
Horizon was definitely an adult.
That was not something a child could possess.
“………Huu, alright.”
Karuang finally threw in the towel.
Just as I suspected, an incident had broken out in Monghwagol.
“Do you know what an Apostle is?”
“Aren’t they the wicked things that have fallen from a Transcendent?”
Transcendent.
A divine being that exists in the 1st World.
But not all Transcendents were benevolent beings.
Only a few were judged to be beneficial.
Most were dangerous beings that should not be trifled with.
The Transcendent that the cultists who killed me served was one of them.
An Apostle is a monstrosity that sometimes breaks off from such a Transcendent and reaches the surface.
“Yes. Among the Apostles that fell from a Transcendent, there was one that harbored a disease.”

“………Wasn’t that Apostle hunted down a long time ago?”
Aranseol, who also seemed to know something, chimed in.
I had studied to some extent, but people who had lived in this world knew these things better.
“That’s right. But parts of the Apostle’s corpse were still in circulation.”
For something that dangerous to be in circulation… how very Nox.
“One of our customers happened to come into contact with a part of that corpse, caught the disease, and visited Monghwagol.”
A disease harbored by such an Apostle would be completely different from a common illness.
“Ten of my girls caught it, and in succession, including maids and workers, nearly a hundred people have been infected.”
Now I understood why the Holy Mage had quit so quickly for “personal reasons.”
An Apostle’s disease was beyond the means of a normal Holy Mage to cure.
Moreover, there were a hundred people.
It was not a number that could be handled.
I could understand the look of dejection on the Madame’s face as she spoke.
“……We’ve managed to quarantine them for now, but do you know what comes next?”
“They’ll die.”
It was a disease with no cure, after all.
They would eventually suffer from the illness and die.
Karuang didn’t seem to think differently as she let out a sigh.
“Even for Nox, this is a story that would be troublesome if it got out. It’s not a matter even the Regular Army can turn a blind eye to.”
An Apostle’s disease is spreading in Nox.
It was a major incident that could potentially affect the surface, so the Regular Army would break their pact and move in.
“Wouldn’t it be better to request help from the Regular Army?”
“The Master of Nox does not wish for it, so there is no other way. We must resolve this on our own.”
Even the Madame of Monghwagol was powerless against the Master of Nox.
“I don’t expect a Holy Mage to cure that. This is a story you would have found out naturally while staying here anyway, so I’m really just asking for your silence. I’ll give you an additional 50 gold for it.”
A 50% raise in my weekly wage was a huge success.
However, my nose had caught the scent of money.
“Then, separate from that, how about 600 gold to cure them?”
“What?”
For the first time, Karuang looked flustered.
It was the face of someone who never imagined I would offer to treat them.
However, I could cure them.
Of course, I would have to die once in the process, but the cure was definitely possible.
Because I have resurrection magic.
“Harua!”
Aranseol shouted, seemingly realizing what I was about to do.
But I raised my hand, signaling her not to stop me.
To trade with the designated merchant, I had to scrape together money by any means necessary.
This was not the time to be picky about methods.
“However, I cannot show you the treatment process.”
Furthermore, this was the best situation to present my own conditions.
It would be a waste to miss this opportunity.
“Are you serious?”
If I wasn’t careful, I could also catch the Apostle’s disease.
No, I probably would for sure.
But I do not die.
Even if it is the disease of an Apostle.
“What do you say?”
Under the red lanterns.
I gave a chilling smile.
“……I have nothing to lose.”
If I failed, one more Holy Mage would just get sick with the Apostle’s disease.
For her, it was a story with no downside.
With that, I had secured Karuang’s acceptance.
Alright, let’s make a hefty profit.

Afterward, we moved to the room we were assigned, and I got a thorough scolding from Aranseol.
She knew I had resurrection magic.
So she was well aware of the risks involved in this job.
“Aranseol, the way the world has been turning lately is unusual.”
Everywhere we go, there’s an incident.
We’ve managed to overcome the crises and return alive each time, but we don’t know what will happen next.
The best way to prepare for an incident is to become stronger myself.
I can’t ask Aranseol to be my bodyguard forever. I need to become strong enough to at least take care of myself.
To do that, I must purchase the elixir sold by the designated merchant.
“Compared to what we’ve been through so far, this job is the safest.”
Karuang wanted to keep the Apostle’s disease from being known to the outside.
As such, she would also keep the fact that we cured it under wraps and sworn to secrecy.
Earning a large sum of money without leaving any trace.
There aren’t many situations better than this.
“Leave it to me. I’ll take care of it and be back soon.”
Aranseol looked at me for a moment, then let out a sigh and lightly tapped her forehead against my chest.
“Don’t overdo it.”
“Just take good care of Babiyen.”

“Ugh…”
She was a woman with many worries.

Knock, knock—

Just then, I heard a knock on the door.
Since I was closest, I opened it to find Horizon and a maid standing there.
While we were in our room, Horizon had been with Karuang.
“H-Harua-ssi, they said they’re ready.”
“Alright. No sense in delaying, then.”
I gave Aranseol a look to let her know I was leaving. Holding Babiyen’s hand, she reluctantly nodded.
Following Horizon and the maid, we walked down the corridors of Monghwagol. The building itself was old, but it was kept immaculately clean, as if scrubbed daily.
Seeing this, I figured the syphilis outbreak was more likely due to external factors than Monghwagol itself.
“Harua-ssi.”
As I was looking around, Horizon spoke to me first.
“Thank you for agreeing to treat everyone.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m just doing it for the money.”
“No. The other Holy Mages wouldn’t even entertain the idea of trying to treat them.”
That’s because there’s no cure.
If I didn’t have my own method, I would have done the same.
“You’re always trying to save someone, Harua-ssi, just like in the 2nd World.”

But it seemed Horizon saw things differently as she gave a small smile.
This is awkward.
I’m not nearly the saint she thinks I am.
“Horizon, I just act according to my own interests. Even in the 2nd World, my top priority was saving my own skin.”
“Would someone like that volunteer to be bait against Arachne?”
I only did that because I knew I could handle it.
“That day, Babiyen-ssi and I saw you run with our own two eyes.”
Horizon turned to me, her smile filled with sincerity.
“Even if it was for the reasons you say, it wasn’t something just anyone could do. That’s why I had the courage to tell the Madame that I trusted you. B-before, I was always too scared of the Madame to say things like that.”
It was true that Horizon seemed weak in front of the Madame.
I didn’t deserve such high praise, but somehow, I’d earned a great deal of trust.
“So, I know it’s shameless of me, but please.”
Horizon and the maid stopped walking at the same time.
“Please save my sisters.”
Horizon bowed her head deeply.
Meanwhile, the maid pulled up the mask she wore around her neck.
With a key she had prepared, she opened a heavy lock.
It had been secured from the outside to prevent anyone from opening it from within.
The moment the door opened, a pungent, acrid smell assaulted us.
It was a familiar smell I’d encountered before.
The smell of burning flesh.
The large room was packed with a hundred women.
Their esophagi burning away, they couldn’t even swallow a sip of water as they lay dying.
The Apostle’s Disease.
The Crimson Blight.
A horrific illness that stained the entire body red and inflicted the agony of being burned alive.
“Close the door.”
Thud—
I had it shut to keep the disease from spreading.
Inside the dark room, only the sound of women rasping like scraping metal echoed.
I rolled up my sleeves and stood before them.
“Let’s all take a quick nap and wake up.”
It was time for resurrection therapy.