You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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148

 

The moment the Tower disappeared, only silence filled the Dungeon.

 

There were no cheers, no roars, no echoes of any kind.

 

Just— the space flipped once as if heaven and earth had reversed.

 

And at some point, I was standing in the middle of the Abandoned Quarry.

 

‘Have I returned?’

 

Looking around, people were emerging from here and there.

 

Hunters with worn Equipment, people wearing tattered priestly robes.

 

Park Si-on and Father Matteo were safe too.

 

People cheered at the sunlight they hadn’t seen in so long.

 

But their joy didn’t reach my ears.

 

I looked at Park Si-on slowly approaching me and quickly devised my next plan.

 

‘He won’t be useful just yet.’

 

Using Father Matteo or Park Si-on right away to strike at the Holy Guild or Yun Seo-won wouldn’t be difficult.

 

Just the fact that the former Guild Master who had supposedly returned to his home country was being held captive would give us sufficient justification.

 

However, that would be too shortsighted a solution.

 

What I was looking at was higher up.

 

The religious order’s forces inside the Vatican.

 

My goal was to deal with the forces including that Child called the Saint.

 

If I could establish a cooperative relationship with the Vatican in the process, that would be even better.

 

These two people were too valuable to waste just to bring down the Holy Guild and Yun Seo-won.

 

Moreover, if Park Si-on could restore his faction, that alone would be a tremendous asset.

 

Even if he didn’t become a saint.

 

‘If he’s worthy enough for the Paladin Director to covet as a Disciple, he’s certainly valuable.’

 

Of course, the position of patron who would unite and gather that faction would naturally be taken by me and Asin.

 

And the start of that…

 

I looked at Park Si-on, whose eyes were shining in front of me.

 

It was quite a burdensome gaze.

 

I lightly ignored it and shifted my gaze toward Father Matteo.

 

When dealing with minors, it’s right to target the guardian first.

 

It would start with building the Asin Mediterranean Sea branch.

 

“Then let’s go write up the Contract right away.”

 

Asin Mediterranean Sea branch Branch Manager.

 

***

 

“Elder Brother, shouldn’t you at least tell me who you’re making a Contract with?”

 

Kim Jin-woo looked back and forth between the middle school boy sitting in front of him and Han Sang-in with a bewildered expression.

 

After rolling under Han Sang-in for over a year, he had become somewhat accustomed to situations like this.

 

How else would there be a dedicated Contract storage box next to his desk?

 

He keeps picking up strange kids, and I can tell they’re all extraordinary.

 

But today there were quite a lot of them.

 

Normally he would just think, ‘Well, Elder Brother always has his reasons for what he does,’ and let it pass, but the clothing of the people he glimpsed was so unusual.

 

Worn Hunter uniforms and what appeared to be priestly robes – anyone would think they were people who had been trapped in some Cave for years.

 

‘It’s like Elder Brother rescued some religiously persecuted saint and his followers.’

 

And as if reading Kim Jin-woo’s thoughts, the exact answer flowed from Han Sang-in’s mouth.

 

“The Candidate for Sainthood and his Friends we’re going to sponsor.”

 

“Ah… I see.”

 

Kim Jin-woo nodded calmly.

 

‘He really did rescue a persecuted Candidate for Sainthood and his faction from somewhere, just like I imagined.’

 

The scale was a bit large to just brush off as ‘I see.’

 

But while he was diligently processing the paperwork,

 

seeing the Vice Guild Master who had suddenly barged in and the future Guild Members he had picked up, he made one resolution.

 

First, let’s not be surprised by anything.

 

My experiences so far had taught me that being surprised wouldn’t change anything anyway.

 

Besides, we were short on manpower, so wouldn’t it be good to have more members?

 

Goblins, S-rank Hunters, the world’s only unique magic user, and so on.

 

Now we’ve gone beyond that scale to recruit even former Magic Tower Masters and current Association Presidents as guild members, so a Candidate for Sainthood is pretty mild by comparison.

 

He’s not even a saint, just a candidate, so I guess it’s fine.

 

Kim Jin-woo equipped himself with a positive mindset that his workload would at least decrease, and quickly wrote down the contract terms.

 

“I’ve finished writing the saint’s contract, so what should we do about the people behind him?”

 

“I’m still just a candidate…”

 

Park Si-on seemed to want to correct the title, but Kim Jin-woo didn’t mind.

 

“Elder Brother, aren’t you sponsoring this kid to make him a saint?”

 

“Well, superficially speaking, yes.”

 

Then it was as good as him already being a saint.

 

Still, taking the young child’s opinion into account, he slightly modified the title on the contract.

 

From Saint to Saint (Genuine).

 

Han Sang-in looked at the completed contract terms and nodded with satisfaction.

 

Of course he’d be satisfied, considering who wrote it.

 

“So who is the saint’s guardian?”

 

Even while speaking, Kim Jin-woo was quickly drafting additional contracts to match.

 

In response to those words, a middle-aged priest quietly emerged from behind the saint.

 

“…Former Holy Guild Master?”

 

Kim Jin-woo paused for a moment, but quickly accepted it and continued typing.

 

For a Korean Candidate for Sainthood’s guardian, being a former Holy Guild Master is about right.

 

He pressed down firmly on his heart that had been about to leap out.

 

If Kim Jin-woo had learned Shaolin martial arts instead of the Sun and Moon Divine Art, he probably would have gained Immovable Mind as a passive skill.

 

But there was still one final blow left that would shatter both that immovable mind and Kim Jin-woo’s resolve in one go.

 

“He’s going to be the Branch Manager of Ashin’s Mediterranean Sea branch.”

 

“Ah, I see… What?”

 

For the first time, the typing sounds stopped.

 

“The Mediterranean Sea branch?”

 

Kim Jin-woo looked at Han Sang-in with an expression that said “So there was a Mediterranean Sea branch that even the Guild Master didn’t know about.”

 

However, that bewilderment wasn’t about a new Mediterranean Sea branch division,

 

but rather disappointment that just when he thought they might get some manpower reinforcement, they’d have to send them to the Mediterranean Sea.

 

***

 

After completing the contracts, I brought them to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

 

I don’t know where the guild members heard the term Hundred Thousand Great Mountains,

 

but since the Training Manual’s update, they had been calling that place the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

 

Since it was inside the Training Manual, it was the perfect place to hide Park Si-on.

 

Until we could build up solid power, keeping Park Si-on and Father Matteo’s whereabouts secret would be suitable for pressuring Yun Seo-won.

 

They would live here until construction of the Ashin branch on the Mediterranean Sea side was completed.

 

“I’m sorry for making you stay in a place like this again when you were trapped in a dungeon.”

 

I apologized to Park Si-on first.

 

The mountain terrain was rough and quite scenic, and it was another world that didn’t feel like being inside a Training Manual at all, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry.

 

Coming to train with freedom was different from

 

being trapped without freedom.

 

But he opened his mouth with gleaming eyes as if he didn’t mind at all.

 

“It’s fine. If that’s what the Guild Master, no, the Vice Guild Master wants, I can understand completely.”

 

The ink on the contract he signed hadn’t even dried yet, but he already seemed to feel a sense of belonging as a member of Ashin’s family.

 

‘Was he always this kind of character?’

 

It was quite a different image from my first impression.

 

“I have things to prepare. Just bear with it a little. Tell me if there’s anything uncomfortable.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Park Si-on was looking around the house that had been assigned to him, as if he had just moved in.

 

I left the rest of the guidance to a guild member and headed to the Investigation Hall.

 

Though it was called the Investigation Hall, it was practically no different from the space where I lived.

 

After closing the door and sitting in the chair, I felt a familiar presence.

 

“Yamyeong.”

 

At my call, Yamyeong emerged from the shadows of the Investigation Hall and prostrated himself.

 

‘Huh? Prostrating…?’

 

“There’s no need to prostrate yourself.”

 

“I was told that this is the proper way for a retainer to conduct himself when meeting his lord.”

 

I wanted to ask who told him that.

 

The atmosphere of the Investigation Hall happened to resemble Cheonma Palace, so wasn’t this just like the Heavenly Demon receiving reports in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?

 

I sighed and listened to his report.

 

The story of meeting Park Si-on and the movements of the Holy Guild, among other things.

 

And most importantly, the reason why Yamyeong’s disguise technique had been detected.

 

“So you’re saying Sacred Power can detect Ghostly Energy…”

 

I tapped the armrest of the chair with my fingers.

 

This was quite problematic.

 

The main method the Four Devas Goblins used to gather information was disguise.

 

Not ordinary disguise either, but disguising as household items to infiltrate deeply.

 

From spoons, forks, teacups, and coffee cups to even the whiskey bottle in the White House – they were all Four Devas Goblins.

 

And for easier infiltration, there was even a traditional goods export factory that Ashin actually operated.

 

But if Sacred Power could detect that, it could cause major disruptions to future plans.

 

The information that Sadangpae gathered reached into very deep places that couldn’t be heard anywhere else.

 

I thought for a moment, then spoke.

 

“Gather all the off-duty goblins. Same goes for Dolsoe.”

 

“I obey your command.”

 

Yamyeong bowed his head once and disappeared like a shadow.

 

I wanted to call him out on it, but just gave up.

 

After all, the martial arts I was about to teach Sadangpae and the Dolsoe Family were also from the Demonic Sect.

 

No, maybe it would be more accurate to say they were closer to the unorthodox faction.

 

The martial arts of the strongest intelligence organization I knew.

 

I was planning to upgrade Sadangpae with that.

 

***

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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