Chapter 14

I walked back into the slums, leading a growing crowd of people trailing behind me. My decision to head here was simple: if I were to find the most useless, trashy land in the capital, it would undoubtedly be in the slums.

The moment I stepped into the slums, a mass of people began to follow me.

“Saint! Oh, Saint! Heal us!”

“Grant us your blessing, Saint!”

The sheer number of people trailing me was overwhelming. At this rate, would I get arrested for inciting an illegal assembly?

Damn it.

I hastily scanned the area, looking for the most trash-filled, utterly useless piece of land I could find.

Then I saw it: a collapsing cluster of shabby buildings next to an abandoned factory.

It was a grim, desolate area littered with industrial waste and garbage—so unappealing that you couldn’t pay someone to take it.

The kind of place where you’d expect junkies snorting white powder in some corner.

I didn’t know much about feng shui, but this spot practically screamed ruin your life here. It was perfect.

If I caused enough financial damage to the Lilia Church, they’d curse my name and flee.

Leading the crowd, I made my way toward the abandoned factory, only to be stopped by an elderly man who appeared to be a guard.

“You can’t go any further! This land belongs to the Karma family!”

The old guard squinted at me, clearly unable to recognize who I was.

I slowly approached him and placed my hand on his head.

Activating skill: Physical Reconstruction.


When I restored his vision and healed his arthritis, the old man froze in place, finally realizing who I was.

“Can you see now?” I asked.

“Yes, yes! I can see, Saint!”

“Then please fetch the owner of this land.”

“Yes, of course! Right away!”

The guard, now full of energy, ran off as if he were decades younger. Before long, he returned with a middle-aged man who looked... exactly like Scrooge.

He had the kind of face that made you think if you stabbed him, gold coins would spill out instead of blood—a miserly, hardened man with a perpetually sour expression.

He approached me with the guard, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“I’m the owner of this factory. You wanted to see me?”

“Yes.”

“What do you want? If it’s to let those beggars in, the answer is no.”

I shook my head. “I want to buy this land. I’ll pay a fair price.”

At my words, the factory owner burst into laughter.

“Well, I’ll give you credit for trying! You must’ve heard the rumors, right? I tried setting up a doll factory here, but it failed. Even so, this is a massive piece of land. Do you even have the capital to buy it?”

I shook my head.

Nope. The only money I had was what I’d earned from working part-time at a diner, which wasn’t nearly enough to buy this land.

“Lilia Church will purchase it.”

Of course, the Church would foot the bill. As one of the empire’s largest religious organizations, they could easily afford it, no matter the cost.

I turned to look at the High Priest, Yodel. He stared back at me with a look that said, Are you seriously planning to build a temple on such a garbage heap?

Yes, exactly.

I wanted the Church to waste money on a hopeless endeavor. If they spent their resources building a lavish, luxurious temple in the middle of nowhere and saw me living an indulgent, wasteful life, they’d grow tired and leave me alone.

“The Church must purchase this land, no matter the cost. It is essential for fulfilling the goddess’s will.”

I spouted nonsense about the goddess’s will, but honestly, I had no idea what she wanted. I just picked this land because it was the most worthless spot in the slums.

Yodel sighed and stepped forward.

“I am Yodel, High Priest of the Lilia Church.”

“And I’m Jonathan Karma.”

Jonathan snorted, clearly unimpressed.

“Let me tell you something. I built a factory here because the land was cheap—dirt cheap for the capital. But other than the price, this land has zero redeeming qualities. Whatever you’re planning won’t work. I guarantee it.”

“The goddess has commanded it. We must proceed,” Yodel replied firmly.

Jonathan gave us a look that said, These people are insane, before shrugging.

“Fine. Follow me to my house. We’ll draft up a contract. Frankly, I’m happy to get rid of this useless land.”

And with that, we headed to Jonathan’s home.

I expected Jonathan Karma, being a factory owner, to live in some grand house, but instead, his home was a shabby residence near the slums.

While he wasn’t sleeping on the streets like the destitute, his situation wasn’t much better—he simply had a roof over his head.

“Dear, you’re home?”

As we entered the house, a frail, sickly woman—who seemed to be Jonathan’s wife—greeted him while coughing.

Jonathan, upon seeing her, immediately started shouting.

“What are you doing crawling out here when you can’t even take your medicine properly? Get back to bed!”

“I… I just wanted to prepare something for you to eat—”

“There’s nothing to eat in this house! Get back in bed already, you useless woman! All you do is rack up medical bills!”

The sight of him yelling at her was a textbook example of domestic abuse.

It didn’t take much to piece together the situation. Jonathan must’ve tried running a factory here, but it failed miserably, leading to the deterioration of his family relationships.

His wife, coughing all the way, carefully retreated into a room. The smell of mold and decay was overpowering, worsened by the lack of ventilation.

Even the High Priest Yodel wrinkled his nose slightly at the stench.

“Alright. I won’t take less than 40,000 saleds. That’s my condition!” Jonathan suddenly declared.
Yodel’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“40,000 saleds for that dilapidated plot of land?”

“That’s right!”

“Even after seeing all the trash and waste scattered across that factory lot, you’re still asking for that much?”

“Take it or leave it! 40,000 saleds, or no deal!”

It was a gangster-level price for a piece of garbage land.

But I didn’t care.

It was the church’s money, not mine.

My goal was to waste their resources by purchasing overpriced, useless land.

Yodel hesitated, glancing at me briefly before adopting a determined expression.

“I will contact the Lilia Order temples across the country. To approve such a large sum, we’ll need the agreement of several local temples. Please allow us some time.”

“Tomorrow! Bring the money by tomorrow, or the deal’s off!” Jonathan snapped.

Yodel’s face twisted further in frustration.

“Even for us, that’s impossible. Please grant us a little more time. With such a large sum involved, we need time to prepare—”

“No money by tomorrow, no deal! Leave if you don’t like it!”

Jonathan’s abrasive tone was enough to make anyone snap. If it were me, I’d have cursed him out or walked away, but Yodel, mindful of my presence as the Saint, kept his composure.

“I need to discuss this further.” Yodel led me outside.

“Saint, these are outrageous terms. The price is excessive, and we’re essentially taking on the responsibility of cleaning up all the waste and garbage on the land. On top of that, he’s demanding the money by tomorrow. This deal is not worth pursuing.”

“We still need to do it,” I replied.

After all, I’m committed to sabotaging your church. That way, you’ll grow frustrated and abandon me.

“...If that’s your decision, I will follow it. But by church law, any expenditure over 10,000 saleds requires approval from local temples. Even if we agree, gathering the funds by tomorrow is impossible. Please, Saint, we need more time,” Yodel said, his face filled with guilt.

His genuine remorse was enough to prick even my conscience.

While I was selfishly trying to escape divine punishment by causing financial damage to these earnest people, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt.

“I’ll handle it,” I said.

Even a scoundrel like me knows when it’s time to take responsibility.

“I apologize for disappointing you.”

When Yodel bowed deeply to me, apologizing on behalf of the church, my guilt surged to unbearable levels.

Unable to meet his eyes, I hurried back inside Jonathan’s house.

But honestly, I had no idea how to convince Jonathan to give us more time.

Maybe I could just use absolute hypnosis to force him to agree?

No. That would seem far too suspicious.

If Jonathan suddenly started acting friendly without reason, it might tarnish the goddess’s name and even lead to my own execution as a heretic.

What could I say to buy us more time?

As I climbed the stairs back to Jonathan Karma’s room, I suddenly heard screaming.

“AAAAARGH!”

Panicked cries erupted, and I rushed toward the source of the commotion.

When I entered, I found people staring in horror at the center of the room.

“Rofus! O Sun! It’s the Rotting Disease!”

“Did you hide a contagious patient in the capital? That’s illegal, Jonathan Karma!”

The Sun Order knights and police shouted furiously.

Pushing past them, I entered the room, where the stench of rot and mold grew even more unbearable.

Inside, Jonathan and his wife stood, desperately shielding a child.

“Stay back! Don’t come near my daughter!”

“She can be cured! Even if it’s Rotting Disease, she can be cured! We’ve been suppressing the infection with medicine! She’s not a danger to anyone! Please!”

Jonathan’s earlier bravado had crumbled entirely. Now, he looked utterly devastated, swinging his arms wildly to protect his child, while his wife sobbed uncontrollably.

And then, I saw their daughter.

Her body was rotting so severely that it was hard to believe she was still alive. Her skin oozed black pus, and she writhed in agony, screaming:

“It hurts! It hurts! Kill me! Just kill me!”

I stepped forward.

“Stay back!” Jonathan screamed, his voice breaking. “I won’t abandon my daughter! Get away from her, you fraud!”

Jonathan swung a punch at me, landing squarely on my nose. Blood dripped down my face.
“Saint!”

The knights drew their swords, ready to retaliate, but I stopped them.

I wiped the blood from my nose and looked calmly at Jonathan and his wife.

“Step aside.”

I approached the girl.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. “You won’t feel pain anymore.”

I placed my hand on her head and activated my skill.

With a crackling sound, the girl’s body began to change.

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