Sins Paradise: Domination System

Gerald's voice caught my attention as he gestured for me to follow him. I nodded and let him show me the way, going through long stairs that led to the entrance similar to the church in Academy City.

All churches were built a bit higher than normal buildings so they would stand out more. In my opinion, it was an unnecessary effort. The naked Angel statues were enough to make the church stand out.

Not to mention, the giant clock tower that stood right beside the massive church was enough as a signature and a beacon to find the church.

While being guided by Gerald, I asked a question.

"What happened to the city?"

Hearing my question, Gerard stopped for a moment before continuing inside the church.

"The Duke has implemented a weird rule since the church sent a letter to him, declaring his son as a Sinner. Surely you've already aware of this, Your Holiness."

"I am aware. I was the one who declared Alexander Bluerose as a Sinner a few days ago, after all."

"Yes, and our church was the one who sent the letter to Duke Bluerose after we received the report from Archbishop Sana through long-distance communication. Following it, we expected to announce it to the public. However…"

The knight's voice turned lower as I noticed him clenching his fists. "Our Archbishop suddenly said we shouldn't announce it yet. And at that moment, the Duke released his new strange Rules, forbidding citizens from getting out at night."

"Hmm? Why, though?"

Was there some political issue that I didn't know of? Or was it also Beatrice's trick? Unfortunately, I was a Paladin back in Horizon Online. I only had <Presence Detection> skills to detect any presence.

To know people's state, I needed to use <Appraisal> manually, unlike Mage, who had <Mana Sense> and could feel the change in one's Mana if a curse or any ill alignment status afflicted people.

And the new rules…

We stepped inside the church, and I noticed a lot of female knights standing around on guard. They wore full-body armor, a helmet, and a complete set of equipment for the church knight.

Noticing my gaze, Gerald continued, answering my question.

"Many young girls have been kidnapped in the last two days, and church knights spread across the Duchy for patrol. That's why only a few knights are left to protect the church. We also asked the female knights to stay inside while we, the men, patrolled outside."

"Kidnapped?" My eyes narrowed after hearing some interesting information. How surprising. "How many went missing now?"

Stepping inside the inner area of the church, where many doors were connected to a long corridor, Gerald spoke with a distressed and disappointed tone.

"Around 10 in the span of two days, maybe more. There were only 2 victims two days ago, but it increased a lot yesterday."

"That's a serious problem. Why don't you contact the church in Academy City, the closest city to this Duchy? I will immediately help if I know about this earlier."

I had never heard of it. No, it wasn't just me. Sana also didn't know about it. The church should've had the long-distance communication magic item, according to what Gerald had said earlier.

"I am sorry. We are so useless." He apologized, gritting his teeth. "The Archbishop said we shouldn't depend on the Paladin or the other churches. I don't know why, but we can only follow his order as the Archbishop knows more than us, a mere knight."

Strange.

I had a few hypotheses in my mind already as to why this happened. But to think that the Archbishop would…

'Gerald is safe. I think I can trust this guy to be the witness.'

After hearing the information, I immediately used <Appraisal> on Gerald. As expected, he was quite strong, being Level 41. His <Swordsmanship> was also sitting at Lv. 4, quite high for people in this world.

And looking at his personality earlier, I could feel that this guy was honest to a fault, a typical knight in medieval fantasy.

"We've arrived, Your Holiness."

We stopped in an office with a big double door at the end of the corridor.

From the door alone, I could somehow guess the room inside would be luxurious. I guessed even the Archbishop had different personalities from each other, huh? And people from the churches weren't all devout believers of Goddess Teri like Sana and the other nuns I met.

Darkness would always present even in front of the brightest light. That was why shadows existed.

"Don't worry, Sir Gerald." I patted his shoulder as I stepped forward. "Now that I am here, I will take care of the situation. May I ask you to accompany me to reveal the truth behind the kidnapping?"

"It's an honor, Sir." His tone lit up in happiness.

"Alright. Then, trust me," I replied.

He nodded in acknowledgment.

I nodded at him and pushed the door open without knocking on it. Just as I had expected, the room was rather luxurious for an office room. It was even more luxurious than Sana's.

However, I didn't take the time to look around the room. My gaze immediately stopped at the person sitting behind a gold-plated desk. He wore a classic Castitas Chruch's priest outfit with a golden rosary hanging around his chubby chest.

A white hat rested on his hair that turned gray. He was the Archbishop of this church.

Raising his head, a displeased expression was clear on his face. He didn't expect someone to enter the room without permission. But his eyes bulged in surprise when he saw my outfit and my face. It seemed like he at least recognized me, but his reaction was on the verge of overreacting.

Pushing back the chair he sat down at, he immediately stood up and ran toward me while rubbing his hands with each other.

"W-Welcome, Your Holiness! I am sorry for not preparing a warm welcome!" Stopping and giving a sly smile and dry laugh, he continued. "I am Archbishop Jasper Castitas, at your service."

I looked at the fat Archbishop with cold eyes. Just using a simple <Appraisal> was enough.

Name: Jasper Castitas (Charmed) (Fallen)

Race: Devilkin

Lv: 29

This guy had already fallen to a Succubus and became her familiar.

"Truly disgraceful." I took an iron sword out of my inventory and cut all his limbs with a swift movement.

My hand became a blur, and the next thing that happened was not a sight that could be shown on television.

Blood spurted out like a fountain as his chubby body fell to the floor, much to Gerald's surprise. The four limbs I cut earlier fell to the ground near him, creating a pool of blood that turned the wooden floor red.

"Sir Gerald, close the door, please," I commanded the knight with a cold tone. "We need to interrogate a fallen human."

A light gasp rang behind me, but the knight moved at my order and locked the door behind me.

A loud, pained scream echoed inside the room right after.

"Aaargghh! W-Why?!"

The Archbishop still pretended to be human, looking at me with bloodshot eyes.

However, I didn't really care. This person was at fault for falling to the succubus. The details would be left later. For now–

"Argh!"

I stabbed my iron sword into his stomach. Devilkin, a familiar, had more VIT than a human, increasing their defense. Such a wound like this wouldn't kill him immediately; it just gave him intense pain.

His HP would keep decreasing as long as he was still bleeding, but I could heal him before he died.

"You know, I dislike people who mess with my plan." I began with a cold tone, indicating that I was serious. "And I hate someone who betrays my trust and sucks up to my enemy."

That was what this Archbishop did. Not only did he not announce Alexander Bluerose was a Sinner to the public, but he also changed sides after hearing Succubus' sweet words of promises.

Everyone had their own agendas. How amusing and how irritating. This was my bonus stage, and I hated it if something didn't go according to my plan.

Otto, Duke Bluerose, Rowen Rose, and this Archbishop. Those people just chose to mess with me while I tried to get rid of Beatrice. And that Succubus was really sly and smart, using human weakness to entice them.

As it already came to this, Otto was no longer useful as nothing but blackmail material for Rowen Rose later.

"I guess you know about the succubus in this city," I spoke to this excuse of a human with a cold tone, cold sweat pouring out from his body as blood kept dripping to the floor from the stumps and the wound in his stomach.

His eyes lit up in fear as I noticed some recognition when I mentioned a succubus.

I had underestimated Beatrice a little.

And I might now understand why King Cassius didn't send any news about his progress against the noble. He might already notice the succubus charming the Duke, and he couldn't let such a scandal spread.

It would hurt the government's authority and reputation, spreading fear to the masses, like what happened to this city.

And certainly, I couldn't let the news about an Archbishop turn into a fallen spread either, as that would hurt the church's reputation and make the believers uneasy.

'Beatrice needs to go down tonight, or she will spread distraught to Virtue Kingdom. I need to put a leash on her so she won't be able to do anything again.'

Pushing my sword deeper and twisting it around to open his wound, I continued with a feral smile on my face.

"I'll have you tell me everything, o' slave of the succubus."

Although it was a dangerous situation for many, somehow, this excited me a bit.

Maybe because I finally could get a proper fight in a while.