Chapter 57

“This… is it dead?”

As they looked at the Toad Golden Statue on the altar, its golden hue now faded and replaced with a dull, mud-like color, the group of people in the secret chamber couldn’t help but be greatly shocked.

“How is that possible?!”

Among them, a middle-aged man with golden hair reacted the most intensely. His eyes wide with disbelief, he exclaimed while staring at the now-cracked toad statue, “I investigated this thoroughly! Lao Chaer, apart from having an exceptionally sharp business acumen, is just an ordinary person through and through. How could he possibly withstand the Holy Spirit of the Scale Gold Religion? There must have been something we didn’t know about over there!”

“You don’t know a lot of things!”

Heartbroken as he gazed at the shattered statue on the altar, an old man with a rose crest embroidered on his chest slammed his hand down on the table, glaring furiously at the middle-aged man and shouting, “Thomas! We had an agreement! If we cooperated with you to bring down Chal Department Store, the Lane Family would join forces with the York family to invest in our Marcellini family’s department store chain and expand it!

And what happened? You got the shares of Rose Emporium! We followed your lead and invested money into the Water Power Corporation! We even helped destroy the dam managed by the Road Administration Department! But not only did Rose Emporium fail to grow, it’s now on the verge of being crushed!”

It seemed like the elder from the Marcellini family wasn’t satisfied yet, pounding the table forcefully, losing all composure as he shouted at the blond middle-aged man,

“You said Lao Chaer’s promotional tactics were too binding, and you had no good way to counteract them, so we had to resort to unconventional methods.

Fine! Let’s use unconventional methods! I even brought in the Holy Spirit of the Scale Gold Religion for you! Isn’t that unconventional enough?

You damn fool, you said once the Holy Spirit arrived and caused a mass casualty event, we’d have an excuse to order the municipal government to shut down Chal Department Store’s promotion under the guise of safety concerns, cutting off its last lifeline…

But what was the result? Tell me the result! The Holy Spirit is dead!!! How am I supposed to explain this to the Scale Gold Religion? You’re absolutely…”

“Enough!”

Seeing the elder’s words becoming increasingly disrespectful, the expression of the blond middle-aged man darkened, his face turning extremely unpleasant as he retorted,

“I’m human! Not some all-knowing god! How could I possibly predict such a low-probability event?

Also, I never intended for your Marcellini family to get involved in the first place. It was you who insisted on coming in! Even the Holy Spirit of the Scale Gold Religion was summoned by you!

And haven’t you forgotten? For summoning that toad, how many favors did you ask from us? And now, without even a sound, it got killed! From what I see, your so-called Scale Gold Religion is simply…”

“Both of you, stop!”

Just as the conflict between the two sides was about to escalate completely, a cold, hard voice filled with “icy shards” rang out, halting the situation from escalating further.

“Lord Thomas.”

Calling out the name of the blond middle-aged man, the figure in black robes turned around, looking seriously at him and saying,

“The Scale Gold Religion may not be one of the major sects, but they do have a True God backing them. If you don’t want to be targeted by their endless assassinations, you’d better watch your words. Also…”

Turning his gaze toward the elegantly dressed elder whose eyes were filled with murderous intent, the figure in black robes continued in a chilling tone devoid of any emotion,

“The Holy Spirit you summoned wasn’t killed by someone else. It encountered something incomprehensible, causing it to doubt the beliefs it had firmly held onto, leading to its own destruction.”

After hearing the judgment from the figure in black robes, the representative of the York family, who had maintained silence until then, couldn’t help but ask in surprise, “Just because of doubt… it died?”

“Not just doubt, but it could no longer convince itself… but understanding it that way isn’t wrong either.

As spirits born from faith and concepts, their very existence is a conglomeration of belief and rules. When they begin to doubt what they firmly believe in, it’s equivalent to having their reason for existence stripped away, inevitably leading to their death.”

Pausing here, the figure in black robes shook his head, expressing indifferently, “Only extremes are remembered, only obsession dares to move forward fearlessly, and only madness can comprehend greatness.”

“For humans, this extreme obsession with ideals might be difficult to accept, but this very obsession is the source of the Holy Spirits’ power and also their most fatal weakness.

And once they start doubting the ideals they once firmly believed in, it’s equivalent to destroying their justification for standing in the skies, forcing them to flail and fall from the heavens, dying upon impact with the earth… Understand?”

“Somewhat…”

Furrowing his brows after pondering for a moment, the representative of the York family asked,

“So… what exactly did the Holy Spirit of the Scale Gold Religion encounter? Can you guess?”

“I can roughly guess.”

Hearing this, the figure in black robes narrowed his eyes slightly and said expressionlessly,

“It might be harder to guess in other places, but since this happened in the Capital City… the person capable of utterly destroying a Holy Spirit’s ideals can only be one individual.”

…

“Achoo!!!”

Strange… Could I still sneeze? Feeling somewhat puzzled, I rubbed my suddenly itchy nose, straightened up in my office, and curiously flipped open the file in my hands.

Not a single mistake! All content inside! Check it out on 69 Book Bar!

[Scale Gold Religion Holy Spirit Incident Cleanup Report]

[Event Rating: Catastrophic Level]

[Event Status: Cleared]

[Event Handler: Leon Lane]

[Abnormal Items Used: Demon Horn, Witch’s Broom]

[Casualties: 1 person lightly injured]

[…]

Meanwhile…

“I’m so sorry! Extremely, extremely sorry!!!”

Looking at Leon lying in the hospital bed, wrapped in thick bandages with a neck brace supporting his neck, the doll-faced young woman in a professional suit couldn’t help but bow deeply, tears streaming down her face as she apologized, “When we ordered the money box, if I had inspected it more carefully during acceptance and reinforced the box structure, you wouldn’t have been injured by the falling Golden Wheel inside the box! Waaa… It’s all my fault…”

Hmm… This injury really isn’t your fault…

Looking at the doll-faced girl crying her heart out in front of him, her eyes swollen from crying, Leon, who had suffered injuries to his cervical vertebrae and ribs from the falling Golden Wheel, didn’t know what to say for a moment.

If I remember correctly, during the previous incident at Red Brick Road Hospital, after the Evil God’s Brain was altered into a gas pipe explosion, the person who took responsibility for the improper inspection and came crying to apologize was you.

And this time, after the Holy Spirit’s arrival was altered into an accident where a Golden Wheel fell from a money box and injured me as I passed by, it’s still you who ended up taking the blame and came crying to apologize.

Taking in the sight of the doll-faced girl sobbing uncontrollably in front of him, Leon couldn’t help but sigh with a complex expression.

Young lady… Isn’t your luck a bit too bad?

(End of Chapter)