NOVEL NEXT chapter 209
Chapter 209. Salivating at a Stud Farm – You? You Wish. (18)
Having said goodbye to the princess, not long after, Noah returned to the ruined temple and began observing Horus’s movements.
Clothilde tasked Horace to find a way to dissuade the merchant planning to commit a crime. And Horace, he actually intended to try, just not through normal means. More like through coercion and bribery.
After Clothilde left, Horace sent a priest from his faction to invite the merchant to a chapel, not the main cathedral, just some ordinary one.
Then Horace went to the chapel under the guise of work, really to meet the merchant.
Before they met, Horace even tried to play the part of a charitable bishop.
But upon seeing the merchant, he realized it was an old acquaintance. Horace had bought quite a few contraband items from him.
Makes sense, a merchant who’d consider selling to someone like Clothilde, who screamed “nun,” was bound to be involved with some heretical faction of the church.
“What? Really? That nun was your order? Oh dear, oh dear, how rude of me.”
Even while apologizing, the pudgy merchant rubbed his hands together, a wicked grin not quite concealing itself.
“Ho ho ho, no matter, since you were only thinking about it, I can accept it. It proves her value is high enough to move both of us.”
And across from him, Bishop Horace in his holy white robes wore the same sort of face, not bothered at all.
He actually thought that a merchant at this level couldn’t even hide his desires, proving just how outstanding Clothilde was.
The two schemed together, still treating Clothilde like a commodity.
Just not any old commodity, more like a high-priced luxury item.
The kind that made its owner look good. A top-shelf indulgence.
“But, come to think of it, that nun’s actually strong? I always thought she must be one of those silly nuns who are bad at any physical activity.”
After a round of pleasantries, the merchant couldn’t help but ask Horace more about Clothilde out of curiosity.
“Hmm, yes, one would have that impression at first glance, she does give off that perfect, flawless vibe.”
“But she actually wields two rather troublesome magical weapons. That calm, gentle face hides some real strength. But the moment she loses her weapons, she becomes delicate again, ho ho ho, don’t you think that’s special? She’s completely different from other nuns.”
Horace, as if showing off a prized possession, praised Clothilde’s uniqueness.
If it weren’t for the greed in Horace’s eyes, his words would sound rather harmless.
But from his words, Noah also understood something.
This old fox, just like in the original story, had no idea that Clothilde’s physical abilities were actually quite decent.
Not to the level of a professional fighter, but she was capable of easily subduing an average adult male.
Of course, it wasn’t Horace’s fault for not knowing this.
Clothilde had two special weapons with different effects, and she had holy magic. Her physical skills were a last resort.
Noah had personally seen Clothilde use a spinning heel kick.
Someone like Horace, who spent his time in safe places gathering information, naturally wouldn’t know the real Clothilde like Noah did.
Horace was going on and on with the merchant, but he hadn’t touched on what Noah thought was Clothilde’s most admirable trait.
Her serious nature.
Her devout faith was nothing more than an extension of that character trait.
She was clearly a person of deep feeling, yet she could meticulously adhere to the nuns’ code, putting on a demure, gentle facade.
But from the first time Noah saw her, he knew it: this Sister was nothing like her outwardly serene appearance. If anything, she was quite violent.
Like the quiet art representative in class who secretly plays rock and roll.
So, in a way, the Sister had always been suppressing her true nature.
It’s just that not many people knew her true nature.
Horace only saw the beautiful facade, and not Clothilde’s equally beautiful interior.
But whatever, all the blonde-haired guys are pretty much the same.
They basically never look at the heroine’s inner self, they’re just l*sting after her body.
Horace, the old geezer, didn’t need to know, anyway, by the time he found out, the Sister would probably have already freed herself and become a succubus queen.
Noah was quite looking forward to this bishop’s reaction.
So even while watching Horace and the merchant boast about Clothilde with those smug, greedy faces, Noah could wear an insidious smile that meant everything was going exactly as he’d expected.
Then, Horace and the merchant casually chatted about some other church-related matters.
Like, for example, what the current market price was for one of those magic stones that was originally used as a magical barrier to prevent demons from entering the cathedral.
Or how much rich people usually needed to pay to have a tryst with a nun of the church.
Just the kind of heretical remarks that would make traditionalist church members faint.
Eventually, the two returned to the topic of how to drag more nuns down with them.
The so-called heretical faction hadn’t started out this big.
It had gradually spread like a cancer to reach this scale.
Not everyone was as devout as Clothilde; if a normal nun were to have a l*st-mark branded on her, she’d probably fall on the very first night.
Half of the heretical nuns currently in Water City were women that Horace had coerced, pressured, and forced into committing sins and sinking into depravity.
The rest who hadn’t yet been dragged down by Horace were nuns that Horace deemed too devout to handle, or too risky to approach.
The merchant suggested drugs to Horace, high-grade drugs, and magical tools.
While a typical merchant could only get their hands on level 2 l*st-inducing magic tools at best, they could reach roughly level 3 if they had enough of them.
This proposal was actually quite reasonable, but Horace rejected it.
“Heh heh heh, no need for any tools, I have my own way of making her mine.”
Horace looked arrogant, as if he was just one step away from getting Clothilde.
“As expected of the Bishop, you are truly admirable…”
Looking at Horace like this, the merchant was genuinely impressed.
As expected, people who could become bishops were different; he would definitely keep in contact with the bishop in the future to facilitate bigger deals.
“Heh, how nice that sounds, when you just don’t want to use l*st-inducing magic tools, and you just want to use the kind of magic tools that can alter someone’s perception! To be so boastful, as if you could make a Sister fall into depravity only by your own efforts…that’s something only a god like me can do, so who do you think you are?”
Looking at this, Noah couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh at the smug Horace on the magic array monitor.
Noah was now enticing Clothilde into demonic corruption step by step, without relying on aphrodisiac magic items or perception-altering ones.
Those weren’t curses Noah put on her.
How could that be pinned on Noah?