Saint, You’re So Vulgar!

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#025 Chapter. I Don’t Want to Throw It Away…!

The interior of the abandoned mine was dark.

It was to be expected, as it was no longer maintained.

Moreover, it was late at night. Tripping over rocky paths in the winding tunnels was inevitable.

…So, I suppose I needed to get used to Rubena’s constant screaming.

“AAAAHHH!!!”

“HYAAA!!!”

“MOMMMM!!!”

“……”

“……”

Asher’s earlier suspicion turned into unwavering certainty.

Indeed. Rubena Pradeliri, the woman everyone called a tyrant, was actually a spineless coward.

In the dark, her fearful tendencies were amplified.

Every time her foot caught on a rock, she screamed, and at the sound of dripping water, she jumped and clung to Asher tightly, sobbing.

The facade of bravado she’d shown was nowhere to be seen now.

Asher felt a strange sensation pressing against his back.

His head spun. It was a miracle they were in such a dark tunnel.

But still, he thought he needed to keep his wits about him and slowly opened his mouth.

“Uh, Rubena. I think it’s time to—”

“I don’t want to! Don’t leave me behind!”

Rubena’s voice was trembling.

In the midst of this, Bershia spoke up.

“Saintess Rubena, how about staying closer to Lord Heisenberg? If you’re carried, it would definitely be smoother than this.”

Her tone was soaked in blatant annoyance.

Asher sensed danger.

Thinking it over, the saintess had always had a knack for disliking them anyway.

Moreover, Bershia was someone who wasn’t very generous to others.

If she brought up leaving Rubena behind like that, it could further drain her already wavering courage.

That’s when it happened.

“Saintess, if darkness is the issue, may I step in?”

“I don’t wanna…!!!”

Saturn spoke up, and Rubena replied just like that.

Saturn seemed to take that as a sign of agreement.

Immediately, something bizarre happened.

Sshhh—

“Huh?”

“Is this enough light to see ahead?”

Light emerged.

Saturn Heisenberg’s scalp was emitting a faint glow.

Asher was left open-mouthed at that grotesque sight.

Rubena was also frozen, staring blankly at Saturn’s glowing head.

Who would’ve thought a person’s head could shine like a lightbulb?

Even Asher, aware of Saturn’s vision, couldn’t help but find such an application outrageous.

In the midst of this, Rubena mumbled in a daze.

“You, you….”

“Yes, Saintess.”

“You knew how to do that and just kept quiet until now…?”

“……”

Saturn fell silent.

He was notoriously expressionless, making it extremely difficult to gauge the emotions hiding inside.

Then he spoke up.

“…I was told not to shine my scalp in the presence of others since it’s dazzling.”

Depending on how you take it, that could sound either foolish or somewhat disgruntled.

Rubena’s expression kept morphing.

At first, it was blank, then it turned to disbelief, and gradually shifted to a scowl with veins popping on her forehead, indicating rage.

“YOU CRAZY BASTARD!!!”

As if she had been holding back tears, Rubena’s fury flared as she kicked Saturn.

Of course, his sturdy physique didn’t budge at her fragile form.

“OW!”

“Are you alright, Saintess?”

“OW! AAAAAH!!!”

Rubena screamed, clutching her ankle.

Asher let out a hollow laugh, watching the spectacle unfold.

Meanwhile, Bershia slyly closed the distance and drew Asher into her arms, whispering.

“Now we can walk like this.”

“Eh?”

“I was scared too, but because of her, I couldn’t be with you, Knight.”

Asher shot a glance at Bershia.

Her face showed no hint of fear whatsoever.

Seeing her look as if he were speaking nonsense made Bershia snicker.

“Just kidding. I just didn’t want her clinging to you.”

“Haha… You really don’t get along, do you?”

“Not that it’s always the case.”

Bershia’s expression turned cryptic.

Asher narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t think strange thoughts.”

“I’m not thinking anything.”

What do you mean you’re not thinking anything? If it were just the two of them, he knew she’d be rambling nonsense.

As they were engaged in this silent battle of stares,

“…Here we go again,”

Rubena muttered, and when Asher turned to look, she had finally stopped her antics and was gazing at the two with a somewhat stunned expression.

Asher jumped a little, realizing she hadn’t heard their conversation after all.

“That’s not it.”

He attempted to clear up the misunderstanding, but who knows how his flustered expression was perceived?

*

Despite the brief incident, they ended up resolving it quite well.

Asher and his group continued digging deeper into the mines.

Fortunately, they hadn’t lost their way yet.

Following the rough map they had, they reached the end of the marked area.

“I heard this is where the disappearances started.”

Asher gazed at the three paths before him.

The map indicated that this was the right place. As Deron had said, it was an area that had been excavated without any planning long ago.

“They say it’s become so complicated that it’s pointless to chart a map anymore. So unless you have experience on the level of the first mining team that went missing, you shouldn’t even think about entering.”

“That’s definitely a sound strategy.”

“There’s a weird smell in the air.”

However, he didn’t detect the sticky and unpleasant mana typical of heretics.

That fact puzzled Asher, and he frowned.

Could it be that he was the only one who couldn’t feel it? Looking around, it seemed others felt the same.

Bershia shrugged.

“Doesn’t smell like anything special.”

“I-I also… ahem.”

The afterthought came from Rubena.

Could it really be a ghost and not a heretic? As that thought crossed his mind, Saturn spoke up.

“It could be hidden.”

“The heretics are secretive. They’ve learned various arts to conceal their presence even before forming such large groups. A memorable incident would be the Aberration attack in Kutan.”

“Ah, the one where the Aberrations appeared all at once….”

“Yes, I could remember it since I was part of the extermination squad back then.”

Indeed, that much was true.

Although he had never experienced it directly, he had heard stories of such arts existing.

Saturn fell silent for a moment, then added another line.

“Lord Trevion might not know. He specializes more in sweeping through front-line battlefields rather than special missions.”

Asher felt a strange blend of embarrassment and admiration.

He probably added that line to make sure he didn’t seem incompetent.

Truly, he was an admirable senior.

If only he didn’t have that bizarre glowing scalp, it would have been a more touching statement.

…Anyway, it meant they needed to go deeper.

Their destination was the leftmost path of the three.

Bershia said, “Let’s use the left-hand rule.”

“Starting from the outer edges makes it easier to navigate.”

“I’ll mark the path with divine power. Let’s go for now.”

Asher kept in mind that he couldn’t carelessly use divine powers.

After setting off again, the paths grew narrower and rougher.

With remnants of the chaotic early mining operations still evident, the ground felt somewhat unstable.

Could this really be the right way?

Moments of doubt flickered in his mind, but then Asher successfully discovered a trace that would push such thoughts aside.

“…Blood.”

“What, what is it? Is something really there?”

“Yes, it’s not old.”

While sliding his hand along the wall, he accidentally found dried blood wedged between some rocks.

It was fresher than he expected—it was not something that had been there for ages.

Had it been that old, he wouldn’t have recognized that it was blood at all.

“Lord Heisenberg.”

“Yes.”

Saturn pressed his scalp against the wall.

Then the traces became brighter.

Asher’s voice went cold.

“It looks like someone was dragged. They must have clawed at the wall in a struggle.”

The marks on the wall branched out in five lines, leading in a straight path.

It was clear it was made from fingertips as they scraped along.

No doubt about it.

What was inside was something with a physical form, likely a heretic.

If that’s the case, another question arises regarding this investigation.

“There might still be missing people alive.”

Disappearance cases had been occurring steadily.

They had even reported sightings relatively recently.

If it was indeed the heretics behind this, there were bound to be captives kept alive for some purpose.

There was no time to hesitate.

“We can’t go back to call for support now.”

They needed to save as many as possible.

As a member of the clergy and the Lord’s sword, this was an essential task.

Asher glanced at his companions.

Saturn, with an expression of course; Bershia, looking troubled; and Rubena, whose complexion had paled.

They all seemed to understand the necessity of pressing onward.

“…Let’s move more stealthily. It’s important we assess the situation inside first.”

Bershia said that.

He nodded, and Saturn’s light faded.

They held their breath as they leaned against the wall.

Asher was worried about Rubena, but perhaps due to the heightened fear, she said nothing now, just clinging tightly to Saturn.

How deep had they gone?

How many paths had they turned?

They had reached a point where the divisions were becoming indistinct.

Finally, at one moment, they reached their destination.

“…Who’s there?”

The cracked, dry metal voice.

It was a barely audible mumble as if someone had lost all their strength.

The missing persons.

In some deep part of the mine, they found them.