The Demon Goes to Work Today As Well - Chapter 174

Chapter 174: A Hopeless Fight (3)

The mood plummeted with the death of the giant man, but…

“…We will continue with the process.”

The Hero tried to ignore it and ordered the candidate heroes to undergo inspection and search.

“Can you promise that you won’t kill us if we pass and leave?”

“Can you promise that you won’t play tricks if we leave?”

“Can you swear that you won’t frame us and kill us?”

Having already lost all faith in the Holy Empire, the candidate heroes felt no reason to stay and wanted to leave as soon as they were inspected and searched.

“…Yes, if you pass, I swear in the name of Raphael-nim that we will not play any tricks even if you leave.”

The Hero had no justification to hold the candidate heroes back, so he had no choice but to swear to the angel and guarantee their safety.

“…Then, we’ll accept it.”

“I hope you keep that oath.”

“…Hero-nim, I believe you will keep your word.”

The candidate heroes breathed a sigh of relief at the confirmation and agreed to be inspected and searched.

Meanwhile, as the inspection and search resumed…

Thi s w a s cop i e d f r o m ki n gm t l . o rg
‘I’m not going to die during the inspection, am I…?’

George, the sole survivor of the rural village, was trembling with anxiety.

He firmly believed he was innocent, but seeing people die before his eyes made him anxious.

‘They were all good people…’

Anyone would be anxious after seeing the kind people who had taken care of him being stabbed to death.

‘…Is it really right to become a hero?’

For a moment, he felt skeptical about becoming a hero, but…

‘No, I still have to become a hero!’

He needed the angel’s holy power for revenge, so he strengthened his weakening resolve once again.

As he waited for his turn with a trembling heart…

“Next, please come forward.”

His turn had come.

“…Yes? Ah, yes!”

T h i s w a s c o pi e d f rom k in g mt l . o r g
George answered in a shaky voice and walked forward.

“You can sit here.”

“…Okay.”

He sat on the chair as instructed by the paladin.

“You don’t have to be so nervous.”

The Saint smiled brightly, as if to reassure him.

“Ah, yes…”

That smile had seemed benevolent before the inspection and search began, but…

‘Why is it so scary…’

Now, her smile just seemed fake.

“It’s okay. Just answer my questions truthfully, without any lies.”

“Ah, okay.”

Answering truthfully wasn’t difficult, so George nodded vigorously.

As he waited nervously, wondering what questions she would ask…

“Are you a subordinate of the invaders?”

The Saint asked with a serious face.

An easy question compared to what he had expected.

“No.”

George answered immediately, feeling no need to think.

“Let me rephrase the question. Are you colluding with the invaders?”

He was puzzled by the slightly rephrased question, but…

“No.”

T h is w a s c o pi e d fr om k i n gmt l. o r g
George answered again without hesitation.

“Then, have you ever received any help from the invaders?”
T h i s wa s c o p i ed f r o m k in g m t l. o r g

“No.”

“Do you want to side with the invaders?”

“No. I have no intention of siding with the invaders.”

“Do you sympathize with the invaders’ ideology?”

“I do not sympathize with them.”

“Do you, by any chance, admire the invaders?”

“I absolutely do not admire them.”

.

.

.

.

The question should have changed, but she kept asking the same question with slightly different wording.

‘…What is she trying to do?’

He thought that maybe she wanted him to answer yes, and started to feel annoyed. At that moment…

“Do you admire Raphael-nim?”

For the first time, the Saint asked a different question.

It was the different question he had been longing for, but…

“…”

George couldn’t readily answer.

‘I don’t admire her…’

He couldn’t answer because he didn’t admire Raphael.

‘How can I blindly admire her after what happened…’

If she were truly omnipotent, he would admire her, but…

‘…There are so many people suffering.’

Based on what he had seen, she was far from omnipotent.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

The Saint urged him to answer, looking at him with suspicion.

“Do I have to answer truthfully?”

“Yes, you will be executed immediately if you lie.”

“…”

“You will be executed even if you don’t answer.”

The Saint signaled to the paladins standing behind her.

Shing—

The paladins drew their swords.

‘Damn it…’

T h i s w a s c o p ie d f r o m k i ngm t l . o rg
George felt cold sweat running down his back and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I, I don’t admire her.”

“…Why?”

“Because she doesn’t seem as omnipotent as I thought…”

“…Hmm, I see.”

T h i s w a s c opi e d f ro m kin g m tl .o r g
The Saint’s eyes narrowed coldly, as if she didn’t like his answer.

Then, she asked the next question in a somewhat curt voice.

“If you become a hero, can you dedicate your life to the Holy Empire?”

Dedication to the Holy Empire.

It was a roundabout way of asking, but it meant living as a dog of the Holy Empire for the rest of his life.

“I can dedicate my life if I can get my revenge.”

Dedication wasn’t easy, but it was possible for the sake of revenge, so he answered this question without hesitation.

“That’s a good answer.”

She seemed to like his answer this time, as her cold eyes softened a little.

“The questioning is over. Please wait here for a moment until the results come out.”

She said it was over and told him to wait for a while.

‘Whew… It’ll be okay, right?’

George waited for the results with anxiety.

Woooong.

Five minutes passed, and there was no reaction from the artifact or the magic circle.

“There are no lies and no demonic energy reacting. You pass. Please join the line of those who passed.”

“…Okay.”

George breathed a sigh of relief at the Saint’s words and stood up from his seat.

Step, step, step.

He was so nervous that his legs were shaking, and it was difficult to walk.

‘I’m glad I passed…’

It would have been unfair to die like this, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

George joined the line of those who passed and waited for the others’ inspection and search to be completed.

⊱ ஓ๑๑ஓ ⊰

While the inspection and search were in full swing…

“Oh?”

Five figures were watching the scene from afar.

“This confirms it, the artifact and the magic circle can’t detect hidden demonic energy.”

The figures were the members of the Demon Communion.

“I was worried that they might get caught, but as expected, they didn’t.”

“It’s an object made by higher beings, so no matter how good it is, there will be limitations.”

As you can see from the conversation, they had come here to see if the people they had brainwashed had passed safely.

“This will come in handy later.”

T h i s w a s co pied f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
Jung Minwoo was thinking of various ways to utilize the brainwashed higher beings when…

“Minwoo, how many higher beings have you brainwashed? Ribbit, ribbit.”

Rok approached him and asked.

“About 2,000.”

2,000.

It was a number that accounted for two-tenths of the candidate heroes.

If even one-tenth of them became heroes, it would be a tremendous force.

“That’s quite a number? Ribbit, ribbit.”

“The leaders spared those who seemed to have outstanding talent.”

“Well, those with overflowing talent are rare. That’s why they were chosen as candidate heroes. Ribbit, ribbit.”

Rok nodded in understanding and then…

“But, is it okay to be here so leisurely? Ribbit, ribbit.”

He looked around, expressing concern.

“Why?”
T h i s wa s copi e d fr om k i n g m t l . or g

“Wouldn’t it be troublesome if the pigeons attack? Ribbit, ribbit.”

As Rok said, even though they were non-combat types, if they fought, this side would suffer heavy losses as well.

“Don’t worry. That pigeon won’t be able to come here.”

Jung Minwoo showed strong confidence that Raphael wouldn’t be able to come because he had something up his sleeve.

“Did you do something? Ribbit, ribbit.”

Rok tilted his head curiously.

“I sent the corrupted pigeons towards her.”
T his w a s co p i ed f r o m k i n gm t l . o r g

Jung Minwoo kindly explained why she wouldn’t be able to come.

“Corrupted pigeons? Ribbit, ribbit.”

“Yeah, I ordered them to attack everyone, so she’ll be tied up for a while.”

“As expected, Minwoo, you had a plan all along! Ribbit, ribbit.”

If they were 1st Rank, it wouldn’t take them even a few seconds to deal with 1,000 people, but…

‘Raphael only has healing abilities, so it’ll take longer.’

Since she was a non-combat type, they would be able to buy enough time, about five minutes.

‘I’ve confirmed that the brainwashed higher beings have passed normally, so shall we go back?’

They had finished their business, and it was almost five minutes, so he decided to leave.

“Let’s go back.”

Jung Minwoo and the Demon Communion members then left the Holy Empire to carry out their next operation.

⊱ ஓ๑๑ஓ ⊰

About 12 hours after the inspection and search had begun…

“It’s finally over.”

All the candidate heroes had been inspected.

The Saint showed a refreshed expression for a moment, but then…

“It’s good that it’s over… but the number of people remaining is too small.”

She smiled bitterly as she looked at the remaining people.

There were 3,000 people left.

It was 2,000 less than the expected number.

“If the candidate heroes hadn’t left, they would have been a great force…”

At the end of the unreasonable inspection and search, 8,000 people remained.

Contrary to their expectations that half of them would be subordinates, the number was only 2,000, but…

T h i s was c o pi e d f r om k i n gm t l.o rg
6,000 candidate heroes left without hesitation as soon as they were inspected.

“Well… it can’t be helped, it happened because we couldn’t respond properly.”

It was a situation caused by their inexperience, but they couldn’t help but feel regretful.

“…Sigh.”

The Saint let out a deep sigh and blamed herself. At that moment…

“Don’t be too disheartened. We just did what we had to do.”

The Hero approached her and offered words of comfort.

“…Is that so?”

“If we hadn’t done the inspection in this inevitable situation, the subordinates would have launched a surprise attack and caused damage.”

“Caused damage…”

“Also, just the fact that we didn’t let 2,000 subordinates into the Holy Empire means that the inspection was successful.”

“You’re right. Just the thought of letting those people in makes me dizzy.”

It was a reasonable explanation. No, it was just a mental victory, but the Saint was persuaded and nodded.

“So, don’t be too disappointed about the candidate heroes who left.”

“As Hero-nim said, we should be content with the fact that we filtered out the subordinates.”

“That’s a good attitude.”

After regaining her composure…

“Let’s enter the Holy Empire!”

As planned, they took the candidate heroes and entered the Holy Empire.

They were about to head to the cathedral for the hero selection when…

“…Saint-nim? Raphael-nim’s oracle isn’t coming down right now. The selection process will be delayed a bit.”

The Cardinal approached them with a hurried expression and informed them that they wouldn’t be able to select the heroes today.

“…This has never happened before.”

The Saint’s face darkened at the unprecedented event.

“Hero-nim, let’s go to the cathedral together and see what’s going on.”

“Okay.”

They left the candidate heroes in the Cardinal’s care and headed to the cathedral to assess the situation.

After the Saint and the Hero had completely disappeared…

Kaboom―――――――――!

A huge explosion occurred in the center of the city.