Chapter 929: 121. Interrogation

“Come on. Do it. The Goddess’s blessing will protect you... if She really does send down blessings at all.”

“...”

At Muen’s gentle words, the nun instinctively lifted her head and looked toward the golden statue of the Goddess.

This statue, built at great expense, was beautifully proportioned and lifelike. Under the bright candlelight, it looked as though the Goddess herself had descended and was about to bestow Her grace upon the world.

But the nun knew very well that there was no blessing here. To keep the Church from learning what happened in this place, not even Holy Light had been infused into that statue. Even the Goddess’s face had been altered slightly, just in case some trace of the Goddess’s will might truly exist somewhere beyond sight.

A blessing was impossible.

And even if there were blessings, how could they ever fall upon sinners like them, who had long since betrayed the Goddess?

So this was not a blessing.

This was divine punishment.

“I... I can’t.”

The nun’s hands trembled so badly she could barely hold the scalpel. “I can’t do it. Something like this... I can’t...”

“How could you not?” Muen asked. “Haven’t you done this kind of thing countless times already?”

“No, it’s different, it’s different. Those people before were only...”

The nun suddenly realized she had said something she should not have. She carefully glanced at Muen’s expression, then hurriedly swallowed the rest.

“You mean that before, they were only desperate, miserable people—weak people who had no choice but to come begging to you for one reason or another. But the one lying in front of you now is the lofty Lord Bishop himself. Is that it?”

But Muen saw through her thoughts at a glance and leaned closer.

“And what difference is there now? Look. That lofty bishop ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) of yours is sprawled on the floor like a dog.”

“You bitch! Villain!” Bishop Kore was still cursing furiously. “Do you know what you’re doing? You’re assaulting a bishop of the Church! You’re desecrating the Goddess! I won’t let you off for this, and neither will the Church!”

Muen paid him no attention at all. He kept his eyes on the nun and said softly,

“You have to be willing.”

“...”

The nun began trembling even harder, as though even her blood had turned cold, because in that moment, beneath that calm gaze, she felt something far more terrifying than a bishop’s authority slowly flowing toward her.

It was darkness.

It was the abyss.

It was the ultimate terror that could swallow even her soul whole.

“I-I’m sorry.”

With a violent tremor, the nun’s hands clenched around the scalpel. Slowly, she walked toward Bishop Kore.

“I’m sorry... Your Excellency, please forgive me.”

“Y-you... what are you trying to do?”

At last Bishop Kore stopped cursing and glared at the approaching nun, all bluff and no backbone.

“You’re going to join forces with this criminal and harm a bishop of the Church? Do you know what will happen to you for that? Useless trash! You can’t even withstand this much pressure, you piece of trash!”

“That’s enough.”

Muen grabbed Bishop Kore by the arm, rolled him over like a ragged doll, and tore open his robes, exposing his soft, fat-laden abdomen completely to the blade.

The nun crouched down and brought the scalpel close to Bishop Kore.

“No, you can’t, you can’t, bastard—aaah!”

Bishop Kore let out a shrill scream.

Perhaps some kind of muscle memory had awakened, because though the nun’s hands had been shaking nonstop only moments ago, they were now unbelievably steady.

The blade cut through skin, then flesh, slowly revealing the bloodied, strangely beautiful layers of the human body one by one, like the petals of a blooming flower.

Bishop Kore tried to struggle, but he still could not break free of Muen’s hold. All he could do was watch—watch and feel with agonizing clarity as the cold scalpel that had once been stained with the blood of so many pitiful people now drank his own blood.

The entire process was drenched in despair.

“Remember to keep using Holy Light while you cut,” Muen reminded her at the perfect moment. “I’m not in any hurry here, so take your time.”

“Yes...”

The nun lowered her eyes obediently. She knew that from the moment she made the first cut, there was no path back for her, and so now she worked with even greater care.

“Well then, while you’re busy with that, let’s have a proper talk.”

Even as the extreme physical pain was already pushing Bishop Kore beyond what he could endure, Muen sat down beside him like an old friend.

“First question. All the money you’ve skimmed—where did it go?”

“I... I don’t know what you’re talking about...”

“Before I came here, I did a little digging into where your money was going. Ah, don’t look at me like you’re wondering how I could investigate information like that about you. By now you should have realized, shouldn’t you? I have more methods and more connections at my disposal than you imagine.”

Muen lowered his eyes and calmly watched as Bishop Kore’s abdomen was cut open, healed, cut open again, healed again, over and over in a repeating cycle.

“The money in your Church bank accounts is all perfectly normal. So normal that even if the Church’s upper ranks sent someone specifically to audit you, they wouldn’t find the slightest problem. Nearly every last coin has a clear destination.”

“Then why... ask?”

“But that normality is exactly what makes it so abnormal, isn’t it?”

Muen’s voice remained calm.

“Under this church, you oversee several orphanages, several convents, hundreds of people from top to bottom. On top of that, every day countless people come here to worship, donate, and pray. Money flows in and out constantly. Even the best accountant would get a headache from all those scattered figures... and yet in all those large and small transactions, there isn’t a single problem anywhere. Isn’t that the biggest problem of all?”

“I’m obsessive... every coin has to be recorded accurately. Is that not allowed?” Bishop Kore’s teeth trembled as he forced out a cold, painful sneer.

“Of course it is. The problem is that what’s in your books is only the church’s visible money—the money you can place in the sunlight, the money you can show everyone. But what about the money you can’t show anyone?”

Muen gripped Bishop Kore’s chin and forced him to meet his eyes.

“For example, what about the two and a half million I just gave you? Where will that money end up?”

“I-it... it’ll be spent by me.”

“Stop lying. You don’t own a single asset in your own name, and you have no habit of extravagant spending. Other than using the Goddess’s name to swindle innocent believers... in every other respect, you’re frighteningly clean.”

Muen’s voice turned icy.

“That image doesn’t match your behavior of fleecing believers for money at all.”

“I like saving money... hiding it in secret... somewhere no one could ever find it...”

Bishop Kore’s twisted face twitched into a ghastly grin.

“How’s that explanation?”

“...It seems my dear Bishop Kore has harder bones than I expected.”

Muen’s expression did not change.

“You should consider yourself lucky. If I weren’t wary of the same situation happening again as last time, I’d be using a much cleaner and more efficient method on you right now.”

“...Getting impatient?”

“Heh. Who knows?” Muen shook his head. “I didn’t really need to go to all this trouble, but in the end it doesn’t make much difference.”

Then he said lightly to the nun, “Take out one of his stomachs first.”

“...”

Both Bishop Kore and the nun changed expression at the same time.

Bishop Kore began struggling wildly again, trying to free himself from Muen’s grip... which was, of course, completely futile.

The nun only froze for a moment before silently rising and taking a strange instrument from Bishop Kore’s case.

It was a metal frame that could be inserted into a cut made by the scalpel, then cranked open on both sides to allow easier access for further work.

With practiced hands, the nun spread the frame into the gaping wound. Beneath layers of membrane and fat, the organs were now clearly visible.

“So you even designed a tool like this yourself.”

Muen looked at Bishop Kore with a faint smile.

“You really do have plenty of experience. Though I suppose before now, it was all experience as the ‘doctor.’ This must be your first time as the ‘patient.’”

“Bastard... I’ll kill you... I’ll definitely kill you... no, I’ll make you wish you were dead!”

“Then experience for yourself what it means to wish you were dead.”

“Ugh—!”

The nun moved quickly. Her hand rose and fell, and soon the stomach, leaking foul-smelling residue, was removed.

The pain of having an internal organ cut out was far worse than the pain of flesh being sliced. Bishop Kore’s entire body began convulsing, the veins beneath every inch of skin pulsing wildly.

“Next, the gallbladder.”

Plop.

The gallbladder was tossed carelessly onto the floor, green fluid spilling from it like rotten egg sludge.

“Bastard...”

“Keep going. The spleen.”

“I’ll kill you...”

“Keep going. The liver.”

“I...”

“The small intestine.”

“...”

“The large intestine. That one stinks too much—throw it farther away.”

“...”

“And finally, the kidneys.”

“...”

By the time the nun had carved out both intact kidneys as well, Bishop Kore’s abdominal cavity was basically empty. Yet under the support of Holy Light, his heart was still beating, and his consciousness remained painfully clear.

But now he could no longer utter any more threats. This horrifying punishment seemed to make him see all the people he had once deceived and made suffer.

There in hell, they were grabbing hold of him, dragging him down into a bottomless pit filled with nothing but endless pain.

“Well?”

An ordinary bloody spectacle like this did not move Muen in the slightest. He still looked at Bishop Kore with calm eyes.

“There aren’t many parts left in you that can still be removed. Are you really going to keep holding out?”

“I’ll talk...”

“What?”

“I said... I’ll tell you everything...”

Bishop Kore’s pale, cracked lips writhed weakly.

“Please... spare me.”

“Give him a big dose,” Muen signaled to the nun.

“Yes.”

A surge of Holy Light poured into Bishop Kore. In an instant, some of his strength returned, but that only made the excruciating pain and hollow emptiness inside him feel even sharper.

So he spoke quickly, and this time there was no more useless resistance.

“That money—the dirty money—I offered it all up to a major figure in the Church.”

“A major figure in the Church?”

Muen frowned slightly. That did not entirely match his guess.

From all the strange signs, he had assumed Bishop Kore had secretly been supporting the Salvation Society.

Just like Sister Ailinde before him, he had thought Kore must have become another piece the Salvation Society had planted inside the Church.

No...

Muen suddenly sharpened.

What Bishop Kore called “offering it to a major figure,” and what Muen had suspected as “supporting the Salvation Society,” were not contradictory at all.

“Who is this major figure?” Muen pressed.

“I... I don’t know. Their identity is deeply hidden. I can’t reach someone like that.”

“Hm?”

“But!”

Seeing Muen’s displeasure, Bishop Kore immediately raised his voice.

“I’m certain that person’s status is very high. Very high! At the very least, within Saint Blancfazesiya Cathedral itself, very high!”

“And why are you so sure of that?”

“Because...”

Bishop Kore sucked in a harsh breath.

“Because this position of bishop that I hold... was granted to me by that person.”