Chapter 109: One more time!

"I see…" Kyrie walks into the dining room as Ian informs him that Imogen and Laurel have confirmed some of the things that the potion merchant has told them. 

The cases of missing people around the town have one thing in common. They all believe that their faith will give them prosperity, and some of them do gain a better life in a very short time, coinciding with the surge of gold in the market. 

Laurel and Imogen have come across some information from the missing people's friends and acquaintances while asking around. They get wind about those people bragging about how their lives are finally going uphill and how the goddess finally pays attention to her faithful ones. 

According to the floating rumors, those people's income seems to have increased exponentially like they have won the lottery. However, those people's lips have been zipped airtight about how they were able to upgrade their lives in such a short time. 

They always say that they cannot talk about their gains because wealth comes first from the intangible faith to the goddess. The richer their faith is towards the goddess, the more likely their lives would improve. 

The majority who heard about it always just scuffed at the absurdness of the rumor. 

The kingdom of Aria is deeply religious, so how come only some benefited? 

However, their stories keep coming up in conversations because those people's words have some truth. All the attention boils down to one question: where do they gain that extra money?

Thus, Kyrie cannot take down the possibility that there have been transactions going on from the temple and the missing people.

However, curiously, the missing people are only peasants. The cases of missing people are not the only cases that are now becoming more public. More and more cases of bodies without souls littered on the streets appear, terrorizing the citizens that maybe a plague has entered into their city.

Nonetheless, the cases of people losing their souls do not discriminate by status. From the maids' gossip, some young masters and misses have lost their soul as well. 

The lure could also be gold. As an aristocrat, Kyrie knows that the nobles teach their children about creating wealth and maintaining wealth from an early age. It would be weird if the young masters and misses would not look at the validity of gold's surge in the market. If there is a real surge of gold in the market, they will take the opportunity.

The gold prices are relatively low compared to the times when gold is much more scarce. Those young nobles might have thought that if they could hold the gold until the market is scarce again, they could sell the gold at a higher price and gain profits from the gold trade.

Even if the gold never manages to rise higher than its expected future value, the nobles could melt the gold, mix them with other metals, and create gold coins. They could just find a mage to help them avoid the magic detection that those gold coins are not legally issued. If everyone keeps their mouth shut, the king would not know.

Kyrie sighs while thinking about the increasing cases. He is bound to need to solve the issue since the cases involve the temple. Still, even if they aren't, Kyrie would involve himself. The danger is too close to people who are important to him.

"By the way, did any of you see the gold yourselves?"

Ian shakes his head, "No, only information."

"Are you two interested in gold too?" Marquis Rowan asks as he overhears their conversation when they walk in.

Although Kyrie can see the worry in both his parents' faces, he is grateful that they did not question too much about what happened yesterday. 

"Come… You must be starving, son. Let's have some breakfast," says the marchioness.

Kyrie and Ian greet the marquis and marchioness before sitting down. Laurel and Imogen have already joined the table. 

"Are you feeling better now?" Laurel asks.

"Yeah, much better," Kyrie responds while looking at Imogen, who already started eating.

He takes a sip of his coffee before starting the main course and almost chokes to death. The rush of his embarrassing memories into his mind makes him secretly want to die. 

[Time to buy a casket and bury myself!!! AAHHHHH!!! So embarrassing!]

He remembers the special effects played in his mind and all the moments he could not stop himself from blushing like a maiden. Although it is not surprising that he would totally simp for Ian, Kyrie feels the cringe creeping on his skin like a teenage regret. 

[Stop! That is not me! I refuse to acknowledge it!]

When he finishes reminiscing his teenage hormones' excessive aftermath, Kyrie has concluded he needs to hold a funeral for himself. Thank Vita that no one can listen to his thoughts at that time. Else, he would want to go back to Earth for the funeral, into the darkest and deepest parts of the ocean. He would plunge into the sea without regrets!

Everyone on the table looks at Kyrie with worry. Ian pats on Kyrie's back and watches Kyrie's ears, and neck go entirely red.

"Are you alright?" 

[Get hold of yourself, Kyrie. No one knows about the shit that does in your head. Maybe Yue, but she is as rotten as me. Vita… is magnanimous. I might not be the first hopeless case she has seen!]

Kyrie takes the napkin on his lap to cover his mouth while lifting himself back. 

"Yes, sorry. I just choked on my coffee." Kyrie shines his well-practiced smile as he acts like nothing has happened.

Internally crying, Kyrie mentally apologizes to Ian. There is nothing he could do about it, so self-acceptance is the only way. 

[Let the past stay in the past…]

[...]

[Oh! Gosh! It's so embarrassing!]

While everyone goes back to eating and Kyrie internally battling the wish to just jump out of the window and look for a shovel, Marquis Rowan remembers his son and Ian's conversation when coming into the dining room.

"Son, are you interested in the latest gold trade?"

Marquis Rowan breaks Kyrie's self-deprecating mental bubble.

Kyrie eyes at Ian when the topic arises, "Yes. There are some things we want to find out about the sudden surge of gold in the market."

"Hmm… It has been a hot topic amongst the nobles. I have been considering whether I should join; although, I have yet to find out where all that gold comes from..."

Kyrie places down his cutlery, "Father, I think you should avoid it as much as possible."

"Is there something wrong?"

"The temple has fallen from grace, and the current surge of gold in the city might be connected to that."

The marquis frowns at the sudden news. For him, the thought of the temple falling from grace has never even materialized in his mind, not even in his wildest of imagination. The temple has always been graced by the goddess Vita from its foundation day. 

Trouble spreads across the marquis's face as he mumbles, "That's not good news..."

"What is it, father?" 

"I had a friend inviting me today evening to discuss entering into the gold trade. I have accepted the invitation, but now I feel it's too late to decline."

Kyrie's eyes shine, "Could we go?"

"Pardon?" The marquis is suddenly taken aback. Didn't his son tell him to avoid it?

"We need some solid evidence to see if the temple is connected to the current gold trade and the cases of missing people. I think if we examine the gold, we might have a better idea!"

"Missing people?" Marquis widens his eyes since he is surprised that there is a connection between the gold trade and missing people. Kyrie fills him in about the connections between the temple, missing people, people losing souls, and the gold trade. 

The marquis completely goes silent after hearing the coincidences of all the cases happening. All of them connect back to the temple. He is not deeply religious, but he has grown up with the notion that Vita's servants are responsible for guiding the souls of the masses. 

Taking advantage of the people's faith to satisfy their human greed, the temple has crossed the line this time.

"Can Ian and I attend the meeting regarding the gold trade?"

The marquis pinches his brows, "You see, son. I can only bring one person. The invitation extends only to one person and also female attendants."

The clanking sound of a teacup hitting the dish makes the marquis flinch. He looks at the marchioness nervously while regretting mentioning female attendants. With a stone-cold face, the marchioness gives him a sharp glare that immediately sends chills all over the marquis's body. 

Like a flip of a switch, the marchioness's eyes light up, clearing up the entire thunderstorm that was supposed to come and strike the marquis to crisps. She turns over to look at Kyrie with her lips widening creepily.

Kyrie also starts to break into a cold sweat.

[Don't tell me… ]

For the entire afternoon, the windows shake from the ultrasonic wails coming from Kyrie's bleeding soul. The marquis, who is in his office doing official business, cannot help but shake as he holds the teacup to drink his anxiety away. There would be a scream every couple of minutes, and the mansion soon sounds like a torture chamber.

"Mom! I am sorry! I swear to… Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Kyrie's lungs have exercised so intensely that they start to spam and hurt.

Kyrie's whimpers echo through the closed doors. Worried sick, Ian paces back and forth in the hallway as if his wife is giving birth for the first time. Unable to do anything about the situation, Ian resulted in pacing his worries out. His forehead beads of sweat. 

Imogen has been laughing her head off every time she watches Ian have small mental breakdowns and hears Kyrie's wails, but Laurel has taken her away by the ear. Only then, Imogen's statue face comes back. 

"Okay, Kyrie… Two more times…" Marchioness gets into position.

"Mom… You said that an hour ago! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Marchioness rips a chunk of hair from Kyrie's body.

"Son… You have been moving and crying so much that it took triple the time that I have expected!" Marchioness shakes her head, "I can't believe that my son can't even tolerate this little bit of pain… You had such grande talks about being a paladin. Tsk… tsk... Even those gentle, noble ladies can do better than you!" 

Kyrie is speechless. His body hairs are not even visible to the human eye since they are thin and blend with his skin color. So, after hearing the marchioness's words, Kyrie feels misery and injustice for the nonsensical attack. Even worse, the marchioness gets more sentimental as the procedures go on. 

Dumbfounded, Kyrie has to accept the reality that he cannot escape.

"I would love to give birth to a daughter so that I could dress her up and make her look all pretty," Marchioness sighs while looking at Kyrie, whose eyes are red and teary.

"Well! I will have my fun today!" Marchioness smiles widely, "Kyrie dear! One more time!"