The Priest Wants to Retire

EP.180 Rampage (5)

In a dark alleyway where the sun’s rays did not reach, there trembled a man whose face was filled with deep fear.

His name was Rans.

A local priest in charge of the small city of Ishik, adjacent to the capital of the system, his notoriety was such that the city residents called him “Renegade Rans.”

With a cunning nature that bowed to the strong and trampled the weak, he had committed unimaginable wrongdoings while being believed to be a clergyman who served the will of God.

However, thanks to the solid backing of a skilled mercenary group, there was no one in this city who could confront him about his actions directly.

Many had felt the impulse to throw a punch at his smug face, thinking he acted like he was the king of the city.

But now, his complexion was far from the usual blithe appearance.

“W-What on earth happened… how did it come to this? I-I was just trying to squeeze a few coins for tonight’s whore from some street beggar…!”

Even as his upper and lower teeth clashed clink, his mouth never ceased.

The reason behind how he had fallen to such a disgraceful state was quite trivial.

He attempted to snatch the goods of a pickpocket who targeted a passing traveler but was thwarted by an unknown priest, presumed to be the rightful owner of those goods.

So, just to take revenge for that humiliation, he asked his mercenary group to deal with that man.

But in a blink of an eye, his once-reliable mercenary group was wiped out.

All his savings were forcibly taken by the remnants of that mercenary group.

To make matters worse, his divine power, which had been perfectly fine just yesterday, had suddenly failed, making it impossible for him to even treat his broken arms.

He had messed with the wrong person.

He didn’t want to admit it, but Rans ultimately had to accept it.

All of this was the result of him touching something he should never have touched.

The man who had crushed the mercenaries he thought could never defeat him had ingrained a deep sense of defeat in Rans’s very essence.

Not just that.

“And what about that elf…!”

A sudden flash of the past crossed Rans’s eyes.

After shaking off the murderous intent and screams stabbing his back, he had drawn a long breath, only to be confronted by an unknown elf.

‘Are you guys accomplices of that fool we touched?’

Her cold gaze was as indifferent as if she were looking at a cockroach about to be squashed.

Even as she shoved her hand into his mouth and pulled out his molars, all Rans could do was screech in pain.

He was powerless. It couldn’t get any more powerless than this.

He wondered if he had to seek permission just to breathe or blink in front of her.

He deeply felt the crushing difference in their status as living beings—it was a truly soul-stirring moment.

Although he learned it too late, that elf had gone around personally dealing out similar punishments to everyone involved in that incident, including Rans.

Except for a few who were foolish enough to resist and ended up with arrows piercing their foreheads, most barely managed to keep their lives.

But the overwhelming sense of defeat that rooted itself in their mind would undoubtedly steer the rest of their lives in a bleak direction.

‘Just looking at that guy’s face means I can let this go easy. That bastard deserves to die, and if we kill him, we will end up in a foul mood for days!’

From their series of conversations, he could subtly guess that she was a colleague of that white-haired priest, and this behavior was meant to serve as a lesson for the thugs who had troubled her companions.

Of course, the reason she hadn’t killed him but only inflicted pain wasn’t due to any pure compassion.

There was not even a speck of humiliation mixed in with such feelings.

What Rans could feel at that moment was nothing but a fierce sense of relief for having spared his life.

Even now, he couldn’t begin to guess the identity of that man, but to Rans, it wasn’t such an important matter.

At that moment, Rans firmly reaffirmed to himself that he would never be associated with that man for as long as he lived.

However, it didn’t take long for that resolve to shatter.

Bang!

“I finally found you! You bastard—!”

“Hi, hiik—!?”

Rans let out a girl-like scream upon encountering the fearful presence he thought he would never see again, less than a night later.

The red-haired elf, now wrapped in an overwhelming killing intent that couldn’t be compared to before, had a vicious face soaked in crimson blood.

The examples were not yet over!

With despair rooting itself in the air around him, Rans’s vision was about to blur momentarily.

“P-Please! Just spare my life!”

“Hey! You there! Find every nook in this vicinity where a person can hide and blow a whistle!”

“Y-Yes…?”

The elf’s voice, filled with intense rage, violently jolted Rans’s consciousness back to reality.

◈◈◈

While I didn’t have a clear goal to become this kind of person,

I did have a vague belief that I didn’t want to be someone like this.

Men who shamelessly rely on weak women, shirking their own responsibilities—these were nothing but parasite husbands, or in simpler terms, male prostitutes.

I’d rather die than live such a disgraceful life.

That was one of the few phrases I could confidently state from my stained life story that I was ashamed to show others.

“Hmm~? You’re breaking your chains. Have you had a change of heart~? But you, of all people, should know well that such actions are worse than doing nothing in front of this supreme body of flesh, right?”

Suddenly springing to my feet, the elf expressed her bewilderment at seeing me break free from all restraints with Bawngwi.

I could vaguely guess her thoughts.

Against the body of the hero equipped with the holy sword, merely securing my limbs was a dubious defense.

To her, I probably looked like a puppy that had freed its leash and was threatening a tiger.

It wasn’t surprising to get such a repulsive reaction back.

But could she really stay calm seeing this?

Tap, tap.

“…?”

She tilted her head in confusion as she watched me carelessly unbutton a few of my collar buttons.

The sight of a supposed clergyman exposing his collarbone in front of a woman was surely something too horrid to behold.

Yet I had come to realize through experience that this filthy appearance effectively attracted certain peculiar types of women.

“Phew…”

“Uggkh—!?”

As I revealed my collarbone and tossed my hair back while sighing sensually, she suddenly clutched her heart and began to writhe in agony.

“W-What in the world!? Wh-What have you done to my vessel!?”

Her breath was ragged and uneven. The flush on her face was immensely evident.

The visible intensity of her reaction was the most certain evidence that my ploy was working.

Step.

“D-Don’t come near me—!”

Bang!

As I cautiously took a step forward, a fierce sword strike grazed past my cheek.

The subsequent surge of air and loud noise vividly demonstrated how overwhelmingly powerful the unexpected assault was.

However, strangely, not once did I feel fear.

And why was that?

“Should you step even one inch closer, I will behead you! Do you understand? Do you even understand!?”

Truly, the person shivering in genuine terror right now was not me, but her.

It was like how a person’s fear would ease when someone else fussed while watching a horror movie.

Swish.

As I caressed my cheek smeared with blood, I turned my gaze toward her again.

“Hiiee!?”

Her actions visibly shrank as she stumbled backward in fright.

The power dynamic had completely flipped.

Instinct screamed at me that now was the time to solidify this advantage.

“Lick it.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you hear? I said lick it.”

“How dare you…!”

I extended a bloody finger, offering a bold statement that undoubtedly met with fierce rage in return.

But I knew well.

I knew that she, of all people, derived a sickening pleasure from such humiliating treatment.

“Don’t make me say it again. Lick it now, Abigail.”

“─!?”

Bitten hard by her lower lip, she desperately spat out her words.

With every syllable, the intense urge to end my own life surged in my mind, but I had to endure.

“Seems like you are looking to be punished…”

“P-Punishment—!?”

Seconds later, the voice of the hero herself momentarily blurred my wavering resolve.

That was right.

For tonight, I would become a male prostitute.

Mom… I’m sorry.