Chapter 111: Calming the Citizens

The notification I got bothered me so much that I only slept for a while. For a few minutes, I tried to understand it.

Nothing came to mind, though. Probably it was because I had changed Eliza's personality and made her too out of character from the original Sins Paradise.

However, this gave me a hint. I could change the requirement needed to dominate girls if I influenced them enough and changed their personalities.

It wasn't easy, but doable. I could try this trick for the girls with an impossible requirement even when it became easier due to my Domination System.

Eliza had fallen asleep first after she moved around a lot on her bed.

The perverted teacher went to bed almost immediately after she returned from reporting to the headmistress about what had happened that night, fully clothed. She noticed that I wasn't sleeping and told me what she had reported to Alesia.

Surprisingly, Alesia managed to track two nobles charmed by Beatrice inside the Royal Palace. They were low-ranked nobles, a son of a Baron and a son of a Viscount. Both of them worked as a steed and a butler, respectively.

Those guys also attended the 'meeting' held by Duke Bluerose when he was in the Capital City.

Because of their location, Alesia couldn't move freely to meet them, which was actually good for me.

With Beatrice under my domination, I could use all nobles she charmed to get information from inside the Royal Palace.

I hadn't expected this. In total, Beatrice had 6 charmed people under her. And almost all of them were useful to me, except for Otto, who was currently imprisoned inside my mansion. That scum didn't deserve to live.

And then, I asked Emilia to tell Alesia not to kill those nobles as I wanted to use them. She did and used the long-distance communication magic item with the same shape as what I used before to contact Alesia.

I couldn't hear anything when she talked to the headmistress. The magic item seemed to transmit sound directly to the brain instead of creating a sound. However, one needed to speak to relay the message, so it wasn't exactly secure.

If someone was smart enough, they would be able to decipher what they talked about from one side. Though if one was vague enough, their message wouldn't be deciphered.

Afterward, we were flirting on the bed, touching each other lightly until Emilia had fallen asleep. A light kiss was a reward I gave to the perverted teacher as I slowly got off the bed, wearing black pants and a shirt I took out from the inventory.

In the end, I couldn't sleep again tonight, just like usual.

'I am thankful my VIT is higher than before. My body recovered from fatigue just by lying down.'

The church knights seemed to patrol the area 24/7, making sure the church's area was safe. When I exited the room, I looked at the radar in the corner of my sight to find Sandra, who wasn't in her room.

However, before I could try to find her, I noticed many yellow dots walking around the church's area, belonging to civilians.

Walking toward the nearby window facing the entrance, I tried to see what had happened. A crowd of people stood in protest around the entrance; a dozen knights held them back. My eyes widened slightly in surprise, and then I looked at the sky.

It was still dark outside; the stars still decorated the sky. To think they would already swarm the church like this.

In the distance, I noticed another crowd of people facing a large building that had turned into rubble. The church's height and where I stood allowed me to see it clearly.

"So that's the cause."

Not having enough explanation, the civilians decided to seek an explanation from the church. Gerald wasn't on the scene either, as I asked him to watch over the revival chamber. As a result, the knights were having trouble.

As a good Paladin, I decided to help them. I went down and met them, appearing from the entrance while speaking loudly.

"What happened here?"

My voice boomed in the area, louder than any of the people here. Walking toward them with my hands inside my pocket, I stood at the end of the stairs.

"Can anyone explain why all of you gathered here before the sun even rose yet?"

The civilians looked at each other and nodded.

"It's about the Duke's mansion."

One of them, a middle-aged man with an experienced look and brown hair, stepped forward and began to explain their worries to me. The knights didn't stop him as I gestured for them to step back. It wouldn't give me any results if they stopped them from telling me about their worries.

And I heard about their worries.

As expected, it was about the earthquake earlier and the Duke's mansion that suddenly turned to rubble overnight. The Duchy knights were also confused. Some civilians who worked as guards were asked to find out what happened by other civilians.

It was then I heard that not all Duchy knights lived in the Duke's mansion. Figures, though. 50 knights for such a large Duchy was a bit too low.

Should I take care of them too? I guess not.

It seemed like they were searching for an explanation that satisfied them about what happened to the Duke's mansion. It was then I told them that we had tracked the Duke being the one who kidnapped the girls from around the Duchy.

Their expressions turned sour, and they looked like they didn't believe me. How troublesome. But then, I asked them to follow me to what was left in the Duke's mansion to show them some trace of the Gargoyle.

I sliced them cleanly, and they turned into some small fine dust, but their color should still be distinguishable from the others. It might not satisfy the citizens, but I had no other evidence.

All the culprits were still in the middle of reviving, so it would take a few hours at best before they could announce they were the culprit.

Jasper? That guy belonged to the church. If it was found the church also had something to do with the kidnapping, our reputation would fall. That would hinder me a little bit in the future.

"So it's really the Duke who was kidnapping those young girls?" The middle-aged man earlier asked me nervously.

"Yes. You will get more explanation about it later. The Duke is still... in the middle of reviving. We won't allow such injustice of the person who used the Demon to prevail in this country."

I replied to the man with a serious tone.

The sentence I told him wasn't complete. To be exact, I wouldn't allow people who used Demon to annoy me when I was around. However, I didn't need to say that, as this would be enough to satisfy the crowd.

They looked rather confused, but they nodded to each other.

"We will wait for the announcement." The civilians' representative said, nodding his head. "Does this mean the Duke is a Sinner?"

"Yes." I nodded, confirming his words. "His Son is actually declared a Sinner too, by me, a few days ago. They had fallen into a Succubus' charm." I explained.

The crowd gasped at once, muttering 'Succubus?!' many times over.

"S-Succubus, Paladin?" The man also raised his voice at what I had said.

I knew he was worried that this 'Succubus' would wreak havoc. Many knights who accompanied me took a step forward and readied themselves to deal with the crowd.

"Don't worry." I said in a calm tone, taking the horn of a certain monster from my inventory.

The horn was similar to Beatrice's. However, it actually came from a monster called Crazy Sheep back in Horizon Online. A normal person wouldn't be able to spot the difference, so this should serve as better proof than Gargoyle's dust.

Raising my hand so the crowd would be able to see the horn, I started, "This is the horn of the Succubus when I slayed her earlier. She should be back in the Sin Kingdom right now."

"So please don't worry about the Succubus." I finished and put the horn back in my inventory.

At that moment, the crowd clapped their hands and cheered.

"Long live the Paladin!"

"Our savior!"

"He saved us from Sins! Oh, thanks, Goddess Teri, for her blessing!"

"Goddess, bless the Paladin!"

Looking at the crowd shouting my name without them knowing I had full control of that Succubus right now, my lips curled up in a crooked smile. I really couldn't hold back my grin.

How funny they were.

This bonus stage was really fun.