Steam Age: I Fight Against Divine Authority with Otherworldly Tales

Chapter 22 Bounty Turmoil

Upon seeing the body that Suren and the professor were carrying, Corrigan almost reflexively jumped up from his chair. His one eye swept across the doorway before his gaze fell on the corpse.

Cole Weeks, Corrigan recognized the guy with the bad reputation.

Nevertheless, he was still a member of the "Deathbird Monks." Corrigan frowned, took a drag of his cigarette, and looked coldly at Suren, demanding, "What's going on?"

Suren and Professor Derwent threw the body on the ground, and Karl, clutching his ribs, pushed open the door and entered. Suren shrugged.

"Your Excellency Captain, as Mr. Lawrence knows, just yesterday, Professor Augustus De Winter issued an escort bounty, and Carl, along with that wretched Cole, accepted the mission."

At this point, Suren stamped his foot, gritted his teeth, and pointed at Cole's corpse: "But that damned idiot tried to lure a Level II Dominator to kill us."

Even Suren himself felt that his performance was a bit exaggerated.

"Although young Carl was injured, I happened to have some marksmanship skills and managed to kill Cole." Professor Derwent then pumped his fist and interjected at the opportune moment, "Sir, Cole was entirely at fault and must be severely punished!"

Corrigan's lips twitched. The person was dead, how could he be severely punished?

Karl, clutching his still-aching ribs, complained bitterly to Corrigan, "Deacon, if that last Dominator hadn't gone after its prey, we would all have died there. Corrigan deserved to die!"

Corrigan glanced back at Lawrence, who nodded in response, "The three of them did indeed take on the professor's mission yesterday. I even reminded Suren and Carl to be careful of Cole."

Corrigan nodded. He knew a little about Cole's affairs, and this incident was most likely caused by Cole's greed.

The only unusual thing is that, according to Corrigan's experience, once a demon has locked onto an enemy, it will hunt them down to the death and will never give up its prey.

However, the power of the Demon Ruler is undeniable, and it would take at least one experienced "Awakener" to lead the team to deal with them. If they were lying, there would be no way to explain why they survived.

In the end, Corrigan had no choice but to believe the three men's story. He took a deep drag on his pipe, exhaled a smoke ring, and slammed his hand on the table.

"You two were lucky this time. Two rookies took on such a difficult task right from the start. You deserved to die."

Now that the mission is complete, you two can go and collect your bounty.

Corrigan glanced at Cole's body, a wave of annoyance washing over him. "Lawrence, call the scavengers. Drag Cole's body away and feed it to the rats. He was just a hunting dog, no relatives or friends. There's no need to bury him."

Suren had mixed feelings. If she were to die one day, would she also suffer the same treatment?

Edmund, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, suddenly spoke up:

"Deacon Corrigan, you're being far too careless. What if these two lowly slum rats conspired with this professor to kill Cole?"

Professor De Went immediately scoffed: "Sir monk, although I am not a clergyman of the church, I do have some influence within it. If you continue to use such language, I don't mind letting you understand what price you have to pay for defaming the reputation of a noble gentleman."

Edmund froze. Although he was a saint, he was only a monk and could not bear the complaint of a nobleman.

Suren wasn't angry; she just smiled and said to the professor, "Mr. De Went, this Mr. Edmund is just the slum rat he himself described. You don't need to bother with him."

Corrigan raised an eyebrow. Edmund always boasted of his noble birth and, relying on his status as a clergyman, always referred to himself as a lower class.

Edmund's face flushed, and he abruptly stood up, his meticulously styled hair becoming slightly disheveled from the movement. He pointed at Suren and said, "You bastard, don't talk nonsense!"

"Alright, Lord Edmund, your fingers have some cracks and even some calluses, marks left by children from the slums doing laundry and chores all the time. True nobles don't have these marks." Suren gave a mocking smile: "Compared to you, at least I'm not ashamed of my poor background."

Edmund could no longer bear Suren's words. He raised his right hand, which was glowing with a deep blue light.

Corrigan pulled out his revolver, pointed it at Edmund, and roared, "Edmund! You've gone too far!"

Even if you are a clergy member of the church, if you make a move within the 'Deathbird Brotherhood,' I have the right to kill you on the spot!"

Edmund took a deep breath, withdrew his right hand, glared fiercely at Suren, and then forcefully pushed the door open and left.

Corrigan walked over, laughing, and patted Suren on the shoulder: "I've had my eye on this guy for a long time, you've really helped me get revenge!"

"I also hate these pretentious guys." Suren smiled at Corrigan.

This kind of performative personality is definitely the type of person Suren dislikes, and with Edmund targeting her so much, hiding like a coward is not Suren's style.

Seeing that the matter was over, Professor De Went said goodbye and left.

Suren and Karl accepted the bounty. After the church took its 30% cut, they received 94 gold pounds and 115 contribution points respectively, which alleviated some of their financial pressure.

Suren could only internally complain that the church was a bloodsucker, but there was really nothing he could do about the commission after it was taken; he could only accept it helplessly.

Cole's revolver used the same bullets as Suren's original revolver. Suren used 27 contribution points to exchange for 20 rounds of "Explosive" rune bullets, 20 rounds of "Burning" rune bullets, a portable pistol bullet pouch, and a double-holster.

Karl exchanged some alchemical materials, and because his injuries were quite severe, he could only use his contribution points to exchange for some medical services and stayed at the duty station for treatment.

After dealing with these trivial matters, Suren felt somewhat exhausted from several high-pressure battles. She said goodbye to Karl and prepared to go home.

Just as Suren was about to leave, Corrigan called out to her, "You'd better watch out, Edmund is a very stingy guy."

He probably won't retaliate directly, but he's very likely to resort to some underhanded tactics behind the scenes.

But you don't need to worry too much. His teacher, the "Frostblade Saint," will arrive here in a few days. The "Frostblade Saint" despises internal bullying, so Edmund won't dare to do anything to you in front of him.

Suren asked with some surprise, "Didn't you say he was busy with other matters? Why did you have time to come here?"

Corrigan sighed: "This morning, the church used special investigative methods to locate the death site of the leader of the 'Classical Wisdom Society'."

The scene was very strange, as if some kind of bizarre ritual was taking place. The leader's remains were nowhere to be found, and the manuscripts were also missing.

However, based on our on-site investigation, we have confirmed that there are still survivors.