The priest slowly knelt at his feet, his face twisted and he sobbed. Dalton drew his cursed sword and kicked the body aside. A pool of black and red blood spread on the grass, covering the brick cracks and frost-covered leaves. Uriel stood in front of the priest and waited for him to close his eyes before speaking: "There is no news about DeWitt Hearn."
"The wizards of the school hid him."
"A smart wizard of the school." York commented. "It is difficult to avoid being shot if you place the target in the archery range. If you put it in the warehouse, you will have no worries."
"Shania will definitely not send people as guards like Linde. If your news is true, she is busy looking for the legacy of the White Night Knight. No matter where she sent the Earl of the Bay, we can't get any clues."
The night elf swung his sword. "Unless you ask the royal party." He glanced at Uriel, "Of course, this won't actually work."
Eastman is a vassal state of the Tower. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has never respected the royal family, they are still the rulers of the kingdom. Asking for the royal family's assistance is a reasonable obligation, but asking them about the whereabouts of the royal family members is another matter. Dalton had no intention of negotiating peace with DeWitt Hearn, who would most likely die miserably if he showed up. After the incident at the Royal Capital Church, even if Uriel promised to arrange a peaceful solution for them, I am afraid the royal party would not believe it.
"At least the investigation on the Gaia Church is progressing smoothly." York encouraged his morale, "What number is this?"
"Six." Uriel stared at the dead man. The curse made his death painful, as it should be. "Thanks to him, I rediscovered the clues to the Church Nightingale. The industrial chain of selling babies is widely distributed. I only grasped the one from Brumnot to Knight's Bay. It was because the vampire manufacturing cauldron was exposed."
He no longer looked at the dead priest's face. "This is just a concentrated place to 'sell stolen goods', and the church's crimes are not limited to this one... In the final analysis, the Gaia Church is full of hypocrites and self-interested people, and the devout people are willing to kill women and children for the sake of glory. A gang of lunatics. If you ask me, even the Devil's Association has more value for existence than them."
"I can't say that absolutely." York shrugged, "I still remember that during the Frost Moon last year, there was a Father Gaia who distributed free indulgences in Venevoise."
"Free indulgence?" Uriel couldn't think of the meaning of this for a moment.
"Duke Tracy requires civilians to purchase a certain amount of indulgences every week to prove their piety and repentance to the gods. Of course, adventurers with no fixed abode do not have this habit, and the wandering knights can't find us anyway. ." The orange-faced man replied, "But for the residents of the city, this is an expense that has to be considered in addition to taxes. Moreover, indulgences are usually distributed near churches, and people who do not buy them on time may be burdened with potential demons. Suspicion. The unknown dare not go to church.”
Then you are wrong. “Does it have to be Gaia’s atonement?”
"Lucia doesn't ask for this from believers. She is fair and just and will never forgive sins. Heather... The forest goddess was only introduced to Eastman's faith in recent hundreds of years, but her followers admire natural life. If people take The money you spend to survive is used to prove your innocence, and maybe Heather will come to the mortal world in person to stop it."
"It should be so." It means that there is no indulgence that must be bought in the world, which is another evidence of the selfish sin of the Knox Gaia Church.
Uriel crossed the threshold, frightening the pigeons from the treetops. This church is rather a stronghold of dark transactions and stolen goods. Most of the gangs in the town are connected to the priests here. Now it is peaceful again, cleansed by the blood of the faithless. I wonder if Bishop Payton’s soul would be honored by this. He decided to burn the corpses piled up in the yard to ashes. Dalton was very supportive, and York was willing to light the fire.
"Speaking of those waste papers." The night elf suddenly interrupted the conversation. He hung the cursed sword back on his waist and took a few steps back, as if he was recalling something. "There was a man who had a box of indulgences with him and seemed to count them as part of the deal. What's the use of this thing?"
York said that he couldn't figure out what these people were thinking. Uriel thought about it carefully and felt that he seemed to have an impression. He followed Dalton to the box and looked through the scattered pieces of paper inside. This finally aroused his sense of déjà vu: "A large number of indulgences can be exchanged for the priest's blessing in the church. Well, the blessing refers to the fire ceremony." This is how Andrew became a mysterious creature, but simple indulgences are not enough. , he was forced to donate his youngest daughter to the church.
"Fire ceremony?" York was surprised, "Gaia is indeed the god of good deeds."
Dalton counted. "If ordinary people buy according to the weekly quota, they have to save for eighty years. The time for the indulgences to take effect varies, but it is only thirty years at most." He shook his head, "Only the rich can buy large amounts in a short period of time. of indulgences, civilians have no chance at all.”
"The rich live longer, the poor die faster, and the church makes a lot of money. This thing is really a genius invention. Those damn magicians really need to be taught a lesson." York laughed dryly and turned away. Sweep the battlefield.
Uriel snapped the box shut. "Let's burn them together."
According to the priest's confession, the Church Nightingale's residence is on the street nearest to the church. Of course, he didn't know that the person he came into contact with was a church scavenger, otherwise he wouldn't be waiting to die in the church. Uriel knew Iaconi Fairwin's tactics of traveling between several Gaia churches, so he easily locked on Nightingale's identity.
Thick smoke billowed from the church, and someone would surely come to check on the situation soon. Uriel was sure that finding someone now would probably be in vain, so he chose to wait on the roof near the church. The view here is wide, and there are many structures and wooden frames that are convenient for climbing and jumping. After all, it would be too presumptuous to arrest people on the spot. The patrol knights have no grudges against them. At least they can guarantee that they will not lose their targets here.
Uriel waited for five minutes. The cavalry who arrived first had already ordered people to carry buckets to put out the fire, and adventurers came to join in the fun. The apprentice knew all the characteristics of the nightingale, but he just couldn't find the target in the crowd. Did he realize this was a trap?
For the sake of the tower, the royal party did not let Uriel, a guy who helped wanted criminals, be "on the list" together, but the wizards and the Gaia Church must have been vigilant secretly. "Personality" and "Passenger" have become portable magic, and the orange-faced man York enjoys the exciting journey of hiding in Tibet. In any case, the chaotic situation of the church fire will not touch Nightingale's sensitive nerves for the time being. As a soldier who protects the reputation of the church, he cannot remain indifferent.
"There are too many people, and the fire will go out soon." York's voice went straight into his ears. This was the magic of Miss Detective Agatha, which was used by Uriel on the mercenaries with the help of "Evocation of Holy Words" to disperse them during the fire. Stay in real-time communication. "Still waiting?"
His worries were justified. Uriel even spotted an unknown person among the onlookers. Half of the apprentice's attention was on him, and he almost didn't hear the news from the night elves.
"No. I found him," Dalton declared succinctly.
The creaking sound of the wooden frame came from the other end of the magic mark, and Uriel knew that York was preparing to join Dalton. He glanced in the direction of the Nameless One and finally chose his original target. There is also a detection station in the town. Even if the fire in the church made the unknown person relax his vigilance, he should not show his fire so arrogantly. This is probably also a trap. The apprentice didn't know what the other party's purpose was. In fact, he wasn't sure whether the other party came because of the fire in the church.
No need to add extraneous details. He thought as he jumped off the roof, rolled around in the alley and stood up.
Most of the black smoke disappeared, which meant that the cavalry had extinguished the flames. The bodies of the priest and the cross knight were beyond recognition, but the indulgences in the wooden box had long since turned to ashes.
…
Compared to the nightingales of the church, the night elf Dalton has an advantage in hiding his tracks. When Uriel caught up with them, the cursed sword was already pointed at the throat of the church nightingale. He could imagine the scene of the other party being suddenly kidnapped while crossing a shadow. The apprentice himself couldn't help but feel the scar on his chest vaguely itching.
"I'm sure you've found the wrong person." Nightingale lied. In Uriel's eyes, his struggle was tantamount to self-defense.
After Uriel tricked him out of the conflict between Archbishop Paton and the wizards of the school, the other party's expression clearly showed that he would not answer any more questions. However, Uriel's guess was confirmed, which exceeded expectations.
"The Church of Gaia is also divided into factions?" York touched his chin, "I thought the Silence School had already digested the Church Sect. When the School merged with the Church, these die-hards had already been eliminated."
"That was before the Raven War," Sauron told them. "It was an irresistible trend for the Silent School to digest the Church of Gaia, so the church launched an action to purge the schismatics to ensure its own existence." The ecclesiastical sect you are talking about is the old-school clergy who do not advocate the truth. They believe that exploration is blasphemy to the goddess. Now there is a 'theologian' Roxanne Toslin among the law wizards of the sect. Obviously the Silent School does not care about their opinions. Nowadays, crazy people like Peyton Forrester are rare.』
"I see there are quite a few of these people in Eastman."
"Your understanding of the motherland is limited to the Four-leaf City," Sauron sneered. "It's better to listen to the analysis of professionals, from that 'theologian' Lord Toslin: Eastman is still the theocracy of Gaia, but it first In the War of the Saints, it participated in the war as a vassal of the Holy Council of Radiance, and was later handed over to the Tower. In the eyes of the Church of Gaia, the Kingdom of Eastman does not belong to a place of faith. It is used to exile those old-school priests with stubborn ideas as a manifestation of the goddess's kindness."
