Hao Ren led his group of friends out of Gelton's reception room. Two monks led them to a place to rest while Big Beardy and the other three stayed behind. It seemed that the discussion between the bishop and the marshal would involve the church's secrets. When they arrived at the temporary guest room, Becky suddenly remembered something. "Oh! That's right! I haven't asked about the reward yet … Did they forget about it? "
Hao Ren squinted at Becky and said, "Can't you be a little more promising? How can such a huge country swallow up this little reward of yours? "
Becky puffed her cheeks and said, "My time is precious. I can only stay for fifteen days at most. What if someone comes and tells me that I need to report to the Royal City and get a reply in a month? Wouldn't I be stupid then?"
Hao Ren covered his face and said, "That is indeed a problem... But let's take it one step at a time. By the way, why do we see Gelton and Ophra arguing every time we see them? Is there a conflict between the royal army and the church army? "
Becky waved her hand and said, "There is no conflict. You think too much. Holletta's politics and church have been complementing each other for so many years, and there has never been any conflict. But it is true that the two groups often have a little friction because of the standards of conduct. The church is generally conservative, the royal army is pragmatic, and Lady Ophra has been in the army for hundreds of years, so she may be a little more stubborn. But let's not get involved in this kind of thing, nothing good will come out of it. "
Hao Ren nodded. Of course, he was not interested in this kind of trouble. He was only concerned about the secret hidden under this land. But Lily looked excited and said, "Hey, how do you think they are going to deal with those rock monsters? Those things fell from Dragonspine Ridge, and the whole mountain range is so big, they can't kill them all. Are they going to keep this stalemate? The Royal Family of Holletta didn't say anything? "
"I noticed some notices on the road just now," Becky answered casually while tidying up her equipment. "Two groups of troops have been transferred from the King's City to help. The knights from the nearby parishes also arrived a few days ago. Now, the military strength of the Beinz Diocese has increased by nearly three times since the last time we came. But you're right, even the royal family doesn't seem to have a good idea. They can't move the whole mountain range, can they? As long as we can't figure out where the stone giants came from, this stalemate will continue. " Becky said with a worried look on her face. "I hope the situation won't worsen …"
After all, this was her hometown. In the face of such a situation where strange monsters kept appearing, Becky could not help but worry. However, this was obviously not something a small person like her could solve.
At the same time, in Gelton's guest room, the atmosphere was getting more and more oppressive.
"You're saying that a heretical cult has appeared here?" Big Beardy pressed his hands on Gelton's desk, his face solemn. "What's the situation?"
"For the time being, we don't know the ins and outs of this cult." Gelton waved his hand at Big Beardy to calm him down. "They only surfaced half a month ago, and they haven't been caught yet. We only found some traces of evil rituals. There have been some strange things happening in this area recently, and it should be related to this evil cult. "
"Strange things? What strange things? " Big Beardy frowned. Only this kind of news related to heretics could make the unsmiling ascetic so nervous.
Ophra snorted, her voice cold. "Many of our fallen soldiers' bodies have gone missing. According to the frontline report, the missing bodies were temporarily left on the ground for some reason. They disappeared after the guards' attention was diverted for a while. After that, they never appeared again."
"And it's not just the fallen soldiers," Gelton's voice was low. "This includes civilians as well. As long as they died recently, their bodies may mysteriously disappear, leaving only a little bit of blood at the scene. Sometimes, not even a trace of blood. The most recent example is a sentry post on the edge of the sacred lake. The sentry post was attacked by the rock giants and lost. The soldiers who escaped from the sentry post led reinforcements back to investigate the situation the next day, only to find that the bodies of the dead left on the battlefield the night before had disappeared. "
Big Beardy and the other three immediately looked at each other. They instantly knew where the sentry post was. They came from there, and they even found a mysterious tunnel under the sentry post! But nothing was found in the tunnel, and this made Big Beardy a little uncertain if the tunnel had anything to do with this matter. He decided to talk about the tunnel later, and asked another question. "What do the missing bodies have in common?"
Ophra thought for a moment. "The recent deaths were all within the west side of Dragonspine Ridge. The dividing line is based on the central axis of the ridge. The soldiers who died on the east side did not encounter this strange thing. Another thing is that there are no eyewitness records. The body disappeared when no one was watching over it. I sent someone to keep an eye on this matter, and nothing happened for three days and three nights. However, when the guard was distracted for a moment, the body disappeared without a trace. "
Ophra could not help but clench her fist at the end. Obviously, she was confident that she wanted to find out the truth, but in the end, she was mocked and failed. This made this heroine, who rarely failed, very angry.
The young ascetic was silent for a moment before he remembered something. "Have you checked the graveyard?"
Gelton nodded. "I thought of it too. It was after checking the graveyard that we confirmed that only the recent deaths would disappear. The old graves in the graveyard are fine, but the recently buried bodies have also disappeared. "
"You need 'fresh' bodies?" The young ascetic nun asked in a hoarse voice. There was a hint of surprise in her voice. "Could it be a necromancer?"
"I don't think it's possible." Ophra crossed her arms, and there was a hint of contempt in her voice. "Although necromancers are not welcomed, they are still legal. As long as they follow the normal procedures and comply with the Sorcerer's Association's rules, they can do whatever they want. Even the stupidest mage would not risk the wrath of the Holy Land to do such a thing. And the earliest disappearance of the bodies was about half a month ago, almost at the same time as the sudden proliferation of the rock monsters. I'd rather believe that it's a group of cultists who pursue ancient power. Don't let me catch them … "
"Actually, we might have some clues." Big Beardy felt that it was time to bring up the information he had. He stood up. "We happened to pass by the outpost you mentioned earlier on our way here. I'm not sure if you've checked the situation underground …"
Big Beardy then told them about the strange tunnel and the suspicious smell of blood in the tunnel. Ophra and Gelton looked at each other after listening. Ophra looked at Gelton. "The Church Knights are in charge of that area. Did you find anything underground?"
"I haven't checked the outpost." Gelton shook his head. "But as you know, the other places where the bodies went missing did not have that kind of tunnel."
Big Beardy was a little surprised. "Other places? That means you've checked the underground? There were no tunnels at the other places where the bodies went missing? "
Ophra shook her head. "No. We spent a lot of effort looking for the bodies that went missing, of course, including underground, but we never found any tunnels. Later on, when the bodies went missing again, we stopped looking for clues underground. Looks like we need to reconsider this problem … Maybe there really is something underground. Sir Bishop, what do you think … Sir Bishop? "
Gelton seemed to have fallen into a deep thought. He only reacted after Ophra called him a few times. "Oh, of course. I'll send someone to the outpost to verify the facts. But I suddenly thought of something else … "
"Something else?" Ophra frowned.
Gelton spread his hands. "The power of the cultists seems to be beyond imagination, and it's obviously related to the anomaly in Dragonspine Ridge. I even suspect that a group of evil descendants of the Ancient Magic Empire has infiltrated this sacred land. If we focus all our efforts on the rock monsters, I'm afraid we'll fall into their trap. Marshal, I can't leave the parish. So I hope you can personally make a trip to the royal capital and report this to His Holiness the Pope and His Majesty the King. I'm afraid this is no longer a regional crisis. We need support from the highest church. "
Ophra laughed when she heard this. "Ha, you finally have a sense of urgency."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
