Chapter 20: Civil war and Devil’s dare

"So , are you sure about the person whom you are about to recommend?"

"I am sure about it. By the way, I haven't known your name yet"

"Ferick"

"Family name?"

"It is a secret, once I spill out, people would try to kill me" Ferick makes the silent gesture

"Royalty?"

"A fugitive from another county"

"I see"

That guy just sits steadily on my wagon. We are heading to Loreahor. It could take a day or three to make it but to me is around two since I prefer slow and I don't have to be afraid of bandits

"Why are you so calm about the road anyway? Why is the road so quiet and empty?"

"First off, you know by the title right? Second, they don't want their neck," I point to my neck and slowly drag my finger to the ground ", You understand what I am talking about right?"

"I see"

"Keep your mouth shut until half of the day"

****

Loreahor, quite busy these days eh?

We go to Kiltan's house. Ferick is quite surprised as my first time seeing such a scene eh?

"Why are there two little girls alone in the house?" He points at them

"To be frank, one of those little girls whom you are pointing is the one who will mentor you"

"Eh?"

"Hello again, the weird merchant who is close to that sadist" Miwra pops out suddenly

"How is this brat supposed to help me?"

"Respect your elder okay? I am 40 years old, I have two kids at home and a husband. I often crash here after works and go home once a month" Miwra clenches her fists

"I am so sorry about it" Ferick bows down apologetically

"Say, Miwra, would you like to train this one? He is quite good you know" I turn around

"Alright, I will beat him hard but I wonder, where is my payment?"

"Don't worry, just order him around for errands"

****

At the bar, I just witness lively activities. Beating each other, arguing, gibbering and drinking. I never get bored of this place.

"Long time no see, desert merchant. What would you like to have?"

"Just the strongest one you have"

"Alright, that would be 50 Quinks"

I put the money on the table. Strange, I don't see Kiltan around tonight. But I see soldiers and swords drinking around here.

"Here is your drink" The host put the drink on my right

I pick up the mug and walk slowly to them.

"The church is planning something strange. We have to capture those black robes alive. They are nice people but why do nice people like them have to suffer?" He chugs the whole mug

"You have to follow the orders or no payment. Beside, I want to disobey them too if we have enough support and power" The second soldier stares at his mug

"Look on the bright side, would you? At least the church didn't ask us to kill them right?" The third one takes a sip

"So you three want to know something shady about the church? Or perhaps, we can investigate them ourselves?" I slowly emerge to them.

"Who are you?" The second soldier points at me

"Just a merchant, can't tell my name"

"Just another shady retailer" The first one signals for another round

"If a shady retailer can give you some power and support, would you let him help you?" I smile

"Unless you are , I wouldn't even believe your power" The third one takes another sip

"Welp, I guess I have no other choice," I pull out my gun with one hand and shoot upward ", Is this enough for you to believe that I have my strength?"

"The ?"

"Can people stop calling me that?," I frown ", By the way, I am sorry for destroying a part of the bar, I will pay for it now" I put 4 gold coins on the table

****

"So why would you lead us to this place in the middle of the night?"

"You guys said that you wanted to know something about the church right?"

Here we are, standing at the backdoor of the church of this town. The four of us try to scale the wall. We get inside

"Strange, shouldn't the guards stay up late?"

"The church doesn't hire guards for night shifts recently, "

"Can you guess why?"

"Dunno, it is strange to us"

Holding glowing crystals on hands, It is much better than holding burning torches that give out smoke and heat. Now, we are in the library.

The books are all about praising our gods and our great lord. Lamento is the god of souls, Haliskar is the god of worlds, Caleros is the god of hell, Viltros is the god of heaven, lastly the blind old man figure holding an hourglass and a scale whose name we haven't known is the god of creation.

", we found something strange about this bookshelf here"

The three of us walk closer to the second soldier. This bookshelf seems to be very odd compared with the others. It stays close to the wall. I remember correctly, this kind of secret mechanism can be only made by dwarven tinkerers. The trigger should be around the base of this one.

Clack!

"How could you know that?"

"I once talked to a famous dwarven toymaker. His toys were very fascinating" I am not lying

"Could we meet him someday?"

"Unfortunately, he hates most humans, especially the one who works as a soldier. I can talk to him is because well, I gave him special beverages"

"Unfortunate"

Actually, he is dead tho. That dwarf was Thobour. He did really hate most humans but it was quite easy to bribe him with a lot of drinks, from fruit juice to heavy alcohols that knocked dragons.

"An entrance?" The first soldier lightly punches the third

"Do you think what I am thinking?" The second clenches his fists

"Those fanatics" The third grits his teeth

"So it seems those you called , are those the human supremacy cult?"

"Yes, those disgusting bastards and yet the church wants to shelter them here"

"I guess, we should go deeper this place"

****

To be frank, this looks worse than eldritch's intestines. A room is filled with red diagrams and candles. It looks like some dark ritual but these diagrams are actually hexes to exorcise evils ,made by those light magicians. I spied on the dark robes, they too do these kinds of diagrams but they have darker red than these one. The red here are made of blood and sap of holy tree mixture. The black robes use blood and grinded coal

"This place is no longer sacred anymore" The second soldier points the mess at the corner of this room

"This is… where it began… The terror" The first soldier holds his mouth

"Isn't that thing dead already?" I comfort him

"You hadn't been in our subjugating party. Three of us here are all survivor of the party of twenty men" The second soldier drags the first further away from the mess

"What happened on that day?"

"It was a terror. One sided battle. It waited, it grew and worst of all it ate every bit of our comrades" The third bang his sword on the ground

"I guess I should consider this as revealing the truth about the corruption of the church?"

"Agree" all of the three nod

****

We get out of the scene. The next thing we have to do is either report or gather people from this town. I don't think Kiltan will like this truth reveal at all, because he is the one who had slain the monster.

****

The four of us gather enough people. I personally restricted the church's movement in the early morning. I hate to do this but what has to be done is more important than what I temporarily want. In the long run, I think I can make the Nortus fall harder than I originally planned years ago.

When we reveal something in the basement, people are stunned by the remains of the experiment that had happened a long time ago. Thus means the church incompetently let someone experiment something unnoticed.

In the middle of murmuring among people

"This thing, we haven't seen it before. How come something is beneath this foundation?" The old cleric weakly stands up

"Tell me, who was before you?" I point my dagger at his face

"Nugamil Polsa was before us. "

"Another thing," The first soldier unsheathes his sword ",How come that thing went rampage? How come that thing ate my comrades? How come that thing ate many lives? Do you know how to give back our comrades? It had stampeded and crushed lives" and he points his sword at the cleric

"Hey, we are not done yet" I lowered his sword

****

The next morning

"Say, why does this brat always nag me for sweets?"

"Don't call me a brat, I am older than you. I prefer sweets so what?"

"Wow there, Miwra. Don't be harsh on him okay?"

A lively morning like this. Thankfully, I have an easier target to eliminate for now.

The mad old cleric should be dead by my hands. Or perhaps, I can consume this soul and then challenge head on with those other knights. Maybe I can announce my real race after these years.