Day by day had passed, and before long, it was the end of October.

Ever since the disturbance caused by the appearance of the undead in the labyrinth beneath Thunder County, nearly a month had unwittingly passed.

In this neither-too-short-nor-too-long period, more and more adventurers had witnessed the presence of the undead in the labyrinth. And all these occurrences right before their eyes further corroborated the rumors that "the Demon King had returned."

What was unsettling the people was not just this.

While the old evil had not completely vanished, a new evil was clandestinely brewing in unknown corners.

Following the legend of the Flame King and the evil dragon, another name began circulating among the people: the evil Undead Alchemist, Miranda.

It was said that this evil Undead Mage would usually hide in the labyrinth and during the day, would disguise herself as a do-nothing adventurer hunting for targets on the streets.

Once targeted by this individual, it was nearly impossible to survive.

In just this short half a month since her appearance, over twenty victims had been discovered by the people.

The identities of the victims varied widely—from a barmaid in a tavern to a sailor ashore on leave, to a shop clerk and even adventurers.

Judging from the victims' identities, it was clear that the crimes were random.

To contain the spread of panic, Duke Campbell had no choice but to dispatch his Knight Order to Thunder County, ordering them to capture the despicable heretic at all costs…

However, the distant threats were ultimately distant, and it seemed that all of this had nothing to do with the tranquil and peaceful Silver Pine Town.

The church in Silver Pine Town.

A knight clad in silver armor sat on a bench with hands clasped before his chest, silently praying facing the statue of Saint Sis.

Two attendants stood behind him, quiet as statues, silently standing watch.

At that moment, the creaking sound of wood came from a door at the side of the chapel, as a priest holding a candle walked in from behind it.

The aged face was dignified and solemn, yet carried a touch of a kind old father's warmth.

All the orphans here greatly respected him.

Including the residents living nearby, anyone mentioning Priest Matt's name would show a look of admiration as if discussing a great person.

Seeing the priest appearing in the chapel, the knight sitting on the bench immediately stood up and smilingly greeted him.

Priest Matt looked at him and nodded, placing the candlestick on a table nearby, and began in an amicable voice,

"You must be Mr. Mel White, my apprentice told me a knight of the lord's visiting… I hope you and your men weren't kept waiting."

Facing the stern priest, Mel smiled politely and said,

"Not at all, distinguished Priest Matt, it is rather I who am intruding. I hope I haven't disturbed your service to Lord Saint Sis."

Matt looked at him expressionlessly, then at the two attendants standing behind him, before he spoke,

"I am serving Lord Saint Sis at all times, even while standing here facing His children… So, may I ask what brings the lord's Knight Order to this small town? I was just in the backyard inspecting the frostbitten grapevines; I hope you can be brief."

The aura emanating from the three was one he disliked, and yet he could not afford to let his distaste show on his face.

In order to keep his composure, he did not wish to drag the conversation out too long.

Long before arriving here, he had heard that the local priest was a peculiar fellow, but Mel, with all his politesse, could not detect anything amiss from that stern-faced priest and continued,

"This is the situation: we are on a mission to apprehend a fugitive named Miranda, who is believed to have fled to this area."

Priest Matt spoke expressionlessly.

"The church is a place for prayer; such matters should be referred to the sheriff."

Knight Mel nodded slightly, continuing respectfully.

"We had already visited there, but considering that fellow is related to the External Gods, we decided it would be better to come here and inform you."

"External Gods?" Priest Matt frowned, "May I ask which External God the fugitive worships?"

All deities other than Saint Sis are referred to as External Gods.

This includes the Mechanical God Isaac, the Dragon God, the Demon God, and others... as well as the heretics from across the Vortex Sea.

In Thunder County, a place well-connected in all directions, simply discussing External Gods without specifying is meaningless.

Mel lowered his voice, his expression grave.

"Our information is limited... However, from interrogating a suspect believed to be his accomplice, we speculate that these people are most likely related to the 'Catastrophe' in the Dimension Desert."

"Moreover, that man claims to be 'Madman'."

Catastrophe...

A serious look flashed across Priest Matt's face.

According to the Holy Word Book, the Catastrophe is a phenomenon that periodically occurs on the Aus Continent, mainly associated with people's subconscious irreverence.

The Holy Word Book does not specify details, only vaguely mentioning that the Catastrophe is one of the factors that could trigger the apocalypse.

It is nothing good.

This is true for both the Surface World and Hell.

As for what Madman is...

He did not know, nor had he heard of it.

"I will keep an eye out."

Mel nodded.

"That is all I needed to inform you."

Just as he was speaking, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and continued speaking to Priest Matt in front of him.

"By the way, do you have an intern priest named Bond here?"

"Bond?" Priest Matt furrowed his brows, pausing for a moment before revealing a look of realization, "Oh, you mean Bond... He is a priest who has just recently arrived here; he should be in a nearby village now. Did you need him for something?"

"Nothing in particular; we had agreed in the labyrinth to help each other, and I was wondering how he was doing with his mission." Knight Mel shook his head regretfully, "Since he's not here, never mind. When he returns, please give him my regards."

Priest Matt nodded slightly.

"I will."

Mel nodded and did not linger in the chapel any longer, leading his followers out of the church.

Priest Matt gazed unwaveringly at the backs of the three people until they disappeared through the door, then he picked up the candlestick from the table and turned to walk towards the side door.

Instead of heading to the vineyard in the backyard, he walked through the corridor and went straight to the wine cellar beneath the church.

Behind those rows of barrels, there hid a door leading to a labyrinth, behind which an Earth Cave Spider always stood guard.

He gently pulled the thin rope by the door and then placed the candlestick on the wooden table, taking out a piece of paper from the drawer to write a message for Lord Demon King.

"…At noon today, twelve minutes past, the knight order from Campbell had visited the church of Silver Pine Town to investigate the whereabouts of the Undead Alchemist Miranda."

"To this day, the investigation by the Campbell knights has still yielded no results."

"But rumors suggest that her activities might be connected to the 'Calamity' in the Dimension Desert…"

…

At the entrance of the Silver Pine Town church, Mel, who was next to his warhorse, suddenly stopped and looked back towards the church.

He always felt something was amiss, yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

It was as if a voice were whispering in his ear—

Was that really Priest Matt?

The thought, which should not have occurred to Mel, broke him out in a cold sweat.

However, as he agonized over where this unwanted suspicion came from, a flicker of light suddenly caught his eye.

Mel looked up, following the sacred glow, his gaze meeting the cross atop the spire.

The cross bathed in the afternoon sun, like the eyes of Saint Sis.

Looking into the eyes of that great being, he felt an unprecedented calm and also dismissed that impious thought.

"Saint Sis above… please forgive my impertinence," he murmured.

As a child of God,

He should not doubt a Priest of such high standing.

Mel silently repented in his heart.

Perhaps it was staring too long into the Abyss, or perhaps it was his failure to catch the fugitive Miranda, but he had become suspicious.

Not just he himself thought so—his colleagues agreed, noting that ever since he took on this task, it was as though he had become a different person.

Fortunately, the all-powerful Saint Sis still cared for him and provided guidance at a critical moment.

Although it was just a few minutes of prayer, he felt he had regained his faltering rationality and felt much refreshed in spirit.

"Perhaps I should pray more often."

Mel muttered to himself, then mounted his warhorse.

The two followers with him did the same, mounting their horses and following closely behind the commanding Knight.

"Speaking of which, that Priest's perfume really smells nice."

"Is it the scent of cedarwood? Quite tasteful."

Perfume…

Cedarwood?

Why would he who tends vineyards wear perfume, to cover the smell of dirt perhaps?

Or did he guess that I would come?

Suddenly, Mel knocked on his forehead, driving away the sudden doubts and irreverent thoughts, and urged his horse to speed toward the entrance of the town.

"Keep up, we need to quickly meet up with the others."

No matter what, Priest Matt was not someone he, a mere warrior, should doubt.

Even if there were suspicious elements, that was the business of the Church Court…

…

Shortly after Mel, the Captain of the Trident Knights, left Silver Pine Town, the nearby lord, Baron Ges, also visited the town.

Although the captain's title was not equivalent to that of a noble, it wasn't enough to make a Baron personally suck up, but being a knight from Duke Campbell's close circle endowed his knightly status with a distinctly different significance.

As a rural noble slightly out of the loop, Ges always wanted to forge ties with someone close to Duke Campbell to grasp the duchy's latest political developments in a timely manner.

Upon learning that the captain of the Trident Knights had reached his territory, he immediately donned the full suit of armor gathering dust in his storehouse, mounted the horse that almost forgot him as its master, led the manor's riders out in full force, and headed towards Silver Pine Town.

All this was to curry favor.

Unfortunately, despite his best preparations, he had come for nothing this time.

The rider who went to gather information returned from the town entrance, looking troubled as he spoke to Baron Ges.

"My lord, Mr. Mel has already left."

Baron Ges was dumbfounded.

"Gone? So soon?"

The rider nodded awkwardly.

"The Priest at the church said that gentleman only came to pass on information regarding a recent roaming Undead Mage around Thunder City… so he didn't stay here."

Ges fell silent.

Seeing that his lord was quiet, the elderly butler riding next to him asked in a low voice,

"My lord, shall we continue to stay here or...?"

Though the temperature had warmed up in the past few days, it was only relative to the previous rainy weather; the autumn wind was still as biting as a knife against one's face.

Annoyed, Baron Ges felt returning now would make him look foolish, and he'd likely end up being the topic of gossip among the chatty servants for days.

But standing grandiosely at the town's entrance was no solution either, it was just a matter of being gossiped about by the servants or the townspeople.

Damn!

That's why he hated going out!

After looking around for a while, his beady eyes finally had an idea. He called out loudly to the rider in front.

"Visiting the Knight Captain was just a convenient detour. Our main purpose for this trip is a land inspection… it's that winter inspection. Never mind if it isn't timely… let the local sheriff come see me."

The rider, suppressing a smile, braced his face against the biting autumn wind and solemnly responded,

"Yes!"

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