When Bishop Artanis sensed something was wrong and walked quickly from the library to the hall, the clergy in St. Laurent Cathedral was already halfway unconscious.
"What's going on?! Is there a cultist attack?!"
At a glance, he could only see priests and priests collapsed everywhere. Although he was old, the old priest's reaction was still quick. He immediately condensed a ball of holy flames in his hand to strike, covering himself with a layer of divine protection. The power of Power Word: Annihilation is also ready in an instant and can be released at any time.
At the same time, Artanis also began to analyze the countless possibilities that caused this situation - for example, the cultists were preparing to hold a large-scale sacrifice in this remote place in the North, and were raiding at this time, or for example, there were their own adventures that ended in the past. The enemies under him are now back to take revenge, and a sudden severe plague has unknowingly infected most of the knights and priests, but these may have been rejected by himself.
—It’s so ridiculous. With the artificial intelligence named No. 3, the entire main city of Moldavia is like an iron wall. Not even a fly can penetrate. How could the cultists have the ability to break through silently? The opponent's defense? Not to mention the enemies who have no such thing at all and the plague that has no news at all.
So what's going on
Although he thought a lot, in fact, only a moment passed. When he noticed a slight noise in front of the door, Bishop Artanis immediately raised his head warily and looked forward.
He suddenly felt his eyes darken.
As if the light disappeared, there were three people standing in the corridor at the door of the church prayer hall, and the tall man in the middle took away all the attention in an instant. Infinite shadows were growing from him, covering the entire hall.
For a moment, the old priest shook his head. He got rid of the illusion. Then, Artanis saw the figure in front of him clearly. His eyes widened, and then he immediately eliminated the holy flame in his hand.
"Joshua?! You're awake!"
The old pastor opened his hands, took two steps forward, stared at the tall man in surprise and said, "My child, may God bless you, you woke up so quickly!"
Joshua, who also noticed Artanis, quickly stepped forward and gave the white-haired old man in front of him a hug. He smiled and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, thanks to you, I have woken up."
"No, I was helpless to deal with your coma. It's really shameful... You should be more grateful to Ying and Rin. These two children have been taking care of you in the past few days."
The two separated. Artanis nodded to the embarrassed boy and girl with a kind smile. Then the old man looked around the entire hall. He couldn't help but wonder: "But what is going on? Joshua, why are they all unconscious?" ?”
The old priest did not doubt that it was a soldier who took action. Although the other party had such strength, he had no reason to do such a thing - and there were no scars on the unconscious personnel. They seemed to have seen something terrifying and were directly frightened.
"...It's a long story..."
Sighing, Joshua also turned to look at the collapsed clergy everywhere, and said helplessly to Artanis: "Fortunately, you don't seem to feel anything, otherwise the trouble would be big. It's not convenient to talk here, let's find it first." Let’s talk in detail somewhere where no one is.”
"No problem, but..."
After clapping his hands, the fluctuations of the holy light were transmitted. The white-haired priest who called a few people to deal with the large number of unconscious people turned his head and looked at Joshua. His eyes swept across, and he couldn't help but frown. : "Joshua, are you cursed by something? Why do I feel like there is a thick shadow lurking in your body?"
"That's exactly what I was going to talk to you about."
Before other church personnel came to the hall to deal with these unconscious guys, everyone walked up the stone spiral staircase to the second floor of the church. Moving along the deserted corridor, Artanis found an unused one. The group of people took a few chairs in the empty room and sat down facing each other.
Artanis did not ask Joshua and the others where they had gone and what they had done before to remain unconscious until now. The white-haired old priest did not want to care about these things at all. After all, even knowing some things would not help, but would only add to the problem. Troubles, this is the life experience of an elder.
What he was interested in now was what kind of explanation Joshua would give him.
The soldier will naturally not hide anything, but will truthfully tell the truth about his situation.
"Breath of Chaos?"
After listening to what Joshua said, Artanis frowned, clasped his hands and murmured to himself doubtfully: "You are entangled with the resentment of many dead monsters. I know this, it is indeed It will bring a huge mental burden to the people who meet you for the first time, but will the aura of chaos amplify this burden?"
—And it’s so expanded that even strong-willed priests and knights can’t bear it? This particularly surprised the old pastor.
"That's true." Sitting on the hardwood chair, Joshua replied: "It's hard for me to understand the relationship, but it's the fact. Anyone who sees me for the first time will be affected by the aura of chaos. The resentment that resided in me took away my mind and led to coma - the knights and priests who were unconscious fell because of this."
"This situation cannot continue and I need to resolve it as soon as possible." He added another sentence.
"indeed."
Taking a deep breath, Bishop Artanis nodded sympathetically: "If everything is as you said, then it must be resolved as soon as possible. After all, you are different from others. You are a lord of a place and you often have festivals. The celebration or sacrificial activity needs you to host it. At that time... "
After a moment of imagination, when Joshua appeared on the stage, all the people who saw him were in a widespread coma - this would undoubtedly cause panic. You know, even the relatively steadfast clergy were paralyzed without any resistance. Group, it would not be surprising for ordinary people to have heart attacks due to being frightened.
"So what solution does the Church of the Seven Gods have to this problem?"
Joshua asked directly. He seemed to have anticipated the situation in the future, so he couldn't wait to solve it: "Even if it can't be completely eliminated, it should be able to cover it up."
"Elimination is impossible."
Shaking his head decisively, the old bishop's voice had a hint of hesitation. He seemed a little unsure, and kept tapping the handrail with his fingers: "As I said last time, it is difficult to eliminate the resentment before death. The symptoms If it's lighter, I can still try, but if it's at your level, unless His Majesty the Pope personally takes action, or it's blessed by the gods, it's basically impossible to erase it, not to mention that there is still the aura of chaos entangled now, which is worse than before. The situation is more complicated.”
After a pause, Artanis seemed to have made up his mind. He raised his head, looked directly into Joshua's eyes and said, "However, since this kind of mental pressure requires a condition, which is to look directly at you, there is still a chance of improvement."
"What's the meaning?"
Keenly sensing the dawn of a solution to the problem, Joshua immediately asked. At the same time, he also thought of a possibility.
"It means that if you cover your face or use some kind of magic to cover your true appearance, then the pressure will be reduced a lot."
Briefly explaining several possible solutions, Bishop Artanis seemed to have thought carefully: "The dragon's power can also cause widespread panic, but when they turn into human forms and come to live in the human world, dragons Power will not work, because what ordinary people see is not their true appearance, and your situation is similar to that of the dragon. According to this idea, the solution is the same."
"Wear a helmet, or a mask, or use some kind of illusion to change your appearance, or even turn it into an exact face. As long as people can't see your true face, you can temporarily solve this problem.
Having said this, the old priest stood up with a subtle smile on his lips. Looking at Joshua who also stood up, Artanis said in a low voice: "Now, I happen to have a magic that meets the requirements - Or a magical item."
Such a coincidence? The soldier was a little surprised, but after thinking about it for a while, he didn't find it strange. Enchanted equipment that can cause illusion effects is the easiest to make among all magic items. In addition, no matter what force occasionally does something that requires concealment, it is not surprising that the church has magic equipment that changes appearance.
In fact, if Joshua wants to buy it, relying on his status as the lord of Moldavia, he can easily buy various high-quality illusion enchantment equipment. However, since the old bishop has it, there is no need for him to deliberately collect it. .
"Don't be so anxious."
The subtle smile on his face spread, as if he had thought of something good. The wrinkles on the white-haired old priest's face seemed to melt away. He smiled and said: "Before I help you solve the problem, Joshua, you have to help too." I’m doing you a favor—and, in a way, doing yourself a favor.”
"As long as I can get it done, then it's not a problem."
Joshua agreed without hesitation. Bishop Artanis helped him a lot and always looked after the safety of the main city for him. As one of the leaders of the Seven Gods Church in the North, he also Instead of competing for power with himself, if the old priest is really in any trouble, the warrior will definitely go to help.
"Perhaps you have heard from No. 3."
After receiving Joshua's promise, the smile on the old priest's face became even bigger: "Recently, cultists and demon priests often sneak into the city with the intention of carrying out sabotage operations. However, because of Miss No. 3, they were all caught and sent to me. .”
Nodding, Joshua said that he knew about this, and Bishop Artanis continued: "These cultists must have bad intentions when they sneak into the city. Now there are still a steady stream of cultists coming from outside the city. , but we still don’t know their purpose. As a result, the behavior of the church and city guards is very passive, and we don’t even know which areas should be protected.”
"Didn't you ask?"
Frowning, Joshua was a little confused: "Although saying this is a bit damaging to the reputation of the church, as far as I know-"
"—The church will not be kind or tolerant towards cultists. We will use torture and even magic to torture them and spit out everything we want to know."
Interrupting the warrior's words, Bishop Artanis shook his head, with some regret on his old face: "But unfortunately, these cultists are surprisingly strong-willed, and even the few knights who were executed looked at the miserable There is something wrong with the scene and psychology, but they still don't let go. There are only nineteen of the twenty-seven cultists and devil priests left, but we still know nothing about their purpose."
"… I understand."
After roughly understanding what the old bishop meant, Joshua guessed what the other party wanted him to do for help. He held back a smile, shook his head and said with emotion: "Mr. Bishop, you are really..."
"To be honest, this is not an evil thing."
Artanis also smiled and said, he looked very happy: "Let a lord of a territory go and see the cultists who are preparing to destroy his territory - is this considered evil? No matter how you say it, it is the most normal thing. ah!"
The two looked at each other, then both laughed, leaving only the speechless boy and girl on the side looking at each other in silence, and then they all showed helpless smiles.
I have said it before, the protagonist is not ugly, and the villain is not ugly, right...
(End of chapter)