"Strange... Are the guards in the royal capital so strict now?"
Benjamin walked out of the village by Pearl Lake, turned his head, glanced doubtfully in the direction of Havenright, and said to himself.
Before taking the king to offer incense to the queen, he came here first and tried to get in touch with Duke Colin because of the proximity. However, the strange thing is that the tavern in the village was closed immediately, and the boss who was the contact was also missing. He said he was out on business, which made Benjamin's trip in vain.
At first, he was worried that even the Wood family would be killed by the nobles. However, he immediately found out that the situation in the royal capital was stable and that the church had not attacked the nobles at all.
Benjamin was a little confused.
After much guessing, the only result could be that the church would investigate more strictly, so Duke Colin decided to avoid the limelight first, so he closed down some of his secret industries.
Let's check the situation in a few days.
For Benjamin and others, although the nobles were a source of help, they did not rely too much on them. Therefore, the temporary loss of contact is not a big blow.
He took the king and the two siblings and arrived at Havenright about two hours later. Reality hid in the clouds and circled a few times, and then slowly moved towards the mausoleum under construction in the north of the city.
"This should be it." Benjamin scanned a circle with the water element induction method. After confirming that there was no problem, he landed nearby and said to the king, "Your Majesty... please show your condolences and be patient."
They hid behind the trees and looked up at the mausoleum not far away. The king stood aside and remained silent for a long time without speaking.
"Still... do we need to get closer?" Seeing this, Benjamin hesitated for a moment and then asked, "There aren't many priests around here, so it doesn't matter if we get closer than ten meters."
The king came to his senses, sighed, and shook his head.
"… So be it."
He took out a bouquet of white flowers from his bag and put it down in the direction of the mausoleum. Then he stood up, made a cross on his chest, and whispered something in his mouth, as if praying. After doing this, he slowly turned around.
Benjamin nodded too.
The king should just think it over for himself. The situation in the royal capital is complicated now, so it's better not to stay here any longer. Although he didn't find anything wrong, he still felt a little guilty.
While there is nothing wrong, hurry back and prepare for the publication of the newspaper!
However, at this moment, the sound-transmitting wood piece in his pocket moved.
You got news
Benjamin took out the wood chips and started it. The voice of the head of the dark department of Coster Academy came from inside:
"Master Dean, something happened! Many priests suddenly appeared in Coster, sealing off the city and conducting a thorough investigation of the Black Nightmare Society! Even the Pope showed up here! Several exposed members have been tied up in the square. Today He will be burned to death in the afternoon!”
He was stunned at that time.
…WTF
"Quick! We have to rush back soon!" After being stunned for about half a second, Benjamin waved his hand and took off directly with the king and the two siblings who had not yet reacted, looking at Coster's direction and speeding away.
That night.
Coster, this trading city near the seaside, has its gates closed as if during wartime. The city walls were crowded with soldiers. But in the city, not even a single person could be seen in the bustling red light district in the past.
Everyone is hiding in their own homes, closing the curtains, for fear of looking out and seeing something they shouldn't see.
When Benjamin and the others arrived here, they were unable to enter the city due to the tight security, so they had to land outside the city first and look inside anxiously.
The church suddenly blocked Coster. This happened so suddenly that they had not heard anything about it before. But obviously, something has been exposed. The church even knows what the Black Nightmare Society is, otherwise it would definitely not have spent such a large amount of money.
Seal the city, arrest people... everything seems to have been prepared for a long time.
On the way here, Benjamin also received several messages from the dark department of the academy. Grant's appearance was absolutely true. Everyone thought he was staying behind at Havenright, but no one knew when he secretly came to Coast.
At the same time, the situation in the city is also quite pessimistic. Almost half of the members of the Black Nightmare Society have fallen into a state of disconnection, which is very dangerous. Coupled with the church's method of reading memories, the list of members may have been exposed, and there is no guarantee that all the remaining people will be found out by the church.
But... the only good thing is that before the church started to take action, the academy's ANBU quickly moved to a backup stronghold and was not caught by the church.
"I've said before that they will definitely take action in the next few days." The system gloated, "But it's just a coincidence that you just took someone away with you, and then they came back. I don't know whether you are unlucky or lucky. ”
"...when the hell did you say that?"
"Two seconds ago."
"roll."
He was in no mood to joke with the system at this time.
The Black Nightmare Society had just grown, but in the blink of an eye it was like this. He had rushed back as fast as he could, but the first group of members who were caught... obviously couldn't catch up.
News came from the academy's dark department that the burning torture had ended. The first five people were tied to the cross in the square, and the screams that started out gradually subsided in the blazing flames until they turned into deathly silence.
A tragic sacrifice.
Benjamin didn't know why he took action today. Is it a coincidence? Or did they calculate that they would not be present today, so they took action deliberately
Thinking of this, the way he looked at the king even became a little strange.
But... taking a deep breath and calming down, he slowly felt that this was just a coincidence. Grant's appearance must have come to deal with him, otherwise the Black Nightmare Society was just taking shape, and there was no need for him as a pope to take action himself.
And soon, a new voice from the ANBU leader also verified his idea:
"Master Dean, don't try to break in for the time being. The Pope is still in the city, searching house to house, and even carefully checking everyone's face, looking for traces of disguise. He is obviously targeting you. In addition, there are Five members were tied up in the square, and the church directly released the news, saying that they would be burned to death at noon tomorrow. I think all this may be to force you out!"
"… Oh shit."
After listening, although his idea was verified, Benjamin's face became even uglier.
These people...
There is no doubt that the church is definitely coming for them—more precisely, it is coming for him! Grant seemed to be completely angered by their series of actions, and prepared something to unite other forces in the church to get rid of him!
They may have found clues and discovered that Benjamin was haunting Coster, so they carried out such a surprise attack. However, Benjamin happened to take someone out today, so the situation evolved into what it is now.
How is he going to rescue people
Thinking of the scene where the members of the Black Nightmare Club told stories one by one a few days ago, Benjamin couldn't help but clenched his fists. These people all believe in him and believe that he can really lead them to overthrow the church. But now, five people have been burned to death, and the rest... are like fish on the chopping board, being abused and killed by the church.
He can't allow this to continue to happen!
But at the same time, Benjamin's reason also told him that if he broke in now, he would play into the church's hands. Apart from Grant himself, he didn't know what other ambush there was, let alone whether the church would take the remaining members as hostages at the critical moment and force Benjamin to submit.
"It's my fault." The king lowered his head, "I, I shouldn't have asked you to take me away..."
"This matter has nothing to do with you." Benjamin took a deep breath and said coldly, "If we hadn't left Coster by luck, your Majesty might have been captured by them by this time."
As he spoke, he activated the sound-transmitting wood chips again.
However, this time the person he was communicating with was not the head of the ANBU in the city.
"Wallis, how many idle teachers are there in the college now? How many students with qualified combat capabilities are there? I have an urgent task that I need you to handle. The more people, the better..."