Volume 6, Chapter 44 – The Unreachable Place and the Ill-Intentioned Pepe

Entering the night again, Evelyn, having just emerged from the bath, dressed herself and followed the bright corridor, rendered golden by the lights, to a hall where a magnificent stone gate stood at the end. The size of the gate was in no way inferior to the city gate, but unlike the city gate, the one inside the temple was carved with reliefs like an epic scroll, giving the impression that it was more decorative than practical.

But most people in the temple knew that this was the entrance to the true holy sanctuary, the underground of the church. Only approved paladins and nuns could enter; otherwise, they would be treated as intruders.

If Yisi had seen this gate, she would surely have had the feeling that she was about to step into hell.

Of course, Yisi was not here, nor had she ever seen this gate—because she had always arrived directly using teleportation magic—so she would not have such a complaint. Evelyn, who was used to it, ignored the several paladins around the gate and stepped into the underground space.

This was where the members of the church rested.

After leaving the paladins behind, a thoughtful expression finally appeared on Evelyn’s expressionless face. Her long eyebrows knitted together, and she didn’t even notice the passing nuns bowing to her.

“What on earth are those things…”

‘Those things’ naturally referred to the ball of flesh from the daytime and the humanoid monsters it had gestated. Evelyn had never seen them in any monster encyclopedia.

At first, when she had faced the ball of flesh that the bandit leader had turned into in the outskirts, Evelyn had not paid it any mind. Human exploration of the continent was only the tip of the iceberg. There were far more unknown monsters than known ones, so it was reasonable not to know. And there were creatures more evil than these monsters.

What truly puzzled Evelyn was their origin. She was certain that the Fallen who had gone berserk during the day had died under the paladins’ slashes. A living being could not survive with its body in pieces. Even resurrection magic would be useless. But at that time, the Fallen had indeed moved. Even though it looked as if its body had been possessed by something, it was still a change from death to life.

What on earth was that thing? A creature that parasitizes humans and then occupies the body after the host dies? If so, the logic was not self-consistent at all. The bandit leader at that time had been forcibly twisted into a ball of flesh while he was still alive.

“Finding the similarities…”

If she had to find a suspicious commonality between the two of them, it would only be that they were both Fallen. But just being a Fallen was not enough to turn them into non-human monsters, let alone incubate disgusting monsters. Even when they went berserk, the Fallen would only lose their minds. Evelyn had killed many Fallen and knew very well what they would eventually become.

“I have no clue at all. Speaking of which, I had reported it to Julius before, but he didn’t seem to care.”

I really wanted to let Julius watch the monster’s transformation process up close. Then, this old fossil would take it seriously. Thanks to this, I haven’t eaten much all day, and my nasal cavity is filled with the lingering smell of blood.

Perhaps I should have ordered the Templar Knights during the day to bring the monster’s corpse before Julius. Unfortunately, I was single-mindedly focused on coming back to take a bath.

Turning a corner, Evelyn looked up.

The corridor was gradually narrowing, and there were fewer decorations than before. She had already reached the second underground level.

The underground part of the church was divided into five levels in total. From the first level, closest to the ground, to the fifth level, the deepest. The first and second levels were the living and residential areas, respectively. From the third level onwards, only the core members of the church, those with a position of Head Priest or above, could enter. The third level stored important books and magic tomes. As for the fourth level, in the entire church, no more than ten people could enter. Those who could enter were only Julius, the current Pope, Evelyn, the next Pope, and the various cardinals in the church. There, besides the magical items accumulated by the church over a thousand years, there were also various holy relics excavated from the ruins of the gods.

And the last level, the fifth, Evelyn had only been to once, but that time she had turned back before she had even arrived. Unlike the other levels, which could be reached in just a minute or two, there was a very long buffer zone between the fourth and fifth levels. Evelyn had walked for a long time without seeing the end.

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The corridor there—or rather, the passage—although very spacious, with no forks or bends, and very clean, due to the dim light and poor ventilation, Evelyn, who had stepped into it, had the feeling of being deep in an underground cave, especially with the distant end out of sight. If one were to stay in such an environment for a long time, one would surely go mad.

However, if that were all, curiosity would have definitely driven Evelyn to go deeper. But when she had reached a certain point, she had the feeling of being watched by countless pairs of eyes. She used light magic to illuminate the passage, trying to dispel the discomfort in her heart, but it had no effect at all. The feeling of being watched still existed, and as she went deeper, the feeling grew stronger. The discomfort that spread all over her body made her shudder. She began to feel a sense of retreat. After forcing herself to continue down a seemingly endless road, she finally could not stand the anxiety and nausea and hurriedly left at a speed that would not be too embarrassing.

Since then, Evelyn had never had the idea of going deep into the fifth level to find out what was there. And because she was afraid of being found out, she had never mentioned it to Julius—as the next Pope, to run away without a monster threat was too embarrassing.

Recalling this past, a sense of shame made her click her tongue in annoyance.

“If only I could forget about it.”

Shaking her head and casting the shameful past from her mind, Evelyn took out a pendant from her priestess’s habit pocket. This pendant was what she had taken from the Fallen that morning. Because the Fallen had turned into a monster in front of her, she had not had time to think much about it and had put the item in her hand into her pocket.

“That reminds me…”

Camilla’s words appeared in her mind.

Why were the Fallen always able to ambush her? Or rather, why were the Fallen always able to sneak into the city safely? She had been ambushed by the Fallen in the Holy City time and time again. Even if the Fallen’s abilities were strange and there were many ways to sneak into the city, the people responsible for guarding the city should have already come up with countermeasures. Even if it was an inefficient way like mending the fold after the sheep have been stolen, after so many failures, they should have been able to stop the Fallen outside the city.

In addition, the church’s holy relic worn by the Fallen… a thought that had not appeared for a long time flashed through Evelyn’s mind.

Go take a look at the fifth level.

Since she had been at the church all afternoon today, she had already finished what she needed to do ahead of schedule. It was still very early now, and there was still an hour until bedtime.

Switching the Staff of Divine Retribution from her left hand to her dominant right, Evelyn did not stop at the second level. She passed through the third and fourth levels and went straight to the door of the fifth level—before her was a bronze gate, a circle smaller than the city gate but still huge. The gate was abnormally devoid of any decoration, reminiscent of the mausoleum of some king.

Guarding the gate were not humans, but two stone statues in the appearance of soldiers. If she remembered correctly, there were no guards here the last time she came.

They must be products excavated from the ruins of the gods in recent years. In terms of guarding a treasure vault, statues were indeed better than humans. They did not need to eat, drink, or rest, and had no personal feelings, only acting according to orders.

Waving the Staff of Divine Retribution in front of the statues to show them her identity, Evelyn took a step forward, preparing to step inside.

However, the originally motionless stone statues suddenly moved—each extended their long spears, crossing them into an ‘X’ to block Evelyn’s way.

Evelyn frowned.

“I am Evelyn Anna Ymir Shalu, the next Pope of the Ymir Church. Step aside!”

There was no response. The puppet golems remained silent as if they hadn’t heard.

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Although she had no real power in her hands, as the next Pope of the church, there was no place in the entire church she could not set foot in. The feeling of being blocked by a servant made Evelyn angry.

“Didn’t you hear me? I am the next Pope of the church. If you don’t move, I will use force.”

Still no answer.

Evelyn began to condense magic power in her divine staff, but the puppet golems seemed to not feel the threat and remained motionless.

Suspicion and curiosity rose in her heart.

Normally, puppet golems would only execute the orders given by their master. Besides that, they would not react to any non-aggressive behavior. In other words, if one were to make a move to attack them, they would treat the other party as an enemy. However, Evelyn did not see any preparation for attack from these puppet golems. Logically, sensing the magic power condensed in her divine staff, these puppet golems should have started to attack her, the next Pope who had not been identified by them.

Casting aside the doubts in her heart, Evelyn simply released the spell.

“[Light of Judgment].”

Condensing a blade of light on the Staff of Divine Retribution, she slashed hard at the stone statue.

Clang.

She failed to hit the statue.

A crystal-like substance appeared an inch from the surface of the statue, blocking the swing of the light blade.

They’ve already detected that I’m going to attack them, yet they don’t attack me back?

Evelyn had a bad premonition.

If they were low-level puppets, Evelyn wouldn’t think too much about it. But the puppet golems dug out from the ruins were all slightly intelligent puppet golems with self-defense formulas. It was impossible for them not to counter-attack after sensing hostile intent. There was only one possible explanation.

Their master had given them a special order.

If it wasn’t an order like ‘do not attack anyone’, which was obviously inconsistent with their position, then it could only be ‘ignore Evelyn Anna Ymir Shalu, just don’t let her in’. In other words, these two puppet golems very likely knew her identity, but were deliberately not letting her in.

Of course, she might not be the only target. Other cardinals might not be able to set foot in there either.

The light blade just now was one of her mid-to-high-tier attack spells. Since a full-force swing at close range could not harm the two puppet golems, it would be useless to switch to her strongest spell. Not to mention that her strongest spell was very grand and would create a lot of noise, and might even burn through the ceiling of the fourth level. Since Julius didn’t want her to see what was inside, then she had to see it. It was not a good idea to alert him prematurely.

As for why she was sure that the one who had given the order was Julius, in the entire church, the only person who dared to directly refuse her was Julius. Even the stubborn cardinals who liked to make critical remarks only dared to pressure her with the backing of the doctrine.

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Snorting coldly, Evelyn waved her divine staff, retracting the magic power condensed on it. Her beautiful face was a mixture of anger, suspicion, curiosity, and a slight fear. Her intuition told her that once she entered, she could not turn back. Therefore, she could not let Julius know that she had been here, no matter what.

She took two steps back.

“Hehe… the old fossil’s hidden secret.”

Forcibly preventing the anxiety and tension from showing on her face, Evelyn’s heart gradually accelerated, and beads of sweat began to seep from her back.

I absolutely have to come back again.

Not through the main entrance, but through other means.

Having made up her mind, Evelyn left at a speed as if she were afraid of being seen, without looking back.

◇

The sunlight finally disappeared from the city of Mitters Bayer. A gray, thick fog, unique to winter, shrouded the city.

It was clearly noon, yet the sky was as dark as four in the afternoon.

In an exceptionally quiet room, Edith and Evelyn sat at a table. Under the cover of the smell of old wood in the inn, the transaction of the magic medicine began.

Wearing a silver mask and lightly flapping her pureblood wings, Edith placed two bottles of pale yellow magic medicine on the table. Her tone was not cold, but rather filled with interest.

“The next Pope of the church also wants this?”

Sensing the mockery in Edith’s words, Evelyn responded in a tone that was no less than hers.

“No wonder it took so long to meet. So your true form is a vampire. It must have been very hard, hiding in the church, right?”

Hey, hey… don’t poke Pepe’s sore spot.

Pepe had been irritable these past few days because she couldn’t leave the inn casually. If she hadn’t spent time with Pepe every day, the latter would have definitely been looking for interesting things in the city on her own. And thanks to often seeing the ambiguous behavior between Pepe and Refina, she had been having strange thoughts lately, and her way of thinking had also become strange. Sometimes she even felt that this was one of Pepe’s schemes, trying to make her take the initiative to throw herself into her arms and lure her into bed.

Unable to resist glancing at Edith’s alluring, snow-white nape, Yisi, who was standing behind her, quickly coughed.

“Ahem, I have already explained the respective purposes of the two of you beforehand. Evelyn needs the magic medicine, and Viel needs the blood of a pure maiden. Both sides will get what they need. The only thing that needs to be discussed is the quantity.”

Although she didn’t know what Evelyn was going to use the magic medicine for, she couldn’t stand her daily urging. Yisi finally decided to give the magic medicine to Evelyn, but she planned to never tell her what raw materials the magic medicine was made of.

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Carelessly, Edith tapped the wooden stopper on the small bottle with her index finger.

“One barrel of blood in exchange for one bottle. I can provide at most two bottles.”

“A barrel?” Evelyn’s deep green eyes narrowed. “That’s more impossible than bringing me a barrel of platinum coins. I can agree if you change it to gold coins.”

One platinum coin was equal to one hundred gold coins.

Raising her long, white eyebrows, Edith curled one corner of her mouth.

“Do you think I’m short on money? With your status as the next Pope, you can just find an excuse to arrest someone and then take their blood, can’t you?”

“It is precisely because I am the next Pope that it is not so easy. Blood is a taboo. I can arrest a guilty person and kill them, but I cannot take their blood, otherwise it will arouse suspicion.”

“Then do it secretly.”

“Do you think a pure maiden can become a guilty person? A barrel’s worth is too much!”

Even if ten people were drained dry, their blood could not possibly fill a wine barrel.

If it weren’t for Yisi acting as the intermediary, Evelyn would have already stormed off. The other party was clearly looking for trouble with her. It was true that she needed the magic medicine, but the condition Edith had set was simply unrealistic. It was practically looking for trouble with her and embarrassing her.

“Is that so?” Edith tilted her head, feigning ignorance. The deal she had discussed with Yisi was to give the magic medicine to Evelyn. The price and other things didn’t matter. The reason she was making things difficult for Evelyn now, just as Evelyn had thought, was just for her own amusement. “Then half a barrel.”

“Twenty small bottles of blood in exchange for one bottle of magic medicine, plus all the alchemy materials you need. This is the limit of what I can bear. Any more is out of the question.”

Although she knew that directly stating her bottom line would easily put her at a disadvantage in bargaining, Evelyn hated Edith from the bottom of her heart and did not want to waste any more time with her.

“Twenty bottles? You underestimate the magic medicine too much. You should be clear that I am the only one who needs your blood, while my magic medicine is sought after by countless people—thirty bottles.”

Faced with Edith’s unreasonable demands, anger appeared on Evelyn’s face. She placed her hands on the table and stood up to leave.

Sensing Evelyn’s determination, Edith propped her head with one hand with an indifferent expression. It wasn’t until Evelyn was about to open the door to leave that she unhurriedly changed her tune.

“If you cannot accept a physical exchange, I think we can trade in another way.”

As if licking Evelyn’s body, Edith’s azure eyes flashed with a teasing and sadistic color. Her pink tongue licked the corner of her mouth.

“I wonder what kind of expression the next Pope, chosen by God, will show after taking off that priestess’s habit.”