Chapter Sixty-Five

"Stop calculating. What's the point of worrying about gains and losses all day?" Denos said helplessly, closing the door and looking at Ark, who was sitting in the room taking notes.

“I’m not calculating the losses.” Ark simply raised his head, looked at Denos, paused for about half a minute, and said, “The sacrificial pawn is dead. He shouldn’t have been hurt. If I had moved his core to another carriage beforehand, he might have already replenished his energy and woken up again. But because of my mistake, it’s left there forever.”

Denos silently watched Ark, then walked over and picked up the notebook without his permission.

This is a very old notebook, and the latest page is about the abandoned pawn. It records the first time I saw it, and anything else I remember about it afterward.

"So you had a notebook like this." Denos flipped through a few pages, which were filled with names of people he didn't recognize.

That's because there was a period when our team didn't have many people.

“I saw crows.”

"Because she died too."

This notebook contains records of all of Ark's deceased friends. He was afraid of forgetting those who had ever existed, so he used a notebook to record them. This way, he would roughly know what kind of people he had encountered in the past.

Ark often spoke of his fear; he was afraid. Afraid that one day he would forget important things, forget important people. His lifespan was far too long, and he had seen and experienced far too many people and things. So much so that he himself didn't know what he had forgotten. Therefore, he could only resort to this old-fashioned method of recording.

“But it turned out well; Lady came home.” Denos looked at Ark and said, “Are you really comfortable leaving her here alone?”

“I’m not comfortable with that,” Yak said honestly. “I need to make sure she can take care of herself before I leave. I really don’t want to see her body parts being sold in the market one day.”

"Is this a lame joke?" Denos asked hesitantly.

"Of course it's a lame joke."

“Then please don’t speak in such a serious voice and tone, and your expression is getting more and more frightening.” Denos scratched his head. “In that case, should we stay here and reorganize for a while?”

“My plan is to stay here for about ten days. I need a wagon, horses, and supplies.” Yak took a bag out of his clothes. “Could I trouble you to help me with this? Could you help me with the procurement?”

“I knew you had a secret stash of money.” Denos looked at the bag, which was full of gleaming gold coins. “Is there a rough budget limit?”

“No, just do what you think is best. You’ve been running around with me for a long time, so you should know what I choose.” Ak paused, looking around. “Speaking of which, I didn’t see a fireplace and thought it would be cold here. But I didn’t expect it to be so warm.”

"It's because of that thing, I suppose." Denos looked at the rows of pipes, which were simply insulated with some kind of material. "There must be high-temperature steam inside."

“Alright.” Yak took a deep breath and stood up. “I need to take a shower to calm down. Things are a bit messy right now, and I need some time to sort out my thoughts.”

He booked four rooms in total. Denos shared a room with himself, Lady and Deedrie shared a room, Carl and Lori shared a room, and the two cats and the little spider shared a room.

The main reason we stayed in the city was because the hotels were full; otherwise, Yak definitely wouldn't have skimped on that.

After all, the city is not as unsafe as it used to be. In terms of public security alone, this place is probably one of the best.

Although the room was shared, Ark's intention was clear: he needed Denos to temporarily leave his sight. The reason for this request was likely that Ark was currently very troubled and needed some time to calm himself down in silence.

Denos didn't linger for further conversation. Since Ark had said so, he quickly left the room, leaving Ark alone so he could go and find out more about the surrounding area.

I'll probably need to comfort Lady; she looks really upset from crying. She really does have a childlike mind, getting emotional over things like this. I also need to make some arrangements; there shouldn't be any other activities before the end of the day. Even if I were to take Lady home, it would have to wait until tomorrow. That's assuming she has a home in this city; otherwise, I'll need to figure out the next steps.

Even if he was just saying he was taking her home, it was only incidental. Denos didn't believe that Ark would do something so risky for no reason; he probably had his own ulterior motives. After all, Lady hadn't strongly insisted on going home; it was only Ark who brought it up, and she didn't object. And that's why everyone risked their lives to get here.

But as Denos was leaving, he bumped into Lady, completely disrupting his plans. Lady had somehow gotten up there and was standing at the door, probably looking for an opportunity to come in and say something.

So she confronted Denos head-on. When Denos came out and saw this guy standing in front of him, he almost stopped and bumped into him. After all, he had turned his head to look at Ark and hadn't noticed this guy.

"Is something the matter?" Denos asked, looking at Lady. "Which one is your room? I suggest you go and think about things here first."

“Well, that’s why I came.” Lady looked up at Denos and said, “Before abandoning me… he told me some things about this place. And the location of my home.”

"Tell me about it first, I'll take notes." Denos hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the guy inside the door.

Lady stared, stunned.

Just a few dozen seconds ago, Ark should have been talking.

But right now, this guy seems to be asleep. He sits there with his eyes closed. Light shines through the window onto him, creating a line of light and shadow on his narrow face.

“This guy is really tired,” Denos said. “He should wake up in about three hours.”

Lady was silent for a moment, then went into the room and sat down next to him.

"Why, why are you helping me like this?" Lady looked up at Denos earnestly. "From the beginning until now, why have you helped me to this extent?"

Lady is on the verge of a mental breakdown. After the death of the abandoned child, she suddenly realized once again that no one here would help her with the same clear reason as the abandoned child. Are the people here helping her out of pity? It doesn't seem likely; after all, no one would risk their life for someone out of pity. The reasons are too far-fetched, and she can't even convince herself to believe them.

“Oh, I see. Because some things weren’t clear, you don’t fully trust us yet.” Denos nodded. “That’s fine. He’ll tell you when Ark wakes up. He’s exhausted and needs rest.”

......

“I don’t recall there being any clergy in this city.” Karl looked at the man sitting across from him. “Can you tell me who you are?”

"Connie," the guy introduced himself simply, "I was sent here to monitor the city's activities; I'm kind of an undercover agent."

This kind of work shouldn't be casually told to strangers, but Karl, as a priest, is Connie's rightful superior. Connie hadn't expected a priest to come here and was still in a state of apprehensive joy.

After all, Connie hadn't seen a clergyman in a long time, and this time he not only met a clergyman, but a saint. A high-ranking clergyman priest, someone he only saw when assigning tasks, even in the big city.

But now, right here in this city where the technology tree has been completely misguided, he actually managed to meet a priest. This was certainly something to be delighted about.

“Really? I knew the church wouldn’t just leave a city like this unattended.” Karl nodded. “So, what results have you achieved?”

“I’ve compiled the general information into a letter and sent it back to the church via teleportation. It’s too much to explain in a short time; it’s mostly about gathering basic intelligence.” Connie looked around. “Why are you here?”

He met Karl in the lobby of the inn; he was sitting in a corner with a girl. The girl looked terrified by what had happened on the way and was now huddled in the corner, hugging her knees.

“For personal reasons,” Carl said, looking at Connie. “I’ll probably stay here for a while and then leave; I won’t be staying long.”

“Is that so…that’s true, you have more important things to do.”

“I want to know how long it takes to get to Chilia from here?” Karl asked hesitantly.

Chilia is a special city, considered a large city, because it has a very large safe zone.

What makes it special is that it is a city completely controlled by the church, with the entire administrative and governance system being the responsibility of the clergy.

"It's not far. If you take a carriage, it'll take at most half a month." Karl paused, then asked, "Are you going there?"

“No, just asking.” Carl frowned.

Far from wanting to go there, he wanted to get as far away from that city as possible.

Because of Lori's current situation, he can't openly appear in areas completely controlled by the Church. He is a priest, that's true, but protecting a demon, even one guaranteed by someone of higher status, would damage the Church's reputation. No normal person likes demons. No one wants to see the danger demons have historically displayed.

If this place is close to a city like that, perhaps Yak should take that into consideration when making the plans.

Karl hadn't suffered much damage in the previous forbidden zone. After all, he was a priest, and as the publicly acknowledged top fighter on the carriage, he had sufficient self-defense capabilities. Moreover, the only person he needed to protect was Lori; while he cared about the lives of others, they weren't his primary concern. Therefore, he wasn't seriously harmed when passing through that area.

However, he did not feel fortunate.

“I want to know about that dragon,” Karl suddenly asked. “The more information you have about that dragon in the forbidden zone, the better.”

Perhaps only he and Ark could have noticed it in the carriage, but Ark had privately warned him not to tell anyone else.

But thinking about it now, it's really terrifying.

He had never heard of dragons reaching this level. In the conventional sense, dragons should be the kind that Deedris had slain; relatively speaking, they are a difficult calamity to deal with, but they can also be hunted.

But that one, Karl really didn't think was something he could handle.

It was a monster whose body was half-buried in the ground. It appeared to have nine heads, all twisted like long snakes and covered in scales. It seemed to have six wings on its back, which were even overlapping and influencing each other.

And that thing probably has more than one magic core inside its body.

Thankfully, the thing wasn't berserk when they found it; if it had charged at them, Karl didn't know if he would have survived.

After all, that thing was simply too enormous, and if calculated according to the magical power within a normal demon's body, the power it possessed was immeasurable.

Such a thing, and not far from this city, will inevitably attack humans sooner or later.

"That thing? The dragon in the sea of ​​fire?" Connie was stunned. "You saw it on the way? How did you manage to come back alive?"

“There was no conflict, I just took a peek from afar.” Karl frowned. “Calling that thing a calamity-level monster is really inaccurate. Perhaps I should suggest that the classification of monsters be made more detailed.”

"What do you think that thing should be similar to?"

“At least a Demon Lord, yes, at least a Demon Lord.” Karl repeated, “I don’t know if there is a Demon King, after all, I dare not say anything about something as legendary as a Demon King.”

“I think so too.” Connie paused and said, “That thing hasn’t attacked the city yet. It’s too huge to move on its own. The inverted gravity leaves it riddled with holes every day. It’s constantly in a state of severe injury.”

"It's really tragic, but I don't pity him."

"Me too, but thankfully there hasn't been any major movement from that thing so far."

"Didn't the church send anyone to deal with this thing?"

“No, the Church probably wants this monster to grow stronger and then destroy the city. They want to dismantle all its fighting power before helping it. That way, they can take over the city afterward.” Connie looked at Karl and said, “This isn’t something a human would do. I think the Church’s decision-making body is going against God’s will.”

“Perhaps, I have no objection to that.” Karl nodded in agreement.

Because the church does not adopt the advice of the masses, all its major decisions are made through discussions among a few individuals. Sometimes, the will of those few individuals can determine whether a city should exist.

But now Karl can't say anything bad about it, because the person who sheltered Lori is one of them.