The residents of Muxi Town have been discussing a few things lately.
Firstly, four months after the official establishment of Muxi Town, according to statistics from various industry unions and residential associations, the town's population officially exceeded seven hundred, making it a leading town in the western coastal region of the Silver Ring Kingdom.
The second thing is that people have recently discovered that Father Todd is always accompanied by a knight with a greatsword on his back and an iron mask, whether he is preaching in the church, resting in the garden, or enjoying the breeze at the beach.
While they weren't exactly bodyguards, Todd frequently refused to let the knight follow him, using phrases like "Don't follow me" or "Don't you have anywhere else to go?" Therefore, people believed the priest didn't like him.
They couldn't really be called enemies. The knight simply followed the priest every day, and he didn't seem to do anything else. Moreover, when someone mentioned this to Huggins, who was in charge of the town's defense, he always evaded the question.
The third matter also concerned Todd. For some reason, the priest had bought a batch of pet mice—the kind of entertainment only nobles would have. These little white creatures were only for show, not for eating, and couldn't work in the fields; they were meant to be kept and played with by the children of noble families. Nobody knew why the priest was wasting his money.
At this moment, Todd was busy with his upcoming experiments in the laboratory and had no time to pay attention to the rumors circulating outside. The ticking time bomb inside his body, which could explode at any moment, forced him to prioritize investigating the anomaly of the 'Sutherland Relics'.
The mice he bought were not for display, but for use in a stress resistance experiment on Sutherland bacteria.
The general procedure involves taking a mixture of four types of bacteria in the body, determining the maximum no-effect dose (MNL) based on animal toxicity tests, determining the acceptable daily intake (ADl) for mice based on the MNL, increasing the amount daily according to the body fluid ratio, injecting it into the mice, and observing the possible physiological changes.
The reason for using mice is that the gene sequence of mice is similar to that of humans, with a similarity of about 98% between their whole genome and that of humans.
Secondly, it is convenient to cultivate and the quantity is sufficient. Pathological experiments require a large number of experimental subjects for statistical analysis, which necessitates the artificial breeding of a certain number of experimental subjects.
Thirdly, it's inexpensive. A white mouse costs only five bronze stars, consumes little feed, isn't picky about food, and doesn't take up much space.
As for other experimental preparations, the bacterial samples were readily available and could be cultured in petri dishes at any time. The anesthetic used was ether, obtained by dehydrating alcohol with concentrated sulfuric acid.
After completing the above preparations, Todd still had one last crucial thing to figure out how to obtain.
Leaving the laboratory, we entered the church in Twilight Town. Although it was the priest's workplace, Todd always marveled at this place of prayer, built by the immigrants themselves, whenever he came here.
Inside the church's main hall, many people were already praying. When they saw the priest appear, they all stood up to greet him.
Todd gestured for everyone to sit down, then focused his attention on two figures sitting together in the back row.
Alfonso and Hudgens.
Todd knew perfectly well that if he was busy in the lab, the other would definitely be waiting in the church; this had become an unspoken understanding between the two.
The latter, Todd, hadn't been seen for quite some time as the head of the West Coast guard. He'd heard that he was conducting intensive training for the town's guards not far from West Coast, in preparation for any eventuality.
But the two of them sitting together and talking like old friends was something Todd hadn't expected.
Seeing the priest approaching, Huggins guessed that the priest wasn't looking for him, so he stopped talking to Alfonso and made way for him.
Todd gave him a grateful look, sat down next to Alfonso, and got straight to the point: "Lord De Carvo, I have a request."
The knight turned slightly to the side, but did not speak.
Knowing that silence was the other person's habit of listening, Todd lowered his voice: "I would like to borrow someone from you. He will play a crucial role in the study of the relics."
"who?"
"Your squire, Walton."
Alfonso nodded; he knew that if Todd had spoken, he must have had a good reason.
As the knight turned and left the church, Huggins, who had been waiting nearby, leaned close to Todd and whispered, "I'd like to talk to you about Alfonso."
The two arrived at the church's confessional, where Huggins told Todd a long-buried story.
"Alfonso and I originally belonged to the Knights of the Silver Ring Kingdom, and were loyal to the Silver Ring royal family. From our time as apprentice knights, we fought side by side against the barbarians of the north for six years." Huggins said, his gloved hands interlaced, as he prayed before the cross in front of him.
Upon hearing this, Todd recalled the strange behavior of the two men during their previous battles against the northern pirates and suddenly understood the reason. He asked, "Later, Alfonso changed from a secular knight to a clerical knight. How did that happen?"
Huggins gazed into the distance, as if recalling past memories, his voice desolate: "It all started with his family. Alfonso de Carvalho originally had a beautiful wife and two healthy children. His wife, burdened by her husband's long campaigns and the demands of household chores, coupled with a hidden illness, fell seriously ill. After that, Alfonso sought medical help everywhere. Finally, one day, a traveler claiming to be from the East gave him a copper tube, claiming that what was inside could save his wife..."
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