"So, our plan is to first go to the Old Mine Road Lumberyard, find Beta and the others, and obtain firsthand intelligence. Then, through the Adventurer's Guild, we'll find out the movements of the town guards and the remaining church forces."
Mark concluded, his eyes sweeping over Kyle and Ruby. "I don't know what you two plan to do. But in the meantime, don't reveal your whereabouts, and especially don't come into direct contact with the Dragon Slayer City guards or anyone from the Church of Holy Light. Understood?"
Mark didn't tell Kyle in detail about the specific things related to Ellen or the Black Gold Gang in the Adventurer's Guild.
Anyway, he felt that with the existence of these two organizations, even if Osborne Town would be in chaos for a while, there would not be any major losses.
At least, the activities of the Qizhi Society seem to be a little too transparent in the eyes of both parties.
If by the time they returned, the town of Osborne would have been destroyed.
It's probably not that these two organizations are incapable of saving Osborne Town, but perhaps they just don't want to save it.
Kyle took a deep breath, and the foul swamp air filled his lungs, making his confused thoughts a little clearer.
He glanced at Ruby in his arms, who was still hostile to Team Mark, but whose eyes revealed solemnity and thought, and finally nodded heavily.
"Understood. We'll do as you say." He paused and added, "For the innocent people of Osborne, we will act with you."
Kyle didn't care whether he would be tricked by Father Linus or not.
As long as the ordinary people of Osborne Town are kept from being affected by subsequent events, Kyle is willing to cooperate with anyone's actions.
Ruby said nothing, just turned her face away, but her tense body lines showed that she agreed to the plan.
Although she was working with a group of "heretics", eradicating the cancer within the church was the most important thing, and she knew the priorities.
"Then hurry up," Enzo urged impatiently, knocking a chunk of rancid mud off his boots with a forging hammer. "I don't want to stay in this damn place any longer! Finish this work soon, and find a tavern so I can have a good drink! Mark, you said you'd treat me to a good drink when you got back to Osborne! Don't let me down this time!"
————
The bonfire crackled in the night, dispelling the chill of the Warcraft Mountains at night.
Although everyone was in a hurry to return to Osborne Town, they still had to set up camp and rest at night.
Team Mark sat on both sides with Kyle and Ruby, and the atmosphere was still subtle and tense.
Ruby closed her eyes and regulated her breathing, but the tight corners of her mouth and the occasional glances at Enzo and Monica who had returned to normal showed that her inner vigilance had not relaxed.
Kyle seemed to be preoccupied, stroking the heavy cross repeatedly. It was obvious that Mark's speculation that the Dragon Slaying City Diocese might have been infiltrated was like a poisonous sting in his heart.
Mark leaned against a relatively dry rock, and the pain of mental exhaustion eased a little.
During the break, he subconsciously immersed his mind in the forbidden holy book in his arms.
He still remembered that something was sucked into the forbidden holy land before Spencer died.
As Mark's consciousness probed in, a sticky, chaotic, dark golden light ball appeared inside the holy book, emitting strong resentment and unwillingness. It was the remaining memory fragments of Spin Canberra.
Mark hesitated for a moment, but finally separated a wisp of mental power and carefully probed into the chaotic light and shadow.
The cost is not as high as when we invaded the Mountain Tiger Bandits and killed those living people.
Mark saw the pictures without any hindrance.
In the first scene, the picture is shaky and the perspective is very low.
The cold wind howled, and the tattered window paper rustled.
Young Spencer curled up on the cold bed, his body burning hot and his consciousness blurred.
All he could hear was his brother Stan's suppressed, tearful plea outside the door: "Father... I can do anything to repay you..."
The priest drew a ray of pure holy light from his brother's forehead.
The second scene is the scene seen through the crack in the door.
The church was brightly lit and warm like spring.
The priest, dressed in luxurious robes, was smiling broadly, pouring soft and pure holy light onto a noble baby wrapped in an exquisite swaddling cloth.
Outside the door, the brother whose holy light had been extracted knelt in despair on the cold floor, his forehead against the door frame, his shoulders shaking silently.
Act III: Heavy rain, thunder and lightning.
My brother was covered in mud, his legs twisted at strange angles, lying in a foul-smelling mud pit on the edge of the slum.
He struggled and tried to climb out, but the severe pain made him fail again and again.
Muddy water filled my mouth and nose.
Not far away, a young nobleman was holding an umbrella, watching indifferently, with even a hint of mocking smile on the corner of his mouth.
Spence, his consciousness hazy, could only vaguely hear: "You ungrateful pariah, how could the Holy Light be partial to you?"
In the fourth scene, the picture turns blood red and blurry.
Stan and Spencer, who were seriously injured and dying, were dragged away by a figure shrouded in a black robe.
He didn't know how he and his brother survived.
All I know is that after I came back to life, there was a holy cross brand on my chin.
Then he and his brother inexplicably stood at the gate of Shichui Town!
The flood of memories came to an abrupt halt.
Mark suddenly withdrew his mental strength, his face turned slightly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat oozed from his forehead.
Although it's only four short scenes, combined with the memories I got from Stan before.
Mark felt that he understood the story of these two brothers.
How to put it, sympathy but not empathy.
"Bah! Boring!" Mark rubbed his stinging temple and cursed under his breath, both at Stan and at the stupid logic of turning suffering into extreme hatred.
I am even more disgusted by the extreme behavior of the Enlightenment Society of using despair to create monsters.
"Just because you got caught in the rain, you want to drown the whole world? Just because you got bitten by a dog, you have to turn into a mad dog and bite others? If you have the guts, go to the Holy City and kill the noble who killed your brother!"
Mark looked at Kyle. This young monk who was born in the Holy City and bathed in relatively pure holy light would probably never truly understand the despair that the Stan brothers felt after being repeatedly crushed by the Holy Light Church system at the bottom.
This fragment of memory is not so much Spence's as it is the legacy that Stan engraved deep in his brother's soul, and is the "fuel" carefully selected by the Enlightenment Society.
Perhaps it is precisely this kind of memory that makes people like Spence believe more in the so-called Enlightenment Society rather than the Holy Light Church, which is more glorious and righteous in the eyes of ordinary people.
Anyway, in Mark's eyes, it doesn't matter whether it is the Enlightenment Society or the Holy Light Church.
As long as a social group with a certain organizational structure is formed, there will inevitably be good people and bad people in it.
To define whether a church is good or bad, it may be more meaningful to look at its overall behavior.
At least in Mark's eyes, under the rule of the Holy Light Church, the human race occupied 2/3 of the most fertile land in the Holy Dragon Continent.
The human race successfully blocked alien races such as the abyss creatures and the beastmen outside the border.
His church is indeed much more righteous than the Enlightenment Society!
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