Chapter Fourteen
“You shouldn’t have given them that kind of proof.” A voice whispered from a corner after Carl had walked away.
“They gave me something, I shouldn’t owe them a favor.” Karl turned to look at the guy standing behind him. “Besides, she’s not a dangerous monster. She doesn’t have any special abilities, and I treated her. It’s hard to imagine how she’s survived this long. Don’t worry, Ketchum, she won’t cause you any trouble.”
“That would be best.” The guy named Ketchum followed behind Karl.
This man named Ketcht is the one known as the Paladin. He possesses legendary abilities in this city.
It's rare to see priests and paladins acting together. This usually only happens during cataclysmic disasters that cause immense damage.
However, there aren't actually that many complicated things. It's just that the two of them want to have a meal together; there's nothing too complicated about it.
Both of them have been very busy lately, even though they've always been friends. They've been friends since they first became clergy. They've done so much together and have become role models and examples for many people.
That dates back to about twenty or thirty years ago, but such a reminiscing is obviously a bit too sentimental. So the two of them would occasionally meet up for a meal.
That's all.
"Aren't you afraid things will go wrong when you're not around?" Carl suddenly asked. "You must have a lot to do right now."
"Aren't you afraid that someone won't receive the treatment they deserve when you leave?"
"I'm not afraid, because there are still a few people on duty in the church right now, and I can't do a better job than them."
“What a coincidence, there are quite a few knights on duty right now. When there’s no battle, I can do no more than they can.” Ketchum put her arm around Karl’s neck. “So let’s not think too much about anything, let’s just have a meal.”
"You still feel the same way. You should know I hate physical contact with others." Karl felt a bit disgusted by the person who hugged him so directly, especially since the person was wearing armor, the weight of which pressed down on his shoulders, making him want to curse.
But Ketchum just laughed at such comments, seemingly unconcerned.
After a short while, the guy's laughter finally stopped.
“You’re still the same as before, wary even of people you approve of,” Ketchum said softly. “You left a tracking function on that note, didn’t you?”
“If they had particularly good hearing, they would have heard what you just said. Please, could you keep it down?” Karl looked at Ketchum helplessly. This guy hadn’t changed at all; he was the kind of guy who could openly talk about his bastard deeds.
Not long ago, about twenty or thirty years ago, when the two were still working together on some missions for the church, this guy caused a mission to fail because he loudly told him about the location of the magic circle.
However, he showed no remorse afterward. He claimed he was God's agent, that God knew and approved of his actions, and therefore shouldn't have resorted to underhanded tactics but should have acted uprightly. He argued that he should be proud of everything he did, and even in his dying moments, he should believe that God's glory filled his path.
......
The snow is still falling, and the snow on the ground is already ankle-deep. It probably won't be long before it covers your knees.
Here, heavy snowfalls often turn into snow disasters, and it's not uncommon for houses to be submerged.
Ark looked at the guy in front of him and fell silent.
He stood in the snow, seemingly looking at something, his breathing low and suppressed.
He was too late, just minutes earlier. The robber's arm had already been bought by someone else.
He was slightly delayed, even though he planned to buy it, because he wasn't in a hurry.
That's not a practical tool because it uses mechanical materials for connections. A normal person would need extensive knowledge of metal mechanics to use it directly. Alternatively, it would need to be melted down at a blacksmith to use high-quality metal.
However, this would obviously be a very costly choice.
This stuff couldn't be cheap, Ark was absolutely certain. Therefore, no one here could afford it. Even the outsiders were all here for the demons. What they were hunting wasn't small stuff, so they certainly couldn't plan to prepare the necessary tools locally. Therefore, weapons and such were prepared long ago.
Yak planned to wait until they were truly unsellable before coming back to buy them at a cheaper price.
It felt it could close the deal with a maximum of one gold coin. It was confident in itself in this regard.
However, there was a guy ahead of him.
"What? You're willing to pay five real gold coins for this?" The guy selling the arm was clearly a bit stunned.
It hadn't expected the item to be so expensive; it had originally planned to sell for one or two real gold coins.
But this guy immediately said he wanted five gold coins for this thing.
Good heavens, doesn't it know that five real gold coins are enough to buy a longsword made of rare metals in that place called Nidra? What makes it think that something a normal person can't even hold is worth five gold coins?
He's probably just pretending to be a bargain hunter in this small town. Judging by the price, he must have connections with royalty, right? But I remember even royalty are hesitant to spend money recklessly these days because of political issues. Those are five real gold coins; they can buy so much more than just this pathetic, unusable weapon.
Who cares? As long as he agrees, he can earn this much money. This amount is enough for him to bribe the local sheriff and find himself a safe place to live.
It eagerly handed the item over and simply wrapped it in a bag. Outsiders couldn't tell what it was, but as long as the buyer could verify its authenticity, that was enough.
The guy who bought this was wearing a robe, which covered him up completely, so you couldn't tell who he was at all.
He extended a large hand from his robe, tightly wrapped in bandages. It seemed he didn't want others to know his identity, not even to reveal a single hand.
This kind of information can actually be helpful, because there are only a handful of people in the world whose identities can be recognized at a glance. Ark mentally went through a simple process of elimination, trying to figure out who it might be.
But that's something we'll do after we get back.
Yak slowly backed away, preparing to go back.
It wasn't that it couldn't afford more than five real gold coins, but rather that it didn't know anything about this guy's background.
Another guy whose identity I don't know, Ark thought to himself.
How many weirdos is this? Ark didn't know; it only knew that this guy was troublesome.
Because it can't sense any emotions, theoretically it should subconsciously detect whether the emotion is malicious. But right now it can't sense anything at all.
It turned its head and glanced at it, perhaps looking at Yak.
Although Ark didn't know who this guy was, it knew he wouldn't recognize him. So it didn't care, especially since it was wearing a mask.
As a monster, Ark primarily uses its senses to detect malice in others, as well as its previously used "unnoticed generic face." The long name it gave it wasn't its own creation; it was given to it by someone else. It found it apt and has continued to use it ever since.
It can erase the memories of its appearance from those who haven't specifically paid attention to it; how much it retains depends on how much attention others have paid to it. In other words, it accelerates the rate at which others forget it, which is one of its abilities as a monster.
Although this ability caused him a lot of trouble—for example, people he was meeting one day wouldn't recognize him the next—Ark got used to it and naturally blended into the crowd.
Sure enough, after glancing at it, it turned and prepared to leave. The two acted as if they hadn't even met.
Yak slowly walked back to his carriage.
"Did you see it clearly?" it asked Denos in a low voice.
“It’s wearing a mask.” Denos took a small box out of his pocket, opened it, and whispered something.
A crystal-clear eyeball floated out, swayed in the air a few times, and then disappeared into thin air. It accelerated its way towards the creature.
"Do you need me to go?" the little spider's voice came hoarsely from inside the cage.
"Thank you for your trouble." Yak didn't stand on ceremony and simply nodded.
It does need far too much intelligence right now, and although it will be leaving soon, who knows what might happen?
It had a very bad feeling, and generally, when such a feeling arises, nothing good ever comes of it. Ark felt he shouldn't let some careless details ruin the lives of the people on the carriage in the city.
"Well, it's okay even if we don't get to buy it," Lady whispered. "Actually, I can manage with just one hand..."
“That’s irrelevant. I want to know where that person came from.” Ark pointed to his waist: “There’s a strange, hard object on its side, probably around the cervical spine. It’s very hard, and it smells of gunpowder and saltpeter. It must have had its own purpose in buying that thing. It has a deep understanding of mechanics, so it might have come from the Nedra.”
Lady paused, looking at Ark's serious eyes.
Do you want to go home?
Yak asked seriously, "You don't seem comfortable here. Are you not used to being here?"
After a moment of silence, Lady slowly hugged her knees and shrank back into the corner.
“I have no home,” she suddenly said. “Actually, I know what kind of place Nidra is. I told you, I’m a doll. All my knowledge was given to me when I was made. Including my knowledge of that city. I may never have been inside it, but I know a lot about it. It’s a strange feeling, and I hate this feeling of being made.”
She whispered, looking at Ark, "Will you drive me away?"
"Uh, don't get me wrong, that's not what I meant." Ark scratched his head, looking a bit troubled. "I was thinking that if you wanted to go home, you could find out more about that person. If he turned out to be a good guy, you could go back with him. But judging from your expression, you don't seem to be in a hurry to go back?"
Lady nodded.
“Then we shouldn’t have let the little spider go out now,” Denos sighed. “It’s already gone.”
Lady paused, staring at the bamboo cage over there.
There was a slight movement inside just now, but now there is no breath at all.
“It’s gone.” Acton paused. “But that’s fine, I need it to gather some intelligence now. No one can do that better than it.”
Denos nodded; everyone shared the same opinion on this matter.
"When did it leave?" Lady clearly hadn't yet grasped what had just happened.
“He can become invisible, just like I made that eye hide,” Denos said. “However, this is also thanks to my magic, and the effect lasts for about two hours. That’s enough time for him to make a round trip.”
Yak didn't speak, but stared into the distance.
That's the city gate; you can leave the city by walking out from there.
However, they had not prepared enough supplies, and entering the chaotic area without any preparation was clearly suicidal, and there was no one to help bury the bodies.
They hadn't received enough supplies yet, and Yak had already wandered around the nearby merchants and found that what he needed, these people needed too.
They seemed to realize they couldn't stay here long and were preparing supplies. Everyone was using the same old supplies, and each was looking for what the others needed to buy.
“It’s going to be difficult for us to leave for the time being,” Ark said to Denos. “It seems our luck has run out.”
Denos paused, then followed Ark's gaze.
Many more people followed its gaze.
Because everything in sight was stained red—it was a fireball that had condensed in the sky, a gigantic fireball. It began to fall from the sky just as it had begun to take shape.
When it hit the ground, it exploded silently, because the magical defenses on the city walls made it inaudible.
But the wind picked up and the snow fell even harder.
And then, rain began to fall from the sky, the main element of which was fireballs.
Lady swallowed hard; she couldn't recall ever witnessing anything like it. There were just too many astonishing scenes, leaving her unsure how to even begin to describe them.
The fiery rain falling amidst the heavy snow created a scene that was both magnificent and desolate.
“In that case, even if we receive supplies, it will be difficult for us to leave.” Denoston paused and said, “Ark, let’s discuss something.”
"No need to discuss it anymore, I'll go book a room at the hotel right now. I just hope I can still get one."
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