Chapter Sixteen
"Um, although I don't know the reason, could you please stop hitting me?" Her voice trembled slightly, but she still stood there firmly.
Carl and Christon both paused, their movements halting simultaneously.
“Do you recognize it?” Carl realized he had overreacted.
However, its reaction is completely understandable, because it now sees its adopted child so close to such a monster.
Karl still had a sliver of mercy, so his first attack was entirely intended to kill the monster alive. For such a monster, instant annihilation was the greatest act of mercy.
But he failed. Because this thing held up.
This shouldn't be happening; that was an impact formed with holy magic. Even if the power was channeled into the ground to prevent harm to the child, it should still be a force that low-level monsters have absolutely no chance of resisting.
Monsters are generally classified into five levels, from level one to level five. Only level five monsters can last a few more minutes in a battle against a priest. He possesses a power that ordinary monsters simply cannot resist; otherwise, the people in this city wouldn't have dared to hide in the shadows and not even make a small move because of his and Ketchum's presence.
To this day, none of the residents with proof of residence in this city have been attacked.
It could even be said that as long as it and Ketchum are there, there won't be any problems in this city.
Could this little thing be a level five monster? Karl frowned. It didn't seem like it, but it had withstood one of his attacks without a scratch.
It might be a misjudgment on my part, but just now it suddenly revealed a strange aura.
"It, it's my friend," the child emphasized again. "So, I've gotten rid of it, can you please not hurt it? Look at it..."
She turned her head, wanting to pull the little spider along to prove to Carl that it was harmless, but when she turned back, she suddenly found the place empty.
Nothing was left in the snow. It was as if almost nothing had ever been there. The emptiness made one wonder where such a demon might be hiding.
Carl turned his head and looked at the rooftop in the distance, where the guy was watching him from afar.
Krissen gestured in the air with his somewhat ferocious and terrifying claws. Carl felt that he might be threatening him, so he held his breath and carefully tried to understand what it meant.
It's getting cold, remember to add more clothes for this child.
Then, he watched in utter bewilderment as it completely disappeared into the complex of buildings.
With its astonishing speed, Karl slowly closed his eyes, contemplating its capabilities.
Karl didn't know how it achieved this speed; he was just thinking about the capabilities it had demonstrated since its appearance.
Excellent responsiveness, quick thinking, and a knack for adapting to changing circumstances. In addition, he demonstrated a variety of outstanding qualities.
This guy should be famous, because if such a monster lived in a chaotic region, it would definitely be able to possess a considerable power on its own.
But now this guy is in a human city, reminding himself not to forget to put extra clothes on his adopted child.
What a strange fellow. That was the only thought Karl could come up with.
But there are already enough strange guys around.
"Didn't you go to have dinner with that... Paladin?" The girl searched for a while but couldn't find the little spider, so she scratched her head and ran to Karl's side.
She seems to be a very well-behaved and obedient girl.
When she learned that a paladin was coming, Karl told her to hide outside. At least not to be seen by him, Karl instructed her.
“Something came up, so we’ll have to eat this meal ourselves.” Carl patted her head. “Let’s go home.”
The girl nodded and followed behind him.
"What did I do wrong?"
“Child, you have made some mistakes. But don’t misunderstand, you did very well.” Karl hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at the girl following behind him like a stray kitten: “You have never done anything wrong.”
"So...am I living a mistake?"
I guess so.
"Then why don't you punish me?"
Suddenly, the child stopped, looking as if he was about to cry.
“Child, you must know. We all live with sin.” Karl stopped too, and holy magic formed a protective barrier around his body, enveloping the two of them.
He slowly squatted down. Karl was quite large, and even when he squatted down, he was only slightly shorter than her.
He tidied the child's gushing white hair, then pulled up the hood to cover her face.
“Although we are born with sin, God has not punished us.” He patted the child’s shoulder, and warmth flowed from his palm to her body.
Karl looked directly into the child's eyes and said softly, "Because we live in order to atone for our sins."
Can my sins be forgiven?
“I don’t know, I haven’t even finished atoning for my own sins. Of course I don’t know about yours.” Karl held the child in his arms and said softly, “But what is certain is that one day we will return to the place where God dwells. There, God will execute the final judgment on us. Whatever the outcome may be, we can only accept it.”
"I see."
"Then tell me your name."
"Lori".
Where are you from?
“An orphanage in the safe zone. My family members have all died because of poverty.”
Why are you here?
"Because I want to find a warm home."
"Then what are you going to do?"
“I will atone for my sins to God... until He acknowledges my existence.”
“Very well, I couldn’t give a better answer than you.” Carl smiled and patted her head. “Remember, no matter who asks you, answer the same way. Understand?”
......
Ketchum rubbed his temples and looked outside.
My head really hurts, it feels like it's going to split open.
His hands simply couldn't stop, because there was just too much to write.
So there are really so many people living in this city without legal status? How did the gatekeeper even let them in? They should at least put some effort into their work, besides sleeping!
His head is hurting a lot right now; it's impossible for it not to hurt.
Due to the unusual weather outside, a blizzard was accompanied by fireballs falling from the sky.
The only thing missing is an earthquake, but it's probably coming soon.
So now no one in the city can leave, and everyone who moves forward in this environment has to write their will.
To prevent these guys from causing trouble, Ketchum made a decision he would later regret: issue temporary residence permits to everyone without proof of residence. These permits would remain valid until things stabilized outside and he was allowed to leave.
For this reason, the rare opportunity to have a meal with my friends was forced to be canceled because of this damn weather.
Is it true that even escaping one's job for a short while will be considered a sign of incompetence by God?
However, on the other hand, this leisurely lunch with friends brought an easier start to the workday.
Firstly, this way, people staying here temporarily won't feel uneasy about the security checks that will have to be conducted later, and thus won't engage in aggressive behavior.
Secondly, this way we can more accurately record how many demons and monsters are currently lingering here.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Ketchum would never have imagined that so many guys could gather here.
Just how many people have come here on adventure for the sake of the demon?
Ketchum tried to look it up, but later he just felt that he had a long way to go and a heavy responsibility to do.
“Ark is a businessman.” The man appeared before it, wearing a smiling mask and holding a small jar beside him. He then presented his identification: “I’ve come with a few people, and we’ll probably need some proof that the four of us are legally staying.”
"Four?" Ketchum hesitated for a moment, looking at the jar beside him. "What's inside?"
"It's just kimchi. It's a specialty I brought from another city, specially for you to try," Yak said in a very obsequious voice.
That voice paired with that mask really makes you want to punch it. Fortunately, Ketchum doesn't want to move right now. So it scribbled something down and handed it over.
Four? It didn't ask who they were, but silently counted the number in its mind.
It knew this guy's caravan, but there should only be three creatures in it. Who else was there?
I don't know, but since this guy didn't hide it and spoke openly about it, then it's possible that the people I sent didn't investigate thoroughly enough. Because it didn't intend to hide it, it naturally wouldn't conceal it.
With that thought in mind, it saw the guy off. It continued sitting there signing documents.
Yak looked at the small sheet in his hand and shrugged helplessly.
I never expected this guy would actually want to take this opportunity to clean up the dangers in the city.
Ark knew what the paladin was thinking.
Once all the temporary residence permits have been issued, there will definitely be an inspection. Any monsters without them will be dealt with accordingly.
This time, there will be enough reason to tell those monsters who are on good terms with humans.
Furthermore, even those who obtain temporary residence permits will be more directly placed under the control of the church. These permits have tracking information; having one means that as long as one carries it, they will be under the church's surveillance.
This makes it even more difficult to carry out operations. With operations being monitored, everyone will have no choice but to stay obediently in their designated places during this period.
However, there are many ways to act without triggering it. But this will inevitably make the place much quieter.
For Ark, what the paladin was about to do perfectly aligned with his own plans. His original purpose in coming here was to make money; he had no intention of risking his life for it.
After Yak went outside, he looked at the black mist floating in the sky and sighed slowly.
It was a black aura permeating the entire city, and it didn't bother explaining what it was to anyone else. Because only it could see it.
The entire city is now filled with malice. It's not just the environment that's hostile to its residents, but also the malice of the people who live here.
Even the flow of elements is extending in a more uncontrollable direction.
Regardless of the circumstances, this place is now a hotbed of trouble, but I can't leave right now.
Ark sighed. Actually, it could turn its head and go into the room to see what kind of guys were there.
This is an excellent opportunity to gather intelligence. No matter what kind of people these guys are, as long as they don't want to clash with the paladins in the next few days, they will come here to apply for temporary residence permits.
However, it sensed that there was no one friendly here.
Forget it, the sooner the better. There are just too many bad guys here, so many that I don't even want to count them all.
The current situation is far too complex. Trying to analyze the future after replicating this to this extent would only be self-defeating. Ark doesn't consider himself capable of such a strategy, therefore he will instead isolate himself from external factors to formulate his plan.
If someone tries to stop us, we'll discuss another solution.
By the time it returned to the inn, the sun had already reached the latter half of its cycle, and there wasn't much time left before it went out.
Their carriages were still parked at the city gate, and the horses had been entrusted to the local herders.
In this cold weather, staying in a carriage is just asking for trouble. It's perfectly fine to splurge a little and stay in a hotel.
It was because the room was booked so late that too many people needed to rest at the hotel. As a result, there was only one room left when it was booked.
There are two beds in total, so if you don't want to sleep together, someone has to sleep on the floor. Luckily, we brought a sleeping bag, so it's not too bad.
When it returned, it was still startled.
The little spider has returned, but it doesn't look well, and Denos is bandaging it.
"Hey, what's wrong with it?" Ark exclaimed in surprise, instantly forgetting everything he had been thinking about.
It really didn't expect that the little spider would get injured. This guy is quite reliable in every aspect and extremely dependable in critical moments.
But this creature is now injured, though the injury doesn't seem serious. The bucket next to it is full of shells that have been removed.
This is the spider's own strategy for dealing with corruption: severing the connection between the infected area and its original body, and then filling the gap with clumps of coagulated blood. It then molts when it's safe to do so.
In this way, the chaotic elements outside won't harm the main body from beginning to end; it will be reborn once the shedding process is complete.
But it hurt a lot, and the child didn't move at all, just letting Denos do whatever he wanted to it.
Its expression was strange; it showed neither sadness nor joy.
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