Chapter 59 [Rescue Ended]
Mela circled back to the church she had skipped at the beginning.
The church was empty at the moment. Mela carefully pushed the door open a crack. The heavy iron door scraped against the ground with a loud noise. Fortunately, no one was passing by at the moment.
Mela slipped into the church, and the iron gate slammed shut behind her with a thud.
As the church's public face, this church is magnificent even from the outside. When Mela herself stepped inside, even the unbelieved witch couldn't help but marvel at the lifelike reliefs on the walls and the brightly colored paintings on the high dome.
Besides the large amount of money invested, it must have taken a lot of effort to successfully build such a church.
It could easily be called a priceless work of art.
Including the tall and magnificent statue on the altar.
Standing before the statue, which barely reached her calves, Mela felt a sudden sense of insignificance.
This also posed a challenge for Mela. If there was a mechanism to control the secret chamber hidden in the upper part of the statue, how would she climb up to check it?
Well, Mela first circled the statue, her fingers lingering on the white marble base, trying to touch any abnormal bumps or depressions.
A moment later, nothing happened.
Mela, undeterred, searched the lower leg of the statue again, but still did not hear the faint sound of the mechanism being activated.
Is she really going to try to climb to the top of the statue? Or is the mechanism actually hidden somewhere else?
Mela looked down and could see the empty church and rows of pews at a glance. She didn't think the mechanism would be hidden under the chairs. What if it was accidentally triggered by a worshipper one day? How would the priests explain the suddenly appearing door to the worshippers in front of everyone?
Therefore, if there really is a secret room hidden inside the church, the trigger mechanism must be in a safer place.
A corner that no one would care about except those who know it.
Mela paused, looking at the wall behind the statue. Without hesitation, she pressed down on the strange spot. The next second, the brick moved, revealing a wooden door hidden behind the wall.
Perhaps the person who designed this secret room was too confident, thinking that no one else would come here except him, because the wooden door was not even locked.
So Mela simply tugged at the ring, revealing the dark passageway behind the door.
Mela went inside, took an unused torch from the wall, and with a simple fire-starting spell, a bright flame suddenly illuminated the narrow passageway.
She didn't know how long she had walked. Although Mela kept moving forward, she always felt that she was getting further and further away from the ground. The moss sprouting on the walls was increasing, while the air was gradually becoming thinner due to the burning flames.
Perhaps this is also a deliberately designed defensive measure?
If too many people enter the passage at the same time, and too many torches are lit, people will probably suffocate from lack of air before they even reach the end.
Suddenly, the space widened, and Mela found herself at the end of the dungeon. It wasn't a basement, but a series of cells locked with iron bars.
A faint stench hung in the air, and the ground beneath her shoes was covered in years of grime. Mela rubbed her toes against the ground and, sure enough, detected an even stronger smell of blood.
Ha, the church.
Mela wasn't surprised at all; she had long known how hypocritical they were.
Holding a torch, Mela made her way to the deepest part of the dungeon.
As her gaze swept quickly across the empty cells, Mela suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening involuntarily.
In the deepest cell, she saw a woman whose hands and feet were chained, whose long, dark red hair covered her face as her head hung down, and whose clothes were tattered from being whipped.
Erika!
The silent cry stuck in Mela's throat.
She quickly came to her senses. Now was not the time to dwell on what the church people had done to Erica; she needed to figure out a way to get her out of this hellhole.
This was not difficult for Mela; she easily opened the cell door, grasped the thin hand, and helped remove the shackles binding her.
The commotion finally startled the woman, who was already somewhat delirious, awake from the darkness. She groggily raised her head, looked at the unfamiliar face in surprise, and asked in a rough, hoarse voice, "Who are you?"
Mela stared at her face, asking a similar question: "You're not Erica?"
*
The carriage carrying Bishop Ebner slowly came to a stop in front of the church gate, and a man in a black robe leisurely stepped down from the carriage.
He is Bishop Ebner, who has worked in the Redcliffe Territory for many years.
The years of hard work have given Ebner a few strands of gray hair at his temples, and his face has inevitably aged, but he is over forty years old, and growing old is a perfectly normal thing.
Nevertheless, Ebner's ambition has never waned.
He also dreamed of one day returning to the church in the capital as a cardinal archbishop and becoming a strong contender for the next pope.
Ebna made many efforts in this regard.
For example, trying to capture a young witch.
Alas, it's a pity that the witches have kept their tracks well hidden all these years, almost all of them hiding in remote wilderness areas, making it extremely difficult to find out where they are.
Finally, a reliable piece of news arrived: a young witch who had escaped from the territory of Fester had settled in the Dark Forest. Ebner immediately dispatched men to the Dark Forest.
But no one brought back the person he wanted.
"These unfortunate scumbags probably all had their heads gnawed off by wild beasts," Ebna thought regretfully.
He could only watch helplessly as that fool from Fister territory, George, returned to the capital before him.
Fortunately, the fact that Gordo was assigned to a place like Fister Territory, where there was no money to be made, meant that his backer had long since fallen, and even if he returned to the capital early, he posed no threat to Ebna.
Sure enough, several years have passed, and Gordo remains stuck in his position as bishop, making no further progress.
Not only was Ebner favored by fate, who unexpectedly discovered a small gold mine, but he also managed to win over Count Sarre, that hyena, with enough benefits that he agreed to find a way to support him in ascending to the position of cardinal.
Ebna and Sarre's original target was still the witch in the Dark Forest.
In order to successfully capture such a dangerous figure, Sarre managed to extract a considerable amount of gold from Ebna.
"There's nothing I can do," Sarre said to Ebna with a pained expression. "Training a knight is very expensive. From daily training and the making of his armor to raising a good horse, all of this adds up. As long as the knight is still breathing, I'll have to spend a lot of money."
In order to complete Ebner's plan, he would have to sacrifice a group of knights he had carefully trained for several years.
Ebna lowered his eyes. He knew he couldn't save this money. Sarre was the kind of guy who wouldn't act until he saw a benefit. But if he gave away such a large sum of gold so easily, Sarre would definitely become suspicious of him.
There are doubts about where Ebna obtained the gold from.
And whether he can get a share of the profits.
They might even kick Ebna out of the game and take all the remaining gold for themselves.
Therefore, Ebna still needs to haggle with Saare for a while longer, at least to negotiate a price that both sides feel they have gotten a good deal, in order to dispel Saare's suspicions.
However, who could have imagined that fate would once again favor Ebna?
He didn't need to send Sare's knights to the Dark Forest; he had already captured a young enough witch.
Ebna paid only a small price for this.
If the god they worship truly exists, Ebna has no doubt that he is the one chosen by the god, the one destined to ascend to the papacy.
With that thought in mind, Ebner strolled into the church and said to his trusted aide, Father Soli, who had rushed over, "Send the Chenon family to see me. Remember to have them bring the goods I want."
“Now?” Father Soli asked, somewhat puzzled.
As Ebna's confidant, he undoubtedly knew what the "goods" Ebna was talking about were. Even if it was chests of gold, Ebna always had them brought into the church openly and honestly, without needing to secretly inspect them at night.
However, since it was Ebner's order, Father Soli quickly left the church and went to the mansion that the Chenon family had purchased in Golden Oak City.
*
The unexpected arrival of Father Soli forced Luni to knock on the study door.
The maid opened the door from the study, revealing Kren's usual cold face. "What is it?"
“Father Solli has arrived. He said that Bishop Ebna has just returned to the church,” Luni said.
In other words, they must now immediately bring the goods that Bishop Ebna needs to the church.
"That old bastard really knows how to cause trouble," Kren said resentfully. He was clearly annoyed at being disturbed so late at night.
“Young Master Kren,” Looney had to remind him, “watch your words, and don’t give Father Soli a hard time later.”
“I know,” Kren replied irritably. “Alright, have someone prepare the carriage, we’re going to church now.”
Looney went downstairs again.
About fifteen minutes later, he and Kren boarded the carriage to the church.
This time, however, they could not enter the church openly through the main gate as they had during the day. Instead, guided by Father Soli, they went around to the side gate and headed straight for the garden.
Bishop Ebna certainly wouldn't wait here in advance. Given his status, he would only arrive late, accompanied by Father Soli, after Father Soli had returned.
However, when Father Soli looked at the dug-out soil and the wooden door that had been open for who knows how long, he felt dizzy and almost couldn't muster the strength to lift his leg to see Bishop Ebna.
There is no doubt that the gold hidden here has been stolen.
But what exactly happened?
How could someone possibly sneak into a church and steal things without anyone noticing?
“This…” Luni and Kren exchanged a glance, their expressions both darkening as they both felt the same predicament about the current situation.
As one of the few people in the know, they didn't want to inadvertently arouse Bishop Ebna's suspicion.
They certainly didn't want this business deal with Bishop Ebner to end there.
It should be noted that the Chenon family was once just a mid-sized merchant family in Redcliff territory. It was only after cooperating with Bishop Ebner that they secretly cultivated their current wealth and status, which is no less than that of other major families.
Unexpectedly, their business, which they thought would be worry-free, ran into trouble on the side of Bishop Ebna.
"You all stay here and keep watch. I'll go find Bishop Ebna first." After the initial shock, Father Soli finally regained his composure. He needed to inform Bishop Ebna as soon as possible.
Looney and Kren had no objections.
Then Father Soli was seen stumbling and running toward the bishop's residence.
Meanwhile, Silas was anxiously waiting in a tree outside the church. Why hadn't Mela come out yet? The effects of the invisibility potion must have worn off by now.
In particular, taking advantage of its elevated position, it clearly saw a group of strangers enter the church. Soon after, fires broke out all over the church, lit by torches, and they all converged in one direction.
Silas didn't know where Mela was either, and could only hope that the accident didn't happen where Mela was.
"Coo! Coo coo!"
Suddenly, Silas heard the pre-arranged signal between itself and Mela.
It immediately flew excitedly toward the source of the sound.
However, she couldn't help but mutter, "Good heavens, that's not how pigeons coo—"
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