Astor’s Scheme

Astor avoided the gazes of the other Holy Knights and led Leklis into his house.

After closing the door, only Astor and Leklis remained in the enclosed space. Then, Astor cautiously took out a crystal, which, upon use, generated a soundproof barrier in the house.

Seeing that the room was now soundproof, leklis was the first to ask.

“Who told you that name?”

“Was it the God of Death?”

Astor replied,

“Perhaps it’s just a coincidence. I was present during that massacre a year ago, so I recognized you.”

At this point, leklis’s gaze pierced through Astor like a blade, full of killing intent. Seeing this reaction, Astor hurried to explain.

“But rest assured, I won’t expose you. On the contrary, I want to cooperate with you.”

“Cooperate? Someone from the Holy See wants to cooperate with a ‘heretic’ like me?”

“Heh, I know that you later joined the ‘Church of Death’ and even brought a bunch of burdens with you. So you’re in desperate need of gold coins, right? Then let’s follow the usual commission procedure: you act, and I’ll pay you.”

Astor spoke as he looked at the other man, and hearing how detailed the information was, leklis roughly guessed something.

“You even know about the Church of Death. You’re no member of the Holy See!”

“Very clever—deserves to be called ‘Preacher’, after all.”

Astor smiled—a strange, sinister smile. Based on his reply, leklis was now certain: this person before him was not only a traitor to the Holy See but a spy from the Church of Death!

Faced with this, leklis had to treat things seriously.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Help me kill or hold off the Holy Knights traveling with me. Once it’s done, I’ll pay you 500 gold coins, and I can also recommend you as a candidate for bishop in the Church.”

“Recommend me? It seems your status is unusual.”

“No need to blindly guess my identity. Just answer: do you agree or not?”

Astor spoke. Although he knew this guy was part of the Church of Death, and even though the Church of Death was divided into several factions for many years, he didn’t know if the other side would help him out of consideration for the church.

As expected, leklis hesitated…

“I promised someone that I would no longer use my power to hurt others.”

That person was Julie…

But hearing Leklis’s words, Astor couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Hahaha, what am I hearing? The mighty ‘God of Death’ actually says he won’t hurt others?”

“……”

“Sorry, I was out of line. Please forgive my poor sense of humor.”

“In any case, I’m not interested in your commission, and your people promised me that as long as I handed over my research results, you’d stop interfering in my life. Now that you’ve achieved your aim, I just want to live a peaceful life.”

“Is that a refusal?”

“Yes.”

Leklis’s answer was decisive. Upon hearing it, Astor’s eyes became somewhat sinister.

“Looks like we won’t be working together, then. In that case, Lord God of Death, please forget about today—we’re strangers to each other.”

“Fine.”

After saying this, leklis pushed the door open and left. Watching his back as he departed, Astor muttered to himself quietly,

“Heh, you want to back out? In your dreams! Blame yourself for appearing here. For the sake of ensuring nothing goes wrong with the next mission, even if you won’t act, I’ll make sure you do!”

As he spoke, Astor decided to alter the plan on the spot. The new plan would be even more secure—because Leklis’s ‘help’ was now included.

……

It was 4:30 a.m. and the sky had not yet lightened. Snowflakes were still drifting from the sky, but suddenly, several fully armed knights marched out of the inn—thirty in total, each a Holy Knight, about level 20. Such a force could sweep through the jungle.

Leading the group was Lilith, with Astor and Manshir at her sides. Once everyone had assembled, lilith once again confirmed.

“You’re sure there’s an undead mage lurking in the camp?”

“Yes, lady Lilith. But I feared alerting him, so I didn’t make a move. Instead, I placed a tracking beacon on him. An undead mage appearing here is almost certainly with the Church of Death. If we follow him, we might discover the Church of Death’s chapel.”

It was Astor who spoke. As everyone talked, they mounted their horses and charged out of camp. Hearing Astor’s report, lilith praised him.

“You did well. The current outbreak of undead is probably the result of experiments by the Church of Death’s undead mages. If we find them, we might be able to interrogate some useful information out of them.”

Lilith’s eyes brimmed with confidence, and she had no intention of going easy on those ‘lunatics’ from the Church of Death.

“But Lady Lilith, although the Church’s undead mages are nothing much, there could still be dangers. I recommend you wait someplace safe—let me and Lord Manshir scout ahead for you.”

Astor proposed. Unexpectedly, lilith refused outright.

“No need. Facing those people, splitting up would only be more dangerous.”

“But…”

“Follow orders.”

Lilith cut him off. Seeing that he could not separate Lilith from her guards, Astor was unhurried; everything was still under control.

“Alright, then I’ll lead the way.”

With that, Astor took out a pocket watch, which indicated a direction—the direction of the Church of Death’s branch chapel.

Charging deep into the jungle, the golden moon eagle in the sky provided reconnaissance. With its help, a wooden building hidden among the trees in the distance soon came into view.

“Screech!”

The moon eagle cried out and swooped down. Landing on a Holy Knight’s shoulder, it delivered its information.

“There’s a man-made structure hidden a kilometer ahead in the forest.”

“That’s it.”

Astor confirmed. Upon hearing this, lilith ordered,

“Quick march! Be ready for battle at any moment.”

Thirty junior to intermediate Holy Knights were more than enough to attack a branch chapel of the Church of Death. Lilith didn’t hesitate; this was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. If those rat-like undead mages got wind of the news and ran, they’d have to start searching for clues all over again.

So, straight to the attack!

Elsewhere, inside the wooden chapel, julie had just woken up and was preparing breakfast for the children. But suddenly, she spotted a flock of startled birds from afar through the window.

In an instant, julie became fully alert. Living in the great forest, you wouldn’t survive long without vigilance. She immediately summoned the skeletons for guard duty, then rushed to the children’s dormitory.

“Children, get up quickly.”

She pulled the children up one by one and hid them in a basement she had prepared for emergencies.

“Mommy, are we playing hide and seek again?”

“Yes, we’re playing hide and seek. Everyone hide well and make no noise—anyone who loses has to do chores.”

Julie said, and upon hearing that the loser would do chores, the children quickly hid and covered their mouths.

“Hide well now.”

Julie reminded them again, closed the basement door, covered it with a water vat, then cleaned away any signs of disturbance and dust.

Her practiced movements showed she must have done this many times before.

After hiding the children, she took down her longbow and arrows, then hid on the second floor, keeping watch into the distance. By now, she could clearly hear the sound of hooves.

(To be continued…)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep