Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

914
After returning to the cathedral, the familiar priest immediately came over, pulled Arnold to the side door of the cathedral, and asked in a low voice:
"Have you investigated for me? What's the news?"

"No news." Arnold frowned and spoke, his tone revealing doubt and worry. "There are indeed many rumors about the 'Sea God' along the coast. I went to the lower city and the port dock, but I didn't find the source of the rumors, nor did I find any acts of worshiping evil gods. No matter how much information I look for, intelligence shows that the belief in the 'Sea God' is really just an accidental introduction by a Rorsted Islands merchant who bought something at the port and left, and the spread of this belief is also because someone was lucky enough to catch a fish."

"What about 'The Fool'?"

"This 'Fool' is very interesting. He suddenly appeared a year ago, and then disappeared. Just when the church and most secret organizations thought that this was an evil god who changed his identity, more information appeared inexplicably..."

The priest waited for the paperwork, but Arnold simply dictated:
"The intelligence from Intis shows that the Abraham family has extraordinary kindness towards the 'Fool', even though they do not believe in him. In addition, the 'God of Mysteries' Church has also compiled a lot of information for this evil god.

"They did not follow our creation myth, but described him as a god from the ancient, legendary 'Western Continent', just like the 'God of Mysteries' described himself. And they also showed kindness to 'The Fool' and allowed the people in the country to believe in him."

"He looks like a future righteous god. Now the belief in this evil god has appeared in Feysac, claiming that he can cure diseases and save lives. Many ignorant mortals in the countryside have already believed in him. This is simply a great disrespect to the Lord."

The priest's eyebrows were twisted together, and his nearly two-meter height made him look incredibly majestic even when his face was expressionless.

"Have you found out the identity of that businessman?"

"A native of the Rorsted Archipelago." Arnold gave the name he had researched. "He is well-known in the Rorsted Archipelago. He is a devout believer in Poseidon who is said to have received an oracle. He secretly supports the rebels and has also done a lot of charity work and opened a school."

The priest's expression was originally quite serious, but when he heard the word "oracle", contempt suddenly appeared on his face.

"The true form of the Sea God is just a monster that has gained power but has little brains. Calling the roar and threats of such a thing an oracle is simply blasphemy against all gods. The people of the Rorsted Archipelago are still so ignorant and pathetic."

Arnold did not agree with the other party in words. Faced with this compliment that was obviously a step down and a compliment, he suddenly frowned:

"Please be careful with your words."

The contempt on the priest's face was instantly wiped away. Facing this demigod from the Inquisition, he even showed a little fear:
"What, what's wrong?"

"Praise the Lord, please have mercy, Mr. Dean, I have absolutely no disrespect for the Lord in my heart!"

Arnold's tone was serious. The patience and peace on his face disappeared in the blink of an eye. He just frowned and narrowed his eyes slightly, revealing a frightening cold aura. Facing the priest's somewhat flustered confession, he said in a steady tone:
“You just forgot to put the Lord first when you spoke.”

"What? I didn't mention the Lord just now, nor did I say anything disrespectful to the Lord..."

"Yes, you are not wrong. You just compared the 'Sea God' with the gods. You should know that all the evil gods, the former True Creator, the Hidden Sage, and the current Original Witch, are also gods whose power has been recognized." Arnold replied, "But please remember that this is in Feysac. No matter what you say, we should put our Lord first, not with other righteous gods."

When the other party said this, for a moment, the priest felt that the demigod in front of him was not like a human being, but like a trained machine that would respond to all the behaviors and words that "suspected of disrespecting the gods" around it.

They seem very normal at ordinary times, but once any behavior they consider to be "disrespectful to the gods" occurs, they will immediately reveal their terrifying side - the Inquisition has undoubtedly cultivated "excellent" warriors who scare all pagans and even their own people, and believers who are so devout that they are frightening, but do such people really have a self?
He has known the other person for nearly ten years, but he is still nervous every time he meets her, afraid of saying the wrong thing - even though he is so careful, the other person will still think that he is not doing well enough.

"But don't worry, you just said something wrong in a private setting like this, so I won't do anything to you."

"Your competitor has been looking for an opportunity to replace you. I hope you won't appear in court for such a trivial matter."

After saying this, the demigod smiled kindly and generously, although in the eyes of the priest, such a smile was as terrifying as a demon. It even scared him more than a demon: "There are still many pagans who just came in the second half of the year in the prison of the Inquisition who have not been cleared out. The New Year is coming soon, but foreign beliefs have been introduced. The Apostolic See and the Church are already dissatisfied with our work."

"Perhaps soon, followers of 'Sea God' and 'Fool' will appear inside, so there may not be a place for you."

Did he think this joke was funny? What a horrible lunatic! I should have remembered that there were no normal people in the Inquisition... The priest couldn't laugh at all. He tried to pull the corners of his already stiff mouth:
"Well, investigating the 'Sea God' and the 'Fool's' beliefs should have been my mission, but my ability is really limited. I'll have to ask you to pay more attention to it in the future."

Arnold nodded:
"I will keep an eye on it. This is my duty."

"However, the acceptance of foreign beliefs due to the change of seasons happens every year. After the winter, the weather is cold, and more than 85% of the ports are closed. The only ice-free ports will not be open to civilians living on the docks. Without a source of income, they will naturally turn to praying to foreign beliefs. Before the 'God of the Sea' appears, they will quietly pray to the 'Lord of Storms' and the 'God of Thunder'."

"The court will not be so cold-blooded. When have we ever killed all the people? We just need to capture some and bring them back to deal with them. We need to tell people that even if they convert now, they still need to remember to return to the Lord when the sea thaws in the spring."

At this point, Arnold looked at the priest meaningfully:
"As one of the persons responsible for this matter, you can report a few people to the court, as long as the evidence is solid."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for the other party to understand how he understood his words, Arnold turned around and walked away.

He had a lot of things to do, such as continuing to pretend to be loyal to the Church of the God of War during the final period of time, and finding ways to make some covert gestures to the Red Angels, and dealing with the Inquisition to prevent them from finding out the God of War hiding in the lower city.

Therefore, during this period of time, he will be happy to sow discord among the church members around him.

Besides this, Arnold felt that he should try to find a way to contact the followers of The Fool, those unexpected guests active in the northern snowfields, the legendary "God's Folk", the noble descendants with the true blood of giants.

Like most people who learned of the existence of this ethnic group, he was full of curiosity about them.

When everyone believed that the "Eastern Continent" and the "Western Continent" were just ancient legends, an ancient god who claimed to be from the Western Continent appeared, followed by the remnants of the giants who had been living in the Eastern Continent. Probably the happiest people were the historians.

The professors of history, geography, and genetics at St. Miron's University had been impatient for a long time, but the church was on high alert and the Inquisition had also issued an order that anyone who dared to submit an application for a business trip at this time would be directly identified as a heretic.

- Although countless people have learned of this news privately, and countless people have begun to gather quietly, trying to learn more about these two faiths, even if it is not for faith, but purely out of curiosity - this has already made the church very uneasy.

The Church cannot possibly tell the reason for its unrest.

It was almost noon and there were few people on the street. Arnold walked onto the street and happened to pass by the bulletin board.

He suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head sharply to look over. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we are still issuing orders from His Majesty the Emperor and the church."

As he watched, the words "and from the church" faded and disappeared as quickly as erased pencil marks.

Just as Arnold was astonished, a new change occurred on the bulletin board: after the words "and from the church" disappeared, a blank space several centimeters long appeared. Arnold watched as a line of Loenese gradually appeared in the blank space. It was a name that he had often seen on documents this year.

"George Augustus III"

As if sensing something was wrong, the words quickly changed into Feysac language.

Arnold, who always behaved calmly, was dumbfounded at this moment. He looked at the words "His Majesty the Emperor George Augustus III" hanging so clearly in the center of Saint Miron, the capital of the Feysac Empire, on the notice board of this level 0 sealed object.

However, the newly emerged words were obviously lighter and flickered, looking very unstable. About ten seconds later, the name "George Augustus III" gradually faded again, and the existing characters changed their order and condensed into "and from the church", but it was not long before it twisted back... The two words entangled and fought back and forth for a while, and it seemed that the Holy See, who was now holding the seal, had a slight advantage. In the end, the sentence returned to its original state, and it was impossible to tell that such an amazing change had ever occurred.

After witnessing the entire process of the Loen emperor and the Patriarch fighting for the Sealed Artifact by chance, Arnold could no longer remain calm. The Loen emperor had not completely broken the seal, but he was able to influence his own side from such a distance. He was fighting with the Patriarch for the Sealed Artifact under the protection of the other party, and the fight was even more intense. This meant that the other party's influence on the high-sequence items of this path was terrifying.

The gods were dead, but the enemies around were still so powerful. He once again deeply realized how dangerous Feysac's situation was now.

The time has come to change camp.

TBC
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With an explosion, a corner of the hidden gate of Mausoleum No. 1 was blown open, but the whole was not shaken.

A man stepped forward to take a look, and saw that a lot of rocks had been blown away, revealing a large black stone slab underneath.

The stone slabs were cold to the touch, and it was impossible to tell how thick they were. The explosives did not leave even a trace on them. Seeing that the mausoleum was still extremely solid, the members of the MI9 who had quietly arrived here began to get anxious - from the loud noise in the plan, the church should have been alerted. At this moment, the strong men of the Thunder Church could come at any time, but they couldn't even blow open the door!

The mausoleum itself had been damaged, and the ground part had been completely destroyed. However, this did not allow MI9 to proceed with the excavation work smoothly. Instead, the heavy stone slabs and broken bricks were piled up in a mess, blocking all the entrances and gates. Even if they moved the outer layer of rocks and ruins for a whole day, they might not be able to clear them away.

It rains almost every day here, and there are cordons around the area. Even though there is no one guarding it, it is difficult to get close.

The members of MI9 knew that it would be difficult to enter the mausoleum, but they didn't expect that they couldn't even find the door.

"Sir! There's a damage here!"

In the heavy rain, a man waved his hand vigorously not far away. The officer he mentioned hurried over and saw that there was indeed a small hole where the other person's finger pointed - less than one meter in diameter. With the help of the vision of the Beyonders, they saw that the hole was full of jagged rocks and had no idea whether there was a dead end ahead. And with this diameter, there was no room to turn around after jumping down.

The officer picked up a stone and threw it into the cave. Just as the people around him were holding their breath, they heard a plop.

“It’s all filled with water.”

It entered the water just one second after being thrown down, and there was no sound at all. The officer's expression immediately turned ugly: "The depth is unknown, the width is limited, and there is a lot of water inside. This place is blocked, let's find another way."

"The pumping equipment is too large to be brought in quietly, and if it is used it will certainly attract the attention of the church."

The people around also saw that it was impossible for people to go down this hole safely. After hearing what the commander said, they had no choice but to disperse with regret and return to their respective posts. The commander looked around and saw that the mausoleum was really buried thoroughly and could not be broken into no matter what method was used. His eyes darkened, and he walked to an inconspicuous corner and took out a small glass bottle from his arms.

The simplest style is the glass bottle, which is only the length of a finger and contains a rolled-up piece of paper. It looks similar to the "wishing bottle" that children buy. After buying it, write your wish on the rolled-up paper inside and then bury it in the soil.

The method of using this prop is the same as that of a wishing bottle. The officer gritted his teeth, opened the note, and wrote a line on the small piece of paper with a waterproof pen:

"Found an inconspicuous mausoleum entrance"

The handwriting written with the waterproof pen was actually dark red. When it was hit by the rain without any cover, the dark red ink flowed down and dyed a corner of the small piece of paper red.

He licked his lips and looked at the bottle with fear.

Just write down your wish. The price of fulfilling your wish is not decided by the person who made the wish. He carefully rolled up the piece of paper and stuffed it back as it was.

As soon as he put the bottle back into his chest pocket, he heard a scream from his subordinate.

The officer's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly walked out of the hidden corner and came to the side of the subordinate who was screaming. In the heavy rain, he wiped the rain off his face, and just as he was about to speak, he found that he was stepping on dark red liquid.

There was fear on the subordinate's face. He couldn't speak and just pointed forward.

The officer looked down and saw the same pit of water as before. The water had been dyed a suspicious dark color, and a head was floating on the water, with eyes looking at the sky. Without emitting a single bubble, it slowly sank.

"He slipped and fell into the hole. Just as he was about to climb out, he suddenly stopped moving..." the subordinate said fearfully.

Before he could be shocked, the officer found that the accumulated water was slowly decreasing along with the subordinate who died inexplicably. He did not expect that his wish would be fulfilled so quickly, and the price he paid was so simple and crude. Not long after, the head and the accumulated water completely disappeared, revealing a bottomless black pit. The strong smell of blood spread from the walls of the pit and mixed with the smell of rain.

The officer picked up another stone and threw it down. This time there was no sound for a long time, and finally there was a slight sound.

"…Let's go down."

He took a deep breath, letting his devotion and faith in His Majesty the Emperor occupy his mind, and not thinking about the things that made him feel guilty. (End of this chapter)