Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 356 David Hamilton Strider

Perglen completely shut up the dwarf with irrefutable reasons. The dwarf was not afraid of death, but he absolutely could not tolerate dying in this place. On the other hand, Ron agreed to the priest's request after discussing with everyone. Of course, since the attitude of these people was not friendly at the beginning, Ron also asked Evander to formulate special rules for them to reflect the "order" of the fantasy land.

But the priests of the Molten Iron Barrier seemed to have long been accustomed to this kind of treatment. No matter how difficult the situation was, they could always remain calm. It seemed that the rules of this land could not make them feel any discomfort at all.

"They just obey the law. They don't care about the law itself," Evander found Ron in the afternoon of the second day after returning to New Green Swamp. "I have tried everything, but they are obviously determined to complete their mission, even if it is not the mission they originally planned to complete."

"It's amazing." Ron had nothing to say about this. As long as these people didn't shout and kill the residents of his territory, he had no reason to drive them away - especially because these priests were quite generous and bought some alchemical potions from him at a high price, allowing Lavinia, who had already moved the Kitten Alchemy Shop here, to treat them like guests of honor.

"Where are they going? Do they need me to come forward?"

"That's not necessary. You just need to continue with your work," Evander waved his hand. "After lunch, Victoria will accompany them to the trading post in the north. They plan to go through all your experiences from the beginning and make a final assessment."

"I think Miss Victoria must have a sense of propriety and know what to say and what to hide."

"But... there was one person who did not go with them," Evander hesitated, "the priestess. She stayed behind and wants to talk to you."

"That Perglan?" Ron raised his eyebrows. The priestess seemed to have a high status and even had the ability to make the leader Aaron change his mind. Logically, she should have acted with her companions. Why didn't she move?
If anyone would stay, it would most likely be the half-elf monk - he felt very sorry for not being able to have a good fight with Questor.

"If you don't want to see her, I'll say you're conducting an experiment..."

"Forget it, please ask her to come in. I also want to hear what she has to say."

The priestess of the Iron Fortress was soon led in by Evander. Her armor and clothing were intact, presumably after being repaired. Ron asked her to sit down, and after the heavy staff fell to the ground, he slowly asked:
"Priest Perglan, I heard that your companions have left here. Why did you come to see me?"

"We each have our own responsibilities. My responsibility is to get more information from you," Perglen nodded to Ron. "That's the official reason. If we use an informal reason, I think you should be able to tell us more than we can find out by investigating on our own."

"Since you are so confident in letting Lao Lei and his men wander around, you must be sure that they won't be caught in any way, right?"

"Isn't it good for everyone to be happy?" Evander asked back, "Ms. Pelgrand, it's not a good habit to ask too many questions. You may not know..."

“Will it really be dug out?” The priestess raised her head and smiled disdainfully, “Don’t compare me with you, you little brat from the Holt family in Yungang. I have been nominated as a bishop seven times.”

"I don't know what you're thinking here, but you've been here for so long, and you probably don't know as much as I've seen in the past few days."

"What are you--" "Evander," Ron's eyes fell on Pelgrane's knuckles tapping lightly on the table, "step aside."

"Uh, yes, my lord."

Evander immediately turned around and left obediently, closing the door behind him. Seeing him leave, the priest looked out the window vigilantly again. After making sure that Six Ears was no longer there, she slowly took out a crumpled letter from the gap in her armor and placed it on Ron's desk.

"What is this?" Judging from the wrinkles on the letter, it must have been some time since it was written and sealed.

"There are multiple systems in the cult. Although we all work together to fight the evil, there are still some differences in the division of responsibilities on a daily basis," Perglen whispered. "Apart from the affairs on the battlefield, Old Lei is responsible for the adjudication and execution of heretics, while I am more inclined to the administrative aspect, so I am closer to the archbishop."

"For Lao Lei, the delusion was just a casual question from the archbishop, but for me, it was another formal mission. A few days before we set off, the archbishop and several high-ranking officials received an oracle, so they jointly wrote this letter and asked me to give it to you."

"What's in the letter?" Ron picked up the letter, but did not rush to open it. Instead, he carefully examined the traces of arcane or divine magic on it to prevent anything that might be detrimental to him from happening.

"I don't know. I'm not qualified to open it," Perglen shook his head. "But please don't worry, we don't need to make a fuss about it."

The reputation of the Molten Iron Barrier on the continent may not be good, but its strength is definitely beyond doubt. The four of them can't beat Ron and others, but if the entire cult colludes with several territories under its jurisdiction to launch a holy war, how will you respond? There is no point in planting a mine on a letter.

"I just feel that there seems to be a familiar aura on it..." Ron pondered for a moment, and finally summoned the wizard's hand to tear it open from a distance. A plain piece of letter paper fell into his hand. In addition to lines of cursive words, there was only the emblem of the Molten Iron Barrier and the seal of the archbishop himself. Ron felt that something was wrong but he couldn't put it into words. It came from this personal seal.

But what could be wrong with a seal? Could it be the ink pad?

In his office, Ron began to use magic to check all traces on the letter in front of the messenger, but he could not find any problems no matter what he did. Even the content of the whole letter was just the archbishop's condolences to the "warrior who conquered the delusion land", claiming that the church could seek support if they needed any help, and there was nothing suspicious about it.

Ron's eyes finally fell on the signature at the bottom, where the names of several high-level officials, including the archbishop, were written, right next to the emblem and seal. A familiar surname entered Ron's field of vision.

"David Hamilton Strider..." Ron raised his head and looked at Priest Pelgrand, who was a little nervous because of his careful inspection. "Your Excellency, Priest, can I ask a question?"

"Among the higher-ups in the cult, is this Thred a halfling?"

(End of this chapter)