Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 40 Sister Maria (Part 1)
Sister Maria is a good person.

No, she is a perfect person, a saint even.

In the eyes of many elderly people in the dock area, Sister Maria is a true saint.

She is not tall and not very pretty, but she always has a gentle smile that reminds people of a mother's caring smile.

She treated everyone equally, whether they were children in the orphanage or the occasional dignitaries. She would never refuse even if the children in the orphanage called her mother directly.

In fact, she was often seen holding a child who called her mother and telling him stories when he couldn't sleep.

Maria, who arrived one day, had been serving the children for so long that people in the dock area were used to it.

It is not difficult for a person to do a good deed, nor is it difficult to do it for a period of time. But she...
"Sister Maria, next week will be your 20th anniversary here. The children and the nuns want to help you celebrate." The young nun looked at her happily. She also came here because of Sister Maria's inspiration.

"It's been twenty years?" Ms. Maria was a little dazed at this moment when her colleague reminded her.

For twenty years, she has served the welfare home and been a nun mother for twenty years.

The crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, her increasingly stiff body, and the silvery white at the ends of her hair may all be traces left by the years.

What remains unchanged is her usual gentle smile and her almost infinite patience with children.

If it were not so, the children who occasionally came back to visit would not always "accidentally" call Maria "Mom". At this time, she would often respond with her usual gentle smile.

Perhaps, "these children" are the result of her loving nature and the maximum maternal love she has been able to give them over the years.

"No need to celebrate. Let's save the desserts and cakes sent by the kind guest for the children. They are still growing."

It seemed that today, the 20th anniversary, was no different for her.

After praying, I cook for the children, play with them, and receive visiting guests. I really hope that more kind-hearted people can adopt the children. No matter how hard life in other districts is, it is better than in the welfare home.

No matter how hard these nuns try, they cannot give the children the motherly and fatherly love they need most.

There are too many children, and I can't take care of them even though I don't have the energy to do so much as when I was younger.
"Have you heard? That Paladin who often comes here attacked the slave market. He directly demolished the gate and blocked the door and cursed all night long."

Rumors always spread quickly and become stranger and stranger as they spread.

However, the rumors about Rean even aroused the interest of Ms. Maria. When her colleagues were chatting, she took the initiative to ask about the details.

"It seems his heroic blood was stolen. It was the famous Tail Severer."

The ladies who loved gossip gathered together and pieced together the story of last night.

And Ms. Maria, while covering her mouth and laughing while spreading the funny story, seemed to have found the key point of the rumor.

"It seems that the tail hunter is in trouble. The bad guy who killed the children will be killed in the slave market," a nun said to Maria happily.

They all knew that Ms. Maria had always taken the threat posed by tail hunters to children very seriously.

Maria was indeed smiling happily, repeating over and over again, "That's good, that's good."

It seems that everyone enjoyed this lunch very much.

The lunch break is very short, and after the children finish their meal, they will take a nap.

But this time, Ms. Maria seemed to remember something.

"By the way, a great benefactor has said he's coming to visit. He's promised to renovate our house. Please inform the other nuns, and we'll have a meeting to discuss how to accommodate him. Perhaps you can consider which room to renovate first."

This great news instantly made the nuns overjoyed.

Their living conditions are not good at all, and leaking roofs are the norm.

All kinds of uncontrollable small animals are what bother women the most.

While others were busy notifying people to attend meetings, Maria smiled and looked out the window.

A child skipped his nap and sneaked out to play with a ball, and she told him off.

"What a good plan!" These words came out suddenly without any context, but they were her murmurs that showed she had seen through everything.

After the other nuns arrived, Maria also laughed at their joy.

Everyone, it seems like we haven’t been this happy for a long time.

"Life is full of suffering, but at least in the end, let them be a little happy at the last moment." That is the most sincere smile of a woman.

Two minutes later, the "meeting" was over.

But the only one who walked out of the room was Sister Maria, who still had a smile on her face.

"Don't go in, the nuns are taking a nap." She stopped the children from fighting during their nap and complaining to their "mothers".

At the same time, she also told them a good news.

"Tell them we're going on a spring outing to the amusement park in town, and invite all our friends along."

In an instant, the good news spread throughout the welfare home, and all the children started moving.

Twenty minutes later, Ms. Maria took all the children out for a happy "spring outing".

After more than ten minutes, the programmed device caught fire on its own, and the flames quickly engulfed the entire orphanage.

There were only some tailless mummies in the locked conference room. Perhaps they would no longer have to worry about fighting children or small animals in the room.
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"Is it really Sister Maria? How is that possible?"

If she hadn't been betrayed by her clients, it would not have been easy to track down Ms. Maria even with her connections in the slave market.

But when the power behind the slave market is fully unleashed and the great nobles thirsting for the blood of heroes exert all their pressure, the entire circle will be shaken. Then, it will only be a matter of time before those "customers" betray Maria.

However, the people from the slave market still arrived too late, and all they saw was the ruins of the orphanage that had been burned to ashes.

"We found a room filled with charred mummies. Judging by their size, all the nuns are inside, except Maria. It's almost certain she's the Tail Hunter."

It was not difficult to draw a conclusion, but further searching turned out to be difficult.

"She took the child to the west side of the docks and seemed to have entered the wreckage. It was quite chaotic there."

By the time Li En got the news, it was already too late.

But compared to other trackers, their advantages are obvious.

"In this direction?"

The live point shines on the magic map, and with a compass constantly pointing to the west, the direction of the target is clear.

"Ship Graveyard, why is it in this damn place?"

There is no shipyard in the dock area, and the level of maintenance workers is very average.

Over the years, many ships in the surrounding waters have fallen into disrepair and eventually been decommissioned in this area. Some of these old ships have sunk permanently to the bottom of the sea in the open sea, while others have undergone the most basic dismantling in the dock area.

That is to say, the useful accessories are taken away and the main body is left here to rot.

Those broken ships that were no longer able to sail were so broken that the labor required to completely dismantle them was worth more than the rotten wood, so they were simply dragged to the corner of the dock and piled up.

As the piles grew larger, it became the ship graveyard area before us.

There were only occasional howling of wild dogs or wolves inside, and even homeless people found it creepy.

This place is actually out of the dock area. The piles of rotten ships stretch far along the coast, but there is no one here, so what's the point?

".There are people from gangs and the market." Rean and his party walked into the ship graveyard area. Among the ruins made of wood and garbage, there were various search teams along the way.

The Paladin team led by Rean has become the signature of the dock area.

The relationship between the two sides has always been quite delicate. Considering that the recent deal has constituted a ceasefire, there is no obstruction now that they have met face to face.

Of course, it is also related to the murderous intent that Rean's team cannot conceal.

Rean at this moment was completely different from his previous state.

Silver armor covered his entire body, and the ancient shield on his back was no ordinary object. His two-handed sword had never been sheathed, and his magic gloves shone with arcane light, a rare state of being fully armed.

This set of armor was also borrowed from Sallyman. It is a decoration in the corridor of the mansion, but it is much better than ordinary street goods.

He hasn't paid it back yet anyway, so let's see what happens.

Also fully armed was Larry, wearing heavy mithril armor and carrying six magic swords.

In fact, if Rean hadn't stopped her, she would have even ridden her war beast, the Greatsword Spider, directly over here. It was an extremely ferocious demonized creature that could basically only be seen on the battlefield.

The knights are not equipped the same way in normal situations and on the battlefield. Wearing full armor is very time-consuming and physically demanding. The current temporary team is in an undisguised battlefield state.

Even Dimon got two better swords and a set of chain mail. It's not that Sallyman didn't have better stock.

But fighting in armor is a skill that takes time to master, and now Dimon can only wear simple chain mail that does not affect his movements.

This small group of knights, fully armed and full of murderous intent, were obviously planning to attack someone if they disagreed with them. No wonder these peripheral thugs didn't dare to stop them.

With the guidance of the "compass", Rean did not circle around the periphery like the rest of the team, but went straight to the depths of the ship graveyard.

"This way."

In the shadows, Talia was constantly guiding the direction.

Her talent for smelling blood is still quite useful at this time.

In his interactions with the children, Larry also received many small gifts in return.

At this time, Talia can also guide the route based on the smell.

"What do you mean?" A male voice suddenly came with hostility.

Deep in the ship graveyard, Rean and his crew met an old acquaintance.

"The Howling Volcano" Kveldov suddenly appeared in front of the team. It seemed that someone had urgently notified him.

This time, Sallyman was not there. He did not hide his strength and ferocity, and seemed ready to attack if he disagreed with someone.

"Why are you here? Are you planning to go back on your word?!" This was the only thing he cared about.

"The bag of things has been traded. We have no interest in breaking the contract. We are here to rescue the children who were taken away." At this time, there was no need for the Paladin team to conflict with him.

In an instant, the hostility disappeared and the atmosphere eased.

As long as it doesn't affect Kveldov's ability to complete his mission, everything will be fine.

The slave market has been experiencing problems recently, with trading volume and revenue plummeting. He has been punished by his superiors and is under a lot of pressure.

Now, he is waiting for his men to find the hero's blood and help him complete the task.

The other bosses of the slave market were kicked out to find people.

As for those children, if they were found, they would not earn much by simply throwing them into the slave market, but if they could ease the relationship with the old aristocracy, it would be quite worthwhile.

Of course, if Rean and his crew hadn't come and put pressure on them, they might have just killed him because they didn't want to bother with it.

Anyone willing to sell it is considered a kind person.

"follow me"

Since they were able to find them, it was obvious that Rean and his crew had a way to track them, and there was no reason to refuse the power that could be borrowed.

The above also hinted at expressing goodwill to Sallyman and trying to ease the relationship in the aristocratic circle.

Rean can die, but he can't die on his side. At least not in the near future.

"Look, it should be here."

Kverduf led everyone to the rotten floor of a broken ship.

There, there was a large open hole with a simple staircase leading underground.

"We have found four such holes, all of which show signs of human activity."

“Are there underground ruins here too?”

Larry, who knew the situation, suddenly became anxious because he knew how chaotic the underground area of ​​the city was.

The most famous resource of Glow City is the underground ruins, a vast area that resembles an underground urban cluster.

If it is really connected to the large underground ruins of the entire city, it would be difficult to find her, as if she were lost in the sea.

"No, if it was really that convenient, she wouldn't have to let that noble boy be the delivery boy."

Rean saw through it quite clearly. This should be just a relatively independent underground area. Otherwise, the light spot on the active map would not be underground, but in some other area!

They should still be underground.

Now the people in the slave market have blocked the land and sea routes above. Even if there is an escape route below, it should be quite inconvenient.

"Let's go." Time, at this moment, is the line between life and death. As long as the children are taken away, there is no possibility of survival.

Rean and his group stepped in without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)