The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 19 Holy Water
As the night deepened, the moon rose high in the sky, shining coldly on the camp on the high slope.

After a while, the two nuns who had gone to the village woman's house to take a bath finally returned. Looking at their smooth and shiny hair, Eric guessed that they had washed their hair.

He also wanted to take a bath, but he could still bear it for the time being, so he was too lazy to bother the villagers at this point.

Alena and Sophie roasted some food by the campfire for a while and then went to rest, still sleeping in Eric's original tent.

He walked around the camp, gave a few instructions to the guards on duty, and then went to rest.

The next morning, Eric woke up early hearing the noise outside the tent.

When I got out of the tent, I saw that many villagers had come to the camp. I asked the yawning night guard, and the latter said that they were all there to help.

help?

What help do you need? The sun hasn't even risen yet. Why would we need so many people to prepare breakfast?
Eric was confused for a moment, and when he regained consciousness, he finally reacted.

I guess yesterday's speech had some effect, and these villagers are really relieved.

Come and help, ask for some work, not only can you get a lot of money, but you can also inquire about the situation.

For example, when will the undead be completely cleared out, and when will the mine be reopened? What you see with your own eyes is always more reassuring than what you hear from others.

But there were indeed too many people coming.

Several middle-aged women had nothing to do, and seeing Eric staring blankly at the people in the camp, they took the initiative to go over to him, touch him around, and said they wanted to help him put on his armor or something. Eric quickly refused.

"That's a heavy blow... Damn, it's all red."

Eric retreated to his tent and, before putting on his chain mail, rubbed his chest, which had been pinched hard by one of the women.

The country people were warm and rough, and seemed to have forgotten his aristocratic status.

When the sun rose higher, everyone in the camp started to make noise, whether they wanted to or not.

The villagers who came to help also brought their own food - of course they had to pay for it - so breakfast was much richer than yesterday.

After eating and drinking, Eric did not wipe his mouth and immediately assembled the team. Instead, he rested for a while and called the captain of the guards to discuss today's action plan.

He knew the terrain of the mine very well. Having personally gone down into the mine yesterday, his memory became even clearer.

"...The terrain inside is actually not complicated: a main mine tunnel leads directly to the deepest part of the earth. Every fork in the road, which is the path we explored yesterday, represents the hiding place of an elite-level undead."

Eric took a wooden root and drew a rough route on the ground, pointing out several forks in the road.

"Since we're going to reopen this mine, we have to clear out every undead on every side road."

Leslie nodded and continued, "But if we need to purify the undead after killing them, it will probably take quite a while."

This is also what Eric finds troublesome. Although he and Alena can purify the souls of the dead during battle, they are the only two people who can do this, so their efficiency is not very high.

But we can't just leave it alone. The souls of the undead cannot be purified and will turn into vengeful spirits, howling in the mines, which will still affect subsequent mining.

"What are your plans?" Eric asked the captain of the guards. Since he chose to bring it up, he probably had some ideas.

Leslie followed suit, explaining, "What I mean is, get a few brave villagers into the mine and follow us. We'll kill them, and they'll carry the rotten corpses out and burn them."

“…burned?”

"When we came here the day before yesterday, didn't the people here say that they dealt with the first few zombies that escaped by beating them to death and then pouring holy water on them and burning them?" Leslie said.

Eric remembered his reminder and asked, "Will this help?"

Leslie was stunned for a moment, looked at him, and then said, "Since the monks here do this, it should be effective."

Seeing that the people he was counting on turned out to be those poor monks who couldn't even learn the basic divine arts after a long time, Eric felt a little disappointed, but he didn't say much. Professional matters had to be consulted with professionals.

The professionals had already gotten up and were sitting by the extinguished campfire, drinking broth.

"Sister Alena."

Eric stood up and walked over, greeting Sophie who was beside her, and then consulted her with Leslie's advice.

Alena put down the broth in her hand, thought for a moment, and said, "If the holy water is pure enough, it can completely purify it."

The so-called complete purification is the same as combat purification, which is to directly exorcise the cursed souls.

"How pure does it have to be?" Eric asked. He didn't know how authentic holy water was made, but he knew that even the holy water provided by the monastery to their City Lord's Mansion was diluted with water - not because it was fake, but because it was too pure and wasted.

The head nun thought for a moment and said, "One-fifth... No, one-tenth of the purity should be enough to deal with undead of this level."

Eric asked again, "There are still so many rotting corpses. The amount needed will be considerable. Can the church here provide any?"

Alena shook her head. "They can't provide that much. The holy water is made by the nuns in the monastery... What's wrong?"

Noticing that the expression of the person in front of her suddenly became a little subtle, she stopped and asked.

"……fine."

Eric shook his head, clearing his mind of the illicit thoughts that suddenly popped up. "I'm just curious about how holy water is made."

Alena didn't think much of it. "It's simple. Just pray to the clean water and cast the corresponding divine spell to make holy water. The trouble is that you have to pray constantly, which takes a lot of time. That's why only the nuns in the monastery have the energy to do this."

She continued, "Generally, the holy water provided by these small churches is obtained from the monastery and then mixed in-house." Eric understood and turned to Leslie, saying, "Send someone back to the city and ask for more holy water from the Lamaire Monastery... Well, drive the carriage back and take as much as you can. Bring it all."

The captain of the guards lowered his head to accept the order, and when he looked up again, his eyes turned to Alena.

The latter quickly understood and called to the little nun next to her, "Sophie, go back to the city with them."

After all, the monastery belongs to the church and is not in the same system as the City Lord's Mansion, so it is not so convenient to do things there, but there will be no problem if we bring the Holy Maiden Messenger with us.

"Ah... am I going back alone?" Sophie was stunned for a moment. After she came to her senses, she kept glancing at Eric's face.

Eric pretended not to notice, while Alena spoke up, "It's because we can't spare any more manpower here that we need Sophie to make this trip. Don't worry, we'll be protected by the City Lord's Mansion, so there won't be any danger along the way."

"Okay." Sophie finally listened to her and nodded in agreement.

Eric asked some more questions about the specific implementation, then got up and went to the mine to explore the terrain and find a place to pile up and burn the corpses.

After Sophie and the head nun finished their breakfast and went to the mine to watch, they saw him standing in the corner, digging a hole with the guards.

"What are you digging for?" Sophie asked.

Alena looked over there and said, "Probably to make it easier to collect... the ashes."

She paused for a moment, then turned and said, "Let's return to the city as soon as possible. The monastery is preparing holy water, and the journey back and forth will take time."

Sophie nodded, glanced at the corner of the mine again, and turned to find the captain of the guards at the City Lord's Mansion.

Leslie quickly arranged for someone to come and take her back to the city in a carriage.

Because this was the only car on the road, the guards sped towards the city.

Sitting alone in the back carriage, Sophie looked out the window at the receding woods and nervously clutched the hem of her nun's uniform.

It was not only because the carriage was running very fast, but also because it was the first time she had done something alone since entering the monastery.

Stand on her own? She had never expected herself to do so, but she couldn't help but envy the head nun's ability to handle any situation calmly and with ease.

The head nun said that growing up is a natural process as one grows older, and Sophie was both excited and skeptical.

She couldn't imagine what would become of her after she grew up. Her thoughts kept turning over and over again, and she thought that she would eventually become one or that head nun in that huge monastery, or an even more arrogant and cold female official.

The head nun also said that except for the saint, everyone else started their practice as a nun.

Sophie also couldn't imagine what Sister Alena was like when she was just a nun.

Did it change gradually or all at once?
It was a long time before Sophie came to her senses and suddenly realized that the wilderness outside the car window was no longer there.

The somewhat old monastery where she had stayed overnight was not far ahead.

The carriage stopped and Sophie's heart began to beat wildly. She didn't even hear what the guard who came to ask her to get out said.

When the old abbess of the monastery heard that the Holy Messenger had come for the second time, she quickly came out to greet her.

When Sophie saw the person, her mind was almost blank. She was stunned for a moment before she began to stumblingly convey her needs, saying whatever came to her mind.

"We need holy water... uh, lots of holy water..."

Fortunately, the old nun at least seemed very patient. After listening to her words, she repeated them again, and her instructions were exactly the same as what Sister Alena had said.

"Right, that is it!"

It’s not that difficult!
Sophie felt relieved, but only then did she realize that what she was really worried about was not whether she could get the holy water to take back, but whether she had done a good job of running the errand.

Now that she had completed her mission, all that remained was the monastery's business.

The good news was that the dean agreed to her request straight away;

The bad news was that they had just delivered a large batch of holy water to the surrounding churches yesterday, so they had to rush to produce more to meet the mine's needs, which would take quite a while.

Sophie could only wait.

It was not until the sun moved from one side of the sky to the other and was about to set that she hurried back with a carriage full of holy water.

It was already dark when we arrived at the town of Valais.

The carriage drove directly up the high slope to the north and stopped in front of the mine entrance.

Sophie saw from the car that the mine was brightly lit with torches. When she got out of the car and went in, she saw a pile of corpses in the corner.

Now that the holy water has arrived, we can start the incineration.

When she looked away, she suddenly realized that the atmosphere here was extremely solemn.

The crowd gathered together, surrounding something.

She squeezed in until she reached the center of the crowd. Sister Alena, who was kneeling, looked up at her and her lips parted.

Eric lay on the ground in front of her, covered in blood and motionless.

(End of this chapter)