Unknown Knight

Fischer, whose wife had just died, was filled with uncontrollable sorrow. He shed tears silently, and after a long while he spoke to himself:

“It’s actually none of your business. My wife and I have been religious for many years. We lived well in the early years, but since most people on the island left, our lives have been getting worse.

My wife and I have no children yet, and my wife has long wanted to stop living. She is a fanatic and feels that life has no meaning. She only wants to be martyred for eternal life. Today she is just taking this opportunity to give herself a reason to be martyred.

In fact, I have long seen through it. The so-called religion can bring us nothing. We are just tools used by the religion.

When the religion was flourishing, we could only get a little bit of benefit from it at most. Now that the religion is in decline, not only do we get nothing, we are not even qualified to be abandoned. At most, we have been forgotten.

Ask whatever you want to ask. I will tell you what I know. I am not like my wife, I have seen through it a long time ago. It is not because of my wife. I have long wanted to leave here and live my own life. "

Listening to old Fisher's heartfelt words, which did not seem fake, it seemed that he was also a pitiful man. James sighed and did not want to waste time watching him sad, so he asked:

"What did you mean when you said that most of the people on the island had been evacuated? Are there still people from your religion on the island now?"

“Yes, the base of If Island was originally established for the purpose of carrying people. Later, for some reason, a conflict arose among the five elders, and they decided to abandon the island.

Now only the five elders who are good at asceticism and a few of his followers remain on the island, and no one knows where the others have gone. "

"How much do you know about bearing?"

James continued to ask inconspicuously. In fact, this was the question he wanted to know most. In Velen's notes, he was almost a candidate to carry the load. At this moment, his heart was in his throat.

"I really don't know about this. I heard that it is related to the inheritance of the Divine Religion. My wife should know more. She used to be a maid who was a backup bearer. But she is very tight-lipped and never tells me what she knows."

Seeing the innocent expression on Old Fisher's face, James was very disappointed and asked unwillingly:

"Are there many bearers? Isn't there only one? How come there is a backup bearer? Don't lie to me."

"I don't know the details, sir. I only know that there are many candidates for the position of host, but only one can become the host in the end."

It seems that this Fisher is just a low-level member of the Dark God Cult. He is only responsible for transporting supplies to the island and knows very little.

James asked him some more specific questions about the Island of If, and learned that in addition to the five elders, there were less than ten ascetics left on the island. It was said that they made a living by reclaiming some barren land on the island and fishing.

As for the underwater skeleton mentioned by Granmel's carpenter, Fisher said he was not very clear, but once when he was transporting supplies, he saw someone at the dock throwing a body that fell on the rocks into the bay.

It seems that if they want to know more clues, they have to go to the Island of If. So Aisu returned to the inn and called Aix and Ran Ying. The five of them planned to go to the Island of If after dawn, with Fischer taking the helm.

The group set out in the morning and it took about three hours to reach Ile Ife. Although the island was not far from the mainland, it took a lot of effort to reach the shore due to the tide.

Fortunately, there is a lagoon-like bay on the island, and the water is as calm as the lake, so it is much smoother for fishing boats to sail into the bay.

At this time, James remembered the underwater skeleton that the carpenter mentioned, so he asked Fisher to stop for a while, took off his outer robe and jumped into the water to find out what was going on.

The water here is not deep and the water is clear. When James opened his eyes underwater, he found many round stones of the same size on the bottom of the water. When he dived closer, he was so scared that he quickly swam to the surface.

It turned out that there were countless skulls and corpses underneath, just as the carpenter had said, at least thousands of them. The horrifying scene frightened James so much that his lips turned purple and his whole body was shaking. He felt that the whole island was filled with an eerie and strange atmosphere. Could it be that the island was really a devil's lair, as the carpenter had said?

"Old Fisher, tell me honestly, has the island ever been haunted?"

Fischer smiled bitterly and said:

“Master, this is just a lie made up to scare away nearby fishermen and keep the island secret. The island is inhabited by faithful believers of the religion, and there are no evil spirits.

I heard that they did something even more ruthless in the past. In order to prevent the secrets of the island from being discovered, the cult even kidnapped fishermen who came to fish nearby and killed them on the island. That’s why there are rumors that the island is haunted.”

As they were talking, the boat docked at a small pier in the bay. Fischer tied the boat to the rocks at the pier and went to the island with everyone else.

The island was not very big, with many abandoned buildings covered with weeds. It was Fischer's first time to go so deep into the island. Everyone was familiar with the area, so he had to let Bestur lead the way with a machete and search for places with human traces.

Suddenly, two people rushed out from a side path and blocked the way of everyone.

The two men were wearing tattered black robes and holding wooden sticks. They were both very thin and looked like they could be blown away by the wind. However, they stopped the crowd with great determination and said,

"Stop here, this is private territory, please leave the island immediately."

James stepped forward and said:

"We are friends of your Fifth Elder. We have come to visit him for something. Please give us some convenience."

"We, the five elders, have long had nothing to do with the secular world. Please go back."

Although the honest James has become more and more fluent in telling lies recently, he can't always get away with lying. The two ascetics in front of him obviously don't buy it.

However, the crowd did not come here to reason. Bestur stepped forward and kicked each of the two frail monks, turning them into shrimps. Then he stepped forward and held the two monks, who weighed only 150 pounds in total, under his armpits one by one, and walked in the direction they came from, leading the way.

After a while, a house that was not abandoned appeared in front of everyone. Outside the yard, there were several ascetic monks in black robes working. The sound of low-pitched chanting could be faintly heard from the yard.

Bestur walked to the gate of the courtyard, kicked it open, strode in, and then threw the two still hunched over monks on the ground in the courtyard.

James and others followed into the yard, and saw a haggard-faced ascetic monk sitting on a platform in the yard. He should be the fifth elder. Opposite him sat four ascetic monks, who seemed to be performing some religious rituals.