Cloud Thinking

Although everyone calls it a library, it is actually just a two-story book building. Since there is no one to manage it, and every time the books are brought in, they are just piled up in an empty space. Over time, it has become the dilapidated state it is today.

It is located in the corner of the large garden behind Perkin Castle. The outer walls are covered with dense ivy and the surrounding area is overgrown with weeds. Normally, no one would go near it unless there was something important. It is rumored that this library is haunted and that people have been burned to death there. Some people have even heard strange and shrill wails when passing by at night. The more Helia heard about it, the less afraid she was and the more excited she became.

She used to be a staunch materialist. Although she has now traveled to another world and learned magic and even seen gods, in the final analysis, these are tangible things. So it is hard to say whether there are ghosts in this world or not.

With the help of Xiasha and Ronnie, the library was cleaned up quickly, but the next work was the highlight. Helia had to record the information of each book, organize and archive them, and also look through a few pages of each book to check whether it was a so-called banned book.

What she had to do every day was to sit on a soft chair, flipping through books and taking notes, and she could sit there for several hours. At first, she couldn't concentrate on doing it, but as she flipped through more and more books, she finally found the joy of reading again.

"Ronishi, help me find a book called "Teaching You Three Days to Learn Magic" from the pile of books by the window on the second floor." Helia frowned and circled and marked on the list. She had seen many such strange books in recent days, and some were even very pornographic. She could read them all without changing her expression and then throw them into the pile of garbage books in the corner without mercy.

There is no aesthetic appeal in pornographic writing. It is so disgusting to read. It is vulgar, rubbish and has received bad reviews. It needs to be burned to ashes to soothe my polluted eyes.

Ronnie moved quickly and brought the book with a flashy cover that hurt the eyes. Helia took it, turned to the author's page, and wrote down the author's name.

"Your Highness, is there any problem with this book?" Ronnie was bored waiting for instructions, and when he saw Helia frowning, he asked.

"I just discovered that there are several banned books, all written by the same author." Helia circled those books and handed them to Ronnie to look at. He glanced at them and found that the titles of these so-called banned books were all "Teaching You Three Days to Learn xxx". It turned out that this was a series of books!

"Why are these classified as banned books? It seems like the titles are just exaggerated." Ronnie returned the record sheet to Helia and expressed his doubts.

"Because several pages of these books contain the teachings of the Morogen religion." Helia replied, planning to tell Hilda about this when she went back to eat and ask her to help her check this person.

The Morrogan religion is a cult, similar in nature to the Black Magicians, but the difference between the two is that the Black Magicians at least believe in God. The William Tenlis they believe in is indeed a god, but the Morrogan religion believes in a person, a vicious and perverted murderer.

These believers seemed to be brainwashed, and regarded the so-called leader's killing philosophy and methods as the truth. They advocated extreme violence, preached that killing was an aesthetic, and pursued perfect killing rituals. Whenever a serial murder occurred in a place, it was most likely done by the Morrogan believers.

Helia couldn't understand them. Of course, if she could understand them one day, she would probably become a member of the Morrogan religion.

Anyway, the influence of this evil cult is very bad and it poses a serious threat to public security. Claude has ordered a nationwide hunt for it. Anyone who spreads the Morrogan religion or its followers will be arrested and sentenced to death!

To be honest, if Helia hadn't been so curious about the Three-Day Crash Course and read it carefully, she might not have discovered it. If she had filed it away as a piece of ordinary gimmick literature and put it on the shelf, it would have hurt people.

"Come to think of it, I seem to have had contact with people from the Morogen religion when I was young..." Ronnie recalled.

"Did you encounter them preaching? Were you not brainwashed?" Helia paused with the pen in her hand and looked up at Ronnie.

"I'm not sure, because I was an orphan since I was young, wandering the streets, living with other homeless children, helping each other."

"One day, an unexpected guest arrived at our house. He looked like he was from a noble family. He was dressed in fine clothes and looked very noble. I don't know why he came to our slum."

"He said he was doing charity work, and he brought us food for several days in a row. Children are greedy, and although they were wary at first, they were too hungry to resist. After a while, they were convinced that the other party was really helping us out of kindness."

"Not long after that, I was adopted by a hunter. I only came back occasionally to see my brothers and sisters. I heard them talk about this matter. At first, I thought it was a rich man doing charity. It was not until I went back one time and found that several people were missing that I realized something was wrong."

"I asked where the other children had gone, and the rest said that a kind-hearted person couldn't bear to see them wandering around, so he took them home."

"I asked them when they were taken away and whether they had ever come back, but the answers I got were that they didn't know or were not sure."

"I felt something was wrong, so I went back and told my adoptive father about it. He just said that he would take care of it. I don't know what he did. A month later, the kind-looking nobleman was arrested and imprisoned as a Morogen believer, and was executed on the same day."

"What happened to the children he took away?" Helia asked, but she must have known in her heart that the combination of Morrogan followers and homeless children would definitely not end well.

"I don't know either. Or rather, my father didn't allow me to inquire. After that incident, our family moved away. I went back to see them once before I left. As for the others..." Ronnie didn't finish his words. The expression on his face was very complicated, mostly sadness. It seemed that his friends must have said something that made him sad.

Among so many people, he was the only one who met a good family. At first, they were looking forward to being adopted by kind-hearted rich people. They envied and jealous of those children who were taken away. But once they learned of their miserable end, and compared their current situation with Ronnie's, they must have been extremely jealous and hated him.

"Did you go back to see them later?" Helia asked again.

Luo Nixi nodded and said, "After I left home to live independently, I went back to check on them, but many of them had already left. I asked around and found out that either they didn't make it or they were living ordinary lives, so I didn't bother them again."

"Well... that is to say, these beasts will capture children and do some cruel things..." Helia supported her chin with one hand and tapped the table with the other hand.

"What do you know about Sutterd?"

"Not much. We only know that this is Marshal Hawke's territory. The people are well-fed and well-clothed, business is booming, and it is also the most indestructible city under the Imperial City." Ronnie replied.

"That is to say, the Marshal must be aware of everything that happens in his territory. He even has spies on Berman, not to mention Sutterd." Helia said thoughtfully, "Then there should be absolutely no Morogen believers here..."

"I seem to have heard that Marshal Hawke captured a group of Morrogan followers in a border town a few years ago. He didn't leave any alive and killed them all on the spot. Most of the evidence was burned... I don't know the details, but it feels like..."

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Helia asked.

"Yes! All soldiers involved in this operation are required to keep it secret. The soldiers under Marshal Hawke are loyal and keep their mouths shut. They will never leak the news." Ronnie said.

"Then why do you know?" Helia asked.

"Because... Avril was adopted by Marshal Hawke at that time. The marshal claimed that Avril was an orphan captured by the Morrogan Cult. He felt pity for her, so he brought her back to Antonio's home and raised her as his adopted daughter." Ronnie had been instructed by Helia to inquire about Avril's background. He heard this from the knights in the Bellman City Defense Team.

Helia always felt as if there was a faint line floating in front of her, like the moon in the water and the flower in the mirror. She reached out to grab it but could not catch anything. After the line was broken, it returned to its original shape after a moment and floated before her eyes.

"The college is about to close for the holidays. Will Avril come back?" This person still owes him a life. He must find an opportunity to make her repay the favor.

"Probably not. Marshal Hawke bought a property for Avril in Berman. She has lived there since she was fifteen years old. She will not come back to Sutter unless it is urgent." Ronnie replied.

"Hmm? How old is Avril this year?" Helia vaguely sensed something was wrong.

"eighteen."

Helia was silent. Is Avril older than me? She doesn't look like that. She's as childish as an eight or nine-year-old.

In fact, it's not just Avril. It should be said that almost all students in the same grade as Helia are older than her. There is no age limit for admission to Carter's College, so among the first-year students, the oldest is in their twenties or thirties, and the youngest is eight or nine years old. Learning magic depends on talent, not age.

"When was she adopted?" Helia asked again.

"About twelve years ago."

Helia carefully searched the original owner's memory. Twelve years ago, she was only three years old. What could a three-year-old child remember? The search was fruitless, so Helia had to put the matter aside for the time being and continue with the work at hand.

Today, Hilda came to pick up Helia for dinner. In the past, it was always Blott who came. Sometimes when he was busy, Okalai or Hullik would come instead. Although Hilda always said that she wanted to come and play with her, she had so much work that she couldn't spare the time. It was rare to see her at the dinner table. But this also indirectly reflected that she was deeply valued by Hawke, and this value was even far greater than Okalai.

Unlike Hilda and Okalai who work under Hawke, Blott does not serve in the army. He is just interested in natural scenery and cultural customs and has a talent for art. He went out to travel and study at a young age and only returned from five years of study abroad at the beginning of this year.

He was more responsible for helping Hawke manage his industries and investigate cases. For example, he was in charge of investigating the human trafficking case last time, but he didn't expect Helia to intervene. This time, his first case turned out to be such a mess. Hawke was very dissatisfied with this and gave him a lot of work to do, which was intended to train him.

"Even if my sister doesn't come to pick me up today, I will go to find her myself." On the way back, Helia talked to Hilda about the banned book, hoping that she could help her find the author of the banned book.

This was the first time Helia asked her to do something, and Hilda agreed without hesitation.

"I'll have someone check it out tomorrow. I'll keep an eye on it for you and I promise to get back to you before the end of this week."

"Thank you very much, sister."

"We're family, so we shouldn't have different opinions. If you need anything in the future, I'll definitely find a way to help you as long as I can." Hilda put her arm around Helia's shoulders and spoke to her in a sticky manner.

Perhaps because she was the only daughter in Antonio's family, she was very happy about the arrival of her sister Helia. Even though she couldn't be with her every day, she would often ask people to send her things, such as food, accessories, or some interesting gadgets. She cared more about her than pursuing a girlfriend.

But apart from this, Helia felt that Hilda might be making amends out of guilt. Just as Blot once said, none of their brothers and sisters had visited Helia for so many years, and they hadn't even said a word of concern. They felt really guilty, and this rare opportunity for them to be together made up for the absence of time before.