Of course, Dekan’s team needed to be perfectly aligned.
“So we’ll start work tomorrow morning. Tonight, I need to return to the Guild and reorganize manpower and materials to save costs.”
Morion tidied up the bag of Holy Gold Coins and gave what could pass as a business-like smile as he said this to the Mayor.
“Hm.”
The Mayor had just replied when Morion turned around and hastily left.
As the Mayor watched Morion’s departing figure, a strange feeling of unease began to creep over him.
“Huh?”
The Mayor scratched his head.
Something felt off.
How had he agreed to this deal without a second thought?
Clearly, he should have asked more questions and considered things more carefully.
The more the Mayor thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
Why had he collapsed upon entering the Church? Why had the bodyguards disappeared? Why had the engineer suddenly increased the price?
But it was too late now – those Holy Gold Coins were gone, and there was nothing he could do about it.
All he could do was pray that the project would go smoothly and an ordinary bridge would be built.
…
Morion quickly returned to the Church with the coins and found Dekan.
Dekan had already finished organizing the documents and was waiting for him.
Dekan: “I’ve already designed the bridge.”
Morion: “What’s the budget?”
Dekan: “20 Holy Gold Coins worth of materials. I haven’t calculated the labor cost.”
Morion: “No problem. I’ll manage to get free labor.”
The two, meeting for the first time, were quite pleased with each other’s professional abilities.
Thus, they left the Church together, Dekan locking the door before the two returned to the other side on a flying dragon.
The caravan waiting on the other side clearly seemed a little frustrated.
The engineer had been gone for over an hour, leaving everyone waiting.
“Sorry for keeping everyone waiting, but we must return today.”
Morion said, addressing the members of the guild.
Clearly, Morion’s announcement made the members of the guild uncomfortable.
But they didn’t dare show their anger, both out of respect for the engineer’s standing within the guild and due to the presence of the Priest beside Morion.
However, the construction captain, who seemed to have a short temper, couldn’t help losing it. He frowned and shouted at Morion,
“You make us wait for so long, and now you just tell us to go back with a single sentence?!”
But Morion didn’t say anything.
Dekan, standing beside him, took a step forward and said,
“There seem to be vampires lurking near this town. If you want to stay and work until nightfall, who knows what could happen?”
“…”
The construction captain fell silent, calming down at the Priest’s words.
After recalling the incident at the broken bridge and thinking about what Dekan had said, the construction captain finally lowered his head.
“We will follow your guidance, Your Holiness, please forgive my rudeness.”
Although the Priest seemed a bit odd,
Regardless, as a Priest investigating the town, following his guidance would be the right thing to do.
“It’s fine.”
Dekan responded indifferently, his expression unreadable beneath the mask.
Taking advantage of the opportunity after Dekan’s explanation, Morion quickly added,
“Although we’ve taken on the task of repairing the bridge, we face a severe test. The town has provided only a very low budget. We will re-plan the project, and it’s likely we won’t need your help tomorrow, but the Guild will settle the wages for today’s work.”
“This!”
The construction captain was clearly quite dissatisfied.
But seeing Morion’s manner of wielding authority inappropriately, and remembering having just apologized to the Priest, the captain restrained his temper and commanded the team to return.
When someone asked what had happened to the guard who went with the engineer to the town, Morion simply said, “The Priest needs the guard to watch over the Church.”
As problems always seemed to be deflected to the Priest, no one questioned further.
So with that, the Guild returned to the city before nightfall.
This city was a key stronghold on the southern border of the Holy Country, its majestic walls built on a terrain cut through the mountainside.
Below it stretched streets dominated by ancient iron and stone bricks.
The roads were bustling with countless vendors.
Far more prosperous than any border town Dekan had ever seen.
But Dekan had learned on the journey that this was related to the situation in the Holy Country.
The Holy Capital was closer to the southern part of the Holy Country, where resources were abundant and there were no neighboring countries with which to conflict.
However, the northern borders of the Holy Country were barren in resources and plagued by constant warfare.
So the southern border was like heaven, and the northern border was like hell.
Dekan and Morion returned directly to the Guild by carriage.
Dekan discovered that the identity of a Priest was exceptionally convenient—wherever he went, no one questioned him.
Of course, the mask did result in a rather high rate of people staring.
But Dekan decided not to remove the mask for now, as it was safer than risking being recognized by any Resurrection sect followers.
“Help me find Cornelia and Teacher Cat first.”
“No problem.”
They quickly found Cornelia through the Guild’s connections, who was serving as a squad captain in the city’s knight group.
Then they set off to find her.
As soon as Cornelia saw Dekan, she trembled and ran towards him.
She seemed on the verge of hugging him but managed to control herself and stopped in front of him.
“You, you’ve finally come to find me!”
Cornelia’s voice was filled with obvious excitement.
“Sorry, next time I will definitely find you faster.”
Dekan said gently.
But while they were talking, Morion instinctively took a few steps back, keeping his distance from Cornelia and Dekan.
“Morion, why are you standing so far away?”
“I feel like when the two of you stand together, some sort of atmosphere reaches new heights, and I don’t dare get too close.”
Morion said as he took another couple of steps back.
Cornelia was also dressed rather uniquely.
She wore a white mask, with a black-framed design painted on it.
[Whiteboard Mask]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Grade: Purple Rare]
[Class: 3]
[Effect: When this mask is equipped, it can block low-level detection skills, and it doesn’t interfere with the wearer’s sight or perception. The mask significantly reduces the wearer’s presence. If there is a Red Center Mask wearer nearby, all damage received will be transferred to the Red Center Mask wearer, and the damage source remains unchanged.]
[Note: You can’t see me.]
Morion looked at the Red Priest and the White Knight, feeling like he was in the presence of two terrifying individuals and slightly out of place with them.
“You’re not members of the Resurrection sect—why would you attack each other while exploring the Shadow World?”
“I’m not doubting you; it’s just that you both look a bit scary.”
“Then why don’t you join us?”
“Do you have a matching mask for me?”
Dekan pulled out a card and handed it to Morion.
“Here.”
On the card was the same type of mask, but this one was marked with strange green characters—”Fa.”
