285 Dekan’s Reliable Teammates
It seemed that Teacher Cat falling from the windowsill had caught everyone’s attention.
Cornelia also let go of Dekan.
The two of them glanced at the cat who had passed out.
At first, they were a little confused.
Then they exchanged smiles.
“I think I understand why our cat always behaves so strangely.”
Dekan said as if he had suddenly understood many things.
Actually, during his last experience in the Shadow World, he had a slight inkling.
It just hadn’t been confirmed until now.
“You finally figured it out.”
Cornelia said with a smile.
“This means that Morion guy also… I can’t believe how he and Teacher Cat get along so well…”
Dekan shook his head helplessly.
Thinking about that scheming merchant he both hated and loved, he didn’t know how to evaluate him.
If one were to ask if Dekan still held a grudge against Morion,
He certainly did, but it didn’t make sense to nitpick about it anymore.
Next time they meet, he would treat him as a true friend.
“Aren’t you afraid Morion will trick you again?”
Cornelia asked, clearly seeing through Dekan’s thoughts from his expression.
“At this, I get excited. If he tries to trick me again, wouldn’t teaching him a lesson according to virtue be justified?”
“I love teaching lessons through virtue the most.”
…
The two seemed to have forgotten about Teacher Cat again.
Until Teacher Cat, seemingly having seen the Goddess, found redemption and returned to the mortal world.
Its claws twitched twice, then it suddenly sat up with a jolt.
“Meow! What exactly happened to you two?!! What have I missed! Waaah!!”
Teacher Cat also jumped onto the bed, looking at the two talking, first filled with excitement, then started crying.
It was a cry of both joy and sorrow, feeling joy for the blessings upon the two, yet sorrow for missing many important moments.
A day ago, he had been sent by Dekan to Mia.
Despite Teacher Cat trying to escape several times, he failed every attempt.
Not until Mia released him, and no matter how much Teacher Cat asked, Mia claimed ignorance.
Teacher Cat knew there was a big scoop!
Dekan wouldn’t definitely tell him anything anyway!
He could only rely on how much Cornelia was willing to share.
“Do you want to know?”
Dekan picked up Teacher Cat, asking gently.
“Meow? You’re willing to tell?”
“Hm.”
“Where is the real Dekan hiding? Meow?”
Dekan rubbed Teacher Cat’s head.
He was too lazy to argue with Teacher Cat today.
Though he never actually argued with Teacher Cat before.
“It should be started a thousand or ten thousand years ago… It’s a story about a girl who, amidst her brief life, changed a demon’s fate…”
Dekan began to recount everything he knew from his dream.
Though he couldn’t recall Delroyce’s memories.
But this part was already sufficient.
This, without a doubt, must be Delroyce’s most profound memory.
Not knowing where Delroyce went after leaving that region or if he found the answers he sought in his long life.
But Dekan knew Delroyce had been changed, starting from that moment.
Just like a small stone being moved and rolling in a time of great change, ultimately possibly changing the outcome of that era.
Dekan had never seen any corner of this dreamworld before.
But for some reason, Dekan was certain.
This was the Holy Country.
In the ancient times of the Holy Country and the Demon Realm, many people of the current era seemed to have their counterparts then.
Now, Dekan was sure.
In Master’s memory of scenes from the Holy Country,
The figure standing beside the Holy Rite Bishop Ruen and the Master was not Dekan, but gray-haired, golden-eyed Delroyce.
Not only about the Master, there was much more about himself that required uncovering in the Holy Country.
He wanted to know the entirety of Delroyce’s story.
After the Hero Festival, whether it was the Seventh-level Shadow World or the Eighth-level, he would seize the opportunity to explore the Holy Country again.
…
In the dead of night on the same day.
Somewhere unknown in the sky, only defiled black stars flickered with a sinister light.
This was a mysterious place where only the bishops of the Rebirth Church could reach through Bishop’s Certificates via intention.
Inside the church’s Illusory Temple, the six walls were like a prison made of black slabs, exerting a crushing atmosphere.
Suddenly,
The temple’s structure began to rotate like a magic cube, the stones creaking as they moved.
Its structure transformed, and massive black geometric entities appeared inexplicably in the main hall, floating with no visible support.
Their bizarre shapes were decorated with numerous eerie runes, faintly flickering like countless eyes, dark and cold.
Silhouettes made of black mist-like figures appeared on the black geometric entities, the only distinguishable feature being a pair of eyes.
Each black geometric entity represented a bishop’s seat.
Except for this meeting, which differed from the previous one where Bishops Fahim, a deceased member, Dekan, an openly identified traitor, and Kre, whose behavior was inexplicable, the other seven bishops were present.
With the administrative authority of the Pope upon his return to the mortal realm, certain privileges of the Bishop of Pain, Dekan, could be blocked.
For example, in regular meetings, the Pope could isolate the Bishop of Pain.
Moreover, the Pope could use his papal authority to create unassigned Bishop Certificates.
Generally, unassigned Bishop Certificates were used when there was a vacancy, enabling the Pope to appoint new bishops.
However, since Bishop Fahim’s privileges were already usurped by Dekan according to the Bishop Combat rules, there was no vacancy, and even though only nine were present at this time, the Pope couldn’t appoint a new bishop.
Dekan would be equivalent to two bishops.
However, the unassigned Bishop Certificate had another use:
Revocation.
If this unassigned certificate were sent to Kre, the Frenzied Bishop could transform it into a Frenzied Bishop Certificate, invalidating the one previously swindled by Dekan.
Since the founding of the Rebirth Church, only a few cardinals have misplaced their Bishop Certificates.
Much less done so intentionally.
Besides that person who made even the Pope feel awkward —— the Frenzied Bishop who was genuinely deranged.
The Pope even considered just killing Kre outright.
But Kro was crucial to the upcoming operations.
Moreover, in the church, which was investigating insiders, aside from Carlos, only Kre was someone the Pope could trust completely.
Kre’s feud with the Kingdom Union in blood was real.
And this oddball person was naturally immune to internal affairs. He didn’t even attempt to steal money for gambling even if it meant losing his bishopry. It’s unclear whether this merits praise or not.
So the Pope decided to give Kre another pass.
Once this operation is over, bring Kre back and personally teach him discipline.
“Carlos, did you send someone to deliver it to Kre?”
The Pope looked at Cardinal Illusory Bishop Carlos, who had been handling this matter. The Pope had prepared the card for revocation and instructed it to be delivered to Kre early. It should have been enough time to find Kro and deliver the unassigned Bishop Certificate.
“……Yes,” The Illusory Bishop’s reply was somewhat hesitant, continuing,
“But Kre refused to use it.”
Pope: “?”
Illusory:” He said what he lost by skill, he must regain by skill.”
“……!”
The Pope’s blood pressure clearly rose upon hearing this, but after pinching the bridge of his nose, he endured it.
“No problem. Maintain contact with Kre via communication magic. This operation is also Kro’s personal wish, and even without orders, he will be very proactive in completing it.”
Communication magic has distance limitations. If too far away, it requires relaying many times to contact Kro far more inefficiently than the Bishop Certificate.
“Understood, Pope.”
Illusory Bishop Carlos seemed quite tired too.
Managing the Rebirth Church during the Pope’s absence had been exhausting for him.
Now, he must endure further torment from Kro, overtime included.
If possible, he truly didn’t want to deal with Kro at all.
The Pope looked around the group of bishops.
Although there was a traitor among them,
This time’s main combat force wasn’t any of them.
If the insider dared to expose themselves, this would be a good opportunity to clear them out.
“The details of this operation, I will not share entirely. I will merely tell each of you your individual tasks. Remember, do what you are supposed to do.”
The Pope’s tone carried a powerful and cold pressure.
“Understood.”
All the bishops responded together.
…
After the meeting.
In an underground laboratory somewhere in the Northern Kingdoms.
Rather than a laboratory, it resembled more of a factory built on ancient ruins. Instruments and equipment were scattered everywhere, some in operation, some idle, and in some spots, sparks occasionally flashed.
On these ancient ruins, besides the busy reformation priests,
There were three outstanding figures.
Standing in the center was the Pope, and flanked by two bishops.
These three had been together in the mortal world.
The Pope’s consciousness returned to reality.
He glanced at Illusory Bishop Carlos and Shadow Bishop Minos standing beside him.
Both of them nodded at him.
Minos went forward to inspect the massive magical device ahead, pleased, and indicated approvingly with his fingers.
“Your Holiness, it’s almost complete. The initial test results have no issues. It can definitely be used on the planned day.”
“Excellent.”
The Pope gazed into the distance at the purple-crystal like meteorite suspended in the magic device’s crystalline tank.
It was the legendary material [Space Star Stone] he had spent a long time obtaining in the Ninth-level Shadow World.
It contained spatial magic powers unimaginable and extraordinary to this world.
However, even Minos was incapable of turning it into a magic card.
So he called for all the scientists of the Rebirth Church and the leading master of magic engineering, Minos, to develop a magical device capable of harnessing the power of the [Space Star Stone].
Once completed,
They will instantly sweep away the core of the Kingdom Union…
…
The distant northern reaches of the Salong Empire.
Even in summer,
Here, snow occasionally falls like in Heaven.
In the Imperial Palace,
Even into the dead of night,
The Emperor hadn’t returned to her chambers, still leaning on her chair, her hand supporting her chin as if waiting for something.
Soon, a figure appeared in the palace, dressed in the garb of a high-ranking officer of the Empire’s magical special forces.
“Your Majesty, this is the report from the captain.”
The voice accompanied the figure that reached the Emperor, handing a crystal to her.
Without hesitation, the Emperor accepted the crystal, cracking the spell upon it and reading its contents.
The next second, the crystal was crushed.
She remained silent for a moment, tapping her fingers lightly on the armrest of her chair while thinking.
When her fingers stopped, she made a decision.
“Order her to continue playing her role, to let the Rebirth Church and Kingdom Union exhaust each other without doing anything unnecessary.”
“Understood.”
…
In the southern kingdoms.
It was already midnight.
On the outskirts of a city, a young man was walking alone.
He seemed to have gone through a prolonged chase and escape, finally shaking off his pursuers.
“Phew, it’s a hassle for Dekan to bring Flora to the Philoven Kingdom this time as well.”
Morion sighed deeply with complaints.
Escaping himself, he now had Kro clinging to him too.
Finally free of Kro, and he could now go to the Philoven Kingdom with peace of mind.
He didn’t want to bring the Frenzied Bishop, a dangerous element, to the venue of the Kingdom Union’s Hero Festival.
Morion still hadn’t forgotten Kro’s expression when they left the Shadow World together and entered the settlement space. Kro’s face upon seeing Dekan’s name on the settlement interface was unmistakable.
Apparently, Kro didn’t realize he had been playing along with Dekan for two weeks.
Apparently, he had been fooled again by Dekan.
Next, Kro’s pursuit of Morion became more persistent.
Not only did Kro want to uncover some truths, but he also firmly believed that following Morion would surely lead him to Dekan.
Fortunately, Kro was a bit foolish. Some tricks later, he finally managed to shake him off.
However,
Just as Morion relaxed completely,
A cold small hand covered his eyes.
He was unable to dodge.
Because the person had no murderous intent or even ill intention.
Morion stopped walking.
Subsequently, the hand let go.
The person hugged him from behind.
“How did you come?”
Morion asked curiously, though he already knew who it was.
He was a incorrigible rogue and greedy bastard.
Yet, he was Morion’s unique… partner.
Nightmare Bishop Alina.
“You should stay away from the Philoven Kingdom, which is a place of conflict.”
Her voice was like a lifeless puppet.
The Nightmare Bishop seemed to have already figured out Morion’s intention to head towards Philoven Kingdom.
“What’s wrong?”
Morion furrowed his brows. He had only heard from the Nightmare Bishop that the Rebirth Church might make a move on the Hero Festival.
But for the Nightmare Bishop to personally travel and warn him not to go, clearly, according to the intelligence she currently had, this Hero Festival was extremely dangerous.
“This time, I may not be able to protect you.”
The Nightmare Bishop softly said. She believed Morion had fully understood the risks.
“I won’t back out.”
Morion surprisingly firmly replied.
There was a silence between the two.
“For whom?”
“For my little sister, and… my friends.”
Morion paused for a while before answering.
“I understand.”
After the Nightmare Bishop spoke, she let go of Morion.
When Morion turned around, there was no one left.
Looking at the clearing, his expression was complex.
Even now, he still hadn’t figured out what emotions to hold towards the Nightmare Bishop.
Their past entanglement in the territory wasn’t as simple as it seemed to the world.
It was a story of an exceptionally wise nobleman’s son forsaking his life and voluntarily choosing the path of martyrdom, shouldering the sins alone to save the people, his family, and his friends.
Just a story untold.
“Deekan, if you could someday wipe out the Rebirth Church, it would be great. Unfortunately, I can only help secure Nightmare Bishop’s assistance on your behalf… It’s still far from enough…”
…
Two mornings later.
Today was the day they finally set off for the southern Philoven Kingdom to participate in the Hero Festival held once every five years!
This time, Deekan was participating in the main competition as a contestant from the Norton Kingdom, and would also attend as a guest for other events.
He was already eagerly anticipating it.
“Depart with flair!”
Deekan slung his bag and left the dormitory early.
Initially, he had intended to wait at Conelia’s door,
But Conelia had the same idea.
The two met while heading toward each other’s dorms.
And Teacher Cat was sitting on Conelia’s shoulder, lazily waving his paw to Dekan.
Shortly after leaving the dorm, they quickly encountered others like Chloix, Mia, Alice, and a few more in the campus.
“We just need to call the three idol members, and our team is all set!”
Alice smiled and walked at the front of the group, she said.
But then she noticed something odd.
Everyone else seemed unusually solemn.
“What’s wrong?”
Haven’t they all been getting along well with the idol group?
Alice turned her head, puzzled, as she asked.
Looking at the sweating head of Chloix, Dekan’s unnatural expression, and Mia pretending not to hear anything and looking far away,
…
Ten minutes later.
In the outskirts of the capital, accompanied by the clop of hooves, across the open fields galloped a chariot pulled by two azure-lightning-laden magical beasts.
It was the Thunder Chariot His Majesty had lent to Dekan and his group when they had last taken the exam to the central kingdom of Randir.
They needed to first travel to the southern kingdom closest to Norton.
Then, due to the convenient transportation in the southern kingdoms, they could take the unique magi-powered track vehicles that connected the southern kingdoms.
Only three more days of travel remained to reach the Philoven Kingdom.
On the chariot,
Princess Alice still could not understand why the atmosphere between the few of them was so heavy. It seemed as though there was an invisible wall between the three idol members and the rest of the Beautiful Souls Team.
Alice felt Mia seemed to know something but was trying her best to act dumb.
With several days still left on this journey, if everyone kept this silent atmosphere, it would be unbearable!
As the leader, Alice believed it was her duty to break this state.
Thus, she coughed lightly and asked everyone,
“Is there any place you’d like to visit after this competition? Let’s all have a good time, and it’ll be completely on me!”
Alice tried to liven the atmosphere.
“Ah.”
Dekan sighed.
Alice was possibly the only one currently unaware of the situation. She completely failed to comprehend how awkward it was for a few people sharing this confined space.
But Dekan’s sigh
Seemed to make Alice associate it with much.
“I get it, Dekan! It must be like the dramatic plot you told me before, right? Antagonist will definitely stir up trouble! What was it called again? Oh right, it’s called the ‘Disruption Rule’!”
In an instant, Alice imagined a series of scenarios where this competition would suddenly turn into a chaotic brawl. While feeling a bit nervous, she couldn’t help feeling exhilarated.
It seems she had been too optimistic. She shouldn’t have been so careless either. No one knows what dangers might lay behind this Hero Festival!
No wonder everyone was being cautious.
All eyes looked at Alice, speechless.
That’s not entirely accurate.
Everyone did want to enjoy a proper holiday.
But currently, it’s just extremely awkward.
Alice scratched her head, started somewhat doubting herself if she was wrong, and asked Dekan,
“Hey Dekan, do you think something untoward will happen, like the Rebirth Church or some other troublemakers will cause trouble?”
“Can’t entirely rule out that possibility, but the chances are near zero.”
Dekan explained helplessly.
The venue of this Hero Festival is deep inside the territory of the Kingdom Union.
Besides the nine-stage astrologer Shien, there will also be a large number of eight-stage experts gathered.
Moreover, the security measures are at their highest level.
Safe to say, it is many times more secure than Norton Kingdom’s capital city.
Rational analysis suggested that the Rebirth Church should not be crazy enough to launch an all-out assault on their base this time.
As soon as astrologers detect any significant movement of bishops towards the Philoven Kingdom, many more eight and even nine-stage experts will be dispatched early and prepared for rapid support.
Nevertheless, preventing trouble before it arises has always been Dekan’s principle.
He had indeed considered the potential moves of the Rebirth Church too.
He thought that Alice’s previous warning might not be entirely wrong, and it was necessary to enhance the passengers’ awareness of potential dangers.
Thus, Dekan took out a paper and spread it on the window, analyzing the potential crises to everyone.
“Firstly, these analyses have nothing to do with my personal inclinations…”
Following that, everything he described was as if he was today’s top counter-terrorism expert, considering the perspective of a terrorist leader in planning potential strategies of the Rebirth Church.
Actually, Dekan had considered that the feasible plans the Rebirth Church could have would only be two.
Either send one bishop secretly to cause chaos, similar to how Fahim had plotted to massacre the city during the seven-stage squad exam. Back then, if Fahim hadn’t been found, things would have been very complicated.
Hence, this situation had to be guarded against.
Though handing over the security efforts of the Kingdom Union’s highest security forces should be sufficient.
The Kingdom Union shouldn’t be so useless that they couldn’t secure their stronghold against one bishop.
In this case, the likelihood of problems was more than 99% non-existent.
They only needed to watch out for any extreme anomalies mentioned by Dekan.
“So, can’t the Rebirth Church send three or four bishops?”
Alice inquired.
Dekan shook his head: “That’s like wrapping it up and delivering it. It’s more efficient to infiltrate one. If they want to send multiple bishops, then they might as well all come, including the Pope.”
Subsequently, Dekan proceeded to explain the second scenario.
According to Philoven Kingdom’s security during the Hero Festival, even if three or four chief bishops came, regardless of whether they succeeded in creating trouble, they would likely lose at least half of their forces there.
Regardless of how many eighth-rank experts there were, just that ninth-rank astrologer alone would be enough to comprehensively handle the bishops.
So Dekan reasoned that the Rebirth Church might use the Hero Festival as an opportunity for the Pope and all the bishops to launch a lightning strike on some distant important strategic point.
For example, to take out one of the kingdoms in the Northern Kingdoms.
“… However, the probability of the second situation happening is also low. As long as there are astrologers around, they won’t be able to fully assemble and rapidly attack key strategic points.”
Dekan explained his thoughts to everyone.
Thus, the final conclusion was:
Even though Dekan was an extremely cautious person, he didn’t think this Hero Festival posed much danger.
“Then, do they possibly gather to secretly eliminate the astrologer?”
Mia suddenly raised her hand and asked.
Dekan couldn’t help but compliment her on her idea.
If he were the Pope of the Rebirth Church, the person he would want to kill most would be the astrologer.
Due to the existence of the astrologer, the Rebirth Church’s strongest combatants have always been restrained in their actions.
Unfortunately, it’s not very practical.
“Absolutely impossible. The astrologer is at the Hero Festival in the heartland of the Philopen Kingdom. Unless the Rebirth Church can instantaneously teleport…”
Dekan explained, but as he was speaking, he suddenly paused.
“Hmm, what if they really have a way to teleport?”
Dekan muttered thoughtfully to himself.
“Deekan, isn’t this precaution unnecessary? You might as well worry about being hit by a meteorite on the head!”
Teacher Cat couldn’t help but criticize.
Even though Teacher Cat acknowledged that Deekan’s constant excessive caution has always made his teammates feel secure.
Sometimes Deekan was indeed cautious to an unbearable extent.
After spending a lot of time with Dekan, it could also understand certain strange words that occasionally popped up.
Such as “teleportation hack,” referring to space magic as rare as legendary cards in this world.
But Dekan didn’t pay attention to Teacher Cat; his eyes instead carried a deeper contemplation as he glanced at Mia.
Mia again looked out of the window, seemingly trying to dodge the awkward atmosphere once again inside the carriage.
