Chapter 398

### Chapter 326: Stele

On the outskirts of Tivyán, beside the Moonflow River.

The tall villa that once stood by the riverbank was now engulfed by raging flames, the flickering firelight illuminating the dark sky. The inferno had spiraled out of control, consuming everything within the villa, while thick black smoke billowed up into the night.

Surrounding the burning villa, a group of Hunters and Church personnel gathered at the edge, staring solemnly at the fiery structure. Some Hunters wanted to fight the fire, but after assessing the intensity of the blaze, they abandoned that idea and stood by to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby bushes and trees.

Before the inferno, the captain of the Hunter patrol, Edmond, stood still, watching the flames while taking a drag from a cigarette. The flickering firelight reflected on his face, revealing a complex expression.

“It’s all gone. Everything’s burned away… not a single clue left…”

Edmond murmured as he gazed at the fire, just then a loud, hearty voice erupted beside him.

“Hahaha!!! How refreshing! Burn it all! Keep burning! Purify all the cursed things of these wolf pups!”

Anreyus, still wearing his helmet, spread his arms and proclaimed loudly to the fire he had caused, seemingly thrilled to personally purify the cultists. While he spoke, he playfully slapped Edmond on the shoulder.

“Hey, little brother from the An Yin Bureau, why do you look unhappy? We’ve purified the cultists together!”

Edmond felt a little pain from Anreyus’s armored hand on his shoulder, and he grimaced slightly. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and glanced at the knight beside him before replying.

“Cleric Anreyus, I have a small question. Why did they send you over this time after we reported the situation to the Church?”

“Eh? Why send me? This incident involves the Amniotic Sac Cult; it needs thorough purification! Isn’t it appropriate to send me? Look at this… it burns beautifully! I haven’t had a chance to personally purify cultists in a long time; I’ve been itching for it!”

Anreyus replied, revealing his pent-up eagerness to act in the Church.

“Well… that’s true… involving matters of heresy, having your Holy War Knights deal with it does make sense, but our operation here is primarily investigative, focusing on stealth. It would also make sense for the Inquisition to send someone.”

Edmond continued, knowing the incident involved a Church-run hospital and that a nun had been captured, so it was expected for the Church to dispatch personnel. However, he hadn’t anticipated the Holy War Knights to be sent. Listening to Edmond, Anreyus waved his hand casually.

“You’re correct; in this case, having the Inquisition would also work. However, those guys have run into trouble recently and are too busy to spare anyone, so we came instead.”

Anreyus responded directly, and upon hearing this, Edmond frowned in confusion.

“The Church’s Inquisition… has run into trouble recently?”

Edmond was curious about what kind of trouble the Tivyán Church’s Inquisition was facing, but since it involved internal Church matters, he refrained from asking further.

In fact, the trouble faced by the Tivyán Church’s Inquisition was quite simple; they were busy investigating internal spies. Following Vania’s report on Kock, before the Inquisition could act, Kock had already fled.

According to Vania, she reported to the Inquisition as soon as she discovered Kock had issues, which prompted the Inquisition to suspect that there might be a traitor in their midst! After realizing this, the head of the Inquisition quickly reported the situation to the Archbishop of the Prit Diocese, who ordered the Inquisition to initiate the strictest internal self-examination.

Since then, the entire Tivyán Inquisition began a rigorous self-audit process, affecting almost everyone within the system. Their normal functions were severely disrupted as they scoured for traitors, and when this incident occurred, they were still focused on hunting for spies.

As the identity of the traitor remained undiscovered, to prevent further information leaks, the Church opted not to send the Inquisition this time but instead dispatched personnel from the Holy War Knights for support, though the Knights’ combat style was often rather direct and brute.

“Ha… Regardless, this has been exhilarating! I hope these guys will reveal more of their strongholds so we can purify them all!”

Observing the blazing scene, Anreyus rested his sword on his shoulder, chuckling. Suddenly, he appeared to recall something and spoke up.

“Ah… right! There was mention during the mission that a nun got captured here. Tsk, I just remembered that. I didn’t see anyone like that amidst the chaos. I wonder how she’s doing now? Oh no, I was so focused on purifying the cultists…”

As he stared at the flames, the Holy War Knight scratched his helmet, realizing something. Hearing Anreyus’s words, Edmond sighed softly before responding.

“Earlier, my men found a nun who had escaped from the villa amidst the chaos. After questioning her, it turns out she is the missing healing nun.”

“Oh! So you found her? Where is she now?”

Upon hearing Edmond’s words, Anreyus’s expression changed as he quickly asked. Edmond shrugged in response.

“She’s now under our protection. According to her, the wolves came to capture her, and their commotion worsened the prisoners’ injuries. She was brought here as a healer… Furthermore, we were able to locate this place thanks to her.”

“Huh? We found our way here not because you left a landmark on that prisoner, right?” Anreyus asked, surprised, and Edmond reached into his bag, producing a twisted pair of handcuffs.

“We placed the landmark on that prisoner’s handcuffs. We initially thought the werewolf didn’t notice them due to carelessness, but it seems that’s not the case. According to your nun, the werewolf actually discovered the handcuffs with the Radiance Lamp right away, removed them, crushed them, and tossed them aside, and it was that nun who picked them up while they weren’t paying attention. She knew this could lead us.”

“What she said must be true. She’s one of your Church’s people, so she wouldn’t have known the handcuffs had a landmark. If that werewolf hadn’t noticed the handcuffs’ abnormality from the start, then the nun wouldn’t have known. If she didn’t know about the landmark, she wouldn’t have specifically brought it out to tell us… So it seems that the werewolf must have said something when removing Davik’s handcuffs that informed the nun of their purpose, which is why she secretly carried them with her… There shouldn’t be any possibility of malicious intent here.”