### Chapter 55: The Beginning and End of the Journey to the Eastern Continent (Part 1)
The flickering candlelight cast a dim and hazy glow in the small earthen building, creating an atmosphere that was both gloomy and oddly tense.
After Carlos said those words, the mood between us shifted into something strange, growing increasingly quiet.
This peculiar silence seemed to signal that we could finally sit down and have a proper conversation.
I decided to set aside my desire to leave for the time being. Though it was still hard to wholly regain that trust, I figured, why not muster a little patience and push those pesky feelings down for now? I might as well sit here and let him finish.
After a brief silence, Carlos managed to smooth out the traces of his earlier melancholy, slightly tipsy, and began recounting his experiences from this trip to the Eastern Continent.
“It all started with a letter from my teacher.”
The glimmer returned to the man’s eyes, his voice slow and deep, illuminated by the table lamp that highlighted the contours of his stubbly cheek.
“In recent years, he has been staying in the Eastern Continent, together with Leah… Little Shay, you know that over twenty years ago, the Church launched a campaign to eradicate the Gate of Truth.”
“Yep.”
“That campaign was led by Mr. Ryan, alongside Cardinal Nero, as they, together with several Pope Knights, elite members of the Faith Organization, and two renowned divisions of the First Knights Order, ‘Grace’s Balance’ and ‘The Fist of Judgment’, succeeded in storming the secret stronghold of the Gate of Truth located in Eborista, the Mossande Basin…”
“The leader of the Gate of Truth, that self-proclaimed Great Demon, had a breathtaking showdown with my teacher during the siege. In the end, he was no match for my teacher and was slain, along with his loyal followers. After that, the Gate of Truth was practically obliterated; the few heretics that escaped went into hiding, not daring to make a move for two whole decades…”
“The Church liberated the Eastern Continent from villains; this was the result of years of conflict with the Gate of Truth, culminating in a final showdown where the Church scored an unprecedented victory. However, it wasn’t a complete win.”
Carlos paused for dramatic effect: “They still had the Fire Seed.”
“In the year 800 of the Calendar, due to some Church folks being tempted by demons, the Fire Seed born of sin was stolen and then lost. Those tempted individuals became the precursor to the Gate of Truth… You know this, we won’t dwell on what’s true or false here. The stolen Fire Seed undoubtedly was the source of the sin fire’s power the Gate of Truth wielded.”
“And if that source isn’t completely severed, then eventually… perhaps after a long time, the Gate of Truth will rise again because not many can resist the allure of that power.”
“However, during that siege, despite wiping out the heretics in power, the Church still couldn’t find it. The Fire Seed had long since vanished—perhaps the Gate of Truth noticed something, and someone moved it beforehand, or maybe it never was there to begin with…”
“After the army retreated, my teacher, Mr. Ryan, often roamed the Eastern Continent, searching for traces of the Fire Seed… I happened to cross paths with him a long time ago… He later returned to the Western Continent and spent some time in the Royal City. In those early years, I would frequently follow him around, soaking up his teachings… After becoming an adult, I stayed back in the Western Continent to slay demons from the Abyss.”
“But Leah has always been by my teacher’s side. In recent years, he stopped going back to the Western Continent, and it had been a while since I last saw him when suddenly I received that letter.”
Waaahhh, waaaahhh—
The round window of the earthen building was ajar, and the wind outside seemed to pick up, wailing like a ghost that rattled the window with a ‘clatter.’ I could hear the small girl at the door fidgeting, her anxious breaths barely making any noise.
The flickering flame danced on the table, and Carlos’s words continued to flow.
“In the letter, my teacher mentioned he had some leads on the Fire Seed, but right now, the clues were unclear. He needed us who stayed back in the Western Continent to assist in the investigation… I, along with Apheir, headed to the Eastern Continent. My teacher instructed me to notify her at the Royal Academy to prepare some things. That was my purpose for returning to the Royal City.”
“And then… we took the war chariot from the Royal City to the East Holy Coast, boarded a ship to cross the sea, and by the time we arrived in Nogaway, it was already late July. Before that, I had inquired about the situation in Silgaya’s Mosley Coast, and all I heard was good news.”
“I never thought he would send you over there.”
His voice took on a dimmer tone: “Upon landing, after meeting my teacher, I began to understand something vague. The Church… no, the Pope. He had actually anticipated many things, realizing the Gate of Truth had a great chance of making a dramatic reappearance. They couldn’t have many more people left, so over in the Eastern Continent, we would have more opportunities to reclaim the Fire Seed…”
“Everything was part of a plan that had been arranged a long time in advance.”
“But initially, our biggest problem was that we still didn’t know the Fire Seed’s exact location; we only had a general idea. My teacher happened to capture the Jester’s subordinate, who revealed that on the outskirts of Eborista, near the Amigil Mountain Range, there was a remote little town cut off from the world. That town… seemed to have a significant number of remnants of the Gate of Truth gathering lately…”
“The villains’ influence was reviving, with new members constantly pouring in. The Fire Seed had to be around there, but we couldn’t pinpoint the town’s specific location, so we had to head south of the desert to investigate it further… At that moment, I happened to receive news from the Western Continent…”
“In the first report, there was no mention of the interim results of the Silgaya War. It was a report concerning the Mosley Coast; the Third Knights Order had been defeated, the heretics launched a fierce offensive, pushing southward, and the First Knights Order in the Holy City was dispatched—those Judgment Fist guys, with the Pope likely leading the charge himself…”
“Heh, at that time, I hadn’t yet realized the true seriousness of the situation.”
“Although I felt a bit worried about the coastal battle, since the Judgment Fist had been mobilized, I figured the outcome couldn’t be too disastrous. So what if the opponent was that Jester? Surely there were people in the First Knights Order who could hold their own against him…”
“But regardless, we had to act quickly regarding matters in the Eastern Continent.”
“At the end of last year, we arrived here, infiltrating numerous town’s underground forces, including encounters with groups like the Nedlin Gang. We tried to find the mice lurking in dark alleys, the scattered followers of the Gate of Truth…”
At this point, Carlos tapped the table with his finger: “But, the final result wasn’t quite what we hoped for.”
