Chapter 134: “The World”
Above the sky, the clouds lazily drifted, swirling in the wind like they were auditioning for a slow-motion scene in an anime.
When the warm sun reached its zenith, I sauntered out of the city tower where Angel was holed up, descending the city walls with Safiros and company. We made our way to the camp, where I slurped down some clear broth and chomped down a few pieces of hardtack that felt like they were made from the floor of a medieval diner.
Breakfast? We skipped it! Add in the fact that I barely ate last night, and this lunch turned into a full-on wolf-chow-session. Even if the hardtack was as hard as a rock and had a hint of bitterness that screamed “we’re completely out of ingredients,” I polished off every crumb like I was in a competitive eating contest. After that, I guzzled down a bowl of steaming broth to soften the bricks in my stomach—ironically enough, feeling slightly better about having eaten something.
After chowing down, I climbed back up the walls and perched myself atop the highest arrow tower. I sat cross-legged, pushed my hair back behind my ears, and listened to the wind serenade me while I stared at the bustling crowd below. For quite a while, my mind was like a chaotic anime character trying to find peace—almost impossible.
“I’ve got solid intel on the Jester’s movements now…”
Angel’s earlier words echoed in my mind like a bad theme song that you can’t get rid of.
“I don’t know if I should tell you this… Ugh, I’m still on the fence because, well, the place he popped up isn’t exactly ideal… Little Black Charcoal, we should’ve figured this out way earlier. Remember that heretic you froze into an ice sculpture back in that mountain village?”
“We should have realized then why that heretic was hanging around. After discovering our tracks… he obviously knew we were here. Otherwise, there’s no way he would’ve been able to threaten those villagers and set a trap for you and Isaac. But if he had that much time, why not just disappear? He totally had the chance to bail before you and Isaac showed up!”
“But instead, he stuck around to take on you guys and got himself walloped. Does he have a d*ath wish? Nah, he definitely doesn’t. The only possibility left… is that he was providing cover for someone. Or he was distracting us to buy time for someone to make a getaway.”
“So… who slipped away?”
The Jester.
“Right! It’s the Jester, but none of us connected the dots back then. According to the Knights, we all assumed that anyone who escaped would head south into the Hill Forest where survival chances were better. They’d pop back into town once the Knights stopped hunting them down… that’s what we all thought.”
Correct…
I had the same thought.
“And then what? The Jester… or maybe there were others? Either way, they used their minions to gain time and, with the cover of the downpour, snuck off towards the Northern Region right under our noses.”
“Not too long ago, I got word from scouts in the north that they confirmed sightings of several ‘Gate of Truth’ cultists, including the Jester, at the borders of Woodward Forest. And I suspect their target is the elusive Land of Dragons which no one seems to know the location of…”
“The war here is just a facade. The heretics that came charging in from the Mosley Coast probably don’t even realize that they’re just pawns the Gate of Truth used to lure us out. Even if none of them survive, the Jester wouldn’t bat an eye… Little Black Charcoal, we’ve been played.”
We were absolutely played.
Thinking back, the reason the Jester allowed those goons to wreak havoc in the Southern Region was to force the Church to focus all their attention here. They had to deploy their best troops to deal with the chaos and lend assistance, so the Jester could slip through unnoticed, all the way to Woodward Forest.
By the time we caught on, it was too late. Even if Angel ordered Isaac to lead the First Knights back immediately, abandoning the suffering Alectine City to rush to the northern front, it would take at least half a month…
Half a month! How much mischief could they pull off in that time?
I didn’t want to imagine.
So, when I first heard Angel mention this, my heart was racing like I was in a high-speed chase scene, worrying that the Jester might have already reached Woodward Forest. And the folks he was with were probably those ‘Stage Three’ cultists we faced earlier—even if their powers were no longer intact—the knights stationed there wouldn’t stand a chance.
With the Jester’s devilish cruelty, the Northern Region might soon mirror the Southern Region’s misery, with countless people being forced to take up arms against their families, slaughter their wives and children, and unleash the horrors of Silence Fortress all over again. The first ones to suffer might be the small village where Grandma lives…
And I couldn’t make it in time.
Thinking about it sent a wave of panic and anger through me. If it hadn’t been for Angel’s quick thinking and the use of “Reverse Termination,” I might have flipped that entire tower, disregarding everything, and unleashed the abyssal powers before everyone’s eyes, with my flame wings spread wide, soaring northward.
Even now, that urge hadn’t faded.
I was just trying my best to restrain myself.
Because Angel later told me he had other options.
Or rather, he had another Divine Reliquary.
A magnificent artifact blessed by the “Ancient Deity” eons ago, capable of letting me zip across mountains and rivers right to the north—that’s the “World.”
The successive Popes of the Holy Church, after a rigorous voting process and a final decision on the candidate, would inherit the rights to wield three powerful Divine Reliquaries from the previous Pope.
“Reverse Termination,” and “World.”
The third one? I didn’t know, nor did I care to ask.
Angel told me that if I absolutely had to go to the Northern Region, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything here—he would take care of it all.
He would use the divine power of “World” to send me to a “transmission point” established by the Church in the north—such places are usually the most central and secretive institutions of the Holy Church, very hush-hush for anyone below cardinal rank, and as a Pope Knight, I obviously wasn’t allowed to have any access.
But this was a special situation. As the Pope, Angel would exercise his authority and the power of “World” to send me to one of the locations near Woodward Forest and would arrange for someone to assist me there.
For this, he needed some time to prepare, and I could be on my way by tonight.
“In reality, I can’t just waltz down to the Southern Region with my military without preparing for any potential situations. Besides the knights you’ve already seen stationed near Woodward Forest, I deployed other defensive forces. While they might not destroy the Jester, they should be more than enough to delay him.”
“But at the same time, I totally get where you’re coming from… or rather, I like your worrywart self, Little Black Charcoal. You’re worried about the village, right? I get it, I get it… that’s why I’m gearing up to send you there.”
“Just tonight, you alone.”
…………
A gentle breeze tousled my hair.
I had no idea how long I had sat atop the arrow tower, but my legs were starting to feel as stiff as a statue. So I stood up, stretched a bit, wiggled my ankles, and soon, leaped off the city walls like an over-caffeinated squirrel.
