The church's story sounded rather mysterious...
According to the troubled old Village Chief, the strange events had mainly begun before January.
The first to disappear had been Peter, the silk merchant who passed through this place year-round. He was a merchant with an excellent reputation, regularly sponsoring the local children's studies of divine script and arithmetic. He had also single-handedly funded the orphanage in the church, making him practically a great benefactor.
At the beginning of last month, this great benefactor had arrived again with a large amount of cargo and stopped to rest in the village. The lord of the region had even sent a grand knight to escort him.
Every year when Peter passed through, he brought the children quite a lot of gifts—clothes, toys, books, and even beautiful swords and armor for children who wanted to become knights.
But that very night, the church bell inexplicably began to ring.
It had alarmed quite a few people. After all, it was late at night, and some had even thought bandits on horseback had come to the village. But when everyone gathered, there was nothing outside the village. They arrived at the church in a state of nervous confusion, only to discover that the priest stationed there, the children from the orphanage, and the great benefactor Peter had all vanished...
Nearly a hundred people had disappeared into thin air, causing quite a stir. The Village Chief had someone report the matter the very next day.
A few days later, several stationed warrior officers were sent over first. After examining the church, these strangely shaped warrior officers discovered some kind of magnetic-field problem. They then ordered people to report the matter again and request that professional inspectors be dispatched.
But the next day, those soldiers disappeared too...
And then...
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