Secret Door and Key

In the night sky over the Hori Kingdom, Benjamin flew with Dick at breakneck speed across the vast lands ahead, heading straight for the towering mountains along the border.

Halfway through the flight, Benjamin suddenly turned and glanced at the air behind them.

"...Annoying flies."

With a wave of his hand, he took Dick into a sudden, rapid descent. Below them lay a dense forest. They hid among the bushes, quickly concealing themselves. A few minutes later, a group of priests flew overhead. They hovered above the forest, looked around for a while, then flew east.

Benjamin watched all this from hiding, his expression turning grave.

"How many groups of priests have we run into in the past three hours?" He turned to look at Dick, whose face was filled with fear. "What other secret are you hiding? Why are they chasing you so relentlessly?"

Getting Dick out of the kingdom had been far more difficult than Benjamin had imagined.

Less than half an hour after they began flying, they encountered pursuers from The Church. Benjamin had intended to dispose of them quickly, but before he could act, the pursuers began scattering, using every possible method to stall for time... And within mere minutes, wave after wave of pursuers appeared in the sky.

At that moment, Benjamin realized something was wrong.

So, he gave up on killing them all. Instead, he changed direction with Dick, found an opening, swiftly shook off the pursuers, and moved more cautiously.

He knew very well that if this dragged on, those people would eventually delay them until Grant arrived.

Benjamin knew that a battle between them was unavoidable, but not under these circumstances—priests swarming in groups like mosquitoes, doing everything they could to drain Benjamin's spiritual energy. How could Benjamin possibly devote himself fully