Outside the Church

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

Saint Carmen, who had been urgently summoned back from the coast, had a bad feeling.

A file detailing the incident was presented to him. After reading it, he remained silent for a moment before asking...

Can the authenticity of this matter be confirmed?

"We asked more than a dozen participants in different places, and their answers were basically the same."

It shouldn't be wrong.

"And what the last woman said was heard by others besides Judge Fidi."

An elderly judge speaking from a short distance away.

This is blasphemy.

"This is a serious crime."

"I suspect it's a conspiracy by the Church of the Deep."

Countless voices rose up around them, all condemning the protagonist of this incident.

In a very short time, or even quickly, they have established him as a high-ranking member of the Church of the Deep.

"Enough!"

As soon as Carmen spoke, everyone fell silent as if time had been frozen in place.

After examining the location of the incident, he asked a question.

Was the incident around 11:37 AM, eleven days ago?

"That's right," said one of the judges in charge of the investigation.

"So how many people died?" Carmen pressed on.

After a brief silence, someone answered.

"There were three in total. Of them, only one is Punitive Corps to have died at the hands of that man; the other two died in an accident while unconscious."

After he finished speaking, everyone looked surprised; they hadn't expected that such a serious incident would result in so few deaths.

Recalling the chilling stench of blood he had felt, Carmen glanced around coldly and sighed inwardly.

Most of the judges have very tragic pasts, which makes them relatively extreme.

He consistently steered the judges' biases toward targeting Seaborn and the Church of the Deep.

But the judges along the coast were better off; they had clear objectives.

Once the Inquisitors, who were assigned to the inland regions, were removed from the Church of the Deep within their territory, their attention would turn elsewhere after they lost their target.

However, the Inquisition was severely understaffed and simply couldn't spare any personnel for rotation...

"The west? Instruct everyone to remain silent; I want to see this person myself."

Carmen thought about it and finally decided to go see this person herself.

After all, most people don't know their own strength, and it would be bad if another conflict broke out.

"Report!"

A judge below raised his hand.

"Speak!" Carmen looked at the other person.

"Judges Trian and Fabre received the news two days ago and have already set off to pursue them!" the man said.

"What!"

Carmen sensed something was wrong.

There are already few judges, and losing three of them in one go in this kind of situation is a huge loss.

Meanwhile, after searching for seven or eight days, Suika finally found a clue at the third location.

I only glanced at one of the damaged wooden poles of the remains.

This type of wooden pole is typically used as the grip for long-handled weapons.

Most hunting teams do not use all-metal polearms due to resource scarcity and personnel skill levels.

Instead, they used the method of tying an axe or other sharp weapon to a long wooden stick.

This not only reduces weight but also extends the attack range, decreasing the likelihood of injury.

The broken wooden stick in front of us was probably broken during one of those hunts.

Suika picked up the stick and examined the broken part. Judging from the appearance of the fracture, she deduced that the stick had broken within the last week.

In other words, there is a hunting team in the vicinity.

As it happened, Suika knew that there was a team of Sarkaz inside the Ambrosius Monastery.

However, no trace of the other party was found nearby, indicating that their footprints had been completely buried by the sandstorm in a short period of time.

That's why they've been out of contact for so long.

However, this did not Suika. She flew into the sky and used her unique flying advantage to survey the situation below.

She quickly discovered her goal.

Nestled among several mountains, in a narrow valley, stands a somewhat dilapidated monastery.

Suika picked up the map and compared it, discovering that the other side had deviated far from the course.

They entered a desolate wilderness, and the nearest points to the shipping lanes were blocked by high mountains, which is why the monastery had been unable to contact the Laterano papacy for so long after it lost contact.

As for contacting Iberia?

It's worth noting that during the Great Silence, the Ambrosius Monastery refused the Inquisition's request to deploy it to the coast as a military fortress, and only anchored in the wilderness when it retreated to Laterano.

If we were to ask Iberia for help now, they would probably just seize it, repair it, and then take it to the front lines.

Therefore, they will absolutely not ask Iberia for help.

However, given the size of the church, it's highly unlikely that the Iberia were completely unaware of its Suika.

However, because of the previous refusal by the Ambrosius Monastery, Iberia chose to stand idly by in their predicament.

Perhaps they deliberately blocked news about the monastery, hoping to trap these people inside and then send someone to take over.

However, these were not things that Suika needed to worry about. After landing, she walked towards the monastery.

As she walked, she recalled the events that had occurred at the church.

To be precise, it was a tragedy that was destined to happen.

The seeds of this tragedy were sown when Bishop Stefano of the church chose to accept the Sarkaz.

Here, the Sankta and the Sarkaz do not need to turn their swords against each other because of the hatred that has lasted for thousands of years.

They can be as close as family.

It was like a beautiful dream.

But dreams can never withstand reality.

Faced with increasingly scarce resources, everyone is left with only two paths.

One possibility is that they will all starve to death here, or abandon the Sarkaz and the remaining Sankta will return to Laterano.

As for joining Iberia or the Seaborn, they see both as absolute paths of no return.

The optimal solution's return to Laterano, which is also a betrayal of the Sarkaz, is bound to provoke a fierce backlash.

As a result, Tutu's manipulation of their inner thoughts, coupled with the arrival of Laterano's people, exacerbated this conflict, ultimately leading to a tragedy that should never have happened.

Chapter 511 Outside the Church

In Suika's view, the root of all these things is simple, yet unsolvable.

That is the scarcity of resources.

If the monastery had been able to be self-sufficient, the people here probably wouldn't have ultimately chosen to go to Laterano.

But as mentioned earlier, with food becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, people here must make choices to ensure the survival of the majority.

While recalling the scene in the Hortus de Escapismo that made Suika feel uncomfortable, Suika followed the other person to the last hilltop. Beyond this hilltop, she could see the monastery where she was staying.

She looked at the hunting party halfway up the mountain, carrying food, and could tell from their expressions that their haul this time wasn't very large.

You can't tell at all that joy and satisfaction from the good thing they got.

Thinking about what she had seen around her on her way here, Suika sighed.

Because the church was anchored, the hunting grounds of the people here were centered around the church.

Just like the sheep herded by nomadic peoples, who hunt in the same area for a long time, their prey will eventually be eaten up.

If the mobility module works, then a movable church can naturally move to another area after finishing its meal, just like Herd.

However, they were always confined to one area, so over time, the prey in that area naturally became fewer and fewer.

However, given the environment of Iberia, if you asked them to raise animals here, apart from Originium Bug, even Needle Flea would have a hard time surviving.

After all, Originium Bug eat everything, but Needle Flea are carnivorous...

"Boss, it looks like we have a tail behind us!"

Suika made no attempt to conceal her movements, and was quickly discovered by the hunting party.

"Is it a child? Why is he all alone in the wilderness?"

Gerald, the leader of the hunting party, looked back in the direction they had come from and spotted Suika swaggering down the steps.

He was somewhat surprised, mainly because the wilderness was too dangerous, and even they, as mercenaries, had to be careful. But this girl didn't seem to have any weapons on her, and she even had a doll on her head.

The only thing that seemed to be his outfit was something he'd prepared for Wilderness Action.

But this girl, dressed in such attire, actually managed to get here.

He waved his hand, signaling the team members to continue towards the church, while he stayed behind to wait for Suika's arrival.

Suika skipped and hopped over to him.

"Hello, uncle!"

After walking in, Suika waved to Gerald was standing in front of her.

"Hello, little girl, are you here to save me?"

Gerald looked behind her, but there was no one there.

Suika nodded

'Yes, it's just me!'

"Why did you come all this way alone?" Gerald was clearly not convinced after hearing Suika's words.

He tried to read Suika's expression to see if she was lying, but he was disappointed.

Since Suika hadn't lied, she naturally had a clear conscience.

"How did you get here?" Gerald asked curiously as they walked down the mountain.

Thinking back to when he and his men arrived here, they were on the verge of death.

The little girl looked energetic and vibrant, as if she were on vacation.

"Go outside, then find a direction and keep walking, and you'll eventually get here!"

By the way, where is this place again?

Judging from your appearance, you're Sarkaz; there's a church in front of you.

"Do the Sarkaz have faith?"

As Suika walked, she deliberately asked a question.

Gerald paused for a moment upon hearing Suika's words, his expression becoming somewhat unnatural.