The Banquet Underway (Part 1)

Dark night fell. The undead monsters growing from within Leichina became ever more rampant, and the Holy Wall guarded by the three great angels had begun to wither.

"They appeared faster than I expected..." Eliyi said as he stood atop the high wall south of Canfoer City. "I wonder whether the Hero can make it in time. This is the first performance I prepared for him... He'd better not miss it..."

"Regarding the undead monsters outside the southern side of the city... do any of you have opinions or suggestions?" Yetara sat at the head of the dining table, wrapped in a thick mink coat. Canfor's most prominent figures sat on either side of him.

"May the High God bless us—" Bishop Labrador clasped his hands together. "May Sister Latmimi rest peacefully in the High God's divine kingdom."

"Does Your Excellency Labrador have a good way to drive back these monsters?" Yetara said, swirling the red wine in his hand. "The previous Sister Latmimi used her precious life to shield Canfoer's residents from those monsters. I believe Your Excellency Labrador certainly will not stand by and do nothing. I truly hope that, in my lifetime, I can witness Your Excellency Labrador perform a miracle and wipe out those monsters..."

"Uh..." Faced with Yetara's barbed questions, Bishop Labrador was clearly unprepared. He gave Monk Abelato, standing beside him, a meaningful look.

"Lord Yetara," Monk Abelato said, straightening his back, "a few days ago, Risala's Spider Demon attacked Mira Cathedral, resulting in the deaths of several high-ranking clergy. Bishop Labrador has already been deeply troubled by this matter, and Sister Latmimi's martyrdom afterward further caused His Excellency the Bishop—"

"Enough. Shut your mouth—" Yetara slammed his wineglass onto the dining table. "I am discussing a matter of life and death for Canfoer's residents with Your Excellency Labrador. What status do you have? Are you the Pope? The successor to a cardinal? Or the head nun? A mere monk thinks he is worthy of speaking at a Canfor council? Get out—"

"You!"

"Hmph, Monk Abelato, I am quite safe here. This is Lord Yetara's residence, and no one will harm me, so I do not need your protection for now. If I need you later, I shall summon you again..." Cardinal Labrador smoothed things over for himself and Yetara.

Oyana, seated beside the cardinal, also gave Abelato a look. Only then did Monk Abelato leave the banquet table.

"Now that the irrelevant people have left, we can discuss serious matters—" Von Molakasu, seated across from Bishop Labrador, finally began to speak after seeing Abelato depart.

"Von, where is your brother? Why didn't he come?" Yetara asked. "As the leader of the Red Dagger brothers in Canfoer, isn't it rather unjustifiable for him to skip Canfoer's Round Table Council of Five... Von?"

"Oh~ Dear Lord Yetara—" Von rose from his seat. "My elder brother recently caught a chill and is truly in no condition to attend, so he sent me in his place. He knows Lord Yetara is magnanimous and certainly will not blame him. He also instructed me to tell you that next year, the Red Dagger Guild's taxes must be increased by an additional ten percent, to help settle those Canfoer residents displaced by the monsters."

"Oh~ Mr. Molakasu is truly generous. I understand your good intentions..." Yetara's tone softened. "I only wish all of Canfoer City's guilds possessed a heart like yours~ Don't you agree, Lady Oyana?"

"Quite right..." Oyana set down her hookah. "Let us raise our glasses to the Molakasu Family's generosity..."

"Thank you~" Von Molakasu raised his gem-studded cuff and expressed his gratitude to Lord Yetara, Bishop Labrador, and Lady Oyana, leader of the witches.

"By the way," Oyana said only after finishing her wine, "three members of the Round Table Council of Five are here. Mr. Molakasu's place has been taken by his younger brother Von, so... what about Archmage Dilanna? Is she not coming?"

"Archmage Dilanna has always been in poor health. Everyone knows that." Von Molakasu lightly brushed back his black hair. "Lady Oyana... didn't you know?"

"I forgot... My apologies..." Oyana said as she drew on her hookah. "When one gets old, one forgets many things. But I still remember the importance of the Round Table Council of Five..."

"Thank you for the reminder, Lady Oyana. Archmage Dilanna considered that as well." Von tore a gemstone from his cuff and placed it at the very center of the dining table. "Because Archmage Dilanna's health makes travel inconvenient, she gave me this so that she may discuss methods of exterminating the undead monsters outside Canfoer with Lord Yetara and Your Excellency Labrador."

"Hmm... a Wonderlight Spell..." Oyana exhaled smoke onto Von's gemstone. Then an Old Gods-derived magical formation emerged across the wine-red gem.

"May the Midnight Goddess Kunsilanna bless you all..." The magical formation on the gemstone began to reveal the image of Archmage Dilanna.

Lord Yetara of Canfoer sipped his wine as he said, "Good evening to you as well, Lady Archmage Dilanna."

Archbishop Labrador clasped his hands together. "May the High God bless you as well—"

Von Molakasu said, "May you be in good health."

Witch leader Oyana said absentmindedly, "Good evening to you as well, Lady Archmage Dilanna."

"Now that everyone is here, I shall briefly discuss the undead monsters outside Canfoer City..." Archmage Dilanna's projection said. "The mages under my command have investigated. Although the undead monsters outside the city draw their origin from the decaying evil power of the evil god Rosa Kevin, there is no direct evidence that the evil god Rosa Kevin has been resurrected... So please rest assured."

"Nonsense..." Oyana muttered.

"If that is the case, then what caused this sudden outbreak of undead monsters outside the city?" Von said, gripping the armrest of his chair. "I recall that on Mountain-Sealing Day, Risala's Spider Demon destroyed Mira Cathedral and killed dozens of high-ranking clergy. Could there perhaps be some connection..."

"According to the conjecture of my friend—the late Sister Green Milan... May the God of Rest guard her..." Archmage Dilanna's projection said. "Before her death, she suspected that someone within the Church had been trading with Risala's Spider Demon, selling the Church's holy water to those dreadful monsters at exorbitant prices... And then such a terrible incident occurred..."

"Ridiculous~" Oyana's contempt interrupted Dilanna. "Monsters are monsters. How could they use the Church's holy water? Aren't they afraid of being purified? Besides, where would monsters get the money to buy holy water? This is nothing but baseless nonsense."

"Oh... Let us hope so..." Dilanna's projection smiled at Oyana and Cardinal Labrador. "But if someone truly is trading with Rosa Kevin's remnants, then that would be... truly terrifying... Perhaps this invasion of Canfoer by undead monsters was planned by them..."

"May the High God forgive Sister Green Milan—" Cardinal Labrador said as he looked at Dilanna's projection. "I also sent people to investigate the slums south of Canfoer City, but the information I received was that people consumed too much cursed food, which caused them to become undead and transform into monsters."

"Oh?" Yetara's interest was piqued by Bishop Labrador. "What do you mean by that?"

"My lord..." Cardinal Labrador said with clasped hands, "although no one within Canfoer City goes hungry under your wise leadership, people in the villages and slums outside the city constantly die from food shortages and curses. Those poor people live too far from the churches and do not receive enough holy water to purify their food and water sources, leaving them with no choice but to consume food tainted by the Rosakavin Curse..."

As he spoke, Cardinal Labrador shed two cloudy tears.

"These curses accumulated over time, causing them to turn into living corpses and undead, thus giving rise to the undead monsters outside the city..." Cardinal Labrador looked toward Canfoer's lord—Yetara. "My lord, no matter how impoverished the people outside the city may be, the Ouston Church has never abandoned them—but we truly do not have enough holy water..."

"Ahem..." Lord Yetara turned his head away, unable to meet Bishop Labrador's gaze. "If the Church does not even have enough holy water to save people, how could it sell holy water to monsters... That conjecture truly does seem somewhat unreasonable..."

"I think so as well..." Dilanna's projection replied. "That is why I said it was merely Sister Green Milan's conjecture..."

"Enough—everyone," Von cleared his throat and said, "let us put an end to this mutual wrangling for now. The most important matter before us is resolving the monster problem outside Canfoer City."

"I agree—" Yetara was the first to state his position. "What has passed is in the past. What matters is the present."

At that moment, inside a residence in the Upper District, Tiadam and Denolan were lying in a hot spring bath. The sulfur-scented water washed away Tiadam's exhaustion from the day.

"Ah~ What a strange villa..." Tiadam stretched his arms. "It even comes with a hot spring... I have to say, the lives of the wealthy are beyond anything we can imagine..."

"Um... Tiadam... don't you find this a little uncomfortable?" Denolan, sitting across from Tiadam, covered her body and said, "Bathing in front of women, aren't you... em... embarrassed?"

"Oh?"

Tiadam looked behind himself. Two expressionless, burly female maids stood by the door to his left and right like guardian deities, holding the clothes that Tiadam and Denolan would change into afterward.

"My... goodness... Rich people really do have different tastes..."

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