The Raven Church had kept relatively quiet in earlier years. It had suffered a devastating blow back then, and had also realized that possessing special powers was no reason to get carried away. Against a state apparatus like Basman, it was nowhere near strong enough.
In recent years, however, the Raven Church had recovered somewhat through its discreet operations. It even had a new plan: using the strength it had cultivated over more than a decade to venture deep into the Otherworld, hoping to discover the Raven Queen's whereabouts.
But the sudden news of the Apostle disrupted the Raven Church's plans. As Kordel People, every one of them feared the Apostle, and they knew the news might not be true. Even so, they could not help being drawn to it.
The Raven Messenger flew high in the sky for half the night, evading nocturnal birds of prey and skirting thunderclouds. Along the way, he pecked at some wild fruit, finally landing at a manor surrounded by grape trellises.
As the raven flew into the main building's hall, he began changing back before touching down, landing on the floor as a man in black robes.
"Hah, hah, hah."
The long journey in transformed shape had exhausted him, draining both his mental energy and magic power considerably. But the dozen or so people waiting here were growing impatient, and they all crowded around him.
"Kunlu, how did it go?" "Did you see the Apostle?" "Is Liventemi all right?"
The Raven Messenger waved a hand, then walked over to a chair and sat down, still panting. He accepted a cup of water from someone beside him and drained it. Only after half a minute did his breathing settle.
"I met the people who delivered the message. This is what they said."
Gaier and