A physical examination

"Now?" Lumian was startled.

Although he was eager to explore the Church Underground, he wasn't in such a rush!

A thought flashed through his mind, and he countered, "Can't we wait until tonight?"

At that time, in the dead of night, with only two or three servants left in the Church, wouldn't it be easy for extraordinary individuals like myself to sneak in?

Ryan said gently but firmly, "Now is the best time."

"Think about it, if we can imagine that there are few people in the Church at night and that it lacks protection, do you think the Parish Priest wouldn't think of that?"

"I suspect they will assign strong members of their team to take turns guarding the area, or set up sufficiently Concealment traps that will trigger an alarm if triggered."

"Now, it's almost noon, all the villagers have gone home, and no one will be at the Church to pray at this time. Plus, it's daytime, so the traps won't be activated to avoid accidental triggering. The two Priest and the servants are all at the Church, making it easy for people to lower their guard. In other words, the strongest member of that group will be eating at home without worry. We only need to deal with the Parish Priest, the Assistant Parish Priest, and the three servants."

Lumian nodded thoughtfully and finished speaking for Ryan:

"Before April 3rd, this Parish Priest was just Ordinary Person and had not gained any supernatural powers."

Today is April 1st.

"Furthermore, while the Assistant Parish Priest did exhibit some unusual behavior, he was clearly not Core Member of the Parish Priest's team, and the same goes for the three menial servants," Lya added with a smile. "Can't the four of us Beyonder handle five Ordinary Person silently?"

Lumian thought for a moment and said, "But wouldn't that mean we wouldn't be able to wait until the Twelfth Night?"

This is tantamount to touching an anomaly on the Parish Priest's side, and "history" will inevitably change accordingly.

"You yourself said that, compared to us, the Parish Priest and the others are more willing to endure until Lent Festival, more eager to welcome the arrival of the Twelfth Night. As long as we don't kill him, when he wakes up and discovers that someone has been in the Basement, he will only pretend that he didn't notice anything and accelerate his progress in acquiring supernatural power," Lya laughed. "Once he successfully prays for the ' Gift,' he might bring people to hunt us down, but Cordou Village is not small, and our strength is not weak either. If we hide and delay, we can still wait for Lent Festival."

Lumian agreed with this reasoning:

"Okay, now."

He then cautioned, "But at this point, Aurora's eyes haven't fully recovered, so she probably can't help us."

Before visiting Madame Pualis at the Castle, Lumian went home and spoke with Aurora for a while to check on her condition; her eyes might not return to normal until evening.

"It's alright, isn't it because we have Madame Pualis backing us up?" Lya said half-jokingly, the bell on her head ringing softly.

Lumian had no further objections, but cautiously offered a suggestion:

"Before going to the Church, we'll walk around the village to make sure those dangerous fellows like Pierre Berri the Shepherd are all at home."

To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, such as encountering Pierre and others who have already received the "Gift" as soon as they enter the Basement.

Ryan nodded approvingly and agreed.

After they finished discussing the details, Valentine glanced at Lumian and asked coldly, "Does it need purification?"

Lya quickly explained for her companion:

"You entered the Castle and came into contact with Madame Pualis, so you may have been exposed to some Corruption."

"No, I believe Pualis and Lady Book won't do that this time; it makes no sense," Lumian said with certainty.

He had to be certain. He dared not let Valentine purify him again. Compared to yesterday, he was now a "Dancer," and the evil aura had come from within the seal to the surface of his body. If he were to receive the purification of Holy Water, he would probably immediately have serious problems.

According to Aurora's analysis, he is now the kind of person who needs to be purified.

Seeing that Lumian himself felt it was nothing to worry about, Valentine was only trying to be kind, naturally didn't say anything more.

Next, while they were wandering around the Cordou Village, Lumian went home and told his Older Sister about their actions.

Aurora was somewhat annoyed that she couldn't participate and couldn't contribute her share of strength, so she could only volunteer to go to the edge of the village and take on the responsibility of triggering the Loop if anything went wrong.

This doesn't require good eyesight; you just need to be able to vaguely see the road.

After agreeing that if no one came to find her by 12:30, the Loop would Reboot, Lumian bid farewell to Aurora and reunited with Lya and the others.

At this point, the three Official Beyonder had already confirmed the locations of Pierre Berri, the Shepherd, and other Core Member of the Parish Priest' group.

After circling halfway around, they followed a small path to the side of the Church, the same door they had used in the previous Loop when they caught the Parish Priest and Madame Pualis having an affair.

Just as Lumian was about to volunteer to open the door that wasn't usually opened, using a small piece of wire he carried with him, Lya Past, fiddled with the keyhole a couple of times, and pushed open the Deep Brown Wooden Door.

Seeing Lumian looking at her with a slightly surprised expression, she said with a smile, "This is an essential investigative skill."

Don't make lock picking sound so noble... The reason Lumian didn't voice his inner thoughts was because Lya had already taken two steps into the Church.

The Silver Bells on her veil and boots remained motionless and silent.

Lumian attempted to interpret:

"Is it safe and not dangerous to go into Church?"

Lya glanced back at him and said, "Please add the prefix 'purely just going into the Church to deal with the people inside'."

Does this mean the danger in the Basement remains unknown? Lumian roughly understood what Lya meant and had gained some understanding of Divination. However, even with the spiritual enhancement brought about by the "Dancer," he still had no Divination abilities.

At that moment, Ryan walked past him and, together with Lya, went into the Church.

After a few steps, a servant came from the side.

In the blink of an eye, Ryan rushed to the servant's side, raised his right hand, and chopped behind the servant's ear.

The servant Past without uttering a sound, and Ryan caught him and dragged him to the nearest room.

Lya rushed Past, took out a Glass Bottle containing a colorless liquid from somewhere, unscrewed the cap, and poured it into the servant's mouth.

"What is this?" Lumian asked curiously.

Lya maintained her smile and said, "A tranquilizer."

"Well prepared..." Lumian thought to himself.

In this way, they subdued the three servants without alerting the Parish Priest.

Then, Lya carefully crept along the edge of the shadows towards the Parish Priest's room.

She silently turned the Handle and pushed the Wooden Door open a crack, seeing the most powerful man That One Cordou Village lying on a simple wooden Bed, wearing a white Robe with gold trim, breathing slowly and deeply.

Near the door, a table was set with plates of lunch and silver cutlery.

Lya glanced around, then darted inside like a cat, slapping the Parish Priest behind the ear with her palm like a knife.

She then poured most of the remaining sedative into Guillaume Béné's mouth.

"Is it all done?" Lumian Lya poked her head out from beside her.

That's way too easy!

"Otherwise what? What more do you want from an Ordinary Person?" Lya retorted with amusement.

Lumian grunted in agreement and took the initiative to lift the Parish Priest's Robe.

"What are you doing?" Lya, both surprised and suspicious, but her smile remained unchanged.

Without turning his head, Lumian replied, "Examine his body."

He wanted to check if the current Parish Priest had that Black Thorn Symbol on his chest.

Soon, the upper body of the Parish Priest Guillaume Béné was exposed, with nothing but a few noticeable tufts of black hair.

There was no Black Thorn Symbol, nor was there any Black Mark representing a special Contract.

Lumian nodded almost imperceptibly, muttering to himself, "It seems to be a symbol acquired when receiving a ' Gift,' or perhaps it's already there, but requires Meditation to activate?"

"And where did mine come from, on the Twelfth Night?"

The thought that Parish Priest Guillaume Béné not currently possess the Black Thorn Symbol stirred a few malice thoughts in Lumian:

"Would killing him now prevent the Loop from being triggered?"

What kind of Change would occur if we nipped this guy in the bud?

Considering the importance of the Parish Priest in subsequent events, we also want to wait for Lumian to finally overcome himself on the Twelfth Night.

After leaving the Parish Priest's room, Ryan said to him and Lya, "We can't find the Assistant Parish Priest."

"Huh?" Lumian was taken aback at first, then understood why. "He probably went home. He's not allowed to stay at the Church, and no one brings him food."

"This Devil's servant is truly domineering," Valentine muttered, glancing at the Parish Priest in the room.

The four of them did not linger any longer and headed in the opposite direction from the Altar.

The corner there is the entrance to the stairs; the stone steps are very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass at a time, and they are also high and steep.

It spirals upwards to the top of the Church, and downwards to the Underground.

As always, Lya was in front. After walking down a few steps to the bottom, the four Silver Bells on her veil and boots rang simultaneously.

The sound was soft, echoing only within a small area, sometimes rapid, sometimes gentle.

"What does this mean?" Lumian struggled to interpret it based on his previous experience.

Lya turned to the side and smiled:

"This indicates there is some danger, but I cannot determine the degree of danger through Divination."

"You can even Divination from the Castle..." Lumian muttered to himself in astonishment, "Doesn't that mean the Underground is even more dangerous?"

"Not necessarily, perhaps something is causing strong interference," Lya reassured him. "Wasn't Madame Pualis absent from the time at the Castle?"

Having reached this point, faced with such a minor incident, they could no longer back down. They entered the staircase one by one, descending it layer by layer.

Before long, the four of them saw the old brown Wooden Door to the Basement.

Lya raised her hand and pinched her brow, activating her "Spirit Vision," and then went to the Wooden Door.

Although Lumian had not yet mastered the simple movements to activate "Spirit Vision," with the spiritual enhancement from the "Dancer," it didn't take long before he also activated "Spirit Vision," seeing that everyone was rosy-cheeked and very healthy.

Once her companions were all ready, Lya opened the Basement door.

With a creaking sound, Lumian twitched his nose and smelled a familiar scent, delicate and sweet.

He instantly made a connection and quickly told Ryan and the others:

It has Gray Amber smell.

These are materials used in sacrifices to That One Hidden Being known as Fate!