"I swear by my pure faith that every word I say from now on will be completely truthful."
Alter gripped the wooden staff in his hand and began to reminisce:
"Since I graduated from seminary, I have been assigned to this somewhat remote town. Everything here is fine, except that the taxes are too heavy, which has caused many commoners to develop Aberration."
"But after a long time, I discovered something was amiss—the seed tax in Hibiscus Town was much larger than I had imagined, and the frequency of collection was also different from what was stipulated."
"Further investigation revealed that some priests who had arrived earlier than me often unintentionally concealed things from me."
"Until then, I still didn't think there was any major problem. I had also discussed the seed tax with the tax official, who said it was an order from the provincial archbishop..."
"Just as I was planning to take some time to go to the provincial capital to meet with the archbishop, the church was suddenly attacked one night."
The thief who broke into the church did not harm anyone or take any valuables; he simply opened a mechanism, revealing a hidden door that I had never seen before.
He stood before that hidden door, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Look inside first before deciding whether to arrest me."
"After stepping through that secret door, I finally learned everything."
A clear look of sorrow appeared on Alter's face, and Xilǐ'er saw it and knew that the other was genuinely moved.
Since entering Hibiscus Town, this bishop has always presented a hypocritical facade.
Even though his sweat-drenched, chubby face still looked somewhat comical as he revealed his true feelings, he could still sense the pain that Alter had felt as if his faith had collapsed.
When a Pure Ones learns of the actions of Stained Ones, is they more enraged or terrified?
What difference was there between their agony at that moment and the agony they felt upon realizing that their true nature was no different from that of Blood Corpse?
Alter continued, head bowed:
"I finally understand just how heinous the things those priests were doing; they blasphemed the doctrine, they blasphemed the Tree God..."
"Of course I didn't arrest the boy who showed me the secret door. Instead, I had him rescue the children trapped in the underground prison first. As for myself, I left the church and went to the residential area."
At this point, Alter's face showed anger and a hint of ruthlessness:
"I was able to identify roughly four Stained Ones, so I sneaked into their homes at night, captured them one by one, and interrogated them."
"By comparing the testimonies of the four individuals, I was able to capture and control all the Stained Ones in Hibiscus Town."
"From then on, I became the leader of these children. I would provide them with shelter, but I wouldn't personally help them harass other towns..."
"After all, I am still the bishop of this town. If I do something too obvious, I will not only be summoned by the archbishop, but I may also be investigated and transferred. If a Stained Ones bishop comes, Hibiscus Town will be completely finished."
"They planned and carried out those things themselves. As rumors of the Stained Ones spread throughout the Yiluo'en Province, everyone thought these rebels were only active in those deep mountains and forests, never imagining that the most remote town had become their stronghold."
As if finally having the chance to reveal his true thoughts, Alter's whole body went limp after he finished speaking, turning him into a somewhat weak fat man.
He said to the two of them:
" Hibiscus Town is so remote that in recent years the provincial capital has only routinely sent inspectors to check on the situation once a year."
"The patrol officers move around at fixed times, so as long as you take a little precautions, there won't be any problems."
"That's all I have to say. I am the leader of the rebels. Whatever you want to do, just come at me."
This makes it sound like Xilǐ'er is the bad guy, he said, looking at Alter.
"The fact that the scepter did not react proves that what you said is indeed true."
"But why don't you believe that the Son of God of the Second Holy See truly despises the Stained Ones?"
"Judging from your expression, it seems you want to avoid the Stained Ones and stay away from the Second Holy See, but you clearly don't understand us at all. Why are you so resistant to us?"
When the question was asked, Alter's expression became somewhat strange:
"This..."
He still didn't loosen his grip on the wooden cane, indicating that he was still telling the truth:
"Because I deceived you before—when you first came, I told you that the Stained Ones of this town had been recalled to Golden Leaf City by the provincial archbishop on the grounds of disgrace, but that was a lie."
[Kunjinkao Tangtangtang] After listening for a while, he finally discovered the blind spot. He stepped forward, looked at Alter, and asked:
"Yes, you captured and interrogated those people alive. If you let them return to the provincial capital alive, they would definitely confess what you did, so you killed them all!"
The moment those words left his mouth, [Kunjinkao Tangtangtang] realized something was wrong.
He started playing relatively late; while he was still a newbie, other players were already easily conquering various towns.
However, he also knew one thing: the priests of the Tree Worship Church all had corresponding Soul Tree in the Holy City. Now that the existence of the Second Holy See was no secret, it was normal for Soul Tree to die every few days.
Before today, the Yiluo'en Province had no influence under the Second Holy See. If Alter killed those Stained Ones, the Holy City would immediately receive the news.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at the limp, obese bishop, who in turn looked up at the Soul Returner:
"Come with me, I'll prove it..."
The knight and the Soul Returner nodded in agreement, and under Alter's guidance, the bookshelf was moved once again.
When the dozen or so boys saw that Alter had no injuries, they all showed expressions of relief.
The fat bishop, with a kind and benevolent expression, said:
"They are good people, we have already reached an agreement."
"You can leave now. Remember to take the supplies with you; they're in the storage room, I've already prepared them."
"Good."
"Thank you, Alter."
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
"..."
Amidst a chorus of thanks, the young boys, none of whom were very old, left the bishop's study.
Seeing their familiar demeanor, the Soul Returner and the Knight exchanged a glance, confirming each other's thoughts.
This must have happened more than once. Alter is probably not lying; he was indeed the behind-the-scenes funder of that group of about a hundred people.
After walking through a long and dark tunnel and past empty cells, Alter finally led the two to the gate at the end of the tunnel.