The busy night passed quickly, and several middle and senior officials from Fir City lined up in front of Antiya Lisi.
" Howard, tell me about the situation at the chapel. What exactly happened to your Second Order of Knights?"
"Yes."
A middle-aged man covered in blood stepped forward, his eyes somewhat unfocused, as if he knew that his performance last night had not been very good.
He thought for a moment and then began to speak earnestly:
"Upon receiving your orders, I immediately led the Second Order of Knights to the chapel. When we arrived, a fusion creature was already wreaking havoc."
"To avoid causing further disturbance, we decided to drive the monster into the interior of the chapel to kill it."
"Etc."
Antiya Lisi suddenly reached out to interrupt:
Did you encounter any obstacles during this process?
"No, the process of driving the Rat King into the chapel went very smoothly."
"Go on, I want to hear where the problem lies."
"Yes, there are already several priests on night watch waiting for the monster inside the chapel, but there's a nun on the stairs in the corner who doesn't understand the situation. The monster discovered the weak point in the defenses at the stairs, so it charged straight at the nun."
"You just watched that monster go upstairs?"
When Antiya Lisi asked the question, Grand Knight Howard knew he was in for a scolding, and he gave the explanation he had already prepared:
"Sir, the chapel has too much wooden structure. The stairs that the monster stepped on would collapse if a normal person stepped on them. By the time we chased after it upstairs from another direction..."
"Are all the people dead already?!"
Antiya Lisi suddenly interrupted the Knight Commander's explanation, but Grand Knight Commander Howard readily admitted to it.
That was indeed the case. When the fully armed Holy Crusaders knights stormed onto the roof, they found that the room where dozens of orphans should have been resting was in complete disarray.
The night watchman in the chapel said that the absence of blood meant the nuns had led the orphans to the bell tower to escape the Rat King. So the group continued upwards and finally found a large amount of blood at the top of the chapel's bell tower, along with the Rat King, who had already eaten and drunk his fill.
Having experienced many things, how could the Grand Knight Commander not know what was going on?
The Rat King had clearly made its way upwards, eventually trapping the nuns and orphans there before killing and eating them all.
Although he felt no affection for the orphans destined to become experimental subjects, he knew he had made a grave mistake.
In a fit of shock and rage, Knight Commander Howard cleaved through the already crumbling floorboards of the clock tower's top floor with a single sword strike, watching the enormous ball of flesh plummet downwards, crashing to the ground like a lump of dough after passing through three floors.
He followed closely behind, falling from the height, and before the Rat King could recover from the impact of the fall, he pierced its exposed core with his sword.
That was a brilliant strike. The Rat King Core died instantly, and countless Thorn Rat scattered like stars in the sky, slinking away into every visible and invisible crevice.
But considering the extent of the damage to the chapel, the number of casualties, and the subsequent problems caused by tens of thousands of rats, Howard knew that he probably wouldn't be able to continue as the Grand Knight Commander.
Antiya Lisi looked at the Grand Knight Commander, who still hadn't realized the problem, and repeated his question:
"So by the time you get there, everyone will be dead, right?"
This time, Howard didn't avoid the other person and nodded in a defiant manner:
"Yes, Your Excellency the Archbishop."
"I ask you, could a monster that's only two people tall really eat dozens of orphans and three nuns in just a few minutes?"
Howard was speechless.
"Let me ask you again, even if it could really devour so much flesh and blood, would you be able to find not even a single piece of clothing?"
Howard remained silent. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his observation; how could people not have died when there was blood everywhere?
As for why there were no torn clothes... well, the mice ate them.
Seeing that he was still stubbornly refusing to admit it, Antiya Lisi finally revealed the truth:
"Let me tell you, before dawn, many citizens who were awakened witnessed a miraculous scene—"
"A whole group of people were pulled into the sky from the chapel's bell tower by something unseen. You didn't expect that, did you? You thought rats had eaten these orphans, and you still don't know where your handling of the situation went wrong."
He waved his hand helplessly:
"Go home, Howard. Go home. Don't show your face in the barracks or before me without my orders."
At this moment, Grand Knight Commander Howard finally realized that he had been tricked. A group of people had taken advantage of the appearance of the aggregate monster to forcibly take away dozens of orphans right under his nose, and he and his men had been completely unaware of it.
Like a defeated dog, (former) Grand Knight Howard slunk away from Antiya Lisi's study, while the remaining mid- to high-ranking officials tucked their tails between their legs.
Antiya Lisi concluded:
Yesterday, two aggregate monsters appeared in the city, one in the cathedral and the other in the chapel.
"The one in the cathedral didn't cause much damage and was quickly killed by me, and the one in the chapel was about the same, so we didn't actually suffer much loss."
"But through what happened last night, we can at least learn one thing: how exactly our enemy got into Fir City."
Antiya Lisi pointed upwards:
"They have unique methods of flight. Since they were able to pick up the orphans from the clock tower, they could naturally infiltrate Fir City using similar methods."
Although Antiya Lisi wasn't particularly concerned about how the rebels entered the city, he was ultimately interested in it.
The tunnel that the prisoner had confessed to was confirmed to be fake. Now that the truth has finally come out, he still needs to make some arrangements.
A bishop's deputy suddenly said:
"Sir, should those two lying prisoners be made to suffer a little more?"
Antiya Lisi shook his head upon hearing this:
"No need. One of them has already become a member of the Treant Hunter, and the other was eaten by the Aggregate Monster last night. Let's leave it at that and not worry about it anymore."
" Gorn."
He suddenly called out a name, and another middle-aged man immediately stepped forward. Having learned from Howard's experience, this Grand Knight Commander of the Third Order of Knights looked exceptionally serious and cautious.
"From today onwards, you will simultaneously manage the Second and Third Order of Knights the Holy Crusaders, primarily responsible for maintaining security in the cathedral and chapels to prevent similar incidents from recurring."
"Everyone, starting today, begin Directed Alienation training to counter flying creatures. Even if it's an insect, if it tries to fly into Fir City, shoot it down!"
"Yes!"
The bishop's assistants and the knight commander left to carry out their orders, leaving Antiya Lisi alone in the study.
January 1st...
He leaned back in the high-backed chair and muttered to himself:
"Reinforcements should be... arriving soon."