Intelligence and Privileges

Half an hour later, Royale and Leonard arrived one after the other. With that, every member of the Nighthawks team who had gone to Old Neil's home yesterday was present. Dunn stepped forward and signaled to Crestet.

"Your Excellency Cecimir, everyone is here."

Crestet Cecimir nodded slightly, then rose to his feet. "Due to certain special circumstances, Tingen City will be placed under martial law for a period of time."

"The Holy Cathedral will send a team of Red Gloves to Tingen. You need only stay put, but since you came into close contact with the contamination, I must preside over your oaths to the Goddess."

"Any questions?" Crestet asked.

After receiving a negative answer, he bent down, picked up the silver-white case by his feet, and placed it on a nearby table.

A sealed artifact? The one that earned you the title of Goddess's Sword? Klein's curiosity about the case was piqued once again.

He began watching the senior deacon's every move closely.

Crestet placed both hands on one corner of the case and pressed down. His dark green eyes instantly turned pitch-black.

The surface of the silver-white case, shaped like a violin case, receded like melting frost and slowly collapsed inward, revealing the object inside.

In an instant, Klein felt as if every light source around him had been distorted and drawn toward the case.

The previously bright room went pitch-black. Apart from the case, no source of light remained.

Leon's vision was unaffected, and he was the first to see what lay inside the case: a pure white bone sword.

In the pitch-dark alchemy room, the short sword quietly radiated a pure white, lustrous glow.

Its surface looked immaculate, but a closer look revealed layers upon layers of symbols packed deep within the bone. The mysterious patterns and the blade formed an inseparable whole.

Leon sensed divinity in it. It seemed to have some connection to the Goddess, but he couldn't discern its specific abilities.

Having learned nothing further, Leon turned to the others and discovered that the light was slowly fading from everyone's eyes except his own.

It seems to have a coercive control ability too, Leon added mentally. Then he shifted sideways, briefly blocking Klein's view.

Klein came to at once, finally breaking free of the nightmare he had been forced to watch, unable to escape.

"Place your hand on it."

A moment later, Crestet's voice rang out. He shifted the pure white bone sword and asked, "Who's first?"

The others also snapped awake. When they looked at it again, there was a trace of wariness in their eyes.

Soon, Dunn, as captain, stepped forward and pressed his hand against the sacred sword.

"Repeat after me."

Crestet switched to Hermes and spoke solemnly.

"Evernight Goddess, more exalted than the starry skies and more everlasting than eternity;"

"I swear to you by my true name and my spirituality."

"I, Dunn Smith, ..."

Dunn followed Senior Deacon Cecimir, solemnly reciting the oath.

It was broadly an oath of absolute loyalty to his faith, meant to rule out the possibility of lingering contamination.

He then withdrew his right hand. Both men traced a crimson moon on their chests and said in low voices:

"Praise the Goddess."

Crestet smiled and returned the salute.

Afterward, Klein, Royale, and Leonard repeated what Dunn had done, each swearing an oath to the Goddess.

When Leon, the last one, stepped forward, there was an eager expression on his face. Just as he was about to place his hand on the sword,

Crestet abruptly pulled the case back, snapped the lid shut, and pressed his right hand down on it heavily and slowly.

The darkness vanished in an instant, and the light of the gas lamps filled the room once again.

Leon saw Crestet's pitch-black eyes return to dark green at the same moment and felt somewhat puzzled.

Why did it run out of power when it was my turn?

Immediately afterward, he heard Crestet say to the others, "Please leave us to speak in private."

Klein, standing to one side, frowned slightly, but he knew Leon would be fine.

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Dunn led the others silently out of the room.

The moment Leon had been waiting for had arrived, and he couldn't help feeling curious. Was he finally going to show his hand?

He didn't believe for a moment that a senior deacon, one of the Church's higher-ups, had really come to deal with the problems in his report.

Ever since the other party had helped conceal his aura and given him the letter of appointment, Leon had known he must be planning something.

Accepting favors and gifts might leave him indebted, but that didn't mean he could agree to anything. In any case, this wasn't the first time he'd freeloaded off someone in all these years.

"Go on, what do you need me to do?" Just as Leon thought Crestet would make some demand, the latter said nothing.

Crestet immediately put on an amiable expression. "Your Excellency Kaspar, I think there may be some misunderstanding between us."

That's not how this is supposed to go, is it?

Under Leon's puzzled gaze, Crestet took out an old booklet and handed it to him. "This is everything the Church has recorded about the Erdtree Church. It may be of help to you."

Leon accepted it and opened it. After finding that it was indeed what he needed, he refused to give up and asked, "What does the Church want in exchange?"

After all, what came free cost the most, and he didn't want any more trouble cropping up.

"No, none of that. We don't want anything in exchange."

Crestet's expression was peculiar. "The Pontiff said that the Goddess's oracle instructed us to remind you to recover your strength without revealing your whereabouts, and to provide you with support to a certain extent."

"That's all?" Leon grew increasingly wary. He had already silently decided that if the other party continued to show this desire to invest in him,

he would flee immediately. If the other party stopped him, he would escape this vortex even if it meant destroying this body and leaving his spirit unable to return to his true body!

As if sensing the faint tension in the air, Crestet suddenly seemed to remember something. "There is one more thing."

Leon nodded slightly, signaling for him to continue.

"The Pontiff also said that the Goddess hopes you will help this world with something after you recover your strength. You have the right to refuse, and it will never stand in the way of your own interests."

Hearing a specific request, Leon eased the tension. Compared with the abstract cycle of investment and returns, he preferred fixed terms like these.

Leon didn't rush to agree. Instead, he asked, "Why is it always the Pontiff who says these things? Can't you receive oracles yourself?"

"That's not the case. It's just that this matter wasn't communicated directly to me."

"All right, I agree." Faced with such a favorable deal, Leon had no reason to refuse.

"Good."

Crestet breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "There's one more thing. The Goddess said that if you absolutely refused, I was to show you this. If you agreed, I was to give it to you at the end anyway."

With that, he took a folded piece of paper from inside his clothes and handed it to Leon.

Leon was about to open it when Crestet stopped him.

"Is there something else?" Leon was a little surprised. Was this going to be one twist after another?

Crestet opened his mouth, then said quietly, "The Pontiff meant for you to open it when you're alone."

With that, he walked out, leaving Leon alone in the room.

Baffled, Leon unfolded the paper, then abruptly froze on the spot.

A terrifying aura flashed through the underground area and vanished. What was written on the paper had nearly made Leon lose control of himself.

In disbelief, he read the English word on the paper again and again. It was almost impossible for it to appear in this world.

Hometown (native place)

When Leon hurried outside, Klein told him that the senior deacon had already left.