At night, the religious area in the eastern side of Dragon City was a tranquil and peaceful place, which was a sharp contrast to the bustling and noisy city center. The area once belonged to the more than ten religious forces in Brettonia, but now it was basically dominated by the Holy Light. The faint Holy Light enveloped the whole area, which expulsed the darkness, and brought peace.
Tap, tap...
Between the two rows of looming religious buildings, a woman’s figure seemed insignificant.
The woman lightly walked on the smooth, milky-white stone slab. Each of her steps sent out a firm sound, which disturbed the tranquility of the night.
The woman was quite tall. The simple holy robe that she wore made it difficult to cover her ample and well-developed curves. Her brown wavy hair hung in front of her chest, and her cherry lips were exceptionally eye-catching under the night.
As she walked, she seemed to have a natural affinity to the faint holy light on both sides of the road. It was like she was wearing a white-golden veil, which showed her pure and holy personality traits.
She went straight to the corner of the religious district, towards a gray-black fortress, which was one of the few places in the entire religious area that was not covered by the holy light, and also the most prestigious institution of Holy Light Religion, the Inquisition.
Actually, most of the powerful religions in Western Continent have a similar arbitration institution. However, none of them was as notorious as this heretic inquisitor.
Even if a church’s Holy Woman could barely be included in the high-level structure of the church, she didn’t have much contact with the inquisitor. This time, she came here with insufficient courage, but considering the mission, the woman took a deep breath and knocked the thick wooden door.
"I am the Dragon City parish Holy Woman Marina. I want to see the Chief Inquisitor."
The woman forcefully stabilized her breathing and appealed.
After a long while, the wooden door was slowly opened, revealing an endless gloom. Within the darkness, a few pairs of red eyes faintly looked at her.
Even though she had been promoted to the high order profession, being watched by the inquisitors from the darkness, Marina was still felt uneasy.
"Come in."
The inquisitor silently responded. The red lights drifted away in the darkness, and Marina quickly followed. Her figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.
After walking in the dark for some unknown distance, a little light suddenly appeared in her field of vision, and Marina adjusted her eyes to accommodate the sudden glow. However, she found out that it was a candlestick, and sitting next to the candlestick was an old man who seemed to have one foot in the grave. With a tight heart, Marina recognized that this seemingly ordinary old man was actually the Chief Inquisitor of Dragon City parish, Count Conrad.
He was once a famous noble in Brettonia. In his youth, due to the accidental lost of his love one, he later joined the embrace of the Holy Light, and gradually advanced to become the chief Inquisitor of an area. Count Conrad was a genuinely ruthless character, even worse than Archbishop Rowan. It was just that in his advanced years, he was sent by his clique to head the Inquisition in Dragon City, seemingly for the purpose of letting him enjoy his retirement years. However, when facing this old man directly, one could feel a strong vitality that emanated from his body.
"Do you come here for those two Dragon City Guards?"
Sitting beside the candlestick, Conrad was thumbing through a thick dossier as he sent out his question without even lifting his head.
Marina forced herself to muster the courage to say, "Yes. I come for them. They are innocent, definitely not a spy!"
Count Conrad asked, "What is your guarantee?"
"I… guarantee with my reputation!"
"Oh? With your reputation?" Count Conrad said with moderate space, "The reputation of the Holy Woman of a parish does have some weight."
Seeing that the matter seemed to have a favorable turn, Marina said, "Then, could you please release those two?"
"Release them?" Count Conrad closed the dossier, raised his head, looked at Marina, and then said, "You guys Holy Women are truly benighted. Aside from attractive appearance, deep inside, you are rotten to the core, empty, just like actors who prostituted themselves, fooling ignorant people under the sun. The real world can’t tolerate you, these idiots."
Listening to Conrad unusually vicious biting words, Marina’s heart was surprisingly calm.
"In short, could you please release them?"
"No. They are important suspects." Conrad coldly refused. "By letting you in, I, this old man just want to see for myself the extent of the stupidity of the Holy Woman. Now that I have seen it, you can go."
"Count Conrad!"
"Are you unwilling? You think I’m being a bully? Very well, I’ll make an exception and say a few more words. Although the report about the two Nine Regions people came from anonymous sources, it is quite weighty. There is ample evidence that they are inextricably linked with the previous attack on the eastern church by the natives of Nine Regions."
"But that’s not enough to say that they’re spies! I can definitely prove it to you!"
Conrad said, "Perhaps. But actually, I don’t really care whether they are spies or not. Therefore, even if you can prove anything, I do not care. What I care about is their Dragon City Guards identity."
"Dragon City Guards identity?"
"For so many years, Bedivere operate the Dragon City Guard like it’s a smuggling operation. Rowan is already old, so he already has no drive, always hesitating to make the big move. Now that we have this opportunity, the Inquisitor can push the narrative that the Dragon City Guards have been colluding with the Nine Regions heretics. This reason should be enough for the church to take further action."
"But that’s a complete lie!"
"Maybe, but who cares? As long as I put my men on their trial, they will say anything." Count Conrad lightly said, "So, I should thank you instead. Were it not for you leading them to the church, it would be very difficult for us to do so. It’s very rare for Bedivere’s men to enter the church, but you’ve actually won their trust."
Marina felt dizzy. I-Is this really the action of the believers of Holy Light? Won’t this virulent action provoke the punishment from the Holy Light?
Even though the inquisitor has always been notorious, Marina thought it was just occasional violence from a small number of fanatics. Unexpectedly, the darkness has even broken her imagination!
"Now, those two women should’ve been tortured. How long could they persist? One day? Two days? Holy Woman, you better go back and wait for the good news of the collusion between Dragon City Guards and the heretics of Nine Regions, which would soon spread all over Brettonia." Count Conrad then sneered, stretched out his hand to extinguish the candle, and plunged everything into the darkness.
"In your dreams!"
Accompanied by the shout, a dazzling luster bloomed in the darkness. The silvery sword was fiercely thrust straight at Count Conrad, which completely changed his countenance. Immediately, he wielded his cloak and wrapped that sword in its shadow. In an instant, the shadow was torn asunder by the sword, and the Count took this opportunity to withdraw.
The Inquisitor castle was the Count’s territory, and every darkness was his power. Here, the Count was omnipotent.
However, the next moment, a huge golden ball of fire violently burned, expelling all the darkness around it. With this light, one could see in the spacious stone chamber, a crowd of sorry-looking inquisitors beside Count Conrad. For this sudden change and his exposed whereabout, he was endlessly surprised.
"Able to banish the eternal night enchantment, this is Dragon fire!" Conrad squinted his eyes, and then the golden flame came into his vision, which startled him. "Bedivere! How did you come in? When?"
"Humph!" Bedivere shook his head and angrily grunted. Then he silently discarded the remnant of the abandoned ring into the Dragon’s fireball, making it burn more violently.
"Since you dare to make a move against my people, did you really think that I will not come? Dragon City is my territory. In this city, there’s no place that I can enter, as for when…"
While speaking, Bedivere’s eyes turned toward Marina. "I have to thank you for her assistance."
Marina’s whole body turned cold as if she had fallen into an ice hole. "Bedivere, you misunderstood…"
"For so many years, I have indeed misunderstood a lot." Bedivere coldly took his eyes off Marina.
Conrad grimly said, "That’s indeed a surprise entry. Unfortunately, it’s foolhardy! Now that you’re here, don’t even think of leaving!"
During his laughter, the Chief Inquisitor turned into a thick shadow. The initially expelled by Dragon-fire eternal night quickly recovered and swallowed everything into darkness.
As the Chief Inquisitor, Conrad, though old, still has the strength of an intermediate high order profession. Though it was still somewhat inferior compared to Bedivere, however, within this Inquisitor castle, as it turned out, there was the Tired Dragon array that was specifically aimed at the Dragon Clan bloodline. Once launched, the Dragon Clan’s strength would be suppressed to the lowest point. At that time, Conrad had the confidence that he could bring down this illustrious Dragon City Master!
"Funny worms." With that, Bedivere jerked his right hand away from supporting the Dragon fireball, and then pulled out the long sword on his waist. A row of mysterious inscriptions then appeared on the sword.
"The King… Grants me… Victory!"
Along with that firm prayer, the inscriptions on the sword shone as bright as day. Bedivere’s imposing manner multiplied exponentially, totally different than the Dragon Clan blood’s brand-new strength.
At the same time, Count Conrad was horrified. "This is the power of the Knight King, you actually still retain…"
The next moment, the silvery sword, like splitting the heaven and earth apart, swept everything with endless power.
When the sword wind stopped, the starlight fell.
This initially blessed by the Holy Light, refugee of the shadow, and the indestructible Inquisitor castle, was torn to pieces by Bedivere’s sword, leaving only its ruin.
Within this ruin, the injured inquisitors were groaning and moaning, and in front of Bedivere, Count Conrad fell down with panic-stricken eyes. Just now, the sword wind has grazed his neck, which almost took his life.
Bedivere somewhat tiredly withdrew the sword, swept his gaze, and then saw the two familiar figures.
Liu Li, with wonderful round eyes, looked around her in disbelief. The girl’s hand was holding a piece of chicken leg, and her cheeks were bulging, straining to chew.
"This place can’t handle the heat?"
Just now, she clearly felt the raging swift and fierce sword wind. However, she and Bai Shixuan had ingeniously avoided it. Then the brick wall collapsed, and everything around them shattered, but she and little Bai were safe and sound.
Bai Shixuan was also extremely surprised. "I-Is this the help mentioned by Senior Brother? Then he wants us to go out, right?"
Bedivere looked at these two people and then scolded, "What are you two gawking about? Get away from here!"
While speaking, he stepped forward and rashly carried the two girls with his hands. He nimbly jumped, soaring and turning into a big Dragon in mid-air before flying towards his own castle.
After nobody knows how much time has passed, the figure of the dragon completely disappeared in the night. Among the ruins, a tall woman slumped and sat down on the ground, her feminine face was filled with sadness.
"Throughout this, he didn’t even spare a glance at me."
"Why did things turn out like this?"
At the same time, a young man dressed in black, furtively moved into the directions of the religious area, intending to save people. But, looking at the distant ruin of Inquisitor castle, Wang Lu could not help but stare in awe.
"Was... Liu Li too hungry that she went crazy and started eating the brick wall?"