Chapter 345: Things That Have Been Happening All This While
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The dust had just settled, yet they could hear a commotion coming from the Gnarled Grove again. But this time, it sounded like humans and the pounding of hooves. Dots of fire began to emerge from the forest and they began to slowly increase. Lily summoned her Frostfire Claws instinctively while the others were also on their guard.
A series of hoofbeats accompanied by a group of knights appeared from the dense forest. The knights were riding war horses and they were draped in the glittering armour of the Church's knight regiment as well as heraldic sacred gowns. Each of them was wielding a sword, which had a magical glow on it and the group seemed like it was going to war. Another group of people, who were military sorcerers followed from behind.
Meanwhile, more knights had exited the forest and among them were knights of the kingdom. Riding horses, these knights almost overran the open space on the lakeside but what they saw almost had their jaws on the ground: the place was piled with black rocks. There were only a few strangers there, but their prey was gone.
"Halt!"
The knights stopped. A few knights, who appeared to be the leaders, came up to Hao Ren and the rest, but did not dismount. With swords in their hands, the knights asked cautiously, "Who are you people? What are you doing here on the lakeside?"
Hao Ren was a little stunned, not really sure what was happening. But, he quickly replied with the usual bullsh*t for the nth time, "We're wandering sorcerers from the Northen Empire. We're also registered mercenaries in the Kingdom of Holletta searching for the missing Orb of the Holy Synod."
He was careful about their real identity around these knights. He just briefly mentioned the search operation, but he did not tell them that he had found the Orb. The middle-aged knight, probably one of the leaders became even more cautious. "The Orb? The search has been called off half a month ago! You..."
Sensing the knight's suspicion, Hao Ren was figuring out how to respond. Suddenly, Big Beardy came up to them and spoke, "Are you a knight of the Church? Which diocese are you from? We are ascetics on the goddess' mission."
The clothes on Big Beardy and his company were almost torn like a sack, and with their low sense of presence, you would not have noticed their presence if they had not spoken. The leader of the knights initially thought the four were just some poor mercenaries. It was only when the ascetic revealed himself that the knight began to notice him and his grey robe, which was an ascetic's signature garment. Big Beardy took out a shiny metal plate from his robe and waved it in front of the knight. The latter took a gander and said, "An ascetic? How did you end up here? I've never heard of the Church sending ascetics..."
The knight was cautious and he did not take the "ID Card" at face value. After all, ascetics were a very special group of people in the Disciples of Glory; they were ot regular forces, but elites directly under the command of the pope and the goddess. The appearance of the ascetics at the lakeside was just unbelievable. Big Beardy looked at the insignia on the knight's garment, recognising it. He took his hat off and said, "You're a senior knight under Bishop Gelton. Then, you must have recognised us at the 'reception ceremony' a few months back."
The reception ceremony was a gathering held when the Orb of the Holy Synod arrived in the Beinz Diocese a few months back. The leader began to size the four of them up and appeared shock after a few moments. "You... the four of you are the four masters of the Orb of the Holy Synod? How did you end up here?"
Becky jumped out and patted her chest, pretending to be their leader. "Of course! We're the mercenaries who found the Orb! We also found the four masters. Aside from a manor for the Orb, I wonder how much these four masters are worth—"
Hao Ren quickly dragged the mercenary with the machine-gun mouth away. Becky had been a fantastic person; the only downside was, she could not guard her mouth when she got excited. The way she told the story was almost as if she had kidnapped the four ascetics...
Big Beardy turned and glanced at Becky, his face totally wooden. "We're surely not that precious. But, we are at least worth a few fine horses."
Hao Ren tried to smooth things over. "You're being humble. The way I see it, the four of you are at least worth two houses..."
Vivian quickly hit him on the back and quietly said to him, "If you don't know what to say, don't say anything."
The knights and the rest were now a little confused; the Orb of the Holy Synod, which had been missing for months was finally found and even the four masters, who were declared martyrs were now standing right in front of them. They found everything so surreal. The professional knights later came to their senses as their leader turned around and gave his right-hand man some orders, "Launch the signal. Summon a few teams to escort the sacred orb back to town!"
His right-hand man then shot a flare into the sky. As the flare exploded, their leader suddenly realised something as he looked at the mountains of black rocks, dumbfounded. He turned to Big Beardy and felt a sense of awe. "Master, a group of rock monsters were here... Were the four of you the ones who cleaned them up?"
Big Beardy pointed at Hao Ren and said frankly, "He was the one."
The knight swallowed. He was already stunned enough when he found the bits and pieces of the rock monsters. He would not have connected it to the mercenaries. He would have rather believed that it was the ascetics who had done the incredible thing. But, the ascetics had given all credit to the mediocre mercenary. He found it even more incredible. "Him? Alone?"
"They killed about two on average." Hao Ren smiled wryly as he pointed to the others. "I killed 122."
The knight's jaw completely dropped to the ground this time. He almost could not believe his ears. "... Are all sorcerers from the Northern Empire monsters?"
Hao Ren stood with his arms crossed, feeling proud. The MDT vibrated in his pocket, buzzing directly into his mind. "Yeah, keep pretending. Besides running a few rounds and burning some calories, what have you actually done? Even Becky had higher DPS than you!"
The knight knew nothing about what actually happened. Nonetheless, Hao Ren was already a monster in his eyes. He was just a lower-ranking officer, so he did not ask too much. Realising that the air had been cleared, Y'zaks stepped forward and asked, "What happened earlier? Were the rock monsters being chased here? We saw the outpost at the lakeside. What happened?"
The knight saw the two-and-a-half-metre giant and he could not help holding on to his helmet. "Don't you know already? Where have you been for the past half month?"
"We've been with them. Not in the Beinz Blood Lake." Hao Ren pointed at Big Beardy. "We just came here by teleportation. It was about the Orb and it's classified. We'll tell the bishop when we see him. Why don't you tell us what happened here?"
Using the Orb of the Holy Synod as an excuse worked. The knight was not suspicious of him anymore, and began to relate what had happened as he sighed. "The rock monsters came from Dragonspine Ridge... You do know, right? Good. About half a month ago, the rock monsters began to multiply in great number and they breached the Leyton defense. There was an ancient route at the side of the mountain range. They penetrated the Gnarled Grove through this path and travelled all the way to this area. We were ordered to round up and terminate these monsters. We had been tracing them for two days, two nights and we successfully cornered them here until you guys finished them all. The lakeside outpost fell a few days ago. Other outposts around the sacred lake have been attacked almost on a daily base. These are not classified intel, so you can ask around and find out. Many mercenaries are guarding the outer lines of defense to prevent the rock monsters from entering the kingdom."
"How is the situation in Leyton?" Hao Ren asked.
"It has been retaken. Marshal Ophra is guarding the town now. You guys can put up there," the knight said with a smile as he shrugged. "But, I cannot guarantee that you'll get a good night's sleep because of the trembling earth when those rocks run. There have been a few landslides in the nearby mountains as well."
Suddenly, Big Beardy asked nervously, "What about the sacred lake? What do the rock monsters want, coming to the sacred lake? Did they spoil the lakewater?"