Chapter 50: Retrieving the Shapeshifting Monster, Returning to the Camp

"How is this little thing doing?" Priest Nuor leaned in to take a look at the fox in Jier's arms, finding that the fox looked quite haphazard, like a fake fox carved out of wood; he could not fathom why Knight Jier would like such a pet.

"It's fine, it's fine, right?" Jier said hesitantly, shaking the cloak held in his right hand to make the Shapeshifting Monster wrapped inside emit the whimpering sound of a fox.

Not to mention, although the fox the Shapeshifting Monster had transformed into was a bit sloppy in appearance, its cry was mimicked very well, making anyone who heard it know it was an injured fox.

"Since it's been found, let's go. Don't worry about that corpse from earlier; I will send a Novice Priest later to clean it up." As soon as Priest Nuor finished speaking, Jier interjected: "Is it that young man who opened the door earlier? Ha, at his age, can he handle the environment of the morgue?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Compared to stitching together dead corpses, just coming over to do some simple cleaning is both a simple task and a test. As a priest of my God, how could one fear corpses?"

Priest Nuor said this at the end, and after speaking, he led Jier outside, reminding Jier to turn on the Illumination Ring on his body while he himself turned off the lighting system on the stone pillar in the morgue.

The Glowing Baishi requires recharging; it must either be left in the sun for a long time or sent to the Sun God Church for rapid recharging. The Church of the God of the Dead often sends white stones that can no longer provide light to the homes of believers under the church, letting the believers find a sunny spot in their own courtyards to let the dim white stones soak up the sun. As for the rest of the white stones, they spend money to have them sent by intermediate Merchants to the Sun God Church to help them recharge.

Once the penny-pinching Priest Nuor turned off the morgue's lighting, Jier turned on the Illumination Ring on his left hand, and instantly, red light shone all around.

"This light of yours..."

Priest Nuor did not know what to say, so Jier added: "It's not white light, right? When I bought it from a Magic Apprentice back then, they didn't have any cheap white light Illumination Rings left. These other-colored Illumination Rings were cheaper, so I bought two. Actually, as far as the lighting effect goes, especially for me, the color of the light doesn't matter; as long as there is a bit of light, the eyes of Knights can clearly see things."

"That is true. According to the Church of the God of Wealth, you get what you pay for. Actually, this is not bad. I just want an illumination ornament that can be activated and powered by Divine Power; otherwise, every time I come down here, I have to turn on all the lights, which is truly a waste." Priest Nuor shook his head.

Jier, however, noticed a key point: "You said there are also illumination ornaments powered by Divine Power? Who crafts them? Mages?"

"Of course not. Although every church has its own technology for crafting a set of weapons, equipment, and items related to its own Divine Power, if you want some common, everyday things, you can just go to the Craftsman God Church. Those Artisan Clerics are both priests of their respective churches and excellent craftsmen who changed professions in previous years. They can often adapt to the Divine Power possessed by each church and help forge some items that can be supported by Divine Power."

"Speaking of which, Knight Jier. Is it true that you are not restricted in your strength by the stone ball on your left hand? I wanted to ask this question just now—is your strength too high, or is it actually not that useful?"

Priest Nuor asked with confusion.

The priest was walking in front, so Jier could not see the other's face, nor did he know what the other's expression was at this moment.

Jier looked at the stone ball held in his left hand. At this very moment, a large amount of Life Energy, simulated by the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture within his body, was constantly resisting and wearing down the dark aura on the stone ball. If Jier had not activated 【Grass and Wood Source】, his strength would likely be about the same as an ordinary person's at this moment. No, it would still be stronger, but only to a limited extent.

"This thing is quite powerful. Of course, it's not that my strength is too high; I just took a shortcut. I used another power within my body that is not a Knight's Life Energy to temporarily help resist the dark power on the stone ball. So, my own strength has not been depleted during this process." Jier explained.

"So that's how it is. We haven't used this thing before, so it seems the explanations in books are limited after all. The scope of application for many things can only be known after using them personally." The priest walked in front, nodded with his back to Jier, and seemed to look relieved.

Jier did not care about Priest Nuor's thoughts at the moment. He shook the Shapeshifting Monster on the cloak in his arms and found that this guy seemed to have reorganized its consciousness, bringing those scattered, formless 'slugs' back under its control. Although it looked listless, it was at least in the shape of a whole fox.

When the two walked out of the morgue, the priest turned his head and saw the Huimao Hu Li being dangled in Jier's hand. He blinked his eyes, not knowing if it was an illusion, but this fox shape looked much more pleasing to the eye than when he first saw it in the morgue just now?

"How is this little thing?" The priest could not help but ask.

Jier smiled: "Much better, but it's still a bit listless mentally. However, this guy did something wrong, so it should be punished. That moment just now counts as its punishment. I think it will be much more well-behaved in the future and reduce its wild nature. Next time, next time, it won't dare to run off privately to steal and eat the corpses of the dead."

Jier used his left hand to hand the stone ball emitting a dark aura to Priest Nuor, while his right hand dangled the listless Huimao Hu Li, and he said: "Sorry to trouble you today, and for delaying the time you have to recover your Divine Power. I apologize for the trouble I've caused you. If there are any small things you need my help with in the future, please feel free to ask."

Priest Nuor gathered the Divine Power of the God of the Dead in his right hand and received the Founengliang stone ball from Jier's hand while it hovered in the air.

In fact, books have said that people whose strength is restricted are basically unable to drop the stone ball in their hands by their own means, unless they cut off their own palms. But at this moment, as soon as Jier opened his palm and flicked it, he accurately flicked the dark and deep stone ball so that it hovered above Priest Nuor's palm.

Clearly, Jier did not need anyone else's help to discard this Founengliang stone ball at any time. Seeing this scene, Priest Nuor sighed inwardly; indeed, one cannot fully believe what is written in books. Otherwise, if Knight Jier really had other plans or purposes today, it would have been a very dangerous thing for him to enter the empty morgue alone with him just now.

But fortunately, they really were just looking for a lost pet fox, which made Priest Nuor feel relieved while also complaining about the High Priest's excessive caution. One must know that Yemei Town is currently suffering from internal and external troubles; no matter what conflicts exist, it is not the time for internal forces to fire at each other.

Even if Bell were dissatisfied, he could not possibly incite an outside young Knight to run into the Church of the God of the Dead in the middle of the night to cause trouble.

"It wasn't much trouble. However, if you really want to help, please do me a favor and help other priests of the Church of the God of the Dead if you encounter them in trouble in the future! Of course, if you find it very difficult at that time, then forget it."

Jier nodded. Since things had reached this point, he now owed a favor to the Church of the God of the Dead; how could he not act if he saw a priest of the Church of the God of the Dead in trouble in the future?

But future matters can be discussed in the future; for now, he would just nod and agree.

The two walked to the front courtyard. Because Jier and the other moved quite quickly and did not delay much, when they returned, Weier and the others were still checking the front courtyard with the church priests.

There were many flower beds and plants in the front courtyard, as well as many living facilities. Most of the priests also lived in rooms here. The priests' lives were very simple, basically just a single room, a bed, and a wooden cabinet, and the room area was not large.

This made the two, Bawei, who were seeing the living conditions of church priests for the first time, feel a bit regretful. In the impressions of Bawei and Sipulu, church priests were always decent and luxurious; when they went out to do things, they were led by six people, and they were supported and surrounded by local believers everywhere they went.

They did not expect their actual lives to be so simple, which made Bawei even ask the young priest accompanying him how much money the priests themselves had in their pockets privately.

This question was presumptuous, and the young priest stammered without answering much, which made Bawei feel smug. Clearly, the pocket full of Silver Coins and Gold Coins in his pocket was definitely much richer than the young priest in front of him.

This made Jier, who saw the other party again, a little surprised. He did not know what Bawei had eaten; his state was obviously high, his chin was slightly raised, and his voice was much louder when he spoke.

"What good thing happened?" Jier walked over, showed the listless Huimao Hu Li in his hand to everyone who had gathered, and then asked Bawei.

It was a close call that Bawei was not stupid; he did not really say anything nonsense in front of the church priests. He just scratched his head honestly, smiled, but said nothing, yet it seemed as if he had said something.

"It's this guy. Thank you all for helping me tonight. This guy actually ran to the morgue in the backyard to make a mess. It caused trouble for everyone tonight and delayed the time you had to recover your Divine Power."

"I would like to thank everyone again for your help and understanding. We won't disturb you any further, and we will leave now."

After Jier finished speaking, he bowed slightly to the several priests, then urged Weier and the others to follow behind him and walked out of the gate.

And after the priests saw Jier and the others walk out of the church, they immediately closed the church gate. While walking toward the hall where the Statue of the God of the Dead was placed, they whispered to Priest Nuor, asking how he had caught that fox just now.

Priest Nuor did not care much about this, but raised the Founengliang stone ball hovering on his right palm and told the others that this thing was not that easy to use.

As soon as Jier and his group walked out of the gate of the Church of the God of the Dead, the five Town Guards who saw them come out immediately trotted over.

The listless Huimao Hu Li that Jier was dragging in his hand was clearly the 'culprit' that had made everyone busy for nothing this time.

"Knight, congratulations on successfully finding your pet. Is this it? It looks really beautiful!" The Town Guard Squad Leader who led the team knew how to talk, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he began to praise Jier's 'pet'.

Jier smiled: "It was found in time, and it didn't cause more trouble for the church priests. This is some money to thank you for your help; please take it."

On the way back from the backyard, Jier had turned off the 【Grass and Wood Source】 ability, so these Town Guards did not see the Divine Power radiance in Jier's eyes. He accurately fished out five Silver Coins from his money bag and placed them into the palm of the squad leader who led the team.

Interestingly, although this person said "no, no" with his mouth, his palm had already opened early to catch the few Silver Coins Jier rewarded him with.

"How can this be? We Town Guards are exactly under the command of Knights like you, and we didn't help much. Finding the pet was something you did yourself, so we really can't afford to take this money."

That is what he said, but this Town Guard Squad Leader had no intention of actually letting go of the coins. Jier pushed the other's tightly gripped palm back toward his body and comforted him: "You can't say that. The fact that the security in the town is so much better than outside the town is all thanks to your hard work patrolling and guarding the curfew, right? So, it is only right for you to take this money. This money is not much; take it to drink some wine, or get a few jars of clean water for your family, or buy some burning wood fuel to make life better for everyone's family."

Since things had reached this point, the squad leader no longer declined and happily accepted Jier's reward temporarily. After all, these five Silver Coins were not just for him alone, but for his entire team of five, including himself.

He would have to distribute the Silver Coins to everyone privately in a while; if he swallowed them alone, this team would immediately fall apart.

On the way back, this team of Town Guards was obviously much more enthusiastic. It was no longer just awe of Jier's status and position; more of it was gratitude for Jier's generosity. After all, the prices of various materials in the town were soaring now. These Town Guards were the most numerous in the town, but their official income was not very high, so they could only barely maintain their families' lives in these difficult days.

Many people worked as Town Guards themselves, and their family members also had to take on some odd sewing and mending jobs just to barely allow the whole family to squeeze into a small room and barely survive.

The one Silver Coin per person that Jier gave could immediately allow the whole family to drink clean water to their heart's content, instead of drinking the thin Wheat Porridge currently being boiled on the streets of the town to quench their thirst.

No one had starved inside or outside the town; after all, the Sasi Family had barns full of grain. Once they opened their barns to sell grain at low prices, they immediately drove the price of grain sold publicly in the town to an extremely low level.

Some people had even started using grain as fuel for fires.

After returning to Caimen Inn, before walking into the Yingdi of Jier, Jier showed the Shapeshifting Monster he had been carrying the whole way to Weier and the other two, and said to them: "Pay attention to its movements from now on, especially when the Yingdi is setting up or breaking camp; that is often when it is most chaotic, and this guy will likely seize the opportunity to slip away."

"We understand, my lord." Weier took the lead, and the three of them said.

"Although a cage cannot hold this guy, I will ask a Dwarf to help make a wooden cage later to lock it inside. Every time we set up or break camp, just have one person specifically watch that cage. Hey, stop pretending, you heard that, right?"

Jier fiercely shook the Shapeshifting Monster in his hand: "I am warning you, you are a surrendered captive. Do you see those Human Soldier captives in my group? You will act exactly like them. Stay obediently, and you won't be short of food or drink, nor will you lose your life."

"This incident is only this once; if you run away again next time, I will not be so polite." Jier patted the Magic Dagger 【Heart Fire】 at his waist: "Do you want to taste its scorching flames? I have seen your true form, and I don't think Shapeshifting Monsters like you can withstand even a bit of its high-temperature flames."

"K-know, understood." The Shapeshifting Monster replied in a dejected tone using Human Common Language.

Only at this moment, when it spoke human words, did it seem like a real Monster, rather than a Huimao Hu Li.

It had pretended to be a fox too well before, which led to Weier and the other two, who knew its true nature, almost letting it run away.

After dealing with this matter, Jier finally led his men back to the Yingdi to rest as soon as possible.

?? Thanks to book friend "Emperor's Son Who Slew His Father's Enemy" for the one hundred monthly tickets, thank you very much. I also wish all the book friends reading this book a happy new year, with a smooth family life and success in your careers and studies.