Chapter 32: Meeting

Yas, brought by Captain Ikton to attend a meeting led by the Earth Church, was anxious and uneasy. The moment he entered the conference room, he was scrutinized up and down by a demigod and several Sequence 5 and Sequence 6 Earth Church members, as if the slightest abnormality on his part would result in immediate purification.

Yas felt that the way these people looked at him was full of anger. Though this was arguably the treatment he deserved, as merely an adult bloodkin, Yas found it more than he could bear.

"Ahem! What... what do you all want to know? I'll tell you everything I know, but let me say first—I don't know much. The old man didn't tell me a lot of things, and some of it is just my own speculation." Yas, stared at until anxious and uneasy, decided to break the silence by speaking first.

"Do you know that your father, Viscount Verac, was corrupted?" Archbishop Ashia Mier of the Harvest Cathedral asked, her voice carrying an inherent authority.

This giant descendant, nearly two meters tall with dark green hair trailing down to her heels, seemed to embody both a mother's tender love and an imposing authority, making you neither willing nor daring to lie when facing her.

"Corrupted? The old man was corrupted? When? No wonder he's been getting stranger and stranger!" Yas was stung by this news and stared intently at the Giant Bishop seated at the head of the conference table, asking repeatedly.

Only afterward did he realize his breach of etiquette and quickly lowered his head to apologize: "Sorry, this news was just too shocking to me."

"It's all right, child. Would you be willing to follow me and listen to the Mother Goddess's teachings?" the Giant Bishop's voice grew gentle.

Her voice carried a maternal forbearance and warmth that made one unconsciously want to let down one's guard and trust her.

"Huh? Why—why would you say that?" Yas was confused by the words of the Giant Bishop before him.

He had originally thought he came to the Earth Church to receive punishment—how had it now turned into an effort to reform him into joining the church? This Giant Bishop was showing two completely different faces.

"Your father, Viscount Verac, had expressed a desire to join the church and experience the Mother Goddess's radiance even before he was corrupted. This is also the reason that, upon learning he possessed that Alchemist of Antiquity's trait, we were willing to teach him the method for refining the Stone of Life in the form of a transaction," the Giant Bishop said in a gentle tone.

"What? You knew all along that my father had obtained an Alchemist of Antiquity's trait!" The Giant Bishop's words alarmed Yas.

Yet on careful thought, it seemed very reasonable. His father had not interacted with other bloodkin for a long time, and the only way to learn the advancement ritual for Sequence 4 of the Cultivator pathway was through the Earth Church.

"But now that bloodkin viscount was silently corrupted under your watch, and has created this current situation—what exactly happened in between? How do you plan to resolve this?" Bishop Angeman Jin of the Church of Knowledge questioned with a tone of dissatisfaction.

It was both a questioning of the Earth Church for concealing information and a questioning of how they intended to resolve the matter going forward.

"This was our negligence. We had no idea when Viscount Verac was covertly corrupted by the Primordial Moon, and this matter also drew the attention of another Angel of the Marauder pathway, so that the situation gradually spiraled out of control. By the time we learned from the Church of Knowledge that a high-Sequence Marauder was involved in this affair, it was already too late—the situation had already gone out of control," the Giant Bishop said, her tone full of helplessness and self-reproach.

"An Angel of the Marauder pathway? The Primordial Moon?" Yas's feelings became incredibly complicated.

He roughly understood why the Earth Church had little desire to pursue the matter with him, and even wanted to reform him into joining the church. In matters involving Angels and evil gods, he was no longer important.

"Ahem! Everyone, let us now discuss how to handle this matter," Bishop Angeman Jin of the Church of Knowledge coughed twice to draw everyone's attention and then said.

"Our Church of Knowledge has limited forces we can deploy in Ma Dan. Low-Sequence Beyonders lack direct combat capability, so we can only serve as support on Hawk Street, helping you clear the mutated creatures and corruption in that area. However, we can take on more of the responsibility for resettling the displaced civilians," Bishop Angeman Jin stated his thoughts concisely.

Bishop Angeman Jin wanted to use the help and resettlement of these civilians to open up a new front for spreading the Church of Knowledge's faith in Ma Dan.

The spread of the Church of Knowledge's faith in Ma Dan had always been confined to academic circles, and such people would always remain a small minority in any city. To spread the faith further, they needed to reach a broader population, and this was a rare opportunity for the Church of Knowledge.

"No problem. This was our mistake to begin with, and we should bear the greater share of responsibility." The Giant Bishop chose to yield a portion of faith to the Church of Knowledge—a necessary concession to maintain good cooperation between the two churches.

The Giant Bishop continued: "I have already submitted an emergency request to headquarters for a Sealed Artifact to isolate the corrupted area. We can begin clearing that mutated region today. We must retrieve it before that Alchemist of Antiquity's trait re-aggregates."

The meeting ended quickly. Yas, under the gaze of the Giant Bishop of the Harvest Cathedral, ultimately chose to follow behind her and listen to the Mother Goddess's teachings.

Yas made clear that he was only listening to the Mother Goddess's teachings and did not mean he had chosen to believe in the Mother Goddess. He would absolutely never forsake the Moon. He was merely experiencing the Mother Goddess's doctrine under the Giant Bishop's earnest invitation—this was probably his last stand.

"I only agreed because of the circumstances. Otherwise I'd probably be locked up underground never to see the light of day. It's just listening to their preaching and doing some work. As long as my faith in the Ancestor remains unwavering, I won't be beguiled by them," Yas consoled himself in his heart.

After leaving the executioner squad, Lakton took a carriage straight home and discovered that the butler had not come to ask him what time he had left last night, where he had gone, or what he had done.

"Young master, would you like to rest first?" The butler walked over and asked with concern, noting Lakton's exhausted expression.

"The captain even thought of this? And came up with an excuse and sent someone to inform the butler?" Lakton guessed in his heart.

Expressionless, he nodded, gave a soft "Mm," and went straight upstairs. Upon entering his room, he tossed the coat wrapped around the Grand Magician's top hat onto a cabinet to prevent the butler and the others from taking it as laundry to be washed, then lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

When Lakton opened his eyes and awoke, it was already a night with the Crimson Moon hanging high. He rubbed his shoulders, which were a bit sore from sleeping in an awkward position, then went to the washroom and splashed water on his face to quickly clear his mind.

The moment he stepped out of the washroom, he encountered the butler waiting for him. The butler's expression was slightly fatigued—whether from not resting well or from worrying about him the whole time, Lakton felt the latter was more likely.

"Young master, I heard movement downstairs and knew you were awake. Would you like to eat now? Aunt Sally had dinner ready by evening, but it needs to be reheated now. It won't take long, though," the butler asked with concern.

"Mm. Right, I remember Aunt Sally's home is also in the northwest, isn't it? Was her family affected?" Hearing the butler mention Aunt Sally, Lakton recalled that Aunt Sally also lived in the northwest part of the city, seemingly not far from Hawk Street.

The butler shook his head: "Not at all. Sally's home is still some distance from Hawk Street. It happens to be on the edge of this crisis zone. Though it's quite close, fortunately it wasn't affected."

"The Mother Goddess above. I never expected that high-end hospital on Hawk Street would become a place for cultists to conduct biochemical experiments. Good thing the church evacuated the nearby residents in advance, or one or two thousand people would have perished in this disaster!" the butler added with a sigh.

"Biochemical experiments? Oh, was it someone from the Church of Knowledge who told you this?" Lakton hadn't expected the Earth Church to pin the blame on a cult's biochemical experiments.

It was only because this place was close to Lunburg and the populace was well-versed in such academic terminology that they could even pull off shifting the blame this way—otherwise, they couldn't have pinned it on anyone.

"Yes. Young master, as an elder who watched you grow up, I hope you will protect yourself. Although you have already joined the Church of Knowledge, compared to the achievements you may gain in the church, I would rather you stay away from such danger and live well. I believe this is also what the master and madam would want," the butler said after hesitating for a long time.

Lakton fell silent for a long while. He didn't know how to refuse the caring admonitions of an elder toward a junior—especially someone who had watched him grow up.

"All right, I understand. I'll be careful from now on. Uncle Sean, you can trust my abilities completely. I'm already a grown man, no longer the child who needs you to look after and protect him everywhere," Lakton said, a confident and proud smile appearing on his face.

"Yes! You've grown up. How wonderful! How wonderful!" the butler said, a smile also appearing on his face.

That smile held both the gratification and pride of seeing a child he had cared for and loved grow up, as well as the loss and bewilderment of a child no longer needing him quite so much.

(End of chapter)