Chapter 78: Check the Body (Second Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

“Now?” Lu Mi was startled.

Although he himself was eager to explore beneath the church, it wasn’t this urgent!

Thinking quickly, he asked in return:

“Can’t we wait until night?”

At that time, when the night was deep and quiet, the church would have only two or three servants left—wouldn’t it be easy for us, as outsiders, to slip in undetected?

Ryan Cos spoke gently but firmly:

“Now is the best moment.

“Think about it—we can think of the church being empty at night, poorly guarded; don’t you think the parish priest and his team would realize that too?

“I suspect they’ve assigned their strongest members to take turns guarding, or set up hidden traps that trigger alarms if disturbed.

“But now, near noon, all the villagers have gone home; no one will come to pray at the church at this hour. It’s daytime, so the traps won’t be active—no risk of accidental triggering. The two priests and the servants are all inside the church, making everyone complacent. That means the team’s strong members will be relaxed, eating at home. We only have to deal with the parish priest, the assistant priest, and three servants.”

Lu Mi nodded thoughtfully and voiced the next part for Ryan Cos:

“And before April 3rd, the parish priest is still an ordinary human—he hasn’t gained any extraordinary power.”

Today is April 1st.

“Also, the assistant priest may be abnormal, but he’s clearly not a core member of the parish priest’s team; the three servants are the same.” Lyra added with a smile, “Can’t four of us outsiders handle five ordinary people without making a sound?”

Lu Mi thought for a moment and said:

“But won’t this prevent us from waiting until the Twelfth Night?”

That would essentially trigger the abnormality on the parish priest’s side—“History” must change accordingly.

“You yourself said that compared to us, the parish priest and his team want to endure until Lent, want to welcome the Twelfth Night. As long as we don’t kill him, when he wakes up and finds someone entered the basement, he’ll pretend he noticed nothing, and accelerate his own acquisition of extraordinary power.” Lyra smiled, “Once he successfully receives the ‘Blessing,’ he might lead others to hunt us down—but Cordeau Village isn’t small, and our strength isn’t weak either. We can hide, delay, and still wait for Lent.”

Lu Mi accepted this reasoning:

“Fine. Do it now.”

He immediately added a warning:

“But Aurora’s eyes aren’t fully recovered yet—she probably can’t help us.”

Before visiting Madame Poulis at the castle, Lu Mi had returned home, spoken with Aurora, and confirmed her condition—her eyes might not return to normal until evening.

“It doesn’t matter—we have Madame Poulis as backup,” Lyra said half-jokingly, her headbell tinkling faintly.

Lu Mi had no further objections, but cautiously suggested:

“Before heading to the church, let’s walk around the village and confirm that dangerous individuals like the shepherd Pierre Berry are all at home.”

To avoid any surprises—like stumbling upon Pierre or others who’ve already received the ‘Blessing’ the moment we enter the basement.

Ryan Cos nodded approvingly and agreed.

After finalizing the details, Valentine glanced at Lu Mi and asked coldly:

“Do we need purification?”

Lyra quickly explained for her companion:

“You entered the castle and interacted with Madame Poulis—you may have been contaminated again.”

“No,” Lu Mi was certain, “I believe Madame Poulis won’t do this this time—it serves no purpose.”

He had to be certain—he dared not let Valentine purify him again. Compared to yesterday, he was now a “Dancer”; the evil aura had seeped from the seal to his body’s surface. A purification with holy water would likely cause immediate disaster.

According to Aurora’s analysis, he himself was now entirely something that needed purification.

Seeing Lu Mi himself felt it was fine, Valentine, who had only offered out of momentary concern, said nothing more.

As they wandered through Cordeau Village, Lu Mi returned home to inform his sister of their plan.

Aurora was frustrated she couldn’t join, couldn’t contribute her share of power, but volunteered to wait at the village’s edge, ready to trigger the cycle if anything went wrong.

That required no sharp vision—just enough to vaguely see the path.

After agreeing that if no one came to her by 12:30, she would restart the cycle, Lu Mi bid Aurora farewell and rejoined Lyra and the others.

At this point, the three official outsiders had confirmed the locations of Pierre Berry and other core members of the parish priest’s group.

After circling halfway, they followed a narrow path to the side of the church—the same door they’d used during the previous cycle when they’d caught the parish priest and Madame Poulis in an affair.

Lu Mi was about to volunteer to open the rarely-used door with the small piece of wire he carried, when Lyra stepped forward, fiddled with the lock for a moment, and pushed open the dark brown wooden door.

Seeing Lu Mi stare at her in slight shock, she smiled sweetly:

“It’s a necessary skill for investigations.”

Don’t make lock-picking sound so noble… Lu Mi didn’t voice his inner muttering because Lyra had already taken two steps inside the church.

The silver bells on her veil and boots remained utterly still, silent.

Lu Mi attempted interpretation:

“Entering the church is safe? No danger?”

Lyra turned back and looked at him:

“Add the qualifier: ‘Purely just entering the church to deal with the people inside.’”

Meaning the basement’s danger was still unknown? Lu Mi roughly understood Lyra’s point, and gained some awareness of divination—but even with the spiritual enhancement from being a “Dancer,” he still had no divination ability whatsoever.

At that moment, Ryan Cos passed him and walked into the church with Lyra.

A few steps in, a servant approached from the side.

In an instant, Ryan Cos lunged beside the servant, raised his right hand, and struck the man behind the ear.

The servant didn’t even groan—he collapsed. Ryan Cos caught him and dragged him into the nearest room.

Lyra hurried over, pulled out a small glass vial filled with colorless liquid from somewhere, uncorked it, and poured some into the servant’s mouth.

“What’s that?” Lu Mi asked curiously.

Lyra kept her smile:

“Sedative.”

Well-prepared… Lu Mi silently marveled.

Thus, without alerting the parish priest, they subdued all three servants.

Then, Lyra crept along the edge of shadows toward the room where the parish priest rested.

She silently turned the handle, pushed the wooden door open a crack, and saw the most powerful man in Cordeau Village, dressed in a white robe edged with gold thread, lying on a simple wooden bed, breathing slow and steady.

Near the door, a table held a plate of lunch and silver cutlery.

Lyra glanced twice, darted in like a cat, and struck the parish priest behind the ear with her palm—*thwack*.

Then she poured most of the remaining sedative into Guillaume Béné’s mouth.

“Is that it?” Lu Mi leaned his head out beside Lyra.

That was too easy.

“What else would you do? He’s just an ordinary man,” Lyra laughed in reply.

Lu Mi grunted and stepped forward, beginning to lift the parish priest’s robe.

“What are you doing?” Lyra asked, startled and suspicious—but still smiling.

Lu Mi didn’t turn his head:

“Checking his body.”

He wanted to see if the parish priest’s chest bore the black thorn symbol now.

Soon, the parish priest Guillaume Béné’s upper body was exposed—except for a few patches of coarse black hair, there was nothing.

No black thorn symbol. No black mark indicating a special pact.

Lu Mi gave an almost imperceptible nod, murmuring to himself:

“So the symbol was acquired only upon receiving the ‘Blessing’? Or perhaps it’s already there, but requires meditation to activate?

“And how did mine come about—on the Twelfth Night?”

Thinking that the parish priest Guillaume Béné might not yet have the black thorn symbol, Lu Mi couldn’t help but entertain dark thoughts:

“Would killing him now not trigger the cycle?

“What changes would come from eliminating this man before he even grows strong?”

Considering the parish priest’s importance in later events, and still wanting to wait for the Twelfth Night, Lu Mi ultimately overcame his impulse.

Leaving the parish priest’s room, Ryan Cos said to him and Lyra:

“We couldn’t find the assistant priest.”

“Huh?” Lu Mi paused, then understood: “He probably went home—he’s not allowed to live in the church, and no one brings him food.”

“What a tyrannical servant of the devil,” Valentine muttered, glancing at the parish priest inside the room.

The four didn’t delay further—they walked toward the opposite side of the altar.

There, in the corner, was a staircase—narrow stone steps, barely wide enough for one person, steep and high.

It spiraled upward to the church’s roof, downward to the basement.

Again, Lyra led. After descending several steps, the four silver bells on her veil and boots rang simultaneously.

Ding-dong, the sound was soft, echoing only within a small radius, sometimes rapid, sometimes slow.

“What does that mean?” Lu Mi couldn’t interpret it based on past experience.

Lyra turned her body slightly and smiled:

“It means there’s some danger—but I can’t divine its level.”

“But you could divine the danger in the castle…” Lu Mi muttered in surprise, “Doesn’t that mean the basement is more dangerous?”

"Not necessarily—perhaps something is creating strong interference," Lyra reassured him. "Wasn't Madame Poulis absent from the castle that time?"

Here, faced with this minor anomaly, they couldn’t retreat—they entered the staircase one by one, descending step by step.

Soon, the four saw the old brown wooden door to the basement.

Lyra raised her hand, pinched the bridge of her nose, activated her Spirit Sight, then walked to the wooden door.

Although Lumian had not yet mastered the simple gesture to activate Spirit Sight, the spiritual enhancement from the Dancer granted him the ability to open it quickly, and he saw everyone glowing red—healthy and vibrant.

When all his companions were ready, Lyra opened the basement door.

With a creaking sound, Lumian’s nose twitched as he caught a familiar scent—subtle, elegant, and sweet.

He immediately made the connection and hurried to inform Ryan and the others:

“There’s a scent of gray amber.”

That’s the material used in rituals to worship the hidden entity named Fate!

PS: Second update—please vote for monthly tickets~

(End of chapter)