The goddesses attempted to gain my salvation.

Drawn by the sound of the flute, the children slowly made their way toward the archives.

A cruel glint gleamed in their eyes, and behind the door to the archives lay what they had longed for...

A delicious meal.

"I am... the Piper of Mehr's."

"I always walk with exaggerated steps... humming a melodious tune."

"My flute music can dispel calamity..."

"My flute music can also bring death..."

------

"Commander Daniel."

"Those two guys, I just feel like something's off about them."

“We’ve been away from the Vatican for so long, and I’ve never seen them drink water or eat.”

"Were those two people really alive?"

"Moreover, I always felt that someone was watching us in the dark."

"Commander Daniel, are we being followed?"

late at night.

Daniel, accompanied by two deputy commanders, proceeded along the dark path.

They arrived in Lavala two days earlier than Ryan.

However, they went to Biscay first.

The priest in that church was a smooth talker, spouting nonsense. Out of ten sentences he uttered, not even half of them were true.

Daniel knew he must have come to the wrong place.

So they set off overnight, arrived at Moon Bay Port, and headed straight for the An Yi Church.

Throughout the journey, the two deputy commanders beside him kept chattering, which annoyed Daniel greatly.

"Those two people were sent by Elder Trishfa to help."

"We don't need to know anything about them, we just need to hand them over if we encounter a difficult enemy."

"Remember our mission. We don't need to worry about anything else."

The two deputy regimental commanders still had reservations, but they nodded emphatically nonetheless.

Soon, Daniel and his two companions arrived at the An Yi Church.

The church at night has an indescribable sense of oppression.

When they cautiously pushed open the church door, it was as quiet as an abandoned cemetery.

The windows inside were wide open, and a draft of air made Daniel and his companions feel a chill.

A faint smell of blood permeated the air.

Daniel, who had fought on the battlefield for many years, was all too familiar with this smell.

"There is a situation!"

"Draw your swords, prepare for battle!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two well-trained deputy commanders immediately drew their longswords and large shields.

At the same time, magic surges at your fingertips.

While keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, the three of them slowly approached the depths of the church in a triangular formation.

Just as they reached the very center of the church, a voice rang out from above!

"You're late."

Daniel felt his hair stand on end and quickly raised the large shield above his head.

There's someone on the roof?!

when? !

How come I didn't notice at all?!

now.

The man in black robes was hovering in the air, fiddling with a short wooden flute in his hand.

"Olina's file has already been taken. You were a step too late."

The voice of the person in the black robe had been magically altered, making it impossible to discern their gender.

"Who are you?!"

One of the two vice-captains is a light-attribute mage.

He was preparing to fire a light-emitting bullet to see who the person was.

However, his actions were sternly stopped by the man in black.

"I advise you not to do that."

“Once you see my face clearly, you will all die here.”

The vice-captain refused to believe in superstition and continued to channel his magic, but Daniel stopped him.

Under the vice-commander's questioning gaze, Daniel raised his head and asked the man in black.

"You are... the 'friend' of Nelson and Byron who appeared before us that night?"

"Heh... friends?" The man in black robes spoke with disdain: "I don't need friends, I only need servants who can obey orders."

Daniel frowned slightly.

"When did you come?"

"And also, the data was taken away? What do you mean by that?"

The man in black robes continued to chuckle: "Commander Daniel."

"Ask questions one by one, don't be so impatient."

Daniel pointed his longsword at the black-robed figure above him: "Answer my question!"

"Hehehe, what an impatient fellow."

"However, next time you draw your sword, remember to assess the opponent's strength. If you are too weak, then this behavior will look somewhat ridiculous."

The man in black did not answer Daniel's question and disappeared into the darkness with the wind.

After a long while, Daniel put down his sword and sighed.

"Commander, that guy is too arrogant!"

Daniel shook his head: "It's alright, business comes first. Let's go into the church first and check if there's any information about Olina."

Despite the man in black saying that the data had been taken away.

But Daniel didn't believe him; he wanted to see for himself.

After they passed through a small door on the side of the church and entered the corridor...

Even Daniel, who had killed countless enemies and witnessed countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield, still found the scene before him terrifying and horrifying.

More than a dozen children were lying on the ground, gnawing on a corpse that was already unrecognizable.

Judging from the tattered clothes on his body, this person must be a clergyman from the church.

As a member of the Basmah Church, Daniel felt physically uncomfortable watching his colleagues being eaten by children.

The other two deputy regimental commanders weren't much better off.

Looking at the children's rotting faces and their sharp teeth stained with blood and bits of flesh, my stomach churned, and I almost vomited.

Several children spotted Daniel and his friends, and without hesitation abandoned the corpses that had been gnawed down to bits of flesh and bone, and pounced on them.

Daniel raised his longsword.

He gritted his teeth and swung the weapon.

Chapter 185 The Bard

early morning.

Ryan sent Daphne and Veranika shopping.

He stayed in the room, partly to take care of Freya and partly to organize the data.

Currently, among the materials collected from the An'i Church is information about Olina's chastity test when she entered the church.

Because the Vatican has very strict requirements regarding chastity.

Therefore, the certificate of chastity test not only required the handwritten signatures of the local An'i Church priest and the nuns in charge of the test, but also the personal supervision and signature of the female priests of Lavala.

Moreover, it must be stamped with the seals of churches at all levels.

The procedures are extremely complicated.

This also demonstrates the importance the Vatican attaches to this matter.

After all, the concept of God's servants is the foundation upon which the Vatican was founded.

Fortunately, this certificate has all the signatures and stamps.

This certificate confirms that Olina did indeed pass the chastity test.

Those rumors were disproven on their own.

Of course, in addition to this evidence, Ryan found many other corroborating pieces of evidence in the documents.

For example, the notebook of the nun who took care of Olena's daily life, etc.

Ryan patiently flipped through the thick stack of documents, page by page, while organizing the useful clues.

In the process of compiling this information, Ryan personally experienced what it means to spread rumors with a single word, but to debunk them with endless legwork.