The Forbidden Magic Laws of a Fallen Princess

Chapter Fifty-Five: The situation begins to deteriorate further.

The young girl lay there quietly with her eyes closed, already devoid of any signs of life.

Furthermore, I could clearly see that many parts of her body had begun to rot and were emitting a foul odor.

I can't help but feel sorry for this young girl. She was still in the prime of her life, and she died just like that.

"You bastard! I thought the daughter of Baron Cofulan was really missing, but I never expected that you would kill her. You are worse than a beast."

As he spoke, the captain of the guards burst into anger, grabbed the viscount by the collar, and kept pulling him up.

The position of chief of guard was indeed worlds apart from that of a viscount; one was a nobleman, while the other was likely a commoner or a minor nobleman.

However, since the viscount's crime has been confirmed, even if the earl were here now, he could punish him directly.

Because the head of security is essentially that kind of position; once the evidence is conclusive, he or she has enormous power.

And so, Viscount Finnock was taken away by the chief of guard and handed over directly to my father, Emperor I, to decide what to do next. The remains of the daughter of Baron Cofulan would simply be returned to her family, and if I'm not mistaken, about half of the viscount's estate would be used to appease them.

However, I haven't found a single clue about the corpse carrier or the undead. Although we have solved a missing person case, it has absolutely nothing to do with our main objective this time.

It was already getting dark, so it seemed that the day was coming to an end.

Now, apart from six or seven noble families living in relatively remote areas, only the cathedral of the Beginning Kingdom remains in the entire royal city.

That's right, this is the same Pope who always puts on a fake smile and is in power. Of course, he also has roughly the same amount of power as me.

However, the Pope should theoretically be a devotee of gods and light, so how could he be associated with corpse carriers, zombies, or even demons?

But if the Pope and the Church have no connection with the corpse carriers and the undead, then where could so many undead go?

Is there anywhere else in the capital of this newly formed kingdom that could hide so many undead?

So, it remains a mystery to this day.

However, I ran much more distance today than yesterday. Although I still have no clue about the disappearance of the living dead, I was still scared out of my wits.

It's really a case of losing more than you gain.

Forget it, that's enough for today. I'll get ready to take a shower, have dinner, and rest. Tomorrow morning, I'll start the final reconnaissance work.

In fact, the royal city had previously issued a curfew order, which required everyone to be back in their rooms by 6:30 p.m. and lock their doors.

You must never open the door, even if someone knocks or calls out to you.

Because we don't know whether what's outside is a person, the living dead, or a ghost...

If you disobey the curfew order and are discovered by the soldiers on night duty, the consequences will be quite severe.

Even execution on the spot was permitted.

After that, we all took showers, ate, and went to sleep.

However, around midnight, I seemed to hear a bell ringing outside, "ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling." Although it wasn't ringing very frequently, it was definitely ringing.

Perhaps because the sound wasn't particularly loud, we didn't pay much attention and went back to sleep.

And so, just as dawn was breaking, we left the room.

After quickly finishing breakfast, they began their final visits to the homes of the other nobles, searching for the whereabouts of the living dead and the corpse carrier.

Unfortunately, the weather that day wasn't particularly sunny; it was mostly overcast with no sunshine in sight.

A chilling, biting wind blew in from the north from time to time, making us shiver.

Just as we stepped out of the castle gates, my father, Emperor I, called us back and summoned the generals from the surrounding area and the capital city for an emergency meeting.

That's right, things have started to deteriorate even further because of what we suspect is the living dead.

There are now nearly a thousand craters scattered throughout the city of the Beginning Kingdom. But what is most terrifying is that there are signs of attacks on several households living in villages on the outskirts of the city.

That's right, the whole room was covered in blood, and it was definitely not something that could be done by human force. It was more like something, like teeth, had bitten a major artery, causing the blood to splatter.

At the same time, no gruesome bodies were seen at the scene, but there were traces of blood that had been dragged outside the house.

It seems that this is enough to prove that it was caused by the living dead eating human corpses.

Moreover, this is not just one family; roughly ten households have been attacked, and in some cases, entire villages of five or six households have been affected, all experiencing the same situation as before.

It seems that these living dead are not just ordinary ferocious, but also difficult for normal people to deal with.

After this matter was reported, it immediately caused panic among all the generals and nobles, because no one expected that things had become so urgent.

If another ten days or half a month passes, we are all very worried about what this Beginning Kingdom will become.

This search, not only for me but also for the other royal searchers, yielded no clues. It seems that this corpse carrier is indeed quite cunning and very good at hiding.

However, now that there are nearly a thousand undead, they are much easier to find.

Because places that can accommodate a thousand people are really very few, no, extremely few.

Therefore, we just need to search the remaining areas that have been ruled out again, and we might actually find some clues.

However, this time, the Pope, who had been sitting opposite me, did not participate in the meeting. His subordinates reported that he had caught a cold a couple of days ago and was having difficulty getting out of bed.

Could it be such a coincidence that he fell ill at this critical juncture? Instantly, all my suspicions were directed at the Pope and the cathedral of the Beginning Kingdom.

Because, in this kingdom, besides the castle, the largest building is the cathedral of the Beginning Kingdom.

Indeed, if one wanted to hide nearly a thousand undead, this cathedral might be a very good place.

And so, the meeting ended close to noon, and without even having lunch, we boarded the guard carriages and sped towards the cathedral of the Beginning Kingdom.

When I arrived at the scene, it was almost evening. That's right, I had less than an hour and a half to search. If I found it, I would be all set. If I didn't find it, I had to leave as soon as possible.

Because, who would have thought that they might be attacked by these living dead in the middle of the night...

Chapter Fifty-Six: Heading to the Cathedral

The wind was much colder that afternoon than in the morning, which made us all shiver.

At this point, I had about ten soldiers from the guard team, along with Louise, stand outside and wait. Meanwhile, Lila, Elena, Xiaobai, Angelize, and I went inside. If anything happened, I would do my best to signal them. If I were in danger, I would have Louise quickly go into the royal city to gather people to surround the cathedral.

Because this place is really far from the capital... and we don't know when we'll be able to get reinforcements, so we should do our best to get things done, and prioritize our own lives.

"However, something's strange today."

At this moment, Elena carefully observed her surroundings and quickly said...

"What's wrong?"

At this moment, I stepped forward and looked at Elena, whose expression seemed a little off, and quickly asked her what was wrong.

"Hmm... Logically speaking, a human cathedral should only close during curfew, but it's only around four o'clock and the doors are already locked from the inside. That doesn't make sense."

At this point, Elena directly voiced her doubts to me.

"You're right..."

Actually, even if there is no curfew at night, the church doors are closed, which is a custom of churches in this world.

Because only with light can there be God, and only with God can you receive hope and salvation. There is no light in the night. Although there is a moon goddess, the churches in the human kingdom do not worship her.

Therefore, the church doors are closed at around 7 p.m. and open promptly at 6 a.m.

Even on rainy, snowy, or cloudy days, the door will still be opened because there is still light outside.

Actually, I learned all of this from books; modern history and history and culture courses are also counted for academic credits.

Of course, as someone who was once a top student and a noblewoman in red, I would naturally know this.

Therefore, the fact that it's closed now must mean something's up.

We arrived at the entrance of the Cathedral of the Beginning Kingdom with a bit of trepidation. We looked to the left at Elena and Lila, and to the right at Xiaobai. We nodded to each other and then reached out and knocked hard on the cathedral door.

Because the church doors are made of a special material, people inside probably can't hear you unless you knock hard.

Sure enough, after about ten seconds, the huge church door creaked open.

At that moment, two middle-aged men in their thirties, dressed in missionary robes, came out.

"Ah, it's Her Highness the First Princess. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The preacher, who had initially seemed impatient, instantly changed his attitude upon seeing me.

"Why is the church closed in broad daylight?"

Actually, this was a private matter within the church, because they all obeyed the archbishop or the vice-bishop. If they insisted on closing the door, apart from my father, Emperor I, practically no one could stop them from opening it.

But this also means you won't make money...

In fact, the church's financial resources do not only come from the allocations within the royal city. Every individual and every nobleman who comes to pray, requesting exorcism, spirit removal, warding off bad luck, divination, and the like, also needs to pay money.

That's right, the church's main source of income is actually what is called holy water.

And the price is determined by the purity of the holy water.

As the saying goes, pure holy water is priceless, and there's some truth to that.

Because there isn't much pure holy water in the church.

"Ah, it's like this. Recently, for some reason, the archbishop and the vice-bishop, along with many priests, have caught a cold. In order to prevent the spread to others, we have temporarily closed the doors. We will open them normally once everyone is feeling better."

At this moment, another missionary quickly spoke up.

"Then why not call a doctor if you have a cold? Why keep the door closed? Even if you have a cold, there are many other people who haven't been infected. Wouldn't it be too much to ask them to take care of you?"