The Necromancer's Church Management Manual

[Countdown: 86 days]

Church of Light, evening.

The soup kitchen had been cleaned up; men were chopping wood, and the woodshed behind the church was piled high with timber; skillful women were making church uniforms or badges symbolizing the God of Light...

Garr sat on the wooden pew in the church, watching the believers leave one by one in the twilight, and the church became much quieter.

He picked up the church management manual for the fifth time, and looking at the striking red text inside, he couldn't help but start shaking his leg.

I'm so anxious.

He knew that Melesen must have sent new people to monitor them, so Gar continued as usual, except that he was referring to the manual more often.

As Eugenie walked out of the church, she was carrying a pile of strips of cloth into Selena's small clinic. She seemed quite busy... no, to be precise, Selena had been extremely busy ever since she first established the clinic.

On the other side, Loris had also finished his day's work and was practicing his sword in the open space. His swordsmanship teacher was Lucia.

After becoming a Lightshield user, Loris decided to work hard to become stronger. At first, he clumsily wielded his sword on his own. When Lucia came to visit Gar, she saw his flawed moves and could not stand it, so she began to teach him how to use his sword.

Next to the church grounds is a church school that is beginning to take shape.

The church is not just a place for mass and worship; it should also be responsible for transmitting texts, knowledge, and doctrines.

In the future, the "Bible" of the Church of Light will also need to be passed on to more believers so that they can establish more churches and gradually expand to the whole country and even the world.

However, this cannot be done in a day.

Now, the more important thing is...

Gar opened the business manual for the sixth time, looking at the striking red text on it.

The most urgent task is to eliminate the huge threat posed by Melessen.

Gar had been waiting idly for several days, during which the church had developed peacefully without suffering any attacks.

Meleson was able to purchase the rice normally, despite his possible monopoly, and he left the church alone without being attacked.

But the problem is, everything is too normal.

The original plan to rescue his father had to be temporarily shelved. The situation of the enemy being in the dark while he was in the light forced him to be on guard at all times, and he hadn't been sleeping well lately.

If it weren't for the management manual constantly reminding him, he would never have imagined that Melissan would launch an attack.

This made him wonder if there was something wrong with the management manual, or if Melerson wanted to wait until I left the church before taking action.

Unfortunately, this management manual can only provide crisis warnings, but it cannot accurately provide when and how an attack will occur.

So now he can only wait passively.

Gar had considered going directly to Meleson to settle scores, but in reality, Meleson's direct influence on him had been almost entirely positive so far.

For example, his sermons spread his church's fame throughout Dark City, and then his subordinate Smithson also became one of his men...

Meleson did not actually cause him any real harm.

Come to think of it, as a businessman, Melison's goal is to make money, so what benefit would there be in starting a new church?

If the manual hadn't reminded him of the seriousness of the matter, Garr certainly wouldn't have been so worried about him.

Gard didn't understand.

Closing the manual once again, another day has passed.

[85 Days to Go]

After much thought, Garr finally came up with a solution.

Meleson seems to be waiting for him to leave before making a move, so why doesn't he just pretend to leave the city?

He decided to take the initiative.

Gal arrived at Zane's mansion.

Zane was lying on the bed, being fed by the elf lady herself. He needed to rest well because he had lost too much blood recently.

Of course, his injury had actually healed a few days ago.

Seeing Gar walk in, he instinctively shrank back.

"What are you doing here again?"

Gar didn't beat around the bush and threw the Faceless Man mask onto his bed.

"Now, disguise yourself as me, then leave the mansion and head to Gusenburg with Lucia and Selena."

Why should I listen to you?

"Zane, you don't want me to use the Slave Mark to force you to suffer, do you?" Garr was getting annoyed from the torment these past few days, and in his current irritable state, he activated the Slave Mark.

Zain lay on the bed writhing in pain: "Ah—okay, brother, I was wrong, I'll go right now."

Half an hour later, Zane transformed into Garr's appearance, left the mansion, and led Lucia and the others out of Dark City as Garr instructed.

Meanwhile, Garr hid in the room, searching for any useful alchemical artifacts that might exist in Zane's mansion. However, it was clear that Zane had already sold all those items to pay off his debts, and his private vault was now practically empty.

Garr then summoned all his fighting power and awaited the arrival of night.

late at night.

Bathed in the darkness, the Church of Light was hiding in the stable across the street, dressed in a black cloak.

He was currently closing his eyes, releasing his light domain perception, and lowering his breathing to the shallowest level, almost blending into the night.

The manual's message is about protecting the church, not about protecting oneself.

Gar believed that Meleson's target was definitely the Church of Light, so he decided to hide here and wait for Meleson's arrival.

Just as Garr had predicted, more than a dozen figures appeared within the range of the light domain's perception.

Sure enough, Meleson was waiting for "himself" to leave before he prepared to make his move.

This made Gar hold his breath and listen carefully.

In front of the main gate of the Church of Light, Meleson admired the church with great interest, dressed in a black robe that almost blended into the night.

Behind him were twelve figures, some tall, some short, some fat, some thin, all with different builds, but they all had one thing in common: their faces were expressionless, and even their eyes were dull.

They are all dead.

Claude stood at the very end of the line, nodding to the Church of Light just like Melesen, but his eyes were lifeless and his face was deathly pale.

"Lord Hades, I will complete your task in the simplest and most direct way."

Meleson suddenly muttered to himself, extended his right hand, which was covered in a black glove, unrolled the scroll in his hand, and gently brushed his index finger across the magic circle inside, infusing it with magic.

"I hope you don't mind."

The magic array suddenly lit up with a scarlet light, shining brightly in the silent night. In an instant, the night was as dark as day, and more than a dozen profound and mysterious magic arrays appeared in the sky, nested layer upon layer, like blooming flowers, so beautiful and moving in the darkness.

The target of the magic circle was the tiny Church of Light below.

Meleson stepped forward, his eyes reflecting the blood-red light, a chilling smile playing on his lips.

The church management manual on Garr's chest was so hot it almost burned his skin, so he immediately got up and climbed out of the stable.

But someone was faster than him.

thump—

In the small house next door, Eugenie rushed out of the room with a lamp in hand. The door opened with a loud bang, drawing Melison's attention.

"This is a church protected by the God of Light; you are not allowed to harm it!"

Eugenie's legs were trembling, but she resolutely stood in front of the church.

Loris also picked up the wooden sword he used in training and stood in front of Eugenie, saying, "Don't hurt Eugenie."

Meleson lowered his head, looking at the two children, his smile gradually fading.

He didn't answer, he just raised his hand.

With a gentle twist of the fingers, twelve figures simultaneously took a step forward.