The Villain Saint is my secondary account

"Let you go?"

"Who will avenge the civilians you have murdered?"

"Huh? A necromancer? How many corpses are still in your lair? Why don't you ask them if they want to spare you?!"

The surrounding bounty hunters burst into laughter, watching Besolini lying prone as if he were a clown putting on a show.

"Besolini! Kill them! What are you afraid of?!" Dark Owl howled, struggling in the gravedigger's arms. "Kill them!!"

Amidst the clamor, only Besolini remained silent, kneeling like a statue.

The leader kicked the burly man a few times casually, but found that the man was as hard and heavy as a rock in a latrine and wouldn't budge. He became a little annoyed and kicked the big man's chin with all his might.

The hard-toed leather boot slammed into Besolini's chin, instantly kicking the burly figure to the ground, a faint trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

The fluttering owl was grabbed by the wings and lifted up by the bounty hunter, a few black feathers falling off.

"What a fucking boring thing." The bounty hunter looked at the black bird he had caught, which was still struggling, with disdain. "This piece of junk probably won't fetch much money. I'll send you to hell first."

After saying that, he took out the knife from his waist and gestured towards the owl's belly.

"Ugh……"

Just then, Besolini, who was lying on the ground, suddenly let out a soft sigh.

Then, a sinister white skeletal arm emerged from the soft ground beside him.

Chapter Five Trees

The next day.

Amidst Greta's commotion, Ye Xiao, carrying his luggage, waited with Li Cheng and his group at the entrance of Gray Gold Town for the other caravans to assemble.

Although there were many cars entering and leaving the town on this busy morning, this time, for some reason, the town gate was particularly crowded.

"What are those people looking at?" Li Cheng asked, tiptoeing through the crowd as he walked. He saw a group of people peering out at the road leading out of town.

"Ah~~" Ye Xiao yawned listlessly, "We'll know once we get there."

He wasn't in good spirits. Last night, the little maid who slept next door crawled over and opened his window in the middle of the night like a ghost, startling him awake.

She grabbed the little guy and asked him what he wanted, only to find out he was there to check if he was alive. Ye Xiao was speechless.

Perhaps knowing that her behavior last night was a bit outrageous, Greta simply stayed obediently by Ye Xiao's side today, occasionally stealing glances at Ye Xiao's expression.

As they spoke, the surrounding crowd stirred again.

This time, however, it was the grand procession of the Holy Temple that appeared from behind. The town's guards cleared a path through the crowd on the outside, while in the middle was a knight clad in silver armor and a magnificent carriage. A Loren official, riding a brown horse and wearing an expensive fur coat, followed beside the carriage with a fawning expression, muttering something through the curtains drawn on the carriage.

"The Holy Maiden is still quite impressive; even going out requires the town mayor to escort her," Li Cheng remarked with a smile as he walked along the street.

"Why don't we follow behind and clear the way for us?" Ye Xiao said, then lifted his foot to walk into the temple's convoy.

"Hey, are you stupid?" Li Cheng quickly grabbed Ye Xiao. "Even if you're familiar with the Holy Maiden, you shouldn't be so rude."

"It's nothing, she won't care."

"Stop it, stop torturing your brother."

"..." Ye Xiao didn't know how to explain that Ella really wouldn't mind.

……

Meanwhile, Ella, inside the carriage, gradually approached the intersection with the Greygold Town guards clearing the way. She soon saw through the latticed windows the reason for the congestion ahead—

It was a large tree covered with corpses.

The tips of several dry branches resembled skewers of rotting corpses, tattered clothes hung on twisted limbs, and buzzing flies swarmed around the gruesome wounds that looked as if they had been torn apart by wild beasts.

There were probably a dozen or so such corpses, hanging silently on the oak trees whose leaves were sparse due to the onset of winter, like flower stamens blooming from flesh and blood.

This horrifying scene resembled a blood sacrifice ritual of some cult, both bloody and bizarre.

The townspeople below, filled with fear yet curiosity, gathered around the large tree, discussing amongst themselves. Some pointed and whispered, then turned back to look at the church's convoy.

The mayor of Greygold Town, who was traveling with Ella in her carriage, turned pale upon witnessing this scene.

It wasn't because I was particularly afraid of the dead. As the person in charge of managing the mine, I had seen all sorts of slaves or workers who had died in mining accidents. The circumstances might not have been this bizarre, but there were many deaths that were far more gruesome than this.

What chilled him to the bone was the timing and location of the appearance of these dead people—it was absolutely crucial to his safety.

He knew all too well who was in the church's caravan that was about to depart, and hung a dozen corpses in front of them just as they were about to leave.

What is this supposed to mean? Is it a slap in the face to the church?

What will the Holy Maiden think of his Gray Gold Town? Will she think it's a cult stronghold? What will she think of him? Will she think he's a cult leader?

Despite the saintess's gentle and pleasant demeanor, he had heard about the duke's daughter's infamous reputation from his friends in the capital, even though he was far away in Greygold Town.

If this guy gets angry, and orders the Holy See to come and eradicate the heretics, he'd be willing to risk his life!

Almost instantly, the shrewd and experienced mayor went through all the pros and cons in his mind. He first respectfully apologized to Ella in the side window of the carriage, and then immediately spurred his horse to the front of the convoy and started cursing at the guards who were still gathered there.

"What the hell are you guys doing?! How could you let this idiot hang here until now?!"

"What are you still looking at! Hurry up and take these things down!"

The guard who was being scolded was speechless. He wasn't in charge of the intersection sentry post, so what was the point of scolding him?

Moreover, most of the guards were either reassigned to guard the town hall or to escort the motorcade because of the visit of important figures from the sanctuary. This tree happened to be in the shadows at the intersection outside the town, blending in with the other trees, so no one noticed it before dawn and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

But although he thought this, he dared not say it out loud. He quickly and his colleagues dispersed the onlookers and climbed up to try to get those strange corpses down.

"My lord, I am truly, truly sorry. This was just an accident. I assure you, I will catch and severely punish the culprit." The mayor, having just reprimanded the guards, rushed back to apologize to Ella in the carriage. "Rest assured, I swear I will bring the person who committed this heinous act to justice!"

The mayor certainly didn't care who those unfortunate dead were, but hanging them on the tree at the exit at this moment was not only a provocation to the sanctuary, but also a slap in his face.

At the same time, Ye Xiao, Li Cheng, and the others who were about to reach the gate also saw the guards of Gray Gold Town suddenly block the flow of people leaving the town, and drive the crowd back with long spears and halberds.

"Everyone back! The intersection is blocked!"

"What the hell?" Li Cheng, squeezed in the crowd, immediately complained. "We're about to get out of here, this is just too unlucky!"

"Don't worry," Ye Xiao said softly. Anyway, Ella would have the mayor send their group of guild members out.

However, what troubled him was whether he should release the people from the merchant guilds as well. He certainly knew that the players from the Seven Stars Guild were not the culprits behind this bizarre case, but he was not so familiar with the people from the other merchant guilds.

It's not good if the murderer is hiding among those people.

"This is so annoying, I might as well just kill them all," Greta muttered, getting a little annoyed by the crowd.

"Hey, little kid, don't say such scary things." Ye Xiao reached out to take the little maid's arm, afraid that the short little girl would get pushed around by the crowd and disappear somewhere.

Although theoretically, with this guy's strength, even a truck might not be able to squeeze her.

"I'm not a child!" Despite saying that, Greta still obediently took Ye Xiao's hand.

Fortunately, a short while later, a small squad of guards pushed through the crowd and called out, "Li Cheng? Which one of you is Li Cheng?"

"What's going on?" Li Cheng was still confused when Ye Xiao grabbed his hand and raised it high.

"Here! Li Cheng is here!"

"Alright, everyone from the Seven Luminaries Society, follow us."

The guards escorted the guild players through the crowd, allowing them to reach the town entrance and meet up with the Holy Temple convoy that was waiting there.

"Not bad, thank goodness we have the Holy Maiden." Following the guards out of the sealed-off town entrance, and looking back at the dense crowd behind them, Li Cheng was somewhat smug. "Is this what privilege is? Feeling great."

“Indeed, privileges can also let you see some different things,” Ye Xiao said quietly from the side.

"Huh? What are you looking at... Holy crap, what is this... yue..." Li Cheng covered his mouth and almost threw up his breakfast.

There was nothing else to it but the sight of those gruesome corpses being lowered from the trees not far away.

Although he had experience leading players in battles against monsters, this was the first time Li Cheng had ever seen a corpse so mangled and bloody.

The other players in the Seven Stars Guild also looked tense and their faces were not good.

"By the God of Light." Freya, who was in the guild party, frowned when she saw this and crossed her fingers in a prayer gesture.

Chapter Six: Remains in the Desolate Ridge

Once out of the crowd, Ye Xiao naturally let go of the maid's hand, but unexpectedly, she insisted on grabbing his sleeve.

"Maid, can we glean anything from these corpses?"

"What's wrong with you? Don't you know you should comfort the girl who saw this kind of thing first?"

"...The things that would make you need comforting could probably annihilate my soul... Hey, okay, be good, stop pinching me."

“The traces of the spell were cleaned up very well, and the soul of the deceased was also cleansed.” Grabbing Ye Xiao’s waist, Greta honestly gave her analysis. “There are some traces of corrosion on the bones. The book that the human who practiced necromancy gave me yesterday also recorded a small trick that can cause a similar effect. It’s probably his doing.”

"What a coincidence." Ye Xiao stroked his chin.

"Dude, can we leave now? I can't stand it anymore, there's a weird smell." Seeing Ye Xiao and Greta still seriously discussing the corpse, Li Cheng felt a little uncomfortable.

"Indeed, let's get going. This matter shouldn't have much to do with us, but everyone should be careful on the road." Even so, Ye Xiao remained cautious, after all, this ruthless killer had asked them for something just yesterday.

It's hard to believe that someone with such a cruel nature would resort to any means to get what they want.

Thinking of this, Ye Xiao looked at the little maid's adorable face.

Well, if the other party really dares to cause trouble for Greta, I can only wish them good luck.

Since the caravan's wagons were unusable, Ella prepared several new wagons for everyone.

The members of the Seven Stars Society boarded the brand-new carriage, once again marveling at the Saintess's generosity.

Only Ye Xiao touched the spatial ring on her hand, tears welling up inside her heart.

Just then, a bird that was entirely black flapped its wings and descended from the sky.

It landed on Ye Xiao's car roof and let out a loud howl.

"Hey, isn't that the bunch of birds? What are they chirping about again?" Li Cheng, who had boarded the train at the back, heard the familiar voice and felt a bit annoyed.

“It feels like it’s coming to find us,” Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow and looked at Greta. “What is it muttering?”

“Well, it wasn’t anything important,” Greta said lazily. “It was something like, ‘He’s dying, please save him.’”

"I think you need to relearn how humans define the word 'important'." Ye Xiao couldn't hold back any longer and jumped off the train.

"What are you doing?" Greta asked, puzzled.

"I gonna go see."

"Why are you meddling in this?" the maid asked, puzzled.

"Just taking a look." Ye Xiao scratched his head. "I'm not entirely comfortable with it."

This is a strange sign. If the corpse in the tree wasn't the work of that big guy, then who was it?

Seeing that something was amiss, Ye Xiao wanted to investigate as much as possible.

It's always better to be aware of any potential dangers posed to them than not to be aware of them at all.

"Sigh." Greta jumped off the train with a sigh.

"You're coming too?"

"If I don't come over, will you understand the owl's language?"

“I really can’t understand that.” Then, Ye Xiao patted Li Cheng on the shoulder, “You guys go first, I’ll go check the situation and come over. The Holy Maiden will be relying on you to protect her on the way.”

“Although I actually hope we can all go together, it seems you have your own considerations.” Li Cheng nodded. “Then be careful, I’ll take care of things here.”

The two gave each other a high five.

The main reason Ye Xiao didn't mobilize everyone to go was because he felt it was just his personal decision.

The main mission is still to head to Stormport, and there's no reason for the entire team to be delayed here because of what he wants to investigate.

With this in mind, Ye Xiao and Greta rode a brown horse and followed the flying owl toward the fork in the road leading to the forest.

Meanwhile, Li Cheng and his entourage, who were escorting the Holy Temple convoy, set off from the main road and slowly drove towards the entrance of the Howling Mountains.

……

The mountain forest was still a bit chilly in the early morning, and Ye Xiao, who was galloping on horseback along the path, could faintly feel the moisture in the air.

The owl, wings outstretched in the sky, continued to lead him deeper into the forest.

Greta was secretly hugging Ye Xiao from behind, her rosy little face resting against his lower back, her little head lost in thought.