Chapter 513

Chapter 136: Underground Dungeon

I squatted down beside the raven. The silly bird was lying on the ground with its wings spread out. Its legs were trembling, and its fine white eyelids were flickering rapidly, as if it were rolling its eyes, looking quite comical…

This stupid bird, I hope nothing bad has happened to it.

I picked it up.

Throughout this process, my peripheral vision never stopped observing and being wary of those three people.

The man sitting in the center stood up. “Miss Sylvieja, I am Daniel… ah, a doctor who doesn’t practice medicine… well, a doctor. Or perhaps a preacher? A priest? In short, an unimportant person sent here to wait for your arrival, Miss… Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something?”

“This is some kind of introduction…” The other man sitting on the left also stood up. “Daniel, don’t ask such meaningless questions. It would make us seem very impolite. For such a beautiful and powerful Church Knight Miss, our welcoming ceremony should be more formal, at least showing proper manners…”

He turned his head towards the woman sitting on the right. “By the way, Olivia, can I borrow the flower ornament on your head?”

“Get lost.”

The woman crossed her arms and sat in the chair, coldly cursing him without paying attention.

“What’s the big deal, so stingy…”

“……”

These three people…

I turned around holding the cheese, facing the three of them, frowning deeply.

The man named Daniel, who had been sitting in the center, had already walked in front of me.

He looked to be under thirty years old, with a square face, neither tall nor thin, small nose and small eyes. He was a very ordinary man, completely unremarkable, the type that could easily get lost in a crowd.

The man smiled at me at this moment, repeating his question: “Miss Sylvieja, are you hungry? Would you like to eat something?”

“Daniel, step aside!”

As soon as the man finished speaking, he was pushed to one side. Another man who seemed somewhat loud and boisterous came forward from behind, holding a red and yellow cloth flower with pleated edges. He knelt on one knee in front of me, sniffed the flower lightly, then held it over his head, puffing out his chest slightly, opening his left arm wide, as if facing the sea, with an extremely exaggerated expression.

“My beautiful lady, kneeling before you is the one destined to be remembered throughout history, known to all in the Holy Church, the most famous minstrel of the future West Continent—Carl Bruce, who loves singing. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Your beauty makes me want to sing aloud to express the fervent beating of my heart. Please listen to me… Miss, can you stop playing with your bird? Trouble me no longer with your words.”

“……”

I took a deep breath.

The goat cheese in my arms seemed to regain some vitality, flapping its wings to climb onto my shoulder, turning its head to say to the man called Carl: “Idiot—”

“…How dare this bird insult me?!” The man named Carl pointed the cloth flower at the goat cheese, full of disbelief.

“Eww, eww—”

The goat cheese twisted its head, making retching sounds.

“I freaking…”

Carl stood up ready to curse… No, to curse the bird. Then the man who had been pushed aside earlier, who looked ordinary, intervened, blocking Carl’s angry face, and asked me expressionlessly: “Miss Sylvieja, shall I take you to eat something first?”

“Hmph.”

Under the light of the fire ahead, the woman still sitting in the chair lowered her head and snorted coldly.

“Uh, you guys…”

“But come to think of it, this bird does seem a bit strange… Miss Sylvieja, may I take a look at it.” The ordinary-looking man spoke again.

“Mmm…”

So what exactly are these three people doing?

“Pepe! Pepe—”

Naturally, I didn’t want to, but before I could refuse, the goat cheese spread its wings and flew up, quickly circling in the small stone room. I even heard a hint of panic in its hoarse cries… The silly bird clearly understood what the other person said and was unwilling to let the man touch it… Ah, it’s going to hit the wall—

Bang!

Perhaps due to dizziness, the goat cheese flew, tilted its body, and hit the wall, then fell lightly. The man named Carl saw this and immediately clapped and shouted, “Haha, serves you right!” The ordinary man’s eyes lit up, and he stepped forward toward that direction. The woman remained seated, ignoring the minor incident happening here, but she did not leave either.

My frown deepened even more.

“Hey…”

I called out to the man walking towards the goat cheese, seeing him stop and turn back, then showed a puzzled expression: “Are you guys the ones sent by the Pope to meet me?”

I was unsure about this matter.

There was no particular reason; it was just that… these three people seemed so strange.

Perhaps the woman sitting there was better, but these two men… they seemed a bit crazy, not like normal people. When we met, they talked about all sorts of nonsense, their thought processes were weird, what was going on? Could it be that the clowns have already found this place—

“Oh! Come to think of it, I almost forgot the main business.”

Suddenly, the man named Carlos spoke up, “Miss Silvija… Oh, what a mouthful that name is. From now on, I’ll call you ‘sweetheart.’ It’s simpler and sounds nicer. So, sweetheart, perhaps you haven’t quite figured out the situation here? Come, let’s leave this place first. We can go outside, or to my room. I’ll explain everything to you…”

As he spoke, he reached out to put his arm around my shoulder.

“……”

Whoosh—

Bang!

“Oh! My nose…”

A fist struck him right in the face. The man let out a cry of pain, clutching his nose as he crouched down. The flowers he was holding fell to the ground. The woman sitting over there seemed to raise an eyebrow, her eyes turning cold.

“Pain, pain, pain! Sweetheart, why did you hit me…”

Drip, drip, bright red blood dripped from between his fingers. He looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, his face full of hurt.

Ah, this is…

“Sorry. I’m here to resolve matters concerning the clown. I don’t have the mood or time for a long chat.”

After saying this, I turned to look at the ordinary man, “By the way, you mentioned something to eat just now?”

…………

After exiting the stone chamber, we entered an even larger chamber.

This seemed to be a cave located somewhere in the mountains, or perhaps a man-made underground space. The outer area of the stone chamber was spacious, with countless brick corridors constructed by hand. All the walls lacked windows; the only light came from the countless torches burning along the walls.

“Sniff…”

I took a deep breath, catching the scent of dampness and decay.

“In fact, this underground prison is a place under the Church in northern Xierjiya,” said the ordinary man next to me. He led me toward a nearby passage, “The notorious reputation of the underground prisons is not new to you, Miss. However, the underground prisons people usually talk about refer to detention centers set up by various church districts. The prisoners are typically bandits, marauders, unclean individuals, or petty thieves. But this place is different.”

“Those who end up here are truly vicious criminals—sinners, cruel and heartless, yet terrifyingly powerful. Think of war criminals responsible for massacres, some apostate knight templars, or nuns and priests who abandon their faith but possess extraordinary talents…that sort of person.”

Underground prison…

This is the place Carlos mentioned…

The outer chamber was empty. Following the ordinary man, I walked forward slowly. In the distance, faint and eerie sounds could be heard from the depths of a passageway. The sounds were like roars or moans, the cries of someone in pain echoing quietly in the chamber. At one point, they stirred a familiar chill in my mind.

“Gaa—”

That feeling was interrupted by the bleat of goat cheese.

I stretched out my hand, allowing the circling raven to land on it before placing it on my shoulder. Behind us, the woman named Olivia spoke coldly to Carlos, “Give me back my headband. Stop playing around.”

“Okay, okay… Ah, it got a bit dirty. Is that a problem?”

“It is.”

“What else can you do to me…”

In the midst of these trivial and boring conversations, the ordinary man spoke again, “As for us… whether we’re doctors or bards, fundamentally, our job is to catch those deeply sinful people, kill them or bring them here, imprison them… yes, things like interrogation, torture, and such.”

“Oh…”

So, these few people… are the tormentors in the underground prison that Carlos used to scare me?

I’ve always remembered this matter. Humph.

Thinking this, I couldn’t help but look at the man’s face again.

… Thick lips, flat nose, rough skin, dark eyes. Upon closer inspection, there were a few freckles on his face. He was really an unremarkable person, with a somewhat honest and simple demeanor. If judged solely by appearance, it would be impossible to associate him with someone who engages in “violent suppression” and does dirty deeds.

As for the two behind him, it would be even less likely to make such a connection.

Indeed…

One should not judge a person by their appearance.

Of course, I understood the significance of people like them. I wouldn’t say anything childish. Angel had specifically emphasized today that this was a secret institution of the Church. Not only the general public, but even bishops or archbishops might not know of its existence, or if they did, they wouldn’t know the exact location.

And I, actually didn’t want to learn too much more.

Because the more one knows about places like this, the more it adds to one’s distress.

I immediately changed the subject, “So, His Holiness has asked you to cooperate with my actions?”

“Mm… You’re not wrong to say that.”

Turning a corner and stepping into the passage, the sound of flames crackling filled my ears. The ordinary man paused for a moment, then continued, “Actually, His Holiness came here at noon today. The reason being that not long ago, we… specifically, me and Olivia. We discovered the clown’s whereabouts and briefly engaged with them. I killed two, and the rest escaped…”

(End of Translation)