Chapter 461

Chapter 84 An Unexpected Delight

“Let’s go.”

I waved to the few people, holding the fox as I left with the priest. After two steps, I suddenly turned back and walked up to Isaac, kicking him.

“Let me tell you, little one!”

Clang!

The kick landed on his knee, producing a loud metallic sound.

Oh…

My foot tingled like being pricked by needles. It wasn’t too painful, but it was quite embarrassing.

Dead baldy, there’s chainmail under his leg armor!

This kick hit Isaac’s knee hard, though not too forcefully. However, the bald man didn’t budge at all. His legs were as stiff as steel pillars, his body standing straight. His fierce face looked down at me with a puzzled expression in his eyes.

I moved my ankle a few times, keeping a blank expression, then turned to leave. In my mind, I was planning how to embarrass the stupid bald guy next time in front of others.

Isaac said behind me, “Wait, are you going to show the dead fox to His Holiness?”

Wouldn’t it be better if you kept it?

Pfft…

With your big head, always looking for a fight, trying to fool me… it’s at least eighty years too early!

I pursed my lips, not deigning to answer him. I walked to the rhinoceros, pulled my hood over my head, stepped on the stirrup, and climbed onto its back. I unhooked the iron hook tied to its horn, fastened it around my waist, and attached the other end to the fox’s fur, hanging it from my waist.

I looked down, patted the fox’s head, feeling quite satisfied.

Then, I followed the priest out of the village. I noticed that more knights had entered the village. Occasionally, small groups of three or five passed by me, their heads held high and chests pounded in respect. The atmosphere felt like a leader inspecting the troops, making me feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Previously, they hadn’t shown such respect towards me. Being so young, most likely saw me as a talented child, accompanying Angel to see the world. Their attitude was neither cold nor warm, rarely anyone initiated conversation with me. But when they saw the continuous, towering knife-shaped mountains spanning half the village, their gaze towards me changed.

“The Fist of Judgment” is an extremely individualistic knight order, evident from Isaac.

I don’t know who gave the order, but many knights began collecting the bodies of the deceased villagers—removing the soaked straw roofs, laying them out as simple mats, rolling up the bodies not covered by ice spears, and tossing them into a large pit dug at the village entrance to prevent the spread of plague.

A ten-meter-wide pit filled with bodies in various states of death. They were almost full, yet more bodies kept being thrown in, while someone nearby dug another pit.

I told the priest and walked over to the edge of the pit, listening to the bishop’s prayers, clasping my hands together in prayer.

“Dear Mother God, great deity, may the souls of these departed return to your embrace, find peace, joy, and eternal life in the divine kingdom…”

Soon after, the pit was filled.

They were forever buried beneath the mud.

“Miss Silvija, let’s go.”

The waiting priest couldn’t help but urge me forward. I nodded, my gaze fixed on a small hill a few dozen meters away.

I and Isaac came from that direction into the village. Now, a temporary tent stood alone on the hill, surrounded by knights keeping watch. No one approached within thirty to forty meters of the tent.

But Angel was inside.

Swoosh…

The rain poured like smoke and mist, covering everything.

I followed the priest toward the tent. Raindrops fell from the sky like a cascading waterfall, splashing from all sides. Even with my cloak tightly wrapped, the cold wind carrying the rain still seeped in.

We were very close to the tent.

“Miss Silvija, please go ahead.”

The priest gestured for me to enter, then stopped moving forward.

I took a few more steps forward.

Suddenly, the storm seemed to be forcibly diverted by some force. Instead of falling from the sky, the raindrops flew straight at my face. I couldn’t help but close my eyes, my right foot still stepping forward instinctively.

In the next moment, the rain abruptly stopped.

Hmm…

I stopped, raised my head, and stretched out my hand to catch the rain.

…Indeed, there was no rain anymore.

But when I turned around, the rain behind me continued to fall, the sound of raindrops “splashing” echoing in my ears. The ground underfoot was muddy and flooded, yet no rain was falling above my head—seemingly, someone had set up an invisible barrier around the tent, blocking out all the rain.

Is this a divine miracle…

As I continued walking, I shook the water off my cloak, pulled down my hood, and suddenly remembered that Angel had used an invisible barrier in the capital before, isolating… even reflecting back the violent white light of Cardinal Nero’s divine miracle.

What kind of divine miracle…

…Ah!

There’s no rain now, I can make a fire here!

Roast meat!

“Angel!”

I shouted into the tent, then saw a nearby extinguished campfire. Beside it lay a bundle of dry wood. I quickly ran over, squatted down, and touched the wood—it was dry.

“Angel—”

I squatted beside the campfire, turned my head, and shouted again, picked up some small twigs, and placed them inside the campfire. Then, I took some dry grass from a storage box near the tent, lit it with a flint, and threw it under the twigs. I lay down, puffed my cheeks, and blew air—”Huu—, huu—.”

Smoke rose, and the twigs caught fire.

…

The Angel, clad in a golden robe and wearing a white shawl over it, stepped out of the tent slowly.

“Silvijah, do you know? You’re amazing. You are the first person who dared to call me out of my room and make me show myself.”

Today, he wasn’t wearing a crown; his hair was casually scattered. Underneath his grand ceremonial robe, he wore a white, lace-trimmed knee-length shirt. Although he still looked lazy and carefree, his eyes were unusually serious.

I saw his eyes light up, stood up, untied the fox from his waist, and with a smug smile, held it high and waved it at him. “Angel, help me skin this!”

“This is… a red-horned mink?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Qi Lin.”

“… So, are you planning to eat it roasted? Asking me to skin it for you?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Why not skin it yourself?”

“I find it disgusting.”

“… ”

As Angel walked over and stood in front of me, he glanced at me indifferently. The emerald green pupils reflected the flickering firelight.

He then laughed, “I am the great Pope, how could I possibly help you skin an animal?”

Of course…

Why would he help me skin it?

I tilted my head and thought about it.

“Is the red-horned mink delicious?”

“Extremely delicious,” Angel replied quickly.

I knew it was delicious!

My eyes lit up as I couldn’t help but recall the delicious taste in the illusion, feeling a bit drool forming.

Fortunately, I was smart; otherwise, Isaac would have tricked me…

“So, I’ll share one leg with you.”

To get the fox meat quickly without having to skin it myself and lose my appetite, I decided to pay Angel to help me.

However, the price of one leg didn’t satisfy Angel. He glared at me, “One leg for you, the rest is mine.”

“No way!”

“Then I won’t do it.”

Won’t do it?

I’ve already given you one leg, and you won’t do it!

“One leg, hurry up!”

Unable to hold back, I urged him, pushing the fox towards him.

I was almost starving…

“Four legs, I won’t do it if there’s one less.”

“Dream on!”

“Then eat it yourself.”

“I’ll give you at most two… I still want to eat, where are the legs!”

“Then go get the organs yourself…”

“No…”

After some arguing, I finally agreed to give him two hind legs plus fetch water, light a fire, and cook soup in exchange for the Pope helping me skin and clean the fox.

I thought that since Angel was used to a life of luxury, such tasks would be done by hunters or butchers, and he might not have done it before. Worried he might mess it up and waste the meat, I rushed down to get well water and hurried back. It took less than ten minutes, and to my surprise, Angel had already finished.

“How fast?”

“As a child, I loved wild game, so I’ve done this many times.”

“Huh…”

“What, is it strange?”

I looked at him and nodded, “Yeah.”

I thought you were the kind of person born with a silver spoon in your mouth, always being adored by everyone.

Angel smiled and shook his head, saying no more. We started dividing the tasks to prepare the food, washing the meat and skewering it on sticks to roast. Beside us, a pot was set up to boil soup. Angel said the liver and heart of the red-horned mink were delicious, so he threw them into the pot. He wanted to add other organs too, but I stopped him in time.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what on purpose?”

The Pope blinked, his handsome face filled with questions.

The fox meat was roasting over the fire, and Angel held the end of the branch, turning it back and forth. Soon, it began to turn yellow and emit oil. I squatted beside him, watching his face for a while, feeling puzzled but unable to detect anything unusual. So, I turned my head away, holding the ladle to stir the pot and sniffing the aroma.

… The smell wasn’t very pleasant.

“Little Black Charcoal.”

Angel focused on roasting the meat, calling me absentmindedly.

“Hmm?”

“The heretic that appeared in the village, you killed him, right?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded.

Is there a problem?

The Pope flipped the fox, “Earlier, Isaac brought the body to me. You might not know what this means… Let me explain briefly.”

“The dispute between the Holy Church and the Gate of Truth has been going on for nearly a thousand years… Over such a long period, many things, big and small, cruel wars, everything that should happen and shouldn’t happen, has happened.”

“Heretics have killed many of our knights and clergy, and we, of course, have killed even more of them… Too many to count. Among them, there are naturally many third-stage heretics, the ‘blood sacrifice’ stage… They have something different from the first and second stages, which is often easily overlooked. Black Charcoal, do you know what it is?”

“What is it?”

I scooped out the heart from the pot and smelled it.

… Ugh.

It stinks!

“In the ‘blood sacrifice’ stage, after their death, their bodies not only age but are also reduced to ashes by the last wisp of internal fire, leaving nothing behind… Do you understand? Nothing at all. No corpses, never.”

“So sometimes I wonder why… It’s almost like someone deliberately destroys the corpses… Why? Why? But just now, I saw the body of the first ‘blood sacrifice’ stage heretic. I checked it briefly…”

As Angel spoke, he turned his head and revealed a meaningful smile.

“What a delightful surprise, Little Black Charcoal.”