Chapter 709

Chapter 94 Rebirth Part Three

“Silver Flash…”

“Carlos Gonzalez?”

“I saw him once in the Holy City, and it really seems to be him…”

Carlos was a well-known Papal Knight in West Continent, even without his badge, he looked quite disheveled. The knights quickly recognized him, and their unsheathed longswords were put back at their sides. The knight captain asked instinctively, “Mr. Gonzalez, what brings you here…”

“I came with my teacher. Which subunit of the First Knight Order do you belong to? I need to see the person in charge of this operation. Time is of the essence, take me there immediately.”

“We belong to the Grace Scales. We were ordered by Commander Seattlek to assist Mr. Leon in eliminating the remnants of heretics from the East Continent…”

The knight captain answered honestly while dismounting to salute him, “But this time, Commander has more important matters to attend to. The one leading the operation is his brother, Bishop Alersta. Do you have something to discuss with him? Is there anything unusual about the situation here—”

“Tell me where he is.”

The man interrupted the knight captain, “Let your people… Forget it, there’s no time. I’ll go find him myself.”

“…”

The knight captain was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. He could sense the urgency in the great Papal Knight. He wanted to suggest that he could relay any message, but feared that it might cause some delay.

The current tense situation in the town had everyone on edge. Since they recognized that it was indeed Mr. Gonzalez, his words could not be ignored casually. After a moment’s hesitation, he instinctively pointed behind him, “Bishop Alersta entered the town with us… Just now, at the place where Mafa’s light rose. He will probably arrive soon—”

“No need to wait for him.”

Zzz—

A flash of lightning.

The man did not waste any more time. In front of the knights, he transformed into a shocking electric arc and flew back into the sky. He ignored the knight captain’s shout from behind, “Wait! You’re injured—”, and swiftly leaped toward the direction where the young bishop was.

The figure wrapped in lightning sped through one ruined building after another. Soon, Carlos saw the monks riding beasts racing down the main road, and the leader wore the attire of a bishop.

Boom!

The lightning arc lightly touched the debris and sharply turned nearly 180 degrees, accompanied by a thunderous roar, striking the path ahead of the monks, blocking their way. Carlos emerged from the scattered lightning and asked solemnly, “Bishop Alersta?”

“Ho—”

The young bishop urgently halted the beast. When he saw the lightning flash by, he roughly guessed who it was. The news that Silver Flash Carlos went to the East Continent last year to assist the old sword saint was unknown to the knights of the First Knight Order, but he had known it long ago.

“…It’s Mr. Gonzalez.”

Alersta signaled the people behind him to stop and firmly rode the horned horse, squinting his eyes to scrutinize the Papal Knight blocking their path. Noticing his injuries, his mind raced.

Yesterday, this man did not appear with the old gentleman.

But now he suddenly appeared from the town, right before his eyes. It seemed he had already taken some action here and was seriously injured as a result… What did he do?

Did he fight against the heretics?

Or maybe—

“It’s surprising that Mr. Gonzalez knows me. This makes me feel honored,” Alersta said indifferently.

Or perhaps, he intends to do something to that sphere before I or the Church knights arrive… Not wanting it to be known by them.

“What’s going on?”

Carlos continued to ask, “Are you the one in charge of the East Continent operation appointed by the Church this time?”

When the young bishop heard him ask this, he nodded in affirmation while his mind was still racing.

Why?

Why did he enter the town ahead of time? Why didn’t the old man inform them about this?

Carlos was the old man’s disciple. He had been summoned here to assist with investigating the Fireseed matter. Now that things had progressed to this stage, and this man had arrived in the town before the First Order Knights, regardless of the reason, the old man could not have remained unaware. Yet, he hadn’t said anything to him.

Moreover, the old man had feigned ignorance earlier, seemingly unaware of any situation, allowing him to send people to investigate the small town, leading to the investigation team losing contact shortly after entering. Aleister wanted to lead a rescue mission and figure out what was happening in the town, but was repeatedly blocked by the old man, who attempted to order the Knights to withdraw three kilometers away, to no longer interfere with anything here.

At that time, Aleister hadn’t thought deeply about it, feeling only anger and frustration at not being trusted by the old hero.

But now, thinking back…

Things seemed to have become somewhat intriguing.

The young bishop had countless speculations flash through his mind in an instant. He felt he finally understood some of the situation. A disdainful, mocking smile curled up at the corner of his mouth, and at the same time, he stopped speaking, quietly waiting for the man in front of him to say the words he had anticipated.

“The situation has changed. Don’t let your people approach that thing rashly.”

Carlos told him quickly, without any room for negotiation, as if issuing a command: “There are complex reasons behind this. I will explain everything to you later. For now, please take your people and immediately withdraw from the town. The farther, the better! Let me… handle things with Teacher Lane. You won’t be able to handle this. Don’t cause unnecessary sacrifices due to recklessness.”

*Hmph.*

Aleister sneered inwardly.

Indeed.

He wanted Aleister to lead the people out of the town and stop approaching the Fireseed.

This man shared the same attitude as the old sword saint, even using almost identical words, which Aleister had already anticipated.

What rash approach, what unnecessary sacrifices…

All just empty excuses.

They just didn’t want him to get involved in this.

They…

wanted to claim all the credit for recovering the Fireseed entirely for themselves.

…Or perhaps these few individuals had even more ambitious goals, which wasn’t impossible.

That’s why the old sword saint had been indifferent towards him all along, repeatedly obstructing him outside the town, making various excuses to prevent him from entering, choosing instead to let Sir Aphur proceed first, secretly meeting Carlos inside the town. By the time they reacted, everything might already have been settled.

—Isn’t that right?

But now, it seemed there was a little unexpected twist.

“Hahaha.”

The young bishop couldn’t help laughing: “Mr. Carlos, are you teaching me how to do things?”

That old fellow…

already at an advanced age, possibly returning to the embrace of the divine at any moment, was actually playing such hypocritical games with him, truly despicable, tarnishing the reputation of heroes.

Thinking of this, Aleister suddenly looked down on these people, and his tone became sarcastic: “Although both you and Mr. Lane are admired by ten thousand people as heroic figures, your strength is naturally unquestionable. But even the strongest person can’t handle everything perfectly, can they? This time, it seems you are struggling a bit…”