Cthulhu Gonfalon

Rubey said he was not worried. But the truth was, he was very worried.

Though theoretically speaking, it was impossible for those heretics to embark on such a long and arduous journey just to make trouble for the exploration team. They would have to travel from the southern-most end, which was within the merchant party’s sphere of influence, to the northern-most end. But these heretics were called heretics for a reason. One of their most important characteristics was “madness.” These fellows were all one of a kind, and they were all lunatics. There was nothing worse than crazy lunatics, hot-tempered lunatics, quiet lunatics or calm lunatics… nothing.

Using the “theoretical” approach to contemplate the behavior of these crazy lunatics was certainly impossible and definitely unreliable. If lunatics could do things according to common sense, would they still be deemed crazy?

So even though it was a distance of almost two thousand miles away, there was still a possibility of these heretics coming over just to make trouble.

This was like on Earth, where everyone knew that many terrorists had based their headquarters in the Middle East. Would there be any place on the entire Earth that would be spared from their tormenting ways? Maybe only the penguins in Antarctica and the cacti in the Sahara didn’t need to worry about getting attacked.

The level of mobility of the heretics was beyond what ordinary people could ever imagine. So Rubey secretly strengthened security measures at camp. He also contacted a few other adventurers and set up a long-term undercover team of sentries at the foot of the mountain.

He knew that these measures might be unnecessary, but he felt uneasy if he did nothing at all.

In fact, even if all these measures were in place, his heart was still very unsettled.

A few days later, subsequent news came.

The clergymen of the Church of the Master of Justice met those heretics, and the two parties fought a violent battle. There were heavy casualties on both sides. In the heat of the battle, the heretics produced a special statue that looked very ordinary but could harness positive energy—this meant that it was made from the flesh and blood of heavenly creatures, or maybe it was even directly transformed from a powerful heavenly creature to take its present form.

The combat power of that “heavenly statue” was not particularly high, but when used in group combat, the auxiliary effect of its combat power was exceptional. If it were not for its help, relying only on the wits of those deranged heretics, it would be impossible for them to be on par with a disciplined, well-trained and well-equipped army of Sacred Warriors.

Finally, this “heavenly statue” fled the scene with a few miserable heretics who barely scraped through. And those who did not manage to escape all sacrificed themselves as offerings. If not for the veteran sacred warrior leading the team of clergymen who stopped them in time before they were utterly destroyed, they might have summoned a most terrifying creature.

“Seems like this matter has come to an end?” After hearing the news, Rubey asked the adventurer who had made haste in conveying the news. He went on to ask, “Can we relax now?”

“We should be able to,” said that adventurer. “The heretics have been exterminated. Though there are a miserable few who managed to escape, there is nothing much they can do now. And even if they managed to escape this time, there are still clergymen in hot pursuit of them—presently, the merchant party and aristocratic party have joined forces. They are offering a very high reward where the head of one heretic is worth the price of 500 gold coins. That is simply a head made of gold!”

“Surely there must be many adventurers out there trying to find and kill them?”

“Yes,” said that adventurer. “I’ve been on a pursuit before, but I realized that the demand was greater than the supply. With a few hundred adventurers tracking these few heretics, we all have no idea who was going to get lucky and become the big winner. I searched for a few days but found nothing. After discussing with a few friends, we decided that every one of us would choose a certain direction and head in that direction to simply sell the news we have.”

Along the way, at every place he stopped at, he peddled detailed information about the “rebellion of the heretics.” As a frontline member of the heretics-hunting team himself, he was well-aware of the entire course of events, as well as the detailed situation of several battles. Relying on the peddling of information, he did make quite a fortune.

Finally, Rubey could completely let go of his worries and withdrew that undercover team he had planted.

This storm did not find its way to the exploration team. In the end, it was nothing more than a false alarm. However, it made him feel deeply unsettled.

That same evening, he submitted a report to the Ministry of Mines of the Republic of Northwest. On the report, he wrote, “In view of the current unstable situation within the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, it is recommended that additional manpower be deployed to complete the joint exploration work as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary risks.

“We need more manpower,” said a mutilated statue in an underground cave. “We are shorthanded.”

Near it, several corpses dressed in black robes were strewn all over the floor. They had become completely hard and stiff.

“These guys are not bright, it would be rather troublesome to use them,” a voice was heard speaking by its side. “Maybe we should consider finding manpower from elsewhere.”

“Other than them, what other crazy lunatics can you find?” said the statue in its peaceful and calm voice. However, there was a trace of worry in it. “If we want to execute our plan, we must find people who are vicious and wicked enough. I can’t think of any other in this world who are more vicious and wicked.”

“But it is going to be quite troublesome if we use them.”

The statue sighed and said, “Everything has its good and bad. These fellows are not like us, after all. Being able to make use of them to help us carry out acts of sabotage was already quite a feat. It’s impossible to obtain their complete obeisance.”

“But they are actually going to attack you… And the reason is that there is a conflict between camps. I’ve never seen such a preposterous situation!”

“This reason is actually quite substantial. Haven’t we also fought for the same reason before…?”

“But when we needed to rely on getting help from others to survive, we certainly did not turn our backs on each other because of such conflicts,” replied the voice. It was slightly louder than before and continued to say, “This is not obstinance, this is pure idiocy!”

“If they are not that idiotic, would they have been willing to help me stir up trouble with just a reason like, ‘I can provide you all with the convenience of transportation?’” the statue asked back.

That voice remained silent. Then after a while, it asked, “What do you intend to do next?”

“You’re the one in charge. You decide what to do, and I’ll help,” the statue replied. “Of course, if you ask me what decision I would make, I would say to find another place to launch an attack—perhaps the aristocratic party and merchant party can cooperate with each other now. But so long as we continue to attack, sooner or later, we’ll be able to incite a conflict between them.”

“But… how long exactly is that going to take?” asked that voice. It sighed and said, “We have been putting this off for much too long.”

“It can’t be helped. Having to operate in this invisible form is too restrictive for us. Otherwise, we could easily launch a large-scale attack on the merchant party by simply gathering a number of devout followers.”

“No! My god’s command is absolute!”

“Yes, so we can only take things slow,” said the statue as a white light flowed through its body. Various broken parts of the statue were slowly being restored as it was placed in the midst of the white light. The statue said, “When I’m done fixing this body, I’ll continue moving on.

“I’ll finish up whatever I have at hand as soon as I can. Given the current situation, I also can’t afford to be enjoying the life of a princess any further.”

With that being said, something disappeared in the midst of a light breeze.

The statue sighed deeply and sat down.

In the cave, silence prevailed, and it was as quiet as a graveyard.