our family is gone

Chapter 790 Church Mission
They finally understood what was meant by the church wanting to go deeper into the ruins and wanted to find someone familiar with the situation to lead the way.

Their Scorpion Mercenary Group was indeed deeply involved in the early development and had a good reputation, so they were chosen by Brother Martin to be the guide.

Then they were stopped.

"No one who has nothing to do with this place should stay away."

The knights stopped them when they were approaching the two-story building of the base, and their cold words were in sharp contrast to their fanaticism.

"This is our place. We belong to this mercenary group."

"leave here!"

They were so arrogant that they didn't even bother to explain. One could sense their discrimination against mercenaries and they had no intention of hiding it at all. To be honest, they didn't understand why they had to bring these mercenaries along.

Several mercenaries looked at the knights' shining equipment, which was even a little dazzling under the warm sun. They heard that the weapons and equipment were blessed by holy light.

I heard that the minimum requirement to become a Holy Light Knight is a master, and judging by the various emblems on his armor, he has experienced many battles.

Although there were less than ten knights, their strength was undisguised; that was the first impression given to them and to most people here.

In comparison, they seemed very shabby. You have to know that there are few adventurers here who are more powerful than their Scorpion Mercenaries. They are usually praised by all parties. When have they ever suffered such humiliation?
Can’t even enter the main building of your own residence?
At this time, someone finally came. He was from their mercenary group and hurried over to persuade the people to leave.

"It's okay, it's okay. They are using our place for a meeting. We just need to go over there and wait for the leader to come back."

The conflict was stopped and several returning mercenaries were pulled aside. People couldn't sit idle. After a while, someone suddenly muttered something sourly.

"I feel inferior to the Royal Guards..."

I am not as good as you, but you are not as good as the Royal Guards.

Others also inexplicably linked these knights with the lords' personal guards.

They discovered that those guards might not be as glorious as they looked, but their strength in suppressing tens of thousands of adventurers in the town when the blood moon came still frightened them.

Because they are also part of the adventurers...

"Shut up, how can you say such things? You don't even know who the boss of this trip is?"

Most mercenaries are outspoken because they are desperadoes and no one knows which will come first, tomorrow or death.

But that doesn't mean they are stupid. They won't do anything to offend their boss. Who can resist money?

"But why would they go to the ruins? There are only rats and bones in there?"

"That's right, coming here after everyone else has run away, isn't that too slow?"

"Maybe there really is a treasure..."

People are always restless, especially now seeing those knights surrounding the house so cautiously, they can't help but comment.

But Brother Martin was also troubled by this issue.

Because Lance wiped out the church saints in the dungeon, which caused the church to notice something.

The problem of the saint's fall is too serious. They must find the body and bring back the inheritance. According to records, the last place the saint appeared was Hamlet.

As for this core issue concerning the secrets of the church, they did not care too much and transferred an elite force from Totnes as a vanguard.

Brother Martin himself knew that this was a big trap. Originally, the church had thrown him here and ignored him, but suddenly they sent a team of Holy Light Knights and a bishop to lead them, and gave him a task.

【Find a way to find out Hamlet's secret and find the traces of the saint. 】

Some things cannot be told to others. Even within the church, only a few high-ranking officials know some information. It is no wonder that the knights were so cautious in driving away others.

Now, besides the candle-lit priest, there are two others beside Brother Martin in the room. One of them is wearing heavy armor that emits a bright white light. Apart from traces of battles, there are various badges on his shoulders and breastplate, representing fierce battles and blessings of the Holy Light.

His entire body was protected by armor, with only a determined look revealed through a line of the helmet. He held an exaggerated alien-shaped sword in his hand. He was the champion knight of the church.

The other one was wearing a gorgeous priest robe and a tall white hat with a special large cross pattern painted in gold. He held a holy book in one hand and a short-handled weapon with an arc-shaped large cross blade in the other. It was unclear whether it was a staff or a war hammer.

He looked much taller than the average man, yet rather thin, and his face looked solemn and serious. He was a bishop, a champion spellcaster.

Because of the blockade of Reims, or because information is difficult to transmit in the world itself, the church does not know much about Hamlet's affairs.

Brother Martin and his companion were also trapped here and had no idea what was happening in the outside world.

After a conversation, both sides compared information, and then those outsiders realized how terrible this place was.

"Yes, it is during the blood moon period. It seems that the changes in the ruins must be related to the saints."

When the two sides matched their times, they quickly confirmed one thing: the vision that happened to Hamlet was most likely related to the saints of the church, which meant that the lord must know something.

"Can't we really talk to that lord?"

The bishop's words found the most direct key to the problem. Since the lord claimed to have pacified the cult, he must know something.

"No, that lord is not religious. It seems that because the church abandoned Hamlet when the bandits attacked, the lord has a deep prejudice against the church."

Brother Martin was really investigating. Only the first few hundred real natives knew about this matter, and it was rarely mentioned afterwards.

"Then the lord really beat and imprisoned you?"

The bishop was a little doubtful. Everyone in the church knew that Martin was a tough nut to crack, but there was nothing he could do. Apart from his reputation as a "martyr", he also had strength.

No one wants to offend a legendary spellcaster.

But he said this to question Martin. Stop lying. Does the lord's behavior have anything to do with the fact that you started a rebellion here and it was suppressed?

Martin was also speechless. Why the hell are you asking this?

But since it was about the saints, he couldn't say anything wrong and could only change the subject.

"Let's get back to the next plan. If the saint has appeared in the ruins, then he must have left traces somewhere."

"Church." The silent champion knight spoke. He was not very interested in those messes, because everyone had made it to this point and they were not fools, so there was no need to waste time.

"Yes, that's right. If the saint has appeared here before, the church must have relevant records." "Do it quickly, otherwise the snow will fall again."

His words were agreed by the other two, and they also locked on the next mission target.

But the knight still didn't understand one thing, "Do we need to call those mercenaries for this kind of thing?"

As the escort for this trip, he still doesn't trust outsiders when it comes to church secrets. Caution is a virtue.

"The ruins are very dangerous, and we have too few people. Having them clear the way and keep watch, helping us with miscellaneous tasks can reduce a lot of trouble, and the payment is just a little money."

Martin has truly witnessed the madness of the ruins, so he will leave professional matters to professionals and just prevent them from entering the church when the time comes.

Others did not have many objections. After all, everyone had the same goal, which was to find the saint, even if he was alive but without a corpse.

The interesting thing is that since they were able to transfer people here, they must know that the lord is conquering those rebellious nobles.

They would also know about the Bastia Incident, because the church members who escaped would definitely report the cult to their superiors.

But the church sent people here as quickly as possible. It can be seen that in front of the saint, both the nobles and the cult of Bastia seemed unimportant...

The Scorpion who went out to purchase finally came back with the remaining members, and of course the packages they carried.

He was used to preparing his own supplies for every mission, because these things were really crucial, especially potions and some consumables. If something went wrong, it would be a play on the lives of his teammates.

"The leader is back!"

"Doesn't the lord dislike those people from the church?"

Someone asked in a low voice, but Scorpion frowned and retorted.

"We are mercenaries, what does it have to do with us?"

Of course he understood what they meant. As for whether dealing with the church would offend the lord here, Scorpion no longer cared. Making money and getting away was the most important thing. He couldn't stand this damn place at all.

But he also knew what his teammates were worried about, so he added a sentence.

"Don't think too much. The price offered by the church is very good. We just need to complete this task and leave here."

Naturally, other people did not question it and they all figured out how to use the money, but some people also complained.

"This lord is really good at making money. We just went to restock supplies, and those potions and hemostatic bandages were so expensive."

While those people were complaining, Brother Martin and his team also ended their meeting. The two teams started a brief conversation, and a team of about 20 people set out, stepping on the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow...

In addition to them, you can also see many people bringing equipment in after the snow stops, not to look for treasure, but to catch crazy rats and pick up garbage.

Facts have proved that human beings are very powerful when there is profit to be made. The big rats that ran out of the ruins once caused panic, but now there are no crazy rats around the town. If you want to find them, you can only look in the direction of the ruins.

After a round of heavy snow, the dilapidated ruins were covered with a layer of silver, as if washing away the filth that had lingered for many years, and even the smell of decay seemed to have been suppressed... Is that right?
I don't know about the others, but after several rounds of clearing by the army, there were fewer skeletons on the periphery. They moved forward and clearing the way turned into clearing snow.

Only when we went a little deeper did we find traces of the skeleton, but it looked a little funny.

The skeleton might have run out at night and was directly covered by the wind and snow that blew overnight, with most of its body buried in the snow, leaving only half of its body, or only its head, exposed.

The skeletons were trapped in the snow and couldn't move. Even Junkrat was reluctant to come out in such horrible weather, but it was a good thing for them.

Because of the thick snow cover, at least the initial frenzy would not occur, which was why Scorpio was willing to agree to their request.

Fortunately, there are many buildings here, and you can avoid some of the snow by walking along the eaves, but there are also wandering skeletons here.

These guys are as annoying as the snow, and Martin hired them to do the hard labor.

If they encounter a road that they really cannot get around, they can only clear the snow to move forward. Fortunately, they have prepared shovels before they come.

The mercenaries worked together to clear a path and then took care of any possible minor troubles, such as thawing skeletons.

Those church people followed behind, with no intention of asking for help at all. Their noble status did not make them suitable for such work.

The interesting reason is that many of these Holy Light Knights are of noble birth, and some religious nobles would send their second sons who had no inheritance rights to the church for the sake of the Holy Light.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why they look down on mercenaries. In their eyes, mercenaries who do it for money are nothing more than robbers and bandits.

Although this understanding is correct, many mercenaries are part-time bandits, but if these knights have no money, how can they become knights of the church?
This is a very simple yet complex question, but no one cares.

The team moved slowly but steadily towards the magnificent cathedral in the center of the city.

It would have been broad daylight when the snow stopped, and combined with the time for preliminary preparation and advancement, it quickly became dark. The days in winter are always so short.

The knights of the church wanted to move on, but Scorpion and the others disagreed. It's easy for them to say that you didn't shovel the snow.

Not to mention that the ruins were extremely dangerous at night without any buildings to protect them. Only the friars and candlelight priests understood them, so they knew they couldn't rush for another day or two.

But cleaning a building is also a troublesome task. A large number of skeletons are hiding inside. Without the obstruction of heavy snow and sun, they show extremely ferocious power.

At this time, Martin and his team finally took action and quickly solved the skeleton problem, but where did the rats that appeared in the sky before the ruins go?

The crazy rats who had been hiding in the buildings for the winter and had been hungry for who knows how long also smelled the human scent and began to wake up. The campfire could not suppress their hunger and they longed for flesh and blood.

They were harassed by them the whole night, but the scorpions were prepared and caught two of them and roasted them for food.

It was only at this time that the guys from the church understood why Martin called in a mercenary group. They might not be able to handle the problem even if they were the only ones there, but eating rats was still too disgusting to them, even though it smelled delicious.

Fortunately, when they woke up the next day, there was no heavy snow. They advanced quickly and easily reached the edge of the church that they had never reached before.

"You guys just wait here."

"No, give us a definite time. What if a heavy snow comes? We will be taking a big risk."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"You have to pay more."

Many people from the church were unhappy, but Martin still agreed and led the team into the church.

Scorpion looked at their backs and for some reason had a bad feeling...