Chapter 16: Sorry, Having Connections Means You Can Do Whatever You Want

The Night Church has thirteen archbishops and nine senior deacons.

These twenty-two gentlemen and ladies are generally regarded as the high echelon of the church, with some rumored to be of high sequence strength.

Though their powers vary, they are completely equal in terms of status.

They only follow the oracles of the Goddess of the Night and answer solely to the Pope.

The senior deacon who arrived this time, Crestet Cesemir, is a Sequence Five powerhouse.

All this information was given to Klein by Dunn.

In fact, less than ten minutes after Dunn finished speaking, a man in his thirties, dressed in a black trench coat and white shirt, entered the room.

His short-cropped, golden-brown hair and dark green eyes were like a moonless lake at midnight, with his shirt and trench coat collar standing high, casting a shadow over his chin.

"Mr. Cesemir."

Before the others could react, Dunn immediately bowed.

"Mm."

Crestet Cesemir nodded slightly, leisurely sitting on one of the chairs, crossing his right leg over his left, and smiled, "It looks like you all already know the acting method?"

"Yes, Mr. Cesemir."

Dunn's expression shifted slightly as he took two steps forward to explain.

"It's alright."

Crestet Cesemir waved his hand casually, "I understand the desire to help your colleagues, and leaking information before swearing to the Goddess doesn't count as leaking. But I'll confirm it anyway,"

After a pause, Crestet Cesemir's gaze swept over everyone, "Everyone who knows the acting method is here, right?"

"And Al Team."

Dunn explained, "They're currently guarding the Chanis Gate."

"I see."

Creste Cesemir nodded gently.

Then, he bent down to pick up the silver-white box at his feet and placed it on his knee.

He raised his right hand and pressed it down, and the surface of the box, resembling a guitar case, instantly shattered and dissolved like a tide.

Almost simultaneously, Klein felt all the light around him being drawn into the box.

The room turned pitch black except for the silver-white glow emanating from the box, creating an eerie scene.

Inside the box was a pure white bone sword.

Its surface seemed immaculate, but upon closer inspection, it was covered with layers of symbols and markings that seamlessly integrated with the sword itself.

Klein gazed at the holy sword, unable to tear his eyes away.

His vision was drawn in, and his brown eyes gradually lost their luster.

"Dunn."

Crestet moved the bone sword slightly and said, "Place your hand on it."

The others snapped out of their daze and looked at the bone sword with a mix of awe and fear.

Quickly, Dunn stepped forward and placed his hand on the holy sword.

"Repeat after me."

Crestet spoke solemnly.

"Higher than the stars, more eternal than eternity, Goddess of the Night;"

"I swear by my true name and my spirituality to you."

"I, Dunn Smith, from this moment on, will never reveal the details of the acting method to anyone who does not know it."

"If I violate this oath, I accept your punishment."

"Bear witness to my vow."

Dunn solemnly recited the oath in Hermes language after the senior deacon.

Then he withdrew his right hand, drew a crimson moon on his chest, and said in a low voice: "Praise the Goddess."

"Praise the Goddess."

Crestet smiled and followed suit.

Then, one by one, Klein and Leonard and the others repeated the same process, swearing to the Goddess.

After all this, Crestet snapped the lid shut and pressed down with his right hand.

Darkness was instantly illuminated, and the gas lamp light filled the room once more.

Klein saw that the senior deacon's eyes, tinged with deep black, had returned to their dark green.

"Go call Al's Team over."

Crestet slowly instructed, "You all will temporarily guard the Chanis Gate."

"Yes, Mr. Cesemir."

Dunn bowed slightly, gave a signal to the others, and led them out of the room.

"Klein, Leonard."

As they left, Dunn immediately ordered, "Come with me, the others return to your posts."

Klein nodded, and the group quickly dispersed.

Frye and the others returned to their jobs, while Klein followed Dunn to the Chanis Gate to replace Team Al.

Soon, the three members of Team Al also swore to the Goddess under the witness of the holy bone sword.

Only Ash remained.

"You all step out."

Crestet closed the box again and instructed Al and the others.

"Mr. Cesemir."

Al's heart tightened, thinking Crestet was going to punish Ash for leaking the acting method first.

"Don't worry."

Crestet smiled slightly, "It's not a bad thing."

"Yes, sir."

Al lowered his head and silently led the other two out of the room.

As a senior deacon, Crestet Cesemir had no reason to deceive a low-level beyonder like him.

"Well then."

After everyone left, Crestet switched to a serious expression, "Venerable, I must remind you that the existence of the acting method must be kept strictly confidential."

"I understand."

Ember nodded slightly, "Shall I swear now?"

"No need."

Crestet's expression was peculiar, "The Goddess's oracle only required me to remind you not to leak the acting method without discretion. You don't need to swear. Just remember to inform the church if you plan to teach it to others."

"Okay."

Ash was slightly surprised and nodded after a moment of silence.

"That's all."

Crestet nodded and continued, "One more thing, we need to escort the sealed artifact back to Backlund immediately. Will you come with us or stay in Tingen for now?"

"I'll go with you."

Ash thought for a moment and replied.

Backlund was, after all, the capital of the Loen Kingdom.

Based on his previous experience, the Black Emperor was likely in the capital.

And his intuition told him that staying in Tingen was pointless.

"Alright."

Crestet nodded, stood up, and walked towards the door. Before leaving, he turned back, "You will be responsible for both sealed artifacts. Be sure to isolate their influence."

Ash did not object.

For him, isolating the influence of these "sealed artifacts" was simple—

He could just throw them into his soul space.

In fact,

When he retrieved "2-049" and the Antigonus family book from behind the Chanis Gate, that was exactly what Ashes did.

Although this shocked Al and the others, it saved them from having to book an entire train carriage due to concerns about the sealed artifacts' influence.

Instead, they could pretend to be ordinary people and return to Backlund with other passengers—

After all, booking an entire carriage was quite expensive.

The steam train ride from Tingen to Backlund took about four hours.

So the tickets weren't too expensive.

First-class luxury seats were three-quarters of a pound, or 15 solis, and second-class seats were 10 solis with is only half a pound.

The very crowded and poor-conditioned third-class seats were very cheap, only 5 solis.

But even so, booking the cheapest third-class carriage would cost nearly six hundred solis, a total of thirty pounds!

That was equivalent to two and a half months of Klein's salary—

With a bit more effort, that was nearly equivalent to 50% of Ashes weekly salary! (My boy here is rich as fuck)

Although Ashes still didn't have a clear concept of these currencies, as his mindset was still fixed on using souls for transactions.

But saving this money wasn't about saving it for the church, it was split among their team.

After all, these field expenses could be reimbursed! You could choose not to spend, but you couldn't choose not to get reimbursed, if you didn't, it would be a waste!

"If I'd known this."

On the steam train, Al Harsen said regretfully, "We could have saved the money for the trip to Tingen too."

Loretta rolled her eyes and turned away, ignoring him.

(End of chapter)

50 Power stones = Extra Chapter