The remaining days of the Grace Day holiday passed by pretty peacefully for the Fifth Walker.
They also another visitor before the holiday ended. Father Weasel had dropped by that one time, wearing a hat made of fresh cabbage. The back of his pants had been ripped, most likely by Jawflower, and this left his buttocks exposed. However, he asked Baiyi where he had been during the festival. They had wanted to invite Baiyi to the Holy City to preach, but at the moment when the worshippers needed him the most, he vanished 1 .
Baiyi then told him about his little adventure in the small realm, starting from how he got there, to how he ended up hunted by members of the Godsfall cult. When Baiyi mentioned the Holy-level Northern Warrior, Father Weasel’s face became as white as a sheet.
“Th-this is a grave matter, Sir Hope! Why have you only told me this now?” Father Weasel replied, with panic evident in his voice.
“I already killed them all. Unfortunately, I was unable to extract any useful information from them before that! So, what information could I possibly provide?” Baiyi replied calmly, handing the Father a soft towel so that he could wipe cabbage juice off his face, which was the result of another attack he received from Baiyi’s plants earlier.
“Nevertheless, this is a grave matter. Please, allow me to report to the higher-ups,” The priest said as he whipped out a communication slab from the inner pocket from his robe and began to contact his superiors.
It did not take long before the yard was once again filled with loud cries and shrieks that could wake the dead.
“Aaaaaaeeeiiiii! This cactus… can fire shots! And through my armor, no less!?”
“All eyes on the incoming watermelon!”
“You… potted fiend! You dare try to sate your gluttony with my bottom?! Eat my sword …of justice!—”
“— No! No; don’t! Didn’t you read the warning sign outside the gate?”
Due to the bellicose nature of his plants, Baiyi had erected a signboard outside his yard that stated: “BEWARE! FERAL FLOWERS IN YARD. ENTER ONLY WHEN INVITED. ANY LOSS ENCOUNTERED IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY.”
Right above that signboard was an even larger signboard containing an even larger text, which was written in crimson, stating: “WHOSOEVER DAMAGES A SINGLE FIBER OF THESE PLANTS SHALL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES! ! ! ! !”
Each exclamation mark was long, and they looked like they had been written using a finger that had been dipped in the writer’s own blood, at the very last moments before their death. Perhaps the consequences stated on the sign may also have something to do with death…
Since the font Baiyi used to write the warning was awful, everyone that came to the aegis mansion only bothered to look at the line above it. This was the same case for the visitors from the Church.
Fortunately, Father Weasel had hurriedly rushed over to rescue them, inadvertently saving them from a tragedy. When he returned, he was accompanied by a few paladins and two Inquisitors.
Once they had stepped into the house, the youngest paladin heaved a sigh of relief. As he pulled out every plant spike that was bored into his armor, he sighed. “I have known people who own ferocious mutts or other beasts as their house guards, but I have never heard of flowers doing that job!”
“It’s alright. Recompose yourself, Squire, and let us get back to the purpose of our visit,” the lead paladin replied, looking unperturbed. Those plants could not have done any damage to him whatsoever. After a brief moment of silence to let a serious mood sink in, the lead paladin turned to look at Baiyi. “Master Hope, we meet again.”
Baiyi searched through his memories and finally recalled who this paladin was; he was the Paladin Grand Cross who brought Laeticia to him, in the past —”Grunewald”… or something like that. Either way, Baiyi quickly replied, “Yes, indeed we do.”
“So, my friends from the Church, please, have a seat,” Baiyi said, with feigned courtesy, and signaled Attie to make tea, while he ushered the visitors to their seats.
He noticed the presence of two Inquisitors and was a little surprised that they would tag along with the paladins.
The Paladin Grand Cross whispered his thanks to the Kitty-Cat Maid when she served him tea, then he looked at Baiyi and said, “Master Hope, please do tell us, in as much detail as you can recall, about your run-in with the cultists.”
Baiyi nodded and recounted the incident to them, and he also shared his theories with them; such as his belief that the team of cultists had kept a close tab on him for a while, before the attack; his belief that the team of cultists had either drugged or hypnotized his maids into deep slumber, and his belief that the cultist team must have followed him there via a trans-realm transporter portal.
Baiyi also mentioned how each member of the assassination team seemed to have experience in slaying sorcerers. Then, he mentioned how, despite the fact that he had never met any of the members of the assassination team before their battle, they were already accustomed to Baiyi’s skills and battle strategies. Hence, subtly, the Fifth Walker quietly raised doubts about the allegiance of Vice President Grant, who he indirectly coined a secret Godsfall cultist, just so that the Church would shift their attention to Grant instead.
Baiyi believed Grant to be in the conspiracy. After all, If it was not for his pestering that Baiyi takes a Power Level Exam and his decision that Baiyi duels him in public — a requirement he made compulsory for Baiyi should he chose to pass the exam — the Godsfall cult would not have been able to attack him so soon.
All of that was what made Baiyi decided to get back at Grant, and as soon as Baiyi returned from the small realm, he had made plans to quickly pay the VP back in his own coin.
However, he had to stop himself after carefully analyzing his current prestige. Grant was a difficult target, not because he was a Holy-level sorcerer, but because he occupied a major position in the Sorcerers’ Association; if he suddenly disappeared, it would not go unnoticed. Furthermore, Baiyi could not make a move against him without first having proper evidence. Therefore, a public execution was out of the question; Baiyi could only assassinate him.
Additionally, the man was very courteous to Baiyi, and since the Fifth Walker still needed help in some paperwork and certifications from the Sorcerer’s Association, Baiyi believed that it would be best to leave Grant alive so that the VP could smoothen such processes for him.
As far as Baiyi was concerned, the Godsfall cult to take their truce offer and roll it into a ball, then shove that ball up their behinds. There was no one who would create bad blood with the Fifth Voidwalker and try to brush it away by indirectly saying, “Haha. That incident between us was awkward, right?” To him, that was a load of dishonest hogwash; he would not forgive them for any reason, even if they wrapped a nude and supple Vidomina in nothing but a blanket and placed her onto Baiyi’s bed. After all, Baiyi’s helmet was not green 2 . He would never forgive them that easily, especially since they were hellbent on killing him.
Fortunately for the Fifth Walker, his knights in holy armors, the Church, had arrived. Now, Baiyi could just hand this problem over to them. After all, the Church was a big and influential organization that had too many underlings and too much time on their hands. Baiyi planned on letting the Church take on VP Grant, who has equally high up in the Sorcerers’ Association, on his behalf. He himself had better things to do, like making preparations for his future academy.
Baiyi kept lobbing indirect accusations at Grant, for the rest of the meeting. However, since this person had a high position in the Sorcerer’s Association and was a Holy-level Sorcerer, none of those listenings dared to make substantive judgments. All they did was furrow their brows and listen quietly.
Baiyi noticed that they seemed more interested in the Northern Warrior than Grant. Most of their questions were about him.
It seemed that it would not be easy to guide the nuzzle of the gun towards the Fifth Walker’s intended target.
Baiyi decided to state this thought out loud. “You people seem to be very interested in the affairs of the Northern Land, huh?”
The paladins looked at each other when they heard that. The Grand Paladin Cross, however, nodded and said, “The truth is, we, the Church, have long since suspected the headquarters of the Godsfall cult to be located somewhere within the Northern Land. Judging from the little information we gathered, they seemed to have formed some sort of pact with the Northern government. And now, your account corroborates our speculations.”
“Is that so? Looks like it’s getting even more troubling now.” Baiyi sighed.
Although the Church had erected many cathedrals in the Northern Land, they had not gained as many followers as they would have liked; this was because of cultural differences, as well as the fact that the Northern rulers were secretly oppressing those who followed the Church’s religion. This limited the Church’s influence in the Northern Lands and hampered the efficiency and speed at which they carried out their agendas.
Although the Church, its influence, and its teaching could be found all over the realm nowadays, they did not have this much influence and power in the past. This was because the nation had a clear separation of values between its government and the Church. As a result of this, in the past, the Church had to lay low and hide its activities so that it would not attract further oppression.
If the cult was allowed to grow in the Northern Land, the Church, which had its hands tied in the Northern Land, would not be able to curb the cult as soon as they would like. The only way to remove a problem completely was by uprooting it, and for the Church, that would mean a holy war — one that was aimed at taking down the entire Northern Land; this was not something that the Church wanted to do.
“This is an uphill battle — one made difficult by the fact that our foes have strong political and social influence. We really were paying them very little attention…” The Grand Paladin Cross remarked somberly.
“Mm-hmm. I think we should start by removing them from the South, of course. And to do that, well…” Baiyi began to make more subtle comments about VP Grant again.
“Understood. Although the Church has always done its best to try and solve this crisis, we plan to put in more effort, as much as is required, ” said the Grand Paladin Cross, as if he was reading a prepared speech.
“Oh, yea. How do you guys even manage to capture the cultists alive? You were even able to get them to spill information about the Northern Land” Baiyi said, asking an important question.
“You are asking if it is difficult? Catching and interrogating low-level cultists really is a piece of cake. As for the middle-levels and higher-ups, they really make everything unnecessarily difficult, killing themselves too quickly. The problem is the limited amount of information one could squeeze out of small fries; these minions usually give nothing new,” the Paladin Grand Cross replied. “As for the information of the Nothern Land, that came from one of our Northern Branches.”
“I see.” Baiyi nodded.
At that point, the conversation ended, and it was time for the visitors to leave. When Baiyi walked them to his gate, as per custom, the group left, but the two Inquisitors, who had been taciturn during the conversation, suddenly stopped in their tracks.
They turned to Baiyi and said, with a low voice, “We’ll be keeping an eye on that Grant. Thank you for your intel.”
“Please keep me off the record.” Baiyi reminded them.
“Naturally. You can rest assured, ” One Inquisitor replied, then they both nodded at Baiyi and left.
‘Despite the huge fallout Inquisitors had to deal with after the incident with Thaas, their detached and cold countenance still remained, didn’t it?’ Baiyi thought quietly. It was better for one to be under the Church’s radar than for them to be personally investigated by Inquisitors. Perhaps, in time, Baiyi would see VP Grant in the Void, after all.
When the people from the Church left, Baiyi returned to his room and began to write letters. One letter was addressed to Joseph, who should be preparing for his new teaching job, and the other letters were addressed to a few of Baiyi’s old colleagues he found approachable; colleagues like Mr. Sorry and Mr. Owl. In the letters addressed to his colleagues, Baiyi included invitations to teach.
These colleagues had proved themselves to be qualified teachers, and if they agreed to work for Baiyi, the soul armature would have resolved his manpower issue to a certain extent.
However, low manpower was not the only concern that Baiyi had. He also had concerns about funding, facilities, paperwork, and a lot more.
It was at this moment that Lich Walker approached Baiyi, in the Void, with some good news: his team had made some headways!