Blood Assimilation

After the two armored men entered the sacred building and gave their report, an infuriated voice suddenly echoed outwardly. However, the voice was contained within a sound nullification barrier. This meant that Incarnation Randy could not hear what was being said to the two armored men in order for their complexions to become that pale.

“Bunch of useless fools that only know how to bring shame to our Holy Church of Light! Find that useless Knight Captain and tell him to see me in three days! I don’t care how you do it! If he is truly dead like you said, then bring me his corpse instead!”

“Do you ungrateful fools really expect me to inform the Supreme Pontiff of such a disgraceful failure, much less the Royal Family?”

“If you do not find him, then don’t even think about returning to the Church of Light, you failures of the Holy Knights! Until you find that arrogant brat of the Grant Family, I will consider you all dead men!”

“If you dared to return without your captain, I will have no choice but to denounce you and your Knight Captain’s blasphemous acts. Then, I will have you graciously appease our god by sacrificing yourselves in a ritual!”

The two armored men were immediately shocked when they heard the last words, and both of them spoke out at once: “B-But Cardinal Juke, we have never committed any act of crime as sworn protectors of the masses. How could we be labeled blasphemous just because we failed our mission…?”

“Nonsense!”

Cardinal Juke rebuked uncompromisingly: “What is the difference between watching a crime unfold without lending a helping hand and committing it yourself? Do you still refer to yourselves as ‘protectors’, then? Get out of my sight this instant!”

.....

…

Back to the present.

At this time, the two armored men walked away from the sacred building with frustrated expressions. One of them was particularly furious about their situation and began shouting expletives.

“It’s all that bastard’s fault! I knew sooner or later he would get us all into trouble with his acts!”

The armored man, who carried a shield and a broad sword, expressed his immediate frustration.

“Shush! Keep your voice down. Do you want to get us into trouble?”

The other armored man, who was lanky with sharp eyes, tried to stop the shield-wielding armored man from making a ruckus in the vicinity of Church Street.

The shield-wielding armored man retorted: “So what? Do you think we’re not in trouble right now? If not for his background, why would I condone his actions up to this point? As a proud holy knight of the Church of Light, our noble duty was to protect civilians from the wrath of the demons.”

Then, he frowned with a guilty expression and continued: “However, what did he do as captain of the renowned Holy Knights, huh? That disgusting bastard abused his authority. As Cardinal Juke said, I’m also guilty as I didn’t do anything to stop him as he took advantage of his status as a noble to molest and violate any helpless and innocent girl or woman he fancied behind the scenes all this time.

The shield-wielding armored man looked at his partner and said: “All those acts were deemed proper by him simply because they were commoners and he was a nobleman. And you’re still thinking about taking his side even now?”

The sharp-eyed armored man shook his head and said: “I’m not taking his side, but I’m just saying that you shouldn’t…

“But what? Forget what you’re about to say!”

The shield-wielding armored man cut him off and said: “If we don’t find him in three days, which we’ve already tried before and failed, we might as well commit suicide right where we stand at that time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on dying just yet.”

“I don’t either, but we can’t afford to offend either Cardinal Juke or the Grant Family right now. We have to somehow locate the captain’s corpse if he’s already dead or we’ll be doomed one way or another.

The sharp-eyed armored man then explained: “If Cardinal Juke doesn’t kill us, the Grant Family would likely suspect that we had a hand in the captain’s death. They may demand us to be tortured at that time and Cardinal Juke would most definitely agree with that request, assuming they find out about the captain’s death. However, Cardinal Juke doesn’t want the Grant Family to find out. Which was why he sent us away and told us not to come until we locate the captain’s corpse.”

“Damn it! This is really pissing me off!”

The shield-wielding armored man gritted his teeth and said: “How did that bastard of a captain get assaulted, anyway? Wasn’t he level 67, nearing level 70, which was considered the elite level of power in this world? Isn’t that strange?”

The sharp-eyed armored man pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement: “You’re right. I heard that when one gets close to level 70, they gradually undergo qualitative changes in their overall strength.”

“And yet the captain seemed to have lost miserably to some magical beast without being able to escape with his life at the very least? Even if he was distracted, doesn’t it seem absurd that he would be defeated so easily by some magical beast? Was the level he stated to us real, or was it just a fake level he barked to feel a sense of superiority in front of us?”

The shield-wielding armored man expressed his doubts.

The sharp-eyed armored man pondered for a moment and muttered: “...Perhaps.”

He then stated: “People from that renowned Grant Family always refused to be appraised by the Society and the Church. One could only trust their verbal declarations. So far, no one bothered to stand against their arrangements due to their deep influence on historical events, and also their immense contribution to this country over the years. Not to mention that at their command was an overwhelming combat force that they carefully nurtured in the name of protecting their family heritage.”

The two armored men always felt that it was mystifying how their captain suddenly disappeared without leaving behind any trace other than the blood they found at the site of the assault. But now that they thought about it some more, the situation wasn’t simply him getting outdone by some magical beast, assuming his level was genuine. If that was the case, then something else was at play there.

Other than this speculation, neither of them had anything else to start off on as a lead or clue to find the location of their missing captain. They also didn’t have any plans as to how they would handle their predicament anytime soon. They would have to search randomly just as they did before coming to the Imperial City.

Feeling frustrated about their complicated situation, they decided to visit the nearest drinking pub to get some booze to get their minds off the complicated things before departing the Imperial City. They wanted to come up with a solid plan before they headed for Alpheotus City the following day.

No matter how frustrated they may feel about their predicament, they would still have to go and stay in Alpheotus City to once again search the Meistic Forest until they find something related to their captain. If they fail to produce any results in their endeavor, they might have to stay there forever as possible fugitives.