Demon Bible

Chapter 126: Half a Year Later

"An unfamiliar ceiling." Brent opened his eyes, his hand unconsciously reaching for his chest.

There was a scar there, about as thick as a finger, looking like a punctured hole.

Even though almost half a year had passed, he was still haunted by that battle.

"Right, I am supposed to pick someone up today," Brent murmured as he sat up in bed, recalling his mission.

Half a year ago, because he failed to properly investigate the entity behind the Construct Protocol and its core members, he had allowed Fass, Buke, and the others to escape.

As a result, Brent's advancement had ultimately ended in failure.

However, ever since Great Knight Nels took office, he had vigorously promoted the Church's welfare mechanics.

Because of this, a month ago, instead of having to wait in a long queue, Brent was given another opportunity. He successfully slew a Lesser Demon wandering in the wilderness and officially became a Holy Knight.

Today was his first day officially taking up his new post, and he had already received a new supplementary assignment.

A Priestess stationed near Tail Fin Town had completed her transfer request and was on her way from a neighboring village; he needed to escort her along the route.Brent washed up, got dressed, and ate some simple rations. After checking the perimeter of his house to ensure no Dangerous Creatures were approaching, he began his patrol along both sides of the road.

He was now assigned to the Tail Fin Town Sixth Squad.

As Nemus relaxed the advancement trials for Intern Holy Knights, the scope of a Holy Knight's duties had also expanded.

For instance, Nemus had added wilderness patrol duties.

In the past, criminals in Tail Fin Town habitually fled into the wilderness.

Due to the complex terrain and the abundance of Dangerous Creatures, tracking them down was usually incredibly difficult.

Nemus believed that, no matter what, the safety of the trade routes between Tail Fin Town and the surrounding villages had to be guaranteed.

Therefore, Outposts were established radiating outward from the trade routes. These served a dual purpose: protecting the roads and keeping an eye out for wanted criminals who had fled into the wild.

This policy earned high praise from the majority of the merchants.

Previously, traveling the wilderness trade routes safely relied entirely on whether a merchant hired competent guards and if they had good luck.

While that was still somewhat true, as long as they could reach the vicinity of an Outpost, they at least had a fighting chance to survive.

Furthermore, those wanted criminals had their own necessities, and they could not obtain human-made commercial goods out in the wilderness.

Thus, they would often lurk near the trade routes to conduct robberies.

With the deployment of garrisoned Knights along these roads, the situation had vastly improved.

Although there were occasional casualties, the measure had yielded genuine results.

For example, another elder of the Floating World Society who had fled into the wilderness had his tracks exposed and his location discovered, ultimately leading to his death at the hands of Mr. Purr.

Aside from that, there were even instances where minor fugitives, unable to endure the harshness of the wild, chose to surrender.

Brent knew perfectly well that he had to remain cautious in the wilderness. Dangerous Creatures were a minor issue; the real problem lay with those desperate fugitives.

Their primary duty was to investigate anomalies during their patrols; engaging in direct combat with people was not their main function.

They acted as an early warning system. If they lost contact, it signaled an anomaly, which would trigger a comprehensive, tightening sweep of the area.

The rhythmic clopping of hooves put Brent on high alert.

He edged closer to cover and cast his gaze down the road to observe the newcomer. The first thing to come into view was a white horse, followed by its rider.

For a split second, Brent thought he was looking at an elven Princess.

Her flowing golden hair seemed to slow time itself.

However, Brent quickly snapped out of his daze as the woman slowly brought her horse to a halt, turning a pair of icy-blue eyes in his direction.

"Are you the garrisoned Holy Knight sent to escort me?"

"Hello, I am Isabella, the new Priestess assigned to Tail Fin Town." Her radiant smile was enough to leave anyone spellbound.

Even though Brent was entirely focused on his Cultivation at the moment, he could still feel the sheer magnetism radiating from Isabella.

Brent marveled at her charm, but he adhered to protocol. Blushing slightly, he immediately responded, "Hello, I am the garrisoned Holy Knight of Trade Route Six. Please show me your credentials."

After completing the handover and verifying Isabella's identity, Brent led her along the trade route toward Tail Fin Town.

"How is Great Knight Nels doing in Tail Fin Town these days?" Isabella asked as she led her white horse down the path.

To this day, she still could not be entirely certain that the events in Finback Village were completely devoid of issues.

She had a vague sense that something was wrong. Nemus was absolutely not as simple as he appeared. After she had been mind-controlled and knocked unconscious during the battle with the old pastor, something extraordinary must have happened.

Nemus's victory over the old pastor was definitely not as straightforward as the official report suggested.

The most glaring inconsistency was Jacques.

Jacques should have been under the same mind control as she was. So why did she survive while Jacques completely disappeared?

However, this suspicion lacked any solid evidence, and the sequence of events Nemus had previously reported perfectly justified itself.

Isabella truly had no excuse to reopen the investigation into the matter.

This was especially true considering the rumors that Nemus was doing a fantastic job in Tail Fin Town. Despite a few minor flaws, the entire town had grown increasingly prosperous under his watch.

The vast majority of Clerics and common citizens had nothing but high praise for Nemus.

Based purely on the acclaim he received, Nemus was virtually being hailed as a saint.

It was precisely because she could not put her mind at ease regarding Nemus that Isabella had chosen to request a transfer to Tail Fin Town, doing so only after she had fully recovered and faintly sensed her abilities advancing further.

"The Great Knight mostly stays in the Cathedral handling official duties. He occasionally steps in to punish those causing disturbances in the city."

"That is to say, there are some mundane matters that make things seem rather turbulent," Brent added, his words somewhat vague.

Although Brent had held a grudge against Nemus from the very beginning, he had now received a favor from him. Otherwise, he would not have become an official Holy Knight so quickly.

Under these circumstances, it was not appropriate for Brent to badmouth Nemus too much in front of others.

The mundane matters he referred to naturally involved the Dartmenerly family's troublemaking over the past six months.

First, an Intern Holy Knight had filed a real-name report accusing Nemus of forming cliques within the Church for personal gain, which then dragged out the issue of Whale Products smuggling.

However, Nemus had long been prepared for such things. Although the Dartmenerly family had broken some unspoken rules by exposing open secrets, they had failed to actually strike a sore spot.

Over the past few months, the two sides had clashed both openly and covertly on numerous occasions, yet neither had escalated the situation into a major incident.

Therefore, it was not the sort of thing to be discussed out in the open.

Hearing Brent's remarks, Isabella nodded, lost in thought.