Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1448 End of Rest
Blue Cobalt's hospitality was indeed as he had described. He had a rather large estate here, and the houses were clearly much better than the dilapidated place where the apostles had gathered before. Moreover, it was summer, the season when flowers and plants were lush and abundant, and even in the rain, the gardens still looked meticulously maintained.

A row of servants, each holding an umbrella, greeted the group as they alighted from the carriage. Lan Gu led them into the house, to a living room on the second floor. The balcony next to the living room offered a view of the rain-soaked street scene, a picturesque pastoral landscape.

Soon, the servants brought out everyone's tea and snacks. The tea was the black tea from the Mélot Estate that the lady had ordered, and the snacks were even more varied, each one looking very exquisite.

“Alright, everyone, relax a bit…” Lan Gu leaned back in a chair and gestured to the huge living room space. “We’re just chatting, there aren’t that many rules here.”

“Very good…you have excellent taste.” The lady picked up her teacup and smelled the tea. “Well then…let’s start with self-introductions. You can call me Lady Red. My reason for becoming an apostle is simple: I want power and wealth. But what I had before can no longer support me to continue climbing the social ladder, so I chose this side.”

After speaking, the woman looked at the man wearing glasses.

The man was startled when he was stared at as soon as he picked up a piece of pastry. He then said with a distressed expression, "I... you can call me Letter Paper. I'm just a poet with no reputation... maybe my life has been such a failure that I was chosen."

"Serpent Dragon." The white-masked man still did not remove his mask, and he declined the food. He simply found a place large enough to accommodate his enormous body and sat down. "To become an apostle in order to find my beloved."

Blue Cobalt clapped softly after hearing this: "Not bad, I like this reason very much."

"Hmph..." The old man snorted coldly, his eyes filled with disdain. "Still young. I am a pocket watch, and my reason for becoming an apostle is more straightforward than yours: I want longevity and youth."

“That sounds like a complete lack of ambition,” Rosemerada remarked sarcastically, noticing the old man’s disdain.

The old man glanced at her, not annoyed: "You are young, so you can't feel it. When old age comes upon you, you will have the same thoughts... It's not a simple, straightforward description of watching yourself grow old little by little, but rather you suddenly feel that things you could easily do before, you now have to give up after much consideration. However, you won't understand."

"Alright, alright, we don't even know if we'll live to see our old age," said the chainmail-clad woman who followed out casually. "Just call me the Ranger. I was panting for three days in a pile of corpses, and in the end, it was the Plague Lord who gave me a chance to survive, so I went with the Plague Lord. That's all."

After she finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Rosemerada.

At this moment, Rosemaryda recalled the moment she became an apostle. She sighed with emotion and then said, "My name is Rosemaryda, I don't need any code name. As for the reason I became an apostle, it is because I want to deny the gods."

The living room fell silent for a moment, though only briefly, but people were indeed shocked by her words.

“You should know… that both the Plague Lord and the Church Gods are real beings. This is not something you can deny,” Lady Red said slowly. “If you have this idea just because you are young and impetuous, then I advise you to get rid of it as soon as possible.”

“No, I don’t deny their existence. I just don’t believe that the special powers within these magical systems are merely gifts from them. They may be beings who possess great power, they may be our mentors, but gods… heh, if we could replicate everything they possess, wouldn’t the gods be too cheap?” Rosemerada sneered. “That’s why I want to study the plague, to study the magic within this system… Gentlemen, if you don’t mind, if we cooperate, I will observe the operation of your spells.”

"How could I not mind!" The pocket watch slammed its hand on the armrest of the chair. "The Apostles' plagues are all unique secret techniques. Even if we cooperate, it will be on how to spread them, how to induce them, and how to fight against the Church. How could we possibly show you the spell's structure?"

However, the pocket watch's loud shout received no response from anyone; instead, everyone present adopted a thoughtful attitude. The letter writer, in particular, stood up with a look of reverence and tremblingly pulled a black box from his pocket.

The aura emanating from it made the eyes of the apostles present twitch slightly.

When spreading the plague, the apostles needed to create a prototype before infecting people. The prototypes came in all shapes and sizes, with no single, uniform design. Only the plague apostles could recognize the prototypes, and the letter in the letter's hand was one such "prototype."

“I agree with Miss Rosemerada’s thoughts, because this is also what I fear… Although I have been granted this power by the High Lord, it is like a castle in the air for someone like me who has no magical skills. It looks magnificent, but it has no foundation whatsoever. I also want to know how this power was formed.”

The letter opened the box, revealing a brownish-yellow crystal that looked like a gemstone.

"This is the first piece I created while I was pondering this power on the road. It's not perfect, but I think it's very suitable for someone like Miss Rosemerada to observe and study. I can entrust its detonation entirely to you."

Rosemerada took the box from the hand holding the letter, her eyes showing surprise.

Those in the know can see the intricacies; everyone here can see that this plague prototype, which the letter calls "imperfect," clearly possesses a very sophisticated design and immense power.

The few people who initially looked down on him because of the letter began to take him seriously.

“Okay, what’s its name?” Rosemerada asked.

"It's just an experimental product, without any origin or any of my expectations... Let's call it 'Deus Ex,' and I hope you can really solve the mystery of the gods," the letter said somewhat shyly.

"Good name."

=
As the morning light shone through the windows of the house, the not-too-thick curtains let in the warm light. On this summer morning, accompanied by the fresh scent after the rain, the pharmacist got out of bed and stretched contentedly.

This is the third day since we arrived in White Tower County, not counting the first night.

Preparing supplies for so many people takes time, and Father Thorne didn't intend to let the people he brought be idle. Even if they couldn't leave the parish and be seen by the garrison soldiers, he required them to help the local residents as much as possible, even if it was just repairing roofs or cleaning houses. They had to find work to do.

The pharmacist naturally seized this opportunity to give Veronica and Vanessa a good lesson and exams. Since the two of them didn't even need to participate in basic labor here, he simply put their studies first.

The two students' learning styles have begun to show a clear difference.

Veronica's studies in *Deadly Creatures* and *The Book of Anatomy* provided detailed explanations of animal and human anatomy, respectively. However, while the church didn't prohibit cadaver research, few people in society were willing to donate their bodies. Even in White Tower County, only a select few devout believers donated their corpses for medical research. Therefore, Veronica didn't have many hands-on opportunities in human anatomy. However, she had access to a wide variety of animals, and recognizing the appearances of dangerous animals, even famous monsters, was part of her curriculum, and so far, she seemed quite proficient in it.

As the title *Poisonous Herbs* suggests, Vanessa's learning of this book was remarkably rapid. She even managed to create the "Dream Potion" the apothecary had only mentioned—a potent sleeping pill that, without external stimulation, would likely keep her asleep for three days. Undoubtedly, Vanessa's talent for poisons far surpassed her talent for herbs. As for *The Record of Calamities*, it was Vanessa's favorite section. Its numerous biographical entries perfectly suited her taste; she preferred reading stories to memorizing dry theory. After today's exam, the apothecary had decided to find an opportunity to give them their third spell class.

After adapting to the initial high pressure, the two nuns no longer felt physically and mentally exhausted from their studies. Instead, they began to absorb knowledge and grow rapidly. The pharmacist wasn't sure how far these two exceptionally talented nuns would ultimately go, but she didn't need to hold back any of her knowledge.

"Full marks."

After grading two papers, the pharmacist muttered to herself. So far, all her tests had been on textbook knowledge, and both students' answers were perfect, undoubtedly indicating that their memorization skills were roughly equal.

"Next time, we should include some subjective questions..."

Just as she was considering her next lesson, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Liu stood outside with an apologetic expression. Behind her were two cultivators, a man and a woman. Both were very tall, dressed in black robes that vaguely revealed deadly weapons beneath. Their faces were tense and expressionless.

"That's it!" was the pharmacist's first reaction.

That was her impression of the Burial Hall. Although they were somewhat rigid, they did indeed have the same faces every day, running on the path of killing and killing. They were serious, calm, and never smiled. In comparison, Liu was far too lively.

“Hello, the Burial Pivot requests your verification of the eyewitness testimony regarding the Plague Apostle,” the male monk said in a cold, hard tone. “According to regulations, even under extreme circumstances, at least two testimonies must be collected for comparison.”

"What an inflexible set of rules..." The pharmacist couldn't help but sigh. "Cultivator, you should know that after all this time, Liu and I have been traveling together. Even if there were any other circumstances, we would have already coordinated our stories, right?"

"know."

"So can we not waste so much time? After all, rules are rigid, but people are flexible." The pharmacist didn't particularly want to take any testimonies from the people of the Burial Pivot, because they would inevitably ask about every little detail, which would waste a lot of time.

The male cultivator frowned slightly, then resumed his serious expression.

"Please understand, colleague. If the rules were flexible, people might die."

The failure to persuade him was somewhat expected. The pharmacist could not completely ignore the request of the Burial Pivot, so he could only stand up and say, "Then could we shorten the time a little? Even if you speed up the pace, it doesn't matter, I have other things to do."

"We try our best."

These two monks are members of the Burial Council stationed here. It is worth mentioning that there is no Sunday priest of the Burial Council here. In fact, it is strange that the cardinal council can produce a Sunday priest. As far as the pharmacist knows, there are no more than five in the entire empire.

They were probably alarmed by the news brought by Liu.

The church's register of plague apostles is already quite thick. Most of these people are slippery and cunning, but once they start spreading the plague, they become quite frenzied. A large portion of those on the register are probably already dead, but their specialty is exploding along with their plagues, making it impossible to confirm their deaths.

Those who survived and remained on the register were all highly capable plague apostles. Of these survivors, two-thirds were imprisoned in the dungeons of the Burial Grounds.

“Now there’s a new name on this list… To be honest, the Plague Apostles are like weeds in a field; you cut one crop this year and they’ll sprout again next year. I think those who died should be removed from the list.” After recording the testimony, Liu couldn’t help but say as she accompanied the pharmacist back to their lodgings, “But I have a feeling that this Rosemerada is probably different from the previous Plague Apostles.”

"Feel?"

"After all, we've never actually seen it. She could cause a crisis more terrifying than any plague, or she could completely change people's perception of the plague."

“...or both,” the pharmacist muttered.

"what?"

“It’s nothing. Father Thorne said the rain will stop today, so we’ll prepare to leave tomorrow. Don’t forget we still have to go to Violet City in the end, and you have to hand over your things there.”

"Yes, I know. I've heard the news. But have you discussed the Sacred Heart with that Archbishop?"

“Our affairs do not overlap.”

"So you just passed her a message? You guys really trust people. Look, as soon as I mentioned the message, two people came right away. I reckon there will be a massive search in Rosetta within three days. Even if there are any remaining plague carriers, the Burial Pivot will find them all."

“Each has their own role, Liu. Otherwise, why would the church be divided into seven cardinals?”

"Isn't it because there are seven gods?"

The two chatted idly all the way back to their lodgings. In any case, there wasn't much time left that day; they still needed to prepare for their departure the next day, so their time was limited.

The next morning, just as the sun was rising, a group of people, escorted by men sent by the parish, left White Tower County.