Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1460 Summer Harvest
Duckworth felt no pain; his pituitary gland had stimulated a surge of hormones, effectively banishing the sense of pain from his body. He wanted to devour the nun before him, but a voice in his head urged him to flee. This urging irritated him, and strangely, he couldn't suppress this emotion.

He opened his mouth, and an indescribable text came out. However, in his current state of mind, he strangely understood the text. It was a divine spell from the Plague Lord, but Darkworth simply didn't have enough Na to supply it, after all, his talent was indeed not that great.

Fortunately, the "pituitary gland" didn't rely on him. After spitting out those murky and filthy words, the entire space suddenly began to move. This was a divine spell that interfered with the transfer of space. Liu recognized it at a glance. She didn't know this type of divine spell and couldn't interfere with its effect, but another spell was also generated in her palm at the same time.

The fourth-order divine spell "Exile" from the Secret Vision Pivot.

This divine spell can send back any being that doesn't belong to this world. It's ineffective against gods like the Plague Lord, but it's quite effective against minor impurities. Grayish-green magical light gathered in her palm, and the advantage of not needing to chant became apparent. The spatial spell "Pituitary" and Willow's "Exile" took effect almost simultaneously. Darkworth only had time to let out a howl before he vanished without a trace.

After casting her spell, Liu immediately looked back at the sky. The swirling clouds had stopped pressing down and were slowly dispersing, returning to their normal cloud form. Seeing this, Liu breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed her spell had worked at the last second.

The pituitary gland never truly came into existence.

However, the next moment, she felt a sharp pain in her head. The feedback from the pituitary gland, delayed by a few seconds, finally hit her again. Before, the effect of a second-tier spell wasn't very noticeable, but now, with the feedback from a fourth-tier spell, even with the blocking injection, Liu couldn't withstand such a strong counterattack. She only struggled for a few seconds before fainting.

About half an hour later, members of the Burial Manor who were cleaning up the scene provided her with assistance. Nothing unexpected happened during this time; all the ordinary people who witnessed the descending clouds were unconscious, and there weren't many people still able to move around. The members of the Burial Manor were also somewhat affected. The pharmacist distributed some minor oral powders to them, which roughly suppressed the mental interference caused by the descent. In any case, the Burial Manor would have its own methods for dealing with it once they returned.

Mission Two has been considered complete, and some of her actions seem to have established her chosen faction. It's just unknown whether the distribution center will still recognize her current choice should unforeseen circumstances arise in the future.

According to the list obtained from the interrogation, almost all the plague apostles who had infiltrated the city were captured, except for one person who may have been the mastermind behind the plague—Darkworth.

The nickname "Lucky Star" was truly fitting; during the brief exchange between the Saint of the Burial Pivot and "Pituitary Gland," he was spared a life. Although his mind was still hazy, when he awoke in the desolate wilderness outside Violet City, he was so happy that he immediately started dancing.

"Haha, I actually attracted a divine descent and was chased and killed by the Burial Pivot, yet I didn't die! This time, let's see who dares to underestimate me! Oh... those guys are all finished, well, finished is finished. My plague is great, hmm? What's this in my head... Yes, with just a few more tweaks, it'll be a perfect masterpiece. Let me think, it's time to give it a name. It should have a name that matches such a magnificent result and also highlights that it's my work! Yes! Let's call it 'Brilliant Star'!"

Just as he was dancing and naming himself, a carriage sped up and stopped beside him. The driver was a middle-aged man with many patches on his clothes, a messy beard and hair, one blind eye, and the other good eye staring at him gloomily.

“Oh? You’re Pan De’ang’s… coachman?” Duckworth recognized the man. Apart from the “Gatekeeper,” who was always by Pan De’ang’s side, he had only seen the other two members of Pan De’ang’s group once.

"You can call me a Soul Master, you crazy kid. You thought you could get the Plague Lord to respond to you with just a few people and a few low-quality souls? You're still alive, you can only say you've got incredible luck. It's a pity that we wanted so many of you to create enough chaos, but you've ruined it all."

"Ha! How can you say it's a waste? I did something they wouldn't even dare to dream of! I, Lucky Star, will one day become a legend among the Apostles, just like Pan De'ang!"

"Your greatest value is that you preserved some things in your brain during this near-divine encounter. Now come back with me. Mr. Pan De'ang needs the knowledge you bring back, at least until your brain completely rots away."

"Before my brain rotted away, I felt like my body was about to rot away." Duckworth tugged at his clothes, which were torn to shreds by the shotgun blast. "I guess there should be a change of clothes in the car?"

"boarding."

=
The Minute Church is located in the southern Clockwork River district, a less developed area of ​​Violet City. Originally, the river was severely polluted, but one day the stench from the river drifted up the mountain, enraging the Grand Duke, who then cleaned up the river.

The reduction of pollution cannot change the situation here. At least people's lives remain the same. Apart from some ordinary people who moved here because the area was originally sparsely populated, large areas of land were eventually reclaimed for farmland, and the role of clean water sources ended there.

Father Thorne took over the place smoothly. The church had never been large to begin with; the previous Sunday priest had taken a group with him when he left. Now, apart from some menial workers, only three monks remained, and of course, there were no knights left. Father Thorne was initially surprised, but upon hearing that the Church of East had recalled a group of people before his arrival, he was no longer astonished.

This wasn't the Church of East St. making things difficult for him; rather, they transferred away some people who seemed to have formed factions. Father Thorne estimated that some new people would be reassigned in a while. These new people might have their own factions, but they wouldn't be as local strongmen as the monks who originally lived here.

He spent only two days tidying up the church before resuming his daily work. However, unlike before, the two nuns' schedules were different.

First of all, Vanessa could no longer just clean and study as before. She also had to help finish up the previous tasks. In addition, the reputation she had gained from this task also brought her some work. In just two days of preparation, five monks or nuns from the Sacred Heart came to visit her.

These were people Vanessa had worked with before in dealing with the plague, and she learned a great deal from them, partly because they were intentionally cultivating relationships—everyone can deal with plagues, but finding signs of a plague in the smallest details and initiating treatment early is a talent. Vanessa didn't think she was anything special, and if she only talked about her own experiences, she probably wouldn't have much to say. However, this changed after she studied the "Records of Natural Disasters." Handling plagues firsthand gave her a deep understanding of many of the cases recorded in it, making the entire conversation very pleasant, and she left a good impression on them.

As for Veronica, while Vanessa was busy receiving guests, she went out to experience the local customs around the Minute Church. Just like the apothecary had instructed them to go out disguised as commoners, she was doing the same thing now. However, the previous encounter with the plague was purely coincidental; Veronica didn't experience that again, but instead became acquainted with some of the nearby villagers.

She has learned many useful prescriptions in pharmacology, which she is quite adept at using to treat minor illnesses and injuries. Her knowledge of biological insects and other pests has also given her an understanding of their habits. Some of these pests that harm farmland can be driven away with some repellent drugs.

As the summer harvest season approached, the weather became increasingly hot and dry. This was also a time when people were more susceptible to heatstroke. While helping these people, Veronica seemed to understand why Father Thorne had respected the pharmacist so much.

Several days passed, and on a morning just like any other, the pharmacist stepped into the Minute Church.

"Welcome back." Father Thorne was preparing for his sermon that day, and when he saw the pharmacist return, he simply smiled and greeted him.

"It seems like you're living a good life here."

“A church… This is a wonderful situation that I never imagined before. Pharmacist, the country church I was in before was just a house that the local lord had to build at the church’s request. The only thing that connected it to a church was the plate with the holy symbol engraved on it inside.”

“That’s normal. The church mandates that most places have their own churches, but it doesn’t require a specific form for very small places. What surprises me is that a priest like you would appear in such a place.”

“My family used to be quite wealthy, but then something happened… These are all things of the past, not worth mentioning. It’s just that you came back at a rather unfortunate time; Vanessa and Veronica have been very busy lately.”

“Being busy is a good thing; they need to shoulder some responsibility. After all, this church needs many people to manage it together, not just you. The work of a Sunday priest isn't just about preaching like you used to; I believe you don't have much experience helping people solve their problems,” the pharmacist said.

“That’s right. I usually encourage them to solve their own problems. However, this approach probably won’t work in Violet City.” Father Thorne sighed. “These past few days, some people have come to me asking if I can use divine magic to heal their children or help them dig wells. It seems that in the minds of ordinary people, divine magic is something omnipotent.”

“After all, people who haven’t studied magic often think that magic can do anything. Even if that’s true, they’ve overlooked the abilities of the person in front of them.” The apothecary smiled. “Father, there’s still much to learn.”

She rearranged the courses for the two nuns, making the schedule less packed, and the lectures on general pharmacology became more targeted. She also supplemented the spell classes with a few extra sessions when the two were free. During this time, a group of monks and nuns transferred from various places filled the vacancies in the church's clergy, and the church finally reached a normal-sized small church of fifty people, excluding servants.

The knights here were the same group brought by Knight Gael; there was no reinforcement. The young knights, being young and strong, were being used by Veronica to help with the harvest every day. The summer harvest needed to be completed before the rainy season officially arrived. Although Violet City could control the weather with large-scale magic, even Grand Duke Toril probably couldn't afford such a thing, let alone give it to these farmers.

The pharmacist chose a sunny afternoon, found a nearly deserted balcony, and sat down behind the window. She gently closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she experienced another brief "awakening."

"How peaceful! There's been no unusual activity in Violet City for so long. Have the Plague Apostles temporarily slowed down their actions, or are the hostile tourists not ready yet?"

The colonies of bacteria previously spread by the "Wilderness Plague" sent back some information, but the city was simply too large, and with the deployment of various warning spells and equipment, the information she could obtain was rather limited. Moreover, this information was too complex, making it difficult to extract anything useful from it.

But there's no rush. Her memories are one with the pharmacist's; the only difference lies in their ways of thinking and their personalities. Besides, the advantage of having the "pharmacist" as an external entity is that, theoretically, the pharmacist's combat power is stronger than hers at this stage.

Ultimately, the "Pharmacist" is the true saint, and therefore the price of her "awakening" is that she is not recognized by the Fountain of Youth and cannot use some spells that require communication with the gods. The Pharmacist's combat awareness is also quite good; barring ambushes from tourists, most people in the current scene should not be able to defeat her in a short time.

The pharmacist could handle the thinking; what she needed to consider was the next step. She was well aware that "memory" and "experience" were different, so she needed to find out the identities of the tourists in the city—in other words, the other six people.

Bavotley is currently the only tourist who has openly revealed his identity, and this high-profile behavior almost confirms that he has chosen the church's side. After all, the church in this setting isn't just sitting around doing nothing; if you want to be an undercover agent, you have to be discreet, and a high-profile traitor is an impossible combination.

Liu's behavior was somewhat similar, but she never actually expressed it, leaving only slight suspicion. The specific reasons were twofold: first, it was impossible to discern her purpose in following her to Violet City, similar to that of the Pharmacist; second, this person was quite unlike the elite warriors trained by Burial Pivot, just as the "Pharmacist" was indeed influenced by her memories, although her fundamental personality remained unchanged, her style was always somewhat different.

"So, next, the people investigating the remaining four cardinals—the cardinal cardinal and the alert cardinal—are generally not easy to find, but the occult cardinal and the release cardinal can be investigated first."