Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1494 Feeding
Ophelia added a touch of crudeness to the sacred space of the church.

A mage must possess a certain level of knowledge, but her identity as an adventurer meant that her words weren't exactly pleasant to hear, thus creating this vulgar intellectual. Ironically, everything she said was the truth, and no one could refute it, no matter how unpleasant it was. As a result, the next day Vanessa kicked her out to work as a bricklayer for a construction crew.

Although Ophelia looked at these people with disgust, she really didn't resist since she had been captured. With her strength, if she really wanted to escape, no one could stop her.

The news she brought back caused several people a real headache, and Father Thorne was naturally the one who needed to consider the situation the most. First, it absolutely could not be made public, otherwise it would definitely result in a riot. But if it wasn't made public, the survival of so many people was completely uncertain.

Ophelia suggested the solution was to kill the miners when they came, but Father Thorne couldn't possibly do that. He knew most of the people here were civilians, and even a mage like Ophelia could take on hundreds of them.

Feeling agitated, he went to the riverbank as usual. Listening to the sound of the flowing water and breathing in the moisture-laden air always calmed him down.

But... not far from the church, on the other side of the light screen, he saw people.

Father Thorne took a deep breath. He had anticipated this ever since he met Ophelia, this outsider. He walked to the edge of the light screen, his gaze sweeping over the people present, and he roughly understood the situation.

Another group of refugees, some of whom were dressed as guards or adventurers, probably got here by luck.

"Hello." Father Thorne stood in front of the light screen and nodded to the group of people who came. "Please send someone in charge to tell me your demands."

People made way, and a man wrapped in heavy clothes and draped in some tattered armor came out. He looked somewhat old, but his physique was still robust. Father Thorne saw in his cloudy eyes a sense of experience and vigilance.

“Father, I am now temporarily the leader of this group. You can call me Lind.”

“Thorn, it’s good to see so many people still alive. And Mr. Lind, you look like an adventurer?”

"Adventurer, mercenary, private soldier... I've been all of them. Father Thorne, I know that words are useless in this situation; we need something concrete. There aren't many of us, just over two hundred, and we've come here seeking refuge. Although we have some wounded among us, no one is disabled, so you can rest assured."

“Mr. Lind, did you happen to arrive here? We need to know some news from inside the city. What you saw and heard along the way might be useful to us. Of course, more importantly, what happened to you?”

Linde sighed softly and said, "You don't believe we could get here, do you?"

"Oh, Mr. Lind means that the city is safe enough for people like you to escape here safely without the protection of particularly strong combat personnel?"

"Escaping is a complicated affair, I must admit," Lind stroked his beard. "But we were guided by a kind person who told us there was a safe place here, and also how to get in..."

Linde pulled a worn-out notebook out of his pocket.

She said, "Just give this to you."

Father Thorne reached out and took the notebook, but did not open it immediately.

"The lady who gave you directions did not come with you."

“She’s a good person, and she’s even planning to find other refugees to guide them. I’ve seen the contents of the document… the location of a nobleman’s private granary, and two nearby plague outbreaks. This is her kindness to us, Father. Based on my years of experience, it’s reasonable for you to take us in with these things.”

“That makes sense.” Father Thorne nodded. “Please wait a moment. In any case, we need to designate space for the accommodation of two hundred people. I will give you an answer in about a day.”

“Alright, we can wait.” Lind sighed. “Please return the notes, Father.”

Father Thorne returned the notebook to Lind, then turned and walked back to the church, calling over Liu and Sneijder, and also gathering the others.

"Who gave you the address of that warehouse? I need to specify the person," Father Thorne asked.

Liu and Sneijder exchanged a glance, and Sneijder could only smile wryly: "He was a veteran of the garrison, but he died in battle protecting ordinary people."

“Dead men tell no tales? Good.” Father Thorne recounted the arrival of another group of people to everyone, and then said, “Now someone else has come with similar conditions. It’s so obvious, I think anyone can see it.”

The pharmacist and Vanessa both turned their gazes to Sneijder, who sighed helplessly, "There are so many of us, and some of us got lost along the way. This isn't exactly a big secret. That old soldier has told countless people about it, so it's normal for it to leak out. And we can't just travel quietly to transport supplies; anyone with a keen eye will eventually see us."

“So, someone is eyeing our area,” Father Thorne said. “We need to decide whether to accept these potentially problematic people. Vanessa, I’d like to hear your opinion.”

Vanessa, no longer flustered by being called out, stood up and said, "Take it. Even if someone is plotting against us, we're all in the same boat in Violet City. I don't know what she's after, but we don't refuse things that are offered to us."

“Vanessa… judging by this pace, there might be more groups like this coming,” Father Thorne said.

"Then let's give it a try."

The information in the notebook Linde brought was more than just abundant. Compared to the two hundred people, the value of a private vault's supplies and the early elimination of two threatening neighboring forces was far too high. So much so that apart from Ophelia's angry outburst that she would have to burn bricks for a few more days, no one else had any objections.

But as Father Thorne said, in the following days, five more groups came to the place seeking refuge. Their situations were very similar—small in number, guided by a woman, and carrying notebooks marked with supplies or enemy information.

Finally, Liu went to the pharmacist.

With such an obvious target, Father Thorne and the others naturally inquired about the woman's appearance. However, the descriptions were not detailed, and no one possessed the skill of a painter to depict the entire woman. Therefore, after several groups of people had gathered information, Liu made a guess.

"Rosmerada, do you think it could be her?"

Both of them could recall the plague apostle that had suddenly appeared and disappeared that night, based on its age and general description of its appearance. However, the description didn't mention red hair, which was normal, as that was likely the effect of some kind of magic. "It matches the description, but… after all, quite a few outsiders have come to Violet City."

Besides Ophelia, just two days ago, three people dressed in gray robes were seen wandering around outside. This didn't escape Vanessa and the apothecary's watchful eyes. However, the three only glanced at them and left immediately, without any intention of speaking to them. After asking Ophelia, she said they were most likely private soldiers of some nobleman, not much different from herself.

That means it's quite different.

The attitudes of these people were unclear, so Vanessa didn't rush to contact them. With the increasing number of people arriving recently, a new area needed to be designated, and she was busy with that, along with gathering supplies, leaving her no time to investigate their origins.

If a plague apostle wanted to hide and wasn't afraid of the various demons and monsters in the city, finding her would be extremely difficult.

"Is she looking for us?" the pharmacist asked.

“That’s possible… but I doubt whether the two of us are really that important. Saints are the only thing that makes us different from others, but that means nothing to the Plague Apostles.”

Saints are good material for Plague Apostles, but that's all they are. To put it bluntly, there are better materials everywhere in Violet City right now.

Liu was ready. Among all the weapons, only the special bullets were not being replenished; the rest of the cold weapons had been re-sharpened and sharpened.

"Since you guys probably don't have time anyway, let me, who's relatively free, take a look."

"Don't start a fight unnecessarily. Come back once you've confirmed it," the pharmacist instructed.

"of course."

After speaking with the pharmacist, Liu left quietly.

The first-class bishops inside the Church of St. Ist were not much surprised by the decision made outside the city, and the vanguard teams that had infiltrated the city were not worth paying too much attention to.

“The objective is clear.” Charles gathered the heads of the seven cardinals, and the vacant positions were filled by people like Bavotley.

"These bastards deserve to die." Rosalind sneered. "Has the Church been away from holy wars for too long?"

“Holy War… is not a good word, Bishop Rosalyn,” Bavotley said. “Let’s get back to the present. Since they’ve sent a vanguard, their intentions are clear. Whether the vanguard dies here, or the people of Violet City die here, they can accept it.”

"It's difficult to count how many people are in Violet City right now. The Church needs to save people, but realistically, we can't save them all, especially since we haven't yet mastered the method to clean up the contamination. As for our allies..." Charles paused here. Everyone present knew this. Some of these allies might genuinely not want living people to become expendable resources, but the vast majority didn't want to see Toril Empire become so powerful.

“We need to establish safe routes to transport people out of the city. In addition, we need to clean up the complex web of factions within the city. Even if it’s impossible to sweep away all the filth, it can’t be like this,” Crom said.

"Work with the titled knights and church colleagues who have come here to inform all the sanctuaries in Violet City," Charles said. "It would be best to inform all places before winter arrives; we can't wait much longer."

=
"You must find a place to stay before winter comes."

Rosemerada stood on a pile of collapsed ruins and handed a roughly bound notebook to the leader of the group.
“Let’s go over there. The southern district is a sparsely populated area, and it was less affected by the disaster. There’s a large settlement there. Let’s give it to them in exchange for a place to live.”

"Thank you, but you..."

“I still need to find other people. No matter what becomes of Violet City, people should not be left to freeze or starve to death.”

The leader thanked them profusely and left with his men. Rosemerada watched them go, then reached out and tugged at her clothes.

A voice came from the ruins behind: "Is this something you would say?"

The wandering swordsman emerged from the ruins, dusted himself off, and spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

Upon entering the city, the plague apostles were quite impressed by what they saw. The sheer number of plague apostles and the immense destruction caused by the "Alien" plague almost immediately gave them new inspiration. But Rosemerada, on the other hand, showed no surprise whatsoever.

The ranger only followed her for a short while before discovering that Rosemerada's cold-heartedness was so extreme that even she couldn't stand it. She could experiment with plagues on anyone, including herself. And when she wasn't satisfied with her creations, she would simply toss them away, adding fuel to the fire of the already chaotic Violet City.

Why can't you say it?

"The displacement of those people was caused by those random creations you threw out, wasn't it? I can't even find the people I infected with the plague anymore. Did you kill them all in the plague melee you caused?" the Ranger sneered.

"The Iron Curtain... of course it's still in the city. Have you forgotten that I'm in charge of your plague distribution? Don't worry, everyone's wishes will be fulfilled, just don't die before then," Rosemerada laughed.

The ranger frowned and looked at Rose Merada: "And what about you? I can sense that your magical power is constantly weakening. What are you doing?"

“Haven’t I been saying this all along? Explore the gods, study the gods, prove the gods. I don’t care if you don’t listen to me, but don’t keep asking questions.” Rosemerada took out another notebook from her bosom. “That predecessor who used the Aberrant has given me a lot of inspiration. His research on each Plague Lord has reached a very high level, which is why he was able to create the Aberrant, a plague that fits the characteristics of all the Plague Lords. Among all the plagues throughout history, it is already the pinnacle of achievement.”

“You’re just like him…”

“It’s different. I’m looking for something beyond that.” Rosemerada’s fingertips shimmered with magical light, and drawings and words began to appear on her notebook. “Of course I’ll thank him, and he should thank me too, right?”

The ranger felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at the calm smile on Rosemerada's face. She finally understood why Blue Cobalt hadn't come into the city with her; he had worked with Rosemerada the longest and probably saw through her true nature long ago.