The Laws of Werewolf Hunting

Chapter 597 Widespread Destruction
“Mr. Bello, I know a little about why you want revenge, but the Book of the Earth?”

Sir Franklin's left thumb pressed against the hilt of his sword, the very sword he had used to pierce the werewolf's cheek, but this did not give him complete confidence.

He was hit twice.

“I know this is a bit wrong. I sent you here to find the Book of the Earth, but now you’re going to secretly take it and destroy it yourself.” Clayton said to the window, “Well, to be honest, please forgive me, I’ve heard that it can have amazing effects when combined with a certain artifact in Sasha City, but that could also lead to a long-term conflict. If that weren’t the case, I would never have gone to all this trouble.”

Julius breathed a sigh of relief, out of Franklin's sight.

Although he didn't know what tricks Clayton was up to, at least he didn't reveal all the secrets of the Book of Earth to the High Rock Knight.

If they can trick Franklin, they still have a chance to get the Book of Strange.

Franklin looked thoughtful, but quickly shook his head: "Mr. Bello, can you trust me?"

"of course."

"I'm sorry, I can't give you the same trust."

Clayton wasn't annoyed: "You don't have to believe me completely. I'm just trying to strike a balance between personal interests and public morality. You said the best outcome would be to seal the book away, but I think we can go further and seal it away, while concealing the fact that it's already been sealed away."

“I can’t explain this to your archbishop,” Franklin said.

By now, Kunti is no longer the only one who wants the Book of the Earth; the Church has already considered it its own.

The Earth Mother Cult was merely a temporary custodian. The Church did not send anyone to retrieve it in order to see how far the Druids would go for the Book of Earth. If the Druids attacked the Earth Mother Cult for this, the Miners' Guild would be dissatisfied. The Church could create a rift between the City Integration Faction and the Royal Family, but the Druids have been slow to act and have not fulfilled their wishes.

He could take the Book of St. Peter to avoid conflict, but it would eventually fall into the hands of the church.

“Put the book up,” Clayton said. “You know how to do it.”

“Mr. Kunti treated me so kindly, and I don’t want to break my promise to him.” The High Rock Knight shook his head. “Mr. Bellow, if there’s nothing else, you should go back to the surface and not interfere with official business anymore.”

"Yes, there's one more thing. Kules came to you."

"You're very well-informed."

The werewolf pointed to his nose: "No need to ask anyone, I just smelled it."

Franklin sighed helplessly: "Yes, he entertained me last night and talked to me about you, but I have no intention of getting involved in your fight."

"I think he must have also talked about your work."

"If we don't talk about this, and we don't talk about you, then we can only talk about the weather."

"He asked very detailed questions, as if he wanted to join your work himself."

"What's the problem?"

"The problem is that the strange object that can unleash the great power of the Book of Earth seems to be in his hands, but of course, if you ask him, he will not admit it."

Franklin lowered his gaze and thought for a moment, then said, "I understand."

He didn't give a definite answer, but turned and left without making a sound, his armor remaining completely silent under the control of the secret power.

Once Julius was sure he was far away, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God, he's finally gone."

“We should go too.” Clayton picked up the weapons from the ground.

His tone made Julius uneasy: "What do you mean?"

"Let him handle this matter."

"Didn't we already agree on this before?"

Clayton tossed his shotgun behind him: "Think about it again. I never promised to sell it with you. My only goal has always been to reduce its impact on the city. Taking it is a means, not an end. As long as the goal is achieved, I don't care who takes it."

"Playing word games?" Julius grinned, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Clayton understood perfectly how a child would feel if their favorite toy was taken away just as they were about to get their hands on it. "Besides the Book of Styx, we have other ways to profit here."

"tell me the story."

“Need I say more?” Clayton swung his hammer and smashed open the pipe wall. “We’re in the warehouse the dwarves use to store smuggled goods. We can make money no matter how much we take.”

Julius shook his head: "All of them combined don't amount to half a Book of Earth, unless there are other wonders."

Clayton looked at him in astonishment: "There's not enough meat on the plate, so you're not going to eat it?"

The male wizard then reluctantly began to move.

Sir Franklin could not retrace his steps, lest he encounter the other again, so they chose another path—a fork in the road where another mysterious figure had seemed to be standing.

There was almost no smell here, which confused the two who had initially thought there were people here. They wondered if they had heard a message from the Oracle Cave or if it was another trick by the dwarves.

However, they quickly put that matter out of their minds and focused on how to make the dwarves feel heartbroken.

"That's Kerry! Why don't you say hello to him?"

As soon as Clara's mouth was freed, she asked Father Petty curiously.

The priest, having lowered his hands, gradually slowed his pace and calmed his breathing: "There is a knight of the High Rock Knights over there, Clara. Even if you can become invisible, appearing in front of a member of a knightly order that serves God is a very dangerous thing. He might discover you and harm you."

The Knights' field missions are always carried out in pairs. If someone goes out alone, that member must be a licensed exorcist.

This is a difficult test. All priests with exorcism licenses have strong resistance to mind control. A demon of Clara's caliber couldn't even fight back against Franklin, and he could break Clara's immortality with just one sword.

"Why would God's knight hurt Clara? Clara is clearly God's good child too!" The little devil's eyes blinked rapidly, and tears streamed down his face, soaking the priest's blond hair, which was the same color as his.

The Rat King, now a priest, leaned against the pipe wall and sighed helplessly: "Misunderstandings are a terrible thing. These knights think you would like to hurt innocent people. To clear up the misunderstanding, you have to prove to them with your actions that this is wrong."

Clara stopped crying and nodded repeatedly in agreement with him.

The priest wiped his face and walked back.

He hadn't expected that Franklin and Clayton Bello would also be in the sewers on business. Although he wasn't their enemy, revealing that he was there would be difficult to explain later.

The unspoken rule of the church is not to do anything out of line. If a clergy member appears in a place where they shouldn't be, the church will not vouch for them.

Fortunately, he has almost achieved his goal.

Pete chose a smuggling route used by dwarves. He knew about this route because the White Cult still had some dwarven followers who would reveal a lot of information during confessions.

On the day he became a high priest, Petty swore that he would not use the contents of believers' confessions for his own benefit, but he never promised not to use them to curb harm and evil.

Sir Courles was not a lenient man, and his harshness toward tenant farmers was only a minor part of his harm.

Corpse smuggling had long been the business of the Kules family, who sent human remains to the black market under the guise of medical use until the ghoul Fisher stormed into Sasha and declared all unburied corpses his own, bringing this business to an end.

But after the old Courles, the smuggling of corpses was picked up again by the current Sir Courles.

Thanks to the Druids, Sasha has many low-quality timber resources, mostly poplar and pine trees, which are either soft or require a lot of oil and smoke to process and involve complicated procedures.

At the request of the druids, charcoal makers were forbidden from working near the forest to prevent fires. This prevented the price of charcoal from decreasing due to the cost of transporting timber. As a result, apart from papermaking, the main use of this low-quality wood was to make matches.

Sir Courles owned a match factory.

The workers in the match factory were mostly women and children who were in poor health. They were in contact with the white phosphorus on the matches every day, and their bodies were poisoned by this substance.

White phosphorus is extremely toxic. After working for a few months, these workers will inevitably experience facial swelling and toothache, but they still have to endure the pain for money. After one or two years, the pain will develop into ulceration of the entire face, with pus gushing from the mouth.

Sir Courles will arrange for doctors to treat them, but the so-called treatment is nothing more than tooth extraction. In more serious cases, the entire lower jaw will need to be sawed off, which looks more horrific than many Darkin. This treatment can also cause the wound to deteriorate rapidly to the point of death.

If the patient dies, their body will immediately become the property of the Kules family and be sold to who-knows-where.

Their families went to the city to look for their relatives, but even though they knew their loved ones had died in the match factory, they couldn't hold a funeral for them again, and in the end, nothing came of it.

Father Pete is searching for the incriminating evidence that Cures willingly gave to the Spider Priest. Although he doesn't yet know what it is, he has learned from the outgoing records of a dwarf smuggling warehouse that the item was given to Truby.