The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 17 All the organs are complete
Standing in the open space in the center of the town, which could barely be called a square, Eric looked up at the high slope in the north and could vaguely see the relaxed and comfortable appearance of the guards of the City Lord's Mansion who had some free time.

He cursed in his heart.

After going around in circles, he found that he was not so much trying to appease the villagers as he was trying to clean up the mess of his own guards who were talking nonsense.

However, notifying every household door to door was too inefficient, so a local monk passing by gave them an idea.

Dangdangdang——

The iron bell in the square has been through wind and rain and is rusty, but it does not affect its effect. When it is struck a few times, the sound echoes throughout the town.

Hearing the bell, the town's residents gathered here one after another. Eric saw a middle-aged man notice Sister Alena and come over to humbly salute her.

He quickly got an explanation from a monk: "That's Brother Eddie's father... Poor old man, both of his sons are dead. Alas, if they hadn't insisted on going in, this wouldn't have happened..."

Eric pursed his lips and said nothing.

"Master."

He turned his head and saw Leslie riding over on horseback. "I hear the bells ringing over here. What happened?"

"I heard that the guards from the City Lord's Mansion were talking nonsense here, causing unrest, and the villagers are planning to revolt."

"Is it that serious? Should we go back to the city and call for more help?"

"..."

Eric squinted at him for a long moment.

After being stared at for a long time, the captain of the guards finally reacted, "Master, you can't make jokes like this..."

"Go tell the villagers later that I was just joking. Let's see what they say."

As the two were talking here, a fast horse suddenly rushed into the town.

When slowing down to pass the central square, the rider noticed the young master of the city lord's mansion and the captain of the guards outside the crowd and stopped immediately.

"Master, a letter from the Earl!"

Eric's spirits lifted as a reply from his uncle arrived.

The guard dismounted, opened the wooden box containing the letter, took out the letter and handed it to him.

"You've worked hard. Go and have a rest. Leslie, give him more money when you divide the money later."

"Yes."

Eric took the letter, opened it directly, and began to read it on the spot.

Edgar agreed to his plan to redevelop the mine, saying that he could make his own decisions on some matters here. As for more arrangements, such as recruiting refugees as miners, they would discuss it together after he eliminated the undead and returned.

Eric read it twice and handed the letter to Leslie.

"The Count has consented to reopen the mine."

"Yeah, but that's something we'll have to deal with after we leave. The most urgent thing is to clear out the undead in the mine."

Eric stretched and glanced around. After a long time, most of the villagers had gathered in the square.

Several local monks went around greeting the villagers and maintaining order, and the two nuns gradually became the center of the crowd.

"Sister Alena, almost everyone in the town has come." One of the monks said to Alena.

She nodded and looked at Eric on the periphery, who also squeezed into the crowd and came over.

"Let's get started. You do your thing, and I'll fill in the rest."

Eric walked over to the rusty iron bell and struck it hard a few times to quiet the noisy crowd.

All eyes were focused on him, and then shifted to the head nun standing on the stone platform.

"..."

Alena was actually not used to the feeling of being the center of attention, but after experiencing this for two consecutive days, she found that she adapted quickly.

"Residents of Valais, followers of Yela..."

What she wanted to say were still the same things she had said to the villagers before, such as the undead were under control and the town was out of danger.

Although they had a premonition, most of the villagers still looked relieved when they heard the good news from the nun from the Holy City herself.

What made them nervous again was that after the nun left, a young man came on stage.

"..."

Sensing the change in atmosphere, Eric glared at Leslie below.

"Everyone, don't be nervous."

He looked around at the villagers and revealed his identity: "I am Eric Kimino, nephew of Edgar Kimino, Lord of Dent County and Lord of Ori."

As he spoke, he drew out the straight sword he had borrowed from Leslie and pointed it at the sky.

Holy Judgment Blade!

The sword, which was shining with cold light, was suddenly wrapped in a layer of golden light, which immediately attracted the attention of the villagers, and exclamations came one after another.

"—The team sent by the City Lord's Mansion to exterminate the undead will also be led by me."

Alena, who had returned to the crowd, could clearly feel that the atmosphere around her was changing.

"I think you all saw—"

Eric half-turned, his sword pointed at the northern slopes. "Guards from the City Lord's Mansion entered the mine today. Our investigation revealed that there are around several thousand undead inside."

When they heard this number, there was a sound of gasps from the audience.

"But now, we have wiped out about a quarter of the undead."

Eric glanced around and said, "And I can guarantee that they will all be wiped out in a few days."

"That's great!" A little girl of seven or eight years old started talking, and the silent crowd quickly became excited. Although the same good news had just been said by the Holy Messenger, people's emotions are always easily affected by more specific things.

"I said it was no big deal."

"Fortunately, we have the Earl's guards..."

"Oh, I've been scared these past few days."

After the villagers' cheers died down, Eric went on to talk about his plan to reopen the mine.

Unexpectedly, this news, which would truly affect their future lives, did not cause much stir.

The villagers looked at each other, mostly in confusion.

After all, the mine was closed more than two hundred years ago, and several generations have long erased the memory of the town's early rise. Many villagers may never have seen a pickaxe in their entire lives.

Eric didn't care. Restarting the mine was a systematic project. By the time workers were actually recruited and the excavation started, he estimated that he would be thousands of miles away.

He just gave a heads-up in advance so that the villagers could be prepared.

After explaining all this, Eric had nothing else to say. He jumped off the stone platform, turned around and left, leaving the villagers to slowly digest the news.

"Let's go back to camp."

When he rode Leslie's horse back to the camp on the high slope, he looked back and saw that the crowd below was slowly dispersing.

The setting sun shines obliquely, and the earth looks like blood.

The elongated shadows merged into the twilight, covering the sky.

"Games are games, life is life..."

Leslie, who was trotting along, heard the young master whisper this.

After the sun sets, it gets dark quickly.

A bonfire was lit in the camp, and the villagers who came to help prepared dinner for them. Compared to the rush of yesterday when they arrived after dark, everything today seemed relaxed and casual.

Eric sat by the fire and grilled some meat on a stick.

Leslie was sitting opposite, and at one moment he suddenly stood up to greet the villagers coming up from below, and after a while he returned to the campfire.

Eric couldn't see clearly between the light and darkness, "What's going on?"

"what?"

Leslie sat down and then realized, "Oh, it's okay. It's the blacksmith here. When we came back from the mines, he said he could help us repair our weapons and armor, so we left it all to him."

"A blacksmith..." With every extra second of fighting in this world, Eric felt more deeply that ordinary weapons and equipment were consumables.

"I've checked it out, and the blacksmith's craftsmanship is pretty good," said Leslie.

"Then let him work harder these few days, so we can save some effort. Remember to pay him."

"clear."

Leslie nodded, then sighed. "This town may not look big, but it has everything you need, like a blacksmith shop, a tavern, and a general store with plenty of things to buy. They even have things like antidotes and recovery potions that only adventurers need... It really doesn't feel like a remote town in the wilderness."

Eric was silent.

This is no coincidence.

To be precise, this was a deliberate arrangement.

The blacksmith shop is a place to buy basic weapons and repair equipment, the tavern can accept quests, not to mention the grocery store. The planning and design of the Valais town map are all for the convenience of players participating in the closed beta test, but I didn’t expect that they would be preserved in this world.

Eric estimated that there were some people with extraordinary skills among those ordinary-looking villagers. In the original world, they were the initial mentors of various professions, helping players learn skills.

He didn't bother to find them. The village was about to be destroyed, and they hadn't stepped forward to destroy the undead. They probably weren't responsible people, and rashly bringing them into the team would only cause more trouble.

"You can learn more about the situation here." Eric said to Leslie, "Your uncle may come over in person in a while to take a look at the mine. Investigating the situation in advance will also give him some peace of mind."

The captain of the guards was stunned for a moment, "What about you, young master?"

Judging from his abilities in all aspects, it is obvious that he is more suitable to do this kind of thing.

"I have to go to the Holy City." Eric said, "Didn't I tell you that Yela chose me as the successor to the Saint?"

"Uh……"

"Don't believe it?"

"No!" Whether he believed it or not, the captain of the guards immediately denied it. "Then Miss Irene..."

"Her words..." Eric paused for a moment, "I want to send her to the imperial capital."

Leslie was about to ask why, but he stopped talking when he saw two figures approaching the campfire.

The two nuns sat down by the fire.

"Some villagers asked us about the mine," Alena said.

Eric frowned, "Wasn't that clear enough?"

"It refers to the subsequent re-mining," she added.

Eric suddenly realized, "I thought they had no interest in this matter... I can tell them not to worry, my uncle will personally take charge of this matter."

The head nun nodded and said no more.

The night wind blows and the flames dance.

Eric turned the barbecue in his hand and felt it was almost done. Just as he was about to take a bite, he remembered that the nun next to him was also very tired today, so he passed it to her.

Alena looked at him in surprise, but couldn't refuse, so she thanked him and took it, then handed it to Sophie next to her.

The little nun smiled widely and said, "Thank you!"

(End of this chapter)