The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 8 Camping
It was completely dark.

The sparse moonlight was dispersed by the blazing fire in the camp before it could reach the ground.

Eric took a torch from it and used it to light the way to the higher ground, followed by two nuns.

As Sophie walked forward, she looked at the mine fence next to her. Due to age, these wooden fences were almost rotten, which made people feel very worried.

"Won't those undead escape from this side?" She said to the head nun beside her, deliberately not lowering her voice so that Eric who was walking in front could hear it.

Alena glanced at the fence for a few moments, her face filled with worry. Eric turned back and said, "Don't worry. The fence is quite high above the ground, so it's hard for those creatures to climb up, if they have the awareness to do so."

Seeing him speak, Sophie looked at the head nun and asked directly, "Have you been here before?"

"No."

"Then how do you know...what's going on inside?"

"Yela told me."

Sophie subconsciously wanted to ask which Yela it was, but after she realized it, she didn't dare to continue.

Alena shook her head.

The night wind made the torches flicker, and there were faint noises coming from inside the fence, making people dare not think too much about the situation inside.

Hearing the noise, the three of them continued to climb for a while. When Sophie began to feel tired, Eric, who was in the front, also stopped.

"Let's go here. We can see inside."

The mine is deep underground, and the ground part is like a basin, but it is dug on a sloping hillside. The low part below is the exit, and you can see everything from a high place.

Compared with the entire mine, the little light cast by the torch in Eric's hand seemed insignificant.

Before he could speak, Sister Alena clasped her hands together and released a lighting spell.

A pure white ball of light appeared out of thin air in front of her chest, gradually expanding and emitting bright light, but it was not dazzling.

When the diameter of the light ball expanded to about an arm's length, Alena's entire face was reflected in a snow-white color, and Eric saw a thin line of sweat running down the side of her face.

It seems that even the most basic divine arts would be difficult to release to this extent.

Just as he was thinking, Alena stopped casting the spell and pushed the light ball that had expanded to its limit into the air.

The ball of light drifted slowly over the mine and hovered there. With this artificial sun, the mine became clearly visible in the darkness.

"..."

Sophie gasped and unconsciously clutched the robe of the head sister beside her.

Undead creatures in various stages of decay were wandering around the mine. Some were crawling on the ground, some were scratching the walls, and some were looking up blankly at the ball of light in the air. They were so densely packed that no one knew how many there were.

Alena stared for a moment, her expression grave. "Why are there so many undead in this mine?"

Although the undead creatures she saw were all of the lowest level, easy to deal with and even afraid of sunlight, there were so many of them that it made her scalp tingle. Then she began to be glad that she was not coming alone.

"These undead emerged from underground mines," Eric said. "More than two hundred years ago, they were just ordinary miners and villagers."

Alena and Sophie both looked over. "Then why..."

"plague."

Eric explained to the two, "These people were infected. We couldn't just leave them alone and let them run around and spread the plague. The administrators at the time didn't want to spend too much money on civilian treatment, which wasn't guaranteed. So, they simply drove all the infected into the mines and left them to fend for themselves... Don't look at me like that. Two hundred years ago, this place wasn't even part of the Kimino family's territory. It was the governor at the time who did it."

Eric himself shouldn't have known these inside stories. It was because he had memories of his past life - various tasks during the closed beta test, which explained the cause of the disaster very clearly through the NPC's mouth.

Sophie felt embarrassed and wanted to apologize for the rude look she had subconsciously revealed, but she didn't know how to start. Fortunately, Eric didn't really care. He turned around and moved to another place, continuing to scan the undead in the mine.

"Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for the dead to transform into the undead." Alena followed and said.

"That's right." Eric turned his head and glanced at her. "The problem is, among the infected people who were imprisoned in the mines, there was also a mage from Xingyuan Academy, and his research direction was necromancy."

He tapped the ground with his toes. "More than two hundred years have passed, and he's still 'alive' deep underground in this mine. The current chaos is inextricably linked to him."

"Xingyuan Academy..."

Alena frowned. It was a magic academy located in the chaotic land of Casterfell, and it was also the continent's oldest and largest group of spellcasters. Like that land, chaos was the defining characteristic of Xingyuan Academy. Even a forbidden school like necromancy flourished within the academy.

"The main quest...our mission is to find the mage hiding in the mines." Eric looked down at the mines, "and then kill him."

Alena looked at him for a moment. "Mr. Eric, you know much more about this place than I thought."

Eric was holding a torch and couldn't make a prayer gesture, so he put one hand on his chest and looked at her calmly, "Praise Yela."

The nun stopped talking.

The three of them stood on a high place and continued to look out for a while. The hanging ball of light shone coldly on the mine below, and suddenly went out at a certain moment.

The head nun looked at Eric, asking him with her eyes if he needed to cast another spell of illumination.

"No need."

He didn't look at the mine below, but instead raised his head and stared at the starry sky above for a while.

"There's no point in watching any longer. By daylight, these undead will have retreated back into the mines. Let's go down." The three of them followed the path they had taken and soon returned to the camp. They were almost ready here, with a bonfire in the middle, a barbecue on one side, and an iron pot bubbling away on the other.

Served with bread, it was their dinner.

Smelling the aroma of food, Eric felt hungrier than ever before, and then he remembered that he hadn't eaten for almost a day.

"It's been a busy day for me..."

After taking a bite of the tender barbecue, Eric found that there were several unfamiliar faces among the people preparing dinner. He asked the captain of the guards and learned that they were villagers who came to help.

"Then let them help here for the next few days. We will pay them for preparing food, cleaning, etc." Eric said.

There are a large number of undead in the mine, and the guards he brought with him must focus on fighting. It would be better to leave trivial matters such as preparing three meals a day to the local villagers.

"Okay." Leslie agreed, turned around and called one of the villagers and told him about it. The latter happily agreed.

When they had almost finished eating, Eric went to take a look at the resting place. He had a separate tent, which was quite comfortably decorated. Although it was not as good as the big bed in the City Lord's Mansion, at least it was not uncomfortable to sleep on.

When he came out of the tent, he found two nuns waiting by the campfire. They had obviously eaten and drunk enough and were ready to rest.

After agreeing with the head nun on the time to enter the mine tomorrow during the day, Eric called a carriage and asked someone to take them to the church in the town.

As a result, he had not sat by the campfire for a while when the carriage came back and the two nuns were in the carriage, looking troubled.

"what happened?"

“There’s no place to live…”

When Alena and Sophie got there, they found that the church in the town was still intact, but the clergy's accommodation had long been dilapidated. Several monks were barely squeezed together, and in order to make room for them, they had to drive them away.

After listening to this, Eric turned to Leslie and asked, "Did you bring any extra tents?"

The latter nodded and said that the remaining tents were relatively small, old, and might have holes in them.

"Then I'll give my tent to you two," Eric said. "It shouldn't be a problem if the two of you squeeze in."

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Eric, but Sophie and I can just stay in an ordinary tent."

"Is it okay if bugs get in in the middle of the night?"

"..."

Before Alena could say anything, Sophie's face changed drastically. She tugged at her robe and shook her head.

The head nun had no choice but to accept his kindness and thank him again.

"You are welcome."

Eric threw the branch in his hand into the fire and said seriously, "At most, we can kill the bodies of the undead. To completely purify their souls, we have to rely on the two Holy Envoys. To let those souls rest in peace, you two should rest well. The task these days is not easy."

Alena looked at him deeply, nodded, and said no more.

After spending some time by the campfire, the two nuns went to rest in Eric's tent.

Eric waited until Leslie arranged for people to set up the tent for him, and then continued to discuss tomorrow's actions with him.

"Master, I think..." Leslie once again asked the young master to stay in the camp. Although those undead were too weak to be worth mentioning in his eyes, if anything happened to the young master, he would not be able to bear the responsibility even if he died.

Unsurprisingly, the latter refused again.

After completing the process of protecting the master and showing loyalty skillfully, the captain of the guards immediately arranged a specific action plan.

"This mine has been abandoned for over two hundred years. No one knows what's inside. I plan to explore the terrain inside the mine tomorrow and then gradually go deeper."

Eric wanted to say that he was familiar with the terrain, but his description and expression were one thing, and how much the guards could accept and understand was another. Leslie's arrangement was safer, so he didn't say anything.

"Well, you have to be careful."

"As for the combat, just leave it to me and the guards. Those two Holy City envoys probably don't have much combat experience, so they'll have to rely on the young master to protect them from behind." The captain of the guards was still thoughtful in this regard, and he even found a reason for him.

"You underestimate the head nun."

Eric glanced at him and said, "Besides, without the experience of actual combat, it's impossible to truly grow. As a descendant of the Kimino family, I will not shy away from fighting."

The captain of the guards nodded in agreement.

"However, the situation in the mines is complicated. I still need the protection of an experienced warrior like the captain of the guards. Just cooperate with me."

"Yes, Master."

"Remember to give me the head."

"Um...what?"

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(End of this chapter)