The most shameless alchemist in history

"Speak up when I tell you to! What are you dawdling about?" Bishop Zefa roared, glaring at him fiercely.

"Yes! All the escaped prisoners in the dungeon have escaped, but Your Excellency, please rest assured, the Warriors of Light have been dispatched and will soon suppress them!" Captain Rafa reported in a low voice. He knew this was a very serious lapse in composure and was prepared for a storm.

"Escapees from the dungeon? Are they those heretics who refuse to work for our order? They should all be executed! Why did they have to cause trouble now of all times... Wait, aren't there a few people from Frost City currently imprisoned in the dungeon?"

Bishop Zephat thought carefully and remembered the matter of the guard; the envoy from Frost City was of utmost importance.

“That’s right…” Captain Rafa trembled all over. No matter how imposing he was outside, he didn’t dare to breathe loudly in front of Bishop Zefa.

"It must be those guys' doing. There are gunshots outside...? How is Winry doing?" Bishop Zephyr closed his eyes and listened carefully. He quickly heard gunshots mixed with the noise outside, which made him frown.

"Those guys, didn't we tell them not to fire their guns unless absolutely necessary? Your Excellency, please rest assured, I will definitely punish them severely. As for Wenli's situation, we've already set fire to it, and the building will soon be burned to the ground. We've also dispatched assassins there; these are all carefully trained assassins, and dealing with them will be no problem!" Captain Rafa patted his chest and confidently assured them.

He knew that no matter how chaotic other things were, as long as this matter was handled well, it would be considered a success.

"Really? Hopefully, there won't be any more mishaps, otherwise... I'd better go there myself." Bishop Zepha had always played the role of strategist, without needing to personally intervene. He only needed to formulate a plan, and for over a decade, there had been no problem he couldn't solve.

But now it seems that things have gotten out of his control, and he has no choice but to take action himself.

"Your Excellency, oh? Your Excellency?" Captain Rafa knew that Bishop Zefa's personal intervention meant he didn't trust his abilities. He wanted to say something, but Bishop Zefa had already walked out of the church. He sighed and had no choice but to bite the bullet and chase after him.

Meanwhile, amidst the blazing firelight of the small building, Bai Ling, whose arms were already covered in scales, finally noticed that the three people approaching were not assassins, but Du Lei, Leopard Tail, and Ape Arm, who were holding gunpowder guns and were rushing over to provide backup.

"Where is Miss Winry? Where is she?" Leopard Tail rushed over to inquire about the situation.

“I’m here, cough cough.” Wenli walked up from behind, looking extremely weak.

"Are you all alright?" Du Lei gripped his gun, scanning his surroundings to make sure no other assassins would rush over.

"Bee Sting is still entangled with the assassin in the back," Bai Ling pointed behind her.

"Understood. Leopard Tail and I will go and meet her. Ape Arm, you take Miss Wenli and get out of here quickly!" Dure nodded and immediately rushed into the sea of ​​fire, while Ape Arm gestured for Wenli and Bailing to follow him out.

“Mr. Dure…will he be alright?” Winry originally wanted to stop Dure, but she knew that if she didn’t go to help Bee Sting, she would definitely die in the fire. Seeing Dure and Leopard Tail’s backs, she was very worried.

“Miss Winry, don’t worry. He’s so clever, he’ll be fine. Let’s get out of here quickly. Harrenburg is the Order’s territory. They set this fire and sent assassins after us, they definitely won’t let us go.” Bailing gestured for Winry to leave quickly.

Once the flames of destruction began to burn, she knew the night was long and the pervasive smoke would not cease until dawn.

“I understand. I will never cause trouble for anyone or hold anyone back!” Wenli nodded heavily and left with Bailing and Yuanbi.

Meanwhile, Dure and Leopard Tail, armed with gunpowder guns, quickly spotted the dying bee sting amidst the raging flames.

"You lot... even if you kill me, you won't be able to threaten Miss Winry..." Bee Sting said with difficulty as he lay on the ground.

"Did you take them all down?" Leopard Tail helped Bee Sting up and asked Du Lei from a distance.

"Don't worry, this thing really works. We can hit them from behind every time. Let's go!" Du Lei nodded emphatically. He put away his gunpowder gun, exchanged a glance with Leopard Tail, and then the latter fled the collapsing building with Bee Sting on his back.

“Leopard Tail…” Bee Sting called out in a daze.

"I'm here, I'm right here. We can talk when you wake up," Leopard Tail replied softly. The most shameless alchemist in history.

472 She is sick

ntent

The once beautiful and exquisite little building was instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire, with the raging flames engulfing everything. Fortunately, Du Lei and Leopard Tail arrived in time and took Wen Li and her group out. Otherwise, they would have been burned to death or killed by the assassins.

The commotion in the dungeon and the fire turned the usually quiet night into a noisy one. Dure and his group took advantage of the chaos to escape the church grounds. They headed north, initially unsure of the cult's intentions, but now they were absolutely certain that the cult intended to kill them.

"Hurry up! The entire Harrenhal is under the Order's control. We're not safe until we leave Harrenhal. Miss Winry, are you alright?" Dure urged from ahead. He could clearly see a large number of torches burning behind them, indicating that someone was chasing them.

"Miss Winry? How is Miss Winry?" Dure called out, but Winry didn't respond. Seeing that Lark and Bee Sting had stopped, he immediately stopped and turned around. He found that Winry had fainted, and Lark was supporting her. Her face looked terrible.

“Miss Wenli is burning up and very weak. We can’t keep going like this, or Miss Wenli will be in great danger!” Bailing touched Wenli’s body. Her body temperature was alarmingly high. Bailing shook her head worriedly. She knew that the situation was very critical.

At the same time, she also knew that the purpose of their mission was to safely deliver Winry to Rock City. If something happened to Winry here, their mission would also end in failure. This forced her to stay, and they were caught in a dilemma.

"How could this happen, of all times..." Dure clenched his fists. Winry's illness had come at the most inopportune time.

"We're all very weak after rushing out of the fire. Even we magic users, who have magic power to sustain us, are struggling. Let alone ordinary people like Miss Winry. No, we can't continue on our way. We have to stop and rest." Leopard Tail's forehead was also covered in cold sweat.

"You mean stop and rest in a place like this? But... right, where's Uncle Kotetsu? I haven't seen him at all." Dure knew very well that stopping was not a good idea. The Order wasn't stupid; they would soon find out that they hadn't died in the fire.

Therefore, they will definitely carry out a large-scale arrest operation in the Herenberg area, and given their current situation, it will be difficult for them to escape the cult's search.

"I haven't seen Boss Hu Che. He's not locked up with us. You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Leopard Tail was baffled. They had been locked up in three different places. He, Du Lei, and Yuan Bi were locked up in the dungeon, while Wen Li and the others were locked up in the small building.

As for Kotetsu, he was a person of special interest to the other party, and it was unknown where the cult was keeping him.

"Uncle Kotetsu isn't here either? And of all times... There's nothing we can do. We need to find a place to rest and settle Miss Winry in temporarily. We'll continue our journey after Miss Winry wakes up tomorrow." Dure clenched his fists. He could only stay in Herenburg for one more day.

“Oh right, there seems to be an empty house up ahead. Let’s go there and rest.” Bailing noticed the abandoned house ahead at this moment. Similar ruins were everywhere in Harrenhal.

“Then let’s go over there.” Dure nodded. As things stand, Winry’s safety is the top priority, and everything else has to be put aside for now.

Just as they were walking toward the abandoned house, a figure suddenly appeared not far ahead, which startled Leopard Tail.

"Wait, Leopard Tail, don't make a move!" Du Lei saw Leopard Tail step forward with a cold glint in his eyes and knew that he was going to kill him to prevent him from reporting their whereabouts to the cult. However, he recognized Leopard Tail first and immediately waved his hand to stop him.

"Hey, do you know what you're doing? When did you become so soft-hearted? If she reports us, we'll be in big trouble!" Leopard Tail was extremely anxious. They had barely escaped death in the small building earlier and were now on high alert.

"Don't worry, she won't report us. Hey, what are you doing here?" After stopping Leopard Tail, Du Lei looked at the girl who appeared on the roadside ahead. He softened his tone and spoke to her as calmly as possible.

"You can't go over there. That's Hanno's territory. If you go there like this, he'll find you." The girl bit her lip and thought for a moment, but finally decided to tell the group.

"Hano? Who is he? And who are you? You look kind of familiar." Leopard Tail frowned. He looked closely at the girl in front of him, feeling like he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

"Hano is a local thug, and nobody around here is afraid of him. His brother, Hansen, is a member of the cult, and he works for the cult. As for me, I..." The girl hesitated for a moment, without revealing her name.

“This is Connie, Leopard Tail, have you forgotten? You stopped someone on the street before.” Dure had seen the girl twice before and knew her name, so he wasn’t too unfamiliar with her.

"On the street? Now that you mention it, I remember you. You were the one from back then?" Leopard Tail finally remembered this after Du Lei's reminder, but he still looked at her suspiciously because he didn't remember having any relationship with her, and there was no reason for her to help him.

“The Order will be here soon, follow me.” The girl named Connie walked ahead, gesturing for Dure and his group to follow her.

"What do you mean by 'come with you'? Hey, you're not planning to take us to the cult to collect the bounty, are you?" Leopard Tail didn't trust her and had no intention of going with him. He wasn't so stupid as to believe just anyone he met.

“Du Lei, look at this…” Although Bai Ling didn’t quite believe that the girl would do something like this, she really couldn’t think of a reason why the other party would help. Until she figured out the reason, she couldn’t put her mind at ease.

"Don't worry, Connie won't harm us. The Order will catch up soon, so we'll just follow her. I don't think there will be any problems." Dure thought for a moment, then looked back at Wenli's pale face. He knew that Wenli desperately needed rest and absolutely could not travel any further.

“Kid, you…” Leopard Tail thought Du Lei was being far too hasty and questioned his decision.

“Okay, then I’ll listen to you. Since you believe her, then I believe her too.” Bailing nodded. Under the current circumstances, this was their best option.

473 split up

ntent

Dure and his group followed Connie to her house. Her house was too small to accommodate so many people, so they put Winry in the attic where she stored odds and ends to rest temporarily. The others hid in the basement. Not long after they arrived at Connie's house, members of the cult came to search for them.

Even at this moment, Du Lei was still uncertain. He was hiding in the basement, and if Connie really betrayed them, they would have nowhere to retreat and would be captured alive. Leopard Tail was also ready to go out and fight to the death at any time.

Fortunately, the cult's soldiers only conducted a brief search before leaving in a hurry. Dure, with his keen ears, overheard the conversation between the squad leader and Connie and realized that Connie was a very devout person who went to church to pray early every day; the squad leader even knew her.

In addition, because she had a seriously ill younger brother at home, the soldiers didn't make things difficult for her and left quickly. After the soldiers had gone far away, Du Lei and the others stayed for another ten minutes or so to make sure it was safe before they crawled out of the basement.

"I was about to burst from holding it in! Hey, who farted? It smelled so bad it made me dizzy," Leopard Tail complained after crawling out of the narrow basement. Lark and Bee Sting were in the attic, while the three men were crammed into the basement, which was already quite cramped.

In addition, the man with the long arms was quite tall, making him extremely uncomfortable, especially since the air was not circulating. He almost suffocated after more than ten minutes.

"Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh." The ape-like arm kept waving its hands, indicating that it was not its doing.

"What time is it? Are you still concerned about these details? There are just too many of us here. If we all crowd together, it will attract too much attention and cause trouble. How about this, Bailing, you stay here to take care of Miss Wenli, and the rest of us will go out." Du Lei glossed over the matter.

At this moment, Bailing and Fengshi came down from the attic. Bailing had just filled a basin with water when Du Lei immediately called her to stop.

"We're going out? Where are we going?" Leopard Tail didn't quite understand what Du Lei meant.

"Of course I'm going out to find Uncle Zha Hu Che. Hey, you've been acting really strange in Nightmare Mountain and Spring Breeze Town. If Uncle Hu Che hadn't insisted on taking you with him, you would have died countless times already. You don't mean you're thinking of abandoning Uncle Hu Che at a time like this, do you?" Du Lei glared at Leopard Tail.

"What do you take me for? Of course I won't ignore you. I understand. We'll go find Boss Hu Che now. But is it really okay to leave Bai Ling alone?" Leopard Tail was worried. He was really concerned about Wen Li.

"No problem, I will protect Miss Wenli, so you can rest assured." Bailing nodded, agreeing to the matter.

"In that case, let's split up. Whether we find Uncle Kotetsu or not, we must return here before dawn. Once Miss Winry wakes up, we'll leave. We can't cause them any trouble," Du Lei solemnly instructed.

“I know this without you telling me. Let’s go.” Leopard Tail nodded and, taking advantage of the darkness and the absence of others, quickly slipped away.

"Hey, um..." Just as Du Lei turned to leave the house, someone called out to him.

"Konnie? Is something wrong?" Dure turned around and looked at her, puzzled.

"Please be very careful!" Connie said earnestly.

"Understood." Du Lei turned and left, quickly disappearing from sight.

Meanwhile, at the small building to the right of the church, the fire had completely burned down, and the flames gradually subsided. At this time, a large number of religious soldiers gathered nearby. Such a solemn occasion only occurred when Bishop Zephat was present.

"What did you say? Everyone ran away?" Bishop Zefa clenched his fists, clearly very angry.

"Yes, yes, we didn't find their bodies, we only found the bodies of our own people." Rafa remained silent, trembling with fear. He had been in charge of this whole affair from beginning to end, and now that such a huge blunder had occurred, there was no doubt that he should take responsibility.

He had already made several major blunders before this, but he firmly believed that as long as he handled this last matter well, everything would be fine. But now that he had messed up even this matter, his future was truly bleak.

“Captain Rafa, I hope you understand one thing: this matter is of utmost importance to our Order of Light. If we succeed in this, the Order’s development will be very promising, and your future will be limitless. But if we fail to do it well…” Bishop Zefa’s face was extremely gloomy.

He originally intended to use this incident as a stepping stone to get in touch with the nobles of the Mountain Kingdom. Once he gained their support, the development of the Light Order would surely be smooth. He could already vaguely see that bright future!

But if things go wrong and the nobles of Frost City aren't burned to death, then the Mountain Kingdom will definitely cover up the whole thing, and their Order of Light will bear the blame for murder. He could also imagine how the nobles of the Mountain Kingdom would treat them.

"Understood, understood. I have already sent men to search the area around Harrenburg. They can't have gone far, Your Grace. Please rest assured, I will bring them to you!" Rafa was terrified. He knew that he had risen to his current position entirely thanks to Zefa's support.

Once Zephyr abandons him, he's less than a stray dog.

"What's the situation in the dungeon? How is it going?" Bishop Zepha's face was grim, but he remained calm. He knew that too much had happened tonight, and none of it could be taken lightly. Moreover, he sensed something unusual about it.

“Except for a few who escaped, most of them were recaptured. Due to their fierce resistance, there were some casualties…” Rafa carefully chose his words, afraid of saying the wrong thing and angering Bishop Zefa.

"I don't want most of them, I want all of them, all of them, do you understand? We must not let them have any illusions. Anyone who opposes the great God must be punished in the most severe way!" Bishop Zefa raised his voice and shouted.

"Understood, I'll immediately send more men to capture all those escaped prisoners!" Rafa responded loudly.

"And what about Kotetsu? Have you found him yet?" Bishop Zefa paused, then continued to ask.

"Well... we're still searching, but I think we'll have results soon. By the way, Your Excellency, what should we do with Kotetsu?" Rafa asked cautiously. He couldn't be careless about Kotetsu's matter, because he knew that Zefa and Kotetsu were close friends many years ago.

"How should we deal with him? He has betrayed the Order twice in a row, and you're asking me how to deal with him?" Bishop Zepha's face grew increasingly gloomy.

"Of course, kill them all!"