They recognized their feelings, but the knight had been reincarnated as a fox cub

The nun lowered her head, holding her other forearm with one hand, letting it hang naturally.

"I don't want to become the enemy of the Grand Knight. I don't want to become a criminal in this country founded by him. I don't want to die an unclean death..." The nun's voice became smaller and smaller, and more and more suppressed.

This was the first time Fate saw Rowling cry. This nun had always been strong no matter what happened.

These pressures and pains have been accumulating in her heart for too long.

"I don't know. I'm not sure whether the Grand Knight Commander heard my request or not... I just don't want to leave this church and don't want to be too far away from the Grand Knight Commander."

Rowling released her long-suppressed emotions, and a silk scarf was handed to her.

A hand gently patted her shoulder. When she looked up, she saw the faceless man in the iron helmet.

For some reason, Fate's figure gradually overlapped with that of the Grand Knight who had rescued her from the ruined fire many years ago.

"I think he must have heard it." Fate glanced at the statue of the Knight Commander of Dawn and handed the scarf to Rowling.

Rowling didn't even think about where the scarf came from on Fate, a grown man. She took it and wiped away her tears.

After Rowling's emotions had stabilized a little, Fate began to ask her if she had encountered anything unusual recently.

After all, things have happened and need to be resolved without hesitation.

"Anything unusual?...No, I've been staying in the city recently and hardly left the city, let alone encountering anyone who might be a cultist." Rowling wiped her tears and began to recall with red eyes. Now she completely regarded Fate as her backbone, exposing her own weakness.

"Oh, if I have to say something weird, there are some. I've been having nightmares lately, the same nightmare every day, and the physical abnormalities also started from that time."

"Can you tell me what kind of nightmare it is?" Fate frowned slightly, and he felt that he seemed to have grasped the key point.

Chapter 83: 81~You're on your own

Sitting on the church bench, Fate fell into deep thought, repeatedly pondering the scene described by Rowling.

According to her description, she had the same nightmare every night before the mutation. She dreamed that a demonized monster was chasing her. After catching up with her, it would pin her to the ground and force drugs into her mouth, while yelling that she should obtain "eternal life" and become the same kind as itself.

This bizarre and creepy dream happens every night. In addition to the depression caused by her own strangeness that no one can tell her about, Rowling is probably also suffering from severe neurasthenia.

But, without any chance of contact with pathogens, how can one get sick just by dreaming? ?

This is obviously impossible.

.........No, it's not completely impossible, it's just that those cultists don't have such great ability and such great help.

If they really had such great capabilities, they would not have collapsed at the first blow when I led the army to suppress them.

Fate asked Rowling some other things, such as what she had come into contact with before she had this symptom, something similar to the source of infection.

But no matter how hard Rowling tried to recall, she couldn't imagine what unusual source of infection she had come into contact with.

This made Fate a little troubled. The Inquisition could investigate the common points of these demonized people, such as what they had been exposed to before the mutation and what abnormal symptoms they had experienced, but Fate was not a public official now and had no authority to ask the Inquisition to report to him.

However, there should be some clues within the Inquisition. They have been investigating for such a long time, and even the Imperial Knights have been asked to come down to investigate. It is impossible that there is no progress at all, right?

In terms of touch, the demonized skin is pure keratin and very hard, but there are also some soft parts belonging to living things on it. The five nails will become sharp claws, which are incredibly sharp and are simply tailor-made for killing.

Seeing Fate holding her paw and looking at it carefully, Rowling felt embarrassed for no reason, as if some private part of her was exposed to someone else's sight, making her extremely ashamed and subconsciously wanting to pull it back.

"Huh?" Fate tilted his head when he noticed Rowling's intention and the other party's move of looking away, expressing confusion, not understanding how he had offended her.

"Mr. Fate, you've been looking at it for too long. You're looking at such a disgusting thing so seriously?" Rowling couldn't help but ask, and then she felt a little disappointed. "These hands look scary, don't they?"

"It's not your fault." Fate said without hesitation. "You are the one who is sick and the victim. The one who should be punished is the one who started the plague, not you victims."

Listening to Fate's words, Rowling's restless heart calmed down unconsciously.

Now that she has someone to talk to and who can accept her, Rowling's mood is no longer as bad as before.

Rowling went back to the inner room to calm down, while Fate took on the task of guiding the believers.

He is not a professional, but these are extraordinary times and very few people come to church. Everyone is hiding in their homes, fearing that they will be the next unlucky person.

Fate didn't need to receive anyone. Apart from a few people praying, there were no other outsiders in the church.

But today we have a rather special guest.

"I'm sorry, our church is about to close. If you want to pay your respects, please come back tomorrow... Who are you?" Fate felt that the handsome young man in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't tell where he had seen him.

"We just met this morning, Sir Guard." The black-haired man had a calm expression.

"Oh." After being reminded by the other party, Fate remembered that the other party seemed to be the deputy of Deputy Captain Kanit. He was present this morning and the last time he came to the church.

Fate looked at the young knight's appearance. He couldn't be said to be very handsome or strong, but he was very heroic, with a rather upright face.

"Are you the deputy of Lord Kanit?"

"Yes." The deputy knight nodded. He did not show any more respect to Fate, nor did he think there was anything wrong with Fate's indifferent attitude towards him.

“Is your church closing?”

"About ten minutes." Fate glanced at the large clock hanging next to the church's colored glass. "After that, we have to clean up the church and prepare to leave."

"Don't worry, I won't delay you." The deputy walked forward, came to the statue, clasped his hands together, and looked pious.

After bowing three times respectfully, the deputy turned around and prepared to leave.

"By the way, try not to go out these days. It's very dangerous outside." As if he remembered something that needed to be explained, the deputy stopped and added, looking at Fate.

"Mr. Guard, you were quite skilled this morning. Were you a knight before?"

"Hmm." The other party could actually see that? This shows that the other party is also an experienced knight.

"It's commendable to protect the people, but before that, you should protect yourself." The deputy's words did not contain any provocation, he was just making a friendly reminder. "Don't joke with your life at any time, leave these dangerous things to us registered knights."

"I see. Thank you for your reminder."

"Okay." After explaining what needed to be explained, the deputy prepared to leave.

Looking at the deputy who was about to leave, Fate was thoughtful.

"Mr. Deputy, please stay."

"Hmm?" Hearing Fate calling him, the deputy turned around. "Is there any difficulty?"

"Indeed." Fate thought for a moment and said, "It may be a little unethical to say this, but I don't think you want the people of Batti City to live in fear all day long, right?"

"how?"

"Can you tell me how those people you brought back to this church a few days ago are doing now?"

"Mr. Guard, I am embarrassed by your question." The deputy frowned. "This is an internal matter of the Tribunal. I have no right to inform any non-official personnel."

"But, you should let the public know something, right? If you choose to hide everything, the situation may only get worse."

"Why do you want to know this?"

"I want to know if humans can really turn into monsters. After turning into monsters, will they completely lose their sanity? Are there any examples?"

"Mr. Guard, are there any infected people around you?" Hearing Fate's question, the deputy narrowed his eyes.

"I want to know, can humans really turn into such irrational monsters?" The deputy was extremely perceptive and Fate did not reveal any flaws.

"......According to our observation, yes." The deputy glanced outside the door, confirmed that there was no one else, was silent for a moment, and then spoke.

"Those humans we captured and mutated turned into monsters in just a few days, and their bodies and minds changed as well."

"There is no one infected around you, right? If there is, please notify us immediately. This is not a joke, Mr. Guard. Mutants are very dangerous." The deputy stared at Fate with burning eyes.

"I'm making an exception and telling you this because I hope you won't do something thoughtless."

"If any of your friends or relatives are infected, please let us know...Mr. Fate, you used to be a knight. Don't joke about the lives of the entire town residents for the sake of so-called family and friendship."

"From the moment they mutated, they were no longer the people you knew."

Chapter 84: 82~I want to sleep in the church tonight

"From the moment of the mutation, the relatives and friends you knew were already dead. What remains is just a monster living in their bodies. I hope you understand this."

"Mr. Guard, you don't look like the kind of person who needs me to remind you deliberately."

Fate said nothing.

After explaining all this, the deputy left the church, apparently just to pay tribute to the Knight Commander of Dawn.

Unlike Kanit, this deputy is clearly more like a competent knight.

Fate stared in the direction his deputy had left.

Of course a knight can have personal feelings, but when he puts on armor and acts as a law enforcer, he must be the most ruthlessly fair.

But what about the victims who have never hurt anyone and have no sins to atone for? Do the knights really have the qualifications to judge them?

But if it is allowed to exist, it would be irresponsible towards the lives of other citizens.

But now is not the time to make a dilemma, he still has a chance to stop the progression of the disease.

"What's wrong? Did any believers come here just now?" At this time, Rowling walked out of the inner room and looked towards the church door.

"Well, I'll leave after a short worship." After collecting his thoughts, Fate began to clean up the church. "You should go back first and have a good sleep."

As soon as he said this, Fate fell silent. He knew that what he said was completely unnecessary and Rowling couldn't sleep well at all.

"I will resolve this matter as soon as possible so that you can sleep well."

"......Yeah." Rowling didn't say anything, nodded slightly, and then hesitated. "Do you need my help?"

"No need, I can clean it up by myself."

"I see." Thinking back to what happened today and how she cried in Fate's arms, Rowling couldn't help feeling a little ashamed.

Looking at Fate who was packing up the tables, chairs and benches, Rowling thought that there seemed to be nothing for her to do, so she had to slowly walk towards the church door.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Seeing that Rowling walked hesitantly and looked back every few steps, Fate, who had noticed it a long time ago, put down the work in his hands.

"No, no." Rowling, who was about to say something, quickly shook her head, as if what she was about to say was a little difficult to say. She stood there for a while, then said "see you tomorrow" and ran away in a panic.

What's going on?

Fate was a little confused and continued to do his work.

Today, as usual, I went out for a meal and ordered some iced blueberry wine which had almost no alcohol content. Even children in the local area can drink it as a drink.

Under the oil lamp, Fate stroked his chin and thought. The demons in the back mountain a few days ago were related to the cultists behind the creation of the virus, but they should not be directly related to the disease. The Dream Marrow Stone is neither a plague nor can it carry a virus, so it is impossible to cause infection.

He also provided clues about the demons to the Inquisition, which should be able to create a complete chain of evidence and deduce the cause of the demonization disease. After that, it would be time to arrest the mastermind and develop an antidote.

In other words, when the hand of the mastermind is interrupted, the disease will be cured.

Fate stretched his muscles and planned to go to the barren mountains tomorrow morning to see if there were any new traces of demons.

Just when he finished washing and was about to go to bed, a crisp creaking sound was heard from the church door.

This was the sound of the church door opening. Fate was very familiar with it. After all, he would hear this very obvious sound of the door hinge turning in the haze every morning.

But it was very strange to hear this sound at night.

"Who?" Fate remained calm, his hand already touching the long sword beside him.

"Mr. Fate, it's me." The voice at the door was stunned for a moment when he heard Fate's scolding, and then slowly walked out of the darkness with hesitation on his face.

"Rowling?" Fate let go of the hilt of the sword, a look of surprise on his face. "What's wrong? Has the demonic disease progressed further?"

"No, nothing, it's just..." Rowling hesitated to speak.

"What's wrong?" Fate couldn't understand what Rowling's expression meant at the moment.

"I, I...it's a bit cold at my house tonight, and I don't really want to sleep there." Rowling was silent for a long time before she said this shyly.

"It's cold." Fate thought seriously for a moment. "You can cover yourself with another blanket."

"............" Rowling was left speechless by this sentence. She looked at Fate angrily, her face puffed up like a puffer fish.

"?" Fate didn't understand. What he said was not wrong. If you are cold, you should cover yourself with more quilts. Then you won't be cold anymore. Rowling is not a fox. She doesn't have fox fur to keep warm, so of course she has to cover herself with a quilt.

"Mr. Fate, you must have never had a girlfriend."

"Well, how do you know?"