You don't even want to call me godfather

But the man just made a gesture to keep quiet. The halo above his head flickered, as if symbolizing that his life was coming to an end.

"Take... Raphael... cough - away..."

He spoke intermittently with his remaining consciousness.

"master……"

The old butler was speechless for a moment, but in just a moment, he immediately took Raphael from the man's arms, picked her up, and ran to the other side of the corridor.

Young Raphael obviously didn't understand what was happening. There was still traces of her father's blood on her face. She just stared blankly, watching her father's body getting farther and farther away from her.

"Damn it, where are all the servants!"

When he ran to a secluded corner, the old butler stopped and punched the wall to vent his anger.

When he wanted to look up, a hand suddenly covered his mouth.

"Shh, it's me."

He was about to resist, but the whisper in his ear from behind instantly reassured him.

She is the head maid of the Liberian tribe in their house.

"I heard gunshots, so I went out with other servants to check," the head maid and the old butler hid in this dark corner. She explained, "I didn't expect the mansion to be attacked by criminals."

"What about the others? Are they safe now?"

asked the old housekeeper.

But the head maid shook her head and did not answer. She said softly, "There are still many outsiders in the castle. We don't know how many people are hiding here."

"..."

The old butler was silent for a moment. After a moment, he said to the head maid, "At least you are still alive. We still don't know why these criminals came here. Maybe if you hold on until dawn, you will have a chance of survival."

The huge castle has many places to hide people, not just criminals.

The head maid and the old butler moved between the corridors and rooms, avoiding the search and pursuit of the criminals.

Finally, they came to the master's study.

Gently closing the door, the head maid moved a few books on the bookshelf against the wall. After a slight shake, the bookshelf opened to both sides, revealing a small dark room at the back.

"If we hide here, we should be able to hold out until dawn."

"Well, that's nothing now—"

The old butler was about to say something when the heavy footsteps outside the door disturbed their thoughts.

"Quick, take the young lady and hide inside, and don't come out."

After thinking quickly, the old butler stuffed Raphael into the arms of the head maid and tried to walk towards the study door.

"Wait, what are you going to do?"

The head maid felt something was wrong, so she quickly grabbed the old housekeeper's arm and questioned him.

"The master has been very kind to me for more than ten years. Now, he has died at the hands of these criminals. Regardless of whether he is dead or alive, I must repay this kindness," the old housekeeper shook off the head maid's hand and said firmly, "Protecting the young lady is the last thing I can do, but I must also avenge the murder of the master."

"Master, he..."

Hearing this, the head maid was stunned.

She seemed to understand the old butler's mood, so she stopped talking and did not try to stop him. Instead, she carried Raphael and walked into the dark room behind the bookshelf.

Seeing that the two had already gone in, the old butler stood at the door, listened to the footsteps outside, and took a deep breath.

"Grandpa the housekeeper?"

At this moment, Raphael suddenly spoke, and her childish voice was like a sharp blade piercing the old butler's heart.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry to you and Miss."

He muttered to himself one last time, then resolutely opened the door and rushed out, just in time to knock down a passing gangster.

He grabbed the gangster and started beating him without saying a word. The other gangsters also discovered him. For a while, there were constant gunshots and flames outside the door, which even the head maid in the study could see.

"elder sister……"

"Be good, Raphael...don't talk now..."

The head maid covered Raphael's eyes and mouth, preventing her from seeing such a bloody scene and making any sound.

Suddenly, she thought of something, and while the gunshots were still ringing outside the door, she went out of the dark room alone.

She stood outside, moving books around and closing the bookshelf.

"elder sister!"

The bookshelf slowly closed, leaving only an imperceptible gap. Raphael anxiously shouted to the head maid through the gap.

But the head maid just smiled bitterly and stroked the bookshelf as if she was stroking her own child.

"I can't, miss, I can't," the head maid stroked the bookshelf. The gunshots outside the door had stopped. She seemed to be talking to Raphael, but more like to herself, "The master has treated me well. I can't turn a blind eye to all this, and I can't put the young lady in danger."

Looking at the closed bookshelf, she withdrew her hand and stood up.

"The servants worked together to kill a gangster and revealed their identities. Remember, miss, they are--"

"Ah-"

The tip of the knife pierced the head maid's chest, interrupting her words. A gangster was standing behind her and stopped her behavior.

"!"

Young Raphael opened her eyes wide, but was powerless. She almost screamed, but when she thought of what the head maid had just said to her, she covered her mouth tightly again.

Blood flowed out of the head maid's mouth. In the last moments of her life, she placed a finger in front of her mouth and made a gesture of silence.

"Thorn-"

The knife that the criminal had stabbed into the head maid's chest suddenly changed direction and pulled it straight up to the bottom.

Blood gushed out and splattered everywhere, and the head maid's body fell forward, facing Raphael.

"Ok?"

The gangster shook the blood off the knife, walked to the bookshelf, and looked at Raphael inside through the gap.

"Boom!"

At this moment, the old butler who should have been dead suddenly rushed in from outside the door, holding a piece of wall debris in his hand. When the gangster turned around and looked at the sound, he swung it hard at his face. The gangster was knocked to the ground. The old butler pressed on him, gasping for breath, and kept beating his face, which was bloody from the wall debris.

The old butler's well-fitting suit had been torn to shreds, and his body was covered with bullet wounds. There was no doubt that he had already died, but he had to get rid of the gangster who discovered Raphael.

The other gangsters arrived late and saw their companion being pinned down and beaten by the old butler. Bullets hit his body, but they could not stop him at all.

The old butler stopped only after the gangster under him was dead. He took a last look in the direction of Raphael, turned around, and continued to deal with the other gangsters.

But he was too tired and his body was still bleeding. The bullets had penetrated most of his flesh and blood. He struggled to get up, but several bullets pierced his shoulder blades and one of them tore his cheek.

He knelt on the ground and lunged forward with the last of his strength, grabbed the two gangsters closest to him, pressed their heads down, and slammed them to the ground.

After that, he didn't move at all and just remained in that position, completely dead.

Raphael, who was behind the bookshelf, bit his lips so hard that they even bled, in order to prevent himself from crying out loud.

Every shot those criminals fired felt like a blow to her heart.

I don't know how long it took, but there was no sound outside. The criminals seemed to have left, and instead, there was a raging flame.

Raphael hid in the dark room, she hugged her knees and leaned in the corner.

Why? Why come to kill them? Why do this to them? They have never committed any crime that deserves this.

Thick smoke from the fire spread throughout the castle, and some of it seeped into the dark room through the gaps in the bookshelves.

With deep doubts, confusion, and a seed planted in his heart, Raphael gradually lost consciousness.

……

After the flames died down, the two Sakotas walked through the castle, which had been burned to the point where only ruins remained.

One of the Sakotas was holding his abdomen, with some blood seeping out from between his fingers.

"Outcast, you should go back first," another Sakota advised her, "This wound won't heal in a short time."

"No, I'm fine, Ouya," Outcast waved his hand and said, "I just want to find out what happened here."

"I told you, that was an order from the cardinal, and the executors from Section 1 of the Operations Department were to massacre the entire city," said Ou Ya, who was still young at the time, while supporting Outcast. "Although I also find it incredible that Lateran would issue such a cruel order, even if one person is guilty, the entire city should not be implicated."

"Ugh—" Outcast suddenly groaned in pain. She complained, "Those executors were really reckless. They didn't even check to see if the person was one of their own before shooting. Although I have been on many missions, I didn't expect that gunshot wounds would be so painful..."

"Talk less, or it will hurt more later," Ou Ya said as if he had experience, "but speaking of which, why did you want to come here?"

"I used my power as a cardinal to learn about the situation in this city. The owner of this house has a daughter, but the child did not appear in the mission descriptions of the living executors," Outcast said as he walked with difficulty. "It happened very suddenly. They must have been very panicked at the time and perhaps they did not have the energy to send the child away."

"So you want to come and see if you can find any trace of that child?" Ou Ya understood. At this time, they happened to pass by the study. Through the wide open door, they saw a figure kneeling on the floor in the study. "Let's go here and take a look."

The two men walked into the study and saw a shocking scene before them: an old butler with bullet holes all over his body, behind him was the bloody body of Sakta, and in front of him were two more bodies of Sakta with damaged heads.

"Even though he was injured like this, he was still able to kill three Section 1 executors..." Looking at the old butler's body, Ou Ya couldn't help but sigh, "If such a character was in the main city of Lateran, he would even have the potential to become a gun cavalry."

"Ouya, look there!" Suddenly, Outcast pointed at the bookshelf that had been eroded by the flames and turned into charcoal, and shouted, "There seems to be space behind it."

Ou Ya heard this, he supported Outcast and walked to the bookshelf, grabbed the brittle wood with both hands, and broke it into pieces.

Outcast couldn't wait and stumbled in.

"It's a child!" She knelt beside Raphael, gently lifted her body up, felt her breath with her hand, and put her ear to her chest to listen to the extremely weak heartbeat, exclaiming, "She's still alive!"

Hearing this, Ou Ya came to her in disbelief, looked at the blonde girl, and said, "It seems you have found it."

"I will definitely save her!"

Outcast quickly laid Raphael flat on the ground, continuously pressing her chest and giving her artificial respiration.

Looking at this fragile girl, Outcast felt a mixture of surprise and anger in his heart.

She had chosen to tolerate what Rutland had done time and again, but what they had done now had completely touched her bottom line.

In fact, she herself could not believe it. As a cardinal, she realized that reality could be so cruel.

Because of her identity, she hasn't done many things to save others, but if she can save the child in front of her...

Maybe, she will believe that this world is not hopeless.

Chapter 36: An Shibai

By the time they finally saw the city of Lateran, it was already dawn.

This is not a very big city, at least as a country, compared with other countries, even Syracuse is many times larger than it.

But it is precisely such a city that has almost become the center of the entire continent and is also the concentrated birthplace of religion. The God worshipped by the Syracusans also came from the Lateran's missionary work.

“哼哧。”

The horse under Koshei snorted. Although there were not many people who used horses as a means of transportation in the desert, it was not so serious that they would be looked down upon.

Rutland prepared a place to tie the horses in advance, not far from the border.

Led by a border manager, several people rode their horses to a place prepared in advance.

Before they could tie up the horses, Raphael had already jumped off the horse impatiently, ran out of this porch-like place, and breathed the Lateran air.

"Be careful, Raphael," Ou Ya tied up the horse and looked at Raphael, who was as excited as if he had returned home. He reminded him with a smile, "Today should be the day with the highest traffic. Be careful of the passers-by entering and leaving Lateran."

"I know, I know, Uncle Ouya." Raphael seemed to have forgotten her previous unhappiness. She regained her cheerful look and ran to Koshe's horse, shouting to Azazel excitedly, "Azaza, hurry up."

But Azazel was looking at Koshei's back at this time. The two consecutive blows made him a little dazed.

"Azazel," Koshei said, reaching back and patting Azazel's arm, "We're here."

"Ah? Um... okay."

Azazel finally came back to his senses. He saw Raphael's worried expression and didn't have time to change his mood.

"Come on, stop looking so sad." Noticing Azazel's immature behavior, Koshei was the first to dismount. He tied the horse to the fence and hinted to Azazel, "You've already returned to your 'home', it's time to be happy."