Witch Troupe and the Undead

While delivering milk, they also took the opportunity to deliver retribution to some of the sins hidden in the capital.

"Milk delivery!" *Bang!* The door was kicked open, and inside, a priest dressed only in his underwear stared blankly at the milkman who had broken into his house. "Who are you?"

"Dark Night Inquisitor, you don't need to know my name~" the man in the milkman's uniform said seriously, while the priest was even more confused, "Dark Night Inquisitor, what organization? I don't remember the church having such a department."

"Because it's outsourced~" The man dressed as a milkman carefully placed the milk carton behind the door to avoid it breaking in a fight. He hadn't noticed last time, and as a result, he had a large sum of money deducted from his wages, which really hurt. "Answering questions is useless, take this punch!!!"

Chapter 245 The Moon Goddess's Quest for KPIs

In the North District, the Dark Sanctuary had expanded slightly from its initial size. They had rented several nearby houses and converted the basements into a larger underground area. "Why did you bring back the church members as well?" The Guardian Elder looked at the priest writhing on the ground with his mouth gagged, somewhat exasperated.

"I could practically see the blasphemous and sinful aura emanating from him, so I just grabbed him. What if he's some kind of sinful sorcerer hiding in the church? We've had those before," the hunter said, scratching his head.

"Speaking of which, I suspect that sinful sorcerers have infiltrated the Holy Lord's church. The aura of sinful magic emanating from them is incredibly strong. They might be secretly researching sinful magic, otherwise they wouldn't be so... well, utterly wicked."

Every church has an internal censorship and discipline department, but these departments are only responsible for heresy (true heresy), false faith, and breaking of precepts. They are not responsible for blasphemy in the true sense or some sins in the secular sense.

This part is either handled by secular organizations or by the Night Inquisitors, usually the latter. They don't concern themselves with matters of doctrine and precepts in the general sense, such as eating meat on fasting days, having illegitimate children, raising the price of holy water, or various tedious precepts of other sects and petty crimes. In fact, they don't care about these things, nor can they manage them.

However, the premise is that you don't actually create the impression of a major sin. Raising the price of holy water is fine, but selling river water as holy water is a problem. Such fraudulent behavior is basically no different from blasphemy.

Well, the dividing line for blasphemy in this world lies in whether you do it in the name of God. Doing it in the name of an individual or a church is generally not considered blasphemy (of course, it is considered a different sin).

"What did you do? Why do you have more blasphemous sins on you than that professional blasphemous sorcerer next to you?" The sinful mage, also trapped on the floor, looked at the priest next to him with awe, his face practically screaming, "Holy crap, buddy, how did you get in here?!"

“You evil heretics, damned devils, I curse you! The Lord will punish you and burn you and this evil place to ashes…” The priest began to curse loudly as soon as he removed the fur ball that had been stuffing into the mouth.

"Stop wailing. When you come here, your Lord will not shed a single tear for you, if He has tears at all; besides, it's not just you, other gods have also given permission. We're professionals when it comes to dealing with blasphemers."

After all, many churches outsourced this work to them in the past. The only difference is that in other denominations, the Night Inquisitors only arrest people and do not judge them. The normal procedure is to hand it over to the church of the God of Justice and Judgment or to the internal judgment body of the church.

The only two cases handled by the Church of the Dark Night were the Earth Goddess and the Holy Lord of Light. The former lacked sufficient organization, and of course, given the poverty of the Earth Goddess Church, it could not afford to support a large number of law enforcement and censorship personnel.

Moreover, to be fair, according to the doctrines of the Earth Church, for someone to go to such lengths as blasphemy, the entire scorched earth would be a basic operation, and they would probably be killed by the exposed farmers and local nobles without even needing the Dark Night Church to deal with it.

"It seems you've altered your scriptures? Added a whole bunch of things? I thought I was seeing things the other day. Your judge even had the smell of blasphemy about him. Luckily, it was only a little bit, probably unintentional. Or maybe you've altered the scriptures so much that he doesn't even know what he's done."

The Keeper of Secrets was very gentle, but this gentleness made the priest feel even more uneasy; it was a gentleness and tolerance in the form of a dying prayer.

"According to the original sacred agreement and the rules set by the gods, your judges and courts can only judge cultists, those possessed by evil spirits, those who worship demons, and those who break their oaths... You shouldn't have the authority to judge mortal crimes, right?"

After all, the Church of the Holy Lord of Light was one of the main forces undertaking the expansion. Naturally, this function was closer to that of a military court. Cultists were equivalent to spies, those possessed by evil spirits were equivalent to being bribed, and those who worshipped demons and those who betrayed their faith were traitors. These were the people they were responsible for arresting. The Church of the Dark Night and other churches did not care about this matter—of course, they could not, because the ability to distinguish these people belonged to the Holy Lord's authority.

The Church of the Night can only capture those who exude an aura of sin. However, the worship of demons, possession by evil spirits, cult membership, and breaking oaths are not considered sins, or rather, not major sins. In the words of the hunters, a proper demon warlock, as long as he doesn't engage in any major acts of slaughter or sacrifice, is less sinful than these sinful mages they have captured.

As for breaking a promise or breaking an oath, it doesn't even belong to the concept of "sin," otherwise it would really be that all mortals are sinful, since everyone has a time when they regret their word or break their oath!

Similarly, possession by evil spirits is completely undetectable because it is manipulated, and the sin lies with the evil spirit that manipulates the person; just like cultists and demon sorcerers, as long as they don't do anything ruthless like slaughter or sacrifice, it's hard to say whether they or the nobles in the town should be hanged.

Therefore, the above can only be investigated and arrested by the Holy Lord's people, and then purified one by one with holy fire and holy light. Other churches that arrest these types of people are basically handed over to the Holy Lord's people for processing. As for whether it is still like this now, well, looking at the red-to-black priests all over the streets, every Dark Night Judge thinks that they probably don't have this kind of work anymore.

"The Church of the God of Justice and Judgment doesn't seem to be popular in the Empire. The Church of the Earth Goddess is usually sealed away and left for you or the God of Death to deal with. The Death Cult... well, they don't seem to be very popular. The God of Nature and Balance is from the Elven side, and they have their own situation... So, who's in charge of this matter right now?"

The Elder Keeper of Secrets looked at this priest who was theoretically the Holy Lord, but was a blasphemous sinner with his body covered in dark red. His eyes, which were as holy as ever, already told him the answer.

"I have nothing more to ask. It seems the facts are clear. They probably revised the scriptures, removing some taboos and commandments they deemed insignificant, and also modified some definitions, leaving the current priests and pastors unsure of the consequences. Of course, there's another possibility..."

They couldn't memorize the scriptures at all, and didn't even know what was written in them. In other churches, especially the Church of the Night God, it was practically impossible to obtain divine gifts or improve one's status. However, the priests of the Church of the Holy Lord and the Earth Goddess were two exceptions. Back then, it was enough for them to remember the first three pages of exorcism incantations and basic sacred rituals. The rest could be dealt with after they had established themselves.

The priests of that time, clad in heavy armor, wielding warhammers and torches, were more adept at chanting exorcism incantations than preaching or engaging in empty rhetoric. They would then charge forward in the name of holy light or fire to smash the heads of demons and evil spirits. Expecting them to memorize thick scriptures was rather unrealistic, and those refined priests probably wouldn't have much of a market in the newly developed border territories.

The purpose of supporting you to devote yourselves to cultivation is to expect that when demons attack, you can deploy a barrier of holy light or rush out to kill every monster and evil creature that breeds in the wilderness.

"Alright, let's deal with this troublesome guy first, and then we can handle these major sin mages. By the way, what's the result of your investigation into the Spirit Response Church?"

"Ah, we've basically figured it out. This church has many followers in the factory area, but they're all superficial and general believers. They don't really have any sinful aura; they're probably just attracted by the good things like making wishes. Once we deal with that sealing object, the rest of them will dissipate on their own." The judges didn't target the real cult, because if they scared away the evil entity behind them, it would be even worse.

"Elder, it's ready." A black and red greatsword was taken out of a long wooden box. The priest lit incense and essential oils, and the air was filled with the smell of iron and fire. "Do you recognize it? It seems not. To be honest, people from your sect used to be so scared when they saw this sword that they would wet themselves!" It represents true divine judgment, and the result is basically impossible to overturn.

"A night of prayer and fire..." A holy golden flame ignited on the blade, with specks of silver light swirling around it. "May the veil descend to comfort the innocent and suffering; may the sacred fire burn forever..."

"Burn away your sins!" The greatsword pinned the priest to the ground. There was no blood, not even a burning of his flesh, but visible silver-gray soul threads wrapped around the sword and merged into the golden flames. "Death is not the end, atonement is."

"How long do you think it will take for him to dissipate?" The power of the Goddess of Night bound the soul, while the flames of the Holy Lord scorched it.

"Given the intensity of his sins, let's be optimistic and say twenty years."

"I think he'd rather be hanged."

"That's what they thought at first too~ Oh, that's really terrifying~"

"Don't worry~" The Dark Judges gave the sinful mage on the ground, who had wet himself in fear, a forgiving smile. "This is a torture device specifically designed for blasphemy, especially by the Holy Lord Church. You won't need this. For you... we usually use our own."

“Great Sin Magic, you too…” The mage looked in horror at the familiar magical light shining between the judge’s fingers. “Yes, Great Sin Magic. Every Dark Night Judge is a potential Great Sin Mage, or is already a Great Sin Mage. We do not shy away from Great Sin Magic and the Secret Realm of Sin.”

Those who study criminology and those who actually commit crimes are two different things. Proper Sin Mages and Night Inquisitors are equivalent to those who study criminology and law. They know the boundaries of every major sin, the characteristics of every crime, and know how to control and manipulate this magic. However, they will not cross the most crucial line—even in this idealistic world, simply thinking about it in one's mind is not a sin.

Or, to put it another way, serious sin sorcerers might be even more detestable in some ways. They are experts at how to be a complete "scumbag" while "obeying the law." Of course, knowing is one thing, doing is another. As long as they don't cause any substantial consequences or actions, they can safely absorb magic without being corrupted.

However, the magic power absorbed in this way, whether in quantity or quality, is not as good as that truly devoted to sin. Similarly, many great sin occultists cannot exert their full power when using this kind of magic or method. This is also why most great sin occultists go astray after losing the protection of the church's judges and the goddess of night.

"So, we have our own way of dealing with you." The magical glow enveloped him, and the previously tamed sin magic went out of control. The occultist's own magic power was basically insufficient to cast any spells; it could only act as a fuse to activate the entire occult ritual, thereby mobilizing the magic power of the environment. The incantations and gestures were merely the triggers in this process.

However, the magic that was only enough as a trigger went completely out of control. In his perception, the chaotic magic, composed of mortal sins, was abnormally converging towards him. In the past, he needed to resonate with it through his own sins to draw upon this vast, ethereal magic, but now...

Illusory thorns pierced his skin, crimson flames burned his flesh, and countless cracks spread deep within his bones with unbearable pain, all the sins he had committed were absorbing his magic.

"What...what did you do...?"

"It's just punishment... The spells of the Great Sin Secret Domain are divided into two parts: indictment and punishment. You've only learned the first one, and you've learned it wrong. Indictment is for you to judge whether others have sins, to analyze them through the Sin Perspective, and then to purify them through punishment and obtain the corresponding Great Sin magic. At the same time, it's also to help you better understand the boundaries of sin and the characteristics of these empty concepts of magic from the mortal mind and cognition."

The elder didn't mind chatting a bit more with this sinful sorcerer who was being tortured; in a sense, this was also part of the punishment.

"Inducing others to commit crimes and committing crimes yourself will resonate with a great deal of sinful magic in the process. However, it will also allow the seawater that belongs to the mortal mind and cognition to permeate your body and mind. This is the reason why your bodies are mutated and your appearance is distorted."

Anyone with a basic conscience would not think that what they did was a good thing. These bad things are naturally considered ugly in the minds of mortals. And when they are corrupted by this kind of conceptual magic, they will naturally be distorted by the magic, just like demons or other demonized objects, and become the kind of ugly state that conforms to the perception of mortals.

“Every great sin mage needs to build a dam of reason to avoid actually stepping into this filth, but you have chosen to immerse yourselves in it. This filth has already permeated your minds and bodies. Now, we will evaporate this filth, taking away your sins, while also allowing the distortions caused by this filth to manifest at an extremely rapid speed, bringing you endless… pain.”

This is why the Church of the Dark Night still has the duties of penance and secrecy. Of course you can go to confess, and the other party will definitely keep it a secret. However, whether you can live to see the end of the confession is another matter. During the confession, the person in charge of keeping secrets will light the "fire of sin" in the confessional.

Minor offenses might at most result in a serious illness or physical and mental torment upon returning home, but serious crimes...

This is what the sorcerer looks like. He has been completely distorted beyond recognition, like a mixture of flesh, wood, metal and crystal. His facial features have almost all melted into his face, leaving only a black, gaping mouth that is trying its best to grow larger, emitting a silent scream. These human-shaped candle-like things used to be placed at the entrance of churches.

The good news is that the Keepers of the Secrets will not write the person's name or the crimes they committed on the pedestal. The bad news is that every year, new students from the academy and church are brought here to see this spectacle, and are warned that they should not be tempted by power in the future, or they themselves may become like this kind of flesh that only lives and emits silent groans of pain.

"What should we do with this piece of meat?" Before, we could just take it out on a cart and leave it at the church entrance, but that probably won't work now. Given the Church's current eccentric state, it would be ridiculous if they ended up saying, "Oh no, I've become a cult!"

"Should we leave it here, or teleport it to the Dark Realm?"

"The goddess told us not to throw anything towards her; I heard it's overflowing and they're still dealing with it."

"Completely packed? Who is it? So intense!?"

"Moon Goddess"

"In the name of moonlight, to purify evil. When I delivered milk to them before, I also picked up a leaflet." The Moon Mother Holy Land is currently a major client of the judges. Their orphanages and treatment centers, which are equivalent to maternity hospitals, require a large amount of milk to feed abandoned infants and orphans.

To be honest, compared to the Holy Lord Church, which has degenerated to the point of almost being inhuman, it still does some humane things. At least some of the funds raised by the church have indeed turned into milk and bread to feed orphans and abandoned babies—of course, it would be impolite to ask exactly how much of it turned into milk.

Embezzled funds and materials are issues that religious sects and secular governments should handle. In the case of the Dark Night Church, it's similar to the price increase of holy water; they don't care about "prices," and similarly, God doesn't care about this issue either.

If you help an orphan, that is a blessing. How much worldly wealth you spent has absolutely no bearing on receiving this blessing. God's judgment on the merits of this matter differs from that of worldly law.

Of course, if the priests of the Moon Mother Holy Land sell these children as slaves, or engage in any horrible acts such as forced birth or mutilation, then either the Dark Judge will come knocking, or God will punish them severely—it's a choice between the two.

"..."

"...It's completely packed! They really went to purify evil?!"

"Then why not place it in Moonglade, but in the Shadowlands?"

"Moonwood is full of the elderly, women, and children. Are you sure you want to fortify Moonwood?"

"Oh, then putting them in the Dark Realm makes sense." It's full of vicious and ruthless people; ordinary criminals aren't even qualified to go in. Throwing in petty criminals is a punishment that's a bit too harsh.

The souls of mortals after death mostly dissipate on the spot, with a very small number transforming into evil spirits or undead due to environmental factors, while the souls of the recipients will exist for a period of time.

If there is a corresponding ritual, the soul can be sent to the divine realm. However, the capacity of the divine realm is limited. In addition, in order to balance life and death in the world, the God of Death does not allow gods to arbitrarily take souls into his divine realm. Only those who meet the conditions can enter.

The souls of saints and those punished by God are destined to enter the Kingdom of God—the former to retire and enjoy bliss, and the latter to continue serving their sentence in prison. Only Moonglade and the Shadowlands allow living beings and souls to enter directly.

The former shelters the incomplete souls of aborted infants, women who died in childbirth, and souls born with deformities. After being purified and corrected in the Moonlight Grove, they are re-integrated with divine power into healthy souls and then placed into newborns. It is absolutely true that the majority of the inhabitants are the elderly, weak, women, and children.

The Shadowlands... are a massive prison. Whether you go in alive or dead, you're sent to jail. Once you've served your time, you're released as fragments of your soul. And yet, this supernatural divine prison is so vast...

How many KPIs did Moon Goddess achieve?

Chapter 246 Now the blood really is flowing like a river.

The flames of the religious trial spiraled out of control. At first, only the pioneering villages and the outlying villages were attacked, but as the nobles realized that this was a legitimate opportunity to plunder wealth, everything completely spiraled out of control.

The royal domains managed to maintain a semblance of stability, but even around the capital, towering stakes and blazing sacred fires could be seen.

Large numbers of free people were turned into serfs, and vast amounts of land were once again concentrated in the hands of nobles and the church. Like an out-of-control wildfire, the lands of the Duke of Frost were affected.

Only in the North and South, where the Holy City Church was less powerful, were they spared the effects of this escalating religious trial.

The northern border of the Empire is primarily inhabited by the God of War, whose followers are mostly knights and warriors. They obviously wouldn't want to take advantage of their own land and wealth, let alone let the priests have a share.

As for the Southern Reach, not only is it the stronghold of the Redemptionists, but the people of the Southern Reach live among dense forests and swamps. It's hard to say whether those sent here to preach are truly devout, but they are all people who have been ostracized by the Holy City.

This wildfire eventually spread even to the nobility, whose greedy appetites grew ever larger. A major schism that would engulf the empire was imminent. The nobles and the remaining powerful lords would soon tear the entire empire apart in the name of religious faith and at the call of the church through religious war.

Just like the city-states in the Northern Continent that were torn apart by their beliefs, the shared consciousness built up during the Imperial Unification Wars was also showing signs of crumbling under the impact of the split in faith.

"In the name of the goddess!" A small, pale fist rose from below, enveloped in a silvery-gray halo, sending a boy at least two heads taller than herself flying upwards. A spinning kick followed, followed by a slap to the face of another girl. Lulua, holding one unconscious boy in each hand, declared, "No arguing allowed~"

"..." The restaurant fell silent, the conversation about faith that had just taken place among the students abruptly ending. The students each had their own beliefs; the commoner students were more supportive of the salvationists, while many of the noble students felt that the Holy City Church had indeed overstepped its bounds. However, some who had grown up in the same religious environment could not accept this view.

The struggle of faith has spread to the academy. For Roach, this doesn't affect him. This kind of thing has happened countless times on Earth. It is human nature to form cliques and exclude those who are different. People who are united by the same culture, legends, precepts and way of life are instinctively xenophobic. This is not even subject to the will of God.

However, Livia disliked this kind of thing very much, or perhaps she simply didn't have any faith. The little witch didn't think gods were anything special, after all, she had seen goddesses descend in a proper manner, and she didn't like people arguing about this kind of thing.

Fortunately, no one dares to question the witch's beliefs now, nor does anyone dare to ask her which side she's on. Of course, this question might be meaningless anyway—if the little witch were to say, "I believe in the god of knowledge and wisdom," it would kill the game.

"Ms. Elena, are you saying we won't interfere at all?"

“Every student is just a passerby in the academy. The academy will not interfere with their beliefs, whether they believe in God or something else.” Elena looked at the gradually calming chaos in the restaurant. “I will not break the academy’s rules for the sake of a few students, but at the same time, they should not think that they can make the academy make an exception for them.”

"The academy does not interfere with anyone's beliefs. In fact, there are quite a few seminary students studying here. However, they should not interfere with anyone's beliefs either. Professor Mar, pass on the word that religious debates and related activities within the academy are limited to the chapel area and garden area in the west wing. Such activities are not allowed in the teaching area and living area."

"And what about those who violate the rules?"

"Depending on the circumstances, imprisonment, whipping, or expulsion. Also, please send a message to the cathedral: I don't care about their disputes with the Horse-Headed Lord, nor do I care about their doctrines and internal problems. I don't care how many innocent people they burn outside, but if they dare to send pastors into the college to contact students and spread those extreme ideas again, then the cathedral will have to prepare for reconstruction."

As long as the divine incarnation technique (temporarily borrowing divine power, not a physical descent) is not used and no saints appear, then it is unlikely that a small number of high-ranking clergy and archbishops could kill all of the "Hundred Faces" witches who specialize in fighting. However, turning the cathedral into ruins in front of them would be perfectly feasible.

"Similarly, in the name of the academy, send letters to the parents of these students and those nobles, warning them that I don't care what they do outside or what their intentions are, but if they dare to lay a hand on me, they should be prepared to bear the consequences. There are two witches in the academy now!" Elena's smile had completely disappeared, leaving only indifference.

Meanwhile, inside the Giant Rock Palace, the Emperor also realized that the situation was starting to get out of control. Initially, in order to weaken the authority of the Church, he deliberately indulged the infighting between the sects. After all, this was a split within the Church of the Holy Lord of Light, which was a good thing for him.

It could even be said that the church is trying to purify itself of its devout followers. Perhaps to ordinary people, the pastors of the Redemption faction are on the side of justice, while the extravagant and decadent Holy City faction is the villain.

However, in the eyes of the ruler, the former was a big problem. Therefore, he prevented the two factions from reaching a consensus and activated the mental array, inducing a riot in the capital. This further created a negative impression of the Redemptionists among some people who were not present at the scene. This impression was the foundation for the Church to launch a large-scale heresy trial later.

For rulers, their own authority is paramount, followed by the stability of the imperial order. Clearly, the Holy Lord of the Redemptionist sect is detrimental to this order. He can tolerate a group of clergy who are greedy and tyrannical, but he cannot tolerate the emergence of a group of truly steadfast believers, especially a believer like the Holy Lord.

This meant that the priests gained greater authority and influence than the imperial institutions and bureaucracy. The Horse-Headed Lord could rally a large number of commoners to rebel against the rule of the Church, and also to rebel against the rule of the Emperor.

To put it bluntly, in an imperial country, it is a great sin for a force that is not part of the official imperial institutions to be "more popular with the people." He is not afraid of the clergy's extravagance or their depravity and blasphemy, because the more they are like this, the more impure their faith is, the more easily they can be bought off, threatened, or even alienated from the people, which only benefits the consolidation of imperial power.

Finally, when the people's patience reaches its limit, the reckoning will begin in the name of the imperial family and rulers. The large number of believers, who are both the church's shield and its death warrant, will become the empire's wealth.

The nobles would be torn apart by their differing beliefs, creating a huge rift that would hinder their ability to unite against the imperial power.

However, this de facto religious war within the empire is completely unbearable for an empire already engaged in another civil war. It must intervene immediately to prevent this wildfire from escalating. However…

"It's completely out of control, Your Majesty. Even villages around the capital have been burned down, and train services and various businesses have declined by almost half compared to last month." The merchants have also been entangled with nobles and priests. The Church is eager to restore the tithe, and it makes no difference whether it's called a "heresy tax" or a "deposit."

The only relatively stable sector was railway transportation. Freya's merchant alliance and the Royal Railway Company were not interfered with by the church, and the nobles in various regions obviously had no way to stop the speeding trains. Moreover, most of the nobles with railway lines passing through them were relatively enlightened and not much affected by this kind of religious shock.

"Moreover, several noble families are even preparing their armies and horses, and under the pretext of suppressing heretics, they have begun small-scale armed conflicts..." The emperor is happy to see infighting among nobles, provided that it does not turn into a real split and civil war.

"Is it really because of heresy?"

"No, according to the Military Intelligence Bureau's report, Count Arno only went to church once in three years, and that was to seduce the nuns..." Do you think someone like that would believe in the Horse-Headed Saint? Do you think someone like that would start a war for "faith"?

"And Count Elka, who declared him a heretic..."

"what happened?"

“He really is a heretic…” The emperor fell silent. “What are the specifics?”