A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

She loves reading and knows that Betty loves reading too.

She loved how focused Bertley looked when he came in to read.

Moreover, Beatrix is ​​very capable; he can easily remember the contents of books he has read, especially religious books, which he remembers particularly clearly.

Seraya gets extremely excited when discussing books with Beatrix.

"Ah, no, I'm sorry." Seraya realized that she had been too rude just now and quickly apologized, blushing.

"What book do you want to read today?" Seraya asked Betley as she hurriedly walked over to the bookshelf.

“I’d like to find some more unusual books today,” Beatrix said to Serea, scratching his head.

Sometimes, Beatrix really wondered why the person who created this ring had a mindset connected to libraries.

However, it must be said that this was exactly to Beatrix's liking, as he happened to want to understand the whole world.

"A special book?" Serea pulled at the brim of her hat and tilted her head slightly.

What exactly makes a book special?

---

"Father, the children have messed up the books in the church again." Sister Lizbern complained to Father Thun as she opened the door early in the morning.

“In that case, we’ll have to give him a good talking-to,” Father Thun said with a helpless smile.

He was sometimes too nice to those kids, which caused them to become a little mischievous to some extent.

Fortunately, the children listened carefully to what he said.

"Who are these people?" Sister Lizbern noticed the people lying haphazardly in front of the church.

Everyone was lying motionless on the ground, their eyes rolled back.

Although there was no blood, the bruised and swollen face was still quite frightening.

The broom that Father Thun was holding looked particularly suspicious at this moment.

"It's nothing, probably just some drunkards causing trouble." Father Thun patted the guys' backsides with his broom, as if he were treating them like large pieces of trash.

"I wonder who beat them up so badly," the priest, the murderer, sighed innocently.

“Father, do you really not know?” Sister Lizbern looked at Father Thun with suspicion.

“I really don’t know.” Father Thun shrugged and swept the group aside, preventing them from blocking the church’s path.

These guys are all the kind who come to the church at night to cause trouble.

They probably thought this church would be easier to bully.

After all, they were all children, with only a frail nun and a seemingly kind priest. It was hard to imagine that they would be able to resist.

Moreover, it doesn't have the backing of other churches, so it's easy to bully them and collect protection money.

So their fate was to be punched by Father Thun, who got up in the middle of the night.

“Really, there weren’t so many people like this before,” Father Thun murmured, shaking his head.

Although there have been such creatures before, they haven't been particularly frequent.

After being beaten up by Father Thun once, he didn't dare to cause trouble again.

These kinds of hooligans have been increasing in number lately, to the point that Father Thun was speechless.

You should know that after the priest gives a lecture on physics, he will also explain some principles to the other person, which takes a lot of talking.

"Is the security situation getting worse?" Father Thun squinted, staring blankly at his broom.

“Because people’s hearts are starting to fall apart,” Philly whispered in Father Thun’s ear, her arms wrapped around his neck.

The gesture was quite ambiguous, but no one except the priest could see Philly.

Otherwise, Sister Lizbern would definitely have been the first person to manually tear Philly apart.

"A large number of silver species have appeared on both the Eastern and Western continents."

“Many people have died, and many cities have been destroyed. People are afraid, but there’s nothing we can do,” Philly said quietly.

Internal and external troubles are common occurrences.

However, the current internal and external troubles are aimed at the entire Black Iron species.

If not handled properly, even the silver-grade ones won't make a move, while the iron-grade ones will self-destruct.

"Nobody knows if the next place will be the Central Continent."

"Think about it, now only two continents are safe, a 50/50 chance, everyone's going to panic."

“It’s not one-half, it’s one hundred percent,” Father Thun said as he swept away a few thugs.

No one can escape this disaster, not even those who want to become sycophants of the Silver rank.

“Actually, Carrasco has done a very good job as emperor,” Father Thun said.

Carrasco at least prevented a large-scale riot in the capital, and it was quite remarkable that he was able to suppress the fear among the people to a minimum.

These security problems are truly unavoidable.

Sometimes Father Thun felt that Carrasco was doing this on purpose, since excessive repression could also cause extreme backlash.

In any case, the priest's thoughts were just speculation, since he had never studied the art of imperial psychology.

“Father, why are you talking to yourself?” Sister Lizbern asked, puzzled.

"Really? You must be mistaken. I've been cleaning diligently the whole time," the priest said with a smile.

As Father Thun was sweeping the things in front of the door, a deep blue figure came into Sister Lizbern's view.

"Father, someone's coming," Sister Lizbern reminded Father Thun.

"So many people have arrived so early?" Father Thun looked up, somewhat surprised.

Few people come to his church early in the morning; if anyone does, it's usually an adventurer.

Every morning when this guy comes here, he's practically on his last breath.

"Have I disturbed you?" the man wearing sunglasses asked, standing in front of Father Thun.

Behind the man was a stunningly beautiful woman exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

That aura of disdain wasn't just directed at the people around him, but also at the man in sunglasses.

"No, we welcome people to this church."

"Any reason is welcome, as long as you're not here to cause trouble."

"What is your name?" the priest asked politely, setting the broom aside.

“Father Thun, you can call me Betley.” Betley took off his sunglasses and extended his hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Beatley." Father Thun also politely extended his hand and shook hands with the other man.

"I wonder what brings Mr. Betley here?"

"There aren't many things to do in our church; it's usually for listening to troubles and healing the wounded."

Father Thun glanced at Betley and didn't think the man was wearing anything suspicious.

But he instinctively felt that Betty wasn't there to confide in anyone.

"Can listening to troubles heal the wounded?" Betty subconsciously turned his old-fashioned ring.

Father Thun had already noticed the two rings the other person was wearing, one black and one white, one on each hand.

The priest, however, said nothing about it, as if Betley were just an ordinary visitor.

“Then consider me someone who’s venting their troubles.” After thinking for a few seconds, Betley chuckled.

"Trying to confide your troubles to someone? I'd say you're here to cause trouble." Sister Lizbern immediately saw through the other person's insincerity and stared at him for a long time.

"Haha, Sister, please don't mistake me for a bad guy." Beatrix put his hands in his pockets a little embarrassedly.

"You're giving off the aura of a bad guy." Sister Lizbern grabbed the broom that the priest had put down earlier, becoming wary.

"See? Their true nature was exposed in no time," Afrena suddenly said from behind.

Originally not intending to speak, He found that Sister Lizbern's words matched His own, so He added insult to injury.

That's right, this guy is the butcher, the serial killer.

"Regardless, since you've come to confide your troubles, come with me." Father Thun didn't seem to care about the relationship between Beatrix and the nun; he simply invited Beatrix into the small chapel.

“Our church is small, and the counseling room is a bit cramped. I hope you won’t mind.”

In most churches, there are prayer rooms, or what are called atonement rooms.

However, the doctrine of "Gadell the Lamp" does not include prayer and atonement, so the only concept is the "talking room".

“Of course I won’t mind.” Beatrix smiled and obediently followed behind Father Thun.

Suddenly, only Sister Lizbern and Aphrodite remained in front of the church.

The two women were caught in an awkward silence.

"Hello, would you like something to drink?" Sister Lizbern broke the silence first.

“Plain water is fine,” Avrina said somewhat awkwardly.

Looking back now, it seems like a rare occurrence that He was left alone to face the Dark Iron race.

For a moment, He was at a loss as to how to get along with this inferior species.

“Relax a little, our church isn’t some serious place,” Sister Lizbern said softly after Aphrena spoke, assuming Aphrena was nervous.

“I never imagined there were people who worshipped ‘Gadell the Lamp, the Old Man’,” Afrena remarked, noticing the statue in the church.

"Really? I think this faith is pretty good."

Although there is no salvation, nor does it inspire fanaticism, everything is gentle, as reassuring as Father Thun's daily smile.

---

"Alright, let's get down to business, Mr. Beatrix," Father Thun said quietly after closing the door to the room.

“Relax, we are all people who observe the precepts, aren’t we?” Beatrix said with a smile, leaning back in his chair.

“The smell of blood on you is too strong. I can’t relax without you explaining why you’re here,” the priest said slowly.

"Is it that obvious? Looks like I need to wash my coat." Betley sighed.

“You want to tell me something important, something that only those who are in the vows can talk about,” the priest said.

“Yes.” Betley also began to get serious.

In fact, it took him a long time to find Father Thun.

If you simply want to ask a person who observes the precepts for a favor, asking Bray is the easiest way.

But what Betley must find is the "Guardian".

The fates bestowed by each ring are different; this prefix isn't just for showing off.

“The world is going to collapse,” Beatrix said bluntly.

"I know," the priest replied calmly.

"And I might die."

This time, the priest fell silent.

“Don’t you believe me? That makes sense. A person who keeps the vows shouldn’t die so easily.” The priest’s reaction was exactly what Betley had expected.

“But now I have two contradictory rings, so I am no longer a pure ring-bearer.” Beatrix stretched out his hands.

The stark contrast between the black and white rings stunned the priest.

"To put it simply, I've been 'abandoned by Lady Luck' right now." Beatrix said this with remarkable calm.

"Some things are best left to the 'Guardian.'"

"I'm prepared for the wall to collapse in every way, and there's only one thing I'm worried about."

"That means if something happens to me, all the preparations I've made will be useless and I won't be able to hold them off."

Betley had also considered Bray, but the things he needed to tell him were too complicated, and it was hard to imagine that Bray could complete them all.

Bray's bizarre thought process, in particular, is very unsettling when it comes to the big picture.