After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

After seeing the puzzled look on his master's face, he realized that he was talking about the faith network.

Then he lowered his gaze again even faster, cleared his throat with two dry coughs, and asked in the most serious tone possible:

"No, I mean, what were you thinking about that afternoon?"

Aize glanced at her for a few seconds, but didn't ask any more questions and started talking about business:

"Although the Faith Network is constructed by everyone's own beliefs and will, Rosaline, the mainframe, remains the core of its existence. Therefore, I subjectively assume that it has been developing since the day the Hero entered the world until now. Although it has become increasingly powerful, its development process should not be significantly different."

"But today, considering her words and what happened before, I want to ask, is that really the case?"

Chris tried her best to suppress the debuffs that would cause her IQ to drop due to being alone with Aize in this environment, and tried hard to keep herself on topic.

But unfortunately, the attempt failed.

I can only ask:

"Isn't that so?"

"From the day she entered this world as a hero, Rosaline has been preaching her own sermon. Whether this behavior is intentional or simply instinctive is hard to say."

"But what is certain is that her prestige among her followers had already reached its peak at least half a year ago—when I was still in the team."

"But why, during that period, did she only engage in minor incidents, and not cause a major event like the Holy City riots that followed?"

According to existing theories, the riots in the Holy City were a retaliatory purge carried out by Rosaline, driven by the believers' resentment towards the continued inhumane behavior of the church's top leaders.

But the faith network was not formed at that time.

The church's tradition of being inhumane, and the resulting resentment among the people towards it, has a history that can be measured over decades or even centuries.

The elements for the incident to occur were clearly there all the time, but they didn't happen earlier or later, but happened at that time.

why?

“…Yeah, why?”

Chris couldn't answer that question.

And Aize, after swallowing a large mouthful of late air very seriously, slowly said:

"Is there a possibility that it's because of me?"

"...Because of Master?"

"When did the Great Purge of the Holy City take place? It happened after Rosalin returned from Tafia. And it was during that time in Tafia that I formally rejected the invitation to return to the church... No, if you count it that way, the earlier assassination attempt on Villian even happened right after I left the team."

"And today, judging by her behavior, inviting me back to the church seemed like something very important, not just a spur-of-the-moment decision. So, I'm wondering what role I play in this mechanism called the faith network."

In the minds of many believers, including members of the Pure White Saint Sect, Aize is the god of war and military sent by the goddess to save the world.

To be honest, Aize has reason to believe that his image will be more widely spread and more popular than Rosaline's so-called pure white saint.

Therefore, Aize has long known that this system will have its own place, and he is happy to use this to exert external influence and interfere with the network.

But now it seems that there is more to it than that.

The role I play in this disgusting system may be much more important than I imagined.

And this may become the real breakthrough point.

Chris couldn't quite understand these thoughts.

The girl shook her head blankly:

"I'm sorry, Master, I don't quite... understand."

Aize smiled bitterly:

"It's normal not to understand, because I don't quite understand it either. This thing is simply my natural nemesis. If possible, I would rather deal with 99 demons than touch this thing even once, and... huh?"

Aize suddenly stopped, his nose twitched slightly, and his eyebrows slowly twisted together.

"Chris, do you smell anything?"

"smell?"

"Hmm, it smells like something rotting... stinky."

Chrissy sniffed hard.

Sure enough, there was a discordant smell mixed in with the refreshing breeze that blew towards us.

As the two took a few steps forward, the smell developed at an astonishing speed.

It went from being almost imperceptible if you didn't smell it carefully to being so strong that it couldn't be ignored and was extremely unpleasant.

It went from being a real bummer to becoming unbearably nauseating in just a few seconds.

And this smell itself is not unfamiliar to the battle-hardened Aize and Chris.

The smell of decaying corpses.

The smell of death.

The master and disciple looked at each other, nodded to each other, and then tacitly took a step forward almost at the same time, rushing forward at the fastest speed.

Forest, uncle, bushes.

Various black shadows passed by the two of them at an extremely fast speed, and the sea of trees, which was so dense that it seemed as if there was no end in sight, also came to an abrupt end at a certain moment.

A clearing in the forest appeared before them.

Without any obstruction, the moonlight generously and unreservedly sprinkled on the land, which was almost two different worlds compared to the dark and suffocating environment just now.

What is even more striking is that -

"……flower?"

Chris, who had already placed her hand on the sword at her waist, was stunned.

Flowers, unusually lush red flowers, completely occupied the area. Under the blessing of the tragic moonlight, they were like flames burning in the darkness, even to the point of being a little dazzling.

Quite pleasing to the eyes.

But alas, the senses are connected after all.

The visual enjoyment could not make up for the torture suffered by the sense of smell at this moment - the stench became stronger, to the point where it was almost impossible to breathe.

"Hmm, these are rock lilies. I didn't expect there would be so many growing together. I was wondering why they smelled so bad... Ugh, they really are exactly like the cookies Villian gave me before."

Aize covered his nose in disgust.

Stonebank Flower is a relatively rare plant that can be used to refine a variety of medicinal herbs, but its horrible smell, like that of a rotting corpse, makes most people stay away from it.

Before, on the way to the Empire, Aize had the opportunity to taste a piece of stonecrop flavored biscuits from the random flavor biscuits bought by Villian.

The feeling, how should I put it... My brain has forgotten most of the details of the taste due to its self-protection mechanism, so it is difficult for Aize to describe it.

Anyway, it's great that it's not a real corpse.

But this does not mean that the problem does not exist.

"According to records, rock bank flowers usually grow in the cracks of rocks beside rivers and streams, hence the name. They are quite rare. It's really strange to see so many of them gathered on a flat ground."

Although it was strange, Aize could not find any problems with either the flower itself or the soil underneath.

"Could it be... because of the constant wars in this area, no one dared to come and pick them, causing the occasional rockbank flowers to grow wildly and undisturbed, and that's why they became like this?"

It seems to make sense, but it also seems not to make sense.

After all, this place doesn't look like an environment that allows this kind of plant to grow wildly.

If Violet were here, she might be able to find out something.

pity.

"Uh-uh--"

Chris, who was standing by, had already started to dry heave.

Even Aize himself felt his stomach churning and was about to reach the limit of his endurance.

It's better to run quickly.

"Don't stay here, let's go."

"Um, okay—ooh—okay…"

He turned around immediately and was about to leave.

However, at this moment—

"save……"

"Um?"

"Help...someone...help...help me...someone come quickly..."

A faint cry for help came from the other side of the rotting flower field, accompanied by the fetid evening breeze, and reached Aize's ears intermittently but clearly.

"Let's go and have a look."

"Yes!"

Although it might be a trap, if someone really calls for help, it will definitely be too late to turn around and leave to get help.

So even if it means taking some risks, Aize must ensure that he never misses this opportunity to obtain the movements of the demons.

So, suppressing their nausea, the master and disciple crossed the flower fields. Pollen, sap, etc. came into close contact with their armor again and again because of their movements.

With his sense of smell numb, Aize was certain that he also smelled sour.

I'm afraid it can't be solved by simply taking a bath or two.

Fortunately, the suffering was worth it.

On the other side of the flower field, where it met the sea of trees, the two found a figure lying on the ground.

The middle-aged man was wearing the armor lining common among imperial nobles, but the armor itself had been taken off and thrown away, probably to facilitate escape.

As a result, a horrific wound lay across the abdomen, so large and deep that not only the flesh and skin, but even the intestines were exposed. If it was not covered tightly, it would have been scattered all over the floor.

The moment she saw his face clearly, Chris cried out:

"He is... Viscount Anson!?"

"The one who didn't come to the meeting?"

"Yes... um, yes, that's right, I'm sure it's definitely him!"

This made Aize's alertness reach its highest point.

Judging from the direction, he must have been attacked on the way to the meeting, then left the main road and went into the forest, and finally ran here.

The problem is, in a war zone, he must have guards with him.

When the Empire had control over the overall direction of the battlefield, who could have broken through the guards and injured the Imperial nobles so badly?

"Go... beast... orc..."

The Viscount's eyes seemed to be half open and half closed, and his voice was weak, but he still tried his best to speak.

Aize hurriedly asked:

"Orcs? Are they the remnants of the orc army?"

"No... not the remnants... but an orc army... several... several hundred people... hurry up..."

As if to prove his point, the orcs' war roar, accompanied by a wall of shadows, appeared in the forest ahead.

Chapter 81 Nightfall (3)

For the orc army, which is large in numbers, a few hundred people are not a significant number. Considering that the enemy has lost all its elite troops, dozens of elite knights or guards can easily handle the situation.

But it's not a question of numbers or threats per se.

When the Imperial Army had cleared the entire area and significantly expanded its defense line to the periphery, the appearance of such a team in such a place was itself a symbol.

That is, the empire's preventive measures have failed in some form or for some reason.

We must hurry back to camp.

"Press the wound to death. I don't want to go through all the trouble to save a body that's been soaked in blood."

Aize said this loudly, making sure that the injured noble, whose consciousness was already a little blurred, could understand his meaning as clearly as possible.