Chapter 62
That night, after clearing several ant nests, Elise returned to Crimsonwood.
She reported her findings to the Church first, then applied to take the investigation commission.
Given her status, once the commission was created, assigning it to her should have been a formality.
The problem was that the commission had already existed for some time.
And the Hall of Discipline had nearly closed it.
At Elise's residence, moonlight spilled across the trees, tables, and benches in the courtyard, coating everything in silver.
Light from the alchemical lamps inside streamed through the doorway and laid a neat square of gold across the floor.
At the table in the hall, Elise sat speaking with Philippos, a Prime Grand Knight from the Hall of Discipline.
Philippos was forty-nine. His previous post had been knight-captain of the Hall of Discipline in Oakhaven Grand Parish; since arriving in Crimsonwood, he had taken temporary charge of the parish's Hall of Discipline.
Like Elise, he had been born a commoner.
His hatred of evil had driven his training—and had also left him on terrible terms with Awakened outside the Church.
After accepting Elise's hospitality and laying out the full story behind the abnormal ant nests, Philippos lifted his cup in one weathered hand and drank some of the potion beverage.
Then his expression turned grave.
"High Cleric Elise, the Church has its own ways of dragging rats out of the sewer. You do not need to work with a death-worshiping heretic."
"Grand Knight Philippos, Lia is not evil by nature—"
Elise was still digesting what he'd told her, but at those words she leapt to Lia's defense.
Philippos, however, was a Prime Grand Knight.
He thought highly of Elise, and precisely because of that, he deeply disliked her constant contact with a heretic.
Before she could finish, he raised a stern hand.
"Elise, you have a great future ahead of you. You are favored by our God. If you wish to know anything, ask me."
Philippos believed Elise valued Lia only for the convenience she offered in investigations.
In his view, the Hall of Discipline could provide exactly the same service.
This case was the perfect example.
Lia had discovered traces of death-aspect mana on the ants.
But that hardly mattered.
When the Church investigated Anarias's lich body, it had already found those ant nests and followed the trail to a dark supply chain.
Philippos had personally led teams into cities across Oakhaven Province, arresting numerous members of Southern Blade Mercenary Company. He had also exposed several fallen priests and nuns in rural chapels.
Since returning to Crimsonwood, he had repeatedly led transcendent teams from the Hall of Discipline in pursuit of the true culprits.
So Elise's discovery changed very little.
The Church had known about the ant nests for some time.
If Redleaf Town hadn't needed several nests cleared for construction, the Church would have preferred to let the wilderness thin the colonies out on its own.
Elise hadn't expected her discovery to be wasted effort.
Unwilling to keep arguing about Lia with the Grand Knight, she thought for a moment and changed the subject.
"Are there many Dambos humans living in the Pyreflame Woods?"
The Awakened who had worked with Anarias came from the Dambos people.
Yes—the same name as the ant-eating Dambos lizards.
But that people, or rather that human ethnic group, was no small matter.
They were the original inhabitants of the lands the Kingdom of Hesse now occupied, and traces of their settlements could be found across the southern Blythean Empire.
When the Blythean Empire, the heartland of human civilization, expanded southward, the Dambos people—skilled in sorcery and shamanic magic—lost ground battle after battle.
Most eventually assimilated into the empire.
A smaller number fled into the Pyreflame Woods.
"The number of Dambos in the forest is unknown," Philippos said, frowning at the mention of them. "But once we begin pushing deeper into the Pyreflame Woods to clear magical beasts, we will have chances enough to encounter them."
Though the Church had left the tangle of ethnic integration to the empire's administrators, its higher-ups had poured considerable resources into persuading the Dambos people toward faith in the Light.
Over the years, the results had been good.
The Dambos within the empire had almost completely integrated.
Even so, some Awakened still used troublemaking as leverage for extracting benefits.
The method was simple.
They cooperated with Dambos Awakened in the Pyreflame Woods, let those wild tribes raise cries about reclaiming their homeland, then ran to the empire and the Church to weep about their people's suffering.
Elise knew that trick all too well.
Aurelia had transcendent power. The stronger an Awakened grew, the more trouble they could stir up.
It would be strange if people like that didn't cause problems.
But Dambos Awakened colluding with the Death Sovereign, trafficking people, and using human corpses—even living humans—to breed magical beasts?
That was more than enough to enrage the Church.
Elise pressed for more details.
Philippos answered everything he could.
The case couldn't be made public, and he had clearly been swallowing his anger over it for a long time.
In his eyes, even Dambos from within the Blythean Empire could fall this far.
And Lia, who came from the Kingdom of Ayx?
Worse still.
Her nationality, her ethnicity, her faith—all of it was foreign.
The Church permitting her to remain in Crimsonwood was already an act of grace.
A genius of the Church like Elise had no business keeping such close company with her.
At the thought, Philippos wanted to warn her yet again.
But Elise understood the Church's true stance toward Lia, and she did not believe that little girl, who had suffered so much, bore any guilt.
She was willing to guide Lia, so the girl would never become an enemy of the Church.
"Lia worships the God of Undying, but she does not create death by choice," Elise said. "I'm confident I can keep watch over her."
Seeing her unrepentant, Philippos darkened with anger.
"Elise, Anarias was once a believer of our God. In the end, he still fell completely into darkness."
His voice hardened.
"Those who worship death will bring death."
"Without Lia, I would never have noticed anything strange about the ant nests."
"The Church had already noticed."
"But I was kept in the dark."
"You did not need to know. You need only cultivate and display your talent. We will protect you."
"Grand Knight Philippos, I need real combat experience."
"I respect that choice. But you must know your limits."
By the end of the argument, Elise finally understood the true shape of Philippos's position.
He wasn't only warning her away from Lia.
Between the lines, he was telling her to stay out of this case entirely.
The reason was simple.
It was dangerous.
The Dambos people had lived on this land for a very long time.
After fleeing into the Pyreflame Woods, they had kept channels open to their kin outside. They had also taken up the capital crime of human trafficking and thrown in with the utterly fallen Anarias.
People like that were far too dangerous.
Elise wasn't suited to dealing with them.
In Philippos's view, she should stay right where she was and handle the ants.
Elise, however, felt a strong premonition.
She carried Anarias's spiritual mark.
The Dambos had worked with Anarias.
Sooner or later, they would collide.
In which case—before the Death Sovereign's lich body reached Crimsonwood, she ought to learn how Dambos warlocks and shamans fought.
Her mind made up, Elise looked at Grand Knight Philippos, ready to state her position.
"Elise, even if you want to investigate this matter, Archbishop Norias will not permit it," Philippos said with a faint smile. "You are still an ordinary High Cleric. Archbishop Norias only authorized you to clear magical beasts around Redleaf Town."
Elise fell silent.
He was right.
Her movements had been restricted because the Death Sovereign could appear at any moment.
Without sufficient strength, if she ran into Anarias or a Dambos shaman, she might not even get the chance to activate a Third-tier spell scroll.
But she was only one step from Senior High Cleric.
And the opportunity to break through was sitting right in front of her.
Elise abruptly opened the case files Grand Knight Philippos had brought.