Chapter 436: It’s Snowing

Chapter 436 – It’s Snowing

The lofty figure dissipated in the clouds.

The wind was regaining its calm, the smoke had yet to take time to fade, and after the shadows faded, a scarred city-state was left behind.

“There’s a survivor here, too! It’s a little girl!”

A slightly excited shout broke the calm in the cemetery as a Guardian warrior opened the door to the guard hut and found the girl huddled in the hut.

Cold wind blew into the house from outside the door, with the smell of smoke in between, Anne raised her head a little dazedly and looked at the black-clad guard who appeared in the doorway, and in a trance, she seemed to see another person appearing behind that young warrior, a hunched over figure with always somber eyes.

Bewildered, she got up and subconsciously stepped forward, stumbling towards the door, trying to catch the hunched figure.

She swooped and stumbled on her feet, then felt someone grab her collar from behind – the Guardian Warrior grabbed the girl who had tried to run past her but had nearly fallen, and bent down to her again, “Are you all right, girl- -What’s the name? Why are you in the cemetery?”

Anne, however, acted as if she hadn’t heard the voice that came to her ears, she just raised her head and slowly looked around, searching for the old man she had just seen.

That hunched old man was not far away, he had turned around, waved his hand with his back this way, and then slowly walked towards the path deep in the cemetery, at the end of which stood an unusually tall figure vaguely and silently.

That figure is draped in a dark robe reminiscent of the night, the body under the robe is wrapped in bandages, holding a long staff that seems to be carved from dead wood, and its appearance looks …… as if it were described in the church books, the guards in front of the gate of Bartok.

The old man came to the guard, the two seemed to talk briefly, and then they disappeared together like a phantom at the end of the path.

Anne stared blankly in that direction and stood still in the cold wind, not crying or moving.

The black-clad guard at the side was a bit worried, “What’s wrong with you? Little girl? What are you looking for?”

“She’s probably looking for this.” Another person’s voice suddenly came from a nearby trail, accompanied by the sound of boots on snow.

Anne subconsciously turned her head.

A nun was walking this way, holding two things in her hands – a cane that looked scarred and bruised, and a shotgun that looked somewhat familiar.

“Your protector is no longer with you,” the nun stopped in front of Anne and slowly crouched down, placing the two items on the ground, “Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to let you meet him again – there are only ashes at the site. ”

Anne looked fixedly at the cane and shotgun on the ground, and after a few seconds she bent down and took them in her hands, cradling them carefully in her arms.

“I know,” she muttered in a low voice, “Grandfather Watchman has gone with the keeper ……”

“Don’t touch the gun,” the black-clad guard warrior next to her subconsciously reached out to try to stop it, “there’s danger ……”

“It’s out of bullets,” the nun shook her head and whispered, “Let her hold it for a while, they’re probably people she knows.”

The Guardian warrior hesitated for a moment, withdrawing his hand and turning his head again, surveying the situation in the cemetery.

Dirty and dry black mud covered the perimeter of the trail and surrounded the keeper’s hut, and again dirty snow mixed with that mud covered the entire cemetery.

How many monsters had tried to attack this place, and how much filth had fallen here in the snow? Now that the shadows have faded, all …… seems lost.

A silky, slightly cool touch suddenly came, and the guardian looked up to see flurries of snow slowly falling from the sky – not ash, but actual snowfall.

Accompanying the appearance of the flurry of snowflakes was a glimmer in the sky, the light of the sun – the overcast clouds blocked it, but the hazy mass of light still manifested its presence.

The sun had returned.

The mechanical roar of a steam organ in operation gradually approached from outside the cemetery, and a steam car pulled up outside the gates, and a squad of guardsmen operating near the cemetery, sensing the movement, approached the car, and then, in consternation, saluted the man who had descended from it.

Footsteps came towards the watchman’s hut, and when the young black-clad guard saw the visitor, he immediately turned and saluted, then spoke with some confusion, “Watchman, what are you ……”

“I’ve come to confirm the situation of the various cemeteries.”

Anne, who was clutching her cane and shotgun in a daze, heard the voice beside her and finally woke up from her daze, she subconsciously raised her head and looked in the direction from which the voice came.

A lady in a black clergyman’s robe and skirt stood on the path.

Her skin was pale, and a calm yet cold aura lingered around her – Anne could not yet comprehend what this aura was, but she associated it with the cold fog at sea, and at the same time, she noticed that large and small wounds could be found almost everywhere on the lady’s exposed skin, which was devoid of blood, just like the …… cracked mannequins.

Over the lady’s eyes, black cloth was wrapped.

This lady seems to have been blind, but Anne felt that the “sight” of the other party was falling on her, it was a calm and gentle gaze, through the thick black cloth, was looking at herself.

It took Annie a long time to recognize the lady.

This lady, on the other hand, had evidently recognized her from the first.

“I know you your name is Anne,” Agatha bent down and gently rubbed Anne’s hair, then her eyes fell on the shotgun and cane in the girl’s hands, she was silent for a couple of seconds before she got up and spoke to the cleric accompanying her behind her, “The area around the mines was the first to be invaded, and these encircling the uptown mining district of the Cemeteries, blocking the massive influx of monsters into the surrounding neighborhoods.” “Almost all of the Gravekeepers and guardsmen stationed around the cemeteries were killed in battle,” the nun to the side said slowly, “and the city guards in this area suffered heavy losses as well.”

Agatha listened in silence, then gave a silent benediction.

“Gatekeeper,” the black-clad guard next to her couldn’t help but speak up, “The many dead and wounded in the city-state now need to be on guard for secondary disasters in the realms of death, fear, and obsession; we may need several large-scale requiem ceremonies, and there are none on the cathedral side right now… …”

“I am now temporarily acting as Archbishop, there is no need to worry about the Requiem Ceremony,” Agatha spoke calmly, “Bishop Ivan has departed, he has a new journey.”

The black-clad guard was stunned for a moment, a shocked and hard-to-accept expression briefly surfacing in his eyes, and it seemed that only at that moment did he notice the change in Agatha’s attire – the

The gatekeeper had shed her black coat, which represented the force, and replaced it with a robe and skirt that leaned more towards symbolizing a cleric.

This symbolized the change in her identity and duties at the moment.

“There is no need to worry, I still shoulder the duties of the Gatekeeper, and the Guardian forces are still under my command until a new Archbishop is selected by the Church Headquarters, or a new Gatekeeper takes my place, at which time I may become the official Bishop of this city-state,” Agatha, who seemed to still have a keen gaze despite the loss of both her eyes, sensed the reaction of the ministry around her, patiently explaining, “At this stage, maintaining order in the city-state is above all else.”

“Yes …… Gatekeeper.”

The young black-clothed guard lowered his head, and after a brief hesitation, he still chose to use the familiar name “Gatekeeper” to address his superior.

Agatha, on the other hand, didn’t care about these trivialities, she turned her eyes away and her “gaze” once again fell on Annie.

“Go home,” she said gently; “your mother is safe; she is waiting for you.”

Anne hesitated for a moment at first, but after Agatha’s mention of her mother, she immediately nodded.

Just as she was about to leave after the guardsmen, though, she stopped abruptly.

“Grandfather Watcher …… just followed the Gatekeepers,” she tilted her head and looked at Agatha, “Ah, I mean ‘that side’ of the book, the Gatekeeper.”

Agatha frowned slightly.

Thinking that the other party didn’t believe her, Anne hurriedly raised her hand and pointed to the path deep in the cemetery, “That’s where you leave ……”

Agatha raised her head and thoughtfully looked in the direction of Anne’s finger.

In the position of her eyes that were covered with black cloth, there seemed to be a vague flash of ghostly green fire.

After a moment, she lowered her head and looked into Anne’s eyes.

“Do you …… want to become a guardian?”

Anne froze a bit, not quite seeming to understand what this meant.

But after a few seconds, she seemed to vaguely respond, “Is it like you or Grandpa Watchman?”

“That could take many years,” a small smile seemed to appear on Agatha’s face, then she shook her head gently, “Don’t think about it so much for now, it seems a bit early for me to be talking to you about this – go home first, and if you really want to become a Guardian, you should at least be able to get into the most junior church school.”

Anne seemed to understand, then reluctantly handed over the shotgun and cane in her hands to the black-clad guard next to her.

“…… If you become a guardsman, can you give me the shotgun and cane that guarded Grandpa?”

She suddenly turned her head and looked at Agatha very seriously.

After a moment, Agatha gently nodded, “…… If you still feel that way after three years, I agree.”

Annie left.

Calm was once again restored in the cemetery.

“…… Are you serious? That child is still too young to see any potential yet, and it will take more than just graduating from the Guardian’s regular training to inherit the Veteran’s Walking Stick ……”

“She can see the guides of the world of the dead,” Agatha said slowly as she gazed calmly at the path at the end of the cemetery, “just as I did back then.”

The young black-clad guard stopped speaking.

The nun on the other side hesitated, but still couldn’t help but look at Agatha with some concern, “Your body, in the end ……”

“It doesn’t matter,” Agatha shook her head and spoke softly, “Something happened this shell is damaged only.”

(End of chapter)