Chapter 176: 175 O God, Your Servant Has Finally Returned to You

Chapter 176 175.O God, Your servant has finally returned to You!
“Major, it has been confirmed that the firefight in the area of engagement is over! The Transians withdrew from the East Prussian border and cleaned up the battlefield before dawn, they burned the bodies cleanly and saved us the trouble of collecting them for the wild dogs of the Tower of the Ring.”

By mid-morning the next day, Major Fraser, head of intelligence in the Pathfinder Fortress, quickly received a report from the scout sent out to reconnoiter the area, and contact through the Computing Pearls let him know that last night’s battle had come to an end.

Judging from the results, the White Oak Battle Group had escaped.

This caused the Major to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, before he could conceptualize what to write in his report on this operation, another scout brought him another piece of news that put him in no more mood for breakfast.

“Your Excellency Major, the fog of war spread by the Tower of the Ring psychics has completely receded, but we have discovered that the Transylvanians have left some ‘stuff’ at the border!”

The scout’s tone was very strange.

It sounded like he was a bit startled, which made Major Fraser surprised for a few moments.

The scouts of the Pathfinder Legion were some of the best warriors, and it was rare to see them have such drastic mood swings.

“Turn on the projection of the arithmetic jewel and I’ll see for myself what the hell it is?”

The Major sent a message over, and a moment later, a blurry remote psychic projection was opened, and after the scout adjusted his angle, a contraption that made the Major’s scalp go numb appeared before his eyes.

A human head!

The entire 600 heads were piled up together to form a strange “tower”, and next to it was a broken stone tablet with a Transylvanian inscription in blood:
“Dedicated to the Mother of the Night by this magnificent death! The Scarlet Hand always pays in blood!”

“This.”

Major Fraser took a deep breath.

He realized that it was a message from the Earl of Cadman to the Tower of the Ring, but it was more like a direct, succinct, and rude “declaration of war.”

The Tower of the Ring had taken out the city of Cadman and nearly wiped out the Blood Vulture clan, and the vampires had returned the favor by purging the Tower of the Ring’s hunting forces in one night and leaving behind this “artifact of depravity” that went beyond an act of war.

This is by no means the end.

It was the beginning of a new wave of hatred.
“Ah, Transylvania is indeed rich in barbarians and vampires! What those two things have in common is that they don’t give in to violence and they’re no good!”

Major Fraser rubbed his brow with a headache.

He knew that this battle report of his would definitely cause an uproar once he sent it up, and considering that it might be seen as Transylvania’s provocation to the Goldenrod Kingdom, the Major decided to have a private chat with his schoolmate, who had already been promoted to Scarlet Consul, before writing the report.

As the king’s eyes and ears, he had to figure out the true intentions of that lord on the other side, as well as confirm for General Loren the future development of the White Oak Warband in Transylvania.

The general was a man of great affection.

If he could get the news that the heirs and followers of his old friend were safe and sound for the rest of their lives, I think the general’s guilt for “dereliction of duty” in his heart would dissipate a lot.

With this in mind, the Major opened the psychic communication enhancer in front of him, and then sent a message to Duchess Miriam.
—
“Oye! Got the ‘Hammer Guard’ production charts yay!”

In the Blood Vulture Cloister of the Scarlet Fortress, Little Vikrama loudly cheered as she grasped the gun crafting diagram in her hands.

This was her “special reward” for that quest.

In addition to the weapon diagram that Major Fraser had entrusted to War Leader Natalie, little Vikram had also received a profession-related tip from the old hunter, Sister Marianne.

“The awesome and valiant shotgun granny told me that this kind of complicated firearms can only be made by dwarven and halfling gunsmiths ow.”

Little Vikrama was holding the crafting diagram in her hands very babyishly, turning her head to Orchid, who was sipping vampire black tea with elegant movements beside her:

“What do you say we look for any local dwarves or something?”

“Don’t bother.”

Orchid Flower savored the uniquely flavored black tea and said to her best friend with the decency and decorum expected of a grand traveler:

“I’ve asked the NPCs, and there hasn’t been any sign of dwarves or halflings in the Transylvania region for a hundred years now, it’s a hell of a place. I think instead of looking for them at this time, it would be better if you hurry up and make your own after switching to a sub-profession in engineering.”

“Huh? Make it yourself!”

Little Vikrama scratched her head and said with a bitter face:

“But this gun needs master level engineering to make it, how long do I have to practice? Besides, we don’t have any engineering trainers here.”

“It’s that there wasn’t one before, but now there is.”

Lumina, who was humming and polishing her beloved instrument across the table, added to little Vikramana:

“Wasn’t Sister Marianne who you were talking to just now a gunsmith, I heard Niu Niu say that he had seen Sister Marianne hand rubbing the barrel of a gun in the Pioneering Fortress.

However, you may need a certain amount of personal reputation to learn engineering from her, and just because this drawing of yours only says that master level engineering can make a Fine Commander level Hammer Guard, it doesn’t mean that there’s no way for you, an apprentice, to do it.

At most, the quality is down.

At most, it’s white plate equipment with no additional attributes, but surely such a high-level weapon, even if it’s white plate equipment, is much more powerful than the Elite Musket you can find right now, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you have money?”

Sister Pomegranate, who was grunting on the table and had put a bandage on her face to disguise herself as a “wounded man”, rolled her eyes and said:

“Go to Sister Marianne for a substitute! The old hunter could see the details of the gun at a glance, which means that they should be able to make it, but it’s just a matter of how much money is involved. But for you, does the money thing mean anything?”

“Right ow! I’ll go ask then, you guys wait for me.”

Little Vikina jumped out of her chair, grabbed the crafting charts and ran off in a flash of spectral pace towards the Blood Wyvern Cloister beyond.

“I say, you two aren’t going to pass the Black Iron Trial yet?”

Sister Pomegranate looked at her refreshed character attributes and the addition of three new melee specialties as she blew on the black tea in front of her that she had spent silver coins on at the vampire waiter’s place, and said to her two best girlfriends:
“Now that more and more trial methods have been developed, you two need to hurry up as well, I have a feeling that the situation in Transylvania won’t be calm for long.”

“Right away, I’ve already contacted Pigeon Treasure.”

Orchid Flower put down her teacup with elegant movements, ruffling her hair and said:
“He’ll make a special batch of Oil of Burning for me, and I’ll go to the sewers at night to fix the trial, what about Lumina? How do you plan to come?”

“I’ll learn the little reed name.”

Lumina boxed up her beloved instrument, which she had just polished, and made another gesture of raising her gun to aim it, tapping the precisely calibrated hunting shotgun that sat beside her.

The style was old, but the quality was extremely high, and the standard commander-in-chief grade shotgun was feared to be unique in the current game.

She had just spent two “keys” to open it out of the Witch Hunter’s “War Chest”, a special weapon with yellow lettering, judging from the description, it should be the relics of a certain Witch Hunter Master who had already died on the battlefield.

She said confidently:
“I don’t like sewers and ghouls, that stuff is too disgusting, I’m going to go around again to look for elite creatures, starworld beasts or jackal heads are fine.

What about you?

Pomegranate, you passed the trial, what are you going to do next? Turn vampire?”

“Uh-huh.”

Pomegranate poked her face and said:

“I checked with Lady Adele, and she can teach the assassination fighting techniques of the Blood Vulture Clan, but she suggested that I learn the more skillful Midnight Assassination techniques of the Thorn Clan, which happens to have the advanced techniques of the Fisted Blade in it, which suits me perfectly.

That Earl of White Mountain, who represents the Thorn Clan, will also stay in Scarlet Castle, and when I turn vampire, turning on the Thorn Clan’s reputation will open up the brush.

Are you sure you don’t want to turn vampire? Lumi, Lord Murphy thinks highly of you.” “NO!”

Lumina grunted, propping up her chin:
“I’m going to wait for the elven races to open up, and they definitely will in the future! I’m sure of that! What about orchids? Going to happily be a vampire?”

“No, I think it’s nice to be a human.”

Orchid revealed a smile, patted her shield, and said:
“According to my speculation, the racial talent of humans in the subsequent version might be strengthened . Well, the probability is that it will be strengthened! I’m kind of a traveling party, if I can’t see more landscapes and only seek power, that’s not in line with my human attitude.”

“Ahhhhhh! The box is black again ah! Fuck! I knew this damn blind box must not have anything good! Don’t you guys stop me, I’m going to go get an explanation from those witch hunters! Everyone draws the same box! Everyone else got something they could use, why did you give me a physical shield when I’m an Oak Apprentice?

This is a joke!”

Brother Woo Meow’s ghostly cry came from far above the cloister, causing the three sisters to look at each other in disbelief before snorting out a laugh.

Brother Woo Meow’s bad luck has struck again ah, this looks like it’s probably hopeless.

But not more than a few minutes later, little Vikina came running back, flinging her twin ponytails rather cheerfully at the three sisters:

“It’s done! Sister Marianne charged me 200 gold coins as a processing fee, but I have to pay for the materials myself, and she promised that she would finish making it within half a month, and also guaranteed that the quality would be above that of a Seiko Veteran! I’ve already posted a material collection post in the forum.

Oh yeah, I also brought you a gift to help you pass the Black Iron Trial oh my dear Orchid Flower.”

With those words, Little Vikrama yanked out an exquisite wood-grain Iris Shield made of sacred oak with beautiful motto text from her psychic bag and placed it on the table with a thud, followed by Orchid puffing out the black tea in her mouth with no more grace.

She wiped her mouth while saying in surprise:
“Don’t you tell me! Did you buy this shield from Brother Woo Meow?”

“Huh! How did you know that? Uncle Woo Meow sold it to me at a 50% discount yo, he’s a really good guy, I don’t understand why everyone says he’s cunning.”

“How much money have you spent on this game just buying gold coins from other players at high prices? Your mom and dad don’t care? You and touch your poor two guys with no score, hard to speculate the price of gold coins to 1:20 hey!

You two don’t go too far.”

“Ch, my own pocket money, they don’t care le, I’m the tip of their heart, not to mention a little equipment, as long as I want to, buy the whole scarlet fort for me as a birthday gift is not a problem yo.

Don’t talk about this.

Let me tell you a good news, Mrs. Water finally filled in the application after my persuasion, I think she will come to play with us soon.

Yeah!”
—
“This is the church area that Lord Lord has assigned to us, although it’s very run down, although we need to clean it up and then build up the sanctuary with our own hands. But it’s a good start, parishioners, and I have become convinced that my God has brought us enlightenment through Lord Murphy’s name.”

At that moment, in the middle of a deserted inner city above the Blood Wyvern’s Cloisters, the kindly Sister Jules was leading the two old hunters who had come ahead of her to scout out the Scarlet Fortress to give them directions to where the future Sanctuary of Avalon would be located.

This was once the vampire settlement of the inner city.

But all those gorgeous and eerie buildings had been razed to the ground in the Astral Invasion, and all that remained here was an ominous wreckage that hid the seeping shadows of the Astral Plane.

Of course, to Sister Mary Ann, who had dealt with these things all her life, the Astral Shadows were nothing at all, and she had a minimum of twenty-seven ways to eliminate them quickly.

What really made Sister Mary Ann feel worried was the Star Realm Creation above her head that was like a crack in the sky.

Although it was no longer visible to the naked eye, Sister Marianne raised her head and could still feel that there was still a steady stream of Star Realm breath following that trauma into the material world.

“The environment here will be permanently altered, even to the point of affecting the life that inhabits it, but this change in life forms is long term. If we can build the Avalon Sanctuary, the soothing from the natural psychic energy will restore some life to this land.”

Sister Marianne smiled at Sister Jules and explained.

The two people’s identities were worlds apart; when the Avalon Church still existed, Sister Marianne could be regarded as a high-ranking monk, while Sister Jules was just an ordinary missionary walking among the countryside at that time.

But in the current era, both Marianne and Jules were the few remaining human believers in Avalon, and their identities had long since ceased to be a difference.

As for the more sincere old Eugene, he was much more excited than either Sister.

He stood still and looked at the wide area in front of him, in his eyes seemed to have appeared the picture of the gorgeous nature sanctuary rising from the ground, seemed to be able to go back to the parish of the island of Glamour, strolling in the wooded lanes dotted with idols of nature that quieted the soul of the beauty of it all.

With the names of the deities in his mind, he walked forward wanting to see the layout of the place to better plan out a good shape for the first newborn nature sanctuary in ten years.

The man was not only a fervent religious man, an outstanding silver hunter, but also an architect specializing in the spiritualistic side of the faith.

But just a few steps out, the old Eugene saw a piece of wood carving placed on a wooden table with a carving knife beside it, that was obviously carving a wooden Avalon idol.

He looked back at the plainly dressed Sister Jules and asked softly:

“Is this your consecration?”

“Well, after Lord Murphy gave me permission to rebuild the Sanctuary, I resumed offering consecration to my god, as it is written in the canon. Nature’s Avalon abhors ostentation and luxury, and a wood carving made by a believer’s hand pleases Him.”

Sister Jules spoke in a gentle tone.

Sr. Eugene said with a solemn face:
“Then let me make an ungrateful request! Busy with the war my hands are stained with blood to make me carry the burdens of my heart, so tyrannical am I that I am not qualified to offer gifts to my God, and it is almost ten years since I have made a consecration with my own hands, so allow me to take up your unfinished work.

In this way I wish to declare my years of war to be over, and to return to being a servant of the gods, and in this way offer to my god the first natural prayer from a returned man.”

“Surely, parishioners, you deserve to be here to wash away the dust of war and to have your hearts restored to my God.”

Sister Jules made a motion of “please.”

Sr. Eugene took a deep breath and washed his hands carefully, then stepped forward and picked up the carving knife.

He was obviously a good hand at it, and in just a few minutes he had completed the carving that Sister Jules had failed to do, and a living wooden sculpture of Nature’s Avalon blessing the believers appeared on the table.

Old Eugene, as he had said himself, wanted complete deliverance from the bitter war, so he half-kneeled, removed all his weapons and armor, and prayed to the sculpture in nothing but his linen singlet, using the simplest of apprentice prayers.

Obviously, the old Eugene was not just paying lip service, but really intended to offer his faith to his god “from the beginning”.

After a few seconds, as Sister Jules and Sister Marianne watched in amazement, bright green light began to surround the plain wooden statue.

At first it was just a little bit of broken light sent swaying in the wind, but soon an emerald-green wind of spiritual energy blew up from the ruins, surrounding the three believers and making them feel as cozy and protected as if they were in a forest.

“My God. My God responds.”

Old Eugene’s eyes had widened as if he had been struck by lightning.

It was the first time in the ten years since the fall of the old religion that he had so clearly perceived the will of nature surrounding him, like the gentle caresses and whispers of encouragement from the gods.

“God!”

The sincere believer burst into tears at this moment.

This pale but determined and strong man knelt down on his knees in the midst of these ruins, kissing the ground full of wood shavings, and under the reflection of the ethereal purple light of that Star Realm’s Creation, the old man exclaimed, full of both joy and sadness:

“O God!
We who have left our homes have stumbled through the deserts of suffering, we who have lost our homes have crossed the seas of war, and we who have atoned for our sins have traveled across the mountains of time.

O God!

Thy most faithful children have at last returned to Thee.”

In the midst of this lament and cry of distress, the whole of the people in the ruins of the Scarlet Fortress looked up at this moment of time.

They perceived a cool wind blowing from this noonday, while overcast clouds came over to blot out the annoying sunshine, and again in the pattering a gentle rain fell, which soon formed a curtain, and swept like an invisible hand over this land of deep suffering.

Era 1111 September 17, Murphy arrived in the other world of the second month, the first autumn rain in Transylvania sowing, the God of Avalon’s shelter also re-fall on the human believers.

(End of chapter)