Chapter 135 (1/2)
Chapter 135 To start with the basics
– “The Devils grow in number each day, but we become less.”
“The Holy City of Taqila has already fallen into the hands of the enemies, the only option left to us is to scatter in all directions.”
“We fled over mountains and across rivers, as far as possible from the Gates of Hell.”
“But next time, where should we flee?” –
“What do you think about it?” Back in his office, Roland closed the illusion of the ancient book and turned to Scroll to get her opinion of it.
“In case what the Knight remembered is the truth, this would really be an incredible coincidence.” Scroll pondered for a moment about her next words, “The content of the treasure map and what’s recorded in the ancient book is the same, so this proves that the Church had once stepped into the Wild Lands and constructed a point of resistance against the Devils there. In addition, the points marked on the map are perhaps the defense towers, posts, warehouses, or whatever they built there.”
“You mean… this isn’t really a treasure map?”
“Of course. After all, the Church isn’t a group of bandits or pirates; they do not need to hide their treasures, but they would leave behind a drawing to help the future generations.”
Roland nodded, “Well, so… this is just such a map?”
“Although it is not clear why the Church did not record this period in history, I believe that the ruins buried in the eastern forest aren’t the only one of its kind.” Analyzed Scroll, “If the locations marked on the map are just some facilities, the chance that we find something after all these centuries aren’t that high, but if it has a storage warehouse in the basement, it will probably be another underground site, and we might be able to uncover some clues from it.”
“What kind of clues?”
“Like the reason that the Church is concealing the existence of the devils? Why do they resist the devil, but still carefully conceal it?” She paused, her voice becoming a little unsteady,” and… why do they call us witches the Devil’s messengers and why do they want to kill us?”
Roland did not know how to comfort her, so he was unable to find the right words as he fell silent after a moment. Only after a while he slowly began, “Unfortunately he didn’t know how accurate the picture was. According to his statement, the original map wasn’t drawn by hand.”
“Do you want Nightingale to go to the knight’s house?”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Roland denied, “The treasure map has already been passed on for hundreds of years, so the possibility that the storeroom is filled with God’s Stones of Retaliation or other traps is high.” Pointing at the triangle symbol, “For now, this place is out of reach, in any case. If this is the area of our North Slope mine, then the location of the hexagonal star is at least 50 kilometers away from us, almost as far as the distance between Border Town to Longsong Stronghold. With the exception of Lightning, who can travel that distance within a day, the rest of us would need to walk for two to three days. What will we do if we were to meet some of the Devils during the journey… I don’t want you to have any kind of mishap.”
“You can let Lightning explore the forest from the air; maybe she will be able to find something,” Scroll suggested.
“That is a viable option.” Roland immediately stood up, “The next time she comes back I will give her her new mission, but for now I want to go to the North Slope Mine while you get ready to give your next lesson. If you need more copies of the books, you should find Soraya, she will handle it for you. Don’t forget to continue to give them lessons this evening.”
Now that Roland had already held the first lessons of his new primary course, he could give the teachers position to Scroll. With her phonetic reading and writing and her ability to repeat everything from memory she had once heard or read, Roland believed she had everything that was needed to become a good teacher.