Chapter 893 (1/2)

Chapter 893: Fate Passes On

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Two weeks later when summer was already nearing its end, Roland finally arrived at Hermes.

He was welcomed at the gates of the Holy City by the witches and the First Army garrison from the Northern Region. He also spotted several nuns in black church clothing amongst the group of people.

Although Roland had heard from Lightning that all the top-level figures of the church had disappeared, he still couldn’t believe what had happened as he entered this now empty stronghold. The fierce battle that he thought awaited them did not come. Neither the God’s Punishment Witches nor the new mortars had to be used. There was no doubt that things couldn’t have gone any better, but this turn of events just felt somewhat anticlimactic for Roland.

He had made a right decision in letting Isabella come along with the First Army to this expedition. According to the reports from Eagle Face and Agatha, the former Pure Witch was quickly alerted to the strange happenings within the Church and promptly suggested the army to investigate the Holy City of Hermes right after they finished taking care of the orphans in the cloisters.

To their surprise, the entire city was empty except for the people who lived in the surrounding areas. They didn’t get to leave in time, thus creating a facade that the church was still under operations. In reality, those people had no idea about what was really happening in the inner city, and all they heard was that the church was preparing for the last battle.

After that, the nuns, organized by Isabella, entered Hermes and visited as many houses as possible to explain the situation. As a result, the number of evacuees started to decrease, and at least no more large groups of people were spotted fleeing towards Wolfheart and Everwinter. The church abandoning the Holy City was such a shocking turn of events for the people, and it had utterly ruined the church’s reputation. Compared to those cowards who ran at the first sign of danger, the nuns who came out and tried to restore order seemed more like the real successors of the old church.

“How did they escape?” Roland could not help asking. The message he had received did not include many details, so Roland wanted to know where the remnants of the church had gone. “There ought to be thousands of people in the Inner City. How could they have managed to leave the plateau without passing through the city wall?”

“There are many tunnels under Hermes, some of which go under the city wall. If they evacuated in batches, it would have been possible for them to escape without alerting the residents in the outer city.” Isabella explained. “The tunnels were designed to work only one-way so that intruders wouldn’t be able ‘t take advantage of it. Moreover, the tunnels can only be used once. I’ve checked a lot of tunnel entrances, and most of them were already destroyed.”

“Where do the tunnels lead to?”

“Only people who have used them would know,” Isabella said as she shook her head. “If they had planned the escape beforehand, it would be near impossible to track them now that they already had six weeks to run.”

“So the church is like a cornered lizard, cutting off its tail to escape, and hoping for a chance to come back in the future?” Roland frowned as he pondered over this. “But giving up the Holy City meant that they abandoned their base of operations, which is far worse than just losing a tail, as this was as good as them losing everything. How could they be so confident that they would be able to find a new base that can rival Graycastle? Or are they going to scatter into different places and harass my land?” Thinking about how he had to keep an eye out for fanatical believers in the coming years gave Roland a headache.

“No need to worry, Your Majesty. They won’t come back anymore,” Isabella smiled, as she read Roland’s mind.

“Why?” Roland was surprised.

Isabella replied, “They left behind a messenger.”

…

In a small church on the north side of the Holy City, Roland met the messenger that Isabella mentioned.