Chapter 180 - Dark Knights, Cults And Murder Of A Bishop

Bryan upon hearing the sound of the circus seemed to have entered a trance-like state with fear and anxiety rising rapidly, his powers began to surge in self-defense.

"Bryan… Bryan…" Mattias' voice sounded so far away, he was shaken by Emery's power and looked at the frightened humans.

"Let's go in," Emery said, taking Bryan by the hand and the others wanted to go in too, but were stopped by Johnathan.

"We'd better stay here, so we don't get in the way"

They wouldn't help as they didn't have the power of nature to try to calm Bryan down, it would only make the dark elf even tenser.

Mattias felt apprehensive, but he soon reassured himself that so far Bishop Darcy had shown himself to be a serious person and did not seem like someone who would take advantage of the weakness and fear of others for sexual or any other advantage.

Already in the city of Laison in 1825, the police chief Gianni Esposito was with the doctors who had already analyzed the disfigured child's body and were ready to cremate the body.

"We're going to need the church's help, look at this police chief... You see this drawing here running from the chest to the beginning of the groin, this is a symbol of sacrifice for Surcian" a doctor Pasquale said touching the symbol with gloved fingers, the mid-level magic item Fairy Chrysalis Glove, prevented the wearer from being affected by immediate and direct contact with magic.

Of course, as it was just a glove, and it was direct contact it wasn't as expensive as if it was a shield or armor that would protect the entire body or block high-level magic without needing to come into direct contact with the magic.

"Never heard of this cult" police chief Gianni said with a frown, things were getting worse than he imagined.

"Surcian is the Dark God's paladin... A few weeks ago, I was in Kadian city and there was an attack from the same cult. The church took care of the case, and then I didn't hear about it anymore, but some friends told me that there were many deaths of people who didn't have a good financial situation..."

Pasquale starts talking about the strange experience of participating after the undercover investigations, so he got in touch with doctors who were priests and shared a lot of information about the myths, legends, and tales about the 12 Dark Paladins.

Surcian is the Paladin of Dismemberment, just known as the Butcher.

"So this Surcian is attacking here?" Delegate Gianni asked in disbelief.

"It wasn't Surcian in Kadian City, it was Talion, the Infant Paladin... He just disappeared afterward, we were only able to discover a few members of the cult, and they were burned in the holy fire, but we couldn't catch their leader"

Talion, the Infant Paladin, was a being who transformed into a helpless child and easily let people fool himself, he used needles on his victims who were found bloodless with strange holes in the thigh vein.

At first, the church and doctors thought that it could be vampires or even Necromancers performing forbidden experiments, until days later, when analyzing the bodies, tattoos appeared on the bodies.

"What do these tattoos mean? Some kind of personal brand?" Delegate Gianni said still skeptical.

Twelve Paladins of Darkness... That sounded like a pretty crazy conversation.

Only Gianni was also seeing the tattoo he hadn't seen earlier when the doctor called him in to give the initial verdict on the analysis of the child's body.

So, could this be true?

"Well, Talion's tattoo meant the soul had been consumed. But the tattoo appeared days later, Surcian's appeared a few hours later, so I don't know if it means the same thing."

Pasquale said frankly, he knew superficially about the other 11 Dark Paladins, as the priests didn't share all the information in such a short time of contact and without having to since they knew which paladin was acting, which at the time was Talion.

"Can't you have just been a crazy human?" police chief Gianni asked with some hope.

"The tattoo came later, you're seeing it yourself. If you are still in doubt, call a priest you know and ask him to check."

Doctor Pasquale said indifferently, after all, he knew he was right, but if it were him in the police chief's place, he would also be very skeptical, so he didn't feel offended when Gianni doesn't believe him.

"I'll do it," Delegate Gianni said wearily, but he already had it in mind to get in touch with Father Bellini. He is a priest in the capital and must have more knowledge than the local priests.

In the medium-sized inn near the main avenue of the city, with a beautiful garden with Marple trees with red autumn leaves, Bellini had cornered Bishop Savoia in a room, at Father Bellini's request the Holy Knights took the bishop's assistant, leaving them alone in the room.

As soon as police chief Esposito left Father Bellini was thinking about the matter, the death of a child was always something heinous, the suspicion in his heart that Bishop Savoia had something related to it made him turn pale.

He spent the day thinking about what to do, after lunch, he had already talked to the holy knights and their captain, discovering the disappearance of Bishop Savoia is a part of the night, only returning shortly before sunrise.

The conversation at lunchtime was about the murdered child, which was already being talked about even by the owners of the inn and some people who went to the store earlier.

This only worsened the condition of Father Bellini, who was suspicious that the Bishop had done something unspeakable, in the end, he decided to confront Bishop Savoia.

"You went out last night, I asked the Holy Knights, and they saw you and your assistant leaving after midnight, where did you go? And don't tell me you went to a brothel because brothels are hidden around here and not out in the open like in the capital."

Father Bellini was saying that as they had just arrived in the city and had no contact who could be a guide in the city, it would not be possible that Bishop Savoia already knew where the houses of prostitution were.

"I don't owe satisfaction to anyone in this group," Bishop Savoia said crossing his arms and trying not to tremble, he didn't forget Father Bellini's strength.

However, how could he submit to someone of lower status than himself?

"No, it shouldn't, but you're going to tell me where you were, aren't you?" Father Bellini said taking a handkerchief to clean his hands, this was a simple act of hygiene, but Bishop Savoia shuddered to see this.

In the end, Bishop Savoia confessed that he went out with his assistant to the poorer streets and that they could serve as a prostitution point for prostitutes who were unable to enter these houses that have a stronger administration and had more elite clients.

There were also some women who sold their children to have a night, the perverts paid more; they needed money for the family or just the children were seen as burdens that should generate some income as they ruined their lives at birth.

There were countless people like that on the streets being supported by a rough elite and a bourgeoisie that only care about profits, a Dark BL plot was very cruel to the poor and marginalized.

Whether in the capital, in the middle-income city, or even in the small town, poor people often have to beg and be cursed, or prostitute themselves and be ostracized by the same people who pay for the "service".

Of course, there were more hideous things, like the "service" that Bishop Savoia went to look for in those filthy streets.

"In other words, you were chasing children," Father Bellini said coldly grabbing, making the bishop take a few steps back.

"They were selling themselves, I didn't do anything wrong, if you think about it, I even helped by giving money to that family," Bishop Savoia said calming down and even showing an expression of pride as if giving money to rape a child would clean up the dirt he made.

The violent thought of killing the bishop passed through Father Bellini's mind, he could already see his big hands on the neck of this thin and physically inferior man.

However, Marques Savoia's family was not going to let him get away easily and the church could not protect him.

Father Bellini thought for a while, but before he could leave the bishop in the room, while going to check his "alibi", like a bolt of lightning a sword slashed through Bishop Savoia's chest, splashing blood on the priest's clothes.

"Who..." Bishop Savoia said spitting blood with his body weak from the shock of the attack. The sword glowed with a red light as the fire burned in the place, and the smell of burning flesh permeated the room.

"Police chief Esposito?"

Father Bellini said with surprise, he did not imagine that the delegate was in the hidden room and that he would act without thinking.

The tall man with a scar on his face said nothing, just pushed the body of Bishop Savoia, who tried to scream, but the sheriff had stuck a cloth in the damn pedophile's mouth.

The body landed on the bed with some noise, but nothing that would draw the attention of the people outside. Bishop Savoia was bleeding to death and couldn't scream, police chief Esposito pressed his knee into the man's back and let him die worse than an animal.

The assassins sent by the marquise watched everything through a hole made in the ceiling, they were distressed because their mission was dying in someone else's hand.

"You can take the body and throw it on a road with a carriage nearby, I'll be assigned to investigate, and I'll say that the poor man died in an accident," police chief Esposito said as if talking to ghosts, when finally the Bishop of Savoia died, soaking the bed in red, viscous blood.

The assassins had been discovered so easily, this police chief Esposito was no ordinary person, which made the assassins cautious and unresponsive.

"Let's go out, Father Bellini the assistant of Bishop Savoia is waiting for the good news"

Father Bellini stood still for a while not knowing what to do, but seeing the bishop's body on the bed, he thought it was better to follow the delegate, or he would end up as another body on the bed.