Chapter Volume 3 33

Forbidden Statues of God

"After the war, I didn't have anywhere to go, so I came here to work as a bodyguard for a company. I just started a small business. Therefore, I do know about the chapel in relation to your question. We're transporting statues of God this time. Rest assured, though. They're one hundred percent statues of God. There are no weapons fitted inside," explained Francis.

After learning what I was thinking, Francis led me elsewhere. Though he was met with the dwarves boos, Francis seemed to highly respect Veirya. As soon as he heard of my predicament and I was with Veirya, he prioritised work. He led us to an unfamiliar street. The smell on the street was somewhat odd. I was feeling drowsy, so the smell induced a headache… I could smell sulphur in the air. I speculated there was a chemical plant.

The three of us arrived at the huge door to the warehouse. Francis took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the heavy iron door. He pushed the door open. I thought I saw the terracotta army in Xi'an's museum when I first looked inside. There were statues the height of a human being made from earth. All of them were in different poses. I never expected there to be so many statues of god there. I presumed the chapel had lots of gods in their religion. Tonnes of statues were lined up inside.

We walked down the middle. I examined the statues and touched them. They were definitely earth statues and were crafted meticulously. They looked as though they were living gods. Francis stood at the door with his arms folded. He proudly explained, "It's as simple as a click of a finger to make these statues for you humans. Don't worry, though, as there are no weapons fitted in them. After all, it takes quite a bit of effort to break them. Products that we carve aren't something you can easily break."

"I see," I remarked.

I touched a stone statue. I carefully clenched my fist and glanced over to Francis. He nodded: "Help yourself. If you can break it with your hand, I'll cover the cost. The only woman who could break our statues with her bare hands probably moans beneath you. Wait, I'm very curious. Does Veirya actually moan?"

"Of course not."

I wasn't Veirya's husband, but I could tell I needed to put on the act. Francis stroked his beard: "Thought so. How in the world did you make her fall for you and marry you? I really want to know the answer to that. If I could learn how you did it, I bet I could win the heart of any woman in the world."

"I used my daughter." Owing to the fact that I was in my own thoughts, I blurted my response without thinking about it. I only realised what I said three seconds after I blurted it. I quickly spun around to the dwarf who seemed to be thinking of something, yet not, and exclaimed, "Wait!! Wait! It's not what you think! I didn't do anything to Veirya before marriage!! Use your sincerity. Use your sincerity. You can conquer any woman with sincerity!"

"Yeah…?"

Francis didn't seem to believe a thing I said. I hopelessly sighed then quickly added, "Why are all of the statues holding something in their hands? Should they be holding something?"

"Oh, yes," responded Francis, leading me to a corner of the warehouse. Inside were several sealed chests: "Are you talking about this? They're here. They should be holding weapons, torches and whatnot, but as it's not easy to transport if we sculpt them on, we sculpt them separately, then we can attach them once we stand them up."

Judging from their length, long swords were probably stored inside. I asked, "Can we open them to take a look?"

"Sorry, I can't let you do that. These are for the chapel. If you open them and a problem arises after, we will have to assume the responsibility. Rest assured, however, as these stone swords are quite heavy and difficult to pick up. You can try to see if you can drag the chest."

I tried to drag it; as he said, it was very heavy. I couldn't even drag it, let alone lift it. It was highly unlikely a human could wield the stone swords inside the chest. Arms folded, Francis elaborated, "Don't worry about it. I haven't heard of the chapel purchasing weapons from us. I'd surmise that it's just a baseless claim."

"They didn't?"

Francis seriously shook his head: "I have never heard of any cases. At the very least, this batch I am transporting doesn't contain any weapons. With that said, after me, we don't transport any new goods afterwards, either. We're also waiting for the chapel to pay us. Nevertheless, they haven't asked us to come collect our recent payment, yet."

I nodded, albeit not buying his claim, as I knew I wouldn't find out anything even if I continued questioning him. Francis denied the weapons' existence. He was watching me, so I couldn't investigate any further.

I looked around and coincidentally spotted a wooden chest with a sign on top. They had four stone swords, the location the statues were to go written on the sign and the price for one unit. One statue was worth eighty gold coins. I doubted any common man could've afforded the statues. Unfortunately, that was all the information available.

"That's all I know. I don't know what problem there is with the chapel; neverrtheless, if Veirya needs something, I'll do my best to assist you. That lass, how do I put it? She's not fond of speaking, but she did save my life multiple times. I have to pay her back for those times."

I understood Francis' stance with his statement. I didn't learn much from the warehouse. I still couldn't make sense of what the chapel's aim was after compiling all of the information on hand. Actually, I was even more perplexed than I was before. Previously, there was supposedly evidence the chapel purchased weapons. I didn't find any. Nonetheless, I was positive the chapel bought weapons, as they'd never be able to achieve anything if they didn't have any.

I began to think, "Could the chapel be planning a revolution without bloodshed? Who am I kidding? That's impossible. Queen Sisi has misgivings precisely because the chapel possesses weapons. Moreover, if the chapel doesn't have any advantages, the Queen wouldn't have any qualms."

I asked Achilles, "You saw that, right? We didn't find any of the chapel's weapons."

Achilles gave me a smile: "In other words, the chapel did not actually purchase weapons?"

I played dumb: "Who knows…"

In truth, we both tacitly understood what was going on except we lacked evidence to provide it. We couldn't find any.

Achilles said, "We do not have much time. You have to report to Her Majesty tomorrow. The military is ready. If we do not find solid evidence, Her Majesty will resort to the simplest method."

"In other words, a killing spree?"

"Exactly."

"Wait it out for now. I think I should be able to find out something. Investigating the weapons is one thing, but what exactly the chapel wants to do is what I want to know most."

"So, does that mean that the warehouse is no longer a threat?'

"We can't be absolutely certain."

"It is unlikely that there will be anyone who can destroy the stone statues. Veirya is not with them. How would they hide weapons inside?"

"That's true…"

If I was being honest, I did have some idea in my mind, but I didn't plan to inform Achilles. He forgot about someone who was by his side, and he happened to be most familiar with her. Veirya wasn't in the imperial capital but Angelina was. Veirya could smash it with her bare hands, which meant Angelina could, too.