Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 294: Chapter 97: It Seems Nobody Believes in the Countess’s Third-rate Soap Opera

Indeed, once the Undead Tribe scattered themselves in groups of threes or twos throughout the forest, they couldn’t help but discuss Hill when they saw him sitting by the fountain, lost in thought.

”Hill doesn’t seem to be bothered, does he?”

Hill rarely felt this satisfied with the hearing his Elven Bloodline afforded him.

”Why would he be uncomfortable? He’s changed his last name; everyone calls him Polanio. Besides, his shameless father is already dead. According to the rules of this world, it’s his brother who inherited the title of Earl who has to bear this disgust,” said the Old Age Striking King as he walked. ”That stepmother, at least outwardly, is already dead. Even now that everyone knows what’s going on, the nobles will just push it under the rug and not mention it. It’s got nothing to do with Hill.”

”That’s true. It’s just like Hill stepped in dog poop!”

”Snow Old Dog hasn’t done anything to offend you.”

The Undead burst out laughing.

These Black Rose people were probably all die-hard fans of the Old Age Striking King, holding a grudge against Snow Cloud Peak for those few words and enjoying dragging Snow Old Dog through the mud whenever they could.

”What about Edgar?”

”He’s fine. Just after Snow Old Dog had someone watch him for a few days, that kid’s mother came knocking,” the Old Age Striking King said with a laugh. ”Snow Old Dog was scared to death; turned out, what looked like a commoner suddenly became a Bishop. Divine Grace is a pretty interesting thing.”

”How come nobody in Obastian noticed it?” someone asked in surprise. ”It’s not like nobody has ever seen her!”

”Seems like there was some sort of disguise,” the Old Age Striking King said nonchalantly. ”She’s not a follower of the God of Nobility. Claims to be a devotee of the Goddess of Love, with a fake copy of a Divine Artifact. Not even the Legendary could figure out what’s going on with her.”

Hmm? Hill’s eyes widened. Goddess of Love, what’s going on here?

”Wasn’t she the Cardinal’s mistress, a follower of the God of Nobility?” Surely enough, an Undead who was out of the loop asked. ”How did it suddenly switch to the Goddess of Love?”

”That woman, she claims she’s always been a follower of the Goddess of Love. Snow Old Dog isn’t sure; still wants to check,” said the Old Age Striking King impatiently. ”You lot, don’t you ever read the storyline when you play the game? Just start fighting when push comes to shove?”

”Not interested in that!” the person said with a grin. ”The best thing about this game is if you don’t look for it yourself, you don’t have to know any transitional storylines. I just need to complete my missions. The goal of leveling up is to fight! Wipe out those Doomsday fools! Who cares about storylines?”

”Damn it,” cursed the Old Age Striking King. ”Then don’t ask me! Do I look like a guide for newbies to you?”

”What does this have to do with the plot? I’m just nosy.”

Hill hoped he had thick enough skin to keep asking, what did it mean for that woman to have always been a devotee of the Goddess of Love?

”Come on, big sis, spill it. I’m dying of curiosity.” Good thing this guy had the cheek for it.

”She didn’t enter Kexlote, instead found a guy riding an elephant and had him tell the steward to come out.” The elder sneered as he beat up the guy who disgusted her, before continuing, ”Snow Old Dog just ran out himself. Nobody expected her to come straight after being released. Who knows what kinds of people are inside Kexlote, watching over that Edgar. Even the family of the elephant-riders knew they were being spied on by the Undead.”

”Speaking of which, were those people slaughtered?” someone asked, ”I remember the execution ground from the day before yesterday. What was her punishment?”

”Yep, slaughtered. They just confiscated her street, returned the houses to the original owners, and then fined her double the house price, which was distributed to the startled owners. The woman who was released yesterday arrived in Kexlote last night.”

The elder snickered, ”She sure was decisive, saying that the old geezers in the Noble Church almost always let their favorite mistresses into the Love Church. She learned a lot there but never received Divine Grace. It wasn’t until she nearly died last time, in total despair, that she was saved by the Goddess of Love.

Too bad she only awakened as a priest, her power wasn’t enough, and she got caught by the Noble Church’s spies. She couldn’t take her son with her. Later, she was taken back by her old lover, and she’s been practicing her faith over there. Once she reached the Bishop Level, she was sent out on missions, coinciding with her desire to return to Saral to seek revenge and find her son.

To be honest, if this woman hadn’t been so ruthless, ending up in such a mess because of that damned Earl, she truly would have been worth sympathizing with!” She gestured to someone trying to speak, ”Shut it, you think Hill can’t hear, don’t discuss the Earl’s business here.”

”Was Snow Cloud Peak showing this stuff to William all of yesterday?”

”Yes, it was a channel that only the management could enter, so that’s how I saw it.” The elder, irritated, told them to shut up and not interrupt, ”She’s here for two things this time. One is revenge, to kill those two men and see if her son is doing well. She already knows it was Hill who helped, and she swore she’d never do anything to harm him.

”The other is a task from the Noble Church, to deal with a traitor. That would be Duke Saral. He used to be a follower of the God of Nobility, and before the Noble Church withdrew, they entrusted him with looking after some things. The guy ended up embezzling and even killed another devout follower who was guarding it with him. She had initially wanted to bankrupt that guy but then she saw a little Elven spy. That drew the Duke’s attention away.”

”Wasn’t that girl from the Kind Alignment? Also a follower of the God of Time and Space?”

”Who told you it was that girl? It was her two old servants.” Old Age Striking King sneered, ”That girl was deliberately trained by them, just to set up the big shot one day. It turns out, she was the one they got played by, forcing them to act prematurely. It amounted to dying in vain. The girl was indeed innocent, but her death has long been determined; it was just a matter of who would kill her.”

”Wasn’t she living alone? So she did have servants with her!”

”In the eyes of the nobles, servants are never counted as people. It’s a bit too much reality. Anyway, that’s just a stupid person, who believes whatever those so-called servants tell her.

”But it seems it didn’t affect the big shot. The God of Time and Space made it clear from the start, he doesn’t accept worshippers kneeling before him. Those people probably didn’t expect the big shot to be serious about it, receiving not the slightest bit of faith. The priests of the Temple of Time and Space actually have things to do, no time for preaching. Oh, what’s the use talking about this, isn’t it the same everywhere, tools don’t understand squat!”

The Old Age Striking King seemed to jump up, greeting a kitty in the tree, ”Mimi~ Mimi~ come with me, will you~”

She softened her voice, sweetly calling the cat with a long meowing.

Unfortunately, the cat seemed to have no interest in her, and simply ran away, leaving behind a group of Undead from the Old Age Striking King’s retinue, expressing their disgust incredulously.

Though they were friends from her elder years, it seemed they were even bolder in speaking out!

Of course, she inevitably got herself a good beating.

They gave up on chatting and started earnestly searching for their preferred Magical Beasts.

Leaving behind nothing but a mess of feathers for Hill.

So Olivia is just an unlucky wretch, huh?

Hill thought to himself that, sure enough, this girl had neither the eye for people nor luck.

But since that was the case, embarking on a Priest’s journey of atonement wasn’t so bad. Maybe it would clear her head a bit, and she could be more cautious in future actions.

After learning that the Knight troop had been condemned to death from top to bottom, Hill no longer planned to get involved.

Maybe they were just unlucky. But they not only watched evil happen right before their eyes, they also committed many evils themselves.

As for the matter of Obastian, since William had judged everyone involved to the death penalty, he was bound to release the reasons for it.

The group led by Olivia were simply lucky to have no blood on their hands.

Not to speak of looting and theft, they also didn’t shy away from setting houses on fire.

However, Olivia really was completely deceived.

She never understood that those she’d inspired to leave with her weren’t thinking about advancing in their profession, or a future as Nobles, but rather indulging in debauchery and pleasure. Otherwise, why would they abandon their own wives?

What she could offer to these Knights, the Duke would only provide more.

Even if she were to marry the Duke in the future, these few Knights she relied on would no longer be her people.

If these people could betray Hill, who offered them their prospects, and their wives whom they had known since childhood, would they really see a mere Priest like her as important?

The fate that befell Olivia today was, in fact, destined long ago.

In this world, if you wish to enter into the world of power struggles, you’d better not be a naive fool who trusts others easily.

Hill’s curiosity was somewhat satisfied, as for the rest, that would have to wait for the future.

But that so-called follower of the Goddess of Love, Hill didn’t believe her for a second.

The people of the Noble Temple were too accustomed to exploiting the Goddess of Love, weren’t they? Spouting nonsense just like that.

Her words could fool the Undead, that’s why she never dared to seek out the people of the Temple of Time and Space.

The Noble Temple must have some replicas of the Goddess of Love’s former Divine Artifacts, so they could pose as her Priests.

But now, the Goddess of Love simply wasn’t capable of bestowing Divine Grace, awakening Priests, and letting new Priests ascend directly to Bishop-level.

The so-called altar doesn’t need any Priest to preside over it—all it takes is a sincere offering to receive the blessing of the Goddess of Love.

May those in love be together forever.

If there are still Priests of the Goddess of Love in the future, they would be those who have naturally awakened to the law of love. Only the deities of the altar have handed over most of their divine authority to the management of the law, no longer dispensing divine grace based on personal likes and dislikes.

Whether the Goddess of Love wanted to get away or truly repented at the time, she made a vow to the World Will—a god’s vow can only be skirted, never altered.

This former Countess is full of nonsense, probably thinking that the Goddess of Love, after experiencing utter despair seen by the Undead, would sympathize with a woman who had also lost love and lend her a hand.

However, the Undead had no feelings whatsoever about these third-rate romance novel plots.

She simply handed it over to William directly.

As an Alliance Hierarch, Snow Cloud Peak could contact William, the nominal commander of the Undead, directly.