The Devil’s Cage

The tenacious, unyielding and hopeful presence of the Dawn Force made the sister look at Kieran with a kinder gaze.

Sister Dandon appeared as if she was looking at one of her own.

“What is this?” Kieran asked, pretending to not know.

“This is a type of energy, the energy that comes from God! Its appearance symbolizes that you and I came from the same place,” Sister Dandon explained.

“The Church?” The word escaped Kieran’s mouth after being stunned for a while.

Sister Dandon nodded in a soft smile.

“2567, you claimed that you’ve lost your memories, so why don’t you head to one of the churches in the city? The Dandon Church is the biggest one in Edland City! Maybe you can recover your memories there,” she continued.

“At Dandon Church?” Kieran looked a little hesitant.

He shook his head against the anticipating gaze from Sister Dandon.

“I’m sorry, Sister Dandon. A lot has happened these past few days, I really couldn’t tell what was real from what was fake, even more so for an amnesia patient like me. Before this, I came across a swindler who claimed himself to be Gannett and I almost fell into his traps. So, let me find out more about myself before I make the decision. Is that okay?” Kieran looked sincerely at Sister Dandon.

“Of course!” Sister Dandon nodded with a smile.

“I’ll be staying at my friend’s place for the next few days, which is Augen Manor, so if you are looking for me, please drop by the manor.” Kieran then parted ways with the sister.

Sister Dandon then exclaimed her regrets softly as she saw Kieran’s figure leaving in a hurry.

But, soon enough her face was filled with anger.

“How dare someone claim to be the founding father! Has the Saint Relic Association hidden for too long and fueled all these disgraceful men’s arrogance?”

Sister Dandon muttered to herself.

…

After turning into another street corner, Kieran sat in the extra long limo parked beside the road.

“Anything surprise you? I don’t think you need to return to Xilidi, Matam now.”

Anne Aldrich Augen was holding a wine glass, swirling it softly, her gaze at Kieran showed that she was obviously trying to probe for something.

Anne Aldrich Augen with the title of Black Widow was anything but an innocent pure lady, she noticed something was out of place through that phone call from Kieran earlier but as for what it was, she couldn’t make a precise guess.

So, she was hoping that Kieran would reveal some information to her.

“Mn. Something unexpected happened.” Kieran nodded.

He then closed his eyes and laid back on the leather seat.

The soft and tender comfort of the seat reminded him of a real sofa.

In fact, even a common sofa wouldn’t feel as comfortable as the leather seat.

It was quite attracting for Kieran as he hadn’t slept for an entire night.

Because of his -1 debuff in all his skills, it wasn’t an easy task for Kieran to truly bring Dawn Force out on his body but for his upcoming plans, he had to try his best to achieve it.

Therefore, Kieran spent the previous night practicing the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] and it wasn’t just simply practicing like how he did back on Final Island.

He practiced by simulating his own despair that he felt during the battle with Mayer.

Undoubtedly, the self-hypnotizing method of practicing consumed a lot of Kieran’s energy, but fortunately, Kieran had reached his basic goal in the end.

It wasn’t due to his astonishing talents but because Kieran had already reached a certain point and truly experienced how the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] operated at a higher level.

All he needed to do was to activate [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] with the special activation.

“A simulation is just a simulation in the end. Regardless of how hard I imagine, it wouldn’t have become real.”

Despite spending all his efforts, all he did was create some dim glimmering radiance. He couldn’t help but shake his head when he thought about the gap between the real Dawn Sword and his current achievements.

As for Anne Aldrich Augen’s testing and probing, he wouldn’t care as much.

Before his plan was complete, he would never reveal it to anyone.

Anne Aldrich Augen raised a brow when she saw how Kieran was practicing. She finally noticed the difference between Kieran and Mayer.

Mayer was a straightforward person and wouldn’t hide anything behind his emotions but Kieran was different!

Kieran would conceal his real thoughts to achieve his own goals.

However, when comparing both of them, Anne Aldrich Augen showed more interest in the mysterious Kieran. Still, Anne Aldrich Augen was a smart woman, regardless of how interested she was in him, she wouldn’t peel off every single layer to find out the truth.

After sipping the aromatic white wine in her glass, Anne Aldrich Augen said, “I have a speech session about the mayoral election at the central square this afternoon and as a reward for helping me, I want you to be my bodyguard today.”

“Mn,” Kieran answered with his nasal voice.

“You don’t seem very surprised? Are my ambitions that obvious?” Anne Aldrich Augen asked.

This time around, Kieran even lost interest in replying.

Weren’t Anne Aldrich Augen’s ambitions obvious enough?

Through Ryan Sulfose’s recordings and the arguments with Symende Augen’s secretary from before, Kieran had quite the confidence in her understanding of what she wanted to achieve.

“Boooring!”

Kieran’s reaction robbed the last bit of sense of achievement from Anne Aldrich Augen.

She drained the wine in her glass and threw the glass at her feet, crossing her arms and looked at Kieran with protruding lips.

Until the limo returned to Augen Manor, she didn’t further speak to Kieran.

Kieran wished she would stay like that, he liked the peaceful feeling.

…

Just when Kieran was enjoying the peaceful environment, Sister Dandon, on the other hand, was quite busy herself.

After going through all the information gathered on Kieran, Sister Dandon gathered all the higher ranking clergymen of the Dandon Church in the prayer room of Dandon Cathedral.

The higher ranking clergymen were not many in number, in fact, there were only four of them, Sister Dandon included.

Another sister, a father, and a deacon.

After the four of them prayed at Dandon, the other three turned their gazes at Liz Dandon.

“What is this summoning about?” the other sister spoke first.

“I found a knight!” Liz Dandon said.

“Of which church?”

The three instantly became nervous and doubtful.

“Not of any church now.” Liz Dandon said.

“Not of any?” the other three exchanged gazes in confusion.

“Look at all this information, I think he is the hope that the Great Dandon has blessed us with. Her Majesty did not wish the church to die out in our hands just like the others throughout history. So, Her Majesty sent 2567 to us, a knight without any memories!” Liz Dandon said.

While flipping through the information about Kieran, the other three clergymen had their eyes light up when they heard what Liz Dandon said.

The deacon then said, “This is our chance! It has been thirty years since the Dandon Church housed a knight! At this rate, we will face our extinction soon and will end up like the other churches that lost their knights in the Hundred-Years War! We must invite 2567 to join our cause!”

The white hair bearded deacon said in excitement, sounding sonorous as ever.

“But 2567 has lost his memory, what if he recovers them…” the middle-aged father sounded hesitant.

“Then we will convert him using our mercy! As long as he is without memories and enters the altar of Her Majesty, he will definitely be converted by Her Majesty’s grace and then, we will have our own armed force!” the deacon said loudly.

When Dandon was mentioned, the other three clergies had no objections, including Liz Dandon. The other three then nodded in unison.

“Now we will aid 2567 with our powers! Only then 2567 will realize how powerful Her Majesty is!” The deacon then strode away from the prayer room.

A mere 20 minutes later, a shocking news was spread throughout Edland City’s mystical realm.

“The one without memories, 2567 will be under the Dandon Church’s protection. Anyone who harms 2567 will be the enemies of Dandon Church.”

All the mystical individuals who got the news and were envious of the Elder Council’s bounty reward were stunned before causing an uproar amongst themselves.

None of them knew what happened.

Someone even guessed that the Saint Relic Association was waging war against Elder Council again.

Kieran, on the other hand, smiled when he got the news. He was anticipating the things that would unfold next.