It was already an hour and half later by the time Cheryl arrived at the Hearthstone Tavern. The trip took only twenty minutes. The remainder of the time was spent finding ‘weapons for killing.’
For ordinary assassination missions, inquisitors would generally carry two sharp daggers. After all, the inquisitors, with their abilities, were fatal weapons in their own right.
But, this was not an ordinary assassination mission. It was a platoon of over ten inquisitors and two or three inquisition leaders, a number enough to conduct a small-scale bloodbath of a war.
Cheryl rushed over to the Hearthstone Tavern with the thought that she’ll be participating in a war. That was the reason why she spent the time gathering weapons.
When she pushed open the doors to the Hearthstone Tavern, she noticed that the interior remained the same as before. The dwarves were raising their wooden jugs and shouting gleefully at the appearance of a new legendary card.
“Miss Nun! For you to not sleep this late at night, are you planning to reach the ranks of legendary again?”
“Wait... Miss Nun, before taking care of those bastards, come help me open a couple card packs. If you manage to open out a legendary card, I will pay for an entire month worth of drinks for you!”
The dwarves playing Hearthstone in the tavern late at night all knew of Cheryl. Even though they felt Cheryl to be a thin, weak, short and small human girl, they recognized and respected her outstanding skills in Hearthstone.
She only emerged in the Hearthstone Tavern a week ago. Yet, she already managed to defeat all the dwarven Hearthstone players with the exception of the Frostaxe Clan’s Great Elder Frostaxe.
The dwarves of the Hearthstone Tavern would only show respect toward two kinds of people. The first kind were those that managed to ascend onto the top ten Hearthstone players ranking list, the Legendary Players. As for the second kind, they were the ‘lucky angels’ that had a very high probability of opening a legendary card whenever they opened card packs.
Cheryl was someone who held the characteristic of both kinds of people. Because of that, all the dwarves of the tavern showed great respect for this thin and weak little girl.
“Save those ten card packs for me. I’ll open them for you tomorrow night. As for the ranking, I’m busy tonight and wouldn’t be able to play Hearthstone.”
Cheryl doesn’t have the money to purchase card packs herself. Thus, she has always been happy to help others open card packs.
Unfortunately, she did not come to the Hearthstone Tavern as a Hearthstone Player tonight. Instead, she came as a warrior that has prepared to die on the battlefield.
Cheryl placed her hands on the hilts of the two swords on her waist. She was wearing a cloak over her body. That cloak hid her weapons.
As the Chaos Demon’s ‘soldier drafting’ was too hurried, Cheryl was unable to prepare any good weapons. All the weapons she had were found in the mage tower.
Cheryl didn’t know if she could utilize those weapons properly. But, it was better than joining a battle empty-handed.
After she tactfully declined the kind invitations from the dwarves, Cheryl walked up the stairs to the second floor.
When Cheryl stepped onto the old wooden staircase, she was wondering exactly how many people would the Chaos Demon be able to dispatch to take on the inquisitors.
Right now, the only battle power Cheryl could think of was another demon recorded in the Dark Gray Canon, one of the most highly ranked demons in terms of dangerousness, the Sin Demon.
Furthermore... Cheryl suspects that Joshua seemed to also control an entire undead army.
But, it would be impossible for him to let that undead army appear in Norland. Should he do that, it would not only be the inquisitors that would crusade against him, even Norland’s sages would join the crusade.
When Cheryl slowly walked onto the second floor and arrived at Joshua’s study, she discovered that her guesses were completely wrong.
This Chaos Demon had no plan to dispatch anyone to participate in this battle at all. It seemed like even he had not realized the imminent crisis.
The reason for that was because Joshua and Ciri were having a Hearthstone match.
When Cheryl pushed open the doors to the study, Ciri had just achieved victory over Joshua with her latest ‘Mech Mage’ deck.
“You’ve come later than I expected.”
Joshua stopped the test and turned his eyes to the inquisitor lady standing by the entrance.
“I took some time preparing weapons.”
Cheryl took a glance at Joshua’s study. This place truly does not resemble the headquarters of a battle. There was no secrecy to be said. The desk was also covered in a large amount of piled-up documents.
If they were truly going to carry out a battle against the inquisitors in the city, they’d need at least a map of Norland.
“Weapons?”
“...”
Cheryl removed her cloak after being asked that question. There were two swords on her waist. As she was not even 140cm tall, the two swords’ sheaths were dragging on the ground. There was also a dagger on her waist and another dagger behind her back.
“Miss Cheryl, are you planning to take on the time-limited monster that appears only at night?”
Fortunately Joshua had already informed the workers of the tavern to allow this incomparably young looking inquisitor to enter his study before Cheryl’s arrival. Else, with all the weapons Cheryl was carrying with her, she would immediately be deemed as an assassin. Moreover, her behavior would categorize her as a hack-and-slash Dynasty Warrior-type assassin that didn’t care about stealth gameplay in the slightest.
“Could it be... you called me over not because you wanted to take care of the Holy Church’s inquisitors?” asked Cheryl.
“That’s right. But, before that, you should remove your weapons. Else, it might become a bit dangerous for you.”
Joshua took a glance at Ciri. The moment Cheryl revealed the weapons she was carrying, Ciri had placed her hand onto her staff.
There was also a bat hanging upside down outside the window. Her scarlet eyes have been fixed onto Cheryl the moment she stepped into the study.
“I understand.”
Cheryl knew that even though she was an ‘accomplice’ of Joshua, she had not received the trust from Joshua, or perhaps the people around him.
The two swords fell from Cheryl’s waist. They let out a very heavy sound as they landed on the floor. Then, Cheryl tossed the daggers on her waist and back onto the ground too. After that, she removed her outer clothes, leaving behind only a white form-fitting sleeveless garment.
Her underaged build was immediately revealed.
The lining of her outer clothes were filled with over a hundred tiny iron discs. They seemed to be used for throwing.
Joshua believed that Cheryl would be able to use those weapons to take down a group of not-so-well prepared bandits.
“Please excuse my rudeness.”
Cheryl stretched her body. Gray mist covered her body and formed a new set of clothes. Then, she raised her hands to show to Ciri and a certain someone staring at her in the study that she was ‘clean.’ Only then did she turn her gaze back to Joshua.
“The Holy Church has dispatched several inquisitors to this city. They are most definitely not here for a trip. Mister Demon, how are you planning to face them?”
“To be exact, they’ve dispatched fourteen inquisitors, Skotan Nun. Furthermore, there are two inquisition leaders among them. They will begin their assault in six days.”
Joshua possessed much more accurate information than Cheryl.
“As for how to handle them, I have an idea. But, it will only be able to stop them and not defeat them. I’ve only asked for you to come here because I wanted to ask you if the inquisitors possess any weakness. For example... things such as being afraid of receiving mental pollution.”
“Mental... pollution?”
When Cheryl heard that unfamiliar term, the first thing she thought of was magic capable of affecting one’s consciousness. But, there were very few mages skilled in that sort of magic. After all, they were the natural enemies of the inquisitors.