Their next destination was not too far away, merely 150 kilometers from the Fallshoot village if traveled on Desert road. It was boring to move as the road was empty even though it was one of the major lifelines. Thankfully, though, it was adjacent to the Wall of Void. So they were protected from sharp sun rays.
“How do you think people in Sphinx town live? Their location is just beside the warmest parts of the continent.” Gabriel wondered, resting in the back of the carriage while the horses were tied behind. Sir Dolorem was doing the same, as having a roof over their head was better than riding a horse.
Miraj was angry, however, as he now had less space and had to be careful while sleeping. In the end, he just made Sylvester’s lap his new bed.
“They don’t work from noon to evening.” Sir Dolorem spoke. “Their working hours are different from the rest of the world. They sleep when the sun is at its peak, do their farm work and outdoor activities during the morning, and bulk sunlight in the late evening. At night they do all the processing work.”
“Then how do they keep themselves safe at night?” Sylvester inquired. “If I remember correctly, we were attacked by a Creature of Night the last time we were here.”
“It’s not an ordinary town, Priest Sylvester. You will know when you see it—you were asleep the last time, so you didn’t see it. It was in a better condition back then, however.” Sir Dolorem explained.
While Felix steered the carriage, Sylvester relaxed back in the reinsman’s soft leather seat. “Want some music? I can play the violin, no singing, however.”
“Yes! As much as I want to badmouth you for fun, I can’t deny you have some talent in this violin thing. If you were not a clergyman, I can guarantee you’d have been the top court jester.” Felix chirped quickly.
Sylvester ignored his friend’s japing and started playing a piece from his old memory. “Who do you want to dedicate it to?”
Felix thought about it a little and blurted quickly. “My mother… she’s gone, but she was an amazing person.” 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨
“Alright then, to Felix’s mum. May her soul rest in peace.”
[A/N: W.A.Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik]
As Sylvester gently started playing the music, Miraj became comfier on his lap and snored. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Sir Dolorem closed their eyes with a smile, reminiscing about some happy memories from the past.
Felix, however, was the reinsman, so he just kept looking forward blankly, but his mouth also appeared to take the crescent shape. He was, in fact, remembering his childhood with his mum. The hide and seek, the bedtime stories, and so much more.
Sylvester, too, soon found his eyes closing, but this time instead of something from his past life, the happy memories with Xavia reappeared. The various wild honeypot hunts at home only to make a mess, Xavia tickling him until he started cursing in English, and him telling her bedtime stories instead.
Laughs, giggles, and relaxation—the memories were pleasant. But, in that relaxation, the all-great detective Sylvester failed to realize that he was not an outsider anymore—he was someone’s son—wholeheartedly.
They silently moved the whole journey, letting the wind sway and showing them the way. Eventually, a few ran out of good memories, and some sad ones crept in, but the smiles remained.
Taking a glance, Sylvester noticed Sir Dolorem’s lips shivering faintly. Yes, the man was fighting tears. Sylvester could guess that losing his wife and son and not even being unable to see their bodies for the last time must have been painful—no matter how much time passes.
At another glance, Gabriel and Felix were no better. So Sylvester didn’t interrupt them and kept playing the music while looking at the deadlands. They felt resonating with him for some reason—dead being the keyword.
Unlike his friends, he didn’t feel emotional at the moment. He was instead a man who contains those emotions over time. But they do burst out… eventually.
“Ah, look, I can see the tall walls. Now I understand how they stay safe.” Sylvester interrupted everyone.
Felix came back to his senses and looked. “Oh, yeah. I didn’t even notice… damn, Max, you’re good at making people remember memories.”
Sylvester shrugged as he put the violin in the case. “Life is just a bundle of memories—you’re alive as long as in someone’s mind—and when that’s gone, you’ve truly died.”
Felix chuckled. “Good thing that our names are in the history books now. We’re technically immortal this way.”
“Look! What are those?” Gabriel suddenly crawled up behind the two and pointed at the front. The noon sun was bright and warm, so the road ahead appeared as if boiling, distorting the vision from the heat.
“Are those sheds? Why so many on the sides of the roads?” Felix wondered.
As they moved closer, they realized the whole Desert Road’s side, until it touched the town’s gates, was littered with small two-meter wide mud sheds with conical thatched roofs.
Sylvester waited until they reached one of them and looked inside. They had no doors, so it was easy… but at one glance, it raised goosebumps all over their bodies. There, in the little shed, remained a thin, malnutritioned man, barely skin and bones right now, with his feet tied to a thick metal chain.
“What is all this? Are all these sheds full of people?” Sylvester jumped off and started to check the sheds from a distance. Each one of them contained a man or a woman, dying slowly. The most commonalities were reddened eyes, falling jaw with sharp dirty teeth, and dry cracked skin.
“Aaaa… help!”
Out of nowhere, a young voice echoed. Sylvester immediately kept his spear in battle position and carefully moved forward. The Sphinx town seemed to have one entrance to their tall walls, and the way to it was full of these sheds.
“Wraaaaa…” All of a sudden, a woman tried to jump on him.
“I’m hungry… give me food.”
“Water… please…”
It slowly became apparent that not all these people were with one foot in the grave. But he looked for the voice asking for help.
“Help me!”
Once again, the call came. By now, Sir Dolorem had joined him in the careful search. Eventually, they came across a little shed close to the wall. A young, brown-haired, nearly ten-year-old boy, was fighting the person inside the shed, or it was better to say trying to get away.
“Let me go!”
But, the woman inside the shed appeared like a zombie with rotten skin and a lot of rage. She tried to pull the young boy in and bite his arms.
“Help!” the boy cried as he tried to fight and get away.
Sylvester and Sir Dolorem were quick to jump into action. Sir Dolorem caught the boy from the back while Sylvester beamed some light from his palm at the zombie-like woman. In an instant, the woman started quivering and crawled back to the shed, where she sat down in the corner like a scared girl.
“Are you good?” Sylvester checked the boy to see if he was bitten anywhere. However, there were just some scratches, which he quickly healed with minor healing runes.
Clearing the little bit of welled-up tears from his eyes, the boy thanked kindly. “Thank you, sir…”
“Priests… we are priests from the Holy Land. What are you doing here?” Sylvester asked.
The boy looked at the woman in the mud shed, and then at the fallen cup of water. “I was giving water to my mum. S-She is very sick…. The chief said.”
Hearing that, Sylvester moved closer to the shed and looked at the woman, still sitting in the corner with her head tucked between her knees. Her clothes were torn from places, and her skin had flesh wounds that none healed.
“I try to give water to everyone here.” The boy added.
“Why don’t the other town folks help you?” Sir Dolorem questioned him.
“They say these people are possessed, and to go near them will get you cursed or killed. I go to them every day—I’m not cursed.” the boy proudly replied.
‘What a good kid! He has more willpower than the entire town combined. But, are all these people possessed?’ He looked around in shock as there were at least a few hundred such mud sheds.
As for why they were being so silent now, it was because the day’s light was still striking hard. At night, most of these would get agitated if they were possessed. Sylvester faced the Sphinx town, its strong stonewalls were at least twenty feet high, and the entrance door was made of steel.
There were, of course, some sentries at the top watching them with intent, some rushing around having recognized Sylvester’s robes of the church.
“Have you given her water?” Sylvester asked.
“No, mum attacked me.”
Sylvester nodded and waved his left hand to create a small rune on the ground, blue in color. Then, a thin stream of water came out slowly, fully under Sylvester’s control, and started to fly towards the woman’s mouth.
She didn’t waste a moment and drank it all frantically. ‘These people have been left in this strong heat to die. Well, I guess I’ll exorcize them all then.’
Sylvester still did not understand how this concept of demon possession worked. Where do these demons come from? How do they possess? Where do they live? Because as far as he knew, the church differentiated between the Creatures of the Night and Demons. To the Church, Demons were a totally different species.
“What’s your name, kid?”
The boy respectfully replied with a bow of his head. “I am Shane Kolt, sir… priests.”
By then, Felix also arrived with the carriage. So Sylvester told the boy to get on it. “We’re here to fix your town’s trouble—so rest easy now.”
“Really? Will my mum be good again?” Shane beamed happily. “Let’s go quickly then. I will show you the ways, si… AH!”
Suddenly, Shane jumped up from where he sat in the carriage. Sylvester quickly helped, having seen sleeping Miraj being squished just now. But instead of being annoyed, the cat got interested in the new kid—perhaps a new toy to annoy.
“It was just a bag. Sit now and relax.” Sylvester quickly moved the carriage down the road between the men and women tied to the sides.
At the door, one guard came out, wearing leather armor, and asked for the purpose of the visit.
“The Holy Land sends us to exorcize and fix the problems occurring in the town. Due to this mess, the entire Desert Road is seeing less traffic and is hurting the other regions.” Sylvester exclaimed and showed the official letter from the Holy Land, stamped by the Administration office.
Upon checking, the guard waved at the ones back at the top of the wall. Then with a loud creaking sound, they opened the metal doors.
“Shane, do you know where the monastery is?” He asked the boy.
Shane chirped. “Yes! I live there… just follow my lead… take left.”
It was obvious that the town’s rulers and clergy knew someone had come to their town. So when Sylvester got off at the well-kept, large monastery building, the Archpriest of the town came to welcome them.
“We are blessed to have you here, holy men. I am Archpriest Oliver Weston.” An old, buffed, strong man saluted.
Sylvester, however, frowned internally, for he smelled something fishy. ‘This—Why is he lying about his own name?’
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[A/N: Special Thanks to Justus_Halbach. Bonus Chapter incoming!]
700 GT = 1 bonus chapter.
1 Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.
800 Stones = Bonus Chapter.
APE TOGETHER STRONG!