Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 498 - 497: The Dust Settles

An unprecedented "battle" had ended. The civilians broke through the defenses of the Grand Cathedral, and the priests, once high and mighty, were dragged out from the church to bear the people’s wrath. The accumulated anger of the civilians was unleashed, and justice seemed to have been served. Everything appeared to have settled.

But for the leaders and planners of all this, there was still much to be done in the aftermath.

After the battle at the Lu’an Grand Cathedral ended, the White Knights immediately moved into action. They first assembled the various volunteer mercenaries and adventurer teams to ensure the order of all armed groups, and then organized manpower to transport the grain stored in the warehouses in the cathedral district, distributing it on-site at the plaza. Once the populace received food and initial stability was achieved, a team composed of Lu’an residents, mercenary representatives, and merchant representatives headed to the Outer City District to welcome the Cecil Combat Corps, which had been waiting outside the city.

After the Cecil Combat Corps entered the city, the situation could be said to be initially stabilized.

Amber and Wright left the underground of the Grand Cathedral. They displayed the remaining fragments of Fran Belon’s magic robe to the populace, informing them that the wicked bishop had been completely obliterated by the Holy Light of the White Knights—although many regretted not witnessing Fran Belon’s death personally, the result was enough to make the people cheer. After all... considering the real situation of extraordinary powers in this world, hoping for Fran Belon to die under the stones and sticks of the people was unrealistic. From a safe and secure perspective, the ambush assassination of the Bishop of Lu’an by an elite team of White Knights was part of the plan.

After completing these tasks, Amber and Wright didn’t linger in the plaza but quickly reached an inconspicuous residence at the edge of the cathedral district.

It was a residence that looked unremarkable from the outside, but the soldiers guarding the entrance and two White Knights were enough to indicate its special nature. Amber pushed the door open and, unsurprisingly, saw that tall and familiar figure in the living room.

"You sure sneaked your way in," the half-elf lady swaggered over, patting Gawain’s arm, "I knew it, for something this important you definitely wouldn’t want to hide in the rear..."

Gawain, dressed in military attire, had already sensed the other’s presence before Amber entered the room. He turned around, somewhat amused, looking at Amber: "What do you mean sneaked your way in... Can you not use your professional jargon when describing me?"

Amber crossed her arms and spoke energetically: "Obviously you entered the city with the team, but you’ve been hiding and haven’t shown your face until now. If that’s not sneaking, then what is?"

Gawain’s mouth twitched slightly as he helplessly looked at the head of the Intelligence Agency, who had just accomplished an important deed—in fact, according to previous mission reports and the actual situation in Lu’an City, this half-elf had been diligently working day and night, skillfully controlling everything. He thought this way he would see a mature and reliable Amber but didn’t expect that upon meeting her, she was still the same...

How to describe it, it felt like she was a cunning and ruthless intelligence head walking outside a minute ago, then she suddenly "turned" into a goofy goose as she sidled up to him, annoyingly thrusting her head forward, starting to babble...

So annoying, she needs a beating, and she’s completely unaware.

"Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?" Amber noticed Gawain suddenly not speaking and started babbling again, "No way, don’t tell me you actually took it to heart... Just saying you snuck into the city..."

Gawain hurriedly shook his head, trying to shake away the image of "a goose babbling endlessly in front of him" from his mind. He glanced at Amber: "This was a very risky operation, where unexpected changes easily occur—civilians storming the cathedral of the Transcendents, even with the White Knights and a large number of volunteer mercenaries as the vanguard, it could easily get out of control, especially considering the suspicious aspects of Fran Belon you mentioned earlier... I had to personally provide support to prevent any mishaps."

Upon hearing Gawain’s words, Amber was slightly stunned. Her pointed ears twitched gently, and she showed a peculiar smile on her face: "Really..."

"Really what?"

"Nothing," Amber shook her head, "That Fran Belon did indeed present some strange situations. To be honest, it was a bit dangerous at the time, but fortunately, it was just a false alarm—big guy, where’s that crystal?"

Wright, who had been quietly standing nearby, wasn’t bothered by the nickname Amber gave him. He stepped forward and took out the faintly glowing, seemingly light-forged, pale golden crystal from the container beside him: "Leader, this is it."

Gawain was somewhat surprised as he took the crystal: "What is... this thing?"

Amber shrugged: "Believe it or not, this is Fran Belon’s remains... The rest of his body was burned away by the Holy Light, leaving just this thing."

Gawain was shocked—did this otherworld’s Holy Light Archbishop leave "relics" behind after being burned? Could it be that Fran Belon was actually a high monk...

Of course, he didn’t voice his thoughts. Instead, he looked at Amber with a peculiar expression: "What exactly happened?"

Amber cleared her throat and started vividly recounting her and Wright’s adventure: "Here’s how it went, we found in the underground..."

Gawain furrowed his brows slightly, listening attentively to every detail Amber described. After separating out the self-aggrandizing exaggerations of this embarrassing disgrace to the elves, he slowly reconstructed the entire operation of killing Fran Belon in his mind.

Then he couldn’t help but feel a sense of reflection regarding the temporary Bishop of Lu’an’s death.

It seemed that Fran Belon really had prepared an ambush in the prayer room. He acquired some bizarre power from who knows where and had set up a kill trap in the room, but he obviously didn’t anticipate the White Knights’ action process—the White Knights directly bypassed the phase of "entering the secret room, disarming the trap, encountering the enemy, and engaging in battle," choosing to blow up the entire secret room first before entering. Thus, the ambushed Fran Belon was nearly blasted to death before he could act...

Later, this half-dead person pretended to be trying to revive again, hoping to set up another ambush, but ended up miscalculating once more — Amber’s beliefs were strong, Wright was able to break through the mental Steel Stamp himself, and the other White Knights had astonishing resistance to the Holy Light, turning Fran Belon’s final ripple into a lonely gesture, eventually causing his complete downfall.

Truth be told, dying like that felt quite suffocating. It would be better to face the stones from the common folk in the cathedral square with dignity—at least that way it might get on the newspapers. Striking a pose might even lead to becoming an educational example...

Thinking about it like that feels even more suffocating.

After Amber finished speaking, Wright added some details beside her, and Gawain fell into thought while looking at the crystal in his hand.

This crystal is indeed "dead," but it still emits a faint warmth and glow. Within the faint light, numerous changing shadows can be seen vaguely, as if Fran Belon’s hollow soul continues to echo within the crystal, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his own death. And when Gawain held this translucent crystal toward the sun, he could see the sun’s surface was covered with a faint layer of ripples—

This phenomenon of observing the sun’s disc through the crystal and seeing ripples proves that this crystal possesses strong magical coherence; it is a crystallization born in a potent magic-pervasive environment, containing stable magic power itself.

Can the blood and flesh of humans truly produce such a crystal?

Or was it... Fran Belon attempted to use a crystal state of Holy Artifact to enhance his power, only for the ritual to fail and backfire, turning him into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and crystal?

Or perhaps... Fran Belon was simply holding a crystal-made magic artifact behind the door, ready to attack the intruders as they pushed the door open, but once it opened, the White Knights indiscriminately hurled a bunch of explosives, blending him and the crystal together...

Gawain couldn’t help but shiver. He felt that his third hypothesis was too bizarre and grotesque. While exploring such thoughts seemed intriguing, it’s better to follow the local art style in a world of swords and magic.

Seeing the constant change in Gawain’s facial expression, Wright couldn’t help but come forward to ask: "Do you have any ideas?"

"Can’t think of anything for the moment..." Gawain said, but just halfway through his sentence, his mind suddenly flickered with an idea, almost as if catching onto an overlooked clue, "Wait... I think I remember now..."

Amber and Wright immediately fell silent, and after a moment of contemplation, Gawain finally grabbed onto the fleeting information: "Do you remember, when Kamel and Nicholas Egg both described the initial divine evils crafted by the Gondor Empire—one trait of the early failed divine evils was the growth of crystals within human flesh..."

"Divine evils?" Amber widened her eyes, "You mean... Fran Belon attempted to transform himself into a divine evil?"

Gawain pondered carefully: "Not necessarily... I suspect this is merely a byproduct of a failed experiment. According to Kamel’s information, all Gondor human descendants bear the genetic traits of divine evils. In other words, with suitable external stimuli, every human potentially could undergo divine evil transformation...However, the divine evil technology of the Gondor Empire ultimately succeeded at the time, stabilizing and neutralizing these genetic traits, implanting them safely within humans. Therefore, no out-of-control divine evil incidents have emerged among ordinary people for thousands of years, but who can guarantee that it will never mutate?"

Amber and Wright displayed considerate expressions, while Gawain lightly sighed: "Unfortunately...no clues have been left behind. We may never truly understand what happened to Fran Belon... How could a middle-ranked priest suddenly gain such power?"

Wright showed a hint of apology: "Leader, our actions were too reckless..."

"No, your actions were appropriate; that was indeed the best plan. The loss of clues was unavoidable, being on the battlefield," Gawain waved, "And saying that Fran Belon had undergone divine evil transformation is just my guess—fortunately, you retrieved this crystal. I can take it back for Kamel to examine; maybe we can still find some clues."

After setting aside the matter for now, Gawain sighed. He looked at Amber and Wright before him, a smile appearing on his face.

"In any case, everything went smoothly. You did well."

Wright immediately straightened his back, solemnly stating: "The Holy Light guides me."

Amber waved her hand: "It’s not over yet; Lu’an City might still face chaos with those rookie soldiers busy."

Gawain nodded lightly; he knew everything was indeed as Amber described—the events in Lu’an City might have concluded for now, but the subsequent calming and reconstruction efforts were just beginning.

The angered people, with a storm-like action, crushed the oppressive priest Clergy, yet without timely and effective guidance and order-building, such actions can easily turn into uncontrollable violence and prolonged disorder. Now, under the efforts of the White Knights, Cecil soldiers, and civilian representatives, the initial phase of order stabilization has commenced smoothly, preventing the action from immediately escalating into uncontrolled violence. Yet whether the city would face prolonged turmoil afterwards depends on the work of Intelligence Agency operatives and the propaganda department.

In the shortest time, they must rebuild Lu’an City’s major urban functions, establish a new governing team approved by the locals, swiftly incorporate the city into the Cecil system, and broadcast the happenings in Lu’an City throughout the entire region. They must maximize the positive impact of this action, also remain vigilant against the opposition and retaliation from Old Church’s stubborn followers...

An overwhelming amount of work awaits, but fortunately, the most challenging part has already been overcome.