Chapter 471 Abscess
After politely seeing off the two court mages, Captain Mace sat back down in front of the captain of the Creek City Night Watch.
"There are no outsiders now." Captain Mace paused deliberately, glanced at the Creek City Night Watchmen present, and then set his sights on the other captain, "Captain Miles, I think you should tell me something about Tachia Territory, the Creek City Night Watchmen headquarters, and the Lars City branch."
Miles, the leader of the Night Watch in Taqia Territory, looked increasingly gloomy when he heard the words "branch in Lars City".
"I'm very sorry about Captain Alger Gavin." Miles, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. He looked at Captain Mays with bloodshot eyes, and his voice was hoarse and rough, as if his throat was injured.
"Perhaps in your eyes, I and the team members at headquarters are like traitors." Captain Miles smiled bitterly, "I can't defend myself, but I must tell you... the others are innocent."
"You--" Captain Mace's face turned red with anger.
"Captain Mace." A night watchman from Creek City standing in the back couldn't help but stand up, his face full of indignation, and it seemed that there was also a bit of grievance, "Perhaps you don't know--"
"Shut up! Marshall!" Captain Miles shouted.
"Go on!" Captain Mace shouted almost simultaneously.
The night watchman Marshall took two steps forward again, passed his captain , and said excitedly: "The captain is only trying to protect others! He just wants the unfortunate guy who was exiled to Tachia to leave this fucking place alive!"
"Do you think none of us reported the unusual situation in Tachia Territory? No! Every year we have to send at least several reports requesting reinforcements from the Inquisition and the Knights!"
"But what's the use of all this?! The Holy Land only sternly demands that we continue investigating and investigating again! To what extent should we investigate? No one knows!" The Night Watchman Marshall raised his hands angrily, swinging them back and forth helplessly and vigorously. "Since I was exiled here six years ago, I have witnessed three of my predecessors losing control - why did they lose control?! Because they couldn't help but start to question whether the Holy Land has ever cared about the Tachia Territory!"
"Please look at me, Captain Mace. I can't hold on any longer!" Marshall became more and more agitated, his facial expression slowly became weird, and his light green pupils gradually changed color, as if they were being stained by some mysterious twisted power, with scarlet dots spreading outward from the middle of the pupils. "Captain Miles is applying for a transfer for me, and for this he had to compile some false reports to whitewash the situation—"
Captain Mays suddenly stood up and punched Marshall in the jaw.
Marshall, who was angrily accusing, rolled his eyes up and fell down limply.
Mace reached out and hugged the night watchman who was almost out of control, and looked at Miles with a heavy expression.
Miles had also stood up and was slowly retracting his outstretched fist.
Ten minutes later, the two captains dismissed the other team members and sat opposite each other in Miles' office.
"...When Alger Gavin came to report to me and was about to leave for Lars City to take up his post...I couldn't say much to him, I could only hint to him - 'Don't trust anyone.'"
"I have an unshirkable responsibility for what happened in Lars City." Captain Miles held a teacup in his hand and leaned his head on a high-back chair. He looked tired and his voice was hoarse and depressed.
Captain Mace looked at his colleague with a complicated expression.
"When did the unusual situation in Territory Tachia begin?" asked Captain Metz.
“I don’t know.” Captain Miles shook his head and sat up straight. “When I was sent here to take over… the previous captain had gone mad and couldn’t explain anything to me.”
After a pause, the captain of the Night Watch, who had been trapped in an invisible cage for many years and could hardly breathe, said in a deep voice, "When I was sorting out the personal belongings of the previous captain and planning to send them to her family... in her bag, I found a note of despair left by the captain before her... or perhaps the captains before her."
"Based on the dates on the notes, I can only confirm that... the abnormality in Tachia Territory lasted for at least a hundred years."
Captain Mace unconsciously gripped the armrest of the sofa.
"At first, I didn't understand. Taqia Territory is clearly a parish of the church, so why did the Holy Land turn a blind eye to the abnormality here?" Captain Miles asked himself, "After a long time, I gradually realized... this place is rotten, so rotten that if the abscess is slightly poked, the stinking pus will destroy everything."
The captain of the Creek City Night Watch, who was only ten years older than Captain Mace but looked much older and more haggard, stared at his colleagues led by Adler with gloomy eyes that seemed to be soaked in despair and fatigue. "The problem can only be solved by turning the entire Tachia County upside down... Is the Holy Land willing to make such a decision for such an earldom? What will our Bishop of the Tachia County choose?"
Captain Mays wanted to answer him with a definite "Of course".
But obviously, even he himself didn't believe this response.
Because he himself knew very well what the situation was in his own little piece of land - the Bishop of the Adler Diocese did not want to leave any "stains on his resume", so he would rather let a large number of unresolved incidents in Dutata City accumulate than to "go along with the Tarantan undead".
No high-ranking priest would be willing to be a diocesan bishop in a local area for life, and would always look forward to returning to the center. The qualifications that were hard-earned, of course, the cleaner the better.
During the past hundred years, the Territory of Tachia has had several diocesan bishops replaced. The Night Watchmen cannot directly transmit the news back to the central authority, but it is possible for the high-ranking priests to do it... It is unlikely that the Holy Land is completely unaware of the situation in the Territory of Tachia.
And this can prove the attitude of the Holy Land...
Captain Metz's lips trembled for a while, but he was unable to give a response. The thousands of words in his heart finally turned into a long sigh.
"I deeply understand and sympathize with your situation," Captain Mace said in a deep voice, "but... you still have to take responsibility for everything - whether it's related to you or not."
Captain Miles, who looked bleak, suddenly let out a mocking sneer.
"No, Mace." Captain Miles said self-deprecatingly, "I'm not showing off. I think you know that I won't be held responsible. The abscess in Tachia County..." He gestured with his hand to form an abscess, "will not 'exist'."
Captain Mays was stunned.
Then, the still young captain of the Night Watch, who was only in his early thirties, revealed a look of anger, annoyance and unbearableness.
This anger was certainly not directed at the exhausted colleague in front of him, but rather -
"That black magician is undoubtedly very good at politicians' tricks." Captain Miles said with a mocking look on his face, "I think he will accept the conditions offered by the Holy Land - isn't Cardinal Atwood in the capital? With this lord coming in person, who would be so ignorant as to let something happen that the Holy Land doesn't want to see?"
"That's enough, Miles." Captain Mays closed his eyes in pain.
He is not stupid at all. A stupid person cannot be a night watchman.
Miles was so straightforward, there was no way he couldn't guess what would happen next...
There is absolutely no such thing as a rampant cult in the Taqia Territory, and the defeated former Taqia Lord Geketan would never be a terrifying cult pope.
There has never been any dangerous incident in Creek City that nearly caused all the citizens to be sacrificed by the crazy cult. The only thing that could be made public was that the feudal nobles of Lars City murdered the night watchmen in a frenzy, which angered the Gold Coin Church and forced the church to change its position in the territorial war between the Nightmare Butcher and the Geketan family... and even took out its anger on the Rhine royal family, a "big event".
For hundreds of years, generations of Night Watchmen have been carrying out meaningless and aimless investigations, growing old, going mad, or dying in struggle and suffering. Everything that happened to them will be erased from the course of history, just like the threats of evil cults that the natives of Tachia once suffered from.
Just as Miles said himself, the abscess in Tachia Territory has become so rotten that the pus will destroy everything if it gushes out. Several high-ranking priests who once served as bishops of the diocese of Tachia Territory have entered the core of the Holy Land. Once such a shocking scandal is exposed... What the Gold Coin Church will lose is not just the believers of a mere earldom.
Captain Mays slowly stood up, and before leaving, he glanced at Miles who was slumped in the high-back chair.
"How long... can you hold on?" Captain Mace said in a hoarse voice.
Miles turned his head away after saying the last sentence, not letting Captain Mays meet his eyes.
At this moment, he had no intention of turning around, but just said tiredly: "Please don't worry about a sinner like me, Captain Mace."
Captain Mace stared at him for a while and took a long breath: "You...will be fine, trust me."
After saying this, Captain Metz strode away as if he had made up his mind.
Before dawn, Yang Qiu, who was resting in the city hall, met Metz.
"I thought you would also be happy about the undead's victory, but I didn't expect to see such a solemn face." Yang Qiu, who was pouring iced cola into a glass, smiled and asked Captain Mays to sit down, "How about drinking some iced drinks to refresh yourself? There will be no time for people to rest after dawn."
Captain Mays thanked him and took the slightly cool glass.
This black drink with strange bubbles... is also sold in the canteen of the Logistics Department in Dutata City. Mace, who has been eating in the employee canteen for a long time, has already tried it and has a good impression of this sweet drink.
After drinking some ice cola to relieve the pressure in his heart, Captain Mace said sincerely: "Mr. Yang, it may be a bit presumptuous to ask you such a question... If... If -" Mace took a deep breath. Although he was mentally prepared, he still felt embarrassed when he had to speak at this moment. "If someone who holds a certain belief gradually doubts the road under his feet during the journey, then... How can he convince himself that this road is not wrong?"
Yang Qiu couldn't help but smile.
Of course he knew that Captain Mace had been looking for the local diocesan bishop all night long without success, and he also knew that Captain Mace had been to the local Night Watch headquarters.
Yesterday during the day, when Yang Qiu entered the city to search for the nodes set up by the "Whisperer" sect, he also detoured to the Night's Watch headquarters to take a look. Naturally, he knew what the situation was there - there were only a few spirited people among the Night's Watch in Creek City, and some of them were almost qualified to find a place to bury themselves in the "Fallen Cemetery" in the Sorenson Mountains.
"I don't quite understand why you are so confused, Captain Mays." Yang Qiu smiled kindly, "If there is a road that can be sure that the front of this road leads to a bright place, then even if this road is not absolutely correct, it is not a smooth and shortcut, but at least the road itself is not wrong."
"But those who take this path will go the wrong way." Yang Qiu said meaningfully, "After all, humans are creatures that love leisure and hate work, yearn for comfort and enjoyment, and like to take shortcuts. They are easily tempted, disturbed, and may even actively embrace depravity."
"But this is not the road's fault. The road is there, and there is nothing wrong with it. How can we regard the behavior of people picking and choosing shortcuts and taking the wrong road as the road's fault?"
After a pause to allow Captain Mays to understand, Yang Qiu took a sip of iced cola and said with a smile: "When someone who has the right to choose walks on a path that suits his or her own wishes, it is actually difficult for him or her to decide what kind of companions will appear on this path. After all, the choices of others will not be affected by the will of outsiders. However, whether or not to be disturbed by the behavior of companions is still up to him or her to decide."
