Chapter 974 — Departure and Sparks
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
As he spoke, this seasoned noble officer, who commanded one of the Empire's mightiest corps of transcendents, could not help glancing again at the distant watchtowers and ramparts, a hint of worry creeping onto his face. "I heard that last night a priest on leave died under strange circumstances, and two acolytes living nearby went mad in their sleep... Is this true?"
"So it has reached your ears after all," An Luo said with a sigh he could not suppress. "It is just as you say—no, perhaps even more appalling. The priest who died so strangely turned into a monster and destroyed himself almost right before a watchman's eyes. A battle mage patrolling the priests' rest quarters heard the commotion and went to investigate, and caught sight of the priest's flesh twisting and deforming, dissolving in blood and some kind of smoke—he was nearly frightened half to death. As for the two acolytes who went mad—after analysis, experts in theology and spiritual thaumaturgy preliminarily suspect they were 'contaminated' by hearing the mutated priest's bizarre death-scream, and their minds mutated along with it."
Count Moglorock's face darkened.
"...Appalling," he said in a low voice.
"Unless you see it with your own eyes, ordinary people cannot imagine what a grotesque and terrifying sight it was," An Luo said with a nod. "The intelligence from the imperial capital is accurate—some kind of contamination based on the bond of faith is spreading on a massive scale among the war god's priests. It is a plague of the soul, and though I hate to speak such blasphemous words—it is plain that the god they worship cannot protect them from this plague."
Moglorock's face twitched, and a bitter smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth. "There are even those who say the god himself is the source of the plague..."
An Luo was silent for a few seconds, then could not help looking at the knight commander beside him. "Count Moglorock, as far as I know... you are also a follower of the war god, so this situation must be far from easy for you."
"Rest assured, before anything else I am a soldier of the Empire," Count Moglorock said, his expression stern. "True, it is unavoidable that soldiers are influenced by faith in the war god—more than two-thirds of our men are followers of the war god, both the lightly devout and the deeply faithful, and half our knights have received baptism from the war god's church. But still we stand firm here. It is indeed not easy, as you say, but I think our loyal knights and soldiers did not come to this cold frontier so far from home in search of ease."
"That is admirable," An Luo said earnestly.
Another gust of cold wind swept by, lifting the graying strands at her temples.
The young wolf general drew out a mechanical watch, glanced at the time, and said to Count Moglorock, "Pray excuse me—I must go preside over this morning's meeting."
Count Moglorock nodded with a smile. "By all means, General An Luo."
An Luo Wendell strode from the wall with brisk, vigorous steps. On the wind-whipped heights, only Moglorock remained, standing quietly where he was.
The count turned his head to watch the direction in which An Luo had departed, saw the young wolf general round a corner and vanish at the top of the stairs leading to the castle district, smiled, and turned to look in another direction beside him.
Malmu Dunite stood at his side, wearing a gentle, kindly smile.