High Priest says "If you promise to let me go I will answer your questions!"

"If you tell me the truth, I promise I won't touch you."

High Priest says "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"First, where did you acquire knowledge of Holos?"

High Priest says "I was taught by another, but the knowledge originally came from ancient records."

"So Holos is from one of the other two ancient empires?"

High Priest says "How could you know about that?!?"

"The goddesses told me about it."

High Priest says "Why would they speak with a beast when they have ignored their worshipers for so long?"

"I'm asking the questions, not you. Now how widespread is the worship of Holos?"

High Priest says "This was the only group in this kingdom, but it is widespread in the empire."

"Alright, that is all the questions I can think of."

High Priest says "Then I am free to go?"

"Sure, ladies he is all yours!"

High Priest says "You promised to let me go!"

"No, I only promised that I wouldn't hurt you. I have no reason to save you from your own karma!"

As I leave the chapel to look for the stairs to the basement I am followed by the high priest's screams. The sound of them greatly improves my mood. It takes me a minute to find the stairs down to the basement, and once I make it downstairs I am mobbed.

Leyla is the first one to slam into me and cling to me as she starts bawling. She is soon joined by others until I am worried they are going to suffocate me or drown me in their tears. I can't bring myself to push them away though, not after what they have suffered.

Leyla keeps trying to say something but with all the crying I can't tell what she is trying to say. It is probably either thank you or I'm sorry but I will have to wait for the crying to stop to find out. Faintly over the crying I can hear a chattering sound, I can't see him but I know Bones is laughing at me.

It takes quite a while for the girls to all settle down, which is understandable. Once things quiet down I get a rough head count, there is Leyla and eighteen other girls from my group. Then there are about eighty village girls down here plus the twenty acolytes upstairs.

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The first thing to do is move everyone upstairs, staying in this dungeon won't help anyone's mental state. Also I think seeing the bodies of their tormentors might help them. Knowing that the people who abused them are dead and can never hurt them again should bring some peace of mind.

Leyla says "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And I'm really sorry!"

"You're welcome! You should have known I would come for you. But why are you sorry?"

Instead of answering Leyla holds out my medallion, it is broken, cracked right up the middle. I almost scream in rage, but then I sense the tiniest little bit of mana within the medallion. It isn't completely dead, there should be a way to repair it!

"Leyla, it wasn't your fault, it broke because Ruby was banished. The same thing would have happened if I was there. But there is still hope, I think the medallion can be repaired."

Leyla says "Really? You aren't mad at me?"

"Of course not, I blame those fake priests, not you!"

Leyla hugs me and starts crying again, although this time it isn't as bad, just gentle crying. My guess is it is from relief, she was probably scared I would blame her and leave her behind or something. After a minute she gathers herself and goes around healing the girls who have injuries.

After asking the acolytes to talk to all the local girls and see if they want to stay here or go with us I go around to my girls to see if any want to settle down here. To my surprise not a single one wants to stay here, most want to join the rebels or try to make it back home. Another twenty of the local girls want to go with us, after a few questions I realize their families were killed and they have nothing to go back to.

The rebels should be looking for new members, at least I hope they are. I really don't want hundreds of women following me around, every man who sees them will become my enemy. Some of them are from the Free Union or Illium, I really want to get them home if it is at all possible.

Mericel says "Master, I found the priest's treasure room!"

"Oh, excellent, show me!"

Mericel leads me through the back half of the church until we come to a very lavish bedroom. It is obvious from the smell, some of the things that went on in here, but Mericel heads over to a huge painting of the high priest. She disappears through the wall and then returns seconds later.

Mericel says "It is behind this wall, but I don't know how to open it."

"That's simple!"

I walk over and punch the wall, my fist goes right through it and a large section of the wall collapses. This also destroys the painting but I consider that a bonus. Looking through the hole I see piles and piles of gold, the entire room is filled with gold.

It looks like a dragon's hoard from a movie, I could even swim around in it like a certain cartoon duck. Tearing down the rest of the wall is easy enough, once I step through and look around I realize just how much gold there is. It is strange though, it's only gold coins, no jewels or items at all.

Just to be sure I search through several piles, but after all it is only gold coins. While gold will surely be useful later, I was hoping for something more useful right now. I will take what I can get though, I take the pouch of my belt and start shoveling coins into it.

My pouch is full after only about a quarter of the piles in the room have been shoveled into it. I'm guessing it is several hundred thousand coins but I am not going to stop and count them. If that is all I can take with me then so be it, I do not feel the need to be greedy.

"Mericel, go fetch those acolytes here please."

Mericel says "Yes, master."

When Mericel returns with the acolytes their eyes nearly pop out of their skulls when they see all the gold. That is enough to convince me that they did not know about this room and were not working with the priests. Based on that and their auras I think I can trust them to handle this gold properly.

"I am leaving this here for you and your villages, I suggest you spend it carefully. This kind of wealth should be kept secret or it will bring enemies. The first thing I suggest would be hiring some mercenaries from outside the kingdom to guard your villages."