The Knight Commander knelt down and refused to rise. “Your Highness, you can’t! Every time you preach, the Church ends up with another new faction!”
He smiled bitterly, adding, “Your Highness, I’m not doubting your abilities, but the ‘side effects’ of your sermons are truly a headache.”
Rowan Kai waved dismissively. “Nonsense. The Holy Light isn’t the Church’s monopoly. Under its radiance, peace will finally be mine.”
With that, he raised his hand, summoning a golden pillar of holy light that shot straight into the heavens. Moments later, golden runes spread across the sky, and moonlight cascaded down like water, illuminating the entire town of Lin Tower.
---
"High Order Radiant Sect! Apostles of Lumina! And the utterly baffling Ultralight Man Sect!"
“Do you have any idea how much effort the Church has put into managing these factions? The Holy Light Codex is already on its fifth revision!”
“Your Highness, please, no more sermons, I beg of you!”
Rowan Kai scratched his head awkwardly. “Fine, fine. We’ll try a different approach.”
“What approach?”
Rowan pondered briefly. “I’m going to make a bait trap for the dark creatures. What do you think?”
“And what exactly will you use as bait?”
“Wait here a moment!”
He dashed off to his carriage, returning moments later with a large sack.
“Take a look at these.”
The Knight Commander accepted the half-human-sized sack and opened it. The moment he saw the first item, his head started throbbing.
“This! This is the Seventh Volume of the Codex of Sin! And the Fang Dagger of the Calamity Beast! The Black Gold Bloodtear Sword! A Blasphemer’s Medallion?! And the Crystal Skull of Gelthoth?!”
He slammed the sack shut, trembling.
Every single item inside was infamous, some on par with calamity-level wanted criminals. In the wrong hands, they could trigger regional-scale catastrophes in an instant.
“Your Highness, this…”
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Rowan puffed out his chest proudly. “Just some trinkets I collected during three years of adventuring. I planned to hand them over to the Church and exchange the reward for some land—a small estate where I can live a life of luxury, renting out properties and enjoying the finer things.
Relax, they’re all sealed.
I plan to use a few as bait and one as the main lure to draw out these dark creatures.”
“You’re baiting them?”
“Of course! No bait, no fish!”
---
Back at the camp, Rowan gazed toward the bustling town of Lin Tower. His brow furrowed as he muttered, “There’s no way that lone werewolf was the only one among the pilgrims.”
---
In the moonlit streets, a little girl walked hand-in-hand with her father, docilely turning a corner. Yet, a flicker of crimson flashed in her eyes, and a sinister smirk curled her lips.
As they passed a street vendor selling holy light charms, the girl’s fingers brushed one by accident. It instantly dimmed, its radiance snuffed out as if it had never existed.
None of the bustling pilgrims noticed.
---
“An exhibition?”
Alpha wolf Eldorph froze as he listened to his subordinate’s report.
“What kind of exhibition?”
“Apparently, the people from that fancy carriage are hosting it. They claim it’s a display of sacred artifacts confiscated from dark creatures.
The plan was to showcase these items at the Holy City’s upcoming Advent Festival.
But to rehearse, they’re holding a preview here… They’re calling it a premiere event! Here’s the exhibit list they handed out.”
Eldorph scanned the list and nearly passed out.
Every single item on it was a heavyweight artifact. Any one of them would be a top-tier treasure among the dark races.
And now, they were all being openly displayed as part of an exhibition.
“Arrogant! Absolutely arrogant!”
Eldorph slammed the flyer onto the table in fury. “This is an insult of the highest order! We…”
“Leader, calm down,” a scrawny man beside him intervened, stroking his beard. “Let’s not forget one of our brothers was exposed yesterday.
If they know we’re nearby and still dare to hold this exhibition…”
“It’s a blatant provocation! We can’t let this slide!”
“I think it’s a trap,” the scrawny man countered, narrowing his eyes. “What if they’re baiting us into making a move so they can capture us all at once?
And what if the artifacts aren’t even real? They might have just made this up.”
But the reporting subordinate disagreed. “Sir, the Black Knights are guarding it! When have they ever guarded anything other than prisoner transports?
This could be our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Leader, we can’t stay as cannon fodder forever!”
Eldorph, though now calm, was clearly tempted by greed.
“If even one of these items is real, we’d be set for life. With something like this, the werewolves could stand tall as kings, no longer under those damn vampires’ boots!”
Seeing everyone’s fervor, the scrawny man sighed.
“In that case, let’s scout first. If there’s something worth going after, we’ll plan accordingly.”
“Agreed. Split up when we enter. No matter what happens, don’t reveal yourselves. We regroup and discuss after gathering intel.”
“Understood!”
---
After setting their plan, they waited. Time crawled by as Eldorph repeatedly scrutinized the exhibition list, his greed mounting.
Finally, word came from outside—the exhibition was open!
Despite their excitement, the werewolves followed orders, blending into the crowd and entering in batches.
Eldorph went alone, mingling with a group of merchants as he stepped into the sparse and poorly constructed exhibit hall.
His heart pounded with anticipation as he approached the first display case—only to be consumed by a fiery rage!