When Ulu stood at the doorway, he watched as Kelser commanded the knights to surround the entire church, his face grim as he approached—his demeanor murderous.

Hiroshi's calm voice echoed in Ulu's mind, "Remember what I just told you. No matter what he asks, say you don’t know."

Ulu nodded subtly, masking the killing intent that flickered in his eyes as he looked at Kelser.

Kelser reached Ulu, and all pretense of friendship was gone. He asked coldly, "Where did Lugi go?"

"Lugi?" Ulu looked surprised. "Didn’t I tell you? He…"

"When did he leave?" Kelser cut him off. "I need the exact time!"

"Early—early this morning." Ulu seemed nervous. "He left in the morning."

"Why did he leave?"

"I think he went to…"

"Don't think!" Kelser snapped. "If you know, say you know. If you don't, say you don't!"

Ulu immediately shook his head. "I don’t know."

Kelser had expected this response, but it still didn’t satisfy him. Just then, two knights ran out of Lugi’s room and reported to Kelser, "Commander, Father Lugi is indeed not in his room. Should we search it?"

"Search for what?!" Kelser snapped, already in a foul mood. "He left this morning—do you think he’d leave anything behind? Everyone, move out and search the town for him. Wake up every resident if you have to. Find his trail—if he’s run, I want to know where!"

"Yes, Commander!" The knights obeyed, quickly springing into action.

Kelser turned to Ulu again, but gave no explanation. He simply said, "Stay here. If Lugi returns, notify me immediately. If you can’t reach me, find a way to keep him here. If he leaves again… you know the consequences."

With that, Kelser left with the knights.

Ulu was still confused. "They’re…"

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Hiroshi said flatly. "They’re looking for me. Clearly, they found out that you bought my finger from that black market dealer."

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Ulu froze for a moment, then broke into a cold sweat. "They know? Then why are they looking for Lugi and not me?"

"Heh, who knows? Maybe they got the wrong information, or maybe it’s incomplete. For example, they might only know that a priest bought the finger, but not which one. And since Lugi conveniently vanished this morning, the knights naturally think he bought the finger and fled. Or maybe your dear friend Kelser just doesn’t believe that you could have dared to touch something so dangerous, not even bothering to question you… Tch, I guess weakness can be a sort of camouflage sometimes."

Hiroshi’s words left Ulu both relieved and furious.

The relief came from narrowly dodging a major crisis by sheer luck, while the anger stemmed from the fact that Kelser didn’t even consider that Visah'Su's finger could be in his possession.

Ignore was the greatest contempt.

Ulu’s resentment toward Kelser deepened, but he first wiped the sweat from his brow and asked, "So killing Lugi actually saved my life? If Lugi hadn’t died, I’d be the one dead now?"

…Actually, no. In the game’s storyline, the information Kelser received was incomplete. The violent knight commander also went after Lugi first. No one imagined that Visah'Su's finger would end up with someone as seemingly insignificant as Ulu—it was a small plot twist. In the game, Lugi really did stay out all night because he was off "playing" with young boys, which led to Kelser hunting for him throughout the town.

So whether Lugi lived or died made no difference tonight. Ulu was doomed regardless—but not tonight.

However, there was no need for Hiroshi to explain all that to Ulu. In fact, it was better to stir things up a bit.

"Yes, if you hadn’t acted yesterday, you’d be dead now. And I’d probably be in that guy’s hands," Hiroshi said with a soft chuckle. "I wonder if Kelser would have been more decisive if he had gotten me."

Ulu's expression turned unnatural, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he asked quietly, "I’m listening to you completely now. Please tell me what to do."

"What to do? Didn’t you know exactly what to do when you were in the room earlier?"

A glint appeared in Ulu's eyes. "You mean…"

"Kill those who want to kill you first, and you won’t have to worry," Hiroshi said calmly. "But not now. Even if you used my power, you might not be able to kill that man. Your first priority now is survival—just make it through tonight. Kelser’s in a rage right now and wants to catch Lugi as soon as possible, which is why he’s ignoring you. But if they don’t find Lugi tonight, they will come back and search his room. And when that happens, Lugi’s body will be discovered. If you do nothing, you’re waiting to die."

"So… should I just run?"

"Run? Where do you think you can go?" Hiroshi countered. "You think you can outrun the entire knight order? Even if you escape today, how will you evade the whole Rhyo faith's pursuit forever?"

Ulu truly had no answer to that. "Staying means death, running means death, and I can’t kill Kelser… then what should I do?"

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like a dead end.

"Think more broadly. Why are you safe right now?"

Ulu scratched his head. "Because Kelser thinks the finger—I mean, you—are with Lugi."

"In that case…" Hiroshi exerted his power, guiding Ulu's left hand to point at Lugi's room. "Why not make sure that point stays solid? Sometimes, the dead are more useful than the living."

Ulu slowly began to understand. "You mean…"

"Dig up his body," Hiroshi smiled. "And make good use of it… Just don’t use my body to dig, I really don’t want to touch a corpse."