Maisonlogi Monastery, a nunnery located in the Riverlands, was spending a quiet autumn night. Moonlight quietly cast itself onto the window lattice, illuminating the study’s affairs clearly—the antique wooden door creaked open. It was the Vice Dean, who pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and slowly entered the study.
“That young lady from House Linde is really spoiled—she can’t even cut cloth to make clothes!? I’m curious how she was pampered at home before.”
“Sister Morn, you always have too many demands on the girls…”
The Dean closed the books on the table, put away the pen and paper, and said with a smile, “I think, let’s set aside Miss Xue La’s talent for now—she has the initiative to deal with monsters on her own, which is a very good sign… Don’t forget the Manticore.”
“But Xue La hasn’t been pledged to the Church, my dear Catherine.”
Morn covered her face, addressing the Dean by her first name.
“She was only sent here by Count Brian and Lady Catalina to learn etiquette. We absolutely should not force so much advanced Divine Magic knowledge into her; it’s more harm than good.”
Compared to the Dean’s ideals, the Vice Dean was clearly more worldly.
“We received a sizable donation from House Linde, so we should follow their wishes and educate Xue La to be a lady, not some Exorcist Nun dealing with monsters—besides, she hasn’t shown any talent for Divine Magic yet, there’s no need to waste time…”
“Sophia was only 16 when she mastered Divine Magic…”
Dean Catherine retorted.
“She…”
“Sophia is the revered Elder Princess, the King’s own elder sister—she has plenty of resources and status. Even if General Bali Saihe fell from power, Prince Rustan wouldn’t dare touch her…”
Morn ended this conversation.
“For me, the most important thing is to maintain the normal operation of Maisonlogi Monastery, not to continue dreaming of training Exorcist Nuns.”
“Let Princess Sophia in the Royal Capital worry about those things!”
Morn said.
“Senior Catherine, I respect your past contributions as a princess’s maid and Exorcist Nun, but many years have passed, and the wounds of the Four Kingdoms have not healed yet… Xue La’s performance… is not what we need.”
“Isn’t it?”
Catherine listed evidence.
“The Linde family is a rural noble in the heartlands of the kingdom, yet they could be invaded by a Manticore, falling from the sky and causing chaos! What about our Privet Town? A flock of passing Klabane Crows used it as a buffet…”
Catherine displayed the proper level of a dean, speaking bluntly.
“Wounds only heal when a plaster is applied—now, this cut is still bleeding. With Bali Saihe’s failure back then, the Four Kingdoms Alliance fell apart, and the Demon Realm’s rampage and monster migrations have become more frequent…”
This Exorcist Nun produced a map as evidence. Her withered fingers traced the mountains and rivers on the map, exactly the path that a certain kingdom’s general had walked back then.
The Patagonia Continent is shaped roughly like a V-shaped peninsula, with the Northern Kingdom of Norsenia having the largest area, the warmest and most comfortable climate, and the strongest national power. In the peninsula-shaped continent, a Central Mountain Range runs through the heart, separating the two eastern and western kingdoms, which were once the flanks of the former alliance. And in the far south, where the land is smallest, the climate coldest, and plagued by Demon Race invasions through the Strait Ice Floe, is naturally the Southern Kingdom Sothnia.
Because of that failed battle, the allied forces were defeated, and a kingdom was destroyed—monsters were able to march straight through the ruins of the Southern Kingdom, then gradually migrate north along the mountains and rivers, acting as vanguards and spearheads of the Demon Realm’s invasion…
That, in sum, was Sister Catherine’s deduction. Even though the war had been gone for ten years, she still remembered.
“I would rather the Dean rest well…”
Morn bowed.
“Running the monastery is the job—the matter of the Crown Prince faction… let’s stop here.”
Catherine shrugged:
“I understand. You’re not happy that I came temporarily to be the monastery’s dean.”
Indeed, a battle where the Crown Prince was killed in action and Bali Saihe was framed by political enemies and lost everything—in the Royal Capital’s court, it was a political earthquake. Many figures and factions that followed the Crown Prince lost their former status—Bali Saihe was merely a typical example.
Princess Sophia’s former maid, Exorcist Nun Catherine, was likewise sent off to be the dean of Maisonlogi Monastery…
A local monastery may not necessarily accommodate a giant statue of a god—Sister Morn, a practical-minded nun, naturally did not understand the affairs of “Exorcist Nuns.” Fighting monsters is the job of brave knights and adventurers; nuns only need to handle rear-line medical care, which is sufficient.
It is true that some local churches can train excellent Exorcist Nuns who are active in various armies or Adventurer’s Guilds, but they are few and far between, not within the capability of a small rural monastery like Maisonlogi—Catherine’s argument, essentially, was just that she didn’t want her legacy to rot here.
But using the monastery’s resources to train Catherine’s successor… was this not a waste? Even a dean could not do as she pleased with the monastery’s affairs!
Miss Xue La Linde could not possibly become an Exorcist Nun; she had no talent at all. It was just the old dean’s wishful thinking.
“I’m an old bag of bones now; it would be hard for me to come out of retirement to deal with monsters.”
Catherine said.
“Sister Morn, don’t think that monsters are far away from you.”
“Klabane Crows are just a bigger, more cunning type of crow. Hiring a few hunters can deal with them.”
“Does Privet Town have suitable ones? Can they respond to needs in time?”
Catherine’s questions came like a barrage.
“And besides—I had some free time and made a discovery.”
The Dean put away the map and displayed another piece of evidence. Several dissected Klabane Crows lay quietly on the chopping board.
Disgusting! Morn couldn’t help but step back. How could a clean study tolerate the corpses of hateful monsters?
“You went out?”
“Privet Town is a town under our monastery. As the dean, what’s wrong with me going out?”
Catherine gave her a roll of the eyes.
“When I had nothing to do, I dissected the stomachs of these gluttonous monsters and found something unusual.”
“What discovery?”
“These crows’ stomachs contain more than just apples.”
“Crows fly north and south, eating whatever they find. Isn’t that normal?”
“Best if that’s the case…”
The dean got straight to the point.
“But after dissecting several crows in a row, I got strange results—the apples in their stomachs only made up a small part, and the remaining part consisted of two things…”
Catherine sat up straight and said, “Dried cured meat and fine grains, packed full, some not even fully digested.”
“What does that prove?”
“It proves that this flock of Klabane Crows was artificially raised…”
Catherine seemed to recall the past.
“On the front lines back then, Klabane Crows served as the Demon Realm’s minions, scouts spying on military intelligence. Ten years later, someone is still doing the same thing.”
“Therefore, I suspect that somewhere nearby, there must be some minion of the Demon Realm lurking, feeding these crows… Our apple orchard might geographically be right at the center of this area.”
“Considering this, I think it’s necessary to train an Exorcist Nun who can stand on her own.”
Catherine said.
“Or find a suitable person to help… But no matter what, we can’t pretend nothing happened; that’s a stupid ostrich policy.”
Catherine vividly described:
“You know ostriches, right? They are special large birds in the desert and gobi of the Eastern Kingdom Istania. They can’t fly, have extremely long necks, and when an enemy comes, they bury their heads in the sand…”
Morn maintained her opinion, unimpressed. Even if she was being treated like an ostrich. Because in fact, Xue La indeed had no talent for Divine Magic. She had tried several times. But on the other hand, Catherine’s guess was not false.
In the forest not far from Privet Town, there indeed lurked a so-called… minion of the Demon Realm.
A Klabane Crow flew into the forest like a stray dog, crying in the Demon Realm’s language about what had happened in Privet Town.
Yes, some monsters have quite high intelligence, even without a humanoid form. In the Demon Realm, such beings that understand the Klabane Crow language and relay it to Demon Realm officers are called Crow Speakers.
This position was neither high nor low; not exactly cannon fodder, but not a mid-level officer either, and they still had to risk their lives to spread intelligence at the front lines. Naturally, the duties of a Crow Speaker were entrusted to those races with relatively humble status in the Demon Realm.
“Hmm… so that’s it…”
This crow that had narrowly escaped death landed on a creature covered in green skin, decorated only with animal hides and ochre paint. It also wore a strange wooden mask and adorned itself with feathers to look like a walking giant bird…
If someone was an expert among monster hunters, they would understand that this seemingly strange creature was actually among the most lowly of the many humanoid monsters in the Demon Realm. The Green Orc race, named “Orc” by scholars in the Royal Capital.
The orc before him was not tall, rather short and small. Its withered arms were covered with various strips of cloth, clearly a shaman of an orc tribe skilled in the dark arts, rather than a fearless warrior.
The position of Crow Speaker was quite suitable for him…
“How pitiful. Didn’t get to eat apples, but instead many comrades were stoned to death by humans…”
The shaman pulled out some dried meat from some corner of his pocket.
“Eat, eat. I will report to the Chieftain, and we will take revenge on that town.”
The shaman also had his own reasons; after all, the chieftain he served was relying on these crows to conduct a transaction with someone hundreds of kilometers away…
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.