TNZKMA 140

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas. I am so busy with work that I can only schedule all these chapters for release and sometimes they miss their schedule. I can only monitor it during my days off so do excuse it if sometimes a chapter doesn’t get posted one day yet a chapter is posted the next.

 

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Several priests and guards headed to the central square to verify the monster’s words. Of course, Olphynn was among them.

The next morning, the priests returned with grim expressions.

[There were bodies two houses down from the Priests Guild.] 

Olphynn reported on behalf of the priests to the guards and officials.

[The High Priest?]

[Yes, the High Priest, the heads of the Eight Houses, and the leading priests. All of the Heroes were killed as well.]

[Serves them right… a fitting end for their greed.] 

One of the guards spat in disgust.

[Heroes or not, it doesn’t matter. The town will continue to be protected by the Dauntless as it always has. But what about the priests?]

[There’s no change to the barrier. I was the only one maintaining it from the start. It’s only the eastern section, but…]

We’ll start maintaining a barrier in the western section too. It won’t be as strong as yours, but it’s better than nothing.] 

The priest from the western section said, his face worn with fatigue. The priests from the southern and northern sections nodded in agreement.

[This incident has made the importance of the barrier clear. And I’ve also somewhat grasped how to use its power. It won’t be as strong as the eastern section’s, but with training, we should be able to contribute eventually.]

We’ll start maintaining a barrier in the western section too. It won’t be as strong as yours, but it’s better than nothing.] 

The priest from the western section said, his face worn with fatigue. The priests from the southern and northern sections nodded in agreement.

[This incident has made the importance of the barrier clear. And I’ve also somewhat grasped how to use its power. It won’t be as strong as the eastern section’s, but with training, we should be able to contribute eventually.]

The monster that appeared in the eastern section was the one that had disappeared. It had shown up at the building where the Red Crest Ceremony was held, destroyed the priests’ mansion, and demolished the Ceremony hall with its power.

Due to this turmoil, the Red Crest was wiped out in the eastern section, and the White Crest was reduced by half. The remaining members of the White Crest would leave the eastern section and relocate to rebuild in another section.

It seemed that the Red and Black Crests only suffered a few casualties, but the priests said that the Dorius family of the Red Crest would likely leave the eastern section and move to the northern section.

[They’ll probably decide it’s better to consolidate in one place than to spread their houses across different sections. The Red Crest in the eastern section lost their most experienced members. The remaining priests are just novices with barely any skills. They’ll likely move them to the northern section for training. After all, that person is there.]

Olphynn nodded at the words of the priest in the northern section.

[That person will likely be the next High Priest.]

In this town, ravaged by a monster attack, Olphynn had been the most active priest. But he couldn’t become the High Priest. Being strong wasn’t enough. It was something political, though it was too complicated for me to understand.

[If the Ceremonies aren’t conducted as usual, there will likely be complaints.]

The guard who already has a reincarnated person says.

[Given the current situation, people shouldn’t expect too much.]

A guard waiting for the ceremony replies. Looking at Dole, he laughs and says.

We’ll leave explaining things to the officials. If we work the remaining priests to the bone, they’ll collapse, and then we won’t even be able to discuss Ceremonies.]

The officials nodded, indicating they’d handle it.

The attack had occurred in the central square. Many officials had been killed there, and the same had happened in other sections. The remaining officials would no longer be confined to individual sections but would oversee the entire town. I imagine the distances they’d have to cover would be substantial, especially since the only way to travel is on foot.

[For now, let’s declare that the situation is under control.]

One of the elders suggested, and everyone agreed. The monsters were gone, and they were no longer in town. A proclamation of safety would be made, allowing the evacuees to return.

Although the monsters that entered from the north, south, and west had been defeated, the one that suddenly appeared in the east had merely left the town and was still alive.

The guards believed that this was the monster that had killed the Heroes. Of all the monsters that had shown up in the town, only the humanoid one from the east seemed capable of such a feat.

Just like how the monster slipped through Olphynn’s barrier and escaped, it was never really trapped from the beginning. Even when we were at the central square, that monster wasn’t confined within the barrier—it was moving freely throughout the town.

When I heard that, a chill ran down my spine. It’s terrifying to think that we were unaware of it.

Outside the town, where the monster went, lie forests, seas, and mountains crawling with all kinds of monsters. The barrier protecting the town is thin, and it doesn’t guarantee absolute safety.

How will the officials explain the deaths of the Heroes, the number of Dauntless that were killed and wounded, and above all, the deaths of the priests?

There are so many people waiting for the Ceremonies, and their turn doesn’t come easily. On top of that, with the reduced number of priests, it will become harder to carry out the Ceremonies as before. Some might never see their turn come in their lifetime.

Will people be able to accept that? They’ll have to, but I wonder if they truly will.

I think the priests will keep performing the Ceremonies, even if it means pushing themselves a little, just to prevent the townspeople’s dissatisfaction from growing too much. Where they used to hold the seven-day Ceremony and then rest for ten days, I bet they’ll shorten their breaks to seven or even five days, trying to reduce the number of Ceremonies lost over the course of a year.

And in order to strengthen the barrier, they’ll likely train and acquire knowledge and abilities unrelated to the Ceremonies themselves.

The eastern section has the highest number of Dauntless. While the other sections have only about ten Dauntless each, the eastern section alone has twenty-three.

However, during this incident, many Dauntless were killed or gravely wounded, unable to move for the time being. As far as I know, two Dauntless from the eastern section are missing. The damage to the other sections is likely even greater.

From now on, the mercenary guilds across the four sections are going to come together to discuss how to redistribute the Dauntless. In simple terms, they’ll relocate some of the eastern section’s Dauntless to other sections.

What will happen to Saine? Will we be able to keep living in the eastern section?

With lingering unease in everyone’s hearts, the people began returning to the town.