"How worrisome, for you to run into something like this as soon as you returned" Counier tossed a fruit to Chromie and spoke with a solemn expression.
Thanks to his perfect behavior over the past few years, combined with the support of the Reformist faction, Counier soon reached a high position, he was now a commander among the Red Sun Knights.
Ever since the Reformist faction's rise to power, the church had undergone many changes over the last few years. Any talented individual would be treasured and soon placed into a position suitable for them. Even the Night Watchers had gotten changed, mostly to grant them more rights.
It was said that this success came from the improvement of its original disorderly administrative method, which involved a deeper level of moderation from all sides, the manager of which was a young man whose age was similar to Counier.
"Indeed" Chromie lowered his head as various thoughts raced through his mind.
"What's done is done" Chromie pondered his words before continuing: "Miss Olga's soul shackles have been confirmed to be intact due to certain reasons, and as long as we can return her soul to her body in time, she would recover without issues"
"The church's priests can guarantee her health for three months, but after three months have passed, due to the lack of an occupying soul, her body would wither and die" Counier scowled: "However…"
"However, this might be… no, is definitely a trap" Chromie finished the rest of what Counier wanted to say. Since her soul shackles weren't broken, they could follow the trace of the soul shackles to find Olga's soul.
But the Hermit Order wouldn't have possibly left such an obvious opening, so their goal was plainly clear. This was an open plot, by using Olga's soul as bait, they planned to lure Chromie to them.
"We can only send a group of scouts to support you. Before confirming the situation, the church will not send too many people to aid you, Chromie" Counier told him upfront. Compared to before, the current Sun Shadow church's procedures were a lot more complete.
However, some of the downsides of the changes had also come into the open. As everything must follow procedures, after confirming that this was a trap, they would not send out too many personnel for Olga's sake, as this was irresponsible to the lives of the church's personnel.
"I understand" Chromie nodded, he took a glance at Olga who was resting inside the church's medical ward, then left to work. With the documents he obtained from the Saint Hunters, as well as the scouting squad that the church provided, it was relatively easy for him to approximately locate Olga's soul.
…
"Have you confirmed Chromie's whereabouts?" from the shadow, a hazy voice slowly questioned.
"We have guaranteed that there would always be someone tailing him" the two teenagers no longer seemed as carefree as they were before, both knelt with one knee to the ground and respectfully reported to the figure in the shadow.
"Chromie… Chromie" the figure muttered Chromie's name, as if they were extremely irritated with him.
"Furthermore, lord Merritt has sent news, that personage has released another Gear of Impurity, in hope that we would closely pay attention to it" when reporting this information, the two teenagers became even more respectful than before, but it wasn't respect towards Merritt, but towards that 'personage', the founder of the Hermit Order, Negary.
"Another one? He sure is willing to give up quite a bit" the shadow seemed to be very familiar with the Gear of Impurity.
"Fye, Lou, continue monitoring Chromie, and inform Darr, tell him to keep an eye out for a Beast of Impurity and confirm that the Gear of Impurity's nurturing has finished. If he's willing to, he may steal the Gear of Impurity for himself"
"And the two of you, if you can muster the courage, you may also give it a try"
"We are eternally loyal to you, milord" the two teenagers' throats moved a bit, but quickly contained the allure and expressed their loyalty to the shadow.
"Perhaps, but there is no such thing as eternal loyalty" the shadow seemed to think otherwise, as they went silent after stating what sounded like an emotional exclamation.
Through years of development, the Hermit Order had gotten incredibly huge. Due to the contribution points system, the Hermit Order did not have a traditional segregation of ranks, and every official member were technically equals in the Hermit Order.
However, the segregation of ranks still inevitably showed itself, as some members of the Hermit Order gradually held an increasingly larger amount of its resources, they became an Overlord of the Hermit Order.
Rather than calling the Hermit Order an organization, it would be more suitable to call it a system, a system built on the premise of contribution points.
The shadow was one such Overlord. She had joined the Hermit Order during the process of its rapid growth, then fortunately gained the honor of becoming an experimental subject of that personage. Using that as her foundation, she eventually developed a system of her own.
Among the Overlords of the Hermit Order, that personage could be said to be the most terrifying of them all. Not only did he found the Hermit Order, quite a few of the Hermit Order's current Overlords used to be his experimental subjects at one point or another. Not every experimental subject chose to develop their own forces either, as quite a few chose to pledge their allegiance to that personage, many of whom were terrifying monsters in their own rights.
Like the Profaned Life - Angel, the most-wanted criminal of the Sun Shadow church.
Or like the Blood Knight – Merritt, who had become that personage's spokesperson and issued many orders in his stead. The recent order to get rid of Chromie, who had damaged the Hermit Order's reputation, was issued in substitute by none other than him.
With the amount of resources that personage held, there were numerous people who would be willing to take on his orders, and the shadow was merely the one in the most suitable position to complete it.
The aforementioned Gear of Impurity was in fact that personage's newest experimental result, or rather, every experiment before this had been for the creation of the Gear of Impurity. While this item was dangerous, it could also grant the wielder great power, easily obtaining abilities that others would never achieve for their entire lives.
Periodically, that personage would release an immature Gear of Impurity into the surroundings, but it was 'immature' because it needed to be nurtured for a period of time before it 'matured'.
After the Gear had matured, anyone from the Hermit Order – or rather, anyone at all – may take the power of the Gear of Impurity for themselves, as that personage did not care who wielded it in the end.
The preservation of these Gears of Impurity until maturity was one of the long-term missions of the Hermit Order, as many were wary of its power, and many more craved to obtain it. Even without this mission, they would naturally attempt to preserve these Gears, if only for the chance to obtain it for themselves.
Fye Eyre and Lou Eyre were a pair of brothers, who were originally civilian sons. Because they weren't willing to work for their whole lives only to die a mundane life during work, they took every chance they had to change themselves, thus eventually coming across the Hermit Order. Without any qualifications of their own, they chose to come under an Overlord and became her subordinate.
They were certainly talented, but it was an indisputable fact that some people were simply born monsters in this world.
They opened the door to an underground room, in which stood a single black-haired youth, with dominoes surrounding him all over the room.
"Darr, milord told us to inform you that a new Gear has appeared" the two of them couldn't help but speak a bit respectfully towards this youth, as this was their respect towards a monster.
"Oh!?" the black-haired youth looked up; his snake pupils were practically glowing like never before. He then pushed the final domino with the item in his hand, causing a chain reaction that made every domino in the room collapse, finally connecting together depicting the shape of a gear.
"I knew it was about time"
