Chapter 440 207: "Courting Death

Most of the brooms flying around the city were their handiwork.

Hoyev's shop usually did great business. Even though it was only open three months a year, he earned enough to live on, so he had no need to take on missions. This trip was purely to restock his inventory.

And killing the Priest? That was just something he wanted to do.

"There has to be a reason, right?" Sean said. Based on Hoyev's appearance, he didn't seem like the type to kill innocents indiscriminately.

His slightly plump figure gave him a kind, gentle look.

"Because he deserved to die," Hoyev answered.

As he spoke, his eyes filled with intense hatred and malice.

Sean's interest was piqued.

'Looks like there's a story here.'

But he didn't know if he should ask.

But Hoyev began to speak on his own, spitting through gritted teeth, "None of these Priests from Elderidge Church are any good!"

The deceased Priest was named Wides. He wasn't a local of Gothra Town; he had originally served at a church in Vernadu's neighboring city. On the surface, he appeared to be a kindly Priest. He was always gentle with those who came to the church to pray or confess, and he was very professional, never revealing anyone's secrets.

But no one knew that this old Priest, who had such a good reputation, was secretly a Demon who molested little boys.

The church had a choir at the time, with 27 children in total. Not one of them escaped his clutches.

Hoyev himself was one of them.

Moreover, Wides had also assaulted little girls in private. His depravity knew no gender.

Hoyev's only relief was that girls weren't allowed in the choir, which meant the girl he'd had his first crush on had been spared.

Now that the abused boy had grown up, it was time to take revenge on the Demon who had cast a shadow over his heart.

The Church Court later transferred Wides from that church. Hoyev had searched for him for many years, trying to gather information on his whereabouts whenever he traveled, but he always came up empty. Finally, this time, he used the Little Gista Family's connections to track Wides down.

Wides was much older now than he had been in Hoyev's childhood.

But Hoyev still recognized him at a glance.

He wasn't blinded by hatred.

To avoid killing the wrong person, before making his move, Hoyev had Wides take out his identification.

It was him.

And then came the scene Sean and the others saw when they entered the prayer room.

Sean was silent.

Elise and Anna were silent too, their eyes now holding a hint of pity as they looked at Hoyev.

"I'm sorry."

Sean hadn't expected Hoyev to have had such an unfortunate childhood.

"It's fine." Hoyev waved his hand and smiled. "The fact that I can tell you all this means I've already stepped out of the shadows."

From the moment he personally killed Wides, all his hatred would begin to slowly dissipate with the passage of time.

Sean took the opportunity to change the subject. "So, you dared to strike in the church because there are no Grand Mages in Gothra Town?"

Hoyev took another sip of water and answered, "Actually, there is."

"He's just not in town these past few days."

Sean: "What do you mean?"

Hoyev said, "That Grand Mage is named Fan Ke'er, nicknamed 'Captain of the Forbidden Guard.' A few days ago, it seems he received a mission from the Church Court to escort something and temporarily left Gothra Town."

The part about "escorting something" was just Hoyev's guess.

He had arrived in Gothra Town long before Sean's group and had been waiting for an opportunity. That day, many soldiers and Knights had come to town. They respectfully showed Fan Ke'er something that looked like an official document and exchanged a few words with him. Fan Ke'er then nodded, mounted his horse, and led them away from the other side of town.

"Captain of the Forbidden Guard... Why does that nickname sound so familiar?" Sean frowned.

He was sure he'd heard that title before but couldn't place it right away.

Anna glanced at him and spoke up, "Captain of the Forbidden Guard isn't just a nickname. It's a position."

Many people in the Church Court could be called "Captain of the Forbidden Guard." Fan Ke'er was just one of them.

"He's from the Bright King's Court," Anna said.

Hoyev looked at her with slight surprise, thinking, 'This young girl even knows about that?'

Sean asked directly, "How do you know so much?"

Anna said with a blank expression, "Because I'm also from the Bright King's Court."

Sean: "?"

Elise: "..."

Hoyev: "..."

'Is that so?'

'Somehow, I don't think she is.'

The Bright King's Court was personally commanded by the mysterious Pope and was absolutely loyal to the Church Court. Anyone else might betray the Church Court, but they never would. Furthermore, the Bright King's Court held an extremely high status within the Empire, even above that of the Duke Families. Everyone from the Bright King's Court was haughty and looked down on others. 'Would a person like that be willing to share a man with another woman?'

Hoyev didn't think so.

If Anna were really from the Bright King's Court, she would have more likely killed this "shameless couple" on the spot.

Sean rolled his eyes and said irritably, "If you're from the Bright King's Court, then I'm Mr. Blake."

Anna: "..."

Sean's words shut her up completely.

'Could it be? She really *was*... and maybe Sean *was* Mr. Blake, too?'

'Although the Saintess couldn't directly command the Bright King's Court, they would still defer to her on minor matters. Besides, in terms of status, the Saintess was nobler than anyone in the Bright King's Court. If she said she was one of them, then she was. No one would dare to contradict her.'

Sean didn't want to banter with her. He turned back to Hoyev and asked, "Do you know what they're escorting?"

Hoyev shook his head. "I don't know."

He was only Tier Five; just managing to identify Fan Ke'er from a distance was the best he could do. Any closer and he would've been discovered. Besides, the cavalry didn't stay in Gothra Town for long, so he had no chance to ask around. The only thing he was certain of was that if it really was an escort mission, the cargo must be incredibly important to the Church Court. Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed a Grand Mage to lead the escort.

That was precisely why Sean's interest was piqued.

If he could, he wouldn't mind making this team return to the Church Court empty-handed to beg for their lives.

"Which direction did they go?" Sean asked.

Hoyev recalled for a moment and answered, "Out the town's east gate, then south."

He didn't know what happened after that. The Grand Mage's perception was frighteningly sharp; he hadn't dared to watch for too long.

As soon as Anna heard Sean ask this, she guessed what he was planning and said, "I'd advise you not to do that."

Sean: "Why?"

"The Bright King's Court is different from those families," Anna said seriously. "Once they have you in their sights, no one can save you."

Including her.

"You will die," Anna said.

Hoyev also thought it was a bad idea, saying, "I don't think it's necessary to take the risk."

Putting aside whether it was an escort mission, what was being escorted, or if it was even useful to them, the leader alone—Captain of the Forbidden Guard Fan Ke'er—was not someone a few Low-tier Wizards could afford to provoke. He was a genuine Grand Mage who could probably take on a hundred of them. It wasn't worth risking their lives for something so uncertain.

But Sean didn't think so.

Hoyev felt it wasn't worth it because he could die, and he only had one life.

But he and Elise were different. They couldn't die. At worst, they'd get injured. The worst that could happen was they'd end up sharing a table with Sopea, and there was nothing scary about that.

Sean didn't care if the item was useful to him, either.

As long as it caused the Church Court to suffer a loss, he'd consider it worthwhile.

Besides, his intuition told him there was more to this than met the eye.

'Think about it, who is the Church Court? The masters of the entire Empire. When they escort something, it's like a SWAT team guarding an armored truck. Who would dare to rob it? A few armed guards should be enough. There's absolutely no need to deploy a "heavy weapon" like a Grand Mage. Doing this could only mean one thing: failure is not an option for this mission. It might even be connected to the Witch Hunt Operation in the Farm World.'

Anyway, he and Elise were hard to kill. Whether they'd actually interfere was another matter, but they had to at least go check it out.

"You're courting death," Anna said, looking him in the eyes.

"What, scared?" Sean snorted. "If you're scared, then don't follow us. My wife and I will go by ourselves."

When Elise heard him call her that, her eyes curved into crescents. She immediately put on a show, hugging Sean's arm and saying with deliberate sweetness, "Okay, hubby. Whatever you say."

Anna: "?"

'Now he's *really* asking for it.'

'Sean still had no idea that Anna was his dear Her Highness the Saintess, yet here he was, acting like this with Elise.'

Anna was so furious she felt like she was about to explode. It took the power of a Tier Ten to suppress her rage. Staring at the shameless couple before her, she spat out, "Fine."

"Go if you want to go."

"When you die at someone else's hands, don't blame me for not warning you."

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