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Chapter 432 – It’s Just A Small Sacrifice
When a person was scared, they ran much faster.
Bob held Snow quickly leaving the living dead behind and soon entered the escape route. As long as you continue straight you can leave the plague zone and no living dead could stop them!
Victory was close, but Snow felt like something was off.
Was it going too smoothly?
She had thought it would be difficult to break out of the encirclement, but it was almost too easy.
Also, the expected ambush didn’t happen.
Snow thought that once she enters the side road, she would immediately encounter an ambush, but they haven’t encountered any enemies yet.
The only sound she could hear was Bob’s rough breathing.
What was going on?
“Saintess, I-I can’t run anymore.”
Bob couldn’t keep it up and had to set Snow down. He found a stone for her to sit on as he laid sprawled out on the ground, gasping for breath.
“Bob, what’s the situation?”
Snow used her hands to feel the stone beneath her to ensure that it was sturdy before sitting down.
“I’ve never rested and now I’m exhausted.” Bob wiped his sweat while complaining.
“Fool, who asked you that? I was asking about the situation around us!”
“Around us?”
“There’s nothing around us.”
“Nothing?” Snow immediately became vigilant.
How could there be nothing? What about the ambush? Did they notice something so they gave up?
While she was thinking, Bob lazily asked a question.
“Saintess, now that things have come to this, you should tell me about your plan. If I’m not wrong, you have people nearby, right?”
“How did you know?”
“Don’t take me for an idiot. The ten or so people that were following you earlier suddenly disappeared tonight, and you’re so calm and relaxed, so you must have prepared, right?”
“Hehe, guess so.” Snow shook her head, “But it seems like they saw through it and didn’t fall for it.”
“That’s good too, at least we don’t have to keep running.”
When Bob heard that, he instantly relaxed.
“Since no one is coming, Snow, why don’t we have a chat?”
“Hm, about what?”
Noticing the slight changes in his tone, and how he called her Snow instead of Saintess, she felt a bit off.
“Just a casual chat… there’s one thing I don’t understand, why did you take the black core from Claire?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“It’s simple, if you didn’t take the black core, then the enlightened society wouldn’t come looking for you and would go to Claire instead. So you wouldn’t have to use yourself as bait… now you’re just bringing trouble upon yourself.”
“Bob, how can you say that? I’m a Saintess of the Holy Light Church!”
“Oh my Snow, it’s just the two of us here, there’s no one else, you don’t have to pretend to be holy and immaculate… the snow witch, did you think I’ve never heard of your nickname?” Bob laughed and shrugged.
Snow furrowed her brows and still didn’t understand what Bob was getting at.
From what she remembered Bob was a devoted believer that followed the Goddess for numerous years so he wouldn’t say anything like this, could he have been infected?
No, they’ve never been ambushed and Bob hasn’t been bitten, and Snow already cast her blessings that would create an intense scorching reaction if it encounters black magic.
At that time, there was nothing like that on Bob, so he couldn’t have been infected either!
But… why is he suddenly acting so strange?
“Okay, as you wish.”
Snow also wanted to see what he had up his sleeve, so she took off her Saintess mask and changed to her true witch mask.
“The reason I took it is simple. Firstly, I wanted to take credit.”
“Hehe, as expected of the snow witch, honest, I like that… what else?”
“Second, I wanted to use it as bait to catch the enlightened!”
“That I don’t understand.” Bob interrupted her and asked curiously, “Why are you against them?”
“They’re a cult, if they’re allowed to continue as they please, they will surely shake the foundations of the holy light church. The pope secretly ordered me to investigate, so I obviously wouldn’t let them go!”
“Uh… that I get, but I’m not asking about the pope, but you, yourself!” Bob impatiently waved his hand and interrupted her again, “You, why are you doing this?”
“… Bob, it seems like you’re trying to say something.”
Snoe carefully digested his words and responded with a question instead.
“Do you not think they should be destroyed?”
“Of course not!”
“Why!?”
Snow couldn’t believe her own ears and sternly questioned him.
“Snow, you should know, their motto is ‘Liberate the enlightened and illuminate the world’, their enemies aren’t the Holy Light church, and not anyone else, but the impending calamity, the original sin! They want to save this world, how could they be a cult?”
“Bob, you…”
Snow had cold sweats as she listened to him. Bob was just a believer so how could he have this top secret information? What confused her more was his standing.
“Bob, are you speaking for the enlightened!?”
“In order to realize grand plans, sacrifice is necessary. Just like how the Holy Light church had multiple holy wars when they were first establishing themselves, numerous people died, and then they gradually stabilized and rapidly developed in the four kingdoms… the enlightened will be the same, the mess before was just a small unavoidable sacrifice.”
“Hehe, is turning half of a kingdom’s people into the living dead a small sacrifice?”
“Of course! Snow, do you not think their deaths were well earned? They were just a bunch of plebeians that no one cared about, offering their lives for something great is their fortune!”
“That I agree with, they were indeed a bunch of plebeians that no one cared about.”
“Right? I knew the snow witch would surely understand me!”
“However…”
Before Bob could laugh, Snow used a cold glare to pierce through his illusions.
“Even plebeians have the right to decide how they will die, not to be turned into monsters by you people! … Bob, I never expected you were secretly in contact with them! Don’t blame me for being heartless!”
“Snow, w-what are you doing?”
Snow stood up and clapped her hands three times!
Clap, clap, clap.
Her crisp claps echoed through the mountain pass.
But there was no response.
“Snow, what are you doing?” Bob looked around but didn’t see anything.
“Hm? What’s going on, did they not hear me… Captain Freeman, do it now!”
Clap, clap, clap.
This time, Snow yelled out along with her claps, but she still didn’t receive any response.
“What’s going on? Why…”
“Snow, did you just say Freeman? The captain of the sixth squad that’s blind in his left eye?”
Bob chuckled and quietly asked.
“Eh? W-what did you say? How did you know!?”
Snow couldn’t maintain her composure and her indifference was replaced with panic.
“Stop yelling, I know you told the crucifix guards to hide here beforehand… but unfortunately, they’re not here.”
“Bob… it was you!?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Bob smiled smugly and walked over and held Snow’s shoulder pushing her back down onto the stone and started explaining.
“There’s an area to the south that’s very similar to this place, you told Freeman to lie in ambush here, so I gave them a fake map and tricked them to the south… They’re probably lying down and watching the moon right about now, haha.”
“Bob, you!?”
Snow finally realized why Bob was chatting with her and why everything was going so smoothly… it was because her trap was already seen through!
If that’s the case, then Elona’s disappearance shouldn’t be a coincidence either, right?
“Elona! My maid Elona! … Where did she go? Bob, what did you do to Elona!?” Snow bit her lips as her body trembled.
“Oh, you’re talking about that little maid… don’t get so worked up, I’m not a devil, how could I kill such a cute little maid?”
“Shut up, where is she!?”
“I don’t know either… earlier today, right when it turned into night, I borrowed your name to trick her to the northern marshes.”
“What? The north!?”
After hearing that, Snow’s heart sank. All those living dead crawled out of the northern marshes! Even though Elona was a red-eyed black cat and was strong, she was wearing a demon sealing collar, so if she were ambushed, she wouldn’t be able to react in time!
“Your maid was really dumb, she didn’t doubt my words at all and believed whatever I said, right now… she’s probably been eaten to the bones by my living dead army? Tsk, tsk, what an unfortunate waste of such a good figure, she even had such a big chest.”
“You just said, your living dead army? … Bob, w-who are you!?”
“Me?”
Bob smiled and touched Snow’s head.
“Allow me to reintroduce myself… I’m the third apostle’s servant, white night.”