The Lord Is Too Overbearing

The walk to the tent where they would have the meeting in was deafeningly silent. Many people were glancing at and talking about Basil from the side, but he didn't register them at all.

It was also the same case for Iliana and Ione. Meeting the King of Braxtein Kingdom could not shake them, but knowing that they would meet a high ranking official of the Church made them nervous.

All of them came from the same Clan, which was the biggest enemy of the Church, the Pacifer. Worrying the other party would be able to identify them was something unavoidable.

Different than the two women however, Basil worried about what the Church was planning to do instead. He had done quite a lot to the timeline, so he didn't want to dismiss this noteworthy event as a mere coincidence.

While his identity as a male Pacifer was obscure due to the Church's scepticism, he was sure the Church wouldn't make a move on them even though the Church had known of their true identity given their current position.

Basil, Iliana, and Ione were currently under the protection of the Kingdom due to their notable role in the battle. Spouting nonsense about them being heretics would be the same as the Church inciting a conflict with the Kingdom.

They might be stupid, but they were not stupid enough to bring harm upon their position in the Kingdom. Because of these reasons, Basil believed the Church's involvement in the Outbreak this early would indicate something bigger.

"I want you two to stay calm." Stopping in his tracks, Basil turned to the two women behind him. "Your emotion is in a mess. I am actually disappointed that I can notice how much it sways the closer we get to our destination."

Hearing those words, the two women could only smile bitterly. Brave as they might be, getting their identity as a Pacifer exposed underwhelmed them since it would absolutely result in an experience that was worse than death.

Getting killed was not something they were afraid of, but they knew the Church wouldn't just kill them. Their body wouldn't be the only thing that would be tortured if the Church got their hands on them; their soul would be too.

"Hm?"

"Basil?"

Just as they were about to be drown in their dark and depressive thought, they felt a warm hand on their head. They immediately looked up at Basil—they were significantly shorter than him—and blinked their eyes in surprise.

They had initially thought Basil was going to Bless them, which was absurd considering where they were, but they were relieved and also surprised that he just wanted to ruffle their hair.

They wanted to be annoyed, but they were too distracted by the soothing feeling they got from the gesture. Their heart stopped pounding loudly, and regained its usual rhythm afterwards.

"None will be able to touch the two of you as long as I am alive. I will outlive both of you, so you can rest assured," Basil said with a small smirk.

The two women sighed softly and nodded their head with a small smile. They couldn't believe two sentences could calm their racing heart easily.

Taking his hands off Ione and Iliana's head, Basil resumed his walk to the meeting tent. He could no longer sense a turmoil in their Mana Flow, so he smiled in satisfaction.

They arrived at the tent in less than half a minute. The guard immediately opened the tent for them and let them in.

They seemed to be the last people to arrive since all of the seats had been filled except for one, which belonged to Basil. Everyone's eyes landed on him, giving him all kinds of feelings.

Most of the emotion the eyes conveyed was respect and admiration. The others were glee and, of course, suspicion.

It was easy to deduce which party giving him the eyes since Eban and his company were the only people who didn't smile in the room. None seemed to notice—they might have, but didn't care regardless.

"Welcome, Head Commander Basil," Anthony greeted. "I honestly thought you were too engrossed in your recuperation to care about the meeting."

Putting his hand on his chest, Basil bowed politely. "I am sorry for my lateness, Your Majesty. Time always moves faster whenever I close my eyes and sit cross-legged."

"You sound very similar to a good Daoist friend of mine, Head Commander," remarked a burly man in a high collared brown shirt.

"Should I take that as a praise, Guildmaster Zander?"

"Well, your diligence towards your training is as commendable as his, so yes, you can say so." Zander smirked. He was glad that Basil was as straightforward as he thought.

Bowing his head lightly to Zander, Basil turned to Anthony. He immediately received the gesture to sit, then together with his companion, he headed to his seat.

Upon sitting down, he was immediately greeted with a smile by Jacinda who was sitting across him. He nodded his head lightly and made himself comfortable in his seat, all the while ignoring Eban, who was sitting in the chair on his left.

"Now that everyone is already here, I shall announce the start of the meeting," Anthony stated. "As you have heard from Carlyle," he gestured to his left, "we are here to discuss about formation we should use for the next fight."

Glancing at Eban, he was greeted by Eban's benevolent smile. "Before that however, Head Priest Eban, representing the will of the Great Pontiff, is here to tell us something. It will be quite a shock, but I need you to remain calm."

Immediately standing up from his chair, Eban looked around the room solemnly. Under everyone's curious gaze, in the next moment, he opened his mouth.

"What if I told you what you had read as a kid—those folklores and a bunch of nonsensical things written there are true? What if I tell you some things that are written in our scripture are historically accurate?"

A faint sigh came out of the mouth of the people in the tent. Most of them were Mages, the nonbelievers who often confronted the followers of the Church about their silly idealism.

Eban took it calmly. Although he was honestly irked that there were people who dared to openly show their disagreement with the Church's teaching, he didn't want to make a scene and risked being hated by everyone.

"Yes, I have expected those reactions." Eban smiled. "As you have known, the Church had already existed even before the disbandment of Camelot. We have recorded about many things that we only share to the Human Emperor."

At this point, Basil could already tell what the Church was going to do from then on. His eyes immediately darkened, and he couldn't help clicking his tongue inwardly.

He didn't know what triggered the decision of the Church, but he was sure it wasn't him. Regardless of that, the situation would get more unfavourable for him from then on.

"We have kept these secrets for thousands of years, thinking that we would never have to shed some light on it. This Outbreak—this heartbreaking event, however, changed everything ... We feel compelled to tell you about everything."

Taking a deep breath as if he was going to say something heart breaking, Eban said, "First, Let me tell you about what we are up against to... Demons. These creatures escaped from the hell and had been trying to rule our world for thousands of years."

As Basil expected, Eban really revealed the information that they themselves had erased from the record. Many of the people discarded it at first, but they became more convinced the more they heard him speak.

He told them about the hierarchy of Demons—Low Class, Middle Class, and High Class—and how Obelisks actually worked. He told them the identity of Goap, and also the other Obelisk Masters residing in their Obelisk.

Everyone listened to him calmly with a solemn expression. Now that they already knew some of the things written in the Church's Scripture was true, they couldn't help musing if the Four Great Gods were also real.

After all, they could already believe that Hell was real, so it would be quite weird to think that Heaven and Gods didn't exist. They still didn't want to change their belief however; they were rather conflicted about it.

"Our Miracle is lethal to the Demons. Now that we can no longer hold the Obelisk off, we have decided to finally join the battle and make a great use of our Miracle."

Publicity was the aim of the Church; so, of course, they would make a bold claim to boost their reputation. Just like now, Eban claimed that the reason an Outbreak hadn't occured for the past two thousand years was because of them holding the Obelisks off.

It was utter twaddle, but they did have control over when an Outbreak should occur since they kept a close tie with the Obelisk Masters. Nobody knew about this fact other than Basil however; so, from the surface, Eban's twaddle made sense.

"This should be the last time we experience an Outbreak; it is better to conquer Obelisks from now on. We will help as much as we can in conquering the Obelisks, and we should be able to eradicate every Demon in the world in no time."

Concluding his speech with a light bow, Eban sat down. The room was silent as they digested the information they had heard; the possibility of facing the fearsome creatures that they had read about in folklores in the future was quite unnerving.

All of them were still in disbelief—even Anthony who had heard it before everyone. Basil and his companion were the only people who could stay calm.

They thought nothing of Eban's blasphemous twaddle since they had already known of the things Eban had said, and could draw the line between the truth and the lie.

"This is not a persuasion for you to join the Church—don't worry," Anthony remarked lighteartedly, awakening the people from their thought. "They just know more than us, so you don't have to reluctantly start believing in their belief."

Everyone smiled faintly then nodded their head lightly. It was still apparent that the weariness hadn't left them yet, but the meeting was still carried on.

Basil, Iliana, and Ione could sense Eban's growing hostility towards them throughout the meeting. It eventually irked Basil, so for the first time since the meeting started, he turned his eyes to Eban.

Suddenly, the entire tent became silent.