Chapter 296: 296. Heathens In Disguise

Thud!

Miraj fell inside the small palace, in the backyard, on the green grass. His stubby little fluffy legs absorbed all the shock and left him unharmed. But, at that instant, Miraj's eyes had hearts in them as he remained standing in one place--flustered.

"B-B-Banana!"

Yes, it turns out that the palace's backyard had a few banana trees planted here and there, and currently, they had ripe yellow bananas, ready for the taking of one fluffy boy.

Pa!

But Miraj slapped himself with his paw to focus on the task at hand. 'You can't do this to Maxy, Chonky. I must help him. He will give me more bananas later.'

So, Miraj started to look around to find any clues about the crime that was committed.

...

At the same time, Sylvester was looking for a way inside the palace from under the water. It was not too hard for him to stay underwater as he could easily create an air bubble around his head with the help of Air Elemental magic. The only thing to worry about underwater was the depth and the pressure.

So eventually, he found the entrance from where the water and fish were entering the castle. There were two points, one for entry and one for exit. Thankfully, there was no strong flow that stopped him from moving.

The only obstacles were a few metal bars he dealt with easily and entered the property. The sizeable deep fish fountain was truly deep, going more than ten metres in depth. It was like a small lake in the backyard of the palace.

So, he went to the shore and stayed afloat there. The place was too big, and there were no guards inside the palace, so he was clear to go. But first, he whistled at a high pitch and low volume.

After a few minutes, Miraj came running as he heard the signal.

"Maxy! I looked everywhere and didn't smell or find the lady. The Cardinal is not here either... But they are cooking food for someone." Miraj reported.

Sylvester stayed in the water. "Hmm... Then the Cardinals must be returning soon. Let's wait here until then, Chonky."

Miraj nodded and sat near the edge beside Sylvester. But his head was constantly looking in a certain direction at a few particular trees.

"Fine, go and get a few bananas secretly. I'm hungry too." Sylvester permitted him as there was nothing else to do.

Sadly, they had no idea how long they'd have to wait. Soon, the sun had set, and the night dawned over them. Sylvester remained in the water while looking around. Miraj would go inside the palace every few hours and check. The Cardinals did not return to the palace for some reason.

"Maxy~"

Just then, an increasing call of Miraj came as the chubby cat ran up to Sylvester. "They are coming here! I heard they like to drink morning tea by the water. Quick, hide."

Sylvester looked at the sky. "It's still an hour early until sunrise. I guess you heard the servants preparing breakfast for them. Alright, let's wait."

So he waited patiently until the sky started to turn bright again. And soon, the two Cardinals came and took a seat in the backyard garden near the water.

As for Sylvester, he remained in the water very close to the two Cardinals and listened to them.

"I hope you were able to meet the judge." Cardinal Cohn said as he sipped some tea.

"I did, but the man won't budge. I offered him a hundred thousand Gold Graces. But he refused and warned me not to interfere. That so-called bard has turned into a headache now." Cardinal Kenny replied annoyedly.

Cardinal Cohn chortled before speaking. "Hah, he is. But he has too many enemies right now. The poor boy chose the wrong time to arrive in the Holy Land. If it was a few decades ago, he could have had a smooth rise. Now, so many eyes covet the throne.

"Regardless, I've taken care of things from my side. The judge won't find anything even if he gave the bard a month to investigate."

"What did you do?"

"Well, I was able to track down that woman and her cub. She was hiding in one of the monasteries of the Holy Land. I just returned from dealing with the two. As I speak, our men are heading north into the sea to throw their bodies out with stones tied to them. Soon, fish will eat them, and our troubles will be gone." Cardinal Cohn replied with an evil smirk and a satisfied look.

Cardinal Kenny also rested back in his seat after hearing that. "Thank goodness we found them before others. But we must warn our subordinates now. What that foolish Bishop did could have destroyed our names and, in the worst case--get us removed from our positions."

"You're right, my brother. Too many eyes are on us right now. Let's call them for a meeting here."

"Agreed."

...

Sylvester had moved away as soon as he heard that the woman and her child were being taken into the sea.

So, after bringing Miraj a distance away, he took a few solarium crystals and minor health potions before writing something on paper. "Boy, take this to Aurora and put the paper on her table. Make sure she sees it without getting notices."

Miraj diligently put the paper in his mouth and nodded.

With that, Sylvester again caught Miraj in hand and threw him just high enough to land on the other side of the boundary wall.

Then, he moved out of the palace and also headed north. But he knew swimming was useless for him as it didn't allow him to see far. So, he used Light Steps to climb into the air and run as well.

In no time, he was able to see every single ship and boat nearby. And only one of them appeared to be going straight to the north for no apparent reason. It was too small to be a deep-sea fishing boat, and there was no major place to dock in the north.

'I hope this is the one.'

He did his best to run as fast as he could. However, it took a lot of mental strength to precisely create a solidified light tile under his foot as he moved at a fast speed. The trick was to conserve the Solarium as much as possible to last long.

Eventually, he became fast enough to catch up to the boat. By that time, he could only notice a faint shadow of the Holy Land in the far distance.

"No, no, no!"

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But as he was approaching the sky above the boat, he noticed a few men on board throwing a metal box into the sea, a chain was tied to the box with a boulder at the end. In an instant, the box also disappeared into the deep blue sea.

Having no option, Sylvester let himself fall. Not just fall, but he used wind elemental magic on his feet to propel himself faster. At the same time, he created a cone in front of his head, made of solidified light magic. Its job was to reduce air resistance and make him something akin to a missile.

But his target was not the sea.

Boom!

Abruptly, he fell onto the small boat's deck like a shooting star, ready to blast everything to smithereens. The men on the boat only noticed a faint shadow and a deafening roar. By the time they could even react, a hole had formed in the middle of their craft, violently leaking water and drowning them.

And Sylvester was inside the seawater, diving deeper and deeper to catch onto the sinking box with the dead bodies. He could see the increasing darkness around him as the sunlight became rare.

He didn't want to let the box fall too deep as he had read in the geography books about the deep sea horrors of this world. Ignoring the giant sea serpents with no eyes, the mere fact that the ocean's depth went as deep as twenty thousand metres, and this was just the usual depth and not the deepest part.

"Aaaargh!"

He pushed his body to the limit to force himself deeper into the sea.

Woosh!

'W-What was that?'

He suddenly felt something touch his body. It was long, like a snake, and as thick as three feet. It brushed past his naked back for a good ten three seconds--fast.

As he had guessed, the deep sea was full of horrors he didn't want to ever imagine. So, as always, when in time of danger, he did what he knew--he sang.

The hymn lasted only under his breath, but the halo appeared effortlessly as it was just light, lighting up the back of his head.

Sylvester focused on the sinking box and pushed himself. Eventually, he reached it and used his right fist to cut the chain.

Shhh...!

Thankfully, it appeared the box had an air pocket inside it and instantly started rising toward the surface. With Sylvester under it, holding the cut chain, he took a calming look around as he was soon going to run out of breath as the air bubbles couldn't work so deep underwater.

Eventually, he saw the light from the sky increasing, and the pleasant colourful fishes came into view. He never saw or felt the snake-like creature again, thankfully.

Boom!

In the end, he pushed the container onto the sinking boat and jumped over. The people in it were still trying to get rid of the water and fix the sinking hole.

"Alright, the game's over," Sylvester announced and mercilessly moved with his light blades on the fist. With precision, he made cuts to the throats of four of the five men. Only one was left to answer some questions.

But before that, Sylvester lifted one of the dead bodies and pushed it into the hole he made in the boat's hull. Once it got stuck, the boat was officially repaired with a dead body.

"You, if you wish to live, start throwing out the water," Sylvester ordered the last remaining sailor.

Then he focused on the metal container. It was time to check it and ensure the bodies were inside it.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"P-Please... h-help..."

"..."

"They're alive!" Sylvester rushed like a madman as he heard the faint voice.

Without wasting a moment, he used his monstrous strength to rip apart the lock on it. Then, he opened the lid to look inside.

"Don't worry. I will sav--"

Yet his words of assurity only turned to silence as the horrors he saw inside the box. It didn't make sense, but it was there.

"P-Please... my son..."

Inside the box, a woman was sitting with her knees folded near her chest. She was holding her young son, probably five, above her head. Meanwhile, the container was half filled with some liquid, but it was all red, like blood. The woman seemed to have lost most of her face and body's skin, and even her bones were visible. It was as if someone had burnt her intensely.

Sylvester quickly caught the little boy with multiple burn wounds and put him at the side as he was unconscious.

Sylvester stared at the last sailor of the boat. "What did you do to them?"

Seeing his shining golden eyes and anger, the man confessed. "I-I was ordered... To dissolve their bodies in acid and leave no clue! Please... I di..."

"Silence!"

[A/N: Please tag any mistakes you see. My editor was busy, and I was too sleepy while editing. Will post the next chap after a short nap.]

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