Elves, in their struggle for survival, had chosen to embrace faith and offer their thanks to the church. Ped wouldn’t comment much on that decision. However, if these same elves were to ally with the Blood Church and oppress their kin, he would undoubtedly consider them enemies.
Sharena, in particular, was an elf he loathed. To his knowledge, her standing within these various churches was far from low; she even possessed the authority to occasionally override a bishop’s directives and make decisions independently.
To avoid detection, he let out a cold snort, then swiftly retreated to Nona’s side.
“What do we do now?” Olivia whispered, her voice barely audible.
Their supposed secret stronghold offered no sanctuary from the Blood Church’s omnipresent gaze. Their every move was being meticulously tracked, a fact underscored by Sharena’s alarming swiftness.
Ped hesitated for a brief moment, then retrieved an intricately carved emblem from within his robes, presenting it to Nona.
“Nona,” Ped began, “this is the Emblem of the Life Church Leader. Take it; it will prove invaluable soon. Furthermore, the study beneath this stronghold houses a wealth of Life Church records. Remember to retrieve them, for the future of our Church cannot exist without its believers.”
A chilling premonition gripped Nona’s heart as she listened. Just as she parted her lips to speak, Ped merely nodded, a grim resolve in his eyes, and declared, “The Life Church of Pader City… it rests upon your shoulders.”
“…Mr. Ped?”
Before Nona could utter a word of protest, Ped, his brow furrowed in determination, strode purposefully from behind the wall. He unleashed a furious roar at Sharena: “Stop! Sharena, release them!”
The familiar voice reverberated through the air before the stronghold. The elves being escorted instantly turned their gazes towards its source. As they recognized their leader, many of their faces froze in horror, and they frantically implored Ped to make his escape.
Ped, however, disregarded their well-intentioned pleas. He walked directly up to Sharena, silently radiating his magical power, a clear indication that he was ready to engage at a moment’s notice.
The Blood Church adherents swiftly encircled him, ensuring Ped had no hope of escape from their tightening ring. Only then did Sharena turn her head, her bright eyes glinting with a foxy cunning as she regarded him.
“Oh, isn’t this Ped?” Sharena drawled, a smirk playing on her lips. “How did you manage to return from the forest all by yourself? And where are those heroes who were supposed to be accompanying you?”
“Release them,” Ped stated firmly, “and I will go with you.”
Ignoring her taunt, Ped offered himself in exchange for the elves’ freedom. Sharena’s eyes narrowed, and she let out a delicate laugh. “Well, well,” she purred, “I never would have pegged you, a leader, for such a responsible sort.”
Her tone, whenever she addressed Ped, was always laced with an unsettling ambiguity. Those who overheard her words were left to wonder whether she offered genuine praise or veiled mockery.
From her perspective, the optimal move was to seize both the leader and the elves who adhered to the Life Church. The surrounded leader, after all, was already a bird in a cage, utterly incapable of escaping her clutches.
When that time came, the valiant hero party would undoubtedly arrive to rescue them.
Yet, whether it was a flicker of lingering sympathy for the elves or some other hidden motive, Sharena let out a cold laugh before waving a dismissive hand at the Blood Church followers behind her, instructing them to release the captured elves.
“Capturing just you will be far simpler,” she declared.
The cultists surrounding Ped swarmed him in an instant, binding his hands and feet with magical shackles. Though the newly freed elves yearned to intervene, Ped’s stern gaze silently commanded them to retreat, keeping them at a considerable distance.
Sharena watched these subtle movements with a disdainful snort, choosing to ignore them entirely. With the elegant stride of a noblewoman, she gracefully led Ped away, directly towards the Blood Church’s Tribunal.
The elves watched this unfolding scene, their hearts stirring with a complex mix of emotion. While moved by Ped’s sacrifice, their hatred for Sharena surged to new heights, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
They were utterly powerless. Their faction, in comparison to the formidable Blood Church, was far too weak to intervene.
“Ped…”
From their vantage point at the street corner, Nona and her companions could only watch helplessly as Sharena led Ped away. To reveal themselves now would invite catastrophic danger.
Escaping safely from a city teeming with Blood Church adherents would be an almost impossible feat.
Once Sharena and her contingent of cultists had departed, Nona and her group stepped out from the street corner. The bewildered elves, who moments ago had seemed utterly devoid of hope, had their eyes rekindled with a flicker of light upon seeing them.
Though their leader was gone, they still had the heroes—the very individuals who so often defied expectations and forged miracles. Surely, they could rescue Ped!
Nona understood the unspoken plea in their eyes, and once more, she felt the immense weight of her identity as a hero.
‘The most dangerous place is often the safest,’ Nona mused. After Sharena had thoroughly searched the secret stronghold, it was highly improbable she would return. Thus, Nona and her companions entered the hidden base, intending to spend the night within its confines.
Recalling Ped’s instructions, Nona descended into the underground section of the secret stronghold. The air here was considerably darker and damper than the main hall, demanding a raised torch to illuminate the path forward.
Besides her fellow heroes, a surprising number of elves, all holding significant positions within the Life Church, followed her into the gloom. This unexpected retinue struck Nona as peculiar.
“Why are you following me?”
The elves exchanged bewildered glances at her question. After a brief, quiet moment, a middle-aged elf draped in robes stepped forward, addressing her with deference.
“Lord Ped entrusted the Leader’s Emblem to you, Miss Nona,” he explained respectfully. “Until Lord Ped is rescued, you are the interim leader of the Life Church in Pader City. Naturally, we are bound to follow your command.”
“Furthermore, we have heard that your mother was a devotee blessed by the Mother Goddess,” he continued. “It is only right that you assume the mantle of the Life Church’s leader.”
“Indeed, indeed…” a chorus of voices affirmed.
His words resonated deeply, drawing murmurs of agreement from many elves. In their collective gaze, Nona stood as the undeniable leader of the Life Church, the very embodiment of their future hope.
Without warning, a profound weight, labeled ‘responsibility,’ settled upon Nona’s shoulders. She ceased her questioning, turned, and resumed her descent deeper into the stronghold’s underground.
Just as Ped had described, the stronghold’s subterranean level housed a vast study, overflowing with countless documents pertaining to the Life Church. As Nona idly flipped through a few, a palpable sense of antiquity emanated from the brittle pages.
The ominous feeling in her heart reached its terrifying crescendo. Ped’s instructions to come here hardly resembled a temporary appointment as acting leader; rather, it felt as though he intended to entrust the entirety of Pader City’s Life Church to her care.
Could he truly place such immense trust in her, simply because her mother had been a devotee blessed by the Mother Goddess?
Had he, in his capture, truly abandoned all hope of returning alive?
Nona’s heart grew increasingly heavy. A dreadful fear gnawed at her: that Ped might commit some desperate, foolish act before they could save him, leading to his demise at the hands of the cultists.
The more she dwelled on these fears, the more anxious she became. She set down the documents she held and turned to consult with the other elves about a plan to rescue Ped. Meanwhile, the noble young lady Hia, standing nearby, was secretly and with great interest flipping through the very same documents.
She, who usually showed no interest in religious matters, was now, uncharacteristically, wide-eyed with fascination.