Chapter 345 - 338: The Church and Pirates

Chapter 345: Chapter 338: The Church and Pirates

Velin walked over to Elias, holding the strangely shaped dagger.

"Do you recognize this?"

Elias had just finished tending to an injured Knight’s wound. He looked up, and when he saw the dagger in Velin’s hand, he froze.

It was clearly fear.

He subconsciously took half a step back, bumping into the cave wall behind him.

"’The Purifier’s Kiss’..." Elias breathed the name, his lips trembling slightly. "The Church’s... Witch Hunters."

Leg and a few of the Namiya Warriors nearby heard the words, their faces blank with confusion.

But the color drained from the faces of Gideon and his Knights in an instant.

As members of the Duchy’s aristocracy, they knew far better than the islanders what "the Church" and "Witch Hunters" signified.

"They’ve been hunting me," Elias said, his body barely held steady by the cold cave wall he leaned against. "Any faction that attempts to draw power directly from their bloodline, rather than through the Holy Radiance Church, is branded a ’bloodline thief’—a heretic that must be ’purified’."

He looked at Velin, a shadow falling over his gray-green eyes.

"The True Origin Sect’s scriptures are banned, and its followers are hunted under the ’Edict of Flame’. On the continent, every one of our brothers and sisters who is discovered gets tied to a pyre. I thought... I thought I could escape them by fleeing to my homeland."

Velin stared at the dagger, lost in thought.

’The Church. It’s always the Church.’

’All my previous plans were based on a framework of regional conflict, treating the Southern Islands as a mere starter zone.’

’Pirates were the enemy, the natives were potential allies, and the Empire and the Duchy were just background scenery.’

’Now, an unexpected top-tier player has entered the game without any warning.’

’And because I took in Elias, I’ve already placed myself on the opposite side of the chessboard from the Church.’

’The nature of this affair has escalated from territorial development to sheltering a heretic.’

Velin pinched the bridge of his nose.

’If the Witch Hunters on the island relay the intel—"Baron Velin Klein of Grey Marsh Territory is collaborating with the leader of the heretical True Origin Sect"—back to the continent, the Judicial Court will be at my doorstep in no time. My territory, my port, all my painstaking work... it would all turn to ash in the flames of ’purification’.

’It’s not a possibility. It’s a certainty.’

"You said they’ve been hunting you," Velin cut into Elias’s story. "How many times have you encountered them on this island?"

"Three times," Elias recalled. "They only appear when I’m healing my kinsmen. We managed to fight them off by sheer luck the first two times. This was the third, and the most dangerous. Their target was never our Warriors—it was only me, right from the start."

"And you have no idea how many of them there are, or where they’re hiding?"

Elias shook his head, a helpless expression on his face.

"They’re like shadows, only appearing for the instant they attack. I don’t know if they’re pirates, merchants, or refugees who have blended in with us."

An idea formed in Velin’s mind.

’I can’t wait.’

’I absolutely cannot let word of this get out.’

’I have to eliminate these hidden threats before they can escape.’

Velin walked over to the corpse and lifted the black cloth.

The assassin’s face was completely unremarkable—the kind of face you’d lose instantly in a crowd.

Velin crouched down and began to examine the body.

He pried open the assassin’s mouth to inspect the wear on his teeth.

"Two of his teeth are fake," Velin deduced. "They’re hollow, probably for concealing poison."

Velin’s search didn’t stop there. He soon found a small, black iron disc hidden in a compartment in the assassin’s boot sole.

He wiped the grime off the disc, revealing the branded insignia of a twisted skull and crossed anchors.

Clearly, the assassin either never expected to die here, or he simply didn’t care about exposing a clue to his hideout.

The Knight, Gideon, leaned in for a look, his expression growing even more grim.

"This is... an internal access token for the Bloodsail Brotherhood!"

Velin stood up and tossed the token to Elias. "It seems he arrived here on a Bloodsail Brotherhood ship."

Elias caught the cold iron disc, his hand trembling.

He had never imagined that the Church’s Witch Hunters pursuing him would be in league with the pirates who pillaged his homeland.

"Witch Hunters need intelligence, supplies, and a perfect cover to hide their identities," Velin analyzed. "The Bloodsail Brotherhood provides all of that. In return, the Witch Hunters help them eliminate troublesome people like you, those ’with special abilities.’ A perfect transaction."

Velin’s heart sank.

’The Bloodsail Brotherhood is backed by the Duchy’s sworn enemy—the Empire. And the Church has always been notoriously close with the Empire’s high command.’

’If the Empire’s shadow is also behind this collaboration between Witch Hunters and pirates... then everything makes perfect sense.’

’The question now is, how do I pick out the disguised Witch Hunters from among thousands of pirates?’

’What method would allow someone to infiltrate the pirates’ inner circle and identify the targets without raising suspicion?’

Velin’s gaze swept over his subordinates.

Ola, Kael, Gideon...

His gaze finally settled on the other end of the cave.

Mia was curled up in a corner like a hamster preparing for winter.

She clutched a kraft paper bag, pinching a candied plum and preparing to pop it into her mouth. She’d gotten those plums from Xiaolan in exchange for "telling a joke from the continent."

Velin walked over to her.

The sound of his footsteps made Mia freeze.

She looked up, her purple eyes filled with wariness. She quickly stuffed the plum into her mouth, then hugged the paper bag tightly to her chest, looking like an animal protecting its food.

"Master... that was the last one. There’s no more," she mumbled, her words muffled by the plum.

Velin said nothing, merely watching her.

His stare made Mia’s skin crawl.

An ominous premonition shot up from the base of her spine, raising goosebumps on her skin.

’She was familiar with this feeling. It was the same one she got every time Hector was about to send her on one of his dangerous, thankless missions.’

’The last time she felt this... wasn’t it when she was sent to stir up Fabian’s nest?’

’My easy life is probably over.’

"Mia," Velin finally said.

"Present!" She instinctively sat up straight.

"I have a mission for you," Velin said, crouching to meet her gaze. "You need to go to Peace Bay and infiltrate Barbossa’s lair."

Mia’s breath hitched.

’Go to a pirate’s den?’

"Your mission," Velin continued, "is to find the Church’s Witch Hunters hiding among the pirates. And then, report their locations, identities, and movements back to me."

The bag of candied plums she was hugging slipped from her stiff fingers, scattering all over the floor.