130: Dark Church

"Boss, ten large mugs of malt ale!"

Among the five people who walked into the tavern, the robust man next to the young man leading them said with a full voice.

After speaking, amid the tavern owner's smiling response, the five walked toward the empty seats next to Lister and his three companions.

Just as they sat down, the young man leading them suddenly spotted Lister at the next table.

Immediately, he said in a surprised and delighted tone: "Hey, Lord Howard, you are actually here too?"

Seeing that he had been discovered, Lister, who had intended to be invisible, helplessly turned to look at him and feigned surprise: "So it is Lord Hanselton, greetings."

The people before him were none other than Moses Hanselton and his knight subordinates, whom Lister and his group had met once while supporting Viscount Connor Territory.

The robust man beside Moses was his Knight Captain, Graham Osborn.

Hearing Lister acknowledge his identity, Moses looked even happier: "Lord Howard, are you here to enjoy the Aetheria Birthday Celebration too?"

Enjoy?

Could this guy not have been invited by Earl Elsid?

Lister was stunned, but he quickly reacted and said calmly: "More or less, but I have some other matters to attend to."

"Haha, then we are truly fated."

Moses laughed heartily and said sincerely: "Lord Howard, ever since I witnessed your demeanor in the Connor Territory last time, I have wanted to befriend you."

"It is a pity that you left in such a hurry last time, and I didn't get to speak with you much. I didn't expect to see you here today."

"If you don't mind, let's share a table and have a drink together."

Hesitating for a moment, Lister decided to play along: "Then many thanks for your invitation, Lord Hanselton."

Seeing him agree, the smile on Moses's face grew wider, and he waved his hand: "Boss, add four more large mugs of malt ale."

"Coming right up, sir, please wait a moment." The owner said with a smile.

Soon, all the malt ale was served. Moses took a big gulp, revealing a satisfied expression, and said: "Lord Howard, this tavern's malt ale is the most delicious in Aetheria. Have you been here before?"

"No, this is my first time in Aetheria. I just happened to be out handling some matters tonight and saw this tavern was quite lively, so I came in to have a taste."

Lister took a sip of the malt ale and said with slight surprise: "I didn't expect this place's malt ale to have such a good reputation."

Moses was right; the malt ale in this tavern was indeed much better than in other taverns.

He couldn't taste the slight bitterness that usually persisted in malt ale, and amidst the caramel sweetness and the herbal fragrance of hops, there was an additional faint aroma.

The overall mouthfeel was smoother and softer compared to the original gritty texture.

"Haha, I only discovered this tavern because I've been to Aetheria a few times before. Their malt ale is indeed excellent."

As he spoke, Moses looked impressed: "But compared to the fine wine, Lord Howard, I truly admire that you are out handling matters so late at night. No wonder you have so many outstanding knights among your subordinates."

As he spoke, he glanced at Red and the other two, as well as Graham beside him, his eyes seeming to say: 'Look at them, when will you be able to advance to a Silver Knight?'

Graham naturally felt his gaze, but continued to bury his head in his drink.

'What, is Bronze Rank 9 not enough? If you have the ability, apply to the Earl to kick me out.'

Although he was complaining in his heart, Graham still maintained a peaceful smile on the surface.

Shaking his head in frustration, Moses then said with a slightly self-deprecating tone: "Compared to your diligence, Lord Howard, I am much more idle."

But the next second, the self-deprecating look on his face vanished, and he took a large gulp of malt ale: "But this is fine, otherwise I would have missed this Aetheria Birthday Celebration, and this delicious malt ale."

Lister could see that although Moses was open-minded, there was still a trace of unwillingness in his tone.

Regarding this, he didn't pay much attention; after all, everyone has their own troubles, which is quite normal.

Next, the few chatted sporadically, with Moses doing most of the talking.

If Lister hadn't seemed a bit cold, Moses probably would have talked non-stop.

While chatting, Red suddenly signaled to Lister with his eyes.

Lister understood immediately, downed the malt ale in his cup, stood up, and said politely: "Excuse me, Lord Hanselton, I still have some matters to attend to, so I will take my leave."

"I wonder where you and your group are staying, Lord Hanselton? I will definitely pay a visit when I have time."

"Lord Howard, you are too polite. We are staying in the Earls Manor of the Flanders Family." Moses also stood up and said.

Staying at the Earls Manor too?

Feeling slightly surprised, Lister said with an enigmatic tone: "Then I suppose we will meet again very soon. Farewell."

After speaking, Lister and his three companions quickly left the tavern amidst Moses's smiling expression.

Clearly, Moses did not understand the underlying meaning in Lister's words.

Graham leaned over and said seriously: "Lord Hanselton, did you notice the difference in the knights around Lord Howard compared to last time?"

"What difference?"

Seeing Moses looking puzzled, Graham sighed in his heart and continued: "Their strength has improved compared to before."

"Isn't that normal?"

Graham said quietly: "But what if they improved from just entering Bronze Rank Intermediate to High-Rank Bronze?"

Moses was stunned, then looked surprised: "You didn't see it wrong, did you? It's only been a month since we supported the beast tide; can they improve that fast?"

"My perception cannot be wrong. That somewhat honest-looking knight beside Lord Howard has definitely reached High-Rank Bronze, and might even be no weaker than me."

Hearing Graham's extremely certain tone, Moses had to believe it even if he didn't want to.

Although this guy Graham usually undermined him, his judgment was still very accurate.

After a long silence, Moses suddenly blurted out: "Lord Howard is truly awesome."

Graham: "???"

...

Because Red had sensed the aura of five black-robed people passing by in the tavern earlier, after leaving the tavern, Lister and his group hurried in the direction from which the black-robed people had come.

Ten minutes later, on the main road leading to the castle manor in Aetheria.

Due to the specific nature of the concealment technique, and because Red and the other two had not learned Wizardry, except for Red who had a slight sense due to his strong strength, the mental power of Spartacus and Sejin did not perceive the special energy released by Mackintosh.

After discovering this, Lister felt an extra bit of wariness regarding Mackintosh's strength.

Fortunately, they had never met from beginning to end. Even if he discovered his arrangements were destroyed, besides being furious, what could Mackintosh do?

As for the mysterious rituals used by the few wizards who infiltrated Ironthorn Territory last time, Lister did not believe they could find him without having met.

If they could still find him even in that case, he would just have to admit defeat.

Next, with Lister's mental perception supplemented by Wizardry, he quickly cleared all the concealment techniques obscuring the flame oil.

Seeing him use a skill he had never shown before, Red and the others were surprised, but felt even more admiration.

Exhaling deeply, Lister observed for a moment and, finding nothing left, ordered: "Let's go, we are returning to the castle manor. Leave these flame oils for the patrolling Soldiers to handle."

Taking advantage of the night, the four quickly returned to the manor.

The time had already reached the second half of the night, and it wasn't long before dawn.

Fortunately, all four were knights, and not sleeping for several consecutive days was not a big problem, so Lister prepared to cultivate until dawn.

However, before cultivating, he prepared to use today's divination first.

Currently, there are too many undercurrents within Aetheria, and he needed to obtain some useful information through divination.

With a thought, three divination messages slowly appeared before his eyes.

[Divination 1: Mackintosh, who returned to the inn, discovered at the first moment that the Demon Flame Crystal Core had disappeared. Unable to find traces of the thief, he angrily pointed the finger at the several forces that had also infiltrated Aetheria.]

[Divination 2: Your contracted magical beast, Bai Ze, practiced a little out of boredom, entered a meditative state, stimulated its bloodline, and broke through to the strength equivalent to a Bronze Tier 6 knight.]

[Divination 3: The Dark Church Bishop, Middleton Wendell, plans to decide whether to take further riot actions depending on the situation after Morris Joseph is assassinated tomorrow afternoon.]

Dog-eat-dog?

Lister was amused; he didn't expect his righteous theft to have such an unexpected surprise.

According to his thoughts, he certainly hoped that the various forces would fight as fiercely as possible, but whether the result would go as he wished was hard to say.

After watching it as entertainment, he immediately looked at the second divination message.

Meditation! Bloodline stimulation! This was just practicing a little?

After feeling envious, jealous, and hateful for a while, he also had a renewed understanding of Bai Ze's talent.

Just by practicing casually, it could have such a breakthrough speed, what if it practiced seriously?

Perhaps... he could give Bai Ze some special training!

As soon as this thought came out, Bai Ze, who was sleeping far away in Ironthorn Territory, suddenly felt a chill on the back of its neck.

After waking up in confusion, it rolled over, legs in the air, lying on the soft cushion, and continued to sleep soundly.

Compared to its happiness, Lister's expression was somewhat solemn at this moment.

Looking at the four characters "Dark Church" before him, he could be certain that the Black Witch Church and the Dark Church were definitely not the same organization.

"Even a Bishop has come..." He muttered in a low voice, and Lister couldn't help but sigh at the boldness of this Dark Church.

Although he didn't know what strength the Dark Church Bishop had, he thought it certainly wouldn't be weak.

Because according to the Kingdom Church, the Bishop's strength is at least equivalent to a High-Rank Silver Knight, and it is even possible to reach the strength of a Golden Knight.

If this Middleton only had High-Rank Silver strength, it would be fine, but if he had the strength of a Golden Knight, then the threat hidden within Aetheria would be very great.

Especially since he was also a wizard; if he had secretly set up some harmful magic arrays, it would be terrifying once they erupted.

However, he was not worried about the safety of himself and Red and the others; after all, they were now living in the Earls Manor.

There were at least two Golden Knights in the entire manor, one was Elsid, the other was Broad.

Because he hadn't seen Ellis, he couldn't be sure if he was in Aetheria.

And these were only the strengths on the surface of the Earl's castle; Lister could not determine if there were other experts in the dark.

Not only that, there was a branch of the Kingdom Church in Aetheria; although it was not one of the four major branches, there should be many powerful mages stationed inside.

Therefore, the possibility of Middleton wanting to stir up a subversive riot in Aetheria was not too high.

But causing some major casualties was still very simple, and because of the teleportation array, it would also be very easy for Middleton to escape.

However, according to the divination, he felt that Middleton should be a very cautious person, otherwise he wouldn't have waited until he was sure Morris was assassinated before acting based on the situation.

And now Morris had almost no risk of death, so he believed that Middleton, without certainty, would likely abandon the action in the end.

After all, most experts cherish their lives and generally would not put themselves in danger.

Of course, Lister thought so much because he was too weak now; if he were strong enough, why would he need to worry about these people making trouble.

Without thinking more, he began to circulate his Breathing Technique and immersed himself in cultivation.

...

At the same time, in an inconspicuous house in the east of Aetheria City.

Four figures dressed in black robes, with faces obscured, stood respectfully in the center of the room.

Before them, a black-robed figure standing with hands behind his back said in a quiet tone: "Flynn, have the mages sent by Mandell finished the arrangements for the assassination?"

The black-robed person called Flynn said respectfully: "Reporting to Bishop Middleton, according to the reports from the people I sent to monitor, they are still carousing at the Moulin Rouge."

"Hmph, what a bunch of useless trash."

Middleton's aura tightened, and immediately, all the utensils around him silently turned into powder.

"Lord Middleton, these mages are not official mages of the Pedan Kingdom, so their quality is inevitably uneven. Please do not get angry because of this."

Hearing Flynn's words of comfort, Middleton did not speak. He knew Flynn was right; he was just a bit annoyed earlier.

Seeing this, Flynn asked: "Lord Middleton, should your subordinate arrange for someone to step forward and warn them?"

After a moment of silence, Middleton rejected it: "No, compared to the success of this mission to create a riot, our secret infiltration and not exposing our identities is the most important."

"The defensive forces of the Flanders Family in Aetheria are not as simple as they appear on the surface. We must be very cautious. You only need to keep a close watch on the actions of that group."

"Understood." Flynn and the other four black-robed people respectfully responded.

As they disappeared within the room, Middleton turned around, and a puzzled mutter came from under the black robe.

"What on earth is the death crisis that I sensed?"