The surroundings were eerily quiet.
Kavensis could see the ancient altar, the blackened blood scabs on it from years of not being cleaned, and the candlesticks teeming with putrid maggots, the light flickering dimly and chaotically.
—Everything was exactly as he remembered the Evil God's altar to be.
The only difference was that there wasn't a single person on the altar.
Not to mention a Priest, there wasn't even an ordinary Believer in sight.
The hideout was as clean as if it had been licked by the Mother Goddess herself.
Kavensis was holding his breath, he had been seething with righteous indignation and had charged up here, full of steam.
His emotions were surging just like a virgin boy who flirted with his pen pal and rushed to meet her for a showdown, only to be stood up at the hotel!
This surge of hot blood couldn't be swallowed, nor could it be spewed out; he was almost suffocated by it.
"Perhaps they received advance notice,"
The Holy Knight captain had also seen the empty spectacle,
In order to ease Kavensis's embarrassment, she said half-explanatory and half-flatteringly,
"Those cowardly Cultists must have feared your authority and fled in advance."
This explanation was actually quite far-fetched.
Kavensis's complexion eased somewhat, and he silently commanded himself not to lose his composure and to maintain the elegant and noble image of a saint.
"It must be so."
He then resumed his perfect smile, "It's not a problem. We can move on to the next hideout. Father has managed to collect the locations of six Esoteric Religion hideouts."
The attendants following on either side also chimed in one after another, not because they wanted to brown-nose the young man, but because his Priest father was their direct superior, and they truly could not afford to offend him.
The locations of Cultist hideouts were always the Church's most valuable intelligence; even money couldn't buy it. And yet his father had gotten hold of six for Kavensis's promotion, proving that his connections were indeed terrifying.
This was the century-long foundation of a Church noble family, a family under the banner of the Holy Light, something that An Su's stinking outsider family couldn't compare with.
And as for himself, he would surely drive this Child of the Curse back to where he belonged.
Enjoying the envious looks from the surrounding saints, Kavensis's lips curled up slightly.
"Let's move to the next one."
Kavensis walked out of the cave, mounted his horse, and after straightening his somewhat disheveled clothes, he spurred the horse on, following the remembered location, leading the Holy Knights and galloping towards the distant.
If one Cultist hideout had escaped, there would always be another one.
After all, he was about to be promoted to a second-tier Believer—that was Kavensis's confidence and assurance.
The rest of the saints had no temperament to show, so they had to mount up and follow Kavensis, completely relying on his lead—until now, the saints still didn't know the specific locations of the Cultist hideouts, and could only follow him.
This was to prevent other saints from poaching Cultists.
.
The second hideout was even farther away, located on a desolate plain, bordered by a cliff on the left, and next to a valley on the right, surrounded by desolation, far from the bustling frontier cities.
Blood-red moonlight smeared across the plain,
Valley winds howling through the ravines, emitting mournful cries.
Lead-colored clouds cast large swathes of shadows, mixing with the blood-colored moonlight, turning the plain into a dark red; as the valley winds swept through, every dry grass waved in a bloody hue.
This atmosphere, this feeling—
If a Cultist hideout was set here, it would fit seamlessly. Without any Cultist altars here, it would be a waste of this beautiful landscape.
Kavensis revealed a satisfied smile.
There shouldn't be any problems here... right?
From afar, he had already caught sight of the altar, but the closer he got, the more ominous he felt, his heart sinking lower and lower.
It was just too quiet around, without any atmosphere of sacrifice.
The perfect smile he had maintained all along gradually grew rigid.
Again, there was not a single person in sight.
Kavensis froze on the empty altar, feeling the silence as if even the surrounding air was about to die.
The gazes of the other saints landed on Kavensis, sharp as needles—although their looks were still gentle, the emotion behind them was quite piercing:
We've followed this lad around for most of the night, where are the people?
In this witch hunt, they didn't expect to eat their fill, just a taste would be enough.
But now there wasn't even soup left.
"It looks like the cultists have banded together to escape," the captain said with high emotional intelligence, immediately giving Kavensis an out, "Such cunning cultists."
The enemy had banded together to escape... Kavensis's mouth twitched slightly, finding the excuse quite unbreakable; which villains need to form a group before running away?
Cultists were never united to begin with.
They were always at each other's throats, each wishing they could sacrifice the other.
But no matter what, he had to go along with the out given to him.
"Yes, the two hideouts must have communicated with each other,"
he turned to explain to the rest of the saints, "Not sure who leaked the information, it's utterly hateful. Maybe it was Su, that Child of the Curse…"
He himself knew how absurd his words were, but no matter what, he had to pin the blame on Su first; after all, wasn't the latter born a Child of the Curse?
The saints stared at Kavensis like he was a fool, secretly scoffing in their hearts, who else could have leaked the information...
It's you, isn't it...
Who else goes through all these antics before a witch hunt?
In the past, everyone operated in secrecy.
First, they made a big show of it in the church, then prayed in front of a statue early in the morning, then told the Holy Maiden, "Tonight's glory is all for you," drawing a crowd that was three layers inside and three layers outside...
This witch-hunting operation even made it onto the front page of the "Seaside Evening News," with the headline #Eradicate Evil to Protect the Good! Holy Knight Kavensis's Secret Witch-Hunt#.
A secret witch-hunt on the front page.
The level of public discussion even surpassed that of the long-running series of novels #The Abusive Love Story between the Child of the Curse and the Maidservant#...
The actual reason behind this, as all the saints knew, was merely for him to garner public support and craft his image so that people would vote for him in the future priest elections.
But as the captain had spoken, the saints couldn't go against Kavensis, and they chimed in,
"Sir Kavensis, we can just move on to the next spot."
"Right, the next one will definitely have something!"
"It can't be possible that they banded together to escape!"
Kavensis nodded with gratitude, and he pledged with emphasis, "These two hideouts are too close together; it's inevitable that they would hear something. The next hideout is far out at sea; they absolutely can't escape."
After making the pledge, he mounted his horse again and led the team galloping away.
.
An hour later.
It was 3 a.m. now.
On the coast, beneath a secluded cliff.
The bleak sea wind was brushing everyone's cheeks.
So cold it felt as though the very air might freeze.
Kavensis and the Holy Knight captain looked at each other.
This altar was even cleaner.
There wasn't a single cultist in sight.
And everything was tidy and clean, without any odd smells.
All the ritual utensils were arranged neatly, polished until they sparkled.
No grease on the candlesticks, no blood on the altar, and even a few traces of drying water marks—because it was winter, the water dried slowly.
Everyone realized one fact,—the cultists had mopped the floor!
They had disappeared, and damn it, they had even mopped the floor!
Who the hell mops the floor while banding together to run away!
Nobody could have imagined that Enya Moningsta was a very professional and earnest maid with a quite unique thought process.
When her master instructed her to 'clean up the scene,' she naturally had to clean thoroughly in the shortest time possible; that was her area of expertise.
'Cleaning up' certainly included mopping the floor.
The whooshing sea breeze awkwardly swept past where they were.
"It seems like they've banded together to mop the floor and escape," said the captain with high emotional intelligence, providing Kavensis with another out, "What cunning cultists."
"...what is this, some kind of loving family community?!"