The nun's scream attracted other townspeople and cultivators. Just as Edith was about to take Daphne outside to see what was going on, several male cultivators carried a blood-covered man into the church by his armpits.
Edith took a quiet breath of cold air and exclaimed in a low voice, "It's Mr. Ian. He's so badly injured!"
Daphne poked her head out from behind Edith to look. All she could see was that the middle-aged man with gray hair had a deep gash on his forehead, and the wound on his left shoulder was so deep that the bone was visible. His face and body were covered in blood, yet he was still clinging to his last breath.
Although it was terrifying, it wasn't enough to frighten Daphne. It had been thirty years since she transmigrated here, and she had seen many bloody scenes.
Although the man named Ian was seriously injured, none of the wounds were fatal. The only factor that might endanger his life was perhaps excessive blood loss.
Judging from Daphne's experience, the wound on the man's forehead was a knife wound, and the one on his shoulder was an arrow wound. Fortunately, the arrow didn't pierce through his body but just grazed his shoulder. The only misfortune was that the arrowhead had cleanly sliced off a piece of flesh.
Obviously, it was the work of the Beastmen again.
Daphne guessed it was those lowly-horned beast marauders who broke away from the herd to be responsible for scouting and harassing.
The vast herds of the North Territory were still hiding deep in the dense forest at this time. These small fellows with deformed or damaged ram horns on their heads were the main force in attacking passersby. They had a low status in the herd. In order to avoid abuse and torture, they would treat their human enemies with extreme cunning and cruelty to prove their value to the horned beasts and the herd lords.
Compared to the horned beasts with tall and muscular builds, the lowly-horned beasts were weak and powerless. However, they knew how to pick on the weaker ones and were good at setting traps and hunting in groups. To travelers passing through the forest, these guys were equally dangerous and deadly.
In "COG", the lowly-horned beasts wandering outside the herds were basically equivalent to experience points for players. In the early stage, they often served as cannon fodder enemies in the errand quests that required killing a certain number of monsters.
To the herds, the lowly-horned beasts were cannon fodder and slaves. It didn't matter if they died. Losing one or two wouldn't attract any attention at all.
In other words, if Daphne wanted to fill her experience pool and quickly level up herOccupational level (I assume this is something like "class level" but it's in Chinese in the original text, so I left it as is for now), these lowly-horned beasts might be the best opponents.
However, at the moment, the man's life was more important, but it wasn't her place to worry about it.
Edith hurriedly but without panic pulled out a piece of linen cloth and spread it in the middle of the church hall. "Quickly, lay Mr. Ian flat here. Be gentle." She then turned around and said to the nuns behind her, "Bring gauze, alcohol, and hemostatic ointment. We must stop the bleeding immediately, or his life will be in danger."
Everyone obediently followed Edith's instructions and laid the injured man flat. Edith immediately knelt beside the man, clasped her hands together, and closed her eyes.
"Kind and great Vanitaya, your radiance is hot yet gentle. Wherever it shines, there is new life and blessings." She recited the prayer in a humble and devout tone.
A bright red and dazzling solar corona slowly emerged behind the blonde girl. The warmth gradually spread to the surrounding air, dissipating the cold of winter along with it.
The man's tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little. His pain seemed to be easing.
The initial spell of the Radiant Path, "Solar Corona Prayer". When a Prayer Priest class releases this skill, there is an additional bonus. When released on enemies, it causes Radiant damage, and when released on allies, it restores health and clears negative effects.
But after all, this wasn't a game but the real world. Ordinary prayers wouldn't directly heal wounds. They could only soothe the senses of the injured and slow down the bleeding speed.
Moreover, Vanitaya wasn't a deity good at healing in the first place. That was the domain of the Goddess of Nature, Meyekase. Her followers could even restore the severed limbs of the injured.
The man seemed to gradually regain consciousness in the glow of the solar corona. As soon as he opened his eyes, he tried to sit up, but was quickly pushed back down by Edith.
"Please lie still, Mr. Ian. I'm going to treat your wounds next." Edith said in a low voice.
"No... Matthew and the others won't be able to hold on for long... I—" Ian tried to say something but was interrupted by Edith.
"Please be quiet too, Mr. Ian." Edith calmly looked into Ian's eyes. Her tone was gentle yet carried an air of seriousness that was hard to disobey. "The injured shouldn't talk too much. It won't take a few minutes to stop the bleeding. Your breakout won't be in vain."
Two little nuns quickly brought the medical tools that Edith needed. Edith took the gauze, alcohol, and ointment, then looked up at them and said, "Go to the residence of the Templar Knights and ask them how long it will take for them to prepare and set off."
"Okay, okay." The little nuns looked at each other and then nodded in unison.
Daphne watched them run out of the church in a hurry, but she knew very well in her heart that they wouldn't bring back good news.
It was a special period. Almost all the Templar Knights were outside the town—part of them were led by the Grand Master, Alvis, to visit the towns in the North Territory in the south, and another part were led by the Vice Grand Master, Gravia, to search for the missing Pope, Bertram, in the deep mountains and dense forests. The rest were basically the sick, the wounded, or those with special circumstances who stayed behind to rest.
Although they could force themselves to prepare and join the battle for the oath they once made to the goddess, the process would obviously take quite a long time.
Ian had broken through the encirclement of the lowly-horned beasts and escaped. He had rushed back desperately to ask for help from everyone in Kohl Town. The situation must be extremely critical now, and every second counted.
Daphne didn't believe that Edith didn't know this, but she could only do this.
Edith stuffed a piece of cotton cloth into Ian's mouth for him to bite on, and then began to clean his wounds, apply alcohol to disinfect them.
Even though the man clenched his teeth tightly, he still couldn't help but let out terrible muffled groans. All the onlookers couldn't help but worry for Edith, but Edith's eyes remained firm all along. Her actions were not affected at all, and she still wiped and applied the medicine skillfully and quickly.
"Hold on a little longer, Mr. Ian. It'll be over soon." Edith's tone was still gentle and warm.
She gently wiped the sweat and blood off the man's forehead with the cotton cloth and then applied ointment to the wound. The man grimaced in pain but still didn't let go of the cotton cloth in his mouth and shout out.
Finally, it was time to bandage the wound.
Fortunately, the arrowhead wasn't embedded in the wound. Otherwise, she would definitely have to call someone to hold Ian down and dig open the wound to take it out. There had been blood splattered all over the floor of the church recently, and Edith was often the one treating the patients.
"Where is Mr. Matthew and the others? Where were you attacked?" Edith still held Ian's shoulder to prevent him from getting up. "Just lie down and tell us. Just tell us where it is, and everyone will figure out a way."
Even without Ian going into details, just by looking at how badly he was injured and how eager he looked, Edith could roughly guess what had happened.
Daphne also had a bit of an impression of this man. They seemed to be a small caravan that specialized in transporting goods back and forth between villages, towns, and cities. As the activities of the Beastmen became more frequent, their work had also become extremely dangerous.
"It's on the way to the town from Oliver Village..." Ian's voice trembled. His eyes were bloodshot, and he just stared straight at the ceiling of the church. "I originally wanted to turn back to find Her Highness the Saintess, but my horse was hit by an arrow and got startled... I could only flee towards the town..."
"Is Her Highness the Saintess in Oliver?" Daphne felt strange.
"My sister mentioned to me that she was going there to preside over a cremation ceremony." Edith wiped her hands, which were covered in blood and medicine, with a towel in a hurry. She stood up. "If the Templar Knights don't have time to prepare, then I'll go there myself. And the chances of survival are greater if the wounds are treated on the spot."
Daphne froze on the spot for a moment.
It wasn't just because of Edith's reckless decision, but also because Gravia might conduct a second inspection of the body.
Although she had done something to Elenna's body, she couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't be discovered.
After all, an extra body out of nowhere would always arouse suspicion. But at that time, so many pairs of eyes were staring at the small grave mound. Daphne really didn't have a better way.
Why did it feel like... she was going to screw up again?