Chapter 1 The Return of the Holy Temple Pearl

The sudden return of the Holy Temple Pearl caused quite a stir in the town. This special town didn't have many civilians to begin with. Most of the townspeople were actually clergy members on the rolls and knights of the kingdom, or at least "militiamen" who had received combat training. After the Pearl went missing, everyone here had participated in the subsequent series of actions to some extent, and everyone deeply understood the significance of the Holy Temple Pearl to the kingdom. Therefore, when a knight galloped through the town's main street, shouting the news of the "Holy Temple Pearl's return" along the way, the resulting uproar was predictable.

Hao Ren and his party, escorted by the Knights, had entered Layton Town not long before they saw townspeople lining the streets to watch, as well as welcoming teams constantly arriving from all directions. When they reached the first main intersection, the town's bell tower began to thunder, and the distant and loud chimes resounded through the sky, seemingly to dispel the oppressive atmosphere that had lingered here for more than half a month. Amid the chimes and the noise of the spontaneously gathering crowd, Hao Ren couldn't help but turn his head to look at the captain of the Knights beside him: "Is it okay to spread the news like this? In theory, even if such a treasure returns, it should be kept secret first, right..."

"This is the territory of the Goddess," the captain of the Knights solemnly pointed to the direction of the church. "Those who are qualified to stay here are all the Goddess's most loyal servants. The Pearl has returned to where it belongs as soon as it enters here. And..." At this point, the captain of the Knights paused, a smile appearing on his face: "The people here need encouragement too much. Nothing good has happened for months, and we need good news to let everyone know that the Goddess still blesses her people."

The big-bearded man and the other three ascetics were surrounded in the very middle by the Knights. They didn't care about the surrounding noise. The young nun with the strange voice just looked up at the surrounding crowd: "...Too noisy."

"We finally succeeded in our mission," the big-bearded man said softly. "Many unexpected things happened here. After returning, I will conduct a day and night of prayer. Perhaps the Goddess wants to give us some enlightenment through these events."

The town still retained the tragic traces left by the previous stone giant invasion. The pavement of the main road was obviously just urgently repaired recently. Most of the stone slabs on the ground were brand new, and many of the houses on both sides of the road were damaged. Some places had even completely collapsed. Hao Ren vaguely remembered the town scene he had seen when he came here last time. He found that some of the buildings in his memory were gone, leaving only wooden stakes that had not been completely demolished or half-rebuilt frames. Simple wooden houses and even tents could be seen on both sides of the road, and the town residents maintained the order of life here in this environment. According to the captain of the Knights, the stone giants passed straight through the center of the town at that time. Their purpose was clear, and they even turned a blind eye to the attacks on both sides of the road. This large team of monsters, rushing and ramming, caused devastating blows to the main road and its surroundings. The only thing that was not destroyed by the stone giants was the church in the center of the town: the church's own powerful magic enchantment made the stone giants deeply fearful, and those monsters bypassed the church.

The result was that the square on both sides of the church was razed to the ground.

Soon the team came to the church that still stood in the center of the town. A hunched old man in a gorgeous robe was waiting for everyone in front of the church. Hao Ren recognized that it was the Gerton District Chief whom he had met once. He personally came out to greet the Holy Temple Pearl. His old and frail body looked unusually thin in the cold wind. Hao Ren even suspected how long the old man's bones could stand here: compared with the last time they met, the Gerton District Chief looked even older, and his face was almost completely bloodless.

Everyone dismounted, and the four ascetics came forward from behind. The big-bearded man and Gerton greeted each other: "Your Excellency District Chief, long time no see. Thank the Goddess for her mercy. We are back alive."

Gerton nodded tremblingly, his stooped and old body seemed to fall down in the cold wind at any time, but his voice was still loud: "I am very happy to see the four masters return intact. It is not pleasant to list you as martyrs."

Ascetics are a group with a special status in the Radiant Church. They must be granted this title after years of practice and intensive study of various mysterious knowledge. This not only represents strong strength and firm belief, but also represents their own achievements in academics, religion, history and other aspects. Therefore, every believer of the Goddess will call them "Master", and even the Pope will call them that. It's just that lower-level believers call ascetics in this way out of respect for superiors, while higher-level believers mention the word "Master" more as a "title" and "position."

The big-bearded man waved his hand: "Becoming a martyr is my lifelong wish. If possible, I would rather respond to the Goddess's orders and die generously at any time. It's just that the Goddess still needs our remaining bodies this time, so we returned from the dead. Well, don't waste time, we should immediately send the holy object into the church."

Gerton nodded, his slightly cloudy eyes looked at Hao Ren and the others: "Several mercenaries... Oh, I remember you, so it was you... admirable young people, I didn't expect you to finally complete this sacred feat. The Goddess will be pleased, and the kingdom will remember your merits."

At this time, even Becky was embarrassed to shamelessly ask about rewards. The mercenary girl awkwardly pretended to be righteous: "You're welcome, you're welcome. It is my lifelong wish to be loyal to the Goddess and the kingdom..."

Gerton was shrewd and sophisticated. He had already seen at a glance when they met last time that Becky was the standard mercenary who couldn't move when she saw money. He didn't say anything at this time, just nodded slightly: "Come together, I want to know in detail how you found the Pearl and the four masters."

Everyone followed Gerton into the church. This building was protected by powerful magic and remained intact under the impact of the stone giants. Inside the church, you could see two or three times more black-robed monks than last time - they were all clergy members specializing in combat, and the golden threads on the chest of their robes could explain their strength and qualifications. Hao Ren came to the reception room where he had met Gerton last time. He also remembered seeing another big figure here last time: the kingdom's female marshal, Ofra.

But that female marshal was not present today. She should be stationed outside the defense line.

Everyone found places to sit on the benches and several armchairs in the reception room. Gerton was the last to sit in his high-backed chair. He coughed lightly and looked up at the big-bearded man: "Master, where did you return from?"

The big-bearded man glanced at Hao Ren and told Gerton the process they had discussed before: "In the past few months, we have been trapped in an ancient alien space. It was not until recently that these young people rescued us by chance."

A look of surprise flashed in Gerton's cloudy eyes: "Alien space? How did this happen?"

"Perhaps it is another relic left by ancient civilizations," the big-bearded man said calmly. The Dream Plane does have such alien space relics, and they are much more common than on Earth. After all, this is the origin of "alien civilizations", so this reason is better than anything else. "This should be a test for us by the Goddess. We faced cold and hunger in the alien space, and finally survived by hunting those twisted and weird ancient beasts. Our faith in the Goddess allowed us to persevere to the end, and we found the weak point of that alien space's desperate situation, thus establishing contact with the outside world. These young people are mages from the Northern Honor Empire. They have amazing attainments in space magic, and it was they who helped open the relic - but the relic exit is very far from here, and it has penetrated deep into the barren land of the far north."

While listening, Hao Ren subconsciously glanced at Becky: these nonsense things were actually made up by Becky. Otherwise, how could Hao Ren, an outsider, and the big-bearded man, a dull person, come up with a story that fits the worldview and won't be seen through? As a senior mercenary who has spent many years in taverns, Becky has no shortage of this kind of bluffing adventure legends.

As long as you remove the parts about "This daddy heroically slaying the dragon" and "This girl angrily beheading the demon king" from this kind of "tavern story", the remaining bridges are basically true. With a little processing, they can explain the disappearance of the four big-bearded men for several months. Anyway, it cannot be verified, and this world has never lacked strange things related to ancient civilizations.

More importantly, ordinary people really can't imagine that ascetics would also fool people...

Gerton nodded, and he really didn't have much doubt about this story, because he knew that more than once in history, people had fallen into the alien space's desperate situation left by ancient civilizations, and those who came out would bring back such thrilling adventure stories. And when this kind of thing happens to a group of firm believers, only the will of the Goddess can explain it, so he stood up and respectfully saluted the direction of the statue of the Goddess enshrined in the church: "Thank the Goddess for her mercy."

Then he turned to look at Hao Ren: "I also want to hear your story..."

Hao Ren immediately straightened his spirits, knowing that it was time for him to pretend and show off his fashion sense. He wanted to show his demeanor as a great hero in the best mental state, but Gerton's first sentence was this: "I remember you are called the 'Good Names Are All Taken By Dogs' mercenary group, right?"

Hao Ren's face suddenly collapsed, and he had to nod after holding back for a long time: "...Uh, yes..."

"Heroes come from young people," Gerton nodded with a smile. "The captain of the 'Good Names Are All Taken By Dogs' group is indeed unfathomable."

Hao Ren continued with a zombie-like face: "...Uh, thank you..."