The church in the Land of All Spirits.
More like an administrative unit than a church, this area is strictly a religious state.
The leader of the entire region is the religious leader.
In other places, the administrative unit is the local church, and the official is the pastor.
Alka led Sofia and the other two into the church.
A young woman in a pale white robe embroidered with flowers had been waiting for a while. Upon seeing Alka enter, she nodded.
"Please follow me."
She led the group to a large, flower-covered building nearby.
As they entered, they were met with a dense display of books.
Many people in flowery robes were walking about.
This was clearly the island's library, housing various types of knowledge and information.
"That bookcase might have what you need," the girl said, and then she took her leave.
Alka and the others went directly to the bookcase she'd mentioned.
Lucelia casually asked Alka to take out a book and briefly flipped through it.
The text was the same as their language, though a bit more complex due to some revisions, without the later simplifications.
This made reading a bit more difficult, but it didn't affect the text at all.
"Ancient records show that this place was once truly known as the Land of Flowers," Lucelia said, looking at the book in her hands.
"So their divination skills are so good?"
Alka couldn't help but ask.
Although divination didn't reveal why they wanted these things,
The fact that they could predict their desires with relative accuracy was already quite remarkable.
At least for the others, knowing their purpose was enough.
That's what Alka thought.
"There are gods, aren't there?" Sofia said, winking at Alka.
That's... quite right.
Yes, there's a god hiding down there, after all. A fallen and revived god is still a god.
After a few casual words, the three of them began reading in this area, searching for the historical materials they needed.
Yes, this area wasn't reserved specifically for them.
It was because it was clearly marked with ancient history.
Some of the books were preserved with spells to prevent them from being damaged by time.
Judging from the materials and ritual techniques used, some of these books were incredibly old.
And they were the only three of them in this area; almost no one else came here to search for books.
Soon, the area fell silent, save for the sound of a few people flipping through pages.
"Symbols of summer: heat, fire, sunlight, growth."
Sofia brought what he had read in the book to Alka's side, muttering softly.
Looking at the symbols in the book.
Arka took it and examined the entire book and the context.
This book studies the meaning of ancient texts and various strange narrative techniques. Judging from the cover and the writing style, it must be from the last century.
It also bears annotations and interpretations from many people.
The symbols here are the author's interpretations of ancient symbols, dating back to the Age of Gods tens of thousands of years ago.
"If what's written here is accurate, could the summer symbol Vastva needs be the same as the one shown here?"
Arka turned and asked.
Faced with Arka's question, Sofia shook his head helplessly. No one could guarantee that.
"Wouldn't it be possible to confirm it if you just found the symbol of winter?" Lucilia raised her head and said, then continued with her own work.
That's right.
At least they now have a treasure that is almost certainly the symbol of winter.
It was also a similar abstract concept.
Symbolizing the withering of winter.
With this in mind, Alka continued their search.
They found symbols representing the other four seasons in the book.
Symbols of Spring: Resurrection, Rebirth, Wind, Hope.
Symbols of Autumn: Harvest, Earth, Ageing, Pregnancy, Heritage.
Symbols of Winter: Withering, Ice and Snow, Resilience, Cold.
Sure enough, withering was seen among the symbols of winter. Other related treasures could be found based on these characteristics.
Membrane this paragraph, they began searching for other information. Anything related to the words "Flower Land" and "Hochalmera."
After all, these were the only words they knew related to treasure.
Flower Land was actually relatively easy to find.
You could find the word "Flower Land" in any book that recorded the most ancient information. "I see," Lucelia muttered, nodding, and calling the two over to look at the book beneath her.
"Look here."
The two carefully followed Lucelia's instructions, examining the book before her.
Flower Land.
The island beneath them was once named after a continent. Flower Land is the name of this entire continent.
It was named because it was ruled by flower fairies.
In ancient times, it could also be called the earthly kingdom of the flower fairies.
The fragrant Flower Land was shattered by the war of the gods, and the flower fairies fell asleep because of the war.
This paragraph pretty much captures the entire concept of Flower Land.
"There are a lot of words for Flower Land, but I haven't seen the word 'Hochalmera' even once," Lucelia said with some regret, shaking her head.
According to Alka, this word was far more important; it might hold the key to finding the guarantee.
Because Alka knew the treasure was named Hochalmera.
It belonged to a man named Hochalmera.
They continued their reading until darkness once again covered the sky.
"No? Why?"
Alka leaned back in his chair, puzzled.
The three of them had practically scoured every single history book in the area, searching for this word and any related information.
Not even the word, let alone any related information, turned up, as if this name had no relevance to the history of the Flower Land.
Furthermore, these so-called history books only offered a general overview of the past world.
There wasn't much information about the actual Flower Land; almost every book contained only a few faint references.
After all, it was a world from ten thousand years ago.
Looking outside, the starry sky had already faded into darkness.
Arka propped himself up on his hands, thinking.
Assuming Hochalmera was a person's name, then these so-called stars were his treasures.
No, there was no such thing as treasure in that era. In other words, if he was a person, he was most likely a divine being.
Given the current level of treasure, in that era, it essentially represented the strength of a divine being.
Divine beings associated with the Holy Grail were mostly dangerous and deadly beasts, or intelligent beings whose strength was definitely not at the top level.
At the time, most gods bestowed the divine essence of these powerful beasts upon their capable mortal subordinates.
From what Arka and his companions knew, divine beings associated with the Scepter level mostly represented divine beings that protected or even dominated a region.
This type of divine creature is typically the firstborn of a true god, or a similarly powerful creature.
If this divine creature is in the Land of Flowers...
The territory of a true god...
Then could it be a subordinate of that god?
Arka sorted out his thoughts and began to reason.
Various possibilities emerged in his mind.
"So, these church members divined us simply because they thought we needed history,"
Arka suddenly said.
Hearing this, Sofia looked up at him and nodded.
What they needed was indeed history.
"Let's read the canon."
...
Jason and the other two were currently in the knights' camp.
However, Juanlu wasn't with them. Instead, he was in the camp kitchen, watching the chefs prepare various flower-infused dishes.
He was humbly learning.
Simon was researching the materials and methods used to craft the weapons and equipment in the camp.
He was planning to steal a glimpse of their smelting techniques.
Jason was the only one there, flipping through the materials.
He was also chatting with the soldiers and knights.
"How's it going?" Simon, seemingly finished with his research, asked Jason.
Jason sorted the materials in his hands and set them aside.
After all, they were helping the knights and soldiers here, so any questions he asked and any information he needed, whatever was available in the camp, would be provided.
"There's progress, but it doesn't have much to do with capturing anyone. What about you?"
Hearing this, Simon nodded and replied, "These soldiers and knights have suffered a high casualty rate, and the enemy they're fighting is indeed, as they claim, a Life-Death Crossing enemy.
Although we repelled the Life-Death Crossing attack at the Emerald Fortress, in fact, in certain specific areas, the Life-Death Crossing never ceases.
It's just that they haven't publicized it widely, but the powerful indigenous people know this.
It's precisely because of the intensity of the fighting here that most of their forces have been tied up."
This was Simon's deduction based on the amount of damage to the blacksmith shop and its weapons, as well as the duration of the damage, combined with some of the information Jason had just obtained.
Because these soldiers only gave Jason information about the cultists.
When you delve a little deeper, they become less willing to communicate.
"That job should be left to Alka," Jason complained.
As soon as he arrived, the thing on his forehead flashed, and who dared not speak up?
Of course, he was just grumbling; these people were already very cooperative.
"There are a number of wounded soldiers," Juanlu said quietly, approaching the two men.
Although he was learning his trade in the kitchen, that didn't stop him from picking up intelligence from some details.
Feeding so many people was a major problem, as could be seen from the intensity of the chef's work and the food supplies.
"Based on the food supply and the conversations of those people, a group of wounded soldiers have returned."
Hearing this information, Jason nodded.
"This Land of All Spirits is much more difficult than we imagined."
The intelligence they had gathered in the barracks today seemed minimal; Jason had only asked the soldiers for information about their target.
But in such a confidential place, careful observation and attention to details could easily reveal various problems.
For example, this military camp occupies an entire corner of the island, complete with a separate harbor.
The problem is that the number of soldiers here is woefully disproportionate to the size of the camp, and more than half are new recruits in training.
Remember, the island is currently hosting its most important annual festival: the Bloom Festival.
Those who can return for such an important festival should be allowed back to rest.
Not to mention, such a grand festival requires sufficient soldiers to ensure safety.
Even so, the number of troops on the island seems insufficient.
Only about a few hundred.
Take, for example, what Jason and his team encountered yesterday.
From the moment the monster erupted until Jason and his team suppressed it and waited for the soldiers to arrive, the entire process took about 15 minutes.
It's the Bloom Festival, after all.
15 minutes is enough to explain the problem.
"Two months ago, this cult was harassing the area quite aggressively.
But recently, they've been much less active. What we saw yesterday was only because..."
Jason's eyes flickered at this point, as if a very problematic thought had occurred to him.
He turned sharply, looked at the two men, and asked.
"If, if that man hadn't gotten into an argument with someone else in the tavern yesterday, would he have become that monstrous?"
The two pondered this. To be honest, they didn't know much.
While the scene wasn't chaotic, it certainly looked like a fight between drunken patrons.
Without waiting for a response, Jason said, "No, I saw their emotions."
"The one who transformed into a monster gradually lost control of his emotions and became enraged. When his anger reached a certain limit, he transformed into a monster."
Thanks to the crystal dragon, Jason could now clearly see the emotions of intelligent beings. Although only the more extreme emotions of the current situation were visible, they were more than sufficient.
"So that incident was actually an accident, not a genuine attempt by this cult to cause unrest, right?" Simon continued.
"Indeed, if we set aside this recent riot, the data shows that there haven't been any riots within the city in the past two months. They've only been caused by cultists outside.
For example, there have already been two or three cases of looting supplies bound for the Land of Fragrance."
Compared to the more mundane harassment they'd experienced two months prior, this was much more restrained.
But how could they possibly be restrained on such an important holiday?
Were they also celebrating the Blooming Festival?
Clearly not.
If I were the cult's leader, I would definitely take advantage of this opportunity to go on a looting spree.
From the person who transformed into a monster, I could tell they definitely have accomplices on the island.
So their recent actions seemed truly illogical.
"You mean, they might be planning to attack?" Juanlu asked from the side.
Jason nodded.
"Yes, that's a possibility. But it's just a possibility. Even if we tell them now, it won't help."
Hearing this, the two men nodded in unison.
Indeed, even if they told the leader now, it would be useless.
Because they no longer have enough soldiers to mobilize.
This is a dead end.
The wounded who were called back will most likely be used as soldiers to maintain order once they have recovered a little and are able to move.
This low-intensity task is perfect for these wounded who haven't fully recovered.
It has come to this point.
It's hard to expect them to mobilize more troops to defend the area.
"Never mind, I still need to mention it. At least it gives them some preparation.
Even if nothing happens, it won't affect anything."
Jason thought.
"We should go back too. Let's go."
"."
After saying this, the three of them stood up and left the greenhouse, seeking out the female knight who had previously commissioned them.
They shared their suspicions with her.
The female knight nodded and thanked the three.
"It seems they weren't completely unpredictable; they'd clearly considered this." The female knight's expression and reaction suggested otherwise.
"You're saying they're not commissioning us, but they're probably considering us as a backup force."
Simon suddenly spoke, a thought coming to his mind.
After all, if they were commissioned to capture these cultists...
If these cultists truly had something planned against the city, they wouldn't have been able to avoid action.
"Don't overthink it," Jason said, patting Simon on the shoulder.
"Even if they hadn't commissioned us, if something truly happened while we were in the city, we wouldn't be able to escape, would we? "
Hearing this, I thought about it and it seemed to make sense.
After all, they would be staying here for quite some time, not to mention that Alka had received a direct commission from the Flower God to help.
If something truly happened here, they couldn't stay out of it.
It wouldn't benefit either of them.
A stable city that could provide them with a wide variety of supplies and resources was far better than a chaotic region.
After all, they were only here to search for treasure and make a fortune, not to fight and kill.
As the three chatted, they returned to the flower forest under cover of night.
Just as they entered the flower forest, they met Alka and the others who had returned with them.
It seemed they had been busy for quite some time today.
It had been over 20 hours, from morning till night, and I'd thought they'd already left.
"Did you get anything?" "Alka asked, smiling at the three of them.
Jason nodded.
"Yes, but it won't be of much help in our apprehension."
After saying that, he glanced at the expressions on Alka's and the others' faces.
"It seems you've gained quite a bit."
"Of course."
Alka said with a smile.
Finally, they found the church's sacred texts. These texts related to gods are used for preaching and record the deeds of the gods.
It was obvious that most of them contained traces of exaggeration.
But besides boasting about the gods themselves, they also boasted about the great deeds of their followers.
Almost every god did this.
Including the Holy Mothers.
Alka and the others on the ship had all read the texts of their respective gods.
After all, they were used for preaching.
And sure enough.
They saw him in the texts. The word they most desired to see.
Hochalmera, just as they imagined. This was a powerful saint, a formidable figure who had served under the Flower Fairies since the Age of Gods.
His great deeds were recorded.
If he were still alive, he could almost be called the Flower Fairies' agent.
But it was clear that he was dead.
After all, even the Flower Fairies had fallen, awaiting resurrection in dreams.
Almost none of the famous believers mentioned in the holy text survived.
Because they were reading from an ancient edition.
The new edition completely altered the stories of these believers, focusing mostly on details of their heroic sacrifices.