Chapter 193 (2): The Church of Heavenly Father was Hit with an Unprecedented Nerf

In the cabin, two small-time crooks kicked up a ruckus as they damaged the diesel engine. They didn’t even care enough to put away the tools they had used before running away from the scene of the crime as fast as possible.

After a brief moment of silence, Veronica elbowed the scum behind her, huffing as she emerged from the shadows. “Why didn’t you let me take care of them? What do you stand to gain from the ship breaking down?”

“Then I’ll get to stay one more day on the sea with you. The ocean, moonlight, and your fiancé. Isn’t the combination romantic?” Wayne grimaced while pressing a hand to his ribcage.

Veronica couldn’t bear hearing any word related to marriage. Acting like Monica when its tail was stepped on, she burst out and demanded that Wayne stop spouting nonsense.

“I’m not speaking nonsense. Why else would you be on this cruise ship, sneaking about like a thief?” Wayne gave her an understanding look and smirked at her, reaching out to put his arm around her waist. When she dodged it, he grabbed the air and took a sniff. “You smell like engine oil. Ew.”

“Hmph!” Veronica turned away. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m here for Vera. She can be gullible and slow. I’m worried that she’ll get into danger on her own, so I’ve been protecting her in secret.”

“Then it’s too late for you. Vera’s in my room. She’s drunk a lot and gotten wasted, not even wearing clothes.”

“!”

Enraged, Veronica rushed out to teach Vera a lesson.

Wayne followed her and commented in exasperation, “In a situation like this, the man should be the one to get beaten up. Why are you going after a victim?”

She staggered, feeling humiliated at his comment. She whirled around and punched him in the nose.

“This should calm you down. Go to Vera. My secretary is in the room, too. You should stay with them tonight.” Wayne gave her the room number. When she looked at him warily, he rolled his eyes and said, “They’re both clothed, and I’m not staying the night in that room. You know me. While I tend to run my mouth, I’m actually quite conservative.”

As if I’d buy that!

Veronica left with a huff. In the future, Vera would certainly become a mistress Wayne kept out of wedlock. Damn it. Wouldn’t she learn from Senior Kristen’s example and stay out of this relationship?

Veronica put Kristen on an even higher pedestal in her head. Kristen was gentle, kind, beautiful, and generous, and she was too bright to believe the scum’s nonsense. Surely she wouldn’t have been fooled into becoming the scum’s prey.

After taking two steps, Veronica realized that Wayne wasn’t following her. She looked over curiously.

“Those two men were most likely after me. I’m going to check where they came from,” Wayne explained. “Just leave the dirty work to me. Remember to take a bath once you find the room. You smell terrible, unlike usual.”

Every word out of his mouth was meant to push her button. It was as if he were purposefully saying all the wrong things.

Veronica whirled around and walked away, but paused after two steps. “Wayne, is that what Mr. Lando has been teaching you, because I can’t learn it?”

“You can learn it. He just doesn’t want to teach you. It’s different for me. I can do it without being taught,” Wayne explained patiently in a gentle tone. “Go. It’s going to get ugly, which will tarnish my image in your mind. I don’t want you to see me like that.”

Veronica snorted and walked away with her head tipped higher, showing her prideful side to no one in particular.

Suddenly, Wayne’s expression darkened. Eyes fierce, he strode toward the deck. “What did I say? There’s another traitor among the Ministry of Magic. The ministry is never going to pass the test. Even their envoy’s whereabouts got leaked. Once this lord returns to the capital and reports to Her Majesty, you’re all going to be punished by death.”

Meanwhile, the two criminals had boarded a lifeboat and were rowing across the sea. Their mission was to damage the cruise ship to delay the arrival of the investigation team, thus buying time for the Snows to erase the evidence.

The Snow family couldn’t possibly go against the Queen openly. She could crush them without lifting a finger, so they neither had the courage nor the power to resist.

“The plan’s going smoothly. We’ll head back for our payment and have some fun while we can.”

“Are we not leaving Windsor with Master?”

“Forget that. He can barely take care of himself. While he may secure a roof over his head and food on his table in Franc, we won’t have anything. I’m showing enough loyalty by helping him one last time.”

“Right. We’ll head to the Republic of Erland. I heard that the Church of Heavenly Father there keeps its word and has a flexible moral code.”

“Kekekeke—” x3

“Huh? Where’s the third laugh track coming from?”

“Must be an echo. Perhaps—”

Wait, echo on the ocean?

The two men exchanged a look and drew their guns from their waist at the same time, turning toward the source of the evil laughter. They saw a figure walking toward them on water, his black suit pants and white shirt cutting a striking figure under the moonlight.

They raised their gun and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Rumble!

Violent waves rose and capsized the lifeboat they were on like a fragile, decayed leaf. Amid surging bubbles, the lifeboat became the coffin lid that brought them underwater.

“Thanks for your help, or I would have to be the one to damage the engine. I didn’t want to do it since I’m so kind. I was really agonizing over the decision.”

Wayne put one hand on his chest in a show of respect. Magic spread steadily from under his feet to quickly pull his body down, submerging him.

There was an explosion of white foam and surging waves, rippling outward in all directions. An undead warhorse leaped out, breathing purple flames from her nostrils. She galloped on the waves at an incredible speed.

Under the moonlight, the Death Knight’s grey cape fluttered, spreading bleak Death energy across the water to smooth out the waves, leaving the area deathly silent.

***

Somewhere on the Erland Sea, a cargo ship marked with ‘Windsor Logistics’ floated quietly. The engine had stopped working, resulting in the propeller powering down. The lights were all off, too. It was silent like a ghost ship.

Right under the cargo ship, an air bubble of ten meters in diameter slowly sank. A few people who were obviously mages spread their arms to manipulate water, resisting the increasing pressure.

The man in the middle carried a briefcase-like book with a black leather cover adorned with a pair of skeletal arms, arranged in a cross. In the center of the cover was a white face that looked distinctively hellish.

The man was Gaye, a Gold-rank mage and the top leader of the Church of Death in Franc.

Following the Death Knight’s order—or the divine oracle the Goddess of Death had passed along through the Death Knight—he was here to seal the obelisk and transport it to the underground catacombs in Palis.

A divine oracle was more important than anything. Gaye immediately set out and hijacked a Windsorian cargo ship to reach the destination.

The task shouldn’t be Gaye’s to take on. The Church of Death had a top leader in Windsor, Sebastain; he was Gaye’s colleague and another Gold-ranked mage.

Some time ago, Sebastian went missing. That was what the Death Knight had said anyway. The knight had been acting strangely lately. One second, he would be talking about Sebastian going missing; the next second, he would claim that someone was impersonating him. Then he would say that he had killed Sebastian. He had been quite dramatic these days.

Gaye, the knight’s roommate in the underground catacombs, had been panicking, worried that the knight would kill him without warning. The moment Gaye received the order, he left for Windsor.

He had it all planned out: once he sealed the obelisk, he would have his subordinates bring the

Book of Seals

back to Palis, while he stayed in Windsor to take over Sebastian’s unfinished business, making an official request for transfer to headquarters.

No one could threaten the Death Knight anyway, and there was a strong enough force in the catacombs. A Gold-ranked mage like him wouldn’t make much of a difference. Windsor, on the other hand, occupied an important strategic location, and the Life Alliance had been getting aggressive there in recent years.

The useless Sebastian had failed to spread the goddess’s glory; it made sense for him, a more competent leader, to take over. That way, he would not only avoid the unhinged Death Knight but also inherit Sebastian’s substantial assets, killing two birds with one stone.

“Sir Gaye, we’re a hundred meters underwater right now, close to the bottom of the sea. Everything is going well.”

“Good work. The knight will certainly reward you handsomely for a job well done,” Gaye said disingenuously, his eyes piercing through the darkness of the deep sea and seeing an orb of dim golden light.

Right there. What a simple mission.

Gaye didn’t understand how Sebastian had failed such an easy task.

“He’s not a fool. Perhaps the target was too close to Londan last time...”

He found his colleague an excuse. Things would be different this time since they were far from Londan.

Nothing can go wrong!