Priest Augustus found the location of the tomb through the gravedigger's records. As the two searched the cemetery, the occasional startled snake and hidden rat were the only things that brought them surprises.
Because the cemetery was not large, they quickly found their target.
It was an inconspicuous small tomb located on the west side of the stone building that served as both a “church” and an “entrance to the catacombs,” close to the cemetery fence. The tombstone, slightly raised above the ground, stated that the person buried there was named Mushir Lee Nem, and this poor fellow had died half a month ago.
Aside from this information, there was nothing else on the tombstone: no birth year or month, no cause of death, and no eulogies left by those who paid for his burial. However, considering this was just a small cemetery in the countryside, such a situation was understandable.
After all, to have a undisturbed, proper burial plot after death was a treatment many poor people could not even imagine.
“This is it, Xia De, quickly, help me dig it open.”
Priest Augustus spat twice into his palm, then rubbed his hands, ready to work.
“Priest, do you have a grudge against this gentleman?”
Xia De asked hesitantly.
“Of course not. I have done good deeds my whole life. Even if I have some acquaintances with whom I don't have a friendly relationship, I wouldn't go digging up their graves.”
The Priest replied, urging Xia De not to waste time, as the ritual had to be set up before two in the morning.
“Then this is you...”
“Oh, you're wondering about that.”
The Priest laughed while shoveling dirt. Xia De placed Mia on the fence and also prepared to work. He had initially wanted to warn Mia not to touch the rats, which surely carried diseases, but seeing Mia squatting on the fence post, squinting up at the Moonlight, looking adorable, she probably wouldn't bother chasing rats.
After all, Mia, a city cat, didn't look like the kind of cat good at catching rats.
“A few days ago, I met a believer who came all the way from the countryside to the church to confess. She was a farmer's wife from a nearby village, and in the prayer room, through the small window, she confessed that she hadn't given her husband a proper funeral.”
“Isn't this a pretty good cemetery?”
Xia De took off his coat, and he and Priest Augustus dug, one on each side, piling the dirt under the fence with their shovels.
“She and this deceased gentleman were outsiders and had no acquaintances in the village to help with the funeral. So, the farmer's wife entrusted a person who happened to be lodging in the village, claiming to be a scholar, to help handle the funeral. Everything went smoothly at first, but after the funeral, the farmer's wife kept dreaming of her husband, the deceased man claiming in her dreams that his soul was suffering.”
The Priest laboriously shoveled the earth from the grave mound, his words intermittent as he told the story:
“The scholar who took money to arrange the funeral has already gone into the city, and the farmer's wife suspected that the scholar had committed blasphemy against the corpse, so she specifically came to the church to pray for God's forgiveness for her neglect of the funeral. That woman never thought of digging up the corpse to see what was wrong.”
It seemed there was indeed something strange about this matter.
“Then why didn't you let the church handle this matter?”
“This isn't a city matter, and there's no clear evidence proving it's related to a Ring術士. Even if the church were to accept it, it would take several weeks to dispatch people to investigate this matter, as there are many truly important things in the city.”
The Priest explained, and Xia De understood what he meant. For example, the three 委托 tasks Iluna gave him last week were matters that had accumulated at Black Stone Security Company and were not given much importance.
The results also proved that while those matters sounded strange, there was indeed no urgency to deal with them.
“Then how did you determine that this matter was problematic? If you personally investigated every similar incident you encountered, I imagine you would have an endless amount of things to deal with.”
The Priest nodded, breathing heavily and looking up at Xia De:
“From this angle, how did your skin get so good? What have you encountered recently... Oh, I probably haven't mentioned it to you, but I have a peculiar ability. When someone confesses, I can vaguely discern whether they are lying. This vague feeling allows me to easily distinguish what those believers truly want to express. This is not an easy task; I have witnessed countless stories of Darkness while listening to people's confessions.”
Xia De was very glad that when he prayed to the Priest in Coldwater Port, on the grounds of “falling in love with multiple girls,” in order to report Darkness, that distant Priest did not have Priest Augustus's ability.
“However, is this a special ability of Priest Augustus's ‘other self’?”
Thud ~
Xia De's shovel hit something. Because it was hollow inside, the dull sound was distinctly different from the sound of hitting a stone while digging.
“Wait.”
The Priest immediately knelt down on one knee and pushed away the loose soil, and sure enough, he saw the still unrotted wooden coffin lid:
“Found it!”
The Priest was very happy. This Old Priest came out so late, even inviting Xia De in the name of the Angel Potion, just to confirm what was inside the coffin, not for repayment.
From this perspective, although Priest Augustus always believed that human hearts were Dark, he was probably one of the most noble people Xia De knew.
The corpse had not been cremated. After opening the coffin lid, the pungent smell made both Xia De and Priest Augustus frown. Having gone through Summer, the deeply buried corpse had severely decomposed, and the insects nourished by the corpse were even writhing in large swaths under the Moonlight.
Xia De suppressed his nausea and looked up at Mia. The timid cat also saw this scene, but she didn't seem scared at all. Perhaps to a cat, this was just something very ugly.
“Priest, don't tell me we have to move this corpse out... Did you bring gloves? I'll need to wear three layers.”
Xia De asked with a frown, and the Old Priest also suppressed his nausea, covering his nose and replying in a muffled voice:
“Don't worry, if we're lucky, we won't have to touch the corpse at all. I need to set up a ritual to appease the corpse and allow the soul to be released. Before I set up the ritual, Detective, use your Moonlight to help illuminate and see if there's anything unusual about the corpse.”
As he spoke, Priest Augustus also picked up the lantern borrowed from the gravedigger, illuminating the disgusting scene above the tomb. Moonlight also lit up on Xia De's fingertips, and a faint black mist rose from the corpse under the silver light. This at least indicated that there was something evil on the corpse.
“Look at this!”
Priest Augustus pointed to the hands clasped together on the corpse's chest. The rotten hands were almost skeletal, and the flesh inside the skin seemed to have been hollowed out by insects. And between the hands, there was actually a black dagger.
Nowhere in the Delarion Kingdom was there a custom of burying the deceased with a dagger in hand.
“It's not a relic; there are no traces of elemental power.”
Xia De said in a muffled voice, covering his nose.
“That's good news. Let me get it out.”
The Priest wisely did not reach in but used the spell 【Moving Objects】 to carefully move the dagger out of the corpse's hand.
However, just as the black metal dagger had completely left the corpse's hand, those hands suddenly reached up, grabbed the dagger back, and then returned to their original position.
The cemetery fell silent for a moment, and Xia De and Priest Augustus exchanged surprised glances.
“Detective, I didn't imagine that, did I?”
The Priest asked in surprise.
“I saw it too.”
Xia De said, then thought for a moment and asked:
“Priest, if you don't mind blasphemy against the corpse, then I'll sever the corpse's hands.”
He had expected the Priest to disagree, but unexpectedly, he thought for a moment and nodded:
“Alright, we'll sew it back up later.”
Xia De sincerely hoped “we” referred to the Priest and Mia, not the Priest and the Detective.
He didn't summon Moonlight Greatsword; that sword was too sharp and could easily pierce through the corpse. Xia De took out two rhode cards from his pocket, flicked them lightly, and the sharp cards flew towards the wrists of the rotting corpse.
Whoosh!
The cards cut through the relatively cool air of the late night, but the next second, they were pierced through the center by the sharp dagger.
“Oh, I knew it wouldn't be that easy!”
Xia De and Priest Augustus simultaneously retreated, while Mia, waiting on the fence, deftly leaped onto a large tree beside the tomb, peering down with wide, glowing eyes in the Darkness.
Meanwhile, the corpse, holding the dagger, sat up from the tomb.
“Priest, was this also within your expectations?”
Xia De asked, preparing for battle, but after the corpse crawled out of the tomb, it actually lunged towards Priest Augustus.
The Old Priest dodged awkwardly, then kicked out. His intention was to trip the corpse, but he unexpectedly kicked right through the fragile corpse's abdomen.
Rotten flesh, insects, and pus flowed out of the corpse. It silently raised the dagger and stabbed towards Priest Augustus's head.
The Old Priest pointed a finger and quickly uttered the ancient incantation words representing elemental power:
“Wind!”
Invisible wind, like ribbons, wrapped around the corpse's hands. Then, Xia De, who ran from behind the corpse, raised his sword with both hands, took a big leap, and deftly sliced the corpse diagonally into two halves from top to bottom.
The black dagger fell from its hand, then plunged into the ground. The grassy earth immediately began to blacken and reek, with the dagger as its center.
Priest Augustus ignored the dagger and hastily took out a bottle of brown liquid, which Xia De recognized, from his pocket. After throwing it onto the corpse, the Old Priest's aged hand pointed again:
“Fire!”
Blazing flames immediately ignited on the corpse.
That bottle of liquid was the strong lamp oil Xia De had used once when he and the doctor shot people, set fires, and scattered money.
“Priest, does this count as blasphemy against the corpse?”
Xia De was surprised by the Priest's practiced movements.
“This is an undead, not a corpse. Detective, you can't make such basic factual errors.”
The Old Priest said, then, to Xia De's even greater surprise, he squatted down and directly pulled out the black dagger.
The dagger, which corroded the earth, immediately had an even more terrifying effect on the Priest's right hand. His arm, already somewhat emaciated due to the aging of his body, immediately shriveled, blackened, and withered.
