The Devil's Cage

When Kieran offered his help to them, Sister Mony and Guntherson each had a different response to his offer.

"I am grateful for your offer, Detective Kieran, but this is a private matter. Involving you would only cause unwanted trouble," Sister Mony smiled as she declined Kieran’s offer.

"You need to have the right attitude to offer apologies. It’s not something that you can say lightly," Guntherson nodded with a smile upon hearing Kieran’s proposal.

He tried to persuade Sister Mony on Kieran’s behalf.

"Mony, I kind of like him. He has some good skills and he’s a nice fellow. Besides, you did say that he was the best detective in the city, right? Finding those scoundrels would be a piece of cake for him!" Guntherson’s tone became serious as he spoke, "We have formed a group of men, but those scoundrels are always hiding in the dark. Once they lose their patience though and decide to cause any more trouble... I’ve vowed to never leave this place, and Reed and the others will definitely suffer a huge loss. After all, no one can know when they will break in. If it’s during the school day, then the outcome will be most dreadful."

Guntherson’s words made Sister Mony hesitate a little.

Guntherson had a place in Sister Mony’s heart and what he was saying was the truth.

If there was any more trouble...

Sister Mony shook her head. She would not allow those greedy thugs to harm her students.

"Detective Kieran, please help us!" Sister Mony turned around and looked at Kieran with a serious face. "We don’t have enough money to pay you, but..."

"Sister Mony, I already said that I want to make it up to you for my behavior. If you consider this as compensation, surely there would be no cost for you," Kieran interrupted Sister Mony’s words with his own. "But first, you have to tell me everything.The more details, the better!"

"It’s a long story, I’ll go grab some stools!" Guntherson said before bringing three stools from the wooden cabin.

When everyone had sat down, Sister Mony began her story.

"Fifty years ago, Saint Paolo School was known as the Saint Paolo Church. It was the place where the Goddess of Dawn had first descended and worked Her miracles about a thousand years ago. Of course, everyone believed that this was a legend, but to tell you the truth, neither me nor Guntherson knew whether it was real or not. My teacher, who was the last Pope of the Church of Dawn, believed in the legend without a doubt, and anticipated the next time the Goddess would bless us with Her miracles again."

"It was pity that nothing ever happened while my teacher was alive. On the contrary, the Church’s power weakened day by day. It wasn’t just the Church of Dawn. Even the Church of Light, the biggest church around here, was not be spared by time. People believed more and more in fire powder, steam machines and electric energy. That knowledge was not within the church’s grasp, so an ever-increasing number of people gained it."

"To me, it was a new beginning, because everyone was able to break free from the bindings of darkness. There was wealth and peace. It was what the doctrine of the Church of Dawn was about. So at the beginning, I revealed the library of the Church of Dawn to some famous philosophers, and together with them, we converted the Saint Paolo Church to the St. Paolo School."

"As for me, I was originally the Saintess of Dawn before I became a Sister and principal of the school. Guntherson was my Guardian Knight back then. He too was the last knight of the Church of Dawn."

Sister Mony told her story in a peaceful tone, her soft voice narrating the history of the St. Paolo Church and how her and Guntherson’s roles had changed.

Kieran got a sense of sorrow from both of them.

It was not just their emotional shift, but also the changes of history.

The wheel of history could not be stopped. It would always move with the current of time.

When one was helpless, all that was left was sorrow and bitterness.

Guntherson being the last knight of the Church of Dawn said it all.

What had happened to the other knights, though?

Even taking into account death by old age, sickness or accident, there should have been more than one knight left.

Plus, Guntherson’s remarkable physical strength meant that the knights of the Church of Dawn could probably outlive ordinary men.

The shift of generations would always be accompanied by bloodshed.

The shades of the old were revolutionized by the waves of the new.

It was not something a simple word could solve.

Kieran could imagine those old knights being unable to adapt to the change in generations. There must surely have been some kind of conflict between them.

He pictured them lining up against lines of canons and guns, riding their horses and galloping towards the brightest moment of their lives.

A short, yet very bright moment.

This was only a small part of the old generation, but it was the purest of them all.

Similar generations shifts would definitely have affected countless lives.

In the end, the results were clear.

Kieran kept silent, the heaviness of history rendering him unable to utter any words.

This was not a history that he had been familiar with until now.

Sister Mony and Guntherson were silent as well. They seemed to be having flashbacks of that time.

After a while, Sister Mony came back to her senses.

"Pardon me, I was reliving some rather unpleasant memories. Lately, memories have been creeping up on me. We used to have the same kind of trouble ages ago," Sister Mony continued after a long sigh. "Back in the day, the Church of Dawn was only a small church, not even a fraction of what the Church of Light was, but it still had thousands of years of knowledge and wealth.

"My teacher, the last Pope of the Church of Dawn had hoped that the Church of Dawn would rise to its glory days again, and he hid away all its treasure. He hid it so well, not even me or Guntherson were aware of its location. Maybe Guntherson and I had disappointed him, and that was why he did not reveal the location to us, but to someone else."

"In the end, the treasure was lost."

"When Guntherson and I were ready to leave it all behind, a couple of young men approached me, looking for the treasure. They claimed that they wanted to revive the Church of Dawn. I turned them away, but they were persistent, and their methods have become even more extreme since then. That’s why Reed was so anxious when he met you."

Sister Mony looked apologetic once again.

"So that’s what happened."

Kieran suddenly realized something.

"What was that crap about wanting to revive the Church of Dawn? They were probably just some random greedy scoundrels who had gotten some information from God knows where and wanted a piece of the treasure for themselves!"

"We really don’t know the location, but even if we did, we’d never tell them. If I hadn’t taken a vow to never leave this place, I would kill those greedy bastards!" Guntherson said angrily, clenching his fists.

He looked really furious.

Kieran did not doubt that he meant what he said.

After exchanging a few punches, he had experienced his strength first hand and knew very well how powerful Guntherson was. No one could match him in hand-to-hand combat.

Guntherson’s strong body and special technique had overpowered Kieran easily.

Not only did he have a strong body and a unique combat technique, but he was also very familiar with weapons.

Judging by Altilly Hunter’s arsenal, Kieran could tell that the last knight of the Church of Dawn was also familiar with the use of fire powder.

He had to be at Master Level.

Considering his strong body and immense experience in combat and firearms, if he really chose to hunt them down, those scoundrels had better pray that he would not find them.

"So do these men have any special features?" Kieran asked.

"They come in here silently, their face always covered. Only two have appeared before me. I don’t know if there are any more of them." Sister Mony shook her head, unable to provide any more information.

"Very well, leave the rest to me. I can assure you that I will find them as soon as possible."

Kieran had not hoped for more information from Sister Mony. The men wanting to locate the Church of Dawn treasure would definitely have been prepared.

Still, that did not stop him from accepting the Sub Mission.

[Sub Mission Unlocked: The spy!]

[Sub Mission: Some unknown scoundrels have learned about the treasure of the Church of Dawn and want to get to it through Sister Mony. You promised Sister Mony that you would find these scoundrels and keep St. Paolo School safe.]

Kieran looked at the Sub Mission description.

Compared to the first one, the new mission seemed a lot harder. Probably twice as much.

Not only could he not determine the number of scoundrels, but he couldn’t find their trail either.

Other than waiting like a sitting duck, he could not come up with any better ideas at the moment.

Kieran did not let his awkwardness show as he smiled and parted ways with Sister Mony and Guntherson.

In order to avoid any unnecessary conflict with Reed, Kieran entered the [Undercover] mode once again.

It was different than last time, because he had Sister Mony’s consent before.

After he left St. Paolo School and the street leading to it, Kieran rearranged his belongings and the box holding the [Viper-M1], and came out of the shadows.

He did not call for a wagon, because he was not far from where he lived.

As he looked at the darkening sky, he decided to walk back and buy some food along the way.

He had not eaten anything the whole day.

He had not moved more than twenty meters, when he suddenly noticed someone following him.