I Became the Moon Goddess' Apostle in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 53: The Smell of Rot

"Every person in that Church died."

Raven’s hair stood on end as he looked back at his teammates.

They were looking at him, their eyes filled with curiosity.

Raven looked back, his grip on his shoulder tightened a bit, "We are a mercenary corp, can you please trust me and point in the direction of the church?"

"Do you not value your life?" He asked back. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"If we did, we would not be in this line of work, mister," Raven answered, his words light.

"What kind of mercenary group works out of the kindness of their hearts?" The peasant’s head never rose, as he just mumbled these words.

"We would get our pay from the Church, one way or another." His sentence was vague but true in a way.

"And who knows, they might even reward us."

"Delusional, you are." He replied, "Before you die, don’t blame me that I didn’t warn you."

Heh!

Raven chuckled, "We would not die."

"Promise me you would not curse me for your death."

Raven sighed.

People in the Middle Ages really were so superstitious.

"I promise." Raven wholeheartedly assured him.

"Head eastwards from here," He finally caved in. "You should reach it in 10 minutes."

"Thanks." He said, standing up.

"Don’t die." The peasant uttered this in a meek voice, which Raven caught on barely.

"We won’t."

Walking back to his team, he broke the news to them.

"The reason why the monastery was empty, and why the village wasn’t producing any taxes was that," He took a pause, collecting himself up.

The other teammates understood this was serious.

"Everyone in the Church is dead."

Their eyes widened.

"What do you mean, dead?" Janet asked, her fingers fiddling around.

Everybody was nervous.

"That’s all he could utter," Raven answered, "He barely gave me the directions to the church."

"..."

The group went silent for a moment.

If everyone in the church were dead wasn’t enough, they didn’t even know the cause.

And why only the Church?

"What do we do now?" Carroll asked, as she sounded a bit concerned.

"What else?" Raven, being the most composed around here, answered straightforwardly, "We investigate."

"That’s our job."

Seeing their faces was very concerning for Raven.

He had previously thought that they could somewhat pull this off.

But now, it seemed that the fear of death was a lot worse than he thought.

He remembered his first kill.

And he wasn’t as affected as this.

Maybe it was the adrenaline rush due to his thirst for revenge.

But this was not optimal.

He had to make a choice here.

The most affected one out of them was easily Janet.

But she had a crucial role to play here.

After all, she had an ability.

Pevon and Carroll were the least affected, though, not completely unstirred.

Which left Zuri.

And since she was a mage, he decided formulate a strategy here.

"One of us should head back to the nearest Church with at least a Bishop and report this immediately."

Everyone looked at him, nodding in affirmation.

But who?

"Let’s decide it by voting." Raven suggested immediately, "Point towards the person that everyone thinks should do this job."

Everyone looked around.

At each other’s expressions.

In all honesty, most of them wanted to do this job themselves.

But that would come out as extremely selfish.

Pevon was slightly surprised seeing this moment of vulnerability in otherwise calm and composed Zuri.

"On my count back to 0,"

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"0..."

Zuri’s finger was pointed towards Janet.

Janet’s finger was pointed towards Zuri.

Pevon’s finger was pointed towards Janet.

And Carroll’s finger was pointed towards Zuri.

Everyone’s intent behind their decisions was rather emotional than logical.

Either they didn’t want to come out as selfish, or they wanted their teammates to be safe.

There were equal votes for both.

Which meant Raven was the tiebreaker here.

Everyone’s eyes went to Raven.

Whose finger pointed towards... Zuri.

Pevon’s eyes looked disappointed, as if he didn’t expect this from Raven.

Pevon had become a bit emotional towards Janet at this point.

But Raven couldn’t explain himself here.

"Zuri," Raven called her, "If you want, you could even use my horse, since it’s faster."

But Zuri shook her head lightly, "I am more comfortable with mine, thanks."

Raven nodded in understanding.

"Move as soon as possible."

Zuri complied and immediately left for the monastery.

Where they had previously tied their horses.

"Let’s get going, everyone," He asked, ignoring the gazes he was getting, "This cannot wait anymore."

...

Standing in front of the Church, the team swallowed a deep breath.

It was nerve-racking to say the least.

Wasn’t their job investigate taxes, and not murders?

Raven, taking the lead, stepped forward and pushed on the heavy church door.

Creak!

The door opened with a loud creak, as dust came pouring out of there.

Cough! Cough!

Raven was caught off guard, but the others covered their faces quickly.

The time was evening, and the visibility was relatively low.

He immediately activated his [Trace Eyes], for better visibility.

Pevon and the rest followed him inside.

"Does anybody see something?" Pevon asked, and the rest shook their heads.

"No!" The rest answered immediately.

Even with his [Trace Eyes], Raven could not see anything.

With slow and measured step, they delved deeper, as Raven lead them.

The ambiance of an abandoned Church was rather spooky.

"Don’t get separated," Raven advised.

He had seen way too many horror films not to advise this.

Sniff!

"Are any of you also getting that smell?" It was Janet this time.

The rest focused on their sense of smell.

"Now that you say it," Carroll, who was right behind Raven the whole time, replied, "It does smell rotten in here."

Pevon chimed in, "Me too."

Only Raven wasn’t getting it.

Was his sense of smell really that subpar?

"Lead us to it, please."

Janet reluctantly nodded and pointed towards the left side of the Cathedral.

Raven looked there, and it was nothing.

There was just a wall erected there.

Was there some sort of secret compartment behind the wall?

He approached the wall and,

Knock! Knock!

He knocked on it twice, and the sound was just like any brick wall.

"What are you doing?" They asked, curious.

"I was checking if there is a hollow room behind this wall." He answered, "The sound would be different if that’s the case."

The three were impressed.

"Where do you even learn these?"

’Movies.’

"Books."

They nodded and joined him in his endeavor.

Knock! Knock!

Thonk!

"Hmm?"