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Volume 2 – Chapter 41: Hall of Ruling

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The banquet progressed at a steady pace. Outside of Qin Lun’s expectations, Tony, Nova, and the others chose not to question Baron Albert during the banquet, each minding their own business as they ate.

Qin Lun did not rush them. From his point of view, this was just the calm before the storm. As long as the Odia Region’s epidemic was not eliminated, these exorcists would have no choice but to make a decision.

“Dr. Stein!” A sweet voice suddenly called out to him from behind.

“Miss Laura, it’s a pleasure to see you.” Qin Lun turned around and saw it was Laura Albert, who was holding Little Miller’s hand, quietly standing behind him. “Young Master Miller, are you feeling better?”

“You’re Dr. Stein? Thank you!” Little Miller curiously looked at him and bowed.

The little boy had fair hair and blue eyes. His narrow face made his eyes look rather large. Although he had been given a lot of milk mixed with the World Tree Flower Nectar, his body, that had been weakened by a year long bed rest, did not change. He still looked emaciated.

“Hehe, this is a doctor’s duty, you don’t need to thank me.” Qin Lun beamed and squatted down, ruffling his blond hair as he asked, “Does Young Master Miller remember how you got infected?”

“I…”

“Because Miller has slept for over a year, he lost a lot of memories and still can’t remember at the moment.” Laura’s gentle expression suddenly underwent a great change, and she dragged the little boy away. “Miller, go look for your sister to play with you. After you fell ill, Elizabeth has been all by herself.”

“I don’t want to be alone with her!” Miller hesitated for a moment and turned his head towards his sister.

“Miller… then I’ll go with you.” Laura turned back and managed to place a forced smile on her face. “Dr. Stein, I will bid you farewell.”

“As you wish.” Qin Lun gave an understanding smile, but after Laura turned her back to him, a cold sharpness passed through his eyes.

With the progression of the banquet, the sky slowly darkened. Baron Albert glanced around the banquet hall and somewhat tiredly rubbed the bridge of his nose. While the exorcists were out battling in the Maize Forest, he did not have it easy at Albert Castle.

Nova, Meyer, and the other Odia exorcists were the region’s pillars of support. Although they were not in positions that overlook the ordinary people, for example: mayor, judge, law enforcement, and so on, any important posts were filled by the ordinary members of exorcist families and have familial relations with exorcists.

This was also a special feature of the Odia Region as the front line against the Maize witches. At some point in time, exorcists will need a large amount of manpower and resources. When those situations occur, they secretly have the approval of the Maize Dukedom’s ruler.

After the exorcists entered the Maize Forest, all the cases of the epidemic breaking out in nearby towns were left for Baron Albert to handle. He needed to be in charge of coordinating manpower to control the spread of the epidemic as much as possible.

“Father, we need to talk.” Right when Baron Albert wanted to leave the banquet hall to rest, he was stopped by Tony and the others.

“Right now?” Baron Albert faintly frowned and glanced at them. “Fine, let’s go to the fort for military affairs.”

“No, Thomas, please open up the Hall of Ruling on the top floor of the main castle. We want to discuss there.” Nova suddenly raised her head and firmly stated.

“The Hall of Ruling?!” Baron Albert’s face changed, and he seriously stated, “Opening up the Hall of Ruling needs the proposal of three intermediate-level or higher exorcists and the agreement of over half of the exorcists of Odia. Are you guys certain?”

“Yes, Thomas! Meyer, Tony, and I are all intermediate-level exorcists, and everyone here agrees with it!” Nova seriously answered.

“I understand, please follow me.” Baron Albert muttered to himself, “It looks like you guys really gained some vital information during this mission.”

“Sire Meyer, what is the Hall of Ruling?” Qin Lun snuck near Meyer and whispered to him.

“The Albert Castle’s Hall of Ruling was set up by the first generation baron. It has the blessing of the longevity believers and can use the magic array below the castle to gather power. All evil organisms are inhibited there, while an exorcist’s powers will recover at a faster speed.” Meyer glanced at him meaningfully.

“However, opening up the Hall of Ruling uses up some of the power gathered by the magic array, so unless it is a major event where lives are at stake, no one wants to waste their trump cards.” Speaking up to there, Meyer’s eyes turned darker. “Of course, apart from that, there is another function for the Ruling Hall, to execute… traitors.”

Qin Lun’s eyebrow rose, he made out the implied meaning in Meyer’s voice and couldn’t help showing a flabbergasted look to the scarred man.

“Sire Meyer, you guys were always against me calling out the Albert Family, so why did you guys have a complete change in opinion after barely a night?”

“Dr. Stein, you’ve misunderstood. We are still against calling the Albert Family into question, but Baron Albert cannot represent the entire Albert Family, at least Tony…” Meyer corrected in embarrassment.

“Sire Meyer, please don’t keep silent on what is important by only telling me trivial things. If you still see me as a companion, you should tell me the truth.” Qin Lun expressionlessly replied.

“That… fine.” Meyer awkwardly rubbed his nose. “To tell you the truth, very early today, Lady Nova had received a pigeon post from the Holy Healer, Toddy. Hanson Town has obtained its first plague victim!”

“Hanson Town… so that’s the case.” Qin Lun narrowed his eyes.

After being in this world for so long, he was not as unknowledgeable as he was in the beginning. Hanson Town did not belong to the Odia Region, rather, it belonged to the Hanover Region. To put it more concisely, Hanson Town was located where the two regions meet.

Odia Region was mainly mountain and woodlands, besides a few small towns, its surroundings were all mountains and forests. The population density was very small, only tens of thousands of people. This was why such a serious and infectious plague was not considered a major event by the Exorcist Organization.

The Exorcist Organization was a supernatural one, not a part of human government, so natural disasters basically had nothing to do with them. If it weren’t for the plague being related to the Maize Witch, the Exorcist Organization would not get involved.

But it was different now. Hanover Region’s terrain was flat, containing large cities that had several hundred thousands of people located near the center of the Maize Dukedom. If the plague was really an undead epidemic that human medicine could not cure, then once it spreads through the Hanover Region, perhaps it really would topple the entire Maize Dukemon, moving on to influence the safety of the human world.

Although only a single patient has appeared in Hanson, with the information Nova and the others have obtained from Maize Forest, the nature of the situation has completely changed and become of high importance to the Exorcist Organization. 

“The organization has already notified the Maize Royal Family. The routes from Hanson Town to other towns within the Hanover Region have been sealed off. They just hope they were not too late. The higher-ups in the organization are currently gathering more Holy Medicine. The exorcists of Odia have already been assigned a new mission, once this matter is dealt with, we are to immediately escort you to the exorcist headquarters.”

Meyer shook his head. “No matter what, we can’t let the epidemic leave the Odia Region. No matter how deep our friendship is with Baron Albert, we can’t show mercy. Don’t you see how Lady Nova’s face is so stiff? When she was young, she and Baron Albert were…” 

“Hmph!” Nova who walked ahead of them seemed to have sensed something and turned around to glare at Meyer.

“Uh, uh…” He immediately shut up and turned his head in embarrassment. But Qin Lun understood what he meant and couldn’t help but look at Nova, then at Baron Albert, his expression a bit odd.

“When Nova was young, she was very pretty. But she transformed when she accepted her protection power. Her attributes leaned toward power and constitution… as for Thomas, we don’t know why, but the Albert Family cannot extend their life span. Even if they have the protection power, they age even faster than normal people.”

Qin Lun looked at Meyer and didn’t know what kind of feeling he should have. This guy looks like he was middle-aged, but he was older than his appearance. He seemed to be in the same generation as Nova and Baron Albert, yet why does he have such a gossipy personality?

The Albert Family’s main castle, from the middle up, was in the structure of a tower. The middle was where the parapet that Qin Lun once toured before was located. The area above was where the Albert Family members lived. After Little Miller fell ill, no servants ever went up there.

Now that Little Miller has recovered, the floors above were all cleaned, and the gloomy atmosphere from before was swept clean. However, once they passed by the bedroom area and walked up another floor, the entire tower once again returned to its quiet gloominess, with only the echoes of their footsteps audible in the corridor.

Once they reached the top floor, Qin Lun saw a heavy gate. The two, tightly closed copper doors had a huge six-star magic array on it. In the middle of the magic array, both doors had a copper lion head with gaping maws. 

“Are you guys ready?” Baron Albert turned around to look at them, then took out a small hunting knife from his bosom, slicing it across his finger. Blood immediately seeped out and fell into the mouth of one of the copper lions.

Nova, Meyer, and the other exorcists, including Tony and Qin Lun, did the same thing, dropping a bead of blood into the lion’s maw.

After it had swallowed the last person’s blood, the six-star magic array on the copper doors slowly illuminated, and the eyes of the two lions suddenly emitted four strong lights that swept past everyone.

When the strong light landed on his body, Qin Lun felt a great sense of danger rise within him. He resisted the urge to dodge and held himself in place. Fortunately for him, a gentle white light quickly floated from his body and canceled out the light from the lions.

The doctor observed the situation around him and saw that the other exorcists all had the same gentle white light coming from their body, preventing them from getting injured. It seemed to be a type of authentication for exorcists.

Rumble rumble rumble. Once the light in the copper lions’ eyes slowly weakened, rumbling sounds came from the two copper doors, and they slowly opened inwards.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please come in. The Eleventh Odia Ruling Meeting will formally convene.” Albert placed his hand to his chest and deeply bowed.

“We will once again inherit the past of Odia, judge the current Odia, and protect the Odia of the future!”

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