The Devil’s Cage

Naveya City had been plunged into a weird state for a total of five days.

Should any one of the Wealth Temple priests, deacons, or servants dare to leave the temple district, every single one of them would meet their demise in a violent way.

The ways they died were extremely weird and eerie: sliced throats, stabbed on the back, poisoned, and many others.

Not only the Wealth Temple but the Sin Temple which had unsevered ties to the former suffered a similar fate also.

Most surprisingly, the killers who committed the murders didn’t have any intentions of concealing themselves because the emeralds left on the dead bodies were very eye-catching.

Emerald Rock was already an organization that people feared in Naveya and within a short few days, its reputation had reached new heights, so high that others could only dream of catching up but the people were interested in the organization’s origins.

A rumor within Naveya stating that Emerald Rock was actually a subsidiary force of a certain temple and within the recent days, a lot of people strongly believed that Emerald Rock secretly belonged to Thorn Temple.

It was too obvious!

Each time they committed a murder, the victim was either directly related to the Wealth Temple or those related to them.

As for the possibility of Thorn Temple hiring the Emerald Rock’s killers?

It was not possible because no one believed that Lady Thorn would commit such atrocities.

In fact, it was already shocking enough when people knew Emerald Rock was a subsidiary force of Thorn Temple.

If there wasn’t another rumor that overshadowed this one, a lot of Thorn Temple believers would have their beliefs shaken.

Compared to the former rumor, this rumor was the one people felt the most interesting.

This second rumor also came out from the temple district and it sounded like this:

A certain female deacon from Thorn Temple met the leader of Emerald Rock during the investigation of the stolen Holy Thorn Grail. A spark of love was ignited during the short period of time and this time around, the leader of Emerald Rock committed all these murders to protect the one he loved from being harmed.

A powerful person that hid in the shadows, a weak and soft girl that needed protection.

Their fated meeting placed their paths onto that of a single enemy.

When all of those rumors were put together, no matter how old-school it sounded, it would attract attention, especially those rich lasses from noble families who didn’t know the truth and had nothing better to do.

The rumors fulfilled their fantasies and at the same time became the hot topic during teatime.

From the noble’s dining table to the drinking gatherings of the merchants and to the common chit-chat of the commoners, everyone was discussing this particular rumor.

The majority of Naveya citizens were discussing the love life of the “King of Killers” and it was natural that the widespread rumor would overshadow the previous rumor.

Men couldn’t help but wonder what kind of beauty could tame the “King of Killers”; women were curious about what the “King of Killers” looked like, a part of them even hoped that they could replace the female deacon in her position.

These group of frantic women had expressed their love to the “King of Killers” in public more than once.

Although all of them were scolded by their families and were grounded after that, none of them changed for the better, at least not for the foreseeable future.

Blossoming young women were like moths to a flame, disregarding every consequence that came after that.

The drinking party today was no exception either. When the organizer’s eldest and second daughter voiced the topic at the same time, the old duke’s face turned green, he ordered the servants to send his daughters back to their rooms.

Despite him saving the situation in time, it still ruined the meticulously prepared drinking party, a lot of guesses were laughing secretly.

However, the old duke couldn’t care much, instead, he quickly headed to a corner of the hall.

The old duke didn’t care about the other guests except for the group that he dreaded and had to pay full attention to because these particular guests had a very special identity.

The stepson of Sin Temple’s archpriest, Bocard.

The most favored heir to the archpriest of Love Temple, Lilith.

The well-known young hunter from Hunter Temple, Pudd.

The first priest that played the divine melody with the long flute from Melody Temple, Livezel.

A total of four people, three men one woman.

Although they were all young in age, their identities had destined their lives to be extraordinary.

If there weren’t any unexpected accidents, within 30 years or less, they will be the archpriests or officiants of their respective temples.

Therefore, the old duke’s heart was in awe and reverence.

“I am so sorry, young sirs and madam! My daughters had one too many drinks and voiced inappropriate words. It is very regrettable.” The old duke bowed.

“It’s fine. Quickly order the cooking maidens to prepare some sober soup for the two sisters.”

Lilith who had blonde hair, sapphire eyes and a charming smile said with a tender voice.

Pudd, who was buff and powerful and Livezel who was tall and elegant placed their attention on Lilith and weren’t bothered by the old duke.

Bocard with a sinister look coldly grunted..

“Drunk words voiced out their thoughts normal thoughts, as Sin Temple’s interrogator… Fine, I’ll spare them this time since Lilith has spoken. But just this once!”

Bocard spoke coldly toward the old duke, he sounded fierce but when Lilith looked at him, his attitude softened right away.

“Thank you for your generous mercy!” The old duke wasn’t unpleased, instead, he thanked Bocard repeatedly.

“Lilith, you are forcing me into a difficult position. If my father and the lord officiant know about this… I’ll be grounded in the prayer room for a month or longer!”

When the old duke went off, Bocard said to Lilith with a bitter smile.

“If you are really grounded, I’ll deliver my handmade meals to you,” Lilith smiled softly and at the same time fondling her hair near her ear.

Her golden hair was emanating a dash of bright glimmer under the candlelight, the lighting brought out her perfectly contoured body and busty chest.

The three other men were instantly captivated.

“I suddenly realize I really wanted to be grounded! I’m already considering how I should tell my father about what happened today!” Bocard gazed at the glaring lady before his eyes and sighed softly.

“If you do, you will never taste what I made for you for the rest of your life., Lilith said in a serious tone.

Her serious look added on her unparalleled beauty instantly melted Bocard’s heart.

“No, no, no way! I sure won’t! How could I do something that you are not happy with?”

Bocard said quickly as though he was making a vicious vow.

His funny looks instantly welcomed Lilith’s soft chuckles.

Listening to the funny conversation between Bocard and Lilith, Pudd and Livezel showed gnashing teeth.

Obviously, these three young men were amongst Lady Lilith’s many pursuers but most of the time, Bocard had the upper hand.

It was very uncomfortable for Pudd from Hunter Temple, his straight forward personality made him voice his thoughts without holding back.

“Bocard, don’t you have to deal with the matters about that “King of Killers”? I guess you guys are really scratching your heads after taking Wealth Temple’s gold coins eh?” Pudd fired his questions.

“King of Killers?” It’s just some abandoned pawn pieces that Thorn Temple pushed out to the scene. Thorn Temple is struggling on its last breath, that’s why they presented this cunning bastard that only targets low ranking priests and common deacons. Believe me, he will ultimately end up being executed by burning!” Bocard too voiced his disdain for the “King of Killers”.

Pudd raised a brow and wanted to refute out of instinct but he couldn’t find any reason to because he too didn’t believe that the “King of Killers” could achieve anything; Livezel also thought the same.

The combined power of the Wealth and Sin Temples was so huge that common people couldn’t even imagine.

“Is that so?” Lilith, however, showed a sense of worry on her face.

Her changes were instantly spotted by the three young men.

“Lilith, don’t tell me you are feeling the same as the other girls about the “King of Killers”…”

Pudd voiced his question but before he could finish, he saw the blush on Lilith’s face.

Her sweet and charming manner instantly widened their eyes.

They had never seen Lilith behaving like this before and the answer obviously struck the three young men’s hearts.

“Hmph! Lilith, you shouldn’t have shown interest to a cunning coward! If he appears before me, I will show him what a real powerhouse can do! Then…”

Bocard grunted coldly before voicing out his thoughts but his words were forced to an abrupt stop.

“Then? You want to have a duel with him by showing your valiantness?” Pudd laughed.

Although Pudd didn’t take the “King of Killers” seriously, he didn’t think that Bocard will fight the “King of Killers” one on one because he knew how sinister and dirty Bocard was.

Livezel too showed a smile, he didn’t mind both of his love rivals hurting each other in this competition but soon enough, the two of them realized something was wrong.

Bocard didn’t just stop there, he stood there dull and lifeless without budging.

“Bocard, what happened to you?” Pudd slightly pushed Bocard on the shoulder.

Suddenly, a red line appeared on Bocard’s neck.

Puk!

The blood from Bocard’s neck gushed out higher than 3 meters, his head flew even higher.

The headless body fell down in its own blood after the sound but not the head!

A vague figure appeared under the candlelight jumped up high and grabbed the head. The figure jumped a second time by stepping on air, thrusting himself out of the window.

Everything happened in a flash, no one at the drinking party realized what happened.

Even Lilith, Pudd, and Livezel didn’t react fast enough, let alone the commoners in the hall.

The three of them were stunned before Bocard’s headless body.

While all of that was happening…

DING!

A clear chime sounded off and an emerald was flung in through the window and landed precisely in the blood puddle.

The dash of green was extremely eye-catching amongst the bright red.

The ones who saw the emerald shivered without exception; their shivering voices uttered the title of that person.

“I-It’s the “King of Killers”!”