Chapter 328: Ill Do My Best (1/2)

Strom was having such horrible mood swings lately that it felt like he was riding a pendulum.

The mysterious church that came to Crookes and began a widespread inquisition against the swampmen he controlled was stretching his nerves to the limit. If the Secret Eye Society hadn’t provided him some of their ‘research subjects’ as a trump car, he wouldn’t have stop short of having the swampmen start an uprising just to attempt conquering the mayoral residence.

It was fortunate that his rational prevented him from that impractical idea.

While the city watch under the command of Lloyd, his deadly rival was not actually too impressive, they were still the second most powerful peacekeeping force in the city.

As for the number one force, it was merely a not-quite-legendary rumor that circulated amongst nobles and was not known to the peasants: a covert outfit said to have been groomed by the Meredith family, the rulers of Crookes.

Naturally, the nobles couldn’t prove their existence—but whenever one amongst them would threaten the mayor after being mesmerized by the riches of Crookes and getting ideas they should not have, their residences would be gone overnight no matter how prosperous their family had been. That includes one particular noble family that prospered over a hundred years in Crookes. At the time, they happened to have three bishops of different churches as well as a mage who reached the domain of supernatural in a single generation.

No one could ignore such power no matter what city it was, just as any mayor would have to compromise with their whims.

It was perhaps why the then head of the family —who was also one of the three bishops—took advantage of the great influence of their family. Having steeled himself, he was ready to overrule Old Meredith and take a bite out of the mining industry of Crookes. He and the other two bishops diverted detachments of sacred corps to Crookes, whereas the mage in the family would stay on standby in their own residence, posturing as if they were ready to declare war on the mayor if he disagrees.

But on the next day, the entire family disappeared from Crookes.

It was no culling following a violent battle, but the hundreds of members in that family literally vanished overnight. Their luxurious mansion which was comparable to the mayor’s was gone as well, leaving only an empty land. Later, the bishops’ respective churches sent in their own people to investigate the matter, even interrogating the mayor himself-but they found nothing. In fact, one of the churches proved to be a little too rude and was blacklisted by the old liege, banning them from ever preaching in Crookes.

That particular church had just planned their revenge when their religious leader suddenly died out of the blue. In his wisdom, the new leader promptly withdrew the church’s sacred corps to keep a healthy distance between themselves and Crookes, and only then did the entire matter blow over.

How the old mayor’s covert outfit accomplished all that was still a mystery, but since then, no noble had dared to stir the hornet’s nest.

Even though old Meredith was now sick, old, and on death’s door, every last noble in the city were only dutifully supporting the candidates they believed who might take his place without trying anything funny.

In fact, Strom himself only cooperated with the Secret Eye Society to protect himself because there was just no other way. Even now, he feared that the old mayor would notice that he was the one who controlled the swampmen and was up to no good, that Meredith would send out his covert outfit to destroy him.

But even as Strom as panicked to the point of hysteria, the mysterious church suddenly left the city.

There was no clear reason, but the swampmen that had slipped into the city watch reported that they were the victims of a strange ambush.

Afterward, Strom himself went to the scene personally to observe the carnage left by the unknown church and their equally unknown adversary, only to see how horrific their powers really were.

The swampmen wouldn’t survive a fight against either side anyway.

Nonetheless, just as Strom was about to breathe a sigh of relief with the departure of the mysterious church and consider how he should make a breakthrough, the swampman mole brought him more bad news.

The mysterious church had returned… and they brought along many of their friends! And it seemed that they were on the search for something else.

Despite Strom’s assumptions that they would continue the Swampmen Inquisition, he later realized that they were a lot less interested in them as they scrounged around the city.