16. Abandoned Church
That is the abandoned church halfway up the mountain.
She knew about this church, having asked Gil about it before.
Gil said that the church was built quite a while ago when the people from the Rhine Kingdom managed this area of Seaside City.
They established the church to spread their religion.
But the locals weren't very interested in the teachings of the Rhine Kingdom's people, and the missionary work was hardly effective. As the area near Seaside City became more chaotic, to avoid the war, the priests and nuns fled.
Thus, the church was no longer used and gradually fell into disuse, occasionally housing some vagrants.
Gil knew this so well because their Penguin Gang sometimes went to collect protection money from the vagrants.
Recently, the Penguin Gang hadn't been there much, and when Xia Yi asked, Gil just mentioned it in passing.
But now, in the entire Seaside City, only the abandoned church was lit up; everywhere else was pitch black.
"Sera, let's go and take a look!" Xia Yi pointed to the church on the original hillside.
The two of them hurried towards the hillside.
On the way, Xia Yi could tell that the place had been deserted for a long time; the path was overgrown with weeds, unattended, almost covering the road.
She noticed traces of trampling on the grass, confirming that someone had recently come from outside and was active in the abandoned church.
Could it be…
An idea formed in Xia Yi's mind.
She arrived at the entrance of the church and looked up to see a large bell hanging at the top of the church.
Under the influence of the sea breeze, it was covered in rust, losing its past sanctity, and against the backdrop of the night, it exuded a sense of eeriness.
"Your Highness, the door is locked, someone did it on purpose, we can't push it open," Sera reported at the entrance of the church.
Light leaked through the door crack, casting on the red-haired maid.
Xia Yi approached.
The door wasn't locked from the inside; it was tied with a thick iron chain on the outside, with a lock on it, a magical artifact, which couldn't be opened by ordinary means.
"Can you open it?" Xia Yi asked.
"Too easy."
Sera smiled slightly.
"Your Highness, please step back."
"Okay."
Xia Yi stepped back a few paces, standing aside.
She intended to see how Sera, an excellent maid of the Royal Maid Corps, would break this magical lock.
But Sera's next move surprised her.
Sera lifted her leg and spun quickly, her long black silk leg smashing against the door, shaking it violently.
The church's door and wall were kicked to pieces by the maid.
The power of the dragon race was indeed exaggerated.
The magic lock also fell to the ground, no need to break it.
"Your Highness, what's wrong?" Sera looked at the stunned Xia Yi.
"I've learned!"
Xia Yi, enlightened!
"Let's go in, Your Highness."
"Yes!"
Sera and Xia Yi entered the church together, heading towards the light, and found several humans gathered together.
They were all wearing the uniform of the Laurel Academy, recognizable at a glance.
"It's them!"
Xia Yi immediately recognized this group of people, definitely students from the Laurel Academy.
"Are you still awake now?" Xia Yi walked up to the students and asked.
"Hehe… here they come… soon… they will come…"
"Take us… back… to the sea…"
"Offer ourselves… to gain… happiness!"
The students of the Laurel Academy, like madmen, were each muttering to themselves.
It was their fantasy time.
Xia Yi couldn't communicate with them; the students of the Laurel Academy were no different from the current residents of Seaside City.
"Your Highness, I've made some special discoveries nearby."
Sera approached Xia Yi from behind.
"There are traces of their life nearby; it seems these humans have made the abandoned church their base, conducting investigative activities, entering Seaside City earlier than us."
"What are they investigating?"
"The same goal as us, the Black Tide."
Sera reported some information to Xia Yi.
"These humans have spent a lot of energy investigating the Black Tide, it seems without significant results, unknowingly being affected, and gradually sinking into the Sea Dream."
"Let me see."
Xia Yi took the report and checked, making some new discoveries.
The Black Tide had already occurred in the history of Golde, about a thousand years ago, but it wasn't obvious, and the disaster impact was minor, just considered a common sea disaster.
It seemed that Xia Lulu had been the Silver Dragon Queen for some time by then.
Now, the Black Tide suddenly erupted in large quantities, swallowing the cities by the sea.
These students, in pursuit of academic credits, chose this topic for research and came to Golde.
"It's roughly like this—"
Xia Yi explained to Sera.
"Your Highness, you're amazing…" Sera expressed her surprise.
"What's so amazing about that?"
Xia Yi didn't understand; wasn't it just reading according to the report?
"Your Highness, although I have also studied human script, there are many unique terms in this report that I simply cannot comprehend. You just glanced at it and immediately understood, such fluent comprehension ability is astonishing, especially since you usually don't do well in international language classes."
That's because Xia Yi used to be the Human Sword Saint, seeing human script, what's so difficult?
It's her mother tongue!
But in the eyes of the dragon race, it's different.
Sera doesn't know her true identity, that she was once the Human Sword Saint.
No, she didn't want others to know that she, the mighty Sword Saint, had turned into a dragon race loli… too embarrassing!
"Ah? Ah… I, I… this is… a natural talent!"
"Really?"
"Oh right, Sera, didn't you notice? The number of students here is off, there are only six!"
Xia Yi quickly changed the subject.
"Now that you mention it, indeed, the number of Laurel Academy students we've seen adds up to eight, there are two missing here," Sera looked around, "I didn't find anyone else nearby just now, in this abandoned church, only they remain."
"There must be two people who have left and locked the church door, not allowing their companions to go out, or others to come in."
"You're correct in your analysis, but where could those two people have gone by now, not hiding but still able to move about?"
Sera began to ponder.
Xia Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, she had successfully glossed over the previous topic.
Speaking of which, the human girl she met that day wasn't seen here…
Xia Yi felt inexplicably concerned.
She lowered her head and looked at the report again, and was stunned.
On the last page of the report was a list of members participating in the research project, which she hadn't paid attention to during her quick read.
Upon closer inspection, there was a name she recognized.
The accompanying teacher, Hill Gibran.
That was her student!!
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