Chapter 32

Knight Roman was very agitated.

Agitated and terrified.

Last night, after the young city guard was taken in by the necromancer, he discovered a problem with his hand. His right thumb could neither straighten nor bend properly.

It was one thing that it couldn't straighten, but the inability to bend it with force was a devastating blow to him!

He couldn't hold a sword anymore!

Knight Roman clenched and released his right hand repeatedly, each time feeling more dejected. He had held out a glimmer of hope that after regaining his freedom this morning, Priest Donald would be able to heal him—

It was useless.

Completely useless.

The holy white light fell again and again. Blood surged, and warm power flowed from his arm to his wrist. But when he tried to grip, his right thumb still couldn't exert any force.

At the most fearful moment, Knight Roman recalled the young guard's sudden warning before the healing potion was poured:

"This wound can't be treated like this... It's no good just treating the outside; you have to fix the inside first..."

Why did he say that? What did he know? Was he... deliberately doing this?

It's all that commoner's fault!

It's all his fault!

Knight Roman growled softly. He turned to the squire standing beside him, his eyes red with blood:

"Have they brought him in yet!"

"I... I don't know..."

"Still haven't gone to check!"

The squire ran off.

How many times had he been sent to check? Since the temple sent people out, he had run back and forth countless times! It was just a soldier, how could the temple fail to bring him in! Running back and forth so many times, his legs were about to fall off—

The young squire sidled up to the side door, poked his head out, and saw no one. Halfway back, a familiar guard grabbed him, seeing him drenched in sweat:

"Still asking about this?—They came through the main gate!"

"Huh?"

The young squire was stunned.

The temple never brought in commoners, especially those without connections, through the main gate. They were usually dragged in through the side door and thrown into the dungeon, and when they would see the light of day again depended on how quickly their families could pay the ransom or when the lords remembered them.

But this time, Great Captain Nolan and the High Priest of the War God Temple accompanied Great Captain Nolan. Would they walk through the side door?

The temple messenger indicated that he wasn't suicidal and didn't want to die...

Besides, it wasn't his decision. The bald high priest strode forward, and Knight Nolan followed without hesitation. Great Captain Nolan walked behind the two, feeling like the fox in the fable 'The Fox and the Tiger'...

Spit, he should be the resident doctor following the chief for a ward round!

The Spring Goddess Temple was small compared to the War God Temple and the now-empty Temple of the Radiant Lord. It was early summer, and the walls were covered with vines, enveloping the temple in a sea of green, making it look even more delicate and serene.

At the main entrance, a small square held a white stone statue: a graceful woman holding a stone bottle, standing in a spring, with water continuously flowing from the bottle. A white stone pool surrounded the statue, and many commoners came to worship and then scoop a bowl of water to take home carefully.

...Is this an artificial fountain?

What drives it, a water tower, a pump, or a magic array?

It can't be divine grace, right?

Gret watched curiously. Even if it was a water tower and pump, it was still impressive, at least providing unlimited water. He wondered if the water had been treated with coagulation, filtration, sedimentation, and post-disinfection... Tsk, they probably don't have bleach, but shining holy light on it might work?

After all, in this place, even the streets were dusty in sunny weather and muddy in rainy weather. There were no sewers, and the quality of daily drinking water was highly questionable. If there was an outbreak of cholera or something...

People would die in droves, it could happen at any moment.

—As a former emergency surgeon, just thinking about it made Gret want to go crazy for his internal medicine colleagues.

His thoughts were interrupted. Two rows of guards rushed out of the temple entrance, splitting to the sides and forming a line. Then, the priests of the Spring Goddess emerged in a line.

Gret's eyes lit up. The leader wore a silver crown and a light blue silk robe, with two daffodils embroidered in silver on his belt, indicating his status as a 7th-level priest. He wore round-framed glasses that sparkled in the firelight—glasses! Glasses!

The craftsmanship of this era could already produce glasses!

With glasses, there were lenses, and with lenses, there was the foundation for medical observation!

Microscope, here I come!

E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotics, here I come!

He stared at the man, but the man didn't stare back. The High Priest of the Spring Goddess hurried down the steps, took a few quick steps, and stood calmly. He raised his hands in a prayer gesture and smiled at the War God High Priest ten steps away:

"May the Spring Goddess bless you."

The greeting, descent, standing, and bowing were fluid, both热情又不失优雅。这个流程显然经过千锤百炼，每个细节都毫无瑕疵，在格雷特看来，就像他们院长迎接上级领导视察时一模一样……

“愿战神保佑你。”

光头主教微笑着回礼。

两位神职人员互相致意完毕，神官的目光转向一旁的诺兰骑士。格雷特清楚地看到他的目光从自己身上掠过，也扫了一眼来抓自己的神殿使者和两个卫兵，但对方却像什么都不知道一样，面带微笑，再次行礼如仪：

“愿泉水女神保佑你。”

“感谢女神的恩慈！”

前方、左右、背后，战士们同声应答。

格雷特学着他们的样子一起低头。双手交握，喃喃应答。假装自己只是普通一兵，半点也不起眼。

然而他失败了。队伍里一半是战神牧师，个个身穿长袍；

从诺兰大队长往下，骑士们虽然没穿长袍，但衣甲的精致程度，也和格雷特不是一个量级；

哪怕泉水女神神殿的卫兵，出门来抓人，至少也得穿件像样的号衣，在外面撑足面子……

一眼看过去，就他这个穿着粗麻布坎肩、及膝短裤的家伙，画风最是与众不同。

不仅如此，进入神殿后，诺兰大队长还把他拉了过来，推到大神官面前：

“这个孩子是我们城卫军的新兵，最近觉醒了治疗术，我也很看好他。听说贵神殿传唤他来问几个问题，我就陪他过来一起听听，您不会不欢迎吧？”

格雷特：……我不是孩子！