In the Church.

"Mauleon, you're really pathetic," Dekan said, leaning back on the bench and sneering at Mauleon sitting far away.

"Huh, weren't you two inseparable during school?" Mauleon replied coldly.

"Yeah, so what?" Dekan asked.

"Don't your teachers ever get scared of you two?" Mauleon said.

"How could they? We're the top students representing the Knight College. The teachers adore us," Dekan replied proudly.

Hearing Dekan's words, Teacher Cat wanted to say something but thought better of it and held back.

Cornelia was sitting right next to Dekan, just like how they usually were in school, with no sense of distance between them.

Mauleon, on the other hand, sat far away at the other end of the church.

He wouldn't act this way if he were alone with Dekan or Cornelia.

But whenever these two were together, Mauleon would keep his distance.

"Could you ask her to put away that book she's holding?" Mauleon stared at the book in Cornelia's hands, feeling a chill down his spine.

At this moment, Cornelia had given up her knight armor and dressed as a nun instead.

For better assistance in Dekan's actions in the small town, the City Knight attire was obviously not as useful as the attire of the Holy Ritual Church.

Correspondingly, she also swapped her weapon from the "Battlehammer of Terror" (Double Pain) to the more genteel "Blood Detective's Book" (Book of Murders) (Physical).

"Your sister is much braver than you, Mauleon. Its quite embarrassing," Dekan teased.

"You're quite close with Flora, aren't you?" Mauleon raised an eyebrow, showing obvious interest in Flora.

"Of course. She's our companion," Dekan replied.

"Flora, a good friend," Cornelia added seriously from the side.

Although expressionless, Cornelia's tone brightened considerably when she mentioned Flora. Her relationship with Flora was excellent; whenever Flora came to school, she would find Cornelia to play together.

"Haaa." Mauleon seemed to let out a breath, almost as if he were sighing.

He stood up and, in a somewhat resigned manner, walked over to Dekan and Cornelia, and sat beside Dekan.

"How's Flora doing?" Mauleon asked.

"She's happy every day, doing what she loves. Except for the final exams recently, which were a bit tough for her. Trying to make sure this queen of skipping classes passes all her exams sure wore me out."

Originally, Flora wanted to give up all her finals and start her happy vacation early. But when Dekan told her, "You know, idols dont fail classes"

Flora still bravely joined Dekan and Cornelia's study group, albeit with a bit of reluctance.

"Hoho, I didn't expect a heartless fellow like you to actually care about your sister," Dekan smirked mischievously.

"Ever since leaving Norton Kingdom, she's been my biggest concern," Mauleon admitted, a wry smile on his face as if acknowledging his weakness.

"Well, you can rest assured. I guarantee you she's the safest person in the whole Norton Kingdom right now," Dekan reassured.

Flora, living with those two girls, was arguably safer than the king himself.

"What do you mean?" Mauleon was a bit worried after hearing Dekans sarcastic remark.

Dekan: "Haha, beg me, and I'll tell you."

Mauleon: "Tsk, I'll just trust you."

Both of them shook their heads, exchanging mental jabs without backing down.

"Now that you've slightly opened up to us, let's talk business," Dekan said, noting that this temporary team had established some basic level of trust.

Then, his expression turned more serious: "Yesterday, I investigated the town and confirmed that there was indeed a battle on the night the former town archpriest disappeared."

After creating the "Giant Wooden Man" yesterday, Dekan diligently began his investigation work. First, he directed Captain Durrkan to conduct a search in the town but found no one who seemed to harbor obvious resentment towards him.

So, it was likely that there were no Resurgence Church followers in the town. Even if there were, they didn't seem to hold much animosity towards Dekan.

Additionally, Dekan went door-to-door seeking clues about the disappearance of the archpriest and the destroyed bridge. Eventually, he confirmed that some townspeople indeed heard noises that night.

Furthermore, Dekan learned some local folklore. For example, in ancient times, there was a great war between the Holy Ritual Church and the vampires near the town. He also learned the name of the church where they currently were - Roderick Church.

"Do you think anyone is hiding information?" Mauleon asked.

"Can't tell unless we interrogate," Dekan replied, shaking his head.

"Meow meow meow! Dekan, you absolutely mustn't think about rounding up all the townsfolk for interrogation, meow! Without Croix, they'd be dead from your methods!" Teacher Cat intervened instantly.

Dekan rubbed Teacher Cat's small, limited head and smiled helplessly: "Don't worry, I can assure you we won't harm the townspeople. Instead, we need to protect them."

"What do you mean?" Mauleon's initially thought Dekan was considering torture for information; he was surprised by Dekan's humane words.

Dekan stood up and walked towards the pulpit at the end of the church, seemingly lost in thought.

Mauleon watched Dekan's mysterious behavior, wondering what he had discovered.

"Although the clues were minimal, I've managed to piece together the general situation regarding this Shadow World. So, there's no need to go through the trouble of gathering information and deducing along the normal route," Dekan said as he bent down, grabbing the carpet covering the pulpit and forcefully tossing it aside.

"Wait, was this carpet originally removable?" Mauleon remembered the first time he came to this church; there was supposed to be a huge cross pressing down on this spot. But now, it seemed like someone of immense strength had moved it.

Seeing Dekan's actions, Mauleon realized there must be something under this cross that was causing concern. He also ascended the pulpit, furrowing his brow as he stared at the spot Dekan revealed.

On the pulpit was a highly intricate magic circle, with one corner of the circle glowing dimly in red light.

"How much can you infer from this magic circle?" Mauleon knew this magic circle was definitely a crucial piece of information for the mission. However, he didn't understand why Dekan thought he could deduce the general situation of the Shadow World just from this magic circle alone.

"In the last Shadow World, Cornelia and I saw a magic circle as well. Though, it was far less complex," Dekan explained.

"If the last Shadow World and this one are actually the same world, then this magic circle must have been used by the Holy Ritual Church to seal the vampire. And beneath this church, there should be a powerful vampire sealed -- the hidden ultimate enemy of this Shadow World!"