Inside was a complete human corpse.
It was as if someone full of malice had intentionally tortured a person, twisting them into a monster like the Starfolk.
Most of his organs were preserved, but his body contained the blue bodily fluids and cells of the Starfolk.
Countless plant fibers and muscle fibers were intertwined, granting him a physique far exceeding that of an ordinary person, yet his evolution had ultimately stopped short. Gills and webbed membranes had already developed, enabling him to breathe underwater.
Other parts of his body showed varying degrees of assimilation as well, such as tentacles sprouting from his back and fish scales growing over his skin.
The creatures Cecia and Vesper had defeated were merely the common folk among the Starfolk. The true big boss was better left for that legendary, atrocious emperor to destroy.
Aside from that, Cecia noticed a prominent piece of clothing and a token on the mutated Starfolk. Written on it in faint, blurred characters were the words—Tide Prison No. 779.
“Was this Starfolk converted by someone?”
Cecia muttered under her breath, then asked aloud:
“Potato, can you check this?”
“No need to check, I could tell just by eating it. This Starfolk was forcibly converted from a living person into this state.”
Potato stuck out her tongue.
“I definitely couldn't swallow a living person. It'd make me gag; it's disgusting.”
“In other words, someone from Tide Prison intentionally converted the inmates into Starfolk? But what would be the purpose of doing that?”
Cecia scratched her head, completely clueless for the moment.
Vesper said calmly,
“To accelerate the evolution of the Starfolk. During the process of converting a human into a Starfolk, the human's consciousness can link into the collective network of the Starfolk to help them learn. That's all I know. To find out the rest, we probably need to head back to town and investigate.”
As the Saintess of the Abyss Church, Vesper was clearly well-read—or at least knowledgeable about major events related to the Abyss.
Cecia nodded in agreement.
“Mm. Potato, I have another question. We all know that in the empire, the Holy Knights of the church protect the commoners, the local garrison publicly maintains town security while actually prioritizing the protection of the nobles, and adventurers are hired by whoever pays them.”
“Based on your knowledge of the church, why hasn't the church in Tide Town reported this higher up? Why not have the Inquisition issue a decree and deploy Holy Knights to resolve the crisis, instead of hiring a handful of insignificant adventurers?”
Cecia bit her lip.
“When we were fighting the Starfolk surge last night, no troops came to help us. Where did they go?”
This time, Vesper didn't answer right away. She cupped a piece of Starfolk flesh in both hands and pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Nightingale, what do you think the church exists to do?”
“Evangelizing, maintaining order, providing relief, and collecting taxes.”
“None of that is wrong, but what the church is truly responsible for are these things.”
Potato hastily swallowed her food, picked up a twig, and began writing on the ground.
“Profanity.”
“Evil spirits.”
“Heresy.”
“Curses.”
“Evil spirits that ordinary people can't handle, as well as invasions by the Starfolk, clearly fall within this scope. On this point, whether it's the Church of the Holy Light or the Abyss Cult, what they uphold is fundamentally the same.”
“Spreading their doctrine through welfare and faith.”
Cecia curled her lip.
“On that front, the Abyss Cult does a pretty terrible job.”
Hearing this, Potato grumbled discontentedly:
“There are historical reasons for that, alright? I'll tell you if we get a chance later. Returning to the original topic, there are many reasons why the church hasn't reported this upward.”
“A situation like last night's is already more than enough to draw the attention of the Church of the Holy Light.”
“If it were tied to the Abyss as well, they would act even faster and more swiftly.”
“You sound pretty proud of that.”
Potato crossed her arms.
“It's very dangerous, okay?”
“It's simply that the church in Tide Town hasn't fully reacted yet, using a few reckless adventurers as a test to assess the quest's danger level.”
At this, Cecia nodded.
“But there's a contradiction. Robert clearly knows how dangerous the Starfolk are and how they attack, yet he still hired adventurers.”
“He could have easily called in a squad of Holy Knights armed to the teeth to wipe out this sea region, but he didn't.”
“The reason is simple. It's not that Robert didn't want to send a letter, but that the message couldn't be sent out—or someone in town didn't want it to be sent out.”
“Mm. So you suspect the source of this disaster is inside the town?”
“Exactly. That explains why convicts were converted into Starfolk, and why it's adventurers guarding the beach. Those noble lords probably caught wind of it and fled long ago. Let's take a rest, go back to town, and investigate.”
“I wonder if that party that set out to sea has returned yet. They should have more important clues.”
Cecia looked at the Starfolk corpses littering the ground and paused.
“Are you still eating? If not, I'm going to use these corpses.”
Potato patted her stomach.
“I'm full. Go ahead.”
“Are you sure you don't want any more?”
“I kind of want to eat a little bit more, or keep some as spare rations.”
“Don't waste it. If the Starfolk come ashore again tonight, they'll have plenty to eat again.”
“Just give me that octopus tentacle.”
Cecia rummaged through the pile with some effort, pulled out a massive octopus tentacle for Potato, and then severed the largest scales from behind the corpses' necks to claim as bounty rewards later.
It wasn't that Cecia was greedy for gold coins.
It wasn't as if she could bring them back to reality anyway.
It was mainly because the Spirit Realm Excursion would last for a while, and she needed a bit of financial support.
While drawing the magic circle for 【Burnt Offering】 with a stick, Cecia asked Vesper:
“Hey, Potato, doesn't your god need to eat?”
Vesper smacked her lips.
“Nope. Our god is pretty well-behaved, always very quiet.”
“I see.”
Cecia sketched out a simple magic circle using the wooden stick.
Potato watched quietly from the side.
To be honest, performing this ritual was very simple for Cecia. At its core, she was already the Saintess of the King of Dawn and Dusk, so the ritual was merely going through the motions.
The original purpose of Burnt Offering was to ignite the sun, but unfortunately, the position of the sun was currently vacant, and the King of Dawn and Dusk had filled the void.
By performing Burnt Offering now, a portion of the energy would become her own, while a large portion would go toward filling her precious daughter's stomach.
Finally, Cecia cut her finger using the chipped and notched 【Starhunter】 to activate the crude magic circle.
Golden flames ignited the corpses of the Starfolk. Unlike when Cecia set fires herself, no foul-smelling smoke billowed out; there was only a quiet, steady burn.
As the flesh fragments laden with the aura of the Abyss turned to dust, one stream of energy radiated toward her heart, while another traveled along the hazy thread connecting the sun and the moon in the obscure beyond.
Perhaps because they were inside the Spirit Realm, the resonance found a response far more easily.
Cecia's consciousness floated upward once again.
Rate on N.U.
