The candles on the altar burned brightly. From time to time, cold winds swept through, causing the flames to sway from side to side, yet they were never extinguished.
The monsters hidden in the darkness seemed to fear something and did not dare approach the area around the altar.
Colin made a solemn hand gesture, and the team advanced in an arc-shaped semi-encirclement formation.
Although they tried their best to suppress the sounds of their footsteps and their breathing, they were still noticed by the white-robed man kneeling before the altar.
He did not stand up. He merely turned around and looked at Derrick and the others with suspicion and curiosity, without the slightest trace of panic.
"This man is so handsome. He looks just like an angel from a mural." Someone suddenly whispered those words, causing everyone's mood to grow heavy.
If the person before them truly was an angel, then they definitely wouldn't be able to escape this calamity.
Just a mural left behind by Ouroboros, the Angel of Fate, had been enough to trap them, let alone an actual angel.
"Who are you?" The man finally spoke as he looked at Derrick and the others, who had already stopped advancing.
"What did he just say? Why can't I understand that language?"
"I can't understand it either. Could he really be a visitor from the outside world?"
"If that's really the case, doesn't that mean we might have hope of leaving this place?"
Several members of the team exchanged glances and whispered among themselves. Colin frowned slightly. He couldn't understand what the other party was saying either.
However, a trace of excitement still flashed through his eyes. Living visitors from the outside world were simply too rare. Every single one of them was a window through which they could learn about the outside world.
At this moment, Derrick stood frozen in place.
He could understand this language!
At the Tarot Club, he had previously asked Mr. Hanged Man, Miss Justice, and the others about the culture and languages of the places where they lived.
What this person had just spoken was standard Loenese, and it sounded very similar to the way Miss Justice spoke!
Derrick subconsciously took two steps forward. Under Colin's watchful gaze, he gestured with his hands while asking in somewhat halting Loenese, "You, come from, Loen, Backlund?"
He had indeed learned the common language used by Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man, but in the City of Silver, he had no one to practice speaking with, so he still wasn't skilled at conversation.
A strange look flashed through the eyes of the white-robed man. He stood up, causing the City of Silver team to raise their weapons warily. After glancing over Derrick and the others, he revealed a faint smile.
"Are you people who live in the Forsaken Land of the Gods?"
This time, the language he spoke was Jotun. Not only Derrick, but Colin and the others also understood him.
"You can speak our language?" Derrick asked in a daze.
The man casually replied, "Anyone who aspires to go farther in the world of mysticism will learn Jotun and Ancient Feysac, as well as Elvish.
"Mastering multiple mysticism languages is the most basic ability for me."
His fluent Jotun left Derrick and the others dumbfounded.
Colin suppressed his curiosity and various complicated emotions before asking with both unease and anticipation, "Did you really come here from the outside?"
"Yes. I came here following the Lord's guidance." As the man spoke, he turned around and bowed toward the already damaged statue.
"The Lord? Do you also believe in the omniscient and omnipotent Creator?" Colin's voice trembled slightly, as if he could hardly believe it.
"Of course. Is there a second Lord?" The man smiled. "Right, I haven't introduced myself yet. You may call me Mr. A. I am a devout believer of the Lord."
"The Lord hasn't abandoned us. He hasn't abandoned us! He sent an envoy to save us!"
Upon hearing Mr. A's words, the eyes of the City of Silver's people reddened. Some began quietly sobbing, and someone's tightly gripped weapon even fell to the ground with a clang.
Mr. A? Why does that name sound so familiar?
Equally excited, Derrick carefully searched through his memories and finally remembered that he had learned about this Mr. A from Mr. Hanged Man.
Mr. Hanged Man had said that in their world, there was an evil organization known as the Aurora Order. This organization had twenty-two God Envoys, each of whom referred to themselves as "Mr."
For example, Mr. A, Mr. Z, and so on. The deity they worshiped was the True Creator, also known as the Fallen Creator!
They were both called "the Lord," but this was definitely not the benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator worshiped by the City of Silver!
At this thought, Derrick began to panic. He looked toward the Chief, wanting to tell him about Mr. A, but he was afraid that saying such things in front of Mr. A would provoke his displeasure and hostility. He could only desperately signal with his eyes.
Colin glanced at the anxious Derrick and nodded, indicating for him to remain quiet for the time being.
"Mr. A, how did you come here?"
"I came following the Lord's guidance."
"The Lord... is He still there?"
"Of course. The Lord has always existed. He has always been watching this place, watching every one of His believers."
As Mr. A spoke, a gentle smile remained on his face. Dressed in white robes and standing before the altar, he seemed like a messenger who had arrived bearing divine will.
Colin remained silent for a moment before saying, "How are we supposed to believe what you've said?"
Mr. A merely smiled. "I don't need to earn your trust. I came only to follow the traces left behind by the Lord and travel to the divine kingdom where He resides."
He glanced at the people of the City of Silver again. "You should save your vigilance for the monsters in the darkness. I have no intention of traveling with you. I still need to go and pay homage to the miracles left behind by the Lord."
With that, he once again knelt and kowtowed before the damaged statue on the altar. When he rose to his feet, he was already preparing to leave this place and venture into the even more dangerous world of darkness.
Seeing this, Colin no longer cared whether Mr. A had truly come with malicious intentions. He asked him to remain here for a while longer, explaining that the City of Silver had not encountered anyone from the outside world with whom they could communicate normally for a very long time.
"Since you also believe in the Lord, I can try to answer some of your questions."
Mr. A accepted the invitation. They lit another bonfire near the altar and sat down to talk.
Derrick sat beside Colin, while across from them sat Mr. A, looking calm and completely at ease.
At this moment, he had his head slightly lowered as he carefully tidied his white robe, which had gotten a little dirt on it.
After a period of silent stillness, Colin began asking Mr. A about the situation in the outside world.
Faced with these questions, Mr. A patiently answered them in detail and also explained quite a bit about the outside world to them.
However, whenever they asked how Mr. A had appeared here, he would always answer, "Everything was the Lord's guidance."
Mr. A gave no description of where one could enter this place or what method could be used to do so.
This greatly disappointed the people of the City of Silver, who wished to find a way to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Seeing that continuing to ask questions wouldn't yield any more valuable information, Colin had the others continue talking with Mr. A while he quietly pulled Derrick aside to a deserted spot.
"Speak. Under these circumstances, I hope you won't hide anything from me anymore." Colin stared seriously at Derrick, as if he could see through every little thought in his mind.
Derrick lowered his head and remained silent. After a long while, he finally raised his head and said, "Chief, I have indeed heard people mention this Mr. A before, as well as the Lord they worship."
Without knowing whether Mr. A might bring devastating destruction to the City of Silver, Derrick held nothing back and told Colin everything he knew about Mr. A and the True Creator.
"The Lord... has become a fallen evil god?" Colin's face turned somewhat pale. This piece of news struck him far harder than learning that Mr. A wasn't a good person.
"Chief, I also can't be certain whether that True Creator has anything to do with the Lord we worship, but the Lord we believe in is benevolent, while the Lord Mr. A worships is evil."
This was probably a question only Mr. Fool could answer.
"No matter what, his arrival is a good thing for the entire City of Silver... At the very least, he has brought new hope to the lifeless City of Silver."
After Colin spoke earnestly, he told Derrick to keep everything he had just said buried in his heart and not tell anyone else. Even the Loenese sentence he had spoken earlier would need some sort of excuse to gloss over it.
When the two returned to the bonfire, a group of people had already gathered around Mr. A. Every one of them was a full size taller and more robust than Mr. A, making his figure appear almost delicately slender in comparison.
Facing these lost believers who devoutly worshiped the Lord, Mr. A began his sermon.
Just as the people of the City of Silver had said, he truly was a God Envoy, an apostle of God who had followed the Lord into the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Perhaps the Lord had left him here precisely so that he could help these pitiful believers who were on the verge of losing their faith.
As for their question of where the Lord was, he didn't know how to answer it either.
After crossing that golden sea, the Lord had disappeared, and even the coffin that had always accompanied Him had vanished as well.
When he opened his eyes and woke up, he found himself inside a ruined church nearby. After searching around, he finally found the statue dedicated to the Lord here.
He lit the candles and prostrated himself in worship before the Lord. It was at precisely that moment that the people of the City of Silver happened to arrive here.
He thought that perhaps this too was the Lord's arrangement.
The Lord probably wanted him to set out from here, cross this dark land alone, and ultimately reach the Lord's divine kingdom.
This was the mission that had brought him here!
"I shall once again embark on the path of seeking the Lord. If you are willing, you may travel with me and journey together to the Lord's divine kingdom."
Mr. A stood up and shouted these words loudly. His words stirred the hearts of quite a few people from the City of Silver.
However, none of them voiced their intentions. Instead, they all turned their gazes toward the Chief of the City of Silver, Colin Iliad.