Falsely Accused, I Started Plundering Monster Traits

The heavy stone door closed behind them, cutting off the sound of the rain completely. Lin Yan glanced back on instinct. The stone walls in this place had to be ridiculously thick. Once that door was shut, he couldn’t hear a damn thing from outside.

Lin Yan stood by the entrance for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom, then looked deeper inside. There were no torches or candles burning in the Church. The only light came through the tall, narrow windows high above. Pale moonlight filtered through the heavy fog and rain outside, barely enough to reveal the outlines of the interior.

Directly opposite the entrance stretched an enormous nave. Massive stone columns ran along both sides, continuing forward until they disappeared into the darkness far ahead. Pointed arches between the columns opened into side aisles, and anywhere the moonlight couldn’t reach was almost completely black. The farther the nave went, the darker it became.

By that faint moonlight, Lin Yan could still make out reliefs covering the columns and walls, while murals stretched higher up toward the vaulted ceiling. It was too dark to see most of them clearly. Every now and then, he could make out figures in robes, spread wings, and enormous monsters. Stone statues stood in the shadows along both sides, silently hidden in the dark.

Lin Yan had thought the spires outside were already impressive enough. Apparently, the inside wasn’t any less extravagant.

Fucking rotten religious feudalists.

The old knight stopped near the entrance hall and looked toward the guard station on the left.

"Edwin?"

His voice carried far through the vast nave, the last traces of it taking several seconds to fade away, but no one answered. The old knight waited, then called out again, louder this time. Still nothing. His brows drew together as he hurried toward the side of the entrance hall.

Lin Yan followed and took a look.

A small table stood there. An unlit oil lamp sat on top beside an open ledger and a cup that hadn’t been cleared away. A dark cloak had been casually draped over the back of a chair. Everything was still where it belonged, with no sign that anything had been disturbed.

"Who’s that?" Lin Yan asked.

"The knight assigned to guard the entrance tonight." Unease had already crept into the old knight’s expression. "He should be here at this hour."

"Maybe with everything going on outside, everyone went into hiding. You got somewhere people shelter in an emergency? A basement, safe room, something like that?"

"There’s an entrance behind the inner sanctuary leading to the lower level. If there’s danger, that’s where everyone usually retreats."

"Then let’s check there first."

The old knight nodded and turned toward the deeper part of the nave. The other four young knights followed, with Lucia walking between them.

Lin Yan stayed at the rear and picked up his radio.

"Marcus, make sure everyone out there stays sharp. Anything happens, contact me immediately."

"Copy that, Boss."

Lin Yan put the radio away and followed after them.

The group continued deeper into the Church. Instead of following the nave straight ahead, the old knight led them off through one of the side aisles, through two stone archways, then around toward the rear along a much narrower corridor.

The layout grew more complicated here. Side passages connected rooms of different sizes, with stairways leading up and down and stone doors scattered between them. After only a few turns, the nave behind them had completely disappeared from view.

As they went deeper, more light began to appear. Candles and oil lamps burned here and there along the walls, their dim yellow glow barely illuminating the path around them. At least they no longer had to rely on moonlight just to make things out.

And yet, they still didn’t encounter a single person.

As they passed an open room, Lin Yan glanced inside. An uncleared plate still sat on the table, with a small piece of unfinished bread left on it. A little farther ahead, a candle set in a wall sconce had already burned more than halfway down, melted wax running along its side.

They didn’t even stop to put out the candles. Looks like they left in one hell of a hurry.

Between everything he’d picked up from dealing with these people along the way and what he was seeing now, Lin Yan had a rough idea of what their world was like.

Basically the Middle Ages with magic thrown in. Candles like these sure as hell didn’t look cheap. If they’d been in such a hurry that they hadn’t even had time to put them out, things must have been more urgent than he’d thought.

As they passed another small room with its door open, Lucia slowed slightly. Lin Yan followed her gaze inside, but all he saw were a few tables and chairs. Nothing special.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." Lucia shook her head.

Lin Yan didn’t press her.

After passing through another corridor, they came to a half-open stone door. At first glance, it looked no different from the other doors they’d passed, but the old knight suddenly stopped.

"Something wrong with this door?"

The old knight didn’t answer. He walked over and examined the lock, and the worry he’d barely been keeping under control finally became impossible to hide.

"This door leads to the safe room. It’s normally kept locked. If they really took shelter inside, they would’ve locked it from the inside. There’s no way it should be open like this."

Lin Yan stared at the half-open stone door. That vague sense that something had been wrong all along finally clicked into place.

Sure enough. When things go too smoothly, that’s usually when something’s wrong.

They hadn’t run into a single obstacle since entering. Every door along the way had either been half-open or standing wide open. Now even the route to the safe room looked like someone had deliberately left it clear for them.

They were being invited straight into a trap.

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