Work Prophet
Chapter 117 - 33 Vulnerability

Chapter 117: Chapter 33 Vulnerability

Ireya pondered for a while and finally discovered where the problem lay.

Although she hadn’t granted Li Yu the right to preach in Green Field, she also didn’t stop the local populace from spontaneously worshipping Saturday, which created a loophole.

On any given day, Li Yu could completely omit mentioning Saturday but could keep demonstrating miracles on her territory, thereby attracting people to the territory of the Double Rest Sect, where all the subsequent missionary work could be finished, without breaching the agreement made between them.

Just like with Fitzwilliam now, who knew nothing at all about Saturday, yet because Li Yu saved his sister upon whom his life depended, achieving what other Churches and Gods couldn’t, he had firmly resolved to convert to the Double Rest Sect.

Previously, this issue wouldn’t be too serious, as most of Green Field’s populace and the lizard people shared a blood feud and were equally wary of Saturday.

But now, what about the new people who’ve come to her territory?

The Weiting family originally worshipped the Sea God Claudius, but following a series of events, it’s highly debatable how much devotion they still held for Claudius.

Without Li Yu and his Double Rest Sect, these people from the Weiting family would probably, like other newcomers, gradually integrate into this land and eventually all convert to Pisya.

However, now they had another choice.

Miss Rabbit had already sensed the faint signs of an impending storm.

Given the way the Silver Moon Church operates, it likely wouldn’t be long before they sent people to preach to these newcomers in the western borders, and soon they might be clashing directly with Li Yu’s Double Rest Sect.

And should both sides engage in a divine struggle, regardless of who won or lost, she, the Lord caught in the middle, was certainly doomed to suffer.

The young lady just felt completely numb.

Just yesterday, she had been criticized by Priest Tessa, and while the old priest made it clear that she was only advising Ireya from a personal standpoint, it undoubtedly represented the attitude of the Silver Moon Church to a certain extent.

Otherwise, how could Priest Tessa, who was dedicated to healing the sick and serving the goddess, have heard so quickly about Li Yu’s affairs with those lizard people?

Miss Rabbit also gradually came to a realization later on that this was a subtle warning from the Silver Moon Church to her.

But before she could even begin to worry about this, she heard another piece of bad news.

Li Yu helped the Shipwright up, telling him to go back to take care of his sister first and once she recovered, to find him in the west, where black smoke billowed, then turned his head to look at the young lady again and spoke earnestly.

"By the way, I encountered an incident on my way back. According to the original plan, the Dragon Seeking Team was supposed to leave the swamp three days ago to rest and resupply their food and equipment. I had the lizard people prepare in advance, but they haven’t come out until now."

Li Yu always placed great significance on the potential existence of a dragon in the swamp.

Not only because, in the descriptions of those lizard people, the dragon was both powerful and cunning, forcing the lizard people to risk being annihilated by the noble armies of the western lands to leave their lifelong homes.

But also because dragons were a novel and unknown creature to Li Yu.

No matter what happened before, he was able to firmly control the situation, relying not only on a cool head but also on knowledge that was far beyond that of this era.

This gave him an ability akin to the foresight of a prophet.

However, when faced with a completely new species that had never existed on Earth before, Li Yu’s abilities were greatly discounted.

What stage of development had the dragon reached by now? How intelligent was it?

Did it possess language? If it did have a language, could Li Yu use the translation function he carried to negotiate with it or even further, to recruit it?

If negotiation was not possible, they would have to find a way to drive it away or kill it. Were there any fatal vulnerabilities under those hard scales?

......

Li Yu had too many questions and doubts, but before he could answer them, he first needed to find the dragon, preferably to figure out where its nest was.

The complex environment within the swamp was not suitable for drone surveillance, which was why Li Yu had been urging Ireya to assemble a Dragon Seeking Team.

Miss Rabbit herself also took this matter seriously, taking only five days to finalize the list of participants.

This included a Gold Snake Knight eager to prove his loyalty due to being implicated by the Purple Sparrow Flower, a nephew of Alfred who had followed Alfred in the siege two months earlier.

A squire knight of Pablo’s and six Half-Beast veterans who had served the Arias family for more than twenty years, among whom were two archers capable of hitting a target at a hundred paces.

The team even included a member of the Arias family from a collateral line, plus two guides provided by the lizard people, totaling twelve people—all strong warriors with exceptional martial arts skills. The lineup could not be called anything but luxurious.

They were equipped with fine gear and accompanied by locals familiar with the swamp. Everybody was full of confidence before departure.

But after nearly twenty days of searching in the swamp, they had not even seen a shadow of the dragon.

If it weren’t for some suspected footprints, droppings, and activity traces left by the dragon that they had found, the Gold Snake Knights and others might already be suspecting that the lizard people made up a lie to gain sympathy.

But obviously, just this bit of discovery was not sufficient for them to report back.

So, after a short period of rest and resupply, the Dragon Seeking Team quickly embarked on their second exploration; this time, they planned to divide the search area into zones and comb through them one by one.

The first zone was not too large and was initially estimated to take about eleven or twelve days to complete, after which the Dragon Seeking Team would return to the territory of the Double Rest Sect closest to the swamp to rest for a few days.

But now, fifteen days had passed since their second foray into the swamp.

Miss Rabbit hesitated for a moment, "Could they have been delayed due to some sudden situation?"

Li Yu nodded, "Indeed, there are many unforeseen circumstances in the swamp, and if they really found some significant clues, they might change the plan and continue tracking. Anyway, they should still have some food left, and with the two lizard people guides, they know where to find food, so let’s wait a bit longer."

And with that waiting, another ten days went by.

Jian’s health was improving at a visibly fast rate every day, and all her previous ailments had disappeared. Not only could she get out of bed and walk, but her appetite also gradually returned to normal.

Still, there was no news about the Dragon Seeking Team.