At that moment, inside that simple room, three figures were sitting facing each other. Two of them were men, and the other was a beautiful yet simple-looking girl who had her head lowered in fear, too scared to say anything.
Daniel hadn’t said a single word from start to finish. He only watched the situation quietly. From the look of things, it was clear that this girl had somehow fallen under Drael’s control.
That fact alone made him a little curious. How had this boy managed to put her under control in just a few hours? Maybe he wasn’t as useless and stupid as Daniel thought.
"If you really want to achieve your goal and save the temple from the demons, you need to help us," Drael said calmly, after Daniel gestured for him to begin. He turned toward Merina as he spoke.
"This..." Merina’s expression changed as soon as she heard those words. It was as if she was fighting within herself, unable to make a final decision.
Everything Drael had told her yesterday echoed again in her mind. She bit her lip, unsure what to do at that moment.
Was betraying the Grand Priest and the temple truly the right thing to do? She didn’t know. Not knowing was driving her insane.
On one hand, she didn’t want to do such a thing, but on the other, the words Drael told her yesterday kept replaying in her head.
What if what he said was true? What if not helping them was actually the real betrayal?
When she thought about how happy the Grand Priest and the other priests would be once the temple was saved, her expression changed to determination, and she raised her head.
"Ask me anything. I’ll help as much as I can."
"Good. We want to know about that golden aura that protects the temple. What exactly is it?" Drael asked calmly, as if he had already expected this moment.
"Golden aura? Do you mean the power of God?" Merina replied, a little confused.
"The power of God? You mean that aura belongs to your God?" Daniel frowned and asked.
"Ah, no, not that it belongs to God, but that’s its name, ’the Power of God.’ It’s a power born from the faith of the people in God," she explained.
"That power protects the temple, and the priests use it to fight against Evil," Merina added without hesitation. It wasn’t a secret; almost everyone in the city knew about it.
"The power of faith?" Daniel and Drael muttered at the same time, surprised by what they heard.
Daniel quickly understood what this ’power of faith’ was. It reminded him somewhat of the mechanism used by empires. Empires had something similar, but it was based on the prosperity and happiness of their citizens. The more satisfied the people were with their emperor and empire, the stronger the empire’s fate became.
This power of faith was similar, except it came from the people’s faith in their God. The stronger their belief, the stronger this divine power would be.
"So, if the faith of the people weakens, the Power of God will also weaken. Meaning, that aura would no longer be able to protect the temple, right?" Drael asked, understanding it clearly.
After all, he ruled over a kingdom himself and was familiar with such concepts.
Merina didn’t answer verbally but nodded in confirmation.
"What’s the name of your God?" Daniel asked curiously.
"I don’t know... we just call him God."
Daniel sighed, then looked toward Drael. Now that they knew what that golden aura was, they could plan how to weaken it.
Weakening it shouldn’t be too difficult. All they needed to do was shake the faith of the people.
Would that really be hard for two people who specialized in manipulating emotions and minds? Of course not.
All they needed was to uncover a few scandals or hidden truths that the temple and its priests had concealed from the people and spread them around.
And if there weren’t any, they could always create one.
"Do you know about any scandals or secrets the temple has tried to hide from the people?" Drael asked, turning to Merina.
"No, I don’t know about anything like that," Merina replied immediately.
The two of them sighed. They had no doubt that the girl wasn’t lying, after all, her position within the temple wasn’t that high.
"Looks like we’ll have to go after one of the priests then. That’s where we’ll find something," Daniel said indifferently, and Drael nodded in agreement.
"Have you found a way to save the priests from the demons?" Merina asked excitedly, misunderstanding the situation.
"Of course. Don’t worry, we’ll soon save this temple and the priests from that great demon," Drael said with a smile, his tone filled with righteousness as he looked at the girl.
Daniel gave him a strange look. Now he could somewhat guess how this boy had managed to put the girl under his control.
Yesterday, when Merina came to take them to meet the priests, Drael had noticed guilt and sorrow in her expression. That was when he realized how innocent this girl truly was.
Later, after Daniel entered meditation, Drael left the room. First, he explored the city, but when he didn’t find anything useful, he went to meet Merina.
At that time, Merina had been watering plants in the garden beside the temple, so talking to her wasn’t difficult. All Drael had to do was tell her that he and Daniel were not merchants but demon hunters.
He claimed they came to this city because they sensed a dark and demonic aura looming over it and wanted to save it.
At first, Merina didn’t believe him. But when Drael used one of his skills to create convincing evidence, she did. Then, he told her that the priests were likely corrupted or possessed by Evil.
Merina had seen the true faces of the priests that day and didn’t want to believe that the ones she thought were angelic could actually be so cruel.
That made her believe him easily. In the end, Drael told her that as long as she helped them, they could hunt the demons and save both the priests and the temple.
The girl believed him. Of course, to be sure, he also used some of his skills on her, and now, she was completely under his control.
After that, the three of them talked for a while longer, and the two men got all the information they wanted. Then they stood up and headed toward the temple.
After all, today was the day they would officially become members of the temple, and Daniel was curious to see what the Grand Priest truly had in mind.