The Blessed Ones, a kind of monster resembling the legendary horned demon.

All Blessed Ones take the form of sheep-like creatures, without exception.

It is easy to tell from the ragged clothes on each Blessed One that they are somewhat related to the clergy.

And these two to three meter tall creatures are the result of the transformation of clergy members.

The Vigilant has heard them repeat the words "blessing" and "gift" multiple times when clergy members transform into monsters.

The name Blessed Ones is what these monsters call themselves.

Since then, The Vigilant has used the term Blessed Ones to refer to these sheep horned demons.

The transformation of clergy members into monsters initially occurred in some remote autonomous cities in the New Nation, and it happened infrequently.

But recently, in the capital of the New Nation, which is Layton City, there have been frequent incidents of clergy members transforming into Blessed Ones.

Although the general public is still unaware of these terrifying events, they cannot be hidden for long if they are not resolved.

As the saying goes, you can't hide the fire with paper.

All the clergy members who transform into Blessed Ones are devoted to Itimira, one of the nine holy spirits—the Lady of Dawn and Justice.

But this is not surprising at all, as Itimira is actually the object of worship for ordinary people, and clergy members who worship Itimira can be found everywhere.

The most important issue is that the Blessed Ones mainly appear in "nightmares."

Although The Vigilant has encountered them in the real world as well, most of the time it happens in dreams.

And it's often that they unknowingly fall into a dream after coming into contact with a Blessed One.

Tende was initially pulled into a nightmare.

But it didn't really seem like a nightmare to Tende, it felt quite ordinary.

"Is this the monastery where the Blessed Ones originally came from?" Tende asked curiously, with his hands in his trench coat pockets, looking up at the quaint monastery.

Just like any other monastery, it was built very simply, but it did not lack the kind of "solemnity" required by religion.

"Yes, I witnessed someone transform in this place," Bernie answered indifferently, standing next to Tende.

Although he didn't particularly like Tende, he answered his partner's question honestly.

As for why he subconsciously disliked Tende, Bernie couldn't say for sure.

If he had to say, maybe he felt that this guy was being pretentious.

The main reason might be that he had his moment stolen that night.

It was his first "kill" as The Vigilant.

Tende had no idea that he was silently judged as a "pretentious guy" by others as he looked at the monastery.

"Witnessed it? Why didn't you stop him?" Tende asked curiously.

"How could I stop him? The moment I exposed his identity, he transformed," Bernie clicked his tongue.

Bernie was in charge of investigating the Blessed Ones before, and he found out that a priest in this monastery was likely related to the Blessed Ones, so he came to take a look.

Sure enough, he noticed that the pupils of one of the priests were split into three, exactly like the Blessed Ones encountered by The Vigilant.

And then? Then he questioned that priest if he was a Blessed One.

And then came everything that Tende experienced that night at the detention center.

Transformation, dreams, and a fight—it was a regular set of skills.

Tende glanced sideways at Bernie, realizing that this young boy had no idea how rash he was back then.

But that's okay, it's normal for young people to be reckless.

When young people are rapidly growing in both mind and body, they tend to have a sense of invincibility.

In simpler terms, young people at this stage always think they are the best.

Unfortunately, Bernie encountered someone even more formidable.

The great detective, Tende.

"Do you transform if you're exposed?" Tende muttered to himself.

There are also instructions in the files on how to distinguish a Blessed One.

It's just that Tende never expected the clergy members to be so easily exposed.

Or rather, those clergy members simply don't care if they are discovered to be "monsters."Or rather, they never thought of themselves as "monsters".

Thinking of this, Tende took his hands out of his pockets and pressed on the new hat he had just put on.

The intelligence provided by The Vigilant was not comprehensive enough, and there was no explanation in the files about why these clergy members were transformed.

The phenomenon of the Image was indeed absurd, but it had its own rules.

It was worth investigating what triggered the transformation into recipients.

After a long time, Tende found the feeling of being a former sheriff.

However, a sheriff investigates reasonable cases, and now he is preparing to investigate these inexplicable phenomena.

"Let's go to the monastery." Tende said to Bernie.

Bernie's expression was a bit stiff, and this young man was not very willing to listen to Tende's words.

According to the time they entered the profession, he was Tende's senior.

"Relax." Tende didn't turn around, but added directly, as if he knew what Bernie was thinking.

"Just colleagues." Tende said, "And also the kind that doesn't know if we'll still be in the future."

Bernie glanced at the ground, then looked at Tende's back after a few seconds. "Let's go."

---

Upon entering the monastery, a cool breeze blew toward them.

The temperature inside the entire monastery was relatively low, but there was no air conditioning or anything like that.

Even in summer, the temperature inside the monastery would still be lower.

Only in winter, it would be colder here than other places.

Perhaps it was because most of the monastery was built with materials that had good heat dissipation performance.

Maybe.

"What season is it now? I forgot." Tende asked randomly.

"Autumn..." Bernie looked at Tende strangely. This person probably had some issues if he didn't even know the season.

"It's as cold as winter." Tende said with a sense of desolation.

Coupled with his hoarse voice, there was a inexplicable feeling of sadness.

Bernie shook his head to get rid of those strange thoughts in his mind.

"Are you two here to pray?" When the two of them reached a hall, a kind-faced old nun walked over.

However, the monastery was not a place for prayer, the church was. This was a place for studying theology.

At the end of the hallway in the hall, there was a statue of Etemira, and there were some people sitting on the long benches on both sides, only clergymen, no ordinary citizens.

"We're not here to pray." Tende hadn't even spoken yet, but Bernie had already spoken.

It seemed that this young man didn't want Tende to take control.

Tende scratched his chin and did not interrupt Bernie.

"We are here for the missing priest." Bernie explained to the old nun.

"Are you sheriffs?" The old nun said with surprise.

Usually, only sheriffs would investigate missing persons.

"We're not sheriffs, but we are auxiliary investigators." Bernie skillfully took out an identification card.

The Vigilant had close ties with the sheriff's office, so they could request convenient investigation credentials from The Vigilant.

Such as the identity of an auxiliary investigator.

Sheriffs? No, no, no, that wouldn't work.

The identity of a sheriff couldn't be given out casually, so The Vigilant could only get this kind of identity.

An auxiliary investigator was a subordinate profession that normally assisted sheriffs in their cases.

Although it was not a high-ranking position, it could still be used for some simple investigation work.

"Oh... an auxiliary investigator..." The old nun made a sound that indicated she understood everything.

Although she actually had no idea what an auxiliary investigator was.