BXBX NOVEL Chapter 512 Infiltration (2)
"Boris and Kana, where did you suddenly go?" When Kayden and Eli sneakily came back to where the servants were waiting for the gate to open, a petite young man with fluffy curly hair approached them worriedly.
"I thought the two of you would back out… luckily you guys came back." The young man said while heaving a sigh of relief. "If you guys would go, then I'll be in trouble with the boss… after all, I saved these spots for you because you told me you needed money for your brother's medication."
"We won't back out… we just strolled around trying our luck for some fruits in the forest." Kayden mimicked how Boris the 'elder brother' would talk and answered with an expression that indicated that he was quite hungry.
"I see… but I must tell you, don't wander deeper in the forest. The temple does not allow loitering after all…" The young man said.
When the petite young man finished what he was about to say, he then nagged them for a little bit then he finally walked to take a look at the other new recruits.
Apparently, the original Boris and Kana begged the guy to give them two of the servant slots so that they can finance the medications of their little brother.
Unfortunately, these siblings did not even think that there is something shady about the temple frequently recruiting new servants every month.
This rate of recruitment even bested the frequency of recruitment of an imperial family. How could they be so extravagant?
After some time the gates finally opened. Eli and Kayden taking the name of Boris and Kara finally saw a middle-aged Temple Cleric scanning her eyes around the people waiting outside.
The petite man gathered his new recruits around and presented them to the Temple Cleric. The middle-aged woman swept her eyes to the servants around. All in all, there were about twenty new recruits who stood up quite stiffly under her gaze.
Eli and Kayden also tried to blend as much as they could by being as nervous and excited as the other recruits were.
After being under the scrutinizing gaze of the woman, she finally gave a satisfied nod before she asked her assistants to take the recruits inside while she went to the petite man to talk about some matters.
With the temple assistants leading them ahead, Eli, Kayden, and the rest of the recruits were brought to a backward-looking area where there were busy working stations around.
There were several lines of servants going around too busy to mind the new recruits around.
"This is the area where you are working from now on. You are expected to join the ranks later on after you change to your uniforms.
Work well and you will have the chance to enter the main temple and serve the priests and even the pope directly in the future… Your quarters will be behind this courtyard." One of the assistants explained them.
Then at his signal, there was another row of servants approaching them, they were carrying several sets of clothing appropriate for the lowest type of servant in the temple.
"Change quickly in the quarters behind and meet me as soon as you can… I will get you acquainted with the work sections you will be assigned today onwards. Also, call me line leader as I will be in charge of training this entire work area."
"Yes, Line Leader…" Eli and the rest obediently followed their line leader's instructions and went to the quarters.
The quarters for the male and females were separate however because the entire courtyard is dilapidated the segregation does not mean much.
Eli and the rest of the female recruits had to take turns covering the broken wall separating the male and female rooms until all of them managed to change into their working clothes.
Eli and Kayden did not forget to pin their normal-looking ornament somewhere in their bodies. As the line leaders instructed that they change and leave their old clothes behind, they tried to figure out how to retain this single piece of ornament without letting the others know.
In the end, they pinned it on their shoes, and the repurposed space rings looked like shoe buckles and looked completely normal and necessary on their peasant footwear.
When they were done, they met the line leader again and they walked around the entire courtyard.
Eli and Kayden observed the kind of work the recruits were about to do.
It was quite 'simple' and 'unsuspecting' as all the courtyard was doing was the production of temple potions and blessing items.
To make it more unsuspecting, there were groups separated according to their tasks and their job would be passed on to another team who would process their work further.
Some of them were assigned to segregate the herbs and deliver the 'high' quality ones to another team while keeping the others to be pounded into a paste.
The other teams were tasked to mix the pastes that were made by the different herb groups and were instructed to mix them according to the proportion.
After mixing they will be poured into a vat and will be delivered to another batch and so on… However, in the end, none of them have ever seen what the final product of their work was.
This was also the same with the men who were assigned to craft some 'temple artifacts' some would be assigned to extract a certain type of metal and refine it to ingots.
Those ingots were then delivered to the inner temple for further processing.
Looking at the workers, they really did not have any idea what kind of things they were actually doing.
But to Eli and Kayden who have dabbled in potion making and research, their hearts turned cold.
Because the herbs and the metal mixture these workers were doing were all the raw materials needed to create the purple poison ball, the berserk potion for the hell wolves, and even some recognizable mysterious artifacts they have all confiscated during the last war.
They were all made in the Main Temple!
The weapons of the curse users!
Eli and Kayden glanced at each other but they did not dare to leak any one of their emotions in their actions and expression.
They could feel that the Cleric and even the Line leader were extremely wary people. If they carelessly show any points of suspicion, Eli and Kayden might be discovered earlier than expected.
As they continued their tour, the line leader left the recruits one by one on their assigned workers. None of them were assigned to the same group, probably to avoid talking about work when they were already done for the day.
What's more, they would have to stay in the quarters their group was assigned to. Thus, there is less chance for them to talk about the happenings in the work area.
Most importantly, this would also hinder the workers in figuring out what kind of things they were actually making.
Kayden was eventually assigned to the minting section while Eli was assigned to the most hazardous tasks in the production line - mixing the ingredients of the positions according to the formula.
When Eli entered the work site, the nauseating odor of the scent of thousands of herbs being mixed almost made her vomit on the spot.
"It's normal to vomit, but you have to make sure to be used to it within three days at most… or else we will have to send you back to our place." The line leader saw Eli's reaction and was not surprised.
It was as if he had already expected Eli to experience it; however, there was no trace of sympathy in his eyes. It was as if he was already looking at a dead person.
"Master, this place is so sinister! Look at the workers, they were pale! Their lips and nails were already turning purple! Clearly, they are poisoned!" Wisey did not emerge but she was able to communicate with Eli mentally.
"Master, Wisey is right… this… place … is not good… it makes me sick…" Baobao's struggling voice was also heard.
Eli was reminded that Baobao's sense of smell was terrifyingly stronger. One could only imagine the torment Baobao was experiencing at the moment.
"Summon back yourself to Little Han's side. I'll summon you back once Big Brother and I manage to go away to this place." Eli communicated to Baobao as she was afraid that he would be injured if he insisted to be active on her side.
"But master…. what if the enemies suddenly went on your side…when I was not around?"
"Don't worry I, the great cure Wisey is here! Didn't I tell you, my spiritual senses have improved by leaps and bounds? I can at least detect if there was a cursed user near Eli chan!" Wisey also persuaded Baobao to cut off his spiritual connection to Eli's side temporarily.
"Wisey is right… go now Baobao…" Eli could only coax the worried panda to back out.
"... okay Master… thank you…"Baobao weakly replied and in an instant, his presence had already gone to Little Han's side.