I Became the Moon Goddess' Apostle in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 46: The First Mission

"The first mission for the Arbiter Order would be an investigative mission."

They all leaned forward and perked their ears up.

They couldn’t miss a single word from him.

"I don’t like repeating myself, so listen carefully."

He took out a massive roll of paper from underneath the table and unfurled it.

It was an immensely detailed map of the Holy State, with nearly every path, village, and landmark in the entire nation.

He took out a clean quill with no ink on it and pointed towards a certain place in the map.

"There is a small village around here called Chemin, where a small church of Solis is erected."

"And we have received reports that this church has been constantly dodging the majority of its taxes back to the local diocese,"

So, a tax raid?

He thought back to the movies he had watched about these.

Well, that wasn’t bad.

Grand Inquisitor then continued, "And a local inspector reported that the people weren’t happy either."

"They received complaints like extortion and exploitation of labor."

Raven wondered if it really was that rare for a world like this? 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

God knew how many people in this very city were misusing their powers.

Heck, seeing this kind of luxury from the Grand Inquisitor, he couldn’t help but be doubtful about his rather questionable income source.

But then again, he remembered the basic principle of this world.

Power.

It has always been like this.

Rules for thee, not for me.

It was the same back on Earth as well.

"We want your team to go investigate, gather proof, and make a report before we act on this."

Well, that couldn’t be that hard.

But Raven immediately shook the thoughts out of his head.

He didn’t want to jinx it.

"Now," He left the map and sat back down comfortably, and so did everybody else.

His eyes scrutinized everyone in the room before he spoke, "This mission should remain covert until it’s over."

"The rest of the details is on this paper." He slid the paper he was reading off.

Since he couldn’t be bothered to remember such a low-level mission himself.

He just got this mission for them to test the waters.

Raven leaned in to read, but he immediately spoke, "You all can leave."

Raven had a feeling that this timing was very deliberate.

But without making a scene, he stood up and bowed alongside everyone else.

He eyed him one last time before he left the office quietly.

...

Everyone left quietly after a single line conversation, since the mood felt heavy, and there was no specified time for this mission.

And according to the manual they had received on the day of their selection, it meant one thing.

Do it as soon as possible.

The small conversation they had was about when they should depart for this.

And they decided to meet before the main cathedral in 3 hours after packing their necessities.

Raven packed early, since he was an organized person and knew what he needed.

So, he left to meet some rich people around and ask for suggestions about the best stud farms around.

He needed especially good horses to travel, and so he decided to get one for all three of them.

After all, why not?

He was fucking rich.

And ever since being selected in the Arbiter Order, he constantly received an exorbitant amount of money from one of Eve’s hired clergymen in the city.

To be honest, he had long forgotten what the normal even was for people around, which was bad.

He needed to have the concept of money in his mind.

After all, a lot of money didn’t mean endless money.

But he decided to splurge a bit on this particular spree.

After all, his position allowed him to favor comfort over money most of the time.

He first decided on Palfreys, since they were the most comfortable ones available around here.

But since he didn’t know what kind of horses the other two would get, he decided to compromise slightly on comfort and get a more balanced horse.

Something that would have good enough speed, and also not be super uncomfortable like the Steppe horses.

A courser.

He made his way to a nearby luxury stud farm.

It was a building with an entrance made up of bricks, rare for stud farms during these times.

This alone signified the standard of the farm.

He made his way inside the stud farm, a clinking pouch hanging on his handle of the axes.

The interior was rather plain, with just a photo frame with a flower garland around it, but what was he even expecting?

This was a farm.

He looked around and noticed a tall, well-built man with light brown hair, snoring on a wooden chair.

He approached him calmly and called him out, "Excuse me?"

Hue!?

His eyes opened, and he stood up at once.

Like a machine.

"Oh, a- a customer." He frantically turned around and grabbed a hat for himself.

"Welcome to the Iron Stallion Stud farm, dear customer," He immediately got into the businessman zone and introduced himself, "We have all varieties of horses around here, like-"

But since Raven was in a hurry, he decided to cut the small talk and get to the point: "I need three of your best Courser horses as soon as possible."

’A rich customer.’ The farm owner’s eyes lit up immediately, as he gave him a class merchant bow.

"Of course, dear customer," He turned around, towards a secluded hallway, "Please follow me."

Raven complied.

On his way there, he saw multiple openings to a massive farm with dozens of horses around, but those were most likely the lower-grade ones.

The ones used by peasants and small merchants.

"We have arrived, dear customer," he entered one of the doorways, followed by Raven.

"Take a look at my prized possessions."

At first glance, he could tell these were indeed the premium horses.

The population was a lot less, and they had more open, green space.

Raven personally didn’t have much interest in horses, but even he could tell that these were beautiful horses.

Tall, muscular, elegant, and they even had a shine that the others didn’t.

"The ones you are looking for are those." He said, pointing at a certain area of the farm.

Whoa!