Chapter 14  : Initial Contact with the Church

The holy light shrouded the world.

According to the legend, this was how the Church came to be when the almighty God issued the first oracle. In the era marked by endless wars, the first Pope uttered these words while wielding a weak holy light, and raised this light into the night sky during mankind’s darkest age.

Since the church’s thousands of years of existence, its image has turned from one of a charitable organization into one that dominates this piece of land. Three hundred years ago, the Helius Kingdom was built around the church grounds, and it became the strongest kingdom in this land. A royal family was present in the kingdom, but everyone knew, the royal family members were mere puppets under the Church, forever kneeling in front of feet of God’s statue.

It can be said that everyone born in this kingdom is a citizen of God’s kingdom, from their hundred days of baptism, till their marriage oath, to their funeral, there would always be an element of religion involved. The Church used this kind of method to control everyone’s lives.

Everyone believed in the will of God, and no one dared to oppose the Church.

The first oracle “The holy light shrouded the world,” was etched into every corner of every church.

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Saint Peter’s cathedral naturally became the center of the church as it was the only church in Havenwright, the capital of the kingdom of Helius.

At this moment, Benjamin sat inside one of the confession rooms within Saint Peter’s cathedral, looking at that sentence etched on the wall.

“The holy light shrouded the world.”

Of course, he was not here to confess. As a rookie mage, as the Church would say, he was already a fallen one that has given into the temptations of the demons, and was rejected by God. Confessing to him did not have any meaning.

He was here to see the bishop.

To the normal citizens, the bishop of Saint Peter’s cathedral was in charge of daily matters in the church. But in reality, he was also in charge of hunting and purging cultists, wielding one of the greatest powers in the Church—-“The Cleaner”.

Benjamin wanted to discuss with him about Michelle.

He did not plan to give the Church any information, and he did not wish to help the Church capture Michelle, honestly speaking, Benjamin could not care whether Michelle lived or died right now. As a mage who just entered the halls of magic, he had something important to do, and that was to increase his capabilities.

How did all the mages become stronger?

Benjamin and the System did not know how to answer this question. To unlock everything he needed to know about mages, the only solution was to look for Michelle or the Church.

He could not hurl himself into Michelle’s embrace, therefore, the Church was the only choice he had.

The Church must have a lot of information regarding mages, of course, they would definitely not give this information to him. His purpose here was to ask the bishop for traces of Michelle, and all the places that she has been before.

He still remembered what Annie said before she died: “Michelle, under the third tree at the usual place, I’ve buried all my precious belongings underneath there, remember to dig them up.” Even though the relationship between these two women seemed to be fake, but he felt that Annie said this with all honesty.

He wanted to find the places that Michelle has been, and that “usual place” mentioned.

Annie’s “Precious Belongings” probably more or less had something to do with magic. He wanted to find the places that they have been by, and find that “third tree” while Michelle is busy hiding, then dig up Annie’s belongings before Michelle could.

This was the reason Benjamin came to the church. Even though Annie could have been lying, and even though finding traces of Michelle by asking the bishop may not be a good idea, he still had to try. If this method did not work out, he could think of another way then.

He was the kind of person who had to try something out if he saw even a glimmer of hope in it. Otherwise, that hope would haunt his mind, making it hard for him to eat and sleep.

He did not fear that he would be suspected by the Church. His memories had already been acquired by the “Cleaner”, so the people of the Church probably did not suspect him one bit. Could they even think of the possibility of a person having two separate memories from interdimensional travel?

“Sir Lithur.”

Suddenly, a low voice interrupted his thoughts.

Benjamin recovered from his deep thoughts and turned around. From the veil of the confession room, he could make up from the blur that a middle aged man with an aquiline nose sat at the other side.

“Lord Bishop.” He replied with respect.

He wanted to use the water element sensing method he used on the assassin previously to sense the bishop. But after thinking that this was a church, some of them probably knew some divine arts, so for safety reasons, he did not.

“I’m not a bishop, I’m only a priest who is willing to hear the confessions of a citizen, granting the forgiveness of God to every guilty youth.” The other party had an inhumanly calm voice, like it was devoid of humanity,”Are you saying you have information on the servant of the Devil, and wish to alert God?”

These religious people mentioned God in almost everything they spoke about. Benjamin could not help but feel revolted.

He did not express these feelings, but still maintained his respect: “Yes.”

The bishop was silent for a while, then asked: “So you are saying, the servant of the Devil that cursed you has started to communicate with you?

Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

Planted a curse?

The bishop’s words created turmoil in his heart, and diverted his focus from Annie’s treasure. Even though the statement was rhetorical, he still understood what he meant: He has been cursed? What happened? What did I miss?

Benjamin suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you.” The System came out of nowhere and explained: “Before Michelle escaped, she chanted some sort of complicated incantation at you, then a dark red light flew into your chest. I didn’t know what that was at the time, but right now, I think it’s probably the curse he mentioned.”

“…”

He felt cheated by the system once more, and was speechless.

He wanted to shout at the system saying “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”, but this sentence has been said too many times, and did not seem to be of use, the system still continued to repeat its mistakes. Benjamin could not be bothered to get angry.

It was not the time to argue with the System.

A curse…..

He knew Michelle would not let him go so easily. Before this he was surprised by Michelle’s generosity, but right now, everything made sense. Michelle had not given up, she was like a venomous snake, only temporarily retreating back to its hole, waiting for the chance to strike again.

Her plan was obvious. She wanted to use this curse to threaten him, force him to obey her, and help her get access to the Lithur family treasury. Benjamin, who has been cursed, would do whatever she said in fear for his own life.

This damned luck won’t go away!

But Benjamin quickly came back to reality. Finding this out from the bishop it was already an unexpected blessing —-if he knew a bit later, the situation would be worse.

Looking at the blurry contours of the bishop, he came up with an idea.

He prepared himself, summoned a panicked composure, and put up an act in front of the bishop: “Yes, Lord……Lord Bishop, you have to save me, please! This morning, when I……I was in my bedroom, I noticed a letter from the witch, it said…..it said…..my God! Bishop, she said this curse would take my life, you have to save me, please!”

Benjamin felt like the act he put up was not half bad because the bishop did not suspect anything.

“Do not fear, God will protect you.” The bishop repeated in the same tone,” Take a deep breath, then slowly tell me, everything that was written on the letter, God will hear you out.”

Benjamin did as he was told, then continued the act: “That letter…..that letter only said, once I was cursed by her, I had to follow her every order, or else I would die a horrible death. And then……and then she had me wait for her first order, nothing else was mentioned. Lord Bishop, I do not wish to die by her hands, you have to save me, please!

The bishop did not react to the “panicking” Benjamin. After some thought, he asked: “Where is the letter? Did you bring it?”

Benjamin was prepared for this: “No. The letter burnt away on its own after I was done reading it, not a trace of it was left, it almost burnt my fingertips, and it was too scary.”

The bishop remained sullen, as if he thought this was a difficult problem too.

Benjamin observed the bishop awhile. He felt like he has the bishop fooled, so he threw in the final act:

“Lord Bishop, God is omnipotent. Could I please ask God to release this evil curse from me?”

Even though a small curse was enough to make him worry, but he knew, the Church had ways to release this curse. Not only that, as the protector of all the citizens, it was the Church’s duty to help him break this curse, otherwise their reputation would be tarnished.

Once the Church releases this curse from him, all his other problems would disappear accordingly.

Making someone heed your every order just by a simple curse? Michelle, you underestimate me!

But, the bishop’s reply was disappointing:

“This is not an ordinary curse, it has concentrated demonic energy within. You have to know, on this huge land, there are countless of people suffering under the guise of the Devil, and God is battling him relentlessly, so he is not able to provide the power to help you break this curse. Slaves like me are even more powerless to save you from such an evil curse.”

“…”

It sounded really convincing….

Benjamin did not give up, then asked again: “But, is there really no way? I only answer to God, I do not wish to become that evil witch’s puppet!”

The bishop said: “You do not have to worry, God will watch over you. If the witch continues to communicate with you, one day she would end up making a mistake. At the time, we will appear to purge that evil witch, and you no longer will have anything to be afraid of.”

Benjamin suddenly had a revelation.

It was not that they could not break it, but rather they were not willing. The Church wanted to leave this curse and use him as a bait and lure Michelle, so they are pretending to be powerless.

This bunch of brainwashing faux noblemen, they are not that different from Michelle.

This was probably Michelle’s agenda. She knew the Church can break his curse, but she also knew that because the Church is hunting for her, they will not break his curse. It was because of these circumstances that she could let Benjamin go without any worry.

She knew that everything was within her control.

These bunch of old churros! One more cunning after another!

At this point, Benjamin has totally given up. The Church would never help him remove his curse, so he had to think of his own way.

“Lord Bishop, I want to ask, do you know of any traces of the witch’s whereabouts? My family is furious, and they wish to participate in the hunting and give their power to serve God.”

The curse put aside for now, Benjamin returned to his original purpose—- to find Michelle’s “Usual place”, then dig up Annie’s “Precious treasure to further his studies in magic.

If this trip to the church was only to learn of the bad news that he has been cursed, he would probably end up crying in the toilet.

“It is related to the energy of the Fallen One, so your family is incapable of joining in. For your family’s safety, please leave everything to God’s slaves. ” Even with rejection, the bishop could make it sound really convincing. This must be a talent.

After hearing this, Benjamin did not feel disappointed.

He already expected the bishop to reject him. And he has yet to give up, but he has another way to make his reason sound more persuasive:

“Even though there is no one in my family that could match the paladins of the Church, but as citizens we also have our own methods, if we were to know some top secret information, we could still help. That witch is alert against the Church, but she would probably be less alert if we ordinary people were to hunt for her. Don’t worry, Lord Bishop, I would inform you immediately if there is any news.”

Benjamin’s determination seemed to surprise the bishop. After some thought, the bishop nodded.

“Since you are so devoted to the Lord, I would have to accept it on his behalf.”

It was as if he needed Benjamin’s help to lure Michelle out, so he was pretending to be compliant. Benjamin guessed maybe from the bishop’s point of view, if he were to give him unimportant information, it would comfort Benjamin and make him a good bait to lure Michelle.

Of course, the bishop definitely would not give him important information, so he could only rely on himself and on some obsolete information, mostly non-related, which would not let an ordinary person be able to get any information on magic.

But if they were to be in Benjamin’s position…

“Magic, here I come!”

He kept his great joy in check, and laughed loudly in his heart.