Visiting The Empire Branch Church (3)

Archbishop Yong felt a bit surprised, he had never seen Li introduce any friends before. He thinks that maybe Li started to change for the better when Li got older.

"Hello Archbishop Yong, I come to the branch church today to help my grandpa, it's his last day working as the pope, tomorrow cardinal Jiu will replace him to manage the church, so grandpa will finish all the heavier duty by the end of the day."

"Just get to the point kid, I never met you but I heard of you, Zahakkan youngest offspring. Every Zahakkan member that I know are monsters who are incredibly strong. But you feel different, your body doesn't exude the aura of a strong person. It's like looking at a weak chicken. It's really amazing that Li took the initiative to ask me to allow him to work in the white palace and become your personal bodyguard. Usually he'll despise someone like you."

"Old man, as you get older you're becoming more crazy, Zeon is different, he's a friend who understands me the most. Last week, we've been wandering around the empire tasting delicacies in many restaurants and stalls. The best thing about him is that he believes that I can achieve my dream of becoming a cardinal. Weakness is not a problem, as long as he stays around a genius like me, he'll be safe."

"Our purpose is to check the condition of the branch church and ensure the reported expenses are in accordance with the actual situation. We've already finished the task of checking the south branch church and east branch church. After this we'll be on our way to the west branch church."

"Sure, Zeon, let Li accompany you to observe our humble north branch church. We've nothing much to see, but you can wander around all you want. I'm still tired after today's training so I won't bother all of you young people."

Li led Zeon and Toast to inspect the north branch church, as it is Li's home, he knew every place that had the things listed in the expenditure reports. The north branch church, similar to the south branch church, didn't have too much spending to check so it went faster than they thought. There's still a little more time until night, Zeon, Li, and Toast saying goodbye to archbishop Yong and continuing their journey to the last destination, the west branch church.

It's already night time, Zeon thought that it was the time for the church to hold their prayer so he doesn't want to disturb them. Zeon decided to have dinner first. The three of them were getting out of the train station and searching for a good place to eat along the way. They found a stall opened beside the west branch church area. The prayer usually takes an hour so while waiting for it to end, they decided to eat at this place.

This is a fried chicken stall with an auntie who cooks the food, there is one waiter who writes the orders and serves the food, the place is quite full and only one table is still empty. Every food stall is always crowded because it was cheaper than a restaurant so it was normal for Zeon to see many strangers eating together at one table. They sit together and call the waiter to make some order. The auntie looked busy cooking the chicken, the order must be a lot so it will take time until Zeon food arrives. Zeon, Li, and Toast talk to each other about today's experience after seeing many good scenery around the empire, especially the sea area. They still cannot forget about those gigantic walls which manage to successfully protect the humanity domain from the outer invasion.

An old man with a business attire can be seen entering the stall and looking for an empty chair to sit on. He's looking weirdly into our direction and thinking a little bit inside his mind. He decided to come into our direction and sit beside Zeon as it was the only chair which was still empty. Zeon didn't mind as it was normal nowadays to eat together with some stranger, maybe they can even make a new connection with each other.

"Sorry to disturb you young man but this is the only empty space around here."

"It's okay grandpa, you can sit here. The place is quite crowded, the food should be delicious here. Did you just finish working at some company and on your way to home? You look like a businessman."

"Well, I'm actually from the principality. I just arrived here for a business meeting with our company work partner.

"What work did you do, grandpa? I'm curious, someone as old as you is still working hard" Zeon is curious and decided to ask more.

"Haha.. My work is actually not hard, young man, it's just a little related to the news, specifically about some information gathering. Are the three of you from the church?"

A kid wearing a white cape on his back with holy words and another one wearing a deacon attire, it wouldn't be strange if everyone thought that they are from the church. Actually, Zeon still trust his grandpa who's saying that he can be more confident about his identity, he doesn't care what people see him as, it's better if they know that we are from the church so some strange person won't have some weird thought about us like kidnapping and kid trafficking, where do you want to traffic a kid anyway as the humanity domain is only that big, once they are found by the patrol team from the church, their life will be over. As long as it's still inside the Zahakkan Holy Empire territory, every church member should be safe because there are many devout believers who will help each other in need.

"Yes, we are grandpa. Looking at how hard you are working makes me remember about my own grandfather, he's also a hard worker, he just retired today because of some circumstance and is already quite old."

"Your grandpa must be a wonderful person, may the holy one bless him! Are the three of you from the west branch church of the empire? Isn't it supposed to be the time for an evening prayer? Why are you wandering toward a food stall beside the church instead of praying there?"

"Of course, he's definitely a hard worker and has passion for his job. Thanks grandpa, may the holy one always be with you. Are you also a devout believer to the holy teaching grandpa? It's rare to see someone from the principality who knows so much about the church. Actually we're coming to the west branch church to check some expenditure reports and stay the night here. It's our last destination after checking the other branch churches in the empire."

"Old man, who are you? I'm Li, beside me is Toast, and beside you is Zeon."

"Haha.. So rude of me.. As I'm getting old I started to forget about many things. My name is Capricorn, my colleague usually calls me old Cap. You can just call me grandpa. Did any of you know cardinal Sera from the main branch church in the principality? My granddaughter lives there. She's not my actual granddaughter, but I still think of her as one. Her father is my old friend. Unfortunately, he died young while protecting the border from those demons. She's a devout believer of the holy teaching. Therefore, whether I like it or not, little by little I'm also learning about the holy teaching so we can be closer even though he's not my actual granddaughter but I still love her nonetheless.

Zeon and Li feel touched by how the old man loves his granddaughter. Toast on the side didn't say anything at all. Zeon and Li are already used to Toast silent mode. Old man Capricorn also called the waiter to order his food. They continued their talk while waiting for the queue order of their food.

"I know her grandpa. Cardinal Sera is my aunt."

"Let me introduce you to our friend here, old man, his full name is Zeon van Zahakkan. You should have already started to figure out his identity after hearing about his family name right? Are you surprised? Take it easy old man, I don't want you to get a heart attack because of this." Li looked at the old man's eyes which seems to tell them that he's a little surprised after hearing Zeon's identity.

"Well, ain't it a coincidence then that I can have dinner with someone so important. Nice to meet you Zeon. My granddaughter, she should be the same age as you Zeon. Will you be her friend Zeon? I'm already too old, she only has me as her relatives, if one day I'm gone, I hope she still has someone she can rely on to accompany her in this life."