The capital 3.2

Agon is the biggest city in the entire world. Humans have a much shorter lifespan than the other races, but differently from elfs and beast-men, their reproduction rate was far greater.

For every human born, three descendants are the bare minimum. Elfs and beastman normally have one to none descendants. Not because they don't want to, but rather because they can't. Andro and Arche are lucky to give birth to a child in their second century of life, something uncommon among elves.

Agon had a population of 20 million humans. The whole continent has over 100 million humans. The streets were crowded, even at this hour in the morning. On both sides of the streets, vendors were selling food, clothes, and religious symbols. Andro noticed that the stalls with religious products were particularly crowded with customers.

He walked on the streets for some time, looking at the stalls and buying some food here and there. After turning on the second corner, he finally saw what he was looking for, a Temple.

The Main Temple is a gigantic building made of white marble. Some say that the temple was more luxurious than the emperor's castle. In some aspects, it really was.

Andro left his horse in a buy-or-rent stable. He and his son arrived at the temple ten minutes after.

The closer he gets, the more agitated he felt. More and more gazes locked on him. From priests, hooded humans, and even a bishop entering the main door. The bishop had black short hair and looked like he was in his fifties. Andro jumped over the crowd and landed near the main door, where the bishop was. The bishop was unmoved by the stunt, simply staring at Andro with faint interest.

Andro straightens up his back and bows quickly. "Pardon my rudeness most reverenced bishop. This filthy elf requests to speak with your high servant of god." He almost knelt on the ground under the incredulous gaze of the bishop. The hooded priests surrounding the bishop were all dumbfounded, but since the elf didn't have any malicious intent, they let him approach.

"This servant is free right now. You may look me in the eyes." Andro thanked the bishop and bowing again, he spoke. "This lowly life is here to request the bishop for a cleansing ritual." The priests whispered a little, but under the gaze of the bishop, they fell silent. "A cleansing ritual you say... However, you look fine to me. On whom it may be?"

Hurriedly Andro shows his son to the bishop. "On my son. He..." (No. It's enough. Now it's up to fate.) He almost told the bishop the whole story about why he wanted the ritual. If he did so, the bishop would probably turn down his request.

The bishop leaned forward a little. "Hm... I see. Do you have, perhaps, the Means?" The greed in the bishop's eyes made Andro shiver. "Y-yes. I have the Means." 'Means' is another word for money in the Temple. The priests and the bishop grinned. The bishop gave a meaningful glance to one of the priests and entered the Temple.

"Today is your lucky day, elf. Come." (He treat me as if I was an animal... I'm glad that Arche is not here.) Andro followed the priest to the inside.