The Empire’s West Branch Church (3)

"Mister Capricorn is really generous, our church is really grateful for the donation. This money will definitely be used to improve the condition of the church to make it even better so people will be more comfortable praying at the church. Some of it also will be used for our orphans daily necessities. We have a lot of orphans but unfortunately our budget is not enough this season for various reasons, especially after the incident that happened yesterday, so we can only save on food and give them used clothes. After receiving this money, we can finally improve the standard of living conditions of the orphans in our west branch church. May the holy one bless all of you and repay all your kindness in a miraculous way."

"It's okay bishop Haris, it's because the holy one that I have what I had today, so it won't be much to repay the holy one kindness. But I'm a little ashamed of myself as a human, I can only think of this mortal way by giving a pile of money to the person who serves my benefactor. It's not much but this is my sincere way to say thank you as a human."

"Mister Capricorn is really a humble person, no wonder he can be successful right now. The holy one will only show the way to his devout believer, whether one will follow his direction or not is that person's decision. I'm pretty sure for someone so dashing, generous, and humble like mister Capricorn will definitely choose the correct decision for his business development. I hear that your friend's grandson really likes the church attire and someone from the church has given him a deacon uniform. How about we from the church repaying mister capricorn kindness this time by giving the kid another piece of deacon uniform so he has a spare one to keep?"

"That's a nice idea, Bishop Haris. Besides your character that's really kind, you are also smart, really a talent that all the church members should want to have. It's already so late, if possible we would like to stay just one night here. Are there any empty rooms left in the church?"

"Of course, you can stay the night here, mister Capricorn. How many rooms did you need? We still have a lot of unused rooms in the guest area. It's a big dormitory we reserve in case some great character like you needs to take some rest from their long journey."

"If possible we will need rooms for the kids and for myself. It's not the time to sleep yet, the kids also want to see the scenery around the church, can they play around for some time until they are sleepy?"

Bishop Haris' face looked a bit troubled but he decided to accept the request of the old man. He didn't want to offend this gold mine that will bring the church more wealth.

"It's okay to play around the church, but we have some areas that are restricted for strangers to enter. If you find a deacon guarding that door or area it means that you cannot enter it. Remember my warning, okay kid? But we still have many good areas to play around like the training ground, the garden, the church but be careful around the lit candle we don't want something burning ain't we. Did you all have dinner already? Our cafeteria has some delicious food to offer to our great benefactor, why don't we all eat together there."

"I'm still a little hungry grandpa, why don't we eat a little more before sleeping?" Zeon said to grandpa Capricorn.

"Haha.. Then I will take your kind offer to Bishop Haris, if even you said that the food is delicious then it must be so. What are you doing kids, you should say thank you to Bishop Haris for his kindness to let us eat freely in the church cafeteria."

"Thank you Bishop Haris" The three kids said thank you at the same time.

In the cafeteria many young deacons can be seen having dinner together. They must feel a bit hungry after the evening prayer and serving the church. Seeing the bishop coming, all of them stood to greet the bishop. Bishop Haris nodded and let the deacons continue their dinner. The cafeteria is quite big. There are many kinds of dishes served that you can take all you want by yourself. Zeon's and company only take some little food to try the dish in this cafeteria. They come to sit with the bishop. Grandpa Capricorn is still smiling while tasting the dishes that he takes like nothing is wrong, but Zeon and Li are surprised by the amount of food in front of Bishop Haris. There are ten plates full of food and all of them have meat in it. Zeon's looking around but never sees a single orphan eating together in the cafeteria.

"Bishop Haris, where are the orphans of the church? Won't they also eat dinner at this time?" Zeon is a bit curious and decides to ask what comes to his mind.

"The deacon already sent the food to their room. They usually didn't want to disturb us and decided to eat together with their roommate, such a pure soul. That's why we love to take the orphans into our church, but sadly the dorm which is allocated to the orphans is already full nowadays so we cannot take any more orphans into our church these days."

"But didn't you say before that there are still many empty rooms in the guest area? Why don't you allocate some of it for the new orphans who came to the church?" Li's trying to argue with what the bishop just said. He feels that his words contradict each other. If he's really a kind person shouldn't he accept the new orphans and not ask them to go to another branch church like what the young deacons previously argued with him before at the front gate of the church.

Bishop Haris' facial expression became a bit stricter while looking at Li after hearing his question. The kid that picked a fight with his deacon before started to argue with him. Kids nowadays are so daring, if not because of the old man Bishop Haris will definitely kick the kid out of the church already. Many people will be in awe of the church prestige but this kid is different. Did he think that by wearing a deacon attire he thinks that he's also one of the church members? Do you think by wearing a superhero getup it means he has superpower and is unbeatable? The answer is no!

"Kid, to keep mister Capricorn face, I will forgive you this time. This is the church matter, an outsider shouldn't be too nosy if it's none of your business. I won't say more but I have some advice for you. Don't get too involved in other people's business if you don't want to have problems with that person. Especially me kid, this is the empire not your principality, and I'm a bishop, one word from me and you won't know what will happen next. Maybe your real grandpa will need to pick you up from jail."

The old man's expression became happy all of a sudden. He wanted to praise Bishop Haris' bravery for saying all of those words. He would even let the bishop call the authority if he was really angry this time and see the chaos that would happen next. Following these three kids really opened his eyes that kids these days are really fearless and a bishop can be so ignorant.

"Li, don't be rude to Bishop Haris, he's a great figure of the church. I'm sorry if Li offends you Bishop Haris, we will not repeat our mistake again." Zeon tried to temper the anger of both parties. He still has many things to check in this shady branch church so he needs to stay a little more until he can clearly see everything that the bishop is trying to hide. Restricted area? Are you joking? Did this branch church have some holy angels staying at this humble abode? Besides that, is there anything worth hiding?

"It's good that you know what's better for you kid. Just finish your dinner and after that you can play a little around. Just don't go to the restricted location that I said before or I will really kick you out tonight. If you really go too far, I will really send you to prison. As a good kid, you shouldn't want to make your family in the principality worry about you, right?"

"We understand Bishop Haris, we promise that we won't trouble you anymore." Zeon said while sounding a bit pitiful. Li is really angry this time, but after Zeon trying hard to calm him down, he decided to follow Zeon's plan to stay the night at this branch church. It's also the pope's last assignment that he gives to Zeon, the three of them need to complete it perfectly and not disappoint him.