Chapter 41 : The Church

The Church

The church is the name of religion as well as the place where people worship and practice religion in this world. Religion plays an essential role in organizing and directing social life. Religion also helps maintain social norms and social control in the Wildenhall Kingdom. There are four churches in Wildenhall Kingdom, and the Archbishop leads each church.

The Church of Fire, under the direction of Archbishop Benedict Spelman

The Church of Water, under the direction of Archbishop Dormer Chaundeler

The Church of Soil, under the direction of Archbishop Stephen Kyllyngworth

The Church of Wind, under the direction of Archbishop Cornelius Beckingham

The Wildenhall Kingdom is divided into five major regions: the East, The West, The North, The South, and The Capital. An archbishop owns every area except the capital. Then the archbishop's territory was divided into a region that was ruled by nobles. So in the kingdom, the archbishop was above the nobles but below the royal family and the council.

The influence of the church in the kingdom is enormous because the four archbishops, who are one of the ten members of the council, have the authority to make a criminal code, whose contents are based on the church's holy book.

Although there are four different churches, they still have the same holy book and beliefs. The name of the church is based on the four elemental spirits, and each church has a bond with the corresponding spirit. People within the member of the church can make contracts with spirits, so they can freely use certain amnis at any time. For example, a fire church priest who makes a contract with a fire spirit will be able to use fire amnis wherever he is, and not only that, the people around him can also use fire amnis. That is why dungeon explorers always require the presence of a priest in order for the caster to freely use certain types of amnis.

The church members present themselves as part of God's direct servants in the church hierarchy that has the holy task. From the highest: Archbishop, Bishop, Paladin, Holy Knight, Priest, and foster priest.

Foster priests were the only ones who were not allowed to contract with spirits because most were orphans, enslaved people freed by the bishop, and repentant sinners.

Earl Isabelle Wolverlope's region is within the territory of Archbishop Benedict Spelman, the Church of Fire. The bishop and his paladins were currently visiting the church in Wolverlope City.

"How tiring… I just arrived here but still have to take care of the sinners. Why paladins never rest? I want to quit."

"Don't say that. We need to work hard for the peace of the people."

Inside the church, in the bishop's room, a paladin was sitting on the sofa wearing a white full-plate. The paladin was talking to a bishop who was writing something. The bishop looked old and wrinkled, and his hair was a dull green color.

"If you're tired, why don't you take off your heavy clothes?" asked the bishop.

"I'd rather overheat than take it off. Besides the hassle of taking it off and putting it on, I also don't want anyone to see my face," replied the paladin.

Because of Bishop and Paladin's sudden visit, Isabelle immediately sent a letter to them through Allen and Felicia. The purpose was to say that she could not welcome the bishop's arrival. Isabelle had more or less guessed that the bishop and paladin were coming, and she had also guessed their purpose, so she wrote about those things in the letter.

"So, have you seen it with your own eyes? The kid sent by Prince Leofric to Earl Wolverlope. Does he really have white hair, as rumored?" asked the bishop.

"No, just as written in the letter, the kid or the boy is not a Nottish; he is an other-worlder; his hair is black."

Allen's existence as Norttish reached the Archbishop's ears. Rumors spread among the soldiers about Allen, who might be Norttish. Then Allen was hidden by Prince Leofric and sent to the Wolverlope region. Archbishop Benedict found out about this and sent a bishop along with his paladins to watch Wolverlope's residence.

Since the paladin had already seen Allen and confirmed that he was an other-worlder according to the contents of Isabelle's letter, the Bishop and Paladin's job was done.

"I see, so my instincts were wrong," the bishop said as he stood facing the window.

"It's strange that your instinct could be wrong because your guesses usually turn out to be true."

"Guessing is never always correct...I wonder if that kid is a stranded other-worlder or summoned."

The paladin then let out a long breath and said,

"Never mind, such things are not against the holy book. That is not the church's duty. I don't want to add more work," he said.

'Is there really no Norttish in this region? If the mana explosion happened in this place, there would be a lot of casualties. Let's hope my instincts are completely wrong,' thought the bishop while looking at the full moon through the church window of his room.

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Due to the mess caused by Felicia, the amnis lesson was suspended. Allen, Thurstan, and a few other maids helped clean the room.

As for Felicia, she was just sitting there, watching them clean the room while drinking a cup of tea.

"Thurstan, look over there. There's someone who is just sitting there watching others clean up a mess that she caused," said Allen while pointing to Felicia.

"WHAT-"

"Allen, don't talk like that to a noble. If you're not Lady Isabelle's slave, Lady Felicia could have the right to execute you," Thurstan explained while carrying a book.

"Hmmm, is that so? It's good to be a noble, huh? You don't have to get your hands dirty to solve your own problems."

Felicia stood up immediately, pointing angrily at Allen.

"How rude, you're just a peasant! You're a slave! But you talk down to nobles!"

"Ah sorry LADY FELICIA. I have no right to criticize your lazy way of life," quipped Allen.

"Outrageous! I'm a noble; how could I clean like a maid!"

"You have such high self-esteem. It seems that the self-esteem to solve the problems you create is not included in it."

Thurstan and the maids could only shake their heads at Allen's actions toward Felicia. Actually, Thurstan and the other maids also had the same rights as Allen, and Isabelle protected their existence, so other nobles could not take away the rights of Isabelle's slaves. But they were just peasants and commoners from the start, and they always thought of themselves as inferior to the nobles, so they could never talk like Allen in front of the nobles, and it never occurred to them to do so.

Then there was the fear that even though Isabelle's slave rights could not be interfered with by other nobles, such as Felicia. Felicia could have reported Allen's disrespectful actions to Isabelle, and then Isabelle could kill Allen to maintain Isabelle's honor in front of Felicia.

But no way; the maids knew Felicia would never ask Isabelle to kill, and Isabelle would never kill Allen. Everyone now knew that Allen's existence in this residence was the only neutral existence that had nothing to do with status in the kingdom.

Hearing Allen's constant belittling of her, Felicia was furious. She stomped on the table, making the tea spill. Felicia picked up a book on the floor and threw it at Allen.

Allen shifted his body to the left, avoided the book.

"Don't dodge! you shithead!"

Rachel then approached Felicia and wiped up the spilled tea.

Allen still wanted to say something about Felicia's behavior, but he could feel a menacing aura coming from the person next to Felicia. Rachel was now looking at Allen with a cynical face as she wanted to say, "Don't bother Lady again!"

Allen immediately shut up; he turned around and continued compiling the book.

As for Felicia, she let out a long breath, muffling her anger.

"Rachel, where's my hair tie," asked Felicia.

Rachel was confused with her order. She took a gold hairband from her pocket and gave it to Felicia.

Felicia then tied her hair and put on the gloves on the table.

"Lady?"

She picked up the books on the floor and helped put them on the shelf.

Everyone was shocked to see a noble cleaning up like a maid. As for Allen, he also didn't expect Felicia to help them clean the room.

Looking at everyone who had inexplicably stopped working, Felicia shouted at them,

"What are you looking at?! Go clean it up!"

"Ye-Yes, my lady!" everyone spontaneously went back to work.

All the maids were now smiling, their hearts tickled by Felicia's actions.

Felicia then looked at Allen, who was also looking at her. Felicia showed her proud expression to Allen,

"Look, I can do it as well; nobles can do work that peasants can do," Allen appeared to hear her saying that. So Allen just turned his face away, trying not to care about Felicia.

"Allen, can you help me lift this?" Thurstan pointed to one of the large shelves that had fallen over. Thurstan had heard from Theobauld about Allen's physical abilities, so he asked him to lift it together.

"Okay."

But as it turned out, when Allen approached him, he lifted that big shelves with just his two hands.

"A-amazing!"

"He's so small, but how can he lift such a big bookshelf?" said the maids, amazed.

Felicia was not to be outdone; her pride made her not want to lose to Allen.

She looked for one of the shelves that had fallen.

"Lady, what are you trying to do?" asked Rachel in the distance.

Felicia took out the knife in her pocket and sliced her hand. On the shelf, she used her god's blessing.

"Lady! Don't use god's blessing for something like that!" shouted Rachel.

"Shut up! It's my ability, and it's up to me how and when I use it!"

The flowers grew, and the shelf glowed.

Magically, the shelf that had fallen over stood up on its own, and the books in Felicia's garden flew up, neatly arranged on the shelf.

"Wonderful!"

"It's beautiful!"

Felicia looked at Allen and once again smiled proudly at him.

'What a fool, using God's blessings that can only be used twice a day for something so silly,' thought Allen.