Chapter 68: Attending a Sermon

Zaos soon arrived at the massive cathedral. The rectangular building had two large towers crowned with spires on both sides. On each of these towers were multiple stained glass windows beautifully decorating the exterior of the gothic cathedral.

Zaos continued forward as he marveled at the structure.

[A lot of Mana gems must have been spent to achieve this level of grandeur,] Zaos mused as he walked.

Stationed around the grand cathedral were holy knights clad in pitch-black metal armor with crescent moon emblems on their right chests. They wore dignified expressions on their faces as they watched the crowd of dark elves flock into the church.

Zaos couldn't help but snare when he saw their attitude.

[Imagine being glad to be cannon fodder, the aspirations of the weak reeks of mediocrity,] Zaos shook his head and walked into the church.

The inside of the church was just as grand as the outside, it had large stone pillars supporting its high ceiling which was decorated with beautiful murals.

The murals depicted four scenes of historical importance to the church. In the first scene, a shadowy entity was shaping a landscape shrouded in pure darkness, in the second, the same shadowy entity stood silently in the landscape he had created as a naked elf slowly took shape before him, the third scene showed the shadowy entity sitting on a throne of darkness as a group of elves with dark hair prostrated before It, and on the last scene, the shadowy entity was slowly ascending beyond the dark sky above the landscape.

[The shadow figure should be the god of darkness,] Zaos retracted his gaze from the murals and took a seat on the pew furthest from the altar.

He gazed around, watching as the pews were slowly being filled by dark elves dressed in dark attires.

Zaos didn't find this unique as he too wore a dark-themed attire. This wasn't only because of his personal preferences but because this was the dress code required by the church.

As his gaze wandered around the building, it soon fell on the door behind the altar that was slowly being opened.

From behind the door came seven individuals all donning pitch-black robes with crescent moon emblems on their right chests.

Six of these individuals with varying figures walked to the sides of the altar and stood there, while the seventh individual who sported a black mitre with the crescent moon emblem engraved on it walked to the altar.

At the sight of these individuals, the congregation rose from their seats, Zaos included.

"May the blessing of the Night Monarch be with you all," The man at the altar spoke. He was a middle-aged elf with soft facial features, dark brown eyes, and a chin puff goatee.

"And to you!" The congregation responded in unison.

The man gently waved his hand and everyone took their seats.

"The sermon will now begin…" The middle-aged man began preaching to the masses. His voice was soothing and his words were captivating, it drew in the listeners like metal to a magnet.

Zaos also listened closely, however unlike others, he was also silently evaluating the seven individuals at the altar.

[My senses keep screaming just by looking at the middle-aged bishop, is he that powerful?] Cold sweat drenched the back of his clothes as Zaos lowered his gaze.

[The priests beside him also seem powerful but not as extravagant… How are they so powerful? A priest should be equivalent to a high elf so how are they able to trigger my danger sense to such a degree?] Zaos was puzzled. Ever since he had advanced to the High-elf rank, other high elves could barely catch his attention. He could easily defeat a small group of high elves without taking any damage and he believed he could even contend with an arch-elf if he gave it his all.

Yet, at this moment, the high elf priests from the Church of Eternal Darkness managed to trigger his danger sense. He trusted this ability a lot as it had helped him avoid a few complicated situations in the past so he couldn't ignore its warnings.

[Interacting with the bishop is too dangerous. I'll instead try to get closer to the priests,] Zaos decided as he continued to listen to the preaching.

The sermon continued for an hour as the bishop used his words to strengthen the faith of the believers. He spoke on different topics like; the reasons to serve the lord, the lord's deeds, past and present, and lastly, he spoke of his personal experience as a devoted believer.

When the sermon came to a close, most of the congregation seemed touched by his preaching, some wholeheartedly began praising the lord while others silently worshiped.

Although Zaos wasn't a believer, the preachings managed to arouse his interest in the deity.

[The god of darkness can answer the prayers of his believers. I wonder what would happen if I prayed to him…] As soon as the idea arose in his mind, Zaos quickly rejected it.

[I still don't know who brought me to this world, recklessly interacting with this deity might be dangerous,] Zaos sighed and decided to stick to his original plan which was to investigate the deities first.

The bishop called for a prayer and the congregation obliged, however, there were a few individuals like Zaos who only pretended to pray.

The middle-aged bishop soon ended the prayer and blessed the congregation.

"May the blessing of the Night Monarch be with you all," He said.

"And you too," The congregation replied.

Once the exchange ended, the bishop turned to the large crescent moon sacred emblem at the altar and prostrated himself before it.

Following his example, the priests took turns to bow before the sacred emblem before the members were allowed a chance.

As this was going on, the bishop vanished behind the door he came from, leaving the priests to handle the masses.

One pew at a time, the believers prostrated themselves before the sacred emblem.

Soon, it was Zaos' group's turn after most of the believers had already gotten their turns and had vacated the building.

Zaos sighed in resignation and reluctantly joined the group in the action. However, he made sure to hide his reluctance and made his actions seem as pious as possible.

He remained in the church after he finished and waited for the few believers who still hadn't genuflected to the sacred emblem to do so.

He didn't wait long as the activities soon drew to a close. Seizing the opportunity, Zaos approached a priest with short stature and an amiable appearance and spoke.

"May the blessing of the Night Monarch be with you," Zaos said with a smile.

"And you too," The priest responded with an even broader smile.

"I would like to donate to the church," Zaos said as he retrieved a small sack of Mana gems he had tied at his waist.

The priest's expression became even more amicable as he accepted the donation.

"The lord accepts your offering, brother." The young priest said with a gentle smile.

Zaos responded with the blessing of the church before exiting the building.

His plan for now was to improve his image in the eyes of the church officials before slowly trying to gain information from them.

[This wouldn't be good for my wallet though…] Zaos winced as he recalled the amount of mana gems he had donated.

With a sigh of resignation, he returned to his residence. Once there, he found a letter from his information broker; Whisperer.

[A new bounty?]

He opened the letter and read its contents.