Chapter 126: An Overly Long Journey
"Is the Church also going to take part in this war?"After Knight Wolf's figure disappeared, Nyx finally asked.
"Last year, the Flower Church itself served the Lord of the territory, but now, this place is the Sanctuary of the Church of the Sanctuary. Because of their greed, they dared to raise their blades toward the Sanctuary. That must be punished,"Corleon replied.
"But the Lord is merciful, and also the Lord of Hosts. War must naturally be met with war."
Nyx no longer asked about that. Instead, he looked up at the hundred white doves on the cross, and after a moment of silence, asked,
"Healing Potions and bandages can only be made by those of Priest rank and above. So, does the Church now have new Priests?"
"Those children are still inexperienced. For now, there are only more Monks,"Corleon said.
"So this time, the Priest accompanying the expedition - I will need to trouble you - is Priest Nyx,"Corleon slightly lowered his head.
"The three children from Knight Wolf's family have already been granted Monk robes. They will go with you."
"Those three, I understand. I will wait for news of Wolf at the Small Church,"Nyx’s eyes seemed a bit cloudy as he stood up and said.
"Priest Nyx, please rest in the Monastery for
these coming days,"Corleon said.
"This journey has been overly long for you."
Corleon’s eyes looked at Nyx.
Nyx fell silent. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end said nothing. He only said,"The believers in Garcia Village now already have the habit of attending worship at the Church."
"This is thanks to your efforts. You led those lost believers to hear the Lord’s guidance. It is your noble achievement,"Corleon replied.
"I think the name Burke Church is very fitting. I will also have someone compile books about Burke Church. Perhaps in time, Burke Church will become the name of a Great Church."
"..."Nyx opened his mouth, but had nothing more to say. After a slight bow, he hunched a bit and left the Church.
Corleon, beneath the Lord’s Throne, silently watched Nyx depart.
Although it was also a rectangular building like the Church, the Monastery appeared more refined and peaceful compared to the solemn and majestic Church.
When Nyx walked into the Monastery, the apprentices passing by all bowed to him respectfully.
There were now more than thirty apprentices in the Monastery, all from the Gentry Families of York Territory.
They studied knowledge here, and apart from Oscar who taught them various miscellaneous subjects, it was Priest Nyx who taught them the classics and doctrines of the Church.
Though, compared to the practical knowledge Oscar taught, the Church classics Nyx taught seemed to lack substance.
A day’s lesson was usually enough to cover everything, and after that were anecdotes akin to travel journals, stories from when Nyx preached.
But they respected Nyx more, because he was now the only Priest in the Church of the Sanctuary.
As for that teacher Oscar, the fact that half of what he said would be muted made it hard for them to respect him.
Nyx nodded slightly, then continued forward.
The sight of these apprentices made him faintly nostalgic for his time at the Scholar’s Guild.
The same thirst for knowledge in the apprentices, the same strong academic atmosphere.
But compared to the cautiousness bred by fear of the Curse in the Guild, the Monastery felt far more open.
Nyx didn’t know whether the atmosphere here would remain the same when the Curse descended upon this place.
Still, perhaps this place would not be eroded by the Curse.
He thought of Corleon.
If the Curse truly never came, then this place would indeed be a sanctuary for scholars.
Here, they could freely learn and explore knowledge.
He recalled what Corleon had said to him when they mentioned the three scholars.
"Please, when you meet with those three, invite them to teach at the Monastery. I don’t think they would want to see me."
Nyx walked until he stopped in front of a room.
He could see the nameplate on the door read Melia Burke.
After hesitating for a moment, he knocked.
"Who is it? If it’s Cicero, you’d best scram. I don’t have any extra gold coins for you. No, not even a copper piece,"came Melia’s voice from inside, sounding somewhat irritable.
A smile appeared on Nyx’s face. It seemed Melia was quite happy here.
"It’s me,"Nyx raised his voice slightly and responded.
He himself felt somewhat aged just listening to his own voice.
"..."Hurried footsteps came from behind the door, then the door was opened.
"Grandfather!"Melia’s voice was filled with pleasant surprise as she hugged Nyx tightly.
"Hahaha, looks like you’re doing quite well,"Nyx laughed, patting Melia’s back.
"You wouldn’t believe it, these folks are really racking their brains trying to get money from me, especially that Cicero fellow. He said he wants to build a huge garden to enclose the entire Church area."
Melia let go of the hug and supported Nyx as they entered the room.
"He just wants to partition the space, but there are far more economical ways to do it. Still, he insists on planting flowers, grass, and trees."
"Do you know, he’s even thinking of hiring a mage to cast spells on the land so the flowers here will bloom forever."
"He’s truly gone mad."
Melia rambled on, venting the difficulties of her work.
Nyx smiled as he watched.
"You could have Cicero plant this place full of violets. Isn’t that your favorite flower?"he said.
"Violets aren’t cheap. If we really want to fill Cicero’s garden with violets, it’ll cost at least five thousand gold coins,"Melia replied, pouring a cup of hot tea for Nyx.
"The Bishop only approved a budget of one thousand gold coins. I think it’s better to just plant some saffron."
"Hiring those commoners would only cost a single gold coin to have enough saffron picked to fill an entire classroom."
"That’s not good. Too much saffron produces a rather pungent smell,"Nyx took a sip of tea and said.
"Then we’ll plant the saffron in areas that haven’t been built yet,"Melia said as she sat beside Nyx.
"Do you know how crazy that Cicero fellow is? Before even building the garden, he had already designed a training ground for the Church apprentices to learn swordsmanship and archery, along with housing for Church staff and two additional Monasteries."
"I really think he’s mad. Even if the Bishop gave him Holy Relics, just how long would it take to complete all of that?"
"And teaching swordsmanship and archery, would the Lords even allow it? According to his plans, once the entire complex is built, it would rival a large village."
Inside the room, Melia seemed like she had held in a whole stomach’s worth of words, pouring them all out to Nyx.
Nyx simply listened with a smile, occasionally saying a few words.
Still, Melia’s work was not easy, and Nyx only sat for a while before getting up to leave.
Before leaving, he told Melia that he would be staying in the Monastery for the next few days. This news made Melia extremely happy.