Chapter 24: The Other Side of The Letter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The cathedral at night was different then it was during the day without the constant flow of believers. Occasionally a few priests or knights would hurry through the corridor, but that made the whole atmosphere even more solemn and tense.
Benjamin sat in the confession room, his hand holding onto Michelle’s letter, waiting for the bishop to arrive.
The work of the Church that day did not seem to be that hectic, as the bishop arrived really quickly. Of course, it could also be that they prioritized Benjamin -- no, it should that they had an eye on Michelle, which was why they came so quickly.
"Sir Lithur, the night is not a good time for confessions."
Separated by a veil, he could only hear the bishop talk slowly. His tone did not purvey any blame, but rather he was hinting at Benjamin to be straightforward and not waste any time.
Benjamin did not beat around the bush and immediately began speaking, putting on a panicked expression:
"Lord Bishop, her letter arrived again."
Saying this, he handed over the letter.
The bishop received it, opened the envelope and began reading the letter. The swift movement was a huge contrast from the way the bishop spoke previously.
The letter did not contain much, so it did not take him much time to finish reading it. The bishop remained silent after reading through the letter. It was hard for Benjamin to guess his expression because only the outline of the bishop’s face, which was casted on the veil by a light, was visible.
Benjamin waited for a while, but did not have the patience to wait for the bishop to speak, so he spoke first:
"Lord Bishop, what should I do? The dungeon is a chaotic place, I’m afraid if I go I would be captured again. Lord Bishop......"
Benjamin’s act was interrupted midway by the bishop, who waved his hand.
After a few moments of silence, the bishop finally opened his mouth: "Where did this letter come from?"
Benjamin immediately replied: "Lord Bishop, I found it underneath my pillow in my sleeping quarters. This is really terrible, I did not notice her at all when she snuck inside my room. Lord Bishop, you have to protect us."
He wanted some assurance of protection from the Church. He wasn’t asking for them to remove the curse, but at least, with their protection he wouldn’t be helpless if Michelle were to reappear.
"God will watch over you."
With a word, the bishop left Benjamin speechless. He followed through with the question: "Did anything weird happen when this letter appeared, and why didn’t it immolate now like the first one did?"
Benjamin was caught off guard.
Oops, he seemed to have forgot.
In order to gain the bishop’s trust, when he fabricated Michelle’s "first letter" he said that the letter burnt away on its own after he read it. However, this letter now did not burn away immediately after it was done being read, which cast some suspicion on his story.
Why did the first letter spontaneously combust and not this one?
This was not a tiny problem. Benjamin felt regret for not having thought of this before.
Although the bishop’s questioning didn’t sound very serious, Benjamin was sure if he didn’t deal with this problem, it will definitely cause the bishop to doubt him. No one believes in a person who contradicts himself.
At this moment, countless thoughts raced through Benjamin’s head over and over again. He had to answer this question and not show any hesitation while doing it. If the bishop saw him hesitate, it is was worse than giving an terrible answer.
It was too late to think now, so he made an ignorant expression, and replied:
"Uh ... this, I do not know why, why did it not burn up like the one previously?"
This was not even a justified answer. Benjamin knew fully that this was not even a proper answer, but just an excuse to make him seem as if he did not know what was going on. Right after saying this, he started regretting his words. He regretted that he was not smart enough to deal with this scenario properly...
However, the wood has already been sculpted into a boat, it was useless regretting.
He has tried his hardest to make it sound convincing, but whether the bishop was about to believe him, that could only depend on heaven.
However, on the other side of the confession room, the bishop, who was holding the letter, did not speak.
Benjamin could not help but feel nervous, almost as if his soul was going to pop out. He felt the in the next second the bishop might tear open the veil and shout at him: "You deceived God, you liar! Go to hell!" Then he would be burnt to ashes with the holy light.
How the bishop would think in the end, Benjamin had little clue. Will he doubt him? Will he be angry? Does he already know everything? Was the area already surrounded with paladins, waiting to take his own life?
It was like waiting at the end of a trial for the judge to come to a verdict.
The bishop’s silence was no more than twenty seconds, but for Benjamin it felt as if it was as long as twenty years.
Finally, he opened his mouth, and Benjamin had never been so excited by this dull voice:
"It was because she knew that you are faithful servant of God, and she gave you this letter, knowing that you would give me the letter, and she wanted to use this as a trap to enact a shameless revenge against the church."
Benjamin was relieved.
He was nearly scared to death.
Fortunately, he thought so. The worst did not happen, the bishop guessed Michelle’s intention, but did not suspect Benjamin - at least from his words, it sounded like this.
He did not know whether that the bishop was not vigilant enough or that he was too lucky.
Of course, perhaps the bishop had never from the beginning suspected Benjamin, so he never thought of that possibility and Benjamin’s fears were unfounded.
Or perhaps the bishop’s eyes are only on Michelle. Whether Benjamin had ill intentions, it did not matter to him. He only needed to figure out Michelle’s intentions and focus on battling her. Benjamin was not important to him.
I wish I would never be a target in the bishop’s eyes. Benjamin thought.
"Lord Bishop, five days later, should I still go to the city district ..." He did not stop his panicked performance, and continued to test the bishop.
"That would be unnecessary. This is just a trap, where we would not find her at all," The bishop replied calmly.
Hearing this, he felt even more frustrated.
Michelle wrote in his previous letter: "Give the second letter to the bishop of St. Peter’s cathedral and convince him of the contents above." Now the bishop did not suspect him but instead doubted the letter. Benjamin did not know if the current situation would satisfy Michelle.
It could not be said that he did not know, but he knew very well that if the bishop saw through Michelle’s plans, it would definitely make Michelle angry. If Michelle was angry, he had to suffer.
Moreover, it was also contrary to his own "helpless" plan.
He had to persuade the bishop ... or at least Benjamin had to persuade him to send someone to the prison that day. Even if it might cause a paladin and Benjamin to be beaten, it should be enough to let Michelle think that he was still obedient.
After thinking it through again and again, Benjamin decided to bite the bullet and become Michelle’s "persuader":
"But Lord Bishop, is it okay to just let her go? She wants to retaliate against the church and will leave traces there, we cannot just let her go. Lord Bishop, God’s servants, should never be afraid of facing those tempted by those tempted by the demons!"
Michelle’s persuader was not a fun thing to be, Benjamin could barely force through those words. It was necessary to be persuasive, to not let the bishop feel suspicious, but still not seem too smart. Benjamin had to use a "theological" point of view to try to persuade the bishop.
"You are right, the servants of God never fear the Devil’s lackeys." However, in the discussion of "theology" the bishop was more skilled after all. "But the Devil has always been cunning, we cannot fall for their trap for nothing. God is omniscient, and views all his servants as important, and would not be willing to sacrifice any of us. Therefore, we should not risk our own lives."
Benjamin was speechless. Obviously, the bishop was still afraid of Michelle’s exaggerated strength.
He really wanted to tell the bishop that a team of "cleaners" would be able to defeat Michelle. But he held back. He could not forget that when the church took his memory, his memory of him and Michelle hiding from the "Cleaners" was not extracted.
He could only watch Michelle wielding the chips that did not exist at all, and do battle with the church under the limelight.
To tell the truth, if Benjamin just helped the Church to get rid of Michelle, the Church would naturally help him lift the curse. But the Church’s actions were so questionable, Benjamin did not have confidence that they were able to completely get rid of Michelle.
If Michelle was not gone completely, he would suffer. Therefore, he could only swing between the two sides, tangled.
"In this case, Lord Bishop, please give me some protection .This witch so unscrupulous, I am very worried about my family and their safety, if she could put the letter under my bedroom pillow today, tomorrow she may kidnap me away again, and I can no longer provide information for God." After a brief hesitation, he changed his goal and said.
Swaying has its own disadvantages, but also had advantages. This was the best he could do for now.
As for the failure of Michelle’s plan and whether she will dissatisfied, at the moment, it was not what he could think of. He could not persuade the bishop, and if this continues, the bishop would probably doubt his purpose and loyalty.
Really, he felt that the church trip this time was a failure compared to the last time. If he still could not get any benefits from the Church now, his days would be unbearable, it would probably be better for him to ram his head on a pillar.
"God naturally will not ignore any of his faithful believers." The bishop seemed to realize that he had to give something to Benjamin, so after a brief silence he handed Benjamin a cross necklace. "This is a holy item, which will protect you from any demonic force, but you should pay attention to the fact that the divine power can only be used three times, and after three times it will lose the ability to get rid of witchcraft."
Ha! This was what I needed!
Benjamin lifted the veil, and happily took the cross.
With this, Michelle was still able to use a curse to threaten him, but at least, she could not kidnap him with the binding spell to bring him to God knows where, that would be impossible, he had a mouth, and had the ability to use it.
Moreover, Michelle did not know about this cross. Therefore, it can become his trump card, like the last time, at the crucial moment, Benjamin could even the odds.
A cunning person like Michelle was not afraid of what was stronger than her, but was only afraid of what she did not know.
"If you hold the cross in your hands, and say a prayer, it can also help you alert the nearest knight patrol, and they will rush to help you." The bishop added, "But this item can only be used three times, so if it is not life threatening, do not use it."
Hearing this, Benjamin became more excited, and regarded the cross in his hands as a treasure.
In online games, this would be a godly item! Not only did it provide spell immunity, it could also provide reinforcement. Even if there was no attributable bonus, it was no trash item!
This thing will become his death-free gold medal!
"Thank you for the gift of God." Benjamin said with gratitude and excitement.
"As long as you pray devoutly, God will bless you." the bishop sounded more sincere than before, "Well, you have confessed enough, I will let the knight escort you back. Today’s repentance exists only in God and you must make sure that no one else will know. "
"Yes, Lord Bishop." Benjamin did not say anything more, and nodded. He had already done what he could, and the bishop trying to make him leave was fitting to his desires
After getting a good item, he had no other requests.
Benjamin stood up and walked out of the confession room. The bishop in the confession room did not do anything. A knight came in and very respectfully sent Benjamin out of the church.
Although things did not go as planned, Benjamin still left the church with satisfaction.
Meanwhile, the bishop sat in the confession room until Benjamin left, without a word or movement.
Another knight came and stood by the side of the confession room, whispering: "Lord Bishop.."
The bishop waved his hands, hinting him not to speak.
So the knight had no choice but to keep silent beside the bishop who was behaving oddly without a word.
"What is she even thinking?"
Suddenly, the bishop looked at the letter in his hand, and the sound echoed from the confession room to the dome of the synagogue.
The knight was stunned. He wanted to answer, but soon realized that the bishop was not talking to him. He chose to remain silent.
The bishop continued talking to himself, while raising the palm of his hand. Out of thin air, a group of gold flames was conjured in his palm, the fire swaying, brilliant and holy.
He used his other hand, and put the letter on top of the flame. It quietly baked.
The knight stared curiously at the letter, but did not dare to question. After a while, the fire reflected the surprise on his face.
"This is ..." In the end, he was so shocked that he could not stay silent.
The bishop’s voice was still calm like a dead man, and he said:
"This is a message from the Fallen One."
Where there were no words previously on the back of the letter, lines of words began emerging.