118: church

Chapter 117: The Church

To the north of the town, nestled against the Silminster Forest, lay a gently sloping highland.

On this highland, a tall, precarious building stood: Mist Town’s church.

This wooden and stone structure was dilapidated, resembling a weary old man.

Behind the church stood a bell tower, with faint light seeping through the broken wooden tile roof.

Arthur and Drax followed the road to the church entrance.

The undead had left many claw marks on the heavy wooden church door.

The main door was ajar, and Drax pushed it open.

The hallway was dimly lit and filled with a strong smell of mildew.

Lights glowed in the small chapel not far away.

“Is anyone here?” Arthur called out as he walked forward to investigate.

No one responded.

The orc drew his weapon and cautiously walked towards the chapel. Arthur followed behind him, carefully observing his surroundings.

The two arrived in the center of the small chapel, where everything was in disarray.

Broken pews lay haphazardly overturned on the dust-covered floor.

Candles of various sizes filled the candlesticks, desperately trying to dispel any trace of darkness within the room.

There were no statues of deities in this place.

Arthur speculated that even if there had been any before, they had likely been removed.

At the end of the chapel, there was an altar covered in claw marks.

Arthur approached to examine it and found an iron gauntlet placed on top.

Upon seeing the gauntlet, Arthur blurted out, “Hand of Justice.”

Drax asked, puzzled, “What is that?”

Arthur explained, “It is the God of Loyalty, one of the Three Holy Ones of Justice.

“His holy emblem is an iron gauntlet, representing guardianship and redemption.”

The orc nodded, then asked, “So, this is his church?”

“No.” Arthur shook his head. “It doesn’t quite look like his church.

“Besides these gauntlets, there’s nothing else in this place that can be linked to him.

“Let’s split up and look; perhaps we’ll find something.

“I’m very curious now, where is the priest?”

“Alright, Sir, please be careful.”

The two began to search the church separately.

Drax voluntarily went to search behind the chapel.

Arthur, meanwhile, checked the two rooms on either side of the hallway.

The doors to all the rooms were unlocked, or rather, almost all the doors had suffered varying degrees of damage.

Arthur chanted a spell, casting a Light spell to brighten the hallway.

He chose the room on the right first.

Just as he was about to push the door open, the church’s main door was pushed open.

Heir walked in from outside.

Seeing Arthur, she asked, puzzled, “Is Father Dragan not here?”

Arthur shrugged and replied, “I haven’t found him.”

The young girl looked at Arthur’s glowing staff and exclaimed, “Your divine magic is truly practical.”

“If you want to learn, I can teach you,” Arthur said.

The young girl was first stunned, then laughed, “And become a Shanteya follower?

“No, I’ll pass. I’m not exactly favored by the gods.”

“Mother Earth is a benevolent deity; she will accept anyone who believes in her.”

The young girl took a candlestick from the wall, snapped her fingers, said “Fire,” and the candle lit up.

She replied, “She sounds like a gentle deity.

“However, let’s talk about this another day.

“That’s the priest’s office. Do you want to go in and look?”

Arthur was about to answer “Yes,” but on second thought, he felt it would be too rude.

So he consulted Heir, “If the priest isn’t here, where is he most likely to be?”

Heir shook her head. “I don’t come to the church often.

“You know, my godmother is a Granny.

“If others knew about this, they would burn me as a witch.

“So I try to stay away from everyone as much as possible.”

“Then we have a reason to go in and look.”

Arthur said, then pushed open the wooden door.

The office furnishings were quite simple: old tables and chairs were placed against the south wall, and above them hung a wooden holy emblem—a radiant sun.

Arthur stared at the sun emblem and couldn’t help but frown.

This was the second divine emblem he had found in this small church.

Although D&D has many deities, normally, no one would invite all deities into the same temple.

There was once a king who did just that.

He believed his citizens should have freedom of belief.

That is to say, all gods should enjoy equal status in his kingdom.

So he built a grand Pantheon, allowing all priests to serve the gods impartially.

As a result, his priests and bishops could no longer receive divine magic.

That magnificent temple quickly became twisted and corrupted—because it was cursed by all the gods.

Finally, a god named Gunnard submerged the Pantheon and the entire kingdom into the mud.

That poor king failed to understand a simple truth: you can only love one girl at a time, in the same place.

If you claim to like all girls, then none of them will like you.

At this moment, this joke seemed to be replaying in this small church.

“Is that the emblem of the Lord of Dawn?” he asked Heir.

The young girl nodded. “It should have been brought by previous priests.

Believers of various righteous gods come to Mist Town every year.

“Most of them choose to preach in the church, so this place is filled with all sorts of holy emblems.”

“Gods!” Arthur exclaimed, walking over to the desk to examine it.

On the table were several blank papers, two quill pens, some dried ink bottles, and a jumble of books.

From “How to Fight Demons” to “Signs of a Witch,” they were basically all exorcism-related books.

He pulled open a drawer to look inside. Although this action was quite rude, Heir clearly didn’t care.

Her attention was focused on the four-door cabinet.

The first drawer contained an empty small wooden donation box.

The second drawer contained an empty wine bottle and a hymn book of the Lord of Dawn, “Hymns of Dawn.”

The other two drawers had nothing worth noting.

Arthur asked Heir, “I haven’t found anything here. Do you think the priest might be in the graveyard?”

“No.” Heir shook her head, answering indifferently, “The strange mist has awakened the corpses in the graveyard.

“There’s nothing but mud there; he wouldn’t go there.”

Arthur felt something was off. He asked again, “Did Gedada teach you how to channel the power beneath the church, and was the priest involved?”

“He wasn’t. He’s a very stubborn person. He believes in his own god and thinks he will save everyone. Look at this.”

Arthur walked over to the cabinet. Compared to its large size, the contents of the cabinet were surprisingly sparse.

Inside, there was only a tinderbox, a few wooden boxes filled with candles, two changes of clothes, and the stack of manuscripts Heir was holding.

Arthur took the manuscripts and began to read, involuntarily gasping.

He frowned and asked, “You knew there was a problem with the church all along, which is why you suggested I come here?”

“I needed a reason to enter here,” Heir said frankly. “These things can help us win over the Sheriff.”