Bishop's Room of the Church of Holy Light.
"Your Excellency, the reports of the Numidia Mines are here. Adventurer Julia Brook from the Adventure Guild was a massive help to our troops."
"Hmm. Pass my thanks to the Guild head." Said Lorenzo emotionlessly as his eyes passed from one paper to another. They almost seemed mechanical as they passed from one paper to another.
Lorenzo was the Bishop of the Lexington sub-chapter and he had been in this position for well over thirty years. Now, in his late forties, these papers and the clerical part-time almost seemed like a second nature to him. Lorenzo was a thin, pale-skinned man with wrinkles all around his face and big dark circles under his eyes. A pair of big golden-rimmed glassed sat proudly on brim of his nose without which the task infront would've been multiple times harder.
The elderly priest who accompanied him was in his mid-fifties but by simply looking at him one could deduce that the man was still in the prime of his life. He stood tall, almost touching the 6-feet mark and had stocky body for a priest. He had far lesser number of wrinkles on his face and his hairs were all lustfully dark. His eyes were clear like water and he talked in a clear-cut tone with a distinctive Lexington accent. After all, he was a local, unlike Lorenzo who was sent by the headquarters when he was just fifteen years old to serve as the junior Bishop. But now, he was a full-fledged Bishop with the highest authority in the entire city of Lexington just after the mayor's house.
Their work continued on for a few more minutes before it was interrupter by a sudden knock in the door.
"Come in." Lorenzo answered simply as he didn't even look up from his papers.
The door opened to reveal two men, one armored from head to toe in a silvery-white steel-plated armor and the other was dressed in a light worn out leather armor. Both of them headed inside and stood in at-ease position, waiting for the Bishop.
Lorenzo finished his paper after a few minutes and looked up to face the armored man, Louie, who was the captain of their sub-chapter's knight platoon, "What do you have to report, captain Louie? I hope it is good enough for you to interrupt my paperwork." He said.
Louie gave a small nod and said in a clear tone, "Your Excellency, we have a problem." Lorenzo's brows jumped a little and he asked, "What is it?"
Louie turned to only other person who came with him. He was the leader of the only scout team of the platoon, Morgan. Morgan gave a small bow before taking out a small piece of letter from his bosom and handing it to Lorenzo
The moment Lorenzo saw the letter, his brows furrowed in interest because on the other side of the envelope of the letter, there was a giant cross under which were a few lines written in cursive, 'The Lord is Great. The Lord is Magnanimous'. Normally, there wouldn't be any such symbol on a letter but it is still strange for such writing to be there in letters, after all not even the most pious churches would waste their ink on such fake courtesy.
He promptly opened the letter and found nothing but a few lines written in it.
'Dear Lord
All preparations have been made.
Our Lord will be pleased, there is no doubt about it.
And this time for sure, there won't be any problem. No one would interfere.
I've made every possible move on my part to prevent any mishap.
The feast shant stop.
Your faithful servant.'
The letter stopped with a symbol in red. Lorenzo read the letter a few times but didn't make head or tails of it. Finally, he looked up at them and asked in an intrigued tone, "Who found it?"
Morgan answered in a calm voice, "One of my team members did, Your Excellency."
"Where?" the next question came.
"Today, at the markets." He replied, "One of my subordinates … 'retrieved' it from the one of the members of the Church of Craven when they were making their regular rounds. Their preaching has turned a lot… zealous over the past few days, almost feverish and—"
"Miracles. I've heard of it. Some of the followers have talked about their magical abilities, healing the un-healable, curing the un-curable diseases and what-not. It does seem a bit magical."
"Sir, don't you think that we should do something about it? These people of the Church of Craven are upto no good. Heck! They even seem like someone from the evil cults? Maybe demonic or devilish cult."
"Do you have some proof, Louie?" Lorenzo asked with calm eyes to which Louie shut his mouth and shook his head. Morgan beside him stepped forward once again and replied, "Your Excellency, we may not have proof but there is one piece of news that might be worth listening to."
"And what would that be?"
"Sir, one of the Silver ranked adventurer named Jovian said that he and his brother saw something weird in the backyard of the Church of Craven one night. They said that the priests of the church … performed a sacrifice with the baptized children, slit their throats and partook in devilish worship."
"Yes! That would serve—"
"That would serve as nothing!!!" Lorenzo interrupted Louie with a shout. He looked angrily at Louie to which he turned meek like a cat but didn't reprimand him anymore. He then closed his eyes for a few moments and resumed his questionnaire, a strange glint flashing across his eyes, "did they say anything else?"
Morgan nodded and replied, "the adventurer Jovian said that something similar might happen in the next week's mass baptism which Church of Craven is organizing to spread their name in the poorer sections of the society. He speculates that this mass baptism is somehow special and something bad might happen after it is completed. Something bad like death of many people in the poorer sections or—"
"We aren't concerned about the deaths here, Morgan." Lorenzo interrupted him, a cold glint flashing across his face. "We're the Church of Holy Light. It is not our responsibility to deal with the death of those scums in the slums. I want to hear some concrete evidence whether the Church of Craven is a devilish cult or not. If it means that a bunch of those scums dies, it would be more of a gain than a loss. Tsk!" he clicked his tongue in annoyance. And truthfully, to him it was alright. After all, Lorenzo was a man from the capital of Asteia, born in a well catholic family, he never saw the people who lived in the scum as people, not in the capital and definitely not in this shithole of a place called Lexington.
Morgan and everyone else, on the other hand was a local of this area and unlike Lorenzo's high thinking, they were truly worried about the lives of the people in the slums and the weaker areas.
Morgan sighed under his breath but he could do nothing else. It was beyond their power to question the words of the Bishop and definitely not of one who came directly from the upper chapter in the capital. But what he said next provided him with a little relief.
"Send a few squadrons to secure the poorer sections. Monitor them and the Church of Craven for activities. Reduce all other jobs at the moment and focus solely on them. If needs be, take a few of their … 'pious' followers and … well, you know what to do, don't you Louie." He looked at Louie with a sharp glint.
"Y-yessir!" Louie faltered for a moment but gave a straight answer.
Lorenzo then turned to Morgan and said, "As for you, Morgan, look for this Jovian and get more info. Do whatever it takes to find their secret and if they truly are a devilish cult, well destroy them once and for all. I will call for the crusader knights to send one of their elite knight squad here for the time being."
"Whoa…"
Everyone's looked surprised at the series of measures that the Bishop was taking but everyone had different attitude. The elderly priest was shocked and confused, Louie was happy that his self-declared arch-nemesis the Church of Craven was finally going to be smacked while Morgan was a little skeptical. He felt as the Bishop knew more than he was letting on. But these commands were enough for them for the time being.
…
Louie and Morgan left the Bishop's room and headed towards their training area but the moment they left; Louie couldn't help but exclaim in happiness. "Damn! Finally, we can do something about those smug bastards! For months! For months, I say Morgan, they have been mocking our teams and our church and calling us names but the damn Bishop wouldn't let me or anyone else even touch them. Damn! It almost felt like the Bishop was baby-sitting them. But now! Ha! I would show them what kind of terror we are!!!"
Morgan shook his head at the simple-mindedness of his friend. He had known Louie for nearly all his life and truthfully, no one was more simple-minded than him. He was literally a baby if not his huge muscular stature and terrifying strength which could smash a bear's face in.
"Well, at least we can do something. Better than sitting here and counting grasses." Morgan replied keeping his best friend's bright mood brighter. And to which Louie kept on babbling non-stop. But inside Morgan's mind, something completely different was going on.
'Why did the Bishop didn't pay much attention until now?'
'Why does his attitude seem more and more aloof?'
'He is a fucking Bishop for god's sake! Can't he show more benevolence to the poor people! Bah! Those rich people know nothing more than gold!'
And thus, as Louie kept on babbling his non-sensical words and plans on defeating all the evil in this world, Morgan kept on cursing the Bishop until his mind couldn't think of more curses.
…
Inside the Bishop's room, both the Bishop and the elderly priest sat silently, almost like a statute for a few seconds before the Bishop stood up from his chair and headed towards his bookshelf. Pulling a simple, ordinary book, a light clack sound emerged.
Pushing the bookshelf aside, a small path appeared to them. Lorenzo beaconed to the elderly priest who gave a small nod before locking the door and heading inside, the Bishop following him after as if the elderly priest was of a higher ranking than him.
...