"I'll be waiting in the courtyard in an hour," said Felicia.
"Why don't we just immediately go away?"
"Fool, I need to prepare myself! We're going to the church, you know! You should take a bath too. You're sweaty and smelly."
Isabelle asked Felicia and Allen to deliver some letters to be signed to the Church of Fire in the city center. After leaving Isabelle's room, Allen and Felicia returned to their rooms to prepare.
Allen then remembered that one of his orders as Isabelle's slave was to "eat regularly and keep yourself clean."
The slaves' bathing place was outside the house, behind the trees beside the training ground. A river fed two large ponds from top to bottom. The upper pond was where the female slaves bathed, while the lower pool was for the men.
Allen happened to be alone at the time. People usually bathe from 5 to 7 o'clock after work.
While Allen was bathing, he noticed the Wolverlope family crest sticking to his chest.
"What exactly does that fat woman want with me?" Allen muttered.
Then, behind him, he heard the sound of a person approaching.
It was Iskaria, who was carrying a towel and clothes.
"Here's a change of clothes and a towel. Your new clothes have arrived, and the other maids have put them in your room. Then, there is also a hat. You must wear it when you go out if you don't want to get Lady Isabelle in trouble. Next time, do everything yourself."
Allen nodded, and Iskaria left.
In just 10 minutes, Allen finished his bath. He put on his clothes. It wasn't his usual clothing, so he had a bit of trouble putting it on.
It was a green robe with a small black hat and a black tunic with gold-colored edges.
Allen went straight to the front of the house. There was already a litter carriage waiting out front.
"Thank you for waiting," said Felicia when she and Rachel arrived.
Rachel wore a plain brown robe, while Felicia wore a white dress with a dark red bottom. Then she wore a wimple that covered her head.
"Allen, now you don't look like a slave. That's good. I don't have to be embarrassed to walk with you."
"Is that so" Allen replied briefly.
Then they got on a litter carriage and walked to the city.
...
Almost all the houses in the town of Earl Wolverlope were made of stone and cement, but none of the houses were up to three stories high. Hence, the only conspicuous buildings in the town were the Earl's manor house, which everyone could see on the hill, and the towering Church of Fire.
Suddenly, their carriage came to an abrupt halt. Felicia opened the curtains of her carriage window and saw many people lined up in front of their house.
"What's wrong?" asked Felicia.
Rachel got out of the carriage to see what was going on.
Felicia poked her head through the window and asked Rachel.
"What's going on, Rachel?"
"My lady, there's a judgment."
"I see... then we'll have to walk to the church. It happens to be close by, and we're also in the market district, so I wanted to take a look around."
Rachel extended her hand from under the carriage to Felicia, helping her to get off. Allen followed her.
There was a horde of people blocking the path of their carriage. Stopping the path of the nobles could get the peasants executed if the nobles wished, but it was different with the judgment. At the time of judgment, the nobles didn't even have the right to pass.
Those people were like people who open the road for someone or something to walk.
Rachel spoke to the coachman of her carriage, asking him to wait in the town square. Allen stood beside Felicia. Out of curiosity, Allen asked Felicia,
"What is judgment?"
Felicia originally wanted to say, "Are you stupid?!" to him, but she remembered that Allen had lived in a dungeon all his life, so there was no way he would know such things. So Felicia held back her cursing and explained to Allen,
"Judgment is the opportunity the church gives to the people to take back the blessings taken from them."
"What blessing?"
"Let's take a walk first. You'll see by yourself," Felicia's high-pitched tone, which she had always bragged about herself, was gone. She felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere, and it seemed that none of the other people gathered looked happy.
They walked along the edge, behind the crowd of people lined up. After walking a bit, the crowd was not as dense as before. It seemed to be intentionally dense so that no vehicles could pass by.
*Click Clack Click Clack
Even though there shouldn't be any carriages or litter that could pass by, they heard the sound of a horse-drawn carriage passing by.
"Allen, take a look," Felicia said.
Now they stopped at the side of the road like everyone else. Allen looked to the left, and there was a chariot ridden by a knight wearing a full white plate with the symbol of the fire spirit. Behind the chariot was another chariot carrying men and women, whose hands and feet were tied to the open cage. They were wearing clothes that looked dirty and bloody. Their faces were grim, and they looked scared.
"Then these people are blocking the road for that white guy to pass."
"Yes, that's the paladin of this church. He just caught a sinner, and now is the judgment for sinners."
As the carriage began to enter the crowd, the woman chained to the carriage started to shout.
"FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I PROMISE I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!"
But her screams only made the faces of the people there even angrier.
Then, when the carriage's entire body had entered the crowd, the people began to pelt the man and woman with stones.
"AkH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! AAAAA FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME!" the woman and the man shouted over and over again.
"TAKE THIS! TAKE THIS!"
"YOU ARE LOWLY HUMANS!!"
"YOU SAVAGES!"
All kinds of curses were directed at the man and woman.
Felicia tugged on the shirt of one of the men beside her and asked,
"Hey, what have they done?"
"Unwed Sex. Geez... young people these days, it's so hard to restrain their lust. If you can't afford a slave, you have to restrain yourself!"
Finally, the chariot passed in front of Felicia, and the person she had asked before threw stones at the chained man and woman.
Their bodies were bloody and their wounds so severe that their faces were even hard to recognize because they were covered in blood and wounds. The male was screaming because his right arm was broken.
Felicia then left, followed by Allen and Rachel behind her.
"I can't see this, let's go. We can't seem to look around the market for now. Hopefully, this will end quickly."
Then they continued walking to the church.
"So, why exactly did they get stoned like that?" Allen asked Rachel, because Felicia appeared to be in a bad mood.He felt it would be annoying to hear Felicia shouting while demeaning him.
"Lovemaking before marriage is a second-tier violation of church scriptures. The sin is so great that the judgment is indiscriminate as to whether it's a noble or a commoner."
"Nobles will also be punished like this?"
Rachel nodded
"Peasants, commoners, and nobles are all under the control of God. In the kingdom, the church's position is almost comparable to the royal family, and the four archbishops are council members. Committing a sin means being prepared for the consequences."
"Does that mean that both of their sins will be forgiven?"
"That's not the case. God's forgiveness never ends. As long as you live, you can ask God for forgiveness, and God will definitely forgive you if you sincerely apologize. What they are experiencing now is not 'purgatory,' but 'judgment.'"
Allen recalled what happened to him in the town of Barkaley. The people also stoned him in the town. But what happened here was a bit different. Allen remembered almost all the shouts of the people in the town, most of them because he killed their loved ones, and Allen could accept the stones because it was a form of "vengeance" from those people. Moreover, Allen wasn't taken by anyone from the church.
Still curious, Allen once again asked Rachel,
"Then why are these people angry at the two of them? Does this 'lovemaking before marriage' thing harm other people?"
Allen didn't really understand what "lovemaking" was, but from the swearing of these people, it seemed that their actions didn't hurt these people directly.
"There are two things that make it harmful to others,
First, the doctor and scholars have confirmed that lovemaking with different people can cause many diseases, including diseases that can be transmitted. Which means you can only able to lovemaking with one person in your life, and that person has to be someone you love or have married. But even though they already know, there are still stupid people who do it.
Secondly, having lovemaking before marriage means that doing so without God's consent is a big sin that not only affects these two but also those around them. So people do this as a deterrent and a threat so that no one else does it again." Rachel explained.
'So we didn't join in stoning them because Isabelle's house is far from here. Could that also be why Isabelle put her house on the hill? Because she doesn't want to be affected by these sinners.' Allen thought.
They finally arrived in front of the church.
The church building was bigger than Isabelle's manor house but not more magnificent. The walls of the church were not painted. From the outside, many long windows could be seen. In the church's entrance, many connected chairs were arranged neatly inside, and several people were sitting there. Many people were going in and out of the church, but most were children wearing the same clothes.
They entered the church. It was pretty spacious inside, and the ceiling was very high.
When they arrived, they were approached by two priests. The priests wore white clothes and red ornaments that covered almost all of their bodies, including their heads. Women wore a veil attached to something similar to a crown on their heads. The men wore something like a small hat on their heads.
"Welcome, Lady Felicia. We heard about your arrival from Lady Isabelle the other day," said the priest.
"I see. Do I have to see the bishop today?" asked Felicia,
"With all apologies, the bishop is busy due to today's judgment. If you wish to see him, please wait inside," said the priestess.
"No need. I don't have any special needs with the bishop either. After he signs the letter, give it to me. I'll pray for a while." said Felicia.
The priest bowed and left.
"Are you going to pray first?" asked Rachel.
"Yes, while we're here, I'd like to pray for Mr. Waldo's safety."
"..."
Felicia moved to the front seat and sat down.
She's bowing her head, folding her hands, and closing her eyes.
"Is she praying now?" asked Allen.
"Yes. By praying, we can ask God for anything."
"What does that mean? Will God grant any request?"
"Not really, but at least by praying, your heart will keep calm, and we are also given hope that the prayer will be granted. It's better than doing nothing."
Allen still didn't understand, but he chose to keep quiet for now. He felt stupid for keeping asking Rachel such basic questions and decided just to read the book when he could later.
Ten minutes passed, and Felicia finished her prayer. And coincidentally, one of the priests who welcomed them, the male one, had already come and handed Felicia his letter."
"I accept your hard work. Please return."
The priest bowed and placed his hand on her chest.
"May God bless you and grant your prayers, Lady Felicia." Then he left.
But there was no way her prayer could be granted, as she prayed for someone who was already dead.