In the early morning, on the eastern hills of Sadin Village.
"Hey, why don't you stick around a bit longer? You hardly ever come back, Walson," Father Marbon said.
"I wish I could, but there are still some things I need to take care of," I replied, placing a bouquet of flowers in front of a raised mound of earth. It was a graveyard, more like a small grassy area with scattered tombstones dotting the rolling terrain. The villagers were in the distance, busy with their cattle.
When I was thirteen and dealt with the withering issue, I encountered some deceased adventurers. I buried their remains here and also laid fresh flowers on their graves.
"Maressa rests here," a short phrase was said to me, and I felt a part of my childhood memories were buried.
"..." I fell silent as I looked at the Old Nun Grave.
"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. It wasn't suitable to discuss these things at the orphanage a few days ago, the children might overhear," Father Marbon paused, "Those kids might not be ready to accept this yet."
"Does Grace know about it?" I asked. I recall him telling me earlier that they might have told the children that the Old Nun went on a long journey or something similar.
"She found out on her own, she's always been a perceptive child," he replied.
I see, that's why Grace's eyes were a bit red the other night. It was because of this.
"How did she pass away?" For a moment, I wished I had a cigarette to ease the tension, but this world doesn't have such things. Too bad, it would've been appropriate for this moment.
"I believe she found peace, Walson. The special plants you brought, the potatoes, improved our lives greatly. Then one morning, Sister Marissa peacefully passed away," Father Marbon shared.
"That's good to hear. After all, she was quite old... It's nice that she left peacefully," I said, recalling the grumpy yet caring Old Nun who had always looked after the children.
A chilly morning breeze blew, and I watched the leaves swirling in the air, as if whispering something to the sky.
"Father Marbon, can you tell me about your background?" I finally asked the question that had been on my mind for a while.
"Hmm? Why do you want to know?" he asked in response.
"I've noticed that you can alter the information displayed by the [Stone Tablet of Identification], and it's a high-level stone at that. Normally, it always shows the truth. If you were just an ordinary person, you wouldn't have that ability," I explained.
Yeah, I was talking about Grace's Race Status. When I had tea in Nonokuta Town, this question had already been on my mind.
The [Stone Tablet of Identification] comes in different qualities. Low-tier stones can be used by individuals, and pretty much anyone with a bit of magic can modify them. That's the kind of stone I use to check my own information.
But the [Stone Tablet of Identification] used for official purposes in cities are high-level versions with strict anti-tampering measures. Yet, Grace's racial appraisal always showed her as a human, not an Endermen, which is her true race.
To have the ability to deceive high-level stones like that, you couldn't be just an ordinary person.
Or maybe it was the way Father Marbon looked at me that made me feel this way, considering my previous line of work in the past life often dealt with such people.
"Heh, I should add to what I said earlier; not only Grace, but you're pretty perceptive too," chuckled Father Marbon.
"Well, thanks for that."
"You know, that skill actually comes from my past. I used it for some shady stuff back then, but now I can put it to good use, and that's enough for me," he said.
"In my younger days, I was part of a special organization within the Vantinom-Grella branch Church. That's where I picked up these skills."
"Special organization?"
"Well, I'm not sure if it's okay to spill the beans, but maybe you'll run into a group called the [Sacrament Wardens] in the future."
"..." What a strange and twisted name, it sounds completely ridiculous.
"Simply put, they're a group that fulfills the wishes of higher-ups or fanatical folks who do some shady stuff... Tsk, maybe all religions are the same deep down. When you think about it like that, religious wars don't make much sense," Father Marbon said nonchalantly, as if it wasn't some big secret.
"Did you leave them later?"
"It's more like I escaped... I had someone I wanted to protect, you see." Father Marbon glanced at me and rolled up his sleeve, revealing a pair of engraved bracelets on his left wrist. One of those should have belonged to his wife, but now both were in Father Marbon's possession.
"However, in the end, I still couldn't protect her." For a moment, a hint of sadness flickered in Father Marbon's eyes.
It felt like something out of a soap opera, and I wanted to say that, but I could sense the weight on Father Marbon's heart.
"I'm sorry for prying into something I shouldn't have."
"Haha... It's sort of karmic for me, I guess, but it's still burdensome." Father Marbon replied, "After that, I was seriously injured and managed to escape to this place. Sister Marissa took me in... But in the end, I couldn't completely break free from the Church."
In a somewhat light-hearted tone, Father Marbon concluded the conversation.
As I watched him walk down the hill, the morning sun pierced through the mist, casting a warm glow on my face, and I found myself lost in thoughts while staring at the sky.
By the time I heard the name of this organization for the second time, I was already caught up in an unavoidable mess, but that was something that would happen much later.
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