Auriel was in his room again, sitting on the couch while leaning his head back. He was patting Loki, who was on his lap while thinking about what happened just a moment ago.
Right now, he was very much mentally tired after his talk with Bishop Kastor which lasted an hour more when Bishop Kastor saw his ability.
As if he was a different person, Bishop Kastor's dead eyes widened, filled with vigor as he watched the black thread of Auriel. Then he tried to do everything he could to make Auriel join the Afterlife Church and became a faithful member.
Bishop Kastor said that Auriel's ability was a blessing from the God of Afterlife. As most of the deathly, ominous abilities fell into the domain of God of Afterlife, and Auroel's ability was one of the darkest abilities Bishop Kastor had seen, in short, it was like that of a blessing of God.
But all of the efforts of Bishop Kastor went down the drain as Auriel rejected them all. He didn't like the idea of becoming a dog of the church because being the dog of the Macien kingdom was more beneficial.
Hence all Bishop Kastor could do was slump his shoulders and leave the mansion, though not without leaving a few words of bribe. Which made Auriel's eyes shine with greed, but without showing it to Bishop Kastor, he rejected him again.
And now, he was in a dilemma.
Being a dog of the church was beneficial to being separated from the Weaver family and being independent. He still feared that someone would notice his different behavior from the original Auriel and burn him at the stake as a highly intelligent Parasitic fiend that possessed this body.
He didn't care about celibacy as he wasn't a horny teenager but an old man with the mentality of 60 years old. Even though his body was young and filled with vigor, he knew how to keep his dick in check.
One of the things he thought he would get at the church was the highly diluted divinity of a divine being.
When he came to this world, he drank the divinity-infused water and became Candidate. Hence with simple logic, he thought that if he drank it more, he could easily rank up. So, becoming a 'believer' of God of Afterlife might work wonders on his journey to power.
But there were a few things that might prevent him from going to the church.
One of them was the Weaver family members. They might not like the fact that Auriel became the man of the church instead of the kingdom. As the heir of the Weaver family, Auriel's loyalty to the Macien kingdom might be questioned if he joined the church.
And there was a problem with Elise. Auriel knew that she didn't like the Afterlife Church and might have connections with the Church of Life. Hence, he concluded that if she follows him, that may cause trouble for him.
He turned his head to the right and watched Elise's behavior.
She was also sitting on the couch with her hand in her lap, and she had lowered her head with clear nervousness.
"Now, it is time for you to tell me about yourself. Keep it short only tell your connection with the Church of Life and your blindfold." Auriel said, and at the same time, Elise's head snapped towards Auriel with momentarily violent shaking.
Then she lingered for a minute and her lips trembled slightly before parting. She stuttered. "My- My father is a Paladin of the Church of Life… And I believe in the Goddess of Life."
(You can look at the auxiliary chapter to find out more about the churches and titles.)
After saying this, Elise lowered her head further until her forehead hit on above her knees.
"Is that it?" Auriel asked calmly. He expected that Elise would be some sort of Saint or that her relatives would be Cardinal or something equal to Cardinal. But hearing that her father was just a Paladin, was a bit anticlimactic. The title of Paladin was given to the Masters, which means that Elise's father was just a Master.
Elise turned to Auriel without lifting her head with a hesitant expression. "You aren't angry that I am a believer of the Goddess of Life?"
Auriel shook his head. "No. I don't care." Then he tried to break Elise's faith with harsh truths. "But are you okay with being a believer of a Goddess that doesn't even help the daughter of her Paladin?"
Elise opened her mouth to retort but she closed her mouth without uttering a word and buried her face again.
Auriel shook his head and leaned back couch again with a smile on his face.
He didn't really care about Elise's religion as he was sure that he could change her target of faith. All he needed was some time to wash her brain thoroughly.
"You don't need to worry about your religion. Just make sure that no one else knows when we are in the-" Auriel abruptly stopped speaking and held the strings of Loki, who was on his lap.
"How is your life in the Weaver mansion? Did you get used to it?" Auriel changed the conversation naturally while Loki suddenly took off from Auriel's lap and flapped his wings robotically. Then without making any noise he cut through the air and opened the door with his big claws.
Suddenly a woman fell to the ground when the door was opened by Loki.
Loki pushed the door like a robot, closing it, and Auriel got up from the couch. Then he stopped in front of the woman and crouched. He grabbed her hair, lifting her face to his.
"Hello there, Daisy. How are you doing? Did you listen to us well?"