In the evening church, the atmosphere was rather warm with people coming and praying on the bench. At the center of the church, behind the podium is a statue of a man dressed in nothing but one piece of cloth that covers his whole body.
The church in the Tudor district is rather grand, almost as grand as a cathedral near the Royal castle.
People often come here to pray to the Holy Sun, to rid them of their sins with his benevolent light. To let his hand reach into our souls and cleanse them with his majestic flames.
During the prayer, five people enter in an academy uniform. They came and sat in the church praying to the statue. Not long after someone approached them, a young priest.
"The sun god has heard your prayers and sent me to answer your question"
Plutus said with a warm voice, but also a dejected one. After the incident, he didn't trust his own judgment anymore. He was often praised by the Sun church as the next coming of pope, with his warm personality and decisive ruling. However, he let a heretic slip by right under him with clever words and even fooled the sun charm.
Utter disgrace!
He is the sinner, no better than those heretics. His job was to identify and capture them but he let them get by so easily. Every day, after that Plutus could be found in the fire chamber used to torture sinners. Trying to burn away all his sins.
But this day, the sun god has something for him. The Bishop came into the fire chamber and said that the god wanted him to talk to a group of 5 people from the royal academy who would be arriving on that day.
Plutus doesn't know what the god sees in him. He is only a shell of the man he once was, yet he will not argue with God.
"Praise the sun!"
Brmon starts to praise the sun, it is his main religion. The other people also follow suit.
"What brings you here?"
"I heard that about 2 weeks ago you were trying to capture a heretic" Onia spoke out "I would like to know What happened?"
Plutus sensed something, did the sun god want to put him on the case again?
"Luckily, I was on the case myself. That day We got an anonymous tip from one of the Duke that they would be a possible Heretic on the loose. We followed the lead and found out that it was the son of Duke Antores, Reeva. He was acting weird that day, after discharge from the hospital, he went into our Tudor district and dined there."
"That's impossible..." Brent said out loud unintentionally.
"That's what I was thinking. So I visit him at the Diner acting like an old friend and he doesn't seem to know that we are not.."
"Um... I'm sorry for asking but...." Brent said trying to get the priest's name.
"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Plutus Tudor, Son of Duke Tudor and priest of the sun god."
that statement five of them into stun. To be a priest, the minimum requirement was being a 2nd circle mystic. They couldn't help but look at the young priest in a new light. Some of them only got 1st circle when they were older than Plutus
"H..how old are you again?" Graash couldn't help but ask, a look of worry popping up on his face.
"I would be 15 this year sir."
Even Klad couldn't help but admire the kid. He has to have a solid understanding of mysticism to get to this point.
"Back to the capture." Plutus said "After I visited him, I had him touch the sun charm, but it didn't react"
"He's not a heretic?" This time Brent asks with a doubtful face, Plutus shakes his face.
"He is definitely one, after the case I asked why the sun charm didn't work and Father said that the sun charm only detects a heretic circle. I miss that crucial detail and end up helping him."
Plutus said with a bitter face
"After I confirm that he is not a heretic, that same day he dared to come and report a heretic sighting"
"Is that..." Onia could not help but ask
"As you suspect, it's Theia"
"She not a heretic!!" Onia screams "There must be a misunderstanding here"
"Are you doubting the church!?"
Plutus glared at her angrily, he could take responsibility for his wrongdoing, but the church could not be soiled by it. Furthermore, they doubt the church's validity, which is a serious sin if they are a devout believer.
"N...no sir I'm just.." Onia swallowed her word. "I don't believe my sister would do such a thing"
Plutus calmed down and looked at her.
"You're still doubting the church."
"I'm saying that I need proof"
Onia faced the priest head-on casting her fear aside, her sister took priority over the church.
"Proof?" Plutus almost could hold his anger "The divination priest that sacrificed his eyes is not a good enough proof?! Get out of this church right now!"
"You...!"
"Onia" Klad stood up and stopped Onia from going any further. "We appreciate the priest who sacrificed himself. However, we still have to find Theia. Do you have lead?"
Plutus doesn't like Onia girl one bit, but since they were helping him find a heretic, he couldn't deny them the information.
"We don't have a solid lead. Our divination priest can't perform anymore, and the trail has gone cold. We last saw them entering Duke Antores district and we couldn't find him anymore. You know that we don't really have a good relationship with the duke right now."
Plutus glaces at Brent for a second.
"Either he's out of town, or hiding somewhere in Antores district. You need to ask other churches to do the divination...."
However, before Plutus could finish his word, another priest came running in. He whispers something in Plutus's ears and his eyes widen.
"From the his holiness himself?"