Very quickly, Benjamin left the confession room.
He blended into the crowds that came to and fro, and left Saint Peter’s cathedral without attracting any attention.
His conversation with the bishop proved fruitful. First off, he found out that he had been cursed. Even though it was bad news, it could be said that it was better than him only finding out when something bad happened as a result of it. Other than that, today’s main harvest was information about Michelle.
After the bishop assented, he told Benjamin about news related to Michelle. Only from this did Benjamin know that Michelle was already known. Five years ago, she had already began activity in the kingdom: Ambushing noblemen, stealing treasures, spreading rumors, and encouraging heretical thoughts…...not only that, despite the Church’s hunt for her, she managed to live safely for five years, and did not have long periods of inactivity.
It can be said that the Church was being played by her like a toy, they could not even get a hold of a strand of her hair.
Until now, the Church has yet to determine her level of magic prowess. The Church thinks that she has reached the level of an archmage, if it was not a bishop or a grand paladin that faced her, they would not be able to handle her. As a result, the Church feared her very much.
To this, Benjamin only wanted to say: You guys are overthinking.
He was not sure of Michelle’s power, but if she was that afraid of just a squad of "Cleaners", how powerful could she be?
This Empty Fort Strategy had been laid out very well.
Out of all the information he received from the bishop, other than them having battled Michelle over this long period of time, the one that caught Benjamin’s attention the most was that they found all the base of operations that Michelle had been by before.
The Church has found around twenty or more abandoned bases during their hunt for her.
Benjamin has already remembered all the locations of these bases.
Right now, he was walking on the street outside Saint Peter’s cathedral, thinking of what to do next: He had to search all the twenty plus bases, this was unavoidable. But he had to be careful not to draw the attention of the Church. If his real purpose was found out by the Church, he would end up the same situation Michelle was in now.
He did not want to end up on the Church’s ‘To Purge List’ so quickly.
Because of the curse, the Church had set him up as a bait, and would naturally observe him. Trying to thoroughly search all twenty plus bases under the watchful eye of the Church was like a daydream.
He had to find someone to do it on his behalf....
"Oh yeah, didn’t you mention I had a squire, called Jeremy or something like that. How come I’ve yet to meet him yet?"
After thinking of this, Benjamin asked the system.
"Jeremy isn’t feeling well, didn’t the butler mention it this morning? Don’t you have any memory at all?" The System used this as a chance to look down on Benjamin.
"Really? A passerby that had no name, I would not normally remember what they have to say." Benjamin imitated the System’s shamelessness.
The System had no way to retort him.
But, speaking of the squire...
Benjamin suddenly realized he was not as low ranked as he thought he was in the family,since he had his own personal servant. Even though his grandmother was mean to him that was because of her personality and it had nothing to do with Benjamin. The other servants did not look down on him either just because he was born useless. Just like that random butler, he cleaned the floor and even prepared for him equipment for him to wash up. He did what he was supposed to do and his attitude was full of respect too.
This was the professional attitude that a servant was supposed to have.
As useless as he was, he was still a nobleman, and could not be compared to a servant. The scenario where a servant complains about their master’s attitude would probably only appear in novels.
"Even though Benjamin was a loser, but his life didn’t seem so bad." Benjamin exclaimed.
"A rich person and a poor person having it bad are two different things." The System had to add salt to his injury, "But I have to remind you, you only have one Jeremy, your brother has two male servants and one female servant. Your servant’s yearly income is thirty pounds, yet all three of his servants have fifty pounds. Can you still say you’re living the good life now?"
"..."
Benjamin felt like he was convinced by the system.
At that moment, he felt like his coming days will be unbearable. A life where he only had a servant whose wages were only a hundred and fifty pounds is terrible, one that commands no honor.
That his opinion of himself was damaged so quickly is a proof that the corruption of a feudal society was unable to be withstood.
Envy is definitely one of the original sins.
"Why did you suddenly mention your squire, are you planning to have him help you dig up Annie’s treasures?" The System asked, dragging the out-of-topic conversation back to the real world.
"You guessed right." Hearing this, Benjamin nodded.
Hiring another person would be troublesome, why not just find someone he trusted instead?
Even though his own squire would rouse the suspicions of the Church, but he himself was under surveillance for protection, and not under surveillance out of suspicion. The Church would put most of their attention to him, and probably would not care much about the people around him.
After leaving the Church, his also noticed there were people watching him already. Using the
water element sensing technique, he found out that one of them was a patrolling knight, accompanied by a priest in plain clothes.
These two people were what the bishop meant when he said "God will watch over you." To avoid alerting Michelle, the Church’s "surveillance" was rather lax. Benjamin could not help but feel revolted, but from another point of view it was beneficial for him as it enabled him to move freely around.
What could these two people observe? If he hid in the Lithur family house, they would not dare to get too close out of respect for the family, and they would end up not having done anything in the end.
Of course, he was not planning on taking big risks. When it was really time to move, he would play some tricks to make the Church less cautious.
"Based on what you mentioned, this Jeremy probably can be trusted?" Benjamin asked the System.
"Trustworthy indeed, but I still think he is unable to carry out this task successfully on his own."
Benjamin questioned: "Why?"
The System was hesitant, but finally, it gave an answer: "Because....he is too cowardly."
After hearing this, Benjamin was stunned.
At this moment, there was a frantic call, pulling him back to reality.
He could only see that from afar, a silhouette was rushing towards him, and in a short time, he made his way here.
"Master Benjamin, I’ve finally found you."
Looking at this person, Benjamin felt like laughing. He had a short and thin body, sharp chin and small eyes, and he wore a black vest and white shirt that most male servants would wear. But the dirty clothes gave him away, he did not look like a servant for a noble family at all, both in appearance and in spirit.
He looked like a rat, but didn’t have the wit of a rat, but only the undesirable aspects of a rat.
But Benjamin did not laugh and did not show any weird expressions.
Because the System has told him: This was his squire----Jeremy.
"What is it, Jeremy, did anything happen?" He asked with a serious tone.
Jeremy held his knees, then breathed out and said: "I’m sorry master, I was absent today because of an upset stomach, that’s why I didn’t wash my clothes, thus embarrassing you, I...."
"...."
Benjamin did not want to ask about this, he only wanted to know why he hurried his way over.
But…..oh well...
"Why did you run to me?" Benjamin asked again.
Jeremy shook his hands, then said: "Ah, it’s not me, it’s your father. Your mother and Master Grant has returned, and your father wishes to see you!"
Oh?
After hearing this news, Benjamin felt a chill in his heart. But, for this scenario, he has repeated it many times in his heart. Because of this he did not panic at all, but he was a bit nervous, just a little.
What was meant to come would come eventually.
Biological parents are probably much closer than a grandmother, but speaking of relational gaps, it was probably the biggest between parents and their children. A child would never let their parents know their true self, and parents would never reveal their many sides to their children as well.
Especially as he was the least important child in the family; and especially as it was during the most rebellious teenage years.
Based on the parts of life that the System played for him, he was like a total stranger to his father, every time they had a conversation, the atmosphere would be dull and awkward. The Benjamin previously would remained tight-lipped around his parents. This kind of act was easy to put up even if he did not have a ‘cheat code’ to help him.
After all, he has impenetrable confidence in himself now.
"Very well, I’ll go right now."
After finishing, he looked at Jeremy carefully, then suddenly said: "Oh yeah, I need you to do me a favor."
"Master, what is it?"
Benjamin thought for a while then said: "At the east of the city there is a carpenter right, I need you to go there and buy me a cross from there, be careful. Right, no sitting on a carriage, I don’t have that much pocket money for you to use."
Jeremy’s face seemed to droop down: "Ah…...Master, it’s really far from here, if I were to walk there I would only return by midnight."
Benjamin gave a kind smile and said: " No matter, walk slowly, I’m not in a hurry of wanting it."
If it was not far I would not have sent you in the first place.
These was one of Benjamin’s strategies: Have Jeremy run errands for him and do some unrelated things or things to show his devotion. If he were to do this every day, up to twenty or more times, if the Church still paid any attention to Jeremy, then they are really capable men.
Once he has diverted the Church’s attention fully, he can have Jeremy dig up Annie’s treasure.
No matter how picky the system was, it had to admit that this was not a bad plan at all.
And thus, Jeremy began his first step on his long journey with a bitter face. Benjamin did not think of anything further, but hastened his footsteps towards home.
His father wanted to see him, he could not walk leisurely all the way back.
The Lithur family house was around the uptown area, not far from Saint Peter’s cathedral. After a while, Benjamin arrived. The servant at the entrance did not say much and only bowed at him, and opened the door to let him in.
"Your father and the rest are in the living room."
The servant at the entrance reminded him.
He nodded at the servant, then walked into the living room.
The moment he his right foot entered the living room, he felt that something was off.
This atmosphere, it was rather scary.
And…...why…...were there so many people in the living room?
The table that looked long from before did not look that long anymore. An imposing middle aged man with a sullen face sat at the chairman's seat, it was Benjamin’s father. On his left hand, a row of people were seated: A well-dressed lady with a face of uneasiness, that was Benjamin’s mother, a fifteen or sixteen year old blonde who stared blankly at the table, that was his younger brother, an old lady who was rolling he eyes, that was his grandmother, then there was a middle aged man who wore silver and gold, Benjamin did not know him, then there was another blonde that Benjamin did not know either...
There were a total of around ten people, half of them, Benjamin did not recognize, and they were not from the Lithur family.
These people sat there not saying a word. The atmosphere was really tense.
Especially during the moment he entered, all their gazes came onto him, every one of them were like torchlights in the hands of a policeman, it felt like the following second they would all say "Hands in the air", then bullets would come flying.
It was obvious, all of them were here for him.
"What’s going on?"
Benjamin was rather afraid, and asked the System.
"Why are you panicking, I’ve seen this kind of scenario far too many times." The System was rather calm. After saying this, it kept silent for a while, then slowly said something that poisoned Benjamin till he was half dead.
It said: "All of them are here to break off an engagement."
"..."
Benjamin was frustrated. Why did he keep so many web novels in his computer, poisoning the mind of a smart and happy artificial intelligence, making it turn into so serious.
Even so, he could not resist, and said this to the system:
"Life has its ups and downs; don’t look down on this poor young man."