Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

January 1351, 1, another Monday.

Emlyn White got off his carriage, looked at the sun obscured by clouds and mist, and put on a half-high silk hat.

On the way to the church entrance, he gently turned the ring on his left hand. The core of this ring was a Sequence 3 Beyonder characteristic of "Master Summoner". For Emlyn, who was preparing for promotion, he could completely obtain the Beyonder characteristic required for promotion by shattering this ring.

But he didn't intend to do so, because this ring represented not only a powerful seal, but also the proof of his status as the original ancestor's follower!

This was a magical item bestowed by the First Ancestor himself. If he shattered the ring, wouldn't it mean that his faith in the First Ancestor was not devout enough? So even if he could never be promoted to Sequence 3 in this lifetime, Emlyn would not shatter the ring!
With this thought in mind, Emlyn walked into the Harvest Church and automatically took off his hat.

At this time, Kasimir, Oness and other Backlund vampires who were waiting for Bishop Utravsky's sermon stood up one after another, looked at the ground in the aisle, and spoke in a low voice:

"Good morning, Your Excellency the Earl."

Emlyn's eyes swept across the group of vampires. He knew that their respect was not from the heart, and was even somewhat reluctant. The reason was very simple - people can always understand a stranger who has nothing to do with them succeed, but it is difficult to tolerate the people around them to succeed as well.

Because strangers have nothing to do with them, they are just a topic of conversation and jokes after dinner. But friends are people who are closely related to them. When a friend gets promoted, they will feel disappointed, envious or even jealous, and have dark thoughts like "Why is it him and not me?" and "He is just lucky, I can do the same if I change to him."

This mentality is normal and most people are like this.

Of course, no matter what these vampires think, it doesn’t matter whether they are envious or jealous.

Because Emlyn didn't care.

Anyway, no matter what they think, they cannot change the fact that Emlyn White is already a Sequence 4 demigod, a genuine vampire earl, and a favored one chosen by the First Ancestor!
No matter how difficult it is for other vampires to accept it, they must bow their heads and call him "Your Excellency" when they see him.

Rather, Em actually wanted to see this expression on their faces, the expression that was jealous of him but had to respectfully call him "Your Excellency".

Emlyn White was secretly pleased, but on the surface he looked straight ahead with a serious expression and nodded slightly:

"Is Mistral not here yet?"

"Count Mistral has a small chapel in his home," Ernes explained briefly.

Emlyn did not comment on this behavior. He just walked forward and said casually:
"But you still have to come here when Mass is held."

He glanced around and then said:

"Where is Bishop Utravsky?"

"The bishop is waiting for you in the back. The messenger from the church has arrived." O'Ness controlled his facial expression and answered Emlyn's question respectfully.

The church's messenger... Emlyn turned the light red ring on his left hand and walked to the back of the church.
-
Bayam, Church of the Waves.

Alger, wearing a bishop's robe embroidered with lightning and wave symbols and a metal storm holy emblem, stood on the top of the bell tower, looking out at the city not far from Bayam.

There used to be a primeval forest there, but now the forest and the surrounding hills and mountains have been flattened one by one, replaced by a city with a bold and rough style. In the center of the city stood two tall towers, one dome and one spire, both of which were a strange silver color, reflecting a slightly dazzling light under the sun.

Surrounding the twin towers, there are many cement roads, which lead to buildings made mainly of stone or connect to wide squares and training grounds. Green trees have been planted along the roadsides, giving people a feeling of prosperity.

That is the New Silver City, a city of miracles built by Mr. Fool's followers - this is not an adjective, but a city built by a real miracle.

Every building and every street there was obtained by the residents of Silver City through prayers to Mr. Fool.

It can be said that miracles are happening almost every moment in the new Silver City, showing the miracles of the Fool.

It was precisely because of these miracles that even ordinary people could see with their own eyes that the residents of Bayam instinctively began to believe in The Fool.

Because the natives of Blue Mountain Island have deeply realized that Mr. Fool is a true god who can be compared with the Lord of Storms and other beings, and this true god is extremely kind and generous - He will even grant houses and food to his believers in a miraculous way to save them from hunger and cold!
For ordinary people, they are not clear about the significance of faith to gods, and they do not understand what the difference is between the powers held by gods.

They only know that The Fool is so kind and generous. Can other gods do the same?
Since other gods can't do it, why shouldn't I believe in the 'Fool' but the god you mentioned?

Such views were not only circulated among the natives, but were also spreading rapidly among the residents of Stormlord.

As the cardinal of the Rorsted Archipelago, Alger was well aware of this - after all, the number of believers who came to the Church of the Waves to pray recently was already one third less than usual.

You have to know that the Church of the Waves is the main church of the Rorsted Diocese. Those who can come here to pray are all upper-class people in Bayam, most of whom are either rich or noble. If even the number of these "elite" believers is reduced by one-third, the loss of lower-level believers will only be more serious.

If it were an ordinary cardinal, he would probably have taken measures by now. Even if he couldn't attack the Church of Fools head-on, he would definitely find a way to curb this trend.

But Alger is obviously not an ordinary person.

Although he also reported the situation here to the headquarters, he never took any initiative to take any action.

After all, Alger was devoted to the Church of Fools, and was an old acquaintance of the Archbishop of the Church of Fools, Derrick. He could even be considered half of Derrick’s teacher. For example, most of the information about the mysterious world that Derrick knew was basically provided by him.

Under such circumstances, expecting Alger to deal with the Church of Fools was pure daydreaming.

So even though Alger is still in the Storm Church, this is only temporary.

The reason why he chose to stay was actually simply to maximize his profits and squeeze out the value of the Storm Church.

For example, as a cardinal in charge of a diocese, Alger could easily "save" some money for himself, and in the previous war, the mines, plantations, spice estates and factories on the Rorsted Islands were all sold at prices below their value. As long as one had the ability to buy them, he could make a lot of money after a while!
More importantly, the Storm Church Headquarters also had a great interest in the extraordinary properties and potion formulas sold in Silver City and Moon City, and provided a large sum of money for purchase. As for the person who handled it, it was undoubtedly the Cardinal Alger Wilson of the Rorsted Diocese. Some losses in such a process were inevitable and understandable.

In secret, Alger had already planned a complete plan to "jump to the Church of Fools". Not to mention that he also had the promise of Derrick, the Archbishop of the Church of Fools, that as long as he jumped to the Church of Fools, he could be transformed into the Archbishop of the Church of Fools on the spot.

Of course, Alger had another reason to stay. He needed to complete Mr. Fool's mission.

Alger was very familiar with the theory of the First Fire's creation. After all, although he did not propose this theory, he had personally experienced the world created by the First Fire through the Dream World, and he also participated in the compilation of the "Words of Fools", so he was very familiar with this theory.

Because of this, no one is more suitable than him to complete the task of rebuilding the Book of Storms for the Storm Church.

Of course, just compiling is not enough, he also needs to confirm the circulation of the new version of "Storm Book" in the Storm Church. And the most ideal situation, of course, is that the Storm Church accepts the new version of "Storm Book" in its entirety.

But for now, there is no consensus within the Church of Storms, and a small number of diehards are determined to resist the new edition of the Book of Storms.

Of course, such rhetoric could only fool ordinary believers, but not Alger.

As an organization that believes in the Lord of Storms, the Church of Storms naturally respects the Lord of Storms in everything. As long as the Lord of Storms personally sends down the oracle, there will be no discordant voices within the church.

As the whole world began to promote the 'First Fire Creation Theory', the Storm Church, as the only exception among the Orthodox Churches, showed chaos throughout the process. In fact, it just represented the attitude of the Lord of Storms. On the one hand, He wanted to show goodwill to Mr. Fool and had the idea of ​​joining the united front, but He was wavering and seemed to be considering other options.

It can be said that the divisions within the Church of the Storm are actually a reflection of the vague and ambiguous attitude of the Lord of the Storm himself.

Alger declined to comment on this.

Although he thought the Storm Lord's hesitation was foolish, he would not judge the gods casually.

Especially for the Storm Lord who was known for his 'temper', the word 'indecisive' should not appear in his dictionary. So when Alger witnessed the current chaos in the Storm Church, he even doubted whether the Storm Lord had been replaced.

Because Alger didn't think the Lord of Storms would be so foolish as to be indecisive, but the facts were right in front of him and he had to believe it.

Perhaps the Lord of Storms has really become indecisive, or perhaps there is something hidden that he does not understand.

The matters of the gods were too far away. Even if Alger guessed the inside story, he had no power to intervene. It was nothing more than a fuss. Therefore, compared with the attitude of the Lord of Storms, he cared more about the matter at hand.

Alger looked at the city that was thriving with vitality, and a keen sense of crisis rose in his heart:
As cities that were able to take root in the God-Forsaken Land, Silver City and Moon City’s residents are almost all Beyonders.

There were also quite a few demigods, seven of them when they left the God-forsaken Land.

After the war with Feysac, the City of Silver acquired a large number of Sequence 4 Beyonder Characteristics. Now, the number of demigods has reached thirteen, and there are even four Sequence 3 demigods!
Unconsciously, Mr. Fool's power has grown to a level comparable to that of the Orthodox Church. Even if there is a certain gap, it is only due to the accumulation of a long history.

"If I hadn't experienced these changes myself, I wouldn't have believed it."

Alger sighed in his heart, but his heart was not so calm.

Because although Mr. Fool hopes to see the Church of Fool grow stronger, it may not be a good thing for Alger.

Because the Church of Fools has thirteen demigods, it means that even if Alger switched to the Church of Fools, he would only be one of the fourteen archbishops, one in fourteen! As time goes by, the denominator will get bigger and bigger.

When he joins the Church of Fools, many more demigods will be born, one fifteenth, one sixteenth, or even one twentieth.

The more people there are, the more the authority Alger will have as archbishop will be diluted.

Therefore, he must improve his strength as much as possible and accumulate as many merits as possible before going to the Church of Fools.

Only in this way will he have the opportunity to serve as the head archbishop of the Church of Fools in the future - or even the 'Pope' of the Church of Fools!
The position of the 'Pope' can be held by 'The Sun', so why can't I, 'The Hanged Man', do it?

"Your Excellency, Cardinal."

A captain of the Mandated Punisher team walked up to the bell tower and said respectfully:

"Someone has arrived from Storm Abyss. It's Archbishop Yann Kautman."

"Hmm?" The Hanged Man frowned slightly and said calmly:

"I'll go over now."
-
Three o'clock in the afternoon, in the ancient palace above the gray fog.

On both sides of the mottled long table, crimson rays of light rose simultaneously, freezing into the figures of Tarot Club members including 'Justice', 'Lovers', 'Hanged Man', 'Sun', 'Magician', 'Hermit', etc.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool."

Audrey looked around, stood up as usual, lifted her skirt, and bowed to the head of the mottled long table:
"Happy New Year."

Then, she went through the usual greetings with the other members with a small smile.

It had been a long time since Sun Derrick had calculated time by silently counting his heartbeats. He only needed to look at the wall clock to know exactly how long it would take for the Tarot gathering to be held.

At this time, he waited until Miss Justice finished greeting him, then stood up with the other members of the Tarot Club and bowed to the head of the bronze table.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool."

Emlyn the Moon glanced around and said:

"I want to know if the 'cultivator' and 'moon' paths are special compared to other paths?"

After asking the question, he added quite frankly without disguising himself:

"I recently learned that the internal system of the Earth Church is different from the normal one. It is divided into two parts: the God-favored and the God-loved..."

After 'Moon' Emlyn finished his brief description, 'Hanged Man' Alger, 'Hermit' Cattleya, 'Star' Leonard and the others looked at each other, and none of them could give a reasonable explanation.

Of course, every member present, including Derrick the Sun, could hear that something was not right with the internal system of the Church of the Earth.

Because for other churches, they usually vigorously cultivate extraordinary people who follow the same path as the gods, but the Church of Mother Earth is just the opposite.