A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 176: The Master of Clear Soup
Inside the museum, the man's domineering voice was incredibly grating.

"I heard a click, that was the sound of a camera shutter—you motherfucker, still trying to deny it?!"

The man he accused appeared quite innocent.

"I didn't take a picture, he misheard."

The two had been arguing for a while, and seeing that the tourists who came to watch were about to block the road, two law enforcement officers stationed at the entrance came to mediate.

The identity of the man being secretly photographed needs no further explanation. He was personally brought in by one of the law enforcement officers. He was the deputy director of the Department of Construction, Transportation and Urban Development at Eswell, the second-in-command of a powerful department. The law enforcement officers should have unconditionally favored him.

But the person he accused was a priest, and judging from his attire, he was no ordinary priest. He wore a long, matte black robe and a half-grown, half-decayed tree crown pendant. Anyone familiar with the Church of the Holy Tree would recognize that this was clothing worn only by high-ranking priests.

Senior priests are what are called priests. Apart from the Death and Apostles, the division of priesthood in major religions is roughly the same. Usually, there are no more than three senior priests in a city, who are in charge of the chapels. Above them is the city bishop of the cathedral.

The Church of the Holy Tree, a priest, a young man, holding a camera.
The two law enforcement officers immediately recognized who this guy was, and they were filled with dread, realizing they had met their match!

Sissa is too famous in the Eswell police force. The damage he has caused to the city's sex industry is comparable to that of the "King of the Underworld" in a certain country in another world. Yet, no one can touch him. The Church of God has an extraordinary status. Apart from the Academy, who dares to provoke them?

The law enforcement officer intended to smooth things over.

"Father Sissa, could you let us check the camera?"

Although they tried to smooth things over, they still favored the officials.

"Inspection?" Sissa refused to cooperate. "The camera contains film, which needs to be developed before it can produce an image."

Cameras are valuable items in this world; even the old camera in Sissa's possession is worth a considerable sum, and most people can't afford it. The law enforcement officer, of course, didn't know how to develop photos, so he turned to the official and asked:
"Sir, what were you doing just now?"

This question is pointless. Anyone with eyes can see what happened just by looking at the lipstick mark on his face. He was smacking his lips in the corner.

The woman behind him was very young, not much older than Celia. She was old enough to be the daughter of an official, so they were obviously not husband and wife. It was understandable that he was so anxious at this moment.

While Eswell officials are not accountable to public opinion, public opinion can influence legislators. This is an election year, and if a deputy minister is caught taking his mistress to a museum and openly kissing her, such an incident could make the news, and someone might try to fire him to win votes, since Parliament has the power to appoint government officials.

"I'm learning the elegant language of the Western Continent," the official chose to deny.

The law enforcement officer thought to himself, "That's really impressive. When learning elegant language, you have to learn it together."

"Then why are you afraid of having your picture taken?" Sissa's voice was gentle, as if offering guidance. "Isn't it a wonderful thing that Deputy Minister White of the Department of Construction, Transport and Urban Development is so eager to learn?"

When his identity was exposed, the official's face flushed red.

Sure enough, the onlookers' gazes changed as soon as they heard he was a high-ranking official. Hearing the uproar from the crowd, he disregarded his image and directly ordered the law enforcement officers: "Confiscate his broken camera!"

Sissa smiled and carefully protected the camera.

“You have no law enforcement authority over me. If you have any objections, you can submit a written application to the Church of the Sacred Tree on Third Avenue, and we will provide feedback on the outcome within three months.”

The two law enforcement officers were at a loss, looking around in great difficulty. Sissa was absolutely right; religious personnel have diplomatic immunity, and matters generally require the intervention of Parliament, or even being reported to the Academy.

The Holy Tree Cult is the state religion of the Philip Empire. Given the antagonistic relationship between the empire and the various states of the Southern Continent, the Holy Tree Cult faces numerous inconveniences in the South, and like the Deep Sea Cult and the Death and Birth Cult, which have few followers, it is not favored by the government. However, the situation in Aishwell is unique—because of the blasphemous doctrine that 'God is a more powerful being,' the academy and the major churches have a terrible relationship. Due to this mutual dislike, Aishwell has an exceptionally small number of clergy; they operate on a "you don't bother me, I won't bother you" principle.

Aswell had almost no missionary activities, so for many years the government and clergy lived in peace, without the internal power struggles over religious issues that occur in other countries. This also made the city government even less willing to provoke the religion, until the emergence of such an anomaly as Sissa.

"What are you standing there for? You idiots, do you want your superiors to get yelled at?!" The official wanted nothing more than to slap the two law enforcement officers.

He didn't want to provoke a priest, but if the photo were published, he might lose his job. Elon, who was running for Congress, was a rare upright person, at least in his public image, and he didn't want to become a victim of Elon's political posturing.

"Cocoa"

The law enforcement officer stood there, steeling himself: "If the Holy Tree Cult causes trouble..."

Sissa immediately blatantly lied: "This camera is a sacred object of our religion. Taking it away is considered a provocation against the Father!"

The two officers were dumbfounded. "Are you kidding me? You're a priest? Openly using God the Father to excuse yourself? Do you really have faith in your god?"
But there was nothing he could do. He was a priest, and if he said the broken camera was a sacred object, it was as if the religion was endorsing the camera. If the law enforcement officers were to openly steal it, it would be a diplomatic incident. If things really escalated, the two law enforcement officers would definitely not come out on top.

"What the hell do you want—"

Just as the official was about to lose his temper, a dark-haired man stepped out from the crowd.

"Quiet down. Loud noises will affect the arcane matrix, especially the preservation of old artifacts. The academy didn't put these treasures here for you to destroy." He frowned and unhappily showed a school badge.

Upon seeing his dark academic robes, the two law enforcement officers' eyes immediately brightened.

Great! It's the academy's Chief Stewmaster! We're saved!

"What happened?"

The law enforcement officer hurriedly recounted what had happened, using very careful wording to avoid offending either side.

Quinn nodded slightly and first pointed at Sissa. "You, take out the film."

Xisa looked at him with amusement.

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Quinn. I’m so sorry I didn’t have a chance to greet you at last night’s dinner.” As he spoke, he opened the camera’s cover, took out a roll of black film and handed it to Quinn. “What are you planning to do with this? This is the first generation of Imperial Seagull brand cameras, which is over seven hundred years old. The developing process is very complicated and takes a whole day.”

"I can watch it without washing it."

"So magical?"

"Don't concern yourself with arcane matters."

Quinn took out his wand, pointed at the film reel, muttered incantations, closed his eyes for a moment, and then looked at the official.

He didn't say what was in the film, but said coldly:

“I haven’t seen the deputy minister on the museum’s staff list.”

The museum's special exhibition at the Arcane Festival involved the Academy, so Quinn's statement was impeccable. However, he was essentially questioning, 'Why are you, a high-ranking official, showing up at an exhibition with women on such an important day?'

The official, being shrewd, naturally understood the hidden meaning in the words and quickly excused himself, saying, "I just came to do some inspection. I didn't expect to encounter such a bad fellow."

"So, what do you want to do?" Quinn asked, holding up the roll of film.

The official was all smiles; it's always family helping family. He'd just heard Sissa greet him and assumed they were on good terms, but now it seemed only an arcane mage from the academy could stand up for himself. Even a dog of the cult would get kicked if it passed by.

"Delete them! Delete them! They must be deleted!" he shouted. "If those secretly taken photos aren't deleted, how can this city have a bright future? How can it have a promising future?"

So Quinn used his wand to dab some more film and returned it to Sysa.

"deleted."

"Deleted?" The official thought, "You didn't even chant the incantation."

“Don’t concern yourself with arcane matters.” Quinn changed the subject: “Why would a minister of the Department of Architecture, Transportation and Urban Development come to inspect a museum?”

With the photo deleted, the official was in high spirits, guessing that the college man was using this as an excuse to pretend to blame both sides to make Sysa feel more balanced. So he was happy to cooperate and forced a smile, saying, "It was requested by Congressman Elon at the meeting."

Elon?

Quinn, his expression unchanged, continued, "When was the request made?"

"This morning," the official said earnestly, "not just me, but all the ministers are making inspections. Museums, convention centers, airports, and other similar venues."

This guy doesn't seem to be lying.

He was also present at the museum before the time rewind, so the same thing that Elon held a morning meeting may have happened.

But why did the officials arrive early today?

"Traveling around with women?" Quinn glanced at the woman hiding behind the official, barely daring to breathe. "She certainly knows how to enjoy herself."

"Haha," the official chuckled awkwardly, "I was originally inspecting the airport, checking on the progress of the stage setup for the gala. But as you know, there's no way there could be any problems at the airport; everything's normal, and the work is being completed quickly, so I stopped by the museum while I was there."

"Normal? You haven't been slacking off, have you?"

The official thought to himself, "You're just a stinky college teacher, you're really meddling in everything."

But they dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction. Offending the cult was one thing, but offending the academy meant they were ready to retire.

"Of course not! Sir, you can ask him. Mr. Elon was here this morning too. He was supervising everything, including the Eye of Grindelwald, the stage, the audience passageways, and the sound transmission array!"

Quinn stopped looking at him.

"Pay more attention to your appearance in the future."

It means you can leave now.

The official bowed and scraped repeatedly, gave a brief greeting, and then left with the woman. He didn't want to linger, after all, there were so many people watching, and Sissa wasn't the only one at the museum with a camera.

“Wait,” Sissa suddenly spoke up, “She wants to stay.”

He pointed to the woman behind the official.

Everyone present was stunned. Even Quinn looked at him in bewilderment. Then Sissa continued, "Miss, would you be interested in learning about the great Heavenly Father?"

(End of this chapter)