The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 145 Sponsorship and Investment
Before leaving Castelfeld, Eric had one more thing to get back.

He still remembered the route to the mage tower where the alchemists were. When he drove the carriage there and stopped at the base of the mage tower, he could still see traces of the barbecue he had had a few nights ago.

The two roasted chickens left for the alchemists lay on the ground, torn apart, missing wings and legs, and the marks on their bodies looked like they had been bitten by some kind of animal.

"So busy..."

No one greeted him. Eric dismounted and entered the mage tower, where Ferdinand and his party were indeed busy in the alchemy laboratory.

Upon seeing him approach, the alchemists' faces showed a degree of reluctance.

Eric raised an eyebrow; it seemed they had also discovered that the Pure Heart of Life was a treasure.

"I'm going back to Tallinn," he said succinctly. "Give me back my things."

“Mr. Eric.” Ferdinand, the person he had the most contact with, came forward to plead with him, “This object is extremely important to our research. We have already discovered the true life energy it contains. Could you…”

“No.” Eric refused. This was a life-saving artifact in a critical moment. Even if not for himself, he had to get his hands on it for Eileen’s sake.

Moreover, it was already agreed before fighting the BOSS that all the loot would belong to him.

Seeing that he indeed refused, Ferdinand sighed deeply, then led him to a corner of the laboratory and opened a cabinet.

Eric gasped.

The pure heart of life hangs in the center of the cabinet, covered with strange, fleshy tentacles that resemble nerve synapses, supporting the core, each part writhing.

"What a beautiful life..."

Unlike Eric, who got goosebumps all over, Ferdinand was completely engrossed in watching.

"This is the first life we ​​created, but it didn't even last an hour. We couldn't bear to throw it away, so we kept its main structure... Yesterday, Nehm suggested we try putting the Heart of Life with it, and within minutes it came back to life!"

The person beside him said nothing, and he continued, "Moreover, we discovered that this Heart of Life can actually regenerate its life energy on its own, as if it absorbs it from the air. It doesn't need water or any other substances; it just needs to be left there. Is there anything more miraculous than this? Most importantly, it was born from my theoretical achievements..."

Recalling the hardships he had endured on his research journey, Ferdinand almost cried.

Just as he shifted his affectionate gaze to the face of the person beside him, the latter expressionlessly drew his sword.

"..."

Before the tears could even come out, they started flowing back down. Ferdinand quickly returned from a state of extreme emotion to one of extreme rationality.

“Of course…it now belongs to Mr. Eric.”

Eric put away his weapon and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's good that you're so understanding. I don't like doing things in a crude way either. I'm happy to sponsor researchers like you, but I have to take this thing with me."

Ferdinand was taken aback. "What did you say?"

"I mean, I can sponsor you. If you like this, you can train another one in the same way."

This was a plan Eric had made when he left that day.

These people casually created the Heart of Pure Life. If we let them continue their research, who knows what even more advanced things they might come up with, and the Heart of Life might even be mass-produced.

Even in another world, science and technology are the primary productive forces, so of course he has to support them.

Ferdinand stared into his eyes. "Mr. Eric, are you serious?"

"of course."

"But aren't you a member of the church...?"

"So if the church knights ever notice you and come to raid your house, don't you dare say you know me." Eric patted him on the shoulder. "Got it?"

Ferdinand looked at him for a while, and finally realized that he was serious. He was extremely excited and said, "Even if I am tied to the stake, I will never reveal Mr. Eric's name!"

"Alright, alright, we won't burn people randomly anymore..."

Eric pointed to the cabinet, "Get your eldest son off my precious thing right now. If I have to do it myself, it'll end up falling apart."

Ferdinand's face turned sorrowful again, but he still nodded emphatically.

While he was busy peeling, Eric went back to the carriage outside and took out a bag of gold coins.

"They're asking you for money?" Elise asked.

"No, I'm the one who plans to sponsor them."

A strange look appeared on her face, but she didn't say anything. Molly, on the other hand, insisted on feeling the weight of his bag of gold coins.

Eric let her lift it, and she wouldn't let go once she took it. "So much! Enough to sponsor them for a lifetime!"

"Yes, from now on I'm their boss. Hurry up and give it to me."

She reluctantly returned the bag of gold coins to Eric, and after he left, she said to Elise, "If you really have too much money, you can also invest in my business. The return rate is definitely higher than those kidnapper alchemists."

Elise glanced at her, about to say that the money belonged to Eric and that she had no say in it, but then stopped herself and changed her mind, saying, "I can consider it."

Molly's eyes lit up. "Please, please consider it!"

Elise simply smiled.

Meanwhile, Eric returned to the mage tower and handed the gold coins to Ferdinand.

Feeling the heavy weight in his hands, the middle-aged Ferdinand could not hide his excitement, "After all these years, the people who value our research the most are actually from the church!"

Eric wanted to say that the church had always valued alchemists like them—from the perspective of eliminating heresy and cracking down on cults—especially since he had created such a big boss, which was definitely something that could be announced to the entire parish and reach the highest level of Lesser. After thinking about it, he decided not to scare him.

"In short, even if it's just so you can continue your research, you need to be more careful in the future and not do things like kidnapping people in the street again."

"It's just kidnapping, is it that serious?" Ferdinand asked sincerely.

"..."

"This is Castelfell," Eric reminded himself.

"It's very eye-catching."

"I understand."

"Speaking of which, how did you manage to afford to build this mage tower?" Eric asked.

“We don’t have that kind of money,” Ferdinand shook his head. “It was left to me by my teacher, and sometimes people from the academy even try to steal it.”

Eric thought for a moment and left him a school badge given to him by the moon elf, telling him to show it to the other party if he encountered trouble from there again.

Ferdinand, a proper graduate of the Star Origin Academy, immediately recognized that the large number of similar badges in Ferdinand's hand all came from the Moon Elf Archmage, and almost knelt down on the spot.

"Mr. Eric, who exactly are you...?"

“Never mind that,” Eric said, choosing to remain mysterious. “Just know that I’m your boss from now on.”

"I see……"

Ferdinand didn't ask any further questions, and then offered to sign a magic contract with Eric.

“A contract, huh?” Eric muttered. It seemed Ferdinand was treating his sponsorship as some kind of investment that required a return.

Since he brought it up himself, he has no reason to refuse.

"Okay."

As for the contents of the contract, Eric was quite lenient, only asking Ferdinand to provide him with one Heart of Life each year, aside from some minor details added on his own initiative.

The two stood facing each other. Eric extended his left hand and grasped Ferdinand's left hand, then extended his right hand across his left arm and clasped it with Ferdinand's right hand. Their arms crossed to form a yāo shape, which is said to be one of the simplest magic circuits.

Ferdinand recited an ancient phrase that Eric could understand, which roughly meant, "God of Truth, behold, we are about to make a pact."

The two clasped hands and repeated the contents of the contract. When it was over, Eric told the God of Truth in fluent ancient language that the contract had come to an end and asked the God to witness and urge both parties to fulfill its contents.

Ferdinand's eyes widened again. This was supposed to be the rhetoric he was taught, but he didn't expect Ferdinand to know it on his own.

A pale blue light emanated from their palms and flowed into their respective bodies, signifying that the magical contract had been officially signed under the witness of the God of Truth.

Yera probably wouldn't care about such a trivial matter as signing a contract in the name of another god...

Eric muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered that before leaving Lutia, Leslie had said that the alchemist who had made a magical contract with him was dead.

Although he didn't know the reason behind it, at a certain moment he sensed that the other party was dead, and the contract was terminated. Naturally, he couldn't get back the remaining payment for the alchemical materials.

"So be it."

After the contract was signed, the two let go of each other's hands.

The Pure Heart of Life had been detached from the eldest son of the Ferdinand Laboratory. Eric looked at it and saw that without the Heart of Life, the alien had also lost its activity. Although it was still trembling, it probably wouldn't last long.

The Heart of Life, which had originally been radiant with pearly luster, had dimmed somewhat, but Ferdinand said it would recover soon. "I know."

Eric put away his Heart of Life, seeing no need to linger any longer. He said goodbye to the alchemists, returned to his carriage, and drove away.

Before leaving, Ferdinand gave Eric some alchemical potions that he might need on the road, which Eric then gave to Elise to keep.

Once again, Eric rode two warhorses straight to the border between Castelfel and Dorne.

Lille's warhorses are good in stamina and not slow, but the road conditions are really bad. With two warhorses pulling the carriage, the speed is not very fast. He estimates that it will take one or two days to reach the border.

Shortly after departure, Molly got out of the carriage and sat down next to him.

She intended to do some smuggling business along the border between the two countries, and having never left Castelfeld before, she paid special attention to safety on the road this time, occasionally even noticing something amiss before Eric, who was focused on driving.

"They're coming again..."

Eric looked up ahead and saw several masked men on horseback parked by the roadside, watching their carriage from a distance, their horses slowly starting to trot.

"Sit tight," he reminded Molly, gripping the reins tightly and picking up speed. "When that skinny little guy gets close, use a fireball to knock him off."

“You can handle this, right? Just like before, jump over, slash once, and then jump back,” Molly said, but still pulled out her staff.

“I’m tired of all this running around… Damn, there are more bandits than innocent civilians on the road.” Eric swung the reins. “And magic looks scarier.”

"Alright... but you'd better not get your hopes up too high. I haven't killed anyone in a long time, so I'm a bit rusty."

Eric hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Molly gripped her staff and began to chant as the mounted bandits drew closer.

Eric glanced at the fireball condensing at the tip of her staff, then looked ahead again.

The female mage noticed and asked after finishing her chant, "What was the meaning behind that look in your eyes just now?"

"I feel like she's not as good as my sister."

"..."

Molly swung her staff, sending a fireball hurtling toward the bandit on horseback, but he dodged it by bending low.

The robbers were furious. They stood up and started cursing at them, saying that no one on this road had ever dared to lay a hand on them first.

"What do we do!" Molly, having missed her target, quickly told Eric to take care of it.

"One more shot!"

"It's too late!!"

The robber had already closed in quickly, wielding his knife, and Eric immediately drew his sword to block the blow.

Swords clashed, and the robber's eyes widened. "Pay up and we won't kill you!"

Eric, still holding the reins with his other hand and looking straight ahead, asked, "Is this your way of begging for mercy?"

"You're asking for death!" The robber sheathed his knife and slashed down again.

Eric blocked again, suddenly standing up, extending his sword and easily breaking through the bandit's defense, stabbing just below his neck, grazing the bone and piercing into his trachea.

"Well!"

The robber immediately fell off his horse and was quickly left behind by the galloping carriage and disappeared from sight.

Molly stood up, holding onto the carriage, and looked back. After a while, she sat down. "I saw his horse trample on him; he's probably dead. The others didn't dare to chase after him."

"Dead." Eric was more certain, because he had gained experience.

"Is there some large bandit group on this road? Why are we being attacked so many times?" Molly was already starting to worry about the future of the trade route.

"You're a local and you're asking me?"

"I've never been here before either."

She sighed, "The area around the academy is the most peaceful place in Castelfel because there are many mages. The south is really chaotic. I wandered over from there."

Eric glanced at her, then looked ahead. "It won't be long before the entire continent descends into chaos."

"Because the demons are heading south?" Molly asked.

He was somewhat surprised. "You knew all along?"

“There have been many rumors lately… It is said that the demons caused a great disturbance in your empire’s Lutia not long ago.”

Eric guessed that the news was spread by the merchants who had returned from Lutia.

"When war breaks out, there will be more bandits and outlaws, and business will probably be more difficult."

Molly looked worried. "Yes, unless I resell war supplies, but those things are not something I can get my hands on... Even if I had the connections, I don't have the capital."

When it came to capital, she started winking at Eric.

The latter chose to ignore it.

"Hold on to your teacher Rusdy's coattails, learn what you should learn, and pass on what you should pass on. You'll have plenty of opportunities to make a name for yourself and earn a lot of money in the future."

"No way."

Molly looked at him. "Even the teacher himself said that soul research is a narrow path, and he's the one at the very forefront, yet he sees no hope. What makes you think the teacher will be successful in the future?"

Eric couldn't explain it, but he knew that in the future, more than 90% of mages would choose the [Soul Scholar] subclass as their final choice when they reached the maximum level of 10 due to its unique characteristics.

'Soul Insight': Ignore 20% of spell defense when dealing spell damage.

"His version will be released soon."

In that version, the Soul Scholar was the ultimate answer for the mage class.

"Version?" Molly frowned.

Eric sighed, "I can't explain this to people who don't play online games... Watch out ahead, get ready for fireballs."

Molly looked up and saw several more bandits on horseback loitering by the roadside.

"Again?" Elise peeked out of the small window.

“Yeah, we’ve set up a bandit’s den.” Eric turned to look at her. “You can stay in the carriage for the rest of the journey.”

She nodded, glanced at Molly next to him, and sat back down.

Molly looked ahead and quickly became nervous. "Eric, this time several of them are coming at us together."

These small, scattered groups of bandits weren't particularly strong, but they rode fast horses and were agile. When they spotted a target on the road, they would often send one person over first to threaten and intimidate, while also scouting the situation. If things went well, they would all attack together; if not, one person could easily escape.

In situations like this where everyone rushes in at once, it's probably because they haven't made a sale in half a day and they have to pull off a big one.

Eric glanced around and saw that there were five bandits surrounding them from the front. They had already drawn their gleaming weapons and were shouting as they charged forward, probably trying to intimidate them with their imposing presence.

or……

"Molly, look behind us, are there any people surrounding us?"

She scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide, "There are two... no, three robbers chasing us!"

Eric clicked his tongue. "Can you even cast a spell in this state? Try to stop them."

"I will try my best……"

Molly held onto the roof of the carriage with one hand and gripped her staff tightly with the other. Instead of casting Fireball, she began chanting another spell.

Eric secretly used divine magic to calm the two horses, preventing them from being frightened in the upcoming battle. When he released the Holy Spirit Pendant, he could already see the bandit leader's face showing a delighted grin.

They probably mistook him for a priest with little fighting ability...

When the distance between the two closed to the extreme, Eric loosened the reins, drew his sword to block the opponent's slash, then quickly dissipated the force, pushed off the ground, and instantly appeared behind him, drawing the short sword from his left waist at the same time.

Pfft!

With his feet firmly on the horse's back, he had no time to turn around. He thrust his sword backward with his left hand, piercing the neck of the leader of the bandits with pinpoint accuracy.

"Uh!"

The other four bandits had already surrounded them, their faces filled with horror, but it was too late to retreat.

Eric drew his short sword and threw it at one of the bandits, then kicked hard on his horse and leaped at the other bandit.

Behind the carriage, a wall of fire suddenly rose from the ground.

(End of this chapter)