The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 245 Letters from afar
Looking at Eric's outstretched hand, Natalia hesitated for a moment, but then took it, and was pulled onto the small boat by him.

As soon as she stood firm, he let go of her hand, and the two sat facing each other on the small boat. Kasha, in her owl form, perched on Eric's shoulder, and all three looked toward the giant ship, the Queen Vermeer, which required them to crane their necks to see.

Another priest descended the rope ladder, bowed to the two dignitaries, and then ordered the boatman, "Return to shore."

wow——

The oars pushed through the waves, and the small boat carrying a few people gradually moved away from the Queen Vermouth, weaving through the bustling bay.

Their luggage was still on the boat, and someone would deliver it to their lodging later. The small boat carried four people and a bird. It didn't have a deep draft, but the bottomless water on both sides was still chilling to behold.

Natalia tried her best not to look at the sea that was so close to her, keeping her gaze straight ahead, while Eric sat opposite her.

"Are you a monk from the Westwind Cathedral?" He started a conversation, but not with her; instead, he chatted with the young clergyman next to him.

"Yes, Your Highness the Saint."

"How many years have you been cultivating?"

"It's been almost seven years, Your Highness..."

Watching others become tense is the best way to relieve one's own tension. Natalia looked at the young monk who was sitting upright with his body tense and suddenly relaxed a lot.

"Did you know I was coming?" Eric asked again.

“Yes, Your Highness. The knights who escorted you arrived in Westwind City several days ago, and we have been waiting for your arrival,” the monk replied.

"is it?"

Eric looked towards the shore. "Is a welcoming ceremony prepared?"

"Yes, Your Highness. The cathedral and the governor's office have prepared a ceremony to welcome you and Grand Princess Natalia."

Natalia sat up straight, while Eric chuckled, “Looks like the captain wasted his money. With us on board, the pilot will definitely get the Queen Vermeer to shore first.”

“In that case, we don’t need to take a small boat ashore first,” Natalia said.

Eric pursed his lips. "I thought of that too... but we're already on the ship, let's get ashore first."

Natalia said nothing, but looked at another giant ship that was gradually approaching behind him.

The small boat moved smoothly through the bay, surrounded by other small boats going in the opposite direction, carrying sailors, peddlers, merchants, prostitutes, or clergy going to another ship for quarantine—it was quite a lively scene.

"It seems that those ships that don't have the opportunity to dock replenish their supplies in this way," Eric said, watching a small boat full of food pass by.

"Can't we even wait in line?" Natalia's gaze followed the small boat, wondering where it would head.

"You'd have to ask a local."

It took the young monk a moment to realize that the Holy Maiden was referring to him. He quickly apologized and said, "Without a pilot, it is absolutely forbidden to dock without authorization. And with so many ships entering the port every day, the pilot has the complete say in choosing which ship to guide to dock or anchor in the anchorage."

"The fact that this kind of small-boat transport service is so well-developed shows that it's common for boats to be unable to dock," Eric added.

"Yes……"

Natalia didn't say anything, and once the small boat had passed out of her sight, she looked away.

“Who are those people who look like they’re in a hurry?” Eric gestured to a few middle-aged men on another small boat who seemed to be heading to a larger ship.

“They are merchants, Your Highness.” The young monk made his judgment after a glance. “They are eager to see what new goods have arrived at this port. If the price is right, the ownership of the goods on board may have already changed before the ships are even in the queue.”

“Then… what about the people on that ship over there?” Eric pointed to another ship.

The young cultivators could also draw conclusions with just a glance and speak eloquently about them.

Eric became interested in him. "You know quite a lot. Judging from your appearance, you're probably not from a commoner background. Which family are you from?"

The monk bowed. "I am Braden, the second son of Duke Leo."

Leo, from the noble family of the Twelve Knights?
Not only Eric, but even Natalia was surprised. "Duke Leo's second son? I've never seen you in Lutia before?"

The young monk calmly replied, "I am the Duke's illegitimate son. My mother was just an ordinary maid in the Duke's mansion. After she became pregnant, the Duke gave her a sum of money so that she could escape to the south."

escape……

Natalia remained outwardly calm, but through his choice of words, she had already inferred the possible persecution that Duchess Leo might have inflicted on her and her son.

“Although we will keep it a secret for you, aren’t you being too casual about revealing your identity?” Eric looked at him.

Braden bowed to him. “Your Highness need not worry. After Lutia fell and the Duke fled south to Westwind, he recognized me as his son. Now, my mother is living with the Duke again.”

“The Duchess is quite generous,” Eric said.

"My late wife died of illness on her way south."

"Oh……"

No wonder...

Seeing Natalia nodding silently, Eric didn't pry into her private affairs, but instead inquired about the Duke's situation.

Brad answered methodically, and the tension on his face gradually lessened.

Before long, the small boat arrived at the harbor dock.

The boatman threw a rope that snagged a stake on the bank, pulling the small boat over and securing it. Braden jumped ashore first, then moved a plank from the side and placed it on the boat before the two princes went ashore.

Eric and Natalia both breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped back onto the wooden planks.

"We've made it ashore..."

"Finally, we're back on the mainland."

Kasha also returned to human form, looking at the ground beneath her feet with a sense of nostalgia.

"Please come this way, Your Highnesses."

Braden led the two men by way of the large ship, explaining, "It is anticipated that Your Highnesses will arrive at Westwind Harbor by large ship, and the meeting place will be where the large ship docks."

"It seems we went to unnecessary lengths."

Braden didn't dare to reply and led the two men over.

Before the Queen Vermeer had even docked, the two princes suddenly appeared, causing a slight disturbance at the welcoming ceremony in the port, but it was quickly quelled.

The archbishop and governor of the local cathedral personally came to greet the two, which was quite a show of respect. Therefore, Eric didn't say much about the governor's later public statement that they had come specifically to attend the Westwind City Sea Spirit Festival.

They always try to ride each other's coattails, and besides, everyone knows their real purpose for coming here.

“The Sea Spirit Festival is approaching, and I believe that the goddess of the sea, like the supreme Yera, will fulfill the expectations of all the devout,” Eric said to the nobles and Yera followers who came to greet them.

On the outskirts of the crowd, Eric spotted a neat line of church knights who had arrived before them.

Then, as expected, at Governor Danvers' invitation, Eric and Natalia moved into the governor's mansion.

The governor's mansion in Westwind City wasn't as tall as the one in Sunset City, but it was no less luxurious. Their room was also on the top floor, but the rooms weren't connected.

"This is my and Princess Natalia's natural religion advisor. Please arrange a room for her as well, preferably one next door."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Kasha looked at Eric and smiled.

Natalia, who had just come out of her room, also heard what he said, but said nothing.

"How is Your Highness's room?"

"The same as His Highness's."

"Unfortunately, the connection is not working, so we can't communicate anytime."

Natalia didn't respond.

Eric walked to the window and gazed out for a while. “These port cities are all so bustling, I’d love to live here.”

“His Highness said the same thing back in Sunset City.” Natalia also entered his room, looked around, and didn’t notice much difference.

"These jewels of the empire are all more beautiful than the last, it's hard not to like one of them...

Eric made a casual remark, then realized something was off, noticing Natalia staring at him silently.

"...Of course, one shouldn't be too greedy; liking just a few is enough."

Natalia didn't respond. She stood by the window for a while and then said, "Danvers has prepared a banquet. Shall we do what we did in Sunset City and see how things go before making any arrangements?"

Eric thought for a moment, "We can first test Danvers' attitude."

Having learned from their experience dealing with Austin, the two were better prepared to face a governor-level figure like Austin.

Eric added, "However, the festival of the Sea Spirits is just a few days away, and Danvers and those nobles and wealthy merchants will definitely be preoccupied with preparing for the festival."

"Does Your Highness mean we shouldn't rush things and should wait until after the festival?"

Eric nodded. "We can build relationships over the next few days. Anyway, anyone with a bit of inside information already knows why we're here." Natalia thought about it and had no objections.

Having just endured ten days of rough seas, she didn't want to immediately immerse herself in scheming over the money and soldiers of those nobles and wealthy merchants once she landed.

The two stood by the window for a while, admiring the places they had just walked through and the places they hadn't from another angle.

Eric slowly glanced around. "Although they are both port cities, Westwind City has a flat terrain, which is quite different from Sunset City, which has a higher elevation in the west and a lower elevation in the east."

“It’s probably because the name Sunset City draws attention to the cliffs and precipices in the direction of the sunset, and the city itself was built entirely around this huge harbor,” Natalia said.

She paused, hesitated, and before she could retract her thoughts, Eric seized the opportunity.

"Your Highness?"

“It’s still early, Your Highness. Would you like to go and take a look around the city?” Natalia finally spoke up, not looking at him, but at the street they had just walked through.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Eric said immediately, “but I’d like to wait a little longer.”

Natalia looked over. "What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for my men to bring the news we've missed these past few days."

Natalia snapped back to reality.

Before disembarking, she was thinking that she would find out what had happened in the past ten days as soon as she got ashore, but she didn't expect to forget it all before she even got ashore!

"...Your Highness is right."

"They should be here soon." Eric noticed that Natalia seemed a little dazed, so he asked her to sit down.

The two waited for a moment, then there was a knock on the door, but it was Kasha who had left sometime earlier.

“My room is over here,” she said, pointing to the room next to Eric’s.

"Is it the same as here?" Eric asked.

"Same."

"That's good."

Kasha nodded, then looked in the other direction.

A church knight appeared at the door carrying a stack of letters. "Your Highness."

"Come in." Eric stood up to greet him, patting him on the shoulder. "You've all had a hard time these past few days."

"No, we are just waiting for Your Highness."

“The waiting is even harder.” Eric took the large stack of letters from his hand. “Is it all here?”

“Yes. Before Your Highness went ashore, all the letters and intelligence addressed to the two princes were sent to the Cathedral of Westwind City,” the knight replied.

"it is good."

Eric patted the knight on the shoulder again, signaling him to leave first.

The letters and intelligence reports were placed on the table, making them easy to distinguish. Natalia sat on the other side, organizing the intelligence reports into a stack and opening and reading them one by one.

Eric categorized the letters, mainly to distinguish between him and Natalia, who were the two different recipients.

“Liliana wrote a letter to His Highness just a few days ago.”

“Okay, I’ll look at it later,” Natalia replied without looking up.

Eric continued sorting, and soon picked up another letter. "Her Majesty the Queen also wrote a letter to His Highness."

Natalia stopped, took the letter from his hand, and opened it immediately.

"It was sent two days ago." She quickly glanced through it and found that her niece hadn't mentioned anything else besides how lonely life was and how isolated she was. This led her to conclude that there probably hadn't been any major developments at the front lines in the past ten days.

“It seems His Highness was right; the front lines are safe. I was just overthinking things,” Natalia said, rereading her niece’s letter. Eric, however, did not respond.

She looked up and saw him frowning, rummaging through a stack of letters, as if he were specifically looking for someone's letter.

Noticing her gaze, Eric explained, "I'm looking for Elise's letter."

Natalia pursed her lips but didn't say anything.

"I told her to keep a close eye on Eileen after she returns to Lutia. We haven't been in touch for so many days; she should at least write me a letter..."

Eric found the last letter, which was from Sophie.

"No?"

There was no letter from Elise, nor from Eileen or Molly.

"Maybe it was sent to Sunset City?" Natalia said.

Eric shook his head. "After we set off, the messenger will change the delivery location. Even if it's delivered to the wrong place, Austin will have someone deliver it here."

He then opened Sophie's letter and began to read it.

Aside from some routine greetings, it was mentioned above that Elise returned to Lutia that afternoon and stayed with her.

Eric felt a little relieved.

At least they made it back to Lutia without any accidents along the way...

However, this also means that the letter was sent quite some time ago.

He opened another letter from Edgar, glanced at the first sentence, and his expression changed.

“Your Highness?” Natalia looked at him.

Eric took a deep breath. "There was a mysterious burst of magic at the Lutia Magic Academy. When the mages went to investigate, they found that the entire academy was enveloped in a layer of amber-like crystal."

Natalia was stunned.

“Elise, Molly… and my sister Eileen are all among them.”

Eric's gaze fell back on the words on the letter: "One of the mages present said he could sense the life force within, and they should still be alive. But no one can break the crystal."

Natalia couldn't understand, "Did something go wrong while researching magic?"

She remembered that when she lived in Lutia, she often heard about explosions or black smoke coming from the magic academy in the suburbs due to some accident, and even in the city, the alchemy shops in the southern district would suddenly explode.

"I do not know."

Eric shook his head, finished reading the letter in his hand, and quickly opened the next one, even though he knew that what his uncle could provide him was the most authoritative and accurate information at the moment.

In another letter from Sophie, she mentioned that Elise, who had promised to live with her, hadn't come to see her for three days.

Through another letter from his uncle, Eric learned that it was Sophie's report and inquiry that had drawn his attention, leading him to discover that Eileen and the others were sealed within the magic academy.

He read all the letters and stood there stunned for a long time.

A crystal like amber sealed the entire magic academy inside?
This never happened in the games of my past life, right?

The first thing that came to his mind was the thing that Eileen had found in her mother's grave; Elise had told him that it was also an amber-shaped sphere.

What exactly is that?
Are Eileen and the others who were sealed inside really still alive?
Eric was extremely anxious.

Neither Natalia nor Kasha spoke, and the former stopped looking at the outdated intelligence.

After a while, Eric took a deep breath, sifted through the letters, and then said to the two of them, "I wonder if there are any moon elves stationed in the Mage Guild in Westwind City. I want to go and ask about it."

“I’ll go with Your Highness,” Natalia said, and Kasha also accompanied them.

Before leaving the governor's mansion, Eric inquired with the steward and was overjoyed to learn that there happened to be a moon elf archmage on the largest mage tower in Westwind City.

Heading to the Westwind City Mage Association, thanks to his status as a saintess, he quickly gained the opportunity to report to the Moon Elf Archmage, but whether he could ascend to the top of the tower depended on the Moon Elf's own decision.

Eric thought for a moment, then stopped the mage who was about to report and wrote him a note.

“Show this to the Grand Master.”

"Okay, please wait a moment."

When the man went up, Kasha asked him what he had written.

“My mother’s name,” Eric said.

A short while later, the mage came down from the tower and invited him up, still looking surprised, clearly not expecting the archmage to agree so readily.

But only Eric was given permission.

Alone, he climbed the tower and found himself in a room at the top where the moon elf archmage resided. The archmage was holding a note he had written.

"Olieta's child, what do you want to ask?"

(End of this chapter)