Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

January 2, 1351, another Monday.

Emlyn White stepped down from his carriage, glanced at the sun obscured by clouds and mist, and put on his top hat.

On his way to the church entrance, he subtly turned the ring on his left hand. At its core was a Sequence 3 'Summoning Master' extraordinary trait, which Emlyn, who was preparing for his advancement, could obtain by destroying the ring.

But he didn't intend to do that, because this ring represented not only a powerful sealing artifact, but also proof of his status as a chosen one of the progenitors!

This is a magical item personally bestowed by the progenitor. If he were to destroy the ring, wouldn't that mean his faith in the progenitor was not devout enough? Therefore, even if he could never advance to Sequence 3 in this lifetime, Emlyn felt he would not destroy this ring!

With this in mind, Emlyn entered the Harvest Church and automatically removed his hat.

At this moment, Kasimi, Ernest, and other Backlund vampires, who were waiting for Bishop Utravsky to preach, stood up one after another, looked at the floor of the corridor, and spoke in low voices:

Good morning, Your Excellency.

Emlyn's gaze swept over the group of vampires. He knew that their respect was not genuine, and was even somewhat reluctant. The reason was simple: people can always understand the success of a stranger who has nothing to do with them, but it is difficult to tolerate the success of someone close to them.

Strangers are irrelevant to them, merely topics of conversation and jokes. But friends are people closely connected to them; a friend's promotion can make them feel a sense of disparity, envious, or even jealous, leading to dark thoughts like, "Why him and not me?" or "He's just lucky; I could have done the same."

This kind of mentality is normal; most people feel this way.

Of course, it doesn't matter what these vampires are thinking, whether it's envy or jealousy.

Because Emlyn doesn't care.

Regardless of what they think, they cannot change the fact that Emlyn White is already a Sequence 4 demigod, a genuine vampire count, and a chosen one appointed by the progenitor!

Even if other vampires find it hard to accept, they must still bow their heads and call him "Your Excellency, Earl" when they see him.

Rather, Em actually wanted to see that expression on their faces—an expression of jealousy towards him, yet one that forced them to respectfully address him as "Your Excellency, Earl."

Emlyn White was secretly pleased, but outwardly he stared straight ahead with a serious expression and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Has Mistral not arrived yet?"

"Count Mistral had a small chapel set up in his home," Ernest explained simply.

Emlyn didn't comment on this behavior, but simply said casually as he walked forward:

"But you still have to come here for Mass."

He glanced around and then said:

"Where is Bishop Utravsky?"

"The bishop is waiting for you behind us; the church's messenger has arrived," Ernest replied to Emlyn's question with utmost respect, controlling his facial expression.

The church's messenger... Emlyn twirled the pale red ring on his left hand and walked toward the back of the church.

-

Bayam, the Church of the Waves.

Alger, dressed in a bishop's robe embroidered with lightning and wave symbols and wearing a metal storm emblem, stood atop the bell tower, gazing at the city not far from Bayam.

What was once a primeval forest has now been leveled, along with the surrounding hills and mounds, and replaced by a bold and rugged city. In its center stand two towers side by side, one domed and the other pointed, both strangely silver in color, reflecting a slightly dazzling light under the sun.

Many cement roads have been laid around the twin towers, leading to buildings made primarily of stone or connecting to spacious squares and training grounds. The roads are lined with lush green trees, giving a sense of vitality and prosperity.

That is the New Silver City, a city of miracles built by the followers of Mr. Fool—this is not an adjective, but a genuine city built by miracles.

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

It can be said that miracles are happening almost every moment in the new "Silver City," showcasing the divine miracles belonging to the "Fool."

It was precisely through these miracles, visible even to ordinary people, that the inhabitants of Bayam instinctively began to believe in the "Fool."

Because the natives of Blue Mountain Island have come to realize that Mr. Fool is a true god comparable to beings like the Lord of Storms, and that this god is incredibly merciful and generous—He would even grant his followers houses and food through miracles, sparing them from hunger and cold!

For ordinary people, they are unclear about the meaning of faith to gods, and they don't understand the differences in the powers that gods hold.

They only knew that the Fool was so kind and generous. Could other gods do that?

Since other gods can't do it, why should I believe in the god you speak of instead of the 'Fool'?

This viewpoint not only circulated among the indigenous people, but also spread rapidly among the residents of the Lord of Storms.

As the cardinal of the Roside Islands, Alger was well aware of this—after all, the number of worshippers coming to the Wave Church to pray recently was already a third less than usual.

It's important to understand that the Wave Church is the main church of the Rothschild diocese, and those who come to pray here are mostly the upper echelons of Bayam, who are generally wealthy and powerful. If even the number of these "elite" believers decreases by a third, the loss of believers from the lower classes will only be more severe.

If it were an ordinary cardinal, he would probably have already taken measures by now. Even if he couldn't directly attack the Church of the Fools, he would certainly have tried to curb this trend.

But Alger was clearly no ordinary person.

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

After all, Alger was loyal to the Church of the Fools and was an old acquaintance of Archbishop Derrick, who could even be considered Derrick's mentor. For example, most of the information Derrick knew about the mystical world came from Alger.

In this situation, expecting Alger to deal with the Church of the Fools is pure wishful thinking.

So even though Alger is still with the Church of Storms, it's only temporary.

His decision to stay was solely for the purpose of maximizing profits and draining the Storm Church of all its value.

For example, as a cardinal who ruled a diocese, Alger could easily "save" a sum of money for himself. In the previous war, the mines, plantations, spice estates and factories on the Rose Island were being sold off at prices below their intrinsic value. As long as you had the means to buy them, you could make a fortune in a short time!

More importantly, the Storm Church headquarters also showed considerable interest in the extraordinary properties and potion recipes sold by Silver City and Moon City, providing a substantial sum for their purchase. The person handling this was undoubtedly Cardinal Alger Wilson of the Rhodes Diocese, and some losses in such a process are unavoidable and understandable.

Meanwhile, Alger had already secretly planned his entire "switcheroo" to the Church of Fools. Not to mention, he had the promise of Derrick, the Archbishop of the Church of Fools, that as long as he switched sides, he could immediately become the Archbishop of the Church of Fools.

Of course, there was another reason why Alger stayed: he needed to complete Mr. Fool's task.

Alger was extremely familiar with the theory of "the creation of the world by the first fire".

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

Therefore, no one was more suitable than him to complete the task of rebuilding the Book of Storms for the Church of Storms.

Of course, simply compiling the book wasn't enough; he also needed to confirm the circulation of the new edition of the "Book of Storms" within the Storm Church. Ideally, the Storm Church would accept the new edition of the "Book of Storms" entirely.

However, at present, opinions within the Storm Church have not yet reached a consensus, with a small number of die-hards resolutely resisting the new edition of the "Book of Storms".

Of course, such a claim might fool ordinary believers, but it wouldn't fool Alger.

As an organization that worships the Lord of Storms, the Church of Storms naturally reveres him in all matters. As long as the Lord of Storms personally issues a divine decree, there is no possibility of discord within the church.

With the world beginning to promote the "First Fire Creation Theory," the Storm Church, as the only exception among the orthodox churches, exhibited a chaotic attitude throughout the process. This actually represented the attitude of the Lord of Storms. On the one hand, He wanted to curry favor with Mr. Fool and had the idea of ​​joining the united front, but on the other hand, He was wavering and seemed to be considering other options.

It can be said that the internal divisions within the Church of Storms are actually a manifestation of the Lord of Storms' own ambiguous and vague attitude.

Alger declined to comment on this.

Although he thought the Lord of Storms' hesitation was somewhat foolish, he would not judge gods casually.

Especially for the Lord of Storms, who is known for his 'temperament,' the word 'indecisive' should not even exist in his vocabulary. So when Alger witnessed the current chaos in the Church of Storms, he even suspected that the Lord of Storms had been replaced.

Because Alger didn't think the Lord of Storms would be foolish enough to be indecisive, but the facts were undeniable, leaving him no choice but to believe it.

This may be because the Lord of Storms has truly become indecisive, or perhaps there are hidden reasons he is unaware of.

Matters concerning the divine realm are far too distant; even if Alger were to guess the details, he would be powerless to intervene, merely creating unnecessary trouble for himself. Therefore, compared to the Lord of Storms' attitude, he was more concerned with the present situation—

As Alger gazed at the vibrant city, a growing sense of unease crept into his heart.

As cities that have taken root in the land abandoned by the gods, Silver City and Moon City are inhabited by almost all extraordinary beings.

The number of demigods was also not small; there were seven when they left the land of the forsaken gods.

Having experienced the war with Fusak, Silver City acquired a considerable number of Sequence 4 Extraordinary Abilities, and now has thirteen demigods, including four Sequence 3 demigods!

Unbeknownst to many, Mr. Fool's power has grown to a level comparable to the Church of the True God. Even if there is a certain gap, it is only due to the accumulation of a long history.

"I definitely wouldn't believe it if I hadn't personally experienced these changes."

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

While the growth of the Fool's Church is what Mr. Fool wants to see, it may not necessarily be a good thing for Alger.

Because the Church of Fools has thirteen demigods, it means that even if Alger switched sides, he would only be one of the fourteen archbishops, one-fourteenth! And as time goes on, the denominator will become larger and larger.

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 that Alger could have as archbishop will be diluted.

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

Only in this way will he have the opportunity to become the head of the Church of Fools—or even the 'Pope' of the Church of Fools!

Is the "Sun" allowed to hold the position of "Pope," but I, the "Hanged Man," cannot?

"Your Excellency, Cardinal."

The captain of the squad of substitute punishments walked up the clock tower and respectfully said:

"Someone from Storm's Abyss has arrived; it's Archbishop Arne Cortman."

"Hmm?" The Hanged Man frowned almost imperceptibly, then calmly said:

"I'll be right there."

-

It was three o'clock in the afternoon, inside the ancient palace above the gray fog.

On both sides of the mottled long table, beams of deep red light rose simultaneously, freezing into the figures of Tarot Club members such as 'Justice', 'The Lovers', 'The Hanged Man', 'The Sun', 'The Magician', and 'The Hermit'.

Good afternoon, Mr. Fool.

Audrey glanced around, then, as usual, rose and, with a slight lift of her skirt, bowed to the head of the long, weathered table.

"Happy New Year."

Then, with a slight smile, she greeted the other members as usual.

Derrick the Sun hasn't needed to count his heartbeats to keep track of time in a long time; he can now simply look at the clock to know exactly how much longer until the tarot gathering.

At this moment, after Miss Justice finished greeting everyone, he stood up along with the other members of the Tarot Club and bowed to the head of the bronze table:

Good afternoon, Mr. Fool.

"Moon," Emlyn said, glancing around.

"I'd like to know if the 'Cultivator' and 'Moon' pathways are any special compared to other pathways?"

After raising the question, he made no attempt to hide anything, and quite frankly added:

"I recently learned that the internal structure of the Earth Church is different from the normal one, divided into two parts: those with divine grace and those favored by God..."

After Emlyn the Moon finished his brief description, Alger the Hanged Man, Cattleya the Hermit, Leonard the Star, and the others exchanged glances, none of them able to offer a reasonable explanation.

Of course, every member present, including "The Sun" Derrick, could hear the abnormality in the internal system of the Earth Church.

While other churches typically cultivate extraordinary individuals who follow the same path as God, the Church of Mother Earth does the opposite.