The Church was located southwest end of Adenberd not far from the City walls. Unlike other parts of the city, It was much quieter and more serene.
When the carriage stopped in front of the church, which was obviously by no means of modest appearance—Albert got off his horse and spoke from outside the carriage.
"Would you like to go in, Young Master?" Asked Albert.
Ethan pondered silently as he looked at the huge symbol of the Church above its doors, he was very interested in its inner workings as the church was deeply linked with Akarxia's history.
Ethan hoped that he would find some clues about the prophecy through the church. However, at the same time, he was unsure of the entire idea of a 'Religious Organisation'.
As someone who hailed from modern-day earth, Ethan had learned his history lessons well. He knew what the bottom-line purpose of such an organization was and how much carnage it all caused throughout history.
But this was not the earth, it was a new world where 'God-like' existences lived once and breathed the same air as everyone.
Therefore, Ethan hadn't decided whether to trust the church or not. This was a good opportunity for him to visit the church and so he decided to enter.
The door opened and Ethan along with Earlene and Anicia got off the carriage. Although it wasn't as crowded compared to other parts of the city, there were still quite a few people roaming the church premises.
Many of them noticed the carriage but did not approach it as they simply looked from afar.
Just as Ethan entered the church premises, a black-haired priest in white robes came out of the building with a smile on his face.
"Young Master Ethan and Miss Anicia, welcome to the Church," The priest greeted as he gestured to go inside.
He only looked at Ethan and momentarily his scrutinizing gaze went through Anicia, his eyes glinted with an inquisitive light for a second before getting normal as he completely ignored the others.
Ethan raised his brows slightly and walked forward to enter the church as he thought to himself, 'They already seem to somewhat know of Anicia's Talent'.
The Church's premise consisted of the main building, stables, food storages, and dorms for the servants and other members as well as the 'Hall of Faith' where the priests preached and 'educated' people on religion and faith.
The first thing after entering that Ethan saw were the servants male and female alike in low-quality gray robes doing various chores around the vicinity.
Upon closer inspection, Ethan saw that there was something very wrong with them. All of them were quite thin and honestly almost malnourished, their skin and fingernails were in harsh condition presumably because of overwork and they seemed to have no spirit.
But the bizarre thing was that all of them were working without any expression on their faces while devoutly muttering God's name and prayers.
'Hmm...' Ethan thought to himself in suspicion walking along the hallway.
The Church's main hall was pretty generic, with an altar on the high ground, a silver extravagant lectern where the 'Holy Scripture' was placed, and then finally the symbol of the Allfather.
It was silent and serene, some servants were also doing chores up on the second floor's balcony and the hall but their condition was completely normal.
"Oh! Young Master Ethan, it's great to finally have you here. I'm sure that The Holy Father has been waiting for you to visit the Church, haha!" An old man with white hair and long robes said as he came forward from the place of the altar.
"Meet the High Priest here of this Church, Father Gerhart," The Priest informed Ethan as he bowed towards the approaching Gerhart.
"It's my pleasure, sooner or later one has to come upon the Dwelling of Allfather. So why not sooner?" Ethan said with a smile and chuckled lightly.
"Hoho, Wonderful! Would you like to pray?" Gerhart asked with an amiable smile, he seemed to be pleased with Ethan's much more mature response.
"Of course, is it possible that I am here in God's residence and not pay my respects?" Ethan replied in a humbled tone and walked forward toward the Altar.
'I never knew that he's so... Religious.' Earlene thought to herself in bewilderment as she accompanied Ethan to offer prayers.
Meanwhile, despite being anxious because of her potential future trouble with the church, Anicia simply followed Ethan closely without saying anything as she felt safer near him.
All of them shortly offered their prayers to the allfather as per the tradition by closing their eyes, clasping hands, and muttering the prayer with a clear heart, and then of course offering some sort of donation.
After being done with all that, it was now time to leave.
"Uhh, Miss Anici-"
Gerhart glanced at Anicia and tried to say something but before he could finish his sentence, Ethan interrupted saying, "Thank you very much for entertaining us. But we must now leave. May The Holy Father Bless Us All!"
Gerhart flinched in surprise momentarily not expecting to get cut off mid-sentence. He raised his brows just slightly but then shrugged the whole thing off not thinking much of it.
"Oh, Of course. But you haven't seen the rest of the place yet," Father Gerhart said suggestively.
"Perhaps next time," Ethan assured regretfully, turned around, and then left along with everyone else.
~~~
After Ethan and the others left the church, the black-haired priest narrowed his eyes as he looked at the closed doors and said to Father Gerhart, "We have received word long before from the spies that she has the Blessing of Light."
"Indeed, but this situation is complicated especially when that boy has such a bright future. I have sent a letter to the bishop for his assistance, once he's here then we will ask the Duke about that girl." Gerhart answered.
"Right, that would be a wise choice." The priest bowed as he said in a flattering tone.
"I can't believe that boy managed to survive such a long Ancestral Awakening. We sent the news to the Holy Land, any reply or instructions?'' Gerhart asked with half disbelief and half curiosity.
"A delegation has been sent but it will take some time to arrive, until then we have received instructions to not offend him."
"I see," Gerhart muttered with a sigh and tired away from the black-haired priest getting back to his work.
~~~
As Ethan was returning to the carriage he once again noticed the servants who were doing the chores, this time though he caught on to some additional details.
Quite a few of the servants who were working outside had faint dark collar marks on their necks making Ethan furrow his brows.
And the other thing he caught on to was someone's voice as they angrily yelled at one of the servants, "Damn sinner! Do your work properly or you will be thrown back from where you came from! Bastards! Be grateful that the church allowed you to serve God! Ungrateful Garbage!"
"Smack, Smack!"
The sound of a harsh beating then shortly fell on Ethan's ears after the angry yell followed by the muffled cries of a woman.
He could hear those sounds mostly because of the significant increase in his senses. Even though he knew that something very unholy was probably going on, he didn't even bat an eye and simply left the Church with thoughts swirling inside his head.
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