Anfey had a playful smile on his face. He glanced at the cardinal opposite him. He took the book from Suzanna.
Ozzic had the fastest response. He saw that Anfey showed no respect to the cardinal. He immediately got to his feet and kicked the nearby mercenary’s shoulder and scolded, "You guys get the f*ck up!"
In fact, most mercenaries were not grateful, at least not for priests. Mercenaries needed priests’ help after intense fights or when injured, but they never agreed to join the Church of Light. In other words, they treated priests well when they were needed, but treated them poorly when they were not needed.
However, the truth was usually found when viewing things from multiple perspectives. Mercenaries had their concerns. They did not want to commit themselves to the Church of Light to return the favor. It was such a high price to pay. In addition, they paid the priests to treat their injuries with gold coins or magic crystals. The Church of Light was not a charity, so they would not do it for free. People had to pay to get their services. No one wanted to work for free, not even slaves. If even slaves hoped to get rewards from their masters for their hard work, then surely the priests would too. The mercenaries made money in a difficult manner. They risked their lives for most assignments, like hunting for magic crystals. After converting to the Church of Light, they would even have to pay for praying to priests. If there was time that they were expanding the church or changing priests, the Church of Light followers had to give more money to the church. They had to sponsor the church for the opportunity to pray, while showing courtesy to new priests. They could not neglect either situation, which did not please the mercenaries.
The situation looked different from the point of view of priests. Priests were human, and wanted to live a better life. It seemed reasonable to get paid to relieve people’s pain. In terms of expanding the church and add more facilities, they could not ask the Pope to pay for them. Of course, they would not pay for it either. The only option left was to ask their followers to contribute.
Most issues in this world were like this—with any simply right or wrong. Conflicts were going to exist no matter what.
At Ozzic’s command, mercenaries got back on their feet one after another. The friendly vibe they tried to create had disappeared. Without knowing what the cardinal was thinking, they could tell that he looked a little nervous when Anfey tried to open the book. He said in a low voice, "Master, please return to me the holy item of my church! Do not even try. Without the blessing of God, no one would be able to open that Chapter of Salvation."
"Is it really the Chapter of Salvation?" Anfey smiled. He pointed at the book, with the Chapter of Salvation opened.
That cardinal looked shocked, as did Anfey. As Anfey opened the Chapter of Salvation, he could feel the Seed of Light Slanbrea planted in his head experience a huge change. Anfey immediately closed the Chapter of Salvation. After a while, the mysterious Seed of Light became quiet.
"How could it be possible?" the cardinal stuttered.
"Tell me, who are you? What are you doing here?" Anfey said calmly. He passed the book to Suzanna and tried to calm himself.
"I am the cardinal of Roland region. My name is Warner. With God’s will, I am here to save all the suffering people. Master, it is your turn to introduce yourself," the cardinal said slowly.
"Isn’t the cardinal of Roland region Bergkamp?" Anfey had an amazing memory. Even though had heard about it long time ago, he still remembered what Slanbrea had told him.
"Do you know Master Bergkamp?" Cardinal Warner was shocked.
"I am a good friend with archpriest Slanbrea. I know most cardinals. Even though I do not know them personally, I know their names. Why didn’t I hear about your name?" Anfey bluffed. He was so obs
ervant to the point that no change could escape his eyes. Every facial change on Cardinal Warner did not escape Anfey’s eyes either. He looked a little weird when he mentioned Bergkamp.
"I was just appointed as a cardinal, so you never heard of me before," Cardinal Warner answered without hesitation, but he still looked a little awkward to Anfey.
"Ok, I see." Anfey nodded. His face suddenly became really cold and he yelled loudly, "Which region are you in?"
Anfey’s yell penetrated other’s souls. Ozzic and others nearby were scared. Elizabeth even covered her mouth with her hand in case she screamed out. Cardinal Warner was scared and trembled. "I am the cardinal of Greenwich region." After he answered Anfey, he realized the inconsistency in his answers. He explained hurriedly, "Well, I relocated to Roland region."
"Now you are talking about overseas, huh?" Anfey said coldly. "Wasn’t Greenwich Island taken over by death spirits?"
"If you do not believe me, you can come and see it on St. Mountain," Cardinal Warner said confidently.
"We are surrounded by death spirits now and you are asking me to go to St. Mountain to check? Do you think you are funny? I am sorry. I do not have time for that." Anfey gave a slight wave with his arm. "Ozzic, get that liar for me."
Ozzic was shocked for a second before he rushed at that cardinal with a few other mercenaries. They held Cardinal Warner to the ground. A mercenary took out a string from nowhere and tied his hands behind his back.
"Not fair. You are profaning God. You will get the most severe punishment from God. I am telling you," Cardinal Warner yelled as he struggled, but he was too weak to even walk a few hundred yards with his scepter, not to mention fighting those strong mercenaries. The mercenaries soon had him tied up.
"Whatever! Whether you say I profaned God or wanted to take your life for your wealth," Anfey patted the book with the Chapter of Salvation and smiled, "I am just a liar in your eyes."
Cardinal Warner’s yell suddenly stopped. When Anfey mentioned taking his life for his wealth, he was reminded that he had witnessed the bloody fight in the church for the holy book with the Chapter of Salvation. How would this end up? Cardinal Warner looked terrified and just stared at Anfey.
"Ozzic, take him and follow me," Anfey said calmly. He walked down the stairs first.
After a short time, Anfey and his group came to the underground city. They walked in through an alley. There was scary roaring from somewhere ahead of them. It sounded like a trapped monster in the dark. The dwarves and gnomes looked like nothing was wrong. At most they seemed a little annoyed by the roaring. They had gotten used to this and treated it as only noise.
When Anfey and his group walked into the alley, the roaring suddenly stopped. There was a strong iron cage about two hundred yards ahead of them. A monster, or to be more specific, a zombie, squatted at the corner of the cage. When the zombie saw Anfey and his group, he forced a smile at them. The mutated fangs looked scary, but everyone seemed to get the idea that the zombie was trying to please them.
Anfey chuckled. "He has learned to please us. Not bad, not bad. He learned fast.""Open the cage for me, please."
A dwarf hurried over and opened the cage. "Oh, my God," Cardinal Warner screamed. He had realized what Anfey was going to do to him. His body moved like a snake while his legs kicked. Unfortunately, his struggles did not help him at all. Ozzic pushed him. He was not only pushed inside the cage, but also fell to the ground.
"Cardinal, in a while you will not be so scared." Anfey closed the door slowly. He seemed to torture Cardinal Warner on purpose.
"No." Cardinal was so scared that he cried and his nose was running. Thinking that he would be turned into a zombie had crushed him. He struggled to crawl like a worm as he tried to hold one leg out of the cage to stop Anfey from closing the door. "Don’t… Please. I will give you everything you want, everything."
"Manners. Mind your manners," Anfey could not help sighing.
Cardinal Warner did not care about Anfey’s reminder at this moment. He struggled to crawl out of the cage. As a priest who had used the Chapter of Salvation, he knew the result of death spirits. Contaminated organisms would not be saved. They could only disappear from this world, including their soul, so he would rather die than turn into a zombie.
"I hate liars," Anfey said slowly. "Now I am going to give you one last chance to tell me who the hell you are."
"I am the assistant of Cardinal Bergkamp. Master, please let me out of the cage. I am not going to lie to you. Master, please!" Warner continued to stick his leg out of the cage as he was talking. He finally got his leg out of the cage, but Anfey kicked it back in. He had to start all over again trying to stick one leg out of the cage.
"How dare you lie to me again?" Anfey said coldly. "How could an assistant to a cardinal have the Chapter of Salvation?"
"Master, I did not lie to you. The cardinals all died…died. I was the only survivor, so the cardinal passed this Chapter of Salvation to me and told me the spells to start it," Warner cried.
"They died? How did that happen?" Anfey asked.
"Cardinal Salmado attacked us," Warner said.
"Why?" Anfey asked.
"Because Pope William has been so anxious that he was sick and passed the Chapter of Salvation to Master Bergkamp. Cardinal Salmado was jealous of us, so…," Warner said.
"Master, I get it now," Elizabeth said in a low voice to Anfey.