16: Paladin of Mercy and Punishment (1)
“Eternal Peace.”
“Engrave that into your heart. You are here too, brother Raiza.”
“I, too, have been saved by God Zenith. Shouldn’t we worship him every day?”
Raiza respectfully bowed to the nun who was standing in front of him.
The nun nodded her head as if she liked the way Raiza acted.
“This is the right way. If you keep your faith in God, he will grant you eternal blessings.”
“I believe that.”
“I need to go. Eternal Peace.”
“I will engrave that into my heart.”
Raiza left the church after seeing the nun move away. Since the afternoon service was just done, the main hall was full of people.
He looked at them and then gazed at the symbol of Zenith on the wall.
A crescent moon with a yellow sphere. The yellow sphere symbolized peace, and the crescent moon symbolized Zenith, who embraced peace.
To be honest, it was made to look like that.
“Brother Raiza is here!”
An old man came up to him with a smile.
Raiza greeted the man of Zenith.
“Eternal peace.”
“Engrave it into your heart. Did you have your lunch?”
“I ate in the church.”
“I see. Isn’t this wonderful? Our religion also provides us meals and even daily necessities for those in need. Because the priests worship God, who really cares…”
An old woman nodded her head with satisfaction.
“Recently, they have been taking care of orphans.”
“Orphans?”
“Yes. Kids with nowhere to go, feeding them, dressing them up and putting them to sleep. They’ve only recently settled in Haiss, but they’re really great people. It must be a blessing from God Zenith.”
Raiza smiled faintly and nodded his head.
“Yes. We need to pray more to him.”
“So! Ah! I was supposed to help as a volunteer, but I forgot! See you later. Hohoho!”
The old woman hurriedly ran somewhere.
He heard that the church was holding a bazaar with things not used in the church, but it seemed that people were needed to help.
“There is no other choice to increase the number of believers.”
Raiza mumbled as he looked in the direction the elderly people left.
‘This should be enough.’
He gathered information about the church.
And he would no longer have to lead a religious life that didn’t fit him.
Raiza left the church, remembering that his young master would be waiting for him.
Late at night.
Jamie was sitting on a stone beak near the woods not too far from Haiss.
It has been two months since he went to the ball.
As spring passed and summer began, the sweltering heat began to take hold.
Luckily, since it was a forest at night, the cold breeze blew.
Kik!
Black flapped its wings and flew around.
It was a little bigger than before, thanks to Jamie’s rise to 5th class.
The body, which was already at the limit, grew in just two months and could contain the mana of a 5th class.
Children’s growth was nothing to be looked down on.
“Why are you so late?”
Jamie asked, looking at the woods.
Two men walked out from the dark forest.
“Because Azad was late.”
“S-sorry.”
It was the Undead Azad and Raiza that Jamie made.
Formal executives of Lival, who were monitoring the Zenith church.
Today was the day that they had to report the gathered information.
“Should we start?”
“Is there something you need to do by dragging this out?”
“I’ll begin.”
Azad wasn’t good at speaking, so Raiza began.
He had been going in and out of the Zenith church as a believer over the past few days and told his master everything he found out.
Jamie clicked his tongue as he listened to them.
“They’ve been doing this for two months, right?”
“Recently, they are running an orphanage.”
Jamie couldn’t help but laugh.
2 months ago. Immediately after Count Welton subjugated the entire organization, Zenith began to work in earnest.
They visited the poor and preached the will of God.
At first, there were no people.
But as they were conducting their activities in earnest, they were thought good of as they occasionally gave out free food.
The problem was that people began to increase one after another.
“The Zenith Church didn’t miss the timing.”
One doesn’t need a great reason to indulge in religion.
Just showing light interest was enough.
In that respect, Zenith was perfect. Their devotion to people made 9 out of 10 people turn towards them. And all their activities inflated the faith of those who became members of the church.
Thanks to that, Zenith’s position in Haiss reached an unbelievable level.
That made Jamie annoyed. No, it was enough to go beyond irritability and on the verge of throwing tantrums.
“There was no way that bastard Zenith would do anything for anyone!”
Jamie let out his anger.
His chest felt tight, but now he felt a little better.
“Does he think war and peace can coexist?”
Jamie asked the two undead, who were looking at him blankly.
They thought for a moment and shook their heads.
“War and peace can’t coexist.”
“But I think there is a connection.”
“Right. That is how Zenith acts.”
“Yes?
Raiza asked.
Jamie licked his lips and answered.
“Peace through war. This is the moment when he shines.”
He isn’t a god who hopes for peace because that doesn’t do any good to him.
In other words, what the Zenith church was currently doing was against their principles. The religion served for its own welfare.
Because it didn’t make sense for a believer to go against God’s actual behaviour.
“An orphanage nevertheless.”
Jamie thought of Zenith caring for someone.
A smirk fell on his lips.
He couldn’t even imagine such a thing.
“You have worked a lot, Ricky.”
“hehe. This is nothing!”
The boy who was praised by the priest, Ricky, smiled happily and mopped hard.
It has been half a month since the boy joined the church.
For Ricky, the church was happiness.
When Lival was completely subjugated by the Lord’s army, he cried. He had been beaten every day and lived life like a beggar for Lival.
And one day, that organization which was his home, was gone. What could he do with his small body?
Maybe he wouldn’t mind if he was all alone, but he had a sister he had to look after.
They starved for several days. Occasionally, he would bring all the food that people threw away to his younger sister.
Ricky was suffering more and more. It was one of the days when his struggles reached a limit.
‘Poor thing. Would you come with me?’
A miracle happened.
When Ricky thinks of that day, he still turns teary-eyed.
Ricky always thought that there were no miracles of Gods in the world.
But miracles did exist.
“hehehe.”
He didn’t have to be beaten.
He didn’t have to beg.
He didn’t have to starve.
Finally, he could be happy.
“Kid, what is so good that you are smiling?”
A young priest looked at Ricky, who kept smiling and smiled. The laughter then spread to the other priests and nuns in the church.
That was true happiness.
Ricky liked it.
So he got greedy. The desire to live a better life and the desire to make his only younger sister much happier.
There was only one way to do that.
‘I need to become a priest!’
If he became a priest of the church, he could be happier than now.
He will be able to repay the God who saved him.
With that, Ricky mopped harder.
“Brother, you here?”
A girl with cute brown hair ponytailed on both sides opened her mouth while looking at the wall.
Ricky smiled bitterly as he looked at her.
“Yes, brother is here.”
“Ah! there you are!”
The girl, Anna, turned her head in the direction of the sound.
She was blind ever since birth.
When the parents realized that she was blind, they abandoned the two siblings and ran away.
Ricky couldn’t remember that time well, but he couldn’t abandon his only family, so he took care of her until now.
“How was today?”
“Huh. Sister Flange read me a storybook earlier.”
“Wow! That must have been so fun!”
“How was brother’s day?”
“I had fun playing with the priests.”
“Wow!”
Ricky grinned at the childish reaction.
Although he himself was a child, he has been through rough society since he was younger, and now he is more mature than kids his age.
These days, he seems to be acting childish again, but the thought of it was proof that he wasn’t childlike.
“Let’s go eat.”
“What are the side dishes for today?”
“I want the eggs. Right?”
“yes!”
Ricky took his blind younger sister and walked into the dining room.
“Ricky! Are you coming to eat?”
“Ugh! Van!”
“Brother Van?”
At that moment, someone grabbed Ricky’s back. It was Van, an orphan who was doing chores in the church with him.
“Hello, Anna!”
“Are you coming to eat?”
“Yes, it’s time to eat!”
“I see.”
The three of them headed to the dining room together.
Van was Ricky’s best friend, and only the two of them exchanged pleasant yet babbling conversations on their way to the room.
When they arrived, they sat down after being served.
“It is ham today!”
“I like ham too.”
“Me too. Ham is the best. I love ham!!”
Van leaned his head back and answered Anna.
Anna couldn’t see, but Van’s way of speaking was funny enough to make her laugh.
Van looked at Ricky with a face saying that he had succeeded, perhaps because he planned to be funny.
Ricky shook his head and started to eat.
Anna was able to eat alone.
Initially, Ricky would feed her, but now sister Flange taught her the basics. She was eating slowly compared to others, but from Ricky’s point of view, it was the best.
“By the way, did you hear this?”
“What?”
Van looked around and then spoke in a low voice.
“You know Shino?”
“Of course, I know.”
“What about brother Shino?”
“Anna, no talking while eating.”
“Sworry.”
Anna devoted herself to chewing, and Ricky looked at Van.
A little excited, Van began to talk.
“I happened to hear about it, but I heard that Shino was chosen by God.”
“What!?”
“You, jerk! Be quiet!”
Ricky shouted, making everyone in the dining room look at him.
Flustered, Van gently warned him.
Ricky apologized with a shy face.
“Uh. Sorry.”
“Anyway. So, he will leave for the main church next week.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I heard the priests talking.”
“Wow- chosen by God… I envy him.”
Anna, who was done eating, looked wide-eyed at the words.
And asked her brother.
“Can we get chosen too?”
“Ye…”
God had saved him and his sister.
Desiring anything anymore would be greed, but Ricky wanted more.
“Of course. If we do our best, we will be chosen.”
“Best?”
“Yes. Brother should work hard, and you Anna should study hard, get it?”
“Yes!”
Anna answered brightly. Ricky gently stroked her hair.
Van looked at the affectionate siblings with a bitter smile.
With all his heart, he prayed that God would make sure that the siblings’ future would be a happy one
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