Three days later, Roland met Schuck, who picked him up outside of the Holy Realm.
As the sanctuary of the Church of Light, all the buildings in the Holy Realm were built with large, smooth white rocks, including the city wall.
The city wall of Hollevin’s capital was tall and thick, but it couldn’t compare to the city wall of the Holy Realm at all.
Standing at the foot of the wall, Roland saw the reflection of sunlight on the white gigantic rocks, which were so imposing that they almost seemed like steep hills.
However, he still had the urge to fly into the Holy Realm.
After all, no Mages should take the ordinary path.
But thankfully, he stopped himself from doing that.
This was the sacred land of a church, not the capital of a kingdom.
A king would need to weigh gains and losses, but zealots would not reason with him. If they thought that he insulted their faith, they would swear to kill him.
Schuck welcomed Roland in casual clothes. They greeted and teased each other.
Then, Roland asked, “Why are you always in the Holy Realm? I thought you would be traveling on Margret all the time.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to travel,” Schuck said helplessly, “but the Holy Realm doesn’t want Saint Samurai to run about. They want me to stay in the Holy Realm if I’m not on missions.”
Walking next to Schuck, Roland asked curiously, “Why? Are you not trusted in the Holy Realm?”
“No, they’re only scared that something will happen to us.” Schuck smiled bitterly. “After every dozen years, one or two Saint Samurai will be corrupted into Dark Knights, who launch attacks at the Holy Realm. It’s quite the occasion. The Holy Realm is scared because it happens frequently.”
Roland understood what he meant.
The moral demands on the Saint Samurai were too high. Apart from the temptations of evil, they were also prone to setups. For example, a guy lied to a Saint Samurai about a serial murderer, and the Saint Samurai killed the so-called bad buy, only to be punished by the god.
Also, the Church of Light was not entirely bright. It had Inquisitions to do dark things for the interests of the church.
If the Saint Samurai ran into his own people doing bad things when they were out, their faith might collapse.
Therefore, the Saint Samurai were never expected to wander about, unless they had specific goals and requirements.
However, neither the pope nor the Holy Lady of Light could order the Saint Samurai to do anything they disliked. They could only persuade the Saint Samurai gently.
Most Saint Samurai were good-tempered. Naturally, they listened to instructions.
There were lines at the gate on the city wall, and Roland and Schuck were at the end of a line.
Though Roland was wearing his magic robe, he didn’t have any privileges this time.
Though Mages were not underestimated in the Church of Light, they were not overestimated either.
After entering the Holy Realm, Roland saw an extremely broad street that was as wide as a standard eight-lane road that he knew.
On the two sides of the street were tall and low buildings made of white rocks. Moving his gaze to the distance, Roland saw an enormous white temple on the horizon that seemed to block half of the sky.
He could feel the magnificence and sacredness of the temple that was surrounded by a shiny halo even though he was a kilometer away.
After a brief shock, Roland sighed. “It’s like looking up at a huge dam right from the bottom of it.”
Schuck nodded. “That’s exactly my feeling when I saw the Temple of Light for the first time. That building is as impressive as any in our place.”
As they walked on the broad street, a lot of people passed by them.
Most of them were wearing white cloaks or robes. Few were in other colors.
There were a lot of merchants on the sides of the street, but none of them were peddling. They simply sat in silence and looked at the passersby earnestly.
Though the population of the Holy Realm was high and the street was rather crowded, it was not obstreperous at all.
Not all the passersby were silent, but when they talked, they kept their voices as low as possible.
Schuck took Roland to the Temple of Light and said, “I won’t show you around. Most of the places are not open to you since you’re not a believer of the Church of Light, and misunderstandings may result if we break in. I’ll just take you to the grand library. After all, nothing here is really impressive for us.”
That was exactly what Roland wanted. He had feared that Schuck would show him around the city like a friendly host.
He was not even interested in women at this point, not to mention scenic spots.
After walking for another ten minutes, they finally reached the bottom of the Temple of Light.
This temple was essentially a hill. The foundation of the temple, piled with infinite white square rocks, were unbelievably huge. Roland observed it for a while and sighed.
Was the grand library inside this temple?
It seemed heavily guarded.
Roland had seen that multiple entrances of the temple were all guarded by the Guards of Light in white robes. He was sure that he wouldn’t be qualified to go in if it weren’t for Schuck.
While Roland thought about that, Schuck suddenly turned right and took him to another building that was relatively much smaller.
“This is the grand library.” Schuck smiled. “Are you disappointed?”
Roland shook his head.
Schuck continued, “You only feel that it’s small because it’s built next to the temple. It’s actually quite huge.”
Roland was not entirely convinced yet, but after he entered the building and the temple could not be seen anymore, Roland realized that Schuck was right.
This grand library was truly grand.
The bookshelves were like trees that formed a boundless forest. Many female clerics were moving around and classifying the books.
At the reading area not far away, clerics in white robes were turning pages in silence.
One of the female clerics who was busy working saw Schuck by chance when she raised her head.
Her eyes glimmering, she walked to him and asked, “Mr. Schuck, why are you here?”
“I’m here to talk to the Holy Lady. I have an appointment with her.” Schuck smiled.
“The Holy Lady is in the reading room on the third floor.”
“Thank you.”
Schuck nodded and left with Roland.
Behind them, the female cleric was still staring at Schuck’s back affectionately.
Four minutes later, Roland met the Holy Lady of Light in a spacious but simply decorated room.
