Ten minutes ago, at a discreet flower bed outside the church.
“Pope Arthas, these are the funds that the Holy Sword adventurer team has prepared for the church this month. They include materials from some magical beasts, prayer clothes, armor, and weapons for Holy Knights. The total value is about 100,000 gold coins.”
Christina waved her hand. Her subordinates immediately opened a few large boxes and pushed them in front of an old man in a gorgeous robe and a crown made of jade.
The boxes were as tall as a person, and each contained different things. They were placed in a neat line. The light they emitted was enough to dazzle one’s eyes.
The old man chuckled.
“It’s been hard on you, Lady Swordmistress. You have had to lead the adventurer team to conquer the dungeon every day and still need to think of donating money to the church. I really don’t know how to thank you.”
The old man with the crown was none other than Pope Arthas of the St. Antilles Cathedral in the City of Steel. At that moment, he was stroking his chest-length white beard. He narrowed his eyes and smiled. The wrinkles on his face were furrowed; it made him look kind.
“You flatter me, Pope Arthas. The Holy Sword adventurer team would not have achieved our goals without the priests and talents that you had sent our way. This is the least that I can do.” Christina smiled and looked at Arthas, but their expressions did not reveal much about their thoughts.
In addition to her exceptional power, Christina did not humiliate her family in terms of social relations. She wanted to grow the Holy Sword adventurer team into the largest adventurer team in the City of Steel. So, she had a constructive relationship with all the major and minor forces in the City of Steel. They would either supply her with resources or abilities, and she regularly returned some of those resources to them.
Everyone benefited from each other.
There was not a single person in the City of Steel who was unwilling to cooperate with her. If she had to find such a person, it would probably be Watson.
“Watson!”
Christina’s face flushed with rage as she gritted her teeth and muttered his name. She reflected on the previous night’s events at the Golden Quill Pavilion. Watson had exposed her to an indecent situation, and then Nightingale had punched her in the face. There was no wiggle room about it. Either of those two things was a source of embarrassment for her.
After she returned to the Holy Sword adventurer team the previous night, she could not sleep. She had tossed and turned the whole night. When she woke up the following day, dark circles had appeared under her eyes. She blamed Watson for that.
“After delivering these things to all the forces in the City of Steel, I’ll go to the Golden Quill Pavilion to seek justice from Watson.”
Christina clenched her fists silently. As the daughter of the sword saint, everyone had been respectful toward her since she was young. It was fine if Watson did not want to respect her, but he even sent people to beat her up. She would never be able to raise her head again if she did not deal with that humiliation.
“Lady Swordmistress.”
“Lady Swordmistress, I’m talking to you. Do you hear me?”
A voice interrupted Christina’s thoughts. She raised her head and realized that Arthas had spoken to her. He was looking at her with a puzzled face. “You seemed a little absent-minded today; why is that? Did something happen?”
“Nothing. I didn’t sleep well yesterday,” Christina replied with a typical smile of a noble.
“That’s a relief. I thought you were worried about a new adventurer team named in town—the Blood Rose.”
“Oh? Does Your Holiness know about that adventurer team?”
“Of course. A young man named Watson faced your sword head-on and survived it without a single scratch on his body. The news had spread in the city. Even though we don’t get many adventurers at the church, we still get a few sometimes, and I heard it from them.”
Arthas continued to stroke his white beard; his eyes narrowed as if he was still asleep. “I also heard that you were in the Golden Quill Pavilion last night and had a big fight with someone! Forgive me for being blunt; the young man named Watson has repeatedly rejected your invitation. He is a little too insensible. Only a kind and generous person like you, Lady Swordmistress, would be so persistent in wanting him to join your team.”
“Your Holiness, you flatter me. I didn’t do it out of kindness, but because I value his skills.”
“Since you say so, then I won’t say anything else. If you need help, I’m willing to aid you. There are seven silver-tier bishops in my church, and each of them specializes in a variety of curses. We have many curses that can cause people to become obedient or poisoned to create more chaos. It would be great if you could increase the church’s budget by 20 percent next month.”
“Forget it, Your Holiness. I don’t intend to use such despicable methods to subdue my subordinates. Otherwise, I won’t feel at ease.”
Christina pretended to be reserved as she shook her head. However, she complained in her heart. It was not that she did not want to use such methods—Watson was platinum-tier. Even she was not his match. Arthas was only a gold-tier elite. It would be very difficult for his methods to have any effect on Watson.
However, Arthas also reminded her that she was not a match for Watson with the typical methods. She could use some tricks.
While Christina was thinking about that, Arthas said, “Miss Christina, if you feel that 20 percent is too much, we can settle with ten percent. We can always discuss it.”
Boom!
Just as he was about to comfort Christina, a bright light suddenly appeared in the sky and shone on the top of the cathedral. Arthas and Christina turned their heads to look at it at the same time.
Christina looked surprised. “Your Holiness, if I’m not wrong, that should only appear when your cathedral is communicating with the gods, right?”
“That’s right.”
Arthas nodded with an ugly expression. “The murals in the church’s ceiling were carved when it was first built. It can communicate with the gods, but communication is limited daily and consumes a lot of energy. Which idiot communicated with the gods without reporting it to me? Miss Christina, it seems like our conversation will have to be postponed. I want to see that idiot first.”
End of flashback…
Arthas and Christina stood at the door and looked into the church. Watson met Christina’s eyes.
“Lady Swordmistress?”
“Why is it you again?”
Exclamations echoed in the church almost at the same time.
“Lady Swordmistress, you know these two people.” Arthas’ furrowed brows seemed serious when he glanced at Watson and Leon behind Waldo.
“That’s right.” Christina nodded with a complicated expression. “I’m not familiar with the person next to him, but the person in front is Watson, the one I told you.”
“Lady Swordmistress, what did you say? He’s Watson?”
Arthas exclaimed and began to observe Watson again. He realized that the teenager seemed to be only 12 or 13 years old, but the aura on his body was not weak, especially the black fog in his hand, which appeared to be a gold-tier curse. He was a little surprised.
When he heard that Watson could withstand a sword from the swordmistress, he thought Watson was a warrior. However, it seemed like Watson was a priest.
“Your Holiness, you came at the right time. This little brat not only insulted the God of Light, but he also attacked me. Please help me teach him a lesson! Oh, right, Leon had brought that little brat here. I suspect that he deliberately brings people to the church to cause trouble. I suggest that we expel him from our staff.”
Waldo, who had been kneeling on the ground to pray to the gods, stood up suddenly and rushed toward the two of them. At the same time, he turned around and gave Watson a look that said, “You’re done.”
