Chapter 273: Swaggering Through the Streets
Half a month later, an extremely magnificent carriage appeared in front of the Lyra city gates. The people leading the horses or driving the carriage were all non-humans.
These non-humans looked small but held their heads high. Their appearances resembled vicious gods or evil spirits. The city guards saw this group of people. The guards immediately rushed forward to block them. The guards shouted loudly:
"You filthy bunch dare to walk on the main road. Are you tired of living!"
The guard spoke. He thrust his sword toward the Wolf clan non-human. Harbet snorted coldly. Harbet stomped his foot once. A tornado flew over from nowhere. The tornado swept the guard up high. It threw the guard straight into the city gate.
The guard coughed up blood three feet away. The guard lay motionless. His life or death was unknown.
Everyone was terrified. They backed far away. The city guards stepped backward. The guards raised their swords defensively.
"Harbet, you struck too heavily." A voice as clear as a ringing bell transmitted from inside the carriage. Harbet immediately dropped to one knee to plead guilty: "Yes, I know my sin. Please punish me, Lord."
"Forget it. It is nothing major." The voice rang out once again.
The carriage curtain was lifted to reveal a small gap. The Elf girl Ivy wore a splendid outfit. Ivy stepped out. Ivy relied on Wood-attribute spiritual power. She made an invisible staircase for herself. Everyone only saw the girl slowly flying down. Their hearts burst into panic.
Ivy walked in front of the city guards. She smiled harmlessly. She held out a token. Ivy said:
"Gentlemen do not fear. Our Lord is not an enemy. This is our token."
The city guards received the token tremblingly. The guards crowded around to examine it. The huge words "Church of Light" were on the green jade token that only the Church possessed. These words made the guards prostrate themselves.
"Lord, forgive our sin! Lord, forgive our sin! We have eyes but are blind. We failed to recognize your carriage!"
Ivy clasped her two hands loosely together. She placed them before her belly: "Can we enter the city yet?"
"Yes, you can. Please enter, Sirs."
They returned the token to Ivy. They then ran to open the city gate for the carriage to enter. Ivy opened her hand again. A ceramic bottle appeared in the girl’s hand. She smiled. She said:
"Today our guard was rash. This pill is an apology gift. Gentlemen, please give it to that injured person to drink."
Ivy spoke. She stuffed the ceramic bottle into the hand of a guard. She then "flew" back to the carriage. Ivy ducked inside the carriage. Ivy looked at Kaelen with sparkling eyes. She waited for praise. Kaelen rubbed the little girl’s head in amusement.
These children having to learn morality must be told repeatedly many times. Telling them to learn showing off or bad habits, they were incredibly fast. In half a month, every single one of them was exactly like arrogant young masters or haughty young ladies in the aristocratic circle.
Kaelen did not spare giving Ivy silent praise. He then changed his tone. He let his voice become majestic. He said to the people outside:
"Go straight to the Lyra branch."
The surrounding people even more did not dare to breathe heavily. They also did not dare to have any more suspicious thoughts. If they were fake Church members, they definitely would not go straight to the Church branch in Lyra city.
Not long after they left, Kaelen received a very thin stream of faith. He guessed the medicine Ivy gave the city guards had been used for the injured person. Its efficacy made the people present there astonished or admired it.
This bit of admiration turned into a thin stream of faith reserved for him, the "big shot of the Church".
Kaelen smiled. His initial plan step had succeeded already. Previously, he intended to proceed slowly. Kaelen or the children encountered a God worship ceremony of a church after passing by a small city. He discovered human faith was truly very easy to earn. Those people masquerading as Deities only needed to stand on the podium. They waved their hands or feet around. They performed a few flashy spells having no practical use. They still received countless faith from the people prostrating below.
This matter made Kaelen have a thought acting opposite to his modest personality. That thought was showing off.
Fake Deities showing off could still earn faith. He did not believe a true Deity like himself could not do that. Among the Deities, who liked showing off the most? Of course, the God of Light. Kaelen only needed to imitate His appearance. He then let the children imitate the appearance of the Light followers.
Therefore, an ostentatious display like today resulted.
The faces of the children outside were tilted up to the sky upon arriving at the Church of Light branch in Lyra city. The outside guards had just held their spears rushing forward. They were immediately knocked flying by Mono’s hammer or Harbet’s palm wind.
Ivy stepped out again. She repeated a similar action like at the city gate. Not long after, two White-Robed Cardinals inside the headquarters both ran or crawled towards the door. They dragged along a crowd of monks. The monks knelt down before the carriage.
"Your Excellency the Holy Son, we did not know your grand arrival. We have been disrespectful. Please forgive our sin."
A silver bell sound chimed. Ivy arrogantly raised her chin: "All stand up."
The two White-Robed men were ordered around by an Elf brat. Their expressions were a bit angry. Their expressions almost turned into a pork liver color. A monk could not hold it anymore. He aggressively jumped up. He pointed at Ivy’s nose. He scolded:
"A lowly thing like you also dares to order us around? Men! Catch them for me!"
Ivy’s face turned cold. The girl’s eyes flashed a green light. She opened her mouth. She shouted: "Insolent!"
A hand made from vines immediately struck the monk’s face following the shout. The vine hand struck him flying backward. He smashed into the headquarters’ stone wall.
"You!" A White-Robed man jumped up. He pointed at Ivy’s face. A soft chuckle emitted inside the carriage at this moment. A pressure projected out. It pressed that White-Robed man down to the ground. The White-Robed man lay flat on the ground. His mouth coughed out a mouthful of blood.
His internal organs had also been shattered.
The remaining people were pressed by the pressure to prostrate. Although not to the point of coughing out blood like that White-Robed man, every single one’s face was as white as paper. Cold sweat poured profusely. The sweat dripped onto the ground to pool into puddles.
The remaining White-Robed man tried his best to plead: "Holy Son spare my life!"
"Hmph!" The snort just came out. The pressure immediately vanished.
Harbet or Mono proudly stepped forward. They said in a cold voice: "Get lost to one side. Do not block our Lord’s path!"
The whole crowd scrambled up immediately. They conveniently dragged the two half-dead guys to one side out of sight.
The carriage continued to pass through the headquarters gate. The wind chimes hanging on the four corners of the carriage softly rang. The White-Robed Cardinal crowd ran behind the carriage for a distance immediately.
The branch headquarters was very spacious. The decoration was also top-tier luxurious. Not needing to say far, the paved road under their feet was entirely paved with premium jade. Just prying one piece out was enough for a normal farmer family to eat for a year. The children’s expressions became colder by the moment.
The carriage stopped in front of the main hall. That crowd also caught up. They respectfully invited the person inside the carriage to step down. Paul sat on the carriage shaft. He looked at the red carpet that had just been rolled out. He frowned: "Vulgar!"
Harbet used Wind-attribute Divine Energy to blow the carpet flying. Paul jumped down to the ground. He stomped his foot once. Green grass broke the stones emerging. It formed a lush green path.
The two children lifted the curtains to the two sides. They respectfully said: "Lord, please step down from the carriage."
A slender, snow-white hand reached out. The young man stepped out of the carriage door next.
This person’s body was slender. His whole body wore a pale green silk robe embroidered with subtle patterns. His platinum blonde hair was braided into a puffy braid draped in front of his chest. He wore an exquisitely carved golden mask on his face.
His feet left the carriage floor. He walked step by step in the air. He then finally set foot onto the grass carpet. He leisurely walked into the main hall. Wherever his footsteps went, the grass carpet under his feet immediately bloomed flowers there. The flowers emitted a cool fragrance.
The people in the Church blankly looked following him. They were swept over by the ice-cold gaze of the Lion clan Beastman kid. Their whole bodies trembled. They lowered their faces.
A giant crystal chandelier hung in the middle of the ceiling in the main hall. The God of Light statue three zhangs tall gilded with pure gold was underfoot.
Kaelen looked up at the statue. He stood still for three seconds.
He then tilted his head slightly. His voice echoed faintly behind the mask layer:
"Dust."
The two White-Robed Cardinals had not understood yet. They saw a gust of wind rise in the hall. The wind was not strong. It only caressed like a breath. It slipped into every robe fold crevice on the Deity statue. It swept out a thin dust layer that no one had touched for decades. The dust flew up. The dust met the light from the crystal chandelier. It transformed into myriad sparkling golden specks swirling in the mid-air.
It was so beautiful that some monks forgot to even breathe.
Kaelen raised his hand slowly. The golden dust crowd gathered towards his palm immediately. The dust rolled into a tiny round pill.
He opened his hand. The dust pill fell onto the jade floor. It shattered.
"Jade paved floor, glazed tiled roof, golden chairs, silver cups." His voice was still gentle. It even had a smiling intent: "Yet the statue of the Deity you worship is covered with a thick dust layer."
The entire hall was dead silent.
The White-Robed Cardinal still able to stand prostrated himself. His forehead smashed onto the stone floor making a thud: "Holy Son please judge clearly! It is us subordinates being incompetent. Please punish us!"
Kaelen did not answer. He turned his back to the statue. He leisurely sat down on the highest chair in the hall - the place where according to rule only the Cardinal was allowed to sit.
No one dared to utter half a word.
Ivy carried a teacup stepping forward. She knelt on one knee offering it up with two hands. Harbet stood on the left side of the chair. The four remaining children sequentially stood to the two sides. Not a single bit of emotion existed on their tender faces.
Kaelen lifted the teacup. He took a very small sip:
"Do you know the reason I am present here today?"
The whole crowd prostrated below. They trembled like wet dogs. The White-Robed man said fearfully:
"Holy Son, we subordinates do not know."
Kaelen placed the teacup down on the table. He waved his hand signaling Ivy. Ivy stepped down the stairs one step immediately. She opened the goat skin parchment scroll. She slowly read out each crime of the monks below.
This scroll was the intelligence the kids had gathered throughout half a month hiding in Lyra city. There were some more secret ones Kaelen obtained from the surrounding grass, plants, or small animals.
Each item had solid evidence attached. It truly resembled an impeachment document coming from the general Church.
By the time Ivy finished reading the last one, the whole crowd below had all crawled flat on the ground. They were unable to stand up. Every single one’s face was like a corpse.
Kaelen rhythmically tapped his fingers on the chair armrest. He lowered his eyelashes looking down. He asked coldly:
"Do you plead guilty or not?"
The criminal evidence was clear. Witnesses or material evidence were all sufficient. They could not argue a single word. They could only crawl flat on the ground begging for forgiveness.
"Mohamet or Pansi, execute. Throw the others into the branch’s prison, life sentence. Confiscate properties for those having lighter crimes. Strip their monk titles to kick them out of the Church. Paul, Harbet, you two go handle it."
"Yes Lord." Paul or Harbet bowed their heads receiving the order.
The two people pointed at the soldier crowd: "Drag them away."
The soldier crowd did not dare to delay. They stepped forward immediately to drag the people whose names Ivy read away. The remaining people still tremblingly prostrated below. A wave of reverence rose in their hearts.
Kaelen closed his eyes. He felt the faith entering his body. It eroded a section of the seal chain.
He leaned his back against the chair. The miniature person in his heart felt so euphoric that he was spinning in circles.
Damn it! I must also tell Sane to learn showing off upon finding him.
This feeling is also too euphoric already!