Chapter 60: Church Stronghold

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  "Master, we've arrived!" The carriage went straight along a small path, gradually moving away from the Imperial City, and finally stopped under a small hill.

  "It's actually quite far from here to the Imperial City!" Francis got down from the carriage, having also sat in it for a considerable amount of time.

  Francis looked around and was very satisfied with the secluded location he had chosen. He had deliberately selected this place to find a quiet environment, with green hills and water, it's a great place for a vacation.

  "Mom! Look at that house!" Dolores pointed to the mansion inside the iron gate. The two-story white building was not large, but it was more than enough for a few people to live in.

  "Come on, let's go take a look!" Francis handed the key to Eolos and opened the iron gate. The group walked into their new home.

  "The garden isn't small!" Francis looked at the garden in front of the villa, which should be regularly maintained by someone, and the whole garden was still quite tidy.

  Open the door of the villa, the first floor is a very large living room, with all the furniture inside, all new, which also saved Francis a lot of trouble. Behind the living room are several rooms, probably study rooms and so on, and finally the kitchen. The second floor has many rooms, Francis found a master bedroom with a balcony, as soon as she opened the door, Delores directly pounced onto the big bed in the room.

  "What's wrong, can't you find a room? Do you still want to sleep with me now?" Francis looked at Dolores rolling on the bed.

  "Yes!" Dorothea was clearly reluctant to part with Francis.

  "This won't do, now that there are so many rooms, you can't always sleep with me, can you?!" Looking at his gradually growing daughter, Francis felt helpless. If one day your biological parents come looking for you and I'm still holding you in my arms, I reckon they'll chop me into pieces."

  Francis disregarded Dorothea's resistance, picked her up and put her in a room next door, then turned to Vivian who was following behind him and said: "You can sleep next to Miss from now on! I don't need you to take care of me here, at home you're only responsible for the meals, don't worry about anything else."

  "Master! M-master, don't...do you need me to attend to you?" ViVi asked softly, her head lowered and her tail swishing back and forth behind her.

  "Hmm!!?" Francis mischievously walked up to Vivian, pulled down his own hat, lifted Vivian's chin, and slyly smiled: "How can you... serve me?"

  “！”

  Vivian's face was flushed with a dazed expression, her red eyes staring fixedly at Francis, her eyes filled with intoxication.

  "Hmm! Killing intent!! Francis put down Vivian and quickly turned around to look at his own back."

  "Hah...hah! Lycoris, what are you doing!" Francis looked at the treasure in Saber's hand, and the wind was so strong that even the Wind King's Boundary was loosening a bit.

  "Nothing! Young master, you should pay attention to your image, this will teach Deloris bad things, I'll keep an eye on you at all times!" Saber put away the treasure in his hand and said coldly, turning around and walking into Francis' next room, heavily slamming the door shut.

  "!" Francis rubbed his nose and walked up to Vivian, slapping her awake from her daydream. "Don't space out! You go check the kitchen downstairs first, if anything's missing, have Lila take you out to buy some tomorrow! Oh, and get some clothes for yourselves tomorrow too, bring Delores along, that little girl doesn't have many clothes."

  "Uh-huh!" Vivian's face turned red as she stared at Francis and carefully nodded in agreement.

  "Don't look at me like that! I'm a guy!" Francis rubbed Vivian's head, and her ears felt very comfortable.

  "Hmm! I know!" said Vivian with a red face.

  "Huh? You know!" Francis was surprised, she didn't seem to be lying, and it was the first time he had met a beastman who could tell his sex at a glance.

  "If she knew... " Francis gazed into Vivian's intoxicated eyes, would this face be popular with girls?

  "Come on! You go to the kitchen and see what's missing? Oh, there's something I want to remind you!" Francis walked down the stairs with Vivian closely following behind. "The Ares family... they all have big appetites! So from now on, it'll be tough for you!" Francis thought of Dolores and Gail, those two were simply gluttons! Luckily they had money now, otherwise he wouldn't be able to afford them.

  The next day, Francis got out of bed, opened the floor-to-ceiling window and walked onto the balcony, stretching his waist. "What great weather!"

  "Hmm!? Have they already left?" Under Francis's perception, the entire manor had only Dis. "It's good this way, I just so happen to be going to the academy today!"

  Francis made up his mind, put on his clothes, ate something casually and went out!

  "Master! Do you want me to go out with you?" Dais was waiting for Francis at the door.

  "No need! I'm just going to take a look at the academy! Don't bother, if you're bored, go stroll around the Imperial City yourself, just don't cause any trouble!" Francis waved his hand and let Dis handle it himself.

  "Right! The Pope also asked me to check out the church's base in the Imperial City!" Francis took out his own deacon waist card, it seemed that after graduating from college, he would have to go work for others. Ah, two lifetimes, when can I be my own boss! Putting away the waist card, feeling that there was no one around, Francis accelerated and disappeared on the spot, running towards the Magic Martial Academy along the stone slab road.

  "Kaiser Imperial Royal Martial Academy!" Francis looked at the building in front of him, which seemed to be similar to the Arc de Triomphe style. On the side of the gate, there was a line of large characters, said to have been written by some law god, but Francis didn't pay attention and walked in directly.

  "What are you doing? That one in white robes!" Francis, who was just about to walk in, was stopped by the hoarse voice from the side.

  "?!?" Francis was taken aback by the old man in a grey robe standing beside him. Is the Magic Martial Academy that powerful? Even the gatekeeper is at the Sacred level! "I was planning to go in and take a look!"

  "You're not a student here!" The old man hadn't seen Francis' face, but he could tell he wasn't a student.

  "Uh-huh! I plan on signing up this year!"

  "Wait for seven days! You can come to sign up after seven days, the college is still on holiday now, non-students are not allowed to enter, you go back first!" The old man directly cut off Francis' words.

  Francis, who had been given the cold shoulder, was helpless and could only return to wait for seven days. He did want to sneak in and take a look, although the surrounding walls were high, they couldn't stop him, what he feared was that the teachers of the academy might have cast magic or alchemy spells nearby, which would be terrible.

  "It seems like I can only go to the church today!" With that decided, Francis vanished instantly.

  "Hmm! That young man just now?" The old man stood at the gate, but in an instant, Francis had vanished from his senses.

  In the imperial capital, Francis walked on the bustling street, looking at the endless variety of snacks around him, wondering if he should buy some for Deloris.

  "We're here!" Francis arrived at the entrance of a church, which was the largest one in the imperial capital. If there was any stronghold, Francis estimated it would be here!

  Entering the church, many people sat inside listening to the pastor's interpretation of the Bible. Francis looked around and it seemed that there was no place here that resembled a secret stronghold.

  "This bright law teacher, do you have something on your mind?" Just as Francis was looking around, a pastor in his 40s with a kind face and wearing white clerical attire walked over.

  "Hmm!? Here......" Francis also didn't know how to start, and directly pulled out his own steward's waist card.

  "Follow me!" The pastor, seeing Francis's waist badge, remained expressionless and smiled as he led Francis to the back of the hall. After passing through several corridors, the pastor pushed open a door, revealing another large hall inside. Many people were seated there, along with a bar counter; if it weren't for everyone around him wearing white robes or warrior attire, Francis would have thought he had arrived at a mercenary guild. The pastor didn't linger and continued walking forward, bringing Francis to the second floor before stopping and pointing at the door: "The Archbishop is already waiting for you! I won't go in!"

  "Thanks!" Francis said with a nod and knocked on the door several times.

  "Come on in!"

  Francis pushed open the door, and in the small room there was a desk, two rows of bookshelves, a tea table and three wicker chairs. On one of the wicker chairs sat a person with her back to Francis, so Francis couldn't see her face clearly, only seeing the pink long hair coiled on her head.

  "Are you Francis?" said the old man sitting behind the table. The old man was dressed in a clerical attire, with white hair and beard, Francis couldn't guess his age, but the faint aura of sanctity on him made Francis realize that he was the master of this church.

  "Yes!" Francis bowed nobly.

  "Finally got you!" The old man took off his glasses and looked at Francis: "The Pope had made contact with me a long time ago!"

  "I don't know who you are?" Francis was very humble, in any case, an old predecessor, this reason is worth respecting oneself.

  "My name is Ivanov, the white-robed bishop of the church, in charge of the church's work in the imperial capital." Ivanov said with a smile.

  "I'm so sorry! I've kept you waiting for so long, and I just arrived in the capital myself!" The person before him was still his superior! Francis greeted him politely.

  "No, no!" Ivanov stroked his beard. "I've long wanted to take a look at the new man that His Holiness is so full of praise for! Hand over your deacon's badge, would you? There are some formalities to be taken care of!"

  "Here!" Francis pulled out his own badge and handed it to Ivanov.

  "Ah! As expected, it's the waist plate bestowed by His Holiness the Pope himself!" Ivanov took a glance at it in his hand and handed it over to someone beside him. That person took the waist plate and walked out.

  "Once those formalities are completed! You'll be under me from now on!" Ivanov said with a smile.

  "Subordinate!?" Francis was puzzled, could it be that he had really been sold after all.

  "Haha! It's not that exaggerated, after all this is a church, not some kind of union! I'm just in charge of dispatching you deacons. As the White Robe Bishop, I still have command over you. That little girl over there is your colleague, hmm, she's still an apprentice deacon and hasn't been promoted to White Robe Deacon yet! She just returned from Sacred Mountain today, and from now on, she'll be directly under your supervision! You're both young people, it's good for you to get acquainted with each other, you'll have many opportunities to meet in the future! If there's anything you don't understand, ask her, she's an excellent knight who has completed many tasks for the church, although your position is higher than hers, but she can be considered your senior!" Ivanov pointed at the girl sitting in a wicker chair, and Francis also looked over. Pink long hair and thin eyebrows, pale purple eyes. A heroic aura, and a white warrior's uniform, a beautiful female knight.

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