Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1575: Chapter 302: [Amen]

After a while, Father Stretta came out expressionless with a plate of burnt fish.

Vasco, who was bigger than two Father Stretta combined, was petting a drowsy golden cat and showing a quite enjoying expression.

“Peel off the burnt skin, the inside is still edible.” Vasco looked at the failed dish without a care and picked it up to eat, “I never fuss about food; that’s the secret to longevity.”

This guy, at the age of ninety-six, could still be this healthy, naturally held secrets, but obviously, it’s not about not fussing about food…

Father Stretta untied his apron and sat down, poured himself a glass of water before speaking slowly, “Pechersk Lavra’s holy remains have been stolen for more than half a year now, I’m curious how the Holy Church could tolerate it until now. It makes me have to suspect if these holy remains are some counterfeit created by a major country.”

“Recently, the Holy Church has had some incidents.” Vasco stopped petting the cat and said seriously, “For a long time, we haven’t been able to hear the Lord’s gospel.”

“What happened?” Father Stretta directly furrowed his eyebrows.

Vasco shook his head and said, “I don’t know either… Even the batch of holy Prayer Aggregators originally intended for heaven are now stuck in the holy place. This might be the first instance since the Holy Church was founded… Now, multiple voices have emerged within the Holy Church… You know, Stretta, I have always had little interest in such conflicts.”

Father Stretta was noncommittal, “What was lost were holy remains, not something else… When did factional disputes become more important than the holy remains?”

“Stretta.” At this moment, Vasco moved closer and said in a low voice, “It’s only a speculation, just a speculation… We speculate, heaven might have experienced something unimaginable by both of us. Recently, many events have occurred within the Holy Church, far more than you can imagine… And it all seems related to the sudden disappearance of a Prayer Aggregator’s soul last year. In Russia, she was a devout believer, possessing a pure soul, a high quality rarely seen in recent years. But after her death, her soul was not received by heaven. This incident caught the attention of the Angels responsible for reception in heaven, they dispatched an Angel to investigate… In this matter, a young priest is involved, the Angel Lord is interrogating this young priest.”

“What’s the problem?” Father Stretta said without any temper, “If there’s a problem, interrogating the suspect, how does it involve the Black Religious Congregation?”

“The key is right here.” Vasco thought for a moment and said, “The Angel Lord couldn’t get answers from the mouth of this young priest… But as the time for descent nearly ended, it had to return. But just as it left, the monastery immediately received an attack from the Black Religious Congregation, afterward the holy remains were taken and everyone in the monastery was killed. The Black Religious Congregation even had their priest pretend to be from the monastery… Guess what happened afterward?”

“I bet if you don’t hurry up, you definitely won’t get dinner tonight.” Father Stretta said blandly.

Vasco huffed and puffed, finally saying, “When the Angel Lord responsible for the investigation descended again, it was attacked by those disguised as Holy Church members within the Black Religious Congregation… Dead!”

Father Stretta’s expression changed slightly.

Vasco said in a deep voice, “Stretta, an Angel descended, died in the human mainland… And died under the careful planning of the Holy Church’s opposing Black Religious Congregation. This humiliation is undoubtedly a loud slap, harshly hitting the faces of those high-level executives in the church, then learning about the holy remains also disappeared, and then was the inability to contact heaven.”

“What about the young priest involved?” Father Stretta suddenly asked.

“The strange part is here.” Vasco thought for a moment and said, “According to investigations, this priest originated from Pechersk Lavra, his godfather is Maugis, also an Ascetic Monk in the monastery. But when the Holy Church’s investigation team arrived, among numerous exhumed bodies, his alone was not found… Yet according to records at the time, this young priest, during the attack of the Black Religious Congregation on the monastery, should have been in a stage of being imprisoned… However, after the Black Religious Congregation successfully killed the Angel and left, this young priest also mysteriously disappeared.”

“He may know the course of the entire incident.” Father Stretta furrowed his brows, “Perhaps, during the Black Order’s attack on the monastery, he escaped during the chaos… No, if he escaped, he should have contacted the nearest church for assistance immediately, absolutely impossible to delay until the appearance of the investigative team. Could it be… a betrayal?”

“This is the most likely possibility.” Vasco said seriously, “Moreover, the information about the holy remains in the monastery might have been leaked by this young priest, he is more likely to be an collaborator of the Black Order’s invasion of the monastery—of course, these are still only in the conjecture phase, unless we can find him.”

“Maugis…” Father Stretta pondered, “I’ve heard about him, Pechersk’s Ascetic Monk, his virtue is enough to be remembered, if it’s his godchild, should also possess a firm faith.”

“Listen, Stretta.” Vasco said in a deep voice, “I hope more than anyone else, traitors do not appear among us! One Amunst is already enough to disgrace us! But even though he disgracefully abandoned the embrace of the Lord, but at least chose the Knight Agency in the end, did not commit evil… But if this young priest has collusion with the Black Order, he must be eliminated as early as possible!”

But Father Stretta suddenly sneered, “If that’s the case, I am also one of those who brought shame on you, you’ve come to the wrong place.”

Vasco took a deep breath and said, “Stretta, back then Amunst rebelled against the church for his child who fell in love with a bloodsucker, you were responsible for his interception but let him go in the end, I don’t blame you… You’ve already repented, spreading the glory of my Lord in this remote place for twenty years, enough to redeem yourself… This time I’ve come from the Holy Church, one of the purposes is to bring you back.”

Father Stretta said calmly, “Now I am just an old man who dozes off even when preaching to believers in services, what can I do… Look, I have become so clumsy that I can even burn fish.”

“The Holy Church needs you, Stretta.” Vasco said with heartfelt sincerity.

Father Stretta looked down at the golden cat acting cute and pleading for petting at his feet, and said calmly, “Atang needs me too.”

“Why don’t you just take your cat back with you?” Vasco furrowed his brows.

Father Stretta shook his head and said, “No, it will be unaccustomed to the water and soil, and it cannot leave the church’s confessional bench here, otherwise it will not sleep.”

“I’ll carry the confessional back for you!”

Father Stretta said again, “No, besides the vegetables grown in this garden, Atang eats no other vegetables.”

“You’re telling me the cat likes vegetables… Fine! I’ll carry this yard back too!” Vasco’s forehead veins bulged slightly.

Father Stretta still shook his head and said, “The air doesn’t work either, leaving here, Atang will refuse to breathe, it will die.”

“Old man, you better stop…” Vasco was almost gritting his teeth as he spoke, an overwhelming divine power at this time was flowing over his almost steel-cast muscles.

Father Stretta said unhurriedly, “There are still a few Knights from the Knight Agency defending here, although they are just insignificant Knights, you basically don’t care, um… even if the Twelve Knights come, you definitely wouldn’t care. But if it draws the attention of the entire Knight Agency, I think you will still… Oh, Vasco, I knew you could hold your temper.”

Vasco directly stood up, “I’ll come again, these few days I’ll stay here. Stretta, I’ll say it again, now is a time of turmoil, the Holy Church needs you, Shenwei Prison needs you more.”

“But I don’t need you.”

“Hmph!”

Vasco angrily pushed the door open and left.

Father Stretta shook his head and then started cleaning the table, but Atang ran out, jumped to the edge of the window, and kept meowing.

Father Stretta did not look back, only said calmly, “You’re hungry too, right? Hurry and tidy up, prepare to eat. I know you haven’t been eating enough these days, so today I made extra. But that guy who was originally going to stay for dinner left, so you can eat some more.”

Outside the window, Mai Rada stood up with a cold expression. He didn’t go to the door, but climbed in directly through the window, his gaze locked onto Father Strala.

The priest smiled faintly, bringing out a lot of food from the kitchen… As if nothing had happened, he placed Atang on the table, feeding him some milk.

“Just now…” Mai Rada couldn’t help but voice his curiosity tentatively.

“Prin brought you to me, I didn’t ask anything, nor do I intend to,” Father Strala smiled and said.

Mai Rada snorted softly and then began devouring his food ravenously.

“Enjoy your meal.” Father Strala smiled slightly, then drew a cross on his chest, “Amen.”

…

…

After dropping off some goods for Mai Rada, Teacher Prin quickly arrived at the town hospital.

Now, he came here once a day, and every time he’d bring some fresh soil, walking into the intensive care ward to rub it onto Mr. Smith and his wife Deborah.

Today was no exception.

Mr. Smith seemed to be asleep, slumped by the edge of his wife Deborah’s hospital bed — this man seemed to be increasingly emotionally drained.

His wife remained in a coma, and their missing son Joe was still nowhere to be found… These awful circumstances had long left what should have been a man in his prime energy-wise utterly exhausted.

If it weren’t for the attending doctor who did rounds telling him that the fetus his wife was carrying was still relatively healthy, Mr. Smith probably wouldn’t have been able to hold on until now.

Teacher Prin stood by, quietly observing the ill-fated couple… He wasn’t sure from when he seemed to entangle himself with Mr. Smith’s family.

He had always wandered from place to place without a fixed abode or purpose… This little town was the first place he had lived for over half a year.

There always seemed to be something special about this place.

He felt as if he already knew Mr. Smith’s family… Especially during their first encounter — the scene of the car accident.

The family that should have died from the car crash survived miraculously because of his arrival — it was the first time Prin had violated natural law.

He couldn’t quite explain why — perhaps there was some meaning hidden behind this incident.

That’s why he decided to settle down and become a member of the town, trying to interact with the family like an ordinary person, maybe to understand something?

Teacher Prin looked at Mrs. Deborah’s belly.

The child had already reached enough weeks, a new life waiting in the mother’s womb for the final emergence.

He couldn’t help but extend his hand, gently placing it over Mrs. Deborah’s belly… Through the patient’s clothes, the blanket, and even his own white gloves — ultimately, he did not actually touch it.

“Joe! Joe!”

Mr. Smith, who was asleep, suddenly called out his missing child’s name in his dreams… Teacher Prin immediately withdrew his hand.

Mr. Smith woke up startled from the dream, looking around the ward, as usual, finding only his still sleeping wife lying on the bed.

“Was there… someone here earlier?”

Mr. Smith glanced at the cabinet beside the hospital bed and noticed a new parcel had appeared… Upon opening it, he found that its contents mostly consisted of foods he usually liked.

Probably someone had a kind heart… Mr. Smith thought: everyone in the town had always gotten along very harmoniously.

This made him feel slightly better, Mr. Smith slowly sighed, gently wiping his wife’s hand pulled out from beneath the blankets.

…

“Was it an illusion…”

In front of the hospital, Vasco suddenly stopped after leaving the church, hesitantly looking at the small town hospital — just a moment ago, he seemed to have smelled something unusual.

The smell of a corpse… but this scent quickly disappeared, leaving him only the fragrance of soil.

Vasco couldn’t help but shake his head, quickly leaving.

Shortly after, Vasco arrived in front of an apartment… He pushed the door open and walked inside.

Inside the apartment, two men and two women immediately stood upright without daring to take a breath as Vasco entered… Vasco glanced at the four young people. They were knights of the Holy Church, outstanding members of the Holy Knight Reservists — clearly, besides looking for Father Strala, there were other matters that had brought him to the town.

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PS: (4/60)