"Hahaha…I quite like your confidence, Mr. Benimaru." Arash couldn't help but laugh out loud, seeing Benimaru's show.
Benimaru bowed slightly and spoke modestly. "I am just stating what I truly feel."
"I see." Arash nodded his head and then continued eating.
Benimaru also went to eat, but this time he would get glares from here and there. He ignored them and just ate while gloating silently. 'This is going to be fun.'
A couple of minutes later, they were done eating. Giving their goodbyes, they left the castle and quickly headed to their shop, as they had tons of work piled on their hands now.
Going to his shop while watching the city landscape, Beniamru couldn't help but wonder. 'What will the future of this city be? I am very curious.'
Along the way, Benimaru suddenly noticed one side of the road getting decorated with all kinds of fancy stuff, changing the entire appearance.
Benimaru asked the driver, intrigued by this. "What is happening there?"
The driver followed the direction of Benimaru's finger and saw the decorated street. He thought for a while, remembering the cause of it, before answering. "Sir, I heard the priest is returning from the holy city."
"Holy city?" Benimaru raised his eyebrows, surprised to hear this term for the first time. There wasn't anything mentioned about it in the books.
"Sir, you don't know what a holy city is?" This time, it was the driver's turn to be surprised.
Benimaru quickly came up with an excuse. "I am not religious. So, I never bothered to hear about it."
"Uhh.." The driver was still left speechless, as he was not religious like him, but at least he had heard about it, so Benimaru should have been too. But who was he to care about such things? He was just a driver, and he should guide his passengers. "Sir, the Holy City is the home of a god. It is the place where a god had his or her greatest presence. So, their devotees had built the city around it. Basically, it is their headquarters."
Benimaru went into deep thought after hearing this. The driver might not have said many things, but it opened up many possibilities for Benimaru. 'Their headquarters..huh? It is also the place where that religion's god had his greatest presence. This made my goal much more clear. I guess I have to find this God of Destiny's holy city.'
'But…that will be for later. I am sure there are monsters sitting there. I would be just inviting my death by going there now.' Benimaru clenched his left fist, feeling the power in it. 'However, this is enough to do some damage to this church.'
…
"Goodbye, Sir. I hope we meet again in the future." The driver left, after tipping his head to Benimaru.
"Same here." Benimaru said this with gratitude, waving his hand as a goodbye.
Then Benimaru entered his shop and met with a decent amount of people buying or inspecting his items. However, they were all not customers, as some just came to watch their goddesses, Ravenna and Fiain. They might just fill the numbers, but they also buy some items from time to time when Ravenna and Fiain ask them. He also saw Ravenna taking his post and collecting money while Fiain single-handedly entertained the customers.
They noticed Benimaru's arrival and greeted him simultaneously. "Welcome back, boss."
Benimaru didn't say anything but quickly took his position and said something to Ravenna. "We will talk later, now go to your position. I am sure Fiain can't handle it all alone."
"Yes," Ravenna quickly took her original position and entertained some customers, taking some burden off Fiain's hands.
Their day continued like usual without any kind of drama or sort.
…
The moonlight had already descended upon the world fully, announcing the end of the day.
It also announced the end of today's work, as Benimaru ordered Ravenna to put the close sign on.
However, just as she was about to do so, someone knocked on the door, making her halt her action. She replied without opening the door. "Sorry, we are already closed."
The shop door was made of full wood, so she wasn't able to see carefully who the person on the other side was. But she was able to know this person's gender after they replied to her warning. "Miss, I am an envoy from the church."
Ravenna's eyes shot wide open as she looked back at Benimaru in a hurry. Benimaru also heard it, so he nodded his head back, signaling her to open the door.
Ravenna calmed her raging heart. It wasn't her fault she was feeling that way, as she had always been notified that the church was their enemy—especially since they were demons — so she was told to be wary of them.
Opening the door, Ravenna was met with a man in a white cassock that had green borders and some plant-like embroidery on the chest. She hid her anxiety and asked with a smile. "How can we help you?"
"Here." The man didn't reply to her question; instead, he handed her a simple envelope. "I hope you come to our priest's reception."
"For what?" Ravenna took the envelope and asked curiously.
The man went silent for a second before answering. "For our priest's return."
"Now, please. I will take my leave." The man nodded his head as a gesture of courtesy and left the place, probably heading to other shops.
Closing the door, Ravenna took the envelope and handed it down to Benimaru. Taking it from Ravenna's hand, Benimaru opened it to see the content inside.
Browsing his eyes through in one single sweep, Benimaru already summed up the reason for it.
"Does this guy think he is some kind of superstar?" Benimaru couldn't help but ask himself, as the content of the letter made him doubt.
Apparently, the priest wanted to host a party and get along with the people of the town. He wanted to catch up and have some conversation with them, as he missed them. Lastly, he wanted to also give some teachings about the goddess in case they had forgotten about it.
Which was all bullshit!
Benimaru could clearly see that the priest wanted to let others know that he had arrived; he wanted himself to be glorified. Also, about inviting everyone, Benimaru knew it was fake too. He only invited some influential people just like him, as he had become one himself recently. If he wanted to invite everyone, he could have announced it with a microphone or with posters.
But, Benimaru couldn't reject this invitation, as he wanted to see this priest, and his eyes were always on him. "Ravenna, get ready. We will take a look into the church tonight."
"Lord, can I come too?" Fiain asked eagerly.
"No," Benimaru shook his head. "Only two people can go with this invitation."
"I see." A bit of sadness flashed on Fiain's cold face.
"Hey, don't think too much. I wanted to take you at first but thought I couldn't leave behind the shop in Ravenna's hands. You don't know when she might fall asleep." Benimaru said with a shrug and ignored the glare Ravenna was giving.
Some might think Benimaru was coaxing her with sweet words and lies, but he wasn't. Benimaru was genuinely concerned that leaving Ravenna might be a mistake. She wasn't the best at guarding or managing stuff.
This made Fiain feel better, and she wished them luck on their way.
…
"Well, there are a lot of people." Benimaru said, looking at the heavy crowd going inside the church. Fortunately, the church was big enough to make this number of people look insignificant.
"Let's go in. I want to go back quickly and sleep." Ravenna said this with a bored expression.
"Sure. But you could at least wear something else." Benimaru looked at Ravenna weirdly, who still had the dress she uses for work. The only thing she added was a small jacket because it was a bit cold tonight — despite this cold being nothing to them!
On the other hand, Benimaru was still in the dress that he used to wear to visit Arash.
"What is wrong with that? You also didn't change." Ravenna rebuked him back.
Benimaru just calmly replied. "Mine is for such occasions. But yours…."
"Mine what? You are wasting my time. Let's go in." Ravenna grabbed Benimaru's hand and forcefully pulled him inside the church.
Just as they stepped in, they were instantly met with a giant hall with a statue of the Goddess of Nature on the other end, who had her arms open as if wanting to embrace anything. There were paladin guards on every pillar, watching carefully for any suspicious things or beings.
Benimaru and Ravenna walked forward, delving a bit deeper by zigzagging through the compact crowd.
After a while, they were finally able to see the people in front of the statue who were mostly important.
Among them, Benimaru recognized just one, and that was Okarino. He also saw a few shop owners who were at Arash's meeting too. But there weren't that many, as he had seen them in the crowd, indicating they were invited but weren't worthy of going there.
This made Benimaru more wary of Okarino. 'Who is this guy actually?'
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