When he was still an ordinary person, he couldn’t understand the world; having become a mage, he understood it even less.
Mystery always arrived uninvited, without the slightest precaution or consideration—it just appeared.
Wayne suspected there was something wrong with his physique, otherwise it was hard to explain why all things sinister gravitated toward him. He glanced at The Book of Greed and casually cast the blame onto it.
’County’ is a secondary administrative division in Windsor, subordinate to the major regions. Lundan is quite unique, belonging to the county-level administrative units and having a peer relationship with others.
From another perspective, Lundan is even more special, with counties serving as subordinate administrative units to it.
The administrative division of Windsor is very complicated, a legacy of history. Wayne never quite undertook to understand it, only aware that Jianhe County has a larger area than Lundan and governs five urban districts.
In terms of population, Lundan leads by a long shot, leaving Jianhe County trailing so far behind that even with nitrous oxide they couldn’t catch up.
The Naturalism Church’s stronghold is located in Jianhe City, Jianhe County—a historic university town filled with many medieval buildings, theaters, art galleries, museums, libraries—it’s replete with a literary atmosphere that has soaked into its very essence.
Wayne had been delayed on the road, arriving at the stronghold around tea time in the afternoon. Similar to the Lundan Headquarters’ library, this stronghold was also a library.
Spread over two floors, the environment was lush with trees and elegantly tranquil, great for napping while pretending to read.
In Jianhe University Town, there are more than a hundred libraries , making the Naturalism Church’s stronghold rather inconspicuous. After entering the library, Wayne didn’t immediately show his identification. Instead, he took a walk inside the library.
Nobody paid him any heed in the library, only a few couples snuggled together reading books, the smell of romance making Wayne quite uncomfortable. He gave up pretending to be an artsy youth and walked into the office on the second floor.
Perhaps because it was tea time, there was only one female on duty in the office.
She was young, about seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a pale green long skirt, wearing a pair of thick-bottomed glasses, and looking down at a literary masterpiece.
When someone pushed the door and came in, the girl slowly looked up and said, "It’s tea time now, the staff are not around. If you have any questions, you could ask at the reception on the first floor."
Clearly, she mistook Wayne for a citizen who had come to borrow books.
A university student was out of the question. Wayne’s outfit was carefully curated by Philark, and he even had an Austin-style back hairdo—he didn’t look like a student at all.
Huh, do I have such a good item under me?
Wayne hadn’t paid attention at first, but after the girl looked up, he got a clear view of her face—her complexion was clear, her eyes were bright and tranquil, and she exuded an elegant intellectual beauty, the quintessential artsy girl.
Wayne felt like he was, once again, falling in love.
Since he fell in love from time to time, and it happened so often, he gradually became numb to it. After a brief moment of surprise, he showed his Church pastor ID and clarified his identity.
The artsy girl was slightly taken aback, placed a bookmark, closed her book, stood up, and, pushing her glasses up by the bridge, introduced herself slowly.
Odilia claimed to be a disciple of the Nature Goddess, but not a Church civil servant. Because she frequently borrowed books, she was familiar with the personnel of the stronghold and helped watch over the office during tea time.
"Thank you for your help, Miss Ferdinand. You’re not a Church civil servant, so it’s fine to call me Wayne, without adding the title of pastor," Wayne extended his hand and shook hers politely.
"Alright, Mister Wayne."
Odilia smiled slightly and politely said, "Everyone calls me Odilia, you can call me that too."
Then, she sat down and continued reading, engrossed in her own little world, as if nothing else around her had anything to do with her.
She’s quite a peculiar person!
Wayne mentally labeled her, and because she was pretty, he added the tag ’good-looking.’
A good-looking oddball.
Odilia declared herself a disciple of the Goddess and not a believer, leading Wayne to speculate that she was a mage. But since they weren’t well acquainted and she didn’t seem interested in small talk, he didn’t pursue any questioning.
When tea time ended, over ten civil servants returned to the office, staring at the uninvited stranger with bewilderment.
Wayne showed his identification again, then glanced at his watch. "Tea time ends at three, you’re twenty minutes late—I’ll make a note of this."
The staff internally groaned. The leader had chosen today of all days to come, when they had gone out in a group. After putting on quite a show for the past few days, they were caught out in the very act of negligence.
"Where is the person in charge, and who is Third-class Deacon Darcy?"
Wayne, glancing at the office wall where the staff list was posted, asked with a raised eyebrow, "You get paid a Third-class Deacon’s salary, yet you’re neglecting your duties. How can you be so slack and still call yourself a person in charge? You might as well work at the front desk on the first floor."
With the person in charge absent, the staff exchanged glances, and one stepped forward to say, "Deacon Darcy was invited to South Jianhe County District, along with five colleagues. It’s been somewhat restless there recently, with an ongoing insect plague."
"Yes, the Bishop of Heavenly Father’s Court invited..."
South Cambridge Shire was a cluster of villages, which Wayne had passed through by car. A sudden thick fog had enveloped the area a while ago, followed by the insect plague.
Having years of experience, Deacon Darcy believed there must be a connection between the two events. With no pastor at the stronghold, Darcy decided to investigate in person.