13 Mink Street

At that moment, Richard came out carrying two glasses of ice water. He handed one to Karon, saw that Karon was looking at the photograph, and took the initiative to introduce it. “That’s my grandfather. Behind him is my father. To my father’s right is my younger aunt, the one you just met. The woman on the left is my eldest aunt.”

“What position did your eldest aunt hold?” Karon asked.

“She’s dead,” Richard replied. “She died before I was born. That’s what Grandfather and Father told me.”

She died before you were born? Then where did I come from?

Karon suddenly realized something. “His” parents had not left behind any photographs. Of course, one could say that photography had not yet fully become popular at the time of their deaths, but the Immers family certainly did not lack the means for a family portrait. And even without photographs, an ordinary, well-off household could still hire a painter to do a portrait, yet Karon had never found any mementos in the house connected to “his” father or mother.

In Karon’s own inherited memories, because his parents had died when he had still been very young, his memories and impressions of them had long since blurred. The only thing truly left was the scene he had personally witnessed of Tiz killing his parents, which had led to extremely abstract drawings being left in the notebook.

Even from his conversations with Mason and Aunt Winnie, it had become clear that they knew very little about “his” mother as well.

A large part of that was because Mason and Aunt Winnie had left home very early to pursue their own careers and lives. Back then, they had probably only found time to come home once a year, and there had been almost no overlap between their lives and those of their elder brother and sister-in-law.

They had only returned home, one after the other, several years after “Karon’s” parents had met with disaster, each because of changes in their own careers and families. During those years, Tiz had supported the funeral home entirely by himself.

Only after his son and daughter had returned home had Tiz dismiss the family mortician and accountant.

That meant that Mason and Aunt Winnie had never lived under the same roof as their sister-in-law.

All that Karon knew was that “his” mother, much like “his” father, had been an Inquisitor. The two had become corrupted during a mission, and in the end, they had begged Tiz to kill them. Tiz could only bear the pain and kill his own son and daughter-in-law, though it seemed that he had preserved a part of their souls.

At night, Tiz would light a candle alone in his study to see his son and daughter-in-law. Thus, apart from Tiz, no one in the family should know “his” mother’s true identity and origins.

No, there was one... though probably not a person, but a cat. She should know something.

But Pu’er had never mentioned anything about “Karon’s” mother. Was it because she knew that he was not really “him,” so she had assumed that he would not care about “his” mother’s affairs and simply said nothing? Or had she deliberately kept silent?

Karon did not believe Pu’er had concealed this information for some special purpose, because the truth was that... even if she had said something, it would have been no different from saying nothing at all.

After all, Karon could not possibly raise a glass and clink it with Richard.

“Ah, my dear cousin!”

“Ah, my dear older cousin!”

Such a scene was impossible, because Karon could never reveal his identity to Richard.

In the entire Church of Order, Rasma was probably the only one who knew that Karon had left Swillen, but Rasma was currently in a very strange state. He seemed to be imitating Tiz’s former path and trying to condense his own godhead fragment, so there was no way he would betray that secret.

Yet Rasma’s situation was special in another way too. On the one hand, he would not expose Karon’s secret, but on the other, he was impossible to approach. Karon had once tried to understand Rasma’s current state by using the Church of Principle’s theory of the “point and circle” of the gods.

However, apart from the exceptional case of Rasma, Karon’s identity as a member of the Immers family could never be exposed to anyone. It would cause extremely serious trouble. But the kind of trouble that would appear was also rather unusual, as it was not the kind of trouble that most people would imagine.

Although Karon’s own grandfather had blown up the Temple of Order, hung a temple elder on a cross, and shown blatant disrespect for the God of Order...

Once Karon’s identity was exposed within the Church of Order, they would probably... place him on a pedestal.

That was because his grandfather was asleep, not dead.

At a banquet like the one held at the Ankara Hotel when Ophelia had visited, Karon would be allowed to sit there, while the grandsons of Bishops and above, like Leon Vicolay, could only stand nearby, constantly flattering him.

But if things came to that, then the road that Karon had chosen for himself, and all the sacrifices Tiz had made to pave that road for him, would go to waste.

In other words, Richard’s family most likely did not know where “his” mother had gone. Otherwise, their family would certainly have been implicated in that matter as well.

So had “his” mother, like Pu’er, fallen out with her family and left home?

Holding his glass of water, Karon sat down on the sofa. Some matters felt perfectly natural when one did not think too deeply about them, but once one turned around and began probing them carefully, another layer of reality would be revealed, hidden beneath that naturalness.

First, “his” parents had been killed by Tiz because they had been corrupted, then what kind of corruption could be so severe that even Tiz had been helpless against it, forced to take such an extreme method to end their suffering?

Tiz had always valued his family ties very deeply. There was no way he would have just watched his son and daughter-in-law suffer while hiding his own rank. If there had been any solution at all, he would definitely have done everything in his power to save them.

So what kind of corruption had “his” parents actually encountered?

Could an ordinary Inquisitor even participate in a mission that had exposed them to corruption at that level?

Pu’er had always liked to say something: Inquisitor was the highest career position in the Immers family.

Therefore, had “his” parents actually been like Tiz, Inquisitors, yet not just Inquisitors?

Then there was the fact that Mason and Aunt Winnie had both chosen not to take over the family funeral home, which meant that they had not wanted to enter the ecclesiastic world. For “his” father, who had inherited the family business, the standard Tiz would have held him to should not have been any lower than the one used for Karon himself.

Tiz had personally chosen a fiancée for Karon, so had one also been chosen for “his” father?

Seen in this light, if “his” mother had just been an ordinary Inquisitor, that would be rather abnormal.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Richard asked.

“The Church Affairs Building. Things outside must be in chaos by now.”

“Oh, of course.” Richard smiled. “That slap across the face must have hurt.”

The Church Affairs Building was not one of the Church of Order’s truly high-end venues in York City. Many of the offices within were actually management departments responsible for the church’s lower levels. The truly senior departments and major figures generally did not appear there. Even Nio only used it as a temporary meeting point.

But it was also undeniably a symbol of the Church of Order in York City, and to attack it in such a manner was undoubtedly a grave provocation against the Church of Order. No, this could no longer even count as provocation; This was a declaration of war.

There could be no room for reconciliation and no room for retreat. Unless the Church of Order was willing to surrender the hegemony it had built up throughout the current epoch, it would certainly take unending revenge against the attackers, even if those attackers were another orthodox church.

As for the Pamireth Church...

Karon suddenly felt that such an obvious framing attempt might actually grant the Pamireth Church some sort of turning point. It was only a premonition for the moment, and there was no evidence to support it yet.

“Do you need a bath?” Richard asked. “You seem like someone who’s particular about cleanliness. I could tell when we were carrying the stretcher.”

“You could tell?”

“Details, details. You might not mind getting your clothes stained with blood and dust, but some habits don’t change. If you want to shower, you can use the bathroom upstairs. I’ll grab you a change of clothes.”

“There’s no need. I’ll wash up when I get back.”

“No need to be polite. I said already, but maybe I simply find you pleasing to the eye. I don’t have any other motive, so don’t misunderstand. Damn it! I’m actually starting to even suspect myself.”

“I understand.” After all, they really were blood relatives. Karon knew that some people were born with a sharper sensitivity to bloodlines. Evidently, Richard was one such person.

“You really won’t bathe? I still have several priest’s robes that I’ve never worn. I was planning to let you change into one.”

Priest’s robes? Karon reached out and lightly pinched his sleeve, then said with some distaste, “Forget it, I really should wash up. Otherwise, I’ll feel uncomfortable.”

“Second floor. I’ll go get the clothes for you.”

“Thank you.” Karon went upstairs. It appeared that there were not many permanent residents in this house, perhaps only Richard and his parents, and Richard’s mother was not even in York City. His father probably did not come back often either, so it was essentially just Richard living here alone.

After finishing his shower, Karon saw two sets of priest’s robes placed outside the bathroom door. He reached out and touched them. The material was smoother than silk, and there seemed to be miniature ritual arrays carved into them.

He chose the black one and put it on. It immediately felt extremely comfortable. When he tried channeling a tiny bit of spirituality into it, he sensed six ritual arrays embedded in the robe: self-cleaning, climate control, fireproofing, waterproofing, concealment, and purification.

This had to cost several times more than the set he had ordered for himself.

When it came to priest’s robes, apart from certain specific colors and patterns unique to particular positions, there was actually quite a great deal of freedom in other aspects. The church was a world of strict hierarchy. Everyone held reverence in their hearts, and everyone understood the limits.

When Karon came downstairs, he saw a middle-aged man sitting on the sofa in the living room. He looked very much like the man in the photograph, though far more weathered. He was Richard’s father, which meant he was also Karon’s... uncle.

Expositor Eisen Gorman was sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting. When Karon came down the stairs into the living room, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Hello sir. I was invited here by Richard.” Karon saluted Eisen.

Eisen nodded and said nothing.

“Sir, then I will take my leave first.”

Eisen then opened his mouth and said, “Richard went out to buy a late-night meal. He asked me to keep you here to eat with us.”

“I mustn’t intrude sir. I should head back.”

“This is the first time my son has brought a friend home,” Eisen spoke in a very calm tone, but it also allowed no rejection.

“Yes sir.” Karon could only sit down on the sofa.

“Introduce yourself.” Eisen and his son seemed like two complete extremes. This man clearly disliked social pleasantries a great deal. From his expression as he spoke, Karon could sense a kind of pain. It was the sort of pain that came from trying to fulfill the duty of a father and complete the task of expressing some degree of concern toward his son’s friend.

This was not born of status-based contempt... though with an Expositor’s status, it would have been perfectly normal for Eisen to disdain a Divine Servant, or even an Inquisitor.

The man before him probably oversaw a different department, but in terms of status, he should be equal to someone like Zeric.

Karon felt that the man probably had... social anxiety. No wonder Richard’s mother lives apart from him.

The correct comparison would be Mason. That man was cheerful no matter what, so even after his business failures, he had still maintained a very good relationship with Aunt Mary.

“I am a Divine Servant under the Inquisitor Pavaro, Karon Silva.”

“Pavaro?” Eisen looked at Karon. “Your superior is a good man.”

As he spoke, the man painfully closed his eyes. Karon could see the muscles in his face twitch slightly, and then he forced out another sentence. “Please convey... my regards to him.”

“Of course, sir. I will pass it on.”

Hoo... Karon heard a long exhale. It was as though the task, or rather the fatherly roleplay, had finally been completed.

For a time, Karon and Mr. Eisen just sat there, both of them sinking into a long silence.

It was only when Richard returned home, carrying the late-night food he had bought from a nearby restaurant and even humming a tune as he bounced along while walking, that the silence broke.

Just then, a black crow flew in through the ventilation window and landed on Eisen’s shoulder. The man said, “Something has come up. I’ll be leaving. You two eat.”

Karon noticed that the posture and tiny movements of the black crow matched Eisen’s own movements perfectly as he stood up from the sofa and started to walk. It was the kind of synchronization that was impossible if the crow was a communication Art sent by someone else. Unless... It’s a crow he formed himself. Did he just call himself out by phone?

Eisen left.

Richard placed the food he had bought on the coffee table, opened the boxes, and smiled. “My father is just like that. He wasn’t targeting you, and he definitely doesn’t look down on you, so don’t take it to heart. He’s the same way with me.”

“I won’t.” So Uncle’s psychological problem was really this severe? He actually has social anxiety even interacting with his own son?

Seen from another angle, for someone like that to manage to obtain the position of an Expositor, just how overwhelmingly strong did he have to be?

“Come on, let’s eat.”

“Alright.”

Richard had bought chicken wraps, sliced roast beef, sausages, and a vegetable salad.

They were halfway through the meal when the clock in the living room suddenly chimed.

“My grandfather’s here.” Richard stood and went to open the door at the entrance hall.

Your grandfather, then that would be... my maternal grandfather? Karon also put down his fork and stood up, looking at the entrance.

“Where is your father?”

“Father said something came up and he just left. Grandfather, why are you heere?”

“I missed you, so I came to see you.”

Then Karon saw an old man walk in, accompanied by Richard.

“Oh, you have a guest.”

“Yes, Grandfather. This is my friend, Karon.”

“Greetings, sir.” Karon saluted the old man. Everyone in Richard’s household had to be addressed as “sir” or “madam,” and shown proper respect.

“Good.” Derron Gorman nodded and sat down on the sofa. “I’m hungry too.”

Richard immediately went to the kitchen to get his grandfather a fork and a plate.

Karon noticed that the old man’s priest’s robe was blue, and bore clearly visible ritual array rune patterns.

Derron first ate two of the chicken wraps, and then some beef. He picked up the water his grandson had poured for him, drank a large mouthful, and only then let out a satisfied sigh. “Today, it was close. Very close. The Church Affairs Building almost completely collapsed.”

“Grandfather, were you in the Church Affairs Building today too?”

“Yes.” Derron nodded. “Not only was I there, I even saw you and your friend here carrying the injured out on stretchers.”

“Why didn’t you call out to me?”

“I was presiding over the ritual array; how could I have time to call out to you? Weren’t you afraid I’d get distracted and the building above would fall and crush you to death? Speaking of which, what were you doing at the Church Affairs Building today?”

“I went to collect my stipend. Grandfather and Grandmother’s wedding anniversary is coming up soon, and I wanted to prepare an anniversary gift for you, but I don’t have enough credits. I thought of the Divine Servant stipend I haven’t been collecting and went to get it.”

Karon glanced at Richard. If not for his peculiar sense of closeness to Karon, he really would have begun to wonder whether the man from before was actually Mr. Eisen’s biological son.

Derron smiled and pulled a bankbook out from his robe sleeve. He placed it on the coffee table. “Withdraw some credits from here. I won’t tell your grandmother. We’ll give her a surprise when the time comes.”

“Yes, Grandfather.” Richard obediently accepted the bankbook.

Bankbook was also be used to store church credits. Karon had one too, or rather, every church member, even Divine Servants, actually had one, but Karon had never deposited credits into his account. The income from the squad he had joined was also paid in cash form.

Because he was merely a Divine Servant, his stipend was only one hundred credits a month. If he started depositing tens of thousands of credits into his account, even an idiot would see that there was definitely a problem.

“It’s lucky you and your department were there today, Grandfather. Otherwise, the whole building really would have completely collapsed. Who knows how many people would have died.”

“Our department was holding a meeting there today.” Derron nodded. “Yes, very lucky.”

Really? Lucky?

When the building had been just about to collapse, the very department responsible for ritual array maintenance had just happened to be holding a meeting in the same building?

“So, Grandfather, was it really staged by ourselves?” Richard asked proactively.

Derron glanced at Karon, who was sitting across from him, then shook his head. “No. The church is not so disgraceful that it would use a method like that.”

“Then what was the reason?” Richard continued asking.

Derron did not seem willing to continue with that topic. Instead, he asked, “Didn’t you say you wanted to join the Whip of Order?”

“Yes, Grandfather. You finally agree?”

“I never opposed it in the first place. Many important figures rose through the ranks by taking the Whip of Order route, and those above also attach great importance to a Whip of Order record. I have always supported your choice, if you want to take that road. However, in regards to the squad I selected for you...”

“That Captain Gendi, the way he acted all respectful toward you and me the last time we met, I really couldn’t bring myself to like it. Following a captain like that just feels boring. It doesn’t match my imagination of the Whip of Order at all.

“I still want to join that squad, the one that was just transferred over from Port Mulberry. I already heard about them when I went to visit Mother. Didn’t they just accomplish something big not long ago? They wiped out two deranged squads, cut down those corrupted people, and even obtained a Lacresis copper coin.”

“There was a possibility that those two deranged squads might have been saved,” Derron reminded him.

“In that situation, the most decisive way of resolving everything was exactly what was needed!” Richard continued. “That’s the kind of squad that feels exciting to be in!”

Clearly, as a young man, he was completely infatuated with the style of Nio’s squad.

Karon suddenly felt like laughing. His cousin actually wanted to join the same squad that he was part of.

“Do you know how those above describe that squad? They say they’re a pack of hounds,” Derron said.

“Grandfather, I think being described as a pack of hounds is the greatest praise that a squad could receive. I want to join that squad and temper myself there. And I believe you will see a different me in the future, Grandfather.”

This was the advantage of having a family background. Dinkom and Pike could only sit around at a funeral home, drinking soda and staring blankly at the sky, while Richard could not only be directly assigned to a Whip of Order squad to polish his career record, he could even be picky about which squad he joined.

The more Richard spoke, the more excited he became. In order to persuade his grandfather to arrange it for him, he continued, “Grandfather, don’t you want me to find a steady girlfriend sooner, get married, and start a family? I know you’ve never been satisfied that Mother only gave birth to me. Don’t you want to see great-grandsons and great-granddaughters sooner?”

“Of course I do, but what does that have to do with your joining a Whip of Order squad?”

“It does. It really does!” Richard stood up. With great excitement and admiration, he said, “I heard this squad handled security on Darkmoon Island last time, and one of their guys ended up knocking up the princess and sending her back pregnant!”

“...” Karon gaped.