I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

That dashing, sword-wielding woman was none other than Qiong.

The timid woman was actually Olivia.

Noticing that Charles and the others were staring blankly at Olivia's sleeves, a petite businesswoman (Helena) next to Olivia quickly swatted the ball of yarn away from her hand.

Charles and Brianna's vision went black.

Charles thought to himself, "I've read quite a few scriptures about that noble Valkyrie. I anticipated the Church's deliberate mythologizing and the discrepancy between reality and fiction, but this discrepancy is just too great!"

Brianna thought to herself, 'Those guys Roland and his gang, have they kidnapped the daughter of the sun god?! What's going on? Don't scare me!'

In Brianna's view, it was impossible for Roland to kidnap Olivia on the road, in front of the Crusaders and numerous priests.

Therefore, it must have been Catherine and Roland who did it by the river.

Brianna seriously underestimated the strength of this 'Olivia'.

Charles too.

Legend has it that the archangel Olivia is incredibly close to the Supreme Lord. But the timid and cowardly Olivia before them looks more like a tall, beautiful, but pitiful village girl who has never seen much of the world.

The contents of the scriptures have clearly been deliberately mythologized by the church.

Seeing that Charles had come to his senses and was about to pull Brianna and his entourage to pay homage to the God, Theresa said at the opportune moment, "Gentlemen, the God does not like to be disturbed. Please lead your entourage into the city as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Charles thought to himself, 'The descending saints are all incredibly diverse, but this is the first time I've encountered one so socially awkward.'

Brianna thought to herself, 'So they really have been kidnapped!'

What method did they use to make her so obedient? Have they come up with something new over by the river? Catherine must have been producing a lot of papers lately!

Amidst Brianna's incessant rants, the 'caravan' journeyed along the Avenue of Divine Grace towards the western gate of the Holy City.

Roland Zermatt deliberately walked to the other side of Brianna. While Brianna and Charles chatted, he used his eyes to tell Brianna something—that was Diana.

Brianna paused for a moment, then gave Roland a look—what's wrong with you!

Roland rolled his eyes, too lazy to say anything more.

Seeing Roland's expression, Brianna realized that he seemed serious. A possibility suddenly occurred to her.

Brianna communicated with Roland telepathically: 'You mean, you used a method to seal Olivia's soul, and then Diana straddled Olivia's back and controlled her?'

Roland replied, "It's hard to explain in a short time. Just take it as such."

This matter is indeed difficult to explain, and Roland did not intend to discuss it with Brianna here. In the course of their conversation, he inquired about Brianna's well-being.

Brianna sighed and said, "Thank you for letting the Thousand-Eyed King release me and allow me to go to the Holy Court to deliver a message, because of our friendship. Otherwise, with that demon king's methods, I would definitely not have had a good end. Of course, thanks to you, there are even more rumors about us now."

Roland immediately understood the excuse that Brianna had made up after returning 'home'—the wizards had released one person alive and brought the words of the Thousand-Eyed King to the Holy Court.

Roland said, “No, Brianna. If the King of a Thousand Eyes hadn’t let you go, you would have stayed by my side as my maid. You know, Catherine and Anna are usually quite busy.”

Charles, who had been eavesdropping nearby, couldn't help but smile slightly. He tactfully pretended not to see or hear, giving the two of them enough space.

Brianna glared at Roland, her eyes saying, "You brat, don't try to be all slick in front of me, or my uncle will misunderstand!"

Roland gave Brianna a dismissive look: 'Your Excellency Brianna, your uncle won't misunderstand. After all, you've been thoroughly tainted by me and Catherine. In fact, when I came here this time, Catherine suggested I propose to you. After all, no one else will marry you.'

Brianna's vision blurred, and she gritted her teeth, cursing the two despicable people in her heart.

However, after hearing Roland's words, Brianna felt a little relieved—it seemed that Catherine and Roland hadn't fallen out as rumored.

Brianna had never even considered marrying Roland until yesterday.

To be honest, although she had never thought about marrying Roland before, occasionally at midnight, when she couldn't sleep because of the couple in the next ward making noise, she would think about things like marrying Roland.

Well, it's not that she hasn't considered marrying Roland. Brianna understands Catherine's character, and as her closest friend, it's only a matter of time before she ends up with Roland.

What's more, Catherine had also inquired about her 'romantic history.' Upon learning that she had left the 'Twilight faction (parallel world)' and infiltrated the church with a pure body, and had never violated any commandments, Catherine was quite pleased—her best friend was still a virgin.

This indirectly confirms Brianna's suspicions—Catherine has arrangements for all her trusted close friends.

Therefore, Brianna was somewhat prepared.

But she still didn't sleep well all night when her uncle subtly probed her yesterday.

Now, hearing Roland's blunt words and learning his thoughts, Brianna was even more confused.

Am I really going to marry this brat? He's over three hundred years younger than me, okay? If you disregard the time difference, I should only be a dozen years older than him.

Roland gave Brianna a look—good sister, you're not young anymore, are you really planning to be a spinster for the rest of your life?
Brianna was furious. She gave Roland a look that said, "Shut your dog mouth!"
Roland gave Brianna another look—Is Florence alright?

Brianna replied, "That's great, at least she's more relaxed than me. She's doing what she loves most. Maybe you'll see her today."

Roland breathed a sigh of relief—"Then I'm relieved. I came here this time intending to take both of you home with me."

Brianna looked at Roland in disbelief—you're even after the nun? Are you even human? Don't say I didn't warn you, Florence is the 'Fire-Bearing Saintess' of the Dawn Gods, you'd better watch out for divine retribution!

Roland rolled his eyes—what kind of talk is that? That's precisely why I had to set my sights on her. After all, she's my (mother's) cough, she's the saintess the God of Dawn arranged for me.

Brianna: ''
Brianna truly couldn't understand why the Dawn Gods, known as the 'Old Masters,' would favor this faithless brat.

Roland then looked at Brianna—"Oh, right, there are two friends I haven't introduced you to yet. Did Catherine tell you about Joan and Helena? They're here too."

Although she had never met them, Brianna knew these two ladies very well.

Not only did Catherine and Brianna mention it, but Brianna also made a point of learning about them privately.

Not for any other reason, but because Brianna was very curious about her own life trajectory in this world.

According to the trajectory of this world, Helena would be his student and niece, while Joan would become his chief potion-making assistant after he returned to White Chess Academy—or, in the parlance of wizards today, a 'leader student.' These are the kind of students that professors have to cherish and pamper, since they not only complete their own papers but also leave their professors with a prestigious title like 'corresponding author.'

But why send Helena and Joan on such a dangerous mission? They are both excellent, but they are the new generation! They are the new generation that needs to be nurtured and protected!

Seemingly sensing Brianna's confusion, Roland told her that Joan was mistaken for 'Olérie' by Olivia, while Helena thought she was Heracles.

Brianna: "???"

After a pause, Brianna gave Roland a look—I think I know what's going on. You've driven Olivia crazy.

Roland wanted to refute this and explain the situation. For example, he could tell Brianna that Olivia's mental state wasn't good to begin with, because she was Diana!
Roland opened his mouth, but at first he didn't say a word.

Because he realized that he might be the culprit.

Before I pulled Lady Diana out of the 'dream', her mental state wasn't great, but it was obviously not this serious.

At least there are no problems such as amnesia, confusion about self, inability to distinguish who is who, or memory disorder.

Based on past interactions, she was just a little twisted, a little perverted, a little violent, and she would sing in a squeaking, gurgling way when she spoke.
Thinking of this, Roland couldn't help but turn around and secretly glance at Diana not far away.

He suddenly felt that the Empress was better the way she was now.

'We need to hurry and consult the old scriptures of the Holy See to unravel the mystery of the Book of Rest as soon as possible, otherwise Diana's current state will not only give her away, but she might also go mad.'

The Thousand-Eyed King had previously told Roland that if Roland could find some kind of 'answer' in the old scriptures of the Holy Court, then many things would be easily resolved.

Roland is now completely clueless about solving the mystery of the Book of Rest, so he can only bet his life on this.

Prince Regent Charles was humorous, witty, and very talkative. He didn't discuss politics with Rowland, but instead introduced the local customs and culture, just like a competent tour guide.

Roland had a very pleasant chat with everyone.

Soon, the group arrived at the West Gate, chatting as they walked. At this time, more people were leaving the city than entering, so there was no queue.

Normally, the guards are supposed to inspect caravans entering the city. And when they encounter outsiders, some disgusting things can happen.

However, when the guards at the city gate saw Roland and his 'caravan,' they didn't even stop them and hurriedly let them pass.

They probably recognized the mercenaries at the front of the caravan—these knights who followed Charles were all nobles of high status and extraordinary strength.

Ordinary people might not recognize them, but the guard captain at the gate recognized them immediately.

Upon entering the holy city, the sky turned overcast, much like Roland's mood that day.

The Holy City was very large. According to Charles, the distance between the east and west sides of the Holy City was more than 180 kilometers. In modern terms, that would be about half the size of Wuhan, but in the Middle Ages, it was a bit of an exaggeration.

Without the church's divine intervention, the entire city would suffer from a lack of rice and water, and would be unable to handle its garbage.

Even with the church's large number of priests, Roland couldn't quite understand why they would build such a large city. Maintaining its daily needs would place a tremendous burden on the surrounding provinces.

From the perspective of church management, they don't need to gather so many people together at all. There isn't even a factory here, so what's the point of gathering so many people?

The city walls here are layered, and when you look towards the city center from where you entered Roland, you can only see three inner walls.

Even though the palaces and churches in the inner ring were exceptionally tall, Roland could only see a quarter of the top of these buildings.

Most of the buildings in the holy city are relatively low—generally no more than three stories high. But occasionally there are some tall buildings that rise unusually from the ground, which seem to be huge watchtowers or bell towers that reach into the clouds.

I don't know why so many watchtowers or clock towers were built in the city. Perhaps it's related to religion.

The Holy City was indeed very prosperous, but Roland was slightly disappointed because, disregarding its size, it was not much more prosperous than Vermik.

One can tell a thing or two from the palace in the very center of the city—it is not as exquisite and magnificent as the 'Summer Palace of Alaye' in Vermik.

But when Roland used the magic calculation matrix to divine a few things, he came to a conclusion: the overall value of the Orbis Palace was only three-quarters that of the 'Virmik Palace'.

The Holy City's productivity is still very primitive. The wealth it produces each year is far less than that of coastal trading cities that frequently engage in magic.

Out of curiosity, Roland used the magic calculation matrix to divine the overall value of the Holy City, wanting to compare it with the newly built 'Sun City' on the riverbank.

In his estimation, given the productivity of the Southern Church, their capital city would be utterly worthless compared to the wizards' newest magical city, 'Sun City'.

After all, the value of Sun City is not much lower than that of the Grey Falcon Base in Grey Falcon City, which contains a nuclear fusion power plant.

Therefore, in terms of urban construction costs alone, it is worlds apart from Sun City.

As Roland had predicted, the divination results were exactly as he had expected: the value of the Holy City was like an endless desert, while the value of the Sun City was like a grain of sand in the desert, which was not worth a penny.

'etc? '

Roland looked at the divination result once again—the value of the Holy City was the desert, while the value of the Sun City was a grain of sand.

Roland rubbed his eyes hard, thinking he had miscalculated.

He entered the relevant parameters again, discarding all the relics, ancient scriptures, and other things in the Vatican's collection, and only comparing the construction costs of the two cities. The result was the same.

At this moment, Brianna suddenly said, "Roland, aren't you curious about where the 'Holy Throne' is?"

Roland blinked and looked towards the distant inner city at the edge of his vision. Soon, Roland's eyes flickered slightly, pointing to a magnificent cathedral within the inner city.

"That must be the Holy Throne, right?"

After a pause, Roland asked curiously, "From the outside, it only looks a little better than the Great Cathedral of Vermec, but in reality, it should be a priceless treasure left behind by the gods?"

Brianna chuckled and said, "Heh, you're half right. The Holy Throne is indeed a priceless treasure left behind by the gods, but it is not the Holy Throne itself."

To his surprise, Roland suddenly noticed that Brianna had been looking up at the sky.

There was a cloud there, an unusually high one, whose shadow covered the entire city. (End of Chapter)