The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 2 The Best and Worst

Watching the tiger maid carry the "unconscious" head nun off the platform and onto the carriage with one hand, Eric nodded to his uncle and got into another carriage.

"Return to the City Lord's Mansion."

Two carriages, carrying the Holy City envoys and the young masters and young ladies from the City Lord's Mansion, moved one in front and one behind, slowly making their way through the crowded crowd and leaving the Goddess Square.

The city lord, Earl Edgar, stayed here and continued to preside over the subsequent celebrations as originally planned - even though the hearts of the citizens present had already gone away with the carriage.

That is a miracle that you may not see once in several lifetimes!

Not to mention those ordinary people, even Edgar himself wanted to rush back to the City Lord's Mansion immediately and grab his nephew to find out what was going on.

But reason pulled him back first: this occasion no longer needed him, but the mayor of Orei City did need this occasion.

In the departing carriage, Eric didn't think so much. His focus at this moment was on the other carriage running in front.

"Gene."

He opened the small window at the front of the carriage and called to the short young man sitting next to the driver, "Tell the front: no matter what those two nuns say, take them back to the City Lord's Mansion first."

"No problem, Master!"

Gene responded readily, turned his head to look at the back of the carriage, and jumped down.

After a while, Eric heard the young man's report: "Master, I have already said hello to old Sade. He said you can rest assured."

Eric tapped on the carriage to indicate that he understood.

He had to keep the two nuns.

The miracles he performed in the square today will become more and more bizarre and exaggerated as ordinary citizens spread the word, as if he is the only one who can be the successor to the Saint.

But the Holy City was too far away, and the vast distance would make any exaggerated rumors lose their appeal and even deteriorate. If one wanted to establish contact with the Saint and ultimately change her decision, they could only do so through the intermediary of the messenger.

Although the latter was trying his best to avoid getting involved with him...

An itchy sensation on his palm brought Eric back from his reverie. Looking down, he saw Irene holding his left hand and stroking it.

The blood had long since dried, leaving dark red spots, and there was no trace of the healed wound. This was what Irene couldn't understand.

"Where's the wound?" she asked.

"Healed," Eric said.

She raised her head and looked at her twin brother with tired eyes that could not be fully opened, asking silently.

"It's divine magic."

Eric also stared at the face in front of him that looked very similar to his own. "No, it should be said... it's a miracle from God."

——If it wasn’t a miracle from God, he couldn’t explain why he suddenly awakened the memories of his past life.

Irene...

Erin Kimino.

The last saint of the Delan Empire.

A disciple of the "traitor" high priest Xinmagu.

The Destroyer of the Imperial City.

The witch of ruined country.

BOSS No. 3 in the level 40 dungeon.

The final boss of the level 90 team dungeon.

The younger sister of the first sis control in "Crown of Thorns".

……

The series of titles that emerged in Eric's mind were all nicknames for the ignorant girl in front of him in "Crown of Thorns".

This medieval fantasy online game has been operating for ten years, and he got into it during the last closed beta before the public beta and has been playing for ten years.

Although he wasn't particularly interested in the game's plot, he hung out in the guild's voice channel every day and passively listened to a lot of conversations.
In addition, he has trained countless trumpets over the years, and there are always plot performances that cannot be skipped when completing missions. He has a general understanding of the main storyline of "Crown of Thorns" and quite a few side quests.

Therefore, when the memories of the two lives merged into one, he immediately recalled the plot related to the names "Eric" and "Erin".

Looking at the entire main story of "Crown of Thorns", Eric is actually insignificant, but Irene has something to say.

Irene Kimino, whose ancestor was one of the twelve founding knights of the Delan Empire and a descendant of Duke Kimino, was therefore eligible to be selected as the heir of the Saint and enter the Saint's Monastery of Saint Laceir for training at the age of sixteen.

Irene had been frail since childhood, often in a state of confusion, but this was due to her innate spiritual power that exceeded her physical capacity. Because of this, she was discovered by the Empire's High Priest, Sinmagu, and taught magic, becoming his de facto student.

After the previous Saint passed away, Irene officially succeeded her as Saint. The following year, the High Priest was discovered by the Vatican to be secretly communicating with the demons of the North.

When the Vatican sent people to arrest him, in order to cover the high priest's escape, Irene used devastating magic to repel the attackers and directly destroyed nearly a quarter of the imperial capital, killing and injuring countless people. This magic was known in history as the "July Demonic Changes."

The high priest defected to the demon clan, and the saint Irene, whose hands were stained with blood, followed him all the way and became a witch.

Afterwards, the northern demon army, with the assistance of the high priest, broke through the Black Ice Wall in the northern border of the empire, marched south, occupied the imperial capital and even most of the northern part of the empire, and confronted the human world.

These are all background stories before the main story of "Crown of Thorns" officially begins.

After adventurers, or players, officially stepped onto the stage, Irene's first appearance was as the third BOSS of a level 40 dungeon. After being defeated, she was rescued and escaped by her brother Eric during the dungeon's plot.

In version 90, one year after the server was launched, the witch Irene appeared again as the final BOSS of the 40-person large team dungeon, with her appearance and strength greatly changed.

As the strongest BOSS in the version at that time, Irene made all the players cry for help with her powerful magic damage and endless strange equipment and props.

In the final scene of the dungeon, in addition to the BOSS Witch Irene, there is also an elite monster named [Witch Guardian Eric].

He has only one arm. When the player team challenges the BOSS, he will also join the battle. He has extremely high damage and is very intelligent. He attacks fragile professions such as priests, which is very troublesome.

But if Eric is killed first, the witch Irene will directly enter a frenzy state - there is no time limit, and the only goal is to kill all players - so two tank-class players can only taunt back and forth and forcibly hold Eric's hatred until the witch is killed.

After the witch Irene is killed, Eric will also go berserk, but he is much easier to deal with.

In the subsequent dungeon plot, the high priest Xinmagu will appear and extract the soul of the dead Irene.

Through various side quests, it's revealed that the strange items and equipment worn by the witch Erin were all collected by her brother Eric to protect his sister. His lost right arm was also chopped off during this process.

Eric's story of going to such lengths to protect his sister has earned the hearts of some players. However, some nasty players have given Eric nicknames like "The No. 1 Sis Control in Thorns Crown," "Sis Control-esque Yang Guo," and "The Continent's Best and Most Miserable Brother."

But in general, the virtual world of "Crown of Thorns" is vast and boundless, and not many players will care about the story of this NPC that only appears briefly.

——Except for Eric himself, who has now awakened his past life memories.

One died with a broken arm, and the other had his soul extracted and shattered after death. The brother and sister's fate was so tragic that he had to avoid all of this.

However, the timing of the awakening of his past life memory was really unfortunate. In a hurry, the first thing Eric thought of was to ruin his sister's chance of becoming the heir to the Saint.

As for the announcement of replacing her, it was a flash of inspiration after he snatched the Saint's scarf and discovered the divine power attached to it: replacing her would be easier to accept than directly refusing - the position of the Saint's heir had originally belonged to their Kimino family, and if the young lady could take the position, why couldn't the young master?
Even if the saint was old and confused and really agreed to let him be her successor, she could still use her foresight to avoid boarding the pirate ship of the "traitor" high priest Simagu and avoid the road to destruction.

If the other party still likes him.

After all, Xinmagu came into contact with Irene because he was attracted by the latter's powerful mental power that far exceeded that of ordinary people.

And his mental strength...

Eric thought about it, and a translucent light blue screen appeared out of thin air in front of him.

【Eric Kimino】Race: Human (Derran Empire)

Male

Rating: 1
[Basic Talent]

Highland Bloodline: Strong and robust, increases basic strength. Cold resistance.

『？ ？ ？』: Possesses an exceptionally high resistance to elemental magic.

【Basic Attributes】

Power: 7
Agility: 5
Constitution: 8
Spirit: 2
Faith: 3
……

These familiar items were his personal attribute panel, consisting of very standard physical melee attributes: relatively high strength and constitution, but pitifully low spirit that the high priest would absolutely look down upon.

After putting away the pale blue light screen that only he could see, Eric fell into deep thought again.

With foresight, it is not difficult to avoid disputes with the traitorous high priest. What is really difficult to change is the future situation of the entire continent - the demons moving south.

The demons are bloodthirsty and warlike, making them the most aggressive race. Preserving oneself and one's family in the ongoing chaos of the empire's fall is the real challenge...

"—Eric?"

Eric snapped back to reality and saw Irene leaning over to look at him, a troubled look on her tired face.

"Did you talk to me just now? I seem to have fallen asleep many times... I also dreamed that Eric would replace me as the Saint's successor. Is that true?"

The overly powerful mental power put an increasingly severe burden on Irene's body, and she could hardly distinguish between reality and illusion.

In the past, Eric didn't understand and just thought that his sister was born weak. Now that he knows the root cause, he must find a way to solve it for her.

"it is true."

Eric felt heartbroken when he thought of the scene in his past life where Irene, who had turned into a witch, was surrounded and killed. He would never let his sister repeat the same mistake.

"Why?" Irene asked.

"Because Irene is going to learn magic." Eric said.

Learning magic is the best way to control mental power. Strong mental power is a burden to Irene's body, but for a magician, it is also a much-desired talent.

After Eric finished speaking, his sister didn't respond. When he looked up, she still had a look of surprise on her face as she heard that he was going to learn magic, but her eyes were already closed.

"..."

Eric took a deep breath, but without waking her up, he turned around, opened the curtain, and glanced outside. In a moment, they had returned to the manor of the City Lord's Mansion.

Just then, the carriage stopped outside the manor.

"What's wrong?" Eric opened the small window.

"Master, we've stopped ahead." Gene replied, and the driver next to him also raised his hand and pointed forward.

Eric looked up and saw a carriage carrying two nuns parked outside the manor. The little nun had already gotten out of the carriage and was looking over here.

You're already at the door and still want to run?

Eric followed him down and came to the carriage. Just as the coachman, old Sad, was about to explain, he raised his hand to indicate that it was okay.

"Mr. Kimino, I'm sorry that Sister Alena is still in a coma and can't see anyone. She hopes, no, I hope, that she can return to Lamaire Monastery to recuperate for a few days before visiting again. We can't make the decision on matters related to the Saint's Heir, so please discuss it then!"

As soon as she saw him coming, the little nun Sophie, who was about the same age as him, started talking a lot in one breath.

"What?" The young master of the City Lord's Mansion seemed not to hear clearly.

"..."

Sophie, feeling dizzy from talking so much, opened her mouth and suddenly faltered in the speech she had practiced countless times in the carriage.

Eric kindly reminded him, "You said Sister Alena is still in a coma?"

"Yes! ...That's why she can't see anyone now." Sophie nodded quickly and added.

"She was so excited after witnessing a miracle that she fainted..." Eric glanced at the lowered carriage curtains. "Sister Alena is truly a devout believer."

"Yes..." Sophie couldn't say anything else.

"You need to rest now." Eric repeated what she had just said.

"okokokok!"

"Jin—"

The young master of the City Lord's Mansion turned around and shouted, "Have Ms. Winnie prepare two guest rooms. The Holy City envoy will stay at the City Lord's Mansion. Have them provide the highest standard of reception!"

"Yes, sir!" Gene responded and ran into the manor.

"Eh……"

Sophie's eyes widened, and by the time she realized what was happening, Gene had already run away. "No, no! We're going back to the monastery to rest!"

They came all the way from the Holy City and stayed at the Lamair Monastery in the city of Ori.

"As for the Lamair Monastery, I lived there for a few days when I was a kid. The environment there is only suitable for asceticism, not for rest and recuperation."

Eric looked at the young nun, "Miss Sophie, you wouldn't want Sister Alena to suffer while she's unconscious, would you?"

Sophie opened her mouth, "But..."

"Besides, Sister Alena needs someone to take care of her now. If she returns to the monastery, it will disturb the other monks and nuns' practice, right? There is no such concern in the City Lord's Mansion."

"Won't……"

"——More importantly!"

Eric didn't give her time to think. "The devout Sister-in-Law fainted from the excitement of witnessing a miracle. When she wakes up, she will definitely want to see me first. Considering all this, it would be most convenient for the two envoys to stay at the City Lord's Mansion."

"..."

The little nun opened her mouth, unable to find a reason to refuse for a long time. She subconsciously turned her head to look at the carriage, but could only see the motionless curtain.

Eric looked over and asked, "Could it be that Sister Alena has woken up?"

"no!"

Sophie immediately turned her head back, denying it awkwardly for a while, but finally she could only agree dejectedly.

"……All right."

When Alena in the carriage heard this, she could only close her eyes and sigh silently.

This young master was more difficult to deal with than she had expected. It was really difficult for her to rely on the inexperienced little nun Sophie to deal with him.

When Alena thought of the miracle Eric forged on the platform and the misleading words that followed, her worries became more and more persistent.

How unlucky...

She only knew that she seemed to be involved in a conspiracy, and other than that, she knew nothing.

What exactly does that teenage Master Eric... or more precisely, the Kimino family behind him that has been silent for many years, want to do?

(End of this chapter)