The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 27 Adolescence

Faced with the head nun's questioning, Eric immediately chose to deny it.

"Of course that's impossible. In the Kimino family, the Holy Scriptures are like family history; every member must be familiar with them."

He wiped his sweat, "It's just that due to various reasons, my interpretation wasn't thorough enough. Especially in front of the Holy City's envoys, it could be said to be superficial."

Alena looked at him for a while, wanted to say something, but stopped herself. Finally, she nodded, accepting what he said.

However, due to this delay, the matter of interpreting the holy scriptures came to nothing. Eric did not mention it again for the time being, and felt a little depressed in his heart.

What he had just said was the truth. The Holy Scriptures were indeed a must-read for the Kimino family, but reading word for word was just as important as reading at a glance. Master Eric, immersed in swordsmanship since childhood, happened to not be the former.

He thought back to the last time he had read the Holy Scriptures. It seemed that he and Irene were studying under the guidance of a tutor. They were still drooling...

I didn't pay attention in the first place, and it's been so long, it's strange that I can still remember it.

Even if he hadn't awakened his past life memories, he estimated that it would be difficult for him to have anything to do with religious piety in this life.

However, since interpreting the scriptures can improve attributes, rereading the scriptures must be put on the agenda.

In the light of the bonfire, Eric glanced at the silent head nun.

If one wanted to decipher the holy scripture, the Holy City Messenger was naturally the best choice. However, he vaguely noticed that Alena's attitude towards him seemed somewhat contradictory, making it difficult for him to speak.

On the one hand, she seemed to still be wary of him because of the previous forgery of miracles. Although she still cooperated when necessary, she still doubted his devotion to God;

On the other hand, she unconsciously revealed a subtle emotion about his lack of piety - it didn't seem like disgust towards hypocrites, but more like a slightly helpless feeling of being disappointed in his students.

Eric was very puzzled by this.

If you go on a long business trip and meet a client who acts on his own and likes to do things recklessly, but who seems to have connections with the top management of the head office, and your boss doesn't reply to your messages, perhaps this is the attitude you will adopt?

He had only integrated the memories of his previous life, so he could only pretend to be pious to the invisible and intangible existence of God.

But Eric was convinced that this was unimportant. After all, judging from the missions he had completed in his previous life, even a district bishop did not seem to be very devout to Yela.

The important thing is to make others believe his apparent piety.

And he just happened to have a unique advantage in this regard - how could a person who was blessed by the true God believed in by everyone and could predict the unknown not be pious?

Eric tilted his head back and took a deep breath.

The performance in the square was just a small show. He was waiting for a miracle that no one could doubt.

Snapped!
A piece of wood in the campfire was mixed with something and suddenly exploded, emitting a small ball of sparks.

The silent head nun also spoke at this time: "It's getting late, we should go to bed. Good night, Mr. Eric."

"...Good night, Sister Alena." Eric came back to his senses and nodded to the Sister Alena.

The latter stood up and greeted him, then shifted his gaze to the little nun who twitched her butt and sat back down.

"Sophie?"

"I'm not sleepy yet. I want to sit for a while..."

Sophie avoided looking at Eric, trying not to look at him. But the other two people around the campfire knew exactly what she was thinking.

Alena looked at Eric again and didn't say much. She just asked Sophie to rest early and then returned to the tent.

With their own thoughts in mind, Eric and Sophie breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, looked at each other, and smiled.

"Actually, the head nun is a very nice person..."

As soon as Alena left, Sophie moved closer to Eric. "Although she can be a little strict sometimes, like a teacher, compared to the other nuns in the convent, Sister Alena is really gentle."

"You can see it," Eric said, "she takes good care of Miss Sophie, just like her own sister."

Sophie looked at him. "Yes. When I finish my training and leave the convent, I will always remember the head sister... and Mr. Eric. I will probably never forget what I've experienced here these past few days."

Too straightforward, sister nun...

Eric could only pretend not to understand. "This is also my first time actually participating in a battle. It's definitely different from my usual practice. I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

"Fighting..." Hearing that he didn't even mention it to her, Sophie forced a smile, hung her head, and didn't speak again for a long time.

Eric also had a headache when he saw the adolescent nun in front of him suddenly fall from brightness to sadness.

Seriously speaking, he still liked this straightforward and cute little nun, but it was just admiration, not to another extent, let alone any response to her.

Anyway, most secret crushes during adolescence are based on looks, and they come and go quickly...

Eric winked at Leslie who was sitting by the campfire on the other side, asking him to come over here and break the increasingly silent atmosphere so that the little nun could go back to the tent to sleep earlier.

However, the captain of the guards was busy imagining with his younger brothers the extravagant celebration banquet tomorrow and did not notice that the young master was blinking so hard that his eyes were about to cramp.

If the action wasn't so obvious, Eric really wanted to pick up a piece of wood and throw it over.

"Mr. Eric, what's wrong with your eyes?"

Leslie didn't receive any signal from Eric for a while. Instead, it was the little nun sitting closer who noticed his abnormality first. "Nothing, my eyes are a little dry..." Eric rubbed his eyelids. "It's been a tiring day, and I'm about to rest."

Sophie rolled her eyes and pretended not to hear. She didn't want this rare moment of solitude to end so soon.

But she was also worried about him saying he wanted to rest - even though he had already said so - so after thinking for a moment, she brought up a new topic, "What are Mr. Eric's plans for the future? Will he go on adventures across the continent?"

Is it time to talk about life and the future?

Eric discovered another difference between Sophie and Alena: the head nun was skeptical about his becoming the Saint's successor, and seemed to be waiting for the Saint's opinion on which side to take, while Sophie looked as if she didn't think the Saint would agree at all.

"It's hard to say. Because I don't understand the duties of a saint yet. I don't know if I can still travel around the continent after inheriting the title of saint." Eric said.

Sophie was stunned for a moment, and as expected, she curled her lips in disapproval, but she was not so blunt when she spoke.

"Why is Mr. Eric so obsessed with becoming the Saint's successor? The Saint originally chose Miss Irene. If you were her sister, it would be fine... but Mr. Eric is her brother, a man."

"Does the holy book say that men cannot become saints?" Eric asked.

Sophie was stunned again, this time she was silent for a longer time, as if searching her mind for relevant content in the scriptures.

"Maybe not……"

"That's okay."

"But...but..." Sophie muttered for a long time before finally saying that there had never been such an exception before.

"There was no such thing as a saint before then," Eric said. "The saint system has only been established for two or three hundred years."

This incident was clearly recorded in the family history. He had just read it some time ago and happened to remember it.

Sophie nodded slowly. "That's right..."

"Breaking a convention that's only been around for over two hundred years isn't a big deal."

Eric stirred the fire in front of him and spoke calmly and casually, "The elves born in that era who lived longer are still alive today. They will probably be able to see the next era that will be opened by me, the successor of the Saint."

The little nun glared and was finally speechless. After a long time, she realized that what she originally wanted to ask was not whether he could inherit, but why he should inherit.

"Why? It seems Miss Sophie still doesn't believe me."

Eric looked at her. "It's not that I want to inherit, but Yela sent down an oracle, ordering me to replace Irene and prevent future disasters."

Sophie quickly remembered that he had indeed said something like this on the platform in the square that day.

"No, I just forgot..."

"So you mean believe it?"

"..."

The little nun began to clasp her hands and talk about other things.

Eric smiled and didn't make things difficult for her. After all, her attitude was not as important as that of the head nun.

Thinking of the head nun, he glanced at the tent not far away and brought up the matter that he had just put aside.

"Ms. Sophie, can you interpret the Holy Scripture for me? Although I read it thoroughly as a child, it's been so long since I've forgotten much of it. I felt very rewarded after listening to Ms. Sophie's interpretation just now."

Sophie looked at him. "Really?"

"of course."

The faith has already reached +1, how could it be false?
"My interpretation of the scriptures is all from what I heard from the nuns who preached in the monastery... I don't remember it very well," said the little nun.

Eric didn't care. "It doesn't matter. Just remember as much as you can. Learning a little is a gain."

Sophie was touched by his trust, but she chose to refuse. "But I can't interpret the scriptures for Mr. Eric."

"Uh-huh?"

After confirming that he had heard correctly, Eric was stunned for a moment, then thought for a moment and gestured towards the nearby tent, "Is this what Sister Alena meant?"

"Ah? No, no."

Sophie quickly shook her head. "I'm not qualified to interpret the Holy Scripture for Mr. Eric...if Mr. Eric really can become the heir to the Saint in the future."

Eric felt bad. "Then who is qualified is..."

"Saint."

"..."

The old lady in her eighties didn't have many years left to live. Did she really have the energy to preach to him?
"If the saint is too busy to attend to other matters, or dies... or returns to the kingdom of God, a nun from the monastery's seminary will be assigned as her successor," Sophie added.

Eric sighed helplessly. It seemed that the matter of deciphering the holy scripture would have to be discussed later.

(End of this chapter)