Pastor's Tantra

“So big!”

After Isabel came down, she couldn't help but exclaimed: "This is almost half the size of the Palace of Silver and Tin!"

Unlike ordinary churches, the Lambretta Chapel has a basement of quite astonishing size.

Of course, it can't be compared with the size of the Vendôme family's castle. But the size of the Silver and Tin Palace is not even one-sixth of the Lionheart Palace. In Aiwas's memory, it is like a three-story five-star hotel. In addition to the large round table hall and banquet hall, there are only a few small rooms such as bedrooms, study rooms, and collection rooms.

"The reason for this is that this temple itself was converted from a warehouse of a champagne factory."

Sherlock on the side gave the answer.

The basement of this temple was once a huge wine cellar.

“Because the champagne brewing process requires secondary fermentation to produce bubbles, the appropriate temperature and humidity need to be maintained during the bubbling stage. Therefore, a wine cellar of considerable size is required. After successful bubbling, it is necessary to age the wine on its lees – that is, to continue aging the yeasts that have grown in the bottle, waiting for them to die and decompose to produce new aromas.

“This process usually takes at least a year and is key to the unique aroma of Champagne. The basement of the Chapelle de Lamm has a soft and fine chalky limestone shell, which is very suitable for this process.”

Sherlock said faintly.

He did not stop, but tapped the ground with his cane, carefully testing every possible trap or mechanism.

The light from their hand-held lanterns was too dim. Even if everyone present had night vision, they could not let down their guard just because they could see.

For Sherlock, this level of trickery by Ram Company was as easy as being exposed to the daylight.

“They are willing to transfer this wine cellar to the church. In my opinion…it’s not entirely for whitewashing.

"Just like what Yassen said just now - they used industrial essences. As far as I know, they hired a Star Antimony Alchemist to imitate the aroma directly after the secondary fermentation was completed by mixing essences in precise proportions."

At this point, Sherlock glanced at Aiwass and said, "Just like... Master Nobel. They are all alchemists who were driven out of the Royal Alchemy Association because they couldn't accept the atmosphere there. But... haha. The knowledge in their heads is a treasure for other countries."

"Yes."

Aiwass nodded and said softly, "It was after this group of alchemists proved their abilities that Xingti's spies began to assassinate alchemists who tried to escape Xingti. Before that, Xingti people had no idea how talented these alchemists who were not outstanding in the country were, because they had too many alchemists... Even if they were to select the best, all those who were selected would be talented."

“I also learned about winemaking when I was reading books before.”

Sherlock didn't respond, but said directly: "Secondary fermentation only takes two months, while aging with lees takes at least a year. Once this step is omitted through alchemy, they can produce enough goods in a short period of time to seize the low-price market.

“They also considered handing over the wine cellar to the church.

“If it were given to anyone, it could be sold to Champagne San Lero or other champagne houses at a high price because the wine cellar is of good quality. It could even be used as evidence that ‘Lamm uses industrial flavors’ and cause public opinion. Only the church is different – ​​once the church is built, it will never move the land or sell it to others.”

This is only natural.

——If a bishop of a church sold a church because someone offered a higher price, it would be a major event that would alarm the Church.

No matter how embarrassing it is, it can't be this embarrassing!

"As a sponsor, they can continue to use the wine cellar to age a batch of high-quality Ram champagne to open up the high-end market. From this perspective, the church has become their gatekeeper and security guard - not many people dare to sneak into the church to steal or poison. Even if there are, it is not their problem, but the church's problem. They can also ask the church to help with purification... It's just another round of sponsorship. The Iris Church is not like Avalon, which has funding from the Theocracy and the royal family. They have to be responsible for their own profits and losses.

"In my opinion... they can even open a new brand, such as 'Blessed Champagne', to sell this batch of high-end champagnes that have been purified by the Holy Light for a long time and have some extra effects."

Sherlock sneered, "I just don't know if they have any smart people."

"Um?"

“It just doesn’t work.”

As the most authoritative person present, Aiwass gave a definite answer: "It's just placed in the basement of the church. This level of purification is impossible to have any long-term effect on the wine - let alone underground, it's useless even if it's placed in the chapel.

"If you use a consecration ceremony to bless it, like on Candlemas Day, it will usually not last more than three days, which is the same as the shelf life of holy water. Not to mention waiting for the wine to be aged, even if it is packaged and sold, the blessing effect will probably end before it is distributed to local distributors."

"I'm talking about psychology, fox."

Sherlock shook his head. "Not everyone is familiar with the consecration process of your devotees. Most of the rich are fools outside of their areas of expertise. Business is not a path of wisdom. Businessmen need a little bit of everything... intuition, luck, management, rules, courage... but at the same time, none of them is necessary. Even if one is missing, it can be supplemented by other aspects."

"After all, business is also a field of balance."

Isabel nodded.

"--Wait a moment."

Suddenly, Yasen's expression changed and he spoke loudly.

The others immediately stopped and looked at him. Sherlock clenched the scepter in his hand, ignited the blue pupil of the Fool's Song, and was ready to cast different spells at any time to deal with emergencies.

Aiwass also grabbed Don Quixote's card and asked cautiously: "What's wrong, Yasen? What do you feel?"

Although Arsene is a "Phantom Thief", he is not at the level to adapt to the path...but everyone's opinions and feelings are important, and Aiwass is definitely not the kind of guy who would underestimate the ominous signs clearly raised by his teammates.

Yasen stared at the wall and walked forward slowly.

He actually doesn't like this topic very much.

Just like he always liked to make things difficult for those evil merchants, he was too lazy to analyze the other party's plans, arrangements, and thoughts. Not to mention the merchants who dared to take advantage of the devotees... So he had never spoken to them before.

That's why he focused his attention nearby.

When Sherlock mentioned that the wine cellar here used "soft and fine chalky limestone shell", he grabbed a handful of it and crushed it bit by bit with his hands - it was like a kind of putty powder or dried paint. The crushed feeling was quite good, so after crushing it, he grabbed another handful.

This time, he felt something unusual...

When he crushed the limestone shell, he found a thin round tube inside.

Although he, as a high-ranking transcendent, could also see at night, he could not distinguish colors very well. But the feel of it made him feel a little ominous.

"Evans," Yassen said quietly, "could you please light up?"

"Be careful, you need to adapt to it."

Aiwass reminded everyone.

He didn't even bother to reach out his hand, and a faint light burst out from the antlers on his head. It was not dazzling, just like the brightness and color temperature of the reading light on the desk lamp.

Under the shining light, the surrounding undecorated white-gray walls looked like an unfinished house.

And Yasen stepped forward, reached out and dug out a piece of limestone.

The densely packed tubes underneath were revealed. Perhaps because they encountered the light, or perhaps because they were uncovered and exposed, they were like tooth nerves... They even shrank slightly inwards and twitched for a moment like living things.

Bright red, dark red, intertwined, like wires hidden under the soil.

“…It’s a blood vessel.”

Sherlock's face changed and he blurted out: "These are all human blood vessels!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the blood vessels began to twitch suddenly!