Equipment Printing School Mage

"Now that we're here, we have to go and take a look! And please, don't actually try it! And your word choice is a little strange, isn't it? Have you really mastered the Common Language? Or are you intentionally or unintentionally mocking those who use divine magic again?"

Time always flies by when we're joking around.

At first, the Companion Sun was just a bright beacon in the darkness. As they got closer to Eltoril, the Companion Sun moved closer to the sky in their sight.

However, this light is bright but not scorching.

Meanwhile, even though it should still be night, all darkness around Eltoril had been completely swallowed up by the sun. Endless lush fields filled the final stretch of their journey to Eltoril.

Finally, Emya discovered that Eltoril was quite different from the city he had imagined.

While Baldur's Gate is a typical port city, Eltoril is more like a giant castle and its village.

The endless city walls distinguish the inside and outside of the city, while the terrain and status distinguish the administrative areas and residential areas.

At the center of Eltoril, a towering hill rose from the ground. Circles of rock protruded from the earth, surrounding the winding path from the hill to the base.

The city's terrain changes dramatically. At the foot of the mountain is a port that can accommodate river ships, but kilometers away from the port is the city's highest hall, which is perhaps a hundred meters high.

And that brilliant companion sun, at this moment, has completely transformed into a dazzling shadow that is impossible to look directly at. Even if you don't look at it, the vague light source is still firmly engraved at the end of your vision, unable to be erased.

"...The city that never sleeps with two suns." Emilia sighed.

Compared with cities that rely on neon lights, cities that have a second sun are indeed proud of themselves.

He glanced around from his horse, but couldn't see Asur and his companions. It seemed they had been galloping all the way, and their pace was indeed much faster than theirs.

Of course, perhaps it was because the mages in the Candlekeep team were much weaker than Emya - the Candlekeep team seemed to be the same age as Emya and Mars. But because of this, their level could not keep up with Emya's rocket-like growth rate - even though they were already the most outstanding group in Candlekeep.

However, for Team Emia, the most critical issue at this moment is another one.

Emiya blinked, looked around at the majestic walls of Eltoril, and asked, "Mars? Doesn't Eltoril have a west gate?"

As far as he could see, the only landmark he could see was a massive, magnificent church that put the Gond Church to shame.

The scale of that church is so large that it may require the Hall of Supreme Wonders in Baldur's Gate, the Supreme Hall, and even the underground Gear Workshop to compare with it.

The Church of Gond may have craftsmen far superior to those of the Church of Lathander, but it is clear that its enthusiasm for building wonders and its pursuit of scale and splendor cannot compare with the Church of Lathander.

What’s even more mysterious is that the church is clearly integrated with the city wall...or rather, it has swallowed up the city wall.

Mars pointed expressionlessly at the astonishing building. "It's in that church. That's the church of the Church of Lathander in Eltoril. They're located in the west of the city, ready to receive the light of the Companion Dawn from the east. Incidentally, the southwest gate of Eltoril is inside this church. Incidentally, since the completion of this cathedral, called the Twin Suns' Radiance, the largest church in Lathander is no longer the Dawn Spire in Waterdeep."

Lulu had already been released by Fenwei, but her flying speed couldn't keep up with the Phantom Horse's gallop, so she had been stuck in Fenwei's palm for a while. At this moment, she finally fell from the sky.

Emiya pondered for a moment, then said to Lulu, "Although I'd love to take you to verify the status of the Troll Claw first, it would be rude to let a believer pass by the church without entering... How about we visit the Twin Suns directly?"

At this point, Emilia said unhappily, "How come the name of this church has nothing to do with Dawn?"

Lulu's anger had subsided by now, and she put on a grateful expression. "Thank you very much... It's been a long time since I've been able to pray in front of the Lord's statue... You guys are much easier to get along with than you seem."

There's a remarkable fact about Faerûn's faith: while in many worlds the sun and moon face each other, even if their status isn't equal, they both at least possess a place. But Faerûn is different: Lathander, though the god of the morning light, isn't the sun god.

The last widely accepted sun god was Amaunator, who existed thousands of years ago. This god, considered quite harsh, had long since disappeared.

If the Companion were not so similar to the Sun, perhaps no one would call it the Gift of Amaunator.

"Just knock on the door." Mars waved his hand. "Everywhere in Eltoril operates a 24-hour shift system - after all, there is no night here."

"...There's no night at all, which is a bit too harsh," Emilia complained.

Although someone like him who studied in the Eternal Night had no right to blame the Eltoril people.

The gates of the Church of Lathander always face east, so much so that even the west gate of the Radiance of Two Suns is closed.

It was clearly unnecessary to bother the church's staff with opening the perhaps ten-meter-high gate for a simple visit. Emya dismounted, walked to the church's two-person side door, and rang the large bell. "Greetings, Dawnlords of Lathander! We are adventurers from Baldur's Gate. We stumbled upon a Lathander believer on our way. She wishes to pray in your church. Could you please open the door?"

Almost immediately, footsteps like drumbeats could be heard from inside the door. However, to Emiya's astonishment, these Lathander believers did not choose to open the side door. Instead, the sound of a capstan could be heard from inside.

These guys actually opened the door that was four or five people tall!

When the door opened, Emilia realized the mystery of this building.

At the top of the gate, the light of the accompanying sun just passed through the body and the gorgeous decorations inside the church, and came into their eyes, as if hanging high in the sky.

...So many tricks.

Emya sighed, pointed at Lulu, and briefly introduced her. A Holy Dumbo from the Celestial Realm was a rare visitor, let alone one from the same faith. The Lathander believers immediately beamed. "Praise our Lord Amaunator! Come in! Come in! We will do our utmost to fulfill all your requests!"

"Thank you very much, I..." Lulu said halfway and was about to fly inside when she suddenly realized something was wrong.

"...My Lord Amaunator?" She scratched her cheek in confusion with her stubby forelimbs. "...Isn't this the Church of Lathander? Did I go the wrong way? I apologize. I didn't mean to..."

"No, no, no," the priest of Lathander said enthusiastically. "This is a common misunderstanding! Amaunator is Lathander, and Lathander is Amaunator. Amaunator, the sun god, once became the Lord of the Morning, and now he will return to Amaunator. The two are one, so why distinguish them?"

"Uh..." This kind of doctrine was completely beyond Emiya's knowledge. He didn't know what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Lulu didn't react at all. She answered almost reflexively, "What? What's that? I've never heard of that! Isn't Amaunator an ancient evil god? How could he be related to the Lord of Dawn? Who said that?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the temperature seemed to drop several degrees under the gentle light of the sun.

The originally enthusiastic Lathander...the expressions on the faces of Amaunator's followers froze instantly. They took a few steps back with stern faces.

With a creaking sound, the capstan turned again.

boom!

The door that had just been opened to them suddenly slammed shut.

Then, the small door next to it was casually pushed aside, and a follower of Amaunator poked his head out reluctantly. "Alright, then, you can go in this way."

Author's Note: *Note: Time for those of us DND folks' favorite number crunching. In this book, to save face for the Hell Knights, the Phantom Steed's maximum speed is deliberately omitted. In reality, regardless of version, the Phantom Steed's maximum speed is far faster than a normal Warhorse. For example, in 3R, a Phantom Steed at level 12 (Emmia is roughly level 11 at this point) can reach a ridiculous 240 feet per round, or 40 feet, or 12.2 meters per second.

At first glance, this speed might seem brisk. But in reality, it's just a walking pace. The Phantom Horse isn't a creature in the conventional sense; it doesn't even have a card. So, naturally, it can run at four times its full speed, regardless of physical exertion. In fact, its normal speed is a staggering 48.8 meters per second, or 175 kilometers per hour. Emiya and his gang are practically sprinting at speeds far beyond the reach of even the freeway.

The awkward part is that just as your Phantom Pony is about to become all-powerful, the mage is also about to acquire Teleport. However, the biggest drawback of Teleport is its relatively low, but non-zero, failure rate, or even mortality rate. If you're not in a rush, there's no need to take that risk.

Seven Rising Sun Sect

"——What do you mean?!"

Lathander's followers are sincere, unrestrained, and generally outgoing. The Church of Lathander is particularly famous for hosting various sports competitions.

In other words, it's passionate.

The celestial creatures from the Kingdom of God naturally have personalities that are closest to the stereotypes among all believers.

It may be too early to draw a conclusion about what the Church of Lathander is actually doing.

However, their unfriendly and almost humiliating behavior could be seen by most people present.

No one would have complained if they hadn't opened the church doors in the first place: perhaps that magnificent door was reserved for a grand festival or large-scale event, and it couldn't be opened and closed individually for each visitor.

But you have already opened the door, but because of a disagreement, you close the door again and open the small door again -

Yin might not even be able to understand the unfriendly nature of this action, but someone as flexible as Sig might have just endured it.

—But Lulu is a true follower of Lathander. Their pursuit of glory and respect is world-renowned. How could they possibly tolerate such humiliation?!

The golden flying elephant almost exploded immediately. She yelled, "You want to insult me?! I'm telling you! This matter is not over today! Either you open the door again and apologize to me, then this matter will be considered as never happening, otherwise I won't go in!"

Celestial beings naturally hold a special status within the church, usually receiving courtesy and preferential treatment. In fact, the initial attitude of the Church of Lathander was not inappropriate.

But the Lathander of Eltoril…perhaps it should be called the Church of Amaunator now, apparently cares more about their teachings than the status of celestial beings.

In their view, Lulu is indeed a celestial being from the same clan, but in a sense, she is also...

heresy.

So much so that even though they saw Lulu raging in anger, they remained unmoved: "If I don't go in, I won't go in."

In fact, their attitude towards Emiya and his group was even better than that towards Lulu: "Dear guests, we are very sorry for this dispute. Do you want to enter Eltoril?"

This discriminatory treatment completely ignited Lulu: "You are simply——!"

Emiya always thought that he didn't have a good temper or was not polite, but he finally understood now - as long as the people he faced and his teammates were more extreme than him, he had to always be a peacemaker.

After all, they shouldn't have started a fight with one of the largest local churches right after arriving in Eltoril!

Emilia could only quickly shout: "Mars! Stop her!"

Mars understood what he meant and held Lulu, who was rushing out like an arrow, in his arms.

The strength of the Holy Flying Elephant in non-mammoth form is actually not that great, so Mars only used one hand and didn't exert much effort to press Lulu completely against his chest, making her unable to move at all.

Lulu could only frantically flap her wings, leaving shadows in the air. "Let me go! As a Lathander follower, you can't stand being treated like this by your own people! This is outrageous!!!"

Emiya sighed, stepped in front of Lulu, and said seriously to the Amaunator believers inside the door, "We just happened to meet this Holy Dumbo, so we shouldn't meddle in this matter. I wonder if you would be willing to take the trouble to explain it to us?"

"I just don't want to waste any more energy on this." The priest who opened the door was quite young, dressed in rose-red vestments, his face full of reluctance. "We've tried to communicate with fellow believers from other sects many times, but each time it ended in a huge argument, almost a fight. If that's the case, it's better to draw a clear line from the beginning."

At this time, Mars took a few steps forward while holding Lulu. "So the Church of Lathander in Eltoril is part of the Cult of the Rising Sun?"

Upon hearing the name of the Cult of the Rising Sun, the Amaunator didn't shy away from it, even revealing the joy of being recognized. "Yes! You look incredibly handsome. I didn't expect your knowledge to surpass your appearance."

sect.

Emiya couldn't help but sigh.

Although the knowledge his teacher taught was outdated in many aspects, he did not even teach what the sect was.

To put it bluntly, a sect in Faerun is a different faction within a church. They often add their own interpretations to a commonly accepted doctrine, establishing it as the core philosophy of their group. If a group becomes strong enough, wielding considerable influence within and beyond the church, it can be called a sect.

Of course, these sects are not always free from conflict. In fact, the core ideas of the two largest sects are often diametrically opposed.

For example, Mars once mentioned that among the Oghma Church in Candlekeep, the most influential ones are the Evangelical Sect and the Oracle Sect.

Among them, the Evangelicals prioritize expanding the Church of Oghma's secular influence, hoping to spread the technology of papermaking and printing. Meanwhile, the Oracles believe that accurate knowledge is more important than widespread access. Distributing these tools will only allow ill-intentioned and even illiterate individuals to flood the world with crude, sensationalized, and shoddy ink, doing more harm than good.

The Oracle Cult is the group of people who most admire handwritten parchment. They are not opposed to the dissemination of knowledge, but they prefer to use their energy to verify and preserve knowledge.

They would rather have only one listener than spread false knowledge - this is the oracle sect.

Although as an Earthling, Emiya has a higher degree of recognition for the Evangelical Sect, but in the current Candlekeep, it is the Oracle Sect that holds an absolute upper hand - the event that decided the outcome between the two sects was the trial of Apodel by Candlekeep a hundred years ago.

The Evangelicals discovered that Apodare was suspected of murdering the high-ranking officials of the Iron Throne in Baldur's Gate at that time. After confirming the witness, they couldn't wait to send Apodare to the dock, and made a huge event that everyone knew about.

The consequences were horrific... Apodale revealed his identity as a paladin for the first time in the church court, using divine power to prove his innocence and turning the entire trial into a laughingstock. The evangelical sect, having prosecuted a paladin, never recovered.

——By the way, people like Mars are naturally loyal supporters of the Oracle Sect.

It is obvious that the Order of the Rising Sun is a branch of the Church of Lathander - from the current point of view, their core concept is to emphasize the identity of Lathander and Amaunator.

Emya didn't care about the specifics of the debate, but since they had brought Lulu here personally, they couldn't just abandon her and head into the city on their own. They had come to Eltoril in the first place because they suspected the city held a dark secret! In this situation, how could they abandon Lulu, a celestial being so naive, reckless, and full of secrets, and leave her behind?

In response to Mars's question, the Amaunator followers answered simply, "Indeed. The Cathedral of the Twin Suns in Eltoril belongs to the Brotherhood of the Radiant Sun. We all belong to the Cult of the Rising Sun."

"Rising Sun...hiss...I remember now...there really was a sect with such a brilliant idea..." Lulu stretched out her short, stubby legs and touched her head. Her struggle weakened a little. "When I was in the material world, the Rising Sun sect was called a heresy..."

"Perhaps. But regardless, times have changed. Within our own temple, we have the right to demand respect." The priest of Amaunator at the door sighed, calmed down, and said simply, "I ask you to retract your previous doubts about our Lord Amaunator. As long as you are willing to correct your mistakes, the doors of the Cathedral of Twin Suns will still be open to you."

But again—Lathander believers are generally passionate.

When Lulu heard that she had to admit her mistake, her eyes widened again.

"I, won't, take it back!" Lulu cried as she struggled mightily in Mars's grasp. "Can the connection between the two gods be determined by just a few words from us?"

"Very well!" Now, the Amaunator believers were no longer willing to play along. With a muffled thud, the last side door slammed shut.

"Hmm..." Sig scratched his chin as he looked at the tightly closed side door. He rolled his eyes, ran over to Lulu, and poked her belly. "So what, Miss Lulu? We've been blocked from Eltoril's city gates just to support you. That's putting it mildly. In reality, we might not even be able to enter the Church of Lathander anymore. How are you going to compensate us?"

"Uh...uh..." Lu Lu finally realized how dire her situation was after letting out the anger in her heart. Her two big ears flipped over, covering her face. "Will I act with you guys later? I was also very strong when I was your teammate!"

This wasn't an exaggeration... As a celestial being, the Holy Flying Elephant's frontal combat power was unremarkable. However, its inherently indestructible aura could suppress the effects of magic below the fifth ring, making it a miniature Holy Avenger.

As if she was worried that such groundless boasting wouldn't be convincing, she curled her nose and opened her ears again. "The master I served before... was much stronger than you guys, and she didn't even look down on me for being weak!"

"Who was your previous master?" Sig asked curiously.

"Snapped."

The ears covered Lulu's mouth again - she didn't want to speak.

Emiya shook her head and focused on the current situation.

Given their level, they didn't necessarily need to go through the main gate. If they simply wanted to enter the city, they could find any number of options. Their only real loss was offending the Church of Amaunator.

...But, Amaunator...

Although this god seems to be closely related to Lathander, Lord of the Dawn, the two gods have completely different reputations.

The followers of Lathander are often considered to be prone to doing bad things with good intentions, but the kindness in their hearts is indeed well-known.

And Amaunator? He was considered a rather harsh god during his lifetime, an example of a deity who vanished due to losing the support of the people. If the Cult of the Rising Sun truly considered itself a follower of Amaunator, then this group would probably be difficult to deal with.

Moreover, Emia's teacher had intentionally or unintentionally despised Amaunator more than once, and as a result, Emia did not have a good impression of this ancient god.