The true sun finally arrived, casting its rosy red light across the land of Eltoril. The bright red light, lifted by Selûne's stained windows, illuminated the church inside and out.

In the light of morning light, another group of guests quickly climbed the steps leading to the Church of Selune.

Their attire was exceptionally distinctive—luxurious golden garments shone brightly in the morning light, their robes decorated with ribbons that almost reached the ground, their massive crowns adorned with a sun carved from citrine, and their cuffs and shoulders with elaborately carved emeralds and sapphires.

They are followers of Amaunator, but their flamboyant clothing style is in line with the traditional Church of Lathander - they are simply a group of flamboyant peacocks.

As soon as Bixiniya saw them, she couldn't help but frowned, quickly blocked their path, and said to the leader: "Oendel...what are you doing here?"

The leading priest also looked very young. He was silent for a moment, then replied with the etiquette of a younger priest: "I want to visit the Church of Selune and look for my teammates in the Ritual of Truth."

This answer greatly surprised Bixiniya. "Why, aren't you from the Twin Suns' Radiance Church planning to form a separate team? You peacocks will also bow your heads one day?"

"No, we have decided not to be bound by these arrogant old rituals," the young priest of the Church of Amaunator said seriously. "By order of the Archbishop, I will join the priests of Norwich in the Church of Oghma."

"I'm here to invite Miss Elaster." There might not have been any disdain in his words, but there was definitely no respect either. "Can I come in now?"

However, to his surprise, Pastor Bishenya, who had a bad relationship with the Church of Amaunator, did not stop him or make any sarcastic remarks. Instead, he looked at the red-haired wizard with a smile.

And Emilia's eyes also had a rare empty look.

Trouble comes from the mouth, that's probably what it means.

Author's Note: Very mysterious. I don't know why, but the quality of Miss Elaster's AI pictures is so high.

Thirteen Lip-to-Voice Battles

Fortunately, Bixinia did not force Emilia into a confrontation. Instead, she pointed directly into the temple and said, "If that's the case, Elastrid is inside the temple right now."

Emya frowned. Although the Amaunator Church was almost destined to be enemies with them, they hadn't yet broken off relations. Now, the Amaunator Church and the Oghma Church had joined forces—which meant he now had to defeat the Oghma Church.

Even more than that, the Church of Amaunator is essentially a large sect within the Church of Lathander, and it definitely contains a lot of knowledge. At the very least, the development history of this sect will definitely be of great interest to the Church of Oghma.

But he really has no position to prevent the Church of Amaunator from recruiting teammates normally, which is a headache.

The commotion outside the temple naturally caught the attention of those inside, and the other three followed suit. Sig had clearly heard everything. She trotted over to Emiya and asked, "Emiya, what do we do now?"

However, at this moment, Yin spoke rarely.

Her eyes fell on the holy symbol of Amaunator and she wrinkled her nose. "Trust the Church of Amaunator—when they have the upper hand, they will mess things up themselves."

Silver naturally wouldn't lower her voice for a group of strangers, so her clear and fluent Common Tongue immediately drew a glare from the priest of Amaunator.

The leader, Oendell, was about to get angry, but finally shook his head.

He had no intention of entering the Temple of Selûne. Instead, he stood there and shouted, "Excuse me, is Pastor Elastrid of the Church of Fortune in the church? The Church of Amaunator is visiting. Please come out and meet us."

He didn't receive an immediate answer. A long moment later, Alestria, graceful yet timid, appeared at the gates of the Selune Temple, trailing behind the Emya team. "...Excuse me, did I hear my own name just now? High Priestess Bishenya, was someone looking for me just now?"

Without waiting for Bishenya to reply, Oendel addressed Elastrid directly, "Miss Elastrid, our Church of Amaunator plans to participate in the Ceremony of Truth in Eltoril. We believe your strength will be of great assistance to our victory, so we sincerely invite you to join us and share in the glory of this victory."

"........."

After hearing this invitation, Team Emia fell into silence.

Neither Emiya nor Mars considered themselves to be eloquent people, and they were ruthless when dealing with their enemies. But they never expected that there would be someone in the world who could speak like that!

However, Pastor Amaunator didn't think there was anything wrong with them. O'Ndell even said bluntly, "If you have no objection, please prepare to move to the Twin Suns' Radiance Church immediately—"

"Eh?" Only then did Elastri finally react and shook her head. "No, please wait a moment. I've been concentrating on helping Miss Bisinya lately and haven't paid attention to anything going on outside..."

"Ah, so that's how it is." Orndell nodded. "The Rite of Truth is a competition hosted by the Church of Oghma. It involves submitting information and intelligence, demonstrating the power and prestige of the faction to which the contestants belong, and publicizing the wisdom and excellence of the contestants themselves. Currently, our team is jointly organized by the Church of Oghma and the Church of Amaunator..."

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm asking!" Alaster shook her head in panic. "I'm asking, who is Amaunator? Aren't you from the Church of Lathander?"

"Ah, so this is where we're going to start." Orndell looked at Elastrid with a compassionate look, then recounted the teachings of the Order of the Rising Sun. "The rewards of the Ritual of Truth will be distributed according to contribution. Even if you're alone, you can still share in the glory of victory."

"contribute??"

O'Ndell replied, "It means handing over the secrets of your church or knowledge unknown to outsiders. You need to prepare at least a third-level piece of knowledge as proof of joining the team."

Having said that, the young priest of Amaunator frowned and looked at the mace at Elastrid's waist.

The lady pastor was dressed in ordinary clothes. Although she had a beautiful and charming appearance, the only strange thing about her was the strange-shaped weapon at her waist.

Noticing his gaze, Alestria took a step back alertly, turned sideways, and blocked the mace on her left waist behind her.

O'Ndell was stunned for a moment, coughed lightly, and even took out the contract from his waist. "Before the dawn of Amaunator, you can sign this contract as a testimony to joining the team..."

Just as O'Ndell was about to speak, Emiya shook her head, took a few steps forward, interrupted O'Ndell's aggressiveness, and stood between the two of them: "Please wait a moment."

As if realizing Emiya's presence, Oendell distanced himself from her and frowned, "Who are you?"

"This has nothing to do with you. I just want Miss Elastrid to pay attention to one thing before considering it: Mr. O'Near has just made it clear that the reward for this Ritual of Truth is proportional to the contribution."

O'Ndell's frown relaxed slightly. "That's right. After all, both churches have devoted a great deal of effort to this end. We won't ask Miss Elastrid to put in the same level of effort, but the corresponding compensation will naturally be limited. I think this is fair."

"Then I'll get straight to the point," Emilia said. "Miss Alestria will probably not get any of these six rare magic books."

"Unfortunately, those six books are extremely valuable." O'Ndell didn't hesitate, but nodded decisively, "The right to use those six books will be left to Mr. Norwich."

The Church of Oghma naturally contributed the most, and it was reasonable for it to retain the right of first choice in the spoils.

"Then, if the championship reward belongs to someone else, how will the points used to redeem the reward be distributed?"

"...Of course it's a unified distribution." O'Ndell paused, "Ultimately, rewards are given based on the order of contribution."

At this moment, Sig quietly contacted Emiya using short messaging: [Mars said that the contract itself may be fine, but the Church of Oghma may have different contracts for different members.]

And people like Elastrid, who are not even members represented by the Church of Oghma, may very well be treated unfairly.

In this case, there is a lot of room for so-called unified distribution.

Emiya began to think quickly and asked: [Will Candlekeep give up its treasures at any cost for a ritual of truth?]

Higdai replied, "Impossible. Candlekeep isn't a place where the Chief Reader has the final say. Candlekeep will certainly demand that the Church of Amaunator also shed some money for this. The ancient tome they demand is worth at least one thousand points."

Even the enchantment rune collection of Candlekeep cannot compare to it.

In other words, the Ritual of Truth is a vital window to the Church of Amaunator.

Emiya raised her eyebrows slightly.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to Emilia's mind.

This is an unfounded guess, but it is very likely.

Since the rewards of the competition are distributed according to each party's contribution, why are the six books pre-ordered in advance?

Because those six books were special—the only real rewards in the Rite of Truth were the six magic books awarded to the champion. These six magic books were given free of charge, and even if the contestant didn't use any points at all, they could still obtain these six books.

At the same time, points are completely useless to the people of the Church of Oghma - those secrets are things they can freely access after returning to Candlekeep.

The ideal outcome of cooperation is that both parties get what they need.

All the Church of Oghma needs is [victory], that is, [their team has the highest score]. Everything else is not so important.

The Church of Amaunator, on the contrary, seeks extremely precious antique books, and for this, they require extremely huge scores.

Even if the Church of Amaunator truly obtained the Blood of Lathander, it would only have 200 points. No matter how powerful the Church of the Rising Sun became, it couldn't simply wipe out the Church of Lathander—they needed additional, powerful, and even decisive assistance.

So, what is the largest and most reliable source of points in the Rite of Truth?

...is the Church of Oghma itself.

Emiya guessed that the Church of Amaunator would raise a large amount of resources at the Ritual of Truth for those ancient books to help the Church of Oghma achieve ultimate victory.

in exchange.

——All intelligence from the Church of Oghma will be handed over through the Church of Amaunator.

This was indeed speculation, but considering he knew what the Church of Amaunator wanted, it was the most likely possibility.

If the Church of Amaunator really took out five artifacts for this Ritual of Truth... then we can only say that he will admit defeat and he really cannot win this Ritual of Truth.

But if his guess is correct...

Emilia turned to Miss Lucky Priest and said, "Miss Elaster, there's a paladin in my team who knows a little about contracts. Would you mind letting Miss Bishenia and I check on it before signing?"

"Huh?" Elastrid was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head. "I don't mind."

"Ha! Absurd." Upon hearing that Emya was going to review the contract on behalf of the Lucky Priest, the priests of Amaunator were not angry. Instead, they burst into laughter. "You country bumpkin! Do you know what kind of god our Lord Amaunator is? You want to review our contract?"

The next second, Emya's words stopped their laughter. "The God of the Sun and Contracts. His most famous deed was when he signed a contract with the First Goddess of Magic. He misinterpreted a clause in the contract, which read: 'Amaunator shall be responsible for all time and any misunderstandings of him and his followers.'" This meant he was responsible for 'all time,' thus declaring himself the manager of time."

The knowledge taught by his teacher, the Forsaken, was generally outdated. The good news was that Amaunator happened to be among these outdated knowledge - these Amaunator believers wanted to know the knowledge of ancient times, and perhaps they could gain a lot by asking their teacher directly or even asking Emya herself.

But now, Emya is on the same side as his teacher - the Church of Amaunator is really annoying.

Without even reading the contract carefully, Emiya asked the first question: "One side of this contract is Eltoril's Cult of the Rising Sun, while the other side is blank. Assuming this contract is used to allow other individuals and organizations to join the team led by the Church of Oghma, why is there no trace of the Church of Oghma on it?"

But the Church of Amaunator did not answer this question.

The warm smile on Oendel's face vanished without a trace, and he raised the holy emblem in his right hand. "Just now, you tried to insult our Lord with rumors. Our Lord is the controller of time, as Mystril herself acknowledged in the contract."

"I don't care where you heard this vicious speech. You dare to speak it in front of the followers of the Lord of the Sun. You will pay the price for it."

Emiya was silent for a moment, then replied, "In Eltoril, private fighting is not completely prohibited. Specifically, killing someone requires a life sentence, and attacking civilians is not allowed. However, beyond that, as long as you provide complete healing services to reverse any effects and damage in the fight, you do so entirely at your own risk, and Eltoril will not interfere."

Eltoril is a city that is trying to break into Hell, and theocracy is prevalent.

In other words, medical resources are plentiful, and most injuries are truly reversible, provided money is spent.

Of course, this doesn't mean that divine arts will become cheap. Also, because of the coexistence of churches here, competition is fierce. Even if the priests may be somewhat overbearing, they can't really act recklessly.

Bishenya obviously hadn't anticipated this, and she immediately shouted, "I'm warning you, stop here. If anyone dies, they will pay with their lives. There are no exceptions in Eltoril!"

O'Ndell replied coldly, "I'll prepare his medical expenses."

At this moment, a pastor behind Oendell was stunned for a moment, staring at Emiya's face, and suddenly exclaimed: "Deang, this group of people seems to be..."

"We'll talk about any discoveries later." Deon O'Endell coldly interrupted his fellow clansman. "Indeed. I hope the pain of being burned by the sun's fire will teach you a lesson. Don't worry, it won't leave any scars—even if it's healed repeatedly."

"Oh, really?" At this moment, amidst the shocked gazes of the team, the usually passive Gin actually walked up to Emiya with a carefree attitude and said, "Then I'm very interested. I want to see it for myself."

But the expression on his face was definitely not the excitement he usually showed when he saw new magic.

Instead, he was slightly angry.

Emiya was stunned for a moment, then stepped back a few steps to make room for Yin. She then asked him a second question: "Furthermore, Deon Oendel, do you dare to swear before this sun that in the Ritual of Truth, the cooperative relationship between the Eltoril Cult of the Rising Sun, the Church of Oghma, and other individuals and organizations is completely fair and equal?"

Deon Oendel did not answer. He did not even look at Yin. Instead, he stared at Emmya and held up the holy emblem: "-Advanced Solar Magic."

As he spoke, a thin reflection on the holy emblem seemed to come to life and began to inhale deeply.

Then, Emiya felt a slight chill in her body.

It's not about using shady means like negative energy.

It was the warm sunlight shining on him that turned a little cooler.

The wisps of light in the sky were being absorbed by the light shining from the holy emblem.

Like a tiny point of light under a convex lens, the light expanded into a red sphere the size of a finger in the red glow of the morning light.

The size of the sphere was still not that big, but Emiya still became serious.

In the world of magic, even though he was already a six-ring wizard, the priest in front of him did not seem as strong as him.

But this didn't mean he wouldn't be harmed by low-level spells. Even low-level spells like Fireball and Lightning Bolt were still a huge threat that couldn't be ignored by mages who weren't fully prepared.

Almost instantly, the ball of light flew over Emiya's head, and the accumulated heat was about to explode.

Emiya immediately spread the magic of absorbing elements in front of herself.

At this moment, being ignored, Yin snorted in dissatisfaction: "...The divine magic is real, you are indeed a follower of Amaunator."

As she spoke, the speed at which the gushing sun ball released heat seemed to be slowed down by thousands of times. The light that could have set off a large sea of ​​fire finally silently sprinkled on Emya's body and dissipated to every corner of Eltoril, returning the warmth that had just been taken away to the world.

It was as if the temperature that had just dropped was just Emiya's illusion.

Emiya reacted extremely quickly and immediately made a counter-spell gesture at an extremely fast speed, as if he had dismantled the spell.

At the same time he stood in front of Yin.

This scene instantly shocked all the priests of Amaunator.

"He countered the High Sunlight spell?! This divine spell should only be seen by the people of Eltoril! Why is he, an outsider, so familiar with it?!"

"Why does he know us so well?"

Emiya didn't answer, but returned to the previous question: "Can you answer now? Do you dare to swear under this sunlight: In the Ritual of Truth, the cooperation between the Eltoril Cult of the Rising Sun, the Church of Oghma, and other individuals and organizations is completely fair and equal?"

Deon O'Ndell didn't answer the question. He took a few steps back and asked, "Who are you?"

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like