blessing I

I was quite surprised to see that the church, which I expected to be one of the most prominent buildings in the heart of the city, was actually a shabby building.

Considering that every human being has to receive a compulsory blessing when they reach the age of five, I would expect the power of the clergy to be greater.

After I got over my initial surprise, I slowly approached the dusty door of the church and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, an old woman opened the door.

The old woman looked at the child standing in front of her and the garrison member waiting behind the child for a while.

"Why is the garrison commander here? It's still long before the end of the month."

Wondering what had happened between the garrison and the church, I turned my head to the knight responsible for bringing me here.

"There is no need to be such a coward. This child turned five the other day and will receive his blessing. I am responsible for bringing him here."

The woman lowered her head and watched me for a while, then showed a disgusted expression.

"Are you one of the servants of the Ironblood family?"

" Sort of "

" Tch . Today is holiday, come back tomorrow "

The woman, who looked like she had collapsed due to extreme stress even though she had just turned fifty, entered the church with a speed I did not expect from her and slammed the door hard.

Even though I didn't understand what was going on, this blessing was an important thing for me. According to the system, after the blessing, my mana veins will be regulated and thus my control over mana will increase significantly.

Also, due to yesterday's events, I have to go and bake a big celebration cake after the blessing.

Actually, only when a noble gets a blessing is it something to celebrate, but since I upset Shizune so much yesterday, I decided to make a celebration.

This celebration will be at my house with only Shizune and my family in attendance, and I need to make a cake for the celebration using all my skills. So, I'm going to throw a celebratory feast - a self-forgiveness banquet for Shizune. And for that, I need to quickly finish my work here and return home.

Fortunately, the knight behind me took action without me having to use my secret skill called "Cute Boy Begging". After the knight took one step in front of me, he took off the spear from his back and threw it at the door of the church with all his strength.

As I looked at the spear that pierced the door, I thought that this knight really hated the church. The pierced door opened angrily and the same woman came out screaming.

After the knight said that this was the count's order, the old woman said no more and told me to come in.

After entering the church, I saw that this place was very different from the churches in my previous life. After taking a few steps, we passed through another door pierced by a spear. The place we just entered was more like an empty hall than a room. There were 9 female statues on the walls around the hall, but none of the statues had a head.

Each of the statues had a graceful body and clothes that consisted of a veil that made them look almost naked.

After the old woman took a few steps, when she saw me standing and watching the statues, she sighed and started to explain to me.

"What you see are called the 9 great goddesses, and they are the goddesses who created us and keep us alive. From what I see, you are a strong and handsome boy, maybe one of these goddesses will take care of you and give you her own sign."

Since I wanted to know what the sign was from a more reliable source such as the system, I asked the nervous woman about what was happening outside.

"If you are a new five, it is normal that you do not know. About 10 years ago, there was a great war in this city, and this war was going to be the first move for the church to take over the kingdom, but the current count showed an unexpected power after the previous count died and massacred all the church knights and wizards. This happened." Immediately after the incident, the pope and the chief cardinal were captured and executed by the kingdom.

"For some reason you don't seem upset about this situation at all."

The old woman looked at me in surprise, then reached out her hand and caressed my hair, which made me look feminine because I hadn't cut it lately.

"You are smarter than you look, young man. Before the executed pope came to power, whenever something bad happened, people would run to the church and tell us their troubles, but right after the pope came to power, he passed a new law. Because of this law, the people who normally voluntarily bring us money or gifts no longer He had to pay taxes. Ahh, what am I telling you? In short, the new pope did a lot of bad things because he was a greedy person, and even after he died, the only thing left behind was people's prejudices against the church.

" Hmm I see "

When he could not remove the spear stuck in the knee of one of the old female goddess statues, I walked forward and helped her remove the spear.

"Thank you son. Do you know how to read?"

" Of course "

The woman showed me the lectern and the book in the middle of the room, where there was nothing but statues.

"Continue reading that book until you feel a pain in your body, then clench your teeth until the pain goes away."

Is that all ?

"What if I couldn't read?"

"Then I would stand outside the room and I would read and you would listen."

" I understand "

"Wait here until I say start"

The old woman left the room and closed the door. After ten minutes without knowing what to expect, I heard a noise at the door of the room. When I turned my head, I saw the old nun clumsily repairing the hole in the door of the room.

After the old nun went out and closed the door, she shouted, "You can begin."