Lord of Mysteries: The Cultivator - Chapter 3

“Excuse me…”

A man with an unfamiliar face, wearing a semi-tall silk top hat and a cold expression, walked into the church. Quinn and Snow quickly switched into reception mode and stopped chatting with old Bob.

He didn’t rudely look around; instead, he walked unhurriedly towards Quinn, who was wearing the bishop’s robe.

“Hello, Sir. I am the bishop here. Have you… have you eaten?”

Quinn nervously rushed forward, straightened the bishop’s hat on his head, and, being a little anxious, spoke before thinking as he greeted the man.

“I have eaten.” The man’s breathing paused, as if he hadn’t expected the start of the conversation, but he quickly recovered.

“What brings you here?”

His expression is so cold, a little scary… Quinn forced a smile and asked the strange man in front of him.

Strangely, he seemed to notice that when he greeted the stranger, the man’s eyes briefly became very complex.

The man in front of him paused, then answered in a calm tone: “I was passing through this small town and saw that the faith here seemed different from other ports, so I was curious.”

In fact, his reason for coming was not this. He didn’t know why he came here, but subconsciously, he chose to come to the local church for help.

“Oh… this place belongs to the Mother Goddess of Earth Church! I am the bishop here, Quinn Flitt, and that child over there is the cleric, Snow White. If you don’t have a faith yet, are you interested in learning about the Mother Goddess’s teachings?”

Quinn’s eyes lit up, and he answered quickly.

How rare! It has been a long time since we developed any new believers here. Besides the residents of this small town, the sailors drifting at sea all uniformly worship the Lord of Storms. It’s extremely difficult to develop followers from them, as the Mother Goddess doesn’t seem to govern matters at sea.

“A potential believer right in front of me, I can’t let him get away!” Quinn thought to himself, quietly straightening the hem of his robe.

Meh? Is that a Fennerpotian accent? The man thought silently, keeping his face tense so his expression wouldn’t turn strange.

The man took off his hat and pressed it to his chest as he introduced himself: “My name is Gehrman Sparrow, an… adventurer. I’m sorry, but I already have a faith.”

“However, I am still very interested in your church.”

“After all, on the land of the Loen Kingdom, I’ve never heard of your church.”

To be precise, I think I fought a bishop from the Mother Goddess of Earth Church not a few weeks ago, Gehrman thought to himself.

An adventurer! That sounds very interesting, definitely much more fun than me guarding this place every day!

It’s a shame he already has a faith… Quinn’s face showed feelings of envy, longing, and a hint of disappointment, but he still didn’t forget his duty—to preach.

He pulled Gehrman to sit on a long bench, introducing the faith while reaching inside his white robe:

“Hi, we and the people in this small town all worship the symbol of life, the mother of all spiritual life, the Mother Goddess of Earth. We believe that life is like a plant, with an inherent mission… Want some melon seeds?”

Ah? Gehrman’s cold face stiffened slightly. That topic change was way too fast, wasn’t it?

He was about to politely refuse, but he saw Quinn pull out a handful of golden-yellow “melon seeds” from his pocket and toss one into his own mouth first.

Then, he vaguely heard a “crunch-crunch” sound, Quinn’s throat moved again, and he swallowed the seed whole!

Quinn felt Gehrman’s gaze, was slightly stunned, and felt a little flustered as he carefully recalled his own actions just now.

Now that I think about it, the melon seeds outside seem to be different from the ones I grow myself?

He showed Gehrman the “melon seeds” in his hand—they were golden in color, each one plump and round, easily reminding one of certain cute little creatures of the same color.

He smiled and said to Gehrman: “The Mother Goddess’s blessing… actually, I grew them myself.”

No, why would a bishop carry a handful of melon seeds with him? Gehrman controlled his face to remain expressionless and couldn’t refuse any longer. He reached out and grabbed a handful, placed one “melon seed” between his teeth, and gently tapped it.

My spirituality didn’t give me a warning, so it’s likely safe… This style of chatting while eating a small snack is really unlike most residents of this continent, but it’s very similar to my hometown, Gehrman thought secretly.

Then, he suddenly found that his teeth very easily crushed the shell, but the inside of the seed seemed to be empty, and the shell tasted sweet?

What the heck is this? You call this a melon seed? Gehrman couldn’t help but inwardly complain.

“Where was I… Ah, the beliefs of our church are mostly concentrated in the Feysac region…”

Gehrman was listening attentively to the introduction when Quinn suddenly interjected again: “Oh, speaking of which, I cross-bred this thing for several generations to get it close to the standard I envisioned, but it’s a pity it still doesn’t have the taste I remember.”

“Actually… it tastes good.”

This bishop doesn’t seem very serious…

The cold-faced adventurer, Gehrman, listened quietly and replied, his suspicion growing stronger.

When Quinn was almost done with his introduction, he stood up and picked up the top hat beside his seat. “Thank you for the explanation. I still have some things waiting for me, so I’ll see you next time.”

Quinn sat on the chair and smiled, waving his hand: “See you next time…”

Gehrman put on his semi-tall silk top hat and slowly walked out of the church.

“Snow, did you hear that? He said he was an adventurer!”

The moment Gehrman stepped out the front door, before his back foot had crossed the threshold, Quinn eagerly and excitedly asked Snow.

Adventurer. Just the word made him think of treasures, danger, battles, and encounters—all kinds of things that made his bl00d race. This made Quinn, who inherently disliked monotony, uncontrollably yearn for such a life.

“What does an adventurer have to do with you? Don’t forget you are the bishop of this church! Unless you successfully proselytize, you cannot leave your post without permission.”

Snow easily figured out that Quinn had the idea of abandoning him and going off on his own adventures, and he mercilessly shattered his fantasy.

“Well… you’re still here, Snow!” Quinn said self-righteously.

“I really don’t know why they sent you here…”

On the other side, Gehrman walked out of the church, but instead of leaving the small town, he found an inn and checked into a room.

He stood in the center of the room and walked four steps backward against the flow. Then, his entire being seemed to sink into a dream, and his eyes grew hazy.

Not long after, his eyes regained their clarity, but they revealed a trace of difficult-to-hide confusion and incomprehension. However, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but curl into an arc, and he murmured happily: “Quinn Flitt is a Mid-Sequence Beyonder…”

“His cleric is from the Moon Pathway…”

“He is not a native of this continent…”

“He… comes from the same place as me…”