So What?

When he saw the clear yet bewildered look in the other man's eyes, Ulu's own eyes slowly widened.

Because he felt that this should have been the simplest question imaginable. For a priest of Rhine—at least, for a priest within Somu City—the Rhine Covenant should have long been engraved in his mind. Any clause should have been as easy as asking, "Have you eaten today?"

But why couldn't he answer?!

Had he not heard clearly?

Or had Ulu not made himself clear?

Still clinging to a shred of hope, Ulu said in a low voice, "Was I not clear enough just now? Then let me say it again. I'd like to ask about Chapter Seven of the Rhine Covenant..."

"Ah, wait." The priest raised a hand to stop Ulu. "Believer, I heard your question clearly. But I'm curious—why do you want to know the contents of the Rhine Covenant?"

Ulu fell silent for a moment before saying, "Because I also want to become a priest. I want to engrave everything of My Lord in my heart."

"Is that so?" The priest smiled. "Since you are so devout, I can certainly explain it properly to you. The Rhine Covenant is My Lord's..."

"I know what the Rhine Covenant is." Ulu cut him off, staring straight into his eyes. "I just want to know what Chapter Seven, Article Eight says."

"I see." The priest put on an expression of understanding again. "Then please wait here a moment. I'll go to the back and get a copy."

As he spoke, the priest turned to leave, only for Ulu to grab his hand.

"Why do you need a book?" Ulu seemed to be struggling to suppress the agitation in his heart. "Shouldn't you have memorized it outright? Why would a priest need a book when preaching?"

The priest whose hand had been grabbed looked at Ulu with strange confusion. "Why wouldn't I need a book?"

Why wouldn't he need a book?!

Ulu nearly blurted out the question, but he realized that doing so might expose his identity. He forcibly held himself back and only said, "I heard that becoming a priest in Somu City is very difficult. You need to memorize the entire Rhine Covenant. I don't know if that's true."

The priest immediately put on an expression that said, "Now I understand," and smiled. "It seems you want to enter My Lord's embrace as well. Otherwise, you wouldn't know so much."

Ulu merely hummed before asking, "So is that rumor true? Do you have to memorize the entire Rhine Covenant?"

"Ah, that." The priest smiled and stroked his beard. "That is indeed required."

Hearing that answer, Ulu instinctively raised an eyebrow. He had thought this priest would deny it, or that the old rule had long since been abolished. "Then you..."

"I could recite it back then too." The priest sighed as he spoke. "Memorizing all of My Lord's words truly wasn't an easy task. I don't even know how I managed it back then. Perhaps it was because of my devotion to My Lord. At the time, I didn't think it was difficult. But now, more than ten years have passed. Though I remain devoted to My Lord, so many worldly trifles have distracted me. So I can no longer keep all of My Lord's words as perfectly memorized as before. But that doesn't mean I am not devout to My Lord. In fact, for My Lord... uh, believer? Believer, where are you going? I haven't finished speaking."

Ulu could no longer bear to listen.

Lies. Lies. All lies!

Ulu simply could not convince himself to remain for even one more second before that guy who was spewing nonsense.

How could the contents of the Rhine Covenant be forgotten?! Those were the words of the Rhine God, imbued with divine power. Once they were understood and remembered, they could never be forgotten for the rest of one's life.

Even that old asshole Lu Ji could recite it!

Ulu could never forget how, more than ten years ago, Lu Ji had made him stand naked on a table and recite the Rhine Covenant. Lu Ji had been able to point out every single mistake with absolute precision and administer "punishment." Those "punishments" remained unforgettable even now, and traces of them still marked Ulu's body.

...Yet that guy claimed he did not remember. There was only one possibility: he had never memorized it at all!

A priest of Somu City who could not recite the Rhine Covenant—how exactly had he passed the examination?!

At that thought, Ulu felt a bone-deep chill. Even the sunlight he felt after leaving the church failed to warm him in the slightest.

But it also made him realize what Bai Wei had sent him here to see.

From the moment that priest had spoken until now, Bai Wei had not said a word. Yet that silence felt like the greatest mockery of all.

Ulu took a deep breath and murmured, "Maybe he's just an exception."

He did not know whether he was saying it to himself or to Bai Wei.

Bai Wei still did not respond, but Ulu seemed to hear a sneer rising from the depths of his own heart.

Ulu had no way to explain further, so he headed to the next church.

He was just an exception.

Unbidden, scenes from more than a decade ago surfaced in his mind—nights spent desperately memorizing the Rhine Covenant, the whip Lu Ji never forgot to bring down even during their "games," the anticipation and nervousness before those three examinations, the disappointment and confusion after receiving the results, and the gritted teeth with which he started all over again.

He's just an exception, Ulu warned himself again.

And so, that day, he visited countless Small Churches and asked countless low-ranking priests the same question.

What was Chapter Seven, Article Eight of the Rhine Covenant? And the answers he received were...

"Uh, Chapter Seven, Article... which one?"

"Wait here a moment. I'll go get a copy from the back."

"Is there an Article Eight?"

"This... it's been too long. I truly can't remember. But please do not doubt my devotion to My Lord."

One answer after another caused Ulu's heart to sink, little by little, into the abyss.

He still held hope for the first two. After that, he could not even remember the others. He felt as though he were carrying out some mechanical routine: enter a new church, ask a question, then leave quickly. His expression and heart gradually became numb, until he no longer knew what he was doing. His mind seemed to have ground to a halt, leaving only his body to repeat the same action and receive the same or similar answers.

Finally, after he asked the question again, received another answer like that, and prepared to leave once more, he heard a priest say with irritation and contempt, "Are you here to mess with me? How many words are there in the Rhine Covenant? Who the fuck could memorize all that?"

Ulu froze in place, feeling something surge up from the depths of his heart.

Like a vast, merciless tide, it instantly swept away his hopes and memories, making his body tremble slightly beneath the storm raging within him.

"You asked how many words are in the Rhine Covenant?"

The bad-tempered priest heard Ulu speaking and turned toward him with annoyance. "What are you muttering about?"

"I said, you just asked how many words are in the Rhine Covenant, didn't you?"

The priest frowned deeply. "So what if I did? You fucking..."

Before he could finish, Ulu suddenly erupted. He charged straight at him and slammed the priest hard against the wall.

"I'll tell you! The Rhine Covenant has five hundred and thirty-four thousand, two hundred and eighty-six words!" Ulu stared at the priest as if he wanted to devour him. "Chapter Seven, Article Eight says: Whether one is in adversity or not, believe in My Lord's might, believe in My Lord's power, believe that My Lord will not let His believers wander in confusion..."

Ulu's voice grew louder and louder, drawing the attention of everyone in the church. They stared in astonishment at this black-robed man from who knew where, roaring at the church priest as though he had lost his mind.

"...My Lord will let the lost find the right path, will let those who strive and persist gain their reward, and will never disappoint a single devout believer! That is Chapter Seven, Article Eight! That is the fucking Chapter Seven, Article Eight!"

By the final sentence, Ulu's voice had broken completely, and his spit sprayed all over the furious priest's face.

The church fell deathly silent.

The furious priest stared blankly at Ulu, utterly unable to understand what had happened to him. After more than ten seconds of silence, he could not help asking, "So what?"

...S-so what?

In that instant, the furious priest saw an even greater, more dangerous light flare in Ulu's eyes. He looked as though he truly wanted to kill someone. The sheer force of it stripped the priest of all his previous anger, and his body trembled involuntarily.

But the light quickly vanished. Almost in an instant, those beastlike pupils became the eyes of a weary, dispirited, lecherous middle-aged man once more. Even the force pinning the furious priest against the wall disappeared.

Then, beneath everyone's gaze, he slowly turned and walked away.

Perhaps it was only an illusion, but his back seemed a little more bent than when he had arrived.