Down on His Luck Priest

The soldiers went out, and Paul closed the room door.

Seeing this, the priest suddenly became uneasy, cold sweat seeping from his forehead: "Lord Greiman, although I know I am handsome and dashing, I have already dedicated everything to the Lord of Light."

Paul: "Uh? What are you talking about? Never mind, take off your clothes and let me have a look."

It's over, it's over, he thought. Looks like I can't escape this calamity today. Alas, being too handsome is also a sin. Although I've heard that nobles and high-ranking members of the Church are into this sort of thing, I didn't expect such young children to be tainted with such vices.

"Lord of Light! Forgive your servant," the priest silently prayed, then lay down on the bed, turned his head, and said to Paul with teary eyes, "Please be gentle~"

"You get the hell up right now!"

Paul flew into a rage, his face turning liver-colored. Only now did he realize what this guy was thinking. He pulled out his firearm, wanting to feed him some peanuts. How could a straight man like me do such a disgusting thing?

"Ah? Ah! Okay, okay. Hehe, sorry," the priest was greatly relieved, having at least preserved his chastity.

Barely managing to suppress the urge to shoot the person in front of him, Paul took a few deep breaths and said through gritted teeth, "Your clothes are torn. I saw a very interesting tattoo on your body."

Crap! How does he know about this? the priest thought with dismay.

"Hehe! Lord Greiman, you must be seeing things."

"No, no, no, I definitely didn't see things! And I've seen this shark-shaped tattoo on members of the Shark Gang. But come to think of it, 'Father' here has a rather unique tattoo location."

"This... this..."

"Speak! Who exactly are you?"

Paul questioned, pointing the dark muzzle of the firearm at the middle-aged man who called himself "Father."

"I really am a priest of the Church!" the middle-aged man once again collapsed on the ground, begging for mercy. The thing in the Earl's hand looked like it could take a life. Before he could be questioned again, he spilled the beans like pouring peas from a bamboo tube.

According to his confession, his name was John Morrison. He was originally a priest in a rural church in a nearby territory when the Shark Gang came to plunder, looting everything and kidnapping him. He thought he was going to be thrown into the sea to feed the sharks, but the pirate leader, Shark, forced him to join the pirate gang. Although these pirates committed all sorts of evil deeds, including murder and arson, many of them, including the boss Shark, had considerable 'spiritual needs' and required a real clergyman to preside over the pirates' confessions, prayers, and other activities.

Thus, Father John Morrison shamelessly took on the glorious and promising profession of pirate, and had the gang's symbol tattooed on his body—a shark with sharp teeth. He stayed in the pirate gang for a year.

Paul didn't find it strange that pirates also believed in religion. Didn't some deeply sinful people on Earth also like to burn incense and worship Buddha? And the more sins they committed, the more superstitious they became.

But this John Morrison still needed to be questioned carefully. He picked up a thick Holy Book that had fallen next to the cabinet. This guy had probably been holding this book in the cabinet all along.

"I ask you, what does page 132 of this book say?"

"Suddenly, the world was as bright as day, and that majestic voice resounded from nowhere..." Morrison actually recited it, and he recited the entire page without missing a word.

He continued to have him recite other passages, and he recited them all without missing a word.

"You've got some skills."

"Hehe! You flatter me, sir."

"Alright, I'll believe your identity as a priest for now!"

Morrison was overjoyed: "Thank you, Lord Greiman. Could you send someone to take me back to..."

"Do you want to live or die?"

Paul once again pointed the dark muzzle of the firearm at Morrison.

Damn it! I just jumped out of the wolf's den and entered the tiger's mouth! Father Morrison wanted to cry but had no tears. Were all these lords as bad as robbers now?

"Lord Greiman, you're threatening a clergyman..."

Bang! With a loud noise, Morrison felt something fly past him. Instinctively, he turned his head and saw a large hole in the wall.

Then the door of the room was kicked open, and a large number of soldiers rushed in, raising their weapons and aiming at Morrison.

This situation was too frightening. Heavenly Father, you must protect your believers! Morrison nodded vigorously: "I want to live! Of course, I want to live." If the thing in Paul's hand had been aimed a little more accurately, his head would have been blown open.

"Very good! I, Paul Greiman, Earl of Alarda Territory, hereby conscript you into my army."

"Uh... but Lord Greiman, I can't lift anything heavy or carry anything on my shoulders."

"Oh, you're not willing? Fine, I won't kill you either. I'll just hand you over to the Northwest Bishop. Hehe, a clergyman who stayed in a pirate den for a year and has a pirate tattoo on his body. I wonder how the Bishop will judge you."

"Serving you is my greatest honor!"

Morrison immediately put on an expression as if he had heard a divine revelation.

"Don't worry, I just want you to do some ideological work and satisfy the soldiers' religious needs. You know, we can't carry a church with us when we go to war. You, as an army chaplain, will come in handy."

Morrison didn't hesitate, "I obey your orders, Lord Greiman." Judging by his earlier display, this young Earl wasn't someone to be trifled with.

Paul said, "However, when you're doing 'ideological work,' there are some things you should say, and some things you shouldn't..."

He suddenly remembered the large group of soldiers who had just rushed into the room, and changed his tone, "Forget it, I'll teach you slowly in the future. If you do well, I won't mistreat you, but if you have any funny business, don't expect me to keep your 'little secrets.'"

Morrison raised his right hand, looking solemn, "In this sacred place, I swear to the Father in Heaven that I will enter the service of Lord Greiman's army, and I will be loyal to Paul Greiman. If he tells me to go east, I will never go west; if he tells me to chase dogs, I will never shoo chickens."

I must say, when this guy got serious, he really looked the part.

Believe you? Not a chance! Paul thought to himself, but he still introduced him to the surrounding soldiers, "This is a clergyman who was kidnapped by pirates and imprisoned here. His original church was burned down by the pirates. Did everyone hear what he just said? From now on, he will be our chaplain. Haha, that gunshot just now was me fooling around with the priest."

The crowd responded, "Yes, Earl-sama."

"Holy Calendar 1990, June Xth, that was my first meeting with Saint Paul. At that time, I was imprisoned by pirates in the church in Franklin Harbor. They forced me to serve the pirate gang, but my heart was loyal to the Lord of Light, how could I submit to evil forces? The pirates tortured and humiliated me in every way, and I knew that this was God's test for me, and I always relied on my willpower to persevere. Just as I was dying, Saint Paul-sama led his army to rescue me. When I saw him for the first time, a soft light shone on him, and a majestic voice rang in my mind: Follow him, assist him. I knew that it was the Lord of Light's divine revelation to me, and I joined his army without hesitation, assisting him in creating great achievements that I didn't even dare to imagine at the time." - Excerpt from the memoirs of John Morrison, the 250th Pope of the Church of Light.

"That was a sinful day, the specific details of which are no longer verifiable. But what is certain is that from that day on, the traitor Morrison sold his soul to the devil Greiman, becoming his pawn. Evil began to erode the Church of Light, accompanied by corruption and depravity, and ultimately became a tool for the devil Greiman to manipulate people's hearts." - Excerpt from a propaganda booklet of an Underground Sect that claims to be the orthodox Church of Light.

Thank you to "seed198903" for the recommendation ticket.