The Church of the Goddess of Harvest wasn't wealthy.
Although the Goddess of Harvest had more followers than the other two major faiths, most of them were commoners, and farmers made up the vast majority. As a result, donations to the Church of the Goddess of Harvest were few.
This was especially true in Chaos City. It was a thriving trade hub, and most of its food was imported from the empire's interior. It wasn't an agricultural city.
So even fewer people here followed the Church of the Goddess of Harvest.
That was why the goddess's church in the southern part of Chaos City looked rather shabby.
Aside from the main hall, the two side halls, and the residential quarters for the church's staff behind them, the Church of the Goddess of Harvest had no other buildings to speak of.
It stood in stark contrast to the gilded churches of the Church of the God of War and the Church of the God of Healing on the other two streets.
So when Ron, dressed in fine clothes, walked into the church, he immediately caught the attention of the priest leading the prayer at the front.
The priest gave the missionary beside him a meaningful look. The missionary understood at once and quietly walked over to Ron, who had already taken a seat on a pew.
"Sir, is there anything you need?" the missionary asked softly, bending down.
Ron smiled and shook his head. The missionary immediately fell silent, but didn't leave. He simply stood to one side, ready to help if needed.
Sitting upright on the pew, Ron drew the symbol of an ear of wheat on his chest, then closed his eyes and followed the priest in prayer.
Half an hour later, Ron got up and went to a side hall, where he dropped fifty gold coins into the donation box.
The missionary who had followed him stood behind Ron, staring blankly as one coin after another fell into the box. Each clink rang in his ears, like a blow to his heart.
Fifty gold coins.
That was probably as much as the church received in donations in an entire month.
This was a real tycoon!
While Ron was still there, the missionary hurried back to the main hall and whispered a few words in the priest's ear.
The priest promptly paused the prayer and rushed to the side hall, reaching Ron before he could leave.
"Hello, I'm Theresa, the priest here. It's a pleasure to meet you." The priest greeted him politely.
Ron smiled and nodded. "Hello. I'm Ron Andre. I moved to Chaos City not long ago, and now that I've settled in, I couldn't wait to come to the church and pray today. It's put my mind at ease."
"You're truly a devout believer. The goddess will surely be pleased to know it." The priest smiled warmly. "The church can set aside a private prayer room for you, or we can ask the bishop to baptize you personally. If there's anything else you need, you can always come to me."
"There's no need to go to so much trouble." Ron smiled and shook his head. "We're all equal before the goddess. There's no need to treat me differently. Besides, I rather enjoy praying with everyone in the main hall."
The priest understood what Ron meant and nodded. "As you wish."
Ron drew the symbol of an ear of wheat on his chest. "I'll come again next week, Father Theresa. Until then."
The priest drew the same symbol on his chest and replied devoutly, "May the goddess's light always be with you, Mr. Ron. Until next week."
"Goodbye."
After saying his farewells, Ron left the church.
"My heart aches..." Walking down the street, he felt the weight of his wallet and sighed.
Fortunately, he wasn't especially short on money right now. Spending fifty gold coins to get the church's attention was a worthwhile investment.
This visit had been an experiment for Ron, and it had gone surprisingly well.
During the prayer, he had received a system notification without a hitch—
System: "Daily quest triggered."
[Daily Quest]—[Receive a miracle from the Goddess of Harvest]:
"Requirements: Pray devoutly to the Goddess of Harvest and ask her to bestow a miracle."
"Reward: The goddess's favor is the best reward of all!"
At the same time, a new item had appeared in the System Shop—
[Shop]
[Miracle of the Goddess of Harvest]: Exchange 10,000 Wealth Points for one use
(Temporary item. It will remain in the shop until the related quest is completed, then be removed.)
"Ten thousand Wealth Points... That's way too expensive..." Ron stared at the System Panel, his head aching.
Still, he was quite amazed. He hadn't expected the system to actually be capable of this.
While praying, he had simply asked for the goddess to answer him.
Of course, he knew the Goddess of Harvest wouldn't respond to him for no reason.
But whenever he felt a strong desire for something, the system tended to generate a related quest, and it would also add an item to the shop that could help him complete it quickly.
So Ron had used that feature to conduct this experiment.
As for why he'd tried it, naturally, it was to complete that earlier daily quest—to explain where the shop's supplies came from.
All his Nether Orchids had been grown in the Dimensional Plane. If he made up a supplier who didn't exist, anyone who bothered to investigate closely would eventually uncover the truth.
After reading all sorts of religious epics, Ron had come up with a solution: invoke a deity's name and let that deity take the blame for his mysterious supplier.
From what Ron had learned, the gods in this world seemed to be real.
They spent most of their time asleep and only occasionally answered their devout followers.
And "occasionally" usually meant once every hundred or thousand years.
So Ron wasn't worried that his blasphemous actions would anger the Goddess of Harvest.
But there was this item the system had provided...
"This Miracle of the Goddess of Harvest... Could it actually be the real thing?" Ron asked silently.
System: "Products of the system are always genuine."
"But I don't need the real thing..." Ron replied helplessly. "I just need a fake to fool people."
System: "The church has specific methods for verifying the authenticity of miracles. If it were fake, the host would not achieve his goal."
"But then the goddess would find out!" Ron protested. "Wouldn't I be going to her in person and asking her to take the blame?"
System: "The host need not worry. System items have no side effects. The host's actions will not attract the attention of the Goddess of Harvest."
"Is it really that powerful?" Ron eyed the system suspiciously, then shook his head and decided not to dwell on it.
In any case, he was still a long way from having 10,000 Wealth Points, so there was no need to rush.
For now, he would need to keep visiting the church, praying, and donating to draw its attention.
Once the church's interest in him was high enough and he had saved up enough Wealth Points, he could exchange for a miracle right there in the church, drawing plenty of eyes.
After that, no matter how miraculous the plants in his Flower Shop became, Ron could always say they were gifts from the Goddess of Harvest.
If they had a problem with that, they could go ask the goddess themselves.
Thinking of this, Ron grinned smugly. I really am a clever little trickster.
Broke Author's Diary:
Today, one of the big shots in the group showed off his royalties: 5,300 before tax and 4,700 after. Then he lamented, "Being a writer is so hard. The taxes are sky-high—they took a whole 600! Just like that, I've lost an entire attendance bonus!"
Another big shot in the group joined in, fuming: "Last month, I paid over two thousand in taxes! Damn!"
I was completely bewildered. "Wait, you have to pay taxes? Then why didn't I have to pay any on my 600 attendance bonus last month?"
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