Recruitment by the Radiant Church

Huangfeng Road is one of the main thoroughfares in Hess City, with carriages coming and going and a constant stream of pedestrians.

With the beast tide over, Hess City has returned to its former prosperity.

A pure white carriage, escorted by a squad of Radiant Church knights, moved forward slowly.

Sitting inside the carriage was a middle-aged man with curly brown hair, a high-bridged nose, and a smile always playing on his lips, giving him an approachable air.

He was Gilmer, one of the cardinals of the Radiant Church.

After Fenlai City was destroyed, the Radiant Church lost its holy capital.

To prevent the tragedy of the Day of Destruction from happening again, the Radiant Church decided to establish a "Holy Island" on an overseas island far from the Yulan Continent.

In the future, that would be the core of the Radiant Church.

The "Holy Island" was not yet fully constructed, and Gilmer had been sent to Hess City by the Pope, Heidens.

Hess City was the frontline between the Holy Union and the magical beasts; its location was extremely important, requiring a cardinal to hold the fort.

At the same time, during the beast tide, two major events occurred near Hess City that were extremely unfavorable to the Radiant Church, and they also required an important figure to handle them.

The first was the search for Linley.

The Radiant Church only knew that Linley had killed the King of Fenlai, Clayde, and six special-grade deacons of the Religious Inquisition in Hess City, after which he vanished without a trace.

The Radiant Church was deeply wary of Linley's talent, so they had been sending people to search for news of him.

Since Hess City was the last place Linley had appeared, they naturally had to start the search there.

The second was the loss of an eighth-rank body.

An eighth-rank body was perfectly capable of bearing the power of a Six-Winged Angel.

A Six-Winged Angel was equivalent to a peak Saint-level powerhouse and would be a tremendous help to the Radiant Church.

Heidens attached great importance to this matter and demanded that Gilmer must recover it.

After arriving in Hess City, Gilmer had tried many methods, but neither matter had made any progress.

There was no news of Linley, the eighth-rank body was nowhere to be found, and even the two eighth-rank warriors and one ninth-rank ascetic who had been escorting the body were missing, their fates unknown. The area south of Hess City was already magical beast territory, making it difficult to even investigate.

Gilmer only felt a massive headache.

Fortunately, one piece of news made Gilmer feel slightly better.

He had heard that when the magical beasts attacked Hess City, there was a ninth-rank powerhouse in the city with immense strength.

He was now on his way to meet this ninth-rank powerhouse, hoping to recruit him into the Radiant Church.

The carriage turned off Huangfeng Road, drove toward the outskirts of Hess City, and finally stopped in front of an ordinary mansion.

"I am Cardinal Gilmer of the Radiant Church, and I wish to see Viscount Lewin Andrew. Please announce my arrival."

Gilmer stepped out of the carriage, stood before the gate of the Lewin mansion, and said with a smile to the servant who opened the gate.

Upon hearing that the visitor was a cardinal of the Radiant Church, the servant at the gate was terrified.

In the Holy Union, the status of a cardinal was even higher than that of a kingdom's king.

The servant had never seen such a big shot, and he became so nervous that he started stuttering: "Y-you, please wait a moment, I will go report to the master immediately!"

The servant hurried into the mansion.

At this moment, Lewin was playing with little Laina in the main hall.

Half a year had passed since the beast tide receded, and Hess City had recovered its former prosperity, so Lewin had hired some new servants.

For the past six months, he had been cultivating in peace, and in the gaps between his training, he would tease little Laina; life was quite comfortable.

Little Laina was nearly two years old, her face delicate and pretty, her pair of light blue eyes like crystal, and her skin fair with a faint rosy glow.

Little Laina could already walk and talk, was curious about everything, and was a bit mischievous—she was at that age where she was an angel when asleep and a handful when awake.

Every time Lewin finished his cultivation, he would want to play with little Laina, but after three minutes, he would lose his patience and hand her over to the nanny to look after.

"Master, Cardinal Gilmer is outside the mansion and says he wishes to see you?" the servant ran in, panting.

The servant was also a bit curious; who exactly was Lewin? To think he could have a cardinal come to visit him.

He had been working at the mansion for three months, and Lewin had always kept to himself, with no friends coming to visit.

The mansion was not located in the center of Hess City, so he had always assumed Lewin was just an ordinary person with a little bit of wealth.

It wasn't until today, when a cardinal showed up at the door, that he was truly shocked.

"Cardinal Gilmer called the master a viscount; could the master be a noble? But even a viscount shouldn't be able to make a cardinal come to visit in person, right?" the servant couldn't figure it out.

"Gilmer?" Lewin was slightly surprised.

He knew this man; back when Linley graduated from the Ernst Institute, it was he who represented the Radiant Church in extending an invitation to Linley.

Gilmer had thought highly of Linley.

Later, because of the matter regarding Linley's mother, Linley and the Radiant Church became irreconcilable enemies, and Gilmer felt some regret about that.

However, as a cardinal of the Radiant Church, he naturally stood firmly on the side of the Radiant Church.

"Let him in." Lewin hadn't expected Gilmer to show up suddenly, and he also wanted to see what the man had come for.

"Yes."

The servant hurried toward the main gate, fearing to keep the cardinal waiting too long.

Lewin signaled the nanny nearby to take Laina away.

Led by the servant, Gilmer walked into the mansion's main hall.

A breeze-like, pleasant smile on his face, Gilmer bowed politely to Lewin.

"Viscount Lewin Andrew, a pleasure to meet you. I am Gilmer, a cardinal of the Radiant Church."

Lewin stepped forward and returned the bow with equal courtesy.

"Welcome, Lord Gilmer. Please, have a seat."

Lewin gestured toward a nearby chair, guiding Gilmer to sit while secretly remaining on guard.

In Hess City, he had no acquaintances or friends and rarely stepped outside, so practically no one knew his identity.

Yet, this Gilmer had identified him as Viscount Lewin Andrew immediately, clearly having investigated him beforehand.

Since the other party had come so well-prepared, they surely had an agenda.

"I wonder, Lord Gilmer, what brings you to see me?" Once they were seated, Lewin asked directly.

Gilmer smiled, skipping the pleasantries: "I have come this time to invite Viscount Andrew to join the Radiant Church."

Hearing this, Lewin had a moment of realization, and many things suddenly made sense.

When the magical beasts attacked Hess City, he had also taken action to hunt them, so he would naturally have been seen by members of the Radiant Church.

His strength far exceeded that of an ordinary ninth-rank warrior; naturally, the Radiant Church would investigate upon seeing such an unfamiliar expert within Hess City.

It seems the Radiant Church found no issues with me and now wants to recruit me, Lewin thought.

This was indeed the case; Gilmer had learned of the scene of Lewin's actions from the Church experts in Hess City.

He was certain that Lewin's cultivation had already reached the Saint-level, which meant it was only a matter of time before Lewin became a Saint-level expert.

After investigating Lewin's background and finding nothing suspicious, Gilmer had decided to recruit him into the Radiant Church.

Faced with Gilmer's solicitation, Lewin did not refuse outright.

He had no desire to join the Radiant Church, but he intended to reside in Hess City for a few years to make it easier to acquire magical beast blood essence and Magical Crystal Cores.

After the beast tide, many magical beast corpses were left behind in Hess City, and materials from these corpses had already entered the local market.

In the current Hess City, it was much easier to purchase Magical Crystal Cores or magical beast blood essence than anywhere else.

Furthermore, he had to look after Laina, making it inconvenient to wander about.

Since he had to stay within the territory of the Holy Union, it was necessary to maintain a facade of harmony with the Radiant Church.

"It would be my honor to join the Radiant Church, but I do not wish to leave Hess City for the time being. Would it be possible for me to serve the Hess Kingdom for now?" Lewin said.

Gilmer smiled: "Of course, that is no problem."

The Hess Kingdom belonged to the Holy Union; for Lewin, joining the Hess Kingdom was no different from joining the Radiant Church.