Gold Pound Knight

"Dream Awakener..."

Ivan felt a little regretful. With Gais's speaking ability, he would surely have found it much easier to use the Whisperer's powers.

But he couldn't control it for now. He recalled the line about how different supplementary materials could produce different ability tendencies.

"Looks like if I want to cultivate a specific ability, I'll have to find a way to get information about the Magic Potion and take some supplementary ingredients along with it..."

Seeing that the Lord had been silent for a long time, Gais continued reporting:

"Great Lord, I believe this ability suits me quite well. After all, I can already use some of the Whisperer's abilities myself, such as simple forms of suggestion.

The Dream Awakener's abilities will make up for the Church's lack of information-gathering methods. I'll do my best to follow the Code of Conduct and make the fullest use of my abilities!"

Ivan was a little surprised. He hadn't thought of that. The Church wasn't short on fighters at present, but it certainly lacked ways to gather intelligence.

If what Gais said was true, then his Dream Awakener abilities could indeed serve a greater purpose.

"Good. You should have seen the Heart-Dream Aspect's staircase within your own spirit body, right?

A Secret Rite is a ritual used to overcome certain obstacles."

Ivan used his own guess to bluff Gais.

Gais closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, carefully sensing something within himself.

"Yes, Great Lord. I see it—a staircase extending upward, obscured by clouds and mist.

At present, I can only see the end of the third step. And there seems to be a transparent wall at the end...

O great Lord of All Spirits, I, Gais, your most, most loyal servant, am grateful for your Gift and guidance!"

Gais bent down and prostrated himself.

Ivan nodded to himself. His guess had been right, then. That was why Little George hadn't mentioned any ritual.

The Secret Rite was only needed to break through at the end of the third step. And there was a transparent wall there—only the observant Gais had noticed it.

Sigh... Diana's Secret Rite and Code of Conduct should be easy enough to learn. I just need another bottle of God Blood.

But Little George had gained his Natural Aspect on his own, so learning its Secret Rite and Code of Conduct would be difficult. Perhaps he could try touching the Book of Rituals with his Spirituality Remnant Corpse during his next division?

Ivan thought that might work, but for now, the most important thing was absorbing faith energy!

He entered the church with Gais and felt the faith energy streaming from the believers. Ivan's tentacles were so pleased they nearly started dancing.

"...Praise be to the great and merciful Lord of All Spirits."

When Bishop George finished the final line of the prayer, that day's service and Holy Communion came to an end. Even some of the new believers had been moved by the atmosphere and contributed quite a bit of faith energy.

Ivan happily sensed that his accumulated faith energy had passed the halfway mark.

"Not bad, not bad. A week of hard work hasn't gone to waste, even if most of the credit goes to Little George and Gais..."

He scratched his head and looked at Little George, who had finished the service and nearly fainted again.

He quickly divided off a little of his Spirituality Remnant Corpse to restore Little George's energy.

"The Lord's power is truly wondrous and great." Watching this, Diana couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

It was her first time attending a service of the Holy Spirit Society. She found that the main difference from the Church of Divine Grace was the people sitting below.

The Holy Spirit Society's believers were all poor people from the lower classes.

Diana hadn't paid any attention to the differences between the service and Holy Communion.

"Oh, right! The Lord told me that I need to donate some Gold Pounds to join the Church!"

Diana took a palm-sized little wallet from the inside pocket of her skirt.

It was made of pale apricot-colored lambskin, soft yet sturdy. Several rice-grain-sized pearls adorned its sides, swaying lightly as she moved. It looked exceptionally exquisite.

Gais and Little George stared at the hand opening the wallet and couldn't help swallowing.

"Seems like there aren't any... Um!" Little George hadn't finished speaking when Gais, smiling beside him, firmly squeezed the back of his hand.

Fortunately, his voice hadn't interrupted Diana.

"Where's the donation box...?"

She looked around but couldn't find a box for the believers to make donations. Only then did she realize that the Holy Spirit Society didn't have a collection during its services.

Diana slowly took ten banknotes from her wallet and placed them on the table.

They were larger than the ones Little George usually saw. He frowned. He had never seen banknotes like these before.

Beside him, Gais kept smiling, but his heart was already pounding wildly.

"This is a hundred pounds. I'm not sure if it's enough... It's all the spending money I have this month.

I'll keep donating to the Church next month!" Diana said nervously, unsure whether the money would satisfy the Lord's requirements.

Little George was dazed by her words. He looked closely at the table and only then realized that the number on the slightly larger banknotes wasn't a simple 1. It was a dark golden 10.

"A... a hundred pounds!" Little George covered his mouth to keep from crying out. He had never seen so much money in his entire life.

Gais kept his voice as calm as he could as he accepted the banknotes:

"Esteemed Gold List—no, Knight—Miss, thank you for your generosity.

Your support will help our shared Holy Spirit Society grow more rapidly."

Ivan's tentacles twitched beside them as he thought disdainfully,

"Look at you, acting like you've never seen money before. Anyone would think the Holy Spirit Society was desperately poor!

Well, it may have been before, but it won't be anymore. We have a Gold List Knight, Miss Diana!"

Truthfully, the first time he'd seen Diana spend money, he'd been just as shocked as Little George was today.

But now, he'd grown used to Diana's lavish spending and had become numb to it.

Little George still hadn't recovered from the shock. His hands were trembling a little.

Just last week, he'd been rushing around over a single pound. Now a windfall had fallen from the sky, and he had no idea how to spend it.

Seeing that Little George wanted to speak but couldn't get the words out, Gais smiled and spoke for him:

"With this money, we can buy more Holy Communion supplies, and get better wheat bread and decent wine."

Little George nodded vigorously. With this Knight, he and Gais would never have to worry about the Church's survival again.

He would have more time to train his abilities, improve himself, and develop more believers with Mr. Gais.

"Th-thank you, Miss Diana!" He struggled for a long while, but in the end, those were the only words of gratitude he could manage.

"As a member of the Church, it's only right!" Diana replied energetically. She'd been busy all day, but she wasn't the least bit tired. If anything, she was still full of energy.

Seeing the Church in such harmony, Ivan was genuinely happy too.

"Wonderful. With a few more believers, my next breakthrough won't be far off!"

At that moment, in a tavern at the East District docks.

Many drunks lay sprawled across the hall, snoring away.

In a second-floor room, candlelight on a wooden table illuminated a man's face.

He wore a dark blue coat and was studying a sheet of paper, deep in thought.

"More than fifty people will join the strike...

That's certainly enough people. But he'd never guess that the contents of the incitement letter weren't being spread the way he'd written them.

So much for changing people's perceptions. Heh."

His low, hoarse voice carried a hint of mockery.

"I hope he follows through on what he promised me. Then I can return to the embrace of the sea sooner..."