The Bishop Invites You for Tea

Benjamin was sleeping when the people from the Church arrived.

Originally, he had wanted to take out Introduction to Magic and the water elemental crystal to study them properly. However, thinking that the Church might show up at any moment, he decided to keep them hidden for the time being.

It was fortunate that he hadn't actually taken them out.

Around one or two in the morning, the Church arrived. It was a middle-aged man dressed as a priest, looking quite polite. He knocked on the door first, waited for Benjamin to wake up in a daze and say "come in," before entering the room.

Aside from disturbing someone's sleep in the middle of the night, he was indeed a very "polite" person.

Whenever their mortal enemy—mages—was involved, the people from the Church were always this overbearing yet polite in their actions.

"Lord Riser, the Bishop was deeply moved after hearing of your deeds in the outer city fighting against The Fallen. We would like to invite you to the Grand Cathedral to discuss the matter of fighting The Fallen. I wonder if it is convenient for you?"

The priest walked to the side of Benjamin's bed and spoke in a kind, steady voice.

Upon hearing this voice, Benjamin couldn't help but think that this man was truly suited to be a priest. Even if this person were saying something like "I am going to kill you," he could make it sound like he was doing it for your own good.

Benjamin suddenly felt a bit nauseated, as if he had eaten too much low-quality saccharin and was cloyed by it.

"Alright, wait a moment, I'll get up right now. I was just looking for the Bishop to discuss this matter as well." He rubbed his sleepy eyes, sat up from the bed, and said this.

What else could he say? The other party's words were a soft blade that left no room for refusal.

Besides, he had already anticipated this scene.

"Is the fake memory ready for the Church to extract?" Benjamin asked the system in his heart while getting out of bed.

"Memory file created, all memory input complete, magic-related memories replaced, real-time updates maintained. The previous second's memory input is complete, and this second's memory is currently being input."

The system's voice sounded more reliable than ever, which made Benjamin feel inexplicably moved.

"...Thank you," he said in his heart.

If it weren't for this thing in his brain, keeping him company, talking to him, acting crazy, and being able to step up at critical moments, Benjamin might have already collapsed by now.

The system did not answer him, still repeating things like "the previous second's memory input is complete, and this second's memory is currently being input."

Benjamin suddenly realized that the task of memory forgery must be occupying most of the system's CPU. The system had no free memory to act up, which was why it seemed so reliable.

Well, so much for being moved.

Just like that, Benjamin got up and followed the priest, walking through the corridors of the Riser family home in the middle of the night. Everyone in the family was fast asleep. Without anyone else noticing, they left the house.

Outside the main gate of the Riser estate, a knight was waiting quietly.

Benjamin took a look and felt a bit disappointed; it was not one of the two knights he had just met.

He wondered how they were doing.

Under the escort of the stranger knight and the guidance of the priest, Benjamin arrived at St. Peter's Cathedral once again. It wasn't his first time at the cathedral in the dead of night, but every time he came here, he felt an involuntary palpitation.

He wondered if these priests, knights, or even the Bishop and the Pope felt this way when they were here.

"This is the place, Lord Riser. The Bishop is waiting for you inside."

Finally, they stopped in front of a door.

Benjamin couldn't help but feel a little nervous. His previous meetings with the Bishop had all been in the confessional, and they had never spoken face-to-face. However, this time, the meeting place was chosen to be the Meditation Room, which was reserved for priests to practice—the Church was playing for real this time.

It seemed that the strength of that elderly mage had drawn significant attention from the Church.

Benjamin kept his expression unchanged, gave a slight smile to the knight and priest behind him, pushed the door open, and walked in.

Compared to the magnificent Grand Cathedral, the decor in the Meditation Room was much simpler. Aside from the statue of God and the murals related to Abel, there was only a table and a few books on it in the entire room. Beyond that, there wasn't even a chair.

The Bishop had his back to the door, seemingly staring at the murals. Only after Benjamin walked in did he finally turn around, looking at Benjamin with a smile.

"Lord Riser, you have finally come."

Before opening the door, Benjamin's heart had been pounding rapidly. However, as he walked into the room and approached the Bishop step by step, his mood, for some reason, became increasingly calm.

Perhaps it was the system's repetitive voice that made Benjamin want to laugh, dispelling his nervousness.

He had nothing left to fear.

"Bishop, the outer city is truly terrifying. That Fallen waved his hand and summoned a giant wave. If it weren't for the cross you gave me, I would have surely died there!" He put on a look of fear and said this.

After much practice, his acting had become increasingly proficient.

"Lord Riser, time is short, so I will be direct with you." The Bishop's smiling face revealed no emotion. "You encountered a new Fallen in the outer city, and a very powerful one at that. In order to carry out God's mission, we hope to read your memories to find some useful clues. Lord Riser, would you be willing to make such a sacrifice for God?"

As expected.

Benjamin only felt fortunate in his heart; it was a good thing he had prepared in advance, otherwise, he would have been finished.

However, although he had anticipated this in his heart, he still wore a look of panic on his face and said, "Read... read my memories? Will that have any effect on me?"

The Bishop smiled like an emotionless doll and reassured him, "Don't worry, reading your memories will not cause you any harm. You just need to close your eyes, and it will be over in a moment. You won't even feel a thing."

Benjamin showed a confused expression, as if he didn't quite understand the Bishop's words, but he still nodded and said, "Just close my eyes? Then... then alright."

As he spoke, he obediently closed his eyes.

Yet in his heart, he thought, the critical moment has arrived.

Two seconds after he closed his eyes, he suddenly felt a pain in his head, though it wasn't very intense, and the system's repetitive voice stopped at that instant.

After a brief, dead silence.

"Success! When that probing power reached in, I submitted the forged memories. Now, that probing power has disappeared," the system said in his mind.

Hearing this, the heart that had been hanging in Benjamin's chest finally settled.

He simply opened his eyes. He saw the Bishop standing opposite him, who had closed his eyes instead. The smile on his face had vanished, and his brows were tightly furrowed, as if he were reading through the memories forged by the system.

Seeing this, Benjamin felt a bit uneasy again and asked in his heart, "Is that memory of yours okay? Will he find anything wrong with it?"

The system replied with great confidence, "A mere mortal wants to find a bug in my plot? What are you worried about? The person who can see through me hasn't been born yet!"

"..."

Benjamin suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

What kind of memories had the system... actually fabricated for him?