Did You Really Pray Up a Flying Spaghetti Monster?

After tossing the eagle-headed statues pointing toward Tzeentch into the donation box of the War King Temple,

Zhou Yun arrived at the Catholic church. Dinner was being served inside; five or six children around Diana's age sat obediently on the church benches, waiting for the meal.

Diana was cooking soup beneath a mosaic, Bishop Agrippa was slicing tomatoes, and a strange old man with a soup pot perched on his head was cooking noodles.

"Making dinner? Mind if I join you?" Zhou Yun walked in with a smile and greeted Bishop Agrippa and Diana.

Diana happily waved when she saw Zhou Yun, while Agrippa frowned slightly.

"Wizard, why are you here today?" Agrippa said. "Tonight is our spaghetti night. If you want to do magic, wait until tomorrow. The children are here, and I'm afraid you'll make something dangerous."

"I'll wait until one in the morning. Is that all right?" Zhou Yun walked up to Agrippa, who was slicing tomatoes, swiftly snatched a piece of tomato from the table, and popped it into his mouth.

Mm... sweet and sour. Quite tasty.

At the same time, Zhou Yun pulled ten Denar from his pocket and placed them on the table. "I'll be using that room often lately. This is the rent."

"Fine. Once the children are gone, do whatever you want. As long as you pay." Agrippa's attitude improved somewhat at the sight of the money.

What Zhou Yun found a little strange, however, was that Agrippa had not charged him for that piece of tomato.

"So, can I have dinner with you?" Zhou Yun asked again.

Agrippa shrugged and looked toward the strange old man with the soup pot on his head.

"Are you hungry? As long as you are, the noodles I cook are open to you," the fat old man said with a smile.

"I actually am a little hungry." Zhou Yun held his stomach. "Also, could you be...?"

"I am this term's First Eater of the Flying Spaghetti Church. You may call me Laganon, wizard friend."

Laganon, the First Eater of the Flying Spaghetti Church...

"First, I'm not a wizard. I'm merely an ordinary grammar teacher. You may call me Zhou Yun."

"Second, I thought this was a Catholic church."

Zhou Yun gestured around the room.

"Zhou Yun..." The First Eater repeated Zhou Yun's name, his expression turning curious. "I see. So you are Grammar Teacher Zhou Yun, the man who won more than fifty thousand Denar in one go at the bathhouse operated by the Semuneta Temple."

"As for why I am here, haha, I cook do not care whether anyone believes. I cook only care whether anyone goes hungry."

Zhou Yun frowned deeply. He had won quite a bit of money, but fifty thousand Denar... in the hands of many Macragge nobles, that was merely a wager on a single chip. How did this First Eater know about him?

He became slightly more wary, his gaze narrowing as he looked at the First Eater... Then he saw faint, barely visible noodles winding around the man.

What was that? It looked like some kind of Warp entity... No, man, did your Flying Spaghetti God actually have a Warp entity? Did you really pray one into existence?

Zhou Yun's expression turned strange.

"I know of you simply because I have a fairly good relationship with the high priest of the Shattered Lighthouse Church. You may not know this, but the Shattered Lighthouse is not particularly popular with Macragge's nobles. They prefer to keep their deposits at the Semuneta Temple, the War King Temple, or the Talasa Pantheon. The Shattered Lighthouse receives only small deposits."

"A deposit of fifty thousand at once was enough to catch the attention of Imhotep, our meticulous high priest of the Shattered Lighthouse."

The high priest of the Shattered Lighthouse had noticed him... just because of a deposit? Zhou Yun did not particularly trust the First Eater's explanation.

"Please find a seat first. The noodles I cook will be ready soon."

Zhou Yun took a seat in the front row, then turned to look at the children behind him. He took several Denar from his pocket and gave one to each child.

At first, the children were a little bewildered. Once they understood that it was a gift from Zhou Yun, their expressions immediately brightened. They thanked him again and again, causing the faith-derived psychic energy within Zhou Yun to rise slightly... Mm, this gratitude provided more than his students' admiration.

Before long, Bishop Agrippa, Diana, and First Eater Laganon brought over plates of spaghetti and vegetable soup, serving Zhou Yun and each of the children.

The noodles were wonderfully chewy, the tomato meat sauce was sweet and tangy, and Diana's vegetable soup was quite good as well.

After taking two bites, Zhou Yun looked at Bishop Agrippa, who sat beside him. "These children are?"

"The children of soldiers killed after the last Ilyrium Expedition." After chewing his spaghetti twice, Agrippa glanced at Zhou Yun.

"Didn't they receive substantial pensions?" Zhou Yun asked, raising a brow.

"They also had greedy relatives." Agrippa sneered. "Many greedy and foolish people do not dare steal a noble's money, but they do dare steal children's pensions."

Oh... the same situation as Tita. If Tita had not had the previous owner of her body, she probably would have been with these children too.

"Lord Conor is a good consul, but he is only human in the end. He can make Macragge better, but it is difficult for him to make every person better." First Eater Laganon finished his spaghetti at remarkable speed, then looked up at Zhou Yun and Agrippa. "That is why I cook teach us to begin by loving those around us, because the ones who can help them are not rulers, but ourselves."

"Lord Zhou Yun, you must be a good person too." Laganon looked toward the children, who were happily clutching their silver coins. "You likely know something about what lies within the 'Grand Noodle Soup,' so let me offer you a warning: the divinity behind Priest Libo, 'Lewd Big Burning Bitch,' is even stronger than I cook."

"If you have recently sensed some malice directed at you, your only hope is to receive the protection of the divinity behind the War King Temple, 'Hot-Blooded Violent Maniac,' or... seek an opportunity at the Shattered Lighthouse Temple."

"..." Zhou Yun could barely keep his expression under control as he listened to the First Eater.

"Grand Noodle Soup" probably referred to the Warp.

"Lewd Big Burning Bitch" was probably Slaanesh.

"Hot-Blooded Violent Maniac" should be Khorne.

How had they even come up with these terms?

And the Shattered Lighthouse... Although Zhou Yun wanted Pharos, he did not have much trust in the divinity within it.

That was a C'tan. According to memories from Zhou Yun's previous life, the Pharos Lighthouse contained a Supreme C'tan Shard, formed from the gathering of more than ten, perhaps even a hundred C'tan Shards. Beyond that, eight C'tan Shards of unknown identity were also sealed within the Lighthouse. In the worst-case scenario, all of them were Supreme C'tan Shards.

If the Necrons had not sealed them and used them as batteries, those C'tan Shards could have turned the entire Eastern Galaxy upside down.

If he accidentally released them, Zhou Yun could only devote himself faithfully to Catholicism and pray that some primitive Roman knight with a dead eagle tied to his chest would appear carrying a silver spear.

Zhou Yun ignored Laganon. He closed his eyes and waited until one o'clock, until all the children had left, then stepped into the triangular room deep within the church.