"Sorry you had to see that farce." Annan looked back at the silent Bishop. "But you've seen for yourself now. Those rumors about Free City are all false."
"That doesn't matter..."
The Bishop was about to say more when Olmedo interrupted him, disregarding courtesy. "Please leave."
"The Goddess of Abundance's Doctrine teaches agriculture and the harvest. It teaches that the earth's gifts are earned through honest, diligent labor. What you've done defiles that doctrine."
"If you don't leave, I'll regard you as a Heretic!"
One of the followers could not help raising his head. "You dare call the Goddess of Abundance a Heretic..."
"My Deputy City Lord wasn't calling the Goddess of Abundance a Heretic." Annan stepped in front of Olmedo, his dark eyes turning cold as he faced the followers. "She meant you..."
Olmedo's threat forced the Harvest Divine Envoys to back down for the moment. They had no way to carry out a Blood Sacrifice in Free City.
The elderly Bishop handed Annan a Contract.
"Read it, and you'll have your answer..." With that, he turned away with his reluctant Believers.
"Take some people and see them out," Olmedo called to a retainer nearby.
"What made you so angry all of a sudden?"
As soon as Annan asked, he remembered. As a young lady who "dabbled in everything," Olmedo was probably a Casual Believer in the Goddess of Abundance, too.
Instead of reading the Contract, Annan held it up toward the Mage Tower and called, "Lilith, is there anything wrong with this?"
A beam of magical light shone from the Mage Tower. Black mist and shrieks erupted from the Contract, then vanished before Annan could let go.
The purified Contract underwent some kind of change, becoming an ordinary piece of parchment.
Only then did Annan read its contents.