Confession

Neph's words finally made Palenque Tasibu realize something. Almost instinctively, he lowered his head, not daring to look directly at the mysterious Oracle. He cautiously asked, "What kind of help do you need from us?"

"The location of the Church of Evernight," Neph glanced at his trembling appearance, and suddenly an idea struck her, "And—um, give me a travel guide to the Southern Continent."

"----?" Palenque Tasibu couldn't help but raise his head.

"What's wrong?" Neph asked in return.

"No, it's nothing," Palenque Tasibu lowered his head. "The Red Gloves team that's been hunting us" should be stationed at the nearest Silent Church. I'll have someone prepare a map of the area for you later. As for tourist information, you... you might have to wait—"

"It's really convenient to ask a local for something like this," Neph blinked and smiled, "Okay."

She paused, then asked thoughtfully, "By the way..."

Have you heard of Ince Will? The Archbishop who defected from the Church of Evernight.

"I don't know such a gentleman," Palenque Tasibu shook his head.

"So, have any Evil Spirit Demigod contacted you recently?" Neph asked again.

Palenque Tasibu shook his head.

Oh no! Medici didn't bring Ince to the Southern Continent, or at least he didn't come to find the Numinous Episcopate!

Neph's expression froze for a moment. Palenque Tasibu asked, "Are you looking for him? Perhaps we can help—"

That's true; the Numinous Episcopate could probably really help in finding people, but without the reason of being possessed by Evil Spirit, Neph would never have imagined why Medici would come to the Southern Continent.

He couldn't have come specifically to deliver it, could he?

No, there's actually another possibility— Neph glanced at Palenque Tasibu and thought of another possibility.

Palenque Tasibu prayed for help, hoping to escape the pursuit of the Church of Evernight, and thus she was captured, but this may not have been the original plan of the "True Creator"!

The person the Lord originally intended to send could actually be Himself—but with Ince Will's face, it's impossible for Him to negotiate with the Church of Evernight; fighting is the only option. Well, in that case, it's not impossible that He sent Ince to his death. After all, from this perspective, the Lord clearly doesn't want to clash with the Church of Evernight, so harboring a traitorous Archbishop of the Evernight would be very problematic—even if he's a Demigod, he shouldn't be allowed to stay!

Anyway, I should have told Klein about this first.

She nodded thoughtfully, then shook her head, saying, "No need, not for now."

After a brief pause, he said, "Have someone bring me the map."

"Yes." Palenque Tasibu lowered his head.

The Silent Church wasn't far away. When Neph arrived, she suddenly realized that the Church of Evernight wouldn't just watch her walk into the church's Underground, and if she went down there in disguise, it would be very embarrassing if she were discovered.

Besides, I've come to sue for peace—it's rather impolite to trespass like this—hmm, I understand, there's a place...

Perhaps this can solve the problem.

Neph rose and went into the Confessional, a fairly spacious room with a wooden partition in the middle as a divider. The penitent and the listening bishop sat on either side of the partition.

I wonder if the bishop doing this kind of work is Beyonder —if Beyonder is, being sent to do this is really unlucky, isn't it? Hmm, probably not. I remember that Beyonder beings are never in short supply; they shouldn't be wasted on something like this, right?

Neph sat up, lost in thought, she heard the bishop's gentle, deep voice from across the partition. "What do you want to say? The Goddess watches over every one of her believers."

Neph lifted her eyelids, but stopped short of opening her lips, a thought suddenly echoing in her mind, "When I was thirteen, my father and I went fishing—"

----To be honest, I used to have this idea: to be the Uniqueness bishop in a small town, and then sit in the Confessional every day listening to gossip----

She decided to start by telling a story that wasn't so normal to warm things up, "Praise the Goddess."

I fell in love with the wrong person.

This initial approach was somewhat normal, since Neph hadn't yet explained what she meant by "shouldn't love," so the bishop simply asked as usual, "Why do you think the other person is someone you shouldn't love? Is it because they are already engaged? Or has this love made you betray the guidance of the Goddess? Or are there other reasons?"

Neph coughed lightly and began to tell the story that she had rehearsed countless times, "I have a mother who died young, and I have no father."

"My mother had a very intimate relationship with a man—you know what I mean—and as far as I can remember, they were very close to getting married."

"But life is always full of surprises. My mother passed away at this time. The man, the man who almost became my stepfather, was very sad and therefore took extra care of me."

"During this process, I gradually fell in love with that man."

This story caused a brief silence from the bishop opposite him, but it still seemed far-fetched enough. After a few seconds of silence, the protagonist spoke, "Poor child, I regret to hear this tragedy. However, I think you fell in love not with that man, but with an illusion."

"After your mother died, you saw him as a continuation of her life, transferring your feelings for your mother and your longing for your father onto him. Because of age and close contact, you blurred the boundaries between kinship and love, thus creating this perception."

"What you should do is distance yourself from him and meet more men, distinguishing between these two kinds of feelings."

"It seems I haven't said enough—" Neph nodded thoughtfully, trying to choke up her voice, "I understand—you're right—"

"Thank you for your concern. You sound like a very kind gentleman, Bishop. Could you... could you remove the barrier? I'd like to see what you look like—"

The words were somewhat veiled, but the bishop already realized something and said in a serious voice, "Miss, I must remind you."

"During confession, you will completely let down your guard against clergy and open your heart. You are most vulnerable during this process. If you have any thoughts because of this, they are just temporary illusions and should not be taken seriously."

"So, does this mean you're rejecting me?" Neph asked in a way that suggested...

He asked in a sorrowful tone.

The not-so-old bishop opposite her finally stalled, just as she had hoped, Confessional fell into a long silence. Neph's lips curled up higher and higher in this silence, and finally, she couldn't hold back and let out a somewhat flamboyant laugh, "Pfft, hahahahahaha!"

The laughter carried through the partition to the other side, finally startling the bishop and making him realize something. "Miss, I must remind you, mocking a clergyman is a very serious and egregious act!"

His voice carried suppressed anger and a solemn warning. Neph coughed lightly, suppressing her somewhat flamboyant laughter, and spoke in a voice still tinged with amusement, "Ahem, I repent for this—well, I'm not actually here to repent. I wanted to see the captain of your Red Gloves stationed here, but after I arrived, I realized I had no way to Visit him, and walking in directly wouldn't be appropriate, so I used this method."

"As for what I said earlier—cough, it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, a spur-of-the-moment thing."

"Red Gloves?" the bishop opposite repeated.

"One of the Church's Beyonder," Neph replied. "Well, as a bishop here, you can't be completely ignorant of Beyonder, can you?"

The bishop clearly knew; he probably realized that he seemed to have encountered an Beyonder with a foul temper. Although he was unsure of the other party's origins, his anger temporarily subsided, and when he spoke again, his voice was calm and even. "Please wait a moment."

"A young girl came to the Confessional and said she wanted to see me?" Soest looked at the bishop before him, raising his voice in surprise, "Did she give a reason?"

"No," the bishop shook his head, "I didn't ask."

"Why don't you ask?" Daly Simone asked from the side.

The bishop, head bowed, replied, "When she came to the Confessional, she didn't directly state her purpose, but instead fabricated a story..."

repent.

She said she had a mother who died young, and after her mother's death, she fell in love with a man who had been intimate with her mother.

"----Huh?" Captain Soest seemed not to have reacted.

"----?" Daly, unusually, showed a blank and shocked expression on this topic. "And then?"

Her voice sounded calm, and the bishop, whose head was bowed, couldn't see her expression. She continued, "I advised her as I had learned in the Monastery, and then she told me—"

After a brief pause, the bishop spoke in a completely emotionless voice, "She said she has fallen in love with me."

Captain Soest remained silent.

"—What an impressive young lady," Daly forced herself to speak, "Soest, do you remember such a lady?"

"I don't think I know such a lady," Soest said blankly. "Besides, she wants to see the captain of the Red Gloves,' not me. It just so happens that I'm the captain of this squad."

He paused, then said, "Please, miss, come down."

This is not something to consider. The place where the Church's Beyonder are stationed does not prohibit outsiders, at least not in the main hall. Sometimes, they even obtain certain funds by using a disguised identity.

Therefore, the bishop agreed without hesitation. He did not go to face Neph himself, but sent a nun instead.

Following the nun into the Underground, Neph blinked, looked at the man and woman before her, hesitated for a few seconds, then tentatively looked at the flamboyantly dressed man and asked, "Captain Soest?"

"See, I told you she didn't know me," Soest immediately turned to Daly and said.

"Okay." Daly sighed with a hint of regret.

Neph looked at them with a puzzled expression, but no one explained anything to her. Soest looked at her and asked, "Miss, what brings you to see me?"

He tried to search for this face in the files in his mind, but before he could find the answer, Neph spoke up, "I've come about the Numinous Episcopate."

"You're tracking down the stronghold where the Pale Hand is located, right?"

Soest frowned slightly, then nodded. Neph continued, "I am now—well, I'm tentatively their leader for now."

This question clearly confused them both. Soest and Daly looked at each other, and then Daly asked, "Are you here to turn yourself in?"

"If your security clearance is at the Pope level or higher, you might find me in the Church's archives," Neph said with a smile. "Unfortunately, none of you seem to have that—in that case, you can assume for now that I am a chosen one of your Goddess."

Pope and above----

Soest and Daly's expressions turned serious. The highest level of secrecy in the Church of Evernight is "0" level Sealed Artifact. The files are passed down orally and are not written down. Apart from the Pope and Angel of the Church, only the Archbishop of the corresponding diocese has the Authority to know them, and when changing the region of office, they are required to erase the relevant memories!

This girl is roughly equivalent to a "Level 0" Sealed Artifact without a corresponding parish!

What is this?

Their backs instantly became drenched in sweat, and for a moment no one spoke. Neph took out the Medallion that Arianna had left behind and handed it to them, saying, "Just in case you don't believe me, this is—well, this was left to me by Angel from your Church. You should be able to recognize it?"

The jet-black Medallion rested in her palm, exuding an aura that made it difficult to notice. Anyone with eyes could see its connection to the Darkness Pathway, but whether it came from Angel of the Church, they still made further confirmation.

This was naturally unsurprising, so Soest quickly asked Neph with a solemn expression, "How should we address you?"

Neph's eyes crinkled into a smile as she said, "Back in Backlund, I told the people of your Church that they could call me 'Miss Pure White.'"

Backlund Soest paused for a moment, then finally remembered the name corresponding to this face in the file Neph Dumbledore!

"Miss Dumbledore?" he called out tentatively.

Neph frowned. No longer needing Surname as a disguise, she discarded this Surname, which wasn't hers, with contempt. She immediately denied it, saying, "My surname isn't Dumbledore. If you insist on calling me by my name, you can call me Neph."

"Miss Pure White," Daly couldn't stand it any longer and spoke up from the side, "You said the Numinous Episcopate is now under your command?"

"Only the stronghold where Palenque Tasibu is," Neph explained, "But who knows, maybe in the future I really will be in charge of everything? Taking over always requires taking things one step at a time."

"Walking."